Yes, Friday has arrived and, with it, our final installment of our second podcast. In Wait, What 2.3, Graeme and I discuss PHONOGRAM, DETECTIVE COMICS #854, GREEK STREET #1 and (failed) TV shows KINGS and VIRTUALITY. We hope you enjoy. Now if you excuse me, I have to go back to monitoring the comments and seeing how things are going with Mr. Hibbs and the signing countdown...
I was also thinking about calling this podcast installment "Sympathy For The Devil," since we talk about Mark Millar and Brian Hitch, the more recent work of Jeph Loeb, and the critical reactions to both CRY FOR JUSTICE #1 and CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #1 (although not in anything like that order). Also, at no point do I try to make the Transformers noise or use any music from Dirty Dancing, so...in a way, it's our bestest episode yet? We hope you enjoy.
Wednesday Comics is here, and with it comes nostalgia! No, not for the time before we were born when the Sunday Funnies were enormous canvasses for the geniuses of the day to work their magic. Wednesday Comics instead transports us back to those heady years of 2006-7, when DC was putting out a weekly comic that inspired neither hair-pulling dismay nor polite boredom. Yes, the 52 nostalgia train is boarding!
I have always been a sucker for oddly sized comics: even in the midst of trying to pare down my physical collection of comics, I am collecting more huge 1970s Treasury Editions and 1980s Blue Ribbon Digests. This predilection is likely the primary motive for my continued devotion to the McSweeney's publishing empire. So of course I'm all over Wednesday Comics. But should you be?
I'll venture to say yes. Judging from the first issue, not every team is going to knock this concept out of the park. Writing a single weekly page is very different than writing a full issue of a comic, something the contributors to the New York Times Magazine's "Funny Pages" also discovered. Likewise, artists seem to struggle with putting too much or too little onto the larger canvas (as in last year's Kramer's Ergot).
And even the strips which seem to handle these challenges proficiently, like Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook's Kamandi, did not thrill me on their first go-round. Regardless, it's a swell package and the sort of thing that will age better on your shelf than the fourteenth DARK REIGN tie-in mini-series you might be considering.
Anyway, in honor of Wednesday Comics's VERY GOOD stylistic return to fondly remembered days of yore, my reviews are all tweetable. If you want to know who is doing what, check DC's page, I couldn't fit creative teams into 140 characters.
BATMAN: Twelve Parts, Twelve 'BONG's, Fifteen stories, Fifteen Panels. CLUE CRAZY? Azzarello doesn't seem the mystery type, though.
KAMANDI: Never cared for Prince Valiant illo + text style but it's appropriate here. Sook's art almost too elegant for a Kirby character.
SUPERMAN: Very pretty, goofy Toy Story alien face unexpected. Everyone knows Superman is an alien! Not sure this will hook USA Today crowd.
DEADMAN: I like that they took the time to introduce Deadman, not sure if I like the hardboiled vibe they're going for. RED LANTERN, NO!
GREEN LANTERN: A solemn plea: let no other colors of rings come into play! I like the New Frontier/Space Race setting. Doesn't set up much.
METAMORPHO: Hey Gaiman, you already killed off Element Girl! Awkward cliffhanger feels more like page transition. Wait, Floating Heads? SOLD
TEEN TITANS: Really? This is the venue in which you choose to revamp Trident? You're revamping Trident? Only strip to feel 'in continuity'.
ADAM STRANGE: Adam, don't point out how all aliens look kinda like Terran animals. It's impolite. Not sure I'm feeling the color scheme.
SUPERGIRL: I hope they resist the urge to bring in Comet the Super Horse and all the freaky baggage he represents. Cute setup, cute art.
METAL MEN: Gorgeous art earns this goofy ass story a pass until the team witnesses the second coming of Christ. Cast barely introduced.
WONDER WOMAN: Nice concept, nice art style, terrible typeface and way too much crammed onto the page.
SGT. ROCK AND EASY CO.: Feels like it could've been a standard comic page, but I guess I should trust Joe.
FLASH: Loving the split strip format, the IRIS WEST logo, the halftone dots in the coloring, everything. My early favorite.
CATWOMAN + DEMON: When did Catwoman have time to google J. Blood between spilling tea and heading to dinner? Does she have an iPhone?
HAWKMAN: I had no idea Hawkman could talk to birds. Can he talk to birds? Who cares, IT'S TERRORIST MACIN' TIME AT 30,000 FEET!
(There’s a long, rambly story that goes with this, which you can find here, but just so as to not bury the lede…)
Comix Experience is very proud to announce, as part of its ongoing 20th anniversary celebration, a rare San Francisco reading/Q&A/Signing with acclaimed author Neil Gaiman on Sunday, July 19th from 11 AM to 12:30 PM.
Later Edit: The event is now completely sold out, and we thank everyone for their interest and patience!
-B
OK, so you all remember that 2009 is Comix Experience’s 20th anniversary, right? (April first, to be exact!)
Those of you who are actually customers may also note that we didn’t exactly do anything special for it (like a party or something). This is because my plan was to do several events throughout the year to celebrate, probably culminating in that party on the Twenty-First birthday because, y’know, then she’s legal to drink and all.
I’d actually been thinking about this for a very long time. How long? Well, it was way back on February 15th, 2006 (!) that I first emailed Neil Gaiman a message with the title “How Is Your 2009 looking?”
Neil’s one of those Major League guests nowadays – his schedule is overbooked, all of the time, and everyone wants him somewhere always. This is why I started three years early!
Why Neil? I mean, besides the “Uh, duh he’s a major league super-star” bit? Well, in a lot of ways because I think Neil and I came up together in comics.
See, I had creators that I was passionate about whom the store supported (and they supported back) dating from before I started CE – the Matt Wagner’s, the Dave Sim’s, and so on. (I actually have a story involving both of them and my reasons for starting CE that’s nearly old enough that I might be able to tell it out loud in public one of these days…) – Comix Experience was effectively created because of the passion I had for those guy’s works at the time.
And as the store went on, that passion for creators and their work expanded way out to even more people who then did events and things for us, and became friends of the store and friends of me personally – Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, dozens and dozens of other people; all of that happened after the store opened, and the medium to began to expand in tone and depth.
But Neil? Neil was my first. Neil was the very first contemporaneous creator who I felt that same passion as I did for my heroes.
Comix Experience opened, as I said, in April of 1989. Sandman #1 has a cover date of January 1989. I was utterly enamored by Sandman, and we worked like hell to sell it to every person we could, and it very quickly became one of our store’s best sellers.
I’d read Violent Cases, of course, as well -- maybe one of 1200 people in America who had at that point? So, yeah, I was a fan of this guy, and I really really wanted to do anything I could to help him and his career in whatever small ass way I might.
We met in San Diego that year, and I guess my enthusiasm worked OK on him – this was, of course before he was “NEIL GAIMAN”, he was hustling for work like anyone else, and was still a little awestruck with being an author with a monthly book from DC (Vertigo didn’t exist yet) at the San Diego ComicCon, I asked him if we could do a store signing (I think that maybe this would be his second or third signing ever?), and he agreed.
Here’s a photo from that day. Man, we’re both absurdly young! If I recall correctly, this is the window display for that signing.
Now, twenty years gone I don’t remember the exact details and timing, and the scrapbook is sitting at the store right now, so I can’t look it up, but I believe it was the week that Sandman #10 was released? That puts it sometime in November of ’89 then, per www.comics.org. I’m not sure why Neil was in from England then, but he made the trip to SF. Heh, let me tell you just how low rent we were back then – Neil actually slept on our sofa in our living room! Man, today I couldn’t even imagine asking a creator to crash on my sofa!
One neat thing happened at that signing. A few months before, DC did a free overship (100%? I don’t recall now) of Sandman #8. Since we were doing the signing, DC decided to send us some of what they had around the office. They sent a case of Sandman #8.
But, oddly enough, and seemingly unknown to anyone at the time, Sandman #8 had actually been misprinted. It had a recap / intro at the front (the same one, I think, that was in early printings of “A Doll’s House”). But it was also supposed to have had an introduction by Editor Karen Berger on the inside front cover. The majority of the print run, for whatever reason, didn’t -- it ran the usual Jenette Kahn DC house ad.
Now DC told me that there were only 600 copies of this, and they sent one to me and one to some other retailer I don’t recall now, and basically I had a third of the print run. Somehow I actually disbelieve that story now because I know enough to know that just flicking the big machine on and off produces more than 600 copies – realistically there’d have to be more than 1000 of these out there, minimum, but 600 was the official story.
I know, once I opened the box, what I had. Potentially, this was a gold mine. I mean, if I had those copies now, and had CCGed them, I’d have gotten a purely gross and evil return. Thankfully, I had a soul, and I put them to their intended use – I gave that shit out for free. You can see them in the picture above, actually, with my crappy hand-written sign. And the ones that we didn’t give out when Neil was in the store? (Because, I don’t think there were even 50 people who showed up that day? It was one of those nice, “have a nice 5 minute chat with each attendee” kind of signings.) Well those copies, I stuck a flyer for the store in, with some sort of bounceback coupon, and just started Johnny Appleseed-ing them across The City. Left them on buses, at barber shops and Laundromats, and in paper boxes at school campuses. I recall we got some sort of nutty return on those – like 10% or something, maybe?
The main lesson though, was that doing the “right thing” – actually giving out the comics like we were supposed to, instead of, dunno, selling them off for $5 a throw or something (hey, in 1990 dollars!), earned me new customers who then became devoted Sandman readers month-in and month out, and some of them started branching out into other books, and a few of them even still occasionally shop with me today. Long-term seeding really does work better than short-term gain!
