DJ's Comics Blog

When I decide to write a new story for a comic book, I will usually spend a small amount of time deciding what the main character is like, and the other characters will come much later. I tend to type out a few short pieces that detail the origin of this particular character, making sure that I get their history down before even attempting to place them in to a full on story. After I have decided on who they are as a person, that is when I begin to write up the main story. The usual word count of my stories is between 1500 and 2000 words, as I feel that this is long enough to tell a cohesive story that also has enough development of certain characters. After the story itself has been written, this is when I will begin to adapt it in to a script format. My approach to scripting my comics is to take it a few pages at a time, roughly 5 or 6 in a single session, and when the artist, in my case it is my sister, receives the scripted pages, this method makes the turnaround slightly faste...

The cover for the relaunched X-Men title. This week, for this third instalment of Classic Comics, I will be discussing Giant-Size X-Men from January 1975, written by Len Wein, with art by Dave Cockrum. A bit of background for this book. In 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men, a team of teenaged mutants, led by the telepath Professor Charles Xavier. Although it was an initially successful publication, sales began to decline throughout the 1960s, before the title was cancelled, having been filled with backup stories and reprints for many years. The original X-Men team consisted of Scott Summers, known as Cyclops, Warren Worthington III, known as Angel, Bobby Drake, called Iceman, Henry 'Hank' McCoy, codenamed Beast, and finally Jean Grey, known as Marvel Girl, and the only female member of this original incarnation. The team was later joined by Alex Summers, who is Scott's brother and codenamed Havok, and also Lorna Dane, AKA Polaris. The issue begins in W...

Right, be warned that if you have not watched 'Lian Yu' yet, then do not read on, as there will be spoilers for the episode. So, last night was the Season 5 finale of the Arrow TV series, and lets just say that it was best season finale out of all the Arrowverse's 4 shows. Flash was alright, Supergirl was watchable, Legends was so long ago I can't remember (something about dinosaurs in the present day or something.) But Arrow was just incredible. After the lows of Season 4, and how disappointing that whole Damien Darhk stuff was, this season really stepped up its game. With a great villain in Prometheus/Adrian Chase, to bringing back Manu Bennett as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, now completely free of Mirakuru, and sane. Oliver travels to Lian Yu in order to rescue his team, and enlists the aid of Deathstroke and Captain Boomerang to do so, and of course Boomerang betrays him straight away. Throughout the episode, we had hints that Slade would follow suit, but they we...

This week from DC Comics is looking to be a good one. First of all we have Detective Comics #957. After the events in the League of Shadows story arc, we have the return of Stephanie Brown, AKA Spoiler. She has not featured in this title for a while, after the perceived 'death' of her boyfriend Tim Drake a few months ago, and when she was attacked by various 'victims' of Batman, she left and has not been seen since. This week 'The Wrath of Spoiler' begins. The issue is available for around £2.30. We are also being treated to Batgirl #11, which will see the finale of 'Son of Penguin'. After the events of last issue which saw The Penguin make his appearance and attempting to help Batgirl, Ethan Cobblepot's plan is coming to a head. This book is available for just over £3, which indicates to me that it will be a slightly longer issue than we have been offered in the past. From Marvel this week, we are being offered the next chapter in Captain Amer...

In my lifetime of reading comics, I have been influenced by many different writers. The first of these being the current head writer for The Amazing Spider-Man, Dan Slott. He has crafted a narrative that is cohesive and easy to read. The cast of supporting characters that he has created to interact with Peter Parker in his everyday life is vast and complex. The next writer that I have been majorly influence by is the legendary Stan Lee. He has inspired me in a way that no other writer probably ever will. The sheer number of characters that he has created over the course of his career is enormous, and his style of writing is unique to him. Nick Spencer is a writer that I was only introduced to in the last couple of years, as he has been the main writer for both of the current Captain America books, starring Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers in the title roles, and of course he is also writing the Secret Empire event. I enjoy Spencer's writing as he is not afraid to get involved with...

Today, I felt like giving you all a small piece of information about how it is that I like to read my comic books. Back when I first began to read comics in 2010/2011, I would buy the comics published by Panini for Marvel from WHSmith, every two weeks. In that time, I really enjoyed doing that, as I could go home and sit in bed, reading multiple issues at a time, with arcs ending nice and quickly. After a while, I did not have the money to buy them anymore, so I stopped, and they were also about a year behind the main  single American issues. Nowadays, although I do have many singular, physical copies of titles in my collection, I prefer to read my comics digitally on services like Comixology, as they are more affordable, and I don't have to risk damaging them. Reading digitally means that I can read them wherever I am. The affordable prices mean that I can also purchase original comics from the Golden Age for about 69p or so. The Guided View on digital readers also helps me to...

