Chris Sims
Steed And Peel Hit Gotham City In ‘Batman ’66 Meets Steed And Mrs. Peel’ Chapter 2 [Preview]
Now that I've rewatched the entire series as an adult, I have a very hard time picking out my single favorite story arc from Batman '66. When I was a kid, though, there was no question: It had to be the three-part story where Batman and Robin sailed across the Atlantic to far-off Londinium to battle foggy crimes in merry old England. If nothing else, I think that it appealed to my childhood sense that our country's greatest export was costumed crime-fighting.
Now, though, it's time for England to repay the favor by sending their own dynamic duo to the fair shores of Gotham City --- and that's exactly what's happening in Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel, the '60s TV crossover that pretty much had to happen. Check out a preview of the book's second chapter!
Bizarro Back Issues: The Justice League Takes On The Cosmic Fun-House! (1961)
I have to be honest with you, folks: As much as I like the Justice League of America, and as much as I love Silver Age DC Comics in general, I find those classic JLA stories from the early days to be pretty hard to get through. Maybe it's the function of having a larger cast to deal with, or maybe it's that the kind of big, world-threatening baddies that require a whole team of superheroes have a different kind of charm than the weirdness that you get from an issue of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, but even at their most ridiculously bizarre, they are not really my thing.
But with DC recently putting out the first year of Justice League stories as part of its line of Golden and Silver Age hardcovers, I decided to give it another shot, and this time, I finally got to Justice League of America #7 and "The Cosmic Fun-House." And when I talk about the JLA "at their most ridiculously bizarre," this is exactly what I'm talking about.
Tommy’s Dreams Get Really, Really Weird In ‘Power Rangers’ #3 [Preview]
Power Rangers is pretty much perfect as it already is, but if there was one single flaw in the entire franchise, I think we can all agree that it would be the fact that the show is very rarely a deep psychological drama. I mean, there's that one episode of Ninja Storm where we see the Red Ranger huddling naked in a room full of eyes as part of a dream sequence, and there are Dr. K's flashbacks in RPM, but other than that, you never really get to see the harrowing effects of being brainwashed by a Moon Witch.
ROM The Space Knight And Rodimus Are Now Best Friends (For At Least One Variant Cover)
For those of us who are obsessed with the licensed comics of the '80s, the biggest news story of the year is unquestionably the return of ROM The Space Knight --- four words, very important --- to comics this summer. Considering he was a popular character at the time who hasn't starred in a comic in a full 30 years, it's a big deal, and IDW is taking the opportunity to reintroduce him in a pretty big way.
In July, ROM is making an appearance on variant covers across IDW's entire line to celebrate his return, and today, we're happy to reveal his appearance on Brendan Cahill's cover for Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #55, where he and Rodimus are now best friends. That's what I'm assuming, anyway.
A Poll Has Named Mewtwo As The Most Handsome Pokemon, And If I Have To Know This, So Do You
Usually, when someone takes a poll to find out someone's preferences for Pokémon, they tend to use adjectives along the lines of "favorite," or maybe even "cute." What you do not usually hear is someone asking which Pokémon is the most handsome, which I assume is largely because that's a very difficult standard to apply to, say, a chandelier with a face on it, or whatever Diglett is supposed to be. But that didn't stop someone from asking, and now, we have an answer that I don't think anyone was prepared for.
Fashion Of The Bat: An Extremely Thorough Examination Of Batman’s New Costume
This week saw the release of Batman #50, and as you might expect from that big round number, it's a pretty big deal. It's the final act of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Danny Miki and FCO Plascencia's "Superheavy," in which former Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon took over the role of Batman with the help of a robotic bat-suit, and --- perhaps unsurprisingly --- it marks the return of Bruce Wayne to the cape and cowl. A slightly different cape and cowl.
Yes, he might still be Batman, but this issue features the debut of a new costume for the Caped Crusader, and that means that it's time once again to go deep with an extremely thorough review of Batman's new costume.
‘The Adventures Of Supergirl’ Is Coming To Print In May
Say what you will about DC's mass media projects, but one thing they've been very good about over the past few years is giving giving us plenty of comics meant to take advantage of their mass media success. With Batman v Superman hitting screens this month, it's at the point where you literally can't open a box of Cheerios without finding a comic book in there somewhere, but for the TV universe, they've been relying on digital-first comics like The Adventures of Supergirl to help turn viewers into readers.
