I stopped reading thirty-odd issues into the run (for financial reasons), but I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Ennis shrugging off the editorial constraints of his Big Two years might have led to him leaning a bit too hard on the outre and off-colour parts of his repertoire, but, well, it's Ennis, innit? It's what…

It's strange, I read the first volume of Charley's War the other day (so good, by the way), and Pat Mills goes off on one in his introduction, lamenting what he perceives at the book's lack of direct influence on other creators, despite its commercial and critical success. Which struck me as really odd, since, in…

Thanks for the JL info!
Well, that just about confirms every prejudice I had about Benes' art, which isn't surprising at all. The contempt for your audience you must have as an editor, to let exploitative art like that through on one of your flagship books; it's pretty staggering.
And too bad to hear about McDuffie; it…

Congratulations on the interview, Asa! Looking forward to reading it.

A little late this week, but here's the usual roundup of the current Comixology sales.

First time I read that, I thought the "he's too sad and powerful" was referring to Allred. Ah, poor reading comprehension; you're always good for a laugh.

All that, and his uncanny knack for incredibly silly one-off gags (the new Bobbins URL still puts a daffy grin on my face every time I think about it).

The superhero genre doesn't have to die for the comics medium to thrive; the medium is thriving, and will continue to do so. (The above list is a pretty solid, but far from exhaustive case in point.)
What should die off, though, is the attention heaped on superheroes by the fan-press (few, if any comics-related…

Me too. But there are plenty of people who seemingly can't wait to cry out in outrage against the (to them) ill-intentioned exclusion of something they love from these kinds of lists. I despair at some people's inability to see criticism as one person's expression of her personal tastes (through a prism of formal…

Exclusion of big/loved titles, I inferred.

If the digital price for InSeXts (man, I love writing out that dumbass mixed casing) isn't too high, I might get it. I mean, Bennett is supposed to be a good writer, isn't she? Bombshells gets plenty of love in these comments, at least. Every time I think about that preview, I can't help but giggle to myself.…

Marketing isn't trying to reach the person that's decided they no longer want to read a title, though; it's primary function is (or at least should be) to target the reader who didn't know about the book at all, or didn't know enough about it to have made their mind up about whether they want to read it or not. I know…

An audience is not a constant, immutable thing, though. You can't declare that a book has found its entire potential audience if the publisher empirically hasn't given it a marketing push comparable to those for other titles with bigger audiences.

I like the idea of Henchgirl being a finite series. I definitely understand the desire to have it run forever — the worldbuilding is just that good — but there's also something really appealing to me in knowing that this vibrant setting was created in service to this one particular story. Not as an incubator for more…

You're not wrong about that. Up until #12, I had totally failed to connect with Fatale in the way I had with just about every single other one of the previous Philip/Brubaker collabs. That issue hit hard enough for me to want to keep going, hoping that they're building towards something that's difficult to see at this…

Hardcovers or trades? If trades; I'm up to about the middle of the third trade (in single issue form), and a couple of those standalones are my favourites so far (especially #12).

They're in the pipeline; Oliver warned of probable/possible controversy when he mentioned it on Twitter.

Haven't read The Paybacks yet, but, like Shugah mentions above, Oliver featured it in one of his Big Issues columns about a month back. I might have to check out that #1 now.

Thanks for the heads-up (and thanks for the great comic)! I'm trying to be patient and see if my local shop is able to get me a copy (I didn't order until after the release, so they're having a bit of trouble). As a bonus, I figure any time they spend chasing the book down, is extra attention paid to Henchgirl from a…

Over half of the review I read was devoted to Caitlin's descriptions and analysis of the comic itself (or, as you put it, telling you she liked it and why).