The Ancillary Characters Christmas Shopping Guide Extravaganza!!!

The Comprehensive Christmas List, a Paul and Seth collaboration event!

With Christmas looming and so many options for comics fans to choose from it can be difficult to buy gifts that truly fit your loved one's interests. What do you get for that cousin who loves sci-fi and dancing cats? What about that wacky uncle who's mildly obsessed with people with antlers growing out of their heads?

That's where we come in. Armed with an abundance of knowledge about what book, toy or accessory fits which personality we've thrown together this Christmas Gift Buyer's Guide just for you. Buying for your deranged aunt who has a weird proclivity for reading books about serial killers has never been so easy!

Buy This! - November 30th, 2011

 

Every Monday Seth picks out three items that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.

 

Bad news, guys. Christmas is less than a month away. If you haven't finished (or, like me, even started) shopping for your comics-loving friends and family then I'm here to help. Consider these next few weeks of Buy This your handy Christmas gift guide. I'll be tossing items into the next few columns that may be older releases but deserve to be handed out or just selfishly purchased none the less. As usual I'll be picking current releases and also as usual some of the items I mention may or may not actually make it to store shelves when they're supposed to.

Paul's Picks! - Nov. 23rd

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

The Flash by Francis Manupal and Brian Buccellato

Happy Turkey week! In a time of festivities and much food consumption, I'm sure many of you will be busy spending time with your families and eating your weight in turkey and dressing. Still, in the midst of all the food and fun, us comic geeks will certainly find the time to swing by our local store and grab our pulls. I waited to head home for the holidays until today just to make sure that I could grab my books, so you all would have my Pick to check out this week. Don't you feel special?

My folder was packed pretty full this week, with Superman, Teen Titans, Flash, Aquaman, and even more. However, even with a wider selection than usual, this week's winner was a shoe-in. While I'm loving Johns' Aquaman, this week's issue was a little more bland than the first two (at least the ending was). The star this week was undeniably Barry Allen in The Flash, by Francis Manupal and Brian Buccellato. When I heard that Johns was leaving the book post-Flashpoint, I was apprehensive to say the least. Manupal's art had been fantastic on the series. I'm a big fan of Scott Kolins' work on the character, but Manupal is rapidly getting closer and closer to my favorite artist, especially with Barry. By the time I finished the first issue of the DCnU title, I knew these guys were here to play for real. Manupal gets in Barry's head so well that sometimes I forget there even is an author, leaving me to almost believe that I'm reading the real thoughts of a real person.

Buy This! - November 23rd, 2011

Every Monday Seth picks out three items that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.

It's Thanksgiving week and therefore I'm writing up a longer edition of the Buy This column in celebration. Instead of the usual three items I normally toss at you I'm writing about five, and probably will write a wee bit more than usual about those five titles. 

Tales from the Long Box: Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters #1

Every week Seth goes into his back issue bins, picks out a single issue, story arc, or creative run, pours through it and then writes about it. He calls it Tales from the Long Box. Though old and now either retconned out of existence or made irrelevant by the latest event, these books still share something in common... they're bagged, boarded, and a part of comics history.

Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters #1

Sometimes I stumble across comics that I have no idea where they've come from. Such is the case with this one about an anthropomorphic teddy bear who sets out on a heinous killing spree. I have no recollection of buy this title, and no memory of ever reading it before. However, after finding it tossed haphazardly in a drawer I knew I had to not only read but write about it as well.

The first thing to know about Boris the Bear is that this is a really awful book. It also perfectly exemplifies late 80's/early 90's comics culture and pop culture in general. As such, it was obviously meant as a direct stab at the prevailing trend at the time, which apparently was stories featuring animals that solve crimes, perform kung-fu and carry a variety of weapons. It is the comics equivalent of those late-night tv movie Twilight parodies and just as awkwardly not-funny.

Going Digital

We've all had the arguments over the death of print media, and more specifically comic "books". By now everyone has voiced their opinion as to which view they take. Will comics as a printed form of entertainment die? Will it outlive this tablet craze? Or maybe you fall into the they-can-co-exist camp. Whatever the case may be, the digital comics revolution has begun... or maybe it began years ago and it's just now hitting a turning point...

Paul's Picks!

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

Batman #3 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo

Get 'im Bats. 

When I picked up this weeks pulls, I didn't have many books to choose from. With only a handful of books at my disposal, surely this week's favorite would be an easy pick, right? On any other week, perhaps; but not this week. With Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman, the Johns/Lee Justice League, and Snyder's Batman, I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a tough one. I instantly found myself struggling with that age-old dilemma: which book do I read first? Do I lead out with the best and then read the rest, or do I put my favorite on the bottom so that I'll get through everything else and have it to finish strong? Decisions, decisions...

Buy This! - November 16th, 2011

Every Monday Seth picks out three items from Previews that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.


This week sees the release of some high-profile single issues. Batman, Justice League, Walking Dead, Avengers, the second issue of Aaron/Silvestri's Incredible Hulk... Yet none of them make the pick. Find out what does...

