About a year ago, we interviewed comic artist Jeffrey Brown about Incredible Change-Bots 2, his wacky parody of the Transformers. We're thrilled to report that his new comic book, Darth Vader and Son is out and ready to be consumed. The book, in the most adorable way possible, poses the question: what if Darth Vader were an involved father? By "involved" we don't mean that Vader earns the award for most attentive and loving father, instead Brown depicts our favorite un-cuddly villain as an annoyed but indulging dad for Luke. The possibilities for awkward father-son moments is limitless, and Brown's humor is spot on. In his lengthy repertoire of work, Jeffrey Brown has had numerous books published which you might be familiar with, including Clumsy, Unlikely, or Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations. And if you're not acquainted with any of the above, there will be a chance for that to change. more ›

Having stayed up last night to watch the midnight showing of with all the other nerds, we enjoyed ourselves but came away feeling more than a little nostalgic for the good ole days of paper comics. more ›

Now that the British consulate has been checked for grenades, the city can be declared safe for our visiting rockers from the British Isles: Coldplay and their older brothers U2.* Since both shows are sold out, you might be looking for some alternatives and Chicagoist is happy to oblige. We’re not really sure what classic post-punk bands are left to reunite at this point. With Gang of Four taking up the cause again and Shellac... more ›

We admit it—we're trendy bitches. We waited until Father Dave, king of all literati, heralded comics as the new hip literary genre with issue 13 of his "McSweeney's Quarterly Concern" (edited by Chicago's own Chris Ware) before we allowed ourselves to peruse the comics section at our local bookstore. Well, at least peruse without shame. We always thought comics were just exaggerated muscles, fantasy tits and the defeat of evil. Anyway, we was ignant and the issue introduced us to a slew of artists putting out some kick-ass comics that explored (among other things) the quotidian, the historic, the psychological and the political. And even better, these stories were presented beautifully in a form we'd previously dismissed. more ›