Comic Books

Uh...I guess this is a public service announcement.

"Ultimate Spider-Man" is really good.

This subverts my expectations, while offering new insights into established characters.

In 2022, Bleeding Cool got the word that DC Comics had encouraged its talent pool to make accounts on the social media app Hive and to build their audience using the hashtag #comicstwitter rather than on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, in the wake of Elon Musk taking over Twitter. Basically, no one listened. And Hive frittered away fast. Mastodon has stuck around a bit. Threads is basically Instagram and Facebook, and it may prove to be a contender. But newcomer Blue Sky or Bluesky seems to have taken the lead in Twitter/X alternatives in the last year or so. And with the recent election results and more changes to X regarding blocklists and the like, more people are looking for alternatives. We mentioned JH Williams III the other day, but Greg Pak has recently set out the state of play.

Greg Pak posted to X after a long time having not. He writes "this has been my Twitter profile image for months. Please feel free to use it yourself if you're locking down and walking away. And on his website, he writes, "Twitter is now run by someone who regularly platforms bigotry and transphobia and shares unconscionable lies and conspiracies. The site is also becoming less safe all the time, allowing harassers and even literal neo-Nazis to post and, most recently, promising to deprecate its block function. So almost exactly a year ago, I deleted most of my posts and stopped using the site for anything other than pointing folks to other, better sites to use instead. The best of those alternative sites? I don't generally love cheerleading for corporations and realize that any product can fall apart at any time. But after a couple of years of trying almost everything, I'm pretty sure the best Twitter alternative for me is Bluesky — by a long shot."

He also lists a number of prominent comic book creators, journalists and the like on BlueSky, and talks about the advantages the site has, such as the Nuclear Block.

You voted, and now, after over 1,050 ballots were cast (but less than 1,100 ballots), here are the results of your votes for your favorite comic book creator runs of all-time (this is the FIFTH time we've done this countdown. We're on an every four-year schedule)! I'll try to post a new installment every day for the rest of the countdown. Even on Thanksgiving!

To recap, you all sent in ballots ranking your favorite runs from #1 (10 points) to #10 (1 point). I added up all the points and here we are!

91. Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan's The Question - 105 points (3 first place votes) [The Question #1-36, The Question Annual #1-2]
92. Carl Barks' Duck Comics – 102 points (4 first place votes) [A variety of Walt Disney comics from 1943 through 1972, most notably Uncle Scrooge #1-71]
93. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Criminal – 100 points (1 first place vote) [Criminal #1-10, Criminal Volume 2 #1-7, Criminal – The Sinners #1-5, Criminal – The Last of the Innocent #1-4, Criminal Special Edition and Criminal 10th Anniversary Special]
94. Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III's Promethea - 99 points (2 first place votes) [Promethea #1-32]
95. Dave Sim and Gerhard's Cerebus- 97 points (3 first place votes) [Cerebus #1-300 (Gerhard from #65-300)]

Previously:

• 100-96

You voted, and now, after over 1,050 ballots were cast (but less than 1,100 ballots), here are the results of your votes for your favorite comic book creator runs of all-time (this is the FIFTH time we've done this countdown. We're on an every four-year schedule)! I'll try to post a new installment every day for the rest of the countdown. Even on Thanksgiving!

To recap, you all sent in ballots ranking your favorite runs from #1 (10 points) to #10 (1 point). I added up all the points and here we are!

96. Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz's New Mutants [New Mutants #18-31, 35-38]
97. Will Eisner's The Spirit [The Spirit Newspaper Strips 1940-1942, 1945-1950]
98. Wendy Pini and Richard Pini's ElfQuest: The Original Quest [ElfQuest #1-20]
99. Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez-Walta's The VIsion [Vision #1-12]
100. Ryan North’s Fantastic Four – 90 points (1 first place vote) [Fantastic Four (2023) #1-present]

45 years ago, Ken Foree faced off with the undead in one of the greatest zombie movies ever made, the George A. Romero classic Dawn of the Dead. Now, Foree has written a zombie story of his own – and it’s coming our way in the form of a graphic novel called Descendants of the Undead! Copies of the 30 page first issue are available for pre-order through a Kickstarter campaign that has greatly surpassed its initial goal and still has ten days to go. You can check out the campaign at THIS LINK.

...

