Biff Bam Pop! Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby

Legendary American comic book writer, artist and innovator Jack Kirby would have celebrated his 100th birthday on August 28th.  To celebrate the life and work of Kirby, pop culture website Biff Bam Pop! will spend the summer featuring many of Kirby’s greatest character creations, books and publications, artistry and influence. Titled #Kirby100: Biff Bam Pop! Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby, readers can look forward to a summer-long celebration of one of the most innovative creators of our time.

“Without Jack Kirby, comic books and pop culture wouldn’t be what we know them to be today,” says Biff Bam Pop! Publisher/Founder Andy Burns. “This is your invitation to join the Biff Bam Pop! editorial team and site contributors for a summer-long #Kirby100 party!”

If you can scan the litany of comic book characters that Kirby created or co-created you’d be certain to find dozens of your favourites. From the globally renowned Captain America, Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men series of characters, to the populace’s burgeoning awareness of Darkseid and Black Panther, to the more niche creations of Kamandi, Etrigan the Demon and Destroyer Duck. With Kirby, the list of great characters is unparalleled. 

Born in New York City in 1917 to poor, working class immigrant parents, Jack Kirby liked to draw from an early age. Self-taught, his art led him to the comic book industry in his late teens from which there was no turning back. The companies that Kirby helped immortalize between the 1940s-1970s included Fox Feature Syndicate, Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics), National Comics Publications (later DC Comics), Harvey Comics, Eclipse Comics, and many others. He even worked alongside two of the other greatest creators to ever be immortalized in comic book lore: Joe Simon and Stan Lee, and it was with them that Kirby created his most recognized works of comic book pop culture.

“For the decades that encompassed the Golden Age, the Silver Age, and the Bronze Age of comic book publishing, Jack Kirby, the King, was at the heart of it all. As an artist and writer, he instructed, he nurtured, and, most importantly, he entertained,” says Biff Bam Pop! Consulting Editor, Jean-Paul Fallavollita.

 #Kirby100: Biff Bam Pop Celebrates 100 Years of Jack Kirby kicks of today right here and runs all summer long at Biff Bam Pop!

Also don't forget to check out our regular columns:

The Wednesday Run on comics by Jean-Paul Fallavollita

The Ten Percent on film by K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey

Creations of Chaos on animation by Sarah Hawkins Miduski

Pump Up the Jam on music by Less Lee Moore

True Crime Corner on serial killers by Loretta Sisco

By the Book on adaptations by James Knipp

Box Office Predictions by Andy Burns

Heroes and Villains on comics by Glenn Walker

Biff Bam Pop! was established in August 2008, Biff Bam Pop! is a website devoted to the world of pop culture, from comic books and video games, to movies, books, and music. Come check it out and stay a while at Biff Bam Pop!.

Remembering Adam West

This one hit me hard, folks, and I learned about it much the same way I had heard that John Lennon was dead. I awoke the next morning to my radio playing Beatles song after Beatles song, thinking what a great way to start the morning, with Beatles music.

For Adam West, it was similar, happy to sad. I had just spent a terrific day with The Bride at EPCOT, we were getting on the bus, and I checked my phone, hitting Facebook. I saw a really cool picture I'd seen before - my good friend Andy Burns, our friend JP Fallavollita, and Andy's daughter (in fierce Wonder Woman cosplay) standing in front of the Batmobile (the real Batmobile) with, you guessed it, Adam West and Burt Ward. I was jealous the first time I saw the picture, and jealous this time, so I posted as much. I was in a good mood, and then I saw other Facebook posts on my feed… Adam West had passed away at the age of 88. I was crushed. It was if my childhood had dropped out from under me. I was staggered by this for a couple days. It couldn't be true.

My earliest memory regards an incident in my family first house.  I was around two and stepped on a heating grate burning my foot.  I don't remember any of that, but what I vividly do recall is my brother giving me a toy Batmobile to get me to stop crying.  At our second house shortly after that the room I shared with my big brother had only two things on the walls: a Detroit Lions pennant and a picture of Batman.  I have talked before about the 1966-69 "Batman" TV series starring Adam West being the gateway drug to comics for not only myself, but for an entire generation.  In many ways, my childhood has taken a hell of a hit. 

Adam West as Batman affects me to this day.  This past weekend I thought of him on three different occasions before learning of his passing.  Andy's photo on Facebook was one.  I saw Return of the Caped Crusaders on Blu-Ray in a store and I thought I needed to own it sooner or later.  And at EPCOT on the Test Track ride, I deliberately tried to design a car just like the Batmobile. 

