"Being Alive," is Simon Hanselmann's Latest Twisted Delight

Simon Hanselmann is a skilled creator of comics. Many of his works involve the witch known as Megg, the talking cat, Mogg, and their roommate (in some continuities), Owl. Oh, and good ol' Werewolf Jones. Sometimes Hanselmann's yarns with these characters are outright hilarious ("Crisis Zone,"), but they can be incredibly dark and depressing too. His works are often quite edgy, however, with this latest release of the single-issue/one-shot, "Being Alive," providing plenty of moments I laughed aloud, cringed, and sometimes did both. This comic primarily involves Owl wanting to break up with his girlfriend, Jenny. 

All the mayhem occurs a bit after Owl learns she often likes to dress up as a clown named, "Spritzy Waters." Yes, it is also a sex thing, and she does OnlyFans under that moniker as well. Owl isn't big on clowns, comedy-themed sex, or Jenny/Spritzy's clown friends who seem to despise him. An attempt to end things at the circus (it's her favorite place and the idea was to soften the blow) does not go well, either. As in many stories with Owl, he incurs a lot of hilarious injuries. Oh, and everyone does a lot of drugs at the birthday party for a nine-year-old.

"Being Alive," is absurd, hilarious, and full of awful people being terrible to each other. The closest comparison I've ever been able to draw to these miscreants would maybe be the characters of, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," but with the insanity and surreal aspects cranked up beyond anything you'd ever see on television (at least basic cable, maybe one of the edgier streaming networks). Hanselmann's work remains as impressive and enjoyable as ever; the world of comics is better for his unique brand of dark and quirky creations.

5 out of 5 Stars.

Eight Months After, "Ending," the Diamond Comic Distributors' Saga Ends AGAIN. Maybe

There are too many links and posts of the entire saga for me to put them all here, but I will note that last time I mentioned Diamond Comic Distributors in more than passing, it was to note how they were, "No More." Within a calendar year, they had gone from a struggling-but-sizeable part of the business to comic distribution to bankruptcy and shutting down. As I said, "One long National nightmare is over (out of many that still persist, but oh well). Yes, Diamond Comic Distributors ceased operations/existence on December 31st, 2025, serving as the last day." However, like some kind of horror movie, it seems various lawsuits kept the corpse of Diamond shambling in the manner of a zombie. Unlike a zombie, however, this wasn't powered by sheer will and hunger, just litigation and money. Eight months since Diamond as an actual entity ceased existing, however, the nightmare is over, again. I swear this time. 

You see, that big pile of inventory sitting in Diamond's warehouses that was on consignment from publishers (and should have gone back to said publishers) was being illegally sold to pay off debts, and some of those debts were owed to the people who wanted that inventory (it's complicated). Comics Beat declared, "It's over," with a settlement reached for publishers to get their books back. Some loose ends remain in terms of the logistics of folks getting their inventory back, certain people saying, "Wait, where's my money tho?" and so forth. We're mostly done, though, right? That, or maybe one war is over, but a whole messy journey is yet to come? Diamond admitted it had trouble and then was gone within 365 days, but it seems we'll be dealing with the mess it left behind for some time to come. It seems when one, "Nightmare," related to Diamond ends, a whole new bad night's sleep awaits plenty of other folks. At least, anyone besides the lawyers getting paid to dig through this muck of paperwork--they're probably pleased with this seemingly unending gig!

"Arise Dark Lord," Shows Fun Potential

Introversion Software is quite known for its, "Prison Architect," where you attempt to design and run a successful prison (with things often going wrong). They've been hard at work on, "The Last Starship," for some time now, and have another game, "Arise Dark Lord." It looks interesting, with a blend of tower defense, base building, and you controlling the titular Dark Lord and commanding a bunch of undead minions as a big ol' evil tower gets built. Reading about it made me think of the underrated classic, "Overlord," which had you guiding various forms of little goblins in an evil quest (sort of, "Pikmin," if the protagonist were a baddie). This made me want to try it out!

There is a free playable demo/early prototype, and I had some fun with it! The retro-style pixels, how the landscape looks like an old map, and other little touches are fun. I enjoyed moving around, sending my followers after the, "Heroic," elements. Sometimes it can be fun when a game's protagonist is actually an antagonist, and, "Arise Dark Lord," takes full advantage of the nefarious vibe from you being a wicked entity. It is quite early in its development, with a full release happening later in 2027. That said, "Arise My Dark Lord," is definitely a game to keep your eye on as it progresses to being more completed/done.

