Comics

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

The Vaude-villains are a group of criminals unlike anything existing in comics. Created by a person or persons unknown in TAP DANCE KILLER #1, they were an innocent group of actors hired to play roles in a horror musical, transformed through chemical means into being psychologically traped in their roles. While on-stage, they performed the deed they were programmed to -- the elimination of members of the Vitalli mob family.

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

The schedule must be getting tight on the 20-page comic (remember when they were 22 pages?) HEROES IN CRISIS, because the former lead artist, Clay Mann, was only able to turn in the first page and the last page of this issue, which were basically the confidential confessional pages. Lee Weeks picks up the rest of the in-between, where Tom King's plot doesn't move the action forward from the previous issue (or even the issue before that).

That's because this issue is done entirely in flashback, to fill in the gaps and answer some of the questions about what Sanctuary was and how it operated.

I’ve gotta say, the Joker of the future is looking pretty spry for a (very) white guy.

The Clown Prince of Crime has been hinted to still be alive during the time of the BATMAN BEYOND comic book series, which has this reviewer questioning whether or not the animated movie BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER has any bearing on the comic book canon, which seems to be an anchor-point in actual DC Comics future history. At the end of the previous issue, he brought down a high-rise owned by Bruce Wayne, although nobody as yet knows he’s responsible. He only took credit for it when he confronted Barbara Gordon, surprising her in her office and narrowly missing her with a bullet.

My first exposure to the tradition of Krampus came through Brom's exquisite horror novel, KRAMPUS: THE YULE LORD. Since then, I've seen Krampus headline a film and appear in a few other media outlets.

The horned devil appears in this issue of TAROT, WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE, doing that thing he does: kidnapping naughty children to be taken away and whipped with a switch. But he stands opposed by Tarot, who seeks him out each year in her attempts to stop him. Unfortunately, he is more powerful than most magical-based entities she battles. Her magic doesn't affect him, but his magic -- a very unusual magic for the task he has at hand -- certainly has an impact on Tarot. (Take the plot of Milo Manara's SWITCH and instill it into a magic bell, and you'll figure it out.)

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

I've expressed previously my love for the old DC horror titles like GHOSTS and HOUSE OF SECRETS, or Charlton's MIDNIGHT TALES (featuring the Midnight Philospher and his hot little niece, Arachne), and how disappointing it is that such titles don't exist in the market these days.

I stand corrected. There is at least one title out there that captures the twist-ending, twisted-horror that these older books did so well, albeit with a touch more mature language. Zenescope's GRIMM TALES OF TERROR continues to bring the Twilight Zone-esque feel with stories that have endings you simply don't see coming.

"Don't Flash Your Lights" builds on an urban legend about gang initiations that involve random killings.

Click to enlarge.

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” 
― George Orwell, 1984

We communicate with words. We may communicate crudely or eloquently, but nevertheless we do it with words. And as we mature, we learn there are words that are better than others, and there are words that are not spoken in polite society.

And then there are words that are not only looked down upon, but they are controlled. They can be said, but only by certain people. This act of protectionism embues a word with power, ideally to remove the power of hate from it when used by those who would use it thusly.

We know the most prominent of these words by their first letters. The F-word. The N-word. Say them in the wrong place, or be the wrong person, and your environment can quickly change.

Which is why it was such a shocking moment when X-Man Kitty Pryde dropped one of these bombs in the classic X-Men graphic novel, GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS.

People can't get enough of MARS ATTACKS, as the big-brained aliens seem to re-attack us every couple of years now.

This viewpoint of the alien invasion is grounded by the story of a man and his elderly father. It's a contentious relationship, as the older man is a conservative retired U.S. Marine with a cantanerous attitude, while the younger one is more of a pacifist who has never lived up to his old man's expectations.

The two of them find themselves on the run for survival when the Martians attack the nursing home, leaving the entire landscape charred. Now with the son pushing the father in a wheelbarrow -- the only mode of transportation they could find -- the two encounter a militia group ready to take on the invaders. They're armed to the teeth with all kinds of guns, and one of them even has a bazooka.

