Author: Gene

December 1 / / DC

The holidays are finally here! Just as we may all celebrate in different ways, we each have our own unique taste in comics, so we’ve put together a diverse list of comic books that would make great gifts for anyone in your life. We’re sticking strictly to trade paperbacks and graphic novels – they simply make better gifts because they collect multiple issues in one easy to read book. It’s also much easier to give them to friends and family that aren’t “into comics” because many of these collect entire storylines in one package. We also only chose books that were released this year in 2014 – some comics were published earlier but came out in trade paperback form this year. The most important criteria – they’re all great stories! You really can’t go wrong with any of these. Well, you probably wouldn’t give Sex Criminals to your 7 year old niece (Ms. Marvel is likely a safer bet in that case).

Age of Ultron

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Get acquainted with the most dangerous robot in the universe before he makes his big screen debut in next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. The artificial intelligence known as Ultron has fought for years to eradicate mankind…and now, it has all but succeeded. The few remaining heroes are battered, broken, almost beaten and left considering desperate measures – some more desperate than others. But when Wolverine breaks ranks and pursues his own plan to defeat Ultron, will his drastic action cause more problems than it solves? This is a complete story that collects the entire Age of Ultron run, issues 1-10. Get it on Amazon for $23.

November 18 / / Marvel

Spider-Man meets Sixteen Candles.

At its most basic level, Ms. Marvel is about a teenage girl coming of age who also has to deal with being granted superpowers. However, author G. Willow Wilson takes it one step further and gives us Kamala Khan, our awkward Pakistani-American Muslim teenage girl protagonist from Jersey City. How’s that for pushing the envelope?

November 12 / / Oni Press

What would you do if you found out that you and your friends would be responsible for the end of the world? That’s the very question five friends – Grady, Heidi, Natasha, Daniel, and Billy – had to face in the opening pages of The Bunker. As they were about to bury a time capsule, they uncovered a bunker that contained letters written by their future selves warning them about the impending apocalypse – that they caused. Knowing that they cause a near extinction of the human race, the friends are each faced with their own demons and internal struggles. Can they change the future, or is their destiny written in stone? Are the letters even real?

November 5 / / Cons

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, which bills itself as the “first and largest pop culture convention in Los Angeles.” Not sure how they came up with those statistics, but whether or not they are the first or largest, we really enjoyed it. Since it’s hosted by Stan Lee, you’d think it’d be a comic-first convention, but it was definitely a pop culture smorgasbord with comics, video games, cosplay, anime, tv and film.

October 28 / / Industry

Marvel just wrapped up their #MarvelEvent and announced a whopping 9 movies though 2019! We are incredibly excited for the lineup and can’t wait to soak up all the rumors over the next few years. We’ll be covering each of these movies and their related comic book story arcs, so check back soon! Here are all the movies and their release dates. Full list after the jump.

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October 22 / / Cons

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Next week is Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, and the Shortboxed crew will be there covering the entire con! We’ll be doing interviews, attending panels, talking to artists and exhibitors, photographing cosplayers and doing daily giveaways, so be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram both at @shortboxed. We’ll also be updating the blog with daily recaps of the con. While the show may be hosted by Stan Lee and called “Comikaze,” it’s not just a comic book convention – it’s billed as a pop culture convention, which includes comics, video games, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, tv, film and everything in between. The problem with big pop culture conventions is that it can be difficult for comic book enthusiasts and creators to sift through all the noise to find content for themselves – so we did it for you.

October 8 / / Marvel

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Thor – the god of thunder, member of the Avengers, son of Odin and prince of Asgard, is deemed unworthy of wielding the mighty hammer Mjolnir. Rising out of the downward spiral of his unworthiness, a new warrior emerges to become worthy of wielding the hammer – and she becomes the new Thor.

So what does this mean for the Thor that we’ve known all our lives? He’s still here, but a mystery woman is taking on the heavy title of Thor in one of the biggest and most controversial changes the Marvel universe has ever seen.

October 6 / / Cons

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The Alternative Press Expo, otherwise known simply as APE, is a convention in San Francisco, CA that focuses on alternative and small press comics. What does this mean exactly? Outside of the major publishers like Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and others, there are an infinite number of independent creators and publishers that release their own comics. APE is the show for those creators, giving them a platform to interact with and showcase their work to fans without being buried by major publishers at more traditional, mainstream comic book conventions.