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Interview: Fialkov on Elk’s Run

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 16, 2005
Post category:Media Personal Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:0 Comments

It's a sad fact in the comics industry today that succesfully launching a brand new title is a Herculean feat for the Big Two, requiring a massive marketing and promotion campaign with no guarantees of success. For independent publishers, it's a near impossible task. Even sadder is the fact that the lower half of the Diamond Top 100 - wholly dominated by mainstream super-heroes, historied licenses and/or A-list creators - typically bottoms out around 25,000 copies, making "successful" a somewhat relative term. So what to do when a really good comic book comes along, one not in the front of…

ménage à trois: 3/9/05

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 14, 2005
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]When I first started this column, I figured finding a decent indie to review each week would be the hardest part, certain that my pull list included enough from the Big Two to not ever have to review consecutive issues of the same title. In fact, thanks to Midtown Comics, new indies have been pretty easy to track down each week. Some weeks,…

Review: Comic Book Encyclopedia

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 9, 2005
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

When I was a kid, encyclopedias were often frustrating for their lack of depth or currency. These days, with the pervasiveness of the internet, the notion of a printed encyclopedia is about as practical as a hand-cranked engine. Nevertheless, Ron Goulart decided to go the throwback route anyway, and compiled his ambitious and admirable, if deeply flawed, Comic Book Encyclopedia.A visually appealing piece of work, like Frank Cho's unnecessary Shanna mini-series, there's three immediate signs of trouble before you even open the book. The boast of "nearly 400 big pages" is laughable when you consider the varied history of comics,…

Comment: Giving the People What They Want

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 27, 2005
Post category:Media Personal
Post comments:5 Comments

Marvel EIC, Joe Quesada, and his main partner in crime, Brian Michael Bendis, caused a minor tempest in a teapot a couple of weeks ago during Newsarama's "Quesadarama" PR stunt that gave Quesada "control" of the site for the week. He posted an entertaining mix of informative and self-indulgent interviews with the likes of Kevin Smith, Allan Heinberg and, in a series of five installments, Bendis. During the third installment, the duo hypocritically riffed on the state of online journalism and the merits of Rich Johnston's rumor column, Lying in the Gutters, as well as the signal-to-noise ratio on various…

Review: Fade From Grace #1-4

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 14, 2005
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

If there's ever been a comic book that was the perfect gift for a comic book geek to give his non-comic book-reading girlfriend, Fade From Grace would be it. Elegantly written, and beautifully illustrated, it's a four-color "chick flick" that any self-respecting fan of quality comic books would love. Fade works on two levels, first as a traditional origin story following our hero, John, as he develops super powers - the ability to control his density - while saving his girlfriend Grace from her burning apartment. The first three issues follow John as he learns to control his powers and,…

ménage à trois: 2/2/05

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 4, 2005
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:2 Comments

[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]A light week for the big two, highlighted by the already reviewed return of the Black Panther, and solid entries from the New Avengers (#3) and Adam Strange (#5), I've decided to break format completely and review a trio of comic book magazines instead. Fanzines are a crucial aspect of any hobby and their quality, or lack thereof, is generally an indicator of…

Dan’s Top 3 Comic Book-Themed Video Games

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 9, 2005
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:3 Comments

[Three ground rules. 1) All games considered must have its origins rooted in a published comic book, ie: Marvel, DC, Image, etc. Power Puff Girls and the Simpsons do not qualify since they were "born" on screen. 2) WOW factor must be taken into consideration when ranking the games. WOW factor is defined by how the game was recieved by comic fans/gamers when it came out. This is very important because it opens up the field to any console/arcade game, any year. ie: I would argue that of the two Spider-Man games based on the movies, Spider-Man 1 would rank…