On comics and other pop culture topics, including archived Comic Book Commentary posts from 2005-2007.
The latest expansion for the Upper Deck Vs. TCG, X-Men, has been out for about a week now. I've been on the fence about putting any money down for it since day one, mainly due to the fact that I'm not a huge fan of X-Men. I have to admit, though, I could have been persuaded; easily persuaded. When Upper Deck revealed the Mutant Trait addition to the character cards, that really piqued my interest. If it weren't for the Blizzard of 2006, I would have been at the Sneak Preview Tournament a few weeks back, but it wasn't meant…
[Since you have your comments screened, I'm guessing you probably won't release this one... UPDATE: He's since unscreened my comment.] Dude, your violin really needs a tuneup. If I was stalking you, I wouldn't have friended you, I simply would have checked in periodically, or subscribed to your feed. If you didn't want people reading your PUBLIC journal, you should have taken advantage of LJ's private posting feature BEFORE you started running around the internet denying the sky was blue a couple of months ago. I didn't know who the hell you were until you took on Speakeasy's PR, doing…
I've had Gerard Jones' enthralling must-read, MEN OF TOMORROW, on my mind a lot the past few days, thanks as much to the Speakeasy fiasco as my general feelings about the comics industry lately. So much of what I see happening with seemingly naive creators getting screwed over by inept publishers with big plans and little common sense -- and even in the corporate comics world, what with hastily revised plotlines resulting in lackluster stories potentially killing fledgling careers, etc. -- reminds me of the Donenfelds, Liebowitz', Siegels, Schusters, Fingers, et al, of the early days of the industry. Back…
Support GOOD Comics! Try something new EVERY month! My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 3/1/06. The full shipping is list available at ComicList. [NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com] PICK OF THE WEEK Infinite Crisis #5 (Don't hate. At least not until you read it!)AMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS) Corporate Ninja #2, $2.95 Vaistron #4, $2.95 I think I remember Corporate Ninja #1 being a fun…
[Originally published by Buzzscope on 2/28/2006, the full text of this post was retrieved via the Wayback Machine and archived here on 11/14/19. No edits were made beyond the removal of images that were no longer accessible.] Several creators still in the dark about their fates It's been less than 90 days since we first reported on fledgling publisher Speakeasy Comics' making waves with their announcement of a stricter policy regarding minimum thresholds for comic books they distribute, and since then, those waves have claimed several victims, but none bigger than Speakeasy Comics itself. Yesterday afternoon, on his blog, Elk's Run creator/writer, Joshua…
UPDATED...AGAIN! Let the fallout begin... Elk's Run creator/writer, Joshua Hale Fialkov, confirmed what seemed pretty inevitable earlier this afternoon over on his blog: So, just got off the phone with Adam Fortier, President etc. of Speakeasy Comics. Speakeasy is no more. Due to some payment problems and low sales, it seems, they've had to lock up shop. Perhaps realizing the story was about to break, Speakeasy mouthpiece Vito Delsante emailed Speakeasy cheerleader Chris Butcher, a Toronto retailer and comics blogiverse gadfly, a confirmation, which he posted about half an hour ago: "As unofficial public relations for Speakeasy Comics, I feel…
After ending 2005 with a flurry of bad press, fledgling indie publisher, Speakeasy Comics, kicked off 2006 with the first of what was presumably going to be a string of big announcements which would reposition them as a player to be reckoned with in the industry: Rosario Dawson's Occult Crimes Taskforce (O.C.T.)"Rosario Dawson is an artist in the purest sense. She can act, sing, as well as write. She’s just an all around creative person. We are thrilled to collaborate with Rosario, David and Tony on this one of a kind project. The Rosario Dawson fans of the world are…
