Reading Old Comics: Swamp Thing and Hellblazer

As I mentioned somewhere here before I’m a fan of comics and a fan of digital comics from Comixology. One of the most enticing things for me about digital comics is the ability to go back and read older material that I may have missed for any number of reasons. In the case of Swamp Thing and Hellblazer the main reason I missed out on them was because I was 3 and 8 years old when these series started and, frankly, if I somehow had heard of them and my parents let me read them, well, they wouldn’t have been doing a very good job as parents. These titles come from Vertigo and nowadays are rated 17+ for good reason.

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Comics: Masks & Mobsters #1

A little while ago I gave my thoughts about the new comics company monkeybrain comics’ roll-out titles. Those can be found here. The company’s newest creator owned title is Masks & Mobsters and its my favorite of the titles so far.

It’s written by Joshua Williamson (@Williamson_Josh) and the artist for this first issue is Mike Henderson (@MikeSHenderson), though the info page says that there will be a rotating cast of artists. I’m sure the other artists to come will all do great but I’m definitely looking forward to more issues drawn by Mike Henderson. The art is black and white evokes a great sense of mood.

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Some Thoughts About monkeybrain comics

So as I mentioned in my post last night I love stories and all the many ways people tell stories. That includes comics. I’ve always been a comic fan, though for most of my life I didn’t have the finances or time to really get into them.

There was a time when I was younger (The beginning of the ’90s) that I remember I collected some series: The New Warriors, Sleepwalker, Deathlok. Not exactly A list (or even B list) titles those. There was a reason for that though – I always felt daunted by the sheer size of Marvel and DCs universe. So many titles and many of them rolling into issue numbers in the triple digits. Or at least high doubles.

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Review: Fireside Magazine Issue #1

Let’s get something out of the way right now: I love short stories. I’m a big fan of anthologies and magazines. The root of this love for the short format can be found in my adoration for the writing of Harlan Ellison. Even though it’s never going to bring me the kind of money it takes to support a family I fully intend to devote a noticeable chunk of this writing career I’m trying to develop to short fiction. For that reason I’m all for jumping in on crowdfunding projects looking to get new fiction magazines off the ground. At the time of this writing, I’m supporting the Fireside Magazine Issue 2 & Beyond kickstarter and the Nightmare Magazine kickstarter. The way I see it, supporting a new magazine (or an established one for that matter) benefits me and other writers in two ways.

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