Had a chance to go to the 1st Windy City Comicon yesterday. It was held at 3656 N Halsted in Chicago. Overall not a bad show, but it definitely has a lot of room to improve. I liked the set up in the basketball court which had a nice open feel to the show. On the downside there was a severe lack of Bronze Age and older comics. This may have had something to do with the fact that there were only 8 comic vendors along with 2 or 3 toy/apparel vendors. Most of the comic vendors appeared to only have "hot" comics on there back walls and $1 books in their back issues boxes, which mostly contained books from the past year. The Artist’s Alley section took up the middle of the floor and took up most of the space in the room. They also had a lot of space dedicated to heroclix and magic tournament tables. Overall I would give it a 3 out of 5 X-Men. I am hoping this con becomes bigger and better as the Chicago area needs another con besides Wizard World.

Not enough time to give every book from the past week a detailed review so here is just a quick line or two of some of the more notable and a rating:

Batman and The Outsiders #12 : Decent artwork, Interesting to see the new direction. 3 out of 5 Batmen

Birds of Prey #123: A Joker/Oracle almost showdown, and a last page that makes next issue a must have. 4 out of 5 JLAers.

Grant Morrison’s Dr. Who #1: Cool collection of formerly UK only stories. But then I do have a soft spot for all Dr. Who Things. 5 out of 5 future JLAers.

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COVER BY: ALEKSI BRICLOT
WRITER: BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
PENCILS: BILLY TAN
LETTERED BY: COMICRAFT

It is amazing how much the quality of a crossover book can vary. In some of the Secret Invasion crossovers there is no coherence with the main event, or in some cases (SI Amazing Spider-Man) reason for the characters name to even be on the book. This issue of New Avengers however, shows exactly what all crossover books should aspire to be: a great story on its own that actually enhances the event. The Hood is rounding up the villains in an attempt to figure out what happened to Madame Masque when she was captured by SHIELD. He ended up rescuing her but after killing some agents, they noticed that they had changed into Skrulls. They then capture a Skrull agent to show the assembled villains what they are up against. After killing the agent and the spy that infiltrated the group, the Hood goes home to do some "soul searching" to figure out how and why he has new powers. It is revealed that the Dormammu is his benefactor in the cliffhanger ending. The artwork is very clean and moves the story along very well. The writing is top notch by Bendis and it would make sense that the best SI crossovers would come from him since he is writing the main title.

Overall it rates a 4 Marvel Zombies out of 5.

AUG084007H  ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY HC #19 (MR) $15.95
SEP084048H  ADVENTURES OF POLO HC (C: 0-1-2) $16.95
AUG082320D  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #575 $2.99
AUG082321D  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 $3.99
JUL083987E  AMERICAN PRESIDENTS SC $19.99
AUG083748E  ARCHIE #590 $2.25
AUG083747E  ARCHIE AMERICANA SER TP VOL 09 BEST OF 90S BOOK 1 $11.95
AUG083751E  ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #193 $3.69
AUG084287H  ASTERIX OMNIBUS SC VOL 02 $19.95
AUG084289H  ASTERIX OMNIBUS SC VOL 10 (C: 0-1-2) $19.95
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AUG088164J  CAPTAIN AMERICA WHITE FOLDED PROMO POSTER (NET) $0.00
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AUG084164E  CRYPTICS TP $17.99
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JUL083774F  CTHULHU TALES TP VOL 02 WHISPER OF MADNESS $15.99
AUG088104D  DAREDEVIL #111 2ND PTG MANN VAR (PP #837) $2.99
AUG080113D  DC UNIVERSE DECISIONS #4 (OF 4) $2.99

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Its been awhile but this issue picks up one month in the future from the events in issue #3. The Earth has been enslaved by the Anti-Life Equation and Darkseid’s forces are attempting to bring him back via a human incarnation. The heroes are scattered at 6 Watchtowers across the world and are are cut off due to the Anti-Life Equation being broadcast on all forms of media and communication. We see a screen showing that some heroes have been catpured, some are offworld, and some such as Batman and Superman are MIA. The Flashes (Barry and Wally) escape from a band of Justifiers seemingly led by Wonder Woman. Black Lightning leads another group of Justifiers on an assault of the Hall of Justice and they capture Green Arrow. The final scene shows the rebirth of Darkseid and his final judgment that the holocaust on humanity should never end. The story much easier to follow than the earlier installments and moves along at a quick pace. The artwork by Jones and Pacheco is phenomenal. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the series plays out.

Overall due to the huge amount of improvement. This rates a 4 out of 5 Batmen.

When we last left this series the Marvel Heroes were mounting an all out assault on the Skrull Queen. This issue pick ups with several pages of all out battle between the two groups. The Hood and his group of villains arrive to help repel the Skrulls. Iron Man has to leave to fix his programming which is infected with a virus(Which seems to play into the theory that Norman Osbourne will take over SHIELD when this series is over)..  Ronin ends up apparently killing the Skrull Queen with an arrow to the head and it also appears that the Yellowjacket Skrull was killed as well. There must be a requirement in all Marvel crossovers that a giant figure dies in a large battle. Jessica Jones leaves her child with Jarvis to join the fight and it is then revealed that this is Skrull-Jarvis. The final scene ends with the Wasp remembering Yellowjacket gave her a serum that supposedly allowed her to grow into Giant Woman. It turns out this was some kind of explosive toxin as the final page shows the Wasp about to go nuclear. Overall not too bad of an issue as the pace definitely picked up, but with only one issue left it seems hard to believe this will all be wrapped up.Yu’s artwork is solid through most of the issue, but at points it is a little disjointed and hard to follow.

