Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
Superman #27 is the kind of comic I remember from my childhood, although then, these kinds of “learn about history and geography” travel stories tended to star Dennis the Menace, not DC’s first family. After confirming the existence of his son from a villain who tried to erase and then corrupt him, Superman needs a vacation. So Lois rents an RV and Clark, she, and their son Jon set out on a trip together for the fourth of July in […]
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I’m not convinced that “we’ve redone our website” is really news, but the ValiantEntertainment.com redesign has a few features that all comic publisher sites should consider. Some of them are basic, so it’s surprising that I need to point them out, but as a member of the press, sometimes I give up on covering something because I can’t find a suitable image of a cover or the details of a creative team on the official website. Valiant is addressing these […]
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The Ringo Awards, Baltimore Comic-Con’s award program established earlier this year, have now announced their first set of nominees, assembled through a combination of jury selection and fan voting (which may account for some of the lesser-known nominees). Out of the sixteen categories, seven are creator-based. (See below; the publisher-based awards follow this section.) Those categories have from five to nine people (or teams, in a few cases) listed. They total 52 creators nominated. Of those, ten are women, or […]
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Three years ago, the San Diego Comic-Con started trying to bar the Salt Lake Comic Con from using the term “Comic Con”. The Salt Lake show used this legal case as an excuse for more publicity. Until now. Last week, at the San Diego show’s request, a judge placed a gag order on the Salt Lake organizers. The San Diego show seems to be concerned that the case is being tried in the court of public opinion, and they’re losing. […]
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Back in the day, there was a tradition of Superman and the Flash racing each other. It began in Superman #199 in 1967, and it’s understandable that the young male readers of the time loved “who’d win” showdowns. Superman was super at everything, but the Flash was “the fastest man alive”. Which was more important, overall power or a specialized skill? Most of these races end in a tie for various plot reasons. Recently, I discovered that Snickers, the candy […]
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It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the Master Keaton series — the last I covered was volume 8 last year — because it’s not your typical manga series. Each volume is best approached as a short story anthology, held together by most (but not all) of the chapters having an appearance by Taichi Keaton, insurance investigator (and former special forces soldier, which helps when someone tries to kill him, which happens more often than you’d expect). By this […]
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Out next month is Dog Dish of Doom, the first “Agent to the Paws Mystery” starring a theatrical booking agent whose clients are animals. It’s written by E.J. Copperman, who also writes the Asperger’s Mystery series and the Haunted Guesthouse series. Last year, he launched the Mysterious Detective series, in which a mystery writer’s fictional detective shows up at her door. (There are even more under his other name, Jeff Cohen.) This writer knows his mysteries, in other words, and […]
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Beasts of Burden was an award-winning series about a group of dogs (and the occasional cat) that protected their neighborhood from supernatural monster. It was written by Evan Dorkin, painted by Jill Thompson, and published by Dark Horse from 2009-2010, with occasional one-shots in 2012, 2014, and 2016. The most recent release was Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In, which was published in May 2016 and just won an Eisner for Best Single Issue/One-Shot. Now comes news that […]
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