Commentary on various aspects of publishing and marketing, primarily focused on books, magazines, and social media.
There's a perennial debate on which creative setup works best in comics, the collaboration or the solo creator. With superior examples on both sides, of course, there is no definitive answer, but for every good example, there's at least as many bad ones. Creator/writer/artist Mario Gully's intriguing concept - eight-year old Hannah Washington creates an imaginary world in her journal, a world where she is the powerful superhero known as Ant, a world that may not be as imaginary as it seems - has lots of potential, but, unfortunately, it qualifies as Exhibit A for the case against solo work;…
It's an old joke: Why is Black History Month the shortest month of the year? There's no punchline to that one, of course. The question is the joke. In time for Black History Month 2005, Marvel Comics is relaunching the Black Panther in his own series, his fifth including the short-lived, unfortunately-titled but highly-regarded Jungle Action in 1974, by Don McGregor and Billy Graham; and his most recent eponymous incarnation, under the Marvel Knights imprint, which lasted six years under the redefining direction of writer Christopher J. Priest and a passel of artists, before ending in September 2003. This time…
[Some comics get bad reviews, but the really special ones get taken to The Woodshed.] *** SPOILERS A'PLENTY *** Despite the shipping delays that saw this SIX issue mini-series take FOURTEEN months to finish - #1 came out in Nov 03, #6 in Jan 05! And neither Joe Quesada or Kevin Smith had anything to do with it! - I was originally planning to review it as a whole. After developing some initial thoughts after reading the final issue, I always make a point to reread the entire arc to refresh the story in my mind and give it a…
[From the ridiculous to the random to the superb, a quick roundup of notable indie comics (aka, not Marvel or DC proper, though Vertigo, Icon, Image, et al, do qualify) I picked up in the past month. Release dates may vary.] Skyscrapers of the Midwest #1 (Pictures and Stories by Joshua W. Cotter; AdHouse Books, $5) qualifies as one of the oddest comic books I have ever read. On first glance, the black-and-white artwork is very "children's book," like Sanrio's preschool character Miffy drawn in shades of grey. The shotgun-loading skeleton farmer on the cover, the fake ads promoting "Healthy…
Steve Niles' Secret Skull mini-series starts off strong, jumping from a quick dream sequence featuring a cemetery zombie attack in broad daylight to a Batman-like vigilante in a skull mask tracking a gang of thugs through the night, one of whom it somehow knows will kill an innocent girl the next day. Except he won't get the chance as the Secret Skull executes a violent pre-emptive strike, leaving the thug's head on a pike in an alley along with the sliced-and-diced corpses of his cohorts. For the past two and a half years, the Secret Skull has been at work,…
[Support a worthy cause this holiday season. Plus, do it by Christmas Eve and get your $25 donation matched!] The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was officially incorporated as a non-profit charitable organization in January of 1990 from the money left over from donations raised to defend Friendly Frank's arrest for selling "obscene comics" in Lansing, IL in 1986. Since then, the CBLDF has helped over a dozen comic book retailers and professionals fend off the censors, some successfully, some not. The CBLDF exists to fight censorship and defend the first amendment rights of comic book professionals throughout the United…
With Marvel not publishing a single thing of interest to me this week, I decided to throw an extra $3 towards an indie comic I'd never read before and let me preface its review with this offer: the first person I don't know personally to leave a comment here, I'll mail it to you, bagged and boarded, postage-paid, completely free of charge. Someone involved in its creation would be ideal, actually! I told someone recently that when it came to indie comics, if I didn't have something nice to say about a particular title, I simply wouldn't review it. The…
