Category Archives: Marvel
The 6 Comics I Will Miss Most in Quarantine
As I write this, we don’t yet fully know what’s going to happen with new comic book releases during the coronavirus crisis. Diamond Distributors will not be distributing physical comics to stores anymore, and I believe both Marvel and DC have announced they will not be releasing their normal print comics digitally, though at least DC will continue to release their regular digital-first comics. Other studies, like BOOM! and IDW, have halted all production.
I’ll never forget you, Melody Guthrie
So if the comic book industry grinds to a halt and we don’t get any new comics for the foreseeable future, I thought now would be a good time to sit back and take stock of which comics I’m really enjoying right now, which comics are my favorite, and which I am really going to miss going forward. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my weekly review column if we don’t get any new comics. At least we’re all in this together.
Join me after the jump for the six ongoing comics I will really miss if the virus kills the comic book industry. And feel free to share your own favorites in the comments!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/28/20
These might be my last batch of comic book reviews for the foreseeable future! Diamond Distributors announced this past week that they’re going to shop distributing comics to retailers, and we don’t yet know if any of the major publishers are going to go digital-only during this virus apocalypse. If they do, I’ll be fine, because I read all my comics digitally. But if Marvel, DC and the like shut down all releases…welp, that’s the whole ball game!
Perhaps I’ll start doing reviews of all the tpbs I’ve been catching up on…
Comic Book of the Week goes to the second issue of Force Works 2020 for being the most entertaining comic this week! A lot of comics were just moving the story along, whereas Force Works 2020 was really fun to read with some solid character work.
Shoot harder!
Meanwhile, speaking of those tpbs, I read through the entire collected edition of Nick Spencer’s Astonishing Ant-Man and it totally held up! Great series. I started on Dennis Hallum’s Cloak and Dagger, and the first tpb was good, solid. But I cannot recommend the latest tpb of Rat Queens, with a whole new creative team. That was a disappointment.
Comic Reviews: Far Sector #5, Force Works 2020 #2, Hellions #1, Legion of Super-Heroes #5, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #49, Wolverine #2 and X-Men #9.
So, uh, We Might Not Have Comics Anymore…
The virus apocalypse has finally struck at the very heart of me: the comics industry might have to shut down. Diamond Distributors, the one company that takes all the comics we love and delivers them to comic book shops, is shutting down due to the virus. They won’t be shipping any comics after this week.
We haven’t heard from Marvel and DC, but places like IDW have announced putting a hold on printing new comics.
I get all of my comics digitally from Comixology, which is apparently going to continue…but again, we don’t know what Marvel and DC are going to do. Are they going to suddenly stop all print publications and go digital-only? How long is that going to last? Print comics are already hanging by a thread. There’s no guarantee that market will come back like normal when this quarantine is over.
Obviously, I have no idea what’s going to happen. I love comics and will try to read whatever comes out. But in very short order, nothing might be coming out…nothing might be coming out ever again!
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My Favorite Comic Book Romance is Still a Thing!
The point is to show that somebody cares. My current favorite romance in all of comics is the little relationship that could that is Spider-Woman and the Porcupine. A couple years ago, comics writer Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum put out a quirky little Spider-Woman comic that I adored with every fiber of my soul. I was rewarded for this love by getting blurbed on one of the tpb covers! That’s one of the highlights of my blogging career. I still need to go meet Hallum at a comic convention to get him to sign it.
Anyway, the heart and soul of that series was the off-kilter companionship between stalwart superhero Spider-Woman and ne’er-do-well supervillain the Porcoupine. It was cute, it was well-crafted and it made the whole series something special!
That’s a crazy baby!
Then, as all good things must come to an end, Spider-Woman was cancelled and the characters were cast off into comic book limbo. Spider-Woman has made random appearances here and there since then, and I have kept my eyes peeled for any signs that she was still together with the Porcupine, real name Roger Gocking. He’s typically seen taking care of Jess’ baby Gerry. It’s cute.
Well I have good news for anyone else out there who is a fan of the Spider-Woman/Porcupine relationship: they’re still together!
Awwwwwww!
Spider-Woman launched a new series this past week, written by Karla Pacheco. And sure enough, both Roger and Gerry show up in the comic, living a pretty happy (if stressful) life with Jess.
So yeah, that’s it. That alone is worthy of a blog post.
This is comics, people. At any moment, some new writer might come along and throw out my favorite character or status quo. I already wrote up a piece about how almost all of my favorite comic book characters have been killed in just the past couple of years. That’s bad luck. I’m a comic fan who likes his obscure favorites and hates to see them used as chopped liver!
So for the time being, I’m going to relish the idea that Jess and Roger are still a cute little couple having adventures, raising a baby and being in love. Allow me that little bit of happiness!
And I’ll keep doing my best to ignore what Pacheco said to Newsarama about the new series…
“yesss…we will see Roger and baby Gerry…though for how long…hmm.”
I am prepared to have my heart broken. These are trying times.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 3/21/20
This is one of those weeks where I’m reminded of a bunch of really good comics that I let slip by the wayside. Perhaps if I’m forced to self-quarantine I’ll finally catch up on Fantastic Four and Jimmy Olsen. For now, I’m still enjoying the likes of Batman and Runaways!
Comic Book of the Week goes to the first issue of the new Spider-Woman series, and not just because my favorite comic book couple — Spider-Woman and Porcupine — are still together. It’s a fun introduction, though it could have been more.
Spider-Woman vs. helicopter!
Meanwhile, this week saw the release of the giant-sized Robin 80th anniversary spectacular! A bunch of creators wrote up a bunch of awesome Robin stories, and there was no way I was missing out! I read most of it and enjoyed all of it! Go Robin!
Comic Reviews: Batman #91, Runaways #31, Spider-Woman #1 and Strange Academy #1.
