What Looks Cool For October

Okay as before I’m ignoring anything from DC proper (meaning I will add Vertigo if appropriate) and Marvel proper, which allows Marvel Knights and if Icon ever has another book to be included.  

Very few post lately as I have been super busy with going to Balto-Con and then a stay-cation when my brother and his wife visited (lots of fun) that I have over 80 books yet to be read. I have stayed current on some stuff. I tried to hit what I wrote up on the September version of this post.

First off some commentary on the current state of what the Big Two are doing. The DC Villains month is a disaster. Oh sure I have managed to sell almost all of them on Ebay and have made a buck or two, but man did these books reek of fill in material. Not origins, not setting up anything per say, just place markers featuring the villains. Plus the bloom will be off the speculator rose on the prices of those books quick. The Infinity saga by Hickman is ambitious and overdone. He has too many plates spinning with way too many characters, so far I would call this an expensive fail. I could be eating my words when it is done but right now it is too much. The Battle of the Atom is fun and exciting. I love Bendis on the X-Men and have three different groups of X-Men from three times is an amazing amount of fun. Now it is onto the main attraction.

Ok from September:

I missed mentioning God is Dead #1 from Avatar and Hickman, a great opening issue as the gods of old have returned to Earth and it is not a good time for Mankind.

Hit #1 from Boom was a great opening as a sanctioned Hit squad during LA in the 50’s is already in a lot of trouble.

Brain Boy #1 from Dark Horse is a must read. Van Lente gave us a highly enjoyable picture of a government super hero who is an arrogant prick, but just a damn good book.

Buzzkill #1 was also a lot of fun as the concept is crazy. Our hero needs to be high to have powers and he is trying to get straight and going to AA. All is not what it seems for our “hero?”. 

Codename Action #1 was another good book. Think James Bond from 1960 teaming up with James Bond from 2013 and a awesome plot to start a World War and you have the start of a good mini-series (I believe).

Kings Watch #1 which is a team up of The Phantom, Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician should be a disaster, but Jeff Parker made this opening chapter a lot of fun. All introduction type stuff and the story has yet to kick in, but I liked it.

Reality Check #1 was another winner. The concept is a comic book writer/artist is struggling to have a hit and his character comes to life. A lot more to it then that, but it works and it worth checking out.

Sadly I have not read any other of the new number ones as of this writing.

Ok for October the fun starts with Dark Horse, so let’s pull up those solicitations.

First up is Bloodhound Crowbar Medicine #1 (of 5) by Dan Jolly as writer and Leonard Kirk as artist.  This book has a strange pedigree as it was a DC book that Jolley managed to retain the rights too. Dark Horse republished it with a few succinct edits to eliminate any reference to the DCU. This is a follow up to that part of the story I believe. Jolley’s projects always show hard work and love for what he is doing and Kirk can have a superior art style. The copy for it says“Travis Clevenger may not have superpowers, but he can put a beatdown on anyone who does! Consulting with the FBI in exchange for release from prison, Clev is getting his life together when a rogue superhuman’s destructive rampage and a scientist’s response shock the nation, leading to Clev’s biggest case yet!”

Next up is Shaolin Cowboy #1 by Geof Darrow. One day someone needs to publish all of the Shaolin Cowboy stuff as a high end hard cover. I have missed this book and glad to see it finally getting back onto the stands. Just a crazy mash up of whatever Geof wants to do with the central character being a Shaolin Cowboy. The marketing hype goes like this “The Shaolin Cowboy returns, but nowhere in sight is there a dead Robin, any infinity gauntlets, or a single conquering Ultron—just flat-out action, intrigue, and plenty of roadkill. Geof Darrow’s slow-talkin’, kung-fu-gripping hero proves once again, in this brand-new new series, that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a chainsaw!”

Alright this one for DH is something I’m just going to take a chance on, S.H.O.O.T. First #1 (of 4) by Justin Aclin writer and Nicholas Daniel Selma on art. The first two I’m buying based on having read both series before, so I know what I’m getting for the most part. This is one where artist and writer are unknown but the premise and hype is good “The Secular Humanist Occult Obliteration Taskforce—defending humanity from angels, demons, and a bunch of other crap S.H.O.O.T. doesn’t believe in. Justin Aclin (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Twisted ToyFare Theatre) and Nicolás Daniel Selma (Tomb Raider: The Beginning) take aim at the supernatural in an all-new big-action, big-ideas sci-fi adventure! • Original, irreverent, and controversial!” The sci-fi in the premise was the final selling point and Dark Horse produces quality material.

Not a bad start from Dark Horse, let’s check on IDW next. And after scanning the listing we get a zero. Damn, I love the quality of IDW work, but wish they had more new stuff coming out, maybe next month.

Let’s move onto Image, which is fast becoming the go to place for most creator owned material.

