It was my first trip to New York, for the New York Comic-Con. The plan had been for me to hang out mostly with my friend and editor Chris Ryall, but as we should have assumed, the many, many commitments and appointments that come with his position almost immediately took up most of his time. […]
A rare few days of downtime over the holiday weekend, allowing me to catch up on literally months’ worth of comics. Let’s talk about a few things that impressed me: Matt Fraction and Mark Bagley’s FANTASTIC FOUR is off to a good start, with the familiar but in-character subplot of Reed Richards keeping secrets and […]
By the mid-1980s, the BATMAN books published by DC Comics were mired in what could charitably be called a bit of a slump. The Denny O’Neal/Neal Adams-inspired renaissance the character had undergone in the 1970s, which had restored much of the darkness and mood to the series, had been gradually slipping, with several years of […]
Since I’m in a bookstore frame of mind these days, I thought this week we’d take a look at some of the new trade paperbacks and hardcovers that came out last week and immediately caught my eye and found their way home to the Comics 101 HQ Library. New from DC last week was GREEN […]
Thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday to the grand opening of BLASTOFF, my new comic shop in North Hollywood. The day was everything we hoped for, even if we didn’t quite have everything out the way we’d planned, but that’s okay; lots of surprises to come for repeat visitors. If you’ll indulge me, […]
Published by DC Comics’ Wildstorm imprint, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN is that most rare of commodities: a truly original idea that takes some of the oldest and most well-worn characters and concepts from classic literature, and finds a way to make them feel new and vital after a century’s worth of translation and adaptation. […]
Comics can be a tough business for veterans. In an industry that’s always looking for The Next Big Thing, sometimes extremely talented, reliable craftsmen can slip through the cracks. It looked like that had happened to one of my favorites, writer/artist Walt Simonson, who hadn’t been all that active in the last few years. Then […]
Exciting times here at Comics 101 HQ these days, gentle readers. In fact, so much so that I’m going to break from the usual goings-on around these parts and talk about two new projects that are very near and dear to my heart, that have been in the works for months and months, and that […]
Well, we’re a little more than halfway through the BEFORE WATCHMEN experiment, and while the question of whether or not the comics should have been produced at all remains one that people can argue back and forth for days on end, it has to be admitted that when it come to the creative result, this […]
It’s a curious happenstance when it comes to horror and comics: there’s one kind of monster that seems to be unique to comics, or at least more prevalent: The swamp monster. Both Marvel and DC have extremely well known “muck monsters” to their credit, both of which seeing their debut in the year 1971. Of […]
We’ve had a lot of fun here over the years with various issues of LOIS LANE in which Lois is either scheming to marry Superman, marrying someone else instead of Superman, or crying as someone else marries Superman. So imagine our surprise to finally find an issue of LOIS LANE where Lois actually marries the […]
As any monster-movie buff can tell you, once Universal Studios realized there was money to be made in their stable of monsters, they began loading them into films by twos and threes, in films like HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA, which would feature Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and any […]
In keeping with our spooky Halloween theme, let’s take a look at one of the best horror-themed characters ever to hit comics: Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. What’s a Hellboy? HELLBOY is a series of miniseries and graphic novels created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics. HELLBOY first made its debut back in 1994, […]
