Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the first seppuku! Today we’re going to examine Ronin, a six-book miniseries by comic book legend Frank Miller and published by DC Comics in 1987. Set in a bleak, alternate future (it has to be “alternate” because it references Soviets as contemporaneous to the story), Ronin
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I don’t know where to start with this… other than, “it’s not that bad”. Actually, I think it’s rather good. I thought that I was going to have a lot more things to pick apart; things that I wouldn’t agree with as far as the mother/daughter dynamic, the story, or the art. I only had minimal issues with the art. I
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The 1970’s was definitely the grooviest decade in history. After all, how many decades can lay claim to disco, bell-bottom pants, and Bi-Centennial fever? The 1970’s also had a unique assortment of novelty items (cue the obligatory Pet Rock reference). One of my favorite novelty items to come out from that decade was the Power Record Book and Record Sets.
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Batman Black and White is an anthology series focusing on the universe of the titular character, as depicted in short stories by the very best talent in comic books. Originally a four-issue series produced by DC Comics in 1996, the format proved to be so successful that not only did it inspire four additional Batman Black and White series (totaling
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What is a comic book crossover storyline? Well, it’s a comic book story that travels through at least two (but often more) different titles. For example, the classic Avengers/Defenders War took place between the two titles during the 1970s and is still talked about to this day by loyal fans. A crossover could also have one centric title, with several
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Spotlight on Weird War Tales #10, the first professional published work by Walt Simonson
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Is this particular chapter in the New Year’s Evil collection still worth tracking down over twenty years later? If you find it in your local shop’s discount bin (as I did), then sure. Why not?
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On a special Saturday edition of Sit DOWN Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with Parnell and College of the Dead creator Adam Post. This week, we discussed the ongoing success of Ethan Van Sciver’s Reignbow the Brute, more bad news
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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of all things merry and bright! Yes, another take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. What kind of Christmas stories would comic creators come up with if A Christmas Carol never existed? But all is well, because if there is any superhero team that fans were clamoring to see reenact the Dickens classic,
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Welcome back to Jolly Jinglings, the Splintering’s month-long celebration of all things that shake like a bowl full of jelly! Today we’re going to pick apart Batman: Noël, the graphic novel written and illustrated by Lee Bermejo and published by DC Comics in 2011. Wait, Batman: Noël… Batmanuel!? Anyway, using Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as the backdrop, Batman: Noël
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Welcome back to The Splintering’s Jolly Jinglings holiday event! Full disclosure! Today we’re going to look at one of my personal, all-time favorite comics: Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special. Written by Keith Giffen and Alan Grant, illustrated by Simon Bisley, and published by DC Comics in 1991, Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special is a gloriously violent one-shot comic strictly intended for mature
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For our Jolly Jinglings edition of “Under the Radar”, we present DC Special Series #21, Frank Miller’s first work on Batman.
