I Read Comic Books

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Meet Dan Slott on Free Comic Book Day at Zapp Comics in Wayne, New Jersey

If you are in the Wayne, New Jersey area on Saturday May 4, 2013 get out to ZAPP Comics and meet Amazing/Superior Spider-Man writer Dan Slott. Check out the event page on Facebook.

ZAPP COMICS
574 Valley Rd.
Wayne, NJ 07470
Phone: (973) 727-6171
Phone: (973) 628-4500

"We will be OPEN from 8:00am - 8:00pm. Amazing and Superior Spider-Man writer DAN SLOTT will be a very special guest this FREE COMIC BOOK DAY at Zapp Comics in Wayne, NJ. He will be signing from 12 NOON until 5:00pm!! Autographs will be FREE and will be limited to 2 per person. Come on by and meet one of the most popular writers out there! Good Times!!!"

Thanks For Reading,
Kevin P. Johnson

Copyright © 2013 Kevin P. Johnson

Friday, April 19, 2013

Boston Comic Con Temporarily Cancelled - Rescheduling TBA

This just posted on the Boston Comic Con Facebook page:

"Due to the unfortunate events that have transpired here in Boston, a lock down has been put into effect until further notice causing the Hynes Convention Center to suspend all events. As such, The Boston Comic Con will be rescheduled to a date in the not too distant future. All people who purchased advanced tickets on line will have their tickets honored at the rescheduled show. If for some reason, you can not come to the show on that date, we will refund your ticket.

Please, we ask for your patience, understanding, and cooperation. We appreciate your loyalty, and continued support for the Boston Comic Con. Unfortunately, this situation is beyond our control."

Teen Titans: Life And Death (Trade Paperback, DC Comics, 2006)

Teen Titans #5: Life and Death trade paperback cover

Teen Titans #5: Life and Death (Trade Paperback)
Published by DC Comics
Cover Price $14.99
Pages: 208
Collects: Teen Titans, Volume 3, #29-33, Annual #1, Robin #146-147, Infinite Crisis #5-6
Writers: Geoff Johns, Bill Willingham, Bill Williams and Marv Wolfman
Pencilers: Tony S. Daniel, Todd Nauck, Scott McDaniel, Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Tom Grindberg, Elton Ramalho and Phil Jimenez

Well the good news is that I really enjoyed this trade paperback of Teen Titans, the bad news is I haven't read books two through four. I was at Media Underground Comics in Metairie, LA and I was thinking about picking up a Teen Titans trade since I liked the first one but I only saw book five when I looked through the shelves and normally I wouldn't buy trades out of order but I did and it was a good choice for me.

This trade covers a lot of different comics which does make it a bit confusing although it's all one story and it does fit together pretty well. Actually my only problem with the book is that they did not include any indication of what issues or title you are reading or who the creative teams were throughout the book. It's a little odd to me that they would include four issues of comics that fall outside the Teen Titans title but I think they needed to do so to complete the story being told here.

So what's it all about? The simple version is that Superboy from Earth-Prime is trying to get back home and he blames the Titans of Earth-Two and Conner Kent the resident Superboy for ruining things. This alternate Superboy aims to destroy Conner and the Teen Titans at any cost. Conner is beaten to the point of death and the Teen Titans have to find a cure for him that only Lex Luthor will have.

One of my favorite parts of the book happens at the beginning when Robin (Tim Drake) meets original Robin Jason Todd and they have a battle that leads Tim Drake on the path to becoming the leader of the Teen Titans. The book also has plenty of subplots that I found interesting and have solidified me as a fan of this team. Oddly enough the love story between Wonder Girl and Superboy stood out to me most because it seemed genuine and I think it had potential to be a nice long story for the characters but at the end of the book things seem to end up badly (trying not to spoil it). Tim Drake becoming the better Robin and better leader of the team also proved to be a nice turning point for the character.

