MFR Newsletter 7/31/20 - If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?
How are you doing, comics fans?
I’m doing swell myself. I’m not perpetually on the verge of a nervous breakdown, if that’s what you’re wondering, and I’m sure neither are you!
Eric Powell revealed the cover for THE LORDS OF MISERY last week, as well as its updated release date. As a massive fan of THE GOON and Powell’s work in general, this was very exciting for me. And since Comic-Con@Home was also last week, I figured this is a great opportunity to tell the mildly embarrassing story of how I met Powell at SDCC last year!
I attended Comic-Con 2019 with my fiance Brooke, and on Preview Night I told her I had only two goals: 1) to hit up the Vault Comics booth, and 2) to meet Eric Powell.
After meeting and chatting it up with the Vault guys for a bit, we headed over to the Albatross Funnybooks booth. I see that Powell is not behind the booth, but rather standing in front of the table talking with someone. Brooke does not see this, because she has no idea what Powell looks like and I don’t bother to point him out to her. This is a crucial plot point.
So I walked up to the booth to buy some merch while Powell finishes up his conversation. I ask for a shirt and a pin, and the woman behind the table asks me if I would like anything else. Brooke, in an attempt to mock my love for THE GOON, quickly retorts “Yea, can you just bathe him in all things Eric Powell?”
I look to Powell, who — standing merely feet away — overhears this and looks to see who said such a strange statement. I point him out to Brooke, saying “He’s standing right there…” and we all laugh and he comes over to introduce himself.
And yet somehow that’s not the end of this story! I go to finish my transaction, and Brooke continues talking with Powell. She proceeds to tell him that, while I am a big fan of his work, it’s not really her cup of tea. (Not because of his art, mind you, but more the crass humor.)
Powell, the good sport that he is, begins taunting Brooke by acting disheartened and repeating “She hates my stuff” over and over while he graciously signed and remarked my comics.
So there it is. There is the story of how the woman I’ve pledged to spend the rest of my life with commandeered my meeting with one of the world’s greatest living cartoonists. Long story short, Eric Powell is the GOAT, and I will be attending Comic-Con solo in the future (if we’re ever allowed to have cons again).
On with this week’s articles!
Advance Review: In SEVEN SECRETS #1 Everything is Kept a Secret
Reviewer Zac Owens and I share a mutual adoration of Tom Taylor comics, so I was excited to read his thoughts on the upcoming SEVEN SECRETS by Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte, and Ed Dukeshire. I’ve been hyped for this book since it was first announced, and Zac says it doesn’t disappoint. (And while we’re talking Tom Taylor, Zac also reviewed this week’s SUICIDE SQUAD, and I’ll take any chance I can get to talk that book up.)
Review: PULP Is A Brilliant Revenge Epic With The Volume Turned Down
Zac ALSO reviewed PULP, the new Brubaker/Phillips graphic novel out this week.
“One part thriller, one part meditation on a life of violence, PULP is unlike anything award-winning BRUBAKER & PHILLIPS have ever done before.”
That’s not from Zac — that’s from the official Image solicit. I’ll let you read Zac’s thoughts for yourself. I will say, though, that PULP currently has Zac hooked and doing a deep-dive on Brubaker/Phillips’ entire library. So take that for what it’s worth.
I’d Buy That For A Dollar: DC Comics’ WHO’S WHO (1985-1987)
In case you didn’t know, Manny Gomez does this awesome column for MFR where he goes dollar bin diving and writes about the gems he finds. This week, he’s talking about DC Comics’ WHO’S WHO from the 80s. And you can follow his adventures dollar bin diving on Instagram @_idbuythatforadollar_.
Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #45 – An Epic Confrontation
Can I be real a second? For just a millisecond? Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second?
I’ve been very lukewarm on this current ASM run. It’s a fine comic and I’ll give props to all the creators working on it, but Spider-Man is very near and dear to my heart and it just feels like his main series is now built around a never-ending stream of mini-events. From the outside, it reads like Marvel is more concerned with milking every penny out of their most popular character than letting creators tell good standalone stories. But the reintroduction of the Sin Eater piqued my interest (“The Death of Jean DeWolff” is one of my favorite Spidey stories), and reviewer David Weber calls this one “an unforgettable issue” … so I guess I’m back in…for now.
Review: LOST SOLDIERS #1 – Looking Back on the Horror
There’s something about war stories — the horrors of battle and the effects it has on people — that fascinates and captivates us. Ales Kot, Luca Casalanguida, Heather Marie Lawrence Moore, and Aditya Bidikar’s LOST SOLDIERS is a very interesting take on the subject, using duel timelines to observe soldiers both during their time in Vietnam and 40 years later back home. Reviewer Justin Munday calls this debut issue “gifted with haunting passages, a unique dual-plot focus, and stellar artwork.”
BIG GIRLS And Relatable Monsters
Last week, Justin Munday did an advance review of BIG GIRLS #1. This week, Darryll Robson gives the comic the editorial treatment and takes a deeper look at its inner workings.
Review: WONDER WOMAN #759 Sees the Return of Max Lord
MFR veteran reviewer Jody Cardona takes a look at the first issue of WONDER WOMAN under a new creative team. Mariko Tamaki and Mikel Janin are a winning combination in my book.
What I’m Currently Reading
FANGS is a webcomic by Sarah Anderson (of SARAH’S SCRIBBLES fame) about a 300-year-old vampire who falls in love with a werewolf and their ensuing romance.
It is sweet, relatable, endearing, sensual, and very funny. If you like the humor of SARAH’S SCRIBBLES, you’ll find a lot to love in FANGS. Sarah is one of the funniest cartoonists working today, with a keen mastership of comedic timing and panel breakdowns.
And don’t let the fact that it’s a romance comic deter you from checking it out. It’s not sappy or over-the-top in a fairy tale sense. It’s an honest look at relationships featuring characters you can see yourself in, despite the fact that one of them turns into a wolf occasionally and the other one is an immortal who requires blood for sustenance. In fact, it becomes clear very quickly that their monster status is a metaphor for the baggage that we all bring into our relationships and that our partners (ideally) help us work through.
Plus, it’s a breeze to read. You can knock out the entire series in one sitting, so why not give it a chance? The whole series is available for free right now on Tapas (it’s free at the time I’m writing this, anyway), or they’re collecting in a hardcover with 25 additional comics in the very near future.
Also, there is an Image one-shot out this week by cartoonist Jesse Lonergan called HEDRA that I am really, REALLY excited to check out. I ordered it through my Local Comic Shop, so I’ll have more to say when it hits my mailbox, but I wanted to give you all a heads up because I’m hearing a lot of good things and apparently it’s selling out real quick everywhere.
COMIC STRIP • TALES OF MFR #64
A very ominous cliffhanger in this week’s TALES OF MFR. I’m both very excited and tremendously nervous to see where this goes.
Catch up on the series here: TALES OF MFR
The war between monkeys and robots has raged on for eons; these are the stories that have survived. With art by Jamie Jones and the occasional words by Matt Sardo, Tales of MFR hits the web every Sunday.
For more reviews, interviews, and “Legends of the Longbox”, head over to the website to see what the team’s been working on this week:
That’s all for now! Remember: Darkseid is… but so are we.
Until next week,
Anthony Composto
@The_Great_Ace
@monkeys_robots
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