Brave & The Bold will be returning to television on the Cartoon network come up Friday 25th March 2011. One of its episodes called "Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!" will air on Friday, April 1. It will feature "three tales from Batman's lore, including Bat Boy and Rubin, an anime Batman and Batman and Robin teaming with Scooby-Doo." I like that quirky concept and would not mind seeing that DC comics' use its Bizarro Comics concept of using indie writers to tell stories…

The Hulk, Mind Slave!

It’s not much of a mind, but a lot of people conveniently decided they had to have it!

Dear Mr. Silver Age,

I know The Hulk is a misunderstood beast, but you’d think, with all his good intentions and the good deeds he did in his early days during The Silver Age,…

Watching SeaQuest started out as a slightly nostalgic pleasure for me. 

            SeaQuest first came out when I was in college.  I saw a few episodes here and there but I was too busy with school work and dorm life and everything else to follow it regularly.  So I was interested in watching the complete series.             

            SeaQuest was similar to…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Feb. 22, 2011 -- “DC and Marvel better look out, because here we come.”

So sayeth Jon Goldwater, CEO of Archie Comics, about the venerable publisher’s plans. While DC, Marvel and Archie comics all date back to the late 1930s, Archie has always been the quiet one, staying out of the news while dutifully turning out G-rated laughs for the tween set.

 …

In one of my first Deck Log Entries, ‘way back when, I took a look at The Avengers King-Size Special # 1 (Sep., 1967), featuring the story “The Monstrous Master Plan of the Mandarin.”  The story was notable for its resemblance to the style in which Gardner Fox wrote the early Justice League of America tales.  The author of the Avengers story, Roy Thomas, spent…

5 RONIN #1 (OF 5)

ABATTOIR #3 (OF 6) (MR)    

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #651 2ND PTG

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #652 2ND PTG

AN ELEGY FOR AMELIA JOHNSON HC

ANGEL ILLYRIA #4 (OF 4) 

ANNIHILATORS #1 (OF 4)

ARCHIE #618  

ASTONISHING THOR #3 (OF 5)  

AVENGERS ACADEMY #10

AVENGERS THOR CAPTAIN AMERICA OFF INDEX MU #11 

AXE COP BAD GUY EARTH #1 (OF 3)  

AZRAEL #18     

BATMAN BEYOND #3  

BATMAN…

Good news, everyone!

Rich Steeves, a Legionnaire of long standing, has gotten his very first novel published! Woo-hoo!

Here's what his publisher, Seven Realms Publishing, has to say:

MISTY JOHNSON, SUPERNATURAL DICK:  CAPITOL HELL

Book One of the Misty Johnson series…

On this day 10 years ago, I was in an accident that totaled my car. I am grateful today for three things: 



That I was in the car by myself; I doubt a passenger would have survived.



That I walked away from it whole; save for some pain in my side that lasted about a week, I was and remain physically sound.



That God saw fit to spare me, that I may carry on in this world and be the husband, father and person He wants me to be.

I am also grateful to have…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Feb. 15, 2011 -- Many retailers wouldn’t sell sexy Vampirella magazine to minors when it debuted in 1969. They believed they were protecting kids, and they were – from terrible stories.

Vampirella Archives Vol. 1 ($49.99) has arrived from Dynamite…

27 (TWENTY SEVEN) #2 (OF 4) 2ND PTG

ABYSS FAMILY ISSUES #1 (OF 4)

ACTION COMICS #898   

AGE OF X ALPHA #1 2ND PTG

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #655 BIG 

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #12 (MR)    

ANGELUS TP VOL 01  

ART OF BOOM STUDIOS SC (RES) 

ARTIFACTS #5 (OF 13) 2ND PTG

ASTONISHING X-MEN #36 

ASTONISHING X-MEN TP VOL 06 EXOGENETIC  

ATOMIC ROBO DEADLY ART OF SCIENCE #4 (OF 5) 

AVENGERS…

Last week I went over the Silver-Age history of the Secret Six, DC’s version of Mission: Impossible, about a team of clandestine operatives that undertakes missions to overthrow foreign dictators and untouchable crime bosses.  In a novel twist, each member of the Secret Six is compelled to serve on the team under the threat of blackmail by the mysterious, hooded figure…

Have you ever wondered why people sign up to be part of a supervillain's army? They're sure to get their face beaten in. They might even serve time in jail. They work in horrible conditions: Guarding canisters of poisons, go on patrols through experimental particle facilities, and everyone around them is armed to the teeth.

It's just not exactly what you'd call an OSHA-approved workplace.

But they do it anyway. Why?

Find out a few of the reasons in the latest edition of…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Feb. 8, 2011 -- You think you’re behind? *Sigh* Let me try to get the last 2010 books out of the Teetering Tower of Review Stuff …

* I initially passed on Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes (DC, $39.99) because I have all the comics whose covers…

  District X by David Hine, David Yardin, Lan Medina and Mike Perkins

There’s a reason why I skipped District X when it first came out.  There was a trend in comics at the time- and particularly in X-Men comics- to wallow in the ugliness of life.  I know that our world includes prostitutes and drug addicts.  A comic book universe which never…

28 DAYS LATER #20

ALL STAR SUPERMAN COLLECTORS SET  

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #654.1  

ANGEL #42    

ARCHIE & FRIENDS #152   

ARCHIE NEW LOOK SERIES TP V5 GOODBYE FOREVER

ASTONISHING X-MEN XENOGENESIS #5 (OF 5)  

AVENGERS ACADEMY #9 

BATMAN #707    

BAYOU TP VOL 02 (RES) 

BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #188 

BOOSTER GOLD #41  

BOYS #51 (MR) 

BRIGHTEST DAY…

DC Comics’ answer to television’s Mission: Impossible had a most novel debut.  The cover of the first issue of The Secret Six (Apr.-May, 1968) served as the first three panels of the story inside.  As the cover blurb put it, “you’ve already started the first memorable mission of . . . the Secret Six!”

As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, 1968…

In light of our recent discussion in Cap's Blog about Archie and the gang, I pulled out this AMSA column from CBG #1583 (March 19, 2004), arguing for a modest proposition that would make the Archie gang way more interesting and drop the point spread on the Betty Vs. Veronica cage match below six figures. 

After this article appeared, CBG told me that Archie Comics ordered extra copies of the issue. Sadly, I don't believe they took my arguments to heart, more's the…

A Conversation with a Non-Comic Book Reader about the Fantastic Three

“So what’s up with the Fantastic Three?”

“They killed the Human Torch.”

“Yeah, but what’s up with that?”

“Do you want the long answer?”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Okay.  You have to remember I’ve taken enough creative…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Feb. 1, 2011 -- Ding dong, the witch is dead.

Or maybe I should say all other witches are symbolically back from the dead. Because the witch in question – the industry’s self-censoring Comics Code Seal of Approval – is the one that outlawed from comic books monsters, sex,…