This also gave me a good rep with DC, which still pays dividends for me today. A year or so later, Sandman had got the attention of Rolling Stone Magazine, and there was some sort of article about Sandman as one of, I think, 10 “hot” things that year. DC rushed out a paperback collection of “A Doll’s House”, and, suddenly a whole new way of thinking about things was born.
Prior to that, there were collected editions of comics, of course – I think DC’s backlist at that point was maybe 20 items deep, if that? I do know that I kept my very first order form from month #1 of the store, with all of its precious little “1”, “2”and the very occasional “5” written in it, and that month was the premiere of the first Alan Moore Swamp Thing collection. I think it was a decade later before every Moore issue was finally collected…
Anyway, I was all about the paperback. Dude, awesome – a format where we can sell the best stories forever and ever and ever and ever? I’m all over that. Hell, I opined in probably ’91, ’92 that there wasn’t even any point in publishing stuff that you weren’t going to collect and make the long green from – this is the business we’re supposed to be in. There was a meeting in Los Angeles sometime in there with me, and the late and well loved Bill Liebowitz (Golden Apple) and Rory Root (Comic Relief) (And boy, do I miss both of those guys right about now!), and DC staff of Paul Levitz, Bob Wayne and the gone-but-not-forgotten Bruce Bristow. Me and Rory insisting to these guys that paperbacks were the model, and Bristow just being absolutely incredulous. Luckily Bob and Paul understood what we were saying…
Comix Experience was always the prototypical “Vertigo Store” – not that we sold the most number of copies of comics-meant-more-for-adults (I almost typed “sophisticated”!), but as a proportion to our superhero sales we were way up in the upper parts of the curve. And I want to believe that it was stores like mine that made the imprint possible at all. And that made the sense, company wide, that backlist was a viable model. And that, at the end of the day, is ultimately why DC took their chance to do exclusivity with Diamond and to be able to dictate the building of the infrastructure that allowed the modern era of comics to come to pass. “Real” book publishers wouldn’t be doing graphic novel lines if the Direct Market, and stores like mine hadn’t proved the model out.
I’m chatting with Neil a lot at this point – like at least once a week, sometimes 2-3 times a week, often for an hour or more – comics, comics comics, what can we do, how do we fix it, ah, I was such a Phone Queen back then. All I can say is we only sorta kinda had an internet back then, y’know?
Anyway, fast forward a little, and Season of Mists is about to come out. As a hardcover! Whoa, this is not at all common for a reprint. Thing looks like an old bible, too, with a leather cover, no dustjacket. Woulda won an Eisner if “Publication Design” had existed as a category then. The thing was lush.
And we did a signing for that.
Not just with Neil, but also with, let’s see, Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, Matt Wagner (my original hero!), and Steve Oliff. I don’t think I’m forgetting someone? Now this was no repeat of the first one. This was a Rock Star kind of day. Crazy lines down to the end of the block, carnival atmosphere, I think we were selling copies of the hardcover at like one a minute. Absolutely insane.
Here’s a picture from that one: note Neil’s Rock Star sunglasses (but at least he’s not wearing the leather jacket!) -- and here’s the window display we did for it. Yeah, we did a black and white window display; I liked it!
(We also had a Matt Wagner signing for Sandman #25, window here)
Finally, we had Neil in (alone this time) for the “A Game of You” tour, which we immediately called “A Gaiman/You” and here’s the window display: http://comixexperience.com/agaimanyou.htm
Well, I said “finally”, but then Comix Experience also sponsored a west coast leg of Neil’s Guardian Angels Tour, where Neil read and raised $15,000 for the CBLDF.
So, yeah, this will be the fifth appearance of Neil Gaiman in San Francisco in conjunction with Comix Experience.
And it feels pretty awesome, really.
See, there’s absolutely no reason for Neil to actually do a signing here any more – I’m just one pokey little comics store, and I’m not going to enhance his profile any longer, really. And we barely ever speak – maybe once every year or two there will be occasion for a call. Neil “rarely” does comics any longer, and comics is what I’m all about, but we came up together and that counts for something.
So the punchline to this long rambly thing is that, like I said, I approached Neil about doing something in 2006 – three years in advance. Every six months or so I’d send a little tickle email, but, y’know, I was sorting thinking it wasn’t going to happen, because the man be busy, right?
Neil contacts me out of the blue on Monday, “Hey I’m going to be in San Francisco in two weeks, can we work something out?”
Look, honestly, twelve days isn’t half the amount of time that one really needs to plan a signing and make all of the pieces come together. But it is Neil, right? And who is going to say no to him? Certainly not me! Mama Hibbs didn’t raise no idiots!
And it is going to be butter – smoother than silk, and Neil’s going to help me celebrate 20 years of selling and loving comics because the man is, frankly, a mensch.
Thanks again, buddy!
-B
I'll try and get this posted quickly so I don't cockblock Hibbs' important upcoming post. A new episode of Wait, What is up for your listening pleasure, provide your definition of pleasure hews more closely to 'random bullshitting around the comics counter': Graeme and I talk about the proper name for Portland, Greg Rucka, quickly develop a hideous pitch for Angel & The Ape, and cover other geekly topics. For those of you who prefer, y'know, actual reviews? You should wait for the next two installments, but if two grown men agog over the career of a Transformers comic book writer is your idea of a good time, this should do you just fine.
Yes, you read that headline right. Even though David Mazzucchelli's long-awaited graphic novel Asterios Polyp doesn't come out until tomorrow, I some how ended up with a review copy months and months ago--I wanna say 2008, for pete's sake--so I reviewed the thing on my blog back in March. Now that it's finally coming out officially, I figured I'd repost the review here (in part to apologize for being an absentee savage these past few months). It's after the jump...
Asterios Polyp
David Mazzucchelli, writer/artist
Pantheon, June 2009
344 pages, hardcover
$29.95
An extraordinarily easy book to read, Asterios Polyp is, I'm finding, a nearly equally extraordinarily difficult book to talk about. Frankly I think I just feel out of my depth. For example, cartoonist David Mazzucchelli has a long history of making art comics in Europe, and I've flipped through a few in the store or off my buddy Josiah's shelf, but the only Mazzucchelli comics I've read from start to finish prior to this book are Batman Year One, Daredevil: Born Again, and that little comic with the spilled jar of ink he did for The Comics Journal Special Edition: Cartoonists on Cartooning. But hey, fine, I can fake it, I can certainly locate Asterios Polyp within the tradition of alternative comics. For exaple, it uses color and, to a certain extent, character design like a Dash Shaw webcomic or MOME contribution; it mixes imagery with external narrating text like Chris Ware, only with several orders of magnitude more room to breathe on the page, like Ware filmed in slow motion. That, I get.
What I'm having harder time with, where I feel really out of my depth, is in trying to locate the book's story content. Asterios Polyp is a highly lauded, award-winning "paper architect," i.e. a guy whose designs are awesome but have never actually been built, who divides his time between Manhattan and the Ithaca, NY university where he is a professor. We join his story already in progress, as a fire consumes his ratty, messy, porn(?)-soundtracked bachelor pad. Asterios does not pass Go, does not collect $200, proceeds directly from fleeing his apartment in the rain with his wallet and a handful of knicknacks and watching the fire department fight the fire down into the subway and back up and out at the Port Authority, where he takes a bus to the middle of nowhere and gets the first job he can find (as an auto mechanic) and crashpad he can find (renting a room from his boss at the auto shop). From there we bounce back and forth between revelatory events in the present day and key events in the life that led him there, mostly having to do with his ill-fated relationship with the talented but somewhat timid sculptor he was once married to.
In other words, it's very Woody Allen, very Philip Roth, very New Yorker. A sophisticated urban aesthete unsuccessfully balances the life of the mind with the life of his weiner and then wonders where it all went wrong; his life is contrasted with that of the spirited younger woman he can never quite get a handle on and various other sophisticated urban aesthetes whose arrogance and eccentricity he deplores yet cannot see within himself. And there's my problem: I know enough about that stuff to recognize the template, but I don't know enough of it to know if it goes beyond using the template into wholesale swiping and/or rote recapitulation. The best I can do is say "Well, this reminds me somewhat of the Woody/Alan Alda bits in Crimes & Misdemeanors." I'm simply not well-read enough in this area to comment beyond that. Ask me to speak authoritatively about the next Neil Marshall movie and I can probably handle that, but this? Donnie, you're out of your element.
What I can say with confidence, however, is that I enjoyed that story immensely. And a big part of that is because this isn't a Woody Allen film or a Philip Roth novel--it's a comic, and there's no mistaking it. Yeah, the basic story could be told in other ways, but if you wanted an illustration of that old saw that you should be able to look at a comic and determine why it's a comic and not a movie pitch or a short story, look no further. Mazzucchelli clearly had a blast drawing this thing.
My favorite ambitious graphic novels of recent vintage have been pretty manic and information-heavy in terms of the visual approach--Theo Ellsworth's Capacity and Josh Cotter's Skyscrapers of the Midwest spring to mind, and even Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button feels dense and claustrophobic compared much of his other recent work, if only for the lack of color. Asterios Polyp, on the other hand, is airy and light from start to finish, like giving your eyeballs a breath of fresh air. There are all kinds of panel layouts, splash pages, and stand-alone images here, popping right off the big white pages, and the CMYK colors are just a pleasure to look at.