Other than his wild global success as Batman, Adam West had a pretty rough life, battling depression, alcoholism, and typecasting.  It wasn't until he came to terms with always being remembered as Batman that things turned around for him. Gone were the days of getting shot out of a cannon and doing terrible pilots like "The Precinct."  Batman could overcome anything.  His unique deadpan camp humor even found a home on "Family Guy," conquering a whole new television generation. I even met him once, great guy.

Adam got the Batman gig after producers saw him playing a James Bond parody for Nestle Quik commercials.  Ironically he would be considered for the role of the real Bond years later.  He beat Lyle Waggoner for the title role on "Batman," who probably would not have been able to pull it off.  Batman would take over the world – Adam West himself has been quoted as saying that the sixties were all about the three Bs - Beatles, Bond, and Batman - and it's true.  And "Batman" would not have worked without West.  He was the only choice. 

West had done other things, movies like Mara of the Wilderness, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and Poor Devil all of which I loved, and are recommended, but he always returned to Batman, whether it was on "Superfriends," the 1970s Filmation "Batman," as the Grey Ghost, Back to the Batcave, or the aforementioned Return of the Caped Crusaders. 

Adam West passed away on Saturday after a short battle with leukemia, he was 88.  In my mind and in my heart, he will live forever as the only Batman that counts.  We have lost a true legend, and the Bat-Signal burns for you, my friend. 

Backpedaling on Captain America

Yeah, if you think I'm backpedaling on my thoughts and opinions on Captain America, that ain't happening. I still stand by what I said here and here. When I say backpedaling, I'm talking about what Marvel has done with Captain America: Steve Rogers #2.

Glancing at the first few pages setting up the events of the last issue I have to wonder what the original story looked like, because Marvel is definitely backpedaling. The opening pages (and the rest of the comic) are in the narrative of the Red Skull, explaining how he used the Cosmic Cube to manipulate reality to bring about the events of the last issue. It's an interesting tale, but it seems out of place in the story, like having the shocking revealing conclusion in the second chapter of a book.

The stunt stinks of desperation, probably for the reasons I outlined in my last post, Captain America is a Nazi, et al. I would have been so much happier with this story had there been no hype machine muddying the waters. Captain America: Steve Rogers #2 isn't a bad issue all things concerned, just unsatisfactory in its excusatory mode.

Captain America - The Damage Is Done

I have talked at length about this at Biff Bam Pop! in my review of Captain America: Steve Rogers #1, and on episodes of The GAR! Podcast and Nerdfect Strangers here and here. Captain America is an Agent of Hydra, and always has been - or so we have been told.

And that's key. That's what we were told, but apparently we have been lied to. Here's the gist - in the first issue of Captain America: Steve Rogers #1, we see a dual storyline - one where young Steve's mom is tempted into a group that is suspiciously like Hydra (or the Nazis), and one where Captain America kills fellow hero Jack Flag and then says, "Hail Hydra." I have to hand it to writer Nick Spencer, because while I wasn't happy with the story, it was good and I enjoyed it, to the point of wanting to see what happened next. This was accompanied by some great art by Jesus Saiz, not a bad comic, all things considered, and one hell of a cliffhanger.

But. That's not the problem. The problem is that the day before the comic was released, Marvel Comics Senior Vice-President of Publishing, and former editor and Executive Editor, Tom Brevoort, went on several high profile media circuits and made certain pronouncements. From Time to Newsweek, from Entertainment Weekly to CNN, he announced that this was not mind control, not a hoax, not 'an imaginary story,' not a double or clone, and not a double agent thing. He basically closed off any possible escape for this horror, and then he said what clinched the noose around the character and much of the American public. "Captain America is, and has always been, a Hydra agent."

None of this was in the comic book, mind you, only from his mouth. And that's what drove me crazy, the hype machine, not the comic itself. Now we comic readers know that editors lie, and we know that (hopefully) Captain America would be back to status quo in six months to a year. That's just how comics roll. The problem is, that's not how the non-comic-buying public rolls. They don't know that's how it works.

They also don't know the intricacies of comic book continuity and logic. Many people who are into comics equate Hydra with the Nazis. They are not technically the same thing as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone to great lengths to demonstrate, but let's face it, Hydra was founded originally (don't talk to me about Jonathan Hickman's retconned ancient origin) by Nazis, doesn't that at its core, make them Nazis? Both groups hate, both groups seek world domination, and both groups will kill to get their way. At the very least, Hydra is evil in a very Nazi way.

