July means scorching hot temperatures across the United States, kids home from school and days spent with the family laying on the beach trying to stay cool. Most importantly, July means SDCC and all the news and craziness it brings. It was a busy month for us here at First Comics News and your humble Managing Editor felt that some very good content may have been overlooked in the posting frenzy. Thus I am proud to present the first monthly highlight reel of comic book awesomeness; The Best of First Comics News – July 2017 edition. Below you will find some of the best posts, interesting content and insightful interviews we posted in July, it is a brief sample and is far from all inclusive so please take the time to explore the site to find all the goodness it contains.
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Wayne Hall made an excellent post about the move away from writing comic books with the eventual trade paperbacks in mind. Much like wrestling where you know if the main event starts a few minutes before 11pm that there will not be a match, the six issue self contained arcs had become too predictable. Ultimately comic fans became conditioned to knowing that the stories would be padded to fit the six-issue Tormat so there was no suspense in the hero confronting the villain in the third issue, it had to go on another three issues. Let’s be honest here, any post that advocates the return of Wednesday Comics is A-Ok in my book!
Editor-In-Chief, author and mustache aficionado Rik Offenberger reviewed a splendid little independent horror anthology that brought back memories of the classic EC horror comics of the past. Forbidden Gallery is a title that I was unaware of until Rik featured it and I am glad that he did. Featuring a strong creative line-up, creepy stories and nice artwork, there is something in the first issue for horror fans craving that old school feel. It is available digitally if your local comic shop is sold out so there is no excuse not to give it a try.
If you are looking for SDCC from a slightly askew perspective, may I direct your attention to the coverage provided by the one-and-only world famous Jez Ibelle? Featuring her trademark stream of thought style, this is unlike any other coverage you have seen. I read this post and was literally exhausted by the end, and then saw that it was simply the recap of her first day. Check out the article and you will see why creators ask her to pose for selfies!
Podcast host Jamie Coville did an absolute stellar job of making audio recording of the various panels that he attended and making them available to our readers. He posted audio content of many panels including this one titled “Why Will Eisner Still Matters at 100” featuring panelists Paul Levitz, Jackie Estrada, Maggie Thompson and Paul Dini discussing the lasting impact of one of comics most important creators. If you enjoy it, check out the twenty-plus other panels he posted!
Of all the announcements this month, the return of Charlton characters under the AC Comics banner was perhaps the most unexpected of them all. Thankfully Martin Boruta was quick to secure an interview with Monster Hunter creator Paul Kupperberg to talk about the history of Charlton and his contribution to the upcoming anthology title. Check out that cover and tell me it does not give you the tingles. We have multiple interviews with other creators as well so check out the interviews section of the site to get the scoop straight from the creators mouths. Simply click on “Interviews” at the top of the page and enjoy.
I am not above a little self promotion so allow me to direct your eyes to my review of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #2, the only Marvel super-hero series that I have read this year that I felt was worth the time to write up a review. I felt that Chip and Adam really knocked this one out of the park, or at the very least hit a stand up triple. Sorry about the baseball references, my Indians are in first place and all is right with the world. After the latest movie, I was craving a solid Spider-Man comic and boy did this one ever satisfy.
Not everyone checks out the cosplay articles that Giovanni Aria posts every week but this week absolutely blew me away. Featuring Christina Fink, her Vampira outfit is dead-on and deserves the attention that it has received. I mean, just look to your right and tell me that is not incredible. Do it, I dare you. Once you are done check out the previous posts by Giovanni, we also feature male cosplayers as well so there is something for everyone. The work these people put into their outfits to show off their love of the characters is just staggering and worth of the attention.
That is it for July and this was just a small look at what we posted this month. There are so many more reviews, interviews, videos and articles that I did not get to highlight that I am sure you will enjoy. Take some time, explore the archives and check back every day for new content. We may not have a lot of “15 things you missed in this movie” articles spread over fifteen pages to increase our page hit counts but we do feature some great comic books you will not hear about on other sites that deserve your time.
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