Longbox Mountain 25/10/2023.

Morning.

This week I’ve had a pretty relentless week at work and done some moving but still managed to pack a lot of comics reading into the days. It occurs to me as I write this that it’s a funny time for comics. We’ve just had New York Comic Con roll round again and one of two that I have missed. I felt a little jaded by the diminishing comics content last year so prompted to try Baltimore in 2023 for a change. Thanks to Vince, Jason and DAP at the 11 o’clock comics pod for their Patreon podcasting so I could enjoy the highs and lows through them.

We’re also almost at Halloween. It just gets bigger every year seemingly. Over at the ACP we’ve been running a Horror Month and enjoying dipping back into some back issues of Eerie Magazine. This week we’ve had a couple of Dracula experts on – one being related to Mr Stoker himself. You can have a listen here.

This week the ACP take on the greatest villain to ever grace the comic page, the one and only DRACULA! As well as the crews view on the character in comics, Dacre Stoker and Chris McCauly (Dracula The Return) jump in to drop some serious lore, history and story knowledge about the daddy of all villains! It’s a fascinating and informative chat, and with tons of comics to check out and recommend its a show that even the Creatures of the Night would not want to miss!

Great stuff to check out this week – Dracula The Return: Cult of the White Worm, Dacre Stoker, Chris McCauley,Stokerverse, Pat Mills, Edison Neo, No Brainer, DUI #3, Graphic Gospel #2, Tribute Press, Inferno: The World Dies Screaming, Global Comics, Underground Comics, Vampire State Building, Avery Hill Publishing, The Hard Switch, Shaman Kane, David Broughton, Kill Your Darlings

Over at the NIA Podcast I was also lucky enough to complete my set of That Comic Smell hosts by getting Nando Pons on to chat about the X-Men. We discuss a specific issue that has some controversy but also ponder over why these characters have endured since Len and Dave brought them back. Have a listen here.

This week Tony welcomes Nando Pons from the brilliant That Comic Smell podcast on to the show to talk about Uncanny X-Men 183.

This is a comic full of action, soap-opera and no small amount of controversy. We also hear about ‘X-Patrol’ – have a listen to find out what that may be…

Nando also has some interesting insight into how and why the X-Men have endured over the decades. This is a cracker of an episode. You can find Nando on the That Comic Smell Podcast by clicking here.

So, back to those best and worsts of the week.

Top.

I’ve been looking forward to this after getting to meet Pat, chat to him and see some of the original art for this series last June at Heroes Convention in the US. I’ve really enjoyed both Mike Baron’s and Pat Broderick’s comics for years and this looks amazing. It also caught me a little off guard with the Halloween/Horror twist that I hadn’t guessed. Let me ask you – Why would a man wear a Bronze Badge rather than a silver one??

Gloriously detailed throughout with rough talking men of action and a town to protect. I’ve actually just finished it and am hoping there are more on the way. I’m not sure where you can get one now that the Kickstarter and IndieGogo are closed but you could do worse than reach out to the creators.

Bottom.

Marvel again.

I suffered through a lot of bad comics in the nineties but this is the worst Spidey comic I have read so far. Confused, out of character throughout, art all over the place. It feels like they have given up hope and threw garbage in a random word generator! What the F is going on with Mary-Jane? Who are these nonsense people?

Avoid.

Many thanks for reading.