Jace continues the Thanos Reading Order by diving deep into Warlock #10. We learn why Thanos is on the side of good right now as he teams up with Adam Warlock to defeat Adam's evil future counterpart from the past. Sound confusing? Well give this episode a listen so Jace can break it down for you. All this plus classic Jim Starlin art and a recap of the Thanos arc from Captain Marvel given by Mar-vell himself!
Jace continues looking at the history of Thanos with Warlock #9. This is the story that begins to entwine the destiny and narrative of these two cosmic cornerstones of the Marvel Universe. A brief rundown of Adam Warlock's history followed by a breakdown of this issue with culminates with the first reappearance of Thanos in publication history following his defeat and seeming destruction at the end of Captain marvel #33. Also this issue is where we first learn of the connection between Thanos and Gamora, who we now know as the Mad Titan's adoptive daughter.
Do you ever wonder what happened to Thanos after his supposed death in Captain Marvel #33. That first classic story crafted by Jim Starlin where Thanos was defeated by Captain marvel seemingly ended with the Mad Titans death, but a few months later he showed up in the pages of Warlock. How and why was Thanos spared? The master of Marvel cosmos himself is back to fill in the gaps, Jim Starlin along with his frequent artistic collaborator Ron Lim gives us an amazing tale that ties into the past as well as the future of Thanos. This tale adds so much to the character and even serves as a wonderful introduction to the character for any who are not familiar with the would be conqueror. Finally we will mention that goign back and retroactively telling tales that fit seamlessly into continuity is an extremely difficult feat, but Starling pulls it off flawlessly and other creators should take note of how to do it properly.
Jace discuss in depth 5 recent books he has read, starting with Female Furies #1. The world of Apokolips is ruled by Darkseid with an iron fist and it is no surprise that it is misogynists and backwards in terms of equality, but that doesn't sop the Female Furies from trying to right the imbalance. In Die #3 we start to get an idea of just how far in over their heads the 5 friends and former RPG players are. Also we are introduced to the "warden" of the world of Die and he just may be someone you've heard of. Jace breaks down the third issue of Mark Millar's Prodigy and takes about how the series just isn't working for him due to lazy writing and too many factual inconsistencies to be enjoyable. Self Made;s third issue flips the story on it's head as we head into act 2 with all the status quo thrown out the window and the very survival of our protagonist Amala is unknown by issue's end. Finally in the debut of Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil, Matt may have stepped over the line and rung a bell he can never unring. Zdarsky may be going over some familiar territory but he is doing it with such great characterization, intriguing interactions and dramatic tension that Jace was immediately sucked in.
More holiday cheer as Jace talks about his two favorite holiday stories from Marvel ever! First we have a silent story with Captain America that showcases the power of sequential art in telling a story. Then we have Dr Doom playing Santa Claus, or should we say Santa Doom! It a wonderful fun tale told in rhyme that captures the heart of the holiday spirit so well. The characterization of Doom is very reminiscent of Christopher Cantwell's Doctor Doom series and it make Doom more relatable than ever and certainly more fun!
It's another deep dive into a Holiday Special. This time Jace takes a look at Marvel's 1992 seasonal offering with tons of stories rooted in the 90's. Many of the stories have context for the characters ongoing title of the time with the same creative teams that are on those titles. It makes for an interesting read at times and will certainly be a trip down memory lane for fans who were reading those title at the time, especially the New Warriors story. Meanwhile the silent Wolverine Story that kicks off the book is outstanding and an instant classic. The Spider-Man has some great Steve Lightle art & the Doc Samson story is good for a few laughs. All in all, not the best holiday offering from Marvel but definitely worth a read.
Jace takes a deep dive into the Marvel Holiday Special from 2005. We get a Fantastic Four & Mole Man story where the Thing plays detective. The Fantastic Four also give a super-villain a much needed second chance. Finally in the most famous story from this issue we meet Santron! What do you get when you cross Ultron with Kris Kringle? You'll have to read this story to find out, but let's just say, he knows if you've been bad or good. Just about all the Avengers are on the naughty list of this Santa Claus and Santron is going to make them pay!
Jace chats with comic creator Ben Krieg about his upcoming prose novel Frontier Forever as well as the prequel graphic novel to that prose work, Frontier Forever: Regenisis. They guys get deep into sci-fi, world-building and how immense the universe is that Ben is creating. Ben's ideas are truly limitless when it comes to telling stories in this world. So much has gone into that and it is very evident on the campaign page through the character and character group descriptions. Perhaps most intriguing is the main character of Regenisis, The Marshall. Ben has found a way to put a lot of himself into her, who although she is a machine, exhibits some of the same sorts of characteristic challenges that Ben himself has had to overcome in his own life. The best kind of stories are those we can relate to and Ben is certainly writing what he knows. Jace is very excited for this story and we think you will be too if you go check it out!