Meanwhile, it's almost unspeakably clever. Mazzucchelli gives each major character and setting its own color scheme, that's apparent from the start--Asterios is bright blue, while his wife Hana is bright pink. But oh, the places Mazzucchelli goes with that! By the time Asterios takes Hana to meet his mother and invalid father, he's wearing a pink checkered jacket, while she has on a blue shirt. In a passage meant to illustrate how our memories slowly refine our original experiences "because every memory is a re-creation, not a playback," Asterios's remembered Hana slowly morphs from having a pink shirt on against a white background to wearing a blue shirt against a blue background. And in a much later scene which I'm going to try hard not to spoil, where the two encounter each other long after their divorce and after myriad transformative experiences, the color scheme is totally different--all oranges and greens. Meanwhile, "neutral zones" in both dreaming and waking life are yellow and purple. And let me assure you that as far as the use of color goes, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Then there are the countless clever references to the history and art of cartooning. Given our hero's occupation and preoccupations, there are quite a few mini-essays on architecture, philosophy, design, music...and they're drawn and lettered like something out of Understanding Comics. A Latina chef swats flies on the ceiling and looks like she could have gotten off the plane from Palomar yesterday, while her band's drummer sports a "Los Bros" sticker on his drumkit. Asterios's dapper in-his-youth father looks like he stepped out of a Seth comic. The Midwesterners who take Asterios in--Stiff Major and his zaftig wife Ursula, and no, Mazzucchelli is clearly not above having some Vonneguttian fun with names--could be thrown up on the screen in a Disney/Pixar production tomorrow. Hana I can't quite put my finger on, but she's got a distinct '50s/'60s illustration vibe, part Charles Addams part something else I'm too slow to pick up. Asterios himself is given to standing in profile and holding a cigarette like Eustace Tilley holds his monocle. His teaching career reads like Art School Confidential from the professor's perspective. (Student: "I'm thinking about adding fenestration to this planar surface...?" Asterios: "How about just putting a couple of windows in that wall?")
None of this would matter, or at least it would matter very little, if the comic weren't a series of emotional hooks and twists and high points and explosions, which it is. The dream sequences are uniformly strong, with one involving a flooded subway station-cum-dock so evocatively drawn--thick washes of purple ink, rough crosshatching for one of the first times in the whole book--that I could practically hear the echoing slosh of the water in the tunnels. Asterios's unique, virtually constant headshape (how have I not talked about this until now?) essentially requires him to be drawn in profile, so the few times we see him turn toward us (again in a dream sequence, notably!) are stop-and-pay-attention moments. The book's bravura sequence (you'll hear about this a lot) condenses the couple's entire life together into a series of snapshot images of Hana's various movements and bodily secretions; here's one case where my familiarity with this technique bred nothing but admiration for seeing it so well done. The ending...I'll say I imagine it will be controversial and leave it at that, but I got a kick out of it.
The real knockout moment for me, though, came during the pivotal argument that stories like this inevitably include, the storm that built for years yet ultimately came out of nowhere and nothing was the same after that. You spend the build-up to it noticing that something is awry, something in the way Hana has been drawn, something in the way there seem to be two or three things going on at once in the interactions between Hana, Asterios, and the other characters involved (including a memorable little imp named Willy Ilium in the book's Clare Quilty role). Once it gets going, once the pink-and-blue color scheme starts shifting appropriately and the linework and coloring get scratchier and choppier and angrier, you're rooting for Hana all the way, you think that finally the beef you've been accumulating on her behalf is going to get the apocalyptic airing it deserves. And then...and then...BAM, a line you just did not see coming at all, making it all the more devastating, because after all, neither did Asterios. I think this particular exchange may open the book up to charges that it embraces the same sexism it nominally deplores in its characters, but to me it's the human element that comes through, not the gendered one. I read this scene and said "My God" out loud on the train. (You really need to read the book to get what I'm talking about, I suppose, and it doesn't come out until June so unless you somehow ended up with a review copy months ago like I did I guess that's difficult, but do me a favor, bookmark this and come back later and see if you think I'm right, okay?)
I may not know ahhht, is I suppose what I'm saying, but I know what I like. And I like Asterios Polyp a lot. It's certainly a book to savor. I suspect it's a book to treasure. I guess it wasn't that hard to talk about after all.
This is not a large week, no. But maybe that will help WEDNESDAY COMICS sell...
PLUS: Although there was a holiday this weekend, COMICS ARE ARRIVING ON WEDNESDAY. It wasn't a UPS holiday, so comics as normal this week.
ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 SPECIAL EDITION
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #36
ANGEL NOT FADE AWAY #3
ANITA BLAKE LC NECROMANCER #3 (OF 5)
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #133
ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #200
BATMAN #688
BOOSTER GOLD #22
BPRD 1947 #1 (OF 5)
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #39
DARK X-MEN BEGINNING #1 (OF 3) DAX
DARKNESS #78
DEAN KOONTZS NEVERMORE #2 (OF 6)
DRAFTED ONE HUNDRED DAYS ONE SHOT
ELEPHANTMEN WAR TOYS YVETTE (ONE SHOT)
FROM THE ASHES #2
GENEXT UNITED #3 (OF 5)
GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #22
GREEN LANTERN #43 (BLACKEST NIGHT)
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #15
I AM LEGION #4 (OF 6)
JUNGLE GIRL SEASON 2 #5 (OF 5)
MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #13
MS MARVEL #41 DKR
NO HERO #6 (OF 7)
NORTH 40 #1 (OF 6)
PRESIDENT EVIL
PRIDE & PREJUDICE #4 (OF 5)
PUNISHER FRANK CASTLE MAX #72
REBELS #6
RED ROBIN #2
ROBERT JORDANS WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #1
SCOOBY DOO #146
SKRULL KILL KREW #3 (OF 5) DKR
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #202
STAND AMERICAN NIGHTMARES #4 (OF 5)
STAR TREK CREW #5
STORMWATCH PHD #22
STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT #3 (OF 4)
STREET FIGHTER II TURBO #7
SUPERMAN WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #5 (OF 12)
THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY #1
THOR TALES OF ASGARD BY LEE & KIRBY #3 (OF 6)
UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS #1 (OF 8)
UNWRITTEN #3
WAR OF KINGS WARRIORS #1 (OF 2)
WARLORD #4
WASTELAND #25 SPECIAL DOUBLE ISSUE
WEDNESDAY COMICS #1 (OF 12)
X-MEN FOREVER #3
X-MEN LEGACY #226 DAX
Books / Mags / Stuff
100 BULLETS TP VOL 13 WILT
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BY JMS ULTIMATE COLL TP BOOK 01
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS HC
BACK TO BROOKLYN TP (DIRECT MKT ED)
CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #12 IRON MAN
CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #32 VENOM
CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #91 SHOCKER
CLASSIC MARVEL FIGURINE COLL MAG #94 MANDARIN
DC SUPERHERO FIGURINE COLL MAG #13 SCARECROW
DC SUPERHERO FIGURINE COLL MAG SPECIAL BANE
FRUITS BASKET GN VOL 23 (OF 23)
G FAN #88
GI JOE MOVIE PREQUEL TP
HULK RED AND GREEN TP VOL 02
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL TP VOL 02
MAN WITH NO NAME TP VOL 01 SINNERS & SAINTS
MARVEL 70TH ANNIVERSARY TP
MOON KNIGHT PREM HC VOL 05 DOWN SOUTH
MORE DIGRESSIONS NEW COLL OF BUT I DIGRESS COLUMNS
NARUTO TP VOL 45
NEW WARRIORS CLASSIC TP VOL 01
NOBODY HC
PIXU TP VOL 01 MARK OF EVIL
SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATLASH TP
SINFEST TP DARK HORSE ED VOL 01
SKULL & BONES TP
STAR TREK TNG LAST GENERATION TP
SUPERMAN WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MAN OF TOMORROW HC
TOYFARE #145 GI JOE MOVIE TOYS CVR
TRON TP VOL 01 GHOST IN THE MACHINE
WORLD WAR ROBOT TP VOL 02
X-MEN SHATTERING TP
What looks good to YOU?
-B
Conquering Armies
This is a softcover book from 1978, perfect bound and b&w and 64 pages for your post-bicentennial $4.95.
It's big, as in "big as Paul Pope's old oversized books, like Buzz Buzz Comics Magazine or THB Circus," or almost as big as that new Seth book, George Sprott (1894-1975), or that recent hardcover he designed, The Collected Doug Wright. You know, the one with the infernally gleaming red cover? Hold that thing up to an adequate light source and you can transform an ordinary bathroom into a scene from Flashdance. Of course, that's how my bathroom is already, but, like Seth, I'm an old-timey kinda guy.
To wit: 1978, big ol' softcover comic, big like the European albums, big in a way that seemed right for A Heavy Metal Book, just as they were new and hot, and the likes of Moebius' Is Man Good? and Lob & Pichard's Ulysses rolled off the presses. The world indeed seemed ripe for conquest, but this lost tome proved cautionary in more than its mere eventual obscurity. Battlefields may seem huge, barks the metaphor, but conquerors are thus necessarily small.
Conquering Armies is a suite of five short comics first seen in the pages of Métal Hurlant, and quickly brought to English via early issues of Heavy Metal. Obviously a lot of people believed in these stories, which weren't lacking in pedigree: the writer was Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Hurlant's co-founder and editor-in-chief, working with an artist he'd known for nearly his entire comics writing career, Jean-Claude Gal.
Granted, Dionnet's comics writing career had only just started in '71, with Gal following a year later, both teamed in the pages of the venerable Pilote, the growing pains of which would give way to Howling Metal just a few years later. Fast times, sure, but those virginal pages of 1975 looked like they had something to prove.
