CBR Live! Archive
Comic Foundry #1 - Truth In Advertising
- by Brian Cronin
- in Comic Reviews
Tim Leong, in discussing Comic Foundry, the new comics magazine that debuted recently, often refers to it as functioning as a middle ground "between Wizard and The Comics Journal," and after reading the first issue, I think Leong is dead on. It is not as good as The Comics Journal, but it is MUCH better than a typical issue of Wizard.
Really, Wizard, or at least the current set-up of Wizard, pretty much describes how Comic Foundry looks, but that should not be surprising, as Wizard has, of late, made their magazine look more and more like a standard Blender/Entertainment Weekly type magazine, and Comic Foundry follows suit.
The big difference is that Wizard mostly just talks about popular DC and Marvel comics (while allowing for some indie stuff), while Comic Foundry seems to embrace the role of pushing independent works, which was quite fun.
As a whole, it was basically just disposable fun, but it WAS fun, which I thought was a real treat.
The highlights for me was an article about the making of The Judas Contract, with some great quotes from Marv Wolfman (I've already used it for an Urban Legends installment!) and a piece where a sex therapist talks about what your comic tastes say about you, including a rather long response to the Heroes for Hire #13 cover, where the therapist actually seems to sorta defend it, but it doesn't appear as though she really knows what the point of the cover is, as she doesn't even MENTION the tentacles! Awhile back, I mentioned how it is funny how you basically need to know about tentacle porn to get why the cover is offensive, and the sex therapist basically demonstrates that, as she doesn't seem to get why people are so put off by the cover.
I was also impressed by all the cool people they had do quick bits, from Bryan O'Malley to Brian Wood to Darick Robertson to Michael Kupperman, they hit all the bases!
And there were some interesting fashion bits, like showing "geek" outfits, as well as showing models acting out famous scenes from various graphic novels. It was certainly....interesting.
Anyhow, all in all, Comic Foundry #1 was like reading an issue of Wizard only, you know, good.
- Posted on September 2, 2007 @ 01:49 AM
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7 Comments
Jeremy
September 2, 2007 at 7:17 am
Does anyone know if this will be distributed on newsstands at all? I have no "LCS" here but I'd like to check this out.
Adam Jones
September 2, 2007 at 7:33 am
My LCS refuses to carry anything cool. Perhaps I should venture out to Red Bank and go to the overpriced gift shop known as Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash? Yuck.
God I miss living in DC.
Laura Hudson
September 2, 2007 at 9:20 am
I wrote the sex article, but I'm not actually a sex therapist. Dr. Ian Kerner was the commentator for the sidebars. And I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Also, if you can't find it at your LCS, you can order it by clicking through the shelf image at comicfoundry.com, or at the Midtown Comics site.
Brian Cronin
September 2, 2007 at 9:23 am
Sorry, Laura, I should have made it clear that the sex therapist was just the sidebar to your article (one of two interesting articles Laura wrote in the first issue)!
Prankster
September 2, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Trouble with stuff like the heroes for Hire cover is that people looking in from outside would probably defend it if they're "Sex positive" advocates, but if you actually know comics you're familiar with some of the neuroses and perversions that haunt the medium. The funny thing is, if this were the poster to a mainstream Hollywood movie, no, I don't think it would be as offensive. So from that perspective, the sex therapist is not off the mark.
(Apologies for misspellings and whatnot in this post, for reasons too boring to go into I can't actually see what I'm typing!)
12051
September 2, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I didn't know squat about tentacleporn, yet i did find it offensive. What rubbed me the wrong way was the bare breasts with liquid all over them. Add to that the passive stance of the women (look at the hands of the women compared to the hands of the men) and it is a completely misogyinistic (sp?) cover. I 'know it was a woman that made the cover, but that is irrelevant, women fall prey to misogyny as well. That's what's so horrible about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_Chauvinist_Pigs
Comics Should Be Good! » Comic Foundry #2 - All in Color For Sixty Dimes
April 2, 2008 at 3:32 am
[...] Well, basically the same as the first issue (which I did a bit on here). [...]