Tops and Bottoms – 6th August 2025.

“Well it is an imperfect Universe.” G’Kar. 

As you can tell from the above I’ve wrist deep in a Babylon 5 rewatch. Not just the Blu-rays but also the books and comics. When a fad grabs me I like to immerse myself fully and to obsessive lengths. As sad proof I even have a Kosh action figure I grabbed from EBay. 

As part of this ephemeral addiction I’ve been reading the autobiographies of some of the cast and crew. After finishing the saucy tell-all by Claudia Christian, aptly named ‘Babylon Confidential’ I’m about half-way through ‘Becoming Superman’ from writer and show-runner J. Michael Straczynski (JMS). It’s genuinely something. Literary in style and heartbreaking in tone. The revelations of his childhood will break you. And that’s nothing compared to a revelation in one of the final chapters. I’ve always been fond of his writing, in TV, movies and comics, and this is only building on that respect. If you can take the darkness in the first part of this book then I’d highly recommend it.

As part of this I watched an interview with JMS when the book was launched. Held at the American Writers Museum, he is funny, clever and very engaging. You also sense that he takes zero shit off people. A position to do so he has most certainly earned. He gives credit where it is due and speaks at length of his influences and friends. Also as a man who came out the other side of a brutal childhood (and that’s putting it very mildly) he handed over friendly advice to his listeners. One piece stuck in my head during a four hour drive home on Friday. 

‘Good people are better than they think they are.’ – JMS.

It’s true right? The person who does good deeds never feels like they’ve done enough. I’ve been fortunate to surround myself over the decades by those good people. They don’t shout about it, they don’t search for credit, they just move on and help someone else, often to the detriment of themselves. It really got me thinking about those souls in our comics world. And I came to another conclusion stemming from JMS’s.

Be suspicious of people who tell you how virtuous they are.

There are a few about in comics. Don’t be sucked in by them. Talk is cheap, and so often are their deeds.

“My shoes are too tight, but it doesn’t matter, because I have forgotten how to dance.” – Londo Mollari (Londo is talking of his father and written by JMS).

Small Press of the Week.

Zack Cahill’s Patreon is full of brilliant surprises that land on your doorstep with regularity. Easily one of the best new faces in the hobby. This is a mix of stories and opens on one that homages a little EC and a little Noir. You can get on board this ship by signing up right here.

Cover Artist of the Week.

Joseph Michael Linsner is pound for pound the biggest asset Dynamite have in my humble opinion. I buy some of these comics just for his incredible covers. 

Tops.

How did Ghost Machine not get any Eisner wins or even nominations!? Everything they put out is quality and Redcoat just edged it into my top spot this week. Absolute gold from all concerned who are doing some of the best work of their collective careers.

Bottoms.

Interminable dreck. Dead-eyed and static art accompanies a story that goes nowhere. Even the appearance of Man-Thing didn’t stop it sinking to the bottom. (Cover ain’t too bad though).

See you next week.