Review: C2C Con: Twilite Zone Comics

By: Shawn Warner

     This Saturday marked my first Coast to Coast Comic Con, now as a veteran of several of the larger comic book conventions; I must admit this one was like none other in that it is a live streaming event.

Column: 2016 The Year in Review(s)

  2016: For Better or Worse, the Year of the Reboot

By: Shawn Warner

     It’s that time of the year again, when everyone gets a case of short term nostalgia and finds it oh so necessary to make lists; the ten best movies, the fifty best books and so it goes. Well, not to be outdone by those list making gadabouts, I sat down to compose my list of the best comic books of 2016.

Column: What it means to be a Young Animal in the DCU

By: Shawn Warner

     We are now three titles into the Young Animal imprint, for those of you who may have been off planet for the past few months, Young Animal is the new Vertigo-like imprint at DC Comics under the creative guidance of visionary writer and Grant Morrison protégé, Gerard Way. Like Vertigo, young Animal is designed to be the home of books that, although very much a part of the DC continuity, these titles share a more eclectic and progressive tone, often darker and geared more to mature readers.

Going “Way” Out on Patrol: The First Offering from Young Animal or My Thoughts on Doom Patrol #1, an Exercise in Restrained Jubilation

(DC Comics 2016)

By Shawn Warner

     Anyone who has ever talked comic books with me for more than ten minutes knows I love Grant Morrison only slightly less than my wife and son, that being the case you may think that I would be more than a little skeptical as I dove into the first issue of Gerard Way’s take on the Doom Patrol; a book that Morrison has left his indelible mark of genius upon and, in my opinion, remains the quintessential work on the title.

Column: How I Survived Baltimore Comicon 2016

By Shawn Warner

     The count down before Comic Con is always a super anxious time for me, I begin checking my email for updates more frequently, checking the ever-growing list of guests for my favorite creators and deciding which of the many, varied and enlightening panels I will be covering for the site. This is just business as usual, not only for covering the event but, enjoying all the aspects of the show as a fan and collector. Of course I am talking about shopping! Filling in those runs, finding those elusive issues waiting there, hidden within the depths of the dollar boxes and perusing the walls of key issues and first appearances that tower above the milling masses of cosplayers and collectors like monuments erected to the Comic Book Gods with names like Kirby, Claremont, Adams and Ditko, Steranko, Infantino and Lee.

Column: FCBD in Baltimore with Shawn Warner & Friends

    This is one of the biggest deals in comic books; it’s a day that was designed to reach readers who might otherwise never consider entering a local comic book establishment because in their minds these are dark dungeon-like basement dwellings populated by single white males most sporting some fashion of facial hair and wearing t shirts featuring their favorite super-heroes while debating which is the superior Star Trek, original or Next Generation, in Klingon of course.

Column: The State of the Marvel Universe

Standoff

By: Shawn Warner

     It’s event season and the big brains over at The House of Ideas have wasted no time getting things started, in fact Marvel has hit the ground running with an Avengers-centric, multi-title crossover called Standoff and unless you have been living in a cave in the DCU, you already knew that.

Column: State of the Marvel U. The Deadpool Edition

By Shawn Warner

With the release of the much clamored for Deadpool movie just days away Marvel has been whetting our collective appetites for all things Deadpool for quite some time now. There has been a deluge of mini-series, one-shots, on-goings, variant covers and team-ups all featuring the Merc with the Mouth hitting the racks consistently since well before the idea of a Deadpool movie was ever considered even the most remote possibility; now that it is a reality, Marvel has ramped up the frequency of seeing Deadpool in multiple books on the weekly basis by tenfold.

Column: State of the Marvel Universe

    2015: The All-New All-Different Year in Marvel Comics

      2015 saw the end of the ambitious Marvel Now wave of titles and the beginning of the even more ambitious All-New All-Different Marvel Universe. The result of the universe shattering Secret Wars, this new and different Marvel Universe has something for everyone but is far from universally accepted, especially by longtime Marvel readers, in fact many of them feel as though they have lost characters integral to the foundation of any universe bold enough to be called Marvel.

