Brian Smith

Lion Forge Comics has been making waves in a big way recently with titles such as Joe Casey and Jim Mahfood's Miami Vice and David Gorden and Gerado Sandoval's Quincredible, highlighting it as a publisher to watch. Some of the best comics right now are coming from its Roar Comics imprint, which is dedicated to all-ages publishing, and Lion Forge has announced an all-new four-issue miniseries by Brian Smith, MK Reed and Molly Ostertag titled The Castoffs, which promises magic, mechs and mayhem this October.

Of all the '80s toy lines that you could adapt into fiction, it seems like Madballs would be the most difficult. They're just rubber balls that look like skulls or giant eyeballs or, you know, Satan. Visually striking, sure, but I mean, there's not really a narrative throughline, is there? And yet, this week, they're launching their third comic book series. Third! But maybe I'm judging too harshly. For all I know, Madballs has a deep and rich lore that's just waiting to be mined for epic adventure and fun --- and this week, we're all getting the chance to find out whether that's the case.

No matter how old you get toys have an ability toys have to evoke powerful childhood memories of pure adoration. Of a time when a simple object like a stuffed animal or a plastic soldier could faithfully be counted on to provide so much joy...

It's nearly Christmas, the time of year when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus by giving children the toys that the Christ child would have wanted instead of the precious metals, perfumes and medicines he was actually given by his Magi, which I'm going to assume from context is some ancient term for "grandparent...