If you clicked on today’s article hoping to hear about Vampirella, Baron Blood, Morbius or Andrew Bennett then I’ve afraid I’m going to disappoint you. No, today’s article is about how the comic book industry is trying to bleed us dry of every penny they can get. First I want to talk about an indy publisher called Big City Comics. They publish two titles: Tesla and Hyde: Scary Fails and Killing Mars. Killing Mars is the book that appealed to me a few months ago when I first saw it in Previews. It’s about a criminal with a bounty on his head, who hires a team of female mercenaries to protect... Read More

Angi Chapman of Waking Robots, who will play at RIBCO in the District of Rock Island Friday night, says she wrote “Frost” while suffering an incredible fever, days later discovering the recording and hearing it as if for the first time. She remembers thinking that it sounded “hokey,” with its almost western saloon rhythm, but when she reluctantly presented the sparse demo to a trusted friend, their reaction was so positive that she had no choice but to finish the track. It has since become a fan favorite. This story is typical for of one of the Quad Cities’ most unique bands, Waking... Read More

It sounds unrealistic and perhaps a bit cliché, but there are some people you can never imagine dying, because they’re so full of life. Ellis Kell was one of those people. The local music legend passed away from cancer early the morning of Dec. 16. It had been known for a while that Ellis was battling the disease, but I, like everyone else, thought that surely a man this strong, this full of life, this force of nature, was going to beat it. He didn’t. And so, he joins his beloved daughter, Karli Rose, once more, in another life, beyond this one. To be honest, the entire thing has felt surreal.... Read More

“The Nutcracker.” It’s been a holiday tradition since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Countless generations have grown up attending performances, millions of girls have pirouetted through its choreography and cajillions of people have walked away from its pomp and grandeur with one thought burning in their mind… “Okay, that was really well done, but what the heck was it about?” And this Saturday, that tradition will continue, as Ballet Quad Cities will perform its annual “Nutcracker” at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at Davenport’s Adler Theater. Given the talented... Read More

Given that the holiday season is upon us I want to talk about what we as fans can do to give back to our favorite hobby. I have three suggestions that will help your local comic shop serve you better and help them stay in business. First and most important: the Previews catalog is your best friend. The biggest challenge your shop owner has is trying to find out how many issues of any given comic they need to order. If they order too few issues then people who come in asking for a copy they’ve sold out of could go to another store or Diamond Comics Distributors, North America’s only comic distributor,... Read More

Recently I took the audacious step of advising parents that it was fine for their kids to see the Megadeth show at the I wireless center.  Despite the fact that there were no injuries, deaths or bad karmic experiences recorded after the show, there were a few (and by a few, I mean two) people who objected to my opinion. One of them messaged me about it. Another called me, taking me to task for “leading children down the path of evil.”  How she knew I’d been a tour guide at Disneyland is beyond me.  But nonetheless, this lady wasn’t pleased. “You shouldn’t... Read More

The recent release of Peter Panzerfaust #24 and Bitch Planet #9 has got me thinking about the one sure fire thing, guaranteed to make me drop a comic from my pull list: lateness. I never dropped Peter Panzerfaust. I really like the book; which is the story of Peter Pan with the setting changed to World War Two, but it did make me drop Kurtis J. Wiebe. Wiebe is the writer of Peter Panzerfaust, Rat Queens and Pisces from Image and Bounty from Dark Horse. I name these four comics specifically because they represent the timeline of my resentment to this writer. Panzerfaust come out in 2012 and I ordered... Read More

Here are my Mid-Season Fantasy MVPs. In most fantasy leagues this is a list of top point earners. If you have any or all of these guys on your team, you’re probably sitting pretty right now. If not, well, it’s probably been a long season! Anyway, here are my picks: Quarterback Matt Ryan Honorable mentions  Drew Brees and Derek Carr Running Backs Melvin Gordon , DeMarrco Murray Honorable mentions Ezekiel Elliott, David Johnson Wide Receivers Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Mike Evans Honorable mentions – A.J. Green, T.Y. Hilton Tight End Greg Olsen Honorable mentions – Delanie Walker, Jack... Read More

I don’t like dumping on the comic book industry every article. It would sometimes make this easier if I did, but the good things the industry does should be pointed out alongside the bad. That being said we as comic book fans need to look at the things we do for good and ill. There was news reported recently that Chelsea Cain, writer of the Mockingbird comic from Marvel, quit Twitter over harassment from Internet trolls. As an aside, it took me a minute to settle on Internet trolls to describe the people harassing Cain. I had some other choice descriptors, but I do try and keep these family friendly,... Read More

My name is Kimber Wolfgang. I am an avid coffee lover, barista, artist and amateur writer. Did you notice how I put coffee at the front of this list? It was deliberate, because I want you to understand that my love for coffee made all of the other titles on that list possible. True coffee lovers know exactly what I am talking about. What could I be speaking of? We will have to jump back to the 80’s and smell where it all began. The aroma of my father’s freshly ground Snickerdoodle coffee is already intoxicating my senses. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla dance around me. My eyes are like huge... Read More