Gimmick or Good Archive

Gimmick or Good? is back this week with a look at the Tom DeFalco/Paul Ryan era on Marvel’s “first family” the Fantastic Four. In this installment, I look at a five-part arc (FF #371-375) that featured two separate gimmick covers as book ends, and whole slew of controversial changes

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As the great Brian Cronin continues to spotlight African American comics throughout February on Comics Should Be Good, I thought I would use “Gimmick or Good?” to analyze the greatest selling comic by African American creators of all time, Image’s Tribe #1. Created by Todd Johnson and Larry Stroman,

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I was feeling romantic, so for my latest edition of Gimmick or Good? at the Comics Should Be Good blog I put the spotlight on the all-white embossed cover of 1996’s Superman the Wedding Album. This issue, which featured a who’s who of comic book creators on script and

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With the “All-New Marvel Now” Wolverine series starting up this week (with art from our old friend Ryan Stegman), I thought I’d take a look at the Ol’ Canucklehead’s very first 1990s “gimmick” cover, Wolverine #50, by Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri. This comic features die-cut “file folder” with

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With DC recently celebrating the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of Batman (in Detective Comics #27), I thought I’d look at the very first gimmick-enhanced edition of the Detective series as part of my Gimmick or Good series at Comics Should Be Good. 1994’s Detective #675 features a chromium

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As “Forever Evil” remains the focal point for the DC Universe, in my most recent “Gimmick or Good?” entry at Comics Should Be Good, I look at 1993’s Eclipso The Darkness Within #1. This comic was notorious for featuring a plastic “diamond” on the cover. In terms of 90s

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The latest installment of my Gimmick or Good? column at the Comics Should Be Good blog returns me to my Spider-Man roots and is yet another instance where I revisit the “Clone Saga” despite my initial hatred for the arc. In this post, I examine the lenticular-covered Sensational Spider-Man

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Is there something going on with Thor this weekend that’s led me to write about him on three different sites? Hmm…. anyway, if you’re not burned out on the Norse God of Thunder, check out my latest Gimmick or Good? column at the mighty Comics Should Be Good. This

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With the Flash Thompson Venom series ending its runs after 42 issues (my thoughts on the end of that series later this week), I thought it would be apropos to give the Venom: Lethal Protector #1, the solo debut of the symbiote, the “Gimmick or Good?” treatment in my

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My most recent submission for Gimmick or Good? over at the Comics Should Be Good blog is a bit of a deeper cut. Crazyman #1, which was published by Continuity Comics (founded by Neal Adams) is die-cut into the shape of a man’s profile. Let me be clear here:

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