November 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Mail-Order Mysteries: Real Stuff from Old Comic...
The ads in comic books are just no fun anymore. Video games, movie ads, glossy full-page appeals to whatever dollars the kids have left over after buying the latest and greatest MP3s on iTunes, or whatever kids are spending their money on these days. Mine seem to spend it all on energy drinks. But it’s not like kids are reading comics anyway, right? When I was 6 years old, I started reading...
October 2011
12 posts
4 tags
Marvel in the ‘70s
Writer: Pierre Comtois Editor: John Morrow Publisher: TwoMorrows Publishing
Marvel in the ‘70s is a sequel to the author’s Marvel in the ‘60s (natch), which one would have to say had the easier route to success. After all, it was in the ‘60s that the “Marvel Age” began, with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others cutting loose with one fresh new superhero after another, like Spider-Man, the...
9 tags
IDW′s Elder Gods, Young Pups and Old Fogies
Eternal Descent Vol. 2 #1
My first thought looking at the cover, which features a long-haired rocker holding a glowing red guitar, was that this book was going to be stupid, and might very well have been written by a musician. Sometimes my instincts are right. With a childishly breathless pace, our rocker hero is carried off by a magical guitar to another dimension, where a demon and his...
1 tag
The Unluckiest Characters in Comics
Friday the 13th always brings thoughts of bad luck, even to the least superstitious of us. This week we barely avoid the dreaded day, as the 13th falls on Thursday. Good luck for us. Here’s a look at some of the characters with the worst luck in the history of comics…
Uncle Ben Parker — Bucky came back. Jason Todd came back. Gwen Stacy’s clone’s had more revival...
4 tags
When Comics Meet Online Gaming
I’m not a gamer and never have been. There are a few old-school video games I enjoy, like Tetris and Ms. Pac-Man, but when it comes to the wider world of gaming, I have never really delved into the world of casino games.
I seem to have inherited my mother’s disinterest in games of chance. We had few board games when I was growing up — Monopoly and Scrabble are the two I...
2 tags
ADD Reviews Little Nothings Vol. 4: My Shadow in...
When it comes to comics, I feel like I don’t know what the hell I like to read anymore. I know it’s corporate superhero comics that have abandoned me, and not the other way around, but it really makes me feel like a bit of an idiot when someone asks me (as they frequently do), “What are you reading these days?” Because they usually mean, “What superhero books do you...
3 tags
ADD Reviews Batman: Year One DVD
I’ll get my bias out of the way right up front: Artist David Mazzucchelli’s work on the Frank Miller-written Batman: Year One (the comic) is about the best art ever created for a superhero comic book. I love the work of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Gil Kane, to name a few great superhero artists, but Mazzucchelli on Year One (and also in the also-Miller-written Daredevil: Born Again)...
8 tags
DC 51 Week Four, Part Two - Racing with the Flash...
Here it is, the final part of the four week tour through the new DCU. And while I’ve never run a marathon, I can only imagine this is how a runner feels after the 25th mile of the run: it’s been like a massive endurance test but I… just… have… to… make… it… across… that… line.
And the conclusion, as it moves reverse alphabetically to the...
Prices Slashed on ADD's October eBay Auctions!
Just reduced prices on the new, unread graphic novels I have listed on eBay, now far less than half of cover price, less than Amazon, even! These books are great for holiday gift giving, or cheap reads for yourself. Your bids help support our efforts here on TWC. Speaking of which, mention Trouble With Comics at Checkout and get FREE BONUS COMICS included with your order! Titles include From Hell...
15 tags
The New DC 52 Week Four, Part Three – The Dark and...
The Fury of Firestorm #1 by Ethan Van Sciver, Gail Simone and Yildiray Cinar has one good element at its core (I guess that pun is intended) and that’s the issue of race. Before high school quarterback Ronnie Raymond and school reporter Jason Rusch are linked to the Firestorm Protocol, they are just kids who don’t get along because Jason accuses Ronnie of racism. It′s not that Ronnie says or does...
