BC Refugees Blog

Baltimore Comic-Con Welcomes Back Joe Kubert! >(from the official press release) BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - May 26, 2012 - The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce the addition of comic legend Joe Kubert to the growing line-up of creators attending this year's show, taking place September 8-9, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Kubert began his career in 1939 at the age of 13, working as an unofficial apprentice at MLJ Studios (what would eventually become Archie Comics). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he made a name for himself at DC Comics working on such characters as Hawkman and Sgt. Rock. Aside from his art duties on several books at DC, Kubert also served as the company's Director of Publications from 1967-1976. In addition to being one of the most influential creators who began his career during the Golden Age of Comics, Kubert is also the founder of The Kubert School - a school dedicated to teaching the principles of sequential art and storytelling...

UNCANNY X-MEN #11  (Marvel, June 2012)  Kieron Gillen, writer.  Greg Land, penciler.  Jay Leisten, inker.  GURU eFX, colorist.  VC’s Joe Caramagna, letterer.           The cover art is what enticed me to pick up this issue.  You can’t beat a good Greg Land cover - - and this is a really good one.  Colossus/Juggernaut and the Red Hulk exchange looks of extreme rage as they head butt and fist bump each other.           The contents deliver on the promise of  a great knock-down, drag-out battle between these two.  Land’s illustrations are perfect for this.    His characters are very expressive.  The story is equally evocative.  In between the battle scenes, Gillen gives us an inside look at the current thought processes of several characters.  (Events in UNCANNY X-MEN #11 take place during AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 and #2...

  HIGHER EARTH #1  (Boom!, May 2012 – $1 first issue)  Created and written by Sam Humphries.  Art by Francesco Biagini. Colors by Andrew Crossley.  Letters by Ed Dukeshire. Written by currently hot creator Sam Humphries (FANBOYS VS. ZOMBIES, OUR LOVE IS REAL) HIGHER EARTH #1 sold out in pre-order one week before it’s release and is already into a second printing.  Inventive and action-driven story-telling.  Bold and imaginative art.  Science-fiction adventure. One dollar first issue! That’s enough to do it for me.  I was impressed with the debut issue. In big, bright panels HIGHER EARTH kicks right in on the first page as a padded-uniformed man (soldier?) drops from above into a heap of garbage.  It’s a garbage world, and he’s looking for someone. Her name is Heidi and she survives on this desolate garbage-strewn world by traveling inside a huge armor clad mechanical grizzly bear.  She’s the only character that is actually giv...

  AVX: VS   #1  of  6  (Marvel, June 2012) As the credits page proclaims, AVX: VS will take fights from the AVENGERS VS X-MEN limited series and “expand them into ALL-OUT SMASH-UPS!”  Every issue will focus on two different  “AWESOME BRAWLING . . . KNOCK-DOWN,DRAG-OUT WHUPPIN”.  The events in this debut issue feature fights that take place during events in AVENGERS VS X-MEN #2 .  Those fights are: THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN VS. MAGNETO  - -  Jason Aaron, Writer.  Adam Kubert, art.  Morry Hollowell, colors.  VC’s Joe Caramagna, letters and production. I came to this title without any expectations of significant or revealing story content.  I came  with expectations of viewing some good old-fashioned battle action.  I came  anticipating  great art.  I came expecting to have a fun and entertaining read.  My expectations have been met - - especially when the first story is illus...

Marvel's "Season One" books are modernized retellings of their heroes' early days, not a reboot. (More of a "Year One" book than an "Earth One", to use the DC terms.) The stories are about 100 pages (basically a four-issue miniseries) and the books also include a reprint of a recent issue to see if the current interpretation is to your liking, and a code for a digital copy of the book to increase its value. Fantastic Four Season One: I love the FF so I wanted to love this but emotionally I felt it was pretty flat, which is surprising from writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa who is definitely capable of more. I wasn't a fan of "4", his previous attempt at these characters, but Aguirre-Sacasa recently wrote the winter finale of "Glee" which had some surprisingly well-crafted emotional moments in it. Artist David Marquez is drawing an arc of "Ultimate Spider-Man" starting with #9, and I think his style suits that book m...

  Banished long ago from their regular haunts in Downingtown PA, the BC Refugees scattered to various locales but from time to time they show up in small groups to look for nests and gather more bedding.  Several of them were sighted on Saturday, May 5 in places where you may expect to find them - - haunting their favorite comic shops in the area - - - CAPTAIN BLUE HEN in Newark DE  and THE COMIC BOOK SHOP in Wilmington, DE . . . . . . . .           Both locations were “hopping” all day Saturday so if you missed the sighting it is probably because the BC Refugees have been known to blend in with the crowd.   BC Mike was all over CBH most of the day but was spotted at an impromptu meeting at CBS with BC Jeff and Bill.  BCs Gary (Flash) and Seth (Kid Flash) were in and out early, while Captain Aaron was needed to protect the universe (so he couldn’t get off work).  BC Dan was on special assignment - - so sp...

While we're talking about Free Comic Book Day festivities at our favorite places, let me mention that my friends at The Comic Book Shop of Wilmington DE will be having their official grand reopening on that day in a new location! After 22 years in a small strip mall The Comic Book Shop has moved a couple of blocks north to the Plaza III shopping center and a much bigger & brighter location. Events include lots of sale prices, Khoi Pham and Adam Wilson signing and sketching, plus Star Wars & Ghostbusters characters and the folks from the Paperkeg podcast.  Sale details and the schedule of events  are available on their web site.

  Both of these creators will be among the many artist guests at the Free Comic Book Day celebration at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark DE this Saturday.  Here is a brief review of their work: Geoffrey Canada’s  FIST STICK KNIFE GUN  A Personal History Of Violence (Beacon Press)  A True Story In Black And White  adapted by Jamar Nicholas           Originally published in book form in 1995, FIST STICK KNIFE GUN is auto-biographical and relates the grim realities of urban violence.  It is the personal story of a young Geoffrey Canada, one of four boys being raised by a single parent (mother) in a rough South Bronx neighborhood in the late 1950’s.  At the early age of four, a young and impressionable Canada gets a lesson in street survival and begins to learn what it takes to grow up on the streets and how to avoid becoming a constant victim of bullying, abuse and violence.  It is a sad and powe...