Blog Archives
Heroes and Villains – Reviewing Recent Comics 7-12-2017
This time on Heroes and Villains, we’ll be looking at a variety of comics out this week and last, from a variety of genres. Meet me after the jump for my thoughts on Divided States of Hysteria #2, Golden Voices: Frank Sinatra, Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #6, War for the Planet of the Apes #1, Mage: The Hero Denied #0, Groo: Play of the Gods #1, Youngblood #3, and Back Issue #98… be warned, there may be spoilers… and a mature content warning as well…
Breeze Your Way To “Crosswind #1” On The Wednesday Run
We’ve all felt – or seen – the effects of a nasty crosswind:
Passing a tractor trailer on the highway yanks your car violently and you need to jerk the steering wheel in an opposite direction just to keep yourself from running into the culvert at the side of the road. Whew!
Lazily canoeing across the cottage lake while a strong wind blows you off course from the dock you need to get to. How’d I get here?
Watching a Tour de France cycle team ride in single file, switching up leaders from time to time in order to conserve energy for each individual rider. Sweet science.
Experiencing the violent effects when a nasty Chicago hitman crosses paths with a downtrodden Seattle housewife – in a most unusual way!
Wait. What?
That’s the premise behind today’s release of Crosswind #1…and let me emphasize the phrase “unusual way”!
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!
Richard Kirwin plants a review of Trees Volume 1
“Even here in sleepy old Cefalu. The Trees affect everything. The way we behave. The way money moves around. The things we believe.”
Trees vol 1: In Shadow (issues 1-8)
Warren Ellis
Jason Howard
5/5
Just to get it right out of the way – I am a Warren Ellis mark. In terms a non-wrestling fan can understand, I’m a big fan. If something has a name on it, there is a good chance I will give it a read.
As a writer, he possesses a real gift for taking a concept or premise in a direction you would never expect. He does this while managing to not get stuck in any one creative lane and over a wide variety of characters, from mainstream super-heroes to independent science fiction.
Because I’m a trades guy, I came across Trees while picking through the 3rd floor of BMV (Bloor and Spadina location in Toronto, amazing selection).
With Ellis name attached I felt comfortable grabbing something I had no ideas about going in. As usual, Mr. Ellis did not disappoint. Read the rest of this entry
Heroes and Villains – Reviewing Recent Comics 5-31-2017
This time on Heroes and Villains, we’ll be looking at a variety of comics out this week, and a brief interlude from the traditional superhero genre for me, including selections from both Boom! Studios and Image Comics. Meet me after the jump for my thoughts on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2017 Annual #1, WWE #5, Ladycastle #4, Black Science #30, and Sex Criminals #19… be warned, there may be spoilers…
Role-Play Your Way To A Fluid “User” On The Wednesday Run
Remember the days when Vertigo Comics was regularly publishing comic book fiction that pushed the boundaries of the art form, giving voice to dozens of burgeoning writers and artists each month that would never have been heard from in mainstream publications?
It was probably the mid to late 1990’s or early 2000’s.
And you were probably in high school or college at the time – and my, oh my, weren’t those the glory days of comic book reading?
It’s a little strange then, that with all the great comics that Vertigo was publishing at the time, a title such as the 2001 three-issue miniseries, User, flew a bit under the radar, even though it won industry awards.
It’s stranger then, that the same title is compiled in a handsome hardcover format by an entirely different publisher (one who has taken up the philosophical mantle that Vertigo Comics once owned), over fifteen years later.
And that the story of User, released (again) today, still resonates!
Britpop & Magic & Comics Makes For ‘The Complete Phonogram HC’ On The Wednesday Run
Music is magic.
Just ask any writer of Biff Bam Pop! Heck, ask just about any reader that frequents these digital pages. This site has a love for pop culture, sure, but there’s an underlying need and desire to listen, to read about, and to share favourite music.
Ask Andy Burns, Editor-In-Chief of Biff Bam Pop! and his ever-lasting love of prog-rockers, Yes. And yes, he was there in New York City last weekend when Yes finally entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ask Less Lee Moor, resident Managing Editor of this site as well as the Editor-In-Chief of Popshifter. Besides sharing her enthusiasm for all things music in her regular Pump Up The Jam column here on BBP!, you’ll find that she often waxes lovingly for Richard Oakes-era Suede on social media.
Ask me about my love of Modern Life Is Rubbish-era Blur and the gothic-punk brilliance of the Manic Street Preachers seminal Holy Bible album.
These are the bands, this is the music, that we all grew up with – specifically through our formative years.
And that bit of musical magic brings us straight to the excitement of The Complete Phonogram Hardcover, released today.
Make It Population You In “Royal City #1” On The Wednesday Run
Over here in the Biff Bam Pop! community, we’re big, long-time admirers of Jeff Lemire’s comic book work.
For the better part of a decade, Lemire has been awing readers in a multitude of comic book genres with both company-owned characters and original creations.
Whether it’s his ground-breaking Essex County Trilogy in 2008, his post-apocalyptic series, Sweet Tooth, which brought the writer/artist mainstream attention and acclaim in 2009, his take on the “Invisible Man” in the graphic novel, The Nobody, the space/time bending Trillium in 2013, his riveting ongoing science fiction series, Descender, his brilliant take on Wolverine with Old Man Logan last year, or the current Moon Knight and Black Hammer superhero series that he writes for different publishers, Jeff Lemire never disappoints.
Whew.
That’s a lot of writing – and, often, drawing.
Today, we add another title to the ever-growing list of Jeff Lemire must-reads with Royal City #1!
In Medias Res Is A Good Start With “Paper Girls #11” On The Wednesday Run
In medias res.
In the middle of things.
Boy, the old Latin language can sure sound an interesting turn of phrase, here in the twentieth century, can’t it? It’s the past and the future, gloriously shaking hands whilst shedding some light of understanding on each other. Its comingling makes one feel smart, when uttered in a proper, and apt, context, of course.
And today, uttering “in medias res” is proper and apt.
It’s used to describe the eleventh chapter of one of the most entirely riveting (and fun!) comic book series being published these days.
If you’ve been with Paper Girls for the last year, you know what I’m talking about. If you’re new to the title, don’t let missing out on the previous ten chapters deter you for picking up the latest installment – I’ve got you covered at the end of this column.
Handshakes aside, in medias res, today sees the release of Paper Girls #11!
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.
