Tag: Legion of Super-Heroes

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With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share

With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share

Posted on by Ed Catto

Titan’s Andrew Sumner is a fascinating guy with so much to say. You might be enjoying his impressive publishing and collectible output from Titan, you might have seen him on so many SDCC or NYCC panels, and maybe you’ve even see his podcasts & YouTube interviews.

I must admit: I have the great privilege of hosting Andrew as a Guest Lecturer at Ithaca College. He’s always one the very favorites of the students.

Well, now the tables are turned. He’s the one being interviewed. Eoin McAuley provides an outstanding interview in the latest episode of Creator in Conversation..and it’s available here!

* * *

At San Diego Comic-Con in July, I always enjoy the small press area. Someone once gave me good advice: walk up and down the small press aisles with a little cash in your pocket and spend it with these talented creators.  And I always do.

Let me tell you about just two of the folks I chatted up there this year. Continue reading “With Further Ado #413: Three Wonderous Treasures to Share” →

New Number Ones: New Comics Series and Specials Coming for the Week of 9/2/2026

New Number Ones: New Comics Series and Specials Coming for the Week of 9/2/2026

Posted on by Bob Harrison

It time that we bring you the list of new series and special editions coming on New Comic Book Day this Wednesday. We are highlighting what you need to put in your cart at the comic shop or digital marketplace.

Holy Moley Folks! What an amazing list of new series and special editions!? There are so many must reads this week that thank goodness there is a long weekend coming to help us catch up.

We have an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from the publishers of some of the cool new comics that are coming out this week. Check below for our PCS NOTES to find out what we just have to tell you about the new comics in question.

We have books on this week’s list from:  DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing, Boom! Studios, Vault Comics, Bad Idea Comics, Oni Press, and Image Comics.

We will bring you reviews of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

New Series
New One-Shots and Special Editions

New Series This Week 

Archie #1
Oni Press
Written by Ben H. Winters
Art by Fábio Moon & Jason Wordie
Cover Art by Stuart Immonen

BEING YOUNG NEVER GETS OLD! THE MILESTONE COMICS PUBLISHING EVENT OF THE YEAR STARTS HERE AS ONI PRESS AND ARCHIE COMICS PROUDLY PRESENT A GROUNDBREAKING NEW ONGOING SERIES FOR THE MOST JOYOUS COMIC BOOK ICON OF ALL!

A new day is dawning in Riverdale as New York Times bestselling writer, Edgar Award and Philip K. Dick Award winner, and Eisner Award nominee Ben H. Winters (EC’s Cruel Universe, Benjamin) joins multiple Eisner Award–winning artist Fábio Moon (Daytripper, Casanova) to reintroduce America’s favorite teenager — and begin a star-studded countdown to Archie’s 85th anniversary — with a 21st-century testament to teenage idealism and the limitless joy of Archie Comics!

For his entire life, 17-year-old Archie Andrews has had it all: adoring friends, football glory, and a natural charm that always seems to make him the center of attention. Now, through his eyes, experience the warmth and wonder of Riverdale and its near-infinite roster of residents — the popular kids, the endearing oddballs, and everyone in between — as Archie embarks on a whirlwind, all-star adventure through his town’s past, present, and future… beginning with a local film festival that’s about to turn everything upside down!

And, at the center of it all, lies an enigmatic paradox that only Archie’s pal Jughead Jones can possibly unravel…

Plus: Puzzles! Pin-ups! Bountiful bonus stories! And a veritable sweet shop of surprises that all link to the same inextricable mystery… Finally, your antidote for postmodern malaise has arrived. Welcome to the all-new ARCHIE #1!

Release Date: September 2, 2026

PCS NOTES: A new chapter in the publishing life of Archie Andrews starts here, and it is a really good start.

Black Panther / Namor: Doomed #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Ethan S. Parker & Griffin Sheridan
Art by Stefano Nesi & Jesus Arbutov
Letters by Travis Lanham
Cover Art by Dave Johnson

BLACK PANTHER AND NAMOR TRAPPED IN HELL… WITH DOOM!!!

Black Panther and Namor must investigate Hell when Wakanda and Atlantis are attacked by demons! But once there, these rival kings discover they aren’t alone, as they cross paths with the wandering soul of Doctor Doom!

Release Date: September 2, 2026

PCS NOTES: An unlikely team up may make for interesting storytelling.

