Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that we have three webcomic updates for you.Two are new webcomic titles and one is an update of a fan favorite. Could things get any better at Champion City Comics?

Battle Speed


The Captive

Yesterday, Kav and I tackled the first five pages of Action Comics 311 and we are not even close to being finished with this comic book. Let's get to business!



Kav: Superman angrily pounds his SOCK (It's not a boot, I don't care what anyone says) on the podium shouting SILENCE!!! ....I kill you. Then a movie mogul groans that the movie they just made about Superman will have to be scrapped since now he's evil, and his company is RUINED. Hey mogul, since Superman's evil and arrogant, you can just sell the movie to him for propaganda purposes. He can crush as many diamonds as you want to pay you.

Tony: Superman's Nikita Khrushchev moment is pretty pathetic because he gives the world 48 hours to accept Superman as their leader or face the consequences. That's a lame move, Superman. Give the world 48 hours to join forces and plan your demise. Wake up, bonehead.  



Kav: Good, Clark opens the vault of kryptonite (why they need a vault for this stuff when it falls out of the air like manna is beyond me), but the world leaders refuse to use it. It wouldn't be LEGAL. So let's do the LEGAL thing and let evil Superman take over the earth ILLEGALLY. Christ.

Tony: Why did Superman stockpile a vault full of kryptonite? I understand he does not want it to fall into the hands of Luthor or Brainiac, but wouldn't make more sense to take the kryptonite, put it in a giant crate, and hurl it towards the sun? That's a really lame security proof vault. All it takes is a combination? Well, consider us helpless against this marvel of security. No retina scan?  No DNA sample needed? No voice activated codes? EPIC FAIL.


Kav: The man who can vaporize the entire UN is told to 'wait' and they'll vote again tomorrow. Do I have to go into why this is dumb? Readers, you do the math on this one. OK, Superman freezes the desert with his SUPER BREATH. I propose that super-breath is impossible. According to Boyle's law, volume and pressure are inversely proportional. Thus the amount of air Superman can pull into his lungs is based on one thing: lung size. He cannot pull in any more air into his lungs than me or Tony. Even if he can juggle a PLANET.

Tony: This page is absolutely nuts. First, Superman rattles off some longitude and latitude coordinates and some dope stands up and says, "Oh no, that's by my military base". Hey dummy, don't go telling the UN where you keep your bases. Who gives the coordinates of their attack? Evil leaders do these things called SURPRISE ATTACKS. It's a true wonder that ice can not melt in the heat of the Sahara. Also, Superman easily creates another Beringia by defying all scientific logic.    


Kav: After his aggressive display, Superman is again told to WAIT by the UN. Remember, he can vaporize them any time he wants and doesn't even really need their permission to do anything.

Tony: Did I just read this page correctly? Did the Chinese create a mock-up of New York City so they can detonate one of their weapons and blow it to bits? Who does something that stupid? They didn't build a mock-up of Tokyo or Berlin when they tested atomic bombs! This is absolute madness. 


TO BE CONTINUED...

Kav and I have returned for our action packed series where we review some of the less-than-memorable comics of the Golden and Silver Age. Get ready folks, we're about to tackle a doozy, Action Comics #311.

Kav: Lois sees evil Superman carving a giant marble monument and thinks, "Maybe it's an imposter". Yeah, right toots-maybe it's just some doofus in a Superman suit who just happens to be able to fly around and punch off chunks of marble.

Tony: Take that, Michelangelo! A hammer and a chisel? Ha! Superman just karate chops rocks and they magically turn into a work of art. Superman has failed Absolute Monarch 101. A ruler never makes their own statues or palaces. They have slaves build them. I love how Clark and Jimmy visit some 'Minor Tropical Kingdom' and Clark turns into some flag waving hater. This is the time when there was the USA and a million backward countries.