Observation: We Need More Weird/Wacky Crossover Comics

A comic crossover can be relatively small-scale, such as when two characters in the same Universe have a special comic/mini-series. The Fantastic Four and the X-Men, for example. We also have different Universes within the same publisher, like when Peter Parker and Miles Morales first met (when he was in the original Ultimate Universe). Then, you've got crossovers between publishers, be they having Batman meet Deadpool, Vampirella and Witchblade teaming up, or the cast of Black Hammer chatting with the Justice League. You know what I really like, however? Weird crossovers. Not just quirky, but ones that outright shouldn't make sense yet end up working against all odds.

DC owns Looney Tunes and DC heroes. There was a time when various Looney Tunes characters had crossover comics with assorted DC characters. Many of the comics were forgettable except for Batman facing off against the ice-old assassin...Elmer Fudd. Yes, seriously. It was hardboiled, dripping with a sleazy vibe, and Tom King wrote it so seriously, with Lee Weeks giving us art that went so hard, it was amazing. It took something silly and combined it with something decidedly less, "Cute," and the result was good. Think of when Archie met the Punisher. 

True, Frank Castle doesn't kill anyone during his time interacting with Archie, but he's still pretty grim and slightly (just slightly) finds the earnest innocence of Archie and his friends endearing. Archie does a lot of weird crossovers, honestly, and I applaud that. He's fought the Predator, been a bit shocked by the harsh language of Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob, and soon Riverdale is going to combat the Terminator! 

A weird crossover is good fun, whether it's Godzilla fighting Marvel, DC, Sonic, or anyone else--a Kaiju up against anybody is zany! I mean, IDW once did that crosser-that-wasn't-exactly-a-crossover with, "Infestation," where some original characters happened to meet everyone from the Ghostbusters to Star Trek's crew, G.I. Joe, and more (although the various brands did not meet). The most recent outrageous crossover I dug was that, "DC K.O. Boss Battle," which had DC's characters running into everyone from Homelander, to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Mortal Kombat characters, and a talking serial-killer bear from the popular, "Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees," series, to not even name everyone. It was bizarre and glorious. 

We need more crazy stuff. Things where when they are first announced people ask, "Wait, is this a joke?" then get excited at just how wild these crossovers get. I appreciate that comics can be serious literature, but sometimes you just want to see Popeye fighting the aliens from, "Mars Attacks," for funsies! My point is, I hope companies keep the wacky intra- and intercompany crossovers coming!

That New Spidey Movie Made Bank!

We all know the routine. A superhero movie comes out and struggles so people ask, "Are superhero movies done for? Do people have superhero fatigue?" or, if the lead is female, "Why don't lady heroes sell?" even though flicks with dudes have done worse than some women-led films. Then, however, another superhero hits the silver screen, makes a truckload (Hell, multiple truckloads) of money, and the media declares, "Superheroes are bigger than ever, and any fatigue has been crushed!" Yes, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," debuted Friday and raked in all the dough. $355 million in America and $927 million Worldwide. It helps that there are three other Tom Holland-led movies, it has been a bit since the last one (building anticipation), the reviews were good, and we shouldn't forget that Spider-Man as a character generally gets butts in seats. 

The only thing that seems to have fallen flat on its face was the supposed mystery of who actress Sadie Sink was playing being guessed/leaked long ago and becoming one of the worst-kept secrets about a movie for some time. If, somehow, you've avoided learning who she plays, I won't say anything beyond stating she apparently does a great job, along with everyone else involved, from Jon Bernthal as the Punisher to Zendaya's return as MJ, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Oh, and Tom Holland apparently continues to seem designed in a lab to be the perfect Peter Parker version of Spider-Man, so good on him.

That ol' Parker Luck actually was profitable this time!

Sony owns the movie rights to Spidey and characters directly related to him. They play nice with Marvel/Disney but attempted their own stuff, too, for a bit. Now, Sony seems to have realized that making movies about Spidey-adjacent characters almost always falls flat on its face (although I'll defend the first two, "Venom," movies as fun), so they need to either do live-action Spider-Man or the animated Spiderverse films. Any other Marvel heroes will fall squarely with Marvel/Disney, and we'll see just how things go this Winter with, "Avengers: Doomsday." Whether that is a letdown in some fashion or sets off trumpeting of, "Marvel's back and better than ever!" will remain to be seen.

