expatNERD

Category: Blog

  • X-Factor

    We had a relaunch of X-Men last year with Jed MacKay and Gail Simone leading the way on the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men titles respectively. With those came another series of books, one of which was X-Factor. Bleeding Cool ran an article that some of these books, in particular Nyx and X-Factor that launched with the two main X-Titles would be cancelled at issue #10..and possibly X-Factor.

    I do hope X-Factor is not cancelled. Mark Russell is one of my favorite writers, and has been for the last few years or so. He is incredibly skilled at instilling wit and satire in his work and this really made X-Factor the perfect companion piece to the action packed X-Men book, and the family drama/with a healthy dose of action Uncanny X-Men.

    Plus my favorite character in the book is definitely Granny Smite. Her power is that she cannot die so she thrusts herself in dire situations that would kill anyone. But nope, she represents a generation that simply rolled up its sleeves and applied a bit of elbow grease to get the job done. And it is this grit that makes her a worthy addition to X-Factor and inspiration for this week’s doodle.

    She is clearly smiling as she falls down on a floor of spikes. I did show this to Franka and she did tell me she knew what it was supposed to look like.

    So there.

    Russel used X-Factor to put a mirror up to society and explored a lot of different things, such as how we use social media and how these companies are starting to influence our own society and create the inbetweens as we try to figure out how to interact with one another. Of course I do not want to get political, but he does this while also making it incredibly humorous.

    I am used to seeing Russell more on the DC side so it was interesting for me to see how he would do with a Marvel cast of characters. After reading his X-Factor for the first time, it was one of those things that developed to an ‘of course he would be great on X-Factor. If you are not familiar with Russell’s work I can heartily recommend you finding it and if memory serves he started to blow up from Cereal Fan-Fiction. Yes, you read that right.

    If X-Factor is cancelled then I do hope Marvel gives him something else. We need Mark Russell.

  • Conan the Barbarian

    I do not know if it is cold where you are, but where I am it is very cold. For some reason when winter hits, especially after Christmas, and the feelings of desolation and dare I say a bit of depression rise to the surface, for some reason I always think of Conan the Barbarian, and in particular the stories when he met an ice queen.

    So it is fitting that my pick of the week is Conan the Barbarian #18 from Titan Comics. Titan grabbed the license more than a year ago from Marvel, and have done a lot of wonderful things with the character created by Robert E. Howard, as well as some of his other creations such as Solomon Kane. Jim Zub has been leading the charge, and the look and design of the book of the main series does have that early Marvel Comics feel.

    You can tell that Zub is a fan, because he continues many of the plot points from some of Howard’s stories. The previously mentioned ice queen, which was I believe an unfinished story, was completed by Zub a few issues ago and it was quite satisfying. Plus, Zub has been paired with some amazing artists, such as Roberto de la Torre, Doug Braithwaite, and others. If you have not jumped onto this, I can heartily recommend you do and if memory serves, Zub will be writing at least thirty issues.

    Finally, it is worth mentioning that Titan Comics also resurrected the Savage Sword of Conan series, which is definitely a more adult take in black and white format, continuing what Marvel Comics also started. These oversized beauties are also quite worthy for any collection, whether you are a fan of Conan or not. Titan Comics is a force to be reckoned with, and so far they have done the Conan license justice.

    Before I sign off, I have been a bit jealous of Franka contributing all of the art, especially the comics, so I am also going to accompany some of my own doodles to these posts. Laugh away.