An important part of most comic books is the origin story. How did the protagonist come to be where they are when the series start? What series of events, so often involving radiation if we’re talking about superhero books, led to our hero being the bedrock of truth and justice (or if we’re talking [...]
Continue Reading Four Color Fiend- The Origin of Nick
“Avengers” was a hell of a movie. I’m certainly not the only one to think so, if box office sales are anything to go by. As of my writing this column, the movie has made $1.2 billion worldwide in a month. When a sequel was announced less than a week after opening in the US, no one was surprised. When you’re opening weekend not only breaks the previous opening weekend record, but smashes it Hulk-style, you can be damn sure that the studios involved are going to make another. And I look forward to seeing Avengers sequels. As a close friend of mine said to me after seeing it opening day, “It’s almost the perfect ideal for what a big superhero movie should be.” And the sequence that played mid-credits sets up the possibility of some seriously interesting avenues for where the franchise can go. This isn’t to say that the movie’s success hasn’t raised some concerns for me, though.
Continue Reading Four Color Feind- The Double Edged Sword of Crossover Success
had planned on writing about Spider-Man this month. By the time you read this, The Amazing Spider-Man will have already been released to theaters(you thought I was going to go with the “swing into theaters pun, didn’t you? I’m a hack, sure, but I’m not that much of a hack. Except when I am), and it’s likely kicking the ass of every other movie in the theaters this week. Another reason I planned on writing about Spider-Man this month is that August will mark the fiftieth anniversary of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of your friendly neighborhood web-slinging wall-crawler.
I even had a topic all set to go, I was going to tell all of you how, were you to become a superhero, you’d ultimately be more like Spider-Man than any other hero out there. Yes, even more than Batman. Stop it with thinking that you could become Batman. You can’t. Just drop it
Continue Reading Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Kid!
Okay, let me get the obligatory stuff out of the way right now: HOLY SHIT, DARK KNIGHT RISES WAS AWESOME! Now, I realize that a great many people will tell you that, on individual merit, The Dark Knight was a better movie, and I wouldn’t try to argue with them on that. The Dark Knight [...]
Continue Reading Dark Knight Resources
Ok, kids, this month I’ve got something a little stuck in my craw. I’ve been reading comics off and on for twenty years now, and things have gotten completely out of hand. When I was child who read predominantly X-Men comics, I knew that once a year there’d likely be a crossover event that would work its way through the X-Books for a month or two. A couple issues of Uncanny X-Men, a couple of X-Men, a couple of X-Force, and a couple of X-Factor. Maybe, just maybe an issue of Excalibur if the writers and the editors in the X-Office were feeling crazy, though Excalibur usually got to enjoy a life separated from the mainline X-Books for the most part.
Continue Reading Enough Events
Since last we spook, good reader, I have started a new position at work. The hours are different, hell, the days are different, and it’s all been fairly erratic due to some other crazy crap that happens when one has to punch the clock for The Man. I’d never be able to keep a city safe from crime at this rate.
Continue Reading How to Make Bank While Stopping Bank Robberies
We’re pretty busy here at Eat Your Serial headquarters trying to put the finishing touches on our first round of ebook releases, so I’m going to keep this month’s column short and sweet and do a quick round-up of some stories that have caught my eye the past few weeks. If you’re really that sad [...]
Continue Reading Four Color Fiend – Recent News Recap
It’s December, and you know what that means: there’s a bevy of gift-giving holidays staring us down once again. It’s always nice to be able to think long and hard on what to give someone for their holiday of choice, but sometimes it’s just not feasible. There are so many people in your life, and [...]
Continue Reading Christmas Gifts for the Comic Fan on Your List
As we start 2013, I wanted to take a look back at some of my favorite things of 2012. I’ll admit that this is a completely self-indulgent exercise, but it’s my column, and I’ll indulge if I want. You would indulge to if it happened to you. My apologies to Lesley Gore for that [...]
Continue Reading 2012 Favorites
So I’ve been stuck at home for most of the last month. I had some surgery that kept me out of work for a while, and even after I was allowed to start driving again, I really didn’t feel much like going anywhere for a couple more weeks. Seeing as how the nearest comic book shop of quality is about thirty miles from home, and I generally just hit it up on my commute home on Wednesday’s, I really wasn’t feeling any great desire to make even that trip, and I do love me some four color funnies.
Continue Reading Digital Age Comic Adventures
Batman Incorporated #8 came out this month, and with it, I realized that of the five Robins that have graced the main continuity thus far (If you’re wondering how I came to five, you’re forgetting to count Stephanie Brown), most have the unfortunate fate of…Y’know what, I’m not going to say it. I’d hate to make fellow EYS columnist John Price of Approved for All Audiences get teary-eyed. I’d hate to get myself teary-eyed as well while we’re at it. Let’s just say that Grant Morrison is just as dastardly a villain in some ways as the Joker is.
Continue Reading Kickin’ It With Sidekicks
Let me just state up front that I ain’t no Julian Gregory Day. I’ve been so wrapped up in my Editorial Directoring duties for EYS, namely gambling, wenching, and drinking, I thought my column didn’t run for another week. Well, much to my surprise, I was completely wrong. It doesn’t run next week, it runs [...]
Continue Reading Blockbuster Previews
I’m getting to a point where I’ve just about had enough of it. Now, you’re probably asking yourself, “What could Nick be talking about?” Well, that’s assuming you don’t know me personally. If you do know me personally, then you’re likely asking yourself, “What of the countless things that irritate Nick could it be [...]
Continue Reading Fanboys
I had a rare Friday off from work last week, and since we were finally getting an IMAX theater in my area on the day it opened, I decided that I’d make a day of it and go see Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. The fact that I’m a giant nerd and had been looking forward to the movie might have had something to do with going to see it, hell, it might even have had something to do with my actually having the day off to begin with, but if I admit to myself that I took the day off so that I could go see this, I’d be highly disappointed.You see, dear reader, I hated the movie. I’m just going to put that out there and possibly save a couple of you the time of reading the rest of this in case you just want to know my stance on it. But yeah, I hated it.
Continue Reading Man of Steel, Movie of Sad Quality
