Comic Book History

The Tripods was a B.B.C. T.V. series from 1985 loosely based on the late 1960s books by John Christopher. Beeb Magazine was launched in 29th January 1985 to showcase their junior T.V. series and featured The Tripods throughout its full 20 Issue run. At first the comic strip followed the T.V. series then veered off on a tangent. The T.V. series itself followed the first two books ; a third series was planned but never materialized. Enjoy this slice of post apocalyptic adventure now in the first of 6 story arcs!To Be Cont'd ...

The August comic book solicitations have escaped into the wild, and we at The Weekly Crisis have gone hunting. We've tracked down some of the best, worst, and coolest things that will be hitting stands come the last month of summer so that you don't have to. So hit the jump to get a glimpse of your potential comic book future! Grant's Thoughts Best Things in August Anthology Vampire American Vampire continues to be on hiatus, which is the bad news, but this month sees an anthology that features not only Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, but a whole slew of amazing creators. I'd love to give you more than a simple laundry list of who will be working on the book, but when that list includes Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, Becky Cloonan, Francesco Francavilla, Declan Shalvey, and others it's hard to avoid. This book is should be all kinds of fun, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of DC's 80 page comic prices, I'll probably be making an exception to snag myself a copy of it. Nic Klein Finds a New Home Nic Klein has been killing things with his phenomenal art on Winter Soldier with Jason Latour, but with that book ending in June, Klein's name was conspicuously absent from Marvel's July solicitations (beyond covers for Secret Avengers and the Winter Soldier trade collection, neither of which really count in my opinion). Thankfully, Marvel is transplanting him to Jason Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder with issue #12. I understand that the series is already awesome, so Klein's arrival should only make things better. And while Latour remains without a Marvel title, his artistry can still be found in the pages of Vertigo's Django Unchained comic book adaptation, which sees another issue this month, all is not lost. Worst Things in August The Crossover We Deserve? DC has answered the prayers of fans everywhere I don't even know who and is launching a DC - Masters of the Universe crossover. What the heck is going on here? I can't imagine that anyone has been clamouring for this book. I mean, what do DC's heroes and He-Man have to do with each other? Beyond wearing questions costumes, that is. And as much as I like what I've seen of Dexter Soy, neither he nor Keith Giffen can really be qualified as any of DC's heavy hitters. So while it remains a mystery as to why DC wants to make this happen, it seems pretty clear that it's going to be dead on arrival. Coolest Things in August Comic Book Side Scrollers Sina Grace and Daniel Freedman will be dropping Burn the Orphanage: Born to Lose #1 on an unsuspecting world, and while there's still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding this book, the fact that its aiming to recapture the era of side-scrolling brawler video games is already enough to grab my attention. This book looks like it could be a fistful of fun, and I can't wait to give it a look. Trillium Blooms! Jeff Lemire is a top flight talent. He's writing some of DC's best books right now, and he's more than proven he's just as skilled an artist with his work on books like The Underwater Welder and Sweet Tooth. August sees him start up his newest series, an 8-issue book titled Trillium featuring a love story between two lovers who are separated by nearly two thousand years. What more, their love is going to lead to the end of reality itself. If that's not one of the highest concepts you've encountered, I don't know what to tell you. This book is going to be amazing, and you should already be getting excited for it. I know I am. Hansel's Thoughts Best Things in August Matt Kindt Double Dosage There are few books being printed today that give you such a deep and engrossing story like Matt Kindt's MIND MGMT. In August we will be lucky to get the second collected edition and continue

Dig this super-strange ad for a famed chocolate snack establishment from the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area! One enterprising entrepreneur uses well-known pop culture imagery to attract potential hungry sweet-tooth saddled shoppers, and this time, he's zeroed in on a (also strange) BATMAN AND ROBIN movie image from 1997! Here we see the Caped Crusaders repurposed as the "Dynamic Duo of fun and fudgery," all in a disturbing attempt to get laughs and loot! The canny confectioners also configured said ad to resemble a litigation-attracting comic book cover, complete with "DC bullet," and "Comics Code" seal! Click below to enlarge, fudge-fans! Above: The inside store of the flamboyant founder of the Fudgery, "Papa Fudge" himself! Above: "Papa Fudge" also re-imagines other pop culture icons for his attention-grabbing posters, such as the Hulk, seen here as the "Hunk!"

