Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Deadline Hollywood posts the stats: “Iron Man 2″ arrives with the widest opening ever today. How do you get the widest release ever? Try 4,380 screens, campers. The film’s already posted $7.5 million from the midnight showings and around $132 million from the 53 other countries already showing the sequel.

For those that like to keep track of such things, Ms. Finke and the gang tell us that the previous “widest opening” belonged to “The Dark Knight”, which played on 4,366 screens initially.

And now, just because we can:

“I speak of the old-fashioned comic-book shop, a vestige of Norman Rockwell America that has somehow managed to hang on and even flourish into the 21st century”: Er, in Norman Rockwell’s America, kids just bought comics from newsstands and drugstores, didn’t they? Scott Hinze of McClatchy Newspapers talks comic shops.

Wow, that is a lot of tie-ins: School Library Journal covers the flurry of paper tie-ins to the upcoming based-on-a-video game movie Prince of Persia, including a couple of graphic novels (one of which is a reprint of the quite excellent First Second 2008 GN of that name).

“A guide to superhero facial hair”: As mustachioed superhero Tony Stark returns to the big screen, Aprill Brandon of the Victoria Advocate runs down some popular styles of facial hair from superhero movies of the last decade or so.

“Amy Reeder Is Your New Supergirl Cover Artist”: Now if only she were the interior artist, too…

Behold Marc Bell’s Iron Man: Is this a variant cover for a Marvel comic coming out this month, one of those “Iron Man By Design” variants that’s on just about every Marvel book? If not, why not? (Via Tom Spurgeon)

“It almost makes you think they had a plan like this all along . . . but nah, that’s giving them too much credit”: That’s Tim O’Neil discussing this week’s Iron Man #25, specifically how Matt Fraction was able to make the post-Civil War Tony Stark into such an interesting character. I hadn’t thought about it until O’Neil mentioned it, but turning Iron Man into the biggest dick in the Marvel Universe over the course of the last few years certainly does freshen up that original concept, the one that was at the heart of the first Iron Man movie. You know, arrogant, selfish jerk profiting from death and destruction decides to try and redeem himself by being a true hero. Only instead of arms-dealing, now Stark is trying to atone for his flirtation with fascism and ends-justify-the-means-ism. Of course, even if that was the idea of turning him into the bad guy of Civil War and “The Initiative,” Marvel still took it too far with Stark building a murder clone of one friend to kill another friend, putting Avengers in concentration camps, hiring mass-murderers to help arrest his pals, etc.

“But now, the idea of a legacy character is being totally subverted. They’re not roles that are passed down anymore, they’re roles that are passed back up”: Over at Comics Alliance, Invincible Super-Blogger Chris Sims talks about “The Racial Politics of Regressive Storytelling” (with “Regressive Storytelling” being stories that labor to hammer the DC Universe back into a certain Bronze Age shape, rather than looking forward), and one of its unfortunate side-effects. In many cases, it means a non-white legacy character giving their name, powers and trademark back to a middle-aged, white American male character. I’ve always been amused by the arguments that Ray Palmer, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are each the “one, true version” of The Atom, The Flash and Green Lantern, since all three are themselves legacy characters. Hal Jordan is, of course, to Alan Scott as Kyle Rayner is to Hal Jordan, why doesn’t Scott sue Jordan and the rest of the Corps into changing their names? Anyway, it’s a great piece. Go give it a read and a think, won’t you?

Area 10
Written by Christos Gage
Illustrated by Chris Samnee
Lettered by Clem Robbins

Do you know what trepanning is?  It’s the practice of drilling a hole in one’s head, typically – in real medical practice – to relieve cranial swelling or some similar extreme circumstance.  There also exists the school of thought that opening up the skull allows for more blood to the brain and enhances perception.

In Area 10, Christos Gage and Chris Samnee explore the life of Adam Kamen, a police officer whose perceptions are radically altered and enhanced by an accident – or is it? – that puts a hole in his skull right at Brodman’s Area 10, the pineal gland that affects how we process time and space.  Now Adam sees glimpses of people’s pasts and futures.  He’s also investigating serial killer “Henry the Eighth,” a homicidal madman leaving decapitated corpses all over New York City.  If you suspect there’s a connection in these assaults on people’s noggins, you’re probably correct.