This is just a detail, mind you, as is every individual image in this post. You should see it in person. The stuff looks big in magazine form, but once you've witnessed those collected dimensions -- which I presume match a '77 French album of the same material -- you'll never settle for less. Gal wants to assault you with scope, much in the way he intimates violence toward those tiny soldiers, toy-like against their rocky scene so that magnified panels are necessary to track a man down the stairs, only then humanized.
And that's no basic establishing vista you're seeing; the grandeur of Gal's scenes is the very heart of this work, these linked stories, all of which seek to smother the ambitions of armies in the magnitude of greater existence. The first tale even stretches to literalize this notion, with a mighty vanguard rushing into a massive city that exacts a terrible psychological toll on the men, particularly as folks begin vanishing or falling over.
Heavy realism, that, at least in terms of character art. But Gal still emphasizes the scale of the room with his wide panels, pivoting to stretch the gulf between the characters and then zooming in to associate space with death. There's a tremendous amount of detail in these panels, but it never becomes overwhelming until Gal wants it to, as a means of aggravating the story's dread. When there comes a time when no detail at all would be better, the opportunity is taken.
All of this comes from a man three years into his professional comics career, although he'd been a drawing instructor for years prior. Yet remarkably little of the work suffers from the 'frozen' feeling illustrators sometimes bring to comics, or the sedate atmosphere of some older French adventure comics in a realist style, and I think much of that is due to the almost despairing sense of diminution Gal foists on his mighty warriors.
It's very different from the world-building majesty of Philippe Druillet and his mad architectures and psychedelic combats - Gal is drawing 'real' people, and his real, big places are going to kill them, or at least foreshadow their doom via the looming presence of matters greater than martial accomplishment.
Very little of Dionnet's comics writing has been translated to English, but what I've seen places him firmly in the political area of Hurlant's approach to fantasy. There are no wild visions in here (or the Enki Bilal-drawn Exterminator 17) devoid of evident purpose, all of it rueful in facing the human condition.
All of the military adventures in this book are doomed, always by something out of the control of the powerful, be it chance or disease or magic. Or metaphor. There is no explanation as to why the city in the first tale destroys the occupying force; the men of violence merely vanish as we see them growing humanized, chatting with locals or abandoning their posts, worn down by time and seemingly absorbed by the enormity of Gal's scenery. It's not sorcery, really, but the symbolism of the huge city as the endeavor of occupation, or colonization, beating the materialism of combat by just sitting around it.
Subsequent stories proceed in much the same way: violent, material desire is thwarted by elements beyond the control of the sentry, always with a special emphasis on titanic locales. Simplistic, yes, but diabolical - there isn't one action scene or bit of daring in this book that isn't coated with irony or in active anticipation of the hero's downfall. Just look at this:
Vintage newspaper serial stuff, from probably the book's weakest tale. The encounter with the tiger leaves one brother maimed and the other scarred; the latter sets off on a journey to find an old mystery man who knows healing magic, his lair fittingly large and horrible, and filled with beasts to fight.
Our Man kicks his quota of ass, but alas - the magician's spell causes his brother's fingers to grow uncontrollably, and anyway he'd been captured by the magician while the hero was busy, and now his fingers will be cut off again and again for all his life, ha ha ha ha haaaa!
Still, even a story as silly as that benefits from Dionnet's distaste for genre heroism, and especially Gal's devotion to selling the both the occasion of the action and the constant visual metaphor of ambition dwarfed. Even one of Dionnet's more lackadaisical plots, concerning an ambitious commander ruined by a random local boy carrying the plague, becomes somewhat straightened by Gal's recurring motif of homes and tents as vessels for surrounding, burning death.
Again, though, this stuff's probably best taken at its most visceral.
Two soldiers away from battle, one attempting to sell the other into slavery for financial gain. Whoops - the seller winds up on the same ship as his erstwhile item, and combat breaks out again. Here it's chance that fucks pride up, the coincidences that happen in expansive spaces. Still, Dionnet has a soft spot for the enslaved, and just as a fresh army rushed in to re-take the haunted city from Story 1, a new master is again overthrown by ex-soldiers, ex-merchant & good, only equals at the bottom.
The conquest of Heavy Metal would reach its end too, and comics of this size would soon get less viable for direct English localization. You might be able to find a copy online for not too much money, though - they did seem to print a lot of these things, in the flush of early victory.
Dionnet kept working with Gal into the '80s, with the dark fantasy albums The Vengeance of Arn (1981) and The Triumph of Arn (1988); he left his editorship with Hurlant in 1985, two years before it suspended publication. Gal later began work on a color album with writer Alejandro Jodorowsky, La passion de Diosamante, which saw publication in 1992. From what I've seen, color takes away from Gal's power; the rawness of black and white underscore the power of his buildings and mountains, while color mutes it all into decoration.
He wouldn't get the chance to refine it. Gal died in 1994, at the age of 52. The second volume of Jodorowsky's series wouldn't appear until 2002, drawn by artist Igor Kordey, in the very thick of New X-Men and the whole Jemas thing at Marvel. Speaking of the folly of men's struggle.
I don't know of any other Jean-Claude Gal books in English. There might be a story or two lurking somewhere in that Heavy Metal back catalog. I wonder how else his heavy realism became the weight of powers beyond accomplishment, sneering at mortal effort? Or did it? Comics triumph gave us this much, buried to dig up; our little resistance against obscurity's campaign. It was all in here, from the man who saw how it worked, and delivered his urgent transmission:
Shit does happen.
Just thought I'd weigh in and remind everyone that Crying For Justice was a time-honored tradition long before James Robinson. Evidence below the cut!
This was certainly a week of high-profile titles, although uncharacteristically dominated by DC in that regard (if not in OVERALL output). DC had two A-list releases this week: the second issue of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's nearly-universally-praised Batman and Robin, and the first issue of James Robinson and Mauro Cascioli's seven-issue Justice League: Cry for Justice miniseries, a book DC's seriously promoting (unquestionably to the detriment of the regular Justice League of America title) as one of their major event books of the year. A review of Cascioli's art is pretty short: if you're the kind of person who enjoys the stiff realism of Alex Ross, this is your thing. If the stylish, partially cartoonish fluidity of a Frank Quitely comic rings more of a note with you, I'd recommend Batman and Robin, which has been praised enough everywhere and will soon be annotated by me on Funnybook Babylon.
But.
I think Justice League calls for some special attention. There've been a number of reviews that fairly accurately point out its flaws with considerable accuracy - Wolk was able to masterfully criticize it from this single issue alone, even though it took me a while to get the reference due to the fact that it's been a while since I read Promethea.
More below the jump: NOTE - OTHER COMICS ARE REVIEWED TOO IF YOU DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THIS!
Anyways! Justice League: Cry for Justice #1: From the start: this isn't a very good comic, although I very much enjoy Robinson's work both on Starman and the Superman franchise. The thing is, you have to realize this comic was written over a year ago: first it was an ongoing series, then it disappeared for a while, and now it's back as a mini that's going to feed into the ongoing series. It's pretty clear not only why this sort of mercurial narrative ground would drive the incredibly talented (and more than familiar with these characters' natures and dynamics, he proved he was able to write some pretty great Justice League stories on TV) Dwayne McDuffie to frustration, but also why the fans have developed such a cynical attitude towards the book - an attitude Robinson directly addresses in the text piece following the main story.
The problem is: the book reads like what me and my university buddies would come up with as a parody of Brad Meltzer's comic-writing style. It's hilariously maudlin, with such REPETITION of THEMES that it's about as subtle as a Michael Jackson impersonator kicking you in the taint. It's almost impossible to judge the book on a plotting rather than scripting level because Robinson's script obscures the plot to such a great degree that we don't know anything about it - supposedly Prometheus is involved, and he's attacking some Z-list heroes that were chosen by James Robinson and Dan Didio throwing darts at a George Perez spread in a con hotel room. These z-list heroes then cry, sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally, for justice, or vengeance, or revenge, or justification, or vindication, or pie, or whatever the fuck they seem to think is fair. The fact that they charge an extra dollar for six pages of text and a two-page origin already posted on the DC Comics website is just the icing on the taint-kick cake.
Nah, this is just more of the Savage Critics ongoing coverage of Justice League: Cry For Justice #1. Never let it be said that I don't respond to a strongly worded memo from the desk of Mr. Hibbs. I know how to respond to memos.
Wolk's already covered the best possible Insta-Review you can give this piece of shit, Graeme's already nailed the comparison to that Secret War thing, Hibbs covered the whole "hey, that word looks like gay sort of" thing, and I'm betting the Savage ain't done with this dead horse yet. And make no mistake: this pony lacked a pulse on arrival, it's the equivalent of somebody pushing a wheelbarrow full o' carcass up to the starting line at the Belmont Stakes, saying "I think she's got one more in her. Put five on Luck Be A Lady!" Cry For Justice will probably do pretty well financially--it's got DC's "this one counts" push going for it, it's written by a guy a lot of people give a shit about, and the art is--sorry Brian--that sort of ridiculously overdone realism nonsense that turns people on. But it's bad, bad comics, and the only naked pleasures to be found in it, unless you like this gaudy art (geez Brian, I'm really sorry), is in reading it as a parody of other "serious" comics. The tools are laid out for you, it actually takes some serious effort not to pick them up. Does Hal flex his muscles at Superman while quoting Judge Dredd? Does Green Arrow talk like he's one of Bob Haney's "hep cats?" Do the two Atom characters use the patented Loeb/Meltzer color boxes to write each other mental mash notes?
