Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 02212021

  (Vision and Scarlet Witch #12 1986. Cover by Richard Howell and Joe Sinnott.)

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 weeks ending 02212021. 

• Hello sisters and brothers and others and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links.  My name is Shano and I'll be your host.  I still want this to be an every week thing but things are things and times are times and I mean, half the country is frozen and the other half is waiting in line for the cure or the sedative or their $2,000.  Sometimes I start these things and just abandon them.  One minute I'm in the zone giving you "THE CONTENT" you need to feel alive and the next I'm just... what do I even do?*
• (*I have a job, a family, a bunch of pets and several guitars.  That's what I do.)  
• Looking at that Vision and Scarlet Witch cover up above.  Man, the 80s were wild AF right?  "At last! The moment you've been waiting for! BIRTH!"  And inside the issue is titled, "Double sized climax!"  Don't we all want to see Vison have a double sized climax? 
• Speaking of Vision and Scarlet Witch because, let's be honest, that's all that matters now in comics/tv/Earth/Milky Way, this week's episode of WandaVision gave us what it was obviously going to give us but it still felt like a surprise.  Years of giving us Easter eggs with a wink and a nudge and then forgetting about that stuff forever has given Marvel the ability to show us what they are doing with a very hard, literally visible on screen, wink and a shove and we're still like, "I don't know guys, it might still be Mephisto and not the lady with a similar name to one of the primary characters from Wanda's comics history."  And part of it is that the first two waves of the MCU were very much THESE ARE MOVIES AND THEY ARE THEIR OWN THING AND NO WE DON'T ACTUALLY READ THOSE COMICS SO SUCK IT NERDS but now it seems that we are firmly in the Bongwater Age of Marvel Comics. They used a Jim Starlin idea and it became the most successful movie of all time so anything goes I guess.  Still, they're going the full Steve Englehart now and I never thought they'd go that far.  This is deep cut Bill Mantlo territory we're getting into now and I'm more excited about how weird it might get than anything we've seen in the movies.  
• Also, it still might be Mephisto. 
• And Dottie's gotta be somebody too right?
• And which one of these people is Agatha's cat? 
• And Franklin Richards is in that basement somewhere too right?
• Guys!?

• In our continuing coverage of WandaVision and only WandaVision, last week's episode was the one we've all been waiting for where we get to see the characters dressed up as the comic book characters they are based on for Halloween.  They went with homemade costumes which reminds me to remind you that, like most things, Patrick Dean did it first and did it better. 
• We lost S. Clay Wilson. His work isn't for everyone but I loved the way he drew. 
• And Si Spencer.  Death is the worst. 
• Imagine getting to work with the sum total of the creative output of thousands of people over 83 years and you decide to shoot the thing in sepia tone. 
• My pal Robert Venditti has made a lot of great comics over the past decade.  If I had done a better job of posting here at file under other I would have told you about how great his Hawkman run was. He has a new comic out soon called Tankers and they made a promotional video that you guys just have to see.  It's the probably the best comics promotional video I've ever seen.  I'd just post it here but I couldn't figure out how so just pull the link of their twitter post. 
• When not riding around in a tank, Robert Venditti is also writing some new Superman comics that should hit a very specific sweet spot for a lot of us.  Another thing I would have told you about if I was better at "blogging" is that Rob has knocked out a lot of great Superman comics over the past few years through the DC digital stuff, the Walmart giant books and a really great short run on Justice League.  This should be good stuff. 
• In other "my pals make good comics" news that I would have mentioned if I were better at this, our man Rob Ullman continues to make great sports comics over at DK Sports. 
• How every classic super hero looks to me if they don't have their trunks. 

• "Lightning Whisperer". 
• Which one of you was asking for more Spawn?
• There's another Stan Lee book. This one recounts the hilarious tale of how he wrote The Wizard of Oz while fighting Orcs in Middle Earth. 
• If you're a colorist and you don't know well now you know about Rico Renzi's Color Jams twitter handle where color peeps from 'round the globe take their shot at re-coloring classic comics art. It's a fun follow even for a guy like me that isn't even sure he likes colors that aren't fiesta red.
• Also from my twitter feed, Aaron Meyers reminded us about the guy that created Venom for $200.

