Magazine Archives for:

December 2006

The Peter David Factor: Part 7

X-Factor #76 (March 1992) — X-Communication — Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, with Peter David writing X-Factor: that’s right, a Hulk crossover. The first part of the crossover took place… [more]

Direct Market Team-Up

I have written several articles on my suggestions for becoming a successful comic book retailer. In this column I’m going to fill you in on something a successful comic book retailer needs to do for… [more]

Jay Faerber on His New Image book, Dynamo 5

Coming in March is the second ongoing Image book from Jay Faerber, Dynamo 5. Imagine a world where Earth’s greatest superhero had fathered a bunch of illegitimate super-powered children. That superhero, Captain Dynamo, has been recently… [more]

My Favorite Comics of the Year

This was one of the best-ever years to be a fan of comics, no matter one’s tastes or interests. Fans of classic comics delighted in the first volumes of deluxe collections of Popeye, Terr’ble Thompson,… [more]

May the Chi Be With You

For the last week or longer I’ve been going through my annual Star Wars binge where I watch every movie plus all of their bonus features over and over again until inevitably someone outside has… [more]

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 2: Learning Curve

When I picked up volume 2 of Ultimate Spider-Man, I was expecting a new interpretation of a Spidey villain. Instead I was treated to a dose of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin. Maybe because the Kingpin… [more]

My Favorite Minicomic of the Year

One of my favorite finds of SPX was by an artist I was only a bit familiar with: Andy Hartzell. Meeting him at the Global Hobo table, I was immediately astounded by the intricacy and… [more]

Comics Understood: An Anthology Of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories

AN ANTHOLOGY OF GRAPHIC FICTION, CARTOONS & TRUE STORIES (hereafter just AGF) is the third significant general-audience comics anthology to be published in as many years, and in many ways it’s the most important. The… [more]

Deadpan: Gabrielle Bell’s LUCKY

LUCKY started as a strip on serializer.net (as Bell’s Home Journal), then a series of mini comics. They were an exercise in doing quickly drawn diary comics, a counterpoint to Bell’s more polished “serious work”,… [more]

Customer Loyalty: Your Turn

Customer loyalty is an interesting thing in the comic book business. Some customers prefer to shop at a variety of stores, while others will shop at the same place year after year. Some people love… [more]

Josh Roberts on ComicSpace.com’s Launch

Not even a week ago, OnlineComics.net owner Josh Roberts launched ComicSpace.com, a MySpace-like website for comic book fans and creators. As of this writing, the site already has 3,500 members, and it is growing at… [more]

On Don’t Call Me Stupid! by Steven Weissman

Don’t Call Me Stupid! Written/drawn by Steven Weissman Published by Fantagraphics Books, December 2001 Child-oriented comics have been a staple of the medium since its earliest inceptions. It is the one genre that in many… [more]

Reintroduction

I’ve been checking around and am reasonably certain that Ms. Manners (oh how I love my Judith Martin) would advise me to start off this, my first article in this series, with some kind words… [more]

Formalism, Fancy and Melancholy: Paul Hornschemeier’s LET US BE PERFECTLY CLEAR

I’ve been following Paul Hornschemeier since his mini comics days. Of course, the aggressively ambitious & experimental artist made minis with production values that were astonishing. Some of the results can be seen in THE… [more]

Criminal Motivation

Crime, as simply defined by Wikipedia: 1. An action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally… [more]

Dr. Sequartlove (or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Con)

Manchester is an odd place at 9:00am on a Saturday. At a time when most people are doing something sensible or worthwhile (like sleeping), I made my trek to the G-Mex Centre throughout the large… [more]

Comics’ Identity Crisis: Claiming “Art” is a Misguided Quest

Comics have a bit of an identity crisis: our culture cannot decide what they really are, leaving them to pay the price both financially and legally.

SPX: Twelve Great Minis

One of the highlights of any alt-comics events is the opportunity to take a look at a new crop of mini-comics. Some of them are by established artists who have regular, professional publishing outlets. They… [more]