Does Atom say "I want him to pay. Yeah....JUSTICE!"
Dude, all those things happen. This isn't "let's be sarcastic and exaggerate the failings of this particular super-hero comic book". Nobody is pulling a Photoshop Fast One. This is a real thing, that you can go buy at a store, and it's written by a real person, who gave it to another real person to draw, and they did something on a computer that was sort of like drawing (c'mon Brian, I'm not even sorry anymore, this art is terrible), and then some other very real people, people like your mom and your dad (but mostly like your uncle) they had it printed, and then it got sold in a store, and after that, those Real People, all of whom are adults, only a few of which can blame drunkeness, they said "Yes! We did it!" There were plans made, and those plans involved This Comic Book, and This Comic Book has a panel where Ray Palmer says "You have a LOT to say...You. Oodles", right before he tortures him, right before he says "Yeah. JUSTICE." That's all real. It's not made up, and it's going to sell a lot more copies than Criminal, and it might even get nominated for a Harvey Award, it just needs to get published on a website, or have worse art.
Of course, if it was just a bad comic, it would just be another bad comic. And it is, but maybe part of the reason it's worth looking at it is this...thing in the back. It's not really an essay, because it doesn't have anything to say, but it's not wholly p.r. bullshit, because it's got a bunch of random personal anecdotes in it. (And a veiled criticism for the Terminator series?) It's written by James Robinson, and he opens with this:
"It's hard sometimes to know if a miniseries is going to matter or not. By this I mean, irrespective of whether the writing/art is good or the story compelling, will it be something that will matter in the big picture of the comic book universe that you're writing for. I can think of many mini/maxiseries that, although well crafted and entertaining, vanished into the ether of yesterday, with the next wave of super-events that followed."
I love this. I love it because the intent of this comic, a comic that contains lines like "I am the law in space sector 2814. And that includes Earth." is now guaranteed. "Irrespective of whether the writing/art is good or the story compelling"--get it? Writing/art--totally fucking negligible! It's important to the people involved in its creation in a logistical sense, but the whole writing/art thing, you know, the whole thing that Makes It A Fucking Comic and not, like, cheese, or scissors--those things are completely secondary, because this is a comic book With Goals. The intent is for this comic book to "matter in the big picture of the comic book universe." Look, I'm not even sure what that means, for something to "matter" like that. It can't mean "i hope the fans like it", because that's completely fucking insane. So what does "matter" mean? Bigger than Zero Hour? More fondly remembered than Final Night? Stronger paperback sales than Millennium? Or does "matter" just apply to the spin-off designed-for-revamp-purposes category, meaning all this has to do is serve as being more worth your precious fucking time than Justice League Spectacular, or Midsummer's Nightmare, that it just has to read smarter than Extreme Justice? At the same time, you go back to the comic, you go back to the part where Congo Bill talks to himself by saying "A Smell! Beat. A Trail! Beat. His heart. What will stop his heart?" You read that, you look at the page that Wolk ganked that scan from, where the gorilla is crying--and you realize that It Doesn't Matter what "Matter" means. Because whatever magic thing that this comic is supposed to do, whatever importance it's supposed to have, this is how they plan to accomplish it! The dialog is going to quote Judge Dredd, a gorilla is going to weep, there's going to be exploitation style violence drawn in this hyper-realistic style, the Atom is going to act like Jack Bauer, and Green Arrow...aw man. Green Arrow is going to talk like this.
This comic is CRAP. Yes it is. But it's some of the most EXCELLENT CRAP that's available. Not in the sense that some might want, I don't think there's a case to be made for this being "everything that's wrong with super-hero comics". It's just hardcore pornography for train-wreck enthusiasts. It's a compilation of "i can't believe they said that" dialog panels mixed with the message board "why doesn't somebody just shoot the Joker" argument for plotting. And somehow, this is going to be one of the most important mini/maxiseries that DC has ever published.
Don't you dare apologize to me. Don't you dare, guy who looks like Alfred Pennyworth with a bad wig. I may not have gotten what you wanted to give, but I got something.
Damn, everyone already spoiled my best joke -- yes, indeed, the logo really DOES look like "Justice League: Gay For Justice"
Plus, it has the Mikaal Starman (Gay), Batwoman [soon] (Gay), Congorilla (Maybe not officially, but compared to some of what I saw coming home through the Castro during Pride Weekend, suggestively Gay), Green Lantern & Green Arrow, without the Canary Beard, and Freddy Freeman who, to me, is the Gayest of the Marvel Family.
I guess there isn't anything particularly gay about either Supergirl or The Atom (OR IS THERE?!?!!?)
Anyway, yeah, that was pretty creakingly dialogued, but I thought the art was super-swell, and it had something I miss so so very much: a text feature of "What I'm thinking". I'm willing to add two grades to this JUST for that alone. I mean, the DC books have stopped even doing the "Next Issue:" boxes, even with simply the cover, which, to me at least is the simplest cheapest most effective tool to create excitement for your next issue.
My biggest problem with the issue is that at least two of the characters don't want JUSTICE, they want VENGEANCE, which is a completely different thing altogether. A exploration of the difference between the two could possibly be interesting, but it's really unclear at this point if they're going to explore anything like that at all.
When I put down this issue I thought, "Hey, that was GOOD", but after an hour or two reflecting on it, It's probably really only OK at best.
What did YOU think? (Like you didn't say so in Graeme or Douglas' threads...)
-B
JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE #1 really is very Jeph Loeb, isn't it?
I mean, I'm not just talking about the tendency to emphasize words in an unexpected and unrealistic manner - Although, come on; parts of the dialogue here read as if James Robinson has never heard any real human being have a conversation - but the whole thing reads like someone at DC has actually kidnapped the real James Robinson and replaced him with a James Robinson clone actually made up of defective Loeb DNA: Splashy art masking a story where little happens? Check. Completely unconvincing dialogue? Check. Attempt at thematic cleverness that, in execution, comes across as laughable (I refer, of course, to the fact that in this series subtitled "Cry for Justice," each of the members of the upcoming new Justice League team literally cry for justice at some point in the issue. Well, except for Green Arrow, but that's because he's still embarrassed at having to say things like "No, baby, I'm with you. You and me. Old times, new times, all the time" and "Remember back in the day... when I lost my millions and became liberal - -")? Check! There's even, in the Atom scene, a rip-off of the duelling-first-person-narration of Loeb's Superman/Batman.
And yet, the comic it reminds me most of isn't a Loeb one. I'm convinced that this is, instead, the DC version of Secret War. Remember Secret War? Not the 1980s one with the plural title, the early-2000s one by Brian Bendis and Gabrielle Dell'Otto that was, like this, painted and self-important, bringing together unlikely characters (including one that clearly doesn't belong there - Hi, Congorilla!) to launch a new version of the company's flagship superhero title. Whether that means that Cry For Justice will end up being as light, storywise, and ultimately inconsequential as that series did remains to be seen, but it's not a good thing to finish the first issue and think "Oh, great, next thing they're going to end up invading Latveria." Awful, in a way that makes me wonder if I've been wrong in liking Robinson's recent Superman issues.
Mr. McMillan also posted for those of you who requested it. So that's finally sorted out. But do also check out our minicast--an episode I like to call "Graeme, Interrupted"--which, although cut short by Internet problems...
...has us both on one channel, improvements on the volume settings, and Graeme doing a really great squeaky voice there at the end.
And, of course, if you'd like to take a second and let us know what you think after you do, we'd appreciate it.
Now we'll look at the periodical comics. Again, under the jump...
Again, we'll start with sorting it by PIECES sold.
Yeah, the quarter book permutations win (and "10 for a buck" is counted as ONE item, not TEN), followed by Barack Obama and Spidey, followed by "back issue" as a generic item, then we get into the BUFFY's and other stuff. You'll recall that our '08 list was ABSOLUTELY dominated by BUFFY, but it spreads out a bit from there.
