Free Comic Book Day 2021

I will be at Counterplay Comics, Burlington MA, on Saturday, August 14th for Free Comic Book Day 2021!

 

I will have copies of HOUR OF THE ROBOT for sale & signing.

 

You might see cosplayers and artists, too.

 

Come on over if you're around!

RCW: Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels seminar

River City Writers strike again!

This weekend I attended a seminar on Writing for Comics by Christopher Golden.

I learned a whole lot. I didn't know the nuts & bolts and now I feel like I do. It's surprising to recognize what has been on the page in front of you but you hadn't noticed as a reader.

Chris covered a lot in three hours; less is more, trust & know your artist, scene breakdown, page breakdown, panel breakdown, story arcs, and much more. Augmented with a vignette script and comic from his own BALTIMORE series for tangible examples of everything discussed.

If you're interesting in writing comics this seminar is a surefire way to ramp up quickly.

Highly recommended.

River City Writers 2017 offerings

River City Writers are expanding their offerings!

I attended the WRITE BETTER FICTION workshop last November, as you might recall.

For the first half of 2017, they are offering the workshop again. They have added three seminars, too. One deals with the business side of publishing. The other covers writing for comics. And, building your novel from the ground up. I will be attending the WRITING FOR COMICS seminar. At some point, I will also attend BUSINESS OF PUBLISHING but I'll need to catch the next one.

If you're in the area, give this consideration. If not, perhaps they'll be able to expand to webinars in the near future.

recent reads; Superman Triple Play

Superman: Brainiac

In this stand alone story, Superman finally goes up against his foe, Brainiac. He has dealt with various probes and forms of Brainiac in the past, but here Superman decides on a showdown with the real, original Brainiac. This features great art, has some wonderful moments with Kents and the story is a good examination of Brainiac and his motivations.

I love that the countenance of Superman in this comic is based on Christopher Reeve.

This book was adapted as a direct-to-disc animated movie, SUPERMAN UNBOUND. (Though, the animation didn't carryover the Reeve image.)

Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?

"Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?" was a swan song story written by Alan Moore. In 1985, the DC line was rebooting. This is their "last" story of Superman up to 1985.

After quiet years, Superman's remaining super-villains try one last all-out assault on the Man of Steel. After his identity is compromised, Superman flies his family and friends to the Fortress of Solitude where he makes his last stand.

This collection also includes a Superman & Swamp Thing story, which is surprisingly good.

The book is rounded out by "For The Man Who Has Everything," now considered a classic Superman tale that was adapted for both the animated JUSTICE LEAGUE television series, as well as recently being adapted for an episode of the new live action SUPERGIRL series. A parasitic alien plant gives Superman a comatose dream of life on Krypton. His friends struggle to free him from the parasite and save themselves from the alien warlord, Mongul.

Superman / Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle

What if John Clayton had not been orphaned in the African jungle? What if Superman's rocketship had delivered the baby Kryptonian to the great apes, instead?

I must admit that I am only halfway through this one. I am enjoying this story. But the cartoony style illustration leaves me cold. I'd prefered a more direct approach to the art.

recent reads: weekend superheroing

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

This collection serves as a prequel to the animated movie of the same name.

Each character - Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman - had their own prequel issue and then they joined forces in the 3-issue story arc.

The story involves a scientist who is creating super-humans. Do the Justice League see a potential threat to humanity, or are they merely jealous and want to keep their position of superiority?

For the most part, I enjoyed this book and I think it weaves nicely with the movie.

On the down side, the artwork sometimes confused me about action that was happening. The strong start of the story felt like it was going off the rails by the end. Personally, I wanted to know more about Luthor and how he ended up like he was in the movie, but this story wasn't about that. Maybe they can do another comic or movie.

The Hernan Guerra, son of Zod, Superman is growing on me. I liked him quite a bit after the movie and I like him, mostly, here. He is a character that has to grow on you. He has an abrasive side, for sure.

I even like the Kirk Langstrom vampiric Batman a bit more after reading this. In the movie his character didn't move me very much but he plays better in this story, I think.

Team-ups of the Brave and the Bold

A thin book but some interesting team-up choices. Straczynski can write stories, and these are all solid, fun and some have poignant moments. We get Batman and Dial-H for Hero, Flash and the Blackhawks in the Battle of the Bulge, Batman and a really obscure hero from the 1960s, Brother Power. The Atom doesn't exactly team-up with the Joker but their story heavily involves both both of them. Wonder Woman, Zatanna and Batgirl have a night on the town.

