December 2011
9 posts
1 tag
Flashmob Fridays on Criminal: The Last of the...
Click over to our spinoff blog Flashmob Fridays to read what the gang has to say about the latest release from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, The Last of the Innocent. And we hope you have a happy holiday and a peaceful and prosperous new year!
3 tags
Five Questions for Box Brown
I first reviewed some Box Brown comics about a year ago, when it seemed like no one had much heard of the emerging cartoonist. I had became aware of him on James Kochalka’s message board, and in the year since I looked at Everything Dies, Brown has fairly exploded into the consciousness of people interested in comics, not least because of his efforts with Retrofit Comics. On Friday over on...
1 tag
Six Ways to Read Comics for Free
I originally wrote this for iTaggit.com back in 2008. It seems to me it’s more relevant than ever, so I thought I’d dust it off as food for thought for budget-minded readers as 2012 approaches. There are not too many people I know that are not feeling the pinch right now, and have been for the past several years. The price of nearly everything seems to have increased by up to 200...
1 tag
ADD Reviews Dark Horse Comics' Watermark
The dictionary defines a watermark as “faint design made in some paper during manufacture, that is visible when held against the light and typically identifies the maker.” Dark Horse defies this rather conventional view with its digital watermark, by making it bold, not faint, visible at all times, and applying it not to paper but to digital review copies rather than paper. “Wait...
2 tags
Flashmob Fridays Returns!
If you’ve been with Trouble With Comics from the start back in 2009, you may remember a weekly feature called Flashmob Fridays. Chris and I have decided to bring it back, spinning it off into its own blog and bringing in some new writers (and some who worked on the first version of FMF) to get together each week and converge on a single comic or graphic novel. We hope you’ll join us...
November 2011
2 posts
1 tag
“There are two types of fans: superhero fans and comics fans. The problem is that...”
– Alan David Doane on Twitter
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...
