March 2012
1 post
1 tag
Trouble with Comics
The name of this blog started as a throwaway joke — when I worked up the first test version of the front page, the first line of the fake, place-holding post I put up was, “The trouble with comics is…” and somehow it stuck. My trouble with comics right now is that so very few appeal to me. From the age of 6 until the past couple of years, I existed on a weekly habit of...
February 2012
4 posts
2 tags
Which is More Important, Creator Rights or Health...
One might be a more pressing issue, especially in the United States, but I think they both matter. Today in his Bloggy Thing, longtime comics writer and writer-about-comics Tony Isabella talks about Watchmen 2. His own feelings seem to be that the creative lineup for the prequels will almost certainly guarantee that they are not in line with his vision of what superhero comics should be....
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Not Fair and Not Right: Rob Vollmar Responds to...
When the recent confirmation of Watchmen Part Deux hit the internet, I could barely manage disappointment. Despite DC Comics best efforts to keep their hands off of this blood-soaked property they rightfully own for 25 years now, it really was just a matter of time.
DC Comics, as a small subsidiary of Time-Warner, is a business and, like all businesses, whether they sell beans or computers or a...
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Hitler, Rape, and Watchmen 2
I thought I’d get the hyperbole out of the way right up front. Over the past week, the anger and disgust I feel towards DC Comics and the scabs they’re hired to work on Watchmen comics against the intentions and expectations of all the signatories (DC, Moore, Gibbons) of the original contracts that brought the original Watchmen into the world has threatened to get the best of me. I...
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List of Disgraced Watchmen 2 Scabs Revealed
Comic Book Resources has obediently cooperated with Time-Warner corporate superhero comic book publisher DC Comics in revealing the long-ago leaked “news” that DC will publish comic book derivative of Watchmen, a comic book created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Here is the list of scab creators associated with this unethical publishing decision: Brian Azzarello Lee Bermejo Darwyn...
January 2012
7 posts
3 tags
Bill Sienkiewicz Criterion Godzilla Controversy
Claiming it’s like “putting Daniel Craig on the cover of Dr. No,” Godzilla fans are none too pleased by the artist’s new Criterion Collection Godzilla packaging, with a monster that is arguably much more like, or exactly like, the 2002 design, rather than the 1954 original film on the disc. Facebook erupted with demands to “fix the error” or offer an apology,...
4 tags
John Rozum on leaving Static Shock
It’s becoming clearer week by week that DC’s New 52 has a lot of problems, and John Rozum’s quitting as writer (scripter?) of Static Shock wasn’t very newsworthy until he started posting on Facebook and his blog about it, because the book wasn’t very good from the start and wasn’t selling well. Failing to turn a C-list superhero into anything more is no crime,...
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Flashmob Fridays on Harvey Pekar's Cleveland
I’ve been writing and editing articles and posts about comics for about 14 years now, all told. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of any piece I’ve been involved with than today’s Flashmob Fridays piece on Harvey Pekar’s new and final graphic novel, Cleveland.
Excellent writing abounds from Christopher Allen, Roger Green, Scott Cederlund, and Johanna Draper...
6 tags
Prophet #21
Writer - Brandon Graham
Artist - Simon Roy
Publisher - Image Comics/Extreme. $3.99
I’m old enough to remember the two months that Rob Liefeld’s Prophet was relevant. Without doing any research (both laziness and in support of not supporting SOPA/PIPA), I think it was about issue #7 or 8, when the original creative team abandoned the book to a flash-in-the-pan artist, Stephen Platt,...
ADD Reviews Peanuts #1
It was morbid curiosity that led me to pick up Peanuts #1 yesterday. Published by the Kaboom kids comics imprint of Boom Studios, the book features what is apparently artwork by Charles Schulz on the cover (it has his signature, anyway), new material by people you’ve never heard of, and a sprinkling of classic Schulz Sunday strips marred by modern colouring techniques. The new comics blow it...
1 tag
The Best Comics of 2011 Project
I recently found myself agreeing — as I often do — with Tony Isabella on the issue of the Best American Comics series of annual anthologies. Tony’s recent blog post took the series and editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden to task for not being truly representative of comics in North America. While I was initially excited about the series, year after year I’ve been more...
4 tags
Let It Be
I reject utterly the premise and substance of “The Rare Case Against Creator-Owned Comics,” posted on the Newsarama blog. If anything, Alan Moore’s veto of a reprinting of the 1963 project is a good argument for creator-owned comics. Moore’s writing was the prime appeal of 1963, and speaking as someone who bought it new on the stands, and not disregarding the wonderful...
December 2011
9 posts
4 tags
ADD Reviews Fatale #1 by Brubaker and Phillips
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips stretch their considerable creative muscles to make Fatale #1 an electric and delicious start to their newest project together. I’ve been a fan of this creative team since they first came to my attention on Sleeper, followed them singly and together on pretty much every other title they’ve worked on, and cite their ongoing Marvel/Icon book Criminal as my...
4 tags
On the DC Petition
As one of the signees of my buddy Alan David Doane’s petition asking DC Comics to come to an accord with the creators of Watchmen or, failing that, scuttle plans for Watchmen prequels/sequels/spinoffs, I wrestled with the rationale of it for a little bit. I’m probably as temperamental as Alan, but not so anti-corporate, and by and large I come down on the side of the law. And as it...
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ADD's 10 Best Comics of 2011
Criminal: The Last of the Innocent by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon) — Nuanced and bold, a new high-water mark for Criminal, which continues to be the best regularly-published comic book around. Check out the Flashmob Fridays reviews.
Incognito: Bad Influences by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon) — Not quite as soaring as the very best of Criminal, Incognito...
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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!
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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...
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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...
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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...