Now, though, it looks like they're expanding that plan into print. As announced today, DC will be publishing Adventures of Supergirl as a bimonthly comic at $2.99, serializing the digital-first stories that tie into the CBS Supergirl show in advance of a paperback collection set to debut this fall.
Check Out Leth And Quinones’ Unpublished Pitch For ‘Batman ’89’
One of DC's biggest strengths as a company has always been that it has a ton of alternate versions of its characters that fans have a whole lot of affection for. Whether it's something as specific as being really into a single Elseworlds story, or as broad as preferring, say, the '90s Flash over his Silver and Golden Age counterparts, there's an adaptability to those characters that really comes through once you start looking at all the different ways they've been presented over the years --- and when you add in their appearances in film and television, it only means you have more to work with.
And that, it seems, is the premise behind Batman '89, a 2015 pitch from writer (and occasional ComicsAlliance contributor) Kate Leth and artist Joe Quinones that was designed to revisit the world of Tim Burton's Batman movies. Sadly, the pitch was never picked up, but this week saw Quinones posting his designs at his blog, finally giving us the Billy Dee Williams Two-Face that we have always deserved. Check 'em out below!
The Toughest Lawman Of Them All: Looking Back On Judge Dredd’s First Appearance
Dystopian futures have been a fixture of the sci-fi genre for as long as there's been a genre to have fixtures; cautionary tales about the crushing of the individual or the dangers of unchecked technology. In the second issue of 2000 AD, a British comic anthology that promised readers a weekly dose of thrillpower from the far-off future of the 21st century, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra asked exactly the kind of question that great sci-fi is built around: What if there was a story about a dystopian future plagued by hyperviolent crime, ruled over by a totalitarian state, where things were so bad that even existing could drive a man insane from future shock... and the fascist cops were the good guys?
The result was the stone-faced lawman who would become the UK's greatest comic book character: Judge Dredd, who made his first appearance on March 5th, 1977.
Find Out Why Archie And Sabrina Never Go Out In ‘Betty & Veronica Comics Digest’ #241
In the current version of the main-line Archie universe, Archie is still recovering from a breakup with Betty and just starting his relationship with Veronica, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch is... Well, Sabrina's currently in the '50s dealing with Lovecraftian horrors and human sacrifice. Clearly, there's a good reason why those two should not be dating. But what about the classic versions?
Despite seeming like a pretty obvious pairing, Archie and Sabrina have never really made a go of a relationship, and while a lot of that can be blamed on Betty, Veronica, and poor, oblivious Harvey Kinkle, it turns out that there's another good reason for that too. Now, we're finding out the whole story in this week's Betty & Veronica Comics Digest #241, on sale now, featuring a brand new story from Dan Parent! Check out a preview!
Ask Chris #276: Menace To The Justice Society
Q: Why is the Justice Society of America of such fundamental importance to the DC Universe? -- @M_Morse
A: I've been doing this column for a pretty long time, and almost every week, I get a question like this one, where the question itself assumes a pretty specific premise. Sometimes, they go as far as actually answering the question before the end of the sentence, making my part in the whole thing pretty irrelevant --- like, say, "who is the dreamiest guy and why is it Batman?" --- but sometimes, it's that premise that grabs my attention more than what's actually being asked.
All of which is just a longwinded way to say that I'm not sure I can really explain why the JSA is a fundamental part of the DC Universe, because I'm not actually sure that they are.
DC Announces A Slate Of New Hanna-Barbera Titles, Including ‘Scooby-Doo Apocalypse’ And Parker And Shaner’s ‘Space Ghost’
Listen, I gotta tell you about this dream I had last night. It was so weird 00- DC comics had launched a line of comics based on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, but they were doing these completely bonkers takes on all of them. Like, Scooby-Doo was set in the apocalypse and Scooby had a techno-monocle that allowed him to communicate through emojis, and Wacky Races was mashed up with Mad Max: Fury Road, and they even got one of the designers from the movie for it, and there was a big crossover with Space Ghost and Jonny Quest. And the weirdest thing of all was that the Flintstones were just the Flintstones, but drawn by Amanda Conner. Bizarre, right?
Wait a second... I'm just catching up on the news, and --- holy cats. It wasn't a dream. DC Comics is actually doing a Hanna-Barbera line with post-apocalyptic Wacky Races and emoji-monocle Scooby-Doo. This is actually happening.