I think the only character that I'm undecided on as to if I like them or not is Beastboy. He seems to be the comic relief and I'm good with that but I just don't know if I like him yet or not. Maybe once I read more about him I will be able to decide how I fell but at this point he's just kind of there and I don't really care too much for or against him. I think his power of changing into different kinds of animals isn't really my thing.

The book has a lot going on in it especially when the Infinite Crisis parts kick in adding more characters to the mix and I did find a few pages of it a bit confusing and had to read over it a time or two but that's just because I'm not familiar with DC's characters as much as those of Marvel Comics. There are a lot of fights between superheroes and super villains, monsters and robots and a solid background story to keep it interesting. I think this is a solid comic book series that really captures the essence of coming of age characters trying to become great heroes.

I definitely need to find books 2-4 and all the others in this series which I believe is a total of 18 trade paperbacks including the two Teen Titans/Outsiders books.

Thanks for reading,
Kevin P. Johnson

Thursday, April 18, 2013

COMICS KICK ASS WEEK - APRIL 29, 2013

Comics Kick Ass Week Poster

Check out this cool event for comic book fans COMICS KICK ASS WEEK starting April 29, 2013.

The best way to sum up the event is simply just to quote the Facebook event page "I'm tired of people celebrating movies like the Dark Knight but putting down the source material. Spend the week leading up to FCBD posting blogs, podcasts or art explaining what comics mean to you."

Join this event on Facebook

Thanks for reading,
Kevin P. Johnson

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Collection Oddities #1 - The Tick Honk If You Love Justice Bumper sticker

So we all have those weird things in our collections that we hold on to for whatever reason right? Maybe it's just me but either way I'm going to post something that maybe is a little odd or kind of rare or just weird that I have in my collection.

The first entry is The Tick: Honk If You Love Justice bumper sticker from 1994. I've had this thing on my refrigerator for years (never taken off of it's sticker backing) and I wonder if anyone else has one of these around. I have a few Tick related things that are a little odd being that I used to order my comics from New England Comics who also published The Tick comics so I knew about the Tick before he had his moment of mainstream success . . . but unfortunately I didn't get the early issues of the comics. So here is my silly bumper sticker from way back in 1994 the first of my odd collectibles.

The Tick Honk If You love justice bumper sticker

Thanks For Reading,

Kevin P. Johnson

Monday, April 15, 2013

FLORIDA SUPERCON, JULY 4-7, 2013, Miami, FL

FLORIDA SUPERCON: South Florida's Comic Book, Anime, Animation, Video Game, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Pop Culture Convention is JULY 4-7, 2013. It's 4 days of fun featuring celebrity guests, comic book creators, voice actors, industry guests, cosplayers, artists, writers, panels, Q&A's, films & shorts, costume & cosplay contests, vendors, parties, anime, workshops, video gaming and more! FSC will be returning for year eight to the MIAMI AIRPORT CONVENTION CENTER (MACC) and DOUBLETREE HOTEL. Go to www.floridasupercon.com for all the info!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Tickets are on sale now at http://www.floridasupercon.com/buy-tickets

FSC is JULY 4-7, 2013
The Miami Airport Convention Center and Doubletree Hotel
711 NW 72nd Ave, Miami FL. 33126 HOTEL PHONE: 305.261.3800
SUPERCON PHONE: 954.399.1330
www.floridasupercon.com
info@floridasupercon.com

Convention Event Hours
Thursday, July 4: 11:00am - 3:00am
Friday, July 5: 10:00am - 3:00am
Saturday, July 6: 10:00am - 3:00am
Sunday, July 7: 10:00am - 3:00am

Exhibition Room Hours
Thursday, July 4: 11:00am - 8:00pm
Friday, July 5: 10:00am - 7:30pm
Saturday, July 6: 10:00am - 7:30pm
Sunday, July 7: 10:00am - 6:30pm

For up to the minute updates, keep an eye on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/floridasupercon and you can become friends with Supercon Mike directly at www.facebook.com/supercon

