“Makes a Big Deal Out of Trumpeting Respect and Admiration For Someone, Then Actually Treats Them With Disrespect…” – On The Complete Lack of Ability Or New Ideas From Roy Thomas

Gosh, that was a long title… and you think you’ve got problems! Truth be told frantic ones, this is not an article I intended or even considered writing. Like with many things, I sort of stumbled onto the idea while researching other topics… and, in my sleepy brain, made a sort of mental chuckle at […]

“I Don’t Like Anything That’s Contrived- I Conceive, They Contrive. OK?”- Another Look at Jack Kirby’s “Infamous” 1989 TCJ Interview

Far be it from me, the most refreshing of comic critics, to simply beat the same old mash all the time, especially when this particular interview has been discussed and covered more academically than I’m about to do. That being said, some minor instances nudged me towards thinking about this oft-cited interview with Jack Kirby […]

“I Belong To All Worlds”- on The Time Capsule Charm of Spurgeon & Raphael’s Seemingly Forgotten 2003 Stan Lee Biography

“As much as ninety-percent of what Lee said at any given time might have been bullshit, but it was delivered happily, and with an admission that it was mostly bullshit, which made him a rather hard person to hate. And hey, he cared enough to bullshit you. That’s something, right?” – J. Caleb Mozzocco, 2009 […]

“He’s a Good guy, He’s just Not a GREAT guy”- on 2021’s “TRUE BELIEVER: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee”

It was only four short years ago (as of this writing) that a truly monumental work was published, a work that, for a short time at least, seemed to signal a possible push towards a truer narrative in the long-cultivated myth of comics history that we’re all so used to. That work was the Stan […]

“This soft-spoken, erudite, 84-year-old man has been bullied into silence…”- Roy Thomas, Victim

I awoke before 4am and hazily checked my messages, when I saw that a few people sent me a link to another Pulitzer-worthy piece on The Beat. I cannot express to you, whether it’s when I’m running on three hours of sleep or thirty, just how terribly misplaced, badly written and tragically amateurish this piece […]

“It Became Increasingly Stylish to Bash Stan…”- What Critics of Stan Lee Should Actually STOP Doing in Order to Be Successful

“In the ’80s and ’90s, it became increasingly stylish to bash Stan, to accuse him of hogging attention for his creations from the artists.” – Peter David, now cursed by the Romanians he once insulted, back in Nov. 2018 Stan Lee. The Myth. “The Man”. The legend. And one that is, apparently, bashed. The term […]

“I Could Trojan Horse My Way Into Meeting Stan if I Could Film Something with Him…”- On Documentaries and The REAL Last Days of Stan Lee

You couldn’t blame someone for thinking that Four Color Sinners is following the zeitgeist right now and touching on a story that’s captured the attention of seemingly all of the comic book community’s attention-starved minds- after all, we were MIA for half a year before worming our way back into your hearts this month, and […]

Sunday Mailbag: Or, I Never Thought I’d Get SO MANY eMails About Jon Bolerjack’s Stupid Ass

It’s true: when the last entry of 2024 was posted, Four Color Sinners was firing on all cylinders and had tremendous traction. And no one was more surprised than yours truly, still the most gregarious and, yes, humble of writers. In that time, we’ve received so many emails that I was initially overwhelmed to sift […]

Looking Back in Exasperation: Revisiting The Lion in Winter, 10 Years On…

Don’t let my long-awaited return fool you, dear friends. I have not been prompted or motivated to write due to topical events at all, believe it or don’t- on the contrary, I’ve been planning a return to regular posts for the past two weeks, largely motivated by the steady influx of e-mails I’ve received covering […]

“The Rest is Houseroy Being Houseroy, Kirby Tried to Warn All of Us”- On The Self-Destruction of Roy Thomas’s Legacy

Don’t worry, friends- Old Reliable has finally returned. Which in itself is quite a story- one much more interesting than the very topical issue we’re about to cover below- but, due to the pressing need to cut off utterly worthless excuses for sites like Bleeding Cool (ugh) from continuing to mine Four Color Sinners for […]