Kav: Superman has to think quickly to slip away and change to handle an emergency because "Supergirl is away in the future". Uh, dumbass she can travel through time so she can go to the future, stay three years, and return one second before she left. It scares me that a dumbass like this has super-powers. So he flies to his fortress and his 'danger detector' spots a flock of Red K meteors. There is so much kryptonite flying around the universe that it seems to be the most abundant element, pushing out hydrogen. Then idiot thinks, "Wait-I forgot about that Red K cure I was working on". Yeah, if I had cancer and was working on a cure, I'd probably forget about it too.

Tony: Look at the goofball army that arrests Clark. They look like a clash of Ben Hur, The Wizard of Oz, and Lawrence of Arabia. Seriously, they have goofy Roman era helmets, bright green suits with ties, and rifles.So Clark was disrespectful just so he could get booted from the country and change into his Superman equipment. Why could he not have said, "Hey Jimmy, I need to take a leak, so why don't you watch the ceremony"? I have no idea why Clark made the thing an international incident. Does he watch Locked Up Abroad?

Kav: Genius thinks blithely, "If my guess is right" then exposes himself to an unpredictable Red K/acid mixture. Uh...what if your guess is WRONG and the weird mix changes you into a guy that likes to Push Earth into the sun??? Huh? What then? Then evil Superman splits off and somehow knows the 'rules' of this plot, explaining to Kent how this Red K effect is different. Clark says "Maybe I have super-powers." Hey dummy-do you feel gravity? If so, YOU DO NOT HAVE SUPER POWERS.

Tony: I have a serious problem with this page. The mixture splits Clark into two beings, so the mixture was able to take Superman's power and create another Superman. It's funny to watch evil Superman kick open the door to the fortress and kick Clark to the curb. For someone left in the elements of the arctic, Clark sure holds up well. Many would die of exposure, but then again why use common sense with this comic book.

Kav: Evil Superman crushes the phantom zone projector and Clark yells, "OWW!!my hand!" Uh...he's squeezing your WRIST, dude. A reporter should know the difference between a hand and a wrist.

Tony: That phantom zone projector would be best used if Clark could zap guys like Luthor, Brainiac, and Doomsday to the twilight dimension. His life would be much easier. I wonder if Rod Serling lives there. This evil Superman is dumber than Clark and possibly Olsen. What evil ruler of the Earth breaks a guy's wrist and puts him in the care of the Coast Guard? Evil Superman should have tossed Clark into the ocean so he could go on his merry way to carving a giant statue of himself.

Kav: Clark thinks "I see it now-the Red K effected me by blah blah blah". Real scientific thinking, guy. One case study covers the full story.

Tony: One moment, Clark is captive on a Coast Guard vessel and later he flashes his credentials and hops a flight to New York City. A menace to society one minute and a hapless reporter the next. Jeez. Superman calls a UN meeting an everyone attends? This is the Cold War era and the USSR and China are like, "Yeah, let's go hear what the American capitalist pig has to say". This is beyond ridiculous.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Today's selection mixes the awesome punk power of The Ramones with a Saturday morning cartoon classic. Enjoy!

Champion City Comics is pleased to announce that we are launching yet another title during the upcoming months. Coalwater, a Western-style tale, come from the creative team of Hugh Orr and Will Harris was submitted for review early in August and it will definitely be an exciting addition to our webcomics community.

Synopsis: Coalwater is a town ravaged with little-to-corrupt law enforcement. Established circa 1826 in Ohio, Coalwater quickly became a ghost town within a decade. The town experienced a resurgence in 1861 when coal, copper, and iron deposits were discovered. Coalwater's rebirth led to an economic boom which led to widespread violence. We know you'll enjoy this action-packed epic so check out the cover below.

Wikipedia

Lawrence Rider is a contributing writer at Champion City Comics and is currently developing a steampunk story titled Gaslight. 

           Grant Morrison (Zenith, 52, Batman and Robin) has foretold the death of the super hero comic.  In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Morrison spoke of the New 52 and his run on the newly relaunched Action Comics.  When asked by Rolling Stone whether or not he thinks the industry is in a “death spiral” he replied

Summer is generally a slow time for updating webcomics at Champion City Comics, but we do have a new page ready for Dr. Death vs. The Zombie. During the upcoming months we are going to bring you some new and exciting titles. We have an exciting international crime fighting pulp style story titled Red Devil and we will have a fun Manga style webcomic titled Battle Speed available sometime next week or early September.