Unlike with last Sunday, I have decided that I will be combining the DC and Marvel Weekly Rundowns, just for the reason that Marvel did not get much love this previous week, and DC did. DC - BATMAN #23 This weeks offering of Batman, written by Tom King, was most definitely a filler issue, to cleanse our pallets after the conclusion of the Button storyline from the last month or so. The story for this issue has a title that is an awful pun 'The Brave and the Mold', a spin on the classic 'Brave and the Bold' concept. It centres around the murder of the Swamp Thing's father. Batman and Swamp Thing go a search for the killer, which takes them to many different places, such as a Pawn Shop, where they find out the location of the killer. It turned out that Swamp Thing did not want to settle for just finding who killed his father, but also so that he could kill the person responsible, which Batman is not too pleased about.  Overall, I feel that this issue serves i...

For the second instalment of Classic Comics, we are returning once again to the year 1973. This week, I will be telling you about what could be considered as one of the first crossover 'events'. First of all, before I delve in to the story itself, I'll run through the current rosters for these teams at the time of the event. For the Avengers we have: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, The Vision, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Swordsman and Mantis. Most of these characters have been mainstays on the Avengers team for a few years, with only Black Panther, Mantis and Swordsman having joined fairly recently. On The Defenders side of things we have: Doctor Strange, Namor the Submariner, Valkyrie, Silver Surfer, The Incredible Hulk, and Hawkeye, (Hawkeye had joined only a couple of issues before this event took place, after he had previously left the Avengers after a disagreement.) The Defenders, as Strange goes to find the Knights soul The narrative of the story centre...

The Batman/Flash crossover has now concluded. Just over a month of content was released, with four parts. This is how crossovers and events should be done, released quickly and regularly, so that you still have the previous instalment fresh within your mind. The cover for Batman #21, the first part of The Button The event began in Batman #21, kicking off in Arkham Asylum, and a character known as Saturn Girl. She is watching a hockey game, and she keeps going on about how nobody is going to save the one of the hockey players. She is a character from the future, who was a member of the Legion of Superheroes, meaning that she knows what is about to happen. We switch to the Batcave, where Batman is attempting to figure out the mystery of the Button, which belonged to The Comedian, who is from the Watchmen comics. When the Button is placed next to the mask of Psycho Pirate, a reaction takes place, and the Reverse-Flash suddenly appears. The panels from now on are layed out like they ...

I've decided that Thursdays are going to be dedicated to comic book movies and TV Shows, and the posts will be slightly later in the day. Today's topic of discussion will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and my opinion of which movies are the best released so far. Starting with my favourite to date, I will have to say that it is Captain America: Civil War. Not only was a great adaptation of the comic event from 2006, but it also featured the MCU debut of Spider-Man. Marvel did a great job of making changes to the narrative, so that they utilised the characters that they have the film rights to, and Tom Holland was just the best Spider-Man/Peter Parker we have been given thus far. Then, it has to be the first Iron Man film, the one that kicked this whole universe off in the first place. Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect casting for Tony Stark, and I just thought it was a good film overall. (I would also like you all to remember that The Incredible Hulk movie from th...

This week in the world of comics is looking to be a good one. At least for Marvel and DC. From Marvel this week, we have the Secret Empire #2 from Nick Spencer, along with the various tie-ins to go with that, such as U.S.Avengers #6, and Ultimates ² #7, written by Al Ewing. Also released this week, we have the first issue of the new Luke Cage solo series, written by David F. Walker, I'm interested to see how this does, as Luke Cage hasn't worked in a solo series in the past. And finally of note, we have Invincible Iron Man #7 from Brian Michael Bendis. And from DC this week, we have the conclusion of The Button storyline, in Flash #22, along with the release of Batman #23, Aquaman #23 and Green Arrow #23. We also have some light-hearted fun in the form of one of my personal favourites, Harley Quinn #20. Elsewhere in the comic book world, particular highlights for me include: Spawn's 25th Anniversary issue from  Image Comics. From Valiant Comics we have Ninjak #2...

