After more than a month off, The Gold Exchange is back with a vengeance; yesterday we talked to Dan Jurgens about last month’s Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3, today we discuss the two part “Ted Kord—Chipmunk” story arc from Booster Gold #36-37 with J.M. DeMatteis…and then between Wednesday and Saturday of this week (depending on e-mail response times and the day job), Dan will be back to talk about the upcoming Time Masters #4. So it’s a golden week, even if the stupid Rangers are in the World Series and there’s no new episode of “Bones” on TV.

The only other observation I’ll make about this month’s Exchange is that since I did actually CONDUCT the interview with DeMatteis last month, and simply failed to post it, some questions may seem a little odd in the context of the new issue. I’m not going to edit them, for fear of losing content. It’s also worth noting that DeMatteis, who has said before he doesn’t really read superhero comics for recreation anymore, gets taken aback every so often as I explain some of the more horrible or preposterous stories of the last few years in DC. That’s worth a chuckle at least.

The Gold Exchange: OK, so I’ll give you that you were right: TED KORD – CHIPMUNK! made sense in context. That said, are you a little sorry that using the teaser probably blew the punchline a little bit when the reveal was made about 1/3 through the issue?

J.M. DeMatteis: Perhaps.  But it was worth it just to have that teaser:  TED KORD – CHIPMUNK! isn’t the kind of “next issue” blurb that comes up very often! (more…)

Nexus Archives v.10
Written by Mike Baron
Illustrated by Steve Rude, Steve Huston, Greg Guler, Mark McKenna, Tom Baxa, Tony Akins & Hilary Barta
Colored by Les Dorscheid
Lettered by Clem Robins
Published by Dark Horse

Judah the Hammer backups
Written by Roger Salick, Ian Carney & Peter David
Illustrated by Steve Epting, Phil Hester, Mark McKenna, Paul Fricke, ChuckWojtkiewicz, Tom Baxa, Brandon Peterson & Steve Huston
Colored by Les Dorscheid
Lettered by Jim Massara, David C. Weiss, Diane Valentino & Huston

Just three issues of Steve Rude artwork in this Archive, as Greg Guler and Tony Akins handle the other five chapters.  Graphically, it’s a clear step backwards; neither of the replacement artists provides the quirky background details or stylized action that fleshes out and defines the world of Nexus.  Granted, at least Rude’s still present.  The ensuing Archive won’t have that going for it.

Fortunately, even without Steve Rude’s illustrative prowess, Mike Baron’s scripts keep this series compelling. Let’s establish a little background first though: in the future, Horatio Hellpop is Nexus, the cosmic executioner, tasked by the alien Merk to assassinate humanity’s worst mass murderers.  After Horatio quit, disgusted by the Merk’s whims and the consequences of his assignments, Professor Stan Korivitsky approached the Merk to become the new Nexus.

(more…)

“It shouldn’t make people cringe when they look at it. Or question what sort of person I am for reading it”: Kevin Pasquino looks at a trio of DC’s Green Lantern comics covers, including that one which is just a head shot of Guy Gardener puking and weeping blood, and has lots and lots of questions about them.  He has a very interesting point regarding the covers of Walking Dead, a series about cannibal corpses slaughtering and eating innocents, in comparison to DC’s comics about superhero space cops.

Anyone but Bush: The Legion leader election is heating up, and comics bloggers Bully, The Little Stuffed Bull, Christopher Bird and Kevin Church are campaigning for their favorites.

Out-of-context Mark Trail panels are the best out-of-context panels: That’s a fact that Thursday’s one-panel strip, which you can see reproduced and discussed at some length at The Comics Curmudgeon, makes abundantly clear. And because of daily continuity strips’ constant need to recap the events of the previous strip, it seems like that mean dude was either kicking that fawn very slowly, or repeatedly, since he’s still kicking it the next day.

Grid and bear it: Frank Santoro on the nine-panel grid in America comics.

