I’ve noticed a recent trend with comic book companies where they are offering more material from writers and artists, mostly artists, from Europe. American and Japanese comics are easy to find on the book shelf and I’m always looking to expand my reading habits. There are several companies that specialize in European comics. There are three British comic book companies that I see regularly on the stands. Rebellion is a British comic book company most famous for 2000 AD and it’s most famous character Judge Dredd. Rebellion also publishes video games; their most well know game is... Read More

In late November of 2017 C. B. Cebulski, former editor and international Talent Liaison for Marvel Comics, took the job of Editor in Chief (https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/11/17/scoop-c-b-cebulski-editor-marvel-comics/ ). Then in February of 2018 Cebulski and Marvel announced Marvel Fresh Start; a new publishing initiative to excite the readership (https://www.cbr.com/marvel-comics-2018-refresh-reboot/). Part of the Fresh Start initiative was that Marvel was going to relaunch their books with brand new number ones priced at five dollars. This, much to the agitation of Marvel’s readers,... Read More

Last month I read an article up on io9 titled “There’s Never Going to Be a ‘Right Time’ for The Punisher TV Series” (https://io9.gizmodo.com/theres-never-going-to-be-a-right-time-for-the-punisher-1819326835) and I wanted to address some issues I had. The core idea of the article I agree with; which is that given the level of gun violence in the United States there isn’t a week that goes by that would make a good week to release their show about a lone wolf mass shooter. Even if we only talk about real life mass shootings, between the Las Vegas shooting that closed the... Read More

On the last weekend of July I had my busiest weekend of the year. Saturday was the annual QC Planet Con at the Holiday Inn Rock Island, simultaneously in Iowa City was Anime Iowa. I attended both conventions that weekend. First up that weekend was the QC Planet Con. I’ve been involved with the QC Planet Con since it’s inception in 2009. So my Friday night got started with loading boxes filled with comics, toys and statues onto a truck to drive to the hotel to start setup for the big show Saturday. I have to thank the event staff at the Holiday Inn for doing the literal heavy lifting... Read More

It’s been a slow couple of weeks in the comic book industry, but that should be about to turn around. Summer is finally upon us, so convention season will start in earnest soon. San Diego Comic Con is a little more than a month away and with it all the major comic book news. Here in the Quad Cities though we kicked off the summer convention season with Mighty Con. Mighty Con started last year in the summer of 2016. It’s a two day show for comic fans and collectors. They had the first con at the Davenport Fair Grounds, to an amazing turnout from what I heard at the time. I wouldn’t know as... Read More

Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, but various comics shops have mixed things up to get new readers into the fold. Regardless, it’s been a great idea. FCBD has its start with Joe Field, comic book retailer and columnist for the Comic Buyer’s Guide, a now defunct comic industry magazine. He recommended the practice of comic book stores giving away to increase the readership of comics since people were going to the theatre to see comic book movies. His suggestion was very popular among his readers. Jim Valentino, one of the co-founders of Image Comics,... Read More

Going over the news coming out of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) there was a comic coming out from DC Comics that is following a recent trend in comics that I personally find overexposed. Following DC’s new Batman event Dark Nights: Metal, DC is starting a new imprint: Dark Matter. Dark Matter appears to be the most 90’s thing I’ve seen in comics since they announced the new Youngblood comic. One of the ways you know how 90’s these comics are is because DC’s announcement let the writers play second fiddle to the artists they had on these books. To the point that the artists... Read More

After two weeks talking about explosions, comic books and community action, I think it’s time to get back to what this series is best at: complaining about the comic book industry. This week while going through the stack of Marvel comics at Mellow Blue Planet, I was looking at Champions #4. I was just examining the cover, front and back, and after a minute or so I noticed near the bottom left corner of the comic, just above the top right corner of the UPC bar, was printed in smallish white letters “Second Printing”. This really hacked me off. Why, you may ask? That’s because printings are... Read More

As I mentioned in my last article I headed to the new location of Tim’s Corner to check out the new digs and talk to the owner. First off I’d like to mention that the parking situation in the Hilltop District is just as hectic as it’s always been, somewhat worse given that a section of 14th Street is closed off since the old building is unstable and is being propped up by wooded planks. So, I had to circle around a bit to find a parking spot. In the end I saw that their new location at 1303 30th St Rock Island had parking in the back, but if you plan to venture there in the future don’t... Read More

It’s been a surprising week for the Quad Cities comic community. The explosions at the Vintage Rose antique shop, which blew out the windows of the store and knocked brickwork from the exterior, though luckily there weren’t any serious injuries, have dominated the local news cycle. At on Monday afternoon I received a call from my father, he said “Tim’s Corner blew up.” I was understandably confused by this information. “What”, I questioned. “Tim’s Corner blew up,” he repeated. I was still having a hard time processing the information, but I asked if anyone was hurt. He said... Read More