Blade II

Blade II

In our previous review, we discussed how the first Blade film bucked the late 90s trend of loud, bloated epics to revive 80s style action in the horror genre. The result was a fun if flawed gem that had the knock-on effect of bringing comic book movies back from the…
April 19, 20237 Comments
Blade

Blade

It's easy to forget now that comic book tie-ins are the only kind of movie Hollywood makes. But the genre was closer to Cultural Ground Zero than perhaps even sci fi in general. The summer of 1997 brought the fan and critic-panned disaster Batman and Robin. That movie was such…
April 14, 20238 Comments
Watterson The Mysteries

Watterson’s Return

Almost thirty years after retiring his beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, artist Bill Watterson returns with a strange new project. The Mysteries is a new 72-page book by Watterson and fellow artist John Kascht are creating what is described as "a fable for grown-ups." Scheduled to be published by…
February 15, 20232 Comments
The Real Independents

The Real Independents

As often happens, some recent discussions on Twitter provided teachable moments for my lesson in checking the backgrounds of anyone being sold to you online. It all started when @JoKaiGonZo roasted a cringe video by dress enthusiast Steven Crowder. The folks in the replies noticed a pattern.   And you…
August 30, 20224 Comments
Green Lantern Black Skins

Denny Destroys DC

The illustrious Man of the Atom makes his long-awaited return to bring us more deep comics lore. Picking up from last time, the tireless chronicler turns his attention from Marvel to DC. At National Periodicals, Weisinger edited Superman- and Batman-related titles early in his career, and was the long term…
January 18, 202227 Comments
Comic Book Ages & Generations

Comic Book Ages and Lost Generations

Man of the Atom returns with the sequel to his previous enlightening post on the history of American comics. This time, MotA does a deep dive into the comic book generation gap. “There was a GENERATION GAP in the comic book industry. There were some people in their 50’s and…
December 28, 202113 Comments
Superhero-Dials

Superhero Dials

The eagerly anticipated follow up to part 3 in Man of the Atom's series on the history and business of comic books has arrived! In this installment, our stalwart chronicler explores the Thor Power Tool case's impact on the industry, shares more story craft wisdom from Jim Shooter, and introduces…
December 15, 20218 Comments
Weird Tales Distro

Distro Tech

The irrepressible Man of the Atom continues his journey through American comic book history. Continuing his deep dive into comic book distribution, he takes a page--or three--from legendary Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Which distro method is superior: Newsstands or the direct market? Shooter’s and Rozanski’s analyses are well worth your…
December 6, 20219 Comments
Defaced Comic

Comics Defaced

Man of the Atom returns with part 2 in his series on the history of American comic books. This time, he examines comic book distribution, among many other topics. Return rate was the fraction of the total print run that was returned to the distributor by the retailers. Newsstand distribution…
November 30, 202111 Comments
Nebuchadnezzar Ages

The Ages of Comics

Friend of the blog Man of the Atom pens a learned essay on the origins and ages of American comic books: What about the stories? Where did they originate? Like any good writers, the comic authors typically went to the literature of the times as well as the recent past…
November 22, 20214 Comments