#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: Trigger Warnings #1

RED ROOM: TRIGGER WARNINGS #1
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jim Rugg; Peach Momoko; John Gallagher; Nick Alcorn; Trey Antley
MISC. ART: Diego Rodriguez; Felipe Gasparino Goncalves; Emalie Scipione; Ignacio Di Meglio; Alex Mercado; Barry Tan; Christian Meesey; Barrett Williamson; Isaac W. Stone; Gabriela Sepulveda; Christopher Roy; Vampire Frog; Kauz Hunter; Chris Mori; Ryan Brown; Kevin Alvir; Christopher Couse; Len Danovich; Ryan Bredahl
32pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Red Room: Trigger Warnings is a new four-issue comic book miniseries from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  It is part of an overall series, entitled Red Room, that Fantagraphics Books is publishing as three miniseries for a total of twelve issues.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-Hop culture.  It has been published in webcomic, graphic novel, and serial comic book form.

Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: Trigger Warnings #1 opens in the family melodrama of Davis Fairfield and his daughter, Brianna, a budding journalist.  Davis lost his wife, Delores, and his other daughter, Hayley, in an automobile accident (as seen in Red Room #1: The Antisocial Network).

Davis is also a Red Room star.  He is “The Decimator,” and Pentagram Picture's “The Decimator Presents: The Rat Queens!” is a gruesome hit.  The bitcoins roll in for Davis and his boss, Mistress Pentagram, but there is trouble on that proverbial horizon.  Brianna is digging into her father's secrets.  What's with the heart attacks, and where does all the cash-on-hand he has come from?  The answers may doom them both.

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room returns in a new miniseries, but things are as gruesome as ever.  I think that the element that makes Red Room work in all of its horrifying and horrible glory is Piskor's deft touch with his characters.

This is the balance of the series, how ordinary people are caught in the trap of the Dark Web and the Red Rooms.  One can make an argument that the owners and torture stars are inhuman, but the torture victims and the Red Room fans are human.  Their faults and foibles are amplified by their obsessions and lusts, and that makes them fascinating.  Piskor makes his reader want to hone in on the fools as well as the fouls.  Following Davis and Brianna (inadvertently) to their doom is like chasing a prize, but this would not work if Piskor did not create characters that we can engage.

Trigger Warnings does not miss a beat following The Antisocial Network.  There is a sense of verisimilitude even if the Red Rooms seem unbelievable because they are not unbelievable.  Torture, you say?!  Even the “Father of our Nation” owned humans as property and used them as he saw fit – even violently.  Oops, I should have offered a trigger warning.  Instead, I offer praise and encouragement that you, dear readers, at least once, try this truly amazing comic book.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room: Trigger Warnings.

A+

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
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https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

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https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
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The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Anti-Social Network #4

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #4
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Kayfabe; Jim Rugg; John Gallagher; Geof Darrow
MISC. ART: Preston Asevedo; Small Man Big Mouth; Andrew Gutierrez; Mike Manzi; David Lawless; Adam Lemnah; Anthony Negron; Charlie Franz; Ralph Bednarski; Vinny Olmstead; Tony Fero; Jay Daken; @Gigacrab; Jeff Brown; Slowhed; Dr. Ben Anthony; Yaakov Agrat; George Vega; Steve Meesey; Michael Murphy
32pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a four-issue comic book miniseries from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  It is part of an overall series, entitled Red Room, that will be published by Fantagraphics Books as three miniseries for a total of twelve issues.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-Hop culture.  It has been published in webcomic, graphic novel, and serial comic book form.

Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4 opens with the notorious host of this comic book, “the Crypto-Currency Keeper.”  He informs his viewers that Red Rooms existed before the World Wide Web did and takes them back to the days of VHS and Betamax with a story entitled “Cyclical Terror!”

This is the story of Raina Dukes.  Her father, Edward, was the victim of Red Room star, Donna Butcher.  The torture and murder of Edward was titled “Donna Butcher Gets Her Man!,” and was one of the most notorious snuff videos of the 1980s.  However, the tape was digitized for the Internet, gaining it an ever growing audience.  The death of her husband dragged on Raina's mother until the day she died.  Raina has been plotting her revenge for decades...

“Pure Evil!” is the story of Evie.  Once she was Donna Butcher, and her Red Room exploits made her famous.  However, hubris and tax evasion led her to federal prison.  “Snuff Said!” is the story of the eventual meeting of a torture celebrity (Donna Butcher) and revenge seeking victim (Raina), so how will it all work out in the end, for both Evie/Donna and Raina?

