The World That\'s Coming

September 3, 2025August 16, 2025

It’s an odd thing to find myself revisiting comic book runs that didn’t impress me the first time around, only to appreciate them significantly more a decade or so after the fact, but look at what I read throughout August: 2010s Marvel Comics all over, and I found myself having a lot more fun than I expected. Marvel Now, you tell me? Turns out, Marvel Then makes a lot more sense, even if I find myself somewhat exhausted when the big crossovers of the moment kick in.

Also appreciated in August: Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss — I’m not entirely sure “appreciated” is the appropriate word, even now — and, far less on the fence, Rob Williams and RM Guera’s absolutely fucking wild Judge Dredd collaborations. Hell, I even re-read Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s Zenith Phases 1, 3 and 4. (I didn’t skip Phase 2 intentionally, I simply ended up re-reading 3 and 4 by accident and got sucked in…)

Fear Itself #s 2-3
Defenders (2011) #9
AVX: Consequences #1
Uncanny Avengers (2012) #1
Marvel NOW! Point One #1
AVX: Consequences #2
Defenders (2011) #10
Fear Itself #4
Royals #9
All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #146
History of the Marvel Universe #1
Batman and Robin: Year One #10
Superman Unlimited #4
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #42
Detective Comics #1100
Justice League Red #1
Defenders (2011) #s 11-12
Royals #10
All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #s 147-150
Fear Itself #s 5-7
Incredible Hulk (2011) #1
Avengers: The Veracity Trap OGN
AVX: Consequences #s 3-4
Iron Man (2012) #s 1-3
Fear Itself #s 7.1-7.3
Infinity (2013) #1
Age of Ultron #1
AVX: Consequences #5
Uncanny Avengers (2012) #2
Age of Ultron #2
Deadline (1989) #23
Age of Ultron #s 3-10, 10.AI
Infinity (2013) #s 2-6
Inhumanity #s 1-2
Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock #1
Infinity Countdown Prime #1
Infinity Countdown #1
Royals #s 11-12
Inhumans: Judgment Day #1
All-New Venom #9
The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #7
Captain America (2025) #2
One World Under Doom #6
Uncanny X-Men (2024) #19
Iron Man (2012) #s 4-5
Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) #s 2-6
Iron Man (2012) #6
Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) #s 7-12
Action Comics #s 1088-1089
Titans (2023) #26
Cobra Commander #5
Destro #s 1-2
Transformers UK: Target 2006
Absolute Superman #2
Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) #2
Iron Man (2012) #7
History of the Marvel Universe #2
Defenders: Beyond #1
Loki: Agent of Asgard #1
Iron Man (2012) #8
Loki: Agent of Asgard #2
Iron Man (2012) #9
History of the Marvel Universe #3
Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) #3
The Ultimates (2016) #1
Marvel Super-Heroes: Contest of Champions #1
Absolute Superman #s 2-3
Justice League: The Nail #1
Justice League of America (1960) #1
Loki: Agent of Asgard #3
Iron Man (2012) #10
Judge Dredd: Tunnels eps. 1-7
Captain Planet and the Planeteers #1
Guardians of the Galaxy (2020) #4
Marvel Boy (2000) #s 1-2
Iron Man (2012) #11
Loki: Agent of Asgard #4
The Ultimates (2016) #2
Black Kiss #s 1-3
Marvel Super-Heroes: Contest of Champions #2
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #s 222-224
Loki: Agent of Asgard #5
Original Sin #0
Original Sin: Thor & Loki – The Tenth Realm #s 1-3
Black Kiss #s 4-7
Marvel Boy (2000) #3
History of the Marvel Universe #4
Destro #3
Black Kiss #s 8-12
Absolute Superman #5
History of the Marvel Universe #5
Original Sin: Thor & Loki – The Tenth Realm #s 4-5
Loki: Agent of Asgard #s 6-8
Iron Man (2012) #12
Marvel Boy (2000) #4
Judge Dredd: Rend and Tear with Tooth and Claw
Marvel Boy (2000) #5
X-Men (2024) #20
Giant-Size X-Men (2025) #2
History of the Marvel Universe #6
Fantastic Four (2025) #2
Predator vs. the Marvel Universe #1
Loki: Agent of Asgard #9
Marvel Boy (2000) #6
Iron Man (2012) #13
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 500-503
Iron Man (2012) #14
Loki: Agent of Asgard #10
The Ultimates (2016) #3
Mighty Avengers (2013) #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 504-505
DC All In Special #1
Loki: Agent of Asgard #s 11-13
Iron Man (2012) #s 15-16
Mighty Avengers (2013) #2
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #0.1
Avengers Assemble (2012) #1
Iron Man (2012) #17
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #1
Avengers Assemble (2012) #s 2-3
Black Kiss 2 #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 506-507
Loki: Agent of Asgard #14
Avengers Assemble (2012) #s 4-5
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #2
Loki: Agent of Asgard #s 15-17
Thor (2020) #24 (Loki story only)
Defenders: Beyond #2
Fantastic Four (1961) #319
Avengers Assemble (2012) #s 6-7
Defenders: Beyond #3
Absolute Superman #s 6-7
Avengers Assemble (2012) #8
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #1
Absolute Superman #8
Superman (2023) #29
Justice League Unlimited (2024) #10
JSA (2024) #11
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #508
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #2
The Last Defenders #1
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #s 3-5
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 509-510
The Last Defenders #2
Defenders Beyond #4
Mighty Avengers (2013) #3
The Immortal Thor #1
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #6
Defenders Beyond #5
Loki (2019) #1
Valkyrie: Jane Foster #s 1-2
Cheetah and Cheshire Rob the Justice League #2
Absolute Green Lantern #6
The Last Defenders #3
Avengers: Ultron Forever #1
