Category: 100 Issues Ago

100 Issues Ago December 2010

I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?

This, my friends, is the power of free samples in action.

I think I saw a three or four page taster of this issue either in the back of another comic, or perhaps in Previews, but either way I was sold. I know nothing by Paul Cornell at the time and only had a vague idea of who Knight and Squire were thanks to some appearances in JLA by Grant Morrison, but the humorous tone – and decidedly British humour as well – displayed in the sample worked a treat for me so I picked this up.

I believe it’s been collected and if you haven’t read it but like your superheroes occasionally funny, then go for it.

100 Issues Ago November 2010

I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?

Ahh, THE BOYS, Garth Ennis’s take on the superhero genre filled with hate and contempt for the subject material.

As much as I like superheroes and can happily suspend disbelief while reading them, I’m also happy to read this vicious skewering of the whole thing. When I saw this cover in my list of November 2010 titles, I had to include it!

Can’t wait to see what the new TV series does with this.

100 Issues Ago October 10

I’ve had a passing fondness for steampunk – never been a major fan, but have dipped in and out every now and then. When LADY MECHANIKA turned up, I was willing to give it a go and I was so glad that I did.

Joe Benitez’s art sold me on the title initially, although his writing had become better over the years (and I can’t believe it’s been over eight years since this first issue landed) and each of the subsequent mini-series have improved on the preceding one. Mechanika herself seems to be moving beyond the initial characterisation of a woman with no memory of her past and a need to find out her origins, and instead has become part of an ensemble cast of supporting characters who are as fully formed as herself.

There’s been at least one mini-series per year since 2015 (there was a delay between 2012 and 2015 as Benitez left Aspen and formed his own publisher) and, with a bit of luck, that’ll continue.

100 Issues Ago September 2010

I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?

I have to admit that even in 2010, I knew very little of Mike Mignola’s work outside what he’d done for DC, principally COSMIC ODYSSEY. I was aware of Hellboy, of course, but I don’t think I’d ever read anything by this point – something I’ve been making up for over the last few months with the HELLBOY OMNIBUSES that Dark Horse have done.

THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD was a gift from a friend, a hard back collection of some of Mignola’s short stories, many of which were delightfully weird – The Magician and The Snake works a treat, particularly. I might just hook this off my shelf and give it a re-read.