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Saturday with a Weird Hero
I’ve spoken in this space many times about the different paperback series that I loved in the mid-seventies, and how they crossed over with comics. The pulp reprint stuff like Doc Savage and the Avenger, the hardcore “men’s adventure” series like Mack Bolan and everything he inspired, and the barbarian hordes that followed in the wake of Frank Frazetta and Conan.
But there was one paperback series I adored more than any other… Continue Reading »
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 287: The Veil #3
Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. This month I will be showing pages that are either scary or are part of “scary” issues (as scary as a comic can be, of course), because it’s October! Today’s page is from The Veil #3, which was published by IDW and is cover dated September 2009. Enjoy!
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2012 Top 100 Comic Book Runs #80-76
You voted, now here are the results of your votes for your favorite comic book creator runs of all-time! We’ll be revealing five runs a day for most of the month. Here is a master list of all of the runs revealed so far.
Here’s the next five runs…
What I bought – 10 October 2012
And all the time, like pipes dripping, weakening and preparing to burst in the attic, around the house hearts were slowly breaking while nothing was being said. (Hanif Kureishi, from The Buddha of Suburbia)
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 286: Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #15
Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. This month I will be showing pages that are either scary or are part of “scary” issues (as scary as a comic can be, of course), because it’s October! Today’s page is from Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #15, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated March 1990. Enjoy!
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Comic Book Legends Revealed #388
Welcome to the three hundredth and eighty-eighth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. This week, learn the story of how the Metal Men were created! Plus, who came first, Buster Keaton or Buster Brown? Finally, be amazed at some easter eggs Jackson Guice put into Flash #1!
Click here for an archive of the previous three hundred and eighty-seven.
Let’s begin!
2012 Top 100 Comic Book Runs #85-81
You voted, now here are the results of your votes for your favorite comic book creator runs of all-time! We’ll be revealing five runs a day for most of the month. Here is a master list of all of the runs revealed so far.
Here’s the next five runs…
I Love Ya But You’re Strange – That Time Lois Lane Planned to Beat Up Wonder Woman to Woo Superman
Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!
This week, we look at the time Lois Lane decided she had to kick Wonder Woman’s ass to keep Superman from marrying Wonder Woman.
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 285: X-Men Annual #6
Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. This month I will be showing pages that are either scary or are part of “scary” issues (as scary as a comic can be, of course), because it’s October! Today’s page is from X-Men Annual #6, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated 1982. Enjoy!
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The Line it is Drawn #110 – Comic Book Characters, Batman: The Animated Series Style!
Go follow Comics Should Be Good on Twitter (if you have Twitter, that is – if you don’t, you can go sign up). Here is our Twitter page… http://twitter.com/csbg. And here are the Comics Should Be Good writers who are on Twitter (the links go to the person’s Twitter account) – myself, Greg Hatcher, Chad Nevett, Kelly Thompson, Sonia Harris Danielle Leigh, Melinda Beasi, Michelle Smith, Bill Reed and Scott!
I update the blog’s Twitter account updates whenever a new post is put up on the blog, so it’s an easy way to keep up with the blog. In addition, I post new content on the blog’s Twitter account.
Now on to the bit!
So every week, I ask a question here. You reply to it on our Twitter page (just write @csbg with your reply) and our blog sketch artists will each pick one of your suggestions and I will post them here every week. So every week you will have a new question and you will see the choices picked from the previous week. Here is an archive of all the previous editions of The Line It Is Drawn!
To qualify, you have to be following us when you reply – so go follow us and then give your answer to the following question/challenge (All suggestions due by 9:00 AM Pacific this Friday).
The topic is…
In honor of the 20th Anniversary of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, suggest team-ups/mash-ups with comic book characters and characters from the Buffyverse. Willow/Dark Phoenix, etc.
Read on for the sketches that came about courtesy of the last question/challenge!
In honor of the 20th Anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, suggest comic book characters that you’d like to see come to Gotham and be drawn in the B:TAS style (drawn in the style or drawn in the style and teaming up with B:TAS characters – either/or)
Enjoy!
2012 Top 100 Comic Book Runs #90-86
You voted, now here are the results of your votes for your favorite comic book creator runs of all-time! We’ll be revealing five runs a day for most of the month. Here is a master list of all of the runs revealed so far.
Here’s the next five runs…
Cover Theme Game for 10/10
Every week you’ll get a brand-new comic cover theme game! The game works like this: I’ll show you three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, a connection between all three characters, a locale, a creator, SOMEthing. And it isn’t something obvious like “They all have prices!” “They all have logos!” “They all feature a man!” “They are all Avengers (who ISN’T?)!” “They’re all dead (who HASN’T been killed off?)!” “They’ve all been cloned (who HASN’T been cloned?)!” “They’re all mutants! (who ISN’T a mutant?)” “They’re all legacy heroes (who ISN’T a legacy hero nowadays?)!” etc.
In addition, please note that you must have some familiarity with comic book history to correctly guess these comics. You cannot guess the connective theme just by looking at the covers solely, you must have some knowledge beyond just the covers. The connections will ONLY have to do with connections in the actual comic books (so no incidental connections like “they share the same last names of Vice Presidents,” etc. Now, if the three characters were each named Gerald Ford, that’d be another story, as that’d no longer be incidental).
If you come up with an answer that works outside of what I intended, I’ll give you credit (well, provided I think it fits, of course).
One more thing – if there are floating heads on the cover, ignore them! They don’t mean anything! Same thing with corner boxes!
If you think you know the answer, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com. Don’t answer in the comments. This way, people who check in at different times of the day can still get credit for answering it correctly!
Here is an archive of all the past cover theme games, plus their answers. Before each new installment, I’ll post the answers to the previous week’s game.
Good luck and enjoy! Continue Reading »
Worth Something Someday: Ravage 2099 #9
- by Bill Reed
- in General
- 36 Comments
Welcome to the first installment of Worth Something Someday, a series of (as Archduke Cronin would say) indefinite length and regularity, in which we critically re-examine and attempt to contextualize comic books of the 1990s. “The ’90s” was the most infamous and tumultuous decade of comics since the 1950s, during which the industry experienced its highest highs as well as its most crashing lows. Some call it “The Dark Age,” but now comes the time to shed some light on the era. Many of the comics we shall cover were purchased by speculators and secreted away with the hopes that they’d be worth something someday. So let’s ask: are they worth it?
Where else to start our look at comics at the tail end of the 20th century, than with one that takes place at the tail end of the 21st, with a cover that declares everything we know… is wrong!?
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines, Day 284: The Authority #13
Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. This month (for a while) I will be showing pages chosen by you, the readers. Today’s page is from the The Authority #13, which was published by DC/Wildstorm and is cover dated May 2000. This page was suggested by Hal, who’s a very enthusiastic commenter (and we love him for it!). Enjoy!
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Committed: Things to do at APE (while I’m at NYCC)
- by Sonia Harris
- in Committed
- 2 Comments
The song “New York, New York” wasn’t actually written about New York Comic Con, but it could have been. If you can deal with that convention, maybe even have a good time, then you can probably handle any convention of any size, in any place. With attendance around the size of San Diego Comic Con, crammed into a building half the size with none of the nearby hotels to absorb the overflow, questionable “ventilation” and a creatively chaotic layout, then you’re definitely some kind of superhuman. Clearly I’m some kind of insane glutton for punishment though, because I’m going back for a third time this weekend. Being the big convention on the East Coast, NYCC attracts a large European contingent and is often the only place where I can meet friends visiting from the UK and Europe. Continue Reading »
