Hey there Bulleteers! Raph here with
another COLUMN! I am going to sort of reformat this bad boy.
I've had a lot of thoughts go through my head. A lot has
happened...
Steve C. has a column. I've
spilled my guts out about my comics. I got the Superman Ultimate
Collector's Set Tuesday afternoon... plus I have Crisis on
Infinite Bullets, finals and papers to do. It's a good thing I
am the son of Jor-El, or I wouldn't be able to do this at super
spe—oh wait.. I'm human?!? AWWW $##$^&$%^#$^!!! Well I type 80 –
100 wpm when I really motor. I'll make it.
This week's issue will
contain the origin of “Wraithmaker”, My Manhunter #26 review,
some Speeding Bullets, and the first part of a 4 part
retrospective on 2006. Not in that order. I guess I'll delve
into Wraithmaker first, as I'm starting this on Tuesday night.
I started college in September of 2002 at SUNY Purchase. It's in a very tiny college town. I'm a city boy. Long story short, I was miserable. I took a semester off. The summer of 2003, my cousin asked me to work at his flooring store. 550 bucks for two weeks. Not bad for a 19 year old kid, so I said yes. I didn't know I'd be there 60 hours a week. After a month, I was running the store by myself. Wow, that was fun. You buy a new floor HOW often??? I spent my time in this chatroom on Yahoo!, a comic book chat room. I talked comics with people there, until my cousin cut the internet. It was an expense to use the phone. I sat in that store alone. I started to go crazy a little. I put the radio on. I doodled. I've been drawing this one character since I was like 10 years old. I never had a name for him. I never had any set origin story for him. So I set out to do it.
I created this character named Wraith. He was supposed to be like the Ghost Twins from the Matrix sequels. The first 12 issues I wrote revolved around his origin, and the people in his life. I killed his girlfriend in the 2nd issue, killed him in the 5th, and destroyed New York City by the 8th issue. I was reading the Ultimates at the time, and Lord of the Rings was still coming out. Wraith had a phoenix named Azrael who brought him back to life to fight Reaver, the Dark Soul Lord and The Black Dragon. Wraith had help in his cousin Alan, a sort of genius Iron-man type inventor and Tamara Valentin, a NYPD detective. There were huge battles and over-the-top fight scenes... I still like some of my ideas. I showed my scripts to the guys at the local comic shop and they liked it. I never got an artist on it... I tried to learn how to draw and I'm not quite there, but I definitely draw better than Frank Miller (I respect his art, I don't like that “Post-Modern Dada whatever he calls his DK art” look). I've recently re-done the series, along with my other books.
Wraithmaker stems from the simple idea that I created Wraith. I also have a “Wraithverse.” In it are a super-team and a Superman analogue. I have my first “company crossover” planned. It's going to be so much fun. To be honest, I don't know if I could write any other characters beside my own and Superman. That's just something I've never tried. I would be thrilled to work for DC or Marvel, but I'd be scared ****less about how to do the story.
So that's the story of my
username. Hope you liked it, but not enough to steal my
characters...I've got my eye on you...
PART 1 OF MY 2006 RETROSPECTIVE – January to March
These months saw the
conclusion of Infinite Crisis. We learn the truth about Superboy-Prime
and Alex Luthor. We see Superman fight himself. We see heroes
shine, and fail. JLA finally ended. Superman ended, Adventures
of Superman taking over the name. I think Identity Crisis came
out in hardcover format, and we all remember how Brad Meltzer
made us care about D-List characters. Kyle was coming to terms
with who he is, before losing Jenny and becoming Ion AGAIN. Hal
hadn't been back for long before the Crisis. DMZ became the hot
book everyone around me told me to pick up. Wally West concluded
his final run on the Flash, little did we know then. I eagerly
counted down the days for Superman Returns. I turned 22, the
same day CGS turned 1. Without looking at my comics (which is
impossible, too many stacks to go through) I can't really
remember what happened. I'm sure the next quarter will be a much
better retrospective.
RAPH'S SILVER BULLETS
I picked up EIGHT, count 'em
EIGHT, DC books this week. I spent like 35 bucks. Didio... my
wallet hates you. I love you though. Give me a contract? Please?