Descendants of the Undead has the following synopsis: THE REAL HORROR CONSUMES FROM WITHIN. Twenty years ago, when a group of survivors fled the zombies ravaging the mainland, they commandeered a ship and sought refuge on a distant island. They hoped to find safety among the lush vegetation, fresh water, and sprawling landscapes. But the island harbored its own dark secret: its native inhabitants were infected with the same ravenous disease. Now during the present, the brutal nightmare against the flesh-eating hordes left only a handful of adults alive among the survivors is a man with the moniker “Dad.” Because of his seniority, he leads the children of the original settlers. These teenagers are the new generation of young zombie hunters, born into a world of carnage; honing their skills and instincts in ways their predecessors never could. Their resilience and resourcefulness may yet keep Dad alive. But across the island, something strange is happening with the flesh-eaters. The monsters are more organized and dangerous, turning the island into a fatal battleground. Scarred by the trauma of the initial outbreak in his past, Dad fights a mental battle, struggling to become the leader the new generation needs. He can either succumb to his madness or rise to the challenge and guide his chosen family to safety. With danger lurking around every corner, the island’s inhabitants face their greatest threat yet—a father figure whose inner demons may be deadlier than the zombies around them.

List is up! Let's see, I'll be grabbing:

Toxic Avenger #2 - I was skeptical this would be a cheap imitation/just cashing in on the name, but the cover said "A message from Uncle Lloyd" and I wanted to read that alone, so I picked it up (#1). It was actually pretty good as far as a modern retelling goes, nothing will beat the OG but I will finish this out.

Black Hammer Spiral City #1 - I've only read some Black Hammer but I want to hunt down the rest, it was good!

Groo Minstrel Melodies #3 - I see Sergio, I buy Sergio.

Helen Of Wyndhorn #6 - End of the road, this series has been pretty good, I'm hoping for a spinoff/sequel that shows more of the magical world or Helen (or anyone's) adventures there.

Life #3 - This series is alright so far, two different perspectives in one book.

Time Waits #2 - Ngl I have to read #1 still before I pull the trigger, but I'll do it today.

Space Ghost #7 - Space Ghooooost!

That's it for me, what're you pulling this week?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19838351

Tom Strong, collected again in DC’s new "Compendium" format, is a clever thing. The 36-issue tome is more proof of the conceptual brilliance of Alan Moore, as if we needed it. Also: the artistic merits of penciler Chris Sprouse, as if we needed more. From the first issue to the last—by which I mean issues #1-22, and then issue #36, ignoring a stretch of fill-ins that are mostly treading water, which I’ll address separately—the whole thing is a marvel of carefully-considered structure. From the fictional setting to the timeline of events to how various elements reoccur, you can see thing whole thing has been thoroughly planned.

Launched in 1999 as part of Moore’s ABC (America’s Best Comics) line, Tom Strong appears, at first glance, to be the most traditional book on the slate. Top Ten gleefully blended superheroes with police procedural; Promethea quickly chased large metaphysical ideas into the heavens; and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen showed us how big Alan Moore’s library is. On the surface, Tom Strong is a rather straightforward exercise in modernized pulp. Our titular protagonist is a long-lived adventurer in the manner of Doc Savage: the peak of human physical and mental abilities. Aided by his family and supporting cast, he trots the globe (and beyond) bringing justice wherever he goes. The "long-lived" part—courtesy of extracts from a special root that allows the protagonists to live throughout the whole of the 20th century—especially helps to emphasize the pulp lineage, all the way back to Tarzan. But the series quickly proves more than it appears to be, with a sinister underbelly beneath the golden sheen of utopian retro-future.

...

There is only one problem. I don’t care about any of it.

I don’t regret reading the Tom Strong Compendium, because even lesser Moore is better than most other people’s best, but the whole thing feels like a big shrug. A well-executed shrug, made by Olympic champions in shrugging, but a shrug nonetheless. After 36 issues, I care for Tom Strong and his family not one iota more than I did in the first issue - which is to say, I care about them as vehicles for stories, but not in any way besides. It’s all so distant and artificial, communicated through genre exercises and knowing winks. Tom Strong, like much of the ABC line, feels like a predominantly intellectual exercise. Like the worst of Grant Morrison, its head is firmly screwed into its own metafictional arse.

...

The best of Alan Moore’s work is in comics, but it’s not about comics. There’s certainly an element of comics critique throughout his catalog, because he has grown and worked within the industry, and his writing reflects that fact, but From Hell isn’t a comic about comics, nor is Swamp Thing, nor is The Ballad of Halo Jones, nor is Providence - not solely. Tom Strong is the kind of work that surrenders often to cheap and immediate references: a comic about comics and its broader lineage in pulp writing. It can only see itself.

