Dollar Bin Show

Episode 300: Free Comic Book Day 2013

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:03:08 +0000

Image by Duane BallengerAs usual, Adam and Shawn made their tour of a few shops in the Carolinas to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. First stop, Richard’s Comics and Collectables. Next, Borderlands Comics and Games. To close out the night, Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find. Many interesting people. Many great free comic books.

Runtime 53 minutes 32 seconds

Comic Reviews: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward & Gettysburg: The Graphic History

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:56:54 +0000

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

The parents of Charles Dexter Ward are very worried. You see, the Wards have tried very hard to hide that they are the descendents of an evil New England necromancer from hundreds of years ago, and Charles has found out about the family’s little secret. And what’s more, his appearance bears more than a passing resemblance to that ancestor Joseph Curwen, now since long dead and feels a connection urging him forward to learn more of how his ancestor achieved his power over the dead. Unfortunately for his family the further Charles digs the stranger he acts prompting the family to call on their family physician, Dr Marinus Bicknell Willett to find out the cause of his strange behavior.

Years pass and Dr Willett continues his pursuit of the truth as Charles continues his descent into madness until the young man is finally incarcerated in a mental hospital. Dr Willett finally puts the pieces together and learns the horrible truth and enters the institution for a final confrontation with Charles. Dr Willett is the last person to see Charles before the young man vanishes from a room whose window is 60 feet from the ground and no one has left by the door. The question you must be asking is what is the secret that is uncovered? If I told you that I would ruin the joy for you of watching the mystery unfold before you like a Russian matryoshka doll. I will say that Lovecraft plays completely fair and the clues are all there for you to figure it out.

H.P. Lovecraft. I love H.P. Lovecraft. The man could write scary like nobody’s business; of course when you look like Batboy I guess your life choices are somewhat limited to horror writer or sideshow freak. Even his name sounds dark and ominous. Lovecraft is adored by legions of fantasy and horror readers everywhere but his reputation outside this somewhat small group is dim to say the least. Attempts to adapt his works into movies, TV, or even comics have met with almost across-the-board miserable failure. And while most adaptations in comic form have failed miserably the just released The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, adapted and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard is a giant step in the right direction.

When you read a Lovecraft story the atmosphere is what strikes at you the most. The feeling of dread and dangerous forces gathering just beyond your ability to fully comprehend them literally drips from every page of a Lovecraft story and Culbard’s style captures that perfectly. If you are a big fan of Guy Davis’s art style and his work on B.P.R.D. or The Marquis you will absolutely love the art. And matching his art is the story itself. The original story was told mainly through written letters and found documents and while there is plenty of that to be found here Culbard doesn’t rely on that solely and I think that this version actually in a lot of respects is a more fluid read than the original source material. This book is an easy recommendation for fans of Lovecraft or horror comics in general. I have waited a long time to read a Lovecraft comic done right and Culbard has given it to me.

Gettysburg: The Graphic History

In an attempt to force Northern lawmakers to consider a compromise with The South General Lee marched his troops from war-torn Northern Virginiaand began his second Northern campaign. What would follow would result in the largest single loss of American lives ever in US history. The losses inflicted from this battle would weaken the Southern army to such a state that it would never fully recover and insure the eventual Northern win. In a war filled with bloody battles Gettysburg casts a long shadow. Grab anyone off the street and ask them to name a Civil War battle and I bet 9/10 times you’ll get Gettysburg as the answer. July 1, 2013 will mark the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg and just in time is a new book written and illustrated by Wayne Vansant called Gettysburg: The Graphic History.

Vansant does a great job of making the almost overwhelming complexities of the battle itself easy to follow. You know who the major players are, where they fought, at what time they fought, the outcome, and how each small skirmish fits into the complex whole of the battle itself. At no time was I confused about what was going on or why it was happening. This is the perfect book for any 8^th grade American history class to have as an introduction to this battle or the Civil War in general. In fact, I would say this book does a better job of explain everything than any text book out there and I’ll even say it’s better than most of the “scholarly” books as well.

