Captain America

Then There Was That Time Captain America Fought Richard M. Nixon…

November 10, 2020 // 4 Comments

So it’s been a crazy week. I had fully intended to do my usual column last Tuesday, but then that whole “election” thing happened, and I figured people had more important stuff to worry about than funnybooks. And the week that’s followed since has been… well, like I said… crazy. The last time America saw a White House dissolving into this much desperation was the Watergate era, when President Richard M. Nixon lead a secret super-villain cabal in a scheme to [...]

…And the Rest! CAPSULEREVIEWSAREGO!!

November 27, 2018 // 0 Comments

So I thought we’d try something a little unusual this week. Normally, I drone on and on about the funnybooks I like the best. But I read tons of stuff, and sometimes I skip over the stuff I like, but don’t love. Which means it’s high time I talked about some of that stuff… Joe Casey and Ian Macewan’s MCMLXXV (that’s 1975 for those of you who’ve forgotten your Roman Numerals) ended its three-issue run recently, and I really enjoyed the ride. It’s [...]

Something Old, Something New… FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!

July 17, 2018 // 0 Comments

So our Steve Ditko memorial post last week put us a little behind on the regular funnybook reviews, but it seems to have been rather widely enjoyed, so I suppose that’s okay. Still, though, there’s a lot to talk about. There were new issues of several continuing favorites, but also some new beginnings for old favorites, including a surprising amount of surprisingly interesting corporate spandex. So let’s focus on those new beginnings, starting with (perversely) an [...]

By Design: The Art of Jim Steranko

February 27, 2018 // 3 Comments

So I’ve been doing some thinking recently about Jim Steranko. With only a handful of comics stories to his credit, most of them done 50 years ago, he’s cast a long shadow on funnybook art, spawning imitators even today. And that’s not because he’s one of the all-time great illustrators. His linework isn’t masterful, his storytelling’s not always crystal clear, his figures are kind of stiff, his anatomy’s often wrong… …but you don’t [...]

KIRBY 100!

August 28, 2017 // 1 Comment

So today marks the 100th anniversary of Jack Kirby’s birth. Normally, I’d ramble on at length about the power of his ideas, the restless wildness of his creativity, the way he invented and re-invented the storytelling ground rules for so many different genres in comics… But screw all that. The best way to celebrate Kirby is in pictures. So here’s 100 of my favorite Jack Kirby pictures, starting with my two favorite portraits of the artist… And now… On with [...]

End of Empire

August 1, 2017 // 2 Comments

So I think it’s come time for me and ol’ Hydra Cap to part ways. Why? Well, the answer to that question involves some pretty massive SPOILERS. But if you don’t mind those, read on… Secret Empire 6&7 by Nick Spencer, Leinil Francis Yu, Andrea Sorrentino, and Whoever Else They Could Conscript Into Drawing a Few Pages Here and There Producing these Giant Cross-Over Mega Event Comics™ must be nightmarishly difficult. They’re plotted by committee. They feature [...]

Here We Go Again: Fanboys, Politics, and Secret Empires

May 9, 2017 // 6 Comments

Secret Empire 1 / Free Comic Book Day Special by Nick Spencer, Steve McNiven, and Andrea Sorrentino So I said I wasn’t going to pick up the second issue of this book (which, confusingly, is numbered as the first issue – don’t get me started on the whole “zero issue” thing). But it was a slow week for new comics, so I gave it a flip-through in the shop, and I saw this kind of hysterical conversation between Captain America and a monster… …and a dude puking up a [...]

Spies and Secret Empires

April 25, 2017 // 0 Comments

So I bought two funnybooks last week that I hadn’t really planned on picking up. One of them is visually stunning. The other pulled me in with story. But both are about secrets and spies, so I thought it might be fun to discuss them together… Nick Fury 1 by James Robinson and Aco This book may be a triumph of style over substance. In this first issue, at least, it’s light on plot, and offers only the slimmest bit of character definition. But, my god, it looks good doing it. [...]

The Manhattan Transfer, and Other Funnybook News

May 26, 2016 // 1 Comment

So the funnybook world has been abuzz the last few days with shocking revelations and their accompanying outrage (because nothing ever happens in comics without somebody getting their panties in a bunch about it). The biggest story, I guess, is Geoff Johns’ declaration that Dr. Manhattan is responsible for all the dirty, bad, awful, unhappy things that have happened to the DC Comics stable of characters since the “New 52” relaunch of a few years ago. That’s right. Dr. Manhattan. [...]

A Big Ol’ Pile of Crap: Print vs Digital Revisited (Again)

March 22, 2016 // 0 Comments

“Man, if I didn’t love this place so much, I’d have gone digital years ago.” – Me, on any number of occasions, speaking to my Local Funnybook Pusher So I think I mentioned, in last week’s column about nothing, that I’m in the process of pulling some stuff out of my comics collection to sell. Here’s a picture of that: Yep. It’s a big ol’ pile of crap. Well… Not crap, really. There’s some good books in there. In fact, I’d argue [...]