
It isn’t controversial to say that Doctor Doom is Marvel’s best villain. And if it is, Doom will end that nonsense talk real quick. He was Marvel’s first big villain! He was Marvel’s Darth Vader years before Star Wars was a gleam in George Lucas’ eyes! He’s three-dimensional!—figuratively speaking, at any rate. He is Victor von Doom: king of Latveria, son of the Roma, sorcerer and scientific genius, and much more. So it’s no wonder that, when Marvel decided to put together omnibuses centered on supervillains, despite them not usually having a title of their own, Doom was amongst the first to get the treatment (second only to that slippery snake from Asgard, Loki; but, if you value your life, don’t remind Doom of that.) Marvel titled this omnibus Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom, which accords the King of Latveria the respect he deserves. After all, we all know he likes to hear his own name, so having it twice in the title must please him. [Read more…] about Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom Omnibus Review!
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Creannotators #80: “Alter Ego” with writer Nate Cosby!
This week on Creannotators, I’m talking “Alter Ego”, an ongoing Kickstarter with writer Nate Cosby. We talk about his process writing comics as an Editor, the freedom of working on all ages comics, what it took to get Marvel to publish works like Thor: The Mighty Avenger, and his love of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
On Comic Book Herald’s ‘Creannotators’ I’ll be interviewing some of my favorite creators in comics about specific runs, graphic novels or series, looking for their insights on the inspirations behind the work and ideas or hidden material readers may have missed. Creannotators is an audio annotative guide to enjoying the intricacies and thinking in the art. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the comics!
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[Read more…] about Creannotators #80: “Alter Ego” with writer Nate Cosby!Hickmania 4.1: A Red Mass For Mars Review!

A common issue with a lot of Jonathan Hickman’s early work is the sense that he’s not so much exploring the ideas and implications of his fiction as he’s gesturing towards them. This is certainly an issue with many an early writer, but it’s more pronounced with Hickman. And nowhere is this more pronounced than in Red Mass for Mars. The plot is a rather straight forward tale of “Alien invaders are coming to conquer the Earth, boo-hoo we’re all going to die. Wait! The superheroes will save us!” that you’ve seen time and time again. Thin plots can work wonders for exploring ideas. [Read more…] about Hickmania 4.1: A Red Mass For Mars Review!
1995 Pt. 4: Avengers The Crossing & Mark Waid / Ron Garney Captain America!
Marvel comics of 1995: Dave, Zack and Charlotte talk the start of the Mark Waid and Ron Garney run on Captain America before digging into a fasttracked recap of Avengers The Crossing
, the oddball 90’s event that gave us Teenage Tony Stark!
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X-Men Red #1 Review! Well Met in the Broken Land – You Are Seen

X-Men: Red #1 written by Al Ewing with art by Stefano Caselli and Federico Blee opens with a splash page flashback to the brutal challenge for the regency of Arakko that, previously, we had seen only in two panels in last year’s S.W.O.R.D. #8 (also a flashback sequence). The second panel there is now the opener here, masterfully reinterpreted by Caselli’s elegant linework—albeit without the same sense of nightmare brutality and no bruised eye and bleeding nose for Storm. But now we get more (though still incomplete) context and narrative that were totally missing before. [Read more…] about X-Men Red #1 Review! Well Met in the Broken Land – You Are Seen