Brand Echh: Destroyer Duck #1

DESTROYER DUCK #1 was a stopping point in a much larger saga, one that I'll recount the broad strokes of momentarily. It was also a benefit book published by Eclipse, work on which was provided free by all of the contributors in support of the underlying cause of the book in the first place. It … Continue reading Brand Echh: Destroyer Duck #1

Brand Echh: Visions #1

One of the most memorable and offbeat characters in the history of comics made his debut in the pages of VISIONS #1 in 1979, which was the convention booklet of the annual Atlanta Fantasy Fair. Despite these humble beginnings, he went on to have a long and varied life, being published by several different outfits … Continue reading Brand Echh: Visions #1

Comics Creators in the Wild 1

Just like with our sequences on vintage comic books seen out and about in the world, so too do I have a relatively large collection of vintage photographs of writers, artists and editors either at work, in public or just generally goofing around. So why not show some of these vintage pictures off? Collected from … Continue reading Comics Creators in the Wild 1

Perfect Game – CEREBUS #36

It's a difficult thing to talk about the work of Dave Sim these days. For a start, he's fallen largely into obscurity since his masterwork, the 300-issue CEREBUS series, wrapped up in 2003. And the back half of that run was tainted by Sim's growing misogyny, his strange and often-deliberately-provocative belief that women had been … Continue reading Perfect Game – CEREBUS #36

5BC: Five Best Comics of 1986

It's impossible to encapsulate how seismic the effect of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was on the field of comic books. Not only did it introduce a more prestigious package for comics (and a then-unheard-of cover price of $2.95) but interest in the series also inaugurated the now-common process of repackaging collections of recent storylines into … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1986

5BC: Five Best Comics of 1985

After a few false starts and doglegs, Dave Sim found his footing as his long-running Church and State storyline began to build up steam. Now paired with Gerhard, whose elaborate and expressive environments made the Earth-Pig's world more fully realized than ever, Sim was more free to focus on plot, character, world-building and even the … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1985

5BC: Five Best Comics of 1982

The first entry in Marvel's line of European-style albums, released under the sobriquet "Marvel Graphic Novels", THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL remains as effective and affecting today as it was when it was first published. A good deal of that is down to the subject matter, which sees the titular Mar-Vell dying not in battle … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1982

5BC: Five Best Comics of 1980

It's perhaps difficult to see from the vantage point of so many years later, but this issue of X-MEN was a game-changer when it came out, and cemented the popularity of the series at the top of the Direct Market sales charts for a decade and a half. Powerful, unexpected, emotional, this comic generated both … Continue reading 5BC: Five Best Comics of 1980