“After the fatwa against Pokémon, I thought, ‘My God, what has happened to Islam?”: Wait, there was a fatwa against Pokémon? That’s Naif al-Mutawa talking about his creation, Muslim super-group The 99 with The Guardian, occasioned by his characters’ upcoming team-up with the Justice League. There’s also a sizable slideshow with images of the characters and a few preview pages from the team-up series.

The annual Alternative Press Expo was held in San Francisco earlier this month — October 16 and 17. It’s been running in the Bay Area since 1994, and is run by the same organization — Comic-Con International — that puts on the massive Comic-Con in San Diego every July.

Despite that, they’ve vastly different events — APE is a fraction of the size and, as you’ve probably figured out, focuses on non-mainstream publishers and creators. Fantagraphics, Top Shelf and Drawn & Quarterly were among the companies exhibiting, with the show boasting special guests Tony Millionaire, Daniel Clowes and Lynda Barry.

It’s also an amazing opportunity for comic fans to see something totally unique that they wouldn’t come across otherwise. There’s dozens of self-publishers showing off their work, and as thoroughly cliche as it sounds, there really is something for everyone. It was fun to discover Amazing Arizona Comics, which wackily takes on the many issues plaguing my home state, and though it’s not comics, but I haven’t shut up to my friends about the work of Brandon Bird since coming across his stuff at APE. (With pieces like this, who could blame me? I can think of no better reason to become really good at painting.)

There was plenty of other great stuff. Don’t worry, we brought back pics.

(more…)

As Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund’s Time Masters: Vanishing Point reaches its midway point this month, things really start to take shape. Some connections are beginning to form between the Rip Hunter and superhero (Hal/Booster/Supes) subplots, and the Time Stealers unearth some very important hostages while Daniel Carter and Rose Levin continue to skulk around in the background, waiting for their time to do their thing. Since the column is already crazy late, I’ll jump right in.

The Gold Exchange: Are you collaborating with Grant Morrison (writer of the main “Return of Bruce Wayne” books) on this project? The notion of science and mysticism intersecting that seems to be at the heart of “Time Masters” is just the kind of story he likes to tell.

Dan Jurgens: “Collaborate” might be a bit too strong. TIME MASTERS is more of an accompanying project, reflecting events of Grant’s story, than a truly integrated crossover. (more…)

Well, The Gold Exchange that hits tomorrow or Monday will cover two issues instead of one, because I’m more than a month behind. In fairness to Dan Jurgens and his fantastic Time Masters miniseries, that interview will run later today, before the next issue hits. Sorry for the many delays, but back on September 8, my fiancee and I decided that we would get married…on October 9. Needless to say, that’s thrown my schedule a bit. I always feel bad when I miss my (self-imposed) deadlines, and feel even worse now because it’s the first time in over two years of doing it that the Gold Exchange has missed a month…but if it makes you all feel better, check out the cufflinks I wore to the wedding in question! I got a surprising number of people who noticed the Sinestro Corps logo.

Everyone knows about Bruce Wayne AKA The Batman (and if you don’t, where have you been living and why are your parents awful, sheltering people?) and about his war on crime. He’s fought on his own, with the police, aided by apprentices such as Robin and Batgirl, and at times has served with superhero teams such as the Outsiders and the Justice League.

Back in 1999, the animated series Batman Beyond debuted, showing audiences a possible future for the Dark Knight, one in which he developed a high-tech battle suit to help him compensate for his aging body, a suit that went to his successor Terry McGinnis years after Bruce decided it was time to retire. Though the cartoon series has been off the air for years, the world of Batman Beyond is now being explored again in a new on-going comic book series.

Now, in our previous column on the many uniforms of Batman, we already discussed how the hight-tech suit worn by Terry McGinnis compared to the standard uniforms worn by Bruce Wayne. So we won’t be treading over that ground again. Instead, let’s discuss other characters seen in the world of Batman Beyond, those future champions who carried on the legacies of modern-day heroes and those familiar faces who didn’t let the aging process stop them from continuing to fight the good fight.