Do you have a webcomics project that you want posted at Champion City Comics? Please review our submissions policy and we'll review your project. Thanks!

Dr. Death vs The Zombie

Kav and I survived the first four pages of this goofy adventure, so let's see what we can handle today. Come on kids, let's break it down some more.


Kav: This page cracks me up. It says so much about that red headed hamburger, Jimmy Olsen. He thinks to himself, "I'm no military genius....or am I?" Then he spends a bunch of time getting uniforms and costumes etc together as if this is more important than acting quickly when robots are about to attack Metropolis! Then he says, "These muskets ought to work" even though they are PROPS from a theatrical shop! Yep folks, he's a military genius all right!

Tony: Jimmy doesn't think, "I'm no military genius...", he actually says it to the wife beater wearing alien. Was that a trunk of disguises or did Jimmy raid the wardrobe department for The Music Man? As a historian, my head nearly exploded when the man gave Jimmy and the alien some "Revolutionary War" costumes and muskets. Look at those uniforms, folks. Short sleeves?! I guess that's why the soldiers froze to death at Valley Forge. Muskets?! Those look like rifles to me, you idiot. Does Jimmy think that muskets will stop robots? Not real muskets, but musket props! You may be thinking, "What's with the anger, Tony? These comics were written for children." Shut up. Muskets take forever and a day to load. Rifles can be loaded ahead of time. Are they going to use blanks? Are the guns really loaded? Who uses real bullets on a movie set? Are they filming Earth Invaded or The Crow? Finally, look at the aliens in the bottom panel. Are there drummers in the army? Oh, that will stop the robot onslaught. Jimmy and his army should die on principle alone.      


Kav: I can't take much more. Jimmy exhorts his 'army' to 'fire'. Remember, these are PROPS. Even Bizzarro #1 could do a better job of leading an army than this dipstick. Then they throw some expansible matter cubes to block the robots, stating it will take hours to break through them or, they could just GO AROUND. Luckily, they're as dumb as Jimmy.

Tony: Jimmy threatens his troops with a court-martial? I'm sure the Geneva Convention covers alien soldiers. I don't know what's more lame, the painfully slow advancement of the robot army or Jimmy's idiot F Troop. If the robots were created by a supreme brain then they would be equipped with lasers and fry that sad excuse for a military. Oh, the cubes will stop the robots? Why can't the robots pick up the cubes and crush the army? I'm sure there's some guy reading that page thinking, "Of course the aliens don't want to fight. Green liberal hippies".

Kav: Sergeant ZXL? Again with the extreme use of the terminal letters of the alphabet. I have just one comment for this page: WORST GENERAL EVER.

Tony: These classic comics are absolutely brilliant. Jimmy walks into a general's office and tries to convince him that he should attack the robots. They make it look like the general has a regular ol' office in the city. I mean it would make more sense to have his office in an undisclosed location on a highly secured military base where morons like Olsen can't bother him. I had to laugh when Olsen wondered what Custer would do at the Little Bighorn. Spoiler alert: Custer died! Also, Custer was one of the worst students in his class at West Point. Ugh, we've got two more pages of this nonsense.    


Kav: MOVIE PROP ROBOTS FROM THE SIXTIES CAN ACTUALLY FUNCTION AND FIGHT?????? Then Jimmy gives them MORE prop guns? Yeah, that ought to do it, chump.

Tony: Jimmy calls for a "suicide charge?" He watched the evil robots tear the movie prop robots to shreds and thinks it's a good idea to charge them in order to "bluff" them? If I were one of the aliens, I would hit Jimmy over the head with my movie prop to knock him out before he re-enacts Pickett's Charge. 


