Charles Gaines is conflicted. 

Can a socially responsible citizen love the characters of Marvel but hate the company of Marvel?

More importantly -- should he see the new Ironman movie or not?

This month I got a chance to interview Jose Cabrera, the creator of the weekly webcomic Crying Macho Man which has a print collection of its first year out called Prime Cut.  Cabrera's work uses caricature, parody and gross-out humor, often all at once and has been attracting notice over the last year. Cartoonist Keith Knight wrote, “Jose Cabrera's Crying Macho Man touches me in ways I cannot explain. Sharp, well drawn, and funny. It deserves your attention." 

In this review, El Santo takes a look at Sarah Ellerton's The Phoenix Requiem, a beautifully illustrated tale set in 19th Century England about a mysterious stranger who stumbles into an idyllic village.

In this month's Panels & Pictures, Derik A Badman makes an illustrated list of the various ways text is used in comics: from speech and thought to sound effects and labels.

Last month, we began delving into my third of Four Criteria which I propose help to define comics, Closure and Synthesis.  We looked at what has been a widely (though not universally) accepted concept of closure, best defined by Scott McCloud as “the phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole.”  This time around we’re going to be further exploring the other half of the criteria, synthesis.

Xaviar Xerexes focuses in on Dark Red, a fantasy webcomic by Lynn French and Joanna McKenzie.  Dark Red features some nicely rendered photo-based art work and an epic tale of war between demons and angels and the people in between.  With a a pretty small archive and the promise of a more action-packed storyline on tap, it's not a bad time to check out this webcomic.