Fantom Comics

Fantom manager Jordan Kessler was interviewed about the growing representation of Latinos in the super-hero genre in this article from Mendill Reports.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Date: Saturday, July 26th
Time: 12 O’clock noon
Location: Fantom Comics Tenleytown

This Saturday Fantom Comics Tenleytown will host a town hall debate between Bruce “Batman” Wayne and Tony “Iron Man” Stark.

Several months ago Fantom Comics posed the question: which super-hero would make the best American president, were they to run in the 2008 presidential election? We offered our customers the choice of 16 candidates: 8 from Marvel Comics and 8 from DC Comics.

This May, on Free Comic Book Day, the customers spoke. Batman was nominated as DC’s candidate, and Iron Man as Marvel’s.

Since then the debate has been raging. Who would be the better president? This coming Saturday you’ll have a chance to ask the candidates the tough questions.

The debate will start at noon and run for one hour. As this is a town hall style debate, the questions will be asked by the audience, so be sure to bring some good ones along with you!

Snacks will be provided for all attendees!

Iron Man will be portrayed by professional stand-up comedian and uberdork Jimmy Meritt. Batman by professional comic book slinger and strong-jawed Jordan Kessler.

See you then!

Posted by Matt Klokel at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay.

Since I made my living working at a comic book store for almost a year now, I have in a way, become the source for all things comic book to people. My parents, my friends, my brother, my girlfriend, friends at the gym, my customers; they all want to know what I think about all the superhero movies, and needless to say, they all REALLY want to know what I thought about the Dark Knight.

Since I saw the film, I felt really indifferent to the whole thing, and when talking about the film to anyone, I couldnt really consolidate my feelings about it. I would laugh about the awesome/funny parts, my favorite scenes, and what an amazing performance Heath Ledger gives, but I couldnt really make any critiques about the film. Was it because it was perfect? No, its close, but it is not the BEST movie I have ever seen (favorite film rites are tied between Gladiator and Mystery Alaska). Was it because it was shocking? In a way, but really, I have been reading stories with the Joker in it and I expected this level of creepy-ness from Ledger. In all honesty, once you read Alan Moore and Brian Bollands "The Killing Joke" you are forever perturbed by the Joker, by the Batman, and by their relationship to one another.

Really what shocked me most about this film are three things:

1. I DON'T think I will watch this movie a lot once its on DVD- Its a dark and distubing film. Once I saw it, that was about all for me. It was the same with another dark, disturbing film of much acclaim, "Schindlers List". How many times did you really want to watch that after you saw it the first time? Compared to Batman Begins (which I have watched over 20 times) this film just does not earn my repeat viewing. Parts of course will. But really, thats what YouTube is for right?

2. Why did the Gotham City Police or the National Guard not shoot the Joker- Say what you will about the Gotham City Police Deparment and their knack for corruption, but how did the Joker only get physically bruised in this film? I understand that in Law Enforcement there is a lot of paperwork once an officer shoots another human being, but when the Joker is walking down the street, spraying machine gun fire, of course after he just finished shooting RPG's on a city road at vehicles, and also previously attempted to assassinate the Mayor, I think the word around town would be "shoot to kill". We saw tons of armed "good guys" in this film and not once did the Joker suffer a gun shot wound.

3. The movie was just too long- The film flies by because you are really engrossed in the story, but it really is too long. Harvey Dents [full] transformation should have been passed on to perhaps a future film. I'm thinking about right after he and the Joker speak in hospital. Dent dissapears, and we dont hear from him for the rest of the film. Really the length comes from the Dents/Two-Faces addition.

Thats about it. I dont want to harp about this too much, because this is legitimatly a great film that advances the superhero-movie-medium, regardless of the Batman's prescence as a costumed superhero. So see it, its totally worth it. Just dont fall into the hype. This movie is good, really good, and I dont want to use the term "over-rated", becuause its not... but it kind of is.

