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Dwayne McDuffie died of complications from emergency heart surgery on February 21, the day before the excellent film he adapted, All-Star Superman, was released in stores. He was one of my favorite comic book writers; I've never read anything by him that disappointed me. And now I never will. I found this little profile in a 1989 issue of Captain America and thought it would serve as a fitting tribute. Note that his ambition was to write Fantastic Four. He accomplished that and so much more. Click to see it full-size.

In summer 2009, Marvel teased an upcoming Captain America storyline. They released secretive ads and hinted at something major, something that even the mainstream media might care about. It ended up being rather anticlimactic. The story was Reborn , featuring the resurrection of Steve Rogers (the original Cap), something everyone had expected to happen sooner than later. This detail might be lost to time, but before the real story was revealed, there was a rumor that Captain America's mantle would be picked back up by Isaiah Bradley , a black soldier enhanced by the same Super Soldier Serum as Rogers (detailed in the 2003 miniseries Truth: Red, White, and Black ). I, for one, hoped this would be the case. What better time than during the administration of the first black president for America's most patriotic hero be black as well? It didn't happen, of course. Blond-haired blue-eyed Rogers came back. And Isiaiah Bradley remains on the sidelines, as does the idea of a main...

Watchmen , a 12 issue miniseries from DC Comics that ran from September 1986 to October 1987, is almost universally hailed as a groundbreaking work. Sophisticated, literate, complex, and bleak, it's considered the first time we really saw superheroes behaving badly, and the debut of the costumed hero who lived in the moral gray areas of reality. But it's not (excuse me while I sweep away the remnants of that straw man I just knocked down). I submit to you Marvel's Squadron Supreme , a 12-issue miniseries that ran from September 1985 to August 1986. The run has some interesting parallels to Watchmen . Both starred analogues of existing heroes (the Watchmen characters were based on Charlton heroes Blue Beetle, Lady Phantom, Captain Atom, Thunderbolt, Peacemaker, and The Question; the Squadron Supreme were created as parodies of DC's Justice League of America ). Both series ran for 12 issues and featured shocking moments and big ideas. And yes, both forced their heroes t...

When I was about 12 years old I told my grandpa that I was going to take over Calvin and Hobbes when Bill Watterson died. In an especially bitter moment, he gently chastised me, saying that it was likely that his family would take it over, and that Watterson probably wouldn't want anyone else to draw it anyway. Now I know for a fact my grandpa knew nothing about Bill Watterson, but damn if he wasn't right. Watterson HATED legacy strips, and felt he was the only one who could ever tell Calvin and Hobbes' story. That's just one thing I learned in Nevin Martell's new book, Looking for Calvin and Hobbes. The book is subtitled "The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip", and true to that it's part biography and part love letter. Anyone who fell under the trance of Watterson's comic strip will find lots of interesting tidbits about its origins and author. That's the good part. Martell's research is above reproac...

For several years, the indefatigable Brian Cronin has been addressing comic book urban legends on his Comics Should Be Good blog. He has written over 200 entries, each one tackling 3 legends. That means he's researched and proved or disproved over 500 stories from comic book history. They're required reading for serious comic fan. Now, Cronin has released Was Superman a Spy? , a collection of legends previously-covered and newly-revealed. Some minor quibbles aside, it's just as essential. There are a couple of jarring things about the book for those who've followed Brian's work on the blog. For one, the book is not structured the same. The blog poses each legend as a question and then attempts to give a definitive true or false. It's a very effective structure. The book abandons this approach and tells the legends in a sequential, narrative form. This results in what feels almost like "the secret history of comic books." However, the book is more org...

News came through this week that Dwayne McDuffie has been fired from his post as writer of Justice League of America. Make no mistake, it's bad news. McDuffie , co-creator of Ben 10 and the Milestone line of comics, is a talented guy who obviously isn't getting the respect he deserves. Consider that he put together a very good run on Fantastic Four a couple of years ago with artist Paul Pelliter , and then was shuffled aside in favor of the hit-or-miss Mark Millar . And now this. McDuffie says he was fired, believe it or not, because for the last two years he has given fans truthful answers to their questions about the behind the scenes decisions that go into a high-profile book like Justice League of America . Maybe the higher-ups at DC wouldn't have minded if they had made good decisions. Instead, after letting novelist Brad Metzler set the table, DC plagued  McDuffie's run with editorial mandates out the wazoo, forcing him to use the flagship title as a set...

Check this out: I don't get that excited about comic book movies anymore, because it's just so hard to get them right. But if this was the actual trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern movie, I'd be in line already. If nothing else this makes the case that Nathan Fillion would be a perfect Hal Jordan. In reality, they probably won't cast him because of his age. They'll want someone young enough to reprise the role over the next 10 years in potential sequels and a Justice League movie, and its potential sequels. This mindset has overtaken comic movie planning and, I think it's a misguided approach. All that energy should go into making the first film as good as possible, instead of taking success for granted. Also, the guy who made this, Jaron Pitts, should get a job working on the actual film, or at least a chance to make the real trailer.