(more…)

After 31 years, Legends of the Superheroes is now legally, commercially available on DVD (Newsarama even has an exclusive clip right here)— just two months after we detailed the very odd pair of farcical TV specials right here on this very blog.

Coincidence? Well, yes.

(more…)

One of the Spider-Man covers below is a special “Tron Variant cover” for Amazing Spider-Man #651, one of the ten covers Marvel is publishing to help celebrate/promote parent copany Disney’s Tron: Legacy movie, and the other is the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #650, part of the upcoming “Big Time” story arc, featuring a new Spider-Man costume.

Can you tell which is which?

Doom, gloom: The third quarter of 2010 was a bad quarter for comics sales in the direct market, according to ICv2.com, which knows such things. At The Beat, Heidi MacDonald has a round-up of what some folks are saying about the numbers, the most interesting bit of which (I thought) came from retailer Glen Soustek, who notes there’s a good chance these numbers may reflect retailers ceasing to chase the variants some comics publisher’s use to pump up their numbers, and that of course graphic novel sales are down, since there are other, in some ways better channels through which to get graphic novels than the direct market.

What if…E.C. Segar drew Giant-Sixe X-Men #1 instead of Dave Cockrum?: That woulda been a swell issue of What If…?, huh? Ben Towle draws the eighties X-Men in the style of Segar, and though I’ve seen the link a few places already, I saw it at Dirk Deppey’s joint first, so he gets the link.

“99 Problems But a Cape Ain’t One”: Andy Khouri takes a look at The 99, a cartoon and comic book series based in Islamic culture and faith, and the depressingly predictable reaction it’s recevied in the U.S. so far, mostly sight unseen. Given that the heroes are set to team-up with the JLA in a DC Comics-published series starting next week, it’s kinda hard to believe anyone would get too worked up about some subversive element to the characters. Safe (sometimes way too safe), 75-year-old corporate-owned comic book publisher DC putting Superman on a cover with The 99 is about as good an endorsement of the wholesomeness and un-anti-American sentiments of the endeavor as anyone could expect, short of the founding fathers rising from their graves to pass out copies of The 99 comics to school children, or a talking bald eagle swooping into your living room and DVR-ing episodes of the cartoon for you.

Oh, uh…: MTV’s Splash Page has some art from the upcoming Green Lantern movie showing what the planet Oa will look like. Looks pretty Star Wars-y to me, which is probably a good sign.

The Broadcast
Written by Eric Hobbs
Illustrated by Noel Tuazon
Published by NBM

1938, Indiana, and three rural families lose power during Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of War of the Worlds.  What follows is a taut thriller of betrayal and fear. Young Gavin and Kim are in love, but Kim’s father doesn’t approve.  Marvin, being African-American, was nearly lynched by two white men, and doesn’t know if he can truly trust the three white families he finds himself with after escaping.  Jacob’s angry and worried about his family, and Dawson, with his own family to protect, is too willing to fall into line when Jacob pushes him to do things he knows are wrong.

Eric Hobbs does a fine job crafting a scenario ripe for paranoia and backstabbing.  Playing the characters off one another in various ways, he explores the bonds that tie them together and the fears that wedge them apart effectively.  Each of the men benefits from Hobbs’ ability to make you relate to their circumstances.  On the other hand, the women (excepting Kim) and children have no presence at all in the book.  So while you understand each of the men’s concerns about their families, Hobbs fails to make the families themselves fully realized or viable as characters unto themselves.  This shortcoming is a flaw, but not a fatal one.  The Broadcast is a thriller more than anything, so its meat comes from watching the men each consider their course and whom they can or cannot trust.

(more…)

Written and created by Brian Andersen, art, colors and letters by the talented Celina Hernandez. For more So Super Duper go to:www.sosuperduper.com!