Information above is Copyright © 2013 Florida Supercon - All Rights Reserved and will be removed upon request of Florida Supercon

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Backing Boards #9: Batman: Li'L Gotham #1 (DC Comics, 2013)

Batman Li'L Gotham #1 Cover

Batman Li'L Gotham #1
Published by DC Comics
Cover Price $2.99
Writers: Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs
Art: Dustin Nguyen

Batman Li'L Gotham #1 was one of those "by chance" comics for me. I had never heard of it before I attended my Drink and Draw group at Media Underground Comics in Metairie, LA. I saw it on the new comics shelf and by the cover art alone I knew I was going to buy it.

The art by Dustin Nguyen is amazing I'm not sure if it is water colors or maybe Copic Markers but it is very nice and a welcomed change in the art style that most mainstream comics have these days. The comic is intended for kids but the art has a classic feel like it would be in the New Yorker or Saturday Evening Post.

Batman Li'L Gotham #1 Interior Art

The writing is strictly kid stuff but it is great fun. The stories are smart and full of humor taking Batman and Robin through silly Halloween and Thanksgiving adventures . . . that's the only thing that didn't make sense about this comic book, why release these holiday stories in April?

This comic book is a great starter comic for young children looking to get into comics . . . but equally as fun for adults looking to have a little light hearted fun in their reading . . . and the art is wonderful.

This comic was released online originally by DC.

Thanks for reading,
Kevin P. Johnson

Batman Li'L Gotham #1 Interior Art

Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Haul #1: 66 Comic Books from BSI Comics, Metairie, LA

The Haul is a new section I'll do from time to time where I document a great "Haul" of comics that I got for a low price. It doesn't happen often but every once in a while we all come into a large stack of comic books.

66 Comic Books for $17.94

Today's Haul: 66 Comic Books Price $17.94

So today I wanted to go to BSI Comics in Metairie, LA to look through their bargain bin's of .25 cent comic books because I knew they had a few issues of The Puma Blues . . . I have never read an issue of that but I am trying to find the whole series so I can read it all at once (just need 6 more issues, including #1). I didn't intend on buying much more today but I couldn't resist the massive amounts of goodness they had (trust me I could have gone a lot more.)

So What did I get?

Comic Talk #4, 6, 7 (Wolverine), 7 (Batman), 10, 13-16
The Fly #4
Grendel Tales: The Devil's Apprentice #2
Grendel Tales: Devil's Choice #1
Grendel Tales: God And The Devil #6-7
Grendel Tales: Devil's Hammer #3
Grendel Tales: The devil May Care #3-6
Grendel Tales: Devls And Deaths #1
Grendel Tales: Four Devils One Hell #1-5
Grendel: Behold The Devil # 5-6, 8
Grendel: War Child #6, 8-9
Grendel Tales: The Devil In Out Midst #1-5
Avengers West Coast #96
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #2-3, 5, 7, 10, 14-15, 17
Cloak and Dagger #2
Cloak and Dagger (LS) #1, 3
Sheena Queen Of the Jungle #0
Comics Interview #106
JLA-Z #3
Wonder Girl #1, 4-5
The Puma Blues #2, 21
Marvel Spotlight: World War Hulk
Alpha Flight Vol.2: Origin Special #1
Alpha Flight #15, 18-20, 22-23, 38, 71, 74

So what I ended up doing today was filling some holes in my collection while creating a lot more with the Grendel issues and found a new mystery in the Comic Talk issues which are interview comics that I can find very little about online and for some reason two different issues of #7 were published in different months both covers have August 1993 on them but the Wolverine version has October 1993 on the copyright page . . . I will find the answer to this mystery . . . some day.

BSI Comics is located at 3030 Severn Ave., Metairie, LA 70002, Open 7 Days a week
Website: BSI Comics
Facebook: BSI
Phone: 504-885-5250

Bargain Bin Comics

Project Wonderful