The New Avengers: Ultron Forever #1
Uncanny Avengers: Ultron Forever #1
Avengers Assemble (2012) #15
Valkyrie: Jane Foster #3
Mighty Avengers (2013) #4
The Last Defenders #4
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #3
The Flash (2023) #s 14-15
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #7
The Immortal Thor #2
Mighty Avengers (2013) #5
The Immortal Thor #3
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #511
The Last Defenders #5
Mighty Avengers (2013) #6
The Immortal Iron Fist (2006) #1
Mighty Avengers (2013) #s 7-9
The Last Defenders #6
Vengeance #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 512-514
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
Dark Avengers (2009) #s 7-8
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1
Dark Reign: X-Men – The List #1
Punisher: War Journal (2006) #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #515
Adventure Comics (1938) #210
The Amazing Spider-Man (2025) #10
Black Cat (2025) #1
Imperial #3
Marvel All-on-One: The Thing vs. The Marvel Universe #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 516-517
The Immortal Iron Fist (2006) #2
The Immortal Thor #4
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #8
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #4
Mighty Avengers (2013) #10
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 518-519
Valkyrie: Jane Foster #4
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 520-521
Hawkeye (2012) #s 1-2
Absolute Superman #9
Wonder Woman (2023) #s 22-24
X-Men: Second Coming #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 522-524
Nightwing (2016) #78
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #525
X-Men: Second Coming #2
Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age #1
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #s 5-6
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #9
Hawkeye (2012) #3
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #526
Mighty Avengers (2013) #11
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #10
Alien (2021) #1
New Gods (1971) #1
Justice League Dark (2018) #1
DC Sneak Peak: Justice League United #1
Justice League United #11
Justice League Adventures #1
JLA: Incarnations #1
Nightwing (2016) #79
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #527
Mighty Avengers (2013) #12
JLA: Incarnations #2
New Gods (1971) #2
Absolute Martian Manhunter #s 1-6
The New Gods (2024) #s 1-9
JLA: Incarnations #3
Mighty Avengers (2013) #s 13-14
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #528
The Order (2007) #1
Black Kiss 2 #2
Star Trek: Lower Decks – Warp Your Own Way OGN
Transformers (2023) #23
G.I. Joe (2024) #10
Exquisite Corpses #s 3-4
Black Kiss 2 #s 3-6
The Order (2007) #2
Zenith: Phase One
The Order (2007) #s 3-4
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #529
The Immortal Hulk #s 1-2
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #s 1-2
The Order (2007) #5
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 530-534
The Order (2007) #6
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #s 7-8
Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #s 11-13
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #3
Iron Man: Fatal Frontier Infinity Comic #s 9-13
Iron Man (2012) #s 18-19
JLA: Incarnations #4
New Gods (1971) #3
Mr. Terrific: Year One #s 1-4
The Immortal Hulk #3
!Gag! (1987) #1
Sinister Romance (1988) #1
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #4
Iron Man (2012) #20
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #534.1
The Order (2007) #7
Avengers (2023) #29
The Mortal Thor #1
West Coast Avengers (2024) #10
The Order (2007) #8
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #535
Iron Man (2012) #21
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #5
The Order (2007) #s 9-10
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #536
Iron Man (2012) #22
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #6
The Immortal Hulk #4
Hawkeye (2012) #s 4-5
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #s 6-7
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #537
The Immortal Hulk #5
Iron Man (2012) #23
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #2
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #1
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #s 8-9
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #538
The Immortal Hulk #s 6-7
Death of the Silver Surfer #3
Fantastic Four Fanfare #4
X-Men (2024) #21
Zenith: Phase Three
Zenith: Phase Four
Bring on the Bad Guys: Abomination #1
Predator: Black, White & Blood #1
Imperial War: Black Panther #1
Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk #1
The Immortal Hulk #8
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #539
Iron Man (2012) #24
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #3
Hawkeye (2012) #6
Contest of Champions (2015) #1
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #540
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #4
Hawkeye (2012) #7
The Immortal Hulk #9
JLA: Incarnations #5
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #541
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #s 5-6
The Immortal Hulk #10
The Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense #1
Namor: The Best Defense #1
Doctor Strange: The Best Defense #1
Silver Surfer: The Best Defense #1
The Defenders: The Best Defense #1
The Immortal Hulk #11
JLA: Incarnations #6
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #s 542-544
Generation Hope #s 1-2
X-Men: Schism #s 1-4
X-Men: Regenesis #1
Uncanny X-Men (2011) #1
Wolverine & the X-Men (2011) #1
The Immortal Hulk #12

