Writers: Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, Tom Brevoort, Michael Teitelbaum, Daniel Wallace & Andrew Darling
Artists: Too many to name
Company: DK Publishing

Back at my previous site (*cough*don’t mind the link, fellas!*cough*), I had written a glowing review of DK Publishing’s DC Comics Encylopedia. Then, a couple months back, I wrote another glowing review of their Guide to Conan. I had every reason to expect greatness from their new Marvel Encyclopedia. Maybe those heightened expectations help explain my disappointment. Maybe it’s the involvement of current Marvel editorial in this edition, as contrasted with DC’s Continue Reading »

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Mike Perkins
Company: Marvel Comics

I have little use for Civil War… the premise is tired, the execution contrived and stupid when viewed in the context of past characterizations and the ramifications long-lasting and damaging to the Marvel Universe and its characters. However, with these two issues of Captain America, I start to wonder what might have been if someone like Ed Brubaker was at the helm, because these two issues actually do explore the premise from both sides with reasoned debate. And with Mike Perkins on art duties and Frank D’Armata on colors, the visuals are at least as good as what Steve McNiven is turning in on Civil War, Continue Reading »

Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Gene Ha
Company: Wildstorm

Yes, there are many things that make the first issue of The Authority an odd one. If you’re expecting the same hit and run, over the top action extravaganza of the first incarnation of The Authority book, be warned: That aspect isn’t here. Neither is there any mention or glimpse of the heroes that we are used to seeing. At least, not yet there isn’t. What is there is the oddness that Grant Morrison (Doom Patrol/WE3) usually brings, his calculated storytelling and Gene Ha’s (Top 10/Global Frequency) elegant artwork. None of which are bad, but they seem so different, so off the mark for an Authority story that it’s Continue Reading »

Down the Line is our monthly look at Previews, and what titles are coming out a few months, well, “down the line.”

This installment covers the November Previews for comics due to ship out in January 2007. Remember, especially with the indy books, that pre-ordering is your friend, and the best way to make sure you get the books you want. I should mention, thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that several of the books here won’t actually ship until February or later, but the preorders are still due by the end of November.

As always, the Previews rundown is in alphabetical order, rather than the order used in the catalog. To facilitate Continue Reading »

Episode number seven of the Comic Pants podcast is now live. Since Halloween is fast approaching, Dave Farabee, Randy Lander, David Martindale and Nick Budd talk this week about horror comics and Halloween-themed comics, everything from Walking Dead to Ghost Rider to From Hell.

As always, commentary is welcomed and encouraged. Let us know what you thought of the podcast, tell us what your favorite horror or Halloween comics are and, as always, if you’ve got suggestions Continue Reading »

Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.

This week we will cover Action Comics #844, Angel: Masks, Civil War: Choosing Sides #1, Classic Battlestar Galactica #1, Deathblow #1, Impaler #1, Perhapanauts: Second Chances #1 of 4 and Transformers Animated Movie Adaptation #1 of 4.

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STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo is coming back for its third annual show on Saturday, March 3, 2007. The only convention in the Southwest for independently produced comics, zines, and graphic arts will once again take place at the lovely Red Oak Ballroom at 2525 West Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas!

Photos!
Our 2006 event at the Red Oak was, by all accounts, a fantastic time for the fifty-plus vendors and over four hundred attendees. If you missed it, Continue Reading »

Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: J. H. Williams III
Company: Wildstorm

Warren Ellis (Planetary/Nextwave) loves to create bad-ass main characters for his books, doesn’t he? And while Elijah Snow and Spider Jerusalem were memorable, one might consider the interchangeable main character, in all his chain-smoking, rant-spouting, trenchcoat-wearing, ass-kicking glory, a bit of a cliche at this point. And if that is the case, if they are all so similar, how does he get away with doing it so often? The answer: Because he’s gotten so damn good at it and makes them so entertaining, that people don’t seem to care.
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Writer: Andersen Gabrych
Artist: Henry Flint
Company: DC Comics

The space heroes of DC and Marvel have been making a comeback in the past couple years, with books like Adam Strange, Rann/Thanagar War and Annihilation. The latest space heroes on the comeback trail are the Omega Men, but unlike Diggle’s relatively faithful take on Adam Strange, I suspect long-time fans will find these new characters harder to recognize. Not just because of Flint’s oddly intriguing but occasionally befuddling artwork, but because they’ve added new members and seemingly taken up a new cause, one that pushes them past anti-hero status into darker territory. Continue Reading »

What is a Bell Bottom Pick? At Comic Pants, we love the new, but sometimes we get nostalgic to talk up an older book or series and remember some greatness from “back in the day.” That “day” could be the extreme 90’s, the socially relevant 70’s, or the guys-wore-hats 50’s. Who knows? All we can tell you is that a Bell Bottom Pick is worth rifling though back issue bins for or even braving the wilds of Ebay. Our latest “Bell Bottom Pick” is Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight TPB (2000).
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