Here's the list:
Quarter Book - 10 for a Buck
Quarter Book - Single
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583
Back Issue
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #21 CHEN CVR
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #22 CHEN CVR
Dollar Book
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #23 CHEN CVR
BATMAN #686 (NOTE PRICE)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #24 CHEN CVR
FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)
FINAL CRISIS #7 (OF 7)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #25 CHEN CVR
DETECTIVE COMICS #853 (NOTE PRICE)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #28
FLASH REBIRTH #1 (OF 5)
UNWRITTEN #1
DARK AVENGERS #1
UNCANNY X-MEN #506
CAPTAIN AMERICA #600
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #3 (OF 4) (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #2 (OF 8)
UNCANNY X-MEN #509
INCOGNITO #1 (MR) (C: 1-0-0)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #20 CHEN CVR
DARK AVENGERS #2
IGNITION CITY #1 (OF 5) (MR)
INCOGNITO #2 (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #49
WOLVERINE #71
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #4 (OF 4) (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #507
UNCANNY X-MEN #508
UNCANNY X-MEN #510
UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2
WOLVERINE #70
KICK ASS #5 (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #4 (OF 8)
MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
Starter Set
BATMAN #684
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #3 (OF 8)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #46
FABLES #83 (MR)
FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 (OF 2)
IGNITION CITY #2 (OF 5) (MR)
INCOGNITO #3 (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #50
THOR #600
BOYS #26 (MR)
ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5)
WOLVERINE #72
DARK AVENGERS #4
FLASH REBIRTH #2 (OF 5)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3) (MR)
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #3 (OF 5)
KICK ASS #6 (MR)
LITERALS #1 (OF 3) (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #51
NEW AVENGERS #52
BATMAN #687
BOYS #29 (MR)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #50
DARK AVENGERS #3
NEW AVENGERS #53 DKR
BOYS #28 (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #511
UNWRITTEN #2 (MR)
ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16
BOYS #27 (MR)
DETECTIVE COMICS #854
FABLES #81 (MR)
FANTASTIC FOUR #562
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #4 (OF 5)
BATMAN #685 (FOE)
BTVS TALES OF THE VAMPIRES ONE SHOT JO CHEN COVER
DARK AVENGERS #5 DKR
FABLES #80 (MR)
FABLES #82 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #36
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #2 (OF 5)
DAREDEVIL #115
FABLES #84 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #40
INCOGNITO #4
JACK OF FABLES #33 (MR)
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #23 (FOE)
NO HERO #3 (OF 7) (MR)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #2 (OF 3) (MR)
ULTIMATUM #4 (OF 5)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #30
BOYS #30 (MR)
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #1 (OF 5)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45
CAPTAIN AMERICA #47
CAPTAIN AMERICA #49
FLASH REBIRTH #3 (OF 5)
GREEN LANTERN #38
----------------------------------------------------
OK, same thing, sorted by DOLLARS SOLD. Done this way Quarter books drop way down (for 10 for a buck), or completely off -- but "Starter Sets", packaged runs of books (eg; "10 issues of BATMAN") soars right up:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583
Back Issue
Starter Set
BATMAN #686 (NOTE PRICE)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #21 CHEN CVR
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #22 CHEN CVR
FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7)
DETECTIVE COMICS #853 (NOTE PRICE)
FINAL CRISIS #7 (OF 7)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #23 CHEN CVR
CAPTAIN AMERICA #600
Quarter Book - 10 for a Buck
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #24 CHEN CVR
DARK AVENGERS #1
FLASH REBIRTH #1 (OF 5)
NEW AVENGERS #50
THOR #600
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #25 CHEN CVR
IGNITION CITY #1 (OF 5) (MR)
DARK AVENGERS #2
UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2
ASTONISHING X-MEN #28
FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 (OF 2)
IGNITION CITY #2 (OF 5) (MR)
NEW AVENGERS #49
ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5)
DARK AVENGERS #4
INCOGNITO #2 (MR)
ASTONISHING X-MEN #29
NEW AVENGERS #52
NEW AVENGERS #51
INCOGNITO #1 (MR) (C: 1-0-0)
DARK AVENGERS #3
NEW AVENGERS #53 DKR
BATMAN #687
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #3 (OF 5)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #50
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #1 (OF 3) (MR)
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #3 (OF 4) (MR)
ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16
UNCANNY X-MEN #509
INCOGNITO #3 (MR)
DETECTIVE COMICS #854
DARK AVENGERS #5 DKR
FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS #4 (OF 5)
NO HERO #3 (OF 7) (MR)
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #2 (OF 8)
WOLVERINE #71
ULTIMATUM #4 (OF 5)
UNCANNY X-MEN #508
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #2 (OF 3) (MR)
UNCANNY X-MEN #507
SANDMAN DREAM HUNTERS #4 (OF 4) (MR)
WOLVERINE #70
UNCANNY X-MEN #510
KICK ASS #5 (MR)
THOR #601
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #4 (OF 8)
UNCANNY X-MEN #506
HELLBOY WILD HUNT #3 (OF 8)
MIGHTY AVENGERS #21
NEW AVENGERS #54 DKR
NO HERO #5 (OF 7) (MR)
ANGEL #17
FABLES #83 (MR)
DARK AVENGERS UNCANNY X-MEN UTOPIA #1 DAX
WOLVERINE #72
FLASH REBIRTH #2 (OF 5)
KICK ASS #6 (MR)
INCOGNITO #4
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #20 CHEN CVR
LITERALS #1 (OF 3) (MR)
NO HERO #4 (OF 7) (MR)
BATMAN #684
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #2 (OF 3)
STAND CAPTAIN TRIPS #4 (OF 5)
DARK AVENGERS #6 DKR
UNWRITTEN #2 (MR)
ANGEL #18
UNCANNY X-MEN #511
BOYS #26 (MR)
SEAGUY THE SLAVES OF MICKEY EYE #3 (OF 3)
SECRET WARRIORS #1
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #1 (OF 3)
FABLES #81 (MR)
BTVS TALES OF THE VAMPIRES ONE SHOT JO CHEN COVER
WAR OF KINGS #3 (OF 6)
FABLES #80 (MR)
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #3 (OF 3)
IGNITION CITY #3 (OF 5) (MR)
BOYS #27 (MR)
FABLES #82 (MR)
BPRD BLACK GODDESS #2 (OF 5)
ANGEL #19
FABLES #84 (MR)
GREEN LANTERN #40
JACK OF FABLES #33 (MR)
FINAL CRISIS SECRET FILES #1
GREEN LANTERN #36
These will change a lot, probably more than the books chart, when we get to the end of the year -- for example, Morrison's B&R has only been on sale for a month, and I'm going to get a lot more sales before THAT ride is done... but I like the snapshot anyway.
Still, it is very highly improbably that anything will beat that issue of AMAZING SPIDEY. Note, however, that that had NO follow-through impact whatsoever on the series...
Again, anyone see anything interesting to you?
-B
Since the first half of the fiscal year just closed, let's take a quick look at Comix Experience's best-sellers, year-to-date.
Below the jump for those of you who don't care about these things...
Because of the formatting issues, I've decided to not attach ranking numbers to the chart. I figure you guys can count just fine!
I've gone a little past #100 -- this is actually our top 127 best selling items, because I wanted to have my own book appear on the list, ha!
This first list is PIECES sold. Yes, the first item is marked down books on sale. And, finally, something else breaks the Vulcan Death Grip that WATCHMEN had last year.
(Totally sorry for all of the Diamond bullshit in the listings. I COULD clean it up, but it would take a year and a day, and this is just for snapshot purposes, so there you go.)
Sale Book
LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
WATCHMEN TP (FEB058406)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 05 SP VS THE UNIVERSE (DEC084184)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE (JUL068351) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN HC VOL 02
LOEG VOL ONE TP (JUL068290)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 04 BAD NIGHT (NOV082430) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 06 BLOOD IN THE GAME (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES (MAR080241) (MR
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 03 WOLVES AT THE GATE (JUL080042)
FABLES TP VOL 11 WAR AND PIECES (AUG080229) (MR)
POWERS TP VOL 12 COOLEST DEAD SUPERHEROES
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (OCT058281) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 04 SAFEWORD (APR058056) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 05 RING OF TRUTH (MAY050306) (MR)
UMBRELLA ACADEMY TP VOL 1 APOCALYPSE SUITE
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED (OCT058020)
BOYS TP VOL 03 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02 (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 06 GIRL ON GIRL (SEP050317) (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 01 LONG WAY HOME (JUL070028)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 04 TIME OF YOUR LIFE (C: 0-1-2)
FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE (APR058372)
SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE (APR058268)
THE FART PARTY TP
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 03 ONE SMALL STEP (MAR068027) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 (MAY080205)
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (DEC058055)
BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC (NOV070226)
LOEG VOL TWO TP (FEB058407)
SECRET INVASION TP (NOV082460)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US (NOV068026) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 09 MOTHERLAND (FEB070362) (MR)
ALAN MOORE LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE GN (O/A) (NOV083804) (MR
BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC
BOYS TP VOL 02 GET SOME (DEC073541) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 02 NO FUTURE FOR YOU (FEB080102)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 07 THE CALM BEFORE (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE
FINAL CRISIS HC
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 01 (SEP083753) (MR)
JACK OF FABLES TP VOL 05 TURNING PAGES (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES (DEC058090)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 01 SP PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE (MAY042851)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 04 SP GETS IT TOGETHER (JUN073779) (C:
TOP 10 TP BOOK 01 (OCT058279)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 07 PAPER DOLLS (FEB060341) (MR)
ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY HC #19 (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 04 ANCIENT HISTORY NEW EDITION (MAY050299) (
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 02 VS THE WORLD (DEC042750)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 03 INFINITE SADNESS (OCT053132)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 02 LOVE AND DEATH (JUL058053)
BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 09 CROWN OF HORNS (C: 1-1-2)
BOYS TP VOL 01 (DEC078191) (MR)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 02 LAWLESS (OCT072158) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 01 ON THE GROUND (MAR060383) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 02 BODY OF A JOURNALIST (NOV060292) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 03 STORYBOOK LOVE (MAY068085) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 05 THE MEAN SEASONS (JAN050373) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 10 THE GOOD PRINCE (FEB080297) (MR)
HELLBOY VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION TP
JOKER HC (JUL080124)
JUSTICE TP VOL 01 (FEB080252)
PLANETARY TP VOL 01 ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES (FE
PREACHER TP VOL 06 WAR IN THE SUN NEW EDITION (MAY050301) (M
PREACHER TP VOL 07 SALVATION NEW EDITION (MAY050300) (MR)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING HC BOOK 01 (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY (JAN058148)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 05 (C: 0-1-2)
SERENITY BETTER DAYS TP (C: 0-1-2)
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA HC (C: 0-1-2)
TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 04 HEARTS DESIRE (SEP051681) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 05 BEST DEFENSE (MAR061834) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 06 SORROWFUL LIFE (DEC061874) (MR)
WALTZ WITH BASHIR SC (C: 0-1-2)
100 BULLETS TP VOL 01 FIRST SHOT LAST CALL (SEP068078)
AIR TP VOL 01 LETTERS FROM LOST COUNTRIES (MR)
BATMAN RIP DELUXE EDITION HC
BPRD TP VOL 10 THE WARNING (C: 0-1-2)
DMZ TP VOL 03 PUBLIC WORKS (JUN070267) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 05 THE HIDDEN WAR (APR080273) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 01 THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS (SEP058036) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 07 EX CATHEDRA (JUL080199) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 04 MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (OCT058021) (M
FABLES TP VOL 07 ARABIAN NIGHTS AND DAYS (MAR060384) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 08 WOLVES (SEP060313) (MR)
FROM HELL TP NEW PTG (MR)
HELLBLAZER ROOTS OF COINCIDENCE TP (Diggle v3 of 3)
LOEG BLACK DOSSIER TP (JUL080193)
PREACHER TP VOL 05 DIXIE FRIED NEW EDITION (JUL050315) (MR)
RESURRECTION TP VOL 01
SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS (OCT058022)
SCALPED TP VOL 01 INDIAN COUNTRY (MAY070243) (MR)
TOP 10 TP BOOK 02 (APR068255)
V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 08 KIMONO DRAGONS (AUG060299) (MR)
A DRIFTING LIFE TP
BERLIN TP BOOK 02 CITY OF SMOKE (JUN083900) (MR)
BLACK SUMMER TP (JUL083705) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 04 FRIENDLY FIRE (DEC070294) (MR)
EX MACHINA TP VOL 04 MARCH TO WAR (AUG060269) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 09 SONS OF EMPIRE (MAR070271) (MR)
FUNNY MISSHAPEN BODY GN (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS NIGHT WITCHES TP (C: 0-1-2)
GOON TP VOL 07 PLACE OF HEARTACHE & GRIEF (C: 0-1-2)
JUSTICE TP VOL 03 (OCT080172)
NEIL GAIMANS CORALINE TP
PATH OF THE ASSASSIN TP VOL 15 BAD BLOOD PART 2 (C: 0-1-2)
PREACHER TP VOL 03 PROUD AMERICANS NEW EDITION (JUL068334) (
PREACHER TP VOL 08 ALL HELLS A COMING (SEP058101)
PREACHER TP VOL 09 ALAMO (APR078094) (MR)
SHORTCOMINGS HC (JUL073524) (MR)
SHOWCASE PRESENTS AMBUSH BUG TP VOL 01
SUPERMAN RED SON TP (NOV058130)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 01 SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING (APR058269)
TILTING AT WINDMILLS SC VOL 02
UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 03 SAFETY BEHIND BARS (MR)
WARREN ELLIS AETHERIC MECHANICS GN
WARREN ELLIS CROOKED LITTLE VEIN MMPB
WE 3 TP (APR050419) (MR)
___________________________________________________
OK, same thing, but this time sorted by DOLLARS sold. It looks similar, but not identical:
Sale Book
WATCHMEN TP (FEB058406)
LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 05 SP VS THE UNIVERSE (DEC084184)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 09 HERE WE REMAIN (MR)
SECRET INVASION TP (NOV082460)
POWERS TP VOL 12 COOLEST DEAD SUPERHEROES
ALL STAR SUPERMAN HC VOL 02
FABLES TP VOL 11 WAR AND PIECES (AUG080229) (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 03 (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
LOEG VOL ONE TP (JUL068290)
UMBRELLA ACADEMY TP VOL 1 APOCALYPSE SUITE
FINAL CRISIS HC
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 02 (MR)
FROM HELL TP NEW PTG (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE (APR058268)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 03 WOLVES AT THE GATE (JUL080042)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES (MAR080241) (MR
CRIMINAL TP VOL 04 BAD NIGHT (NOV082430) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 05 RING OF TRUTH (MAY050306) (MR)
DMZ TP VOL 06 BLOOD IN THE GAME (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 02 GET SOME (DEC073541) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER (MR)
BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC (NOV070226)
STARMAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 02
BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC
LOST GIRLS DLX SLIPCASED ED CURR PTG
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 01 LONG WAY HOME (JUL070028)
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 01 (SEP083753) (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES (DEC058090)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (OCT058281) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 04 SAFEWORD (APR058056) (MR)
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE (JUL068351) (MR)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING HC BOOK 01 (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 04 TIME OF YOUR LIFE (C: 0-1-2)
SWAMP THING TP VOL 02 LOVE AND DEATH (JUL058053)
TOP 10 TP BOOK 01 (OCT058279)
A DRIFTING LIFE TP
LOEG VOL TWO TP (FEB058407)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 09 MOTHERLAND (FEB070362) (MR)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 06 GIRL ON GIRL (SEP050317) (MR)
BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 02 NO FUTURE FOR YOU (FEB080102)
BATMAN RIP DELUXE EDITION HC
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US (NOV068026) (MR)
PUNISHER BY GARTH ENNIS OMNIBUS HC
HEAVY LIQUID HC (MAY080261) (MR)
THE FART PARTY TP
POPGUN GN VOL 01 (NEW PTG) (SEP071958) (C: 0-1-2)
WALKING DEAD HC VOL 01
WALKING DEAD HC VOL 02
JOKER HC (JUL080124)
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (DEC058055)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 03 ONE SMALL STEP (MAR068027) (MR)
STARMAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 03
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED (OCT058020)
BLACK SUMMER TP (JUL083705) (MR)
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 (MAY080205)
Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 07 PAPER DOLLS (FEB060341) (MR)
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA HC (C: 0-1-2)
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 05 (C: 0-1-2)
DOKTOR SLEEPLESS TP VOL 01 ENGINES OF DESIRE (AUG083788) (MR
FABLES TP VOL 10 THE GOOD PRINCE (FEB080297) (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 06 WAR IN THE SUN NEW EDITION (MAY050301) (M
PREACHER TP VOL 07 SALVATION NEW EDITION (MAY050300) (MR)
JACK OF FABLES TP VOL 05 TURNING PAGES (MR)
HELLBOY VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION TP
LOEG BLACK DOSSIER TP (JUL080193)
SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS (OCT058022)
V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY HC #19 (MR)
BOYS TP VOL 01 (DEC078191) (MR)
WATCHMEN HC (JUL080172)
WATCHING THE WATCHMEN HC (AUG084300) (C: 0-1-2)
WALTZ WITH BASHIR SC (C: 0-1-2)
BOYS DEFINITIVE ED HC (NEW PTG) (JUN083805) (MR) (C: 0-0-2)
WATCHMEN THE ABSOLUTE EDITION HC (JUL080174)
Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 01 (JUN080308) (MR)
PREACHER TP VOL 04 ANCIENT HISTORY NEW EDITION (MAY050299) (
LOCAS A LOVE & ROCKETS BOOK HC VOL 01 (O/A) (MR)
COMPLETE PERSEPOLIS TP
FABLES TP VOL 04 MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (OCT058021) (M
FABLES TP VOL 08 WOLVES (SEP060313) (MR)
OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE SC VOL 39 AVENGERS (O/A) (
SWAMP THING TP VOL 01 SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING (APR058269)
FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE (APR058372)
BERLIN TP BOOK 02 CITY OF SMOKE (JUN083900) (MR)
SHORTCOMINGS HC (JUL073524) (MR)
UNDERSTANDING COMICS THE INVISIBLE ART
FABLES TP VOL 03 STORYBOOK LOVE (MAY068085) (MR)
FABLES TP VOL 05 THE MEAN SEASONS (JAN050373) (MR)
SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY (JAN058148)
TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET (MR)
CRIMINAL TP VOL 02 LAWLESS (OCT072158) (MR)
JUSTICE TP VOL 01 (FEB080252)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 04 SP GETS IT TOGETHER (JUN073779) (C:
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 07 THE CALM BEFORE (MR) (C: 0-1-2)
SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 01 SP PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE (MAY042851)
PLANETARY TP VOL 01 ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES (FE
At the end of the day I'm super happy with our sales patterns, and I think they show a pretty high level of diversity.
Anything interesting YOU see?
-B
Capsule reviews! I still remember how to do 'em! Uh, kinda? They're sorta...long? Ish? And there's not...a lot of them?
Nonetheless. After the jump: BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1, BATMAN #687, FANTASTIC FOUR GIANT-SIZE ADVENTURES #1, and GREEN LANTERN #42.
BARACK THE BARBARIAN #1: Although the concept amused me, I doubt I would’ve picked it up if I hadn’t noticed Larry Hama writing it. Looking back on the legacy of G.I. Joe, there’s a case to be made that there’s no concept so silly Hama won’t try to finesse IT into something enjoyable.
And that’s essentially the case here, where Barack the Barbarian comes to a corrupt city and runs afowl of dark wizard Chainee The Grim, his assistant Red Sarah, and others. Although the joke is essentially at the level of a Cracked Magazine from 1974 and things suffer from an utter lack of personality on the part of the lead character, Hama’s crafted a surprisingly strong hook for his tale: it’s a legend being told by a shaman to children of his tribe, a legend that the shaman admits is of a time long-past, a time about which the truth could never be known.
Now I know I’m a sucker for this trope, it being a patented ‘70s Kirby dance move (that Devil Dinosaur story with Stone-Hand, Eev and the computer bank that becomes the Tree of Knowledge is the first, but far from only, example that comes to mind), but it’s used to particularly good end here. First, it adds a certain wit to the shaman’s understanding of this magical age of ours (people are able to communicate across long distances by consuming magic berries, dinosaur skeletons are shown pulling wagons, etc.)