Hot Comics Revue 24: More Like, "Raunchy," Dragon, Am I Right? I Said, "Am I Right?" Wow, Quiet Crowd Tonight

 

When Image Comics launched back in 1992 (over 30 years ago, damn I'm old), I wonder how many people thought some of those earliest series would, somehow, continue to this day. Certain titles from that first decade occasionally had series off-and-on and grew into a complicated publishing history ("Youngblood," for example). Other lines went over to DC (Wildstorm in 1998). Some books arrived with a splash before being forgotten--"Tribe," anyone? Still, "Spawn," grew to be almost the face of Image at points, persisting with a consistent schedule for years and years. Todd McFarlane and various folks he worked with kept pumping out, "Spawn," comics even when it seemed they were being released more as a favor to McFarlane by Image than actually moving units. Inexplicably, Spawn had its popularity return, and now it is a hit again with spin-offs and ongoing chatter of another movie being possible (the original one was a bit of a mess). That said, this post isn't about, "Spawn," and now that I've got you too in deep to quit this piece, it is time to pull the rug and reveal this post is about the other long-running Image book. Yes, "The Savage Dragon," has also become the talk of the town lately, albeit for reasons, "Spawn," probably wouldn't ever dream of.

Created by Erik Larsen in the 1980's and originally just known as, "Dragon/The Dragon," the debut issue of, "The Savage Dragon," hit shelves in 1992, and ever since then Larsen has been the sole writer and artist. He puts out issues sporadically, and the series seems to feature whatever is on his mind, or he fancies discussing. Dragon was an amnesiac hero who became a police officer. Later on, he's in a dystopian reality. Big powered wars happen. Characters seemed to age in real time; the original Savage Dragon died, and his son took over the series. The book started occasionally getting a bit raunchy. It often riffed on politics. A public domain Mickey Mouse showed up and was a jerk, quite recently. Describing, "Savage Dragon," is best done by saying, "Random and weird stuff happens," and that is meant as a compliment. This is a comic that has kept coming out and has a die-hard fanbase, but is generally ignored by shops who only order it for said fans. Then issue #280 did something creatively raunchy--and baby, sex sells.

Without spending a whole paragraph explaining the lore, I will just say that issue #280 involved Malcom Dragon (the son of the original who now is the focus of the book) arriving home to find his beloved involved in a group-sex session of sorts with other heroes. For some years now, "Savage Dragon," has been racy, yes, but Larsen did something funny with this issue. The, "A," cover also features a different last page than the, "B," cover with a retro trade dress. In, "A," cover copies, the last page is a bit less (how to put this) visceral in the fluids pictured. In issues with the, "B," cover, things are quite visible and messy. It is absurd and crass, yes, and boy did it light a fire under the comic for some reason, with people learning there was a surprise, "Dirtier," iteration of the comic causing mayhem. The A and C covers (the C has the same interior as A) were sought-after, and B has gone nuclear. Issue #281 came out last week with various covers and no interior changes, but it has been desired by fans who hadn't cared about, "Savage Dragon," in years. Meanwhile, with #280, the A cover is an easy 20 bucks, and the B cover is over $100. There is going to be a second printing this week that is specifically the B cover and its interior--which is a bit unique to hear. As I said, sex sells. I suppose gimmicks sell too, so combine them and there ya go!

The Switch 2 Was Never Meant to be a Powerhouse Console

Certain consoles come along and brag about how powerful they are. "This new PlayStation will render water so realistically you'd swear you're swimming," or, "You can see every blade of grass in this new Xbox game," and so forth. Nintendo's consoles haven't ever (to my memory) been focused on bragging about computing power or such. The idea has been to make fun and interesting games via their wacky ideas. These ideas sometimes work out amazingly (the smash success of the Wii and Switch consoles) or flops a bit (the Wii U struggled). 

Still, complaining about a Nintendo console struggling to render games with the best graphics or such just doesn't make much sense. It is like complaining your shortberry shortcake ice cream sundae doesn't have any banana--you could've just got the banana split then! I saw all this as Polygon had an article remarking on how some ports to the Switch 2 of popular games already have it struggling to chug along a bit. I get the idea, but the Switch 2 will, most likely, find a way to keep itself relevant for a bit even as Sony or Xbox hype up their newest uber-powerful machines (which won't even support discs in Sony's case). I think the Switch 2 will continue to do just fine within its processing limits and remain a fun console known for just that: fun. Plus, the fact that we can at least have physical versions of many games if we want is a nice feature in an era where everything is going digital-only, whether we like it or not.

End of July 2026 News and Links

It is the last day of July. We've had quite a month for popular culture-related announcements thanks to Comic-Con International/San Diego Comic-Con being a hot spot to let folks know about your upcoming comics, movies, and so forth. A variety of interesting things were discussed or occurred, however, so let's spotlight some interesting tidbits from as of late!

To begin with, my favorite PSP (an underrated portable console) game series of all time was Lumines. In a bit of a surprise, it has finally been ported to iOS and Android, meaning your smartphone can now experience the joy of this strange music-puzzle-matching experience! "Lumines Remastered," can be bought now!

