#adam breen

In Review: Dogbreath 35

Dogbreath 35 – cover by Stewart Davies and Darren Stephens

Wrapped in a stunning cover from Stewart Davies and Darren Stephens, Dogbreath 35 – the latest issue of the longest-running 2000AD fanzine – is available now from Futurequake Press (as is Zarjaz 32, which I’ll try and review later this week if I can)

Within the 48 pages there are nine strips set in the world of the Galactic Crime…

Darby Pops Off: “Crisis of Infinite Rebirths” by Adam Breen

Reboots, rebirths, and big events have been the way of comics as long as I can remember. In fact, my introduction to comics was during one of those big shake ups, back in the days when Ben Reilly was Spider-Man. I stopped reading when he died and Peter took back up the mask. It may have been back to square one for most people, but he wasn’t my Spidey. Since then I’ve fallen in and out of love with books from the big two, but one thing is always the trigger for the break up.

Events. I have yet to encounter one where I had the time, money, and inclination to keep up. And most of the time it causes me to put down what I was reading. And I’m not alone in that. In this week’s Darby Pops Off, Women of Darby Pop and Spotlight on Side-Kicked winning writer Adam Breen talks about reboots, rebirths, and these big event comics and shines a light on why they don’t work for many of us.

If you have a thought on the topic of the week, please join in the discussion on Facebook (facebook.com/DarbyPopPublishing), Twitter (@DarbyPopComics), or in the comments section below.

Until next time,

-Kristine

People often ask me to name the first comic book I read. And my answer is always the same: ‘I don’t know.’ I honestly can’t remember. But, there was one title that left a big impression on me in my younger days. And not for the reasons you might imagine.

It was the early ‘90s, and the invasion of Ireland by American culture was in full swing. You couldn’t move for Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter, and Nickelodeon’s slime. In other words, I was in my element. So, understandably, I was beyond excited to get my hands on some big, brash American comic books. One of the first was Superman #82 – Reign of the Supermen “Back for Good!” It was a variant edition holofoil cover – a quintessentially ‘90s product. After admiring the cover for an age, I finally threw the cover open only to be greeted with a warning,

“DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU HAVE READ GREEN LANTERN #46’’

Wait… what?!?

Was this book, this great escape, this magical piece of literature… giving me homework? Not exactly. But, I did have the misfortune of jumping into the middle of an event comic.

Anderson Covers latest Zarjaz, the 2000AD-inspired comics zine

  Psi Judge Anderson claims her first Zarjaz cover since the ‘Zero’ issue back in 2005 and brings Mark Harrison to the pages of the comic with its lastest release.

His gorgeous work makes the comic worth the price of admission alone, but Zarjaz 23 also contains a whopping seven strips, bringing together some of the finest talents in the small press with this new 2000AD-inspired issue – 48 pages…