Kav: Thank God this is the final page because I don't want Tony to rip out ALL of his hair. Just some of it. As usual, Superman returns from the 'Distant Universe' just when the plot requires it. Advice for the idiot aliens who started the whole mess: DON'T REWIRE THE ROBOT BRAIN!!!!

Tony: I don't have that much hair left to rip out, Kav. Thanks for thinking of me. It's sad that all it took to stop the evil giant super robot was a bit of heat from Superman and Supergirl. You'd think the wife beater wearing aliens would have figured that out a long time ago. I mean they built the damn thing! Someone would have realized, "Oh, yeah! The main circuits are vulnerable so let's blast it with a laser."  

That's all for this edition, folks. We'd love to know what you think about our Kav & Tony series! Don't worry, we have another Superman story to break down next week.

Kav and I have returned for our popular series of breaking down Golden and Silver Age comics. This week, we are going to take on Jimmy Olsen #60 titled 'The Fantastic Army of General Olsen'. Here we go!



Kav: OK, it starts off like any normal day at the Daily Planet with some weirdo entering the office. I've noticed that the Planet reporters don't do much work, mainly the stand around staring at whoever this story is about - in this case Jimmy.

Tony: First of all, it is amazing that there were fifty-nine Jimmy Olsen comic books before this one. The first panel shows Jimmy, dressed in full Nutcracker regalia, and he is leading some green martian army against a giant Erector Set known as the Mechanical Brain 'from space'. I guess they do not want readers to get the villain mixed up with another Mechanical Brain. How is this piece of junk an undefeated force? Looks like one has to fire the rust cannon and that thing is toast. Judging by the rifles that the martians are armed with, it looks like we know why the Mechanical Brain always wins. Martians have lasers, but not in this comic book. Let's move on to the Daily Planet where Jimmy meets Princess Mara. It's wonderful how she shows off her superior powers by blasting a light bulb. 


Kav: Jimmy thinks, 'She sure is pretty' - yeah, I guess so, even though her hair looks like a pontoon. Jimmy notes that Superman and Supergirl are away in a 'distant universe'. WTF? A distant solar system, even distant galaxy wasn't far enough away to keep Superman out of this story, no, he has to be in a DISTANT UNIVERSE! Then Jimmy tells the chick that his 'story on her' will make her famous. Hey dumbass, she's an actress and already famous! Also, its interesting how a cub reporter consistently gets his articles printed above the fold.

Tony: Earth Invaded is a terrible movie title and it sounds like something that would come from the mind of Michael Bay. *Shiver* There was a time when the media wouldn't plug a movie? Shocking! 



Kav: These aliens are from the planet 'Xar'. Why is every alien planet heavy on the X, Y, and Z letters? Why not planet Eupo or something?

Tony: Looks like wife beaters and Speedos are the only fashion choice for males on Xar. What's with the cube? Are we supposed to be impressed that they can take a small cube and make it big? Little Miss Hollywood made a better impression by destroying Jimmy's lamp. If those goofballs can develop the machines then they have the ability to destroy the machines.


Kav: Ok, Harlan Ellison needs to retract his lawsuit from the Terminator movie where he got cash because he wrote a similar story about robots taking over before Terminator came out, because here we have the basic plot line in a Jimmy Olsen comic from 1962. Then Jimmy tries to warn the police about the invasion, but Perry White has already called the police and warned them not to pay attention to Jimmy. Man they had good communication back then. Also, why in these comics does nobody CALL THE POLICE? They always WALK to the police station to make their complaint.

Tony: Why are Olsen and the little green men the only ones paying attention to the Mechanical Brain building other robots? These classic comic books are always filled with giant projects of doom that are witnessed by one or two people. It's great that Olsen demands Perry, not the mayor or governor, to call the police, army, and navy. "You need me to call in the army? I have their number in my Rolodex! Hello, Uncle Sam?" Although we've been reminded twenty times that Superman and Supergirl are far away, Jimmy lacks the brainpower to call Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, or Green Lantern. Somehow, this clown leads the little men into battle.

TO BE CONTINUED...   