THE LOWDOWN:  In “Morgue Files,” Ed Piskor's afterword for each issue of Red Room, he discusses how the spirit of EC Comics' publications shaped Red Room #4.  EC Comics was probably the first great comic book publisher that actually produced excellent comic books crafted by the best writers, artists, and editors.

Science fiction, fantasy, horror, war stories, crime stories, and tales of comeuppance:  EC Comics did it all with style and superb craftsmanship – and a little fine art.  EC's horror comic books also had a horror host/mascot.  The most famous may be “the Crypt-Keeper” from the classic EC title, Tales from the Crypt, which was the inspiration and source material for the HBO television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 and for two spin-off films.

EC Comics which had its heyday from 1949- to 1954 could not have published something like Red Room, as notorious as it comic books were.  However, Piskor's art and story are true to the spirit of EC, especially Red Room #4.  Piskor's compositions and page design are … I'm not sure if I have the words.  If he uses an assistant to help draw Red Room's pages, I would still call him incredible.  If he draws all this by himself, I'll call him “Muad'Dib.”  The craziness, the violence, the anger, the suffering, etc.:  it all comes through the powerful graphical storytelling of Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4.

This fourth issues proves that Red Room: The Antisocial Network is both one of the best debuts of 2021 and one of the best comic books of 2021.  Through the allegories, metaphors, and symbolism, this series has the gift of having a ring of truth and of being prophetic.  If the antics in Red Room seem silly and exaggerated to you, dear readers, your favorite news source can introduce you to the Ukraine.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room: The Antisocial Network.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------

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I Reads You Juniors: April 2022 - Update #92

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon.

NEWS:

DC TV - From Deadline:  There will not be an eighth season of The CW's DC Comics series, "DC's Legends of Tomorrow." This recent Season 7 was the series' finale.

FRANK MILLER:

From THR:  Frank Miller has launched his own independent comic book publishing company, Frank Miller Presents.  Miller will as President and Editor-in-Chief and former DC Comics co-publisher, Dan DiDio, will serve as publisher.

From BleedingCool:  Frank Miller's company, Frank Miller Presents, is being financed by "Spice DAO," an NFT and crypto-currency investment firm.

From BleedingCool:  Frank Miller Presents will publish Frank Miller's "Ronin" sequel and "Sin City" prequel.

EN MEMORIAM - From THR:  Comic book writer, artist, and publisher and graphic designer, Neal Adams, has died at the age of 80, Thursday, April 28, 2022.  Adams is known as the comic book artist who revitalized Batman, the character and the comic book, beginning in early 1970.  With "Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76," Adams revamped two characters and introduced "relevant comics."  Adams was a powerful advocate for "creator's rights" for comic book writers and artists.  It was his advocacy that helped to secure recognition and a pension for Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

DC CINEMA - From Deadline:  "Shazam: Fury of the Gods" was scheduled to open Dec. 16th, 2022, on the same day as "Avatar: The Way of Water."  It will now open on Dec. 21st, 2022.

DC CINEMA - From IGN:  At CinemaCon, Warner Bros. reveals more footage of Michael Keaton as an Batman living as a hermit in Wayne Manor, complete with long hair and a beard.

SONY SPIDER-MAN U - From Variety:  Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part I" is now known as "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part II" is known as "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse." Producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller introduced 15 minutes of raw footage from "Across the Spider-Verse" and said that the film will features 240 characters and will take place in 6 universes.

DC CINEMA - From Deadline:  Warner Bros. has announced "The Batman 2." Director Matt Reeves and star Robert Pattinson will return for the sequel to the worldwide hit, "The Batman."

SONY MARVEL U - From Variety:  At CinemaCon, Sony Pictures announces that it has greenlit a third film in its "Venom" series.

From Variety:  Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, the recording artist known as "Bad Bunny," will play the Marvel Comics' character, "El Muerto," in a standalone film for Sony Pictures, which is due Jan. 12, 2024.

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DC COMICS - From ComicBook:  All DC Comics titles shipping June 2022 will feature a two-page tribute to legendary DC artist, George Perez.

MARVEL - From ComicBook:  Charlie Cox promotes his Netflix series, "Daredevil," on Disney+ with ad.

DC COMICS - From GamesRadar:  Ra's al Ghul's "Lazarus Pit" will play a major part of the return of the "Justice League" this fall.

VIZ MEDIA - From ANN:  In Japan, the manga, "Black Clover," is going on hiatus so that its creator, Yuki Tabata, can prepare for the series final saga.

DC COMICS - From DCVideos:  In a video interview, writer James Tynion IV discusses "The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country."

