On Hiatus...Sort of...

I know it has been almost three months since my last blog post. Well, the reason for this is some important professional responsibilities have taken up a considerable amount of my time and will likely to do so in the future. So while some draft posts may be placed, and if something important relating to comics, sci-fi and pop culture comes up, I will certainly post those items. But until such a time, this blog will largely remain on hiatus for an indefinite period of time.

Here's some Silver Age Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D to THANK YOU for clicking and reading over the past four years. I've thoroughly enjoyed blogging as a hobby, and hopefully will continue to do so once things have settled down. 

Image from Marvel's Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D  (November 1968) written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Frank Springer.

Merry Christmas from WGTB!

I would like to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

May your holiday be filled with good cheer and fun with family and friends. And may your 2014 be filled with lots of great sci-fi stories and comic books. Talk to you soon!

Image from National Publications (DC Comics) Comic Cavalcade #9 (Winter 1945)

Fan Expo Canada 2013

I know its been a while since I've written on WGTB, but in my experience summer is prone to either a deluge of blog writing or very little. So to make up for the recent drought, I have a bunch of articles coming soon. But in the meanwhile, here are some choice photographs from Fan Expo Canada 2013 (August 22-25). Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the Friday of the four day show, but these pics should give you a sense of how Canada's largest fan and comics convention fared. It was pretty good, and certainly biggest and busiest I've seen yet.   

As usual, the Whovians and Deleks are out in force! 

As were the Trekkies as this convention featured some prominent Star Trek cast members. Here's the legendary George Takai signing autographs.

This year's Fan Expo was the first to use both halls of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Early attendance figures put it at over 100,000 people.

Sons of Anarchy was featured prominently this year and anecdotal t-shirt evidence says the fanbase is growing. Here's a SOA-themed Harley-Davidson.

Dark Horse brought a booth. Unfortunately DC and Marvel did not.

And Marvel heard about this perceived slight at the Marvel: Infinity panel. Left to right: An unidentified fan, Marvel SVP, Publishing Tom Brevoort, editor Ellie Pyle and creators Stuart & Kathryn Immonen. Highlights of this panel included: 

1) Re: the Ultimate universe: We must continue to expect the unexpected. But there is no confirmed information about Hunger and any Ultimate characters coming over to Earth-616.

2) Brian Michael Bendis is heavily involved in the upcoming X-Men: Battle of the Atom crossover, so we can expect something tying that arch to the recently completed Age of Ultron.

3) There may be more New Universe characters coming to Earth-616. This shouldn't surprise anyone after Jonathan Hickman's use of Star Brand in Avengers. 

Friday also featured a great panel with Walt and Louise Simonson. Seen here are an unknown tech-guy and host (left), Walt (middle) and Louise (right). It was fun hearing about the creation of Beta Ray Bill, Walt's upcoming creator-owned work with IDW, writing the Star Wars comics of the early 80s and why he changed Warren Worthington III in X-Factor. Louise offered some great stories about working with Walt and how the DC editorial team came up with the idea to kill Superman in the early 1990s.  

After the Simonson panel, there was another with the always engaging Neil Adams. Here, Adams spilled the beans about the Silver Age with stores about the Comics Code, the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow issue involving a drug-using Speedy, and how he didn't get to finish The Kree/Skull War to his satisfaction.

Avatar Comics had a great display booth.

The Toronto Lego Users Group had a presence with a Death Star trench display and...

...a Lego Serenity from Firefly. I asked if any glue was involved and the host (left) said no.  

The Batmobile circa 1989. Looks like a homebuilt, but it's still very cool. 

80s icon KITT from Knight Rider.  

The cockpit of KITT. How would one do a U-turn in that thing?  

George Takei talks about working on the set of Star Trek, past convention practical jokes, his use of social media and a musical he co-wrote called Allegiance. It's about the experience of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. He's such an engaging speaker!

While fellow Star Trek alum Nichelle Nichols spoke about her family history, her father's early support and encouragement and being one of the first  African-American women on network television.

And finally Ian McDiarmid a.k.a. the Emperor from the Star Wars universe spoke about his casting break as the Emperor in 1982, working on the subsequent trilogy as Palpatine and what it's like being a pop culture icon. The Scotsman was great and he even did that evil voice!

All in all it was a great day spent, and another successful FanExpo Canada. 

