Blog Archives
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!
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!
It’s A New World Today For “Mother Panic #1” On The Wednesday Run
Are you a little tired and/or bleary eyed today?
Are you scratching your head, wondering what happened to your perceived reality?
It’s a brand new day today in America and, truthfully, throughout the world. If you’re like me (and I’m sure many of you out there are), you were glued to your CNN, your FOX or your CBC last night and into the wee hours of the morning waiting on the results of the craziest US Presidential election in many generations.
Whatever your desired outcome, the sun did rise this morning.
And, not to be glib, it being a Wednesday, new comic books came out.
So don’t panic.
Instead, let’s take a look at the first issue of a new monthly series in Mother Panic #1!
31 Days Of Horror 2016 Ticks Down To “Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days” On The Wednesday Run
The clock is ticking down and the midnight hour is close at hand! Well, the only midnight hour worth mentioning, really…and that’s the midnight of All Hallows Eve.
As Presidential candidate Donald Trump might say: “It’s a fantastic midnight hour, the best midnight hour, believe me.” And for once, he might be right in his horrific exuberance.
We here at Biff Bam Pop! would certainly agree, and as we continue with our daily 31 Days of Horror series of articles, a tribute to all things spooky this Halloween season, this weekly Wednesday Run column gets in on the act one last time – with another sampling of comic book storytelling you need to get your hands on.
Prepare yourselves, then, for the grandest of grand midnight hour tales! Prepare yourself with a collection of some of the best horror, fantasy and strangeness you’ll ever come across, in any season, with today’s release of Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days!
31 Days Of Horror 2016 Finds “The Lost Boys #1” On The Wednesday Run
“One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach…all the damned vampires.”
Oh, yeah!
With that one, end-of-film revelation, the 1987’s The Lost Boys cemented itself as a fan favourite, vampire-flavoured, horror-comedy. Grandpa knew the town was rife with the undead – all along! For a fervent fan base, that meant story-line speculation, insinuation and a broadening of in-film lore.
As a teenage kid coming out of that movie, my friends and I would endlessly debate: was Grandpa a vampire? How many other vampire clans were there in Santa Clara? Was David really dead? How many head vampires might there be? Wouldn’t werewolves make for a great sequel?
And therein lay the excitement…sequels!
Today, just in time for Biff Bam Pop’s continuation of 31 Days of Horror, Vertigo Comics releases a sequel miniseries to the film, affectingly and simply titled: The Lost Boys!
From High Upon The Pulpit Comes “Absolute Preacher Vol. 1” On The Wednesday Run
“Oh shit. I have to buy a third copy.”
Those were the words uttered by an anonymous friend (and unnamed contributor to this site) after a recent enjoyable Saturday morning breakfast consisting of fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, buttered toast, multiple cups of black coffee and chit chat and laughs about swear words, school graduation tickets for parents of tweens, Alan Moore’s penchant for perversity, an incredible Euro run by Wales, and, most importantly to this particular paragraph and the dialogue listed directly above it, today’s release of the “Absolute” version of Preacher.
You see, there are Preacher fans out there. Hardcore Preacher fans.
It’s one of the quintessential Vertigo Comics series from when Vertigo Comics was relevant. It’s held up there with high esteem right beside Sandman, early Hellblazer and Doom Patrol.
The series changed the way people thought about how stories were told in comics, for God’s sake. And I don’t use the word “God” glibly. I mean literally.
Today sees the release of Absolute Preacher Vol. #1. And if you don’t know much about it, you need to find out.
Alliteration & Anthology Amore With STRANGE SPORTS STORIES #1 On The Wednesday Run
I love a good anthology series.
Put a bunch of writers and artists together and get them to create a bunch of short stories around a particular theme and just let ‘em have at it.
In regards to comic books, the unfortunate thing is that we really don’t get to see those types of endeavours published anymore. I don’t know. Maybe the rest of the world doesn’t share my enthusiasm over them.
Luckily, Vertigo Comics, the mature, sophisticated imprint of DC Comics seems to have a fondness for the anthology format. They are continuously publishing stories by a plethora of creative teams under a theme or banner.
And now, near the end of the calendar year, they’re at it again. And it’s a strange one.
Follow me after the jump for Strange Sports Stories #1!
The Long Wait Is Over With KID ETERNITY DELUXE EDITION On The Wednesday Run
I know many who have been waiting for this day for what seems like…an eternity.
My tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, if you couldn’t tell from that side of the Internet. But it’s true. There are many, many people out there, fans of writer Grant Morrison, artist Duncan Fegredo and even publisher, Vertigo Comics, who have been waiting ever so patiently for a beautiful hardcover version of the 1991 comic book three0issue mini series called Kid Eternity.
Count me as one of them.
Follow me after the jump and I’ll encapsulate a…lifetime of waiting…into just a couple of minutes for the Kid Eternity Deluxe Edition hardcover!
Art Imitates Life Imitates ART OPS #1 On The Wednesday Run
The reinvention of Vertigo Comics continues apace!
Earlier this month, the mature and sophisticated publishing arm of DC Comics turned a new leaf, and began releasing the first of twelve new titles over the Autumn season. You can read about one of those comics, written about in this very column, right here.
The reason for the fairly major re-launch by the publisher?
Relevancy, of course.
In a world where smaller, but still significant publishers like Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics are regularly releasing comics by established high profile, as well as up and coming, talent, and basically eating the lunch you helped make in the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties, a publisher needs to re-make themselves.
It must be said: for Vertigo Comics in the month of October, so far, so good.
And today gives us the release of the eagerly anticipated punk rock, NYC-fashion, art-world inspired, madness of Art Ops #1.
Follow me after the jump for the art history lesson!
A New Dawn With THE TWILIGHT CHILDREN #1 On The Wednesday Run
It’s been said before, but I’ll say it (at least) one more time: the publishing company that gave us John Constantine: Hellblazer, Sandman, Shade the Changing Man, Preacher, The Invisibles and many, many other titles that transcended the comic book genre and changed it for all time – has been at an all-time low for the better part of a decade.
Vertigo Comics, the mature, sophisticated imprint of DC Comics has floundered in the space it helped to create in the late nineteen eighties and the decade that followed.
With the increasing number of creator-friendly comic book publishers in the marketplace and with Hollywood developing (and paying for) more and more, once-obscure sequential, story ideas, into the film and television art forms, Vertigo became a shadow of its former self. No longer a leader in the industry, Vertigo Comics is indeed trying to find an identity for itself.
And maybe that search ends this month, an important month for the company. Today, it publishes the first issue of The Twilight Children, a four-issue mini series from two of the biggest creators that the comic book industry has ever produced.
Follow me after the jump where I’ll shed some light on the new series.
