When I spoke to Chris Claremont in 2017 (the fruit of which is yet to see light—forgive me, I’m a ~Creative and I’ve never heard of schedules) I took a moment to ask him about his decision to turn Betsy Braddock, the white, English X-Men member, into a woman who appeared to be and is…
Everybody in Comics Knew Girls Loved ElfQuest
Wendy Pini and her husband and collaborator Richard Pini are on a world tour: “Forty Years of Pointed Ears.” This journey, which most recently stopped in at SDCC, celebrates the four publication decades of ElfQuest that culminated in February’s final chapter. ElfQuest is one of the most seminal American comics, spanning the last 22 years…
PUBWATCH: Valiant Efforts! July
Fresh off the BOOM! Beat, I’ve come over to Valiant territory. Having accidentally made the history of the publisher my new favourite obsession, I decided to get up to speed with the present of it too. From now on I’ll be reading everything the V puts out each month and giving them all a paragraph…
BOOM! Bar: Licenses, Lettering, and Letting Go
BOOM! Bar! Where we talk about the month’s BOOM!, KaBOOM!, BOOM! Box, and Archaia releases, try to spot trends, and think about what BOOM! “is,” as a publisher. Remember last month, when I wondered about how letterers get attached to projects at BOOM! and their substudios? Well, I got some answers. So let’s start with…
The Complete The Killer: The Craft of Pasting Ethics Over Action
The Complete The Killer Matz and Luc Jacamon, translated by Matz and Edward Gauvin, with lettering by Marshall Dillon (Chapters 1-10) and Deron Bennett (Chapters 11-13) Archaia for BOOM! Studios The Complete The Killer (RRP $39.99) is unbelievably long. Unreasonably, as a PDF—my internet’s not great, but even so—it took a full hour to load…
Marvel’s Witches: A Charmless Comic That Is Criminally Vulgar
I built the foundations of an ongoing essay feature on my belief in the viability of knockoffs as a creative beginning. It’s not a conviction I’ve lost, but I never said that all knockoffs are good to have around or that they must be more interesting than not. The knockoff, like the fanfiction, is a…
BOOM! Bar: Half-Year Check-In
If you’ve ever been curious about what BOOM! and their imprints KaBOOM!, BOOM! Box and Archaia put out into the world, this overview should give you a snapshot of their range. Ah, BOOM! Bar readers, when last did we speak? January. Forgive me. In apology, I bring you February through June, all at once. We’ll…
Secret Weapon Launched: Branwyn Bigglestone Moves On
When Branwyn Bigglestone announced (more like mentioned, really) that she was leaving her accountancy position at Image Comics to do a Masters in Accountancy, it was picked up quickly by her peers who knew what an asset she’s been for the company. Having previously heard from David Brothers and others in the know about just…
Harbinger Wars 2: Should I, An Adult, Read This Superhero Summer Event?
I don’t know. Do you now or have you ever liked Marvel comics? If the answer is no, I’m probably not gonna be much help here. Valiant’s Harbinger Wars 2 is straight outta Westchester, a Mutant Registration Act battle for America over whether or not it’s OK to kill teens. It feels rude to relegate…
Nineteen Technically Visible Women Who Worked on Image Comics in the 1990s
During our two concurrent investigations of the early years of Image (Bad Girls in retrospect, specifically, and Year of the Knockoff, by regular coincidence), every now and then we’ve come across (though this is admittedly an inexact science) a handful of apparently feminine names. Who are these people? Let’s find out.
X-Men 2099: When the Father Skins the Prodigal Son
This is the lineup of 1993’s X-Men 2099. What do you notice about this picture? Maybe nothing. Let me show you another.
Bloodstrike: Cable and the Rainbow
Bloodstrike #1 Rob Liefeld (art and story), Dan Fraga (art), Eric Stephenson (story), Danny Miki (art), Byron Talman (color), Brian Murray (color), Kirt Hathaway (letters) Image Comics 1993 Bloodstrike’s team leader Cabbot is Cable by another name. This is not a controversial or vindictive statement; Liefeld’s LEGO-like sense of superheroic character creation (a source of…