I had a bunch of unread comic books piling up, so yesterday afternoon I sorted through them, decided that some of them were never going to get read and put them in a box for recycling, then picked through the rest to read something. I wanted to read Lavie Tidhar and Paul McCaffrey’s Adler, but … Continue reading Thoughts on Mars Attacks Red Sonja
Category: Comic Books
Ten childhood friends, now estranged in adulthood, are invited to a weekend retreat on a secluded island. A cryptic poem and a message hint that each of these friends harbor personal and professional secrets and that soon they will each die in an elaborate revenge plot. These friends — these peanuts — may not make … Continue reading And Then There Were Peanuts
A few days ago I decided I just had to tackle the piles of graphic novels sitting on my living room table. I have reluctantly concluded I must go out and buy another bookcase; the question then will be, where will it go? One of the graphic novels among the piles was Batman: Gotham by … Continue reading The Calculus of Future Comics Purchases
A few weeks ago, Dark Horse Comics published an adaptation by P. Craig Russell of Neil Gaiman’s Narnia short story, “The Problem of Susan.” While I’ve read Gaiman’s short story a half dozen times over the years, between work and life and the flu I didn’t have the opportunity to give the graphic novel a … Continue reading The Problem of Susan
Barsoom! The word — Edgar Rice Burroughs’ name for Mars in his John Carter novels — carries this magical, mystical feel. It conjures visions of floating cities and fantastical science, of barren deserts and the alien tribes that dwell there, of ancient civilizations and epic battles of might and magic, and through it all, the … Continue reading Barsoom Attacked!
Going through some files recently, I came across something that I wrote, showed a few people for feedback, and then filed away. Several years back, BOOM! Studios, a comic book publisher, began publishing original Peanuts comic book stories. While Charles Schulz’s comic strip has been left alone (except for coloring the dailies), there have been … Continue reading The World Famous Time Traveler
Tragically, Ian Fleming only wrote 8 James Bond short stories. (Nine, if you count the short piece about making scrambled eggs. I do not.) I say “tragically,” as I consider “The Living Daylights” to be Fleming’s finest James Bond work. (The Timothy Dalton film The Living Daylights generally does justice to Fleming’s short story in … Continue reading Things I’ve Been Reading: James Bond: Service
Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor Year Two #11-13 Titan Comics Written by Robbie Morrison Art by Mariano Laclaustra with Fer Centurion and Agus Calcagno This week, Titan Comics wrapped up a storyline in the twelfth Doctor comics, “Terror of the Cabinet Noir.” Paris, 1695. Cardinal Richelieu seems to be immortal, and there’s a darkness permeating … Continue reading Things I’ve Been Reading: “Terror of the Cabinet Noir”
James Bond: Vargr Published by Dynamite Entertainment Written by Warren Ellis Art by Jason Masters I saw my first James Bond movie before I was ten. I have no idea, at the span of decades, which film it was, but it was almost certainly a presentation of the ABC Sunday Night Movie, back when that … Continue reading James Bond: Vargr
Sometimes I get to write fun stuff. Recently a colleague at Diamond talked to me about the possibility of interviewing Berkeley Breathed by email about Bloom County and IDW Publishing’s forthcoming collection of the new comic strips, Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope. I checked with her yesterday, and the interview was still up … Continue reading Interviewing a Personal Idol
When I saw the first trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, my reaction was, basically, “That looks as much like a sequel to Watchmen as it does a sequel to Man of Steel.” To be clear, by Watchmen, I’m referring to Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 … Continue reading Watchmen, Rebirth, and the DC Universe