Sir Patrick Stewart (1940 – 2026).

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So a long time ago, in my college days, not too terribly long after Star Trek: The Next Generation came on the air, I shared a Shakespeare class at UC Santa Barbara with a couple of good fellows. One, named Ray, actually worked just down the street from the comic shop where I was employed, at a stationery store if I recall correctly. The other person was a friend of Ray’s, named Jebediah. Now, Jebediah was a very handsome gentleman, appearing at first glance to be straight-laced and all-business. However, he was prone to saying wild and usually hilarious things, usually at the wrong, or perhaps entirely right, time.

Now I realize even as I’m typing this that what I’m about to mention is the very definition of a “you had to be there” moment, but I promise you, at least Ray and I, who knew Jeb, thought this was amusing. We were in the aforementioned class, watching a perhaps 1970s-ish video of Shakespearean actors demonstrating their performances of many of the Bard’s classic characters. Amongst these actors was a certain Patrick Stewart, as I’m sure you’ve probably already guessed.

When he first appeared onscreen, you could hear a reaction from the class as recognition set in. I’m sure not everyone in the class was necessarily a Star Trek fan, but enough were, and their subdued but still slightly audible reaction was still noticeable.

And it was at this point Jeb shouted out “IT’S CAPTAIN PICARD!” — giving a loud voice to what many in the class were obviously thinking. Which is why he did it, Mike said, explaining the joke. It was a way of loudly poking fun at the class’s shared suppressed impulse. Anyway, Ray and I sure laughed at that, and that memory has stuck with me for nearly 40 years. I wonder where those guys are now?

But there’s no wondering where Sir Patrick Stewart went…I mean, look, he’s got a “Sir” in front of his name, he obviously got up to something ever since making that Shakespeare video we saw in class. The first thing I’m pretty sure I ever saw him in was John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), a pay-cable favorite back in the early ’80s. In the film, Stewart played King Leodegrance, seen here kicking ass and taking names:


Now, when I was watching it on HBO back then, I didn’t clock his performance or anything, thinking “I’d better keep an eye on this…Pat Steward person, he’s something else.” He was just part of the wonderful melange of folks who comprised this still-a-favorite-of-mine flick. But I’d certainly recognize him when I’d return to the film after seeing his next project.


When I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s premiere in 1987, I’m sure I didn’t realize I’d seen the actor playing Captain Picard before. I had seen some…worries, here and there, in the fan press when the show was first announced, wondering if this guy would be a good captain, but that felt like it was more about the general worry about there being a new Star Trek at all, more than anything specifically aimed at Stewart.

Once the first story of this new show aired…well, okay, maybe overall there were still some bugs to work out, but there was no denying that Captain Picard was given a definite commanding presence by Stewart’s performance. As the series progressed, and a little more nuance was baked into the character, it became clear that this new captain was a new breed of leader apart from Captain Kirk, who had come before. The arguments of who would “win in a fight” would pop up now and again, with fans clearly identifying the differences between these two captains. While Picard was perhaps more cerebral a leader than the action-oriented Kirk, despite how this cover portrays him:


…it was clearly understood that he’d be a significant challenge for ol’ James. T. (Also, Picard would totally win.)

Since then I’ve of course encountered Stewart’s excellent work in many other places, most notably in the 1970s BBC mini-series I, Claudius (and you can hear an interview with him about that show on this episode of John Hodgman and Elliot Kalan’s I, Podius). He made for an excellent (or dare I say…”X-cellent”) Professor X in the X-Men films, and in the amazing Logan, with one more turn at the character coming in Avengers: Doomsday. I even have a soft spot for his filmed version of A Christmas Carol, where, at the end of the movie, when Scrooge lets out his laughter, it’s one of the most visceral things ever put to film. (This was inspired by Stewart’s acclaimed solo stage performances of the Charles Dickens story.)

If you have the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack album, you have the introductory and closing segments narrated by Stewart, not used in the actual movie much to its detriment.

If you look here on TikTok, you’ll see the man doing enjoyable readings.

Plus, if you want to see him just being absolutely overjoyed to be doing something naughty on television, please enjoy this Saturday Night Live skit.

Frankly, you don’t have to look far to find something wonderful Stewart got up to. I mean, just his relationship with his best pal Sir Ian McKellen is a delight.