The first thing that hit me about Area 10 is how great Chris Samnee’s art is.  This dude really draws the hell out of the book.  It’s a police procedural, and a lot of comics artists just don’t have enough body types to handle this in a naturalist style and still give you distinct persons.  Samnee handles it with ease.  His sense of black and white frames focuses each panel on the perfect emotional or plot beat, and his character acting is excellent.  I’ve been enjoying Samnee’s work since Capote in Kansas and Queen & Country, but he’s truly growing as a comics artist and illustrator with each project.

Christos Gage’s script hits the right marks as well.  Adam’s your basic crime thriller protagonist: a cop, emotionally distant, brooding and apparently sexy, dedicated to his job.  His colleagues – the captain who wants to give Adam a chance to get back in the saddle after his accident, the beautiful psychiatrist who’s a little too close to her subject, the buddy cops who have their mate’s back – are similarly of a type, but Gage’s crisp dialogue breathes some life into those standards.

Area 10 is a tense thriller, woven with a thread of supernatural, the plausibility of which will be heavily weighted on an individual’s suspension of disbelief standards.  The entire book builds to a finale that will elicit groans or cheers, with little middle ground. However, the predictable plot buoys up on Gage’s witty script and Samnee’s excellent artwork.  Despite my indifference to their finale, I felt Gage and Samnee presented a solidly gripping ride through Area 10.

  WORLD OF HURT- The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 43: “Hell Hath No Fury”

I wanted Caroline Belmont to return to the strip, mostly to rub metaphorical salt in her husband’s wounds by revealing her affair with the very man who’s trying to kill him.  However, I wasn’t certain how far she should be involved in his ultimate downfall.  Should she be the one to delivery the final blow?  I wasn’t sure, because it would relegae the protagonist, Pastor, to the sidelines.  Ultimately, I decided that at the very least she should have an active hand in thwarting Ned’s plans by stealing the gun from his safe.

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomicare posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

Editor’s Note: With capes and cowls and iron suits, comic book fashion doesn’t just make the man — it makes the brand. But when you want to see the intersection of evolution, practicality and design for your mystery men, you don’t call the Fashion Police — you call in an Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. And now, we’ll let Alan take the reins, as he focuses on one Avenger whose apparel runs electric: The Mighty Thor.

Welcome to the new AGENT OF S.T.Y.L.E. By Alan Kistler

Fashion and comics have always gone hand in hand. No, seriously. After all, superheroes and super-villains, like runway models, need their appearance to have an immediate effect. Their look needs to say who they are and how they operate, while leaving a memorable impression in the mind. It also needs to be stylish enough that we will recognize the character no matter how drastically different another artist may draw him or her.

With all the movies that are coming out now, the look of a hero’s costume has become a greater concern because now we’re finally seeing many of these characters translated into a live-action world. Last week, we got a look at what Thor will look like in his upcoming film. Fans are still chatting about it. So why not put it all out on the table? Agent of S.T.Y.L.E. will be a weekly look at the evolution behind the artistic costumes of heroes, villains and others.

BASIC BACKGROUND

Now for those of you not familiar with Thor of Marvel Comics, this is the basic story. It begins with Dr. Donald Blake, a physician living in New York. Though excellent at his job, Don felt somewhat insecure due to one of his legs being practically useless, forcing him to walk with a crutch or a cane at all times. Soon after the modern age of heroes began, with folks like the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man and Iron Man making their debut, Don felt a strange urge to vacation to Norway. While exploring the mountains, he stumbled upon a plot by others to conquer the world and was spotted. Running into a nearby cave for safety, he lost his cane. Exploring the cavern, he found a strange, gnarled walking stick that seemed to be waiting for him. When he struck the walking stick against the ground, there was a lightning strike and Don Blake was transformed into Thor, the Norse god of thunder. The stick in his hand was turned into Mjolnir, the mystical uru hammer. On its side were the words: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