Crowbound #1
Image Comics
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Dustin Nguyen
Letters by Steve Wands
Cover Art by Nguyen

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale meets Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with echoes of Kill Bill and Pan’s Labyrinth when a noncompliant mother makes a dark pact with an ancient, violent Scarecrow Queen to stop a totalitarian government from taking her daughter.

Rose isn’t special. She works in the Factory just like everyone else — a dark, sprawling monolithic structure that runs along the coast and cuts the world in two. All that’s left now are desolate settlements that exist in its shadow, made up of submerged villages, derelict woods, and deadly swamps. No one knows what’s left of the world on the other side…

But when Rose’s young daughter Ava is violently taken from their shanty town home a year before she is meant to join the work force, Rose will come face-to-face with the surreal, harrowing forces outside the Factory’s walls — including a terrifying figure called the Scarecrow Queen, who has an offer: one last chance to save her daughter, in exchange for her soul.

Release Date: September 2, 2026

PCS NOTES: When this creative team works together, magic happens. Can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this time.  Continue reading “New Number Ones: New Comics Series and Specials Coming for the Week of 9/2/2026” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Is KO A-OK?

Brainiac On Banjo: Is KO A-OK?

Posted on by Mike Gold

“It’s the Dance of Shiva, it’s the Debutantes ball, and everyone will be there who’s anyone at all.” From Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse, written by Warren Zevon and Duncan Aldrich.

When it comes to springboards for all those mega-super-battle-crossover things, a.k.a. event comics, it’s hard to imagine a more overused and hackneyed plot device than the Tournament. Everybody fights everybody, more or less one-on-one, until there is only one survivor who then must go on to vanquish the threat that started it all at least half-year previously, and then figure out a way to bring everybody back.

If I had a buck for every time this breathtakingly original stratagem has been deployed, I could afford to buy DC’s KO, the latest deforestation…, but I still wouldn’t have the time, energy, desire or wherewithal to sit down and read the whole thing.

When one of these events sounds interesting — and KO does not (to me; your mileage may vary) — I usually check out the enveloping miniseries and read whichever tie-ins I would have read anyway. Normally, I do not miss anything important when I pass over half of these issues and, in fact, like every other reader I maintain the right to bail when it becomes pathetically redundant.

KO began its journey with one of the longest set-ups in event comics history. DC shuffled its deck once again and told us all about the comings and goings of such important elements as Darkseid, Kirby’s Fourth World, Booster Gold, Doomsday, The Question, The Legion of Super-Heroes (remember them?) and of course Batman and his brooding brood.

They even relaunched still another new Justice League to use as its story wheelhouse, but this particular relaunch has a twist: everybody is in the League whether they want to be or not. All the heroes take their orders from the JL elite, including Mr. Terrific and Red Tornado, the latter having been integrated into the Justice League’s computers.

You know, after all these years reading the sundry Leagues Justice, the one thing that never occurred to me was “what these superheroes really need is a lot more bureaucracy.” Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Is KO A-OK?” →

Mike Grell’s Thoughts on Jim Shooter’s Passing – THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS

Mike Grell’s Thoughts on Jim Shooter’s Passing – THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS

Posted on by PCS Staff

At Pop Culture Squad, we consider everyone who wants to be a squad member and contribute however they can. Sometimes we get superstar members who want to share with the group. Friend of the site and Squad Member Mike Grell passed along his memories of Jim Shooter, his friend and former collaborator, and asked us to post this on our pages.

We are happy to do so. Mike and Jim had a memorable run on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in the mid-seventies and as we mentioned on the Pop Culture SquadCast – Live last night, Jim Shooter had a GIANT impact on comics.

While this is posted elsewhere on the internet, we wanted to include it in our archive. Please enjoy Mike’s words below:

“THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH IN THOSE DAYS…”

I’ve put this off because it’s so hard. JIM SHOOTER passed away the day before yesterday and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I worked with him on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes back in the ‘70s, an association that was not always pleasant for either of us, but later we became friends. And that’s the best part.

When I began working on Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, I was teamed with Cary Bates who had a cinematic style of visual storytelling. He gave you all the important stuff that had to go into a panel and even called out camera angles, which helped on a nightmare book like LSH where there could be as many as a dozen characters in one panel.

Then came the word: Shooter’s coming back!

