Pads & Panels

Best Comic Books of 2011

Matt’s Picks

Ducktales/Darkwing Duck Series’ Finale Crossover — Imagine being a kid and watching the Disney Afternoon cartoon block when you get home from school. For thirty seconds, you’d see Uncle Scrooge having a snowball fight with his nephews when suddenly Goselyn walks up. You think “Hey, isn’t Goselyn on Darkwing Duck? What’s she doing in Duckberg?” Then, Darkwing walks up and shoots a snowball out of his gas gun. Sure, it’s just a “Happy Holidays from Disney” commercial, but you wish there was a full episode featuring a teamup of your favorite ducks. Wish no more, because Kaboom made that happen with the final issues of Ducktales and Darkwing Duck (respectively). With a captivating story by Epic Mickey‘s Warren Spector and illustration by cartoon veteran James Silvani, this story is sure to entertain and leave you with a smile on your face. (more…)

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Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender

Interview with: Onrie Kompan

Interview by: Chris Park

West Coast correspondent Chris Park found himself interested in the subject matter of Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender, with Issue #1 of Onrie Kompan’s new comic series, which tells the tale of the Korean admiral in his first bombastic naval battle. He was a little hesitant, though, about the introduction of the character, and had questions about what directions the historical fiction series would take. So Park exchanged emails with Kompan last week to discuss his new series. (more…)

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Chicago Comic-Con Part 3 – Marvel: X-Men Panel

By: John Gustafson

Jason Aaron, Chris Yost and Craig Kyle concluded Marvel’s convention attendance with a panel devoted to the X-Men.

The panel began with the new series S.W.O.R.D. The organization originally created in Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men as Earth’s galaxy equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D. will see a renewed focus on the home world. Agent Brand, Beast and Lockheed will be running the primary duties concerned with alien monitoring and intelligence gathering. The tone of the book was clearly set when it was announced that Henry Peter Gyrich would be in charge of S.W.O.R.D. The audience was told that the grand mission directive will surprise readers and it was then explained that the first goal is to remove all alien presence from the planet, it became clear how serious S.W.O.R.D. is playing. (more…)

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Chicago Comic-Con Part 2 – Mondo Marvel Panel

By John Gustafson

At Marvel Comics’ first of two programs on Saturday, the Mondo Marvel Panel featured Jim McCann as moderator for editor Mark Paniccia, Lauren Sakovitch, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Dan Slott, Jason Aaron and Sean McKeever.

McCann began by announcing a Mysterio arc in Amazing Spider-Man written by Slott with accompanying art by Marcus Martin. There will also be a new miniseries in December 2009 titled Spider-Man and the Secret Wars. Special note by McCann that this series will not be an “Adventures” book, rather a part of historic continuity from Spider-Man’s viewpoint.

Jeff Parker will be taking over the Thunderbolts book beginning with issue 138. Look for Songbird and the original Thunderbolts to rally against Norman Osborn and the current squad. (more…)

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