But the public doesn't differentiate, and the shorthand has become - Captain America is a Nazi. Have you ever been called a Nazi sympathizer in a public place? I have. Twice. In the last month. That was because of my iPhone with the cover of Captain America #100 on the case. After that, I have not even dared to wear any of my Captain America t-shirts. In discussions of the topics, many non-comics folks I chat with just call the character 'Captain Nazi.' Yes, it's that bad.

I have to wonder about all those folks I saw at the premiere showing of Captain America: Civil War wearing Cap shirts, along with Avengers, and a handful of Iron Man as well, are faring at this moment. Do they still wear their Cap shirts? Speaking of movies, that brings up another point about public perception. When you don't follow comics, and only the destructive changing events are publicized, and not the fixing or returning events, your only point of reference is what you know from the news.

Case in point. When I first saw trailers for Superman Returns (2006), Man of Steel (2013), and Batman V Superman (2016), I heard several folks in the theaters repeatedly ask, "Isn't Superman dead?" For those not in the know, Superman died in the comics in 1993, and returned from the dead a little over a year later. Guess which story the media covered? People only remember what is drilled into their head. Mark my words, in ten years, Captain America will still be a Nazi in the eyes of the non-comics-reading public. The damage is already done.

Doctor Who Series 9 Trailer

For all of you out there shaking and twitching while waiting for your Who fix, help is finally on its way, via TARDIS, the trailer for "Doctor Who" Series 9 is finally here!



The Mistress/The Master is back, so are the Zygons, the Daleks of course, and this time with the Supreme Dalek, Gallifrey, dragons, Arya Stark(!)… and is that a Sea Devil? Loving the shades, and the guitar, and hating that Clara is still there…

The new season starts September 19th. Join me at Biff Bam Pop! for my reviews of the series, and on September 11th I'll be on Morning Coffee talking "Doctor Who" with Kristin Battestella.

Also, if you're in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area this coming Saturday, August 15th, it's Doctor Who Day 2015 at All Things Fun!, co-sponsored by Titan Comics. There will be special items from the UK and they'll be celebrating the launch of the big Four Doctors crossover event in the comics!

The Towns That Dreaded Sundown

Producer/director/actor Charles B. Pierce, perhaps best known for making Bigfoot famous in The Legend of Boggy Creek, took another 'true story' and mined it for this Sam Zarkoff American International movie that serves as the blueprint for the traditional slasher film. Written by Earl E. Smith, in 1976's The Town That Dreaded Sundown, we learn the tale of the Phantom Killer who terrorized young couples on lovers lanes in Texarkana in 1946.

The movie begins documentary style establishing the period, including narration by Vern Stierman who also did the job more than ably for Boggy Creek. His frequent voiceovers keep the film solidly in docudrama mode, which for the most part works.

Unlike the slasher flicks that would follow, this one views things from law enforcement as opposed to the kids. Veteran character actors Andrew Prine and Ben Johnson take point in the investigation with great chemistry, along with Bierce himself providing much needed comic relief as their sidekick. Also look for Dawn Wells, Mary Ann from "Gilligan's Island," late in the film.

The film looks very good, and the period is set well. I loved the music, the clothes, the cars, and even the language. Kudos go to Jaime Mendoza-Nava, an underrated composer of 1970s B-movies who deserves more credit than perhaps he's been given. He was good. The film gets all As for atmosphere. And it's not just a great period piece for the 1940s, but also 1970s cinema as well.

Stuntman and later stunt coordinator Bud Davis played the masked killer known as the Phantom. Except for the ridiculous trombone scene, he is actually pretty frightening. And his white bag mask conjures imagery of the Ku Klux Klan, which is scary enough, but notably it made me wonder what the movie was really about when I saw the video box before I ever saw it.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown was reimagined in 2014 by Ryan Murphy, the brains behind "Glee" and "Nip/Tuck," and his sometime collaborator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a big muckety-muck at Archie Comics, and whose credits also include The Stand comics for Marvel, HBO's "Big Love," and the 2013 remake of Carrie. It might seem like an odd fit, but it kinda works.

This is notably not a remake as much as it's a sequel, one in which the original movie is a movie based on the real events. Yeah, I know, it's a whole new level of meta. There are many

parallels, and the narration is a nice touch. With "Nip/Tuck" so many years ago, and more than a few seasons of "Glee" since then, it's easy to forget that Ryan Murphy has a very deft hand with suspense and horror.