However, I did have a few problems that I wish Vansant would address for any future books he does. His style of story-telling is just too much like the comics of the 1940’s. At the top of a panel he will describe what you are looking at in the panel. And every now and then he’ll throw in a few word balloons. The art form has come a long way in 70 years. While this is perfectly fine for a historical retelling I would have preferred if he had gone the extra little bit and told the story from a character’s point of view, engross me in the conflict; give me someone to root for. I understand that is a personal preference and may not be what the author intended and if his entire goal was a straight retelling of the conflict and not as an actual story then he did a wonderful job. I was hoping for more though. What a great back drop this could have made for a real story of brothers fighting or better yet, tell the story from Lee’s point of view. With that said, if you have any interest in the Civil War at all this is a great place to start.

Episode 291: PreFCBD and Borderlands' Geek Trivia Night 4-30

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:27:10 +0000

In celebration of Comics Geek Week at Borderlands Comics and Games, Rob hosted a very special Geek Trivia Night to countdown to Free Comic Book Day 2013. Don’t forget FCBD is this weekend, May 4th.

Runtime 41 minutes 42 seconds

Episode 298: Dollar Bin Awards Best of 2012

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:06:20 +0000

This year the Dollar Bin Awards was quite a roller coaster ride. We closed the polls earlier than ever and then couldn’t get together to present the dang things. Well, here it is, your 2012 best of comics according to you, the Dollar Bin listeners.

Runtime 1 hour 29 minutes 54 seconds

Episode 297b: FLUKE 2013 Reviews

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 02:35:17 +0000

Adam and Shawn attended FLUKE 2013. As requested, they picked up some great candid interviews about nothing and even discussed some bonus relevant topics (in part 1). To close it all out reviews, reviews, reviews (though I wouldn’t really describe what is done as reviewing).

Runtime 1 hour 1 minutes 59 seconds

Episode 297a: FLUKE 2013 Interviews

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:21:37 +0000

Adam and Shawn attended FLUKE 2013. As requested, they picked up some great candid interviews about nothing and even discussed some bonus relevent topics. To close it all out (in part 2) reviews, reviews, reviews (though I wouldn’t really discribe what is done at reviewing).

Runtime 43 minutes 21 seconds

Episode 296: Pop Culture and Wrestlemania Predictions

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:32:12 +0000

Hey guys, its Adam. I haven’t posted a show in a few weeks. Brian and Shaka came over to watch Wrestlemania and we recorded, so here is a raw/uncut discussion on random pop culture stuff and our predictions for Wrestlemania.

Runtime 1 hour 40 minutes 29 seconds

Comic Reviews: Hair Shirt & Black Paths

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:28:06 +0000

Hair Shirt

There is a saying that “no one gets out of life alive”. I have long believed that there is a corollary to that saying and that would be “no one grows up without getting messed up.” We all come out of our teenage years with emotional baggage that needs to be dealt with in our early twenties before we are ready to pass on to adult hood. Hair Shirt is a new graphic novel by Eisner Award-winning artist Patrick McEown that follows the course of two young college students as they try to reconnect and rekindle a childhood romance.

John is a college art student coming to grips with a bad break up who is plagued by terrible dreams (mostly involving a dog with a human face) that are a manifestation of his long-ignored personal problems. Naomi, on the other hand, at first seems to have shed the emotional baggage thrust on her by an abusive, alcoholic father and a brother who can only be described as sexually abusive but as the story progresses both we and her come realize that even though she has seemly pushed through her experiences the past will not let go of her that easily and are causing her to almost subconsciously sabotage relationships to protect her from further hurt.

Reading this book my mind kept thinking that if this were a movie instead of a graphic novel the only words to describe it would be “indy” and “bleak”. There is no happiness in these characters’ lives, there is no joy, there is no light; there is only the business of living hopeless lives. Despite the darkness, McEown gives us and the characters a faint, silvery ray of hope off in the distance in that both characters realize that they need to confront their past before they can move forward.

Can John and Naomi face their past and come back together, or at least move forward with their lives? The book never says but I don’t think that is what McEown is striving for. Life rarely has nice, neat, happy endings and like this book sometimes all we can do is recognize we need help and that can be victory enough for us for now.

Over a year ago our webmaster Adam’s love of indy comics inspired me to take my own journey on seldom-travelled roads and this book makes me glad I did. Books like Hair Shirt are the reason I read comics now.

Black Paths

Time for a quick history lesson. During WWI Italy signed the Treaty of London which promised to give them the Austrian Littoral (which now forms parts of Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia) but NOT the city of Fiume. Italian writer Gabriele D’Annunzio marched into the city with 2600 Italian troops in late 1919 and in 1920 he declared the city of Fiume an independent state with himself as the dictator. This independent state lasted for four very uncertain years until D’Annunzio was ousted from power and the city was annexed into Italy and it is during this period of history that writer/artist David B sets his latest work Black Paths.

