Thor | ComicMix

The Wide World of Comics!

News
July 23, 2007

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog continues its mission of annotating every single “Anita Blake” comic – this time, it’s The First Death #1.

The Oregonian picks on comics commentator Douglas Wolk.

Novelist Lewis Shiner introduces modern graphic novels to the readers of the News & Observer.

The Wichita Eagle looks at the growing field of Christian graphic novels.

Dana has her weekly Marvel Comics reviews at Comics Fodder.

Comic Book Resources has their usual weekly explanation of everything that happened in Countdown – this time, issue #41.

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Comics News, Links & Reviews

News
July 10, 2007

The Beat swears it is not making this up: Yaoi Jamboree.

From the outer reaches: Xtra lists some graphic novels of interest to gay Canadian men (starting with very specific titles, but including superheroes and suchlike as well).

“Dana” of Comic Fodder reviews this week’s Marvel comics, starting with New Warriors #2.

Publishers Weekly’s Web-only reviews for this week includes a section of comics, including the second volume of The Complete Chester Gould Dick Tracy, Volume 5 of Megatokyo, and Renee French’s Micrographica.

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Optimus Prime speaks

News
May 2, 2007

If John Wayne were a giant robot with a gun, he would be Optimus Prime.

Now Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime from the original Transformers Generation One cartoon series (as well as the voice of Eeyore, Monterey Jack from Disney’s Rescue Rangers and Murky Dismal from Rainbow Brite) has given an interview on tformers.com . For those who don’t want to read the entire interview, Alan Kistler sent us the major highlights.

On deciding to audition for the new movies:

Cullen: "[I thought,] okay, what the heck. I’m going to go in and fand out what they want … Had they asked me to do changes in the character, I would have declined.

"It was interesting. I didn’t have any problem trying to find him … it was like riding a bike and he came right back … And he still stands for the qualities the writers gave him from the get go.

"The qualities of [all the Transformers] are still there. It’s like an elastic band and stretching it, but it’s still the eastic band and the strength of the characters are still there.

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Michael Davis: Brokeback Marvel

News
March 2, 2007

Over the last 30 or so years some comics have tried to bring the "real world" into the medium. One of the first and best examples was written by my fellow ComicMix columnist Denny O’ Neil. His epic story about Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy becoming hooked on drugs is a classic. That story was written over 30 years ago and could have been written today. It still holds up.

I will resist the urge to ask Denny why Speedy had to get hooked… hee hee hee.

Denny may not remember, but I often think back in fondness to a day I gave him a ride home from DC Comics. That, for me, was a good day. Denny most likely was thinking "tuck and roll" as he looked for an opportunity to jump out of the car.

That story Denny wrote was on the forefront of comics that tackled the real world. Since that comic there have been many comics that tried the real world approach — some of the finest have been Marvels, Kingdom Come and of course the granddaddy of them all, Watchmen. Now all of those comics and many others have dealt with the question, "What would happen if superheroes really existed?"

Well, none of those comics dealt with what really would happen if those superheroes existed in the real world… and tried to get a date.

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ComicMix catchup

News
February 26, 2007

We at ComicMix are dedicated to bringing you as much stuff as we can, but we also know that means sometimes you miss things. We know you want tagging and site feed and comments and that’s all coming down the pike real soon, but in the meantime here’s your handy-dandy guide to the second round of entries by our regular columnists.

Mike Gold – Whizzy’s Wazoo #2: War is over
Dennis O’Neil – The Four-Color Answer? #2: What would Green Lantern do?
Me again – It’s All Good #2: Rennies, wonks and fen
John Ostrander – Off in the O-Zone #2: Scattershot – Past/Present
Michael Davis – Straight, No Chaser #2: Nut jobs

Look for Mike every Monday (in fact, his latest should be right below), Denny on Tuesday, me on Wednesday, John on Thursday, and Michael on Friday, and guest features on the weekend. For those of you who, like me, grew up with the Marvel superhero cartoons in the ’60s, that means Mike = Captain America, Denny = the Hulk, me = Iron Man, John = Thor, and Michael = Namor. (Hey, don’t knock it, that’s how I first discovered that Thursday was named after Thor!)

We also gave you a special "mother and child reunion" pair of featured columns this past weekend:

Martha Thomases: Ain’t I A Woman?
Arthur Tebbel: X-Men strand Gen Y

And our latest podcasts, hosted by Mellifluous Mike Raub, continue:

Five
Six

Happy reading and listening!

Michael Davis: I’m not that guy

News
February 16, 2007

I’m a pretty simple guy. I see clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate and Republican and Democrat. In this age of political correctness and doing the right thing I don’t make decisions because they’re popular. I make decisions because I think something is right.

Remember the days when someone punched you in the face and you could punch him (or her) right back without having much to worry about — well, besides getting your ass kicked. After the fight (or, in my case, ass whipping) you and the other party would decide to be friends or continue to hate each other. Either way you knew where you stood with that person. NOW if someone punches you in the face — YOU may get sued — and worst, with the current state of our world you don’t know where you stand. I don’t know about you but I would like to know where I stand after I’m punched in the face.

I grew up in the projects in New York City during the days when a threat sounded like this: "I’m going to kick your ass, Davis." Back then my response was "You will have to find me first, lady." Now I simply call my lawyers.

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