You can smell it in the air, that heady mix of musty comics, Mrs. Fields’ cookies, new carpeting, and forklift exhaust fumes. It can only mean one thing: it’s almost time for the San Diego Comic-Con. God help us all. Usually in this space around this time every year I give you my tips for […]
Previously in COMICS 101: In weeks past, we’ve been exploring the publishing history of the Green Arrow, DC Comics’ crimefighting bowman. When we left off, Oliver Queen, the original Green Arrow, had undergone a grim vigilante period in the late 1980s before being blown to smithereens high above Metropolis, clearing the way for his son, […]
Previously in COMICS 101: For the last two weeks, we’ve been discussing the life and times of one Oliver Queen, better known as Green Arrow, DC Comics’ archer extraordinaire. Last time, we explored the re-envisioning of the character by Denny O’Neil as a crusading liberal anarchist-type, and took a look at his eventual role as […]
Legendary science-fiction, horror and suspense writer Richard Matheson passed away Sunday, June 23, after a long illness. He was 87. Others far more qualified than I will be writing lengthy eulogies and tributes to Mr. Matheson, and I encourage you to seek them out. Best known for works like I AM LEGEND and WHAT DREAMS […]
Owning my own comic shop hasn’t changed one thing: whatever town I’m visiting, I make a point of checking out the local comic shop. Not only is it always a good idea to support local retailers, you just never know what you might find. Which is why last weekend, while back in my old stomping […]
Last week’s Superman discussion got me thinking about the Fortress of Solitude, second only to the Batcave as the best known and most important superhero HQ in comics. Superman’s Fortress has been a part of the Superman mythology almost from the start, having been first introduced over 70 years ago, in the pages of SUPERMAN […]
Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL is only a month or so away, and I am, shall we say, cautiously excited. Having not really enjoyed a SUPERMAN movie since SUPERMAN II in 1980, I’m hoping to leave the theatre satisfied at least in some measure. Unfortunately, I know all too well that many of my favorite […]
“Threequels” are a notoriously tricky business. There aren’t many film series where the third installment really comes back so strong that it regains that excitement you felt back when you first saw the original. Shane Black’s IRON MAN 3 comes as close as you can expect. Is it as mind-blowing, as revelatory as the first? […]
Editor’s note: While we struggle with the Dreaded Deadline Doom this week, we thought it the perfect time to re-present this lost 2005 column from the MPS days, now that STAR WARS movies are back in the headlines… It’s time once more for one of our trips in the Wayback Machine. This time? We’re headed […]
A couple of strong releases of archival material from DC Comics this week, one notable mostly for historical interest, the other for simply beautiful art. First up is WONDER WOMAN – THE AMAZON PRINCESS ARCHIVES, a collection of the 1958 and ’59 work of writer Robert Kanigher, penciller Ross Andru and inker Mike Esposito. After […]
You don’t see it as much these days as you used to, the maneuver in comics of having a big sensationalistic cover that had almost nothing to do with the story inside, but back when it was a fairly common practice, no one did it more often and more shamelessly than DC Comics, particularly late […]
The Dreaded Deadline Doom has caught up with me once more this week, so we’ll be bringing you another lost entry from the original COMICS 101 Archives, from way back in October 2004. Enjoy! The year 1993 was pretty lean times for fans of DC’s Golden Age characters. The lackluster JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA monthly […]
We’ll be back to our continuing Ms. Marvel coverage next week, not because I have anything more pressing to discuss, but primarily because your humble professor is down with the flu and home sick today, and all my Ms. Marvel reference material is in a tidy stack in my office, which is of very little […]