Next week sees the final issue of Gotham By Gaslight: The Kryptonian Age by Andy Diggle and Leandro Fernandez. But what next for the world inspired by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola's Elseworlds originator Gotham By Gaslight? Well, it looks like we have Gotham By Gaslight: League For Justice, again by Fernandez so probably also by Diggle again. For some time in 2025…

The current Kryptonian Age series has introduced other Justice Leaguers, this series looks like it will be putting them all together. Originally solicited as a 12-issue series, this was cut to six. It is likely that this new series will be the other half of the originally planned series.

Golems, shedim, giant shofar blasts (tekiah gedolah, indeed), the Ring of Solomon, giants beasts of the apocalypse, Nazi conspiracies abound in the intoxicatingly Jewish fantasia that is The Writer. In other words, the new Dark Horse comic cooked up by actor Josh Gad (The Book of Mormon, Frozen) and the Berkowitz Brothers — Ben and Max — is the Hebraic answer to Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson you never knew you needed in your life.

Told across four issues, all of which are now on sale, the epic saga of nebbishy comic book writer turned badass superhero Stan Siegel weaves together an impressive number of elements — both the widely known and deeply obscure — from Jewish history, folklore, mysticism, and trauma. It’s enough to turn the head of even the most devout Torah scholar. Head on below for my in-depth chat with the creators...just remember to kiss the mezuzah on your way in!

Atlas Comics, the seventies comic book publisher set up by former Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman fifty years ago, kicked off its 50th-anniversary revival as part of Walmart's first-ever NYCC booth at this year's New York Comic Con. A historical display showed the history of Atlas/Seaboard characters like The Grim Ghost, Phoenix, Devilina,  Iron Jaw, Lomax and Hands of the Dragon. SP Media Group plans to make movies from the Atlas Comics library with Akiva Goldsman and Paramount Pictures. And that will include an exclusive partnership with Walmart for collectibles and merchandise, action figures with Mego Toys, and a line of apparel with Mad Engine.

...

One of Atlas/Seaboard's characters, Devilina, created by Jeff Rovin, about the sister of Satan who must confront her demonic powers and banish her brother back to hell is getting a film development with Paramount Pictures. With a screenplay written by Black List writer Rebecca Webb in which a sheltered young woman travels to New York in search of her past, to discover she is the sister of Satan, and her twin brother has been manipulating her, while a detective investigates a series of murders linked to her. "Dating back to the golden age of comics, Atlas has been home to some of the greatest comic book creators of all time. There are so many characters to love and so many stories to be told," said Jon Gonda, EVP, Production, Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group.

Other titles being renewed include Phoenix, Grim Ghost and Hands of the Dragon,

Tom Hardy may supposedly be done with the Venom movies, but never let it be said he isn't keeping busy. Hardy is poised to make his comic book debut soon with the release of Arcbound, a new sci-fi series from Dark Horse.

...

Arcbound is a 12-issue series written by Scott Snyder (Absolute Batman) and Frank Tieri (Space Punisher), with contributions from Hardy. The series is illustrated by Ryan Smallman, with colors by Frank William and letters by Buddy Beaudoin. The first issue also features variant covers from Ryan Ottley, Clay Mann, Tyler Kirkham, Rose Besch, and Dan Panosian.

Here's Dark Horse's official description for Arcbound:

In a future where Earth has become a barren wasteland, Zynitec harnesses the unmatched energy of Kronium to assert its dominion across the stars. When Kai, a rising star Mediator in Zynitec’s army, gets an unexplained message from a mysterious entity, everything he thinks he believes is thrown into question—and leaves him to explore what it truly means to be human in a world where the boundaries of technology and identity blur.

I think it would be interesting to do weekly what are you reading posts to generate some discussion around what people are currently enjoying or not enjoying

New list is up!

FML #1 - "Genre bending," "Metal kids," "apocalypse." Alrighty then, I'll check it out.

One For Sorrow #1 - DSTLRY is an easy sell to me, and this looks pretty neat. 1900 london, criminals getting murdered by a mysterious figure dubbed The Magpie due to the feathers left on corpses.

I Hate Fairyland #17 - Aww shit, Happy's back.

Sacrificers #12 - Sacrificers rules!