SONY MARVEL U - From Deadline:  Sony Animation's "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part I" has moved from an October 7th, 2022 release date to a June 2nd, 2023 release date.

MARVEL STUDIOS - From WeGotThisCovered:  Actor Paul Bettany assumes that he will play "Vision" again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

COMICS TO ANIMATION - From ComicBook:  Netflix has cancelled its long-awaited animation series adaptation of Jeff Smith beloved and award-winning comic book series, "Bone."

MARVEL - From BleedingCool:  The 1978 "Doctor Strange" television movie, which first aired on CBS, is coming to Blu-ray via Shout Factory.

COMICS - From BleedingCool:  AWA Studios has announced "Absolution" a new comic book about a female assassin from writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Deodato, Jr.

DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool:  Dark Horse Comics imprint, Berger Books, is going to reprint the late DC Comics/Vertigo series, "Air," in four trade paperbacks.  "Air," which ran for 24 issues, was written by G. Willow Wilson and dranw by M.K. Perfer.

DC TV - From Deadline:   "Riverdale" star, KJ Apa, and "1883" actress, Isabel May, will play "Zan" and "Jayna" in "The Wonder Twins," a live-action DC Films comedy for HBO Max..  "The Wonder Twins" first appeared in the 1970s ABC animated series, "The All New Super Friends Hour."

DC CINEMA - From Deadline:  "The Batman" has crossed the $750 million mark in global box office.

MARVEL - From GamesRadar:  The current ongoing "Eternals" comic book series will come to an end with issue #12.

BOOKS - From BleedingCool:  Legendary comic book writer, Grant Morrison, has written his first novel, "Luda," which Del Rey will publish in September.

IMAGE - From BleedingCool:   Mike Del Mundo is painting a Spawn miniseries that creator Todd McFarlane is writing.

DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool:  In June, Dark Horse Comics plans to publish a 650+ book, "Halo: Initiation and Escalation."  It will collect the entirety of two Halo comic books series, "Halo: Initiation" and "Halo: Escalation."

IDW - From GamesRadar:  IDW Publishing announces nine new titles in as part of an "expansive new comic book initiative."

DC COMICS - From Variety:  The new company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is exploring some kind of overhaul of DC Entertainment (DC Comics).

COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Former DC boss, Dan DiDio, will reportedly run Frank Miller's new publishing business.

COMICS - From ICv2:  Independent comics publisher, Mad Cave Studios, says it is now open to publishing creator-owned projects.

MARVEL - From BleedingCool:  Soon to be TV star, Ms. Marvel, will team-up with some of Marvel Comics' edgiest anti-heroes in a series of one-shots, beginning with "Ms. Marvel & Wolverine #1" in July.

DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool:  Matt Kindt is getting his own imprint at Dark Horse Comics, called "Flux House."  He will launch it with a new "Mind MGMT" miniseries.

DC COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Beloved voice actor, Kevin Conroy (Batman in "Batman: The Animated Series"), is writing a story for DC Pride 2022.  It is about his life as a gay man and will be drawn by J. Bone and Aditya Bidikar.

MARVEL STUDIOS - From ComicBook:  Anthony Mackie is about to start film the video game adaptation, "Twisted Metal," not "Captain America 4" ... apparently.

SONY MARVEL U - From WeGotThisCovered:  There is some video supposedly from the London set of "Kraven the Hunter," which emphasizes practical effects.

DYNAMITE - From TheBeat:  Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) and writer David Avallone talk about the upcoming crowdfunded Elvira biocomic, "The Death of Elvira."

COMICS - From TheBeat:  "Of Bitter Souls," the indy comic book by the late artist, Norm Breyfogle, and writer, Chuck Satterlee, is being published in an omnibus edition.  There is a Kickstarter to fun it.

BOOKS - From BleedingCool:  Movie storyboard artist, Richard Bennett, has begun a Kickstarter campaign for his book, "Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett." The book will focus on his storyboard work for the "MonsterVerse" films, "Kong: Skull Island," "Godzilla: King of Monsters," and "Godzilla vs. Kong."

MARVEL - From GamesRadar:  The X-Men will be the focus on Marvel Comics' summer event, "AXE" (Avengers x Eternals), in which the Eternals come to view mutants as "Deviants."  The Eternals exist to protect the Earth from Deviants.

DC CINEMA - From Deadline:  "The Batman" will debut on the streaming service, HBO Max, on Monday, April 18th and on the premium cable network, HBO, on Saturday, April 23rd.

From Here:  This is "I Reads You's" review of "The Batman."

