Tag Archives: John Byrne

If there’s anything I appreciate, it’s a pure, pleasant surprise. I mean, I don’t spend all my time looking at the comic solicits. Every now and then, one slips past my radar. I experience a momentary disappointment in myself when that happens, but if it does, and the comic is …

The theme this week? Recognizing what’s good when we see it. Too often, we see what’s right for us and we pass it up for a variety of reasons that seem to make sense. I’m adopting a different format for this week’s post. Instead of surveying a variety of titles …

“We … do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; …” That’s a truncation of President John F. Kennedy’s famous Rice Stadium speech exhorting the American public to support the Apollo space program. It’s one of my favourite speeches, not just because it talks …

Hope keeps us going, but it’s a double-edged sword. While the promise of success is a tantalizing reason, it’s also frustrating because what we want, still isn’t guaranteed. I guess that’s a ‘glass-is-half-empty” approach but that’s what I’m working with this week as we go through the list of comic …

Any cause worth fighting for is worth reading about. Sometimes you have a cause – a belief in something bigger than yourself. It’s worth a battle even when people tell you to lay down. I’m about causes and about fighting. So that’s my take for this week’s review list. There …

New Comic Day is a constant in the life of a true aficionado. Every Wednesday books arrive on the shelves of one’s local, comic store, waiting for you to cross off your list and pick them up. Or perhaps you have your own shelf, behind the counter, reserved with your name on …

The greatest lies are the ones we want to believe. That’s what fiction is: a carefully crafted exercise in willing deception. It takes a great deal of skill to entertain us with tales of make-believe and more effort than one would be willing to admit. A common misperception is that …

Yeah, it’s a perfect Star Trek storm this week with all of IDW’s Trek titles hitting the shelves all at once. While this would have delighted the adolescent in me, the grizzled comic veteran now has to pick from his favourite children. Oh, boo-hoo. The Star Trek and comic geek …

My God, there’s a lot in this week’s list to get excited about. There’s an overwhelming amount of talent on display – enviable talent, and one of the problems I encounter in writing this column is that it’s easy to be stunned by that talent. After all, these are people who …

Sometimes, it’s a little scary how willing we are to surrender our sense of disbelief in return for a decent story. Reading comics is such a common and accessible form of escapism that in order for the experience to be a good one, we readily throw our support behind a …

Surprises can make or break a comic. It’s all part of good storytelling, of course, but in order for surprise to work as a story development device, it has to be based in the proper context of characterization, backgrounds and established history of the comic. If these things aren’t arranged …

I love the holiday season; a time for renewing and sharing friendships. But sadly, our friends can’t always be there for us because of busy, family commitments or conflicting schedules. … Which is when a good story is something to be appreciated because you can always rely on one to …

I began reading comics at the age of four. My parents had a convenience store in the UK and every morning, the newspapers would arrive and I would find myself in the front of the store in the early hours of the morning sifting through them to search for the …

For a lot of people August represents the anticipation of a new year. Back to school is around the corner and this brings back memories for those no longer beholden to the school year. Hence the instinctive gearing up that we all seem to do. After all, isn’t there something …

San Diego Comic Con is next week. So, sad to say, that is the first time in three years that I will be missing a deadline. Of course, I’ll be hob-knobbing with the cream of geekculture and learning all sorts of inside stuff. Hey – if you’re there; look me …