Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Marvel Comics is joining the digital publishing move by making available over 2500 back issues including “the first appearances of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk.” In the future, new issues won’t be available online until six months after the print publication date.

To sell people on the idea of paying for content that they can get on a week by week basis in a newspaper, Marvel is offering a 250 title sampler package for free. The archive is available only online at a subscription price of $59.88 per year or $9.99 per month.

Via USA Today.

Dear Ms. Estep:

I enjoyed the first book, Karma Girl, and found that the comic book homage is still fun in Hot Mama. However, like the first book, I find that there is problem of pacing which results from the difficult balance between the emotional arcs the characters and the comic book capers.
Fiona Fine, aka Fiera one of the Fearless Five, is mourning the loss of her teammate and fiance, Travis Teague, the Tornado. She’s decided to throw off her “widow’s weeds” and embarks on a hot and heavy affair with Johnny Belluci, the brother of one of her fashion rivals, Bella Belluci.

Karma Girl and Striker just got married and are off on their honeymoon leaving the Fearless Five down to Three: Fiera, Mr. Sage, and Hermit. Fiera’s the one with the most “firepower” (sorry couldn’t resist the bad quip) and on more than one occasion, Johnny and Fiona experience coitus interruptus as Fiona is called to some emergency in need of a superhero.

I found these episodes to be a bit odd because Fiona hardly ever felt the need to rush to the emergency and would encourage …

Dear Ms Estep,

I was never a comic book fan and it’s been a long time since I read one but I recognized a few givens of the standard American superhero comic book. We’ve got your big city, alter egos, intrepid newspaper reporter, heroes, villains and brightly colored spandex for everybody.

Carmen Cole steps into the dual role of reporter and possible love interest. I wasn’t so sure of her reasoning for spending so much time unmasking superheroes wherever she could. Sure her fiance turns out to be one and she discovers this 1) on their wedding day when 2) she catches him shagging a] his nemesis who is b] her best friend but since superheroes are almost duty bound to spend their time saving the average citizen who needs help and/or thwarting the villains, why is the general public so happy that she exposes them and makes their lives more difficult? The excuse that cities want the superheroes to help pay for the damage they cause while battling villains doesn’t make much sense when compared to the fact that they’re saving the city from villains and crime. Do the people of Bigtown …