Jonathan Hickman added a bunch of new Avengers to the Avengers at the end of his first issue (and I’m sure he’ll be adding even MORE new members as time goes by). Which of the new additions are you most excited about/most interested in learning more about them? Click here to vote!

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Conan the Cimmerian #2, which was published by Dark Horse and is cover dated August 2008. This scan [...]

Welcome to the three hundredth and ninety-sixth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. This week, learn what surprising place had the first comic book appearance of Nintendo’s Mario, discover the bizarre secret of the Bearriers and marvel at Walter Simonson fighting alongside Luke Skywalker! Click [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

We hope you had a holly, jolly Fred Van Lente Day! If you missed anything, here is my review of Comic Book Comics, here is my review of Archer and Armstrong #1-4, here is a chat I did with Fred where I asked him YOUR questions that YOU submitted, here is a strange Fred Van [...]

Okay, here are the people who have submitted their take on Page 17 of Archer and Armstrong #1 by today’s celebrant, Fred Van Lente (which was originally penciled by Clayton Henry)! Read on to see the script page and then the entries! You will have a chance to vote for your favorite. Your votes mixed [...]

Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment! Today, in honor of Fred Van [...]

It just occurred to me, like, a half hour ago that I didn’t have the first Fred Van Lente Day up on this blog. It was still only at the old blog. So I added them all to the archive now, so they exist on this site. Here are links to the first five Fred [...]

On the side of this blog are a lot of fine blogs where folks talk about comic books. Each week I pick out ten cool quotes about comics from those blogs during the past comic week. I cannot promise that my picks will be thorough, or even the best quotes. They are just quotes that [...]

Here is this year’s Fred Van Lente chat, where I asked Fred reader-submitted questions! Enjoy! Brian Cronin Welcome to the happiest chat of the year, the Fred Van Lente Day Chat! Frev Van Lente: Huzzah! BC: Here is the first question! BC: Michael M. asks, “Is Action Presidents still on track for publication early next [...]

It came to me that he meant something different by “smile” than I did; that the irony, the humourlessness, the ruthlessness I had always noticed in his smiling was a quality he deliberately inserted; that for him the smile was something essentially cruel, because freedom is cruel, because the freedom that makes us at least [...]

The initial story arc in Fred Van Lente, Clayton Henry and Matt Milla’s Archer and Armstrong has just ended and it was a real blast (that was not intended as a pun, but there WERE a good deal of explosions in the comic, as well). Let’s take a look! If you’re familiar with Valiant history, [...]

Speaking of the Comic Book History of Comics, a wise man once wrote, “In this dazzling overview of comic book history, the only thing that impresses as much as the palatable feeling of love for comics by Van Lente and Dunlavey is the painstaking research clearly put into this well-organized, insightful and brilliantly illustrated comic [...]

Welcome again to Say It With Manga. This week, I once again cover three manga series in three different genres in brief. A trip to the mountains, the classroom, and a crazed city are in order this week, I think. HISTORICAL: A Bride’s Story – Kaoru Mori The most distinctive thing about [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Legends of the Dark Knight #70, which was published by DC and is cover dated April 1995. Enjoy! [...]

This week saw the release of the much-anticipated first issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run, with artists Jerome Opena and Dean White. The issue lived up to the hype as Hickman appears set to deliver an incredible run of comic books. Going into this run, a fascinating aspect of Hickman’s Avengers that I think we [...]

Go follow Comics Should Be Good on Twitter (if you have Twitter, that is – if you don’t, you can go sign up). Here is our Twitter page… http://twitter.com/csbg. And here are the Comics Should Be Good writers who are on Twitter (the links go to the person’s Twitter account) – myself, Greg Hatcher, Chad [...]

It occurs to me that it seems like many comic book covers are homages. Which is fine with me. I have no problem with it. It just made me think, though, how long could I go before I hit a week where NO new comic book was released that had a cover that was an [...]

It’s that special time of year again, that most awesome of holidays, Fred Van Lente Day! In honor of the occassion, we’ll be getting back to the roots of the holiday with reviews of the Comic Book History of Comics and Van Lente’s first Archer and Armstrong arc, as well as revealing the entries for [...]

Every week you’ll get a brand-new comic cover theme game! The game works like this: I’ll show you three covers. They all have something in common, whether it be a character, a trait all three characters share, a connection between all three characters, a locale, a creator, SOMEthing. And it isn’t something obvious like “They [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

Welcome to the latest edition of Golden Age Christmas, where we will feature a different Golden Age Christmas comic book story every day from now until Christmas Eve! Today we look at a 1945 Captain Marvel Adventures story about Captain Marvel fighting a plot against Christmas! I dunno who wrote this story, but the art [...]

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Written by Eiji Otsuka, Art by Housui Yamazaki Dark Horse, 208 pp Rating: 18 + The 13th volume of Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki’s horror comedy, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service has arrived. The duo delivers three more tales involving the reoccurring antagonists, the Shirosagi group, a look at the [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Team Zero #2, which was published by DC/Wildstorm and is cover dated March 2006. Enjoy! Team Zero was [...]

Every week, I will be sharing with you three comic book “easter eggs.” An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So [...]

Do we, as comic book readers and lovers really want to hear about the business of comic books? Do we want to hear about a director who used violent hate language to talk about women and homosexuals? Do we want to hear about the departure of one of the most visible, powerful women in alternative [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

Every week we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore. Not major stuff like “the first appearance of Superman,” but rather, “the first time someone said, ‘Avengers Assemble!’” or “the first appearance of Batman’s giant penny” or “the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth” or “the first [...]

