Comic Books

So close personal friend Chris Sims has created a new comic with some pals of his, in that digital format that’s all the rage with the young people these days. It’s Subatomic Party Girls, costing you only a mere 99 cents. If you don’t want to make such a large investment sight unseen, then check out the promo Tumblr. Pal Andrew’s latest Nobody’s Favorites entry is about a character that first encountered as a young Mikester, and hadn’t quite yet grasped the whole multiverse thing that was the required backstory for this characters’s raison d’être. Pal Dave talks about magically appearing bras, and offers an intriguing alternative. May be slightly not safe for work, unless you work at Bras A’Plenty at the mall. Bully, the Little Scientific Bull, brings you SCIENCE!

I give Black Terror some credit for having an unusual secret identity for a costumed hero. He was Bob Benton, a pharmacist. We don’t think of those guys as crime fighters as such. But I knew a pharmacist who wasn't afraid of crooks. He was my former pharmacist, Mark, who was 5'3" and slight of build, and who took off across a parking lot after a man who had just stuck him up for Oxycontin. Mark didn't need a mask or cape; he had a golf club, a flapping white pharmacist's jacket, and righteous anger. He was able to subdue the robber, whose drug habit had apparently left him unable to get far by running. The story made the local news and when I asked Mark about it he said, “When he gave up he asked me, ‘do you think you could give me a half dozen Oxys before I go to jail?’” I’m not sure even Black Terror could have handled the situation better than Mark.Black Terror, and his young buddy, Tim, get on the bad side of ex-con, drug inventor Sinistro, who has created a drug to bring out the animal in man. My feeling about people with such talents using them for crime has been mentioned in the past. Anyone who could come up with such a drug could make a fortune peddling it to a drug company. It’s better than stealing. It just doesn’t make for good comic books.From America’s Best Comics #2 (1942):

TweetIt’s only hour 4 of 24 hours of Webcomics and already I’m cheating a bit by spotlighting the work of a single cartoonist more than a single webcomic. But heck, it’s all about reading comic on the web. Sam Alden is a young Portland cartoonist who is rapidly developing with comics on his own website and Study Group, and even a few in print. Like many young, prolific cartoonists, it’s hard to find a well organized archive of his stuff—he has several tumblrs and blogs and twitters and so on. The main outlet seems to be his site Gingerland. Fortunately he just posted a guide to everything he has online. HIs work covers a lot of territory—his art starts out in the Craig Thompson school, but he’s getting more and more experimental as he goes on. His work has everything from heavy duty autobiography to weird fantasy. I think what interested me the most about his work is that he’s very young and very talented and taking full advantage of the freedom to tell all kinds of stories that today’s younger cartoonists have at their disposal. It isn’t about drawing one thing or for one style any more. To start out I’ll recommend Farmer’s Dilemma—it’s short and if you don’t like it don’t go on. But I think you will like it. The less I say about it, the better, but it’s an anthropomorphic story of family, belonging, and survival starring a young fox who was adopted by chickens. There is a single panel in here that is perhaps the most horrific thing I have seen in a comic this year. It’s a beautiful, haunting piece of work. If you like that try Hawaii 1997. Like a lot of Alden’s work it’s autobiographical, but it’s also mostly a wordless storyboard about a magic moment on a nighttime beach: a miserable young boy meets a girl on the beach and they run around together. Yeah it’s a little Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but I think it transcends the cliche. If we’re lucky, we’ve all had one of these moments, when life becomes magical and full of possibilities…but the last panel reveals the price for such a moment. Alden draws it in pencil on yellow paper and still manages to captures the sparkling sky and water of the enchanted moment. It’s a technically very accomplished piece of work. Haunter is a full color story of adventure and dread being serialized on the excellent Study Group webcomic portal. It’s another wordless fantasy, this one about a treasure seeking hunter who runs into an ancient spirit that is also a hunter. You shouldn’t try to steal stuff from ancient spirits. Told in almost animatic format, it’s a tense, exciting chase that’s still going on. Finally, Alden’s longest piece to date is the still ongoing “Eighth Grade” which is about the most terrifying thing in life: middle school. Simon and Tom are smart kids about brutal survival mechanisms and about making witty but cruel jokes about other kids, but completely ignorant about everything real in life, and smart enough to know they’re ignorant. Emma is a classmate they torment, and torment is another word for craving the approval of. Throw in parents who have pretty much the same problems except they also are caretakers and you have everyone’s eighth grade. Well not mine, since I was home schooled…whenever I read a painfully accurate depiction of what I missed out on, like this, I think I’m kind of lucky. “Eighth Grade” starts out a little rocky art-wise, but Alden’s use of black and white and lettering improve dramatically as the six chapters go along. It’s a soap opera, but one that rings true. Alden has several comics mentioned in Buzzfeed’s big webcomics roundup and work in several magazines and comic anthologies coming up. He’s only 24, and I suspect we’ll hear his name a lot more in the next few years. #call_to_action h4{padd

Here’s another plug for Matthew Sweet’s new free “Acoustic and Live Sampler.” It’s awesome. Get it here. Run, Forever’s new album is called “Settling.” Kinda punkish indie rock and roll. Here’s an mpFREE: Basement And a second plug for the third STS “Gold Rush” mixtape.  Sugar Tongue Slim is easily one of the most deft rappers in the game today, and this is my favorite rap album so far this year.  Get it free here. And while we’re on the subject of great new hip hop, E-Dubble!!!! Internet sensation and classy ukelele player Julia Nunes is on tour with Great Big World, and they’re offering a Justin Timberlake song as a free cover to tempt you. I would totally go to this show but it’s on a damn Monday night when they blow through my area, and my job is more important than music. Sighs heavily.

