Writing Drunk About Crap Comics: CROCKED CRITICS on HAUNTED MANSION #1

Over on Comics Bulletin, Chase Magnett and I got drunk and wrote about 

HAUNTED MANSION #1 from Marvel Comics for a new column on the site called 

Crocked Critics.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW HERE

I bandy about terms like "cash grab" and "tire fire" and "shit storm", but ultimately try to play the ray of sunshine to Chase's dark cloud.

In the end, though, I write this:

Break the corporate comics addiction. Stop buying shit that has no respect for you. Look into books from publishers like 2dCloud or Retrofit or Uncivilized Books or Tinto Press and find the type of comic that wants you to interact with it, isn’t trying to sell you something, and — for Christ’s sake — actually makes you think.

For this reason I love that Haunted Mansion #1 exists. It is a billboard for everything wrong with corporate comics. It is the clear line that demonstrates that Marvel and DC actually hate you.

So, for this reason, I would totally suggest you buy 27 copies of Haunted Mansion and distribute them to all of your friends and ask them, “Why would you stay in such an abusive relationship?”

Stranded on The Planet of the Absurd: Reading Steve Gerber’s Guardians of the Galaxy

I’ve been feeling heavy of late, burdened by the seriousness of intent and thick with the art of the alternative. Maybe it’s a product of age. Maybe it’s a result of feeling the solemnity of maturity. Maybe it’s a lack of sleep or a preponderance of drink. Whatever … suffice to say it’s been a bit of a rough go of late.

Casting about for distraction from this lethargy, I sent a message to my dear brother-from-another-mother and avuncular comic book historian Jason Sacks that read something along the lines of, “Dude, I need airiness before I bore a hole into the earth.” His quick response was cast in the form of a dual syllabic yawp, “Gerber.” This, he followed with a wistfully whispered, “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

READ OUR FULL CONVERSATION HERE