We definitely lost one of the greats with his passing. I know Star Trek isn’t the only thing he did, but boy, can you imagine a world without his Captain Picard in it? A character who embodied thoughtful, compassionate leadership while still being strong as steel. It takes a certain type of person to inhabit that role, and did Sir Patrick Stewart ever. He gave us a literal icon who not just entertained, but inspired, and brought comfort, hope and an impetus to action for countless people, in character and out. That feels like a pretty good legacy to me.

Rest well, Sir Patrick.

Okay, so I’m eleven years late on this.

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So I was searching through my emails, trying to track down something or ‘nother, when I came across a promotional message sent to the ProgRuin mailboxes back in 2015. Now, I did read it at the time, but of course had no recollection of doing as such over a decade later. And frankly, I’m surprised I didn’t bring it up on the site here, because boy, this sounds interesting.

The item promoted? Why, it’s Diagram for Delinquents, a DVD documentary about Dr. Fredric Wertham:


Seems unlikely that anyone reading this doesn’t know who he is, but Dr. Wertham was a psychiatrist who worked with poor Black patients, and was influential on the overturning of several segregation laws. Oh, and also he wrote Seduction of the Innocent, a 1954 book that just full-on trashed the comic book industry, attacking the content supposedly being fed to young, impressionable children.

The DVD includes lots of period footage and new interviews with comic experts (like Mark Evanier), as well as a bonus feature of an hour-long interview with Al Feldstein. You know, Al, formerly of EC Comics, the 1950s publisher that sort of became the face of the very comics with which Wertham had problems. I’m guessing that interview is a real barn burner.

Yes, I said “guessing,” because I haven’t watched the movie yet. You can download it through the Sequart Patreon page for minimal cost, but I went to eBay and bought a physical copy there for good ‘n’ cheap.

I mean, it looks interesting:


…and for the cost, it’s nice to have this collection of material on the topic. I hope it brings up the World of Fanzines book he wrote decades later, supporting the idea of young people producing their own magazines. Hard to imagine that came from the same person who wrote this longstanding comics industry boogeyman.

Given how far behind I am on everything, I’m hoping I can get to this disc at least relatively soon. As I say in the title, I’m already 11 years behind on this, what’s another few months. What I will note is the Ain’t It Cool News quote on the cover, an interesting choice given that site was already well in its decline as a media influencer at this point. (Shockingly, the site still occasionally puts up a new article even now.)

That old email I received includes a few more pull quotes plugging this film, which includes, um, Gerard Jones. And there’s a mention of working on a documentary about Neil Gaimain. Aged well, those items have not.

Anyway, looking forward to carving out some viewing time to take this in. I think it’s also on some of the streaming sites, so you can catch it there. And maybe next time I won’t take over a decade to look, really look, at my emails.

Walter Koenig (1936 – 2026).

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Walter Koenig was more than just Chekov on Star Trek…he was a screenwriter and a playwright, and acted on stage and in many other TV shows and movies. Did you know he wrote the Land of the Lost episode with the first appearance of Enik, the intelligent Sleestak? He certainly did! (In fact, “Enik” had originally been named by Koenig as “Eneg,” a backwards tribute to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.)

While Chekov is of course a beloved character, I think Koenig’s role as the antagonistic telepathic Psi Cop Alfred Bester:


Clearly Koenig was having a blast playing him, chewing scenery and being evil and sometimes even being somewhat sympathetic. A real tour de force of acting which made you forget he ever played a nice Russian kid on a starship.

Be seeing you, Walter.

Nothing I love more than something I wrote inspiring art.

filed under Categories marvel, pal plugging 5 Comments

So your pal Mike sells comics for a living, or at least attempts to (this past Sunday was bit of a wash, ugh), and as part of that living, he…or, rather, I price a lot of back issues. Boy, I do love back issues. If I could just price and sell ’em all day, I would, but I have to do other things, like “break down the new comic shipments” and “help customers” — you know, distractions like that.

But blessed are the days when I can just park at the counter with a big ol’ stack of old comics on one side of me, an Overstreet Price Guide on the other, and I’m able to just go to town, a’gradin’ and a’pricin’. And when I do, I often come across a comic that’ll get me thinking about it, and those thoughts have to go somewhere, and thus, a blog is born.