Interested in Canadian comics? Check out Lost Heroes: the Untold Story of Canadian Superheroes

Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm Canadian and proud of it! In fact, using Wolverine, Alpha Flight or even Canadian-born Joe Shuster to talk about all aspects of my country is a true joy of mine.  

Did you know that the Canadian equivalent to the Eisners are called the Shusters? Here's the 2007 logo -- all credit to the Joe Shuster Awards.

But the history of comics in Canada is so much more than Logan or Joe Shuster's birth city. Indeed, Canada has had some great comic titles and some truly interesting and inspiring comic book characters. 

Which is why I'd like to bring to your attention Lost Heroes: The Untold Story of Canadian Superheros, a feature-length documentary currently in post-production. Scheduled to air on Super Channel in late 2013, Lost Heroes looks at all those Canadians who have dawned a cape, cowl or helmet through the course of comics. It promises to be a real treat for anyone interested in the history our medium and I encourage everyone interested to keep an eye out for it. I have a friend currently working as a Researcher on the project and she promises me it will be amazing.

May the 4th Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day everyone! And Happy Free Comic Book Day too. With one of my Star Wars t-shirts on, I'm about to head down to my local funny book emporium for a few freebies. But before that I thought I'd share a few images and commentary from a small sampling of the Star Wars books I've collected over the years. Of late, I've been very busy with exams so I feel terrible about not spending as much time on my blog as I'd like. But I promise to get back to writing reviews and features as soon as possible and in the meanwhile hope you enjoy the art. May the Force be with you!

There's no order for the images, except to start with the comic that re-booted things for Star Wars in the early 90s: Dark Horse's Star Wars: Dark Empire #1 (August 1992) by Tom Veitch with art by Cam Kennedy. 

This image comes from Dark Horse's Star Wars: Dark Empire #2 (April 1992) Creators are the same as above.

Here's an image from Dark Horse's Star Wars: Crimson Empire #1 (December 1997) written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley with pencils by Paul Gulacy and inks by P. Craig Russell. This was the last comic I bought before I took my 'I'm too cool for this stuff' hiatus from comics. I was gone for too long!

The splash from Dark Horse's Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith #1 (October 1994) Written by Tom Veitch & Kevin J. Anderson with pencils by Chris Gossett and inks by Mike Barreiro. It was one of the early efforts by Dark Horse/Lucasfilm Ltd. to explain the Sith/Jedi conflict.  

Here's a page from Dark Horse's Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War #1 (August 1995). It was written by Kevin J. Anderson with pencils by Dario Carrasco, Jr. and inks by Jordi Ensign. Note the familiar look to the helmet.

Remember when Han mentioned the 'bounty hunter on Ord Mantell' in The Empire Strikes Back? Well, here he is! It's from a reprint of an original newspaper comic published shortly after the original film. It's called Dark Horse's Classic Star Wars #2 (September 1992) written by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson and colours by Steve Buccellato.

Yoda and Luke in Marvel's official comics adaptation of Return of the Jedi #2 (November 1983). The story was adopted by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson & Carlo Garzon.

From Marvel's Star Wars #61 (July 1982) written by David Michelinie with plot by Walter Simonson and finishes by Tom Palmer. The Star Wars universe always had the coolest looking spaceships.

I love this comic. I first read the story when it was on one of those Books on Records/Tapes back in the early 80s. The image is from Marvel's Star Wars #55 (January 1982) written by David Michelinie with pencils by Walt Simonson and inks by Tom Palmer. Thanks for reading! 

RIP Roger Ebert & Carmine Infantino

It was quite the day. In the movie world, we lost Roger Ebert at age 70 to cancer. Ebert was a long-time film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and probably best known for being one half of one of the greatest movie review TV programs ever: At The Movies with partners Gene Siskel and Richard Roeper. RIP Mr. Ebert.

In comics we also lost legendary artist Carmine Infantino. Born in Brooklyn in 1925, Infantino's sizable opus included work on Detective Comics, Batman, Superman, The Avengers, Captain America, Star Wars and Spider-Woman. He was a member of the Comic Book Hall of Fame and considered by both fans and historians as one of the greatest pencillers of all time. 

The spash from DC's Showcase #4 (October 1956). Reprinted as a Silver Age Classic in 1992. All images from the Silver Age Classic reprint. Written by Robert Kanigher and John Broome with art by Joe Kubert & Carmine Infantino. 

