Last week, after doing some meditating on standards in grading books, I started a list of my Top 15 Comic Stories Ever. Go check it out to see how #11-#15 (the “Honorable Mentions” of my Top Ten, as it were) shook out, because here today, we are moving along to part two of that list, in which I will discuss stories ten through six. I’ve become … Continue reading My Top Fifteen Stories Ever: #10 to #6
I turned 40 recently. I know it’s “just a number” and “you are as old as you feel” and all (which… isn’t useful ever since I fell down the stairs in December and hurt my back; I feel 65), but it’s still a whole thing, right? Turning FORTY, man. Thirty is no big deal; you’re just “more of an adult” at that point. Fifty is … Continue reading Top Ten: Best Comic Book Characters Since 1981
As of this writing, Marvel’s most recent event story, Secret Empire has concluded, and the sentiment seems to be… poor. I did not read it; I have a bad habit of only buying comics in trade because then I can cherry-pick stories that I have already heard good things about. It’s almost a shame… Marvel does event stories more often than I eat three meals a day, … Continue reading Stew’s Reviews: Hawkeye
Welcome to our newest feature here at SWO Productions: Entertainment Rex! Twice a month, I will look back on what I’ve read, watched, and experienced and let you know if it can be recommended or not (is that… semi-monthly? Bi-monthly is every other month, right? What means “twice a month”? Semi… Bi-sometimesly? Anyone have any help here?). I’ll be honest with you… mostly I am … Continue reading Entertainment Rex: January
I take no pride in being something of a harsh grader when it comes to comic books. I am not really sure why it is–I tend to grade out movies much more generously than I do comics for whatever reason–but if you look at my grading history, it is easy to see I am typically likely to score books relatively lower than others might. The … Continue reading Tough Grading, The Elusive A+, And My Top 15 Stories EVER
I haven’t done enough “older” comics on these reviews, and I recognize that. There’s a perfectly good reason for it, though, and it’s that, uh, I don’t tend to love them. And I judge them more harshly because of that. It’s not an across-the-board thing, obviously—what is?—but it’s there. A lot of 60’s and 70’s era titles have similar conventions running through them that just … Continue reading Stew’s Reviews: Ms. Marvel
Nobody liked 2020. I mean, it’s even kind of boring as a meme at this point, but yeah, we all know it… 2020 was kind of a dogshit year. That’s brutal, but honest. My 2020 more-or-less started with appendicitis (and that, having happened in January, genuinely feels like an eternity ago), and really… everything just went downhill from there. But don’t worry! It’s all over … Continue reading The Top Fifteen Jubilee Comics
Welcome back, everyone! You know what I’m a fan of? For one thing, not ending sentences in prepositions! So let’s try again: You know of what I am a fan (Whoof, proper grammar is unwieldy)? Free Comic Book Day! First weekend in May every year, just like clockwork. Good old Free Comic Book Day. And I will tell ya: for a day with “free” right … Continue reading Stew’s Reviews: Venom by Rick Remender
Previously, I had discussed the recent disdain I have found for both Marvel and DC; a disdain which led to my culling all of the titles from each publisher from my current pull list at my comic shop. I went on and into what I see as the inevitable future of the industry–an online-only model that replaces expensive and less profitable printed books with subscription … Continue reading Heroes Of Manga
This started off as a slightly different list. Originally, this was going to be my Top Five fight scenes of all-time in comic book history. It’s another one of those Top Ten list ideas for our podcast that we have not gotten around to yet, and one that I thought had some legs and was eager to get a sneak-peek jump on by writing about … Continue reading Top Five: Spider-Man Fights
Well, it’s official. As of this past weekend, I no longer have any Marvel or DC books on my Pull List at my local comic shop. (Which is not to say I have any indie books because I don’t. I have… my pull list is zero. It is no list.) I finally put my money where my mouth is and dropped the remaining titles from … Continue reading Marvel and DC… No More!
VOLUME 2, ISSUE #1 Welcome, everyone, to the BRAND NEW Stew’s Reviews! What’s new about it, you ask? Why, there is a slight format shift; gone are the “Thumbs Up” and “Thumbs Down” sections, and in their place is a more detailed breakdown of each book’s stars and creative team. Also each issue will have a TALKING POINT where you and I can discuss something adjacently … Continue reading Stew’s Reviews: Jubilee & Wolverine
So back in 2002, Marvel decided to have a month where all their titles’ stories had no dialogue. The gauntlet was thrown down to their writers and artists to tell compelling stories with as few words as possible. I say “as few as possible” because some of the titles screwed around with this concept as much as they could (writers would have characters write or … Continue reading Stew’s Reviews: ‘Nuff Said
Hey all! Here’s a series of things I was writing for another site about Image Comics and its history. Anyone with more familiarity, or any recollections of that period, feel free to chime in as well! I wrote little things about each team and many of the solo characters, particularly of the 1990s period. IMAGE COMICS: -Image Comics: where justifiable anger against your bosses, “Meet … Continue reading Jab’s Deep Dive: Image Comics – Part 1 (of A LOT)
I touched on something last week in an article I wrote. I poked away at a sleeping, angry bear deep within me, and it stirred about in its cage. It demanded release, and that’s where we are today. But we’re going to try to channel that into something positive. We’re going to take those negative feelings and turn them upside down! I think. Eh, we’ll see … Continue reading When Beloved Characters Are Regressed: Two Case Studies
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