Every month on my home blog Every Day Is Like Wednesday, I do posts about DC and Marvel’s solicitation information that I call “preview reviews”  (I just did posts on the two publishers’ January plans, which you can see here and here, if you’re interested—give me your clicks!).

Waaaayyyyy back in May, in a post on DC’s August solicitations, I noted that Batman and Robin #15 (which apparently originally intended to ship August 25, but didn’t actually land in shops until yesterday, October 20), had a cover image that seemed a good candidate for alteration prior to publication:

At the time, I wrote:

I’ll be curious to see if this cover actually makes it on the comics rack as is, or if someone somewhere decides they’d rather not have an upside down cross on the cover of a Batman comic.

In fact, I was so sure that it would end up being changed that I cut-and-pasted the solicited cover image to my desktop in May, and there it has sat since, in case they did change it and I wanted to do a post about it.

Well, it turns out the upside down cross didn’t make the cut after all:

(more…)

Spike’s “Scream 2010″ — they evidently had elective surgery on the word “Awards” — was held in LA on Saturday night, and aired on Spike TV Tuesday night. The show is mainly a celebration of sci-fi/horror movies and TV, but there are four comic book categories, and here’s who won:
(more…)

BOOM! Studios’ marketing director Chip Mosher and marketing assistant Ivan Salazar clearly weren’t content to sit in the office when Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero hit the stands — so instead, they hopped in Chip’s car and proceeded to hit up several comic shops throughout southern California.

If you check out BOOM!’s YouTube page, you’ll see clips from Earth-2 Comics in both Northridge (seen above) and Sherman Oaks, Collector’s Paradise in Orange County, Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, as well as Mosher alluding to manic driving stemming from his secret love of Justin Beiber.

Soldier Zero, written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Javier Pina, is the story of Stewart Trautmann, a former military man coping with paralysis after a close encounter with an IED. Trautmann already has a difficult enough time dealing with the trip home when he is bonded to an alien suit with some serious interstellar weapons capacity. For more information on the series, check out our interview with Cornell!

It’s that time again; the Legion must elect a new leader. This time, though, cast your votes at DCComics.com. Direct yourself here to make your selection.

Twenty-five active members appear on the ballot, including that asshat Earth Man. Notably absent from the ballot is Lightning Lad; I can’t recall if they’ve covered this in the current run, but Garth has shown little interest in leading the team again after all the suffering he went through in previous bouts of leadership. Frankly, I’d kinda like to see one of the “more alien” members like Gates, Tellus or Quislet get the nod, particularly in the face of the xenophobia that’s so rampant in the Legion’s time (and our time, unfortunately).

Polls are open until November 10. Remember: a vote for the Legion is a vote for the future. Or in the future. Something about the future. Ah hell. Long live the Legion!

Wait, are there any sane ones?: “10 Completely Insane Super-Hero Halloween Costumes…For Your Dog”

“Exotic, Perilous and Inscrutable”: At The Hooded Utilitarian, Richard Cook looks at about 80 years worth of adventure comic covers portraying Asian people. Obviously, it ain’t pretty, but it gets gradually prettier and prettier.

As a child, the Supermobile really upset me: Blogger Doctor K fields questions in his “Ask Doctor K” feature, and in this installment he answers the question, “Has Batman or Superman ever driven a rocketship before?” When I was a little kid, and my interest in superheroes was relegated to cartoons and toys, I didn’t quite understand the need for toy companies to produce a bunch of products to sell, so I was only confused and irritated by things like a rocketship for Superman to fly in, or a Matchbox car for Spider-Man to drive in and, most gallingly, any Hulk vehicle.

This is the scariest Halloween costume ever: (shudder)

I think there’ s a Human Torch joke in here somewhere, but the whole kids and fire thing makes me feel weird about looking for it: “Marvel Flashlight Toys Recalled for Risk of Fire”

Everyone review Thor comics!: Here’s Don McPherson on Thor, Ultimate Thor and Thor:The Mighty Avenger; Tim O’ Neil on Thor #616 and Kevin Church and Tom Spurgeon on Thor: The Mighty Avenger.