P.S. Batman speaks a little TOO much in this film. Remember, in Batman Begins when he explained, IN BATMAN VOICE, to Katie Holmes what was happening with the water in Gotham. Yeah, that was a bit too much. In Dark Knight, Batman has acutual lines, which are the most painful things to listen to. You can actually hear Christina Bale running out of breath trying the spit his lines out in his psuedo Cint Eastwood voice.

*Questions... let me hear it.

Posted by Jordan Kessler at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Brandon Baker-Rice

In this race for President, there is a stark contrast between the two candidates. Though both have dedicated their lives and fortunes to combating the dangers in this world, the difference between the two is clear as night and day.

Tony Stark is a man who represents the bright, shining prospect of tomorrow. He operates in the full light of day, working with our proud first-responders in order to keep this entire country safe from threats both big and small, local and galactic. He believes that the United States should continue to act as a shining beacon of hope, to which other nations can look for inspiration and purpose.

Batman, on the other hand, slinks about in the shadows, shirking both law and responsibility, on a single-minded quest for vengeance. He never once questions how his extra-judicial methods impede the cases of legitimate law enforcement agents, contributing to the revolving door that is Gotham's judicial system. He is too busy jumping around on rooftops, hiding from the light of day. The light of truth. His administration would be one of secrecy, of darkness, of deception, and ultimately, one that would spell dark days for this country.

No one can question Batman's noble goals. However, his tactics and focus show that his first concern is not to move this country forward on the path towards a new tomorrow, but instead to drag it down to the shadowy realm in which he dwells.

Posted by Brandon Baker-Rice at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If any of these strike your fancy, just shoot us an email at subscriptions@fantomcomics.com with your info, including the store you shop at, and we'll pull your request aside.

AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #1 (OF 6)
Spider-Ham, you better watch your back! There's another crazy spoof out there. Please note that after extensive effort to contact DC regarding their misspelling of the title "Year One," it was brought to my attention that the use of the word "None" is, in fact, intentional.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #1
Featuring the original dog from Hell. No, not Poochie! Cerberus. Enjoy the hijinx that ensue as Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Hulk try to get the gatekeeper to hell to the dog show in time to win best of breed.

TWO FACE YEAR ONE #1 (OF 2)
Harvey Dent's origin story. Not sure if you want to buy this? Flip a coin.

UNCANNY X-MEN #500
The X-Men, looking for a place where their tight spandex clothing, toned bodies and freakish nature would blend in better than Westchester, NY, have decided to make San Francisco their new home! Join the X-Men in this groundbreaking crossover issue with everyone’s favorite TV San Fran family, The Tanners, of ABC's Full House. In the main storyline, Wolverine and Stephanie go in search of Uncle Jessie's missing hairbrush. Have Mercy!

WAR HEROES #1
By Mark Millar! After nuclear explosions bring the US to its knees, the government gets the bright idea to grant all of its military cadets super-powers. This book has it all! Post-apocalyptic despair, super-heroes, war stories, romance, and a humorous side-kick played by Hollywood's beloved Rob Schneider. My only question? Is Mark Millar's name pronounced "Mark Mil-aar", or simply "Mark Miller"?

X-FILES SPECIAL #0
Isn't if funny that one of the very few times the FBI isn't depicted in pop culture as being petty, arrogant, incompetent interlopers is when they're hunting down aliens and the supernatural? Perhaps the real-life FBI should take a page from the X-File's book and start hunting the supernatural case of my missing TV remote, which could only be the work of poltergeists.

SECRET INVASION TIE-INS
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #15
NEW AVENGERS #43
NEW WARRIORS #14
SHE-HULK 2 #31
SKRULLS ONE-SHOT
THUNDERBOLTS #122

BATMAN REST IN PIECE TIE-INS
ROBIN #175 RIP

Posted by Matt Klokel at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A group of Fantom regulars saw The Dark Knight at 12:02am this Friday morning. This was deemed the ideal time, as the stigma of being a crazy 12:01 viewer didn’t apply to us, but we weren’t Johnny-come-latelys like that clueless 12:03am audience.

