Yesterday, DC Comics announced Earth One: two direct-to-book-format stories, one each for Superman and Batman, retelling the origin in modern day, in a “new continuity”, created by names well-known to current comic readers. The reaction was generally negative, although the reason WHY it was disliked varied greatly depending on the speaker. And before I get into all that, note that key details are missing from the announcement, like price point, marketing plans, and release dates, so a lot of reaction, […]

Faith Erin Hicks, author of The War at Ellsmere and Zombies Calling, has announced via blog post that her next graphic novel will be Friends With Boys, to be published by First Second Books in (hopefully) 2011. It’s about a girl named Maggie, who has three brothers (as I do), who was home-schooled (as I was), and is now entering her first year of public high school (as I did). She also is stalked by a ghost (that has yet […]

Recently, cancellations have been announced for Manhunter (ending with #38) and Spider-Girl (with #30, although that’s after a previous 100-issue run). Both have faced cancellations before, only to be “saved” more than once; the Spider-Girl title had something like four or five reprieves. Both have devoted fan followings with voices out of scale to their size (by which I mean, they’re talked about more than actually bought). And both star women. That last has Valerie D’Orazio concerned (link no longer […]

I was honored to be asked to participate in the Publishers Weekly Comics Week Critics’ Poll for the second time. Here are my choices for the best graphic novels of 2007, with commentary. Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang Cairo by G. Willow Wilson and M.K. PerkerThese two books surprised me most this year. The first presented an up-to-date yet completely new take on forgotten superheroes, reassuring me that there were still imaginative things to […]