I confess, I had no idea who Shooter was, but I soon learned that he had started writing Legion stories in Adventure Comics featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes when he was just THIRTEEN years old! HOLY CRAP!

When Jim returned to writing the LEGION in 1975, having more or less “retired” in 1969 after he graduated high school (Slacker!), we began a somewhat turbulent writer/artist relationship. Jim’s tendency to over-write was the opposite of experiences I had had with Cary Bates and Denny O’Neil where they left enough to the artist to interpret so as to make it more of a collaborative effort. Jim micro-managed everything to the point of including layouts and sketches of bits of equipment that had almost nothing to do with the story. Scripts under Cary and Denny were usually one page per story page—Jim’s ran 60-90 pages. Not that they were bad, just so different. It was like Dad got remarried and one day there was a strange lady in the kitchen—she was nice enough, but her cooking wasn’t like Mom’s.

After we parted company, we continued to see each other over the years on the convention circuit, where—once creative differences were put aside–we finally became friends. The real kind. The gypsy life has a way of bringing folks together just often enough that you look forward to those mini-reunions and can relax and enjoy each other’s company.

Jim was a giant, not just in the comic industry, but in sheer size. Whenever we were asked to pose for photos, I used to jump up on the nearest chair and rest my elbow on his shoulder. Somewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s a photo of me standing with Jim, Mike Richardson and Steve Leialoha where all you can see is my hat.

News of Jim’s death was a gut-punch. He was a kid of only 73 who left an indelible mark on the comic industry over a career that spanned 60 years. A career unequaled, a life too damned short.

The Hall of Heroes is filling up.

Save me a seat, Jim.

–Mike Grell

 

 

 

With Further Ado #350: The Legion of Precient Heroes

With Further Ado #350: The Legion of Precient Heroes

Posted on by Ed Catto

I’m not sure how I missed these issues of Action Comics the first time around. I like the writer (Geoff Johns),  I like the artist  (Gary Frank), and liked the main character, (Superman). Maybe it’s because we were starting a company? Maybe I was busy with something mundane, like cutting the grass or cleaning the garage? Beats me.

But when my wife and were at a cool bookshop that carried old books too – I snagged a few Big Little Books, another Whitman Young Adult book in their Freedom Series (I loved the first one I got and wrote about it With Further Ado #336 here.), and cheap but unread hardcover of Superman the Legion of Super-Heroes, reprinting a string of Action Comics Issues.

In this story, Superman is called to the future to help his childhood pals n’ gals, The Legion of Super-Heroes. Only it’s been a while since he visited their pristine, utopian future, and it’s not so utopian-ish anymore. Continue reading “With Further Ado #350: The Legion of Precient Heroes” →

Continued After the Next Page #20: Representation Matters Even in the 30th Century

Continued After the Next Page #20: Representation Matters Even in the 30th Century

Posted on by Bob Harrison

As Pride Month 2022 comes to a close, I want to highlight what I feel is an often overlooked relationship in comic books. In the last couple of decades, gender and sexual identity in mainstream comic books have made great strides in diversity. I always have fond memories of the first same-sex relationship involving two superheroes that I saw in DC Comics.

The “Five Years Later” run of the Legion of Super-Heroes that started with Legion of Super-Heroes Volume 4 #1 (1989) has often been the subject of derision from fans as it represented a significant break in the history of the team. I am not sure how well received the book was at the time of publication, but it took almost thirty years for it to ever be collected. However, as a long time LSH fan, I find it to be one of the most daring, unique, and compelling version of one of my favorite super hero teams.

The initial run of this volume of the Legion was plotted and penciled by Keith Giffen with scripts by Tom and Mary Bierbaum. Within the pages of this run, particularly at the beginning, the reader is exposed to a slightly older group of familiar characters coming to grips with the reality of the political world that they live in and searching for the thing that is missing in their lives. For many, that thing is the Legion and their friends.

Lightning Lass – art by Steve Lightle

In the five years since the end of the Magic Wars, the characters of Salu Digby (Shrinking Violet or just “Vi”) and Ayla Ranzz (Lightning Lass) have suffered trauma but come through it with a love for each other that will forever remain truly special in my heart. I could go through all the details of what happened to them and how their relationship was portrayed in each individual issue of this series, but that has been done, and done well, by others [see below]. I want to focus on why this relationship means so much to me.

