Comic Reviews: Delilah Dirk & Fairy Tale Comics

Delilah Dirk & The Turkish Lieutenant

She first causes his execution and then saves his life.  To repay that debt Selim the mild-mannered Turkish Lieutenant joins firecracker Delilah Dirk on her adventures, and thus a partnership is started on page 30 and they (and the reader) are off and running at breakneck speed on an adventure that sits squarely at the crossroads of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Moonlighting, the Hope/Crosby Road movies, Buffy, and Robin Hood.  

In a wonderful inversion of the normal roles Delilah is the skilled thief who acquires a diamond-in-the-rough distressed damsel sidekick in the form of Erdemoglu Selim who prides himself on his ability to make great tea.  They steal treasure, are pursued, lose treasure, steal more treasure, and each comes to the conclusion by the end that the greatest treasure is the adventures themselves.  The story such as it is exists only to move along our “heroes” from one adventure set piece to the next.  While the pace may be fast author Tony Cliff still manages to sneak in enough character bits to give us fully fleshed out characters and not just cyphers.

Lately it seems to me that the big two are putting out nothing more than complex cross-connected stories you need to have read the last five years of continuity to understand.  And the violence, blood, and language would rate at least a PG-13 rating on the big screen it is nice to find a self-contained, fun book suitable for all ages.  This is a summer blockbuster of a book and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  And speaking of younger readers…..

Fairy Tale Comics

“The reason we have smaller numbers of comics readers is because we don’t have any comics for kids.“  How many times have you heard this?  Despite what you’ve been told there are comics for kids, you just have to look a little harder to find them.  And if you did find suitable titles what kind should they be to hook the little rugrats and breed a whole new crop of readers?  My suggestion would be to take a bunch of stories that should be familiar and put them in a comic format that is perfect for parents to read to their kids before bed.  And better yet let’s make it an anthology with a whole bunch of great artists such as Jaime Hernandez, David Mazzucchelli, Craig Thompson, and Emily Carroll to do the adaptations.  First:Second Comics editor Chris Duffy must have had the same thought because he did just that when he put together Fairy Tale Comics.

As a comics reader myself I realize that I have to do a lot of the work for the comics companies to help grow a new generation.  And obviously a book called Fairy Tale Comics isn’t written for someone in his late 30’s so I decided the only way to see how good it really was meant reading it to my 5 year old and over the space of a week we read one story after another.  Did he enjoy every story?  No, but he enjoyed many of them and by the time he was done he was asking me to reread some of them.  Basically what I witnessed was the beginning of a new comics reader and I can’t give a title a better endorsement than that.  If you have children find this book and buy it and share it, it really is that good.

Episode 318: Cola-Con 2013 Wrap and Interviews

While at Cola-Con this year Adam, Shawn, and Teeminus, took the time to grab interviews with Damion Scott, Ed Piskor, and Sanford Greene.  Terence set up shop and Adam and Shawn recorded a wrap up (completely unrelated).  Too bad you couldn’t catch Cola-Con this year, but, hey, there’s always next and until then, we did it for you.

Runtime 42 minutes 37 seconds

Episode 318: Cola-Con 2013 Wrap and Interviews

Episode 317: Interview with Andrew MacLean

Art by Andrew MacleanThis week on the Dollar Bin, Adam and Terence are lucky enough to Skype down with Andrew Maclean to help promote the Kickstarter for his project Head Lopper 2:  The Wolves of Barra and to learn a little more about Andrew, himself, as well as his other work.  To kick things off though, they talk a little about Cola-Con coming up this weekend.

Runtime 46 minutes 08 seconds

Episode 317: Interview with Andrew MacLean

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Review

On October 15th at 8 PM there will be a reason to watch PBS for something other than Antiques Road Show.  The first of three parts of a new documentary called Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle will air.  Hosted by Liev Schreiber (that‘s right, they got Sabretooth to do the voiceover duties), this special covers the history of comics from their beginnings in 1938 to their block buster movie status of present day.

As someone who has been not only a collector of comics but a student of history, I made a mental checklist of what highlights they would hit and one by one I crossed them off.  Seigel and Schuster?  Check.  Bob Kane?  Check.  Fredrick Wertham?  Check. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?  Check.  And so on.

