Big Two Comics

Spider-Man is hands down one of the most popular characters ever to leap from the pages of Marvel Comics, and is even a strong...

Free Comic Book Day is coming up, and Marvel have today revealed what their release is going to be - Infinity, by Jonathan Hickman...

Let's start the year out with a return to comics' original sin: Daniel Best reprints Truth, Justice, & The Corporate Conscience by Steve Gerber, an article from WAP, a creator's rights newsletter published in the 80s by Gerber, Steven Grant and Frank Miller. Gerber, for those who don't know, was a very influential writer for Marvel in the 70s who eventually sued for ownership of a character he co-created, Howard the Duck. He lost the suit, but never the anger. He died in 2008.

You could settle for petty tyrants who steal a vote here and there or block uncontroversial legislation out of mere partisan spite, but why...

The last day of New York Comic-Con was a day of relative peace and tranquillity, unless you were Dan Slott in which case it was...

By Steve Morris As spotted by Jarrod on the CBR forums (hi Jarrod!), a Mike Perkins fight sequence from next week's Astonishing X-Men #55 clearly...

By Steve Morris I suppose the smart-arse answer to that question would be "Disney", but this actually refers to a teaser released today via Diamond...

After Mark Waid's "Four Panels that Never Work" comic was seen just about everywhere yesterday, one might have been forgiven for thinking that given the fourth-panel poke at Geoff Johns penchant for mutilating heroes, Waid and Johns must be feuding or something. However, Waid showed up in the comments at Robot 6 to answer questions and revealed that it was merely a friendly rib:

My essay on Marvel and DC as dedicated safe spaces for male-focused entertainment got quite a bit of talk going, which is the best possible reaction to any essay. Several very smart people wrote rebuttals, and these posts also generated very thoughtful comment sections.

It would almost be self-aggrandizing to praise Noelene Clark's recent women in comics piece in the LA Times, since I"m quoted so extensively in it, but I'm happy to say that the bulk of the cartoonists she spoke with were also proponents of the idea that I often promote here: women have already had massive, historic success in the comics industry, and at this point those outlets that aren't adapting to the wave of female readers and creators are truly out of step with the times, and not the trendsetters.

Creators, talent, architects, makers...maybe we should just call them the Bullpen.

I'll make it short and sweet: creators have to create. Marvel and DC no longer allow them to do that, except within rigidly proscribed guidelines. And the Paolo Riveras of the world are going to have to move on. It might not be too long before the Big Two are just steppingstones to get your name out there for even bigger things.