Category Archives: The Comic Stop
The Comic Stop: Put Down Whatever You’re Reading And Go Experience Preacher Again
Earlier this week, Biff Bam Pop’s David Ward nominated Preacher’s Tulip O’hare and Jesse Custer as one of Our Favourite Couples. It was a suggestion David had a made a few weeks previous when we were talking about who to feature and as a result, he inspired me to go back and reread the original 66 issue run of the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon series. Reread for the fourth time.
That’s just how awesome Preacher is.
The Comic Stop Exclusive Interview: The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde’s Cole Haddon
Growing up, I loved reading Great Illustrated Classics – I’m certain that’s what they were called, but they were these little, square-shaped paperbacks that would adapt classic novels. On one page you’d have text, the other an illustration. They still publish them today, in fact. Larger versions, but the same adaptations and illustrations. You can find them all here. I mention this because reading Cole Haddon’s great Dark Horse series, The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde took me right back to those stories I grew up reading – War of the World, The Time Machine and, of course, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I read them all over and over, but it was Robert Louis Stevension’s great story that I came back to again and again, and which came bursting from my memory while reading Haddon’s story. 18th century England…foggy nights…an inspector in pursuit of his quarry…and Jack The Ripper? It all comes together brilliantly.
Cole Haddon was kind enough to answer some questions via email about The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde, his creative process, inspiration and much more. Listen to the chime of the ten bells…and let’s get started.
The Comic Stop Exclusive Interview: Joshua Luna Talks Whispers
One of the most well regarded teams in comic books today are the Luna Brothers, writer Joshua and and artist Jonathan. Together, they crafted stellar series like Girls, The Sword and Ultra. Now, Joshua Luna is working solo on his new Image Comics creator-owned series, Whispers. The series has already received some serious buzz, including highlighting last week’s Wednesday Run, which you can read here. Joshua Luna was kind enough to answers questions via email about Whispers, working on his own and much more.
The Comic Stop Exclusive: Brian Wood Talks The Massive In Dark Horse Presents
Comic book fans know writer Brian Wood from critically acclaimed titles like DMZ and Northlanders, along with writing the limited series Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega for Marvel and Conan The Barbarian for Dark Horse (starting February 8th). Along with those writing duties, on February 1st Wood introduces his latest creator-owned title, The Massive, in the pages of Dark Horse Presents #8. Working with longtime collaborator Kristian Donaldson, the story begins as a prologue before going…massive…later this year. We had a chance to talk with Brian Wood via email about The Massive, writing for the legendary anthology Dark Horse Presents and more.
The Comic Stop Exclusive Interview: It’s Peanuts Creative Team Shane Houghton & Matt Whitlock, Charlie Brown!
In last week’s edition of The Comic Stop, I raved about the first issue of the new ongoing Peanuts comic book from KABOOM! You can read all about it here, but suffice to say combining classic stories from Charles Schulz with new ones written by a variety of creators could have gone very badly. Instead, it looks as though Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy et all could very well be introduced to a whole new generation thanks to the skill and reverence of teams like writer Shane Houghton and artist Matt Whitlock, whose story Cat Cash is one of the highlights of Peanuts #1. Shane and Matt were kind enough to talk to Biff Bam Pop via email about their work on the series, what it’s like playing in the world of the Peanuts gang and so much more.
Andy Burns: Shane and Matt, congrats on your work in Peanuts #1. As a longtime fan of the entire gang, I thought Cat Cash managed to capture so much of what makes the characters so beloved. How did you each come to work on the new series?
Shane Houghton: Thanks Andy! We’re definitely happy to hear that our story is gelling with what people have come to know and respect about Peanuts. I was brought into this project by our editor, Adam Staffaroni, who knew about the all-ages, bear-riding cowboy book I write for Image Comics, Reed Gunther. Adam was interested in having me and my brother Chris (who illustrates Reed Gunther) test for Peanuts, but Chris is jam packed with drawing a full monthly book and couldn’t fit it into his schedule. Luckily, our mutual friend, and alum of the same hometown in Michigan that Chris and I are from, Matt Whitlock, is the BIGGEST Peanuts fan in the world. Matt works as a storyboard artist for animated TV shows and has been trying to get on a Peanuts project for years. I called up Matt, he was ecstatic, we tested, and BOOM! really liked our stuff.
Matt Whitlock: Shane pretty much summed it up. I jumped at the opportunity and owe the super-cool Houghton Brothers big time. I love Shane’s brother Chris, but he’s lucky that he couldn’t fit Peanuts into his schedule. Had it been otherwise, Chris may have suffered a mysterious hand injury.
