Simon DelMonte's Guide to Comic Book Sites on the Net

[sdelmonte]

Putting on my Simon DelMonte hat - there, isn't it nice - I have decided to offer a special entry today. People often don't say to me, "Simon, you know so much about comic books. How did you manage that?" If they were to ask me, I would say that in addition to reading them, I use the Net. Being a Net-linked comic book reading has enhanced my hobby greatly over the past six years, turning a solitary pleasure into a shared one for the first time since college. But what sites do I recommend? Read on.

THE MESSAGE BOARD
Everyone has a message board they like above all others. Mine is Tony Isabella's Message Board (http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/). Tony, a comic book writer and a columnist for Comic Buyer's Guide, started this board to discuss his columns as they were posted online. While his online output his diminished, his board has expanded to discuss everything under the sun, from gun control to gay rights to Buffy and Angel and West Wing to the best peanut brittle on the East Coast. But everyone there, aside from being friendly and rarely getting into flamewars, is a comic book fan. Wanna discuss any comic you read? This is a good place.

THE CORPORATE SITES
All the comic companies have their own sites. As I read a lot of DC and a bit of Marvel, I frequent those sites (http://www.dccomics.com/ and http://www.marvel.com/). Despite the nature of the sites as marketing devices, both have a bit to offer. Want a character bio? You can find them with ease at Marvel and with a little work at DC? Want info about upcoming comics? Marvel stopped offering such things as part of a new no-spoilers-of-any-kind policy, but DC still posts info about the next three months' books. Want free comics? DC has a few, usually ones that have sold out completely, but Marvel's Dotcomics program allows readers to sample a good deal of the company's high-profile releases. I read the first 21 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man for free here, and I suspect that many readers now buy it.

But what about interacting? Oddly, Marvel has no interest in having its own message boards - a rarity given how many official TV show sites do - but DC's set of message boards cover the entirety of the DC spectrum. Some boards are busier than others, and some are populated by idiots, but others produce good, intelligent analysis and criticism of current series. What's more, many writers and artists visit the boards. Recent visitors have included Geoff Johns (The Flash), Ed Brubaker (Batman) and Bill Willingham (Fables). So far, I have found few places better for discussing DC's wares.

THE NEWS SITES
OK, so I have my interaction. But I need to know what's going on in the field. Well, this is a good time for the fan who wants to keep up to date. You could try Newsarama (http://www.newsarama.com/), the oldest major comics news site; or visit The Pulse, a new source of news that is part of Comicon's site (http://www.comicon.com/). There is Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com/), and even Comics Continuum, which also offers a good deal of TV and movie news but little in the way of interviews and features (http://www.comicscontinuum.com/). Naturally, all of these sites except Comics Continuum has a message board function as well, so you can comment about the latest comic book series on the drawing board. However, I find the conversations at these sites to be rather dull. Happily, the news and interviews are not dull. Of the ones I list, I would recommend Newsarama by a hair over Pulse.
Comic Book Resources has one thing that others don't: a comprehensive links database. Want to know all about the Fantastic Four, or She-Hulk, or Savage Dragon? Just follow the links.

RUMORS
Yes, there is comic book gossip out there, about corporate shenanigans and cancelled series and projects too weird to believe. The best of the Net's Matt Drudges (albeit a liberal and not that political) is Rich Johnston, and his columns runs weekly at Comic Book Resources. He tends to get things right most of the time. The other rumormonger of note is Ian Ungstad, who took over for Johnston at Silver Bullet Comics (http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/) and looks to be just as accurate.

REVIEWS
There are a lot of sites that offer reviews, but only a few stand out. The abovementioned Silver Bullet Comics has a good variety of reviews, often having two writers review the same book, but one or two of their critics can be quite shrill.
The most reliable, if increasingly unadventuresome, online critics are Randy Lander and Don MacPherson. Their combined site, The Fourth Rail (http://www.thefourthrail.com/), offers previews of some new comics on Mondays and more reviews on Thursdays. They are good writers, and I tend to agree with them a lot, but don't look for too much from the small press or even CrossGen.
The most literate mainstream critic on the Net right now, though, is Paul O'Brien. His X-Axis focuses on all the X-Men books and related projects, but he reads a lot of DC, independent, small press and British stuff too. He can be snarky in the way that only an Briton can be, but that just makes his compliments all the more noteworthy. He can be found at http://www.esoterica.demon.co.uk/reviews.html/ although it makes more sense to subscribe to his e-mail list to get a prompt Sunday mailing.

There are of course many, many more sites I know and like, but these are the ones I consider essential. So read them. Communicate. Analyze and criticize. Share your love of comics, or your hatred of what they've done to Fill-in-the-blank-Man, or your craziest memory. But above all, spread the word about the glory that are comic books.

Of course, I could be absolutely wrong about everything I've said, but for once I think maybe I know what I am talking about. After all, I am Simon DelMonte.

Or I would be if I weren't Alex Wittenberg. :)

Comments

[dotsomething.livejournal.com]

You know, Simon (or whoever you are calling yourself today ;) you have a knack for this kind of journalistic writing. I'm not saying you shouldn't be pursuing the fiction thing, too. But essay writing, or the kind of article you just posted here, is an art form as much as fiction.

I bring this up because critics, essayist, those who do "nonfiction," are often criticised as being the folks who can't do, so they analyze or criticize instead. (I've criticized myself for this until I realized essays can be as creative as the most bizarre science fiction, and that writing nonfiction is darned hard to do well...)

In others words, you write real good.

[sdelmonte]

Much thanks. Keep in mind, of course, that I am a public relations dude, so that nonfiction writing is hypothetically my bread and butter. (Although my work is rarely that creative.) But as for essays and the like, let's say that I do enjoy them and that the expository writing class I took umpteen years ago was really worth it. I would rather try my hand at fiction again, but I admit there is something about the essay that comes to me with some ease. Maybe it's because I have an opinion about everything!

Or maybe it comes from all those years of writing letters to the editor in all those comics. Ah, how I do long for the day when you could write a smart critical letter and someone like Greg Weisman or Deny O'Neil would read it and then dare to print it.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Hey, nice hat. :)

Mer

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Have you checked out http://bobbuethe.tripod.com/cartoonacy (http://bobbuethe.tripod.com/cartoonacy)?

[sdelmonte]

Oddly, despite knowing Bob Buethe through a mailing lst we are on, I've never visited his site. Thanks for getting me to take a peek.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I've known Bob for many years. He and I started a humor magazine at Hofstra University.