10 tags
The New DC 52 Week Four, Part Two - Three Men and...
Four titles here, and another four in a day or two to wrap up the first month of DC′s relaunches. It′s been a long time since I′ve reviewed this many books in this short a time, and I fully admit it′s probably unfair that books from IDW (a very good Star Trek series just started) and Dark Horse (the B.P.R.D. still going strong) and lots of interesting books from Fantagraphics, not to mention some...
6 tags
DC 51 Week Four, Part One - Vampires, Strippers &...
The final week. Every DC Universe #1 that’s been published. The good, the bad and the embarrassingly ugly. And to help with the process it’s all going to be reverse alphabetical order. So for Zachary, Zoe and all of the Zoological experts out there… this reverse alphabetical journey is for you.
For all of the justified hatred and disappointment brought about by Catwoman and Red Hood, I was...
2 tags
So You Want to Make Comics?
So you want to make comics. A lot of people do, but only a few are ever lucky enough to see their stories get into print. There are few storytelling mediums as visceral and exciting as comics, and nothing as satisfying as seeing your own stories come together and entertain an audience, so if you are thinking about creating comics, here are some points to remember along the way. How do you get...
September 2011
26 posts
2 tags
So You Want To Publish Comics?
If you want to publish comics, you’re not alone. Something in the raw appeal of comics storytelling makes a large portion of the audience want to try it themselves.
If I had to guess, I’d say this phenomenon is far more common to comics than it is to other storytelling media. Sure, a small percentage of moviegoers want to direct their own movies, but most people are happy just...
12 tags
The New DC 52 Week Four, Part One - Fishing for...
And so we enter the final week of DCs reboots, with about 40 books under our belt and a final dozen to review. For now particular reason, lets start with them in alphabetical order.
All-Star Western #1 by Justin Gray, jimmy Palmiotti and Moritat is an early front runner for book of the week. I liked Gray and Palmiotti′s Jonah Hex quite a bit, so I′m happy they get to continue with Jonah here,...
13 tags
DC Week Three – Birds, Bats and (thankfully) Some...
To be honest, DC almost beat me to the ground with their insulting Catwoman / Red Hood and the Outlaws combo punch to my four-color inner faith, but the rest of the books for this week couldn’t be that bad, could they? Could they?!?
Well, thankfully, the answer is no. So in UPC order…
Supergirl #1 manages to be a pretty good start to the series but having said that it feels wafer thin. ...
15 tags
The New DC 52 Week Three, Part Two - Turn Me On,...
So now that we′ve covered the Batman related books of the week, what about all the rest? As usual, there are some old standbys and a few solo books for characters who have never been able to support them for long. First, though, we′ve got a book starring one of the heavy hitters of the DC Universe.
Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang is, as expected, a train wreck. The posturing,...
2 tags
ADD Flashback: Bernard Krigstein in the Spotlight
There is no artist in the history of comics that I hold in higher esteem than Bernard Krigstein. No other artist understood the inherent potential of the artform better and no other artist ever demonstrated such a grasp of what was needed in order to reach and exceed both his own limits and those of his chosen medium.
As influential as Jack Kirby was on American corporate superhero comics...
8 tags
The New DC 52 Week Three, Part One
So, good for DC for not only getting some decent sales so far for the relaunches, but generating a bit of controversy as well, specifically with the sexual mores of Starfire and Catwoman in two books that debuted this week. I guess I might as well enter the fray before said fray is all over, so without further adieu…
Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort is, to be...
1 tag
How Much Are My Comics Worth?
“How much are my comics worth?” I’ve been writing about the artform and industry of comics for over a decade now, and this is one of the most frequent questions to come my way. On average, if you’re lucky, you’ll get about 12 cents from a dealer for any random comic book. That’s half of what they’ll charge when they throw it in their quarter bin. And...