“Nooooooo! T-The Force! Someone...reaching out...through the machine!” Welcome to Star Wars Rediscovered and my review of Classic Star Wars Volume 3: Escape to Hoth. Read on after the jump to see what I thought of this third volume of this series. Classic Star Wars Volume 3: Escape to Hoth Writer: Archie Goodwin Artist: Al Williamson Art Assist: Allen Nunis Colourists: Steve Buccellato, Matthew Hollingsworth, Ray Murtaugh, Tom Roberts Cover Art The cover art for this collection is as uninspiring as the previous volumes. We have two figures who are about to be attacked by a lizard creature and Darth Vader, the male character looks to be too blonde and muscled to be Luke Skywalker but if previous volumes are taken into account there is every chance this could be him. The colours and use of shadow are fine but Vader looks a bit too small and thin to look very threatening. Plot Story #14 This is the first volume where we get a fairly heavy recap of what has occurred in the previous volume. We resume the story where we left off in the last volume with Vrad and Luke fighting. Luke manages to somehow convince Vrad to not shoot him after they have fought even though at the end of the previous volume he seemed dead set on killing him. Luke convinces the general to let him fly with Vrad and they set off to confront Vader. However Vrad again betrays the Rebels, he abandons Luke on a planetoid and hopes to bargain for his life with the Empire with the power gem. Luke is rescued by the Millenium Falcon which somehow manages to arrive right behind him without him noticing. Unexpectedly Vrad changes his mind and attacks the destroyer even though the power gem is depleted, he is vapourised by their shields but this allows the Falcon to damage their ship from the rear as they had transferred all shields to the front. I was pleasantly surprised at this twist, it definitely helped to add a bit more depth to the character and he became more than just a traitor who was to weak to stand against the Empire. General Dodonna promotes Luke to commander while they all prepare to leave the base before the Imperials arrive, Dodonna however secretly stays on the planet and sacrifices himself to destroy the Imperials. There is obviously a heroic gene within the Dodonna family line. We again are told the same information multiples times, which gets a bit boring. The Rebel fleet make it to Hoth thanks to Luke's use of the Force and they evade Vader. Story #15 Our characters on the Falcon have ship trouble before they can make it to Hoth and land on a nearby peaceful looking planet to make repairs. During this Luke sees who he thinks is Tanith being attacked by a giant plant monster, he kills it but she runs away and in chasing her Luke is pulled over a cliff by her and into water. It then is discovered that she is not Tanith but a stranger. Her explanation to Luke is that the atmosphere of the planet is too rich for strangers and so can make them see things. I initially found this such a boring and blunt plot device just so Luke can be teamed up with this woman while on the planet. However this just turns out to be her off the cuff explanation. A few pages later and S'ybll and Luke and suddenly kissing, it feels very strained and unnecessary. I was right to feel this way as she is in reality a mind witch who has attempted to bring Luke under her spell so she can drain his life force. He is stronger than she anticipated however and he escapes. S'ybll tries to bring the entire environment down on Luke but he has made her so enraged that she collapses and presumably dies. They return to the new Rebel base on Hoth. I was quite pleased that she was in fact an enemy waiting to strike and not just another damsel in distress for Luke to save, this turned around what could have been a very bland story. Story #16 On their journey back from defeating the mind witch the Falcon is unwittingly followed and so out heroes

