This has been a year of firsts for me when it comes to literature. Earlier this year I read a romance novel for the first time because it was written by Marjorie M Liu, who I loved on X-23 and Astonishing X-Men. Then, I got to Sunstone, the first erotic book I’ve read - comic or regular book form. It was interesting to have read both of those in this year as they serve a pretty interesting contrast in the way things are categorized. Liu’s book, Tiger Eye, is merely a romance and yet the descriptions of sex are extremely graphic. Sunstone is classified as erotic, not romance, and yet there are no graphic depictions of sex. In fact, there are no depictions of sex - both times I remember it happening during the first two Sunstone volumes, the story does the comic equivalent of a movie fading to black and then coming back post-coitus. That’s not to say the book isn’t explicit - there are sexual lingerie outfits and pubic areas are visible at various times - but it doesn’t complain the explicit sex of, say, Black Kiss. That said, the biggest reason to read this graphic novel is the artwork. Here at Comic POW! we try to make sure to acknowledge the artists as the writers often get all the glory despite being only half the team. (Or ⅓ or more depending on how many people work on a particular issue) However, on this book, what makes it so much better as a comic than a book is Stjepan Šejić’s great work with facial expressions. Longtime readers of comics will know that some artists tend to be better at bodies or faces or action. Rarely is one artist able to do them all. Even those good at faces are often not able to make their characters as expressive as Stjepan Šejić does in Sunstone. Here is a gallery of some of my favorite expressive panels. ...

Thanks to a college student complaining about reading Y: The Last Man and Perseopolis when he thought he’d be reading innocent comics like Batman, people have been collecting inappropriate Batman panels - mostly from the Golden and Silver Ages. So, here’s a weekly feature that’ll go from now until I run out of images. Golden Shower

Fables Volumes 1 and 2 were pretty intense. The first volume has Bigsby Wolf solving the alleged murder of Snow White’s sister, Rose Red. The second volume involved an uprising by the non-human fables at The Farm. All of this wrapped up with an introduction to the world of Fables which, by the way, includes The Adversary taking over all their lands in an allegory of Hitler taking over Europe and appeasement leading to greater damage. So, while it was quite the tonal shift, it was not entirely surprising that the next volume starts with a fun-loving tale of Jack of the Fables. It turns out to only be a short respite from intense stories, but both the Jack story and the Briar Rose story function as palate cleansers while also serving to convey more of the backstory. In this sense, Bill Willingham has mastered storytelling from the very beginning of what would become a 150 issue series (plus spinoffs). I’ll return to the themes of these stories momentarily. The remainder of volume 3 involves Goldilocks, the chief agitator of the revolution on the farm, and Bluebeard attempting to murder Snow White and Bigsby. It then ends once again with a palate cleanser issue that deals with The Smurfette Problem among the Liliputians. Volume 4 opens up with Boy Blue recounting the story of the last set of refugees to make it from the fable lands to the real world. Again, Willingham both tells a poignant story that fits in with the refugee motif while also setting up the story of the rest of the volume. The majority of volume 4 involves an attack launched by the adversary and how the fables repulse it.

This time around we meet Sandman. But we also see just how incredibly visionary Stan Lee was. He predicts Watchmen twenty years before it happens and alludes to Civil War and The Incredibles thirty years ahead of time. [video webm="/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Friendly%20Neighborhood%20Spider-Pow%205%20Amazing%20Spider-Man%204.webm" mp4="/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Friendly%20Neighborhood%20Spider-Pow%205%20Amazing%20Spider-Man%204.mp4" ogv="/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Friendly%20Neighborhood%20Spider-Pow%205%20Amazing%20Spider-Man%204.ogv"] ASM 4 - Hooligans ASM 4 - Lawsuit ASM 4 - Liz is pissed ASM 4 - Pity Date ASM 4 - Watchmen Thesis Sandman Fight Mr Incredible Lawesuit Civil War Mr Negative Amazing Spider-Man #4 written by Stan Lee with art by Steve Ditko ...

Thanks to a college student complaining about reading Y: The Last Man and Perseopolis when he thought he’d be reading innocent comics like Batman, people have been collecting inappropriate Batman panels - mostly from the Golden and Silver Ages. So, here’s a weekly feature that’ll go from now until I run out of images. Batman Spanks someone

Time once again to see what new comics or trades Image has coming out to take up our spending cash. First up is Self-Obsessed which is coming out 30 Sept. It’s by author Sina Grace and I’m pretty excited about this offering. He’s the writer behind Lil’ Depressed Boy and Penny Dora (in addition to runs on Burn the Orphanage). After a very tough 2014, he’s releasing a biographical comic that sounds like it’s going to be pretty heavy: ...

Thanks to a college student complaining about reading Y: The Last Man and Perseopolis when he thought he’d be reading innocent comics like Batman, people have been collecting inappropriate Batman panels - mostly from the Golden and Silver Ages. So, here’s a weekly feature that’ll go from now until I run out of images. Joker’s Boner

As I was reviewing the people I was able to connect with at last year’s Baltimore Comic-Con, I remembered how much I loved reading Kata Kane’s Altar Girl. We seemed to hit it off in a great, short interview just minutes after meeting for the first time. I remembered that she had a Kickstarter for book 1 at the time (first three chapters), so I inquired about whether she was going to have a Kickstarter for book 2. She was and everything aligned, schedule-wise, for us to have this great author interview. ...

We don’t often consider single issues here at Comic POW! We prefer to look at story arcs and completed series to get a better feel for what the author and artist were trying to accomplish. However, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some comics’ first issues to predict where we think it might be going and see how that compares with where the series actually goes. This series is called “At the Beginning” and it’ll usually be for series right as they are starting up. ...

Stan Lee introduces us to one of Spidey’s most challenging foes, indeed the one who ultimately defeats him and ends the run of The Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2: Doctor Octopus! https://youtu.be/VKu6CkpCGe0 ASM 3 - Cover ASM 3 - Doc Ock Explosion ASM 3 - Mind is Damaged ASM 3 - Spidey Punches Out Doc Ock ASM 3 - Spidey-Signal ASM 3 - The End of Spider-Man ASM 3 - Torch at School Assembly ASM 3 - Wishing for Harder Villains If the above video isn’t streaming, watch it on Youtube: ...