Watching these two flicks back to back was an intense but entertaining evening of television, two generations of creators giving their take on a supposedly true story. They're both worth a look, more so for horror fans. And don't forget, it might have happened decades ago, but they never did catch the Phantom...

KarePax

The big gift craze this past holiday season seemed to be the infamous mystery box of stuff. Various companies were offering these mystery boxes and depending on genre, that was the kind of swag you got. This year I ordered from KarePax for a few friends, and for my trouble, they sent me one too.

KarePax specializes in mystery boxes containing candy, snacks, and comics from all over the globe. At first, when it arrived, it seemed a rather small box, but let me assure you, it was stuffed full, and the bounty seemed to never end.

The swag in my box came from the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, the United States, Poland, Thailand, Croatia, Indonesia, and Serbia. Among the comics were issues of Star Trek, Bill and Ted, Fatima, an IDW catalog, and something called Security Guild that featured reprints of some very cool but obscure public domain Golden Age superheroes. Who remembers Ghost Woman? How about Nightmare and Sleepy?

On the snack end, there were items that were familiar and some I didn't know what they were. Among them were Swoffle, Ellse, Smoki, Walkers Smoky Bacon potato crisps (a variety of which I reviewed over at French Fry Diary right here, Delicje orange biscuits, and Churrotos.

Some of the candy was even more baffling. The Mallo Cup I knew, just as I did the Kit Kat logo but not the mystery Japanese flavors of Kit Kat. There was a Bueno bar, Nut Goodies, Bocadin, and Hi-Chew. And amongst the other unmarked candies was a Curly Wurly bar, a clone of the old Marathon bars from the 1970s. I can see much hesitant taste testing in my future...

Thumbs up for KarePax.

Avenging the Age of Ultron

I am a huge Avengers fan, some folks consider me an expert, mostly people who read my reviews of the comics for over a decade at the much-missed Avengers Forever website, a couple delusional individuals have called me the highest authority on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I don't buy it for a moment. However, I am a hardcore fan and longtime reader, and I have a confession to make...

I haven't been thrilled with the first few peeks at the new movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. They haven't done much at all for me, and this is coming from a guy who geekgasmed his way, astonished from start to finish, through the first movie.

Maybe it's the design of Ultron, a perfect design in the comics, jettisoned for the film. Or maybe it's that Ultron was built by Tony Stark rather than Hank Pym, removing the creepy Oedipal origins that made the character so frightening and unique. Maybe it's the Pinocchio theming of "I've Got No Strings," diminishing the danger of Ultron. Or it could be the rehashing of the Hulkbuster armor, seen a zillion times in comics and cartoons - which don't get me wrong, will look great on the big screen - but is still kinda old hat. For whatever reason, nothing about this flick so far has charmed me.

Then the third trailer came out, which you can see over at Biff Bam Pop! right here.

Now I'm excited. We get to see Ultron's plan, motives for his creation, and we see a little bit of background behind the Red Room flashbacks and the Hulkbuster scenes - it's the Scarlet Witch controlling and invading minds. We get group scenes, both interacting and being dynamic in costume, and we get rousing dramatic music instead of music box Pinocchio songs. We get great action scenes, clever dialogue, Stark with Loki's scepter, and best of all, our first real look at the Vision. I am down. I want Avengers: Age of Ultron now!

And for those of you who still remember Avengers Forever, the discussion continues today over on Facebook, and you can read my current reviews of the "Avengers Assemble" animated series at Biff Bam Pop! here.

Avengers Chat Tonight

Reaperradio presents: AVENGERS CHAT!

This chat will cover any and all Avengers comics as well as related titles, even the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" animated series and the Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe.

COMICS: Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc.  
MOVIES: Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, etc.  
TV: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil, etc.  
ANIMATION: Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, etc.

When Sunday, June 15th 
1st round - 8:00 PM EST
2nd round - 10:00 PM EST

Where Avengers International Chat Room http://avengersinternational.weebly.com/awr-chat-room.html

- Click on your random name to change it and select an avatar. 

Avengers Assemble!

February Faves at Biff Bam Pop!

For the past month at Biff Bam Pop!, we've been running a theme called "February Faves" where we've been asking our staff and regular contributors to list their favorites in a variety of orthodox and sometimes unorthodox set of categories.

So far we've had Favorite 1980s Songs, Television Villains, Single Issue Comic Books, Recipes Made for Your Soul, Sci-Fi Shows, Break-Up Songs, X-Men, Wicked Women, Movie Marathons, Performances by Seth Green, Performances by Comedians in Serious Roles, Musicians in Movies, Winter Blues Songs, Pop Culture Massacres, and Early Performances You May Have Missed.

