In honor of Star Wars Day, Retro Review is off into a galaxy far, far away. (For best results, turn your font yellow, and read with your computer screen tilted to about a 30-degree angle.) The Star Wars Expanded Universe may no longer be officially canon to Lucasfilm/Disney, but that doesn’t mean WE ever have to let it go! Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Star Wars Tales #1 awaits!
Browsing: Retro Review
There was a time at Marvel Comics where the ‘shared universe’ principle that had built the foundation of the House Of Ideas was universal for ALL Marvel titles. Shang-Chi started out in an adaptation of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, while Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the mighty Shogun Warriors were all adapted squarely into the world of Spider-Man and Captain America. Even Toho’s legendary giant reptilian creature, known to some as Monster Zero-One, became a part of the mainstream Marvel Universe. But where were YOU when Godzilla fought the legendary Champions of Los Angeles? Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of…
What’s so funny about truth, justice and the American way? We’re about to find out… Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Action Comics #775 awaits!
If you’ve every bought or sold old comics, or haunted the quarter bins of your local shop, you’ve probably bumped into many Charlton Comics. As the original printer of Captain Atom, the Question and others (as well as one of several publishing houses to handle the Blue Beetle property, as well as the originator of the beloved Ted Kord version), Charlton Comics is mostly a footnote in the history of comic books. Of course, that doesn’t mean they didn’t create a few comic gems in their four decades of publishing… Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Charlton Premiere #2 awaits!
You may have heard about this new movie, one that brings back the Star-Spangled Avenger, and introduces one of his longest-serving supporting cast-members to the cinematic Marvel U, but are you familiar with the story as it unfolded in the comics? Your Major Spoilers review of Captain America #117 awaits!
We all know the feeling of being up against a deadline and frantically trying to come up with something, ANYTHING to fill the particular bill we are working towards… This has led to some awkward moments in my life (including my Master’s thesis), but for Bob Kanigher, it just meant a chance to create some of the most beloved characters of comics’ Silver Age and to make comic book history… again. Your Major Spoilers review of Showcase #37 awaits!
Every first issue is a gamble. Some roll off the end of the pier without a single ripple, others build something interesting that nonetheless fails the test of time. This one shattered every single expectation and created a worldwide phenomenon that’s now working on its third decade… Your Major Spoilers review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 awaits!
Some issues are memorable to everyone, some only to those who caught it the first time. Case in point: This one, in which Wolverine is used to his greatest effect, and one of my favorite characters gets the spotlight: This’n is a goody. Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Exiles #3 awaits!
Thaal Sinestro is a big deal these days, even temporarily headlining the main Green Lantern title during the New 52 relaunch, but have you ever wondered how he started out? Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Green Lantern #7 awaits!
The history of comics is filled with people whose artistic skill and inventiveness marks them as geniuses in my book, from the stylized wonder of a Gil Kane “flipping-over-backwards-because-I’ve-been-punched-that-hard” panel to the understated beauty of a Wally Wood woman all the way through whatever it is people love about David Finch. Then, there are the unsung heroes, those who do that which no one else ever had the stones to try… That’s where we meet Matt Feazell. Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of The Amazing Cynicalman #1 awaits!
There’s a certain portion of the comics audience (and also, to be honest, the editorial contingent) who have fallen prey to the theory that comics need to be “realistic”, that suspension of disbelief is broken if we don’t know where Batman buys his tights or the actual scientific explanation behind Daredevil’s radar sense… Then in the 80s, Doctor Doom and Iron Man went back in time to fight alongside King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Iron Man #150 awaits!
Dying is easy, COMEDY is hard. But combining them is where things get REALLY interesting… Your Major Spoilers (retro) review awaits!
Way back in 1982, Larry Hama created a legendary group of characters, a baker’s dozen soldiers who represented the best and brightest of the American armed forces, each one with a special set of skills and an awesome codename. It was nearly a quarter century later when he returned to tell the tale of how those thirteen soldiers were recruited and brought together… …and in so doing, revealed the best hidden secret in the history of G.I. Joe. Your Major Spoilers (retro) review of G.I. Joe Declassified #3 awaits!
In the earliest years of the Bronze Age of comics, relevance was the watchword, as the wacky sci-fi concepts of the Silver Age underwent a metamorphosis into strange psychological odysseys and journeys to the center of the minds of our beloved characters. Adam Warlock, once a lower-tier player, found himself suddenly thrust into the spotlight, with stories that still define his character today. Witness, then, ‘The Strange Death Of Adam Warlock’, as your Major Spoilers (retro) review of Warlock #11 awaits!