First up is a slam dunk for me, Velvet #1 by Ed (Fatale) Brubaker writer and Steve Epting as artist. The level of artist talent that is coming onto these projects now is amazing. A few years ago many of the bigger names were not coming onto creator owned projects. Not sure if part ownership is the incentive or if the writers have the wherewithal to pay the artist up front or what is going on, but the talent level is incredible. The premise is “When the world's best secret agent is killed, Velvet Templeton, the Personal Assistant to the Director of the Agency, is drawn off her desk and back into the field for the first time in nearly 20 years... and is immediately caught in a web of mystery, murder and high-octane action. Sexy and provocative, with a dark twist on the spy genre, this EXTRA-LENGTH first issue by two of the industry's best-selling creators will knock you out!” Okay we are getting lot’s of spy type stuff, but well done is well done and the twist is a good one.

Next up is Pretty Deadly #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick as writer and art by Emma Rios. Why does the big two struggle to get female creators when the industry has this level of talent? I have been growing to like Kelly Sue’s work more and more and Emma’s work at Boom was very good. But neither is a slam dunk for me to try a new book, the premise is what made my decision an easy one. It is  “an all-new ongoing series that marries the magical realism of Sandman with the western brutality of Preacher.  Death's daughter rides the wind on a horse made of smoke and her face bears the skull marks of her father. Her tale of retribution is as beautifully lush as it is unflinchingly savage.” Sounds like it could be promising.

Next is Rocket Girl #1 by one of my favorite artists Amy Reeder with the writer being Brandon Montclare. They did a Halloween one shot and the premise sounds great “A teenage cop from a high-tech future is sent back in time to 1986 New York City.  Dayoung Johansson is investigating the Quintum Mechanics megacorporation for crimes against time. As she pieces together the clues, she discovers the “future” she calls home – an alternate reality version of 2013 – shouldn’t exist at all!Blast off with the new ongoing series by BRANDON MONTCLARE (Halloween Eve) and Eisner Award nominee AMY REEDER (Batwoman, Madame Xanadu).” Now I backed the Kickstarter for this book and will be getting the first issue that way, but I’m all in for this book.

The last new series from Image I want to try out is Three #1 by writer Kieron Gillen and art by Ryan Kelly. The premise is “When a member of the Spartan ruling class visits an isolated homestead of Helot workers, a brutal massacre is only the beginning. KIERON GILLEN (PHONOGRAM, Über, Iron Man), RYAN KELLY (Saucer County, Local) and JORDIE BELLAIRE (THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS, NOWHERE MEN) unite to tell the heroic story of three slaves and their desperate attempt to escape 300 of the finest warriors who've ever lived.” It feels like Kieron is perhaps wanting to show another side of the Spartan life which was glorified by the 300. Not sure that I thought anyone had a great life back in those days. Sometimes it is nice to believe the legend and stop showing everyone having clay feet, but the other side of the coin is that perhaps it also shows that we can all be heroic even with our faults.

Now onto check and see if Boom can offer any new October titles I want to try.

Imagine Agents #1 by Brian Joines writer and art by Bachan. The title says no to me, the creators are who and who to me, but the solicitation copy says “Ever try to wrangle an illiterate, 30-foot tall rock monster away from his 5-year-old best friend? Or calm down a 400 pound muscle-man rag-doll during her daily temper-tantrum? For Dave and Terry, it's all in a day's work. As agents for I.M.A.G.I.N.E., they are responsible for keeping your imaginary friends in-line...Little do they know that six-year-old Elliot and his best bear-friend, Furdlgurr, are about to be entangled in a plan to change everything!” It sounds like it could be a lot of fun and maybe a neat book to pass onto a younger reader. So this book gets a one issue try out. I’m not sure if this is a KaBoom book or not.

So a one and done for BOOM, next up is Avatar. Avatar is a zero, not surprising as they are a smaller publisher and are not going to have new projects every month. Let’s look at Valiant for October. Again we get a big fat zero. Valiant is being very cautious about adding books so no new titles is a good thing. Onto Dynamite to see if they have anything new in October.

This is a new series but iffy as it is a continuation of Dynamite exploiting The Shadow as much as possible. The Shadow Now #1 by writer David Liss and artist Colton Worley. I dropped the Spider by these two as the art was too computerized for my taste. Still I like Liss’ writing and the concept is a good one, so I will give it a go. The premise “Having spent decades in the east to rejuvenate himself, the greatest pulp hero of them all, The Shadow, returns to New York in modern times. Lamont Cranston seeks to resume his old life, and his heroic alter-ego is ready to stand once more as an enemy to evil. But while he was gone, his foes have remained vigilant, and the most dangerous man The Shadow has ever faced prepares to rise once more. It's the shocking beginning to a new era for The Shadow!” Of course The Shadow has been moved into the present before but always nice to see a different take. Also the last time was back in the eighties I believe.

This is it from Dynamite, now let’s turn to Vertigo. An imprint I thought was dead, yet is struggling to regain some life. A quick remark, I know Sandman: Overture #1 by Gaiman and Williams is coming out, but I’m skipping this as it will be a deluxe hard cover in no time and I see no need to spend $30 for the mini-series which is going to be bi-monthly. With all that I read it is too difficult to follow a story that comes out every other month.

