Batman is Brave and Superman Fights for Truth Written by Donald Lemke, drawn by Ethen Beavers Picture Windows Books, $7.99 Given how dangerous being a superhero can be, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under the age of 18, and I don’t care what Robin says or does (If Robin jumped off the Gotham [...]
About J. Caleb Mozzocco
J. Caleb Mozzocco is a way-too-busy freelance writer who has written about comics for online and print venues for a rather long time now. He currently contributes to Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog and ComicsAlliance, and maintains his own daily-ish blog at EveryDayIsLikeWednesday.blogspot.com. He lives in northeast Ohio, where he works as a circulation clerk at a public library by day.
Interview: Editor Chris Duffy on Fairy Tale Comics
By on September 14, 2013
While several aspects of comic book creation rarely get the attention they deserve (think lettering and coloring, for example), none gets shorter shrift than comics editing, perhaps the most invisible part of a finished comic book. Due to the nature of the work, which naturally occurs behind the scenes, no one ever really gets to [...]
Interview: Tony Cliff and Delilah Dirk and The Turkish Lieutenant
By on September 11, 2013
She’s a fearless, reckless, globe-trotting, swashbuckling swordswoman, adventuress, and trouble magnet. He’s a fastidious functionary with a minor military job and a passion for blending, brewing, drinking, and sharing tea. Together they’re traveling companions. That’s the relationship at the heart of cartoonist Tony Cliff’s new original graphic novel Delilah Dirk and The Turkish Lieutenant, in [...]
Review: Batman Beyond Universe #1
By on August 28, 2013
Batman Beyond Universe #1 Written by Kyle Higgins and Christos N. Gage Drawn by Thony Silas and Dan Coello DC Comics, $3.99 Rated T, for Teen Of all the Batman animated series to come and go from television since Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992, Batman Beyond was the shortest lived, at just 52 [...]
Review: Anna & Froga: I Dunno…What Do You Want to Do?
By on August 6, 2013
Anna & Froga: I Dunno…What Do You Want to Do? By Anouk Ricard Drawn & Quarterly/Enfant, $14.95 In format, the new Anna & Froga book resembles a cross between a children’s picture book and a comic book, with a hard cover, a big, almost 8 x 10 inch size, and captioned, painted illustrations following each [...]
Review: Mad Super Spectacular: Superman, Man of Steel #1
By on July 31, 2013
Written and drawn by The Usual Gang of Idiots DC Comics, $4.99 DC uses the occasion of a release of yet another Superman feature film, the franchise’s sixth, to gather-up and repackage a slew of their previous Superman movie parodies into this themed special that’s cover-to-cover Superman jokes, dating as far back as 1966 and [...]
Review: The Malevolent Mr. Burns
By on July 29, 2013
The Malevolent Mr. Burns #1 Written by Gail Simone, Ian Boothby, Nathan Kane, Dean Rankine Drawn by Mike Kazaleh, Chris Houghton, Tone Rodriguez, Rankine, Jason Ho and Mike Rote Bongo Comics, $3.99 In its 24 seasons on the air (so far), The Simpsons has gradually generated one of the biggest and richest supporting casts [...]
Review: Batman ’66 #1
By on July 23, 2013
Batman ’66 #1 Written by Jeff Parker, drawn by Jonathan Case DC Comics, $3.99 Rated E, for Everyone Congratulations, Comic Books! You have apparently finally made it! For years, for decades, for at least a generation, the medium as a whole has been haunted by the success of the campy, comedic 1966-68 Batman TV show, [...]
Interview: Artist Maris Wicks on Primates
By on July 11, 2013
A few weeks ago, Massachusetts-based artist Maris Wicks was probably best known in comics circles for her short contributions to anthologies like SpongeBob Comics and AdHouse’s Project: Romantic and Superior Showcase (those, or perhaps her super-cute drawings of superheroes and Star Wars characters on her blog). Now, however, she’s got a big, brand-new graphic novel [...]
Interview: Writer Jim Ottaviani on Primates
By on July 10, 2013
What do Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas have in common? Aside, of course, from being three courageous scientists who revolutionized our understanding of our fellow primates. And aside from sharing a mentor of sorts in famed British naturalist Louis Leakey. Oh, and aside from each devoting their lives to the study of a [...]
