J. Caleb Mozzocco

J. Caleb Mozzocco

@jcaleb.bsky.social

Library clerk by day, semi-professional comic book critic and comics blogger by later in the day, asleep by night. Author of the upcoming book "Giant Monster Movies: 100 Years of Big-Screen Behemoths" from McFarland.

2K followers233 following1.9K posts

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

IDW's GODZILLA'S THE ODYSSEY is the only version of the story I've ever encountered wherein I don't feel badly for the cyclops. And that's because he's Gigan.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

Yeesh. Between this and the repeated lustful descriptions of Husted's body, I would be so embarrassed to be Jon Husted right now...

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump is now claiming that Jon Husted is one of the greatest football players ever

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

By the way, it was always my belief that Senator Jon Husted, who is currently one of my two senators, just looked like a kind of generic middle-aged guy. But since Trump has been talking about his like he's some kind of Adonis lately, I looked him up the other day and...sorry, I just don't see it.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

(That said, I did not examine his ass, as the president has repeatedly said he's done. There just weren't a lot of pictures of Sentaor Husted's butt readily available on the Internet).

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I had occasion to look at the covers for 1992's BATMAN: SWORD OF AZRAEL for the first time in a long time today, and I had completely forgotten how...square Joe Quesada drew Batman on the cover of #4.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

The library I work at does a nice thing where, on the occasion of your fifth anniversary there (and every five years thereafter), they add a book to the collection in your name (and gift you a copy). This is my fifteenth year there, and this is the book I chose:

J. Caleb Mozzocco reposted

Brigid Alverson
@brigidalverson.bsky.social

Today at Good Comics for Kids, @jcaleb.bsky.social reviews Acky Bright's GalaXic Baseball League, a manga starring actual baseball players, from @viz.com: goodcomicsforkids.slj.com/2026/10/23/g...

goodcomicsforkids.slj.comGalaXic Baseball League Vol. 1 | ReviewMany of the best and most famous Major League Baseball players are abducted and transported to the far-flung future to play against teams of fantastical aliens in this very weird but very fun new mang...
J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

Today on the blog, I wrote about the first volume of Minoru Toyoda's DRAW THIS, THEN DIE!, a very funny manga about manga, it's impact and the process of creating it. It's amazing, and should be of particular interest to those who have made or tried to make their own comics before, I think:

everydayislikewednesday.comReview: <i>Draw This, Then Die! Vol. 1</i>One aspect of Japanese comics I've always appreciated is that so many of them are hyper-focused on particular niche subjects, their creators...
J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

This man’s boss is quite famous for his serene acceptance of criticism and his acknowledgement that people disagreeing with you is just part of the business of politics, not something to freak out about or seek retribution over.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

JD Vance: "When you're mean to Amy Acton, she sics the American media and of course the Democrat Party operatives all across the state of Ohio after you. But I think a person who is more worried about whether somebody says something mean about them, that person can never serve in the gov's mansion"

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I was shocked that a national politician like Vance would defend that ad after the context became widely known...but only momentarily. I mean, Vance is ALSO part of an administration that is currently defending Vladimir Putin, the autocratic aggressor in an invasion of a neighboring country.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

WOW -- Vance *defends* Vivek's reprehensible ad 👇 Q: Ramaswamy's campaign put out a controversial ad featuring his opponent's mother. Some Republicans are backing away. Do you think it was appropriate? JD VANCE: Well, I'll be honest. Whether the ad was appropriate or not is not really my concern.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I just read 1996's AZRAEL PLUS #1 last night, having ordered it when I discovered it was drawn by Vince Giarrano. It's hardly a must-read, and Giarrano's art is quite restrained throughout. I did enjoy Giarrano's drawings of Azrael's dainty little legs and feet when he's kicking dudes, though.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

THE NEW YORKER has a story about Tom Gammill's play "A Morning With Ernie Bushmiller", which will soon be opening Off Off Broadway. Which is very cool! But, if you will permit me a small boast, I would like to note where the play was first performed, and who was among the first to write about it.

newyorker.comErnie Bushmiller’s Sunday Morning, LiveIn 1976, the artist behind the “Nancy” comic was slighted on “S.N.L.” A new Off Off Broadway show tells the tale of the day after.
J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

Gammill debuted his play at OSU's Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum's Nancy Fest in May of 2024, with the museum's own Caitlin McGurk playing all of the non-Bushmiller roles in the play. And I covered the entire event (including the play) in this post on Every Day Is Like Wednesday:

everydayislikewednesday.comOn Nancy Fest at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & MuseumOn Saturday morning, May 25, Denis Kitchen called to order the first official public meeting of the mysterious and once-secret Ernie Bushmi...
J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

(I would be quite interested to see the current iteration of the play. When Gammill performed it at the Billy Ireland, there was a CHRISTMAS CAROL-esque climax that involved visiting Nancy Fest itself, and I wondered at the time how any future performances NOT at Nancy Fest would deal with that...)