Like right now, as I want to talk about this particular cover for a moment:


That’s Alpha Flight #3 from 1983, cover by John Byrne, featuring our hero Aurora trapped in a room with crisscrossing rods, in a high-contrast black and white. It’s quite the striking image.

Every time I see that cover, however, I think the same thing: that must have been a huge pain to draw. The problem is, of course, I don’t really know that. I’m not a comic book artist, and my long-ago dabbling in cartooning was nowhere near this level of skill. It just seemed like a lot of work.

I’ve seen this cover plenty of times, but this time, I also remembered “wait, I have social media,” and I put the question to the masses:


And lo, I did get many a response. You can see ’em all just by clicking this little link here, but you’ll need to scroll down a bit just to get past the general Alpha Flight discussion. Consensus on the art seems to be “not as hard as it looks, just takes time,” which, of course, makes sense. Get those perspective lines down and you’re good to go! Anyway, take a peek at that thread to see the wide variety of answers I received.

I did get one or two replies along the lines of “gives me anxiety just looking at it,” so at least I know I’m not alone here.

Now let’s go back to how I worded my question. I asked if an artist would say “ugh, give me cars or horses to draw instead.” I made that specific joking reference because I’ve noticed comic artists saying that drawing cars or horses (or stairs, as someone added in that Bluesky thread) can be quite the drag. That generated a response from André, who said “I will draw all the ponies at any opportunity, good sir.”

And to prove that he means business, he created this beautiful piece of art to show you all how it’s done:


And be sure to visit that link for a larger version of that pic, plus a work-in-progress image! Thanks, André!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Byrne did this for a couple of interior panels as well:


Still looks like magic to me.

The most difficult decision in all of history, human or otherwise.

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So I got an email from the publisher Act 4, who is, in conjunction with Skybound and DC Comics, releasing the Bissette and Totleben’s Swamp Thing Artist’s Edition hardcover next year. Measuring 12 by 17 inches, and “collecting over 170 pieces of art,” this book will be available in either the standard edition cover:


…or the Direct Market straight-to-funnybook-shops edition:


Which leaves your pal Mike with the most difficult of choices: which version do I get for myself? Or do I get both? Do I get two of both, one set to read and another to keep sealed? How far into decadence can I fall?

Anyhoo, if you’re familiar with artist edition hardcovers like these, you know the drill. Full-color, highly detailed scans of original art are featured, blown up to large sizes for easy inspection. Included are pages spanning issues #16 through #64 of the Swamp Thing series, such as, it says in the press release, several samples from “The Anatomy Lesson” (where we learn Swampy’s true origin) and the “American Gothic” storyline (with new takes on classic horror). Also inside is the full ten-page story “Jack in the Green,” Steve and John’s final work together at the company. (Yes, unfortunately that was written by Neil Gaiman, which is too bad, but we’ll be looking at the pretty drawings, not the words.)

Other than that one minor qualm, this looks like an amazing collection of artwork, and I can’t wait to get a good look at whatever squiggling details may have been obscured by the images’ reduction and reproduction over the years.

I hope there are lots of drawings of this guy:


I love that guy, he’s my favorite monster from this series. Well, aside from Swamp Thing himself, of course.

The book is due out next July, so start saving those pennies! At least 15,000 of them (or 30,000 or 60,000, in my case, maybe).

The sort of thing you’ll get a pass on once.

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So here is what Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures (fourth and final issue out today!):


…has been reminding me of, just a little bit:


Yes, Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-47 from 1976, the infamous treasury-format release entitled “Superman Salutes the Bicentennial.” Why is it infamous, you ask? Because, despite having a big ol’ drawing of Superman on the cover, making one expect to see Superman adventures within, we get historically-themed comics like Tomahawk inserted, with very brief introductions from an inset Superman head pasted over the first panel of each story. Look, I’m no Tomahawk hater, I like the character just fine, but does it say “Tomahawk” anywhere on that cover? No sir, it does not.

