It’s fall and that means it’s time for my annual Baltimore Comic-Con coverage! This year, I decided to spend two days at the convention, so you get twice the coverage! Join me as I talk about going both Friday and Saturday along with all of the random stuff I got. I’ve also got interviews with people in artist alley and I sit down with Stella to get her take on the weekend.
I was recently on an episode of FW Presents where Paul Kein, Rob Kelly, The Irredeemable Shag, and I riffed about independent comics. Much of my original exposure to indies was through tie-ins. Comico’s Robotech and Dark Horse’s Aliens books were some of my first steps out of the Big two, although with the exception of Image and the occasional Valiant comic, I didn’t start reading true independent comics until the late ’90s or early 2000s.
The formative event for me when it comes to independent comics was the 2002 Small Press Expo. I hadn’t been to a comics show since I went to a comic show at Nassau Coliseum in 1993. I’d been invited by my friend Paul, who’d become my “older cool comics geek friend” and honestly didn’t know what to expect. Frank Cho was the only signature I was looking for, and I had him sign some Liberty Meadows. Otherwise, my time at the Holiday Inn in Bethesda, Maryland was a lot of wandering around and trying to find something that might be remotely interesting. Among a lot of comics that ranged from the hand-made to the weird and the pretentious, there were a few books I found interesting enough to buy. One was Fade From Blue.
I happened upon the table of Second 2 Some Studios and stopped because the artwork on the covers of the three issues they were selling looked great. At the time, I was still reading a lot of superhero comics, and while this wasn’t one, I could see that the creators–Myatt Murphy and Scott Dalrymple–were influenced by a number of artists I was familiar with. So I talked to them for a while and bought issues #1-3, which they signed. After I read them, I immediately put the title on my pull list, which helped because publishing schedules for a series from such a small press were sporadic at best, and Kickstarter didn’t exist yet, so they were solely relying on sales at shows like the SPX and their listing deep in Previews to get the next issues out. Fade From Blue ran for ten issues and I still have all of them.
It’s the most rewritten and confusing backstory in the history of comics. No, not Hawkman. Not The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Not even Jean Grey. It’s Donna Troy.
For this episode, I return to the topic of the Wonder Girl herself by taking a quick look at how her origin has been told and retold, and then do a deep dive into the 2025 Titans annual by Phil Jimenez, which reveals the identity of her father and lays to rest the question of who she really is.
From the DC Vault, it’s the “What If” story that Batman fans had wondered about for years (even though What If is a Marvel book): What if Jason Todd had lived? Join me as I take a look at the alternate version of Batman #428 by Jim Starlin, Jim Aparo, and Mike DeCarlo, and then dive into the miniseries A Death in the Family: Robin Lives! by J.M. DeMatteis and Rick Leonardi.
At long last, I’m back! And it’s time for the annual coverage of the Baltimore Comic-Con! Join me as I talk about the con experience, meeting up with a number of geek friends, getting signatures from comics creators and actors, and take a walk down artists alley. Plus: listener feedback!
The Crimson Avenger’s first cover appearance was Detective Comics #22.
#JSApril has been a blast, and if you’ve been following long, you’ve heard people talk about 85 years’ worth of comics, including my own episode about the Justice Society’s battles against the villain Extant. I hadn’t scheduled anything else for this month, but then I fell down a Crimson Avenger rabbit hole.
Now, if you want to be pedantic about it, The Crimson Avenger was technically a member of The Seven Soldiers of ictory and I believe showed up in All-Star Squadron (but don’t quote me on that), but I figure that makes him a JSA-er once remoed or something. What’s most important is that he was DC Comics’ first masked hero. Debuting in Detective Comics #20, he predates Batman by roughtly half a year (although he is not the first super hero because thats still Superman, who debuted a few months prior). And he’s not the most original character, either, borrowing a concept from The Green Hornet and a costume from The Shadow.
By the way, I’m saying that more or les to get it out of the way because I don’t feel to harp on it.
Anyway, I came by the hero via Secret Origins and then the four-issue miniseries that spun out of that Secret Origins issue, both of which were written by Roy Thomas. THese were both part of Thomas’ post-Crisi efforts to make sure that the Golden Age heroes had a firm place in DC continuity and their stories could continue to be told. In fact, many of the first year or so of issues featured Golden Age characters, something I believe that was back-door piloted in the last couple of issues of All-Star Squadron.
It’s JSApril! All this month, comics podcasts and blogs are celebrating the original super-hero team, the Justice Society of America. For this episode, I’ll be talking about one of the JSA’s darkest hours, their battle with Extant in Zero Hour, followed by their re-match/redemption in “The Hunt for Extant”. I’ll also talk about Extant’s origins and the Impulse One-Shot “Bart Saves the Universe.”
For more JSApril content, look for #JSApril on social media or check out JSApril: Celebrating 85 Years of the JSA at the Fire and Water Podcast Network.
Note: I have a new Apple Podcasts feed and am on Spotify! Just search for Pop Culture Affidavit!
And for more JSApril, look for #JSApril on social media and check out this list of all of the contributors to JSApril, and thanks to The Fire and Water Podcast Network for putting all of this together!
If you’ve been listening to my show, you’ve been hearing ads for an exciting crossover event: JSApril! During this entire month, a huge number of comic book and pop culture blogs and podcasts will be doing their part to celebrate the original super-hero team, The Justice Society of America. The JSA made its debut in 1940 and all of these blogs and shows are going to be bringing coverage from throughout that entire 85-year history. My contribution, which will cover the JSA fighting against Extant in both Zero Hour: Crisis in Time and “The Hunt for Extant” in the Geoff Johns JSA comic book series, will come out around April 21.
In the meantime, check out this list of all of the contributors to JSApril, and thanks to The Fire and Water Podcast Network for putting all of this together!
Beginning a new feature! I’m setting down a path that may or may not dominate my destiny: working my way through Star Wars. With this episode, I begin a reading and watching project that will cover the entire nine-movie Star Wars cycle plus television shows and spin-off films. First up are three novels that lead into Episode I and the film itself, The Phantom Menace.
Works included in this episode are Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray; Cloak of Deception by James Luceno; Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves; and The Phantom Menace as a film, novel (by Terry Brooks), and comic book, including the 25th anniversary one-shot published by Marvel.
Just in time for Halloween, it’s mutants vs. vampire courtesy of Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz! I’m joined by Coffee and Comics’ Clinton Robison to talk about Uncanny X-Men #159 and X-Men Annual #6 where Storm becomes a vampire and the team faces off against Dracula!
Music for this episode is “Pop Rock” by Scott Holmes music and has been used under Creative Commons via the Free Music Archive.