Cop turned superhero Barry Allen

Modern comic book fans likely know Infantino best for his contribution to the resurgence of superheroes in the post-war period. This started in 1956 when DC's editor Julius Schwartz assigned Infantino and Joe Kubert to work with writers Robert Kanigher and John Broome to resuscitate that genre which had been reduced to a scattering of titles. They did so with the creation of Barry Allen as a new "Flash". In this story, Allen was a police officer of Central City who was turned into the "Fastest Man Alive" when a science experiment and bolt of lightening combined for some unexpected results. The Flash would go on to use his powers to fight crime and without the success of Showcase #4 we arguably wouldn't have the Flash becoming a founding member of the Justice League and that fateful golf game that led to Marvel's reposte, The Fantastic Four and an expanded Silver Age of comics. 

So in thanks to Carmine Infantino and his work in our medium, I thought I'd scatter this post with images from Showcase #4's including the splashes of both stories which featured Barry Allen as the Flash. RIP Mr. Infantino.

WGTB Reviews Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

Hello, friends. First off, my sincere apologies for not writing in the last little while -- it has been a very busy winter for me. But while taking a brief sabbatical from WGTB, I did manage to read a book that was released in the latter half of 2012 called Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by journalist and former editor of Entertainment Weekly, Sean Howe.  

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Sean Howe, Harper, 2012, 485 pp, $26.99

Beginning with Timely Comics, the first incarnation of the company, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story takes its reader on the journey of Marvel from its conception to its current incarnation as one of the jewels in the crown of the Disney empire. The book itself is divided into five parts, each with their own manageable chapters. These parts, logically divided, cover the company’s origins; its renaissance during the 60s rebirth of the superhero genre; the mostly dreary and sometimes incomprehensible 70s; the sometimes acrimonious but always interesting period of Jim Shooter as Editor-in-Chief; the boom and bust period of the 90s and finally, the modern period of corporate restructuring and Marvel’s apotheosis in the cinematic world.   

The book itself is compulsively readable and does not seem the nearly five hundred pages it is. It is meticulously well researched and especially good at detailing the complex and often vitriolic drama that has dominated much of Marvel’s history. Of course, most of us know of the intellectual property disputes that still dominate Jack Kirby’s estate, but Untold also does a great job at explaining the many similar conflicts that occurred in the 70s and 80s that are much less well known. Further to that, it takes careful attention to document the fascinating history of the Editor-in-chief tenure of Jim Shooter. I knew much less about this but was absolutely enthralled while reading about it. 

But for me, by far the most interesting section of the book was Howe’s examination into the boom and bust period of the 90s when, after selling millions of comic books, Marvel nearly collapsed upon itself in a fury of corporate overreaching and greed. Readers of this blog will note that this has long been of particular interest to this blogger, but even with that background, I was impressed by Howe's research and the considerable depth of his explanations. Naturally, with Marvel's top books now selling a fraction of what they did in the early 90s, there’s an instinct to think that a comic book bubble will never happen again and therefore a warning is not necessary. But exposés of any boom and bust are always important and always serve as a warning to any industry or business -- especially those were demand is rooted in the ebb and flow of what is popular. 

In a couple places the book it could use more dates or year descriptions to assist the reader who is not as well versed in 70s or 80s comic book lore. Likewise, with so many names, it was helpful to have a tablet computer close just to periodically check when another unknown artist, writer or inker’s name surfaces. But these small matters aside, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story is a great work of comics journalism and fascinating survey of an area of pop culture and creative genius that has left an indelible print on the modern world. It is not to be missed. 4.5/5 STARS.

Happy New Year!

I would say 2012 was a good year for comics. DC's 'New 52' finished its first full year with fifteen or more issues done while Marvel's shake-up/relaunch called Marvel NOW! got off to solid starts with most of its books as well. In film, The Avengers by Marvel Studios knocked the socks off previous comic-book movies with an impressive $1.5 billion at the box office while The Amazing Spider-Man from Sony Pictures rebooted that property as well. On the Warner Brothers side, the conclusion of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight  trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises made an equally impressive showing too. Suffice it to say, a lot of people were exposed to superheroes this past year!  

