Comicbooks I'm most excited about this week!

by Amir Malekpour

As each week ends, I start to get excited about the prospects of the new week. I start to ponder the upcoming week and think about the charmed life I live. There are a lot of things on my mind ; I need to write more comedy, how can I learn PHP/SQL faster, and what if zombie apocalypse hit us today, do I have enough canned goods? But what gets me most excited about the week is Wednesday, when the new comics come out. This week I am planning on getting 11 issues and I've rated them in order of excitement.

11. Birds of Prey #3 by



Written by: Duane Swierczynski
Art by: Jesus Saiz

One of the biggest surprises of the NEW 52 has been Birds of Prey. I've never been into this title before, even though it's had great creators. But this time around, I'm liking the combination of the team building, human bombs, and addition of a sexy bad ass character Starling.

10. Planet of the Apes #8



(W) Daryl Gregory
(A/C) Carlos Magno

Planet of the Apes has been consistently good month in and month out. Gregory's pen has yielded a political story that takes place in the future, but feels like the middle ages. I can't say enough good things about Carlos Magno. This guy reminds me of Geof Darrow and Frank Quietly. He is that good! The only reason rate it higher is because I missed #7 and I'm not sure if I'll understand what's going on.

9. Mudman #1



story /art / cover Paul Grist

This comic book is my dark horse of the week. I am not too familiar with Grist, though I do own one issue of Jack Staff. The cover looks really cool and I wouldn't mind getting a fresh take on superheros.

8. Batman #3



Written by: Scott Snyder
Cover by: Greg Capullo


Scott Snyder is my favorite writer currently producing work. I own everything he's done, except his human Torch issues. So you can imagine that I'm pretty excited about this issue. I didn't rank it higher because unlike 99% of the comic book readership, I wasn't as much into Greg Capullo's art. Don't get me wrong, the guy has chops and I like his art. But I just feel like it's too cartoony for Snyder's style of writing. This issue is going to be amazing and I'm sure I'll love it since it's being done by two pros, so I have nothing to worry about.

7. Justice League #3



Written by: Geoff Johns
Cover by: Jim Lee

Geoff Johns the nicest great writer of our time. If you're judging from the cover, we'll be getting Wonder Woman in this issue which should be a lot of fun. I'm excited. Honestly, Justice League's pace has been a little too slow for me, but that doesn't mean that I am not enjoying Jim Lee's amazing art and Johns's careful deconstruction of the team. I'm excited!


6. Nightwing #3



Written by: Kyle Higgins
Cover by: Eddy Barrows

Another surprise book for me. I expected to buy the #1 issue and never read Nightwing again. But hey, don't blame me, I was loving the Batman Dick and didn't want him to go back. Was I wrong!?!? Higgins and Barrows are killing it in this series. I love the story from Grayson's past, and the action in this comic is so much fun. The element of romance and danger doesn't hurt either.



5. Thunderbolts #165



Written by: Jeff Parker
Cover by: Kev Walker


Easily my favorite Marvel comic and the only one on this list. Jeff Parker is so funny and so original. This new story line has the defected Thunderbolts in WWII helping Captain America fight Hitler! Nothing gets better. This book has a rotation of some future comic book artist stars, but Kev Walker is the main guy and he rules.

4. Supergirl #3



Written by: Michael F. Johnson
Pencils by: Mahmud Asrar

Johnson and Asrar just kick ass on this title. Supergirl is one of those titles that anyone can get enjoyment out of. This is one that would be good for all ages, races, creeds, and genders. But that doesn't mean it's bland. In fact Supergirl has been one of the more badass characters in the new DC 52.

3. Catwoman #3



Written by: Judd Winick
Art by: Guillem March

This title is not for kids, that's for sure. But I am freaking loving it! I like the sex and the violence and don't think it's disrespectful at all. Of course I am not a woman, but I know a few women who have read this issue and loved it. But that's not why I'm excited about this. I think March has stepped up his awesome art and Winick shows every week why he has become one of my top 5 writers today.

2. Wonder Woman #3



Written by: Brian Azzarello
Art by: Cliff Chiang

No surprise here. If it's one thing I've learned from the new DC 52 is that in DC women rule and no one rules more than Wonder Woman! The always amazing Chiang delivers on every page and Azzarello is doing my most favorite work of his career.

1. Chew #24



Written by: John Layman
Art by: Rob Guillory

oh GOD I love this title. Chew has been consistently good for 25 straight issues! Month in and month out this comic book is intriguing, funny, and beautiful. I have bought every copy and can't wait for the omnibus. I love this team.

Shorthand #1 by Jason McNamara & Rahsan Ekedal

Review by Amir Malekpour

When reading Shorthand, I found myself being jealous of the main character’s detective skills. Now that probably says something about me, for example I need to work on my self esteem, but it also says a lot about Jason McNamara’s great writing skills and Rahsan Ekedal’s ability to convey a story.