Don initially believed that he had somehow inherited the power and form of the real Thor. He embarked on a double life as a superhero, becoming Thor whenever a super-villain or some otherworldly menace threatened innocent life. Later, he was brought to Asgard, home of the Norse gods, and eventually learned the truth. He had been born Thor, son of Odin the All-Father, step-brother to Loki, god of mischief. But after many centuries of battles, he had grown arrogant and Odin eventually had enough. To teach his son humility, Odin sent the thunderer to Earth, transforming him into the human named Donald Blake with no memory of his true identity, crippling one of his legs so he would have to learn how to overcome a handicap. After seeing that Don did indeed learn humility and that he dedicated his life to healing others, Odin had been satisfied and had mentally guided the doctor to Norway, leading him to the very cave where he had been born centuries ago. Mjolnir could only be lifted by someone who it deemed worthy and the fact that Thor could now wield it was proof of how he had grown.

Considering himself as much a part of Earth as he was of Asgard, Thor continued his life as a hero, both on his own and as a founding member of the famous super-team the Avengers. He has fought aliens, cosmic forces, super-villains and, most often, his step-brother Loki. He’s a pretty epic hero and it’s no wonder we’re getting a movie of him at last. So, you’ve got the basics. Let’s look at the evolution of his design!

KIRBY’S CLASSIC LOOK

Ah, Jack Kirby, you wonderful artist, you wonderful man. I’ll admit, sometimes your costume designs are too wild and weird for me (COUGH – Mr. Miracle – COUGH), but sometimes you strike gold.

This is the first cover appearance of Marvel’s Thor. What Kirby did here is nothing short of inspired. This outfit says both “superhero” AND “viking.” You have a standard superhero cape, but clasped onto shoulder pads rather than tucked into a shirt collar or simply tied around the neck. The circle designs on the shirt give an impression of the metal discs that some old warriors would wear to help deflect arrows and blades, causing them to slide away from the body rather than get enough force to pierce the armor plate.

The boots have leather straps around them, giving a sense that this person is from a time centuries ago. The helmet, of course, furthers this impression and the wings on it give a sense of ancient gladiators. The fact that the helmet is polished and highly decorative also gives a sense of royalty, fitting for the son of wise Odin, All-Father of the Norse Gods.

We should note that when Thor was introduced in the early ’60s, it was still pretty unheard of for men to sport such length. So to a 1960s reader, the hair is another marker that Thor comes from a more savage time, or perhaps more mythic, time.

But this outfit doesn’t just speak of the past. A sleeveless black tunic extends over the sleek blue pants, which is a very superhero style of dress. Notice also that this outfit is all primary colors, another classic comic book hero trait. In fact, Thor’s blonde hair acts in tandem with his golden belt and boot bandages, giving balance to the color.

Most of the characters Kirby worked on with Stan Lee did not wear capes. The X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, these figures were all very powerful but noticeably cape-less and the same went for most villains. In the 1960s Marvel Universe, capes were often reserved for those who needed to give off a sense of power and majesty. Dr. Doom, a man who mastered both science and sorcery, wore a cape. Magneto, a terrorist who intended to make his race the masters of Earth (with him at the top, of course), wore a cape.

And so, Thor, god of thunder, wears a cape. This makes him seem a bit grander when standing next to other Marvel heroes and it gives a great sense of wind and motion when he’s summoning a storm or hurling his mighty uru hammer Mjolnir. It also reminds you that he’s a prince when you see him alongside his fellow Asgardians, most of whom don’t wear capes but who do have similarly cool armor designs.

In fashion, people always talk about how important the silhouette is. It sometimes applies for superheroes too. Look at Batman. And it works for Thor as well. Look at him in silhouette here. Is there any doubt who that is? Just a great look.

Many years later, in 1991, the Thor suit was slightly updated for use by the man Eric Masterson when he sort of filled in for Thor. As you can see, this is Thor’s costume but with metal boots and actual metal plates now on the tunic. Eric also wears a mask, unlike the real Thor.

Years later, starting with artist George Perez, some folks who drew Thor would now draw actual metal plates on his tunic as well. Sometimes they’d draw only the top four circles as metal plates and would leave the lower two circles as mere designs on cloth. I think this works just fine.