The 2013 New Year Resolution for this blog is to review more works outside the Big Two and pay closer attention to more creator owned works. In the interim, I'm leaving you with some images from Jack Kirby's The Eternals from 1976. It just seemed appropriate. Happy New Year!  

All images from Marvel's The Eternals (July 1976) Written and Drawn by Jack Kirby, with inks by John Verpoorten, letters by Gaspar, colours by Glynis Wein. Consulting Editor: Marv Wolfman

 

WGTB Reviews Four Comics

Merry Christmas! Well, Happy Boxing Day as we call the day after Christmas here in Canada. Today was a day off for me and allowed me to take a break from all the holiday fun and write four quick reviews of comics I've read recently. As December 26th comics (Justice League and Amazing Spider-Man) haven't been read yet, the books written about today go back to the past two weeks. I hope you enjoy and are having a great holiday season.  

Marvel's Thor: God of Thunder #3 (February 2013) Written by Jason Aaron, art and cover by Esad Ribic, colour art by Ive Svorcina & lettering by VC's Joe Sabino. Edited by Lauren Sankovitch. PRICE $3.99

Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina continue to pack a punch with the third issue of Thor: God of Thunder. I have really been enjoying this book since the Marvel NOW! relaunch of this Thor title and issue #3 gives me no reason to stop looking forward to the next. I'm finding it to be a cross between Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods and the 90's sci-fi hit Babylon 5 in good old-fashioned comic book form. This issue, the third of the God Butcher storyline, has Thor deep in space at an amazing place called Omnipotence City and then in the equally cool ninth-century Russia, both of which are amazingly drawn. The action seems to have cooled a bit from the previous issue but that's okay because in #3 we get a somewhat more cerebral caper-type story. This comic goes deeper into the back story of the ancient foe Thor is dealing with and we even see the God of Thunder fearful of what the future could hold. A lot happens in this issue but it is easier to follow now that I'm used to the threefold time-jump aspect of it. With regard to art, Ribic's work really matches Aaron's story and is doing it for me. This is comic book high-fantasy at its best. 4.5/5 STARS

Comic book high-fantasy at its best from Thor: God of Thunder #3 

DC's Nightwing #15 (February 2013) Written by Kyle Higgins, pencils by Eddy Barrows, inks by Eber Ferreira, colours by Rod Reis & letters by Carlo M. Mangual. Edited by Brian Cunningham. PRICE: $2.99

My next quick review is Nightwing #15 by Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira. I hadn't read the previous issue and picked this one up because writer Kyle Higgins really knocked a recent interview on Word Balloon with John Suintres out of the park and got me interested in the Nightwing aspect of the Death of the Family storyline. This issue was a good follow-up to Batman #15 which featured a meeting of the Gotham-based Bat Family and I enjoyed seeing Dick Grayson take off on his own to deal with the Joker's master plan. So while I'm not completely familiar with the longer storyline, I have to say this was a good, enjoyable comic book. I've always liked Nightwing and found the Joker as written by Higgins to be just as equal in evil and diabolical malice as that of Scott Snyder. This issue was also a nice break from Greg Capullo's art which seems to be wearing on me in recent issues with Eddy Barrow doing a great job here capturing the menace of the Joker awesomely. The below image was especially creepy. I think I'll come back to this issue next month and maybe go looking for back-issues to get a larger sense of the Nightwing story. 3.5/5 STARS 

Barrow's art was really enjoyable this issue of Nightwing #15

Marvel's Avengers #2 (February 2013) Written by Jonathan Hickman, art by Jerome Opena, colour art by Dean White with Justin Ponsor & Morry Hollowell. Letters by VC's Cory Petit. Edited by Tom Brevoort with Lauren Sankovitch. PRICE $3.99

In the two Avengers comics we've seen thus far from Marvel NOW!, there really hasn't been much to write home about. This comic, like its cousin book Thor: God of Thunder, is high-concept story-telling and involves some of the common evolutionary and extraterrestrial based tropes we often see in sci-fi and comics. Unfortunately (and unlike Thor) this book has taken a little longer to get off the ground. Indeed, the second issue was largely a story of the second group of Avengers assembling to go and rescue the first who are in trouble off-world. I enjoyed it on the whole and the introduction to the four principal baddies and the origins of their creators, The Builders, was especially good. I also know that this is a Jonathan Hickman book so I'm probably totally wrong about not thinking it's totally amazing and should probably re-read it in a couple days to discover what I've missed. But until then it gets a promising yet mediocre 3/5 STARS.