Jace reaches the conclusion of the first story arc in Brandon Peterson's Arcanum series. Just when you think you know where it's headed, he throws us a curveball. Ming Chang finally makes her chose, will she use her newly granted powers as the Avatar of Life for the Avatars of the Good or will she join with Franklin Blake and his Avatars of Evil & seek power. The answer is really going to surprise you!
Jace takes us through another holiday special from DC comics. This time it is an issue filled with brand-new stories. Still editied by Mark Waid, but instead of reprinting stories of the season, Waid has assembled quite a roster of talent to bring us original stories to mark the holidays with thoughts of thankfulness and cheer.
Jace chats with comic creators Brian L Hawkins and Richard Kemp about their campaign for the second issue of their Don't Ever Blink series. It's a horror comic inspired by slasher films with a little bit of Scream thrown in and plenty of chills to top it off. The guys chat about what it takes to be a successful self-publisher, how hard work can pay off and how important it is to keep learning. Jace guessing on of Richard's artistic influences and Brian explains how Richard's character designs really brought the story to life and pushed up to new heights of storytelling as he built in references to prior visuals as the story developed. It's a great chat with two creators honing their craft.
Jace and Manny go over some of the titles hitting stands the week of December 16, 2020. Spoiler-free reviews of a lot of books including the three latest chapters of DC's Eternal Winter storyline. Manny gives his thoughts on what's really working for him in Rorschach and Death Metal. However, he expresses some disappointment with the end of the latest Batman arc. The guys both thought Post Americana was messy in all the best ways. Jace loves that Dan Slott is returning the Fantastic Four to their adventure-some roots in issue #27 and he also thinks that Immortal Hulk is revving up for lots of action based on what he saw in issue #41. Christopher Cantwell is continuing to take Tony Stark back to basics in Iron Man #4 and Jace thinks Al Ewing and Aaron Kuder created a masterpiece with Immortal Hulk King in Black #1, it's everything sequential storytelling should be.
Jace goes page by page to explore the 20+ stories of various X-Men by a huge roster of comic creator talent. Whether it's Charles Soule & Ryan Browne giving a Hanukah tale about Wolverine's hot claws or Jamie Madrox duplicating a gift 200 times to give to each and every X-Men, this is a fun holiday romp through the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe.
Jace takes a look at the classic DC's Christmas with the Superheroes from 1988. This collection, edited by Mark Waid when he was relatively new to the industry and hadnt' embarked on his writing career yet, showcases some of the most famous and beloved holiday tales from DC's history up to that point. With 50 years of stories to pull from it as interesing to see what is chosen as it is to experience the varied tones of the stories from different eras. This is a must read for any fan of Christmas and most certainly any fan of DC.
It's the first of our holiday episodes for 2020 as we celebrate 12 Days of The Comic Source. Join Jace as he takes a look at the first Marvel Holiday Special from 1991. It's chock full of great stories with some of your favorite Marvel characters. Most of the stories are written and illustrated by the very same creative teams who were working on the monthly books for those very same characters. Plus it kicks off with a great X-Men story that would be right at home in Giant X-Men #1 with the introduction of the new X-Men, Scott Lobdell does a great job channeling Len Wein and the Dave Cockrum art is straight out of 1975. So grab some eggnog and join us for this fun holiday trip down memory lane!
Jace and Manny talk about a ton of books that hits stands on the week of December 9th. They give a spoiler free run down of a surprising number of anthologies out this week like Death Metal Last Stories of the DCU and the DC Multiverse Holiday Special, Plus we see what the winners of the Top Cow Talent Hunt can do in a Postal Special. We get the next two chapters of the Endless Winter form DC in Flash and Superman books and the best Wonder Woman issue since Tamaki's debut on the title in Wonder Woman #768. Meanwhile Damian shows why Jace dislikes him so much in Detective #1032 and Tales of the Dark Multiverse Flashpoint and Captain Marvel are very worth your time. Manny highly recommends American Vampire although his book of the week is the aforementioned Last Stories of the DCU. Finally the book of the week for Jace is Crossover #2 from Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw as the story picks up steam and really starts to show what a celebration of comics it will be.
