You may have noticed the new site redesign and the new content over the last few weeks. It’s essentially been a quiet relaunch. I just changed the “About this Site” page to include the following: “But life circumstances changed and evolved for us and it became really hard to get together every week and write (or create the video) for the POW! So you may notice the site redesign in May 2013, that coincided with a change to the types of articles while remaining true to the original spirit. I decided to focus on comic critique and study. Any site can do a review and some of them, like Comic Vine, do excellent reviews. Comic POW! is going beyond the review to bring you deeper meaning to the comics we read. What are the authors trying to say? How does it fit in to our society? When we look at historical comics - how does it fit into their society and how has the character changed over the years or decades? So go to those other sites to learn whether you should buy this week’s comics, but come here to have a deeper experience with those comics. ( Here’s a great example of the type of article I’m talking about) We’ll also cover some comics news and previews, but it’s not going to be the main focus.” ...

It’s funny - Superman’s the most iconic Super Hero comic book character, but until recently I barely knew more about him than the average person on the street that doesn’t (or never did) read comics. I knew he was raised by the Kents and I knew from the old cartoons and the Christopher Reeves movie that Lex Luthor was his enemy. I knew a little more because I had read The Death and Resurrection of Superman at a friend’s house in the nineties. But that’s about it. I knew way more about Batman. Because so many writers have a hard time writing for Superman he tends to be talked about as a loser. I Fight Dragons has the song “No One Likes Superman Anymore”. But as I got back into the comics scene over the past two years, people started to say that the average Superman story might not be anything to write home about, but there were some stories that any fan of comics should read - many of them standalone stories. ...

As you may remember Christina Blanch is running a class on Canvas.net about gender in comic books. This week we were assigned to read three different interpretations of Carol Danvers. Last week we read three interpretations of Superman, but one key difference is that Marvel Comics tends to (with few exceptions) stick to the same origins for their characters. Unlike DC, resetting their universe every 15-20 years, Marvel characters tend to just get more things tacked onto their origins, but the basics don’t change. We read the following three Carol Danvers books: (technically we had a lot of issues to read for the final one, but I thought it’d be interesting to limit the comparison to #1 issues) ...

Peter Panzerfaust #10 Peter Panzerfaust #10 is getting a second printing. I read the first issue and I really liked it, but didn’t have the budget to get into the story at the time. The neat thing is that this issue sold out despite there being twice as many #10s ordered as there were #9s. Reprints don’t matter if you’re reading comics digitally, but if you like to hold you comics, go to your comic shop next week (17 April) to get the second printing of issue #10. Or, if you prefer trades, it’ll be available in the second trade on 15 May. ...

Sex #1 - Yellows (Image Comics) Sex I just got word that Sex #1 has sold out. I’d like to think that is in no small part thanks to the advanced review I wrote. But if you want some other opinions, check out the IGN review or the iFanboy review. Interestingly, they both drew analogies toWatchmen that I didn’t pick up on. Although, now that they mention it, it’s pretty obvious. ...

Surprisingly there isn’t much sex in Sex #1. I say surprisingly because this book wasn’t called Armored Saint and then advertised as a mature book with sex. It’s like having a book called Batman in which hero doesn’t make an appearance. If sex isn’t the driving force of the book, it’s a weird name. It appears that, perhaps, the title is just the ultimate experiment in determining if sex sells. But let’s put the title aside for now. ...

http://youtu.be/FjSVJ72uUDA My apologies for the echo - it was an oversight on my part. Next time around I need to make sure the guest is wearing headphones. Luckily Christy Blanch does nearly all the talking so you don’t have to worry about hearing too much echo. My 2012 Baltimore Comic-Con Inverview: http://www.entertainmentfuse.com/comics/comic-features/baltimore-comic-con-2012-interview-with-thrillbent-s-christy-blanch.html The Course Christy Blanch is Teaching: https://www.canvas.net/courses/gender-through-comic-books Thillbent Comics: http://www.thrillbent.com/

http://youtu.be/MjaosCfpr9g 2871455-batman\_17\_pg\_005 Batman17d Batman 17 - last page Batman 17 - last page -2 Batman-17-2 Batman-17-3 HB-in-Hell-3-image-2 hellboy-cover-3\_4\_r536\_c534 Hellboy in Hell 3 Hellboy in Hell 003-016 satan-4\_3\_r541\_c540

http://youtu.be/9iSeuoeVYp0 A companion to the Comic POW! Battles, the Pull list has Dan and I discussing the books that didn’t make it to the Battle. After the times are all the images used in the video. Fables #2 01:24 Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #20 04:27 Sandman #2 06:07 Hawkeye #7 8:24 Multiple Warheads #2 and #3 10:53 Ultimate Comics X-Men #22 14:57 Rachel Rising #14 18:00 Superior Spider-Man #2 19:35 Mara #2 22:46 The Manhattan Projects #9 25:18 Love and Capes Vol 1 28:37 BPRD #104 31:30 Fantastic Four #4 32:50 Fatale #12 38:29 Morning Glories #24 36:44 ...

http://youtu.be/PczIkmgDcZM Dan is back for a Comic POW! Battle! Join us as we decide which is the better issue - Chew #31 or Saga Chapter Nine! Below are all the images used in the video: Daredevil #22 Chew #31 Chew #31 - Funeral scene Chew - Space Cakes FF Vol 2 #3 Saga #9 - Confused Saga #9 - Lying Cat Saga #9 - Lying Cat eats Saga #9 - Mama Sun Saga #9 - Messing Up Lightning Spell Saga #9 - My Partner Just Got Back from Sick Leave Saga #9 - Not Confused Saga #9 - Stalk is back Saga #9 - The Will and Slave Girl Saga #9 - The Will and Gwendolyn Saga Giant Balls Monster Yancy Street Gang and Ms Thing Yancy Street Gang