J. Caleb Mozzocco

Wait, I just put down a second DC Finest collection of the Golden Age All-Star Comics. And I just did the math. It appears they collected the first 2/5ths of the series. So, while not everything (yet?), there is a nice, affordable way to read the first 1,000 or so pages of JSoA comics...

Faiza is a Fighter | Review In Debasmita Dasgupta's new graphic novel, little Faiza wants to be a boxer, but she finds there are many challenges that need to be fought through in order to achieve one's goals...or even to just li...

Today at Good Comics for Kids, I have a review of Debasmita Dasgupta's FAIZA IS A FIGHTER, a short original graphic novel about a little girl in India who wants to be a boxer. It's a very good comic.

The End of <i>JLA</i> Pt. 2: "The Tenth Circle" Certainly someone at DC Comics in 2004 thought that reteaming writer/artist John Byrne with Chris Claremont was a pretty big deal.  Both wer...

It's 2004, and DC has reunited John Byrne and Chris Claremont on JLA, where the pair pit the Justice League against a vampire named Crucifer...while also rebooting the Doom Patrol, for what would prove to be a short, 18-issue series before they are de-rebooted.

So I hated Crucifer and his dumb name and dumb hair and dumb story arc in 2004, but reading all of “The Tenth Circle” for the first time in 2025, I think I may have come around…?

Like, he’s so lame he’s actually kinda cool, maybe…?

But then I remembered they had had hired Ryan North, one of my all-time favorite Marvel writes, and John Romita JR, one of my all-time favorite Marvel artists to do it instead, and that should ALSO be awesome.
(2/2)

I was going to complain that Marvel made a GODZILLA VS THE FANTASTIC FOUR comic book and DIDN'T hire Tom Scioli, who made both FANTASTIC FOUR: GRAND DESIGN and GODZILLA'S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE, to make it, which would have been awesome...
(1/2)

But if just one person who reads my blog decides to pick it up based on what I said about it and experiences a fraction of the joy I did reading it, well, that's time well spent, I suppose.

I have a big writing project with an actual deadline I'm supposed to be working on, but I just spent an hour writing about Tom Scioli's GODZILLA'S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE. Which is actually a really long time, as all that really needs to be said is that it's the best comic book and you should read it.

Look, I’m no mathematician, but is he telling me that not only will I no longer have to pay for my medications, but the drug companies will be paying ME to take their medicine…?

Lately I’ve been wondering how exactly Spider-Man got a reputation for being a particularly chatty, wise-cracking superhero. From the Golden Age comics I’ve read, it seems like constant quips and fight patter were prevalent throughout the genre from the beginning. Here’s Dr. Fate from ALL-STAR #18:

On the first 450 pages of Marvel's second Ghost Rider (via 2023's <i>Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Epic Collection: Vengeance Reborn</i>) As I noted after reading 2005's Essential Ghost Rider Vol. 1 , many of the things I associated with Marvel's Ghost Rider character were abse...

Reading the first chunk of the 1970s Ghost Rider's adventures naturally made me curious about how Marvel reinvented the character for the '90s. Luckily there was an epic collection devoted to that Ghost Rider's first year or so, so I was able to learn more about him (and write this blog post).

This is one of the stronger examples I can remember seeing of the juxtaposition of sexy Fritzi in a silly Nancy strip.

Fourth time's a charm...? (A few questions about the <i>Fantastic Four: First Steps</i> movie) The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fourth live-action Fantastic Four film to make it into theaters, following 2005's Fantastic Four , 2...

I wrote up some additional thoughts on the new Fantastic Four movie...mostly some nitpicks and questions stemming from my not being super-familiar with the source material:

Iron Man: Something Strange | Review Abrams and Marvel continue their

Today at Good Comics for Kids, @jcaleb.bsky.social reviews Iron Man: Something Strange, by @halespawn.bsky.social and @douglasholgate.bsky.social, published by @abramscomicarts.bsky.social: goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2025/07/29/i...

I saw someone post the OUR FIGHTING FORCES cover on the left on here the other day and immediately thought of the RAPHAEL cover on the right. I wonder if Eastman and Laird might have been inspired by the war comic cover, or if perhaps both of the covers were inspired by an earlier image...?

I was very distracted by the movie’s facial hair choices, though…!

Just left the theater after seeing FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS. Like most of the Marvel movies I’ve seen (which is no longer all of ‘em; I couldn’t keep up), I thought it was fine. Not a great film, but in no way a bad one either.

The End of <i>JLA</i> Part 1: "Extinction" The very first of the story arcs to run in the pages of JLA  during its odd final years, when it became a sort of anthology title   with ro...

Okay, my series of posts on the last three years' worth of JLA starts in earnest today, with a look at Denny O'Neil and Tan Eng Huat's three-part "Extinction" arc from JLA #91-93.

I wonder if Hephzibah Anderson knows there’s a comic book where Jay Gatsby fights Godzilla now…?

Cover of the trade paperback TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Vol. 1: RETUN TO NEW YORK, depicting the turtles leaping into action before a NYC skyline.

One unexpected aftereffect of reading Sophie Campbell's TMNT for so long, wherein the Turtles were always wearing shorts, pants and other bits of clothes...?

In the new volume, where they're drawn wearing just their traditional belts, masks, pads and straps...?

They look SO NUDE to me now...

Gaiman has forever poisoned his stories and characters, and media like Slate should know to treat them accordingly. They’re toxic. There’s gotta be something else on TV worth writing about.

Counterpoint: No they’re not.

Today I received not one, not two, but THREE compliments on my alpaca shirt.

I happened to hear Seals and Croft’s “Summer Breeze” today, and realized for the first time that the Type O Negative song is a cover.

OH WOW. As bonkers as Tom Scioli’s GODZILLA’S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE may look from afar, it’s far bigger, crazier and more awesome than expected. I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a comic that surprised and delighted me more.

I wish someone had told me this when I was Chuck’s age (And I believed them). It would have made my youth a lot easier.

The cover of The Terrifics #1

With a new blockbuster introducing Mr. Terrific to the wider world a few weeks ago, and another big movie featuring the Fantastic Four coming out this week, I wonder if there will be a surge of interest in THE TERRIFICS comic book, a Fantastic Four riff starring Mr. Terrific...?

Oof. I just started the TITANS: HARD FEELINGS trade, and this is my first time seeing the new Flash costume. So, do you get used to it eventually, or does it remain ugly and off-putting no matter how many comics featuring it you read…?

Yesss.

Good Boy | Review In Andy Hirsch's new graphic novel, we meet a perpetually nervous boy and his very nervous new dog and watch as their friendship grows and they help each other out of their anxiety.

I have a review of Andy Hirsch's GOOD BOY up at Good Comics for Kids today. Hirsch does some exceedingly clever work illustrating the complex feelings of anxiety and, later, mindfulness, things that are hard to describe in words, let alone draw.