Gutter Talk

All Things Sequential

Ray Tomczak

Ray Tomczak
Location
Columbus, Ohio,
Birthday
September 03
Bio
In comics, the term "gutter" refers to the space between the panels. This is a blog about comics--comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, web comics, old comics, new comics, good comics, bad comics, movies and TV shows based on comics, books about comics, the comics that I write and draw, and anything else even remotely related to comics.

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JULY 20, 2012 5:54PM

The Dark Knight Rushes

(Note: I composed this post before hearing the news of the shootings during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado.  I gave some thought to not posting this, as perhaps some people might find a somewhat snarky post about DKR to be inappropriate at this point in time. … Read full post »
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JULY 11, 2012 4:55PM

THIS Is The Best You Got? Seriously?!?

It has often been observed that prior to John Byrne's 1986 revamp of the character, Superman had become so ridiculously powerful that it was difficult for the writers to come up with credible challenges for him.  To me, that sounds like a lame excuse for churning out mediocre stories.  Stil… Read full post »
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JULY 9, 2012 6:09PM

GONZO: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson Reviewed

Here, then, before we get to the meat of the review, are the basic facts of the matter before us.  Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thompson, written by Will Bingley and  illustrated by Anthony Hope-Smith with an introduction by Thompson's former editor Alan Rinzler, was originally p/… Read full post »
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JULY 7, 2012 9:38AM

It Ain't Necessarily So

Just because I feel like playing Devil's Advocate this afternoon, I want to address one other aspect of the advanced criticism of "Before Watchmen" that showed up again and again across the Wild, Wild Web.  That is the notion that prequels to Watchmen were going to automatically suck because Ala/… Read full post »
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JULY 4, 2012 2:05PM

Living In The Past (Action Comics #463)

Perhaps, as has been theorized, a nation still reeling from the upheavals of the 1960's and the trauma of Watergate was desperately seeking a reason to feel good about itself.  Perhaps it was a natural and predictable expression of some inborn American tendency toward hype, excess and spectacle.… Read full post »
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JULY 2, 2012 12:36PM

And The Winner Should Be...

Though its been around since 2005, I did not know about the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing until I heard the news that my old friend Steve Skeates is one of this year's honorees.  Now that I do, I'm glad that such an award exists.  Its long pas/… Read full post »
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JUNE 29, 2012 3:45PM

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1 Reviewed

We all agree that the very existence of the entire "Before Watchmen" project is a slap in the face to poor, mistreated Alan Moore and a heretical desecration of one of the sacred texts of comics literature, am I right?
So, does the fact that I actually enjoyed the first issue of… Read full post »
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JUNE 27, 2012 4:50PM

The Fundamental Things Apply

We are not here today to debate the wisdom of DC Comics attempting to produce prequels to the most revered graphic novel of all time.  That debate continues on a host of other sites all throughout cyber-land.  No, I wish to dispel, instead, the notion that the mere existence of  "Befor… Read full post »
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JUNE 25, 2012 7:59PM

Skeates To Be Honored With Bill Finger Award for Excellence at Comic-Con

Plastic Man #15 from 1976 remains to this day one of my favorite comic books.  In that issue, written by Steve Skeates, Plas battles an a killer robot and an amnesiac dressed as a giant carrot.  The name of the diminutive West Coast based hired killer who sends the mechanized monster/… Read full post »
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JUNE 23, 2012 5:13PM

The Influencing Machine

My  two main sources of news and entertainment these days are comic books and National Public Radio, and one of my favorite NPR programs, due both to the subject matter it covers and to the way said subject matter is presented by hosts Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, is On The… Read full post »
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JUNE 19, 2012 2:56PM

Free Comic Book Day Comics Part 4

I shall attempt to keep my remarks short, as I begin to grow weary of this series and am glad to see it come to its conclusion. I have a mere two free comics yet to cover, and I have been saving what is perhaps the coolest Free Comic Book Day… Read full post »
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JUNE 17, 2012 9:55AM

It Was 40 Years Ago Today--Nixon, Kirby, the Great Disaster and the End of the 60s

It was forty years ago this very morning that the 1960's ended. 
Allow me to clarify that seemingly chronologically challenged assertion.
You see, I vaguely recall having read something in Reader's Digest many years past about the concept of "sociological decades", measured not by calendar years b/… Read full post »
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JUNE 15, 2012 6:40PM