DC/WEBTOON - From BleedingCool:  DC Comics and Webtoon are launching a new slate of DC IP digital vertical strips:  VIXEN: NYC (May 26), written by Jasmine Walls with lead artist Manou Azumi; RED HOOD: OUTLAWS (Summer 2022), written by Patrick R. Young with art by Nico Bascuñán; ZATANNA & THE RIPPER (Summer 2022), written by Sarah Dealy and lead artist Syro

MARVEL - From THR:  Writer Joe Casey says that he has never been paid for the use of "America Chavez," a character he created with artist Nick Dragotta, neither for her upcoming appearance in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" nor any of her other appearances in film and TV.  He also has never received payment for America Chavez action figures.

MARVEL - From GamesRadar:  Marvel has announced a new "Avengers" ongoing series - its fourth - and it is entitled "All-Out Avengers."

DYNAMITE - From YouTube:  In this video interview, writer David Avallone talks to Adam Philips about the new Indiegogo campaign to fun the one-shot comic book, "The Death of Elvira."

COMICS TO FILM - From Deadline:  The reboot of "The Crow" film franchise seems to be really happening.  Bill Skarsgard (Pennywise in the "IT" films) will play the lead character Eric Draven/The Crow.  The film is based on James O'Barr's cult comic book character.

MARVEL - From BleedingCool:  A copy of "Captain America Comics #1," featuring the first appearance of "Captain America" has sold for $3,120,000 at auction."

DC COMICS - From BleedingCool:  DC Comics' big event series for 2023 is rumored to focus on "magic and the supernatural."

MARVEL - From GamesRadar:  Today's "X-Men Red #1" finds Storm sporting a new look that is based on a classic look.

DC CINEMA - From RollingStone:  Warner Bros. executives reportedly had a meeting about the future of actor Ezra Miller, "The Flash," in the wake of his arrest in Hawaii for an incident that occurred Sun., March 27th.  He has since been charged with "disorderly conduct."

MARVEL - From HollywoodFuns:  Writer Kelly Thompson says that the current "Black Widow" comic book, which she is writing, will end with issue #15.

ALAN MOORE - From BleedingCool:  Alan Moore and Steve Moore's long awaited book of magic, "The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic" will finally be published in 2023, according to Knockabout Comix.

COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Actor Wesley Snipes is co-writing a new graphic novel, "The Exiled," which will be crowdfunded.

MORBIUS - From Variety:  "Morbius" won the 4/1 to 4/3/2022 weekend box office with an estimated take of $39.1 million.

From Here:  Here is "I Reads You's" review of "Morbius."

From Variety:  "Morbius" director Daniel Espinosa explains the films two mid-credits scenes and talks about future team-ups between characters.

COMICS - From BleedingCool:  The Amazing Pander Brothers (Arnold and Jacob) are releasing a sequel to their 2015 graphic novel, "GirlFIEND."  "GirlFIEND in Paris: A Bloodthirty Bedtime Story" is due in October 2022.

CONVENTIONS - From BleedingCool:  San Diego Comic-Con International has hired an "exclusive licensing representative."  Are they considering becomeing a franchise?

GARRY LEACH - From BritainisNoCountry:  John "JohnBoy" Cooper offers a loving tribute to the master comic book illustrator, Garry Leach, who died last week.  Many will know Leach as the British artist who revived Marvelman (Miracleman) with writer Alan Moore and publisher Dez Skinn in the early 1980s.

DC TV - From Deadline:  Actor Rahart Adams has been added to the cast of The CW's "Gotham Knights" pilot.

DC COMICS - From DCBlog:  Josh Williamson talks about his DC Comics' projects, including "Rogues."

MARVEL - From BleedingCool:  "Bloodline: Daughter of Blade" makes her debut in "Free Comic Book Day: Avengers/X-Men #1" on May 7th.

DC ANIMATION - From DCBlog:  Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti, the showrunners of HBO Max's "Young Justice," answer fans questions.

MARVEL - From PittPostGazette:  The newspaper interview local artist, Jim Rugg, about his new Marvel Comics project, "Hulk: Grand Design."

LIGHT NOVELS - From ANN:  In Japan, the light novel series, "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime," has a spinoff, "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Clayman Revenge."

VIZ MEDIA - From ComicBook:  The big change to lead character, "Luffy," in the legendary manga, "One Piece," has shocked the manga world.

DC CINEMA - From THR:  In preparation to play "Carmine Falcone" in "The Batman," actor John Turturro talked to his eldest child, Amedeo Turturro, who is an editor at DC Comics.

MARVEL - From GamesRadar:  In "The Amazing Spider-Man #93," Spider-Man gets a mysterious new enemy, "Chasm."