August 29, 2025August 9, 2025

A Letter To Me, Rudy

In my defense, I can feel myself fighting the burnout.

I’d become so used to the old rhythms of the year, which peaked in the summer with San Diego Comic-Con and then settled into a dull thud until October saw my next wave of travel for New York Comic Con, and then a slow slide into the holidays; if I was feeling particularly selfish or bold, I might have put my birthday somewhere in between the two there, but still: it was a relatively laidback, relatively still second half of the year. This year, that’s not really the case.

Almost immediately as soon as I was back at my desk after San Diego, it was time to prepare for PAX West, an end-of-August show that I had to manage all the prep for, for multiple people; less than a week after that show, there’s another comic convention to attend here in town. That one, thankfully, doesn’t need any travel (thank God!), but it’s another weekend of working and another list of things to organize and prepare for ahead of time.

As I’m doing all that, I’m also helping plan for New York Comic Con in mid-October, which involves managing the schedules and demands of somewhere in the region of nine or ten people, while also doing prep work for Emerald City Comic Con, which is in March of next year. Oh, and also doing my regular day-to-day writing and editing work, on top of that. (Well, less writing these days, but something had to give.)

None of this should be taken as a complaint; I’m very grateful for my job, and the challenges it brings are something that I know are good for me in the longterm even if they can feel overwhelming in the short. But I’m writing this to record that it is overwhelming in the short term, and that I can feel the burnout creeping in around the edges. I’m writing this to remind myself to take moments to breathe, and try to locate the now while I’m continually working in three or four different time periods at the same moment.

This one isn’t for you, dear reader, it’s for me, to hold myself accountable when I re-read this later.

August 27, 2025August 16, 2025

No Presidents, No Kings

August 25, 2025August 9, 2025

Just Like Starting

Something unexpected happened at San Diego Comic-Con that I’ve been mulling over in the back of my head ever since: someone offered me a job, and it’s not a job in a field I’ve ever worked in before. No, I won’t say what it is, nor who offered it to me; I said no almost immediately, responding that I didn’t have the skill set — they disagreed — nor the experience required for the precise position they were offering, and I was at least entirely correct when it came to the experience part. However… I keep thinking about the fact that it was offered, and I immediately turned it down.

I don’t say that because I regret turning it down (I don’t), but because the more I think about it, the more I’m fascinated by the fact that I didn’t at least take longer to think about the possibility. If nothing else, to think about the possibility of doing anything so outside of my comfort zone. (And this very much would have been outside of my comfort zone.)

When I first moved to the US and got my Green Card, I remember meeting with a temp staffing agency purely because I needed money fast and I didn’t feel as if I had any particularly marketable skills. Sure, I’d gone to art school and taught in that same art school for a couple years after, but still: art school, you know? In the meeting, I was asked what kind of work I was looking for, and my reply was, for all intents and purposes, what have you got?

My thinking at the time was, no matter what is offered, I’ll either pick it up as I go along or not, and then I’ll move on to something else. Looking back, this feels supernaturally unlike the me I am now, who’d be daunted at the prospect of starting from scratch and seeing what could happen — but it worked out, even if much of that was due to the kindness and forgiveness of those around me at the time. (Something I have always strived to repay and pass on now that I’m in a more senior position myself.) Still: was I selling myself short by not responding to this new job offer with a do tell me more instead of a no, I’m not the guy, trust me?

I don’t know. Maybe? It’s not as if I’m in a business with any kind of long-term survival strategy, because my business doesn’t have any kind of long-term survival strategy, it becomes increasingly clear. Then again, it’s also not as if the industry I was being offered an entry point to was any more stable in the grand scheme of things. I chose to stay with the Devil I Know, and honestly, I’m glad I did. I actually kind of like this particular Devil, if I have to say it out loud.