"Wonder Man," is cancelled and won't have a second season on Disney+. This is despite being a really fun show, getting rave reviews for a Marvel streaming show (a bit rare), and having a second season announced a matter of a few months ago! That said, Yahya Abdul Mateen II and Ben Kingsley were a hoot in the show as Simon Williams/Wonder Man and Trevor Slattery/the former Mandarin actor. Perhaps this is a stealthy way to fold them into a movie, one can hope? At least the star was able to not seem too sad.

A number of fly-by-night companies have those hideous AI-generated books these days where you type in some details about a child, and it spits out a, "Personalized," story you can then purchase in book form. A number of Baby Boomers apparently love these and won't stop buying them for their grandkids.

 

I wasn't particularly smitten with the first issue of the new comic, "Terminal," by Robert Kirkman, Joe Casey, and Andy Kubert. I thought it looked great, and the story had potential, but I wasn't immediately hooked. I'm in the minority for now, however, as the debut has sold 300,000 or so copies, with a second printing on the way. Kirkman might have another hit on his hands!

Speaking of Skybound/Robert Kirkman, Netflix has paid for the rights to, "The Walking Dead," franchise starting in 2027, sharing the past shows and new stuff with AMC for a cool 500 million dollars. I'd argue that while the comic and show ended with the spin-offs past their peak of popularity, there always are new fans discovering it, kind of like when Netflix scooped up, "Seinfeld," or any other popular franchise. I guess someone crunched the numbers and decided it was a wise investment.

Finally, fantastic writer John Arcudi is teaming up with Mark Buckingham on art and Dave Steward on colors for Titan Comics' "Kull," relaunch. The literary predecessory/blueprint for Conan the Barbarian, it could be interesting to see what this creative team does with the material!

Shaquille O’Neal is Involved in a Comic About a Historical Pirate. It Sounds...Good?

Look, plenty of celebrities get involved in making comic books. Quite often they are incredibly forgetful books, or the celebrity has basically zero involvement besides licensing their name and likeness to be used in the comic. Exceptions to this, "Rule," exist, of course, because Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) and his, "Umbrella Academy," comics remain an utter delight (which also received a Netflix adaptation that varied in quality from amazing and imaginative to uninspiring and tepid). Hence, when I saw a headline declaring Shaquille O’Neal was involved in creating a comic, I assumed it would be something about basketball. That, or involve someone who looks like him that also happens to named Shaq before becoming a superhero, or something. Instead, it is a historical fiction piece on, "...the West African pirate known as Black Caesar, who was active in the Caribbean during the early 1700s." That sounds pretty cool, actually.

"Vengeance Unchained: The Legend of Black Caesar," is the full title of this five-issue mini-series. Shaq isn't super involved in the comic as far as I can tell, with writer Stephanie Williams, and artist Ray-Anthony Height (and his team at Studio Skye-Tiger) doing much of the comic creation, but it is still something that says Shaq, "Presents," so I suppose without his involvement this wouldn't get made. This is the first-ever comic Shaq has been involved with, and I'm not sure if he brought the idea of the book to Archie or they asked him about it, but he discussed in a press release about the book, “Growing up, I always loved stories about warriors who refused to quit. Black Caesar starts as a king, loses everything, and takes his freedom back on his own terms. That’s the kind of story I want to help tell. We built something that’s going to entertain you and make you think. I’m ready for the world to see what we created with Archie Comics, an iconic brand I have been a big fan of for many years. Archie has such an incredible legacy of storytelling, and being able to collaborate with a brand that has meant so much to generations of fans made this project even more exciting for me.”

The real Black Caesar doesn't have a ton of documentation, but enough is out there to confirm he did exist. He was (apparently) a war chief who became enslaved before joining in piracy and serving under Blackbeard up until that infamous pirate was killed. Black Caesar was arrested and faced trial, but he was acquitted, and then what happened to him next remains a bit of a mystery. I just think it is cool to see a celebrity known for a variety of other things (basketball, sports commentary, a tiny bit of acting, a short rap career) engaging in a comic about a random-but-quite-interesting subject. I'll check out the first issue this October!

My Friends Over at Magnitude 10 Comics Have a Giveaway to Celebrate Their Two Year Anniversary!

Magnitude 10 Comics is run by my friend, Jeff. It is celebrating having been in existence for two years by running an anniversary giveaway! Yes, via the Magnitude 10 Comics YouTube channel, there will be, "...a special Livestream Event, Sunday August 16th 2026 at 3pm CST." The prize is a McFarlane Toys Joker statue, which would look quite snazzy in your place of residence, I'd bet!

Registering is easy with a variety of options. You can comment on one of the YouTube videos, send an email, or text 573-810-3889 to indicate your interest in the giveaway! If you aren't local to the Saint Louis area, do keep in mind you'll need to provide a mailing address if you win. In the meantime, while we wait for the event next month, go check out the Magnitude 10 Comics YouTube channel and enjoy some great videos!