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A ranking of the Top 10 Monster characters in comic books
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Welcome back to another Top Ten list here at The Splintering. Today, we’re spotlighting the top ten writer/artist/creators – essentially, those creators who “do it all.” We’re taking everything into account on this one, including the creators’ writing, their artwork and their creations. Read on and be sure to let us know who we may have left out in the
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On the latest installment of Sit Down Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with Parnell, The Shepherd creator Dr. Andrea Molinari, and The Splintering’s own George Travlos. This week, we discussed the ongoing success of Patrick’s Johnny Phantasm 1985 crowdfunding campaign,
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On the latest installment of Sit Down Sunday (hosted on Patrick Thomas Parnell’s YouTube channel Riot Press Productions), The Splintering founder Blake Worrell got another chance to discuss recent comic book news with both Parnell and The Shepherd creator Dr. Andrea Molinari. This week, we discussed the ongoing success of Patrick’s Johnny Phantasm 1985 crowdfunding campaign, DC Comics’ decision to
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Comic book fans express their love and fandom of their favorite characters and stories in several ways. They may collect every issue of a character’s comic book, obtain signatures from their favorite creators, cosplay in creative homemade designs, collect action figures or statues, and even commission sketches from their favorite artists. For me, the ultimate in collecting comic books is
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The Prisoner was a British TV series from 1967 starring Patrick McGoohan as a spy who is held prisoner on a mysterious island known as “The Village”. His name never being revealed, McGoohan’s character (known simply as #6) is being held so that his captors can retrieve “information” from him – most specifically – why he abruptly resigned from his
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The word “variant” to comic book fans elicits a wide range of reactions. From excitement and wonder to frustration and disdain. People often forget that there were variants in play long before publishers began over-saturating the shelves with various cover images. Yes, there was the classic Canadian or UK price variant, but I’m talking about the Newsstand vs. Direct Edition
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Given the recent passing of comic book legend Dennis O’Neil, we’re going to take the opportunity to review some of his work, starting with Batman: Death of Innocents – the Horror of Landmines. Written by O’Neil, illustrated by Joe Staton and inked by Bill Sienkiewicz, Batman: Death of Innocents is a 49-page one-shot published by DC Comics in 1996. The
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On Thursday, legendary comic book writer Dennis O’Neil passed away from natural causes. O’Neil began his comic book career at Marvel Comics, where he penned Doctor Strange and Strange Tales. He would later bounce between Charlton Comics, DC Comics, returning to Marvel, and ultimately landing again at DC where he would become the editor of the entire Batman line of
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Welcome back to The Splintering’s Monochrome May event! Today we’re featuring The Flash, THQ’s side-scrolling action game based on the short-lived superhero TV series starring John Wesley Shipp. Welcome to Central City – home to a herd of dastardly ne’er-do-wells known as the Rogues! Led by the maniacal Trickster, villains such as Mirror Master and Captain Cold are terrorizing the
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Welcome back to The Splintering’s Monochrome May event! Today we’re featuring the trade paperback edition of Batman Black and White, the four-issue anthology miniseries published by DC Comics. The individual issues of Batman Black and White included five stories that were eight pages long, and the first collected edition was released in 1998. Each story features the work of a
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Internal documents show that Jawbreakers creator Richard C. Meyer was considered for a Murphyverse writing gig for a mini-series based on The Outsiders.
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On Monday, comic book creator Sean Gordon Murphy announced that DC Comics has greenlit an imprint based on his Batman: White Knight series. Unofficially dubbed the “Murphyverse”, the Gotham-centric books will pick up where Murphy’s Curse of the White Knight series left off, and feature characters including Nightwing, Batgirl, and Harley Quinn. According to Murphy’s announcement, he will be outlining
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Welcome back to The Splintering’s Jolly Jinglings holiday event! Today we’re tackling a rare example of a Christmas-related superhero game… Superhero games have historically been hit or miss, but Batman has managed to have slightly better luck than many other characters. The 16-bit era was particularly kind to the Dark Knight. There are several solid Batman games on the Super
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Welcome back to the Jolly Jinglings holiday event here at The Splintering! As part of our celebration of the Christmas season, we’re focusing on a host of festive content to get you in the holiday mood. Today, we’re reviewing Superman: Peace on Earth, a 64-page graphic novel published by DC Comics in 1998. Written by Paul Dini (of Batman the
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On Sunday, preorders went live for Stanley Artgerm Lau’s variant cover for the landmark Wonder Woman #750. Lau is renowned for his ability to illustrate stunningly beautiful women, and his patriotic take on Princess Diana of Themyscira is no exception. There are three versions of the art, standard with logos, art-only version with no logos, and a throwback edition. These
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Late last week, DC Comics deleted promotional images from its social media pages after Chinese backlash. The image in question is artwork by Rafael Grampá for Frank Miller’s upcoming graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child, which is scheduled for release on 11 December. The image (which you can see below) displays a young hero of the “bat”
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Longtime comic book artist Tom Lyle has passed away at the age of 66. Though the the cause of death has yet to be announced, Lyle suffered a brain aneurysm underwent surgery to remove a blood clot in September. Lyle was a prolific artist (and sometimes writer) over his career, but he is most well-known for his work with Marvel
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