Adventure in the fashionable fifties continue as Bettie Page finally gets her own ongoing series, after a few minis and a Halloween One-Shot. The pin-up queen, who came to comic book prominence largely thanks to the tireless efforts of the late Dave Stevens, now leads her own series as a special agent, working a division that deals with U.F.O.s and extra-dimensional threats.

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

After decades upon decades of the Big Two being the place to go for comics, with distribution ranging from the classic spinner rack at the corner drug store to a direct sales market structure, a new way of getting comics has been gaining traction: Crowdfunding. Whether through Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or other means, creators have found ways to take charge of their ideas and bring them to the masses without having to dilute them through the traditional channels.

One of those projects that's been generating a lot of buzz is LITTLE GIRL LETHAL, starring the enigmatic and sexy Sugar Lightspeed. But as intriguing and arousing as the artwork appears, what is LITTLE GIRL LETHAL all about?

We sat down for a chat with Sugar's creator, "Slick" Jimmy Love, to get an in-depth and personal look at the world next door -- a world of sexy assassins where seedy sins aren't necessarily hidden in the shadows; the world of Sugar Lightspeed."

There are too few all-ages books on the shelves these days, and even fewer that feature characters which parents can recognize and, thus, feel comfortable about when selecting comics for their kids.

Dynamite Comics holds the potential to make some great headway into this market with their licensing of the franchise RAINBOW BRITE, and utilizing the characters to create a superheroic mythos.

Young Wisp has disappeared from Earth, having been chased by monsters that were eating -- of all things -- the color blue from items in her neighborhood late at night. Meeting up with the friendly creature known as Twinkle, she ends up teleporting to Rainbow Land -- which is nothing at all like it's name, having been drained of all colors by the King of Shadows and his ally, Murky Dismal, a scientist who has found a way to mine color for fuel. The King of Shadows has found ways to drain the light from everyone in the land, turning them to creatures of darkness.

For the better part of the last year, the face and voice of Comicsgate has been Ethan Van Sciver, whose YouTube channel "ComicArtistPro Secrets" garnered massive audiences for livestreams (with over 80,000 subscribers) and became, by default and by name, Comicsgate Live.

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

So here's what we know going into JAMES BOND 007 #1 from Dynamite Comics. There's a Russian guy who has a thing, and he's talking to some Asian guys about the thing. We don't know what the thing is, and unless you go into Google Translate, you have no idea what they're talking about. (Note to comics writers: We don't mind the translation text boxes. Honest.) Fortunately, they all quickly transition to English, just in time for whatever deal they're working to get busted up by a an Asian martial artist with a familiar looking chapeau.

Yes, whatever the Russian is selling, the fan-favorite Bond franchise henchman, Oddjob, wants it. But Oddjob is no longer a strong, silent type, nor is he a mere henchman in this Greg Pak / Marc Laming vision of Ian Fleming's classic characters. He's roguish, charming, outgoing -- in many ways, he's the Korean foil to Bond in many ways and traits.

The latest twist in the case of MEYER VS. WAID, which alleges comics writer Mark Waid engaged in tortious interference (more about that here), has been filed by his attorney, Mark S. Zaid. Zaid has filed a motion for dismissal, based on the claims that the suit is filed in the wrong jurisdiction, citing that Waid is a citizen of Calfornia, and has no business contacts in Texas. Specifically, in places, the motion states:

"Plaintiff brought this suit against Mr. Waid, a California citizen with no contacts with Texas..."

"Plaintiff's Complaint fails to identify any allegegations or facts establishing any connection between Mr. Waid and Texas."

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

For the past three issues of this miniseries, the villains of Gotham have been putting into place their scheme to take over the adults of Riverdale, a town without a caped crusader to stand in their way. While Batman tracked down the 'electronic book' stolen by Bookworm, Robin and Batgirl responded to the call for help, and are only now seeing the depth of the villain infestation in Riverdale.

As Catwoman infiltrates Riverdale High to ply her feminine wiles on high school boys (not creepy at all), Robin and Batgirl get captured, and are placed in the same mind-melting trap where the Clown Prince of Crime has been holding Jughead prisoner.