So Detective Comics #854 is out, the first that features Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, as its standard-bearer. Andy Mangels gathered up a slew of reviews for y'all to check out. So what's the verdict? Greg McElhatton at Comic Book Resources: There's a lot of (well-deserved) talk and hype surrounding Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's work on "Batman & Robin." I have to say, though, Detective Comics #854 has raised the bar significantly for everyone involved. Detective Comics #854 is easily one of the best single issue comics published this year, and I don't say that lightly. Fantastic from start to finish, I cannot wait for the next issue. Jim at Comics And… Other Imaginary Tales: Not since Neal Adams has an artist managed to do such innovative page designs and not hurt the storytelling or flow of the book. Many artists will try different layouts and such, but they usually screw up how the hell you are supposed to read the page. Instead of being innovative they  [Continue reading...]

I am not a political person, per se. I used to joke that I wouldn't even be able to pick Laura Bush out of a line-up! Having done work like The Blonde Squad, Crotchmen, and Homo-Hero's Big Book of Fun and Adventure, most of my stuff is meant for pure entertainment. Oh sure, I am obsessed with pop culture and like to throw in plenty of satire, but I don't think the New Yorker will be ringing me up for my political cartoons anytime soon.  Every once in a while though I will get a bug up my butt, so to speak, and be compelled to do a piece like "Archie Should Have Picked Jughead". I think it started with my Sarah Palin/Jigsaw Saw 5 parody.  Who didn't like taking a crack at everyone's favorite nincompoop?  When it wound up on page six of the NY Post's website, I was flattered to think I may have created a provocative image.  I am not sure where my inspiration comes from.  I guess it is deep, deep, deep within my social psyche! I was in San  [Continue reading...]

I have read in the past where Spider-Man, everyone's favorite webhead, was considered to be the Everyman. This is in large because of the large number of things that have happened to him over the years, hardships which that they considered made it easier for readers to be able to identify with him. Well, that might have a small bit of truth due to occasionally my having sticky hands, but other than that I find myself having a hard time identifying with Peter Parker and have the open arms instead towards other characters in our little four-color world. Actually, it isn't just any one comic book personality that I feel a kinship with...I'm a living version of the multiverse in my own little (okay, not so little) self! Let's start off physically. The first character that immediately springs to mind when I look in the mirror is Bouncing Boy, with just a touch of Dr. Druid thrown in for good measure. (It really depends on what I had for supper that night on whether I believe I'm  [Continue reading...]

Editor: Tell us about yourself. Or what you want people to know about you. You can make it up. Terrance Griep: I write professionally; I wrestle professionally; I kiss men amateurly. That's all. Ed: Tell us a story about yourself that sums up your personality. TG: When I was five years old, I got a hernia. The reason I got a hernia when I was five years old was that I was jumping off a second-story porch, grabbing the corners of a dish towel whose other end was tied around my prepubescent neck, absolutely convinced that by doing so, I was lessening the impact of my repeated falls (or "flights," as I thought of them). I was sure I was Superman. Or Batman. Or someone like that. When I figure out who to sue over this unfortunate affair, there'll be shimmering blue Krypton to pay, mark me. Ed: When did you first get hooked on comics? TG: The first time I laid eyes on one--I was t'ree-and-a-half years old. Ed: What is one of  [Continue reading...]

To paraphrase Richard Nixon, “I am not a blonde. I have never been a blonde.” Fortunately that won’t stop non-blondes from enjoying the first issue of Michael Troy’s deeply superficial comic book, The Blonde Squad. If you think dumb blondes with superpowers haven’t been funny since the sixties, Michael Troy gleefully challenges your preconceptions. The opening scene takes what is a superhero cliché in team comics and puts a hilarious spin on it. Troy introduces his cast and their superpowers by having them make a guest appearance on “Tyrone-A”, a talk show hosted by a campy and incredibly muscled drag queen with a risqué sense of humor. Each member of the team is introduced through Tyrone-A’s commentary with lots of celebrity bashing in-jokes. From the Paris Hilton look-a-like who gets electrified in a vat of her own perfume, “It Doesn’t Stink” -- to the last survivor of the planet “Blonde-O”, their origins alone make these superhero wannabes  [Continue reading...]

During the summer months here in the Land of the Free, our liberty is often expressed in the form of travel. The ability to move from town to town and state to state is as American as those two other post-equinox indulgences, baseball and apple pie. But, according to current American law, some travelers are more equal than others. The Immigration and Nationality Act doesn't allow HIV-positive furners to enter the country, whether to visit, to work, or to settle. Chiseled in a time when HIV was much more mysterious and much less treatable, INA is a useless policy which coagulated in the 1980s, was codified in the 1990s, and has thwarted harmless visitants ever since, protecting the U. S. citizenry from the hoards of, um, of HIV-positive barbarians pining to invade this country legally in order to, eh, bleed all over everything within the color of law. Traveling within the DC Universe is easier than it is in our universe, and no character embodies travel like the Silver Age  [Continue reading...]

Alright folks, Ed Natcher here, ready to respond to the questions Sturdy David Stanley asked me to answer about myself. Now, I decided that it might be more interesting if I actually had someone interview me face to face, so I’ve asked an old friend of mine to drop by and play the part of “interviewer”. He should be here any min… POP! Bat-Mite: Here I am! Yippee! Ed: Hi, B-M! Thanks for agreeing to do this. I’d have felt kind of silly just talking to myself. B-M: Nothing wrong with that! It’s like a thought balloon, but with sound! Ed: Right! So, let’s start. Here’s the list of questions for you to use. B-M: Okey-Dokey! Ahem! “Tell us about yourself. Or what you want people to know about you. You can make it up.” Tee-hee! Ed: Well, I was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky on… B-M: Kentucky? Say, Batman had a case there once at a biiiiiig horserace. They had these giant mechanical winged horsies made to  [Continue reading...]

Welcome one and all to the Astounding Asgardian Asinine Asking, a short quiz aimed at finding out how much you know about the original “thunder thighs“, The Mighty Thor! I’ve chosen the story from Journey Into Mystery #88 to use as the format for the quiz. Why? Well why not!? The tale begins as Loki, the Norse God of Big, Silly Helmets, defeated in his latest battle with his brother Thor, comes flying into Asgard, tied to the hammer of The Peroxide-Plumed Pummeler. Question 1: What does the name “Asgard” mean in the ancient Scandinavian language? A. God courtyardB. High placeC. Large campD. Foolproof condom The answer is A, although the Norse gods were frequently high and Balder did occasionally do a killer Judy Garland imitation. The condom was unknown to the bear-skinned-backed Aesir. It, of course, was invented in ancient Greece by the god Zeus when Ganymede refused to accept anything except a Trojan “horse“. As the hammer flies back to Thor, Loki is  [Continue reading...]