And yet, my mind keeps wondering every now and then. And yet.

August 22, 2025August 21, 2025

Many Years From Now There Will Be New Sensations

I’m glad that I hit the entirely arbitrary 150 mark on my 2025 playlist before the end of the month, so I can share what my particular “Songs of the Summer” have been before the season falls into the bin underneath our big cosmic desk. For those that might not remember, every year I make a Spotify playlist of songs that are either new to me or that I’ve become newly obsessed with if I had heard them before, and I share them here in batches of 50 songs at a time; here are the first two entries of this year’s list. (Why 50? There is no method to my madness.)

Want to know what much of my June, July and August sounded like? Take a look.

August 20, 2025August 9, 2025

Everyone’s A Liar Or A Thief

August 18, 2025August 9, 2025

I Pick Myself Up And Get Back

Like some fading action hero staring into the distance in the dimly-lit room at the midpoint of a movie, I’ve been realizing that I don’t heal as quickly as I used to — although, while the action hero’s moment of awareness would have been heralded by surviving a set piece that likely involved no shortage of gunfire, a shattered window or two and likely a fall of a couple of stories at the very least, mine came about because of a random gardening accident.

It’s been weeks since I accidentally got a stone embedded in my ankle thanks to a weed whacker run amok, and although it was certainly pretty deep in there — the amount of blood that gushed forth when I prized it out was enough of a giveaway about that — I’m still surprised that it hasn’t entirely healed over just yet; I looked down in the shower today to see the scab still formed and wondered how long I’d be stuck with this unlikely addition. It made me think about the fact that I still have the ghosts of scars from the animals clawing at me, too, even though those are even older, and I got to thinking about how the body changes and starts prioritizing what to work on as you get older.

(I can still get out of bed every morning without pain, and my back hasn’t given out on me yet; I’ll take both of those things over more elastic skin any day, I admit.)

At the dinner with the team before San Diego Comic-Con this year, there was a moment where I looked down and realized that my left hand was bleeding. I had (and still have) no idea whatsoever how it had happened — there was nothing that I could have cut myself on anywhere near me, as far as I could see, but there I was, with a big bleeding gash on my hand. I made a joke to everyone else as I wandered away to ask a waiter for a band-aid or two, but even then, I thought to myself, is this just something that happens now? Am I just going to start bleeding for seemingly no reason?

That cut is still on my hand, too, and occasionally it still sends a sting up my arm to remind me of that, out of nowhere. There are things you don’t think about as your body ages, and there’s something almost welcome about that, in a way. It’s nice to still be surprised, 50 years in.

August 15, 2025August 9, 2025

Still Around The Morning After

I had a thought, the other day, upon realizing that a bunch of comics I’ve been buying in back issues lately aren’t ones that I collected back in the day, but ones that I read from the collection of my best friend in high school; I realized that I had inherited the issues originally when he quit reading comics himself, and I thought, back when he outgrew comics, just like everyone else at the time except for me and the other shy, painfully quiet loners I’d see at the local comic book store.

I thought that, and then I realized that… that probably doesn’t happen anymore. At some point in the decades since I was a teenager, buying and reading comics became, if not mainstream then at least not something that is a topic of open derision by your peer group. I’m almost nostalgic about the whole concept now, looking back.

I remember the point when I thought to myself, oh, I’m a comic collector now, and I can even remember the specific comic book issue when I realized that I wasn’t just reading comics off-handedly; it was something that was specifically an active interest, something that I wanted to do and do intentionally. (That was Uncanny X-Men #185, by the way, by Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr.; I don’t know why that issue was the one, but it was. It still took ten months for me to call myself a collector, though; I didn’t do that until I bought Uncanny X-Men #195.)

Throughout my late teens, I remember that buying and reading comics was a particularly solitary activity, that I’d find the stores and go there myself or drag along a friend or even family member despite their obvious disinterest. It was something that I kept to myself, as much as I’d occasionally attempt to convert people I thought could be like-minded and easily convinced. It rarely worked; for the most part, it was something I did and kept to myself.

There’s really is something I almost miss about all of that. As lonely as it was — and it was! — there was also something… exciting about feeling as if I spoke a secret language that no-one else around me understood, or the thrill of realizing that other people could understand, when that connection was made. The world is different now, where everyone doesn’t just recognize Spider-Man and Superman and Batman, but Metamorpho, Shang-Chi, and Moon Knight, as well. How did that even happen?

August 13, 2025August 9, 2025