10 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT FEBRUARY 2011 COMICS (AND A COUPLE I’M NOT SO CRAZY ABOUT)
SpongeBob Comics
KC Carlson talks about some books he’s excited about including United Plankton Pictures’ SpongeBob Comics, IDW’s Art of George Perez, Top Shelf’s Owly & Wormy, and more!
Roger’s Comic Ramblings: Decompressed Storytelling. I Get It Now
New Avengers #5
Westfield’s Roger Ash looks at the differences between traditional comic storytelling and “Decompressed Storytelling” as it relates to Marvel Comics’ New Avengers #5 and The Thanos Imperative #5. And he includes Dave Sim’s Cerebus as well.
Delayed Items for the Week of October 15, 2010
These items are going to be showing up later than expected.
10 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT NOVEMBER ’10 COMICS (and a couple I’m not so crazy about).
by KC Carlson
Well, Christmas is over! Hope you had a great holiday season!
Of course, in the real world, the holidays are still several months away! But in the wacky world of comic book advance ordering, pretty much all of the industry’s major wares have already been offered up. Since the last three months have been SO packed with goodness, this month’s offerings pale a bit in comparison. Still, there’s plenty of great stuff if you dig around a bit, so here are my picks, along with a bit of commentary here and there since I haven’t had much chance to talk about current comics lately. On to it…
10 Things I Like About September ’10 Comics (and a couple I’m not so crazy about)
by KC Carlson
As mentioned briefly last month, we are now at that point in the calendar year where publishers begin showing off their special books for the coming holiday season. So, keep in mind that many of the items we’re talking about here may not actually ship until October or November. Also, with the high cover price of some of the items listed here, this might actually be more of a “Dear Santa…” idea list than anything else.
Too Much Cool Stuff – Not Enough $$$ – April ’10
by KC Carlson
Trinity Anniversary
DC somehow finagled their publishing schedule so that their Big 3 characters all have Anniversary Issues the same month – so look for Superman #700, Batman #700, and Wonder Woman #600. All of these are 56-page comics with several creators pitching in, and all three promise major changes in creative direction as well. Both Superman and Wonder Woman feature the first work on the characters by recently new-to-DC superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski.
Fifth Degree: Cereal: Geek Magazine & Marvel Previews #77
by Josh Crawley
Before I get into things, I’d like to take talk about Cereal: Geek Magazine quickly. James Eatock, possibly better known as 80s cartoon super-historian Busta Toons, recently sent me an email asking if I’d like to see a preview of his 100 page, ad-free, glossy magazine devoted to 80s ‘toons in pdf format. As someone who grew up in the 80s myself (and had wanted to read this magazine for quite some time), I wasn’t going to turn this opportunity down.
Wow! I was not let down.
Fifth Degree: Covers for January 2010
by Josh Crawley
I’m not one for segregating stuff like this by company, just like I don’t like to rack comics in the store by company. That makes it too easy for good products to be overlooked just because someone has an archaic bias that has no foundation in reality.
Next time I may go in reverse-alphabetical order, but it’s just straight-up alphabetical this time, barring one item. And thankfully, you don’t have to read my writing about how great Dustin Nguyen is this time around (and there’s only one mention of Jim Cheung).
Too Much Cool Stuff – Not Enough $$$ – November ‘09
by KC Carlson
The big news over at Marvel this month is a two fisted-knockout. Part one is the return of Captain America Steve Rogers to the Marvel Universe in a big way. First, the regular monthly Captain America comic starts up again, as issue #602 features the first chapter of Two Americas by Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross. Then, Steve returns to the Avengers in the pages of New Avengers #61 by Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen – which is one of the tie-in books for Siege, the second part of the big news from Marvel. Written by Brian Bendis and pencilled by Olivier Coipel, Siege is a four-part series described as the culmination of events beginning with Avengers Disassembled and leading through House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and the long-awaited (at least by me!) wrap-up of Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign over the Marvel U. Key to the promotion of Siege is the image of Marvel’s core Avengers – Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America – all reunited again, and all the real deal!