With just 20 pages in which to wrap up Firestorm's title, writer/artist Dan Jurgens gives us six villains, one special guest hero, one new anti-hero, a big surprise and the beginning of the next chapter in the heroic career of Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond. That's a lot to handle, but Jurgens is one of the best in the superhero business, able to juggle character and plots with enviable ease.Or so it seems; Jurgens likely works darn hard to make everything look so easy, and for that, I thank him. I was dreading this last issue, but he infuses the book with so much joy, so many great moments, that I'm left with a big smile on my face. There's the introduction of Major Force to DC's new continuity, still working with the armed services but with a terrific new costume and a slightly better attitude. Slightly. There's Firestorm getting by with a little help from his friends, and not just the super-powered ones. And then there's this (click on image to enlarge):I don't know whether Jurgens misses writing Superman, but he should be writing Superman - maybe in a team-up book kept separate from pesky crossover plotlines. Jurgens is equally adept at capturing the essential Firestorm, the hero who, even in the heart of a villains' pile-on, can't keep his enthusiasm for life at bay (left).That's Ronnie steering Firestorm, with Jason as the world's best back-seat driver, ever ready with a suggestion to help save the day. It's been wonderful seeing Jurgens bring Jason and Ronnie from a position of antagonism to one of friendship and partnership. I won't spoil the big surprise of the issue, but it'll make longtime fans happy, I'm sure. I will tell you that Superman comes with an offer for Firestorm, and it's a lovely nod to Firestorm's comics history.Not that this issue is a nostalgia-fest - it's got plenty of smart, fresh super-heroics, as Firestorm and friends face down Multiplex, the Hyena, Killer Frost, Typhoon, Black Bison and Plastique. He may have been tasked with wrapping up the book, but Jurgens, rather than sending existing characters into a corner, has brought into play pretty faithful versions of the Nuclear Man's most famous foes. The only thing I don't like about this issue is that Firestorm makes a dubious moral choice, a self-serving one ... I wouldn't be surprised if Jurgens plans to address this somewhere, have it come back to bite Ronnie and Jason in the mutual bum.That's Jurgens the writer. Jurgens the penciller produces page after page of crystal clear, dynamic work, showing more fashionable artists how to tell a story by making every panel count. There's not a wasted line as Jurgens gets his large cast from A to Z with pizzazz, and talented inker Norm Rapmund has his back every step of the way. Hi-Fi provides hues that range from concrete to candy, while Travis Lanham's letters are unshowy, and effective. There's a splash of Firestorm and Superman that is simply gorgeous - suitable, as they used to say, for framing.I've no idea where Jurgens will pop up next, but I'll be following him because he always provides a story that's at least solidly entertaining, and often great - he never cheats with flashy surprises that don't bear a minute's examination, it's 'just' honest, rock solid fare.And I love Jurgens and Rapmund's good-humoured cover - the perfect symbolic image for a final issue.So that's The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man. One of the DC New 52 books I was most looking forward to, it proved a big disappointment under previous creative teams. But Jurgens, Rapmund and co came along and turned this book around, making it something of a hidden treasure; certainly DC did little - well, nothing, actually - to promote it after Jurgens arrived with #13. I'll be following Ronnie over in the Justice League title until such time as he gets another shot at his own title.Until then, Firestorm forever!

I was never a big fan of this series when it appeared in Speed weekly , but when it was drawn in full colour and by Ron Turner to boot in the last of the Speed Annuals in the winter of 1981 ( cover dated 1982 ) I felt attracted to it immediately. Ron had the gift of turning ( sic ) the most boring and banal of storylines into something magical. Alas , this was the highlight of a rather staid and whimpering end for Speed as an entity. The entire Annual was a paltry 110 pages with much padding and filler , including giving over 6 pages to a calender! A sad end to what could have been infinitely better.The End.

In an abandoned Manhattan warehouse, the world's richest teens gather. They're at a 'poxpo' - a pop-up expo - at which inventors with lunatic, potentially great ideas show them off. And if they impress organiser Commodore Murphy, they'll get the money to develop the products into a marketable state - and perhaps seriously rich.But not as rich as Murphy, oil heir JP Houston, film star Cecilia Sunbeam and the 'Green Team's' potential new member, Prince Mohammed. It's 'Mo' who is our point of view player, motivating the introductions of characters and concepts, and it's Mo's mistake which put everyone at the poxpo at risk from terror gang The Riot Act.The intruders provoke an outbreak of action at the end of this issue; before that, it's almost all talk - but because the talk comes courtesy of writers Art Baltazar and Franco, it's very smart and very entertaining. Characters are introduced one by one without it feeling as if someone brought an exposition machine to the poxpo, and we get a sense of one very big conflict that threatens the Teen Trillionaires (the earlier minted mob, created by Joe Simon and Jerry Grandenetti, were Boy Millionaires). As well as updating the original Green Team from Seventies DC tryout book 1st Issue Special - with Cecil becoming Cecilia, and Abdul Smith promoted to Prince Mo - we meet JP's sister, LL and Mo's bodyguard, Abisha. Altogether, they're a charismatic crew, and while we don't get a clear idea of where this book is going - though a superhero thread is present - there's more than enough here to bring me back. Like Art and Franco's DC Kids' books, Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures, the Green Team is fun from beginning to end.The artwork of Ig Guara really gets behind the script, saying something about our spotlight character - look at Mo on the first couple of pages and it's all there: the burden he feels as heir to a demanding father, the awe at the poxpo, the desire to belong (click on image to enlarge). This is attractive, intelligent stripwork and I hope Guara continues to find the sweet spot as we get to know the other players; meanwhile, there's a vibrancy to the characters that makes me want to spend time with them. As the story walks Mo through the warehouse and into a new world of adventure, Guara never skimps on the backgrounds, constantly showing us what's happening at the tech show.While the Green Team - Cecilia apart - are based visually on the originals, Guara takes a more naturalistuc approach than did master stylist Grandenetti, but it works well; there's a real warmth to his illustrations, and JP Mayer's finishes maintain a pleasing delicacy of line.Then there's Amanda Conner's eye-poppingly good cover, which suggests that once this comic gets into its stride, big and mad will be the order of the day. I can live with that!And kudos to whoever designed that logo, one of the best since DC's New 52 relaunch gave most everybody a fresh masthead. It's perfect and, like the rest of the cover, coloured by the excellent Paul Mounts. Interiors are toned by Wil Quintana and lettered by Travis Lanham, both of whom contribute to a superior first issue. Any Teen Trillionaire would be happy to pay $2.99 for it.

