Comics

The Silver Age of Superman shines again with the latest offering from DC Comics on their Black Label imprint.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor (Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch, Kevin Nowlan) finds the villainous Luthor getting Superman's attention in his usual over-the-top signature style, which involves the death of several men. His reason? He's dying, the result of playing around with another death trap meant to kill Superman which backfired and is now putting his own cells into a state of rapid decay. So he does the (for him) unthinkable -- he turns to Superman for help, because he knows "Superman won't let me die."

Comic book adaptations remain the driving force in the movie industry. A vast majority of the blockbusters that make it to the cinema and usually end up as high grossing are usually from comic books. Over the years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has led the charge with its endless supply of movies and tv shows that always keep fans wanting more. The impact of Stan Lee's characters can still be felt in the life of many fans till today, even his appearances in the movies were anticipated by many.

In the age of technology, the boundaries between different forms of media are continually blurring. Movies and comics, two popular forms of entertainment, have often crossed paths, with comic book adaptations being brought to life on the silver screen. However, technological advancements have opened up new avenues for enhancing the movie-comic experience. One such innovation is using scannable QR codes, which bring the audience a new level of interactivity and engagement. This article will explore the world of movies and comics, exploring the possibilities unlocked by scannable QR codes.

The Rise of QR Codes

Imagine Renfield is a deserting soldier and Dracula is... a disarming black cat that everyone adores.

That's the premise behind L.K. Ingino's series Fangs and Foul Play. When military deserter Richard Bluth stumbles upon a deserted house to hide out in for the night, he discovers the sole occupant of the house is a cat -- a talking, vampire cat. During Richard's sleep, Fang does what vampires do -- and turns Richard into his unwilling thrall whose new purpose is to find food for his new meowing master. Only it's not tuna that satisfies this one's hunger -- it's people!

Fortunately, the nearby village has a plethora of candidates who deserve a good exsanguination. Unfortunately, the one Fang has his little reflective eyes set on is Delilah Dansforth, who has become the object of Richard's affections.

The town is suspicious. The graveyard is getting full too quickly. And the army has come looking for Richard. And that's only the first two issues.

If you've been collecting comics for more than a few weeks, you're already aware of the fashion of multiple covers for the same comic. These variants may come in a number of varieties, but a popular version is the eye-catching foil variant cover. 

In the May solicitation, comics retailers were sent some very unwelcome news regarding the foil variants for Incredible Hulk #181 Facsimile Editioin, Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1, and Star Wars: Dark Droids #1.

The solicitation for these July 2023 shipments stated, "Please be aware that Marvel's new Foil Variant Cover Program will bear different shorter discounts than normal, due to the significantly higher manufacturing costs for foil covers."

The Archie Horror line has had its share of successes, translating the beloved all-ages teenagers into subversive fright-fest figures. Jughead The Hunger has our burger-bingeing boy become a werewolf. Vampironica sees our rich glamour girl reveal her immortal bloodsucking side. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina... well, Sabrina was always a witch, but the tales here were more deeply mired in demons and gore. It was an experiment that, I surmise, even surprised the publishers when it began with Afterlife with Archie -- a zombie tale that achieved remarkable success and yet somehow went remarkably unfinished despite the publisher expanding the line to other titles.

RAID OF THE WHITE LEOPARD BOOK 1-
Is a 20 page black and white comic book (16 pages of story plus bonus material) about a band of Vikings who get caught in a storm and wash up on a mysterious island. This first issue contains two connected stories, bringing the tale together from opposing sides and meeting in the middle.

Written by Edwin Acevedo (The Ace) and drawn by Avery Butterworth (The Lost Pages), Raid of the White Leopard sports a cover from Donal Delay (Brutas the Badass) and colors by Allen Alonzo (The Lost Pages 2).

We sat down with Acevedo to talk about the story, how it came to be, and what directed him to use the Fund My Comic platform as the launch pad for this endeavor. That video, and the funding campaign, both follow.

One of the handful of titles that is making me optimistic once more about the publishing future of DC Comics has been Stargirl and the Lost Children. Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated byu Todd Nauck, the six-issue miniseries has chronicled the investigations of Stargirl and Emiko (aka Red Arrow) as they pursue clues about the sidekicks of the heroes of the Golden Age -- sidekicks that history has forgotten completely, except for an aging Dan, the Dyna-Mite (former sidekick to the explosive T.N.T.)

In 1984, Mike W. Barr and Michael Golden introduced readers to a new villain -- The Wrath. No, not "Wraith" as in "ghost" -- "Wrath" as in "righteous anger." It was in Batman Special #1 in a story called "The Player on the Other Side," and it dared to posit a villain whose origins mirrored Batman's, only with law and crime reversed. The Wrath was an anti-Batman, who was the equal to the Dark Knight in tactics, skill, and physical prowess. Unfortunately for the readers, this was the character's only appearance.

