Explored Comics

When the Guardians of the Galaxy were revived in the 2000’s as a modern team led by Starlord and, whose members not only included Rocket Racoon, Drax, and Gamora, but also the Celestial Madonna herself, Mantis, who, although green, still possessed the sprouting antenna and the coal black hair of the original Mantis.  Unfortunately, James Gunn did not make Mantis a part of the Guardians team would he filmed the first of the films starring the team, but she appeared in the second, albeit to some criticism for the her portrayal as ineffectual and the recipient of many of Drax’s jokes.  (As of the date of the publishing of this post, I have not seen the film yet and cannot confirm such criticism though released images of the film suggests that they are not far off base.) With the release of the film, Comixology and Marvel sold a collection called the Celestial Madonna Saga telling the story of Mantis’s time spent on the Avengers while she attempts to discover the truths to her tru...

I read Martin and Hewitt’s Tank Girl as a teen in high school.  I was attracted to the rawness of the artwork as well as the bawdiness of the stories.  It was a four issue mini-series as recalled.  Hewitt went on to help develop with that guy from Blur the concept band Gorillaz, which has been successful in its own right.  Unlike most comic book series, the original issues were split into smaller stories, usually with some kind of punchline at the end.  Also infused into the comic was a lot of social satire, poking fun at a society obsessed with celebrity.  Tank Girl has continued on with various different artists filling in with the same general bawdiness and social satire. Everybody Loves Tank Girl carries on in that tradition, a series of bawdy tales ending with a kind of punchline at the end.  While Martin has remained on writing duties, Jim Mahford has taken over artist duty. But comics have changed over the last twenty years.  The art has ch...