Forum 2.0

Superman from the Beginning

This painting by pulp artist H.J. Ward, best known for his Spicy Detective covers, hung for years in the DC offices.

FREQUENTLY RECURRING CHARACTERS / VILLAINS:

LUTHOR: 

• Action Comics #23, 42, 43, 125, 131,146
• Superman #4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18, 20 (came

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On Format

It's official. The new Marvel catalog is out today and, for the first time in many years, a new MMW is not in it. Not that I didn't believe Bleeding Cool's reporting; it's just that not seeing a MMW solicited really strikes home for me. It would not

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The HULK! (Marvelcolor)

After nine issues of being a b&w continuity implant magazine, Rampaging Hulk switched to color and became simply The HULK! I imagine the change was to make it more palatable to potential readers familiar with the Hulk only via the then-current TV sho

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My comics reviews for the Village Voice

I wrote reviews of Hey, Mary!, Animal Pound, and The Red Badge of Courage for the Village Voice, and they were just posted online. Here's a taste:

The first book on the docket is Hey, Mary! (Oni Press, $17.99),  by writer Andrew Wheeler and artist Rye

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Comics List for week of June 23, 2025

TOP 10 PUBLISHERS

NO. 1: MARVEL COMICS

BLOOD HUNTERS: MEAN STREETS TP ($17.99)
CHASM: CURSE OF KAINE TP ($17.99)
DEADPOOL #15 ($7.99)
DOOM ACADEMY #5 (OF 5, $3.99)
FANTASTIC FOUR #33 ($3.99)
GIANT-SIZE AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1 ($4.99)
INCREDIBLE HULK #26

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Rampaging Hulk (Hulk tpbs)

I was always ambivalent toward Marvel's "Essential" and DC's "Showcase" lines back when they were a going concern. On the one hand, they were an inexpensive way to get a large chunk of continuity, but on the other they were black & white. I didn't mi

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Post-Byrne Fantastic Four*

I remember being HUGELY disappointed in Fantastic Four #296 when I first read it in 1986. Part of the the reason is that it appeared immediately after John Byrne's last issue on the title; and another part of the reson is that it is the 25th annivers

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Comics List for week of June 16, 2025

TOP 10 PUBLISHERS

This list assembled from Diamond Comic Distributors, Dark Horse Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW Publishing, Lunar Distribution, Penguin Random House and Viz Media.

NO. 1: MARVEL COMICS
ALIENS VS AVENGERS #4 (OF 4, $7.99)
AMAZING

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Fan-of-Bronze: After the CRISIS, What Would YOU Have Done?

With Back Issue #159 being a celebration of Crisis on Infinite Earths 40th Anniversary (WHAT!!!) and "Doc" Beechler bringing it up on FB, where I posted something similar, I was thinking about Marv Wolfman's original intent, that in 1987, all DC titl

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Blood Type

The latest addition to Oni Press's "EC" imprint is Blood Type, a four-issue limited series featuring a single character, a vampire named Ada, spun out of a single story from Epitaphs from the Abyss #3 about a vampire in a lifeboat. This series picks

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FF OMNI v6 & MMW FF

This doesn't happen very often, but Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 6 (which ships today) corresponds exactly to Marvel Masterworks Fantastic Four Vols. 16-18; specifically, they both reprint Fantastic Four #164-203, Annuals #11-13, plus assorted other o

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Supergirl (2025)

Okay, time for another Supergirl discussion.

This one follows...

• Supergirl Archives, Volumes One and Two
• The Silver Age Supergirl
• DC Finest - Supergirl, The Girl of Steel
• The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl
• PAD Supergirl
• Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

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DC Finest - The Superdog from Krypton

Before this volume was even officially solicited, I predicted it would become my favorite release of 2025. A brief perusal of the "Your Favorite Things of the Year" discussion proves that assertion to be true, at least so far. I have been reading it

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Comic Book Rock Lyrics

I was reading Action Comics #398 (March 1971) this morning, in which Clark Kent covers the Seaside Folk-Rock Festival and I thought it might be fun to cite some lyrics from rock songs as written by the "hep" writers of '60s and '70s era comic book wr

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Comics List for week of June 9, 2025

TOP 10 PUBLISHERS 

 NO. 1: MARVEL COMICS
ANNIHILATION MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION VOL 1: ANNIHILATION TP ($44.99)
AVENGERS ACADEMY #1 ($5.99)
DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL U ONE LAST TIME #3 (OF 5, $3.99)
DEADPOOL / WOLVERINE #6 ($3.99)
DEATH OF THE SILVER SU

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Aquaman (1994)

(You may consider this another Peter David tribute post if you like.)

Shortly after updating Aquaman's origin story in the Aquaman: Time & Tide limited series (colloquially known as "AT&T"), Peter David was given an Aquaman ongoing series. In the firs

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DC Finest - Kryptonite Nevermore

SHIPPED TODAY:

I have been bellyachin' about DC not releasing '70s era Superman for so long now that if I didn't buy this volume on the day it was released I could be classified a hypocrite. In point of fact, DC did release some of this material (Supe

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Master of Kung Fu

This is my second (or third depending on how you count) attempt to make my way through all of Master of Kung Fu. MoKF is one of several Marvel series I did not read in the seventies, but has attained nigh-legendary status among its fans, two of the o

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Comics list for week of June 2, 2025

TOP 10 PUBLISHERS

NO. 1: MARVEL COMICS
ALIEN: GALAXY OF NIGHTMARES TP ($44.99)
ALL- NEW VENOM #7 ($4.99)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5 ($4.99)
DAREDEVIL #22 ($4.99)
DOCTOR STRANGE OF ASGARD #4 (OF 5, $3.99)
FANTASTIC FOUR BY MORRISON & LEE 1234 TP ($17.99)
F

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MMW Vol. 379 (Avengers Vol. 25)

The Stern/Buscema Avengers stands among John Byrne's Fantastic Four, Walt Simonson's Thor and Frank Miller's Daredevil as the best Marvel comics of the '80s. Roger Stern had been writing The Avengers since #227, but I had no advance notice that John

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