Not a horrible issue but just over average, garnering a 3 out of 5 Marvel Zombies.

Here is the list of all comics shipping this Wednesday:

JUL084196H  2000 AD #1605 (C: 0-1-2) $4.50
AUG084269H  2000 AD #1606 (C: 0-1-2) $4.50
AUG084275H  ABC WARRIORS THIRD ELEMENT ROBOT WAR TP (C: 0-1-2) $18.99
AUG083890F  ALPHA GN #1 EXCHANGE (C: 0-1-2) $19.95
JUN082307D  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #568 ROMITA SR VAR NWD $3.99
AUG088052D  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #572 2ND PTG JRJR VAR (PP #836) $2.99
AUG082319D  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #574 $2.99
AUG082245D  AMORY WARS II #5 (OF 5) $2.99
AUG084133E  ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #13 $3.99
AUG084134J  ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #13 10 COPY VIRGIN RUNGE INCV (NET) $0.00
AUG084135J  ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #13 25 COPY VIRGIN GARNER INCV (NET) $0.00
JUL083888E  ARMY OF DARKNESS #14 $3.50
AUG083832E  BART SIMPSON COMICS #44 $2.99
AUG080143D  BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #6 (OF 12) $2.99
JUL083889E  BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ORIGINS #11 $3.50
AUG083752E  BETTY & VERONICA #238 $2.25
AUG083754E  BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #165 $3.69
AUG080157D  BIRDS OF PREY #123 $2.99
AUG080158D  BLUE BEETLE #32 $2.99
JUN083813E  BROTHERS IN ARMS #4 $3.50
AUG082333D  CAPTAIN AMERICA #43 $2.99
JUL080154D  CATWOMAN CRIME PAYS TP $14.99
JUL083827I  CEDRIC GN VOL 01 HIGH-RISK CLASS (C: 0-1-2) $11.95
JUL083763F  CHALLENGER DEEP #3 (OF 4) $3.99
AUG084492H  CINEMA RETRO #12 (C: 0-1-2) $11.99
MAY084247H  CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #74 HAVOK (C: 1-1-3) $12.00
MAY084248H  CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #75 FALCON (C: 1-1-3) $12.00
MAY084249H  CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #76 MS MARVEL (C: 1-1-3) $12.00
JUL083986E  COMICS JOURNAL #293 $11.99
JUL084198H  COMPLETE ACE TRUCKING TP VOL 01 (C: 0-1-2) $30.50
JUL084219F  CREAM OF TANK GIRL HC (C: 0-1-2) $29.95
JUN082406D  CRIMINAL 2 #6 (MR) $3.50
AUG082277D  CYBLADE #1 MAYS CVR A $2.99
AUG082278D  CYBLADE #1 ROCAFORT CVR B $2.99
JUL088193J  CYBLADE #1 ROCAFORT LINEAR CVR INCV (NET) $0.00
AUG082343D  DAREDEVIL #112 $2.99
AUG082344D  DAREDEVIL #112 FOREMAN ZOMBIE VAR $2.99
AUG080136D  DC UNIVERSE HALLOWEEN 08 $5.99
JUN083835F  DEAN KOONTZS FRANKENSTEIN VOL 01 #4 (OF 5) PRODIGAL SON $2.99
JUL083836F  DEAN KOONTZS FRANKENSTEIN VOL 01 #5 (OF 5) PRODIGAL SON $2.99
AUG088066J  DIAMOND DATELINE OCT 22 2008 (NET) $0.00
AUG080224D  DMZ #35 (MR) $2.99
AUG084335F  DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE GN (C: 0-1-2) $11.95
AUG084368E  DRAGONBALL COMPLETE ILLUSTRATIONS HC (C: 1-0-0) $24.99
MAY083829H  DRAWN & QUARTERLY SHOWCASE TP VOL 05 (MR) $19.95
JUN082411D  ELEKTRA BY FRANK MILLER OMNIBUS HC $74.99
JUN080085V  EVIL DEAD TP (C: 0-1-2) $12.95
AUG080194D  FAMILY DYNAMIC #3 (OF 3) $2.25
JUN080061D  FEAR AGENT #24 1 AGAINST 1 (PT 3 OF 6) $2.99
JUL080107D  FINAL CRISIS #4 (OF 7) $3.99
AUG080115D  FINAL CRISIS SUBMIT #1 $3.99

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Welcome to the new Calliope’s Realm Comics Website. We will be using the site not only for offering back issues, T-shirts, and other comic related items available for sale, but we will now be offering reviews of new comics, movies, TV shows and cool products. If you have a comic or other item you would like reviewed please send it to Calliope’s Realm Comics 133 S Washington St Naperville IL 60540 or via email to calliopescomics@gmail.com. We will review all items sent. Thanks for visiting and keep an eye out for new updates and comic listings.