When Words Collide: A Whole Lot O' Content

Wow. Checking back, I realize that I haven't regularly posted links to my "When Words Collide" column at CBR since June of last year. Sad, really.

I won't bombard you with a list of everything I've written for CBR since then, but here are some of the things I've written in the past few months, in reverse order (the most recent stuff first):

1. Dancing with the Destroyer: How Robert Kirkman reinvigorated a Golden Age DC character and made me weep with joy.

2. Kevin Colden, Man of Mystery, Man of Scandalous Intent: The first mature-readers Zuda series and an interview with the Eisner-nominated man behind it. Yeah, that happened.

3. A Tale of Two (Comic Book) Cities: New York's MoCCA Festival vs. the Boston Comic Con? How many winners can there be? Answer: all of them. (Plus, Jack Kirby Bronze Age goodness.)

4. Frank Miller's New Gods: I linked to this when I posted the Miller story in its entirety, but it's still something worth mentioning because it's (a) Frank Miller, and (b), Jack Kirby, and (c) Darkseid. Three of my favorite flavors.

5. Brendan McCarthy is a God of Spiders and Other Things that are Good: I ruminate on "Spider-Man: Fever" and other important topics. Mostly awesome ones involving drawings by McCarthy.

6. Retcon Reviews: My controversial ironic take-down of such critically-acclaimed masterpieces as "Secret Wars II" and "Ultimatum." Zing! Take that, people who got paid to write bad comics!

7. Jorge Molina's Marvel House (Style) Party: Here's a guy trying to carve a career in mainstream superhero comics. What is that like? I wonder. So I ask.

8. Fifteen Must-Have Collected Editions that Sort of Came Out Already, Mostly: This was basically a way to remind myself what I should buy in recent months, and let people know about the goodness inside. If you're curious, I have since bought six of the books on the list. Guess which ones, and win a prize!

9. Scott Snyder: Who is This Guy? If you don't already know, Scott Snyder is the next big thing, and I've known that for a while. Plus, he's a teacher. And that makes him doubly cool. Not as cool as "American Vampire." But close.

10. Bendis, Bendis, Bendis: I spent a month writing about Bendis, including a list of the "Bendis Top Ten," plus a Three-Part Examination of the Bendis Daredevil: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3!

If you've been reading all the WWC stuff all along, thanks! If not, it looks like you'll have plenty of fun and informative and probably mind-blowing catching up to do.

The Destroyer #1 Review

Recently reviewed by me at CBR: The Destroyer #1, about which I write the following sentences: "This comic is drenched in blood, and if Val Staples had to hand-paint this issue he would have had to prepare buckets of the red stuff. Yet it's Cory Walker doing the drawing, so the extreme gore takes on a delightful absurdity. This isn't a gruesome, stomach-churning story even if blood drips from its pages. It's a ridiculous, over-the-top, post-'Nextwave' comic full of ultra-violence and explosive action. But since this comic stars a geriatric hero facing the end of his life, the extreme visual bombast contrasts sharply with Marlow's underlying sadness. He's a larger-than-life action hero, but even he doesn't have the courage to tell the ones he loves that he's been given a death sentence by his physician."

Read the entire review HERE.

When Words Collide: Zombie Landscaping

Did Robert Kirkman leave Marvel and craft a hastily-produced manifesto because he couldn't tell a multi-year serialized story in which Mary Jane learned to use a katana to defend NYC from an attacking zombie horde?

Probably not.

But he's pretty damn good at long-form serialized storytelling, and after spending the last couple of weeks devouring the nine collected volumes of "The Walking Dead," I realize how completely idiotic I've been for ignoring this series for all of these years.

It's really good.

So join me in this week's "When Words Collide" column as I explore the subtle nuances of "Zombie Landscaping."