Jace talks with the legendary comic creator Mike Grell about his humble beginnings in northern Wisconsin to breaking in at DC and being a creator who helped to pave the way for creator owned work and royalties. Plus they chat about Mike's current Kickstarter campaign where you can get deluxe editions of Mike's ground-breaking series Jon Sable in an over-sized omnibus edition with tons of extras. Mike will share process material for developing the series and stories "warts and all". Also tons of art that has never been published before. Be sure to go and check out the campaign and enjoy our talk with a master storyteller who has left an indelible mark on the industry.
Jace and Manny take a look at the solicitations for the DC Comics Future State titles coming in January. Plus they talk about the all the news so far regarding DC titles coming in March after Future State is over. Also a little hint from Marvel about a clean start for there universe. It's a super-sized episode so come join us and be sure to give us your thoughts on the Future State of DC!
Jace is joined by Brazilian comic creator Felipe Cagno to chat about the wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for The Few and Cursed. We learn Felipe's secret origin of breaking into the world of comics via film school with a stop off in Hollywood. The guys chat about the burgeoning comic scene and the biggest convention in Brazil, Comic Con experience. Then they finish up the conversation with a great overview of the post-apocalyptic supernatural western that is The Few and Cursed. There's of great comic talk and Kickstarter advice in this episode so don't miss it!
Jace chats with writer Ed Brisson about his return to creator-owned content with his Original Graphic Novel Catch & Release. The campaign for the project is running on Kickstarter until December 16, 2020
Jace and Manny chat about a few of the issues that they have had a chance to read form this weeks new releases. Jace also gives a run down on some other titles you might want to be on the lookout for. The guys also disagree on the worth of Clownhunter from the pages of batman #104, but are warming to the character of Ghost Maker. Meanwhile AfterShock has a couple of quality titles hitting stands, Tom King, Doc Shaner and Mitch Gerads continue to impress in Strange Adventures. Also speaking of Tom King, the long awaited Barman and Catwoman hits stands with its debut issue and three timelines are being explored with gorgeous art from Clay Mann.
Jace talks about a ton of the new books hitting stands the week of November 25, 2020. Including a deep spoiler free dive into John Ridley's The Other History of the DC Universe and it's implications both on the DC Universe as well as out own. Another great boo out this week is Doctor Doom #9 which perfectly encapsulates the work Christopher Cantwell ahs been doing with Victor Von Doom which is bringing a humanity and relatability to the character like never before. Department of Truth #3 is so relevant it is actually disturbing on multiple levels. We have a great end to the latest arc of Flash as well as Fantastic Four Antithesis ending on a pitch perfect tone for the FF. All this, plus Jace gives a rundown on some other titles you might want to be on the lookout for.
By just about any metric you want to use, this has been the biggest year for Kickstarter ever in terms of creators self-publishing comics. We have seen big names like Scott Snyder & Tony Daniel and publishers, such as Top Cow and Boom Studios all have very successful campaigns. However, we certainly don’t want to overlook that many smaller creators who have also successfully funded their projects on the platform just as they have been doing for many years.
One such project is Like Father, Like Daughter. This superhero comic is currently in the midst of successfully funding it’s seventh issue and is working towards stretch goals at the time of this writing. In this episode Jace chats with series creator and writer Kat Calamia about her experience funding successfully through Kickstarter for previous issues of the property, we also touch on the higher profile creators and publishers turning to crowdsourced funding as a means of producing their projects. Finally we discuss the project itself and how themes of family, belonging and responsibility inform this classic superhero story she is telling.
Jace and Manny take a spoiler free look at some of the books hitting stands today that they have had a chance to read already. The slick Michael Mann feel of Catwoman continues and makes it Jace's Book of the Week. Manny's pick is the latest issue of Dark Nights Death Metal as we take another step closer to having every story matter in the DC Universe. Over in Nightwing we have the resolution of the final threads form Dick Grayson losing his memory and in Aquaman we finally see Arthur and Mera tie the knot. Meanwhile in Batman the Ghostmaker makes his move in Gotham while it appears Harley Quinn will be a big part of the series moving forward. All this and a lot more, plus Jace gives a rundown on some other titles you might want to be on the lookout for today.
Jace and Manny give their spoiler-free thoughts on some of the new release for the week of November 11th. Has Wonder Woman finally found it's stride? What did the Punchline one-shot and Champions 32 have in common? How is Christopher Cantwell getting back to the roots of Iron Man in the new series and how is the third issue such a great example of that? How did the first issue of Taskmaster hit the ground running and will Lobo fans get a kick out of his Death Metal one shot? Also why did Manny pick American Vampire 1976 #2 as his book of the week and what about Jace's pick of Flash? All this plus some talk about Brian K Vaughn's Ex Machina and DC's plans beyond Future State. It all wrapped up with a rundown on some of the other titles hitting stands today that you will want to check out.