Perhaps the most fun of the bunch is Aquaman teaming up with the Demon to stop an underwater interdimensional invasion. Mutated fish, resurrected drowned men, and a ruined city with angles that are all wrong. Yeah, they went there. And it was cool.

recent read: Locke & Key (Vol1: Welcome To Lovecraft)

Joe Hill will be a guest at NECON this July, and it is time to start reading some NECON writers.

I have NOS4A2 on my Kindle, but it's a doorstop, even as an ebook. I do plan on reading that one. But, I grabbed the entire Locke & Key run on digital sale awhile ago. Thought I'd start on that.

This is a nifty horror comic. After a high school guidance counselor is murdered by juvenile delinquents, his wife & children move from CA to Lovecraft, MA. The ancestral house they return to is magical. Or, at least, it is magical if you are a kid. There are keys and doors. This arc focuses on a door that makes you a ghost. There is also a malevolent spirit trapped in a well. And with demonic aid, one of the murdering punks escapes prison and heads toward Lovecraft.

Suspenseful stuff. Disturbing sometimes because of real cases where teenagers have done such horrid things.

But, what I also liked about this story were the reveals. It is very much setup as an onion. Backstory is revealed as the story moves, giving aspects to the story that weren't obvious at first.

I will be continuing on with the next arc. I hope to read the entire thing by summer. It shouldn't be too hard, it is a fairly quick read. Though, I am sure you might miss stuff if you read too fast. I know Hill said something at the end of the run about having it all setup at the beginning, the reader just needs to pay attention.

more comic collecting; Marvel's TARZAN

This weekend, I scoured the 50 cent bins at a local comic shop. I am now two issues away from owning a complete set of Roy Thomas's & Ernie Colon's ARAK, Son of Thunder. I don't have a lot in mint, but they are all serviceable.

I've been reading the Marvel omnibus of the 1970s run of JOHN CARTER, Warlord of Mars. At the same time that was happening, Roy Thomas was working on Marvel's TARZAN, Lord of the Jungle. There were only 29 issues and 3 annuals, and they have yet to be collected in trades or an omnibus.

I picked up Annual #2 and Annual #3 this weekend. They were enough fun that I think I might just aim to collect the Marvel TARZAN run, too. Hopefully I can find them in the cheap bins, too.

recent reads; Batman:Haunted Knight and Superman: Kryptonite

New Year Reading Goal; make a dent reading the graphic novels & collected trades I've been acquiring over the past few years (largely thanks to sales.)

Batman: Haunted Knight

Collects three stories of the Dark Knight, all centered on Halloween. Yesterday was a rainy & windy day and these tales were a perfect match for the mood. The first story has Batman tangling with the Scarecrow. The second story, Batman is taking on The Mad Hatter and trying to save Gordon's daughter from the villain. The third story brings in Penguin, Joker and Scarecrow, but they are not what they seem - they are spirits and the story is a Halloween & Batman take on A Christmas Carol.

Superman: Kryptonite

Darwyn Cooke does good DC work. He's very renowned for his work on a semi-historical take of the Justice League in The New Frontier (which also was adapted as an animated movie.)

Here, Cooke tackles a revamp of Superman's discovery of his weakness to kryptonite. (Cooke only did the writing on this one, art is by Tim Sale - who also did the art on Batman: Haunted Knight.) Though the story setting is modern (cell phones) there is a retro feel throughout, and it winds back the clock to Superman's early superheroing. A mobster is opening a casino in Metropolis, and he brings with him a large green stone. Lex Luthor bides his time, testing Superman and waiting to take out his criminal rival.

There is nice layering here with Superman, his life as Clark, his relationship with Lois Lane and his relationship with his adoptive parents, the Kents.

Again, my highest compliment to any DC story is a desire to see it animated. I wouldn't mind seeing either Batman: Haunted Knight or Superman: Kryptonite adapted to animation. They're enjoyable reads.

recent reads; Skaar

SKAAR, SON OF HULK
HULK: PLANET SKAAR

I got both of these in collected trade paperback, on the cheap, at sales. I'm glad I didn't spend much. I guess I'm just not the target audience for this.

