Tag: Poison Ivy

Year in Review 2022: The Best New Comics and OGNs of the Year

Year in Review 2022: The Best New Comics and OGNs of the Year

It is the end of the year, and that means “Best of the Year” lists. I hate year-end “Best of” lists. They are never accurate and invariably are the cause of consternation for someone.

If you have read my columns, you know that I don’t disparage people’s work in public. I have read some very bad comics this year. Some were poorly conceived. Some were poorly executed, but I won’t talk about them on this site. Our goal here is to celebrate what is excellent.

With that being said, I have spent some time coming up with some of the best things that I read this year. I read a LOT of comics, but not all of them. I can only talk about what I read; so, that is the caveat when reading the lists below. These are the things based on what I read.

There were hundreds of new comic series that premiered in 2022. Many of them were good. Some were excellent. Below, you will find some things that I recommend checking out.

Top 10Honorable MentionsOGNs

Top 10 Best New Series

As I mentioned, there were a lot of new series to hit stands this year. I couldn’t read them all, but these two list of the Top 10 and Honorable Mentions are worth a read if you haven’t seen them. Also, they are in alphabetical order. You are asking a lot to get me to give a Top 10. I won’t rank them further. Continue reading “Year in Review 2022: The Best New Comics and OGNs of the Year”

New Number Ones: New Comics Series Coming in June 2022

New Number Ones: New Comics Series Coming in June 2022

Summer is just around the corner, and there are excellent new comics series coming in June! We have compiled 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 month. Check below for our PCS NOTES to find out what we just have to tell you about the new comics in question.

This month we spotlight books from the usual suspects: DC Comics, Marvel Comics, AfterShock Comics, Image Comics, Boom! Studios, Mad Cave Studios, Ahoy Comics, Vault Comics,  Dark Horse Comics, and Scout Comics.

It’s a FIVE-WEDNESDAY MONTH; so, we have five glorious weeks of new comics. The bulk of the new releases are in the middle weeks with the first and last being very light with new series.

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.

You will find the books listed below in the order of when they are released.

Week of 6/1/22
Week of 6/8/22
Week of 6/15/22
Week of 6/22/22
Week of 6/92/22


Week of June 1


The Closet #1
Image Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Gavin Fullerton & Chris O’Halloran
Cover Art by Fullerton

Thom is moving cross-country with his family and dragging the past along with them. His son, Jamie, is seeing monsters in the bedroom closet and will not let them go. A tale of existential familial horror by JAMES TYNION IV and GAVIN FULLERTON.

Release Date: June 1, 2022

PCS NOTES: The current reigning master of horror comic storytelling is at it again. We are intrigued by this book. 


Code 45 #1
Scout Comics
Written by Benjamin Hunting
Art by Joe Ng

There are dragons lurking in the tunnels beneath Montreal’s city streets – at least that’s the rumor that confronts new metro driver Vanessa. Terrified by these mysterious and horrifying apparitions, the night shift turns to self-medication, losing the ability to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Pulled in deep by the underground raves that blast through the system’s abandoned stations, Vanessa quickly finds herself on the verge of crossing into a dark world she never knew existed.

Release Date: June 1, 2022

PCS NOTES: This is an ominous solicitation, and we are interested in checking it out.


New Think #1
AWA / Upshot Studios
Written by Gregg Hurwitz
Art by Mike Deodato
Cover Art by Rahzzah

This Black Mirror-style anthology examines the rapid proliferation of technology, the cultural and political polarization of the country, and the technocrats that have driven us to such extremes of thought that we need to present the present as something…futuristic. Each of the five issues is a stand-alone tale with its own art team

Release Date: June 1, 2022

PCS NOTES: I am intrigued by the rotating art concept in this series and Gregg Hurwitz’s return to comics. Continue reading “New Number Ones: New Comics Series Coming in June 2022”

Brainiac On Banjo: No Lunch For Batman

Brainiac On Banjo: No Lunch For Batman

“Down on me, down on me; looks like everybody in this whole round world, they’re down on me.” Janis Joplin, Down On Me, 1967

Many years ago, the late and truly great Dennis O’Neil said that neither Bruce Wayne nor Batman had a sex life; he/they sublimated all such compulsions, folding them into the mission. Denny said that in the office that we shared, and, damn, it made sense to me. In fact, it explained a lot about the guy.

Mind you, as the writer or editor of a great, great many top-rank Batman stories over the course of five decades, I believe Denny knew more about what made Batman tick than Bruce Wayne ever could. However, this particular observation was not canonical. Bruce even fostered a son with his frenemy Talia al Ghul, and that child became the latest Robin — as of this writing, of course.

Let us now flash forward to the late summer of 2018 and the release of DC’s Black Label adults-only series, Batman – Damned. Created by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo, the story ran three issues. It was the first volume that upset some people, as it had the briefest glimpse of a small part of Bruce’s penis. To be fair, it really wasn’t enough to be perceived as salacious by anybody but the most pathetically repressed — not unlike Janet Jackson’s nipple which evidently blinded tens of thousands of small children who were watching the Super Bowl but were thinking of dinner.

