That Herc’s one mean CRAKKAJAMMA!

Hopefully I am preaching to the nerd choir when I confess my affection for Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente’s Incredible Herc—easily one of, if not the most, fun book on the shelves right now! Following the Lion of Olympus and is ward, boy genius Amadeus Cho, after the events of “World War Hulk,” this book has been a nonstop thrill ride and the best buddy comedy in comics, hands down!

This last issue (#122), Clayton Henry—with Salva Espin on a flashback sequence—continues art duties, and the book looks great! In this reader’s humble opinion, it’s the best his art has ever looked, and Herc is the perfect title for his style! I loved Khoi Pham’s kinetic action sequences on this title and Rafa Sandoval’s Secret Invasion tie-in was beautiful, but I think Henry may be the best artist to illustrate an arc of this sex-filled, bar-brawl of a book! The humor of this book is amplified so much by facial expressions, and Henry’s proving himself to be some sort of amplifying machine of an artist with each expressive panel (Not too mention Espin’s humorous insert into the issue)!

Here are a few examples of just how fantastic this book looks:

Without a doubt, the most hilarious sound effect ever! And, alongside Herc’s anger, courtesy of Henry, it’s that much greater!

Here’s Herc escaping the Amazonians after seducing Hippolyta. Espin delivers an example of some of this series’ epic comedy.

Back to Henry, we see Herc with the thumbs up for his sidekick, who he presumes is about to get his schwerve on. And in response, Amadeus looking none to pleased that Herc may ruin his chance to score with a mythic beauty.

Not only can Henry do teeth-gritting anger and comic mugging, but the guy can also capture Herc dumbfounded and melancholy upon finding an Amazonian head on a pike.

I’ve got more praise for this book than Homer had epithets for Greek and Trojan warriors! Save me the trouble of typing them all out, go read Herc and construct some descriptive phrases of praise for it yourself!

Chicks dig’em, demons got’em!

Sorry I’ve been a bit absent in the blogosphere, gentlefolk! I’ve got a plethora of DVD reviews (”Hellboy II,” “Kung Fu Panda” and more!) on the way, so stay tuned! But, to get this ol’ blog here warmed up after a while way, how about another hilarious comic book quote!?

This one’s courtesy of Keith Giffen from DC’s Reign In Hell #4 (of 6). Check out what Etrigan has to say after receiving a little battle damage…

So that’s how you drive the she-imps crazy! And here I was trying flattery!

Presidential (Comedy) Material!

Two week’s ago, IDW Publishing put out two books which gave comic book backstory/biographies of the two presidential candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain. While the book’s put together a pretty interesting little history of each candidate, there were a few humorous panels I just had to call out!

Apparently, though Barack Obama’s body has aged, his face has looked the same since he was just a wee lad among the waves!

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McCain is for real…FOR REAL! Do not miss with this dude! He will F–K you up!

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BUMP IT!

Smell the cilantro, Batman!

I wanted to get this up last week when it came out, but couldn’t find the time. Anyway, here’s a shot from Gail Simone’s Secret Six #2, and one of the most hilarious single panel’s in comic history!

Context: Catman is fighting Batman to keep him occupied as the Secret Six break into Alcatraz. Throughout the fight, Catman continually comments on how he smells cilantro or wonders if there is a Mexican restaurant nearby. Finally, Batman gets fed up and says, “If you must know…I had a burrito!”

Fantastic!

HOLLA ATCHA BOY!

The recent relaunch of Deadpool has been quite the comic treat so far. Writer Daniel Way is exhibiting better control with ol’ Wade Wilson than…well, anything he’s ever written! By far his best work, and just a must-read (I’ll gush a bit more about it with a review tomorrow, so check back)!

I’m enjoying it so much that I decided these last two panels of issue #2 (which came out this week) had to get a call out in my “Great Comic Quotes” section, so here they are!

Great art by Paco Medina, as well!

‘Marvel Apes’ meets the Loudest Monkey!

With a last name like Gibbons—which led to a having a blog named “The Loudest Monkey” (and yes, I know a gibbon is an ape and not a monkey, as I stated in my first post)—it seems inevitable that I would have to comment on Marvel’s newest miniseries and variant cover phenomenon: Marvel Apes.

I read a review copy of the book yesterday and found what is quite possibly the most astonishingly personalized talk bubble I have ever come across!

Yep, I’m a Mr. Gibbons. And yes, I have lots of hair…everywhere. So, reading this panel felt eerily like the good doctor was breaking the fourth wall. Yeah, kinda creepy.

So, between DC trying to terrify me with their peanut-filled Joker covers and Marvel putting D-List Spidey villain The Gibbon into a starring role in Marvel Apes…well, reading comics has been a particularly bizarre experience of late!

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Another, albeit brief, Marvel-based monkey last name story:
I emailed editor Bill Rosemann to see if he’d be interested in answering a question about Guardians of the Galaxy for Thwack!.
His response: “Sounds fun, Jim. And how could I turn down a guy with a monkey-like last name?“
Crazy!

More comicky quotey goodness!

Ok, this one’s from two weeks ago, but still some an awesome Hustonism (if you will) from the lead of Rick Remender’s Fear Agent (drawn here by Tony Moore)…

And the moral of the story? Just be yourself! Even if that is a buck-naked Earthman, doped up on alien narcotics and covered in bubble bath!

Science! It’s useful!

One of my favorite lines from this week’s comics!

Ok…yes, another shameless plug for Blue Beetle on my blog, but I love this book and with all sorts of rumors flying around the web about it’s impending cancelation, I gotta show love to this book while I can—And I hope I can for a good long time to come!

Spider-Man explained in an adorable and hilarious nutshell

If you didn’t check out the King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special two weeks back, well you missed a ton of web-slinger fun courtesy of Paul Tobin, Colleen Coover and Chris Giarusso (not to mention a cool Spidey/Falcon retro team-up from Keith Giffen, Rick Burchett, Wil Quintant and Nate Piekos)!

However, fun as the whole super-sized issue was, the simplest yet most hilarious moment may have come on the intro page in a single-panel strip by Coover.

It’s the the wall-crawler’s origin in a silly six words! Good stuff, just like the rest of the issue, so go pick it up!

Ed Brubaker…still the man.

You regular readers will—of course—remember that I am a huge (HUGE!) fan of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ ICON series Criminal, but let me tell you, as I’ve been catching up on comics (I’m a week or so behind) and just read Criminal Vol. 2 #3 which had a bit of semi-silly dialogue that just made me go, “Sh— yeah! This series can be kinda cheesy and still rock!” I mean, I have a Criminal t-shirt and the poster on my wall, so don’t take this in jest when I tell you I love, but laughed out loud at, this line…

Seriously, just one line in a great issue, but I had to give mad-props (yep, I just said “mad-props”) to the Bru for writing that bit of dialogue!

And even more seriously, if you aren’t reading this book on a monthly basis, what the hell is wrong with you?! Dig the scratch out of your couch cushions and pick this up on a monthly basis, it’s well worth it!