EN MEMORIAM - From BleedingCool:  The British comic book artist, Garry Leach, has died at the age of 67, Saturday, March 26, 2022.  He is best known for reviving "Marvelman" with Alan Moore for "Warrior," the magazine published by Dez Skinn's Quality Communications.  With Dave Elliot, Leach started Atomeka Press, best known for the comic book anthology, "A1."

From 2000AD:  The website for "2000AD," the magazine for which Garry Leach made his debut, has put up a tribute page for him.

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MARCH 2022 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:

From BleedingCool:  Aardvark-Vanaheim for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Ablaze for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  AfterShock Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Ahoy Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Antarctic Press for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Archie Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Behemoth Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Black Mask for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  BOOM! Studios for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dark Horse Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dynamite Entertainment for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Heavy Metal for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Hero Collector for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Humanoids for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  IDW Publishing for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Image Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Kodansha Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Mad Cave Studios for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Oni Press for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Rebellion for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Scout Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Titan Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  TOKYOPOP for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Vertical Comics for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  VIZ Media for March 2022

From BleedingCool:  Yen Press for March 2022

 

APRIL 2022 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:

From BleedingCool:  Ablaze for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  AfterShock Comics for 2022

From BleedingCool:  Ahoy Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Antarctic Press for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Archie Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Aardvark Vanaheim for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  AWA Studios for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Behemoth Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  BOOM Studios for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dark Horse Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics Batman's "Shadow War Crossover" for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dynamite Entertainment for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  IDW Publishing for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Image Comics for April 2022

From GamesRadar:   Marvel Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics' "Star Wars" for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Oni Press for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Rebellion for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Red 5 Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Scout Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Source Point Press for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Titan Comics for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Valiant Entertainment for April 2022

From BleedingCool:  Vault Comics for April 2022

MAY 2022 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:

From BleedingCool:  Ablaze for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Action Lab Entertainment for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  AfterShock Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Archie Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  AWA Upshot for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Behemoth Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  BOOM! Studios for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dark Horse Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dynamite Entertainment for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  IDW Publishing for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Image Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Kodansha Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics "Hulk Vs Thor: Banner of War" for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics "X-Men" solicitations for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Oni Press for May2022

From BleedingCool:  Opus Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Rebellion for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Titan Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Scout Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Seven Seas Entertainment for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Valiant Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Vault Comics for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  VIZ Media for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Yen Press for May 2022

From BleedingCool:  Z2 Comics for May 2022

JUNE 2022 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:

From BleedingCool:  AfterShock Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Ahoy Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Archie Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Behemoth Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  BOOM! Studios for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dark Horse Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Dynamite Entertainment for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Hero Collector DC Comics Graphic Novels for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  IDW Publishing for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Image Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Keenspot Entertainment for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Kodansha Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Lev Gleason for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Mad Cave Studios for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel "Banner of War" for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Marvel "X-Men" for June 2022 

From BleedingCool:  Oni Press for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Opus Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Seven Seas Entertainment for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Source Point Press for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Valiant Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Vault Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Vertical Comics for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  VIZ Media for June 2022

From BleedingCool:  Yen Press for June 2022

JULY 2022 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:

From BleedingCool:  Ahoy Comics for July 2022

From BleedingCool:  Archie Comics for July 2022

From BleedingCool:  Artists Elite Comics for July 2022

From BleedingCool:  Behemoth Comics for July 2022

From BleedingCool:  CEX Publishing for July 2022

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#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #3

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #3
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ed Piskor; Jim Rugg; Takashi Okazaki; Johnny Desjardins; John Gallagher
MISC. ART: The Baumanator; Sam Majkrzak; Jeff Manley; Birds of Sadness; Jorge Paz; Ben Perkins; Bill McEvoy; John Ashton Golden; Adam Lemnah; Sean Hollenhors; Tyrone Meijer; Barry Tan; Colin Sims; Matt Conover; Chris Anderson
24pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a 12-issue new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and that has been published in both graphic novel and serial comic book form.

Publisher Fantagraphics Books describes Red Room: The Antisocial Network as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece.”  Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: The Antisocial Network #3 introduces Levee Turks.  Once upon a time, he was an encryption software prodigy.  Now, he's serving a life sentence for creating an online drug empire, and he has been in prison for six and a half years.  In that time, however, the dark web has made use of  what Levee created:  the suite of encryption software he made for the black market; the “Chat” client; the bitcoin trading app; and the “Anonymous” video streaming.  Hell, all his creations are in service of the Red Rooms' multi-billion dollar snuff industry.

