Category Archives: The Comic Stop
The Comic Stop: Hoax Hunters #6 Aims To Bunk The Debunkers In A New Storyline
It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that we here at Biff Bam Pop! love our monsters, our aliens, our paranormal and our conspiracy theories. These topics just seem to root, enjoyably so, deep in our pop-culture love lives. And that’s why we’re enamoured with the comic book series Hoax Hunters, published monthly from Image Comics.
Hoax Hunters scratches that deep-rooted itch in a firm, sharp-nailed, and oh-so satisfying manner. It tells the story of the eccentric hosts of the Hoax Hunters television series – a program dedicated to de-bunking all of those Moth Man, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, Nessie, ghost and witch stories that we’ve all heard while growing up (or when listening to Coast to Coast each evening). Heck, every once in a while these legends still make the mainstream news!
The most recent story arc (issue #’s 0-5 of the series) has just wrapped up and last month saw the release of the first Hoax Hunters trade paperback, compiling them. That book comes highly recommended – exciting times, indeed! But best of all, this week sees the release of issue #6, which starts up a brand new storyline and makes for a great “jumping on” point for new readers.
Find out why below…
The Comic Stop: KISS #2 and Mars Attacks #2 Reviewed
The Comic Stop is back with two cool titles from our friends at IDW. Both of them offer up iconic imagery and characters that we’ve all grown up on and both are far better than you might expect. Check out our reviews of Mars Attacks #2 and KISS #2 after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry
Yi Soon Shin: Warrior And Defender – A Compelling, If Bloody, Comic Book Story Entrenched In Real World History
The medium of sequential storytelling, of comic books, is one that lends itself to a multitude of genres including science fiction, horror, noir and comedy. Most of those genres, when published today, find themselves disguised, wrapped in colourful capes and masks, as superheroes lead the comic book sales charts. But there was a time, not so long ago, when straight-laced western-themed comics were at the forefront of the North American consciousness, when war and romance-themed monthlies sold in large numbers.
Those sorts of artistic choices, those kinds of reading experiences are still around today – just not in the same number as they once were. It’s really a pleasure, then, to find a comic book that stands apart from the tried and true super-powered costumed characters that ubiquitously fill the store shelf racks, to enjoy a change of pace from the general, mainstream experience of reading comics.
The compilation hardcover graphic novel Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender (the first book of an expected trilogy) is one of those kinds of comics.
Read the rest of this entry
It’s No Myth: Hoax Hunters Issue 1 Is A Great Read
I was out with a good friend of mine the other night, who got to talking about one of his co-workers who he labeled a right-wing conspiracy nut.
“This guy talks about UFOs and the Illuminati, all that stuff,” my friend told me. I smiled at him.
“Hey man, I listen to conspiracy theory radio everyday at work. Don’t get me started on the moon landing.” My buddy gave me a once over and started laughing.
“I didn’t know that about you!”
Yup, I love me a good conspiracy. Makes sense then, that I loved the first issue of Hoax Hunters, the new Image comic from Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley.
Read the rest of this entry
Exclusive: Christopher Golden Talks Baltimore, Vampires, Mike Mignola And More
Christopher Golden is a New York Times bestselling author who has put words into the mouths of iconic characters such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the X-Men. Recently, he’s been crafting the comic book exploits of Lord Baltimore, the character who first appeared in the novel Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Vampire, co-written by Golden and Mike Mignola. You can read our review for that classic book here. Christopher was kind enough to chat with me via email about the latest Baltimore mini-series from Dark Horse, Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy, his collaboration with Mike Mignola and artist Ben Stenbeck, he’s writing method, and much more.
Andy Burns: As someone who thought the original Baltimore novel was a wonderful and thoroughly engaging story, I’m wondering if the plan that you and Mike Mignola always had involved bringing the character to the comic book world? Or was there even a plan for him?
