Blog Archives
Heroes and Villains – Reviewing Recent Comics 9-13-2017
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 and companies. Meet me after the jump for my thoughts on Moving Target: The History and Evolution of Green Arrow by Richard Gray, Rick and Morty: Pocket Like You Stole It #3, The Art of Rick and Morty, Realm #1, Retcon #1, Sink #3, Dead of Winter#2, Kaijumax: Season Three #3, and more… be warned, there may be spoilers…
Heroes and Villains – Reviewing Recent Comics 6-21-2017
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 Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny #1, Dark Days: The Forge #1, Bill & Ted Save the Universe #1, Black Hammer #10, Victor LaValle’s Destroyer #2, Red Agent: The Human Order #8, Plastic #3, Kong of Skull Island #12, Empowered #10, Spencer & Locke #1-3, and Bug! The Adventures of Forager #1-2 from the Allreds… This is another loaded week, so who needs Secret Empires when we have so many other cool things to check out, be warned, there may be spoilers…
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!
Heroes and Villains – Reviewing The Week’s Marvels 2-8-2017
This week in Heroes and Villains our selection of new Marvel Comics includes far flung space action (not), one of the company’s current big events, a first issue featuring one of New York’s most dastardly villains, and the biggest female star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Meet me after the jump for my thoughts on Guardians of the Galaxy #17, Inhumans Vs. X-Men #4, Kingpin #1, and Black Widow #11…
Relive Days Gone By With “Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual” On The Wednesday Run
The comic book annual.
In many ways, the comic book annual is a thing of the past – the last refuge of a special excitement for regular readers of an ongoing comic book series. For the most part, the “Annual” magic died out in the mid-1990’s. That makes for at least two generations of young comic book readers that have never really known the thrill of the double-sized, more experimental, stories that “Annuals” often produced.
Today, the “Annual” has generally been replaced by the one-shot issue, the miniseries, or completely wiped from existence in lieu of publishing multi-part stories within an ongoing comic book, that can be easily collected into trade paperbacks or hardcovers. With market-driven forces changed and thin margins and full workloads, there is no appetite for the back-end work needed to create a separate visual tale within the story of an ongoing series.
But there was a time when comic books were madcap fun – and the “Annual” was a staple and eagerly anticipated part of comic book lore.
One series aims to return to those glory days.
Today sees the release of the thrilling, multi-faceted, multi-part, Black Hammer Giant-Sized Annual!
And all of comic book fandom rejoices!
Holiday Gift Guide 2016: Comic Book Collections Part 1
We’re in the early days of the 2016 edition of Biff Bam Pop’s annual Gift Guide, and already we’ve seen so many cool choices for the pop culture lover in your life!
Today sees the first part of three columns dedicated to comic book compilations released throughout the year. This is stuff that your comic book loving friends and family (and you) need to be reading during the cold days and even colder nights of December, January and February.
This first column will focus on the more affordable offerings – trade paperbacks of great comic book series’ and one-offs. We’ll kick that up with the next two columns, taking a closer look at must-have hardcovers and giant-sized omnibus and absolute edition volumes.
You know, for those that you really, really love. And have a budget (or a strong enough gift bag) to shoulder it.
In every case, happy holidays… here begins the comic book gift of reading that you should be giving this season!
The War For Survival Begins in Your First Look at INHUMANS VS. X-MEN #1!
New York, NY – October 21st, 2016 – Two super-powered races clash this December as Mutantkind and Inhumanity collide with the fates of their species at stake! Prepare for battle as Charles Soule (Uncanny Inhumans), Jeff Lemire (Extraordinary X-Men) and Leinil Yu (Secret Invasion) bring you the two groups to war in the explosive INHUMANS VS. X-MEN #1!
THANOS #1 Brings the Mad Titan to Marvel NOW!
New York, NY—October 20th, 2016 — He is the greatest evil the universe has ever known. An unstoppable force whose name is whispered in hushed tones across the galaxy. Feared from one end of the cosmos to the other, he’s returned to take back what is rightfully his! Today, Marvel is pleased to present your first look inside THANOS #1 – the new ongoing series from all-star creators Jeff Lemire (Moon Knight, Death of X) and Mike Deodato (Avengers, Invincible Iron Man)! Venture into the dark depths of one of Marvel’s most vile villains as he enacts vengeance on all who would stand in his way. In his absence, Thanos’ grip on the cosmos has loosened. As he returns to the stars to terrorize the galaxy once more, reborn and reinvigorated – are there any that can stop him? Many will try, including members of his own family – Thane, Starfox and many others. Will they succeed where others have failed?
The winds of change blow deadly in Death of X #1
Can’t mutants just get along with anyone?
Over the last few years we’ve seen Marvel’s merry band of outsiders duke it out with ithe Avengers over the Phoenix Force. Now all things point to the X-Men heading into battle with the Inhumans, whose presence on Earth have escalated ever since their fallen king, Black Bolt, released the Terrigen Mist into the planet’s atmosphere, leading to the creation of new Inhumans around the planet.
Does this all sound like a lot of gobbledygook? It may very well, if you haven’t been reading the last few years of Inhuman and X-Men comic books. Luckily, the new limited series Death of X doesn’t require a significant amount of backstory familiarity to enjoy it.
Written by next generation stars Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule, and illustrated by Aaron Kuder, Death of X is set 8 months earlier than the current Marvel continuity. In it, the X-Men have travelled to Muir Island after the Multiple Man sends them a distress call. Meanwhile, in Japan, a band of Inhumans led by Crystal is following the Terrigen Mist, where it’s about to envelop 200,000 potential new Inhumans. Both groups, on separate journeys, don’t get what they’ve bargained for. There is life and there is death, and more than anything, the existence of mutants in the Marvel Universe hangs in the balance.
Death of X moves quickly, and juxtaposes the two teams quite nicely. The Inhumans are full of optimism – their ranks are growing, and they welcome their new brethren with open arms. The X-Men, led by a militant Cyclops, are more like a group of soldiers, world and war weary. While Lemire and Soule nail the Inhumans and their tone, Cyclops and his group feel just a little bit more cliched than you’d hope. It may simply be familiarity – these characters have been around for decades, and while they’ve grown and evolved, there’s something still fairly rote about them.
The issue here is very much a set up for what comes next, and is certainly successful in its delivery. A battle is brewing, and I’ll be there to read it.
The War for Survival Begins in INHUMANS VS. X-MEN #1!
Two super-powered races clash as Mutantkind and Inhumanity collide with the fates of their species at stake! Announced this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel is pleased to bring you INHUMANS VS. X-MEN, a six-issue event series coming to you this December!
Read the rest of this entry
