Author: Costas Barbatsis

Give Yourself A Treat and be like a kid in a candy store.

| Costas Barbatsis

I know most of your prefer the prints over the digital version of comics, but come on if you get a chance to read a comic book does it really matter in what format it is?

I don’t, I do love prints and all the deluxe editions, they are amazing but for me lately its all about reading comics and especially in a good price.

Thankfully comiXology is making a lot of offers from very big discounts to free comics.

From the previous week up to today this is what I have purchased.

First up from the House of Ideas I got eleven FREE comics, I’m a huge Marvel fan boy. This is the second time Marvel has made this offer and I’m so glad that they have. It gives me the opportunity to pick up collected editions which I never would and if I like them I can purchase the following volumes, which I have already done.

Then the following two comics I bought with a code, buy one and get one for free

I had gotten Jason Aaron’s Avengers vol 1 for free and the following three volumes with a discount so I was eager to get the next volume too. So with the offer I mentioned before I bought volume 5 and I got Daredevil vol 3 from Chip Zdarsky for free, so cool.

Last but not least I was so glad that issue 10 of Marauders had come out. Yes I’m a big X-Men fan and from all the current X-titles I enjoy Marauders the most!

That was enough of Marvel, next I browsed through another type of comics lets say the European style form Humanoids.

Humanoids has published some of the best comics and this time for 1,09€ you had the chance to buy volumes and volumes of great comics.

These are the ones that I picked up.

First The Black INCAL, a classic by Jodorowsky and Moebius.

This comic book is a huge influence for many comic book artists and very popular in Greece. I had read only the first two books, now I have the chance to read all six! If you have already read them do it again for you who haven’t I strongly suggest you do.

Next I choose some comic books that I had never heard of before, but for two of them I knew very well the writers

Being Greek and in love with ancient Greek mythology I noticed first the title, than the art on the cover and that lead me to check the preview. The art was stunning so I had to check who wrote it…Geoff Johns, immediately both volumes went into my cart.

I had a similar reaction with the next comic first I saw the art on the cover and then the interior art in the preview which was equally good and what sent them to the cart was the name of the writer, Kurt Busiek! I L O V E Busiek’s comics, if you do not know who he is shame on you google him and read his comics.

And finally the next two comics although the creative teams are completely unknown to me I bought them simply for the art, its amazingly stunning. The art is the type I would see as a kid and would blow me away and influence me so much that I would try to learn how to draw from it.

I know its a lot of comics and I gave myself many treats but now I will have a full month of comics to read!

I hope you understand why I’m sharing all this with you…I believe one of the things that connects us as comic book fans has to do with what comics we buy not where and how but what. We talk about it with the excitement of a child in a candy store.

Well I have a lot to read and I will tell you though which ones are good, see ya around.

Snow White steampunked

| Costas Barbatsis

I had this comic for a while now on my wish list. Its not a comic I would usually read but the art on the cover was appealing and then I read the title “Steampunk Snow White” , that seemed interesting

Fairy tales always captured my attention and inspired me and I do like reading variations of them, but a steampunk version of Snow White I think I never did.

As I said this comic has been on my whishlist and its been there for a very long time, but I found it with a good price, so I thought lets give it a chance it will be a nice break from all the superhero soap opera I usually read.

And it was a nice break

Its was the perfect thing to read early in the day before you get busy with daily routines and work. A short story to the point and with excellent art.

The story and art was done by Rod Espinosa and it was good. I have never read a comic by him before and I think he did a very good version of Snow White’s tale

He used the basic and most known elements of the fairy tale added a taste of steampunk features and tweaked some of the characters. In 51 pages he managed to tell the whole story in a quick paced way. I would like though if he explored more the characters and added some more plot lines, but it didn’t need it.

The art enjoyed a lot, nice storytelling with detailed art which had a bit of manga influence. All was nicely coloured and I think he did a good job on designing the steampunk elements, he could’ve added a bit more steampunk details but yet again I think he didn’t need too.

