Review: Animal Man #1 (DC)

September 8, 2011September 8, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Jeff Lemire
Pencils: Travel Foreman
Inks: Travel Foreman, Dan Green
Colors: Lovern Kindzierski
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Travel Foreman, Lovern Kindzierski
Editor: Kate Stewart, Joey Cavalieri
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Date: November 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Title: “The Hunt – Part One: Warning From The Red”

Animal Man is one of those DC superheroes that wasn’t initially a big hit. That all changed in the 1980’s when Grant Morrison and Chas Truog revamped the character. Morrison started to integrate Buddy Baker’s family into the title and when Jamie Delano took over, the book took on a horror slant.

Wolverine Heads North in Alpha Flight #5

September 7, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Marvel Comics recently bumped up Alpha Flight from a mini-series to an ongoing series due to it’s popularity. To boost the popularity even more, Wolverine makes an appearance in Alpha Flight #5 due out in October.

Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, and Dale Eaglesham have been doing a fantastic job on the series so far without the aid of Wolverine. Granted, Wolverine does have some issues with James “Mac” Hudson, but he may just be showing up to boost sales. We’ll have to wait until October to make that call.

Review: The Intrepid Escapegoat #1 (Th3rd World)

September 6, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Brian Smith
Illustrator: Brian Smith
Colors: Mike DeVito, Jon Conkling
Color Assists: Josh Norwood, Tim Conkling, Don Pielert
Letterer: Sarah Smith
Publisher: Th3rd World Studios
Cover Date: September 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Title: “The Curse of Buddha’s Tooth”

Thomas Fleet is the Intrepid Escapegoat, a world renowned escape artist, who along with his trusty assistant Isis, travel the world performing amazing feats of magic. The square-jawed gentleman goat’s assistant, isn’t just named Isis – She’s the real Isis – whom he rescued from a pyramid in Cairo months ago.

The pair travel about, not only performing spectacular magic tricks, but also debunking those who would use “magic” to con gullible people. Fleet is like the Amazing Kreskin if Kreskin were a suit wearing goat in 19th century England with the Egyptian Goddess Isis as his assistant. Um, yeah…

Isis is depicted as a small girl in the comic, but when the part is held up by a few young urchins in the streets of London, she really shows off her powers.

The Nightwatchman’s Tom Morello Talks About Orchid from Dark Horse

January 26, 2020September 6, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Tom Morello, who gained fame as the guitarist in Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, and now his solo project The Nightwatchman, is currently writing Orchid – a twelve issue miniseries for Dark Horse Comics whose first issue is due out in October.

Each issue comes with a free downloadable song to accompany the story. Written by Morello, Orchid features artwork by Scott Hepburn, who has previously worked on Dark Horse’s Star Wars: Nights of the Republic.

Recently speaking to David Malitz of the Washington Post, Morello hoped that Orchid exposes a young audience to a radical worldview, just like Rage Against The Machine did. He says:

"It’s set in a dystopian future where humans are no longer at the top of the food chain. And the gulf between rich and poor is unbridgeable. And there’s a lot of cool monsters."

Preview of Detective Comics #1 (2011) by Tony Daniel

September 5, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

DC Comics has been spreading out the previews to their New 52 titles among different news outlets, this time it’s USA Today – getting the preview for Detective Comics #1 by Tony Daniel. Detective Comics #1 is the first Batman title to be published and will be followed by Batman #1, Batman and Robin #1, and Batman: Dark Knight #1 in subsequent weeks.

Daniel says his Batman will emphasize the “detective” part of the character.

"It allows me to do some edgier stories. We’re concentrating on serial killers and real bad guys in Gotham City— the scum of the earth — so I get to have a really good film-noir vibe going on with the character: dark, gritty, intense story lines that wouldn’t have felt right with the more superhero-y Batman comic."

The Beguiling Opens Little Island Comics – A Comics Shop… FOR KIDS!

September 5, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Canadian comic book store, The Beguiling, quietly announced that they were opening Little Island Comics, the first kid-oriented comic shop in North America. The Beguiling, celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2012, stated that Little Island Comics would serve “all of your kids comic book and graphic novel needs. It will also feature a huge slate … Read more

Is the DC Universe Relaunch a Success?

September 3, 2011September 2, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Justice League #1 was launched at 12:00am on Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 and by the middle of the day, some retailers were announcing that they had sold through on all their ordered copies. According to #comicmarket on Twitter, some larger comics stores were getting calls from other owners asking if they had any extra stock on hand to sell them.

Printers Working Overtime

Acting quickly on the news of the sellouts of Justice League #1, DC Comics announced that they were going back to press for a second printing. Very shortly after the announcement by Diamond Distribution that they were taking orders for the second printing, Diamond claimed that they had sold out of the second printing. All retail orders were placed on “backorder” status. This fueled speculation that DC had already planned to do a second printing with a finite print run. The demand by retailers, and presumably readers, has forced DC to announce that a third printing is in the works.

Awesome Indie Comic Book Tattoos

September 15, 2012September 1, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

We’ve been showcasing some cool comic book tattoos over the last several months on Comic Book Critic, but they’ve mostly been standard superhero fare. This time we’re featuring more obscure and indie comics tattoos instead.

So, for your viewing pleasure, we’ve put together a gallery of some really cool ones. Enjoy!

Awesome Indie Comic Book Tattoos

Adrian Tomine

Daniel Clowes Receives PEN Literary Award

September 1, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

This week, Daniel Clowes received the PEN Center USA’s Literary Award in the Graphic Literature category for Outstanding Body of Work in Graphic Lit.

Daniel Clowes is best known for his work on the comic series Eightball and Lloyd LLewellyn, and his graphic novels Ghost World, Wilson, David Boring, and Mr. Wonderful. Clowes has also written two screenplays adapted from his Eightball stories, Ghost World and Art School Confidential, both of which were directed by Terry Zwigoff.

Along with winning numerous Harvey Awards, including Best Writer in 1997 and 2005, Best Cartoonist in 2002, and Best Single Issue or Story in 1990, 1991, 1998, and 2005. Clowes also saw Ghost World nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2002 Academy Awards.

A Fake DC New 52 Relaunch Ad is Better Than the Real One!

August 30, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

DC Comics recently launched their New 52 ad campaign and we thought it was a squandered opportunity. Well today we get a look at a video ad put together by Lumberjack Films that’s much more entertaining than what DC had put together. This is a totally fake ad that isn’t commissioned by either DC Comics … Read more