Enter the FBI, led by Agent McNamara, proposing a deal.  McNamara wants Levee Turks to infiltrate the Red Rooms and help the FBI crack Red Room software, so that it can crack down on the deepest corners of the dark web. Reunited with his girlfriend, Rita, Levee discovers how much as changed.  Does he really know what he is getting into?

THE LOWDOWN:  I don't have much to say about Red Room #3.  Of course, it is a damn good comic book, and I've already made this clear in reviews of previous issues.  The Red Room isn't dystopian science fiction; I believe that it is actually prescient – if not now, sooner than we would like to believe.

Ed Piskor does also offer a nice change of pace with Red Room #3.  Thus far, he has proven quite skilled and deft in creating interesting characters that are cogs in the Red Room gore-covered wheels, such as issue #1's David Fairfield and issue #2's Doctor Daniels.  It would be great to see Levee Turks and Rita again … before they're chopped up.  It is funny that they are both clueless and in deeper than they could ever imagine.

Red Room #3 proves that Red Room was both one of the best debuts of 2021 and one of the best comic books of the year.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #2

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #2
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ed Piskor; Troy Nixey; Jim Rugg
22pp, B&W with some color, $6.99 U.S. (June 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a 12-issue new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and that has been published in both graphic novel and serial comic book form.  Piskor also produced a highly unusual history of Marvel Comics' X-Men via a series of comic book miniseries entitled X-Men Grand Design.

Publisher Fantagraphics Books describes Red Room: The Antisocial Network as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece.”  Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays to view webcam murders with crypto-currency.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.  With the help of untraceable crypto-currency, a subculture of criminals has emerged in which one side patronizes the webcam murders for entertainment and in which the other side gleefully kills to entertain in what seems like the evolution of the snuff films of folklore.

As Red Room: The Antisocial Network #2 opens, Pentagram Pictures streams the latest act of butchery from torture star, “Decimator.”  Elsewhere, former multiple Super Bowl champion, Mike Wilkins, is using a flood rescue as a “recruiting mission” to help the people behind torture star, “Poker Face,” find their next Red Room victim.  So how do you turn a guy named Damian into a victim no one will recognize?  You force Doctor Daniels, plastic surgeon, to work on him … because Poker Face needs fresh meat!

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room is a science fiction comic book series, albeit a dark one.  It has elements of dystopian sci-fi, speculative fiction, and contemporary drama.  It would be easy to call this new series depraved, which it is not.  In a real world in which rich people want what they want and have the super-wealth to get it, the darkest corners of the web will one day offer murder and mayhem like that seen Red Room.  Or maybe it already is.  Each ISIS beheading was Internet ready.

Red Room #2 is a stand alone issue, as was the first issue.  In fact, the entire series will be comprised of stand alone, single-issue tales that are part of a larger narrative world.  This issue, Piskor, with this story of Damian as a man who needs to be saved (several times), tugs at the heart as much as Poker Face will tug on his intestines.  What keeps Red Room from being a joke or torture porn is that Piskor can depict humanity in the the most embarrassing and most horrifying scenes.

Here is something that I noticed before, but to which I never really paid attention.  For a cartoonist, Piskor is an exceptionally skilled illustrator.  From perspective to figure drawing, Piskor's compositions are full of exaggeration and surrealism, but everything and everyone looks correctly drawn (for instance, the floodwaters sequence).  It is a kind of cartoon realism that not everyone could pull off … realistically.  So I highly recommend, Red Room: The Antisocial Network to you, dear readers.  Don't be antisocial and not read Red Room.  Reviews and quotes don't really capture the complex and multi-layered nature of this title.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A
9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #1

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #1
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jim Rugg; Peach Momoko
64pp, B&W2-color, $6.99 U.S. (May 2021)

Red Room is a new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and has been published in graphic novel and serial comic book form.  Piskor also produced the highly unusual history of Marvel Comics' X-Men in X-Men Grand Design, a set of three two-issue miniseries:  X-Men: Grand Design (2018), X-Men: Grand Design – Second Genesis (2018), and X-Men: Grand Design – X-Tinction (2019).

Published by Fantagraphics Books, Red Room is a 12-issue series.  Described by the publisher as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece,” Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays to view webcam murders with crypto-currency.

Red Room #1 opens in Steel Valley, specifically at the Steel Valley Municipal Courthouse.  There, we meet longtime courthouse clerk, Davis Fairfield, who is about to get some terrible news.  His wife, Delores, and one of his two daughters, Hayley, have been killed by a drunk driver.  Now, Davis and his daughter, Brianna, a high school senior on the verge of graduating, must soldier on.  Luckily, Brianna has her friend, Taylor (“Tay-Tay”), but what does dear old dad have?  Where does he go for fun?

