Captain Marvel #24
Writer: Peter David
Art: Pat Quinn and Chris Sotomayor 

Okay. I’m never doing this again. So I bought this issue from a bargain bin last week, and I figured it’d be fun to post on it since I seem to be on an inadvertent Captain kick. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that 1) I had a miniscule amount of prior Captain Marvel knowledge going into this reading / knew nothing about the other characters who pal around with him and fight him and 2) this is the conclusion issue to something called “Odyssey.” The whole time reading this issue, I had absolutely ZERO idea what was going on. Now I know what Wil must feel like. (more…)

Captain Atom Issue #24: “Captain Atom, Sir!”
Writers: Cary Bates and Greg Weisman
Art: Pat Broderick, Romeo Taghal, and Shelley Eiber

In the middle of this old school comic is an add for a very old school hobby: collecting coins. I feel like I don’t hear about many people collecting coins these days, which is kind of sad I guess. On that note, collecting in general simply seems to be down. That kind of makes me sad. Remember the good ol’ days of stamps, baseball cards, and, well, coins?

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The Death of Lady Vampré
Written and Created by: Bruce Schoengood
Pencils by: Dave Gutierrez
Inks by: M.A. Moussa
Colors by: Fred Galpern
Letters by: Harvey Hirsh
Front cover by: Mike Mignola & Fred Galpern

So I read a horror comic for today that suggests perhaps vampires were involved in the American Civil War.

Um, yeah, that’s what I said. And yeah, it’s a comic that’s thus totally fictitious but…really? (more…)

Unlikely
Written and drawn by: Jeffrey Brown

I’ve diverged a bit this week from my normal zombie/horror comics to attack a more “normal” graphic novel. This one is a novel called Unlikely. And although it wasn’t a bad book, it’s unlikely that I could recommend it to everyone. Sorry for the lame pun. It’s a great story but it’s mostly just a lot of talking and feelings. So don’t worry, I’ll get back to the zombies tomorrow.

The story is about Jeff. He meets a girl named Allisyn. Inevitably and rather predictably, they fall in love and she falls quickly out of love. The two have a hard time with sex; it seems as though they can never get it right even though they’re both in their mid-20′s. It’s not like they’re teens who have no clue. But yet that seems to be a harbinger for things to come in their relationship. (more…)

Peter Parker: Spider-Man – Issues 31 and 32 (in One Small Break TPB)
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Mark Buckingham
Inkers: Green / Ramos / Buckingham 

Have you ever been alone in your home and needed to get dressed or do some other naked activity? Of course you have. Now, the real question is, have you ever locked the door even though technically you didn’t really need to while you’re doing this? Maybe not? Well, Peter Parker didn’t, and he ran into QUITE the awkward situation. (more…)

Thriving on Vague Objectives
Author/Illustrator: Scott Adams

First of all, I have a real reason for not posting yesterday, as opposed to my usual bullshit. We had no power. Actually that’s incorrect from a technical standpoint, we lost one out of three phases of power.  To 99% of everyone that means nothing, for those who do know, that also means that starting up computers under 2/3rds voltage is dangerous.  It’s actually probably some square root number in there. “He’s making things up now.” you say. Ok, moving on.

After some thinking into comics, and how I got my start, it is actually pretty inaccurate to say I started when this little project started.  Really I first got my taste with single panel comics in the paper. Sure I read the paper as much as anyone else, but I also read and re-read all the anthologies, special editions, etc… of many of the classics.  Calvin and Hobbes, I must own 20 or so of their books, heck I even have Peanuts books that are over 20 years old.  Last time I checked those things were still technically comic books, so dang it I can cover them  here. And today I want to go with something that is most relate-able to everyday office life, Dilbert. (more…)

A Matt Groening Production
Script/Layouts: Steve Vance
Finished Art: Bill Morrison
Co-Plot/Colors: Cindy Vance

If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably a fan of the Simpsons. After almost 20 years of cartooning, how could you not be? It’s smart, funny, and easily one of the all-time best cartoons ever to grace the small screen. As such, I was stoked when my friend, Reed loaned me the first edition of Radioactive Man.

The comic is about the origins of Radioactive Man; you know, like how he got his lightning bolt to stick out of his head, his secret love for Gloria Grand, and how Claude Kane III (Radioactive Man’s secret identity) got too close to a “mega-bomb”. The side story is about how comics that depict death, sex, crime, etc. are causing kids to become juvenile delinquents. (more…)

Therefore Repent!
Written by: Jim Munroe
Drawn by: Salgood Sam

I have a sick fascination with the idea of Armageddon, rapture, end of days, whatever the hell you want to call it. And regardless of your own personal views on religion and the nature of “things” you have to admit it’s an exciting if not scary idea.

Therefore Repent! is a book about what happens when the Rapture occurs. One day, people just start floating up into the sky. Not everybody floats away though; only people who wholly believe not only in the idea of god but who believe that god is their reason for being. Only they are the saved ones. Everyone else is left on earth to toil in new-found magic like dogs who can talk and being able to conjure up magical skills from your own free will. (more…)

Peter Parker: Spider-Man – Issue 30 (in One Small Break TPB)
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Penciler: Mark Buckingham
Inkers: Green / Ramos / Buckingham 

I wish I knew what happened to issue 29. For some reason it’s not in this trade, so I guess it’s fitting that I did NotLD instead on Wed. There’re a lot of meaning in me choosing to do that, and the greatest part is that I don’t even know what it is.

Anyway, I’m back to this Spider-Man trade, which I am actually finding enjoyable, especially as far as 2001 comics go. But for now, let’s focus on the kickassness of the villain in this issue.

So this villain named Fusion has an ability to do something sweet: fuse. Unfortunately, this comic wasn’t too detailing about why or how he could do this, but I’m sure I’ll find out more as I read on. Regardless, it was made clear that his ability consisted of him being able to shift into / use the power of pretty much any character in the Marvel Universe (think Kirby from Super Smash minus the literal sucking). Pictures come after the jump.

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The Griffin: Chapter 8
Writer: Dan Vado
Penciller: Norman Felchle
Inker: Mark McKenna
Letterer: Ken Holewczynski

I finally got to find out how he gets into bed with that lovely lady at the beginning of chapter 9. It wasn’t quite the build up I had hoped for, but hey, a supernatural person making a booty call is pretty solid way to get things done. In his defense, he had had one heck of a day fighting people in space and dodging cobalt torpedoes after all. Plus his com padre in space fighting died and issued her last remark. A quote to the effect of , well I may have died honorably, but I’m still dying nonetheless. Pretty profound, and that’s what made me think a bit more about the nature of other people’s final words. (more…)