Shadowplay - The Secret Team: CLASSIC COMIC OF THE WEEK
Shadowplay - The Secret Team by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz is a stark reminder for American citizens to shun apathy, exercise their voices, and VOTE.
Read MoreCOMIC OF THE WEEK: Dying is Easy #1 delivers dark humor and a seedy set-up for mystery
By d. emerson eddy — When I was in university, I tried my hand at a bit of stand-up. During high school, I was part of the improv troupe and had written what was kind of a comedic play, inspired by both George Carlin and Spalding Gray to try working out a few things through comedic monologues. I wasn't very good. I had a habit of leaning towards dark humor, but it was the sort of thing that people didn't want to hear from some twenty-year-old university kid. Not enough life experience to be credible, with subject material that was too dark. Even if they were real life experiences. I learned early on that there was a fine line between looking at horrible events through the mirror of comedy and just being depressing or crass. And dying at the mic was easy.
Read MoreCOMIC OF THE WEEK: Dead Eyes #3 is a book about crime that also has a big heart
By d. emerson eddy — In 2018, Image Comics had launched a new crime thriller about a thief who just up and disappeared one day, after supposedly making a big score. That book was called Dead Rabbit, and it was unfortunately cancelled due to problems with the trademark. Thankfully, it was tweaked and renamed, and for the past few months we've seen it returned as Dead Eyes. The first two issues are already on the stands, reprinting a slightly modified version of the first two installments of the first book. Here in Dead Eyes #3 is where the brand new material hits and, man, it was worth the wait.
Read MoreComic of the Week: The Plot #3, more excellent family drama in a top-tier horror story
By d. emerson eddy — Vault is one of the most consistent publishers in comics today. For the past few years they have been publishing some of the most unique and innovative stories, all of which feel like something wholly new. They've fostered a creative vision for their publishing platform that seems to allow their creators to take ideas that might appear old and subsequently transform them into something new, or just outright create things that we've never really seen before. From Heathen to These Savage Shores, Relics of Youth to Vagrant Queen, Friendo to Wasted Space, these books run the gamut of genres as their creators consistently manage to elevate the medium. Now they're doing it again as The Plot thickens.
Read MoreComic of the Week: The Question - The Deaths of Vic Sage #1
By d. emerson eddy — Hrrm. Influence, homage, legacy, lineage, and parody in comics can be quite an interesting thing. When you've got long-running recurring serial characters, it's inevitable that there will be cycles and returns as creators who were once fans of original stories and characters borrow from them in their own stories. We see it time and again, and we see it here in The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage #1, from Jeff Lemire, Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Sotomayor, and Willie Schubert, in a very unique way. The Question started out as a Randian exploration from Steve Ditko.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Dollhouse Family #1 keeps the Hill House momentum going
By d. emerson eddy — The Joe Hill curated line of Hill House Comics had an auspicious debut with Basketful of Heads #1 and that high continues with the first issue of The Dollhouse Family. This series reunites long-time collaborators MR Carey and Peter Gross, responsible for such luminary work on Lucifer, The Unwritten, and The Highest House, alongside Vince Locke, Cris Peter, and Todd Klein for a story that mixes family drama with childhood fantasies and an ancient something that fell to Earth.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Green Lantern - Blackstars #1 is not to be missed for readers of The Green Lantern
By d. emerson eddy — The Green Lantern from Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski was one of the best series over the past year. The first season was not so much a wild reimagining of the property as a collation of numerous ideas in new and entertaining ways, building an overarching tale of Controller Mu's manipulation of events to lead to Hal Jordan choosing an inevitability. That choice led to this new series, with reality rewritten and the universe remade by Mu's will in Green Lantern: Blackstars #1.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Basketful of Heads #1 is a great start for Hill House Comics
By d. emerson eddy — Basketful of Heads #1 is the launch book for DC's new horror imprint within Black Label comics. Dubbed Hill House Comics, this new line of horror stories is curated by Eisner & Stoker-award winning writer and co-creator of Locke & Key, Joe Hill.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Dracula - Son of the Dragon blends fact and fiction in intriguing ways
By d. emerson eddy — October is generally a good month for ghosts and ghoulies, things that go bump in the night, and horror stories and this year does not disappoint. Just in time for Halloween, Mark Sable and Salgood Sam's crowd-funded graphic novel mixing history and horror as a Comixology Original in Dracula: Son of the Dragon.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Once and Future #3 and why Dan Mora should be a household name
By d. emerson eddy — Dan Mora should be a household name. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. He has an incredible style that gives you hints of artists like Greg Capullo and Sean Gordon Murphy, an attention to iconic shapes similar to Mike Mignola, Bruce Timm, and Alex Toth, and an approach to shading that reminds me a bit of Gil Kane and Joe Kubert, resulting in a look that is unmistakably his own. A mix of clean-lined iconic characters and a bit of dirt and grit that makes it work for both ordinary humans as well as more fantastical horrors and monsters. This has consistently made him a boon for other BOOM! Studios titles like Klaus, Hexed, Go Go Power Rangers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and now it’s happening again in Once & Future #3.
