The best comics of 2018.

Here are the three best comics from 2018. Brad McGinty’s “Romantic 3D Sci-Fi Nightmare Goes to War No. 2”, Patrick Dean’s “Eddie’s Week” and Josh Simmons’ latest “Jessica Farm” minicomic. Sorry if you wasted your time making a list before I posted this.

A post shared by Shannon Smith (@shannogram3000) on Jan 9, 2019 at 7:06am PST

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 12162012

(Superman 408 cover image stolen from Comic Vine.  My grandmother bought me this comic out of the blue back in 1985.  I came home from school and there it was.  It was a good comic.  Paul Kupperberg and the great Curt Swan.  An emotional book.  I think it about it often.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 12162012:

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago--these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." - President Obama.

• Look friends,  this Parade-O-Links is going to be minimal at best.  This week started with me taking my daughter to the doctor and learning that she had the flu.  Thursday night I took myself to the doctor and found out that I have the flu.  And then Friday morning things got very tragic in Newtown Connecticut.  I have two kids and both of them are of the age that if we had lived in Newtown Connecticut they probably would have been in that building.  I thank God that the worst thing that happened to my family this week was the flu.  I'm so sorry for those people and that community.  I really don't have it in me to blab on and on about comics right now so I'm going to keep this one short.
• The world may or may not end or have something interesting happen this week but one thing that I know will not end is the Supercontext.  I had planned to wrap up my complete re-read of The Invisibles before December 22, 2012 but that ain't gonna happen.  Unexpected events in my family and my work came up.  Sorry.   But I will finish it.  I've been loving it so far.  I hope that you may join in.
• Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez were interviewed at The Comics Journal. 
• This podcast where Dean Haspiel interviews Josh Simmons is great.  Dean asks the hard questions like, "what is it about the bonners?"
• Legal things I don't understand may or may not have happened to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman character.
• Here is a fascinating article about the man who was the real world Darth Vader for about five years. 
• I never heard of this Connor Willumsen guy until Ben Towle mentioned him on twitter but his comics are ridiculous.  Just look at 'em.
• My photographer cousin Rich Meade got the next cover of Twenty Three magazine and he is killing it. 
• This Lauren Weinstein comic is very good. 
• That Kitty Pryde and Wolverine was a huge deal for me as a kid and one of my daughter's favorite comics now.  Good stuff.   You could check out one of those collections but I suggest you just buy the originals on eBay.  I did.  Cheap. 
• This article on Spider-Man's 30th anniversary dinner was a good read. 
• There is a new online Tarzan comic and it looks, well exactly like a Tarzan comic is supposed to look. 
• This Lois comic featuring Harvey Pekar seems to be worth checking out. 
• Here is a list what I need you to get me for Christmas.  (People, I had a huge Adventure People collection when I was a kid.  You don't even know how great those toys were.  Oh, and also, I had a Ring Wraith from that Knicker Bocker Lord of the Rings toy line and it was one of the best toys ever.  It just looked like pure evil.  I had no idea what it was at the time.  I had not seen the Ralph Bakshi movie or read the books at the time.  But I saw that thing at a K-Mart and knew that I had to have it.  All I knew was that guy was evil and a bad guy and he could fight Luke Skywalker, he could fight the Hulk, he could fight Spider-Man... hell, he could even fight Evel Knievel.) 
• Spain is forever. 

BEST NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Rich Tommaso variant cover image stolen from iFanboy.)

...was Marceline and The Scream Queens #6 by Maredith Gran with back up story by Rich Tommaso.  I think this was probably the only new Diamond distributed pamphlet comic in the direct market that included a Rich Tommaso  vampire girl rock star comic.  Therefore, it wins. 

• And finally... No tax.  No paperwork.  No nothin'. 

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 10212012

(Superman No. 7 cover by Joe Shuster 1940.  Image stolen from the DC database.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 10212012:

"Fighting for what's right has not been easy.  No one would want to endure what Warner Bros. and DC Comics has put my family, the Shusters and my attorney through.  And that's exactly what their executives and lawyers want.  By filing frivolous lawsuits against my family, he Shuster family and our lawyer, by publicly revealing my private communications, by driving up litigation costs and refusing to negotiate fairly, these companies that think that other creators will be afraid to stand up to them, and that lawyers will think twice before taking on their cases.
What Warner Bros. apparently doesn't realize is that despite their tremendous power, I will NEVER give up on my parent's dream of rightfully restoring my father's rights to his family."  -Laura Siegel Larson, October 11, 2012.

