First full Guardians Of The Galaxy trailer, and it doesn’t look half bad…

In doing my ongoing research into Canadian war time comics, I recently came across this Toronto Star article about a Whites artist named Michael (Bud) Riled who seems to have created a female jungle heroine called “Terena of the Jungle.” It even has a quote from Peter Berkemoe, owner of The Beguiling about the period of The Whites.

This is always a hot topic among collectors and dealers alike. Now, I have resisted writing this column because of the heat that goes along with the debate. Nowadays it seems very difficult to have a serious debate about anything, because of the highly charged state of political correctness. But what the heck, here goes.

Flash Comics #86, DC Comics, August 1947

It’s been a while since we visited the Golden Age. It was Undervalued Spotlight #172 to be precise, not that I’m trying to plug that post or anything.

This year on February 9th, the Vaughan Winterfest celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is a great event that helps break up the monotony of a long winter, especially with the abundance of snow and cold temperatures we’ve had this year.

So you have your eye set on SUPERNOVAS #2 have you? Well, let me start off by telling you that it is an Award-Winning Dish.

Unfortunately, the award is Worst Book of the Month.

A gathering of wonderful art spotted by yours truly these last few days.

It’s time for another update from BIFF SOCKO, TWO-FISTED NEWSHOUND. Biff Socko covers Comic Book News like zits on the A-V Club. Faster than Perry White! Stronger than J. Jonah Jameson! Hotter than Cat Grant. He is…BIFF SOCKO!

However, the more I think about Marvel Now the more I feel that success (or lack thereof) is mostly owed to these unique interpretations. When I talk with fans at conventions or comic book shops they either love or hate what is going on in Marvel Now. And I think that is primarily due to the fact that the concepts behind Marvel Now are all or nothing; you either love them or or hate them because they are What If? stories.

John Stables (most often signing his work Jon St. Ables) has always been amongst the most appreciated of the WECA artists and his name is consistently placed at the head of lists of those artists best representative of the excellent, professional quality of Canadian war-time comic art whenever the artistic output of the Canadian Whites is brought into question. He was inducted into the Shuster Hall of Fame in 2006 and the write up with the induction by Robert Pincombe and Peter Hansen supplies you with the necessary details of his life and career.

Now that full page shot was in no way near to how I have envisioned the layout of the panel, but that page came to mind anyway because what had left such an impression was the emotion it conveyed.

Young Love #104, DC Comics, June/July 1973. Happy Valentine’s Day, I hope yours is filled with Young Love! There are a lot of undervalued comics in the Romance genre but alas I’m faced with the same dilemma as our cover girl Theresa, I can only pick one.

Katie Skelly’s Operation Margarine impresses with its first 4 self-published issues and continues in graphic novel form in April.

Last week sad news was released in regards to G.I. Joe (especially for Canadians): the Canadian G.I. Joe Convention is officially retired. After 10 years, it is done.

It’s time for another update from BIFF SOCKO, TWO-FISTED NEWSHOUND. Biff Socko covers Comic Book News like zits on the A-V Club. Faster than Perry White! Stronger than J. Jonah Jameson! Hotter than Cat Grant. He is…BIFF SOCKO!

A gathering of wonderful art spotted by yours truly these last few days.

I have found, throughout my years of being a comic book lover, there is something very strange about the way comic book fans treat each other. When one comic book fan meets another, there is a back and forth quiz that happens. “What do you read?” “What is your favourite comic?” “Who is your favourite writer/artist/character?” Instead of just being excited to meet another comic lover, we have to make sure they are worthy, but mostly, we make sure we know more than they do.

This week Comic Culture hosts Chris Owen and Walter Durajlija say adieu to Slurpy Jones and sadly to our young buck Andrew Roebuck who has used his experience on our show to move on to bigger and better things. Good luck Young Buck! That of course leaves our producer Shekky Feldstein doing...

Warner Bros Animation has released the first DC comics feature in the “new 52″ universe, following the Geoff Johns and Jim Lee Justice League initial story arc Origin.

Of all the WECA books, those produced by Maple Leaf Publishing out on the west coast of Canada are in the most demand and are the hardest to find. In this post I want to initiate the question of the number and dates of all the Maple Leaf issues… especially that murky last year—1946.

I was having a conversation with some friends the other day and we were discussing, of all things, Golden Age Romance comics. The ones that were created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Leonard Starr and Matt Baker. Titles like Young Love and My Date and Young Romance. These were huge in their day and were showcases for some of the best sequential storytelling to grace the pages of four colour comics!

The Brave and the Bold #159, DC Comics, February 1980. I know we’re all saving up for Valentine’s Day so I thought I’d make this Spotlight another affordable one. Forgive me though because I’m still on this Ra’s Al Ghul kick.

January 26/2014 was the latest Ontario Collectors Con held at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre in Mississauga. The show features vendors selling a wide variety of toys from rare collectibles to vintage and modern toys. The OCC also featured two special guests.