This week, Misfit City (BOOM! Box) starts to get good. Reading the previous issues was frustrating—the characters don’t quite manage to blossom beyond their gimmicks (the research one, the one who smiles fiercely while she disparages you, the Kristy, the one who… lives in an old derelict tower? Is she a ghost? I don’t think so?…
From Sexy to Sexual: Witchblade’s Return & Top Cow’s Maturing Eroticism
Back when I spoke to Matt Hawkins in March, we spent a little time talking about the sexual legacy of the first ten years or so of Top Cow. We also spoke a little about Witchblade–a title about a woman who carries a living weapon disguised as a bracelet–which is being resurrected in December, with…
BOOM! BAR: Let’s Get Gothic (Plus Robots! Murder! Roller Derby!)
Jane! Jane Eyre. It’s Jane Eyre time! In comics! Yessss. It’s a fat week for BOOM! actually, with ten releases all told. Seven are single issues; three are graphic novels (two of which are collections, actually). In the latter of the latter, Kurt Russell and Kurt Russell team up: Pak and Bayliss’ Big Trouble in Little…
Previously on Comics: Rose City Comic Con
First, before anything else: Len Wein died. There’s nothing I can say here that isn’t already all over the news. Except thank you, sir, for how your work changed me personally. It’s shame he can’t read that I said that. Lion Forge and Dark Horse are both donating money to hurricane relief funds. Lion Forge…
Rulebreakers: Billy Johnson and His Duck Explore Lettering
Billy Johnson and His Duck are Explorers is a comic by cartoonist Mathew New, running here and there online and in print since about 2011. The premise is simple; it’s exactly as the title suggests. Billy and Barrace explore your classic pulp fiction ruins, chatting together as they go. It’s simple, but not emotionally simplistic. Map…
BOOM! BAR: PUBWATCH September Week One
It’s September, the start of spooky-season, and it’s time to talk about BOOM!. BOOM! and their sub-pubs, KaBOOM!, BOOM! Box, and Archaia. What are they doing? Let’s take a looksee. As parent-company, BOOM! are pretty good about colour-coordinating the bulk of their weekly title covers. Do they do this on purpose? I’m not really sure….
The Tick: Boldly Venture to the Kingdom of the Kind
The Tick Ben Edlund, David Fury, Barry Josephson, Wally Pfister, Barry Sonnenfeld (producers) based on The Tick by Ben Edlund Peter Serafinowicz, Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry, Brendan Hines, Jackie Earle Haley, Yara Martinez, Scott Speiser, Michael Cerveris, Bryan Greenberg, Alan Tudyk (cast) August 25, 2017 (US) Hey. Heyyy. Remember that feeling when you’ve just found…
Thanks To Bill & Ted Save The Universe, Comics Are Fun Again
Claire & Rosie’s Excellent Experience Bill & Ted Save the Universe #3 Boom! Studios Brian Joines (Writer), Bachan (Artist), Alex Guimaraes (Colorist), Jim Campbell (Letterer) August 16, 2017 Rosie Comics can be fucking depressing. Whether it’s the fact that the same six men each have 30 books in Previews every month and yet you can’t…
Previously On Comics: Whedon, Boy Bye
In with a bang: Joss Whedon, whose widely read Astonishing X-Men run featured the small, supernaturally lethal Kitty Pryde inexplicably reuniting with the giant, super-strong ex who broke her heart twice–first by infidelity and then by entitled violence against her new lover–turns out to be a gaslighting cheater who engaged in inappropriate relationships with “needy”…
Image 25: Top Cow’s Matt Hawkins’ Full Trajectory
From some guy in a line to COO of a 25-year-old publishing imprint, Matt Hawkins saw the glory days of Image, and stayed around for the aftermath. There are plenty of interviews covering the Founding Fathers of Image’s early days as masters of their new domain. The twentieth anniversary interviews Jason Sacks carried out for…
Sing a Song of Spiritus
Spiritus Tim Daniel (words & design), Michael Kennedy (art), Lauren Norby (letterer) The Vault, 2017 “This comic is like a song.” That’s something I say sometimes. I say it to mean I read this with my brain out of focus, like I saw the main strength of it with the part of my brain that processes…
You Really Don’t Need to be a Fan of KISS to read KISS: The Comic
I never really needed KISS, but this comic is not just for foot-soldiers in the existing KISS Army. KISS the band can be defined along several lines. They’re a glam rock outfit. They’re a bunch of guys who wear semi-erotic face paint and skintight gear. They’re a #brand. In my entertainment life I already have…