Tales From the Long Box: Star Wars #1 (1977)

Every week Seth goes into his back issue bins, picks out a single issue, story arc, or creative run, pours through it and then writes about it. He calls it Tales from the Long Box. Though old and now either retconned out of existence or made irrelevant by the latest event, these books still share something in common... they're bagged, boarded, and a part of comics history.

Star Wars #1 (1977)

In the way of introductions, this one is probably going to have little to do with the book I'm to be writing about.

As a kid I was obsessed with Star Wars. I watched the original trilogy on VHS constantly, studying every aspect from the shot compositions to the set designs and costumes. Mind you, at the time I didn't view these things in their technical terms. I was learning about the ships and the clothing and the style of a galaxy far, far away. I was obsessed. I read the Thrawn trilogy, and that opened the door to the wider extended universe of the novels, and video games that were licensed by Lucasfilm.

When the original trilogy was rereleased to theaters in their special edition form I watched those too. I distinctly remember seeing A New Hope for the first time on a big screen and cheering my lungs out over the opening crawl. I owned the soundtracks in multi-disc cd collections, collected action figures... basically I took in Star Wars in every format I could get. Then Phantom Menace came along. When Phantom Menace was announced I was at the height of my Star Wars fandom. I camped out for two days with my older sister to get tickets. Opening night I sat surrounded by my family and friends. When the Lucasfilm logo appeared onscreen the place erupted.  

Paul's Picks!

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

Batgirl #3 by Gail Simone and Ardian Syaf

Wow, what a week of comics! When I got my pulls from the Great Escape Comics in Bowling Green today, I didn't really know what to expect. Some weeks, I can almost predict which book is going to blow me away, or at least be my pick. This week however, I'll admit I was a little surprised by my favorite book. Isn't that one of the best things about comics? While some are almost always going to meet the mark, it is those surprisingly great issues that keep me coming back for more, such as Paul Cornell's Demon Knights. The sometimes laugh-out-loud-worthy banter by these characters, along with the fantasy-style setting that you can only get here, make this book a must have for anyone interested in branching out.

However, while I would love to call it a four way tie, only one book can rise as victorious. For me it came down to Green Lantern and Batgirl. In the end, I had to give Gail Simone her props. I'm certain there will be many weeks going forward where Johns' book takes the lead, but this week Simone took her series to a new level. When I grabbed Batgirl #1 back in August, I was incredibly curious to find out what was going on. After all, the once paraplegic Barbara Gordon was taking the mantle back on for the first time since The Killing Joke (which if you haven't read yet, GO. READ.). For any DC fan, this was a huge deal. As a matter of fact, this change was easily one of the most shocking revelations in the DCnU for me. How does Barbara go from the wheelchair to the rooftops? How will she "get back on her feet?"

Arkham City: Being Batman

When October 18th rolled around, I faced an internal struggle: to buy, or not to buy. My birthday had just passed only a week and a half prior, so I had a little extra cash on hand, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to take the plunge. After all, with so many incredible titles to come this holiday season (Zelda: Skyward Sword, MW3, Super Mario 3D Land to name a few), one must be careful on which titles he chooses to splurge. I had all but decided to pass on Batman's latest adventure for now, when I saw the game sitting on the shelf in the local Walmart. At that precise moment, something just clicked in my mind, and I realized there was no way I could wait months or even weeks to have this game. Something about the way Batman looked on that cover, perched on the edge of attack gripped me. In the back of my mind I could hear the opening notes from the Batman: Animated Series musical theme; I had fallen victim to the call, my own proverbial bat symbol lit up the sky. I grabbed my copy, holding it aloft, and declared to all within earshot, "I am vengeance. I am the night. I. Am. BATMAN!"

Buy This! - November 9th 2011

Every Monday Seth picks out three items from Previews that are due to ship on Wednesday and directs you toward your best bets for a quality purchase. Some times it's a single issue of a comic, other times a massive omnibus edition of a beloved series, and occasionally a figure or shiny bauble that caught his eye. Read on to find the three items you shouldn't leave your comic shop without this week.

Tales from the Long Box: B.P.R.D: Hollow Earth

Every week Seth goes into his back issue bins, picks out a single issue, story arc, or creative run, pours through it and then writes about it. He calls it Tales from the Long Box. Though old and now either retconned out of existence or made irrelevant by the latest event, these books still share something in common... they're bagged, boarded, and a part of comics history.

Paul's Picks!

Well, it's that time again folks: Wednesday! And you know what Wednesday is?... Well, of course you do, you're reading a blog about comics, so you obviously know it's New Comics Day, a.k.a. Paul's favorite weekly holiday! And in celebration of this weekly, well, celebration, Paul is here to give you his favorite book of the week.

Swamp Thing #3

It's Wednesday, November 2nd, which also happens to coincide with "El Día de los Muertos." We just wrapped up Halloween here in the U.S. where I'm certain many of us had our fare share of sugar highs and more than one good beginning to a bad cavity. However, we all know that the true vein of All Hallows Eve and the Day of the Dead is not candy or costumes, but rather gut-wrenching, eye-averting horror. Well, at least that is true for many of us, although I'll admit I do consider myself to be a bit of a small white domesticated bird when it comes to the horror genre in general.