But second, and more trenchantly, it’s a fine sideways commentary on how so much of our current political landscape is rooted in continual attempts to transform our politicians with the language of myth, and the accidental or intentional misunderstandings perpetuated in the media about our government does (or doesn’t) get things done.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got quibbles. As I said, the main character has no personality and is portrayed as something of a naif a characterization I doubt anyone would apply to Barack Obama, and the art, although effective in its storytelling, is crude and sketchy in a way classic barbarian comics are not. Worst of all, the likenesses are recognizable but lack the zeal or zing of caricature (which should really be one of the big draws for a book like this, don’t you think?)
Finally, to be honest, seeing a strong black ass-kicking barbarian my heart gave a distinctly non-ironic tug (apparently I was a bigger fan of Zula than I would’ve thought) and made me more than a little rueful: is this how we’re going to get strong African-American characters into our comics? Whisked in through the back door of parody by the promise of easy money? In a way, I wouldn’t mind if the whole thing didn’t seem so flimsy and likely to crash in around everyone’s ears in three months.
But quibbling aside…I liked it, I admit it. This is an OKAY book with the potential to becoming more (and the likelihood, alas, of becoming much less). I’ll be curious to see where it goes.
BATMAN #687: Worth noting because this is probably how Batman & Robin #1 would’ve read written by just about anyone other than Morrison. And, certainly, compared to Morrison and Quietly, it seems just this side of dull. But I appreciated how it talked me through the character motivations while managing to jam in enough action not to seem dull and to give you an end that moved boom-pow-punch forward while resolving Dick’s internal conflict.
I guess what I’m saying is that it looks like we currently have two different approaches to the new Batman storyline, and I really appreciate that: I’m on the hook for both and I thought this was a solid craftsman-like GOOD.
FANTASTIC FOUR GIANT-SIZE ADVENTURES #1: The Marvel All-Ages books continue to toy with their neither fish-nor-fowl status and I for one could be a bit happier about it. The long lead story in this issue is drawn in a more traditional style by Vicente Cifuentes whose work grapples with competence but looks like ‘traditional’ superhero stories. It’s followed by two stories drawn, with considerable skill and aplomb, by Colleen Coover and Dustin Weaver. Since all the stories are written by Paul Tobin, it makes it easier—although not entirely accurate—to attribute the success of each story to the strengths of the artists. The latter two stories—and I admit the last one is really just a fragment (a very charming shout-out to Hergé’s Tintin)—are such charmers, but also possessed of such talent and craft, I’m kinda wondering why I had to wade through so much mediocre art to get to them.
Now, I know there are lots of things going on behind the scenes that could explain such an arrangement: if Vicente Cifuentes is an artist in another country, he could be working for a much lower page rate that Coover or Weaver, for example. But I wonder if the Marvel All-Ages team is attempting to serve two masters at once—-those who want well-written, well-told stories, and those who want the characters inside the book to look like the bedsheets they just bought—-to the potential detriment of both. Whatever the case, I’m frustrated that so many Very Good bits and pieces still only end up to something that’s a middling OKAY, overall.
GREEN LANTERN #42: I dropped out back at the delightful blood-barf fest of Rage of the Red Lanterns, and am dropping back in to kind of gear up for the upcoming Black Lanterns storyline. So it’s little tough for me to tell how much of my confusion is due to coming in at the tail end of the Orange Lantern storyline, and how much is due to writer Geoff Johns surreptitiously positioning the storyline as a sequel to Space Jam. I mean, how else am I supposed to interpret a cover that positions a possessed Hal Jordan as the space-opera successor to Daffy Duck?
Or maybe I just have bad luck in terms of which colored lanterns I check in on? The Blue Lantern scenes seemed cool, and there was something that seemed sweeping and epic with that last scene where two Green Lanterns meeting an unhappy fate while looking for the corpse of the Anti-Monitor.
The issue left me with the impression the Orange Lantern was being played for both comic relief and some pathos, like a more irreverent take on Peter Jackson’s Gollum. While I don’t have any problems with that approach per se, either the tone is off or I’m really out of synch with it: it’s not that I have problems with humor in the middle of my big space epic, it’s more that the humor struck me as overly broad and flat. It reads to me like Johns is shooting for Pixar but ending up at Dreamworks, you know? Farting raccoons, and that kind of thing.
And there’s also some shortcutting that may be unavoidable but still strike me as terribly clunky—at this point, everything is happening on such a ginormous scale that Johns has captions with power percentages to create any kind of drama. “Oh no, my battery power is down to 823%!” That, along with teasers of which deceased character will end up in the ranks of the Black Lanterns, make this feel like an epic taking its dramatic cues from fantasy football pools.
And while such naked groping at populism might not be a bad thing at all—-by the time the White Lanterns roar to the rescue in their shiny hypertime NASCAResque light racers, Michael Bay might be slavering at coke-dappled jowls to adapt the whole damn epic—-I think it might be a shame if such a fine opportunity for something as grand as a handful of comic books telling a story was reduced to something as puny as a ready-made, billion dollar Hollywood franchise.
OKAY issue, though.
Well, we've all already discussed BATMAN & ROBIN #1, but what about the REST of the Bat-books, mm?
BATMAN #687: Taking place *before* BATMAN & ROBIN #1, this does a pretty decent job in setting up Dick for the role, and getting him through the baggage. I wasn't too excited by the art, but then, all we have to do is wait a month and Mark Bagley comes on. Which is a weird shift from Ed Benes, really. Still, as a "#0", this does its job perfectly adequately, and Winick's usual scripting ticks are fairly well hidden. I guess I can give this a low "GOOD", but I think I'd be happier if I actually believed this would last more than a year or two, max. 'sfunny, this sort of makes me think of Cap-Bucky -- I think I'd actually PREFER if this was a no-tapbacks restart of the Bat franchise, because I really do think that Dick couldn't ultiamtely make a better bat...
RED ROBIN #1: This doesn't feel like Tim Drake to me -- Tim was always the "unobsessed" of the Bat-family... the one who did it because he WANTED to, because he was SMART enough and strong enough and fast enough, the one who would, eventually, someday be the Bat, but who would approach it as a detective as a guardian, not as a thug or bruiser. So, no, I don't see him having internal dialogue about breaking people's bones, or crossing lines, or any of that. Also, as a series-based premise, "I'm going to find Bruce" is pretty dead end, as well as being way too soon in the game to start unfurling. The scripting was fine, the art was solid, but it just didn't seem like the right character in the role, and doing stuff that was too far off in left field. This also makes the second of these that doesn't have a cliffhanger so much as just stopping because they reached the end of the issue. This first one is SELLING something like triple what ROBIN used to, but I'll be pessimistic about the long-term prospects. I thought it was pretty EH.
BATMAN: STREET OF GOTHAM #1: Based on this first issue, I'm pretty confused as to the premise of the book. I'm of the mind that when you have multiple books for one character that each one needs to have a VERY clearly defined premise, and I'm not seeing one here. Is it "Batman stories where Batman is slightly off camera" maybe? But that's not really a great premise. I tremendously liked the art, but there's little in the story that couldn't be done exactly the same with Bruce. Plus, can I say just how much I hate Hush as a villain -- he's simply not interesting, even a little bit, and I'm tired in trying to be convinced that he is. Hell, I find Firefly more compelling, because at least he has a shtick. As a first issue, I only sold-through about 2/3 of the average of Dini's DETECTIVE run moved, which is a really bad start, actually -- that's going to put this down into BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL range by issue #6. At least this issue sort of had a cliffhanger, but it was angled wrong, and it wasn't until my second reading for this review that I noticed the bat signal shape. I'll go with a mild EH
As for the Manhunter back-up, I pretty actively disliked it -- this felt like a desperation move "We really think you should like this, even though you've established that you don't, already, so, um, let's change the setting and the supporting cast, maybe that's the problem?" Well, no, the supporting cast was one of the things I vaguely liked about the original premise (not that much ever got done with it...), and yeah that last page note was just sour: "Jane Doe, BUM BUM BUM!" Um, what's that, and why the fuck should I care? I thought this feature was pretty AWFUL, and would resent being asked to pay an extra buck for it.
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1: Another series I don't see having much in the way of legs -- this will be cute and charming for a few issues at a time, but as a premise, I sort of don't see it: these characters, in this continuity, don't sit all of that well together. Maybe if Dini was DRAWING it, too, then "cuteness" would be a major selling point. The art, by Guillem March, is nice enough, but I just don't see where this series could go that I'd want to follow. Also: there were a few what I personally would call storytelling problems with Bonebreaker's vague powers -- he punches through walls, and declares that he "powders" bones with his touch... but he touches Selina and Harley just fine with no apparent after-effects. Still, first week sales show it's selling better than SOG, so what do I know? OK
DETECTIVE COMICS #854: In a way this is like two years too late -- I could have sold the fuck out of this had it been released in the wake of 52. It is selling really well, out of the gate -- about triple Dini 'TECs, but once upon a day it would have sold as well as Morrison's B&R. It is really incredibly gorgeous, maybe the best looking book DC has published all year, but I wanted a smidge more meat on the story -- like the hows and whys and how the hell she does all of that heart surgery and why the Bat, and all of that. Plus, another "ran out of pages" ending, with nothing that screams "Come back and buy the next one, mister!" (other than the art, which IS fuckin' scrumptious) -- and yet I'll still say GOOD.
The Question back up was fine enough, I guess, but didn't have enough weight to it, and, again, ended at a really awful spot. A solid OK.
What did YOU think?
-B
