There's a reason why once a month we partner with the staff at 8th Dimension Comics to put together a review of the best comic book releases of the month. It's because they have an in-depth knowledge and amazing propensity for steering a reader to just the right book. The shop continues to amass patrons despite its somewhat distant location, and now they've even made it into the very comics they sell.
Co-owner Jeremy Bulloch received a cameo in the recently released Scarlet Spider #4 as an agent in the Houston FBI office. It's not a perfect likeness; for instance, Bulloch doesn't wear glasses and as far as we know doesn't own a suit, but combined with the Houston setting of the comic, it's pretty undeniable that it's him.
8th Dimension hosted Scarlet Spider creative team Christopher Yost and Ryan Stegman for a sold-out signing of the book back in January. The team remarked on the "amazing courtesy and rock-star treatment" they got at the hands of the 8th dimension staff.
Scarlet Spider is one of two currently running comics series set in Houston. The first is Gary Watson's dystopian theocracy book After Twilight, which follows a librarian fighting for freedom in a Texas that has seceded to become a Christian nation. Even though After Twilight predates Scarlet Spider as a book set in H-Town, Spider is the first full-time superhero we can claim.
Kaine Parker was a flawed clone of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. After insanity cause by the process caused him to go on a killing spree, he was eventually well enough to be considered stable, and left New York with Spidey's blessing.
At first Houston was just a stop on the way to Mexico, but slowly Kaine has found himself drawn into protecting us against a superhuman community that sees Houston as easy prey due to the low hero count. Gifted with all the abilities of Spider-Man, Kaine differs from the original in his brooding brutality. He often flies into obscenities-laced rants against the stupidity of the people he saves, but never gives up on them.
Kaine doesn't have an easy time of things. For instance, you never see Peter Parker in a car because he ran out of skyscrapers to swing from. Still, he keeps going, as do we and the folks at 8th Dimension.
Christopher Yost will be a guest of Comicpalooza at George R. Brown Convention Center May 25-27, and 8th Dimension will have a booth as well. Be sure to drop by.
