As you know, I've been making cuts to my Pull List every week in the month of June. Each week, it's gotten harder, and I think that's a testament to the quality of the product being released. Simply put, I think this is the best periodical comics have been since I started buying them in July 2019. Five years later, my eye is sharper, my palate is broader, but my wallet is far less disciplined. Thankfully, I swore off credit cards years ago, or I might be in serious trouble. This week, DC is releasing our first taste of their Absolute Power event. For all my individual love of their Superman, Batman and Green Lantern titles, I've somehow lost the overall narrative of DC continuity, so I'm excited to see what it brings. Speaking of tasting, Marvel's vampire-centered Blood Hunt event has finally hooked its fangs into me. All it took was pitting a father and daughter against each other, and [redacted] Miles Morales [more redacted]. Between the Disney and WB licenses, Dynamite Entertainment has my entire childhood on its publishing slate. I'm excited about both Jonny Quest and The Powerpuff Girls coming this summer, and nothing made me happier than announcing the Darkwing Duck Kickstarter a few weeks ago. Then there's Mad Cave Studios, who popped up on my radar out of nowhere with several high quality miniseries, including When The Blood Has Dried. I'm currently digging their Dick Tracy series, and am told I missed out on a classic in Deer Editor. Thankfully, I can still grab it in trades. All this was a very long winded way to say, halfway through the year, comics are doing just fine. On The Podcast Unintentionally, I've been featuring independent creators all month long on the channel. Last week, my interview with Trevor Fernandes-Lenkiewicz dropped. His series RISE is back on Kickstarter for issue 2. I got a chance to check out issue 1 in person at HeroesCon last week, and it was jaw dropping. No disrespect to other crowdfunding comic creators, but you don't see quality like this (creative AND printing) every day on that platform. Check out our conversation, then check out the campaign on Kickstarter. On The Channel I'm finally back to my regular cadence on YouTube, and it feels great! Be on the lookout for my HeroesCon recap + haul, my top 5 most anticipated series for the next six months, and reviews of Watchmen issues 3 & 4, all coming very soon. Read Something Dope Today, BJ KICKS |
Celebrating everything Dope about comics. Curated by BJ KICKS.
I had a whole intro typed about procrastination. I'll get to that later. This week, I gave myself a challenge. Post one video each weekday leading up to HeroesCon. Just so I wouldn't chicken out, I posted the schedule on social media SNL style. Now if I went back on my word, I'd be lying to at least a dozen people. 3 Down, 2 to Go. It's part of what I'm calling the Summer Sprint. After nearly a year of having to put the channel on the backburner while I dealt with more pressing matters on the...
It's a milestone week here in Dope Land. I woke up to two bits of exciting news on Tuesday. First, our audience grew to 18,000 subscribers on YouTube! I've set a goal in my head to reach 20k by November. But the truth is, the number only matters to me as much as I'm bringing joy to the person on the other end of it. That any singular person chooses to spend time listening to what I have to say about an artist's words and pictures will always be mind blowing to me. That makes the next...
Yesterday, I posted a video updating the general public about what I've been up to lately. If you read this briefing regularly, you already know. I'm busy being a family man, yada yada yada. But I also hinted a bit at some things to come on the channel. I've been searching for ways to include more book reviews in my heavily compressed schedule, and I think I've found just the trick in YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Look, Ma! I'm in 16x9 format! While I've been hesitant to join the...