Friday Evening News & Rants: June 15, 2012 Edition

This is the first installment of what may just turn out to be a regular feature.  It all depends on whether or not there's any news that I deem worth writing about or commenting on.
CAKE banner designed by Chicago artist Laura Park

My readers in Chicago (and I'm told that I have… Read full post »
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JUNE 13, 2012 4:50PM

Free Comic Book Day Comics Part 3

I'm sure no one's going to be too disappointed if I skip the lengthy, rambling preamble this time out and get right to the comics.
I was in college when Voltron debuted back in the mid-80's.  While I enjoyed the series, mine was more of an ironic, detached appreciation.  I was laughing/… Read full post »
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JUNE 11, 2012 4:18PM

The Origin of The Earth-2 Flash--Take 1

When I started this blog some two and a half years ago, I gave it the tagline "All Things Sequential" and set out to write about, as I say in my mission statement over there in the sidebar, "anything...even remotely related to comics.  That's a pretty broad mandate, but I think… Read full post »
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JUNE 7, 2012 6:10PM

Earth 2 #2 Reviewed

So.  Alan Scott.  He's gay, huh?  
To quote the leader of the black 'Lectroids from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension (because I am THAT big a geek), "So what?  Big deal."  
It would be a shame if all the hollow hype surrounding one panel… Read full post »
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JUNE 6, 2012 7:44PM

Ray Bradbury 1920-2012

After I posted my previous entry here this evening, I was taking a look at the blogroll over in the sidebar and noticed that two separate blogs had recent posts entitled "Ray Bradbury."  I clicked on one of the links, fervently hoping that this didn't mean the only thing that it… Read full post »
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JUNE 6, 2012 4:11PM

Free Comic Book Day Comics Part 2

The three books I'll be looking at today are all flip books, so it'll be like getting double the reviews for your money.  Not that you pay anything to read this blog, nor should you.  If you had to, I could honestly think of several dozen blogs or other forms of… Read full post »
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JUNE 4, 2012 5:20PM

Free Comic Book Day Free Comics Part 1

So, what exactly is the point of reviewing comics from Free Comic Book Day?  The big day was a few weeks ago, and those comics aren't widely available right now, so its not like I can urge you to go out and grab your own copy if you didn't already.  However,… Read full post »
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JUNE 2, 2012 8:16AM

The Gay Thing

Sometimes, if you have nothing to say, it is best to say nothing.  
Thus, I was initially not going to post about DC's recent announcement that they would be reintroducing one of their "iconic" characters in his New 52 incarnation this month and that the rebooted version of this previously h… Read full post »
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MAY 29, 2012 4:15PM

Focus on Firestorm: The Fury of Firestorm #1 (1982)

At last, I remove this particular sword of Damocles that has been hovering over my big fat, football shaped head for something like nine months now.  Below is the repeatedly promised second part of my series reviewing all of Firestorm's debut issues.
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… Read full post »
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MAY 27, 2012 1:41PM

Meeting Mr. Danny B

I know that this is supposed to be a blog about comics, yet try as I might I can't come up with any way to connect what I'm about to write to that topic.  It is about art, however, and, as anyone inside the Columbus, Ohio alternative comics scene will tell… Read full post »
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MAY 26, 2012 11:23AM

Earth-2 #1 Reviewed

I was going to start off this post with the old cliche "This isn't your father's Earth-2", but then, while reading other reviews of this comic trying to find one that I wanted to link to later on, I noticed that Martin Gray at Too Dangerous For A Girl, whom I/… Read full post »
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MAY 25, 2012 3:54PM

Comics You Could Have Picked Up At SPACE Part 2

Hunter S. Thompson has been much on my mind of late.  A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a copy of the new edition of  Will Bingley and Anthony Hope-Smith's "graphic biography" of Thompson, Gonzo, a review of which shall be forthcoming. I have long been a fan of Thompson's work,/… Read full post »
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MAY 23, 2012 3:53PM

Comics You Could Have Picked Up at SPACE Part One

So, I've been away from the blog again for another extended period, though a mere month this time, due to various "real world" circumstances, among them the remodeling of my apartment which had me staying with my sister for a few days.  This has only increased the backlog of stuff that… Read full post »
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