I did not realize that DC Universe Infinite — the latest incarnation of the service, it no longer has video programming but merely online comic issues — provided a small selection of comics to read for free. (Registration required, as you can’t get something for nothing, and they want to build their mailing list.) The current offering consists of the first eight issues of Suicide Squad from 1987, the classic run by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, and Karl Kesel. Of […]

I greatly enjoyed reading Hope Larson’s All Summer Long, and I’d like to share that enjoyment with you. One lucky reader will receive a paperback copy of this release. But first, if you’d like to double your chances, the publisher is giving away many more copies in a Goodreads giveaway. Mine will likely have many fewer entries. To enter to win this contest, leave a comment below with your favorite summer song. A winner will be picked randomly from all […]

Whenever one of these notes crosses my awareness, I’m rarely surprised. Comics is not a long-term, sustainable business for many people. (As noted on Twitter by Joshua Dysart recently, Almost every single person who got their start in comics from my generation, & from most others too, had some kind of supplemental income, & many people who appear successful today are either being subsidized by a spouse, family money, or some other means. As to why… There’s no union, no […]

In announcing he’s closing his second store, comic retailer Brian Hibbs makes a lot of cogent observations about the state of the direct market for comic books today in his latest Tilting at Windmills column. Some key points: I’ve lost a great deal of faith in the business of periodical comics and, more specifically, of many of the people in charge of shepherding it. Costs of operation are greatly increasing, profit margins are getting tighter, and the industry as a […]

Last year, one of Faith Erin Hicks’ earliest works, The War at Ellsmere, was reissued in a partially redrawn color edition, now titled One Year at Ellsmere. (I previously interviewed her about the process.) Earlier this month, another of her works was also reissued. Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, published in 2013, adapted a story by Prudence Shen. The new edition adds color, with no other changes. It’s the story of a friendship between the basketball team captain and the […]

More news on the upcoming Wizard World Chicago — tickets are now on sale for the October show. Single-day tickets range from $40-60, depending on day, while the three-day weekend is $90. The Gold VIP package, which primarily allows for early entry to the show and programming, is $180. Note that no guests, programming, or exhibitors have yet been announced, so spending this kind of money on the weekend requires quite a lot of faith. “Details on celebrities, superstar creators, […]

Want to see what’s going on in British cartooning? The chunky anthology Meanwhile… might be just the thing. Published by Soaring Penguin Press, the latest, extra-large issue (128 pages) is crowdfunding now. 16 stories, 21 creators, no particular theme other than aiming to present stories that stay with you, and to provide a place where established and rising talents artistically bump elbows. It’s the home of Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge, which I used to read in the 90s (let’s hear […]