The set up for the story is very simple: writer/soldier Lauriano and his band of soldiers are hanging out in ravaged port city of Fiume and one day he meets and falls in love with a beautiful singer named Mina. Sensing that he has finally found what he is looking for in life he decides to “get the band back together” and stage an art heist that will set him up for the new life he hopes to have with her. But how can he succeed when everywhere he turns there are people driven mad by war? I can’t really say whether he succeeds or not without spoiling it for you but let’s just say that there are some books where the ride to the end is so good who cares what the ending is?

French small press artist David B has taken story elements from World War 2-set spy thrillers such as Casablanca, The Third Man, and mixed it with a kind of pulp-art/primitive wood carving style that gives the story a setting and sense of time all its own and the two mesh wonderfully. The only problem I have with this book is I am going to now have the find the money to purchase the English translations of his other works.

Announcement: Comics Elimination Challenge 2013 - Predict It!

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:02:07 +0000

No show posting this week, but we have the Dollar Bin Comics Madness Elimination Challenge 2013 up and ready for your predictions: Comics Madness Elimination 2013

The challenge is to predict how we, on the Dollar Bin podcast will vote the winners of the match-ups. I went ahead and did 128. The deadline to get your predictions in is April 16 and we’ll start posting each round’s results over the next few weeks starting on April 17. Highest score wins a Dollar Bin Prize package. I’ll announce the contents of the prize package shortly.

Feel free to listen to last year’s challenge shows to get some ideas, or you could ask last year’s winner, Matthew Guy

Its not to bad of a sign up. You don’t get any junk from the site. It took me a while just to find it again from last year.

Press Release: JAMES ASMUS and TOM FOWLER Bring on QUANTUM AND WOODY #1 in July!

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:37:12 +0000

On July 10th, a new era begins for the world’s worst superhero team in Quantum and Woody #1!

Valiant is proud to announce that award-winning writer James Asmus (Gambit, Thief of Thieves, Captain America & Bucky) and acclaimed artist Tom Fowler (Venom, Hulk: Season One) are bringing Valiant’s first full-on superhero team back to the Valiant Universe with an all-new ongoing series beginning on July 10th in Quantum and Woody #1!

Once upon a time, Eric and Woody Henderson were inseparable. Adopted brothers. Best friends. Brilliant minds. Years later, they are estranged siblings, petty rivals, and washed-up failures. But when their father’s murder leads them into the throes of a life-altering scientific accident, Eric and Woody will find themselves with a whole new purpose – and a perfectly legitimate reason to wear costumes and fight crime. Go big or go home, folks! Quantum and Woody are coming! And the action-packed, zeitgeist-shredding exploitation stunt comic you demanded is here at last.

(And, yes, there will be a goat too. Eventually.)

“Quantum and Woody are one of the most beloved superhero duos in comics. There’s a rich history to draw on here and we have some very exciting things on deck for Quantum and Woody in 2013 and beyond,” said Valiant Executive Editor Warren Simons.

“Since the day X-O Manowar #1 hit shelves, everywhere we’ve turned, fans have been demanding that Quantum and Woody step back into the spotlight,” said Quantum and Woody Editor Jody LeHeup. “James, Tom and Jordie are delivering a smart, heart-filled take on the team that will be central to the new Valiant Universe, and one that honors the spirit and bravado of what came before.”

Launched by Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright for Acclaim Entertainment’s rebooted Valiant Universe in 1997, Quantum and Woody became one of the most beloved independent superhero titles of the decade, spawning a rabid and loyal following that endures to this day. Most recently, Valiant Entertainment re-issued the entirety of the original series for the first time digitally via comiXology.

“In all of comics, there’s no other book that mixed style and substance quite like Quantum and Woody. I was willing to literally kill someone for the chance to write the relaunch for the new Valiant Universe. I might have. Those first days after I got the call are a blur. But Quantum and Woody isn’t (just) a superhero book – it’s action-comedy, it’s family drama, it’s a boys-meet-goat tale that tugs at the heartstrings,” said writer James Asmus.

