Each month we’ll be taking a look at one book and spotlighting it on the site in a book club type setting. This isn’t a review just a bunch of shared opinions of a graphic novel or collected story arc. Up first is the highly acclaimed first volume of Chew – Taster’s Choice from Image Comics written by John Layman and drawn by Rob Guillroy.
Something that a lot of Ultimate fans can agree upon is that when Marvel rebranded the line after Jeph Loeb destroyed it, it has never been as good or the same. Yes killing off a bunch of the characters can be interesting and did shake up the world, but the problem with the whole experience was that it felt like Loeb was trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. Ultimate Spider-Man used to be a top ten book every month but slipped way down the chart. Sure it’s still in the top fifty if I’m not mistaken, but it’s never recovered that power house position that it once held.
Last week the first issue of The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde released from Dark Horse comics. We actually got the chance to talk with the writer of the mini-series Cole Haddon about the series and whatever else we could throw at him. We’re probably one of the first sites to interview him about the book so enjoy this exclusive interview.
Hope you like the interviews we’ve been doing because they’re not stopping any time soon! Today’s interview is with Mike Kennedy who was recently announced as the new Publisher for Archaia. Mike has a rich history with comics and video games (we cover those too) and so we took the oppurtunity to ask him some questions about working in both mediums and what his plans are for Archaia.
Welcome to another Cyber Monday where we look at the digital comic market. This week we’re taking a look at an entire service as Dark Horse comics launched its own app and browser viewer this week. Right off the bat I have to say that it’s refreshing to see that they haven’t gone with Comixology to house their goods. I think it’s a smart move since digital comics are now big enough to support themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if other companies do this once their contracts are up with Comixology.
Originally from a family of Sarcee Indian ancestry that
practiced the trade of mysticism, Michael Twoyoungmen is a founder of Alpha
Flight and was recently resurrected during the Chaos War.
Michael Twoyoungmen originally did not want to follow his
ancestry of sorcery. Instead
Michael became a sergeant and physician, using the laws of science to treat and
heal others. After the tragic
death of his wife, Michael left his daughter and isolated himself by living in a
forest until he met the spirit of his grandfather. His grandfather, the chief medical shaman of his tribe, gave
Michael his bag that was the Twoyoungmen’s source of power. This “medicine pouch” contains a
seemingly unlimited amount of potions and mystic elements allowing Shaman to
perform numerous acts of magic with deadly results to his enemies and aide to his
allies.
This week has been full of its fair share of comic controversies the first starting with Superman renouncing his US citizenship. The story started on Bleeding Cool with the article, “Action Comics #900 is a Fox News Story Waiting to Happen.” Guess what happened then? It became a national news story and of course Bleeding Cool was at the forefront. They then followed up with another story, “So I’ve been talking to the Washington Times for a Half an Hour about Action Comics #900.” From there every comic news site began posting their thoughts getting reactions and really building the mountain.
This week saw the release of Morning Glories #9 from Shadowline and Image Comics and from our review spawned a conversation with the artist of the series Joe Eisma. Included is some art from Joe’s work on Morning Glories along with a lot of great answers. At the end of the interview are some links to other Morning Gloriesreviews and coverage on the site. If you’re interested in the series check out the trade paper back for the first volume in stores now!
After more
than ten years circling in hell with Violator, Spawn 2 was dug up again by
writer Todd McFarlane in 2009. He
began writing a script for the anticipated sequel but said, “The
story has been in my head for 7 or 8 years.” McFarlane goes on to say, “The
movie idea is neither a recap or continuation. It is a standalone story that
will be R-rated. Creepy and scary.”
With the slew of comic movies coming mostly from Marvel geared toward a
more teenage audience, Spawn 2, like its predecessor, will be geared toward
adults. The film is supposedly
coming but I would not hold my breath considering creators’ tendencies to
promise the world and then never deliver (case and point Duke Nukem
Forever).
The Human Torch has been dead for a few months now, but due to the monthly nature of comics we’re still dealing with his death in the pages of Fantastic Four / Future Foundation and Amazing Spider-Man. Most of the time in comics when a character dies we keep moving forward and there’s little to no time spent dealing with the characters death. When Batman “died” I can barely recall a tear shed for him even from his closest friends. With Johnny’s death it’s been different as there has been not one, but two issues dealing with grief and mourning.