So if you are a comic fan and you already know your history why should you watch it?  Well, the talking heads are worth the price of admission alone.  Neal Adams gets a lot of face time talking about how his contributions helped comics change forever.  Of course what else would you expect of someone known as “The Living Legend?”  But the icing over the whole thing are the rare clips and photos that they included.  Not only do we get Neal Adams talking about his work but we actually get video of a young Adams working on a comic.

Other talking heads get their time as well.  How about Mark Waid and Gerry Conway talking about the The Coolest Man in Comicsdeath of Gwen Stacy and how it changed the whole game of comics?  Or how about having Jim Steranko not only talking about his work on Nick Fury, but actually showing us original pages and talking out his thought process?  When else are you ever going to get a chance to do that?  Steranko oozes so much cool in this show that you just know they sent a pretty young thing to interview him.

 

In the end this three-part special doesn’t stray from the well-worn path that many other comic specials have done before but I have to admire them for going the extra mile.  The value of this special is in the little extra they bring.  As I said before, we all know how The Watchmen changed comics, but when have you seen footage of Alan Moore actually reading The Watchmen to you?  THAT is why you should watch this special, for the little extras like that. 

Press Release: Priest & M.D. Bright Reunite for New Quantum and Woody Mini-Series

 – Coming in 2014 from VALIANT

Valiant is proud to announce that Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright, the acclaimed creators of Quantum and Woody, will reunite for Q2: The Return of Quantum and Woody – an all-new, five-issue mini-series bringing the original world’s worst superhero team into the 21st century!

 

Set wholly in the original continuity of Priest and Bright’s groundbreaking Acclaim Comics series, the new mini – which represents the return of both creators to monthly comics – will pick up in the modern day, launching an older Quantum and Woody into an all-new adventure set 20 years after the events of their original series.

 

“Soon as Doc and I started hashing out the plotline, we got into a huge argument. It was just like old times. Happy to be back on the goat,” said Priest.

 

“It’s enormously exciting to have Priest and Doc return to the iconic characters they made famous,” said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons. “Over the years, the legend of the original series has only grown, and they’re about to unleash a fearless new chapter in the lives of Quantum and Woody.”

 

Whatever happened to the world’s worst superhero team? Twenty years past their prime, the unlikely crime-fighting duo known as Quantum and Woody have long since parted ways and retired…until a middle-aged Quantum suddenly reappears with a brand-new teenage partner—and his wisecracking ex-best friend gets mad. Now Woody is out to break up the all-new, all-different Quantum and Woody and put an end to Quantum’s recklessness and child endangerment…just as Quantum sets out to bring down a shadowy, globe-spanning agency of freelance spies and assassins. As Quantum’s plan crumbles right through Woody’s fingers, will the former friends set aside their differences…and their age…and their numerous health difficulties…to join forces one last time without driving each other crazy?

 

A veteran writer and editor with more than 35 years experience in the comic book industry, Christopher J. Priest has written nearly every major character in comics, with notable runs on series including Action Comics, Amazing Spider-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Conan the Barbarian, Deadpool, and many more.

 

M.D. Bright began his career in comics in 1978 and has worked consistently on some of the industry’s most popular and enduring titles ever since. One of the all-time definitive artists of Green Lantern, Iron Man, and G.I. Joe, Bright has also contributed to Batman, Captain America, Thor, Wonder Woman and countless others.

 

For more information on Q2: The Return of Quantum and Woody and more, visit Valiant on Facebook, on Twitter, and at ValiantUniverse.com.

 

Q2: THE RETURN OF QUANTUM AND WOODY #1 (of 5)

Written by PRIEST

Art & Covers by M.D. BRIGHT

COMING IN 2014!

Episode 316: Sanford Greene's Deadlines and Other Stuff

This week on the Dollar Bin Adam interviews Sanford Greene about his active Kickstarter project, Deadlines Volume 4.  They discuss the origin of Deadlines as well as his method and aspirations from Volume 4.  Later in the episode Adam and Shawn talk with Ted and Joel about lazy, fancy covers and the world of digital comics interaction.

Runtime 29 minutes 45 seconds

Episode 315: Sanford Green's Deadlines and Other Stuff