Review: Batman/Superman #1
By on June 26, 2013
Batman/Superman #1 Written by Greg Pak, drawn by Jae Lee and Ben Oliver DC Comics, $3.99 Rated T, for readers 12 and up It’s been nearly two years since DC Comics canceled their Superman/Batman team-up title (along with the rest of their line, in order to introduce the new “New 52″ universe), but this week [...]
Review: ARiOL Vols. 1-2
By on June 24, 2013
ARiOL Vol. 1: Just a Donkey Like You and Me and ARiOL Vol. 2: Thunder Horse Written by Emmanuel Guibert and drawn by Marc Boutavant Papercutz, $12.99 each The back cover copy on the first translated and re-published volume of ARiOL, a kid-centric comedy comic from the writer of Sardine in Outer Space and [...]
Review: Spongebob Annual-Size Super-Giant Swimtacular #1
By on June 18, 2013
SpongeBob Annual-Size Super-Giant Swimtacular #1 Written by Derek Drymon, Scott Roberts, James Kochalka and Chuck Dixon, and drawn by Drymon, Vince DePorter, Ramona Fradon, Kochalka, Hilary Barta Jacob Chabot and others United Plankton Pictures, $4.99 Comic book publishers used to release annuals—bigger, costlier versions of their monthly comics—during the summer, when kids had more [...]
Review: X-Men #1
By on June 12, 2013
X-Men #1 Written by Brian Wood, penciled by Olivier Coipel, inked by Mark Morales and Coipel Marvel Entertainment, $3.99 Rated T+, for ages 12 and up Given the fact that the older Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, and company’s X-Men comics have long been a breeding ground of Marvel’s best-known superheroines—Marvel never had [...]
Review: Sabrina, The Teenage Witch The Magic Within Vol. 1
By on June 5, 2013
Sabrina The Teenage Witch: The Magic Within Vol. 1 Written and penciled by Tania del Rio, inked by Jim Amash Archie Comics, $10.99 In 2004 Archie Comics hired up-and-coming artist Tania del Rio to reinvent their Sabrina character, who at that point had been appearing in comics for over 40 years and had already generated [...]
Review: The Smurflings
By on May 14, 2013
The Smurflings By Peyo Papercutz The monotonous blue and white color scheme of the Smurf village gets broken up a bit in this fifteenth installment of Papercutz’s Smurfs reprints, which introduces a quartet of new characters to Smurf village, each of who eschew the white pants and hat ensemble that most Smurfs favor. [...]
Review: Benny Breakiron Vol. 1: The Red Taxis
By on May 13, 2013
Benny Breakiron Vol. 1: The Red Taxis By Peyo and Will Maltaite Papercutz American audiences have certainly embraced Belgian cartoonist Pierre “Peyo” Cuilliford’s most famous creation over the decades, with a successful cartoon series a cornerstone of 9 Saturday morning memories, 2011 live-action/CGI movie popular enough to generate a sequel and a series of [...]
Review: Chicagoland Detective Agency #5: The Bark in Space
By on April 30, 2013
Chicagoland Detective Agency #5: The Bark In Space By Trina Robbins and Tyler Page Lerner Publishing/Graphic Universe; $6.95 Meet the Chicagoland Detective Agency: Megan, tween goth who composes haiku out-loud on the spot, whenever she’s inspired; Raf, teenage genius and part-time employee of his parents’ pet food store; and Bradley, a talking dog. There’s no [...]
Review: Superman Adventures
By on April 29, 2013
Superman Adventures: Men of Steel By Paul Dini, Rick Burchett and Terry Austin Superman Adventures: Distant Thunder By Scott McCloud, Rick Burchett and Terry Austin Captson/Stone Arch; $15.95 In looking for DC back issues to mine for hardcover reprints, Capstone stuck a particularly rich vein in Superman Adventures, the 1996-2002 series based on the [...]
Review: The Little Prince Books 5 and 6
By on April 23, 2013
Like most inspired literary creations that managed to strike a strong chord with a wide audience, the title character of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 illustrated novella The Little Prince never really went away. Whether in the original form or in one of the many media adaptations—the most familiar of which to Americans of a certain [...]