THE BEST NEW COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

Normally this is the part of the episode where I talk about the best new comic I read lately but I haven't really read any new comics since the last time we hung out.  There is a plague going on and it is winter and everything is cold and gross and I have not driven to the comic book store in a while now.  Tom McHenry still reads the comics so maybe check that out to fill the void in your soul.  Don't worry, I'm still reading old comics though.  I'm still on my orange and brown costumes kick reading 80s and 90s Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad collections.  I've also been reading Scarlet Witch and Vision centric Avengers comics from the 80s because all that matters is Wanda, Wanda, Wanda.  Guys, we need to have a good long talk about Steven Englehart.  Those comics are bonkers.  There is one issue where the West Coast Avengers beat the Grim Reaper because ol' Reapy calls his black villain partners "Spades" and they get pissed at him for being racist and leave.  The 80s y'all.  It's all worth it though because Vision talks about "making love" to his hot wife even before they get the notion of having kids.  The most important thing to know about Vision is that Vison gets it on.  Also Captain America gives his witch friend, Scarlet WITCH, an old book of Druid spells as a honeymoon present.  What could go wrong?  The fuck were you thinking Steve? 

• And finally, are you afraid to leave your house? Don't worry, our boy Francis is here to tell you how to get rich as a real gamer.

• Remember pals, life is hard.  Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend.  Read comics and chew Glorp gum every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 
p.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.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  Maybe if 100,000 of you follow me there I'll be as famous as the average Cambodian teenager with a milk ring collection. 

I read a bunch of my daughter's comics.

I buy a lot of comics.  A lot of them are for my kids.  Luckily they have pretty good taste in comics.  The sad thing is that I read the comics they get before I read the ones I get for myself.  (And then my comics accumulate into a giant tower as pictured above.)  See, I don't get to keep their comics.  I can always read my comics on my death bed or whatever but I gotta read their comics before they turn them into pocketbooks and post them on Pintrest or whatever it is kids do with things these days.

(Is Pintrest still a thing?  I got an ello invite a while back and never found the time to read the email.)

Where were we?  Oh yeah, comics. I read a bunch of my daughter's comics recently.  Here are some words about them.

Doctor Who
All three of the new comics from Titan by Nick Abadzis, Elena Casagrande, Al Ewing, Rob Williams, Simon Fraser, Robbie Morrison, Dave Taylor and a whole bunch of other people.
Published by Titan.  $3.99.

My daughter is super into Doctor Who.  (And I am too kinda.)  We started reading some of the IDW Doctor Who comics a year or so ago and like most IDW comics they were pretty good if not super over produced.  I was skeptical about the franchise moving from IDW to Titan but these new Titan Doctor Who comics look and feel almost exactly like the IDW books.  Paper and production that are almost too good.  Colors that are almost too slick.  Writing and drawing that are fine enough.  There are three of these things.  One series for the 10th Doctor, one for the 11th and now one for the 12th.  Each writer does a fine job of capturing their Doctor's personality and dialog and each artist does a solid job of capturing their mannerisms.  I like most of the stories so far.  These comics get to go off into some 2000 AD directions you don't see on TV.  The art can be inconsistent but I enjoy it, especially the Dave Taylor work on the 12th doctor book.  It is lovely sci-fi drawing with some Brendan McCarthy-esque colors as well. Of the three serieses I'd say the 12th Doctor comic is the best.  My main complaint with these things is do we really need three Doctor Who comics at $3.99 each.  How about one comic each month at $4.99.  Instead of 20 ish pages of each doctor each month, give me 8 ish pages of each doctor in one magazine style book.  Maybe even throw in a random "Classic" Doctor story as well?  Maybe even hire me to write one of the things.  Hell, I'd buy two copies of that issue.
Oh, one other complaint:  Titan, give me digital codes in the print comics so I can also read these on my iPad.  Ask Marvel and Comixology how.  Do it!  Do it now!