Davis Fairfield goes to a “Red Room.”  Red Rooms are places on the Internet with encrypted I.P. addresses.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.  With the help of untraceable crypto-currency, a subculture of criminals has emerged in which one side patronizes the webcam murders for entertainment and in which the other side gleefully kills to entertain in what seems like the evolution of the snuff films of folklore.

Soon, Davis will find himself caught up in the machinations of murder-torture-porn entrepreneur, Mistress Pentagram, who has bloody ambitions for her “Pentagram Pictures.”  Who are these murderers, with names like “Poker Face” and “Sarah Jane Payne?”  Who are these victims, who could be you?  Who can stop this?!

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room #1 is a science fiction comic book, albeit a dark one.  It has elements of dystopian sci-fi, speculative fiction, and contemporary drama.  It would be easy to call this new series depraved, which it is not.

Red Room trades in the depravity of humanity.  For all that it may be science fiction, Red Room, even with its exaggeration and inventiveness, is quite plausible, for the most part.  Let's not kid ourselves.  We don't have to go too far into cable and satellite television or online to find people during horrible things to their spouses, children, family, friends, co-workers, and strangers.  Mass shootings have become so frequent in the United States that they hardly register anymore with some people.

Ed Piskor's inventive depictions of torture and murder almost have a Tex Avery or Looney Tunes-inspired madness to them.  I find that this keeps me from loosing myself in the murders and then, forgetting the narrative.  It would be a shame to forget the story, but I understand why the cartoonist would depict the violence the way he does.  Piskor's Red Room has more in common with classic Underground Comics than the fantasy and horror comic books published by the defunct DC Comics label, Vertigo, or even Image Comics and BOOM! Studios.  Some of those comic books are satirical, but they are meant for the “straights.”

Red Room is a rebel vision, and Piskor's satire is closer to R. Crumb's than to Kurt Vonnegut's.  Like Gilbert Hernandez, Piskor is liberated in the way he can be scatological.  Red Room trades in trash culture in the creation of a work that speculates on a possible future for and direction of a segment of mass culture and entertainment.

Actually, the best thing that I can say about Red Room #1 is that I find it so intriguing.  From the first page on, I found myself drawn into its world.  Every page made me want more, and I really wanted more by the time I reached the last page.  And, dear readers, I have to recommend any comic book that gives its readers a first issue of 64 pages, especially when those 64 pages are all-new, all-different, all-good, and all-unapologetic.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A
9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for October 30, 2019

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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for October 25, 2017

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AUG170767    WAYWARD #24 CVR A CUMMINGS & BONVILLAIN (MR)    $3.99
AUG170768    WAYWARD #24 CVR B KIM (MR)    $3.99
AUG170769    WAYWARD #24 CVR C WALKING DEAD #47 TRIBUTE VAR (MR)    $3.99
JUL178873    WAYWARD #24 CVR D B&W WALKING DEAD #47 TRIBUTE VAR (MR)    $3.99

I Reads You Juniors September 2017 - Update #50

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From Crunchyroll:  Seven Seas Entertainment continues to announced new manga licenses.

From ChristianPost:  In Japan, "scanners" of the manga "One Piece" have been arrested and charged with copyright infringement.

From SoraNews24:  There is a new manga trying to explain President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

From BleedingCool:  Why can't Marvel keep politics out of its comics... and that is not quite what it seems.

From BleedingCool:  DC Comics reveals more "Justice League" movie variant covers.

From BleedingCool:  The news and gossip site begins your "Marvel Legacy" spoilers.

From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #136 in English.
From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #136 in French.

From ComicBookBin:  Johnny Bullet episode #135 in English.
From ComicBookBin:  Johnny Bullet episode #135 in French.

From Crunchyroll:  For the 40th anniversary of the "Galaxy Express 999" manga, there will be a stage adaptation of the manga.

From TheNewPaper:  There is a new online course for budding anime and manga artists.

From THR:  IDW Publishing will publish a "Stretch Armstrong" related to a new Netflix animated series, "Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters."

From PreviewsWorld:  New Bernie Wrightson art book coming from Hermes Press.

From ComicBook:  Eiichiro Oda wants to end his "One Piece" manga as soon as possible.

From Newsarama:  The "Guardians of the Galaxy" manga makes its debut as digital comic on the "Manga Box" app.

From BleedingCool:  Mark Waid to attempt to have a "civil conversation" about diversity at Baltimore Comic Con 2017.

From BleedingCool:  Maybe Marvel's "Secret Empire" is not over.

