For Black History Month: Flashback

I have a love-hate relationship with Black History Month, simultaneously appreciating the thought behind it while despising its continued necessity. As such, I'm not planning to make a big deal about it 'round these parts; it's a thing for less diverse sites and blogs to take note of, an opportunity to pay lip service to diversity for the next 28 days before returning to the status quo. (Cynical? Not me!) That said, in light of some recent relevant discussions across the blogiverse, I thought I'd "reprint" the first really good post I ever made here (and to-date, still one of…

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Smallville’s "Justice" Was Pretty Damn Good

It's been a long while since I caught a full episode of Smallville, but there was no way I was missing tonight's episode, "Justice", even if it meant skipping my latest addiction, Ugly Betty. (One year after "Code Black", Grey's Anatomy remains my numero uno!) Bart Allen is the only one of the nascent Justice League I'd ever seen before, and while I still didn't particularly like him, I think the kid who plays him does so perfectly, because if I did like him, something would be wrong. Victor Stone was cool, a rare combination of brains and brawn (even…

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Much Ado About Cowboys & Aliens

I knew a lot of people in the comics industry didn't like Platinum Comics' Scott Rosenberg, but holy cow!Comics writer A. David Lewis (the excellent The Lone and Level Sands) absolutely flipped his lid last Friday upon seeing Entertainment Weekly's sporadic comics sales chart showing Cowboys & Aliens in the top spot, according to Midtown Comics:"What smarts most is that C&A is listed as the top-selling graphic novel. Yes, Entertainment Weekly crowns it as #1.First, that's crap. I think we all know that's crap. And, by 'we,' I mean people who actually go to comic book shops on an almost…

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Review: American Born Chinese

American Born ChineseBy Gene Luen Yang (First Second, 2006; $16.95)When I first heard about American Born Chinese back in July, I pegged it as the highlight of First Second's second wave of releases purely based on a few preview images and its solicitation copy. After doing so, I crossed my fingers that it would actually live up to my lofty expectations, as Deogratias had set the bar pretty high. It took me a while to finally pick up a copy, and before I did, it was named as a finalist for this year's National Book Award in Young People's Literature,…

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Crystal Ball: March 2007 Solicitations, Part II

Support GOOD Comics! Pre-order something new EVERY month. Part I featured a look at Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse's offerings for March 2007, and now Part II casts the spotlight on the most interesting books being solicited by "independent" publishers. Links to full solicitations from almost every publisher can be found at MillarWorld. [NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your local comic book shop (LCBS) offers a pre-ordering service, download a convenient order form from Diamond and be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com…

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Crystal Ball: March 2007 Solicitations, Part I

Support GOOD Comics! Pre-order something new EVERY month. My monthly look at select comic books being solicited for release by the major direct market publishers in March 2007. Independent publishers will follow in a separate post. Links to full solicitations from almost every publisher can be found at MillarWorld. [NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your local comic book shop (LCBS) offers a pre-ordering service, download a convenient order form from Diamond and be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com] PICK OF THE…

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Rocketo Love from Junot Diaz

Today's N.Y. Daily News, in their monthly Viva New York pullout section, included a feature called "Authors Pick Their Favorite Reads of 2006", wherein Junot Diaz (of the critically acclaimed collection of short stories, Drown), gave Rocketo a shout-out:"A comic book of extraordinary power, with a Cuban hero, written by a Cuban writer. I've read nothing like it before and can't imagine anything like it ever being written again."High praise indeed! And with Diaz being one of three featured authors in the article, his selection, the only comic book picked, really stands out. (Drown was an excellent read, highly recommended,…

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