In a world where adventure comics seem to consist of nothing but grim, tortured heroes fighting grim, tortured villains for grim, tortured reasons, Atomic Robo is a comic with the apparent – and unthinkable – goal of making its readership smile. Oh, there’s violence, and vampires, and Nazis, and all sorts of that kind of thing, but they’re there in service of excitement and thrills, rather than the battling of inner demons. Its creators have described it as “a combination of Indiana Jones, Buckaroo Banzai, and the Ghostbusters.” It’s the …

2010 (so far): The greatest year in the history of the comics medium? The nightmarish nadir from which it will never recover? The year when the whole industry, and our relationship with it, changed forever? Nope. But come with us nevertheless to yestermonth, for a look at some of the comic books, trade paperbacks, and funnypages/comic-strip collections of oh, say, the middlish part of the year.
Gorilla-Man #1
Creators: Jeff Parker (writer); Giancarlo Caracuzzo (artist); Jim Charalampidis (colorist); Ed Dukeshire (letterer)
Publisher: Marvel
From a narrative point of view, part of the purpose of …

It was the announcement from a major comic book publisher that split the Internet in half. Or the one for that week, anyway. Actually, it was really the one for that month – the announcement was that big. We refer here, of course, to the announcement that they were radically changing Wonder Woman’s costume. The ever-shrinking strapless one-piece swimsuit that the Amazon princess had worn into battle for over half a century was to be a thing of the past. In its place, a red, striped shirt, a jacket, and …

The Land of Termina
Ocarina of Time, the landmark prequel to Majora’s Mask, holds the seeds from the which its future sibling springs. Some of these seeds are quite obvious: the masks, for instance. But, in my imagination, the most important seeds can be found in two seemingly unimportant moments. The first involves Zora’s Domain. As many dejected fellow gamers might recall, the enchanted winter that shrouds the Domain cannot be dispelled, even after destroying the appropriate evil spirit. The ice will supposedly melt at a future date beyond the game’s …

I went to India over the summer, and when I came back from the trip I almost had forgotten about the numerous pictures I had taken. But a friend of mine said, why don’t we go through them and see if we can’t edit them. So me and Jessica Valle (who already has a fantastic gallery on Playtime) combed through them and selected images we both dug. We flowed together perfectly and pulled photos out that I had just taken for my own amusement and made them work. …

Check out Jessica Evalyn Valle’s interview on Playtime Magazine, or head over to her personal photography website or Viyay Comics. You can also find more of her photography on Jessica’s flickr stream. Images selected and arranged by Zach Grizzell and Tracy McCusker.

Once in awhile, you come across a natural creative talent of sorts.  Jessica Evalyn Valle is one of those natural talents.  Some days you can see her at the range firing her guns–that’s right, a girl that knows how to shoot you if you mess with her.  Some days you have to bi-pass the fact that you have been waiting for said bio on your artist for weeks now and have to wing something.  You know how those artist get busy with their work, or watching Beauty and the Beast, …

Ah, Valentine’s Day.  Few holidays seem to raise the ire of internet denizens, brooding teenagers and twenty-something counter-culture warriors like good ole V-Day1.  Depending on your point of view, it’s either a cultureless wasteland of affected sentimentalism and crass commercial cash-ins or a special day for you and your beloved.  Then there are the rest of us: those of us who have experienced some sweet & thoughtful Valentine’s Days and remain effectively neutral on the holiday2.  We don’t quite understand those people who will wheedle dates, arrange extra weekend meetings, …

A selection of the paintings, photography, and sculpture of Mark S. Gagne. The second of a two-part Interview and Gallery for the Playtime Featured Artist of the Month series.

I Remember…
I remember when I woke up every night trembling and screaming, thinking that something bad had happened to my mother.  I woke up a lot when I was younger, scared that the one who cared and nurtured me as a child was gone. But every time I woke up, sweating, my mother was there.  There to hold me and to soothe me back to sleep.  Always telling me that she wasn’t going anywhere, that I shouldn’t worry about her. Her quiet and kind voice always gave me reassurance. Back …