Talking About Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo one-shot + #10-12 Originally released in 1987 Written by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird Art by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird I had a great time with the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, with the universe that they created feeling like a blank canvas where the creators could include just about anything and it would still make sense.  I've read a few issues since then (including a touching tribute to Jack Kirby and a crossover with Cerebus the Aardvark - that series crossed over with Spawn as well, though all I really know about it is that it started out as a Conan the Barbarian parody before becoming darker and eventually becoming an outlet for the creator's raging misogyny), and I'm picking up where I left off with a one-shot focusing on Leonardo. The issue seems more like a comedy at first, in a bit of a dark way.  Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter, and April are preparing for Christmas in April's apartment, while...

The Incredible Hulk #102-104 Originally released in 1968 Written by Gary Friedrich Art by Marie Severin The Hulk's early publication history seems like an unusual one.  His initial run lasted for a grand total of six issues before being cancelled.  He was popular enough (either with the audience or the creators) to become one of the founding members of the Avengers, only to leave the team at the end of the second issue.  After making cameos in other books, his stories made up half of the anthology series Tales To Astonish, sharing the title with Ant-Man and the Wasp at first starting in issue 59.  He later shared the book with Namor, before getting his own series back after Tales To Astonish #101. (as a side note, between the six issue of the original series and the forty-three issues of Tales To Astonish that the Hulk headlined, this really should be The Incredible Hulk #50, but maybe it's something to do with publishing where they had to make the numbering pick up ...

Spawn #1-9 Originally released in 1992 Written by Todd McFarlane, Alan Moore (#8), Neil Gaiman (#9) Art by Todd McFarlane I know very little about Spawn as a character or a franchise, so when Humble Bundle had a deal on 90's Image Comics, I picked that up.  There are plenty of other franchises that I'm equally unfamiliar with (Savage Dragon, Astro City...), but I decided to start with Spawn to see what it's like. Spawn was originally Al Simmons, a military man who died in the line of duty.  Making a literal deal with the devil (presumably because things couldn't get much worse than being stuck in Hell), he agreed to serve the demon Malebolgia if he gets to see his wife again.  Brought back to Earth with a horribly burned body, a distinctive costume, and snippets of his memories, he is now known as Spawn. Spawn's design is almost peak 90s comics - just give him a gigantic gun and he's set.  The most striking part of his design is his cape, which feels like it has...

Action Comics #586 Originally released in 1987 Written by John Byrne Art by John Byrne About a year ago, I was nearing the end of my New Year's resolution; I wanted to read at least one comic a day and write down my thoughts online in the form of a blog .  Once I finished, it felt like a relief to not have to make a blog entry every day (I enjoyed it, but there were days where I had to rush to get a post made), but as the year went by, I grew to miss doing it. I'm going to start up a different blog, one that isn't tied to a specific year and doesn't require me to post every day, so I can write whenever the mood strikes me. For my first post, I decided to go back to one of the first comics that I remember owning. (It was this or a Spider-Man comic featuring the Montreal Expos MLB team, and that one isn't available digitally) The cover stuck in my mind, but I remember very little about the story.  Revisiting it, the cover proclaims this to be part nineteen in a crosso...