An estimated 400,000 children worldwide under the age of nineteen develop cancer every year. Unlike adult cancers, which are most often ascribed to high-risk lifestyle or environmental factors (smoking, obesity, exposure to hazardous materials, etc.), genetic predisposition and mutations are the common causative culprits for children afflicted with the disease. For a family facing the unexpected tribulation of caring for a child stricken with cancer, the emotional, social and financial fallout can be devastating. The consistent strain of repeated hospitalizations, difficult treatments and the disruption of ordinary daily routines affects each familial member, and finding even the smallest glimmer of hope in such a bleak situation can be key for patients, parents and siblings alike.

Superman: Lost is the first of a ten-chapter miniseries co-created by Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan, with inks from Jason Paz.

It has beautiful artwork with some snappy dialogue between the Justice League members as they take on an international incident in the China Sea that turns out to be far more than just a kefuffle between countries. In fact, if it's not handled quickly, it could cause a black hole to swallow the Earth. And of course of all the Justice League members there, only Superman can fly into the event horizon of the mess and keep it from doing just that.

But at a cost.

Sucked into the black hole, Superman finds himself cosmologically lost. We don't know where. Could be another galaxy. Could be another dimension. Could be he's still in that tiny little space the size of an atom that the black hole collapsed into, or the quantum realm. Whatever, he's there.

And he's there for twenty years.

BURBANK, CA (March 15, 2023) - A Warrior for Peace will stand as a symbol of justice for visitors and residents of Burbank to enjoy for generations to come. A seven-and-a-half-foot tall bronze Wonder Woman statue was unveiled today in a special ceremony at Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood as part of a partnership between Visit Burbank, DC and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Today’s unveiling ceremony was attended by local government and business luminaries including Burbank Mayor Konstantine Anthony, Pam Lifford, President, Global Brands, Franchises and Experiences, Jim Lee, DC Chief Creative Office and Publisher, and Wonder Woman 1984 Director Patty Jenkins.

Ethan Van Sciver has long been regarded as the de facto head of the independent comics creation movement dubbed Comicsgate. Now that title becomes a little bit more official as Van Sciver has been awarded the commercial trademark for the Comicsgate brand, after a contentious legal battle for the claim against a filing made by Preston Poulter, another indie comics publisher of Pocket Jacks Comics.

The ruling in favor of Van Sciver, and his subsequent announcements of intent for use of the mark, has sent ripples throughout the various online communities, many of which lay claim to the ideologies of Comicsgate at some fundamental level. Questions arose as to how the use of the term may be regulated, if at all; who would be granted the approved use of the mark, and what sort of barriers might be in place to make that process difficult.

Another year has come and gone, and it's time to look back once more to determine what the prior year brought us that was good. Critical Blast will be taking votes now through the end of January 2023 for you, our readers. to make your voice known as to what you thought was the best in movies, television, and comics. You're not limited to the nominations -- we leave an opening in every category for you to put in the title or name that you think is best suited to each category.

So make your selections. Share with your friends. Campaign for your favorites. We will tabulate the votes in February and place the order for the trophy medallions (yes, the winner in each catalog gets a physical trophy, not just online bragging rights, so your vote will actually mean something tangible).

Mike Baron's Private American has been fighting an uphill battle since the project first launched to be crowdfunded. From having the project'sTwitter account suspended to being silenced (along with other projects) on Indiegogo, the book's publisher, Chris Braly, finally brought the project to Kickstarter.

On that platform, he began to get messages from another creator on Kickstarter, 'Gavriel Discordia', who asked the loaded question, "Why is this book so racist?" When Braly countered that it wasn't, Discordia continued that "It's by far the most racist comic book since Flick by Frank Miller," following that Braly's published books by Baron, including Thin Blue LIne and Florida Man, would "sell well at a Klan rally."

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Two of the most seminal figures in comic book culture are inarguably -- and yet, very arguably -- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Individually, each made their contributions to the pop culture medium, but together they forged the stuff of legends.

Bob Batchelor has written two biographies on Stan Lee. Glenn B. Fleming has recently published and produced a book and DVD detailing his time spent with Jack Kirby. Critical Blast brings both these authors together to discuss their fascination with the topics of their work, and the unique intersection that existed between them.

For the past handful of years there have been two major players in the arena of crowdfunding projects: Kickstarter and Indiegogo. But over the past few weeks, the San Francisco based Indiegogo has gone eerily silent while its platform has been exhibiting nasty behavior.

Questions arose about the platform when graphic novel and comic book campaigns were apparently being shadowbanned -- a term for when a campaign on the site is not actively being promoted. However, in its elevated form, shadowbanning can also prevent a shopper from finding the campaign using Indiegogo's own search function. Two current examples of this are Private American by Mike Baron and Frog G: Voodoo, Gods, and Magic by Jason Bascom, two project which can only be reached on Indiegogo through having the direct link to the project.

A few months ago, YouTube influencer Eric D. July, better known by his channel handle Young Rippa, announced his intention to launch his own Rippaverse line of comics- starting with a premiere title ISOM #1. This announcement got a lot of attention, as expected of a man who built a platform with some 500,000 subscribers, and when the campaign launched it was an unprecedented success, clearing millions of dollars within a matter of days and getting a national spotlight of praise and vitriol from both sides of the political debate through exposes on Fox News and the New York Times about the “Anti-Woke” comic book.