Granted, it does say “6 Tales of Heroic History Celebrating the Spirit of ’76!” but one would not be blamed for thinking that would mean, like, Superman time-traveling around and helping out George Washington and Paul Revere and so on. I mean, when you see the cover of Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles #1:


…are you expecting reprints of Casey Crime Photographer with little Cap heads grafted onto the first panel of each story, prepping you for another all-American “Flashgun” Casey adventure? No, you’re expecting 80 pages of pure Jack Kirby madness, and boy does Jack deliver. (Honestly, read this comic, it is wild.)

You would not be blamed if you picked up Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures #1 and thought “oh boy, Young Hellboy is going to get into some scrapes with Scarlett Santiago, the Sky Devil on an exciting pulpy expedition. Instead, what you got was…a page or two of Young Hellboy reading a Golden Age comic book, and the “Sky Devil” story being the contents of said comic. No crossover, no “Young Hellboy is magically pulled into the comic and thus joins the journey” — it’s literally “here’s a couple of panels of Hellboy waving the comic around, and then here’s the story Hellboy is reading.”

Hold on, though. I’ve come to praise Young Hellboy: Thrilling Sky Adventures, not to bury it. Yes, it’s not really a Hellboy story, but it is very Hellboy-coded. You have mysterious artifacts and secret civilizations and monsters and all kinds of weirdo stuff going on in this story, which falls very well into the usual milieu of the Hellboy world. And it’s all on the cover…it’s not hiding the contents of the book, as you are indeed getting “Thrilling Sky Adventures with the Sky Devil.” But it’s got that little “featuring” word there on the cover. It’s “Young Hellboy featuring Scarlett Santiago,” not “Young Hellboy and…” or “Young Hellboy in ‘The Devil’s Plateau with Scarlett Santiago.'” Thus, the cover remains technically correct, which, as we all learned from Futurama, is the best kind of correct.

Sadly, had this just been released as a Thrilling Sky Adventures comic on its own, it probably wouldn’t have sold as well, even with Mike Mignola’s credit on the cover. Slapping the “Hellboy” brand on there got you to pick it up and read it, introducing you to a couple of fun new characters you otherwise may have overlooked. And the story is a fun read, and the introductory Young Hellboy bits are charming, so while as a whole it’s a little misleading, you don’t mind the bait-and-switch so much because the comic does deliver a good time. Thus, my final verdict — I’ll let you get away with it this time, Mignola!

The Final ’90s Countdown, Part Twenty-Six.

filed under Categories final '90s countdown 16 Comments

Behold, our second two-vote-receiver in the favorite indie comics of the ’90s poll…and it’s a title I’m pretty sure you’re all familiar with:

Gen 13 (Image Comics, 1994)

Even as the comics industry was starting to collapse all around us at the time, there were still the Hot Items that would hit the shelves and excite the comic readers who remained and toughed things out. Sure, shops were beginning to rely on POGs and Magic The Gathering cards to help shore up the sales that slipped far away from the Milk ‘n’ Honey times of the then very recent past, but there was still the occasional glimmer of hope on the stands yet.

Wizard Magazine, the comics industry hype man for all things new, popular, and investible, was at the height of its powers then, putting a price guide into the hands of The Common Man, versus that comparatively stodgy annual Overstreet Price Guide. And it would get the word out about all the Hot New #1s coming from your favorite publishers!

This was the world into which Gen 13 was unleashed. Nominally a super-team book, the initial mini-series introduced* to us Grunge, Free-Fall, Rainmaker, Fairchild, and Burnout, all superpowered teens. They are accompanied by the older, militarily-trained John Lynch. The initial five-issue mini-series was a hit, necessitating a second printing of the first issue. The youthful team, written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi, featured the major selling point of J. Scott Campbell’s dynamic art. The exaggeratedly-legged and improbably-torsoed caricatures of the ladies read as “sexy” to potential readers, giving also-youthful comic fans an energetic and mildly-sensual alternative to boring ol’ comics aimed at their grandfathers, like Avengers and Justice League. This was a book for today’s mid-1990s young adult fans!

Given the mini’s popularity, an ongoing series was launched in 1995, with the relatively infamous thirteen variants for the first issue (discussed here). Trust me, for folks reading this who are newer to comics, at one time in the industry’s history “thirteen variants” actually seemed like a lot. But beyond everything else, those variants presented a cheeky sense of humor and a willingness to do some wild stuff with their comics. Of note in the second series is the three-part issue #13 (released as #13A, #13B, and #13C) in which Gen 13 crossed over with other companies’ characters, such as Jeff Smith’s Bone and, kinda surprisingly, the Archie Comics gang.