Edge of Spider-Verse No. 2:  Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman
By Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, Rico Renzi, Clayton Cowles and some other people.
Published by Marvel. $3.99

This is one of the more visually exciting comics I've read in a bit.  Robbi Rodriquez draws with every one's clothes and hair in motion and his action layouts force the eye to the point of impact with great speed.  Rico Renzi's colors really pop off the page and his pallet choices are bold and vibrant.  There are very few tricks and gimmicks in Renzi's colors.  Mostly flats with out any of the garbage effects everyone uses.  Just great choices.  Choices that would probably sound insane if you were to explain them without showing them.  "Yeah, I'm gonna have hot pink on top of electric green in this panel but trust me, it's gonna work." -Something imaginary Renzi said to imaginary Latour and Rodriguez while imaginary coloring the book.  It looks fantastic.  And it's full of some neat ideas.  In this Spider-Man variant universe whatever, Gwen Stacy got bit instead of Pete Parker and it sets up totally different dynamics with her police officer father and her female friends that you don't get in the regular Spider-Man books.  And that costume, I mean c'mon guys, that costume is sharp.  I'd buy more of these.  Hey Marvel, make more of these.  (They are totally making more of these.)

Gotham Academy No. 1
By Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, Geyser, Dave McCaig, Steve Wands and some other people.
Published by DC Comics. $2.99.

Ugh.  Aww jeeze.  This one was a slog to get through.  Like reading a mud puddle.  I really should not have read this after reading that exciting Spider-Gwen comic.  This thing, man this thing.  Let's start with the colors by "Geyser with Dave McCaig".  Maybe it should have been colored by just Geyser or just Dave McCaig because one of the two did way too much coloring.  Maybe Karl Kerschl did some good drawing in this thing but I'll never know because all I can see is various shapes of split pea soup and refried beans. And the writing.  Gawd.  This thing is full of words all of which you've read a gagillion times.  This book really lost me on page one with the total imagination vacuum of protagonist monologue captions. "Every stone has a story  ...but not every story has a happy ending."  You know what, either get on with the story or let's skip to the sad ending folks. "This is my life.."  No kid, this is the life of every freaking young adult character ever.  Get over it.  Please God oh please make Batman show up by page 4 of this thing and punch somebody in the neck. I counted the pages and absolutely nothing happens in the first eleven pages of this comic.  This comic is not for me.  And look, most comics published since about 1987 have been published specifically for ME.  I'm cool with somebody not Shannon Smith being pandered too.  Really, go make your young adult fiction comics.  Pretend Bruce Wayne went to Hogwarts.  Whatever you think it is that the youngs need.  Just make them good.  Go read Richard Sala and figure it out.  Jeeziz.  Can we not just pay Richard Sala a bunch of money to pretend that Cat Burglar Black took place in Gotham and re-launch that as an ongoing comic?  Seriously, whatever it takes.

New Suicide Squad No. 1.
By Sean Ryan, Jeremy Roberts, Bond, Taylor Esposito and some other people.
Published by DC Comics.  $2.99.

This is a re-launch of the New 52 re-launch of the Suicide Squad.  Have you read it?  No.  Close your eyes and imagine what this comic looks and reads like.  Okay, that is exactly what this comic looks and reads like.  Like most of the New 52 stuff outside of the Batman, Superman and Green Lantern books, this thing looks and reads like 2000s Image.  And not the good Image.  This looks like the Top Cow image.  Which is terrible.  My daughter wanted this because she is super into Harley Quinn and Duela Dent.  (They call Duela Dent "Joker's Daughter" in the New 52 but she's Duela Dent and she's been around longer than you have.)  Duela and Harley aver very fun characters but there is nothing fun about this comic.  Sure it's full of video game violence if you are into that but where are the jokes?  Where is the madness?  I think (I could be wrong) but I think this is the first time New 52 Harley and New 52 Duela get together.  That should have been magic.  But, not a lot of writers get Harley and Duela in the New 52.  Jimmy Palmiotti does.  Go read Ame-Comi girls.  It's the best comic DC has published in the New 52 era.  Duela Dent shines in that thing.  This is not that thing.  This is not very good.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl No. 1.
By Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Rico Renzi and some other people.
Published by Marvel.  $3.99

Loved every panel of this comic.  Great script, great character design and drawing, vibrant colors, talking squirrel... what else you want?  Every thing I said about Renzi's color on the Spider-Gwen book applies here as well.  Ryan North really has this smart comics for kids thing figured out.  I've read about 100 thousand of his Adventure Times comics and I don't want him dead yet so that's pretty darn good.  Love Henderson's Kraven the Hunter in this.  The plot?  Eh, who cares?  She's going to college or whatever.  It's a girl with a squirrel tail and a talking squirrel sidekick.  Who even cares what they are doing as long as they are doing it with jokes?  The kids, they love the jokes.

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.
p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too now.  I guess it's a law or something.