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note on all the image scans: they are correct manga-style so they are read right to left Spend enough time doing critical readings of media and you come across the assertion that all media tells you about the culture it was written in. Sometimes, as in contemporary media, this is easy to tease out. Other times, as with science fiction, it’s by extrapolation. So I thought it might be interesting to re-read Love Hina, by Ken Akamatsu, as a way to to understand Japanese culture. Part One can be found here. Story We move into a book I hadn’t read on a previous read of the series. It appears that Akamatsu is stalling a bit after the last book’s reveal. This book starts off with Naru claiming she didn’t mean it and then, after a night of zany hijinks alone in the house - Mutsumi invites them to Okinawa.

Last year I read Krampus as it was released as single issues, but didn’t get around to writing about it. Recently I was thinking about Krampus as we moved into the holiday season and it seems to coincide with Image releasing the book as a trade collection on 3 December at your local comic shop or 16 December everywhere else. We have a lot of traditions that come from long ago - so long ago that they seem a bit odd today. A lot of this is due to a change in our sensibilities. In my daughter’s Little Red Riding Hood, no one is eaten. The wolf just gets grandma out of the way for a while. In the old Cinderella, the stepsisters are mutilating their feet to get them into the slippers. And in many European traditions Santa used to go around with a helper to punish the bad kids. One of those was Krampus, a demon. Wikipedia claims this still goes on in some countries. In the story as told by this comic, Krampus has been jailed for being a little too over-enthusiastic in his punishment of the bad kids.

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 new series is called “At the Beginning” and it’ll usually be for series right as they are starting up. I didn’t know too much about Dynamite before going into Baltimore Comic-Con 2014. I did notice they tended to do what often appeared to be public domain characters like Zorro or Green Hornet. While at BCC, I learned that Dynamite’s model revolves around licensing characters - many, but not all of them, older. Then Dynamite hires creators to write and draw new stories with these characters.

Last month I ended my Batman pull at my local comic shop. (Which ends my " I’ll stay with Batman if Snyder’s on the book" stance from last year) I guess it was just bad timing, but the New 52 killed my three year experiment with DC Comics. I’ve mentioned this before (and it’s in the author bio), but, quickly, I got back into reading comics monthly through discovering (and getting addicted to) Gotham City Sirens at my local comic shop. While I’d been slowly laying the groundwork for getting back into comics via trades at the local Borders, it was DC Comics that got me back into the monthlies.

One of the things I love about Baltimore Comic-Con is that, unlike some of the other conventions, it really still is a comic con. No movies or TV shows or sparkling vampires (unless they’re featured in a comic book). At least, that holds true in the main events of the convention. In the artists alley/vendor area anything goes. The majority of those are also comic book related, every once in a while there are some different products there. As I was wandering the convention center I me across the booth for Coral Hare. The manga cover drew me in, I thought perhaps it was a war-themed comic. ...

The Occupy Wall Street protests started almost exactly 3 years ago. Three years before that, the irresponsible actions of the banks nearly caused the collapse of the Western World as incredible amounts of money simply vanished. Various governments poured money into the companies involved and in 2011 as some parts of Europe found themselves no longer in control of their own countries, there was a disappointing lack of anyone being held responsible. At the time we still believed in the power of democracy and being vocal and so many took to the streets in an attempt to move the political will. Eventually the protests fell apart for various reasons - some inevitable and some nefarious - and nothing truly changed. But we continue to believe in democracy and no one is seriously courting rebellion.

Baltimore Comic-Con has a really great artists alley/vendor area and a visitor can see some pretty great indie creations (like webcomic Altar Girl). One that caught my eye right away on the first day was a little outfit called Little Petal. After looking at the women at the booth and the samples on the table, I had to know more. So I interviewed the owner, Danielle Ward. ...