Shrinking Violet – art by Keith Giffen

I have wanted to write this article for some time. However, I have struggled with it as I am not confident that mine is the voice that needs to be heard. For full disclosure, I am a cis, hetero, white male. I believe that love is love and celebrate diversity in every medium and support inclusive representation in pop-culture and society as a whole. It is with that perspective that I approach this article. Representation is important. Continue reading “Continued After the Next Page #20: Representation Matters Even in the 30th Century” →

Everything We Read This Week – 1/15/2020

Everything We Read This Week – 1/15/2020

Posted on by Bob Harrison

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week. This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

This week we read a so many great comics. There was some amazing storytelling out there this week. We encourage you to go out and find the comics you like, and remember, Read More Comics!!

We reviewed books from DC Comics, Ahoy Comics, Boom! Studios, Valiant Entertainment, Abstract Studios, and Image Comics this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics. Don’t forget we welcome comments on these and any other comics that you read. Feel free to leave a comment and get the conversation moving.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. We didn’t have any new series come out this week on our pull list, but next week will be a different story.

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 1/15/2020” →

Everything We Read This Week – 11/06/2019

Everything We Read This Week – 11/06/2019

Posted on by Bob Harrison

Welcome back to Everything We Read This Week. This is the place that we make our weekly trip through this week’s pull-list. It features mostly spoiler-free brief analysis and commentary of each book.

This week we read a bunch of great comics. There were a few books that dealt with either the approach or the results of a worldwide catastrophe. I think that says something about the state of group consciousness. It is one of the reasons that I love comic books and an expression of how comics are representative of the greater society. Go out and find the comics you like, and remember, Read More Comics!!

We reviewed books from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, Ahoy Comics, Abstract Studio, Berger Books, IDW Publishing, and Image Comics this week. As always, we hope you might find what we say interesting enough to try some of these comics. Don’t forget we welcome comments on these and any other comics that you read. Feel free to leave a comment and get the conversation moving.

Also, Don’t forget to check our hotlist of new books debuting this month over here. You will see books that we were looking forward to with the designation Hot #1 by them. There are a few of them out this week, and they are really good.

DISCLAIMER: 

There is a 4 star rating system. It is simple and not to be taken too seriously as everyone gets their own impressions of art. These ratings are just to give our readers an idea of what we thought of the book, and they will be on the generous side normally. So don’t expect to see a lot of 1 Stars. After all, it’s not often that you have a bad book on your pull-list.

The rating system is as follows:

Great

 Good

 OK

 Not Good

 

And here are the books we read in alphabetical order:

Continue reading “Everything We Read This Week – 11/06/2019” →

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in November 2019

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in November 2019

Posted on by Bob Harrison

Welcome back to New Number Ones!!

This is where we give our readers a preview of the exciting new comic book series debuting each month. We have compiled an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from PREVIEWSworld. Check below for our PCS NOTES to find out what we just have to tell you some more about the new comics in question.

There is a bunch of new series of interest starting in November. There is a good mix of both existing and new characters featured in these books. Below you will find a slate of new books from a wide variety of publishers. Some of our favorite comic book talents are bringing us some of these new series.

Both Marvel and DC are significant represented here which is a change from the past few months. These are not just rebooted number ones either. We are very excited about the creativity being rewarded with new series by all comic publishers.

We hope you will take a look and think about giving these a try. We will bring you reviews of most of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

Continue reading “New Number Ones: Comics Coming in November 2019” →

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in September 2019

New Number Ones: Comics Coming in September 2019

Posted on by Bob Harrison

Welcome back to New Number Ones!!

Here, we give our readers a preview of the new comic book series that we are looking forward to each month. We have compiled an alphabetical list with cover art and the official solicitation text from PREVIEWSworld. Look for our PCS NOTES below where we just have to tell you some more about the new comic in question.

There are a ton of new series of interest starting in September. We pared down the list that we are most interested in to just over twenty. Most of these are creator-owned new series which make them extra special. There is a good mix of both existing and new characters featured in these book. Below you will find a slate of new books from a wide variety of publishers. Some of our favorite comic book talents are bringing us some of these new series.

Watch out for the first week. There are about eight great new series hitting stores on September 4th.

We hope you will take a look and think about giving these a try. We will bring you reviews of most of these debut issues as they come out, and don’t forget to use the comments section to let us know what you think of this list.

Continue reading “New Number Ones: Comics Coming in September 2019” →