And my contributions to February Faves included my Favorite Reboots, Superhero Sidekicks, Favorite Avengers, Cover Songs Better than the Originals, and tomorrow I will be closing out the month with my favorite Avengers stories, look for it!

If you'd like to see everything Biff Bam Pop! has offered for February Faves, you can click here. Thanks for clicking, and reading, Happy February!

Hey Kids, Comics!

In the planning stages for years, my friend Rob Kelly, who you might know better as the writer and co-creator of the fabulous webcomic Ace Kilroy and the founder of The Aquaman Shrine, has finally released Hey Kids, Comics! True-Life Tales from the Spinner Rack.

Hey Kids, Comics! is a collection of essays, compiled by Rob Kelly, about the love and nostalgia of comics. These stories, by media and industry professionals like Alan Brennert, Glen Weldon, Evan Narcisse, Steve Englehart, J.M. DeMattieis, Paul Kupperberg, Elisabeth Rappe, Sholly Fisch, Doug Slack, and Roxanna Meta, among many others, are experiences and remembrances of the joy of comics.

I love this book, and I'm so proud of my friend for putting this together. I can't recommend Hey Kids, Comics! enough. You can check out Ray Cornwall's and my interview with Rob Kelly on The GAR! Podcast here, and you can buy the book here. Check it out.

PrinceLess on The GAR! Podcast

The latest episode (#21) of The GAR! Podcast features a special interview with writer Jeremy Whitley and artist Emily C. Martin of the awarding winning comic PrinceLess from Action Lab Comics.

In the episode we discuss PrinceLess, inspirations, publishing, art styles, teaching, Breaking Bad, Death, Prince, Batman, and the upcoming releases from Action Lab Comics - all that and more!

Check out the podcast here, and you buy PrinceLess online here, in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area at All Things Fun!, or at your local comics shop.

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for June 2013

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast features co-hosts Ed (X-Wing Pilot) Evans, Allison (Get Off My Lawn) Eckel, and Glenn (Blue Lantern) Walker, as they discuss the new comics, trends, games, and toys out this month! You can see the show here, or check it out below.

Discussion featured in the special June 2013 episode includes: The Movement by Gail Simone, Green Team, Batman/Superman, Superman Unchained by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, Larfleeze by Keith Giffen, Trinity War, Age of Ultron, Avengers/Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Hawkeye, Star Trek comics and games, the original Battlestar Galactica, Ten Grand by JMS and Ben Templesmith, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Free RPG Day, Star Wars from Fantasy Flight, Cherry Hill Comic-Con, and the Legendary Marvel deck-building game.

Be sure to check out the All Things Fun! website, and the newly revamped All Things Fun! Blogs, written by Allison and Glenn, featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and watch ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics, toys and gaming store - located on Route 73 in West Berlin, NJ.

And don't forget to visit us at Facebook!

Talkin' 'Bout the Avengers

There been a lot of talk lately over at Biff Bam Pop! lately about the Avengers and Age of Ultron, most of it coming from me.

But if you'd like to get in there and talk too, this Sunday evening is your chance.

Reaperradio is hosting an Avengers Chat at the LadyNightsRealm Chatroom on Sunday, April 14th at 8:00 PM EST with a second chat wave at 9:30 PM EST.

The Chat will be covering any and all Avengers and Avengers-related comics titles, as well as the Animated Series, the movie, even the toys.

 Hope to see you there. Let's talk Avengers!

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for the Week of 1-9-13

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast features co-hosts Allison (Three Marvel Girl) Eckel, and Glenn (Reading As Fast As He Can) Walker, as they discuss the new comics out this week! You can see the show here, or check it out below.

Discussion featured in this week's Special Family Boobies Episode includes: The Walking Dead #106, Godzilla #8, Bizarro Buffy, Detective Comics #16, Earth 2, Phantom Stranger #4, Stormwatch #16, ever changing Green Lantern hair, Grant Morrison's Action Comics #16, Superior Spider-Man #1, Avengers Arena #3, Punisher Vs. Thor, clown warning, Allison and Glenn try to figure out the X-Men books of the week, Augmented Reality, Allison's kids comics, superhero chapter books, and the trades and toys of the week.

Be sure to check out the All Things Fun! website, and the newly revamped All Things Fun! Blogs, written by Allison and Glenn, featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and watch ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday (or Tuesdays at midnight) to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics, toys and gaming store, located in West Berlin, NJ. Don't forget to visit us at Facebook!