The second series continued on for 77 issues (plus a #0 mixed in there somewhere), wrapping up in 2002. With #37 the book became part of the Wildstorm imprint at DC Comics, and by this point the original creative team had left, leaving a variety of characters to carry on the book. Most notably, Adam Warren, of Empowered and Eclipse’s Dirty Pair fame, took over writing and cover art chores on the series, with interiors by Rick Mays, Ed Benes, and others, with the book concluding under his watch.

Along the way there were a number of tie-ins and spin-offs, most notably the anthology title Gen 13 Bootleg (which includes a story or two written and drawn by Warren, probably the best sellers from this run, at least at our shop). I mean, there were tons of them, and I’m just going to point you to the lists here and here instead of trying to transcribe every title into this post. I would like to note the Gen 13/Spider-Man intercompany crossover, as well as the Gen 13/Monkeyman and O’Brien mini, illustrated by Art Adams! Oh, and their crossover with the Maxx, and, and…well, you get the idea.

And speaking of Wizard, as we were earlier, here’s the cover to #44 from 1995, with the ladies of the team:


A brief aside: for all its failings, Wizard did succeed in, as I noted at the beginning of this post, hyping up comic titles to a certain core audience of readers, many of whom were new to the hobby, and more importantly, many of whom were young. Teenagers/young adults getting excited about comics that were aimed at them is something this business hasn’t seen in a while, at least until Absolute Batman caught on. I know Wizard could be juvenile, and that its taste could entirely be in its mouth, but boy, I preferred folks getting turned onto new books via a magazine they read versus them hunting books they see in the Hot Comics Apps like they do now.

And you know, that’s not really an aside. There have been attempts at revivals of the Gen 13 franchise, like reintroducing the team in a New 52-era issue of Supergirl, but Gen 13 may really have been Of An Age. As in, of that period in the ’90s when comics had been hot, but were on their way back out, but there was Wizard still pushing material to the kids who were still sticking around. But those kids are gone, the specific demographic that had been ready and willing to snap up a title like this, that was directly targeted at them, are gone. Or have moved on to, as I said, Absolute Batman. The niche is filled.

Look, I’m sorry to the two folks who voted for this title, and for any other fans reading this. I’m not trying to slag the comic. But it sort of feels like it was in a very small window of potential and opportunity, and those exact circumstances have yet to repeat themselves.

Or…have they? I’ve noted an uptick in back issue sales of the Gen 13 comics, so there may yet still be an audience. Maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s new readers. But ol’ Gen 13 is still hanging in there.

Collected editions were wildly available during its heyday, but the most recent thing available is a Gen 13 Starting Over deluxe hardcover from a couple of years ago. It reprints the original mini, the first five issues of the second series, and some other material. Can’t tell if it’s in print or not…Lunar’s search engine tells me it exists, but won’t let me place an order on it, which maybe isn’t a good sign. Feels like this is one of those titles that would benefit from one of those super-thick paperback omnibuses, containing dozens of issues.

Anyway, Gen 13…a star that shined brightly for a little while, and maybe could reignite once again, someday. In the meantime, while you wait, you can watch this Gen 13 animation from 2000.
 
 
 
* Technically, they first appeared in Deathmate: Black, but no matter how hard people try on, like, eBay, literally nobody cares.

Whither the second printing?

filed under Categories dc comics, publishing, superman 5 Comments

I guess this post can be seen as an epilogue of sorts to my posts about the John Byrne reboot of the Superman titles in the mid-1980s. Essentially, I came across this 1988 issue of Superman from near the tail end of Byrne’s run:


…where you might see this oddly-formatted blurb in the corner:


Now around this time, DC Comics was making a big promotional push to let folks know the series was about to be released on a biweekly basis. To wit: Amazing Heroes #133 (the “Preview Special”) from earlier in the year contains this bit of information within its Superman coverage:


And just to gild the lily, here’s an excerpt from a house ad located right next to this entry, warning you of what’s to come:


As it turns out, the biweekly Superman plan is called off, as Byrne very publicly quits the Super-books around this time, He’s only involved in a couple more issues after this.