I was hoping for a sword-&-planet vibe. What I got was lots of planet heaving and lava flowing. Lots of people trying to kill Skaar. Lots of resurrected characters from PLANET HULK. Some mystic "old power" of the planet. Come to think of it, wasn't the planet destroyed at the end of PLANET HULK? Well, I might be misremembering, or they retconned the planetary destruction into local destruction.

Confusing facets of various players & races. Silver Surfer shows up, then we're on Earth with the Fantastic Four, Hulk and other crossovering. Not what I was looking for.

(There is a crossover with Ka-zar and the Savage Land but I don't think I'll bother - unless maybe if I get it cheap like the others.)

Atomic Robo returns to print

Last year (or earlier this year?) Atomic Robo went the web comic route. Creators Brian Clevenger (writer) and Scott Wegna (artist) took Atomic Robo out of Red 5 Comics. They setup a web page backed with Patreon and using KickStarter to offer hardcover editions of previous collections. And, plans to offer future print collections on-demand.

Out of the blue, Clevenger & Wegna were contacted by IDW Publishing to keep Atomic Robo in print. IDW have been putting out the latest story arc (in parallel with the web comic,) and they have put out an omnibus of the first three volumes, Atomic Robo: The Everything Explodes Collection.

The second omnibus is already listed at Amazon, too, Atomic Robo: The Crystals Are Integral Collection.

Clevenger guested on a Comics Alternative podcast. It's long, but very insightful. I loved his observation that in a way, Atomic Robo is the Bugs Bunny of his universe. But Dr. Dinosaur is Cecil the Turtle - the only character who ever disrupted Bugs Bunny's winning streak.

Again, I can't recommend this comic enough. It's written for adults, but it is all ages appropriate and tons of fun for everyone.

The Real Science Adventures continue!

Recreating my youth, one digital file at a time

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but my first superhero comic was an issue of Captain America. I remember it well because we had dropped my father off for a business trip and we bought the comic at the airport newsstand. I read it in the car on the way home - and that is how I became car-sick the first time.

I never got swept up in comics as a kid. I didn't quite get hooked, and my parents didn't exactly encourage nor discourage comics reading. I know my Dad didn't think much of comics.

Flipping through stacks at the comic shop this weekend, I came across a Spider-man (actually, a MARVEL TEAM-UP) that I also owned. So, I bought it. Then I recalled I also had an Iron Man issue. Yes, just three issues. I remember reading the Captain America over & over. I don't remember the other two as well, but they are the same year. I wonder if we had actually bought a 3-pack at the airport. Or maybe I had the Captain America and then shortly after tried a 2-pack. I don't recall.

I let them go many years ago.

Anyway, after that little memory tweak this weekend, I looked up the digital versions and lucky for me, they're all available at Comixology. I already had the Captain America, I grabbed the Marvel Team-up just because, and I added the Iron Man to my digital collection.

Looking forward to re-reading these two.

Atomic Robo & Gravedigger

Two news items of interest to me came across social media feeds today.

First, Atomic Robo is moving on. The comic is being moved from Red 5 Comics, and will now be a web comic. You can read it for free and see what I keep raving about.

See the Twitter announcement here.

They will be posting the 1st volume, and then debuting the upcoming 10th volume. Print issues are no longer offered, but the web comic will eventually offer collected trades. I don't know about rights and what they are doing with volumes 2 - 9.

Second, (and going the other direction) the Gravedigger web comic will be getting a proper comic treatment and be available at Comixology and in print. I really enjoyed the noir flair of Gravedigger. I could easily imagine the two stories as lost Lee Marvin movies.

See Christopher Mills' post here.

Both these comics are worth your time!

REH comic gold vein, plus others

Popped into a local comic store for a 25% off sale and got lucky. These are complete sets. Even cheaper than finding a graphic novel trade collection!

I don't know if they are good or faithful, but they were worth the price to check out. With Roy Thomas attached, they should be alright, at least. I need to look up how many of these Dark Horse did.

Aside from Robert E. Howard adaptations, I grabbed these as well. I could have grabbed many more.

Seriously - Tarzan at the Earth's Core & a Predator! Who could resist?!

Reminds me to put Tarzan at the Earth's Core on my shortlist for next year's reading.

