Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Sean Dillon

You Can (Not) Parallax: A Case for Heroes in Crisis

by 1 Comment

The first thing we must address regarding Heroes in Crisis is that it is a ruin. It’s a six issue miniseries stretched out into nine issues, and it shows. There are several points in the narrative where it’s clear that the wheels are spinning, everyone’s just waiting to get to the bit where Wally West confesses everything. I’m tempted to argue that the series would have been better suited for a more Columbo-esque structure where the reader is aware of who did it and the rest of the series is spent finding out why, rather than having that why provided over the course of an issue long monologue.

But, as with all ruins, what doesn’t work, what caused the ruin, is often the least interesting part. What’s more interesting, however, is what a ruin can show us. What we can find within the ruin that shows us what it could have been. Not that it was secretly good (though I’m quite aware that some are invested in that project), but rather what hidden depths can be found by taking what’s there seriously. [Read more…] about You Can (Not) Parallax: A Case for Heroes in Crisis

Better Than Stranger Things: Proctor Valley Road Review!

by Leave a Comment

A picture containing text Description automatically generated

Horror Cinema is rarely kind to the people who make it.

The genre is often seen as a lower artform of ill repute where those who make it, at best, get a reputation for three films while their larger work is ignored as garbage. The best case scenario for many a horror filmmaker is to remake the same film over and over again for a quickly dwindling audience. Even filmmakers like John Carpenter or George Romero are left scrambling for budgets because no one wants to support their endeavors.

But perhaps the filmmaker most hurt by this reputation and systemic failure is Tobe Hooper. For many people, Hooper is the madman who did The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and then nothing else because he was too much of a wild card to actually make a real movie. Some might see him as the guy credited for Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist. Both of these are largely inaccurate claims to make about Hooper that only limit his range as a filmmaker. [Read more…] about Better Than Stranger Things: Proctor Valley Road Review!

The World That’s Coming: OMAC by Jack Kirby

by Leave a Comment

A picture containing text, book Description automatically generated

They say that the 60s ended when the Manson family killed a couple of celebrities. They say a lot of things that aren’t true. Certainly, the moment in history was one of horror and brutality that would come to define a lot of what was to follow. But the 60s were long dead by the time the Manson family entered 10500 Cielo Drive. One could more sensibly argue that the 60’s ended in May of 1968, when the youth movement of France was brutally slaughtered by the police, ending the young generation. You could also argue that it ended in 1969, but not with Manson’s family killing Sharon Tate, but with Ronald Regan ordering troops to open fire upon hippies at a public park. Or perhaps it died with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

The New Gods experiment was, in many ways, an attempt by Jack Kirby to keep the dream of the 60s alive and well into the 70s. That the core of this dream came in the form of The Forever People, the first of Kirby’s series to get canceled, speaks to how many people had faith in the dream. OMAC, in many regards, is Kirby reckoning with the 70s. And it’s a bleak picture.

But it’s not bleak enough. [Read more…] about The World That’s Coming: OMAC by Jack Kirby

The Old 52: “You Don’t Know Dick” – Grayson by Tom King, Tim Seely, & Mikel Janin

by Leave a Comment

A picture containing text, helmet Description automatically generated

Grayson is a comic that, by all rights, should not have worked. It’s a follow up to a Grant Morrison concept done by people who aren’t Grant Morrison. A spin-off of a Geoff Johns comic. The first comic by a co-writer whose sole writing credits prior to this are a short story and a middling novel (who only got the gig because he’s ex-CIA), another co-writer whose superhero work has (largely) been more supportive of other visions than expressing his own, and an artist whose work has mostly been on covers rather than interiors. Worst of all, it has a central premise that is, to be quite blunt, a bit trite and obvious, especially in the context of the New 52. Yet another spy comic released by DC about some nebulous organization out to do dirty deeds while the superheroes look clean. SHADE, Blackhawks, ARGUS, and now Spyral. These are not the elements of a successful comic. And yet, Grayson surprisingly works. It’s a fun, action packed adventure full of intrigue, espionage, and shirtless men. [Read more…] about The Old 52: “You Don’t Know Dick” – Grayson by Tom King, Tim Seely, & Mikel Janin

“The Tradition of Radical Strangeness”: Britain a Prophecy Interview

by Leave a Comment

Britain a Prophecy is an upcoming urban fantasy digital first comic set in the height of Thatchers England. What follows is an interview with its writer, Elizabeth Sandifer, and artist, Penn Wiggins.

Before we get into the meat of the interview, I think it might be a good idea for you two to introduce yourselves and the comic we’re going to be talking about to the CBH readers who might not be familiar with either of your work.

El Sandifer: Well, I’m El Sandifer. Up until this point I’ve been an independent critic writing for my site Eruditorum Press, where I’ve done a lot of work on both Doctor Who and British comic books. But recently this charming gentleman and I found ourselves going “wait, one of us writes, the other one of us draws, we both love comics as a medium… why don’t we make some?” And now here we are.

Penn Wiggins: And I’m Penn Wiggins. I’ve bounced around a few things, but a few years ago settled back into being an artist, and recently this delightful madwoman suggested we should do comics, so I’ve been doing that. [Read more…] about “The Tradition of Radical Strangeness”: Britain a Prophecy Interview