It’s my memory that the “Power Failure!” blurb you see on the cover of #19 had shown up in print ads and such prior to its release, containing instead an announcement of the title’s change in release schedule. However, try as I might, I couldn’t find one of those ads for today’s entry. Given how the lettering in the blurb leaves a lot of blank space, it is pretty clear that something else had been meant to be there.

But when I went to the Grand Comics Database to look up information on this issue (and, ahem, “borrow” a scan or two), much to my surprise I see this cover marked as a “Third Printing.”


And there it is, right in the corner, marked “Now Twice Monthly!” If you look at the entry for this cover specifically, it’s noted that the third printing came out quite a bit after the release of the first printing. Why the “Now Twice Monthly!” blurb is retained, I’m not sure, as the Superman title itself never goes biweekly. I suppose in combination with Adventures of Superman, maybe that counts as making Superman a twice-monthly title. However, I think Action is back to being a monthly title at this point, so it’s…three times a month?

Anyway, kind of an oddball thing I discovered. Maybe one of you has the answers! (Or at least where I can find a print ad showing the original version of that cover.)

Smith and Jones.

filed under Categories original art 6 Comments

So a little while back, comics artist Steve Lieber posted to his Bluesky account a piece of work of such shocking significance to the artform — nay, to the world — that I could not help but message him and ask how I could acquire this immortal piece.

Alas, quoth Steve, the illustration existed only in digital form, but he would be happy to reproduce it upon physical media, the nigh-mythical “ink” and “paper” treasured by our forebears, and send it to me via the postal mails with all haste.

And friends, Mr. Lieber was, as the gentleman that he is, true to his word, and very shortly I had that artwork in my possession.

Men, gird your loins; women, steel your nerves; all others…you’re tough, you’re probably good — get ready to behold…

…SLUGHEAD.


Truly, the world does not deserve such beauty. But man, I sure do.

Warning: lightly naughty covers ahead.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, publishing 4 Comments

Okay, a lot of business to attend to here:

First, there’s been a small influx of A.I.-generated comments on the site, with links to A.I.-related companies. It’s particularly insidious, signing themselves in with real-sounding names and generating comments from stuff either I or other commenters have said. A couple just sounded like they were agreeing with me, but more often than not they were just slightly rewording what we’ve said. Ugh. Look, I think A.I. can have its uses (once they solve the whole, you know, energy/water usage thing), like in dealing with and sorting data, but we don’t need Newer, Better Spam. So, I’ll try to nip these in the bud as I notice them.

Second, I’ve got medical stuff going on in the middle of the week, so Wednesday’s post is gonna be quite short. By which I mean “actually, really short,” not “I’m going to keep this short” and suddenly I’ve written an Alan Moore script.

Third, some of you had some good suggestions regarding the earliest regular cover/opaque-bagged naughty variants. Brian F sends me to this NSFW reference page that may require some digging.

Another likely suspect, provided by Matthew, is Hellina: Taking Back the Night did have a polybagged nude variant (NSFW again) according to advance publicity, with obscuring black bars. Here’s one I found on eBay:


Out in 1995, a year after the Perg comic I talked about last time, which was in an entirely clear bag.

Barring my finding something in that list of books Brian sent me, that may be the earliest example so far of “adult variant for a non-adult book in an obscuring bag.” Even if, you know, that “obscuring” is restricted to a couple of small black bars, and not covering the entire image like the newer variants that triggered this whole discussion.

Fourth, in this post discussing some X-rated comics of the ’90s that had merit, some of you brought up Phil Foglio’s XXXenophile, which is indeed one of the great filthy books of the period. Wonderful art (mostly Phil, with a parade of inkers/finishers), short and clever stories, and, yes, lots of, ahem, shenanigans. It’s all joyful and hilarious and will likely offend somebody at some point. Like, I’m not going to vouch for the political correctness of this cover, but it’s plenty silly:


Again, there were plenty of adult comics that were well worth your time and attention, and XXXenophile was among the best of them. Like I said before, I’m not sure what sort of coverage of them I can get away with here, but at the very least I can acknowledge them.