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Four Color Opera
Posts by Justin Hickey
Well, we knew this day would come. I’m here today to sign off from The Four Color Opera and bring it to a cheerful close. Other creative pursuits beckon, and I’m happy to end this “comics diary” on a high-note. My super-sized thanks go to Open Letters Monthly for hosting while I explored, expounded upon–and [...]
Read MoreAllow me to misremember where I first saw Russ Manning’s artwork. I’d say it was a Magnus, Robot Fighter cover–but not an original, from the 1963 Gold Key series. It would’ve been from the Valiant relaunch of the character in 1991, featuring Magnus (still dressed in the red miniskirt of a Beatles groupie) as he [...]
Read MoreI want a Legion of Superheroes television show. I want Chameleon, Mon El, Cosmic Boy, Triplicate Girl–and about twenty-five others–fighting super villainy in the 31st Century, on my TV, in retina-scorching resolution. But I don’t want it now, with AMC’s genius The Walking Dead still in its stride. Not now, with Marvel Studios’ multi-phase Avengers [...]
Read MoreDon’t let the cover’s lethargic poses and crappy Hollywood logo fool you. Batman: The Scottish Connection is a superb graphic novel that showcases the transporting talents of artist Frank Quitely. From 1999, this brisk mystery (by Knightfall writer Alan Grant) had been out of print for years. It now lives in the Batman International trade [...]
Read MoreToday, from the “How-Can-This-Be-Good?” file, we have Marvel’s 2007 miniseries Penance: Relentless. It spins out of the repulsively executed Civil War storyline, and stars former New Warriors mascot Robbie Baldwin. Surprisingly, despite the Clive Barker costume made of leather straps and spikes, Baldwin fascinates in this darker persona (though writer Paul Jenkins and artist Paul [...]
Read MoreI’m an Alien 3 apologist. I love David Fincher’s twitchy 1992 follow up to James Cameron’s epic Aliens (1986), despite its numerous flaws (scaled-down production, awful-looking puppetry, confusing chase sequences, and hyper-edited death scenes). I also love that Dark Horse had been producing amazing Aliens comics–eminently worth filming–throughout the late 1980s and early 90s. This [...]
Read MoreOn July 30th, The Four Color Opera will be exactly a year old! Celebrating this first birthday early, I’m finally posting about my all-time favorite artist, Stuart Immonen. He is, like many Canadian superstars (Tegan, Sara, and William Shatner come to mind), a hard-working talent whose career demonstrates thrilling evolution. I haven’t focused on him [...]
Read MoreThat’s the awestruck child in me, asking louder and louder each month for writer Jason Aaron to conclude his endless epic in Thor: God of Thunder. It’s not that it isn’t well written, with poetry and action enough to outshine other runs on the character. And it definitely isn’t Esad Ribic’s spacious, ethereal artwork, which [...]
Read MoreThe mid-2000s, before I craved fresh reading at every turn, were my dark ages. I hadn’t yet trained myself to try new comics, that weren’t Marvel or DC, just for the hell of it. Partially to blame must have been the deep, disastrous fall from excellence of The Authority. Money’s always a factor, too. Around [...]
Read MoreAbout every ten years or so, an comic book artist of incredible vision and energy zooms through the ranks of talent to super-stardom. Currently, we have Stuart Immonen, whose inexhaustible versatility has made him the leading breadwinner in Marvel’s glowing stable. Before him, Jim Lee shaped readers’ tastes for a solid decade. And in the [...]
Read MoreTo mark the second anniversary of their New 52 titles, DC is dedicating this September to their villains. Big Bads like the Joker, Darkseid, and Sinestro will star in the comics of their heroic opposites, and a gaggle of guest artists and writers will take the creative reins. This could be a blast. Back before [...]
Read MoreI know I’ve been ragging on Jim Lee lately–specifically his redesign of Superman’s costume. Then I took a minute to remember that he’s the most influential (and hard working) comic artist of his generation. Copies of his fine-lined tough guys and leggy femme fatales have been on collectors’ shelves, and in would-be artists’ portfolios, for [...]
Read MoreAs far as Superman is concerned, the three are connected. Deeply. And yet, it might take a five-year-old to explain. Why? Because most adults don’t dare spend more than a nanosecond thinking about it. Good thing your very own J-Word isn’t most adults. That’s right. I looked at the redesigned Superman costume in Justice League [...]
Read MoreIn 2009, when Disney purchased the publishing and film-making entity that is Marvel, millions of comic readers groaned. I wasn’t one of them. I never believed that a parent company specializing in family entertainment would alter my violent, challenging comics. It just wouldn’t be good for business. And really, nothing has changed. But it’s curious [...]
Read MoreThis is going to be an odd, angry post. It’s going to be bloated with self-righteous fanboy outrage, the likes of which you can find just about everywhere else on the internet. I’m going to type things I wouldn’t even seriously say out loud tomorrow, when I’ve calmed down. Warning enough? Here we go: DC [...]
Read MoreIt’s been nine issues since Doc Ock stole the lives (and body) of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Murderous fan outrage aside, what a great experiment thus far. Writer Dan Slott and his team of web-savvy artists (Ryan Stegman, Guiseppe Camuncoli, and Humberto Ramos) have trumped reader expectation at every turn. For those of you [...]
Read MoreDo you want to just hang out with superheroes, or be one yourself? That question, and Stan Lee’s incredible response, changed comics forever. In the early 1960s, when the man synonymous with Marvel co-created The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, and The Uncanny X-Men, he also introduced us to nerdy teen Peter Parker, frail doctor Don [...]
Read MoreYou’ll want to examine Chloe and Brandon’s arms to count them. Not my usual upbeat opening, I know. But I’m reviewing the first issue of Jupiter’s Legacy, a new Image comic by one of my favorite artists, Frank Quitely, and one of the industry’s more relentless hacks, Mark Millar. According to the back, they’ve, “[Joined] [...]
Read MoreIn fifteen years, when the comics of superstar DC writer Geoff Johns are studied in liberal arts schools everywhere, it will be hard to remember he ever worked for Marvel. But he did, scripting The Avengers from 2002 to 2004. His signature humanist tales filled the gap between the revered Kurt Busiek (Astro City) and [...]
Read MoreAn incredible song from a brilliant album–and only the first thing I want to say about the comic Higher Earth. Slickly produced by BOOM! Studios, this action series began last May, and while making room in my bookcase for the comics piled beneath it, I realized, “This one’s been missing for a while.” The last [...]
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