Oh, yes: it also bothered the bean counters at DC/Warner Bros/WarnerMedia/AT&T/Lucky Charms or whatever the hell they were calling themselves that week. Bean counters are the most paranoid people in the media businesses; it’s in their job description. People made such a big deal of it that the Batwang was, well, overly circumcised in the digital editions and in later reprintings. The parent companies were so offended that the whole thing had an impact on several careers. The whole thing had a short shelf-life as the object of snickering jokes on late-night television.

O.K. So “Adults Only” in DCland doesn’t include, you know, adult stuff. Lesson learned. And lesson repeated this month.

For over a year, WarnerMedia (now called Warner Bros. Discovery, at least as of this writing) has had this very expensive streaming service called HBO Max. It’s got a lot of original material, and much of it is generated by DC comics properties. These shows are not G rated, nor are they PG. Sometimes there’s a fine line between R and X ratings, and a lot of HBO Max’s DC stuff inhabits that zip code. This pace was set in the first episode of their first series, Titans, where Dick Grayson (a.k.a. Robin the First) shouts “Fuck Batman!” Holy Wertham, Batfans! WTF??

Titans survived and the third season goes up in August. Their second show, The Doom Patrol, has had actual on-screen sex, with naughty bits and more about Brendon Fraser than you might want to know. Their other Batman related show, the adults-only animated series Harley Quinn, is the most adults-only of the bunch, and the third season is now in production. But at least one scene won’t be completed — the one where Batman has oral sex with Catwoman. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: No Lunch For Batman”

Spotlight Interview with Comic Writer Paul Storrie

Spotlight Interview with Comic Writer Paul Storrie

Hi Folks!

We are back with another in depth interview with a comic book pro. This time we were lucky enough to spend some time talking with comic writer Paul Storrie.

Paul has written for DC, Marvel, IDW, Moonstone Books, Source Point Press, and others. He is well known for his original character Robyn of Sherwood.

He will have two publications coming to comic shops in the next couple of months. First, on February 12th the long awaited collection of the Gotham Girls mini-series will be published by DC Comics as Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls. It is written by Paul Storrie with pencils by Jennifer Graves, inks by J. Bone, colors by Trish Mulvihill, and letters by Tim Harkins and Phil Felix. The covers of the five issue series that was originally published in 2002 were done by Shane Glines and Rian Hughes.

Coming to stores in March is the second adventure of Elgven, the Viking Queen in Viking Queen: Sleepers in Shadow, written by Paul. It is published by Source Point Press and is drawn by Kristen Cella with colors by Sean Seal. It will be in stores on March 25th.

Below you will find the audio recording of our conversation with Paul. It is a great listen. We travel through his experiences with these two books and cover his thoughts on some other issues too.

We also transcribed the majority of the interview for you, but there are still somethings that you will only find in the audio.

 

Pop Culture Squad: I know you have two books coming out soon, so let’s take them in chronological order. First coming out in February is a collected paperback of your Gotham Girls series. It is being collected as Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls. Congratulations. I know it has been a long time coming. So, what do you remember about how this mini-series came to you and the origins of it getting done?

Paul Storrie: Well, it was interesting because I had done a couple of issues of Batman Beyond. One of which saw print and other one did not, because the TV show was canceled. They pulled the plug on the comic almost immediately thereafter. So, I was doing that, and I think I had done at least one Cass Cain Batgirl inventory story and my Justice League Adventure story at that point. I was pretty comfortable in the “animated series” universe.

One day the link came up, on what in those days must have been a message board that I was on, and I watched some of the Gotham Girls web series that was playing on the Warner Brothers animation website. I watched a couple of them, and I thought “Wow, why aren’t they doing a Gotham Girls comic to go along with the web series?” It seemed like it would be a synergistic kind of thing. Continue reading “Spotlight Interview with Comic Writer Paul Storrie”

Brainiac On Banjo #064: What? The Penguin is Jewish?

Brainiac On Banjo #064: What? The Penguin is Jewish?

‘Tis the season, so if Adam Sandler is making a new list and, you know, checking it twice, he can add the name Oswald Cobblepot.

Well, it does explain that hat.

I’ve carped a bit about how The Joker is the most overexposed character on Earth, apart from Donald Trump. We can argue that Harley Quinn is in competition for that title, but, as a rule, I try not to get in the middle of a fight between a person and his or her ex. Besides, this Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey movie has hit trailer status, so inundation comes with the job. When the DC Universe steamer launched its new animated and X-rated (no, it’s for language, you pervert!) Harley Quinn series, which starts with the enthralled shrink dumping her dangerously insane boyfriend, they managed to ring the overexposure bell with her mallet. But… it works. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo #064: What? The Penguin is Jewish?”