Cruel Universe #4 - I'm one behind on this actually but I'll keep it going.

That's it for me, what's on your list?

Not the Marvel Cinematic Universe of films.

The MCU overwrote the main Marvel Universe because Marvel didn’t have the rights to most of their characters, used what was left of the roster and made that the main universe, publicized smaller characters for a profit, improvised new ones, and cobbled together all the existing franchises in Marvel history in an attempt to remake all the characters again.

At this point, I don’t know anymore what is the true Marvel universe because of the MCU tarnishing the goodwill of the comic books.

And why go through so much trouble to make a movie when you’re a comic book publisher?

New list is up! Sorry I'm a day later than usual lol, busy week so far already!

Batman The Long Halloween The Last Halloween #2 - Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BAT-MAN!

It Happened On Hyde Street Devour #1 - The only horror book that looks good to me coming out this week, a day before Halloween no less. Seems they all came out last week lol. Hyde St #1 was great though, so I'm sold. Sad state of affairs. At least Creepshow Vol 3 is underway!

Come Find Me an Autumnal Offering - Looks interesting.

Deadpool Team-Up #3 - Deadpool & Dragons has been ok so far.

That's it for me this week, real light one! What's on your pull lists?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21903181

So, for those unfamiliar with the comics industry, there is a long standing tradition of books like this:

Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia (1988)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARGH_(Artists_Against_Rampant_Government_Homophobia)

There are some extremely talented people contributing here:

Zander Cannon

Comicraft

Denys Cowan

Matt Fraction 

Gene Ha 

Cully Hamner 

Steve Lieber 

Greg Pak 

Jeff Parker 

Greg Rucka 

Mark Russell  

Rick Veitch 

Shannon Wheeler

These aren't necessarily Halloween-specific, but mostly on theme or at least comic book adjacent

Another from The Long Halloween

Also Long Halloween

More Mignola-verse

Watchmen

Other random stuff in my folder

Here are some more Hellboy-themed wallpapers, I'll make a separate post later for some others

Every time she says or does something I get the feeling she lived her entire life in a Truman show populated by robots until aunt may pulled her out of it

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19078543

The story behind 1963, Alan Moore's tribute/commentary on Silver Age Marvel is a messy one. Back in 2010 Steve Bissette revealed that attempts to properly complete the series (with an annual to be drawn by Jim Lee) and/or collect what was published had failed:

He also stated that attempts to reprint and conclude the 1963 series have repeatedly failed over the last ten years, the most recent at Dynamite seemed almost to come to fruition, but did not, Alan Moore removing his blessing.

An Alex Ross illustration (now removed) would have formed the basis for the cover to the Dynamite hardcover.

As a result, it's been decided that a reprint will never happen. And copyright in the 1963 characters has been divided – Bissette's share forming the basis of his Tales Of The Uncanny project, now being published by About Comics, he's pulled copies of 1963 from his online store and he will no longer mention 1963 again.

When asked for comment, Rick Vietch told me "Nothing to add to Steve's statement except that I've instructed my immediate friends and family to pick up a baseball bat and bean me if I mention the idea of collecting 1963 ever again" and Nick Barrucci of Dynamite gave a similar "It's a situation that I feel is unfair to comment on. I respect all the creators involved, and somethings are best left not discussed in public."

And, in 2013, Bissette threw the towel in:

And as of January 2012, Alan made it abundantly clear nothing will ever be done with them, either, on his watch—so, party's over on that trio of works.

It sucks for our creative partners—Dave Gibbons, John Totleben, Chester Brown, and the colorists (Anthony Tollin) and respective letterers—and I'd be gobsmacked if Rick and Alan ever did anything with their part of it all, but that's their business, no longer any of mine (except where my clutch of properties come into play, which ipso facto defuses anything happening). If they ever do, nobody will be happier than me about it; no sour grapes there.

You see, I can't even really "license" those stories, much less issue a Creative Commons license—hence, my decision to announce anyone interested in doing so now has my blessings, as long as my © and ™ is applied, per our 1998 contractual agreement regarding the respective characters and two titles I do fully own.

There are a number of projects to create some kind of spin-off using the characters various artists own, most recently Don Simpson's 2023 announcement that he was creating a 1963 Annual. This is available to buy.

So, long story short (and ignoring the various recriminations), the only way you can read the comics is by buying the individual issues (as I did) or... the Internet Archive has them (for now).