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The numbers are crunched, the beans are counted and The Beat blog’s ace contributors Marc-Oliver Frisch and Paul O’Brien have offered their usual thorough and insightful analysis of the direct market super-comic sales for the month of March. Which means it’s time for me to offer a rambling, half-assed conversation with myself about them!

Here are some thoughts on the state of the Big Two’s publishing lines as revealed through the monthly Beat analysis…

1.) James Robinson is writing a lot of books for DC. I counted six that he had either written or co-written: Justice League of America, Justice League: Rise and Fall Special #1, Justice League: Cry For Justice, Adventure Comics, Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton and Superman. That’s three times as many as the number of books being written by DC’s two most popular writers, Geoff Johns (Blackest Night, Green Lantern) and Grant Morrison (Batman and Robin, Joe the Barbarian). Could part of Robinson’s problem simply be that he’s spreading himself too thin…?

2.) One of the most shocking facts Frisch had to share was this: Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet #1 sold 54,122 copies, while the Kevin Smith-written Batman: The Widening Gyre #5 sold only 34,338.

Do you know what that means? All—well, a lot of—things being equal, Green Hornet outsold Batman.

Check it out. Neither series has a superstar pencil artist (Jonathan Lau and Walt Flanagan, respectively), and are thus being sold by the popular writer’s byline and the cache of the character alone. And a Green Hornet comic sold 20,000 more copies than a Batman comic.

What’s that you say, it’s not fair comparing a #1 issue to a #5? Well, even the first issue of Widening Gyre sold worse than Green Hornet #1, at 52, 191. I suppose you could factor in the number of variants—Batman had at least two, Green Hornet had…more—but still. That is an amazing little fact there, and I’m sure someone somewhere at DC is scratching their head   over it.

3.) While Marvel continues to be the direct market leader by a comfy margin, Blackest Night sure did eat Siege’s lunch, didn’t it? O’Brien notes that the first issue of Siege performed better than was originally thought, but even with reorders and reprints factored in, the first issue of Siege only moved 120,888, while Blackest Night’s eighth issue sold 130,061. Again, after over nine months, Blackest Night ended stronger than Siege began.

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Jim McCann, Marvel’s mighty marketeer, writer of New Avengers: The Reunion and just plain all-around nice guy, is leaving his staff job with the House of Ideas to pursue writing full-time, according to an interview with ComicsBeat.

McCann, who is writing the Hawkeye/Mockingbird ongoing for the publisher’s Heroic Age status quo as well as The Return of The Dapper Men for Archaia, spoke at length about his time as both a marketer and as a writer. Here’s one highlight, from when Captain America was killed following the end of Civil War:

[T]he death of Cap, man! I had calls from press, was shuffling Joe Q and Dan Buckley around New York City from station to station until we finally had to set up a station of our own in the Hulk Conference Room at the offices and have the press pool come to us. Brubaker, Joe, Dan, and Tom Brevoort were constantly taking the press calls I was fielding. Along with DKC, our PR firm, we worked around the clock for almost a week after that news broke. I also had civilians calling me up, swearing at me for killing such a beloved icon. I almost gave them Ed Brubaker’s number, but that’s not what you can really do when you’re in my position (no matter how much I wanted to——you owe me, Bru!)

There’s also a story about Jim delivering Tom Brevoort’s Captain America shield — which once belonged to the legendary Mark Gruenwald — to the Colbert Report… only to find out that Stephen wanted to keep the shield as a permanent prop on his set. The result may surprise you! But in all seriousness, many congratulations to Jim, and may he have the best of luck in his writing career.

By Julie Opipari

Some girls just can’t seem to get enough of bad boys. I’ll admit that there’s a certain allure to a naughty boy, but I have to admit that I prefer a guy who treats me like a princess. It’s not like I’m exactly high maintenance or anything; just bring me an occasional graphic novel or ten, and for extra brownie points, toss a pony or two into the equation. Some girls are a little needier, and they have to have a guy pay constant attention to them. Even if it’s of the negative kind. Here’s an introduction to some manga series with really bad boys. Don’t bring these guys home to meet your mother!

