Ten Count Volume 4

I imagine those who have trouble with the lack of consent on view in previous volumes of Ten Count have given up by now, but those who’ve stuck it out are rewarded in volume 4 by finally finding out what made Shirotani a germophobe. The title comes from Shirotani’s list of tasks he can’t stand to do,...

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In a Daze Work: A Pick-Your-Path Journey Through the Daily Grind

As a member of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book generation, I have a soft spot for the modern-day, adult-oriented versions. Siobhán Gallagher‘s In a Daze Work: A Pick-Your-Path Journey Through the Daily Grind puts a twist on the genre by illustrating every option. Here’s an example page, from when...

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Good Night, Planet

Good Night, Planet is a beautifully illustrated take on the classic idea of a child’s beloved stuffed animal coming alive at night. Planet appears to be a bedraggled rabbit (or maybe a dog?), and after a day jumping in the autumn leaves, while the little girl sleeps, Planet plays with the family dog...

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Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Year Three #6-7

Of all the many Doctor Who comics Titan have put out, this title gets my nod for the one exploring most realistically what it would really be like to be part of the Doctor’s adventures. That’s due to his companions, the artist Gabby Gonzalez (who’s been in the book since its launch) and her best friend,...

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Superman #27

Superman #27 is the kind of comic I remember from my childhood, although then, these kinds of “learn about history and geography” travel stories tended to star Dennis the Menace, not DC’s first family. After confirming the existence of his son from a villain who tried to erase and then corrupt him,...

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Valiant Reworks Website, Posts Free Comics (If You Can Find Them)

I’m not convinced that “we’ve redone our website” is really news, but the ValiantEntertainment.com redesign has a few features that all comic publisher sites should consider. Some of them are basic, so it’s surprising that I need to point them out, but as a member of the press, sometimes I give up on...

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First Set of Ringo Award Nominees Announced; Fewer Than 20% Women

The Ringo Awards, Baltimore Comic-Con’s award program established earlier this year, have now announced their first set of nominees, assembled through a combination of jury selection and fan voting (which may account for some of the lesser-known nominees). Out of the sixteen categories, seven are creator-based....

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San Diego Comic-Con Legally Bars Competitor From Talking

Three years ago, the San Diego Comic-Con started trying to bar the Salt Lake Comic Con from using the term “Comic Con”. The Salt Lake show used this legal case as an excuse for more publicity. Until now. Last week, at the San Diego show’s request, a judge placed a gag order on the Salt Lake organizers....

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Snickers DC Comic Redoes History With Women

Back in the day, there was a tradition of Superman and the Flash racing each other. It began in Superman #199 in 1967, and it’s understandable that the young male readers of the time loved “who’d win” showdowns. Superman was super at everything, but the Flash was “the fastest man alive”. Which was more...

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Master Keaton Volume 11

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the Master Keaton series — the last I covered was volume 8 last year — because it’s not your typical manga series. Each volume is best approached as a short story anthology, held together by most (but not all) of the chapters having an appearance by Taichi Keaton,...

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Dog Dish of Doom

Out next month is Dog Dish of Doom, the first “Agent to the Paws Mystery” starring a theatrical booking agent whose clients are animals. It’s written by E.J. Copperman, who also writes the Asperger’s Mystery series and the Haunted Guesthouse series. Last year, he launched the Mysterious Detective series,...

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Beasts of Burden to Return With New Artist

Beasts of Burden was an award-winning series about a group of dogs (and the occasional cat) that protected their neighborhood from supernatural monster. It was written by Evan Dorkin, painted by Jill Thompson, and published by Dark Horse from 2009-2010, with occasional one-shots in 2012, 2014, and 2016....

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Why Didn’t These “Twin” Female-Starring Comedies Get the Same Treatment?

It’s not unusual for Hollywood to put out two movies with similar concepts at the same time. The latest example is a pair of female-starring R-rated comedies about bachelorette party weekends. Rough Night, starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, and Zoë Kravitz, came out last month from Columbia/Sony....

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Luc Besson’s Sci-Fi Comic Book Epic Tanks

If you want to go see Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets, based on a European comic book series, on the big screen, you’d better do it soon. Luc Besson’s visual extravaganza, made for somewhere between $170 and $200 million, just opened in the US, and it took in only $17 million, coming in fifth...

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A Smattering of Comic Movie Trailers (and Posters)

It’s San Diego Comic-Con weekend, so a bunch of comic book movie trailers (and posters) have been released. Here are the ones I’m most interested in talking about. The Justice League trailer is a lot of unconnected scenes, but they open with Wonder Woman, showing that maybe they learned something from...

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I’d Forgotten There Was Going to Be a Krypton TV Show

It’s an obvious idea, given the success of Gotham, going into its fourth season on Fox, but I’d completely forgotten that Syfy will be running Krypton next year. Like Gotham, which explores the famous setting before Batman became Batman, Krypton is set two generations (which they’re equating to 200...

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More Covers and Concept for Fighting American Relaunch

As announced earlier this month, Titan Comics is bringing Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Fighting American back to the stands. Now they’ve sent out the flock of variant covers (because everyone counts on selling different versions of the same content to make series financially possible these days) and elaborated...

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New Sonic the Hedgehog Comic Publisher Announced

Well, that was quick! (And explains why Sega was so forthcoming about taking the Sonic the Hedgehog license away from Archie.) Beginning next year, Sega will be publishing Sonic the Hedgehog comics through IDW Publishing, “the leading publisher of licensed comic books”. And that’s not just a tagline...

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Archie Loses Sonic Comic License

In addition to their own properties, Archie Comics has been publishing the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series, based on the Sega video game character, since 1993. Now, that run has ended after 24 years. Per a tweet from the official Sonic Twitter account (featuring a screenshot of the Facebook page), An...

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Slam! Returns as Miniseries

I enjoyed reading Slam!, Boom! Studios’ roller derby comic series, so I was concerned when last month’s Previews catalog listed future issues as cancelled. The series, by Pamela Ribon and Veronica Fish, launched last November and ran monthly through issue #4 in February. Now it’s returning as a four-issue...

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Pope Hats #5 Concludes Main Storyline, Now Available for Order

Ethan Rilly does amazing work in his Pope Hats series from AdHouse. My favorite part is the main story, about roommates Vickie, an aspiring actress, and Frances, who struggles in a mundane job at a law firm. As with many self-created, detailed independent comics, it takes a while for a new issue to...

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The Unstoppable Wasp: Unstoppable!

Ignore the hip-breaking weirdo disco cover — The Unstoppable Wasp is a new take on the shrinking hero that emphasizes science for girls. The first collection, Unstoppable!, reprinting the first four issues of the series, is due out August 30 in comic shops, September 12 in bookstores. The new wasp is...

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Dreamin’ Sun Volume 1

There’s a lot that’s familiar to the manga reader in Dreamin’ Sun volume 1 by Ichigo Takano, but it’s good-hearted and comfortable enough that I didn’t mind. Kameko has run away from home because her mother died, her father remarried, and the new baby takes up all their attention. She trips over a drunk...

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Hawkeye: Anchor Points

It is so cool to have a series starring a butt-kicking superhero woman I can read regularly. It seems (still, unfortunately) that only one or two of that type are allowed to exist concurrently, but at least writer Kelly Thompson can be relied upon to provide funny, action-packed stories that have an...

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Making Scents

Making Scents does something substantial with a silly premise, demonstrating the value of comics. As written by Arthur Yorinks, Mickey was found as a baby by Barney and Barbara Spitz, who raised and trained bloodhounds. So he was raised right along with these “brothers and sisters”, including scent...

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