We never really get over high school, do we? Those old cliques and old resentments still rear their heads in the most unlikely places. Jocks still pick on nerds, making them the target of their jokes and their ire. Nerds, however, now fight back. Freed from the fear of being shoved into a locker, nerds are as likely to sling insults at jocks as vice versa.

I was…

47 RONIN #3 (OF 5)

A PLUS X #5 NOW

ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE #3 (OF 6) MAIN CVRS

ADVENTURES OF AUGUSTA WIND #5

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #13 XT

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ALL NEW X-MEN #6 2ND PTG IMMONEN…

In the Imaginary Story “Clark Kent’s Super-Son”, a rare combination of green and red and gold kryptonite robs Clark Kent of his super-powers as well as his memories of ever being Superman.  He goes on to marry Lois Lane and they have a son, Clark, Junior, who inherits all the mighty abilities that his father once possessed.  Ten years pass and while…

ACTIVITY TP VOL 02

ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 02

ADVS INTO THE UNKNOWN ARCHIVES HC VOL 02

ALBERT DORNE MASTER ILLUSTRATOR HC

ALL STAR WESTERN #17

ALPHA GIRL TP VOL 01 (MR)

AMALAS BLADE #0

ANGEL & FAITH #19

ANSWER #2 (OF 4)

AQUAMAN #17

ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #11

ARROW #4

ARTIFACTS #25

ASTONISHING X-MEN #59

AVENGERS ARENA #5 NOW

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #17

BART SIMPSON COMICS #80

BATMAN INCORPORATED #8…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

If you thought Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a clever idea, have I got a book for you!

The New Deadwardians (Vertigo, $14.99) is like a mash-up of Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead, with a sprinkle of True Blood. If that seems a preposterous combination, rest assured that it is not – in fact, it’s blood-suckingly, zombie-bitingly,…

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Web-Spinning Heroics: Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man (McFarland, $40) is a remarkable new book on Marvel’s wall-crawler for a variety of reasons.

Fair warning: Your humble columnist has an essay in the book (on whether J. Jonah Jameson is a hero or a villain). But other than that it’s really very good. Web-Spinning covers a variety of genres and approaches, offering…

You’ve got the idea, now.

The stories themselves weren’t terribly bad.  They weren’t Kingdom Come, but neither were they ludicrous in the same way that the phrase “Jimmy Olsen story” makes Silver-Age fans wince.  Then, a moment of sheer absurdity got dropped in. …

 …

ACTION COMICS #17

ADVENTURE TIME #13

ALAN ROBERT KILLOGY #3 (OF 4)

ALPHA BIG TIME #1 (OF 5)

ALTER EGO #115 SPECIAL 3D ISSUE

AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER PROMISE LIBRARY ED HC

AVENGERS #6 NOW2

AVENGERS VS THANOS TP

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN GOOD GREEN AND UGLY TP

BALTIMORE WIDOW & THE TANK ONE SHOT

BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #13

BATMAN DEATHBLOW DELUXE EDITION HC

BATWOMAN #17

BETTY & VERONICA #264

BIONIC WOMAN…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Hollywood is raiding comics for ideas so much these days that even obscure properties are making it to the big screen. Two such are in theaters now.

Bullet to the Head, based on the French graphic novel Headshot, premiered Feb. 1 and stars Sylvester Stallone. From the trailers – I haven’t seen the movie, nor do I intend to – Bullet looks to be a typical…

Major events, new creators and more

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

Hints, rumors, and portents continue to rumble in for what’s to come this year, and if there’s one thing we can expect, it’s lots of crossovers – and a few from unexpected precincts. That’s not all 2013 offers by a long shot, but it’s a good place to start.

ARCHIE COMICS

If you think…

 A Modern-Day 'Art of War'

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has been a classic for centuries, and has been adapted to comics by a number of creators. But none have taken the approach of first-time graphic novel creators Kelly Roman (writer) and Michael DeWeese (artist). Their The Art of War (Harper Perennial, $22.99) not only marries an SF narrative to the ancient classic, but imagines the…

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

If you ever hear a comics fan whine about “the good old days,” Comics Buyer’s Guide gives you permission to swat them with a copy of The Standard Catalog. Being a comics fan just keeps getting better and better, as evidenced by the big stories of 2012. Here are some stories that caught our eye:

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED

Not content with devouring The…

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

When writing about a legend like Stan Lee, one whose career is as long as the history of comics, you have to narrow the focus to just a few of The Man’s many accomplishments. For that I turned to Legion of Superfluous Heroes and asked for what they remember most fondly about Lee’s contributions to planet Earth. Their answers, as usual, were both surprising and satisfying.

 …

ADVENTURES OF SUPERHERO GIRL HC

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #12

ALABASTER WOLVES HC

AME COMI GIRLS #5 (OF 5) FEATURING SUPERGIRL

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES HC 1960-1964

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ARCHIE & FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #24

ARIOL SC VOL 01 JUST A DONKEY LIKE YOU & ME

ASSASSINS CREED THE CHAIN GN

ATOMIC ROBO TP VOL 07…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Tired of super-heroes? There’s plenty of good stuff out there without capes.

One of the best is DC’s All-Star Western, a book featuring the ongoing adventures of bounty hunter Jonah Hex, with back-ups starring other DC Western characters. The first collection, All-Star Western Volume 1: Guns and Gotham ($16.99) is out, and I’d recommend it to just about…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

That famous quote is from the comic strip Pogo, and truer words were never spoken – even though they were spoken by an anthropomorphic opossum. That little fella, Pogo, was the star of a comic strip written and drawn by Walt Kelly (and his heirs) from 1948 to 1975, and is well remembered for its whimsy, political satire, sociological…

I’ve always been a team guy. Ever since my childhood love of the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans, I’ve been drawn to superhero teams. But lately, my interests have become decidedly solitary. More and more, I’m following solo stars.

It’s not like I’ve been averse to solo heroes in the past. I’ve always had a solo star or two on my radar, whether it was…

30 DAYS OF NIGHT ONGOING TP VOL 03

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ALL NEW X-MEN #5 2ND PTG

ALL NEW X-MEN #7 NOW2

ALTER EGO #114

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700 2ND PTG

ANIMAL MAN #17 (ROT)

ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #10

AVENGERS #2 2ND PTG

AVENGERS #5 NOW2

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE ANNUAL #1 NOW

BATGIRL HC VOL 02 KNIGHTFALL DESCENDS (N52)

BATGIRL TP VOL 01 THE DARKEST REFLECTION (N52)

BATMAN…

As I mentioned last time, fans of comic books have to maintain an abundant suspension of disbelief to accept the fictional universe of their four-colour heroes.  To some degree, that’s true for fans of any medium’s fiction.  Even television dramas touted for their attention to realism, such as Dragnet, have to make concessions to reality; limitations in casting and…