Tales from the Long Box: Nobody Panic

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.

Nobody Panic

I recently saw a tweet from a rather prolific comic writer make mention of the fact that the comics industry has a general negative attitude about nearly everything. In other words the glass is always half empty for the average fan, and even creator. This has become only more prevalent as sales have slipped below those wild and crazy days of the mid-90's when books regularly sold in the half million range and a cancelled book was selling in excess of 80-100 K. It's completely understandable why everyone would freak out, shutter their windows, close up shop and move on to other forms of entertainment.

Paul's Picks! - May 24, 2012

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 now for his much-anticipated pick-of-the-week...

The week has come and gone, and it's time for me to return to you all for my weekly installment of Paul's Picks! As I'm sure everyone noticed, there was no Pick article last week, since I was unable to obtain my pulls last week due to our trip out of town to visit family. As such, I completed the first entry into my new (for now) monthly column, titled "What If." A shout out to Allen Boone for his comment placed thereon, which is greatly appreciated. Interaction is key ladies and gentlemen, and here at the AC  we would love to hear more from you guys. After all, without you all coming and reading, what would we be writing for?

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, the big reveal, the pullback of the curtain, the shocking revelation: Paul's pick from this week of comics is without a doubt...

Podcast Episode 16: Two Crotchety Old Men Reading Comics

¿What If? - The Trinity War

¿What If? 

Hello friends and fans! Welcome to a totally new addition to our blog here at the Ancillary Characters. If you're been following the podcast, then you'll be well aware of the new segment that we're incorporating in a monthly basis, which we've aptly named "What If." Much in the vein of those crazy old Marvel comics from back in the day, we take on random concepts that are either highly likely or almost impossible and give our thoughts on them. In our first installment on Episode 13, we discussed some alternate scenarios regarding the New 52. Seth revealed his elaborate corporate strategy around an Marvel Ultimate style universe for DC, whereas I revealed the mind-blowing Hipster Superman to the world of comic book fandom. As you can see, there are no restrictions on the unbridled creativity that we're tapping into.

With the first edition of "¿What If?" behind us, it's time to unveil the next step of the initiative in full on written form. To be honest, I've been looking for a new avenue for writing on the blog for some time, and when I had the idea for the What If segment, it seemed the perfect fit for both the show and the site. And so, with no more introduction, my first entry will be wild speculation and imagination surrounding...

Nice cover for a FCBD issue, huh.

DC's Trinity War - The New 52 Opt-Out


Alright, I know what many of you are already thinking: this guy's nuts. But don't jump to any conclusions, hear me out and maybe you'll see my train of thought. Two weeks ago, DC released their New 52 Special for new comic book day. However, while this issue was titled after the DC relaunch, it comes almost a year after its release last August/September, and the issue itself had very little in regards to the New 52 as a whole. The first part of the book was about Pandora, the mysterious character that Barry Allen encountered at the end of Flashpoint, who also appeared in the background of each New 52 launch issue. However, fans and readers quickly moved on from these pages to the tease concerning 2013's promised mega event, called the Trinity War. Now, we've all been speculating as to what this war may be, and the general consensus is that it will be some sort of "civil war" among the Big Three (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, of course). While we may no very little about the actual events of the event-to-come, Johns and Lee gave us a six-page view (with a four-page layout) that has intrigued fans to say the least.

Episode 15 - The One with FCBD and the Trinity War

Paul's Picks! - May 9, 2012

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 now for his much-anticipated pick-of-the-week...

What a Wednesday! It's late Thursday night, and I'm a little bit tardy on my column for this week. It's been a long day, but after putting some grueling final exams behind me, I'm racing into summer break with reckless abandon! I'm looking at a coming week full of quality time with a massive stack of trades and hardbacks, along with my usual week's pulls, and I can't wait. But for now, I have my pick from this week ready for you all, and if you're guessing what it's going to be you're probably going to off...

Episode 14: The Avengers episode

Buy This! - May 9th, 2012

Another week, more comics. Hopefully everyone hit their local shops this past Saturday for Free Comic Book Day. I was amazed and delighted by the offerings at Bill's Books here in Canton. I scored a free t-shirt, bought a couple hardcovers at 50% off and, obviously, left with loads of free books. I was especially impressed with Archaia's hardcover sampler. Props to those publishers who took the time and effort to actually create new content for FCBD (Dark Horse, DC) and shame on those who didn't bother... *cough* Marvel *cough*

Big thanks to all the retailers out there who throw their hard-earned dime behind funding FCBD as well. I hope it pays off. Judging by the size of the crowd at my local shop I'm guessing for some it will. 

Paul's Picks! - May 2, 2012

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 now for his much-anticipated pick-of-the-week...

Well the time has come folks. It's the first Wednesday in May, and man oh man, what a week! And for that, what a month! Not only does this week mark the release of what many sites are deeming the Best Comic Book Movie Ever Made (yet to be seen, don't gather a mob just yet), but this week in May also began two highly anticipated events in comics: namely DC's Second Wave of the New 52 and the launch of May's "Night of the Owls" crossover event in the Bat universe. And of course, we also had the release of issue #3 of one of the biggest ( if not the biggest) events Marvel has ever released in AvX, which changed from author Jason Aaron to Ed Brubaker. All in all, right now is one of the best times to be a fan of comics in the history of comic-dom. And the fun is just getting started, with 9 more issues to come in AvX (not counting a plethora of tie-ins), plus some promising new series from DC, as well as the greatly anticipated (although dreaded by some) Before Watchmen miniseries that launches in just a few short weeks. As I said, it's the golden time for fans, although it's definitely an all-out assault on the wallets of said lovers of comics.