Oscar is the mysterious old man who seems to have a knack for deductive reasoning. He ends up of course solving a small town mystery which is a both a great introduction to his character and a setup for wonderful new adventures. I certainly hope we get a long series about this new character. By the way, this would be a great comic book for all ages, as you’ll find kids having a lot in common with Oscar.

My favorite panel:

Writer: Jason McNamara

Artist: Rahsan Ekedal

Silver Surfer: Parable

by Amir Malekpour

I just got this in the mail yesterday and read the whole trade paperback last night. What amazing art by Mobius! The comic is written by Stan Lee and drawn by the master French comic artist Mobius.

I'm not goingto go too much into detail about the story, but as you can imagine, Galactus is back in town and there is gonna be trouble. Silver Surfer the philosphor superhero that he is, tries to save humanity again, cause ... well ... gosh darnit he loves us.

Stan Lee's writing is surprisingly modern (1988) and Mobius is just so ahead of his time.


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Writing 4.5/5
Art 5/5
Overall 5/5

Sunday Tea with X-Women

This Sunday I decided to stay in the house and write this. But I'm still having English Tea with a Turkey and Cheese Sandwich.




I finally had the pleasure of reading a comic book I have bought for over a month, X-Women. This comic book is about the X-Men ladies Rogue, Storm, Psylocke, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers going on an all-girls vacation. Of course as it happens, trouble ensues and the five superheroes have to spring into action. Pretty standard, right? Wrong!

First off you have Chris Claremont writing,a MAD Genius who made the X-Men what they are today. Then you get the amazing art of Milo Manara. Manara is considered a legend in France and is famous for porn/adult themed comic books.

Anyways, I am not going to ruin the story for you, but I will say that the issue is full of half-naked, sexy female super heroes in compromising poses. So in a sense, not too different than any other modern day comic book. What's different is that two legends created this awesome comic book.

The Backgrounds in the comic look just as sexy and beautiful as the foreground. Making females into sex objects is not a new thing in comic books, even the ones geared towards children (which this one most certainly is not!).

What makes this issue perhaps better than the run of the mill sexist comic is the fact that the women kick ass, and are not weak. They are strong characters who look sexy and pick who THEY wanna party with. If you're a man(gay/straight/doesn't matter) and you like comic books, I'd pick this up. If you're a woman, do it anyways. I'd love to know if you think this is misogynistic.

Sunday Evening Iced Tea

Every Sunday I go to one of my favorite coffee shops in San Francisco, Cafe Triest, to write some jokes, prepare for the week coming, read a book, or reread some of my favorite comic books.

Starting July 25th, I will be writing about some of the favorite things I read, did, or saw in hopes that others who share interests would be able to enjoy them also. Hey, I'm not a greedy fellow, I like to share.

So you might be surprised to find out that, in addition to doing Stand-Up Comedy Professionally, I am a Search Engine Marketing Strategist. Last Friday was my last day at my old company, Friend Finder Network which I had been at for close to 8 years! It was a bittersweet day because I will miss a lot of great people. But I am extremely excited to be starting a new position at the Apollo Group and joining an awesome team there. I have not had a chance to write any new jokes, but that's cool because my mind has been stewing on new ways I will add to my new company just like I did for Friend Finder.

As a good bye present my friend and colleague Roland gave me as a gift; Absolute Green Lantern Rebirth [Hard Cover] . First off, let me say that I made a fool out of myself. When I saw him come into work on Friday, I noticed that he had gotten something and I assumed it was a book for himself, so as a joke, I asked "Hey, buddy! What didja get me?". He gave me the present and instantly made me feel like a jerk.

For many months I had debated getting this book because it's written by one of the best comic book writers working today Geoff Johns and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, one of the super stars artists of the last 10 years. This story arc is one of the reasons Green Lantern related comic books tend to be some of the highest selling comic books. There is also a movie coming out next summer starring Ryan Reynolds. It's one of the first books I read when I started to come back to comic books as an adult. Highly recommended.

So why don't I have this book? One reason is that I already own it's cheaper versions, trade paperback and issue formats. Both of which have been signed by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. I also felt that the $75 price tag was too much for an absolute with essentially only 6 issues. For example, Batman Hush, another great DC absolute has 12 issues with slightly higher price tag.

But after receiving the book and seeing that I could have gotten it for $48 on amazon, I felt like it is worth it. This is a beautiful book and the large format really shows how amazing an artist Ethan Van Sciver is. This book is going on my premier shelf up there with Watchmen absolute edition and Batman Absolutes. As a bonus, it includes a Green Lantern issue written and drawn by my favorite comic book creator/writer/artist/human being Darwyn Cooke.

Phone Tag Part II

This is a video that I made with Patrick Bulger of "Things We Made" fame. I'm pretty proud of my off-the-cuff dialogue and acting. Most of the credit should go to Patrick for rolling the film when I actually lost my mind. Hope you enjoy. :)

-Amir

The Amir Supremacy

Video directed by Lee Stoneman. It was fun to shoot and kind of fun to watch. Hope you enjoy.

-Amir