Read MoreComic of the Week: The Batman’s Grave #1, long-form ambition meets single-issue crunch
By d. emerson eddy — It pretty much goes without saying that DC Comics, that is “Detective Comics Comics”, publishes a lot of Batman comics. Just this week alone there's something like 16 Batman, Batman-related, and Batman-adjacent titles. It makes sense, Batman is a draw and continues to sell comics. He's one of those characters that lends himself to just about any type of story from action/adventure right on through to zombie horror, and it usually works. I tend to adhere to the belief that it's very hard not to make at the least a good, enjoyable Batman story and that there are many out there that are simply great. In some cases, even the best that the industry can offer. Granted, I am biased. It may not always seem as such, but Batman, like Swamp Thing, was one of the things that cemented my readership in comics.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Nomen Omen #1 is delivers something unique and challenging
By d. emerson eddy — We're living in a time where there is a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to choice and quality for comics. If you don't particularly like superheroes, that's all right, because there's a huge selection out there. Publishers like Image, Dark Horse, BOOM!, Vault, IDW, Valiant, and more have you covered. Aside from arguably westerns and romance, you're not for want of reading material, high quality reading material, in just about any genre (including superheroes). So, on that landscape, it always surprises me when something raises itself above, strives to do something different, and delivers something unique, something challenging, from seemingly out of nowhere. Nomen Omen #1 is one of those books.
Read MoreComic of the Week: The New Mutants - War Children #1, two legendary talents bring their A games
By d. emerson eddy — Marvel's celebration of its 80th anniversary has been a bit strange. There have been a number of resurrected titles as one shot anthologies along a theme, other specials featuring reunited creative teams from luminary runs, the Avengers: No Road Home arc, etc. Also, both the Invaders and Marvel Comics Presents series could be seen as a celebration of history, and then there was the chronicling of Marvel's history outright in The History of the Marvel Universe, and, of course, the Marvel Comics #1000 special. It's all added up to a very...eclectic year with some interesting material. Without it, however, we never would have seen a reunion of two creators who crafted one of the publisher’s best remembered and most cherished stories in the New Mutant's Demon Bear Saga — Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Black Ghost #1 is a compelling, modern story steeped in the spirit of the pulps
By d. emerson eddy — I'm a sucker for pulp heroes. While the bygone pulp adventures are known for their heights of space and jungle adventures (as well as for having racially insensitive and sometimes worse villains), they also at times dealt with the type of crime that happens right outside our doors in the real world. The Shadow, The Black Bat, The Phantom, and The Spider were just as likely to be embroiled in a war with street thugs and crime bosses as they were intergalactic jewel thieves, and it lent the heroes a certain authenticity. When dealing with ordinary crime, it made a regular guy in a tuxedo, cape, and domino mask feel more like a possibility. More real, of the ordinary person going to extreme lengths to actually do something to clean up their part of the world.