Hot Gimmick by Miki Aihara features the ultimate bad guy, Ryoki. Ryoki has one thing going for him – he’s stinking rich. Ok, so he’s not bad looking, either. His money and his looks must be enough for Hatsumi, because she put up with his bullying and brow-beating for 12 volumes! First she was his sex-slave, though they barely got past first base, and then she graduated to his girlfriend. Kinda. He still acted like a petulant school-boy, but at least there was some development in their relationship. It is not Hatsumi’s fault that she remained a wet dish cloth the entire series, despite my hopes that she would eventually grow a spine. Seriously, I did enjoy this series until the final two volumes, so if you decide to dive into it, just stop at volume ten!

I am so on the fence about Black Bird by Kanoko Sakurakoji. I really want to like this series, because it has demons, but I am having a really tough time with romantic lead Kyo. He’s a bird demon, and he’s the head of his clan. He’s handsome, dangerous, and has an ability that should make him the most popular guy in town. He can heal. With a lick. He’s singled out Misao, and that’s probably a good thing, because she keeps getting attacked by supernatural beings. Kyo’s talented tongue comes in handy. Does it matter that he is insanely jealous when another guy even looks at her? Probably not, when demons the world over want to eat Misao because it will give them eternal life. So that leads to the question of whether Kyo will be content with a little lick here and a little lick there, or is he eventually going to want to gobble her up?

Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino is a series that has taken me a long time to warm up to. Probably because Yuki is such a pushover with the men in her life. There’s dark, dangerous Kaname, a powerful, deadly vampire, and not so dark but just as dangerous Zero, a vampire hunter. Both of these guys profess to want only the best for Yuki, but they both keep getting her into mischief. Like a vampire is going to kill her mischief, and like, another vampire is going to kill her mischief. With friends like these, does she really need any enemies? I think that there should be a couple of requirements for any potential love interest. They should be human, and they shouldn’t have an overpowering desire to drink your blood. Both of these guys = FAIL!

I really like The Name of the Flower by Ken Saito. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to fall in love with a guy who is one popsicle short of a full package. Chouko should have gotten a clue when her dour new guardian, Kei, barely spoke a word to her after she moved into his quiet home. Then she should have gotten another one when he started getting weird when she started to get a life. There are demons that threaten to consume him, and his growing attachment to Chouko seems to bring out the worst in him. Of all of these bad boys, Kei is the most unstable. He teeters over a black abyss of desolation, and it’s going to take a lot of inner strength and determination from Chouko to pull him back from the brink. Where will one shy, gentle young woman find the courage for that? Just do yourself a favor, Chouko! Fall for Akiyama instead!

So there you have it, just a few examples of getting caught in a bad shoujo romance. If falling in love with one of these guys doesn’t land you in a mental institution, count your blessings!

When Julie Opipari isn’t mucking around the barn, she can be found trying to make a dent in the massive pile of manga that keeps following her home from the bookstore.  Not wiling to admit she has a problem, she blissfully continues to anticipate the latest releases despite the cries of agony from her credit card.  She cheerfully blames her addiction on the stresses of college and post traumatic work disorder, and is grateful that her family grumbles only occasionally about the amount of time she spends buried in her books. In addition to reading Your Manga Minute every Wednesday, you can read more of Julie’s work on her blog, Manga Maniac Cafe.

What’s even cooler than seeing Eric Canete draw a picture of the Batman family? Reading him explain it.

The Luke Cage artist has a full-length process piece on his blog, wherein he looks at the evolution of the piece.  Here’s one highlight, in which he discusses the spiral-like composition of all the characters:

From there my attention focuses on the composition. I employ a lot of tricks in determining a competent composition for an image and one of those tricks is using something called THE GOLDEN SPIRAL. This mathematical formula has been used to explain the theoretical compositions in classical art throughout history. However, in my applications, I only use it as very loose guideline. Actually, the version I use more closely resembles the Fibonacci Spiral, which is less rigid than its logarithmic predecessor. As an example, I’ve layered a version of the spiral (slightly warped using Photoshop in order to better serve my example) over the rough of the 90 minute exercise.