On July 10th, the Valiant Universe’s most infamous duo enter the fray with writer James Asmus, artist Tom Fowler and colorist Jordie Bellaire in Quantum and Woody #1 – featuring a standard cover by Ryan Sook, a Pullbox Exclusive Variant by Marcos Martin for customers who pre-order with the their local retailer, an incentive variant by Andrew Robinson, and an interactive QR Voice Variant by Tom Fowler (with real talking goat action)!

For more information of Quantum and Woody and the rest of the Valiant Universe, visit Valiant on Facebook, on Twitter, and at ValiantUniverse.com.

QUANTUM & WOODY #1

Written by JAMES ASMUS

Art by TOM FOWLER

Cover by RYAN SOOK

Pullbox Exclusive Variant by MARCOS MARTIN

Variant Cover by ANDREW ROBINSON

QR Voice Variant by TOM FOWLER

$3.99/T+/32 pgs.
ON SALE JULY 10th!

HeroesCon 2012: The Activity Panel

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:09:31 +0000

Episode 295: Borderlands' Geek Trivia Night 3-12

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 01:46:21 +0000

Again, Adam and Shawn venture out into the cold unknown to test their skill at being true geeks and once again they (thankfully) fail. After winning the first Borderlands’ Geek Trivia Night ever, they now claw and bleed to simply avoid last place.

Runtime 22 minutes 20 seconds

Book Review: Superman Is Jewish?

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:04:45 +0000

Tell me if this story sounds familiar: in order to save their child’s life desperate parents put their infant son into a small craft and him adrift. That child is then found and raised by a loving couple as their own and this child will one day grow up to be a protector of people. Did I just give a brief summary of the story of Moses or Superman? Harry Brod’s new book “Superman is Jewish?” poses such questions in an attempt to answer the question of not only if Superman is Jewish but what makes a character Jewish. How about if I throw in that his creators were both Jewish? How about if Kal-El is very similar to the Hebrew words for “voice of God”? How about if you look at the character as the wish fulfillment of displaced European, Jewish boys in the 1930’s and 40’s? Clark Kent is a first-generation outsider who appears as a weak and book-worm like figure who in all reality sheds this image to become a fountain of power. NOW is Superman Jewish? Or is he not Jewish because it’s never specifically stated in the comics?

Mr Brod’s book starts focused like a laser and then slowly diffuses outwards becoming more and more broad as you continue to read. After discussing Superman specifically he moves on to such characters as The Thing (what is The Thing if not a retelling of the Jewish story of the Golem a creature of mud to protects his people), and Spider-man (a character who is driven by a guilt because his inaction caused the death of his Uncle Ben, who lives in Forest Hills a mainly Jewish area of NYC in the 1960’s, and is a glasses-wearing, nerd-like social outsider who was created by Jewish Stan Lee with possible input by a Jewish Jack Kirby). He then takes a tour of a few of the most prominent Jewish creator’s works such as Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman, and finally finishes up discussing Jewish comics in general.

Let’s be honest here, books such as these are in essence very long, (hopefully) well-researched, thesis papers so in my mind there has to be a compelling reason to read a book like this. So, is the book worth reading? I believe it is. I suppose the casual reader might be happy just reading their comics and taking them at face value. But for a group of people who claim to be passionate about an art form as most comics readers proclaim to be, to not want to dig deeper and find a possible hidden influence on some of comics’ most popular characters strikes me as wrong.

I enjoyed this book. It was never dry but instead came across as almost conversational in tone which always makes it easier to read a book of this type. The author does an excellent job of exposing the bedrock upon which comics has been founded and this book is worth reading just for the chapter on Art Spiegelman’s Maus alone. The analysis in that chapter and the details in story structure, panel layout, and background details will give any reader of that seminal work a reason to go back and reread. I can recommend this book to any reader who wants to gain a deeper understanding of this art form we all claim to love so much.

Episode 294: Comics on the Couch 312

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:00:24 +0000

This week Adam and Shawn catch up on comics. They enthusiastically discuss current events in comics as well as what they are currently reading.

Runtime 53 minutes 51 seconds

Episode 293: Interview with Ryan Browne

contact@thedollarbin.net (Dollar Bin) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 03:48:15 +0000

Cover by Ryan BrowneThis week Adam was lucky enough to get an interview with Ryan Browne to discuss his Kickstarter for his epic creation, God Hates Astronauts. Ryan is also artist on Smoke and Mirrors (IDW), will be doing a few issues of The Manhattan Projects (Image) and will soon be taking over art on Bedlam (Image).

Runtime 24 minutes 14 seconds