The group is still assembling in Avengers #2

DC's JSA Liberty Files: The Whistling Skull #1 (February 2013) Written by B. Clay Moore with art by Tony Moore. Colours by Dave McCaig, letters by Wes Abbot & edited by Ben Abernathy. PRICE $2.99

Easily one of the best comic books of the month, The Whistling Skull #1 is the first issue of a mini-series that creators B. Clay Moore and Tony Harris hope will eventually be turned into an ongoing run with forty odd issues. Set (sort of) in the DC Universe, the Whistling Skull is a Justice Society of America World War II story centred around a British non-Crown affiliated protagonist who fights the Nazi's. In parts it is very funny and entertaining, while in others it is downright grim and gory. Tony Harris' art at the beginning was a little tough to get used to, but the book never-the-less grew on me and by the end I was really enjoying this fusion of fun and intrigue. Come to think of it, this is what a comic book should be so I'm going to give it a high grade and say I'm already looking forward to the second issue. 4.5/5 STARS

Tony Harris' art takes some getting used to, but eventually grows on you.

WGTB Reviews Iron Man #1

Marvel NOW! rolls on with Iron Man #1 hitting the shelves this past Wednesday. To begin, I should say I've never been a big Iron Man reader. I like the character but have never seemed to pick up his books. I know it's shameful, especially given the cinematic success Marvel/Disney has had centreing their universe (largely) around Robert Downey Jr. playing the role.  But for some reason Tony Stark is just someone in Marvel that has never caught my eye in the comic book store. I tell you this because my review may seem a little light in content and a detailed understanding of Iron Man's rich history in the medium. I'm also telling you because I'm using this first issue of Marvel NOW!'s Iron Man as an opportunity to get a fresh start on Tony Stark and frankly see this as a reason why these relaunches and reboots are a good thing for ignorants like me. On with the review.

Marvel NOW!'s Iron Man #1 (January 2013) Story by Kieron Gillen, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Jay Leisten, colours by Guru eFX and letters by VC's Joe Caramagna
$3.99

(Spoilers Below)

Having enjoyed Kieron Gillen recent runs on X-Men and Journey Into Mystery, I knew I was going to like this book to some degree. Gillen is a very skilled writer and has a knack for taking long established characters and making them his own. My initial thoughts were that tonally, Tony Stark was very similar to his cinematic counterpart and this was helpful:  I immediately liked him and knew this was a fellow I could follow regularly. The story begins in a posh New York bar with Tony working his magic with a beautiful woman. After he takes the party home and is about to seal the deal, he gets an urgent and distressing call from Maya Hansen who says that the 'Extremis is loose' and she's already 'probably dead'. We then fast forward to see a bad infomercial type of television program where Extremis' are being sold to regular folks. Iron Man subsequently crashes the party and learns there are four models loose on the world.

Extremis models and Iron Man from Iron Man #1 (January 2013)

I enjoyed the book and it wasn't without some solid humour. Probably the best line was when Tony went undercover at the Extremis sale by simply shaving off 'the world's most famous mustache'. Very Clark Kent. I'm not sure if the four Extremis villains will be long-term antagonists for the book -- this first arch is five books and that would match quite nicely with there being four out there. But it would be cool with a model popping up every now and then and this could lead to some long-term problems for Iron Man. The story also has a significant international dimension and it would will be neat seeing Gillen taking Tony to different locales around the world. I loved what he did with Sinister and London in Uncanny X-Men.   

Iron Man armour in Iron Man #1 (Janurary 2013)

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the early stages of Gillen's work on this book, I can't say the same for the art. In places Greg Land's work was very good: the below shot of Iron Man hovering over the cityscape is an example of the awesomeness that is Iron Man. But by and large his human depictions didn't have any stand-out qualities to them and while it doesn't look bad, there really isn't anything to grab the readers and make us say 'Wow!'   

Iron Man hovers over the city in Iron Man #1 (January 2013)

That said, it was a reasonably good comic book and because it has a very 'one-shot' feel to it, I think it's a great start for any new or lapsed Iron Man fan. I'm certainly going to find some Iron Man TPBs and get caught up on him, and will probably keep up with this particular comic for the next little while.  3.5/5 STARS