It’s particularly fascinating — for those who saw his C2E2 print of the Avengers, you can see that Canete likes to insert these cool little details, like the placement of the characters and what they’re doing saying a lot about their status in their particular franchise. Either way, what a slick-looking piece — especially that Cassandra Cain. And that’s no surprise, considering original series artist Damion Scott also eschewed from the traditional in terms of proportion and speed. Am I the only one who thinks Canete would draw a sick Batgirl? Sound off!

“Hey, Arch, leave your comic book alone”: Hey, Andrew Heller, Archie Andrews doesn’t really make those comics himself.

“The late, great Dave Stevens drew comic book characters that rocketed right off the page”: Writing for the LA Times’ Hero Complex blog, Geoff Boucher appreciates the late Dave Stevens. It’s a piece occasioned by IDW’s release of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer: Artists’s Edition.

“Robert Downey Jr. confirms Iron Man 3″: Hey, just two more and RDJ will beat Tobey Maguire’s record!

“I told him repeatedly that it was a bad idea. I’ve never had an editor so dogged to chase a project”: That’s Berkeley Breathed on how IDW’s Bloom County reprint program came about, in this Q-and-A with Publishers Weekly.

“I want to see Aquaman respond to the environmental disaster of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. I want to see Daredevil try and track down the Times Square car bomber”: Johanna Draper Carlson offers an idea on how to make superhero comics interesting again for her—more ripped from the headline stories. In theory, that’s a great idea. But seeing how the Big Two superhero comics makers have done that sort of thing recently—think DC’s weird Decisions fantasy election thing, or Marvel’s painfully unfunny Spidey-meets-Obama back-up—I’m cool with them staying as far away from the headlines as possible. (By the way Marvel, if you wanna hear a Namor, The Sub-Mariner versus The Somali Pirates pitch, call me!)

You call that homoerotic?: Artist Nick Mullins has a neat drawing of some Masters of the Universe characters up at his blog under the post title “homoerotic he-man.” As a one-time Masters of the Universe expert, I don’t really see how his He-Man is any more homoerotic than plain old normal He-Man. The main difference between his drawing and the characters in their natural state seems to be that Stratos and Man-At-Arms aren’t wearing their body paint. (Via Tom Spurgeon)

Brad Meltzer wants his son to have real-life heroes. So what’s a writer to do, but put together a book?

“Heroes for my Son” is a new book coming next week from the successful suspense novelist and comic book writer. The book features 52 heroes from various walks of life, be they famous leaders, athletes, inventors, and creatives. The first hero though, for Brad, is his mother. As such, and leading to Mother’s Day this weekend, Brad released this special video.

On Monday, Peter O’Donnell passed away. He had just celebrated his ninetieth birthday a week before.

Of course, he’s best known for creating the noir character Modesty Blaise, collaborating with artist Jim Holdaway, whose strip ran for almost forty years. In 2001, O’Donnell retired the character and left specific instructions that no other writer handle the character. Especially on film.

Films were made of the character, with the most famous being  the loose adaptation with Monica Vitti and Terrence Stamp.

O’Donnell also wrote a number of adventure novels under the name nom de plume, “Madeleine Brent”.

Black Blizzard
Written & Illustrated by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Translated by Akemi Wegmüller
Edited, Designed and Lettered by Adrian Tomine

The fifth of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s books to be translated to English, Black Blizzard actually predates all of the previous editions.  Three collections of short comics stories chronicling the dark underbelly of Japan’s industrial rise dated from the late 1960s and early 70s.  Last year’s superb A Drifting Life, Tatsumi’s thinly veiled autobiography and history of the manga industry itself, reached shores in Japan and the United States only months apart.  Published in 1956 when Tatsumi was just twenty one years old, Black Blizzard channels classic genre elements, a crime thriller, a tense study of character contrasts in close quarters, an escaped convict chase.