I need a comic reading binge week!

recent reads; digital graphic novels

I read through a lot of digital comics this weekend. Much easier than reading prose when multitasking, a.k.a. minding kids.

Gotham by Gaslight (A Tale of the Batman)

Not steampunk, but a Victorian take on a late 19th century Gotham with a prowling Batman, Jack the Ripper and art by Mike Mignola. Who could say no? It was good, though I guessed who was the Ripper fairly early on. Good twist with Bruce Wayne nearly at the gallows for the crimes, which did make for a suspenseful moment - perhaps in this alternate world Bruce/Batman would turn out to be a mad murderer? You'll need to read this one to see for yourself.

The Tower Chronicles: (Volume1) Geisthawk

John Tower, investigator/mercenary for hire when you have a supernatural problem. The art by Simon Bisley is excellent. All manners of creatures pop up along the way; vengeful ghosts, vampires, kobolds, demons. Tower also has a history with a secret society, The Brotherhood of the Rose, who weave their unwelcome threads along his immortal history. I am looking forward to reading the second series.

Buck Rogers, Volume 1 Future Shock

This was fun. This Buck Rogers ends up in a future where men are meat and intelligent animals, "The Pack, threaten mankind. All the while he must also discover who he is and what to make of himself in the new world. Lots of pulpy fun here. Flight suits, spaceships, atomzier pistols., etc.

Buck Rogers, Volume 2 Brave New World

The fact that I kept going onto Volume 2 immediately should tell you that I did indeed enjoy Volume 1.

This followup had even more space opera derring-do. Instead of one enemy, Buck goes from breathless adventure to breathless adventure. He saves the world from underground mutants, air pirates, and rogue robots on the moon.

I don't know what became of this series. Volume 2 ends on a cliffhanger with the promise Rogers will be back. Of course, that was back in 2010. I can't even find these listed at Comixology for sale anymore. I don't know if something fell through with the rights. (There is a new, retro Buck Rogers now from Hermes Press with art by Howard Chaykin.) Too bad. I would have continued with the Dynamite storyline it if it kept going.

Trinity (Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman)

A stand-alone tale of the famous trio's first team-up. In this story, Batman and Superman know each other, but Wonder Woman is a new arrival. A mystery villain recruits a rogue amazon and frees Bizarro from the Antarctic ice (where Luthor put his failed experiment for safekeeping.) The hand is soon revealed to be Ra's al Ghul. He is on yet another mission to purge the world of the evil elements of mankind.

In addition to a decent villainous plot and heroes interplay, I appreciated that there wasn't a cliche "battle of heroes over a misunderstanding." When Wonder Woman first confronts Superman, thinking he is guilty of a crime committed by Bizarro, she uses diplomacy (appropriately enough) before any fisticuffs. Wonder Woman and Batman almost come to blows, but Superman keeps the peace. In other words, this is indeed a team, no "versus" here.

The one negative here was implication of Ra's al Ghul as a rapist. He threatens such on Wonder Woman and invades Themyscira making comments about Amazon "breeding stock." It seemed a bit ignoble of the character - but I'm not well-versed in the character's comic history, either.

Again, my highest compliment would be to see this one animated as a movie by DC/WB. I think it would be a fun one.

Overall, a good batch of stuff, I am happy to report.

recent read; Fantastic Four: The Life Fantastic

After my local comic shop's 50%-off sale for Halloween, I resolved to slow down my print purchases for a while until I read through my ridiculous backlog of reading material.

Then the store acquired a huge collection and put up another big sale over this past weekend!

I am weak. I came away with 12 books. The prices were a steal.

After the usual horror and fantasy grabs, I made myself try some superhero titles. I don't read much Marvel, and I've been on the lookout for a Hulk storyline that interests me. Of course, that was the one thing the collection didn't have much of.

I did wind up with this one - Fantastic Four: The Life Fantastic. I am not a huge FF fan but I thought with the Hulk it might be interesting. Turns out that it contains four short stories - it's not just the Hulk story.

Also, to be different, I read it this weekend instead of putting it in the "to be read" bookcase.

