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Editorials
An Introduction’s Inevitable Conclusion: Art Spiegelman: Golden Age Superheroes were Shaped by the Rise of Fascism
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since the Folio Society published Marvel: The Golden Age 1939–1949 as compiled and edited by Roy Thomas. I saw it as a sponsored Facebook advertisement… [more]
Too Much of Everything
Launched in the last month of 2018, TKO Studios is a new publisher that sets out to “redefine the industry.” Their first wave of announced comics includes titles like Sara – a World War II… [more]
Gunning for Hits #1: Image Comics and Power and Responsibility
2019 has just barely put on its socks and we already have our first whiff a controversy in the comics-corner of the world. To wit: the first issue of the new Image series Gunning for… [more]
Why We Should Roll Our Eyes at Bill Maher
As a group, we comic book fans have certainly had to take a lot of crap over the decades. Our interests have been belittled, derided, and even threatened with government sanction. These days however, comic… [more]
Cursed Earth Carlos: In Memoriam of Carlos Ezquerra
I didn’t know Carlos Ezquerra, but I met him once at a con. He autographed the comics I held, and then I moved on and he preceded to do the same for the next hundred… [more]
An Open Letter to Guys
Editor’s Note: The author of this piece requested anonymity. Dear Guys, It sucks being a woman these days. I am a straight, cisgender, white woman, and there is not a day that goes by that… [more]
Always Number One?
In 1991 Slave Labor Graphics published Evan Dorkin’s four issue series Milk and Cheese in a rather unique fashion – the issues were called Milk & Cheese #1, Milk & Cheese’s Other Number One #1,… [more]
Awards, Rewards, and Definitions: On Sabrina’s Man Booker Prize Nomination
On July 24th the longlist of nominations for the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction was published. Not, in itself, news of much appeal to me (or to the usual sites I visit), but this… [more]
“Be Careful”: Dumbest Advice Ever
Some cinematic clichés just refuse to die. We’ve heard these lines a bajillion times, and yet still, “They’re everywhere!” (another cliché). “You just don’t get it, do you?” “Are you crazy?” “I’m getting’ too old… [more]
A Long Brush with Marvel Comics
Whatever confluence of events, whatever set of circumstance that attaches a child to a thing, in this case to Marvel Comics, is within the purview of the brain people and magicians. It interests me that… [more]
Smorgasbord #75: The Smorgies 2017
FINAL ISSUE! Mighty Max Nestorowich returns to give the Smorgasbord a proper send-off! For the last Smorgie Awards ever, we pick our favorite characters of 2017, revisit the biggest flops and disappointments of the year,… [more]
Smorgasbord #74: More Weight on the Shelf
Tom and Shawn welcome special guest and Sequart co-founder Julian Darius to our penultimate episode, where we talk about some of our favorite comics of all time! Join us as we discuss omnipotent cats, an… [more]
Smorgasbord #73: Who They are, and How They Came to Be
Pick up your Secret Origins and your Years Zero as Shawn and Tom go on a flashback month to discuss their various entry points into the wonderful world of comics and how these points shaped… [more]
Smorgasbord #72: H.R. Giger’s Human Resources Department
Tom and Shawn play a game of “What If?” and peer into an alternate dimension where we run Marvel Comics. How would the Star Wars line grow? What could we do to fix the trade… [more]
Len Wein, 1948–2017
For those of us of a certain age, who grew up on comic books in the 1970s and 1980s, it seems like we’re losing far too many of the great creators who helped shaped our… [more]
Smorgasbord #71: Earthlets and Other Puny Animals
Shawn and Tom dedicate a special episode to talk all things 2000AD: past, present, and future. We discuss their new reprint programs, their attempts to bring back classic comics into their modern area, the problems… [more]
Smorgasbord #70: The Saga Awards, Featuring Saga!
It’s our post-SDCC special as Shawn and Tom take time out from reviews to discuss the metric ton of trailers, previews, announcements, panels and discussion that Comic-Con has wrought – from the very last Alan… [more]
San Diego Comic Con 2017: A Disgusting Display of Fan Abuse by Hollywood and the SDCC Staff
I have have been going to San Diego Comic Con for the past 9 years. I have never experienced the pre-Twilight years of Comic Con where the atmosphere was significantly less hostile and relatively less… [more]
Smorgasbord #69: Umbrella-ella-ella-eh
Tom and Shawn bid Joan Lee a fond farewell and ponder the passing of an age; Spider-Man: Homecoming breaks some new ground; a bit of DC drama knocks Shawn for a loop; Netflix’s next comics-related… [more]
Smorgasbord #68: Exit, Pursued by a Bear
Neither rain, nor snow nor a throat like sandpaper is going to stop Tom and Shawn from talking about comics. The news of a possible new Watchmen TV show lead to a discussion about the… [more]
Smorgasbord #67: Gene Simmons v. Richard Simmons
This week, Tom and Shawn bid a sad farewell to the great Adam West, puzzle over Joel Schumacher’s strange apology, compare the triumphant roar of the Black Panther trailer to the pitiful meow coming from Marvel… [more]
Smorgasbord #66: Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby
It’s Tom’s turn to drive down Fury Road as we discuss Zack Snyder’s recent tragedy and the uglier side of fandom, a new power couple rising in the industry, the August Previews bringing us unintentional… [more]
What’s Really at Stake with Wonder Woman
I was born in 1976, a bicentennial baby as my mother used to say. One of my first clear memories is of going to see Star Wars in the theatre. For television, we only had… [more]
Smorgasbord #65: The Allred Family Tree
The highs and lows of media adaptation are explored as we face future TV adaptations of Judge Dredd and Wayward, plus a Hellboy movie reboot by some guys Tom’s rather excited about. In the wild… [more]
Smorgasbord #64: The Dangers of Chris Inflation
The Eisner Awards (A.K.A. Brian K. Vaughan’s shelf holders) season is upon us, as well as a new Marvel movie, the first trailer for The Defenders, a TV show being cancelled with no one noticing,… [more]