Halloween is a happy time of the year for me.  It usually brings back fond memories of past costumes.  Of course, there have been a few recurring themes over the years.  Science fiction and fantasy.  Classic horror characters.  And, naturally, comic books.

 My first comic book costume was Batman.  I was probably 10 at the time.  My mom sewed a homemade costume for me and I cut a Batman logo out of yellow cardboard.  My brother dressed up as…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Oct. 23, 2012: The third season premiere of The Walking Dead Oct. 14 on AMC scored record-breaking ratings, with almost 11 million people tuning in.

And that’s deserved, because TWD is a terrific show. But it started as a terrific comic book, and if you’re not reading it, you should be. If you think the comics would spoil the TV show, or that the TV show makes the…

Things That Would Have Shocked My 12-Year-Old Self

Oct. 26, 2012: As I may have mentioned a few thousand times, science fiction (and fantasy and horror) were nearly non-existent in American pop culture in the 1960s when I was growing up. The conventional wisdom in Hollywood was that "science fiction doesn't sell," perhaps because all the SF movies in the 1950s were dopey B-movies about giant radioactive insects with…

It was Labor Day weekend 2009, when I embarked on an ambitious project that would eat up more than 3 years of my life. I decided to read every X-Men comic. All of them. In order.

I’d read most of them before. In fact, I’d read most of them more than once. But this was the first time that I would start in 1963 with X-Men #1 and systematically read right up through…

30 DAYS OF NIGHT ONGOING #11

A PLUS X #1 NOW

ABSOLUTE FINAL CRISIS HC

ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #1

ALL STAR WESTERN TP VOL 01 GUNS AND GOTHAM (N52)

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #32 (MR)

ANGEL & FAITH #15

AQUAMAN #13

ARCHIE #638

ARCHIE ARCHIVES HC VOL 07

ARMY OF DARKNESS ONGOING #6

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1

AVX CONSEQUENCES #4 (OF 5)

BATGIRL ANNUAL #1

BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #9

BATMAN EYE OF THE BEHOLDER TP…

If you were a Jimmy Olsen fan during the Silver Age, it was a tough row to hoe.

For every story in which Jimmy demonstrated intelligence, resourcefulness, and competence, there were a dozen in which he was depicted as a vainglorious, overconfident doofus.  And that might not have been so bad, if most of those tales had been smartly scripted ones about a…

Two viewpoints on the financial aspects of the hobby

Comics and convention economics

By Andrew A. Smith

Contributing editor

Two excellent books involving comics and economics have arrived in time for this all-review issue of CBG; one is a book about general economics in comics form, another is about comics economics in prose. Both…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

It’s October, so the scary is coming thick and fast – especially in books and comics.

Topping this week’s list is The Lovecraft Anthology Volume II (SelfMadeHero, $19.95), a collection of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories adapted to comics.  Volume I appeared in April, and was a similar quality anthology, using a variety of mostly A-list writers and…

It was the biggest story of the year: DC started over. They canceled their entire line of comic books and, in September 2011, started over with 52 new titles. It was a bold, unprecedented move in the history of comic book publishing. Of course, DC didn’t exactly start from scratch. A number of the new titles were relaunches of old favorites like Justice League and Superman. A…

A-BABIES VS X-BABIES #1

ADVENTURE TIME #9

ALAN ROBERT KILLOGY #1 (OF 4)

ALL STAR WESTERN #13

ALTER EGO #113

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #696

ARTIFACTS #22

ASTONISHING X-MEN #55

ASTONISHING X-MEN TP VOL 09 EXALTED

AVENGERS #32 AXFO

AVX CONSEQUENCES #3 (OF 5)

BART SIMPSON COMICS #76

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #13

BATTLE BEASTS #4 (OF 4)

BRAVEST WARRIORS #1 (OF 6)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER…

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

A number of people have adapted Sun Tzu’s The Art of War into comics. But writer Kelly Roman is the first to tell an actual story.

Roman’s graphic novel is set in the near future, when China is the dominant economic superpower, and Wall Street is weaponized.…

A-BABIES VS X-BABIES #1

ACTIVITY #9

AFTER EARTH ONE-SHOT

AIRBOY DEADEYE #4 (OF 5)

AMERICAN VAMPIRE LORD OF NIGHTMARES #5 (OF 5) (MR)

ANDREW LOOMIS CREATIVE ILLUSTRATION HC

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (NEW) #3

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #8

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN TP FRIENDS BEAT UP YOUR FRIEND

AVX CONSEQUENCES #2 (OF 5)

BATWOMAN #13

BEFORE WATCHMEN MINUTEMEN #4 (OF 6) (MR)

BETTY & VERONICA #262

BILLY KIDS ODDITIES & ORM LOCH…

Fear Itself, Uncanny X-Men 540-543, 2011: The last couple of years have been somewhat crossover heavy for the X-Men, especially following the success of Messiah Complex. And yet, these crossovers have generated some very good stories- especially on the periphery. The X-Men aren’t featured stars in the Marvel crossover fear itself, but they do join in for a…

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

It’s still a few weeks from Halloween, but the scary comics are already here. Some examples:

* Swamp Thing has a history of renewal, and the character has been reborn once again as part of DC Comics’ “The New 52,” the line-wide re-launch that started in September 2011. The new Swamp Thing is by writer Scott Snyder (Batman) and artist Yanick Paquette (Ultimate…

ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE SCREAM QUEENS #4 MAIN CVRS

AME COMI GIRLS #1 FEATURING WONDER WOMAN

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (NEW) #3 CHAR DESIGN CVR

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG (NEW) #3 LOZZI CVR

AVENGERS #31 AXFO

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE TP VOL 05

AVENGERS CAPTAIN AMERICA SHIELD PEWTER KEYRING

AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE TP

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #13

AVX CONSEQUENCES #1 (OF 5)

AVX CONSEQUENCES #1 (OF 5) RIVERA VAR

BATGIRL #13

BATMAN #13

BATMAN #13…