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Comics solicitations through Diamond Comics Distributors for December 2017.

From TheRiderNews:  "Superb" is a new superhero comic book in which the lead character has Down Syndrome.

From BleedingCool:  Adam Hughes will draw the main cover of the DC Comics/Archie Comics crossover, "Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica."

From BleedingCool:  "The Walking Dead #175" is a solo Negan issue.

From Forward:  This week sees the debut of an official comic book adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

From Forward:  Judith Jones, the editor who discovered Anne Franks' diary, died August 1, 2017.  She was 93.

From BleedingCool:  A surprise character from Deadpool's debut may return for Marvel Legacy.

From SoraNews24:  One Piece manga creator, Eiichiro Oda, claims that seven villains have forced him to extend the series far longer than he intended.

From Fansided:  Tony Moore, the original artist on "The Walking Dead" comic book, recreates an iconic Neegan scene that he was not around to draw.

From Crunchyroll:  Shuuichi Shigeno, the creator of the "Initial D" manga, launches a new manga, "MF Ghost."

From TheSignal:  The Santa Clarita Valley newspaper notices when a local guy creates his own comic book, "Zalaan Wars" by A.J. Wedding.

From BleedingCool:  Dennis O'Neil will return to writing Batman for the "DC Universe Holiday Special #1."

From ExpressUK:  Here is the new movie Hellboy.

From BleedingCool:  IDW is rebooting "30 Days of Night" with writer Steve Niles.  Ben Templesmith, the original series artist, will return as cover artist along with original series cover artist, Ashley Wood.

From BleedingCool:  Marvel Two-in-One with Chip Zdarsky as writer and Jim Cheung as artist.

From BleedingCool:  IDW's Hasbro (GI Joe, Transformers) event title, "First Strike," will yield a new series, "Scarlett's Strike Force."

From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #134 in English.
From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #134 in French.

From TheWrap:  The influential comic book writer and editor Len Wein has died.  He was 69.  He co-created the character Wolverine with artist John Romita.  He revived the X-Men for Marvel Comics in the mid-1970s, launching the version of the team that became a multi-billion dollar franchise.  He co-created the character Swamp Thing with artist Berni Wrightson (who also died this year).  Wein edited writer Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing and Moore and Dave Gibbons comic book, "Watchmen."

From PasteMagazine:  Warren Ellis and Bryan Hill talk to Paste about the upcoming "Michael Cray," comic book from DC Comics that is part of "Wildstorm" reboot.  Includes preview art.

From SouthEssexCollege:  This college is giving Warren Ellis an honorary doctorate.

From BleedingCool:  New speculation over future "Young Animal" comics from DC Comics.

From Negromancer:  At Rose City Comic Con, Image Comics announces a new comic book, "Bitter Root," from David Walker, Chuck Brown, and Sanford Greene

From BleedingCool:  "Guardians of the Galaxy" is now a manga, "Guardians of the Galaxy: Galaxy Rush."

From BleedingCool:  Arrests were made of people scanning and uploading pages of the "One Piece" manga.

From Slate:  Tom King would like to stay with Batman for 100 issues.  [If he maintains the quality of his writing, he can stay 300 issues. -Ed]

From BleacherReport:  A discussion of WWE comic books.

From BleedingCool:  Retailers will be able to sell the "Dark Knight III" hardcover early.

From WeGotThisCovered: Another article about Marvel Comics' woes, and "diversity characters" (meaning African-American characters) are blamed.

From BleedingCool:  The 2017 Joe Shuster Awards were announced on Friday, September 1, 2017.  First established is 2004, the Joe Shuster Awards serve to recognize the works of Canadians, published at home or abroad, for their outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics.  The awards are named after pioneering Canadian artist Joe Shuster, who created Superman with Jerry Siegel.

From StudyGroupComics:  Jim Rugg is on the "Process Party" podcast.

From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #133 - in English - the pantomime story arc begins!
From ComicBookBin:  New Johnny Bullet episode #133 - in French

From BleedingCool:  Kirby Genesis, the creation of "Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers" and "Silver Star."

From MangaTokyo:  Comparing the "Kuroko's Basketball" manga and anime.

From ICv2:  Geoff Johns reveals DC Comics' "Doomsday Clock #1" covers.

From YahooNews:  What does the return of the real Captain America mean for the future of Marvel Comics?

From NewRepublic:  August 28th, 2017 would have been Jack Kirby's 100th birthday.  Jeet Heer offers this profile, "Jack Kirby, the Unknown King."

From ComicsBulletin:  Top 10 thoughts on Jack Kirby.