My review is going to be as brief as the movie is brilliant. That means really, really brief. In fact, it can be summed up in 2 words: see it!

The 2.5 hour movie flew by. The writing was great, making this movie as un-hokey as you possibly could in a film involving a grown man dressing up like a bat. The images were visually stunning and the performances were all solid. Bale, Eckhart, Oldman and the rest of the cast delivered some damn fine acting, though they all paled before Heath Ledger’s brilliant and creepy-as-hell portrayal of the Joker. If you’ve been chalking the fawning up to his unfortunate and untimely demise, stop. He deserves every kudo he gets for his performance and I’d say the same thing were he still alive. Heck, even if he were still alive and accused of torturing puppies in his spare time, my opinion of him in this role would remain unchanged, though I’d probably be less glowing of him publicly.

In conclusion, this movie deserves every five star rating it gets. After Howard the Duck, this is the greatest super-hero comic book movie of all time. Do yourself a favor and see it. See it now! Don’t even finish this sentence, just get up and go. Stop reading! You’re wasting valuable time reading this when you could be heading to see The Dark Knight!

Posted by Matt Klokel at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bats beats Shellhead's Shenanigans any day of the week
by: Jeffrey Howe

Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark? President or dictator? If you elect the latter, a dictator is what you will get.

Consider Tony Stark: A brilliant mind once seeking to better humanity, now pursuing an agenda of complete military and political control. We are on the verge of electing a war criminal that has already effectively gained military control over the whole of the U.S.

Stark was at one time the Secretary of Defense (pretty convenient for a weapon's manufacturer). This was supposedly to keep track of his technology. Now he is the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. Is Stark content with so much power? Sadly, no. Now he seeks to control the rights of those who, through an accident of birth or circumstance, find themselves endowed with extraordinary abilities. The Avengers Initiative is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to consolidate all meta-humans under his thumb.

Perhaps this could be forgiven if Stark were competent enough to wield this power effectively. Sadly, he is not. Even with all of the resources at his disposal, Stark was unable to prevent – and indeed instigated – a massive conflict among the superhero community with the passing of the super-registration act. The country has still not recovered from the resulting damage and loss of life. Cities were leveled and heroes murdered. On the heels of this debacle, an irate Hulk returned to earth, after a forcible exile by a cabal of Stark and his peers. Stark is not even in office yet and he has brought our country to its knees twice in the space of a year. If this same caliber of damage had come from outside, it would be called an act of war.

This is in sharp contrast to Bruce Wayne, native son of a city so vile, even its prominent citizens could not walk the streets safely. Here more than anywhere else is where Wayne/Batman should be hopelessly outclassed by the government-endorsed, better-funded Stark; yet operating entirely on his own, at his sole expense, Wayne has managed to keep Gotham City in one piece, even reclaiming it from the devastating earth quake and subsequent No Man's Land conditions of 1999. Here, in a city that was riddled with corruption, rife with murder, and in the grip of a pandemic of criminal insanity, this ever-vigilant figure has managed to maintain order in what should be a lawless city.

No one has any illusions about Gotham City. At any given time one might run into the Joker or another rogue fresh from the revolving door that is Arkham Asylum. It is a city constantly on the verge of tearing itself apart. Yet the city stands. Its citizens live, prosper, and dream. How is this possible? The sheer determination of Mr. Wayne. His relentless dedication to the people of Gotham city has ensured the continued survival of his city.

By all rights Gotham should have fallen long ago to either anarchy or a heavy-handed fascist. Yet thanks to Mr. Wayne, this has never occurred. With a fraction of Stark's resources and casualties, he has maintained peace and order where there should be only chaos.

The people of this nation require competent leadership. Mr. Stark simply cannot provide that. He has spread himself too thin, and has too many vested interests to be either trustworthy or reliable. His actions have repeatedly endangered this country. On the other hand, Mr. Wayne has snatched his city, and in many cases the whole world, from the jaws of disaster time and again. In both cases the results speak for themselves.

The real question is whether you, the people, want America still standing in four years’ time.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)