Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Looking back at Canada’s First Age of Comics, the WECA period (1941-6), we find that it never produced a team of superheroes like the JSA/JLA, The Avengers, The Mighty Crusaders, or Alpha Flight. Among the three “big” publishers we find…
Justice League of America #200, DC Comics (March 1982) The Justice League has been a hot property since Justice League #1 launched DC’s New 52 back in August of 2011. The title has stayed hot and it can only get…
An interesting spin on what we know of space exploration, The Chimpanzee Complex Volume 1: Paradox is an engaging look at humanity and the desire to achieve. In 2035, the US Navy discovers a strange space capsule that has crashed…
The latest in Bryan Talbot’s anthropomorphic steam punk epic, Grandville Bete Noire takes the familiar mystery framework and turns it on its ear, in a good way. The baffling murder of a famed Parisian artist in his locked and guarded…
Hockey is back!! In appreciation of this, I want to share a relevant WECA splash. It’s a good thing that comics can’t be prorogued or locked out, but, in a way, maybe that’s what happened to American comics when Canada’s…
A stunning blend of word and illustration, Sergio Toppi elevates the comic art form in Sharaz-De: Tales From The Arabian Nights. A set of tales inspired by the Arabian Nights by the late European comics master Sergio Toppi, exploring a…
Eat This Not That is a popular column in Men’s Health magazine. The authors of the column compare two menu items found in popular restaurants and highlight the nutritionally superior alternative. Now, when I say “nutritionally superior” it’s with a…
A unique tale of action, black comedy and mystery, Humanoids brings English speaking audiences Philippe Riche’s The Alliance Of The Curious. Three antique dealers team up to work on the most bizarre and obscure of cases. Their current investigation begins…
As is well-known now, the War Exchange Conservation Act (WECA) enacted on Dec. 6, 1940 stopped all American comics from coming into Canada. Canadian entrepreneurs took advantage of this vacuum and produced the first Canadian comic age with the appearance…
This Week’s Undervalued Spotlight comes from Mike Huddleston. This spotlight ranks up there as one of my favorites! Mikes knowledge and passion shine through, his arguments are sound, his judgments just. This spotlight has inspired me to try to be…
The year is now over and I can confidently publish my list of favourite reprints of 2012. To make sure I remembered what I read I kept a running list of books on my phone for the year, which makes…
A small meeting took place on Grey Cup Sunday 2012. This meeting was held in an poorly lit supply room at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel during a 1 day comic book convention. The participants of this meeting were Jim Finlay,…
Lucky Comics Vol. 2 #7, Maple Leaf Publishing, (Dec 1943/Jan 1944) Today being Christmas Day I thought I’d feature a very special Santa Claus cover. Honestly we should all be giddy just seeing the cover to this book, there are…
Comic book auctions had their ups and downs in 2012. Things started with a bang last February when the Billy Wright collection set records at Heritage Auctions. That collection pumped some life into what had been a drab Golden Age…
A new edition from Image provides an opportunity to enjoy an early work from Brubaker, Lark and Phillips. From the co-creators of Gotham Central and FATALE comes a lost crime noir masterpiece. Long out of print, and presented here for…
Chaykin’s latest crime drama takes us along a familiar route with some odd turns and unnecessary choices. To the casual observer, Mark LaFarge has it going on. He’s got a beautiful wife, cute kids, a McMansion in the South Bay…
Walt Simonson brings his skills, well honed in the pages of Thor, to Jack Kirby’s Fourth World with tremendous effect. ORION THE GATES OF APOKOLIPS: is a fast-paced tale about a never-ending battle between a father and son with the…
Superman #61, DC Comics (November 1949) Three years ago in my Undervalued Spotlight #18 I talked about how for his first decade Superman did not fly. In the beginning Superman basically just jumped around “able to leap a tall building…
The Floating 9.2 Grade The 9.2 grade has become synonymous with a quality high grade comic. The 9.2 grade is the right most column in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. The 9.2 is the industry standard high grade. Over…
Astute readers will have noticed I’ve reviewed two Alex Raymond Flash Gordon collections on CBD this year: IDW’s Library Of American Comics (LOAC) The Definitive Flash Gordon And Jungle Jim: 1934-1936 and Titan’s Flash Gordon: On The Planet Mongo, Sundays…