In an alternate universe, I am a rock critic. My essays on rock music are honest and well-written, plus I avoid pontificating to the masses. Music fans read my work and say, "This guy is pretty damn good" or "This guy is a complete douche". That's in an alternate universe.

Here in the reality that is Champion City Comics, I share with you every Sunday my song selection. Today's choice is in my opinion the greatest 'superhero' song ever. Black Sabbath's 1970 album, Paranoid, delivered some Sabbath classics, including today's selection. If you've never heard the song then I pity you for missing out on one of the most metal songs ever recorded. Enjoy. 

I had no idea what I was getting in to when I launched Champion City Comics. My knowledge of the webcomics community was pretty limited, and at the time, I was very certain that Champion City Comics was a small fish in a small pond. To my amazement, I discovered that Champion City Comics was a small fish in the ocean. The amount of webcomics I discovered was mind-boggling. After spending time reviewing the competition, I discovered that there were two camps: webcomics that were developed by serious people or communities and there were webcomics that were just awful due to the dimwitted creator or "creative" team that did a half-ass job of putting it together.

I decided to check on the serious webcomics developers because I wanted to know why they were successful. What did I discover? To keep readers interested, the webcomics were updated weekly or daily. The webcomic creators used social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to keep fans up-to-date about their webcomics. The webcomic creators added blog entries, articles, videos, etc to their sites for added information. The webcomic creators advertised at high traffic sites. At first, I resisted and decided to do it my way. That worked to an extent but I decided to do it right and get Champion City Comics on the same level as the best.

What webcomics do I consider to be the best? One of my personal favorites is Supermassive Black Hole A* (aka SMBHAX), a webcomic that is updated Monday through Friday by creator Ben Chamberlain. SMBHAX is a hard sci-fi  tale set in outer space where corporate goons, bounty hunters, and disgruntled workers clash. I've been impressed with the storyline and am a fan of black and white webcomics. I've discovered that there is a deep hatred with some readers regarding black and white webcomics, but haters gonna hate. Not only is this a very cool webcomic, but Chamberlain was able to create episodes that turns the experience into a motion comic. I've embedded the first and second episodes for you to watch. Enjoy!

When I launched Champion City Comics during the fall of 2009, it was strictly for my comic book project. However, my one comic book project became three and then I decided to accept scripts from writers to see if they had an excellent story or two for the site. Reviewing scripts is not all fun and games because some writers lack the ability to create stories where characters have depth and the plot is well-structured or slightly interesting. And then there are the few that deliver an amazing story.

Lawrence Rider, a writer from England, contacted me back in June regarding a script he had in development. His story was titled Gaslight and it was a steampunk tale where a detective by the name of Solomon Cold investigates a series of abductions that are linked to a mad scientist known as the Pneumatist. His script was pretty solid and I did not have an artist available. But magic happens at Champion City because an artist, George Athanasiou, contacted me to see if he could be part of a webcomics project. His style was perfect for Gaslight so I teamed him up with Lawrence. In the upcoming months you will get to see the first four or five pages of this exciting tale. For now, enjoy some teaser artwork.

Ladies and gentleman, this is the last entry for Action Comics #305 titled 'Why Superman Needs A Secret Identity'. However, due to the popularity of the Kav & Tony blog entries, this will be a weekly feature at Champion City Comics. Enjoy!

Some of our titles at Champion City Comics are updated every Wednesday, and this week, we have updated Dr. Death vs The Zombie. Kav and I are pleased to present to you pages 59 and 60 of this 'almost a superhero' adventure in Las Vegas. You haven't read the story yet? If that's the case then you better start with Dr. Death vs. The Vampire. If you're a faithful reader then we're pleased to announce that there will be another Dr. Death story later this year. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we present you another Kav & Tony blog entry for Action Comics #305 titled 'Why Superman Needs A Secret Identity'.

Click on the image below to view. 

If you have not read the first part of this entry then check it out here. Kav and I are back to review pages four, five, and six of this comic book. Enjoy!

Click on the image to read!