I attended two panels on Sunday, Dynamite’s Pulp panel and Christy Blanch (with guest appearance by Mark Waid) on the Lois Lane Mort Weisinger Panel. Pulp at Dynamite (excuse the cut in the audio, my recorder ran out of batteries) Your browser does not support the audio element. Dynamite Pulp Panel 2 I wanted to attend this panel because I found it so interesting that, as a publisher, Dynamite was revisiting the pulps. Most of the conversation around comics usually revolves around superheroes or fresh new stuff a la Image. But in my personal life I’ve gotten back into reading, particularly anthologies and neo-pulp; I also really dug Gail Simone’s first Red Sonja arc. So I was curious about the appeal of The Shadow, The Green Hornet, and others. This panel was, in some ways, one of the best panels of the show because of all the historical facts. I’d recently learned that Batman was at least partially based on The Shadow, but I didn’t have any idea of the extent until our panelists spoke of talking to the original pulp writers. (Nothing against the other panels, but I’m a huge history nerd - including comics history) Mark Waid summed up the reason for the resurgence in pulp best by talking about how, at its heart, these are human stories and the conflicts are the same today as they’ve always been. The difference is that Mark has had to make some of the decisions Green Hornet has to make a little more grey morality. ...

The final day of Baltimore Comic-Con 2014 Cosplay gallery! Pretty amazing bunch of photos where all the super heroes came outside to take photos together. Nick Fury Laughing Nick Fury Let's Talk: Batman to Batman Ms Marvel Sailor Venus Pink and Green Lanterns Harley and Joker Harley Blade vs Jade Claw Baltimore Comic-Con Day 3-1 - web Baltimore Comic-Con Day 3-3 - web Wonder Woman and 'Friend' Neat Scary Superman Spider-Man from the Clone Wars Mutant Protesters Deadpool and Bob Slave Princess Leia Deadpool's Killer Poison Ivy and Daughter Cable and Baby Hope Summers Belle and Human Beast Bert, Mary Poppins, and a threat Some Comic Book Women Some Comic Book Women 2 Red Hood and Cyborg Cat Woman vs Green Arrow Green Arrows Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers 2 Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers 3 Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers 4 Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers 5 Nearly All the Marvel and DC Cosplayers 6 Attacking the Protesters Marvel-Only Marvel-Only 2 Marvel-Only 3 Marvel-Only 4 X-Men The Battle Joker and Harley DC Comics Only DC Comics Only 2 DC Comics Only 3 A Good Laugh Cosplay Love Cosplay Love 2 The Future Foundation The Fantastic Four Part of the Future Foundation Superman and Wonderwoman Only Superman and Wonderwoman Only 2 Villains Baltimore Comic-Con Day 3-178 - web Villains 2 Killing Time Between Rescues The Mad Hatter and Red Queen Batman-Related Batman-Related 2 Batman-Related 3 Marvel Marvel 2 Avengers Zelda and Link Steam Punk Silk Spectre and Nite Owl Captain America What's that over there? Space Ghost I'm Surrounded by Assholes! Red Queen and Chicken Final Fantasy Bearded Superman Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Deadly Angel Super Hero Lunch Green and Pink Lantern Hawkguy and Pizza Dog Baltimore Comic-Con Day 3-286 - web Wonder Woman Harley Quinn Harley Quinzel Wonder Woman Pirate Young Super Hero All the Lanterns Zatanna Riddler and Poison Ivy Suicide Squad

If there was one person who could rival Mark Waid for being mostin-demand at Baltimore Comic-Con 2014, it was Gail Simone. This writer was on multiple panels, gave the keynote speech at the Harveys, and spent nearly every OTHER hour of the convention signing autographs and speaking to her fans. But after reading her first Secret Six arc and her first Red Sonja arc, I REALLY wanted to talk to her. So, I think it was quite fitting that my Red Sonja analysis was one of the shortest I’ve written since the relaunch of the site and this interview is the shortest one I did at Baltimore Comic-Con 2014. I spoke to her about one of the key issues I’ve seen across her work: sisterhood. ...