I could look at these all day: Check out these photos of cosplayers next to a seated Stan Lee at Dragon Con, before what looks like the sort of backdrop they use in school pictures . They look a little like the comic book fan equivalent of little kids getting their pictures taken sitting on Santa’ s lap at the mall.

David Brothers would like Black Panther to kill Doctor Doom: He explains why in this post on the conclusion of the Black Panther-related miniseries, Doom War. In other Brothers-on-Panther news, the blogger has some concerns about BP taking over Daredevil’s subtitle, setting and numbering in the upcoming Black Panther: Man Without Fear #513.

No write-ins?: That alone makes DC’s vote for the leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes thing lame-o. Now how am I supposed to vote for Time-Lost Red Bee or Immortal Rex The Wonder Dog? Seriously, this is actually kinda neat, and a younger, more-interested-in-the-Legion Caleb would have been all over it.

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories
Written & Illustrated by Moto Hagio
Translated by Matt Thorn
Published by Fantagraphics

Although there are hundreds of manga titles for youngsters and teens, and even a handful of violent genre titles for older readers, on American shelves, Drawn and Quarterly (with gekiga-originator Yoshihiro Tatsumi) and Vertical (publishing latter-era Osamu Tezuka tomes) seem to be among the few publishers interested in providing mature, adult material.  So I’m happy to see Fantagraphics step up to the plate and deliver another such offering: A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, a collection of ten Moto Hagio short stories.

Compiling comics originally published between 1977 and 2008, A Drunken Dream showcases the full range of Hagio’s short stories, while also granting readers insight into the themes of lost innocence, family dysfunction and perseverance in the face of abuse that underscore much of her work. Two of the best pieces are “Hanshin: Half-God” and “Iguana Girl.”  In the former, one conjoined twin appears healthy and happy, but never developed beyond the most simplistic (yet upbeat) personality.  The other half, Yudy, processes all the nutrients that her sister’s body takes to appear healthy, while Yudy herself, her mind and personality fully developed, remains sickly and ill.  “Iguana Girl” shows a mother’s disgust with her own child (depicted as an iguana) and the trauma of emotional abuse. Yet the tale also depicts the strength to persevere, to find something better and to, maybe, understand the emotional failings of another.

(more…)

UPDATE 10/20: Well, we know what it is now. It’s a one-shot. And written by…Howard Chaykin. That’s not surprising and rather surprising, in that order.

Marvel solicitations didn’t hit on the third Tuesday of the month like they usually do — look for those sometime today, probably — but we do at least have a text list (courtesy of Diamond) of the publisher’s January product, for those especially eager fans out there who enjoy reading titles of comic books followed by numbers. (It’s surprisingly satisfying!)

(more…)

Ugh. This is one of those stories that makes you sick to your stomach.

The story began in Rochester, N.Y., this summer, as comic collector Homer Marciniak was trying to sell his comic book collection. It was valued at anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000, according to reports from the Associated Press.

The problem was that Marciniak told that to tavern owner Rico Vendetti — and was subsequently beaten and robbed in his apartment. While Marciniak, a 77-year-old bachelor, survived the incident, he had a heart condition that manifested into cardiac arrest later that night after talking with police.

Not only were all of his comics stolen, but things get even more sad — Marciniak apparently was trying to sell his books to give the money to his sister and nephew. The books haven’t even been recovered yet.

Apparently this week, however, a woman charged with prostitution led police to Vendetti and 17-year-old Juan Javier, who were each charged with burglary. Both were charged with $100,000 bail — Vendetti has since ponied up the cash, while Javier is currently in jail.

Police still are searching for the missing comics. “I was hoping to get a lucky break for Homer,” Medina Police Chief Jose Avila said. “He could not handle losing those comic books. To him, they were priceless.”