Blog Archives
Constantine, Responsibility, War And Sin – BBP! Speaks With Acclaimed Writer Ray Fawkes (Part 1)
After making the game-changer move of ending all of their monthly series in August 2011 and, calling it the “New 52”, re-starting them with brand new first issues, DC Comics continues to evolve. This year, the publishing company has definitely been shining a light on the darker corners of its universe. The mature, sophisticated publishing arm of Vertigo Comics is still undergoing changes as well, with flagship title Hellblazer recently ending it 300-issue run. The main protagonist of that series, the beloved chain-smoking English occultist, John Constantine, has been folded up into the DC universe proper, continuing his supernatural adventures in a new ongoing monthly series called, appropriately enough, Constantine.
Ray Fawkes has worked for both DC Comics and Vertigo Comics along with a host of other publishers including Oni Press, Image Comics, Top Shelf Comics and Marvel Comics. The Eisner, Harvey and Shuster Award nominee is now writing some of his most high-profile work to date at DC Comics, namely Justice League Dark and Constantine as well as having a hand in DC’s upcoming Trinity War summer blockbuster storyline.
JP Fallavollita met with the Toronto-based writer and artist at the 2013 edition of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) and had a chance to speak with him over the phone about his recent writing responsibilities. In the first part of this interview, Fawkes talks about his experiences with fan-favourite character, John Constantine, the history and responsibility of writing him in both a solo series and a group series, and his story plans for the near future.
Mighty Marvel March: The Return of the New Universe
In the decades since “Flash of Two Worlds” in Flash #123 in 1961, the story that introduced Earth-Two and the basic concept of the Multiverse in comics, the idea of parallel universes have gone from science fiction theory to science fact. The Multiverse is more relevant now than it ever has.
While DC Comics has been the place the Multiverse is most bandied about, Marvel has done its share of play there as well. Marvel’s past in parallel dimensions seems about to come back and bite it in its butt in recent issues of Avengers and New Avengers. It’s a coming crisis in the Marvel Multiverse, after the jump.
Saturday At The Movies: Marvel Anime Wolverine
I’m not a big fan of cartoons produced in the Japanese-styled Anime or Manga aesthetic. I know there are a lot out there that are. Some of those fans write for this very website. Still, growing up, I was a huge fan of Star Blazers and Robotech. Silver Hawks was a pretty cool show and Akira was amazing. These programs, and a few others, were able to make the jump across the Pacific and reach North America households to much acclaim. More importantly, they fuelled the imagination of kids and got them interested in Anime and Manga. Maybe that’s why I like the DC Entertainment-produced, Anime-styled, Batman: Gotham Knight, released in 2008, so much. We got to see a favourite character from a radically different perspective.
Not to be outdone, Marvel Entertainment took that same idea and expanded upon it, creating four separate, 12-episode series’, based on their most popular comic book characters.
Titanic Teams – Gone But Not Forgotten Teams of the Marvel Universe
When you think super-teams in the Marvel Comics universe, the Avengers come to mind immediately, followed quickly by the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and half a dozen others. I’m going to delve a little deeper, and take a journey into the forgotten corners of the Marvel Universe. Here’s a look at some of the forgotten teams of the Marvel Universe.