I enjoyed this comic book for what it was a short simple story based on a fairy tale and drawn in a bautiful way. It was just what I needed no expectations and no need to see more of it.

Sometimes its is a lot better to make things simple and to the point.

Published by Antarctic Press

Find it on Comixology

Savage Avenging

| Costas Barbatsis

When I read the announcment that there will be a new Avengers title I wasn’t that thrilled, in my opinion there should only be one team and one title.

This new team would be called the Savage Avengers and feature Wolverine, Elektra, Punisher, Venom, Doctor Voodoo and suprisingly Conan!

Conan? How? Why?

What is he doing in Earth-616?

I definently have to catch up with my marvel history i’ve missed out on

Im very fond of his group, for each and every one of these characters I have a soft spot and I really like that they brought them all together.

But they are not truly Avenger material, yes they are savage but not Avengers

All of them are dark, brutal and lethal. They deal with the dark parts of the Marvel Universe in a violent way, they are anti heroes.

Obviously I was curious on how this new lineup will became an Avengers team and how well will these characters blend and interact with each other.

But what got me to pick up this comic book was the creative team of Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr.

I’m HUGE fan of Deodota’s art from way back in the ’90s and recently whenever I read a comic from Duggan I just loved it and I wanted to read more of it., l was confident that the two of them they make a good story

They did, from the very first pages I start reading the Savage Avengers: City of Sickles I was captivated, the art was stunning and as each character was introduced into the story they seemed true to how I knew them.

Each character showed the aspect wich made me fond of them, I enjoyed each and every interaction from fighting scenes to conversations.

The story was well thought out and although you thought it was a simple case of beating the evil it had an interesting twist at the end.

This new team of anti heroes are bound to each other from now on, Gerry Duggan found a very smart way to do this and I’m so glad he did and

And the art oh my so amazing!!!.

I do understand the title now it’s a smart one, Savage because they are savage and they came together as a team in the Savage land and they are Avengers because they have something to avenge.

They might have connections to our all favourite superhero team of mighty Avengers but they are not. This is a team that just want to avenge for what they went through in a savage way.

Read it you will enjoy it !

Κουλούρι by tomek

| Costas Barbatsis

I am very fond of this comic. It’s funny, quirky and unique and it’s written and drawn by Tomek.

I really, really like Tomek’s art, its so detailed and so enjoyable that just by looking through the pages of the comic you get a whole story and then you read it and you get yet again another story!

l didn’t get around to reading all the issues. They are seven issues in total and they were published by Jemma Press from 2011 through to 2016.

The comics is called Koulouri (Κουλούρι) I don’t know why, maybe l should ask at some point.

Well it’s time l started reading my Friday comic, instead of gazing the amazing covers.

Tell you all about it soon.

Jane Foster: A true warrior

| Costas Barbatsis

Recently l read the first issue of the new series Jane Foster: Valkyrie. I like Jane Foster, she was the one from Thor’s supporting cast that I always would like to see more of. It was a surprise when she became Thor but now that she is a Valkyrie I like it a lot more.

I found issue one of this new series interesting. Jane Foster is a cancer survivor, she is working as a doctor and she is a superhero. She feels powerful and strong with her new powers.

As a superhero her powers are connected to the Norse mythology, she has a new powerful weapon but also she has gained a special connection between life and death.

Jane Foster knows how important it is to be a warrior in life, to fight to be and do the best and most you can within the time you have.That’s why I think it was a very smart move to make her a Valkyrie, the one who chooses the warriors who are deserving an afterlife in Valhalla.

I would prefer the authors had explored more of her spiritual side in the first issue.Having her go against villains which are more likely to fight Spider-Man or Daredevil would did not appeal to me.

I enjoyed though the new twist at her job, the discovery of new powers and what was revealed when she visited Asgard. That’s what l will be looking forward to read in the following issues.

l do believe it can become a great comic book series, so l will read a couple more issues.