TweetI’ve been following Colin Bell’s webcomics for a little while now – his previous work includes Jonbot Vs Martha – and his newest webcomic is a beaut. Written by Matthew Meylikhov and Bell, the strip is drawn by Nina Cadman and tells the story of a noir detective who is also a kittykat. He swears  space helmet and worries about dames! If only Tumblr were around in the 1950s, they’d be all over this. Cadman goes for a cartoony style which helps to underline the difference between the seriousness of the storyline and the silliness of the characters involved. The creative team go all-in with the noir storyline – giving protagonist Space a drinking problem, tendency to start bar fights, and crapsack town to live in. Mixing noir and space allows for a silly sense of fun in the comic, but it’s the exaggeration that makes the strip work. Every idea or detail is ramped up to a ridiculous degree – the narration doubles up on sarcastic irony so that the strip actively questions itself (a step beyond anything Chandler would’ve tried). Rather than making fun of noir stories, it makes fun of ITSELF for making fun of noir stories. But also, it makes fun of noir stories. It’s my go-to if I need to laugh out loud in a ridiculous fashion – you can find more at www.detectivespacecat.com #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

Kat and the crew from Retro-Active face an explosive end to a rooftop rescue, Bananaman has a face-off with the ultra-naughty League of Super Villains, there's some (nearly) bare-faced cheek as Desperate Dan tries to take a bath in private, Harry's Hippo doesn't want to face the dentist after stuffing his face with junk food, and Brassneck's facing up for a spot of star-gazing! Digital Dandy Issue 8 is available from the Dandy website, www.dandy.com, and on the Dandy App

Posted On Today at 01:28:28 am EDT by Nose Norton [Reply] [Quote] [New] I don't read the book anymore, but I can comment on this thread. I like 642, Romita variant, because, well, because it's John Romita Sr. I think 612 is good. I always liked covers with images in the eyes of Spidey's mask, which makes 696 a favorite of mine also. I also think #666 was a real creepy image.

TweetThe Abominable Charles Christopher is one of those rare comics that I recommend to absolutely everyone regardless of their age, genre preferences or comic reading habits. It’s also one of the hardest comics to describe in a way that fully conveys the beauty and genius inside, as it is essentially the tale of a Yeti or Abominable Snowman and his woodland friends. Which sounds ridiculously twee, but the rich cast, realistic art, and huge emotional depth will have you hooked from whatever strip you first glance at. Karl Kerschl is a famous name of course, having worked on Adventures of Superman, Majestic, Teen Titans, as well as being part of the ace Transmission X collective. Charles is on a journey, and without a clear destination in sight it is very much the tale of journeys – not just Charles’ journey, but the life journey of every animal (and god) that crosses the page. We can break away from our hero for days at a time, watching the birds deal with their marital problems, the rabbit who yearns to be an actor, the D&D troupe, the cat who would be king, mathematical otters, gossiping bees, and many more. “Life is a journey, not a destination” is an oft used quote, (mis)attributed to everyone from Emerson to Aerosmith, but this comic is the one piece of literature, art or any media in fact, that has really helped me to enjoy the ride rather than worry about the far off goals. The Abominable Charles Christopher is both soothing and challenging, reassuring and devastating – particularly in the side stories of Townsen and Vivol. The Abominable Charles Christopher has been collected in two gorgeous deluxe limited hardcover volumes, with embossed faux-suede covers. Volume one has also been published in paperback. The website shop appears to be down at the moment – Volume 2 just arrived with me this week after pre-ordering last year (sketch edition!) and I was lucky enough to find a rogue copy of Volume 1 hiding at the back of a Forbidden Planet last year (which resulted in a rare public performance of my Snoopy dance of utter joy). Kerschl has won one Eisner Award, been nominated twice, and has also won a Joe Shuster Award for the comic. And as with all webcomics, the entire series can be read for free at the website – so indulge yourself today! Laura Sneddon is a comics journalist and academic, writing for the mainstream UK press with a particular focus on women and feminism in comics. Currently working on a PhD, do not offend her chair leg of truth; it is wise and terrible. Her writing is indexed at comicbookgrrrl.com and procrastinated upon via @thalestral on Twitter. #call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;} #social-essentials {margin: 0 0 10px 0;}

Wow, guys.... what can I say? This was just a terrible week. Work was that bad this week, and I just can't always be as reliable as Tuffy Tilton:That's true. But while Tuffy Tilton always pays off, sometimes life just gets the better of me and I can only beat myself up so much...Okay, that's quite enough. Now it's getting personal.Here's a really disturbing joke I saw in All-Flash Quarterly #28:I strongly suggest you never tell that joke ever.Here's another thing that caught my eye:Okay, first: The name of the strip is the worst name ever. But more to the point: Worst. Bet. Ever.Ah.... it feels good to be back, but Monday is a holiday, so I'll see you Tuesday, Dear Ones!

There’s still no word on when the Flash may be racing onto the big screen, but we now know that another comic book speedster — Marvel’s Quicksilver — will be appearing in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Evan Peters (American Horror Story) has been cast as the son of Magneto, as reported by CBR. Joss Whedon recently confirmed that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are in the Avengers 2 script (which is in much earlier stages). According to spinoff, the characters are available to both studios (Marvel and Fox), so his appearance in one franchise doesn’t prevent him from appearing in the other. The post Quicksilver Cast in X-Men: Days of Future Past appeared first on Speed Force.