• This week I begin a journey into the Supercontext.  It is my intention to re-read the entirety of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles before the end of the world.  (60 days give or take.  No need to be specific on something as insignificant as the end of the world.) You are welcome to play along at home.  Tune in daily.  Bring your own blank badge. 
• Laura Siegel Larson spoke out about the ongoing battle she must fight to secure from Time Warner what her family has already won in court and clearly deserves.   If you are against the Siegels and the Shusters I seriously will fight you.  I will beat you down.
• Speaking of which, is it still illegal to slap a federal judge in the mouth?  (Side note.  I'd like to commend the Hollywood Reporter website for restraining themselves from using a biff bam pow in that headline.)  Jeff Trexler provides the lawyer to English translation.  But let me go ahead and break it down into hillbilly fer ya.  What this Judge is sayin' and what the Time Warner Brothers is sayin' is that it is legal and fair for them to trick a widow into trading all the coal in them thar hills for about the amount it would cost her to live in a trailer park with lovely view of an abandoned strip mine and a drainage ditch.   A $25,000 a year pension for the multi gagillion dollar property upon which the AOL Time Ted Turner Warner Brothers was built.  I wonder how many Time Warner employees make more than $25,000 a year.  My best guess is all of them.  Every last one of them sonsabitches.  (Other than the unpaid interns and creative types that actually do all the work.) 
• Again, this post was written to the smooth sounds of Robert Newsome. 
• Dean Haspiel talked to Frank Quitely about comics and stuff.
• The Ink Panthers are going on hiatus.  That is kind of sad.
• Matthew Smith has a kickstarter going for Blood-Drenched Creature Double Feature.  I have read the Bee Sting part of the book (with art by Jeremy Massie) and it was great fun.
• Did I mention that Tom Hart comic last week?  It is a devastating thing of unbearable sadness and beauty.  Must read.  If you have children, like I do, it may kill you to read it.  I suggest you make sure to stop and breath between pages.
• Tom Spurgeon gave some comics to the Dylan Willaims collection.  That sounds like a really good idea.  

THE BEST SINGLE PRINT COMIC I READ LAST WEEK
(Or... I'VE GOT BINDERS FULL OF COMICS!)

(Bezoar cover stolen from Little House Comics.)

My best single print comic thing has been missing for a few weeks.  I blame planned parenthood, single mothers, Big Bird, the liberal media and Candy Crowley.  Bezoar is a wicked little monster comic produced by Eleanor Davis, Drew Weing and what I think are just the cartoonists they saw walk past their Athens GA home that day.  The book includes Davis, Weing, Joey Weiser, Patrick Dean, Michele Chidester, David Mack and Aaron Fu.  Mack is credited as the editor and he does a swell job.  Just look at that cover.  Pretty great huh?  Well, you have to see it in person because it is black line art with a clear plastic cover that overlays the color on the line art.  It's freaky.  I dig it.  And the comics inside are great as well.  This is a comic that features a couple of pages by Patrick Dean.  People, let me be clear, if you want to make a print comic that when read by me will be considered the best print comic I read that week... you should probably have Patrick Dean in it.  It is almost guaranteed to win.  Now, you, invisible person asking me imaginary questions, may ask 'but what if another comic had Patrick Dean in it that week?'  Well, just to cover your ass, you probably want to go ahead and have Davis, Weing, Weiser, Chidester, Mack and Fu throw some pages in there as well.  Then you are a sure thing.  The stories are all short but solid.  The standout work of the book is probably the short written by Davis and drawn by Weing.  We don't deserve talent like those two and we certainly don't deserve to get to see them work together.  Get 'em while they're hot brudders and sistahs. 


(El Generico vs Kota Ibushi (c) (DDT) by Jahmale_Hepburn)

•  But wait, what about the best webcomic you read last week?  Why do you hate webcomics so much?  Why are you such an old loser?  Don't you know the youngs, they love the webcomics?  Now just you hold your horses invisible person asking me imaginary questions.  I totally read the webcomcis.  I'm a cool from way back.  So, maybe.  Maybe I'll start doing that.  But on any given week, you can probably just assume that it was Battle Zoo.
• Here is another excerpt from Sean Howe's book on Marvel.  This time focused on the "glory days of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee".   "I traveled through worlds . . . so big . . . so big . . . there . . . there aren't words! We're like ants . . . just ants . . . ants!!!"
• Wouldjalookatthat.  There are a lot of Kevin Huizenga comics online.  
• I'm pretty pissed about Cartoon Network's handling of DC Nation. (And also their attempt to bury Star Wars.)  I think part of it is them being totally in the tank for Dreamwork's properties.  All of which absolutely suck as TV cartoons. 
• Richard Thompson on drawing during neurosurgery.

(Josh Simmons image stolen from TCJ.)

• The Comics Journal has an interview with Josh Simmons, the most terrifying cartoonist working today.

• Brad McGinty is taking pre-orders on another batch of fantastical t-shirts. 
• Chris Ware is burning in hell.
• Hey look, it's quiz time.
• Mike Hoffman dares you to pledge to stop making comics porn. 
• Stay classy fanboys. 
• And now ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand, you asked for it, you got it... LINK HAIKU!!!!

Free squirrel birth control
The freedom machines are rigged
Women three hole punched

• Josh Latta on the most horrific Porky Pig cartoon. 
• Making comics is very hard. 
• I blowed up real good didn't I?
• There was a time when all you had was Starlog, the TV Guide, some comics and maybe a couple of Wrestling Magazines.  And it was good enough.  Good enough.
• Did I mention that pal Robert Venditti is going to be working on The Demon (Demon Knights) for DC?  I'm pretty excited about that. 
• And finally... that 'lectricty burnin' over there, they's somebody dyin' ever day fer it.

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Josh Simmons' BATMAN

I've heard rumors of this mini comic for a while now. I'm a huge Josh Simmons fan and I've been dying to read it. Thanks to The Comics Reporter for pointing out this link. I wont' review the comic because you can read it here yourself. I'll just say that I think it is fantastic and you should go read it right now before DC makes it go away.

UPDATE July 19, 2012:  Hi.  I noticed a lot of folks looking at this post this week.  Probably because of the movie coming out and possibly because of Matt Seneca's recent review.  I'm sorry but the links above appear to be broken now.  I'm not aware of a place online to read the comic but I think that it is in the new book The Furry Trap. If I find another link to it as a webcomic I will update this again.  Thanks for visiting.  Enjoy your Batpants!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith