Blog Archives
#Kirby 100: Jack and the Argo Nuts
Sure, Jack Kirby’s a revered artist, and he created some of the best known comic characters around. Captain America and the Avengers and the Inhumans and the X-men, Galactus and the Silver Surfer and Red Skull and Darkseid, Kirby had a major hand in the stories and look of the heroes and villains currently raking in millions upon millions for film franchises on both sides of the ‘verse divide. He’s a giant of a figure, as BBP continues celebrating a summer of Kirby at 100. But did you know Jack Kirby was a spy?
Experience The Magic Of “Pop Gun War Volume 2: Chain Letter” On The Wednesday Run
In a comic book pop culture world where immense crossover events from the big two publishers, Marvel Comics and DC Comics, fill up all the headlines, smaller and cooler and more artful releases can sometimes get a little lost in on the store shelves.
As fun as #DCMetal’s Dark Days: The Forge #1 (DC Comics’ big Batman-centric story) and the Secret Empire series of comics (Marvel’s Hydra-centered summer epic) might be, for a lot of us, it’s the creator-owned stuff that take our fancy.
That’s what we’re here for today: making sure you don’t get blinded from the great stuff when you head over to your local comic book shop on your own Wednesday Run.
Certainly, you don’t want to miss the eagerly anticipated release of Pop Gun War Volume 2: Chain Letter – finally out today!
#Kirby100: BBP! Celebrates The King Jack Kirby All Summer Long
Jack Kirby.
His artistry was, and remains, so innovative and influential in the comic book zeitgeist that the industry named awards after him. Heck, they even named a visual image after him: the affectionately known, “Kirby Krackle.”
How pervasive is writer and artist Jack Kirby in pop culture?
You can scan the litany of comic book characters that the man created or co-created and you’d be certain to find dozens that are your favourites. From the globally renowned Captain America, Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men series of characters, to the populace’s burgeoning awareness of Darkseid and Black Panther, to the more niche creations of Kamandi, Etrigan the Demon and Destroyer Duck. With Kirby, the list of great characters goes on and on and on.
Without him, pop culture and comic books wouldn’t be at all what we know it to be today.
This August marks the 100th birthday of Jack Kirby and we here at Biff Bam Pop! mean to celebrate that auspicious centennial with a plethora of written accolades all summer long!
This is your cordial invitation to our #Kirby100 party!
End Of The World & Beginning Of Yuggoth In ‘Providence #12’ On The Wednesday Run
Let’s get to the point: it’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?
Two years next month, in fact.
That’s when the first issue of Providence, the first of twelve bi-monthly issues, dropped into the pulpy hands of eagerly anticipating readers who love horror-themed graphic fiction. May of 2015.
But Providence is much more than just horror. It’s a fascinating take on American outsider culture during the early part of the twentieth century, on the eve of the war to end all wars, written and illustrated by two of the comic book industry’s greatest.
Finally, the series comes to a head: Providence #12.
And it is both the end of days and the beginning of a new, stranger, world!
Classic & Epic & Eternal Is This “Beowulf” Graphic Novel On The Wednesday Run
A monster wreaks havoc on a Kingdom.
A hero comes to a King.
A monster needs to be slain.
And so begins the old English epic of Beowulf, a poem that has inspired so many writers and artists in so many different genres: from painting to film to television to fiction to music to even video and board games. Beowulf has touched all aspects of human creativity.
Today, the translation of that ages-old story gets the graphic novel treatment with the beautiful hardcover of Beowulf, published by Image Comics.
Holiday Gift Guide 2016: Comic Book Collections Part 3
Over the last few weeks, we’ve highlighted a series of comic book collections that would make ideal gifts for your comic book loving friends and loved ones this season.
You can find the first part of our trilogy of lists here, which showcases a number of more affordable trade paperback collections.
Last week, the second installment focused on hardcover collections, although slightly more expensive. You can find that list right here.
Today, we’re getting into the crème-de-la-crème of comic book collections. Save these for someone you really care for…or for even someone like yourself! Who wouldn’t want these tomes wrapped up?
With only a few days to go before Christmas, and without further ado, here is the final installment of our list of comic book collections for the 201 6holiday season!
RIC: A Shift in the Landscape
Simone Estrin’s 26-minute documentary, A Shift in the Landscape, is now playing at the Ryerson Image Centre’s (RIC) Student Gallery. As soon as the house lights dim, the colossal abstract sculptures of Richard Serra flood the screen. It is an immediate meditation on art and how it inhabits the environment.
BBP! Fan Expo Canada: Day 2 Guide (Friday)
Like an appetizer at a grand feast, yesterday was tasty – but a taste was all it was!
How are your feet? Wearing comfortable shoes? Good. How’s your back? Is the strap on your pack strong enough to carry a heavy load of books, toys and other weighty paraphernalia? Excellent. You’re very nearly prepped.
Today begins Day 2 of Fan Expo Canada – and it’s the first of the two longest days of the pop culture convention operation, starting at 10:00 AM and running until 7:00 PM.
If you didn’t get a chance to make a run to those exclusives tables, make sure you do it first thing this morning – they’re not going to be around much longer. And if you want original art from some of your favourite pencillers and painters in Artist Alley, take it from me and do it now.
Here’s what Biff Bam Pop! thinks you should be checking out on Fan Expo Canada Day 2:
TIFF’s Virtual Reality Show a Revealing Revolution
Eagle Flight, from Ubisoft
The revolution is coming. It’s coming for your flat screens and your movie theatres and when it’s done, nothing will be the same. Virtual reality has at long last arrived, with tech that is ungainly, expensive and wondrous. Like all tech innovations, the race to consumer affordability is on, and within five years you can bet that VR will be cheap and ubiquitous. Right now, though, we’re in the supercomputer-that-fills-a-room days (metaphorically—the actual gear is already quite compact). In Toronto, TIFF saw the exciting breakthroughs in the medium and seized the opportunity to let people experience VR firsthand, minus the outlay for an Oculus rig. POP 03 is TIFF’s latest public pop-up installation, a three-day hands-on for people to check out what VR is about. I got my own eyes-on yesterday, and I gotta tell ya, the impact is powerful.
RIP Darwyn Cooke – It Was Truly A Golden Age
Darwyn Cooke was a giant talent in the comic book industry and a titan as a sequential artist. Last weekend, at the age of 53, the world lost the award-winning writer and illustrator to cancer.
I, like many others, became familiar with the work of Darwyn Cooke through his DC: The New Frontier (2004), a six-issue miniseries that reexamined DC Comics’ stable of superheroes within the confines of the mid twentieth century and the changing political shape of America after World War II and into the Cold War era. DC: The New Frontier introduced readers to dozens of world-famous characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and even not-so-famous-but-beloved characters like the Challengers of the Unknown, meeting each other for the first time – in the same chronological order that they were originally published during the mid-twentieth century. It brought characters and ideas through the Golden Age of comic books (1930’s to 1950’s) to the burgeoning silver age (1950’s to 1970’s), with the story actually culminating in the foundation of the Justice League of America.
It was a brilliant idea. A tribute as much to the publishing history of comic books as it was a rollicking superhero adventure, the acclaimed series would garner multiple awards including Eisner Awards for Best Limited Series, Best Coloring and Best Publication Design. It also won Harvey Awards including Best Artist, and a Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist. DC: The New Frontier has been collected in numerous formats include a Deluxe and Absolute version, and was made into a direct-to-video animated film which preserved Cooke’s distinctive artistic sensibilities.