A young pianist, Susumu, and a three-time killer are handcuffed together on a transport train.  A rockslide demolishes the train, but the two men escape.  Fleeing into a blizzard, the two mismatched men seek shelter and escape from their binding.  Unable to find a tool to cut through the cuffs, the hardened repeat convict decides that one of them must cut his hand off.  It’s a bit of a stretch.  While hiding and hoping for an alternative means of removing their cuffs, the convict asks Susumu his story, which is told.

Tatsumi doesn’t leave much guesswork in this mystery.  Susumu’s far too nice a protagonist to work as a believable murderer, so the reader knows early on that there’s a catch.  The surprising final act revelation about his fellow escapee is convenience far beyond the traditional story deus ex machina.

Despite its tepid plotting, however, Black Blizzard attains a level of entertaining fluff.  Tatsumi’s illustrations provide most of the pleasure in the story, particularly his use of slashing diagonal lines to cover the characters as they push forward through the blizzard, and his evocative, dramatic character work.  Emotive character acting and strong use of cross-hatched shadows give lift to the characters, even when they’re enmeshed in a plot of convenience.

It is, ultimately, largely derivative work, and a far cry from the darkness and debased humanity of Abandon the Old in Tokyo or the historical importance of A Drifting Life, but Tatsumi still achieves a base level of entertainment.  The Push Man or A Drifting Life remain the best places to being your exploration of Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s dramatic and distressing comics.  Black Blizzard is an opportunity to see an early step in the development of that voice, and a chance to see Tatsumi grapple with a straight crime thriller potboiler.  You’ll read worse in your life.  That may not be the most glowing praise, but it’s still the truth.

Let’s see, this week Marvel’s got Iron Man 2: Public Identity #2,  Iron Man Vol. 3: World’s Most Wanted Book 2, Iron Man: Armor Wars II and Iron Man: The Art of Iron Man 2 all scheduled for release, providing a nice last-minute dollop to the pile of Iron Man, Black Widow and even Whiplash product they’ve pumped out over the past year or so to get ready for this weekend’s big movie. I think it’s safe to say any movie fans who come into comic shops asking for Iron Man comics will be pretty well covered.

Alias #1: You know Jessica Jones, the former superhero-turned-swear-word-using private detective turned mom that Brian Michael Bendis simply can not stop writing, even though her solo series ended some four years ago? Well, you can check out her first appearance for just a buck thanks to Marvel’s “Marvel’s Greatest Comics” reprint program. Michael Gaydos draws, and David Mack provides the cover.

The Amazon: Dark Horse re-offers Steven T. Seagle and Tim Sale’s action story about a reporter visiting the Amazon jungle and the adventure he finds there in a 90-page, $15 hardcover. You can check out a preview here.

Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine #1: Jason Aaron teams up with Adam Kubert to create a new team-up ongoing featuring Marvel’s two most bankable stars. It’s a $4 comic.

The Avengers: I Am an Avenger: This 215–page, $24 trade paperback collects a whole mess of classic Avengers comics featuring recruitment drives and new line-up debuts…as well as an all-star list of contributors. Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, Walt Simonson, Larry Hama and, of course, Stan Lee are among the guys behind Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in this collection.

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If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

You ready to see more of Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice? Now here’s your chance.

Lighting up Facebook on Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you”), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II has announced its released date, on October 26.

The Force Unleashed, for those who haven’t played the games, follows “Starkiller,” the unnamed apprentice of Darth Vader. The son of one of the Jedi culled in Vader’s wake, Starkiller was hidden from the Emperor and sent across the galaxy to hunt down more of Vader’s estranged brethren.

Of course, when you’re dealing with the Sith, loyalty is never what it seems…

Captain America’s deadliest foe has been confirmed, with Hugo Weaving taking on the terrifying crimson visage of the Red Skull!

Marvel has confirmed the news on their web site, as Weaving will join Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell. The Skull was one of the Nazis’ most terrifying symbols in the Marvel Universe, and in the comics recently masterminded the apparent assassination of Steve Rogers.

This won’t be the first time that Weaving has worked on genre-friendly entertainment, however — in addition to making his name as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, he was in the Lord of the Rings films as well as playing the title role for V for Vendetta. Captain America is due out on July 22, 2011.