Christopher Golden: The only thing planned from the beginning was the novel. We had some very vague conversations about writing a sequel to the novel, even while I was writing the original, but nothing concrete. Once in a while, during the process of developing the initial Hollywood version that ended up not happening, we did sort of acknowledge to each other that one day it would be nice to fill in those missing years from the novel…that there were a lot of adventures to be told in that space. At some point, one of those conversations just turned into, “let’s do it,” though I can’t honestly remember when or how that happened.
Read the rest of this entry
Exclusive Interview: Matt Kindt On The Mind, The Artistic Process And His New Monthly Series, MIND MGMT
Last month, the first issue of MIND MGMT, Matt Kindt’s new monthly series published by Dark Horse Comics, hit comic book store shelves with high praise. Of course, it also made our weekly Wednesday Run column! Those with great expectations surrounding the series were not left disappointed.
In MIND MGMT, Matt Kindt, acclaimed artist and author of Revolver, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man and Super Spy, weaves a blend of sci-fi, speculative fiction and government conspiracy story, that is both action-packed and engrossing. Multiple (and absolutely fun and rewarding!) readings of each issue seem to be the order of the day. He spoke with JP Fallavollita via email about the series, its’ beginnings, his creative process, and the pleasures of monthly comic book storytelling.
JP Fallavollita: Congratulations on a thrilling first issue, Matt! MIND MGMT immediately evokes many different aspects of pop culture and speculative fiction: the stories of Philip K. Dick, the television show Lost and late-night conspiracy radio shows spring to <a-hem> mind. And it’s got a government black-ops twist, of course! What can you tell us about the genesis of the series?
Matt Kindt: It started with the title – I loved those words together – and then started to build something around it. It really just seemed to suggest itself. And I liked the idea of revisiting a sort of “Super Spy” world but in the present day (most of the time) and adding an extra crazy element that I haven’t really played with before with the sort-of-sci-fi mind powers.
Then it’s just a matter of thinking of what kind of people would be in this organization and what would it be like for them? The scenarios and stories then just sort of suggested themselves as well.
Read the rest of this entry
The Comic Stop: Guest Blogger Emily McGuiness On The Origin Of Her Book Ties
All month long at Biff Bam Pop we’ve been featuring various origin stories. Today I asked comic book creator Emily McGuiness to share her own origin story and that of her graphic novel, Ties. Take it away, Emily!
My name is Emily McGuiness and my origin story is quite a tale. I am a comic book creator and all around art maven. I am the writer, penciller and inker of my slice-of-life comic book Ties: A Chronicle of Letters and Scotch. I also have my hands in about a million other projects like gallery shows, film, illustration, etc.
Hoax Hunters, Mad Men, Swamp Thing And The Art Of The Origin Story With Guest Blogger Michael Moreci
All this month at Biff Bam Pop we’re looking at Origin stories – from films and comics and debut albums, to authors and their work. As part of this, writer Michael Moreci has written about the origin of his new series Hoax Hunters (you can read our previous interview with Michael here). For all you aspiring comic book creators out there, this is great insight into one artists’ creative process. Without further adieu, take it away Michael:
Origin stories are boring.
There, I got that off my chest (and I even mean it, in a way).
The necessity of origins stories is an unusual thing, I think, because it’s so exclusive to comics. Not to say other mediums don’t incorporate origins into their narratives (they do), they just don’t have the same level of devotion as comics do. Let’s face it: Comics are obsessed with origins. Year One, Earth One, Season One, reboots, secret origins, on and on. It never stops.
Now, before getting any further, let me preface what I’m about to say with a simple disclosure: I will never, ever be the creator who tracks down reviewers and confronts them about a bad review. Unless the critic gets something egregiously wrong or insults a member of my family, I won’t dissuade—or worse, bully—them from holding whatever opinion they have. So there. That said, I can express some frustration I had over a few reviews of Hoax Hunters #0 in a general way for the sake of this topic.