I enjoyed the Hulk FF tale a lot. It helps that the writer was J. Michael Straczynski. The other stories featured other writers. The second tale was a 40th anniversary special. Not much going on but it was fun and even had 'cameos' by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby. The third story features a battle of wits and wills between Reed and Doctor Doom, and I found that again, I was pleasantly surprised and I liked it. The final tale was one of time travel and causality. It took a while to get going, but once it did I thought it was well done. Bonus for a Lovecraftian moment. (literally - the word "Lovecraftian" was used!)

I don't know if I would have bought the book new but in a 3 for $10 pile, it was worth it.

Running silent

Sorry for lack of posts, interesting or otherwise. NECON is a tough act to follow ;)

I've been reading a lot of different things which means I don't have anything cohesive to review. My current novel read is Kevin J. Anderson's Enemies & Allies which is a period piece (Cold War - late 50s/early 60s) where Superman and Batman meet. I am really enjoying it - just taking a while.

I've started #WellmanWednesday where I read a Manly Wade Wellman short each Wednesday night. This week's read was "The Third Cry to Legba" via the Haffner Press' John Thunstone collection.

I've read some other miscellaneous short stories and lots of comics. I started binging on The Goon last night. Darkly twisted and very funny stuff.

More book scores, too, of course. Nothing super rare or exciting, but they make me happy. I'll be happier when I get around to reading them.

Cheers!

Staycation Loot

I am on vacation for the next week. Hanging around the house and puttering with chores and stuff that needs doing, mostly. Plus family time.

I am hoping to get reading & writing done, of course.

I took a little me time at the comic shop Saturday afternoon. It's a little dangerous - a very good local comic store turned their warehouse into a warehouse with a storefront. 6.9 miles from my house! They have many $1 bins. Many.

$1 bin results;

New stuff;

And, even after all these years of being away from scifi in a big way, I can't resist a good ol' Cold War apocalypse story.

Of course, I'm acquiring reading material far faster than I'm reading lately. But I hope to get more posts going - even if they are just one-off comic reviews.

That doesn't even count my eBay score of books last week. More on that later, perhaps. ;)

Conan, the 20th Century Barbarian

$1 bin score last weekend.

Conan gets stranded in mid-1980s New York City when he misses his magical lightning bolt ride back home. He sets up shop as a petty thief around Times Square, and then builds his own criminal career with his own gang. Things are going criminally well until they rob a museum and attract the attention of Captain America. Then it is a shield vs. sword showdown!

Be sure, there are some laugh out loud moments in this one, though it is not played for laughs. I'll admit it was better than I expected. Conan stays fairly true to his Marvel comic character, though there are some misses in there.

Conan in a Scarface pimp suit?

It's in here!

Superman: Warrior of Mars!

If you've friended me on Facebook, you know I've been making some large scores on the comic $1 bin sales over the past month or so.

Finally time to start reading all those purchases!

Here's a fun concept. As a baby, Superman landed on Mars - not Earth. A sword-&-planet proper ER Burroughsian Mars, at that.

Great "what if" concept. Not so well executed, unfortunately. I would love to have read a full issue of Superman in John Carter mode. But, by the midpoint of the issue, the Martians are invading Earth and Superman goes undercover to learn what Earthlings are all about. Predictably, Earth feels more like home than Mars to the Kryptonian, so he sends his adopted brethren packing back to outer space and exiles himself to Earth.

Very nice nod in a panel on the first page, though. (even if it should be Warlord of Mars, not Warrior of Mars.)

$6 Million Christmas Easter Egg

A few years ago, Dynamite Entertainment (comics) revamped the classic Six Million Dollar Man as The Bionic Man, an updated story.

Now, Dynamite has gone back to roots by offering The Six Million Dollar Man - Season Six, which picks up on the original television series where it left off. 

I'm enjoying it, even if it is just the nostalgia talking.

The first issue not only brought back the android (later to be beefed up as the toy, "Maskatron") they also brought back Darren McGavin's character, Oliver Spencer, from the original t.v. pilot movie. He even wears an oversized Kolchak hat.

Spencer was a predecessor to Oscar Goldman, and much more of a callous boss. In fact, he suggested freezing Austin between missions. Hmm... bionic arm. Freezing between missions. Where have I heard that recently?

Anyway - that's a tangent. What I'm here to report is...-

Issue #2 has an A Christmas Story Easter egg.

Easter Egg spoiler, no plot spoiler, after the jump.