Read MoreComic of the Week: King Thor #1, ‘the end has never looked so good’
By d. emerson eddy — It's been a big year for Thor, both the character and the franchise. The threat that has been building and building under Malekith's hand for years finally came to a head in The War of the Realms, arguably one of the best superhero event series and tie-ins in recent years. He found the inner strength to become worthy again, both of his mantle and of the pride of his father, Odin. The Asgardian side of Marvel has also become a larger viable franchise again, both creatively and financially, with the recent launches of Loki and Valkyrie. And we're coming full circle to end of Jason Aaron's seven years guiding Thor as he reunites with the Thor: God of Thunder team that (nearly*) started it all of Esad Ribić, Ive Svorcina, and Joe Sabino.
Read MoreCOMIC OF THE WEEK: Legion of Super-Heroes Millenium is a unique bridge through DC Universe time
By d. emerson eddy — There were a couple forms of the Legion Super-Heroes that were around at the beginning of DC's New 52 reboot back in 2011, all of which kind of continued on from what had been happening with the team before the reboot. These included one team, Legion Lost, that was thrown back to the present, where they started dealing with the strange time anomalies from Flashpoint in rather oblique ways, never really directly referencing the change. Neither series lasted long, and the franchise virtually disappeared two years into the New 52. After the publisher relaunched its superhero properties in 2016 with Rebirth, writers and artists have dropped some Easter eggs and other hints within the DC Universe, but it's still been almost six years since we've seen a proper Legion of Super-Heroes comic.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Mountainhead #1 is another strong addition to IDW's growing creator-owned catalog
By d. emerson eddy — This year, in between the licensed material and burgeoning Marvel Action line of friendly all ages superhero tales, IDW has gone back to one of the things that established them in the industry some 20 years ago: idiosyncratic creator-owned supernatural, fantasy, and horror stories. IDW’s creator-owned comics this year have shown an impressive inventiveness and a captivating personal quality. They are stories that seemingly could only be told by these creators, who are often newer voices to the industry. A number of them have been English language editions of series also published by Glénat Editions, but some of my favorites have been IDW originals like Canto, Road of Bones, Night Moves, and Ghost Tree. Mountainhead is the latest comic to join the latter group.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Daredevil #10, ‘comics don’t often get as good as this’
By d. emerson eddy — The current volume of Daredevil could be considered a masterpiece. Every issue has delved deep into Matt Murdock's soul and lain it bare, while getting to the very heart of the complicated relationship between vigilantism, the police, duty, responsibility, and morality. I don't believe there's been a sheer force of nature driving this series since Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's “Born Again” arc back in 1986. Every single creator who has been working on this volume of Daredevil has been integral to delivering this story and elevating the heights of this series.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Conan the Barbarian Exodus #1 is a stunning tale of Conan’s past
By d. emerson eddy — Since Marvel regained the Conan license last year, they have done wonders with it. Month in and month out, there are fantastic stories of sword and sorcery being told in comics like Conan the Barbarian, Savage Sword of Conan, Age of Conan, and Savage Avengers, all of which expand on the lore and adventures of Robert E. Howard's barbarian son. The creators have woven tales throughout Conan's history, showing new and old aspects, while also fleshing out many of his well-known supporting characters. Conan the Barbarian: Exodus #1 continues all of this, delving into the previously untold tale of Conan's first time leaving Cimmeria.
Read MoreComic of the Week: Die #6 is the next chapter in one of the best new series in recent memory
By d. emerson eddy — Die was easily one of the best new series to begin late last year. The series taps into the magic and wonder of roleplaying games, both in terms of the mechanics and experience of playing them, as well as the limitless imagination that goes into constructing them. The world-building that writer Kieron Gillen and artist Stephanie Hans have put into creating this world is practically incomparable to anything else. It's deep, incorporating influences from fantasy and literature, which shows even further in the actual working pen & paper RPG that Gillen is developing to compliment the comic.
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