Random Thought! The downfall of Vertigo continues. It’s Random Thoughts time! Get excited! Link Thought! GraphiContent for comics. butterbeatleblog for popculture. 411mania for wrestling reviews and the occasional CD review. My Twitter account for random thoughts as they happen in real time. Random Thought! Brian Michael Bendis’s tenure on the Avengers books has officially come [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Avengers Academy #11, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated May 2011. Enjoy! The final page [...]

I name two comic book characters. You then have to connect the two using only shared appearances in comic books (official appearances in comics only – no cameos like Terry Austin sneaking Popeye into the background of a panel and no outside comic book appearances, like cartoons and the like). You have to do so [...]

I’ve been receiving a few comics in the mail recently, so I thought I’d review them all at once. So under the cut you’ll find The Molting #6-7, Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman #1, Vacant #1-3, Extravangant Traveler #1, and Model Student #1. Self-published comics are F-U-N!!!! (Plus, there’s a little bit of NSFW stuff [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Jenny Finn #2, which was published by Oni Press and is cover dated September 1999. This scan is [...]

I’ll be asking Fred your questions in three hours. So if you have any questions you’d like to ask him, e-mail them to me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com before the time is up! Fred has had quite a varied career in comics, so there is a lot to ask him about!

Welcome back to my annual female positive comics holiday gift list! So the holidays are upon us again and you’ve decided that in these tough economic times you want to support the comic industry by giving everyone on your list sweet comics. And not only that, but you want to take it one step further [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

The deadline to participate in our art challenge to draw a page from Fred Van Lente’s Archer and Armstrong #1 is tonight, December 3rd at 11:59 PM Pacific. It’s a nice challenge for artists wanting to test their sequential skills. And since you should be able to draw a page in a day, there’s still [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Thanks to Nick Perks for the [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Planetary #12, which was published by DC/Wildstorm and is cover dated January 2001. Enjoy! Planetary #12 marks a [...]

As with any traditional Advent Calendar, each day reveals a treat. Just click on the current day and you’ll be linked to a neat comic-related Christmas treat. This year, the treat is a “Golden Age Christmas,” with spotlights on Christmas comic book stories from the Golden Age of Comics. For today, the first day of [...]

Every week, we will be examining comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically “overturned” by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An’ Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at [...]

This year’s hide-out-from-the-holidays road trip was, for me, the fulfillment of an idle wish I’d been carrying around in the back of my head for years. We spent four days in Tokeland, Washington, a tiny little town on the coast just south of Aberdeen. The reason I was so jazzed for this is because, for [...]

Boy, Previews #291 has some lousy covers. Look below the cut to see one of them! Dark Horse: I forgot to mention this last month, but Dark Horse does it again on the page soliciting Star Wars #2 (page 36). “Brian Wood! Alex Ross!” shouts the text above the cover image. Poor Carlos D’Anda, who’s [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. As it’s now December, I will be examining the LAST pages of random comics, so watch out for SPOILERS! Today’s page is from Dazzler #35, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated January 1985. Enjoy! Obviously, as I’m going [...]

Another month, another bunch of trade paperbacks. Plus: real books? What craziness is this???? All Star Western volume 1: Guns and Gotham by Jimmy Palmiotti (writer), Justin Gray (writer), Moritat (artist), Phil Winslade (artist), Jordi Bernet (artist), Gabriel Bautista (colorist), Rob Schwager (colorist), Dominic Regan (colorist), and Rob Leigh (letterer). $16.99, 168 pgs, FC, DC. [...]

Every day this year, I will be examining the first pages of random comics. Today’s page is from Taskmaster #3, which was published by Marvel and is cover dated January 2011. This scan is from the trade paperback Taskmaster: Unthinkable, which was published in 2011. Enjoy! Fred van Lente and Jefte Palo’s Taskmaster mini-series is [...]

Welcome to the three hundredth and ninety-fifth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. This week, learn whether Aunt May was going to be revealed as Peter Parker’s birth mother, discover who invented Batman’s grappling hook – the movies or the comic books? and finally, what [...]

In the latest You Decide, tying in with Brian Michael Bendis’ final Avengers issue, we ask which character that Bendis added to the Avengers did you think was the best addition (and yes, Spider-Man and the Thing were both technically Avengers before, but never to the extent that they were under Bendis)? Click here to [...]

Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment! Today we look at 1996′s Gen13 [...]

Hello and welcome to Say It With Manga, where I’ll be talking about a handful of manga in brief every week. I’ll read just about anything, and here I’ll be discussing it by genre. The genres should shift every week, although it’s likely that action and romance will make frequent appearances, as there are many [...]

What theater do we have besides beauty contests? (Maxine Hong Kingston, from Tripmaster Monkey) Batman Incorporated #5 (“Asylum”) by Grant “Working in the DCnU has sucked my sense of whimsy away!” Morrison (writer), Chris Burnham (artist), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist), and Dave Sharpe (letterer). $2.99, 20 pgs, FC, DC. The God of All Comics revisits the [...]

The great Fred Van Lente is not going to be able to do a public chat this Fred Van Lente Day (he’ll be tied up with some important comic book business that day), so he’s instead agreed to let you folks submit questions and I’ll ask him them on Monday and I’ll provide the answers [...]

A couple of folks wanted to participate in our art challenge to draw a page from Fred Van Lente’s Archer and Armstrong #1, but the end of the month was kind of tough for them, so I decided to extend the deadline to Monday night, December 3rd at 11:59 PM Pacific. I’d really like to [...]