Chris Sims
Ask Chris #329: The Official Handbook Of Extremely Obscure Batman Villains
Q: Hey, so in The Lego Batman Movie, there's a character called The Mime. What's the deal with that? — @comicsfan4life
A: That signal, shining in the sky --- someone needs me to explain an extremely obscure Batman villain to them! I have been training for this day my entire life.
It might come as a surprise, but I actually haven't seen The Lego Batman Movie yet --- although I definitely want to. As I understand it, though, the Mime is only one of several c- to z-list Batman foes who show up and somehow also manage to get toys out of the deal. So my question is, why stop with the Mime?
Hedging Your Bets #18: Champions
With almost 300 issues in the core series, Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog stands as the longest-running uninterrupted American monthly comic book that's currently being published. In Hedging Your Bets, I attempt to get up to speed on Sonic the Hedgehog, challenging the odds to hopefully make it all the way to the finish line.
This week, it's Sonic meets WrestleMania, and how do you screw that up?!
Magikarp Finally Gets Its Due (Along With Eevee, Mew, And Some Lightning Mouse) In The New Pokemon Gallery Figures
Real talk: Magikarp rules. Of all the Pokémon who made their debut 21 years ago, it's the one that I think we can all truly identify with, a literal fish out of water who flails around uselessly, but then one day, one day, through hard work and persistence, turns into a flying laser-breathing dragon that can devastate the land in its rage. Or maybe I've just revealed too much about myself.
Either way, Magikarp is finally joining the pantheon of Generation 1 superstars in the Pokémon Center's new line of Gallery Figures. The first four hit shelves with a set of incredible little figures of Eevee, Mew, and, of course, Pikachu.
ICYMI: The San Diego Convention Center Has Survived The Great Disaster
I've always wondered what it would be like to, say, play a Fallout game that takes place in a city where you live. I imagine it would be pretty weird to see the local landmarks of the place you grew up rendered with the age and ruin of the Great Disaster upon them, but until someone decides to set their apocalyptic fantasy in rural South Carolina, I don't think I'll ever know. I mean, if nothing else, I'm not sure you'd be able to tell.
But this week, I did have something close to that experience while reading Kamandi Challenge #2, because Peter J. Tomasi and Neal Adams have presented me with the post-apocalyptic version of a building that I'm very familiar with. So in case you missed it, the San Diego Convention Center, the home of Comic-Con International, has canonically survived the Great Disaster and emerged into a post-apocalyptic wasteland that's only slightly less hellish than the one it turns into every July here in our time.
On The Cheap: Get Three Years Of Cassandra Cain’s ‘Batgirl’ Adventures For $18
This week, Comixology has launched a Batgirl sale, celebrating 50 years since Barbara Gordon first donned the cape and cowl in 1967's Detective Comics #359. If you're a fan of Babs, there's plenty there to choose from --- including Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr's critically acclaimed "Batgirl of Burnside" relaunch, the post-Rebirth world-traveling adventures, and even some underrated deep-cut classics like Batgirl Adventures and DC First in there, too.
But Barbara Gordon isn't the only character to ever take the identity of Batgirl, and if you're up for diving into the hazy years of the early 2000s, there's a bunch of great stories in there about the second Batgirl, Cassandra Cain.
Ranger Station Episode 70: Welcome To Venus Island
This week, Lord Zedd uses a magical disappearing island and an invincible plant monster for an unsuccessful attempt at turning one (1) girl evil. Aim high, bad guys.
Reggie’s In Charge But Dilton Is The Real Star In ‘Jughead’ #13 [Preview]
Folks, there is a lot going on in the first few pages of this week's issue of Jughead. Not only have Ryan North and Derek Charm introduced us to an increasingly bizarre roster of musical acts in Riverdale --- including the Josie and the Pussycats side project Melody and the Literal Cats Who Play Cat-Sized Instruments --- but their story about Reggie becoming King for a Month has done wonders for one Dilton Doiley.
Yes, the book might be about Jughead being in conflict with Reggie, but the real action here comes from Dilton, who shatters the fourth wall to bring us one of the best recap pages I have ever seen. Check it out!
It’s High Steaks Action In ‘The Black Hood: Season Two’ #3 [Exclusive]
If you're not following the events of The Black Hood: Season 2, the flagship title of Archie's gritty Dark Circle imprint, you've been missing a pretty thrilling story. After leaving Philadelphia to escape the crimes he committed as a vigilante, Greg Hettinger is being lured back by a villain called Nobody, who has vowed to undo every good thing Hettinger has done, working backwards down the timeline of people he's saved and committing exponentially worse crimes. Like, say, poisoning an entire steak house full of people just to make his point. Check out the preview to see the action for yourself!
Dennis Culver And Denis Medri’s ‘Ursa Minor’ Is The High Concept You’ve Been Waiting For
Earlier this week, Dennis Culver emailed me to tell me that he had a new comic coming out, and when I found out what the premise was, I sent him back an email that was literally just all-caps cussing. It's called Codename: Ursa Minor, and the high concept is that there's a government agent from the height of the Soviet Union who has the power to shrink down and become a tiny little grizzly bear, because a tiny little grizzly bear is the perfect assassin.
And if you're not cussing right now, then folks, I don't know what to tell you. I can barely even handle that idea.
Ask Chris #328: The WildStorm Blues
Q: Why aren't the Wildstorm characters a comfortable fit in the modern, edgier DC Universe? — @jdkrach
A: With Warren Ellis and Jon Davis Hunt reviving it in the pages of The Wild Storm --- and with characters like Midnighter and Apollo experiencing some of their best stories ever in the core DC Universe right now --- it seems like the WildStorm characters have been on everyone's mind lately. And Real talk? I kinda love the WildStorm Universe.
It's a universe built on an interesting twist on what it means to be a superhero, shaped by creators like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker, and Adam Warren, a roster of world-builders that somehow came together beautifully to make it all work. But the flipside to that is that a lot of what I love about it comes from the nature of the universe itself, and when you remove them from that kind of thematic setting, it makes it a lot harder for them to fit anywhere else.