Editor's Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. Read Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV. Let’s just get it out of the way: I lost. I lost to a fantastic book, 5, an independently produced anthology with a lot of love and creator support on its side. The book had some gorgeous work from twin brothers......

Illustration by Monica Meehan Editor's Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. Read Part I, Part II and Part III. Santa Fe, NM The night I arrived in Santa Fe, Bram and Monica Meehan took me out for New Mexican food. Carne Adovada. I got it with the red chiles and I sweated through the entire meal. I......

Illustration by Chris Haley Editor's Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. Read Part I and Part II. History lesson: In the early 1990s a bunch of people said, “Wow! Amazing Fantasy #15 (first appearance of Spider-Man) originally sold for 12 cents. Forty years later, it’s worth $50,000. That’s one hell of an ROI!” (ROI = Return On......

Illustration by Dean Trippe Editor's Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. Read his introduction to the series here. July 15 Washington, DC I showed up at Hertz to pick up my car at 7 a.m. They didn’t have the Corolla I reserved three months ago and attempted to up-sell me on a RAV4. I thanked the man......

Illustration by Scott White Editor's Note: Arlington-based comic book editor Jason Rodriguez is sending us his dispatches from a cross-country trip investigating the comics scene around the country. It seemed like a great idea: I’ll drive cross-country, by myself, and stop at every major and minor city along the way to talk with comic book creators, fans, and retailers. I leave tomorrow. I no longer believe it’s a great idea. Dallas Middaugh, my editor......

You know John Hefner, even if you don’t know him. He’s a total geek — a costume-dressing, trivia-spouting, shows-Ravenous-to-all-his-first-dates geek. I mean that in a friendly, even admiring way. He seems to be under the impression that his geekdom is an out-of-control malady that exacerbates his dating woes, but really now. We live in the Age of Geeks. The jock-jerk in the White House is as despised as any U.S. president has ever been. Those......

With great power comes . . . free comics! As everybody knows, or ought to know, the first Saturday in May is when comics publishers and comic book store proprietors throughout the Marvel and DC Universes celebrate their independence from bullies by giving away books for the low, low price of bupkis. Wait, strike almost all of that. First off, the perception that comics (or "sequential art," to use the term preferred by Will Eisner,......

MONDAY: Oliver August will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book Inside the Red Mansion, which chronicles the hunt for China's most-wanted fugitive, Lai Changxing. For more information, check out this short film on the making of the book. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Writer Dominic Cicere will be holding a book release party at Galaxy Hut for Near Wild Heaven, which contains a collection of poems, a short story and a screenplay on......

The weekend's almost here -- with all its school painting, free comic books and tequila toasting -- and frankly, it's hard to spy sunshine through the window and imagine spending the day inside. Commuters who use MARC's Camden Line (Baltimore-D.C.) have the perfect excuse for blowing off work. For the second day in a row trains are running at least 40 minutes late due to signal problems. It sounds like a major hassle, so......

This Saturday is the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day, which is exactly as awesome as it sounds. Independent shops all over the country will be handing out a hearty selection of comics to anyone who wants one. The idea emerged as a way to introduce people to the art form who might only associate comics with this guy or a childhood fascination with Superman. These days comics are as diverse as any other medium,......

MONDAY When it comes to issues of globalization, nobody rocks the field like Joseph Stiglitz, whose last book, Globalization and its Discontents, should be a must-read for everyone who thinks they can change the world with a papier-mâché puppet. Now he’s back to discuss the ways of Making Globalization Work. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, at 7 p.m. TUESDAY She’s short. She’s tenacious. She’s stalking Stephen Colbert. No, we’re not talking about Senator......

Cox Communications and Peter Angelos' Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) have announced an agreement in which Cox will air MASN's Nationals telecasts. The deal means that 260,000 cable customers in Fairfax County and Fredericksburg will be able to see the 154 Nats games that MASN plans to cover. Unfortunately, this means nothing for many, if not most, of us. In a battle of the region's supervillians, Comcast has repeatedly taken Angelos to court over Orioles broadcasting......

Late last week marked the grand opening of Fantom Comics, purveyor of comic books, graphic novels, figurines and the like. The small boutique is located in the commercial development above the Tenleytown-AU Metro stop (map), alongside Best Buy and The Container Store. With the opening, Tenleytown will now become an attractive destination for Washington geeks, who can hit Best Buy for all their computer and videogaming needs, pick up some X-Men figurines at Fantom Comics,......