The moving continues! Right now we're still at the pack-and-organize phase, taking our time, doing things right. Later will be the "shove everything in a box and throw it on a moving truck" phase.

Karen: Usually we try to keep things positive around here. After all, the whole point of this blog is to talk about those things that make us happy -comics, films, music, and so on that have brought us pleasure since we were youngins. Sometimes we review books that aren't so good, but we still try to find something nice to say. But today's post is a chance to vent a bit about those little things that just drive you crazy -pet peeves. They don't have to be connected to our usual topics, it can be anything that gets under your skin. Here's a few of mine:Vanity license plates that simply reiterate the make or model of the car. I can see you are driving a Mustang, and I assume the car is yours, so why waste your money buying a plate that says "MyStang"? Or how about "momsvan"? Saw that too. The absolute worst, though, was one I saw just last week on a BMW 325I. I snapped a quick pic of it on my phone. In case you can't tell, the plate said, I kid you not, "325IBMW". Really? You spent $50 or however much it is to tell me that? Like I couldn't tell what kind of car you were driving?! If you're going to have a personalized plate, for Pete's sake, express yourself! Say something about who you are!Waiting 30, 40, 45 or more minutes after my scheduled doctor's appointment before I actually see the doctor. I'm on time, why can't they be? People who call Star Trek "Star Track."People who cough or sneeze and make no effort to cover it up. Thanks for the germs buddy! DJs who talk over the beginning of the song - like it's OK to talk because it's "just" music, no singing yet, and we'd rather hear their brilliant commentary! How many great intros have been ruined by these inconsiderate jerks?Doug: Karen offered me a chance to get in on this. How about...?Visiting the Department of Motor Vehicles? Rude, slow, inefficient, expensive, rude, and did I mention slow? Being a civil servant myself, these folks give state employees a bad name. There's a guy at our local office who is sort of my idol and tax-sucking nemesis all rolled into one. Seriously -- he comes back from his break, walks the length of the counter as if he's looking for something, talks to two of the workers who are helping people (interrupting the customers conversation), comes back down the counter, helps one person, walks back down the line, returns to his place, fidgets around, and then goes to the bathroom. It's a monument to non-productivity. Dire Straits sang about Money for Nothing...When I go home from school, I use a neighborhood street that comes out to a main thoroughfare, but only about 1/2 a block away from a stoplight. When I'm on my way home, the folks who work the 7 am shift are now on their way home, too, and traffic is very heavy. Inevitably, I get behind some doofus trying to turn left onto the main road. Traffic is so heavy, even when that light turns red, you then get the people from the opposite road making their right-on-red turn into the path I'd love to get on. Left hand turn from the guy in front of me? No chance... So I sit, fuming.When I coached youth sports, the kid who wanted to show everyone how good he is (which basically boiled down to mimicking some awful fundamentals he'd seen from a pro athlete on television) absolutely drove me nuts. Just play the game, son. And be a good teammate!And of course, one we can all relate to: reading issue #X, of course with a cliffhanger ending, and the next issue in the series that we found was naturally issue #Z. Where o' where did issue #Y go?? No idea.I think we can close this one out with one more "little" nitpick about modern comic art, and that's the Image-era and post-Image-era depiction of women in comics. If you'd wondered about Kara's breast-reduction surgery, you are sadly mistaken; there's no way she could even see Supergirl...