Ups and Downs 22/5/2024

“It’ll probably start with a punch in the face.“

But isn’t that just comics?

It’s important to remember what comics is. We focus so much on the white noise around it. We are constantly drawn in by what it isn’t. The movies and TV crap, the so-called personalities, the opinions stated as facts and the bellends who write stuff online. (And yes, I massively include myself in that.) What actually matters is the comic you hold in your hands and the relationship between the page, your eyes and how you process what you read. Some are good and some are bad and many are just forgettable.

If you are a Longbox person person or just a pile by the bed person, go and pick one up, turn off your phone for a while and reconnect. Don’t worry about posting/mentioning/bragging that you have read something on your socials. Just read it and work out the panels and pages like they are a puzzle. Put it down afterwards and go back to your life. And sometimes feed the pigeons too.

Are you one of those annoying comics makers? There’s a few of us about. Then I highly recommend that you have a listen to the new episode of the ACP. We were joined by Matthew Schofield the creator of the new comic Steamroller Man. We really get into the craft on this one and discuss how to separate the work day from the evenings and the comic making. You can still pledge to his Kickstarter right here. We also get into some great new comics that you might dig.

Need some more inspirations? Then hop over to the NIA podcast and listen to me interview my old buddy Darrell Thorpe (aka FORPE). This is the fourth and final episode of my Chats with collaborators and we really get into the changes that an artist can go through in their career. Not to be missed. You can also head over to FORPE’s website and buy some of his amazing comics by clicking here.

Back to the task at hand. My weekly look at what is my favourite read of the week and what is my least. This week it’s taken from a sample of 125 comics.

Tops.

Sometimes Marvel reminds me of why I have invested so much time and money in their comics.

You may have missed this one as it was released as a one-shot. But it’s up there for best comic of the year so far for me. Crammed full of details and ideas. And the art is to die for! Jonathan Hickman again proves that he is the MVP writer for the Big Two at the moment and Sanford Green will send you cross-eyed with the scope and detail.

Doom is a fascinating character when handled correctly and this explores not only the cosmic significance of his positioning in these later days of the Marvel Universe but also his enormous ego. I was chatting to Greg at Gosh this week and he tells me that people have been phoning the shop to see if they have copies left. Get it while you can.

Bottoms.

Then, sometimes, maybe more often than usual these days, a character you have loved gets such a half-arsed treatment that it breaks your heart. I had nervously held mid-level hopes for the reintroduction of the Valiant Universe from Alien Books. It surely couldn’t be worse than the digital crap we got from Liam Sharpe, but somehow this is even worse!