Marvel: The All New All Different Universe or Life in ANADU by Shawn Warner

Greetings True Believers and welcome to this special report on the state of the All New All Different Marvel Universe or as I lovingly refer to it, A.N.A.D.U. Things have definitely picked up speed story-wise as many of the debut titles are now into their second issues and already some of these titles are proving their worth while others performances have been lackluster at best. Normally two issues wouldn’t be my cut-off point for a slow starting series but in the era of the $3.99 cover price I have become a bit quicker when it comes to swinging that scythe and separating the chaff from the wheat. I am happy to report, however that the gems outnumber the duds significantly; having said that, let’s start with one of the brightest gems in Marvel’s A.N.A.D.U, Doctor Strange by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo.

Column: The State of the Marvel Universe

An All New All Different Marvel Universe Begins

By: Shawn Warner

October has been a busy month for The House of Ideas, the maverick masterminds at Marvel has turned out a multitude of new number ones over the past two weeks; perhaps the biggest of these is the Marvel Point One which serves as an introductory to the narrative that will run through several of these new books.

B&B Special Report: Baltimore Comic Con 2015

Okay it has been almost a week since Comic Con took over downtown Baltimore and all us who braved the entire three-day extravaganza have had time to reflect and recover.  This year was perhaps the biggest event yet; certainly there was an increased Hollywood presence as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Arrow cast members attracted droves of fans seeking autographs, photos and a brush with celebrity.

Column: How to Survive Baltimore ComicCon 2015

By Shawn Warner

Well it’s that time of the year again, the time when every red blooded comic book reader/ collector anywhere close to the Baltimore area starts to lose sleep, their thoughts obsessively stuck on the rows and rows of long boxes full of sequential art treasures that are soon to fill the Baltimore Convention Center.

Column: State of the Marvel Universe

By Shawn Warner

The November solicitations have been released and the All-New All-Different Marvel Universe is in full swing.

A BagandBored Special Report: Spending a Day in Gotham

Spending a Day in Gotham City

By: Shawn Warner

Just a short 45 minute drive outside the quiet hamlet of my hometown of Arbutus waits all the excitement and thrills of the big city, but I am not talking about Baltimore or even D.C.

Column: State of the Marvel Universe

Life After War Time: A Look at the Changes as a Result of Marvel’s Secret Wars

By: Shawn Warner

Marvel has never been afraid to shake things up but an all-inclusive universal re-boot is one thing that many of us thought we would never see but, here we are two issues into what could be the most massive event in comic book history.

Article: A Local’s Guide to Free Comic Book Day in Baltimore 2015

By Shawn Warner

Lately my hometown of Baltimore has been in the news for some seriously heinous reasons;
first the unjustified killing of a citizen by six of the city’s worst police officers makes worldwide headlines,

REVIEW: The Winter Soldier #6

(Marvel Comics, 2015)

Written by Ales Kot
Art by Marco Rudy and Langoon Foss

Ales Kot has become something of a modern day Ian Fleming in that much of his work has featured savvy spy types facing villains bent on world domination in espionage filled narratives containing tons of the tried and true spy thriller tropes.

REVIEW: Howard the Duck #1

(Marvel Comics, 2015)

Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Joe Quinones

Admittedly Howard the Duck #1 was not a book I was even sure I was going to pick up; right up to the very second I was at the counter purchasing my usual absurd amount of NCBD offerings this week I could hear that still small voice in the back of my head urging me to give this feathery foul tempered fowl a fair chance.

REVIEW: Guardians Team-Up #1

(Marvel Comics, 2015)

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Arthur Adams
Colors by Paul Mounts

Not only does this title team up two of Marvel’s most popular properties, The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, but it also boasts one of the greatest creative team ups in recent memory, that being the pairing of prolific scribe Brian Michael Bendis (aka BMB, aaka The BoMB) with the quasi-reclusive artistic genius, Arthur Adams.