When I first decided that I wanted to write my own comic books, I was around eight years of age. For years, the characters and stories that I had written were very basic, and also very short in terms of length. I mostly wrote the stories for fun, and for my eyes only. Now, years later, I look at those old stories and cannot help bu laugh at how bad they really were. Over the last few months, I have taking my comic book writing very seriously, putting much more thought in to the way the characters are portrayed and more detail into the descriptions of what is taking place. The majority of the stories that I write revolve around superheroes, as that is what I have had the most experience with while reading comics, and also because I find that the stories that can be told are more exciting than if you were to write it about a regular person. I am currently working on a couple of different projects, which will all be a part of a shared universe with many of the character interacting ...

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #27 My Rating:  7.5/10 The Cover Issue #27 of The Amazing Spider-Man continues on from the previous two releases, with this being Part Three of 'The Osborn Identity', which sees the return of Norman Osborn to the Spider-Man landscape. He is now free from his Goblin serum, and as such is no longer insane. This arc has also seen the return of long-running supporting character, Silver Sable, who had been thought dead for many years. The issue begins in the lab where Norman has been receiving his surgeries to change his appearance, and stay hidden from the world. The results of the latest surgery see Norman with a twisted version of his original face. Spider-Man, Silver Sable, and her Wild Pack are preparing for an assault to save the nation of Symkaria. They are joined later on by Bobbi Morse, AKA Mockingbird, who has defied the orders of Nick Fury, and gone ahead with this mission, resigning from SHIELD in the process. During the conf...

ALL-STAR BATMAN #10 My Rating: 8/10 The big reveal. The issue is narrated by Batman's loyal butler Alfred, and follows a plot by the Hush, to bid on something called the 'Genesis Engine', posing as Bruce Wayne as Gotham's villains are not allowed to bid on it. Batman and Alfred capture Hush, and after he is threatened, he tells them everything. Bruce heads to the location of the auction, but they believe him to be Hush in disguise, so attempt to kill him.  When Bruce goes to find Mr. Thatch, he discovers that he is dead, his heart ripped out. The contraption on his chest is shaped like a symbol that we saw in the beginning of the issue. And we discover that the boy that we have seen in flashbacks was not Bruce running from the police, but Alfred Pennyworth himself.  Snyder's writing continues to be unique and consistent, as it has been throughout his run on All-Star Batman in DC Rebirth. The art for this issue from Rafael Albuquerque really matche...

Up until a couple of years ago, I was exclusively a reader of modern day comics, and I was not at all interested in the books of the past. I just thought that the art looked bad, and believed that all of the stories were poorly written. Could I have been anymore wrong? Maybe two years ago,  I subscribed to the Marvel Unlimited service, which allows you to read thousands upon thousands of Marvel books from the past. So I immediately decided to read the entire catalogue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Many of the early issues were just your typical super hero narrative of the time, as Marvel had yet to ditch the Comics Code Authority, meaning that most of the stories were exactly the same, with Spidey nearly always triumphing over his enemies and saving the day, with a little bit of J. Jonah Jameson mocking sprinkled in between. As the 1960s bore on however, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were fazed out, for new writers and artists to take the helm and take the beloved hero in a new directi...

At the time of writing, we have had three offerings for Marvel's Secret Empire event, in which the events of the past year of Nick Spencer's run on Captain America: Steve Rogers are now culminating into something that has turned the current Marvel Universe on it's head. The fatal moment from Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 (May 2016) These events came to be during the Avengers Standoff event of early 2016, in which the sentient Cosmic Cube, Kobik, re-wrote Steve Rogers' history (at the behest of his archenemy, The Red Skull.) At first, the only major event that took place for Steve was that his youth was restored again, after his Super Soldier serum had been removed by The Iron Nail back during Rick Remender's run. Or so we thought.  In May 2016, Marvel launched the new Steve Rogers-led title, written by Nick Spencer, who is fast becoming one of my favourite writers. In the very first issue, Cap was seemingly aiding Jack Flag in the capture of Baron Zem...

As a comic book fan for the majority of my 18 years of life, I have struggled to find a way to express my opinions through the spoken word. Some people that I meet are not exactly what you would call 'into comics', and therefore switch off once I start discussing this topic. Through this blog, I am hoping to be able to voice my opinions on not only the latest books that are being released, but also some of my favourite classic issues from the Golden to Bronze ages, from the works of Marvel legends such as Stan  Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby to the earliest days of the comic book medium and the advent of the super hero in the 1930s with the early DC/National comics featuring a gun toting Batman from Bill Finger and Bob Kane.  I will be posting here as often as I can, with the hope of being able to keep up with the current runs of many of the titles that I am currently reading. And also if any progress is made, I shall give updates on the comics that I am currently writing...