Sunday Song Selection is our special Sunday entry where we feature a song that deals with comic book heroes and all things geek related. Last week, we gave you 'Jimmy Olsen's Blues' and this week we are keeping up with the Superman theme by giving you Donovan's 'Sunshine Superman', a hit for the Scottish singer-songwriter during the summer of 1966. Enjoy!

Recently, I posted some information regarding the Champion City Comic Con, which will be held on September 10, 2011 at the Shouvlin Center (Wittenberg University) in lovely Springfield, Ohio. Scott Riley from Main Street Comics emailed me the official poster yesterday. Click on the image below to enlarge.

Yesterday, we introduced to you the first of the Kav & Tony Break It Down series, and as a special treat, we're providing you another edition by reviewing Action Comics #305 titled 'Why Superman Needs A Special Identity'.

Why are we breaking down some Golden Age and Silver Age comics? While some of these comics have delivered some classic tales, they have also given us some WTF moments where we must examine the madness of these stories. We understand that comics were generally written for a younger audience, but even young readers were/are pretty sharp at discovering some holes in the story.

If you read yesterday's blog entry, you will discover that I'm not a fan of Superman. It's nothing personal against the Man of Steel, but I feel that writers have made him so powerful and indestructible that the end result is a pretty 'blah' character missing Batman's edge and the Hulk's anger management issues.

Lets break down this comic. Be sure to click the image to read the page. 

The Golden Age and Silver Age of comics have given us some memorable stories and characters. Both eras delivered some head-scratching moments, so Kav and I decided to break down some of the most ridiculous panels from the comics and expose some of the flaws.

Today's selection is Action Comics #326 titled Superman vs The Legion of Super-Creatures.

Let's review pages one to three. Click on the images below to read the comic. 



Kav: Great drawing, eh?

Tony: I'll agree that it's not an impressive opening panel, but I'll start out by saying I've never been a fan of Superman. The guy is pretty much indestructible plus he's pretty dopey as a hero. Look at this mess of an opening page. Superman's pose is that of a man yawning. Did you read what Superman said? If the bugs eat everything, then why are they not eating Superman? It's not good when the first page is a FAIL.

Some of our titles at Champion City Comics are updated every Wednesday. This week, we have an updated Dr Death vs The Zombie by TonyDoug Wright and A. Kaviraj. If you're a fan of The Watchmen then you are really going to enjoy this follow-up to Dr. Death vs The Vampire.

Check out some of the new pages below. BE SURE TO CLICK ON EACH IMAGE TO VIEW.

A. Kaviraj is an artist for Champion City Comics and plays a key role in the development of our webcomics. His comic book knowledge runs deep and recently he submitted this list of rules for superhero comics. As you know, all lists are subjective, so please enjoy!

1. Whenever two superheroes meet for the first time they will fight. Also, they will be equally matched for the duration of the flight.

Bleedingcool.com

2. No amount of ninjas can ever defeat a superhero. Or anyone, really.


3. No matter how many ninjas you defeat, there are always twice as many left.


4. No matter how many times Lex Luthor sneaks a piece of kryptonite on Superman, Superman still never learns to do a full body scan from a mile away with his x-ray vision.

Villains.Wikia

5. No one can ever recognize voices in superhero comics and say things like, "Peter? Is that you? That IS you!" to Spiderman.

Pjibayan.Wordpress

6. Superheroes are stupid and always have the same friends with both identities. Luckily those friends are even stupider and something like a pair of glasses will make their best friend unrecognizable.

Popped-Corn.com

7. Everything was just fine on Earth until superheroes arrived. Then the mad scientists, alien invasions, super volcanoes, dimensional threats, etc began.

Marvel.Wika

8. A group of superheroes has the same effectiveness as a lone superhero, since they both fight with the same menaces and defeat them, either alone, or as a group.

iFanboy.com

9. A superhero can somehow fit superhero boots, which are larger than his shoes, under his shoes while in his secret identity.

DC.Wika

10. A burst of radiation will give you super powers, unlike the real world, where it gives you tumors.

Caninemafioso.com