Chin Music #1
(Image – writer: Steve Niles; art: Tony Harris)
If you want me to get on board with any media – be it a movie, a book or a comic – give it a noir feel, 1930s clothing and weapons and a whole bunch of gangsters. Chin Music has all of that. Except, well, the comic doesn’t really tell us what it’s about, lacks basic transitioning between scenes and relies heavily on its opacity. (more…)
Thanks, Mom.
There’s a long list of writers, directors, artists and musicians who have influenced me. Recently I wrote about how the science fiction author Douglas Adams helped lead me down the left hand path towards atheism. But I would have never read Adams or countless others if not for one woman. My mother had more to do with me becoming the person I am today than any teacher ever did. And she did it behind the wheel of a faded fire-engine red Ford Fairmont station wagon. (more…)
When it was announced that sex was the topic of Unwinnable’s monthly theme week for April, I had visions of Team Unwinnable writers contributing stories of young lust, exposing past scandalous indiscretions and, yeah, maybe even a full-on Sonic and Mega Man slash fiction piece. Whatever the case, though, I found myself thinking about the X-Men.
Vibe #3
(DC – writer: Sterling Gates; art: Pete Woods and Fabian Neves)
Vibe is the kind of comic you pick up due to its light-hearted tone and everyman hero in Cisco Ramon. Cisco is the kind of person most people would become if they were just given superpowers – unsure of the ability, but sure of the desire to help. DC is currently working on building the character enough to see his importance in this summer’s “Trinity War.” But before he becomes a main cog in the DC wheel, we’re given the inkling of the hero he could become in issue #3 of Vibe. (more…)
I was extremely late to the BioShock party. I remember playing the demo on Xbox Live. I floated down to a city in the sea (a ridiculous proposition at best), was met with art that felt cartoony compared to the military shooters I loved and fired archaic weapons like tommy guns and revolvers at people wearing vintage clothing. I was not interested. (more…)
I am getting ahead of myself. My son, Halford, can barely hold his head up and I’m already plotting his reading habits. These things must be planned, I tell myself. Fantagraphics might let some of those Carl Barks Donald Duck books go out of print. So, I compile a wish list on Amazon of Tin Tin, Astroboy and Asterix – all the fine cartoon art a growing boy needs. (more…)
Whenever I’m in a dollar store one of my favorite things to do is look for the toys, specifically action figures. More often than not comedy gold can be found In the form of cheap knock-off figures based on Spider-Man, Lord of the Rings, Transformers, Robocop or even generic G.I Joe knock-offs with names like “Action Fighting Man”, the packaging promising such exciting things as “Aplomb!” and “Service!”.