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

There are only two ways for a country to stop an invasion: 1) Repel the invader or 2) Surrender. It’s therefore weird that he keeps insisting the INVADED try to stop the war, rather than the INVADER. They’re fucking TRYING. Maybe pressure the invader to call off their invasion…

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "We gave $350 billion to Ukraine. And I insisted on getting something for that money, and we got a very big chunk of land and rare earth. But Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn't, I think it's gonna be a very bad thing."

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

That’s great! So, can we get universal healthcare…? Pay down the debt…? Maybe hire back the people who check the lettuce for parasites…?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "You know how much money we're taking out of Venezuela? Hundreds of billions of dollars we're taking out of Venezuela"

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I’m not planning on seeing STREET FIGHTER—I saw the 1994 film, and one STREET FIGHTER movie is enough for me, thanks—but I DO hope it makes a ton of money, as thatwould increase the likelihood of a DARKSTALKERS movie being made.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

The most surprising and exciting art I found there, however, was this child’s drawing of Gerald from Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books, which was left on a counter:

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

Yes, every time I see Donald Trump, I think to myself, “Now there is a man who wears very little make up.”

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "Jon Ossoff has spent more money on makeup -- and by the way I wear very little and I do it myself. Yaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. Because if you don't put a little on, you look a little bit like a dead person. I don't want to look that way. But he goes full bore."

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

Thing I Thought About Laying In Bed At 3 AM After Getting Up To Go To The Bathroom: What is the closer comics analogue to Chappell Roan's collaboration with Olivia Rodrigo on the "Expectations" remix, Batman guest-starring in a Superman book, or a Spider-Man and Superman crossover special...?

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I was first exposed to Howarth's art via his 1991 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #41, "Turtle Dreams." If it's not my favorite TMNT comic ever, it's one of them. The next year, Mirage published his special THE HAUNTED PIZZA, which was also quite good. I've yet to read a comic of his I didn't like.

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I borrowed DC FINEST: SUPERGIRL: BODY & SOUL, collecting the earliest chunk of Peter David's SUPERGIRL run, and I wrote about a couple of comics within that tied into other events: FINAL NIGHT, the "Legends of the Dead Earth" and "Pulp Heroes" annuals and, reluctantly, the very weird SUPERGIRL PLUS:

everydayislikewednesday.comI don't actually want to discuss <i>Supergirl Plus #1</i>, so let's instead look at a <i>Final Night</i> tie-in and <i>Supergirl Annuals #1-2</i>Gail Simone and company's story from the Summer of Supergirl anthology—which was collected in Supergirl Vol. 2: Hometown Horrors , a trade ...
J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

I love these little guys from the picture book NIGHT OF THE PUMPKINS by Michael J. Rosen and Hugh McMahon. They look like Robert Smith. If you could grow Robert Smith in your garden.

J. Caleb Mozzocco reposted

Derf Backderf
@derfbackderf.bsky.social

Re-post. This GOP attack ad is in heavy rotation during NFL games. TERF Soren Aldaco says Ohio's Sherrod Brown "supports sex changes for minors, irreversible surgery on kids like me.” 1. Aldaco has never lived in Ohio. 2. She had her surgery in Texas. So blame them. 3. She was 19, not a "kid."

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

The part of Alex Ross' MARVEL DIMENSIONS graphic novel that gave my suspension of disbelief the greatest trouble was this scene, which suggests people still read newspapers:

J. Caleb Mozzocco
@jcaleb.bsky.social

What if people love ABSOLUTE BATMAN just because they like the idea of Batman being really, really big...? Before trying a Spider-Man horror comic, maybe Marvel should have tried making Peter Parker 6'8 and 350 pounds? And giving him a battle axe shaped like a spider logo...?