The “Claustrophobic” Bullets –
This was tied between two members of the Bat Family. Nightwing
#127 was a tense, thrilling story. Nightwing meets Kill Bill
Volume 2. Detective #826 was a frenetic journey, as we
experience the true horror of the Joker through the eyes of Tim
Drake. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is choosing to act
in spite of your fear. These two, students of the Bat, showed us
this. Great picks.
The “Reboot of the Month” Bullet
– Justice Society of America #1. Geoff Johns is at it again. I
love the diversity of the JSA legacy. From Ma Hunkel's
hyperkinetic granddaughter to the ultra brooding son of the
Atom, to the old timers looking over the candidates. One thing
that has always made me wince is the fact that Superman looks up
to the JSA, when he was the original, greatest Superhero. Ah
well, this is New Earth...
The “Bang for the Buck” Bullet –
52 Week 31. A new wrinkle in the story, we see what the Space
Heroes (Lobo, Starfire, Adam Strange and Animal Man) are up
against. Ralph Dibny knows... who Supernova is?!? This series
makes you care about C List characters... that is the ultimate
accomplishment in comics.
I don't want to do a Raging Manhunter review, as almost everyone has taken up the challenge, and so far on the forums a lot of people have read it, therefore I don't feel the need to recap. I will give you my personal reading experience.
I thought that the issue was a sort of reboot. All of the characters are in new places. We don't get blatant explanations of things, but it's definitely got a new flow. Maybe it's because it's the last arc, and it's supposed to tie into the greater DCU in a big way? I like Andreyko's writing in this book, I only read 3 issues of Manhunter before this, and I can understand why everyone from Sean and Jim to Joss Whedon love this book. I am definitely on board for the remainder of the series.
Listening to Raging Bullets and other Podcasts... I've come to appreciate more comics, much to my wallet's chagrin. I've been collecting hardcore since 1997, about age 13... I always got every book I could. Nowadays, they've doubled in price, and I only pick up the Supermans, the Batmans, Spider-Mans... and WHAT-NOT!!! (The 10 deep stack of boards shatters in front of me) I stopped caring about the smaller characters, like Kate Spencer, or Moon Knight. Because the various podcasters take the time to explain to me why they like the characters and the books, I get a taste of what's in the book, and I go out and get them. I need to get to work... I gotta be able to spend that 400 bucks a month that I've dreamed of!
So that's it for my slightly late column. I hung out with a bunch of people from the forums last night (Friday). It was awesome. Just talking comics, cartoons and WHAT-NOT (My Kingdom Come Superman still in it's packing gets unpackaged... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). We hung out from like 7 – 12 pretty much, and I enjoyed the hell out of meeting everyone. Thanks Ian, Chris, Tony, Mitch, Denise, Spano, Joe and Jimmy (albeit a short cameo) for such an awesome time. Definitely gotta do that again sometime.
As for the rest of the
Bulleteers, we are going to have a blast at Comic-Con, two and a
half months away! Anybody who lives in the NYC area, there's a
thread for another meet-up, feel free to hop in. Spread the
comics madness.
NEXT TIME: Silver Bullets
CHANGED, Raging Review of... don't know yet. April – June 2006
Retrospective. .. and whatever the hell else I can fit between
my papers and finals! Till next time!
Raph is a 22 year old Hunter
College student. He has a weekly column, “Raph's Raging Bullets
of the Week,” which can be found on the Raging Bullets website.
You can find him on the CGS forums as “Wraithmaker.” He is
currently in the process of getting self-published. He also
screams out “FIF-DE TOO” in the middle of the street sometimes
and could use some professional help with that. He also made a
BUH-GUYH t-shirt, but won't sell it since DC would sue his pants
off for using the actual panel Batman says it in.
OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER: Raph's rants and insanity do not reflect the opinion, beliefs or goals of Raging Bullets as a podcast or publication. Any opinions, words or strange sounds coming out of Raph are completely his own, and shall be treated as such by anybody with sue-happy lawyers. Oh, and if you're actually going to sue me, get a life, I'm not really here to trash anyone, just spreading the comics love.