I know why many comic publishers aren’t very good at selling books to movie fans. There are a whole variety of reasons, ranging from selfishness (“I want comics like I read when I was a kid!”) to idiocy (“why would we want more women and other people reading comics?”) to simple inertia (“the way we’ve always done things is good enough”) and fanboyishness (“we’ve already told that story so let’s do something unusual!”) and greed (“why have one comic title […]

Stupid, stupid Marvel. The Unstoppable Wasp #8 is the last issue of this charming series about a new-generation hero finding herself while fighting criminals with humor and intellect. That should be right in their wheelhouse, right? It’s not only a description of Nadia, the previously undiscovered daughter of Hank Pym who has his scientific genius, but Spider-Man, the character that made the company. Nadia, though, as written by Jeremy Whitley, brought a fresh new approach that lightened her ability to […]

The first of the Generations crossovers came out last week, teaming up the Totally Awesome Hulk (Amadeus Cho) with “Banner Hulk” (better known as the Hulk who was also Bruce Banner), who was killed in the Civil War II event last summer. The first thing that struck me was this panel, drawn by Matteo Buffagni. Pop quiz! Looking at the art, are these people A) eager to get to their neighborhood block party? B) engaged in a neighborhood group walk […]

Ignore the hip-breaking weirdo disco cover — The Unstoppable Wasp is a new take on the shrinking hero that emphasizes science for girls. The first collection, Unstoppable!, reprinting the first four issues of the series, is due out August 30 in comic shops, September 12 in bookstores. The new wasp is Nadia, the previously unknown daughter of Hank Pym, inventor of size-changing particles. She was raised in the Red Room by the same nefarious group that trained assassins such as […]

It is so cool to have a series starring a butt-kicking superhero woman I can read regularly. It seems (still, unfortunately) that only one or two of that type are allowed to exist concurrently, but at least writer Kelly Thompson can be relied upon to provide funny, action-packed stories that have an undercurrent of emotional meaning. Hawkeye: Anchor Points (reprinting the first six issues of the currently running series) takes Kate Bishop to Los Angeles, where she wants to be […]

Nalgene has added to its line of reusable Marvel water bottles with new Guardians of the Galaxy models. There are six large bottles, one each for Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, Rocket, and a shot of the team together. Plus one more, a 20-ounce bottle for kids with Rocket and Groot. This was my favorite choice (sent to me for review), since it addressed all the issues I had when I first tried some of the bottles. It’s small enough […]

Now that we’re starting to be able to think about being outdoors again, you may want to consider a water bottle to take with you on activities. Nalgene Outdoor has created an entire line featuring many favorite Marvel superheroes: Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and the Avengers. They gave me one of the 32-ounce wide-mouth Black Widow bottles to evaluate, and I took it with me on my road trip to visit family over the winter holidays. […]

It’s rewarding to see how comic creators who didn’t grow up in the medium can take long-running characters (who often have been dragged in so many directions over the years that there’s no personality left, or they’re a mass of contradictions) and find fresh, modern new approaches to them that make them fascinating. That’s precisely what Chelsea Cain does with Bobbi Morse, Mockingbird, in this five-issue collection. Mockingbird: I Can Explain contrasts hugely with the cash-grab Mockingbird: Bobbi Morse, Agent […]