The GB Pull List – Once & Future 19th August 2020

The Geeky Brummie Pull List with Once and Future.

Not a lot of comics on the personal Pull List this week . My pick of the week is Once and Future which has been a fun read. We also have the new issue of Excalibur from Marvel. You can see some other comics worth a look on our Twitter feed today. The all new section Meanwhile also continues this week with more comics related news.

Now on with the comics…

Title: Once and Future

Issue: 10

Publisher: BOOM! Studios

Revenge is the greatest motivator and Gran and Duncan have awakened the ire of the mother of all monsters…

I’ve just been catching up with Once and Future and eagerly await this new issue. Kieron Gillen continues to build a great story and Dan Mora with Tamra Bonvillain provide the perfect visuals to accompany his words. There is something about a book that delves into the rich history of British folklore. Britain is a land of founded on magic and myths. This series is hopefully introducing readers to just part of that history and will ignite a passion in some to explore more about this land of Albion. I hope this team get to explore more of our magical history in this wonderful and engaging comic.

Title: Excalibur

Issue: 11

Publisher: Marvel Comics

From the Publisher:

BLOOD OF THE CHANGELING! The Citadel has committed an act of war and Excalibur must respond. While they lick their wounds deep in Otherworld, Apocalypse takes steps toward his ultimate goal.

It’s only as I write this I realise the thematic link between this weeks comics. Excalibur was a book that originally stemmed from the adventures of Captain Britain – a hero wrapped in the myths and magic of England. He originally gained his powers and the title of Captain Britain from Merlin and in this series we have seen him pass this mantle on to his sister Betsy. This book has explored the magical side of the X-Men universe and the impact this has on the mutant society at large. I miss Brian and things look to be changing for all our characters as the X of Swords crossover event looms. Often American writers struggle to get a grip of what made Captain Britain and his supporting cast such a great read and this iteration of Excalibur is not quite there yet, but I’m enjoying the ride so far and hope the X of Swords series will push our British heroes back into the spotlight.

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Dear John,

John Constantine: Hellblazer #12 will mark the final issue of Simon Spurrier and Aaron Campbell’s Black Label run on the character. This is very sad news as I thought this was one of the best books coming out of DC at the moment. Si Spurrier really had a handle on John and along with Aaron this run was hitting the height of the earlier Vertigo iteration of the title. DC are currently hyping up the Tom King mini series starting Mr Constantine, so it’s not the last we’ll see of the character but I believe taking him out of the hands of British creators is a mistake and does the character a disservice.

John Constantine faces his final reckoning with the older version of himself who’s been seeding magical chaos all around England, while the lives of all his friends hang in the balance…and that is not a good situation for John Constantine’s friends” reads the solicitation. “Can the evil in John’s heart ever be contained? Or will it reach out and destroy the one life he would give anything not to corrupt?

 

Writer Simon Spurrier wrote on Twitter – “I see they’ve announced issue #12 will be the last in the current [Hellblazer] run,” he also said this is a case of “not extending,” as opposed to cancellation; readers should blame the coronavirus (COVID-19) for it; and “we’re fucking heartbroken.” Spurrier also encourages fans of the series to “[t]ell [DC] you’re gutted,” but to “be polite.”

Artist Aaron Campbell also wrote – “Yep, pretty sad to see [Hellblazer] wrapping up. It has been the joy of my career. One of the few consolations I’ve had during this horrible time is drawing Conjob. I reiterate what [Simon Spurrier] said. We weren’t actually canceled. 12 was the original goal and boy did we get there.”

This has been a absolutely fantastic run of comics and I’m heartbroken it’s coming to an end so soon. Expect to say goodbye to John in November.

I Beta The Avengers

Thanks to Virgin Media I had the opportunity to play the open Beta of Marvel’s Avengers from Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics. It was quite an extensive Beta of the forthcoming title and whilst I had some fun playing, I do have some reservations that means I probably won’t be picking this game up at launch.

In the Beta, players got to experience first had the events of A-Day as seen in games trailer and have a go at handling each of the main characters for a brief while. You then got to play as the wide eyed new hero Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. Playing as Kamala was the most fun part of this Beta with a great range of abilities and some nice dialogue. Progression through the games seems to take a page from the Destiny playbook and it’s here things fall apart a bit. The leveling up of gear whilst obviously important didn’t feel as naturally a part of the game as it does in Destiny, any changes you make can’t be seen in your character’s appearance which could make searching for the more rare items a bit of a chore.

The two boss battles in the Beta felt a bit repetitive and button massing seemed as easy a way to progress as studying the move sets of the characters. The HARM room (imagine the X-Men’s Danger Room rebranded for made for the Avengers) is a nice way to learn about each of the available characters. The X-Box version I played also had a few frame rate issues when lots was happened on screen but hopefully these technical hiccups will be ironed out in the final release.

All in all it was a fun experience but I’ll need to see a bit more before I lay out the AAA title price tag.

Super(Natural) Boy

The first season of Amazon Prime’s The Boys surprised me by being better than the comic book that inspired it. Season 2 is heading to the platform in September and will expand the world further by introducing  more characters like Stormfront the super-powered neo-Nazi hero played by Aya Cash. But before we have even seen a single episode of this second season, news dropped this week of one of series creators Eric Kripke’s old friends joining the show. As Supernatural winds up its 15th and final season Dean Winchester himself, Jensen Ackles will appear in season 3 of The Boys as Soldier Boy aka the original superhero. In the world of The Boys, Soldier Boy fought in World War II, became the first super celebrity and was a mainstay of American culture for years to come. How all of this will come together in the series will be a surprise for me as I didn’t read past the first collected volume of the comic.

Here is Jensen announcing the news via his Instagram account.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jensen Ackles (@jensenackles)

 

You can check out The Boys when season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime in September.

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Your Local Comics Shops

Comic shops are open but things will be quite different for a while yet. Until things settle down I’ll continue to keep this section as a list of comic stores around the UK you can support.

So let your local comic shop know you are here for them. Contact them to pre-order titles, new collections or back issues from them and arrange either to collect or have your comics mailed out to you.

Here are a few of the great comic shops in the UK so get in touch and see how you can order comics and continue to support their stores –

FORBIDDEN PLANET INTERNATIONAL (VARIOUS) – includes Worlds Apart Birmingham

Stores reopened 15th June 2020 – please check with store for any changes to opening times and services.

Follow the stores social media pages for updates!

Our Stores

FORBIDDEN PLANET (VARIOUS) – includes Birmingham Megastore

All stores are now open. Check their website for more information –

https://forbiddenplanet.com/stores/

GOSH! COMICS (LONDON)

Store is now open again. Check their website for more information –

https://goshlondon.com/the-gosh-blog/the-gosh-authority-130620-reopening-news/ and https://twitter.com/GoshComics

OK COMICS (LEEDS)

OK Comics is now open. Follow the stores social media pages and website for updates!

http://www.okcomics.co.uk/ and https://twitter.com/OKComics

PAGE 45 (NOTTINGHAM)

Page 45 reopened this week. Check their website for more information –

http://www.page45.com/ and https://twitter.com/PageFortyFive

TRAVELLING MAN (VARIOUS)

Travelling Man has opened its doors again . Check their website and social media for more information –

https://travellingman.com/ and https://twitter.com/TravellingManUK

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