Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

John Galati's Writing on Comic Book Herald

What Do Comics Sales Numbers Mean?

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It has become downright common to see people — actual, human beings — quoting sales figures in online discussions. Go on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, anywhere and say how you feel about a book. Any book. Eventually, someone will come by to tell you its ComiChron ranking. They’ll point to Comixology’s download figures, or they’ll reference a YouTuber waving a number over their head.

But what does any of this mean? And should anyone actually care? [Read more…] about What Do Comics Sales Numbers Mean?

Only in Comics: What Makes Comic Books Special

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[T]hings don’t have to be real to be true. Or vice versa.”
Grant Morrison, Supergods

Recently, I wrote about the magic behind 100-issue runs. The big, sprawling, majesty of the stories that take decades to tell. I have also spoken at length to literally anyone who will listen about my love of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jill Thompson, and other high-brow creators. And I do love them, to my very marrow. [Read more…] about Only in Comics: What Makes Comic Books Special

What the Hell is Anime? Part 4 – Fullmetal Alchemist, The Promised Neverland, and Orphans

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Ladies and gentleman, children of all ages, we are gathered here today to mourn the death of the nuclear family. Our finest television preachers and our sweatiest politicians spent decades warning us that we were headed this way. They decried music, drugs, and dancing, and we eradicated those things. But what they could not have known was that the true destruction of the familial unit was magic. Our children have turned to godless magic and now all is lost.

So today, brothers and sisters, we gather here to witness the fourth installment in What the Hell is Anime, and we examine where it all went wrong. Families up front, let your feet stomp to the spirituals.

[Read more…] about What the Hell is Anime? Part 4 – Fullmetal Alchemist, The Promised Neverland, and Orphans

The Stupidest Super-Vehicles Ever and the Science Behind Them

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We have all come to accept that men and women can fly. That aliens walk among us. And that, with the right fashion accessory, any one of us could construct an old-timey elevator out of green light and use it to bring people to space.

These are accepted facts.

So why then does it seem so ridiculous to give one of these people a car? Why is a space ship more ridiculous than a cape? What about The Atomic Steed makes it so impossibly, inherently stupid? And why is the Batmobile okay, but the Spider-car is not?

I believe that the answer to all of these questions and more are rooted in cold, simple, scientific fact. I’m going to prove it to you in my exhaustive study/grant solicitation. But first, the rules. [Read more…] about The Stupidest Super-Vehicles Ever and the Science Behind Them

Best 100+ Issue Runs in Comics

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It’s rare that comic creators get to go even a few years on a comic book. Five years is something of an accomplishment. But when creators get to stay for a decade or more, something magic comes out. Something more than just long tales, something more than the sum of its parts. The book gets a kind of consistency that builds up to make bigger ideas possible. Collected here are some of the best examples of what can happen when you break 100 issues! [Read more…] about Best 100+ Issue Runs in Comics