Funky Forest

Funky Forest - The First Contact ~ I love Japanese television, film, and comics, but admittedly, a lot of what I like is genre specific. Superhero, giant monster, etc. That might be part of the reason I just didn't get this.

Even with subtitles I don't believe I could even tell you what it's about. Imagine an extra long episode of "Kids in the Hall" in a language you didn't understand and you'll begin to get a vibe of what this movie is like.

It looks very much like something I might like but it is indescribable and I don't get it. There are some very neat make-up, animation and CGI effects in it though. Just don't ask me what it's about.

The best explanation I can offer is it's a sort of Amazon Women on the Moon... on crack. Watch at your own risk.

Hoax Hunters

Folks who know me personally know I'm addicted to Coast to Coast AM late nights. They cover lots of different topics on the show, now hosted by George Noory, but the nights that I love are the ones about UFOs, cryptozoology, and conspiracy theories. Yeah, I'm a nut for that stuff. Add in that I grew up in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey, where nobody jokes about the Jersey Devil when they're outside at night - you know I'm a sucker for the new Hoax Hunters comic from Image.

Writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley have created quite a phenomenon with Hoax Hunters. It's everything I could want, it's Coast to Coast AM mixed with "X-Files" in comic book form. Described as "Cryptids. Aliens. Monsters. All the world’s bizarre secrets--what if they were real? Their existence would be debunked by a reality TV show! HOAX HUNTERS is that show, publicly disproving all variety of lore. But their real goal is the opposite: as the world’s dark corners surface, the HOAX HUNTERS cover them up. They demonstrate that the truth isn’t out there." Again, what more could I want? The creators have even promised a Jersey Devil appearance in the future.

There are two issues of new material out now, plus a 'zero issue' that collects the stories that first appeared as back-up in Hack/Slash #1-10. Get out to your local comics shop now and check them out! This comic rocks!

Hoax Hunters has a website and blog that you visit here. And don't forget to check out this episode of the Biff Bam Popcast featuring Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley!

RIP Joe Kubert

Legendary comics creator Joe Kubert passed away this weekend at the age of 85. He was there back at the beginning of the Golden Age of comics, and was still producing work today. His legacy is carried on by perhaps the first and best school for comics creators which he founded and named after himself, and his two sons Adam and Andy, two of today's hottest comics artists themselves. We have truly lost one of the geniuses, one of the legends, one of the greatest contributors to the comics industry. Joe Kubert will be missed by anyone whose experienced his work, and that probably includes the entire comics field.

I first was introduced to Mr. Kubert at the Berlin Farmer's Market. There was a store there that sold comic books with the covers torn off, three for a quarter. The store is still there but it's much more expensive. I was a superhero guy, but at that price I could explore titles I wouldn't normally have picked up. In that way, I picked up comics featuring Tarzan and Sgt. Rock, illustrated by Joe Kubert. It was also through one of those Tarzan comics that I was turned onto John Carter of Mars and the rest of the Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy universes.

Joe Kubert was my introduction into so many other worlds. His artistic vision and technique was unique in comics. Much like Jack Kirby, he was an original. There was no one who drew like him, but everyone wanted to and tried to draw like him. Still to this day, if Tarzan, Sgt. Rock, Viking Prince, Enemy Ace, Tor, Ragman, even Hawkman and Hawkgirl, are not by Kubert - my mind will automatically say that's not the real thing. Those characters, and many many more, are the trademark, the realm, and the legacy of Joe Kubert.

We have lost perhaps one of the greatest in comics. We are all in mourning.

The Biff Bam Popcast

Most of you know I am one of the co-hosts of the weekly All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast, and that I bother you folks with an announcement of each new episode every Wednesday. Now the video takeover of the internet continues...

Now I'm also appearing on the Biff Bam Popcast on a semi-weekly basis now too. This show goes out live Thursday evenings at 9:00 PM EST and can be found here.

This one is not just comics, we take on the entire world of pop culture, including movies, music, television, and comics too. And don't forget to check out the Biff Bam Pop! website itself!

Moebius 1938-2012

French art legend Moebius passed away today.

He was born Jean Henri Gaston Giraud. His illustrations revolutionized French, Japanese and American comics and influenced art around the world.

He was created Blueberry, The Airtight Garage, Azrach, and co-created the magazine Metal Hulant, which was published in America as Heavy Metal.

We have truly lost one of the world's greatest artists, comic or otherwise. Moebius will be missed.