Fist up from Vertigo is Coffin Hill #1 by Catlin Kittredge as the writer and art by Inaki Miranda. Neither name is one I recognize. The premise is “COFFIN HILL stars Eve Coffin, a rebellious, teenage lowlife from a high-society family with a curse that goes back to the Salem Witch trials. Following a night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve wakes up naked, covered in blood and unable to remember how she got there. One friend is missing, one is in a mental ward—and one knows that Eve is responsible. After a stint as a Boston cop that ends in a bullet wound and unintended celebrity, Eve returns to Coffin Hill, only to discover the darkness that she unleashed ten years ago in the woods was never contained. It continues to seep through the town, cursing the soul of this sleepy Massachusetts hollow, spilling secrets and enacting its revenge.
Set against the haunted backdrop of New England, COFFIN HILL explores what people will do for power and retribution. Noted novelist Caitlin Kittredge, author of the Black London series, brings a smart, mesmerizing style to comics. Artist Inaki Miranda (FABLES) brings his dynamic storytelling to COFFIN HILL, following an acclaimed run on FAIREST.” Well I’m not excited as it sounds like the Sleep Hollow TV series and/or a little like Rachael Rising, but I will try it out.

Next up is Hintertkind #1 by Ian Edington on words and art by Francesco Trifogli. I read Ian before but nothing that I can recall and the artist is a total blank to me. The premise is “Men go and come, but Earth abides.”— Ecclesiastes 1:4
Decades after “The Blight” all but wiped out the human race, Mother Nature is taking back what’s hers, and she’s not alone…The Hinterkind have returned.
From the last, lost corners of the world they come, a myriad menagerie of myth and magic...but these aren’t childhood fairytale creatures. They are flesh, blood and passion, and they have a long-simmering hatred for those who drove them into the shadows: The human race! 
After her grandfather disappears, Prosper Monday must leave the security and seclusion of their Central Park village to venture into the wilds to find him, unaware of how much the world has changed. Or how hungry it has become…”  Sounds like the mix of post apocalypse with fairy tale creatures and humans fighting it out.

Both books are benefiting from my love of the Vertigo imprint and I’m willing to see if Shelly Bond can right the Vertigo ship that was almost sunk by Didio.

So that leave Marvel Knights and or Icon imprint to see if they have anything worth trying out in October.

Low and behold Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1 (of 5) by a favorite writer of mine Matt Kindt with art by Marco Rudy. The hype is “From the haunted heights of a mysterious castle to the dizzying depths of the deep seas, the Amazing Spider-Man has to take on not one, not six, not twelve – but ninety-nine of the Marvel Universe’s deadliest villains to save the lives of countless innocents! A defining hour in the life of the webbed wonder in a race against time and a battle against evil.” This would be a pass for me but for Matt Kindt. Of course Rudy is a solid artist. This should be fun and I believe it is Peter Parker as Spider-Man.

That wraps up October, but a ton of great stuff to look forward to. 

Why Marvel and DC are Stale

Like bread left out too long Marvel and DC are stale and I’m starting to see some mold on the sides of the slices.

Okay I’m about to take some vacation time and part of the trip I will be in Baltimore and attending Balto-Con. I have decided that I NEED to stop getting all Marvel and DC books and will try and set a target date of six months from now. I will make up to ten monthly exceptions and Vertigo will not count.

My problem is that Marvel and DC refuse to modify their approaches with the characters and that the characters no longer work because you cannot continuously publish a character for 50 years and still maintain continuity.

One problem I believe is with both companies is the lack of new characters. There is no real money in it for the creators to create any new characters. Why add a new villain into the DCU or Marvel or a new hero and watch them become the next Wolverine. Do you think Len Wein and John Romita Sr. (who designed him) are living off the riches this character has generated for Marvel and the movies? If you honestly believe that those two guys are now fats cats living off their millions from that creation I can sell you part of a bridge in Brooklyn, cheap. To the best of my knowledge neither Marvel nor DC is paying for new characters and I’m sure it is work for hire.  

Heck this problem could be solved with some creative thinking. Lease the character for five years with a fixed payment and then reopen negotiations or have options built in for both sides. Lots of stuff gets optioned and nothing every happens, but at least this way creators could maintain a financial interest in the success of the character and the company can exploit the character in agreed ways. Let’s say I create Kinetic Man and I lease the character to Marvel for five years for $50,000 with additional payments if they market him into cartoons, t-shirts whatever. Of course the problem is that neither Disney nor Warner Brothers want to exploit something then do not own lock stock and barrel. This means that creators are going to hold back new ideas and try to do something new with a creator owned project. It also means that consciously or unconsciously the creators are not putting their best effort into these books. They want to do a good job, because it is a good paying job for most of them, but it is a job. Ownership in a process creates a better product (usually).

Specific to Marvel comics is the problem that their characters are too much a product of their times. I think Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spider-Man and other characters are truly tied to the sixties. If those characters were created today they would be radically different at least in their approach. The problem is that you have characters that have been continuously published for 50 years and they are still the same people. Instead of Val and Franklin running the FF, they are children forever. With too few new characters being added it is just an endless recycling of using the same characters over and over and over again. No matter how many events and gimmicks you try it is till Reed Richards, Sue Richards, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm. Any growth is wiped out with the next writer. When you look at the origins of the characters they no longer make any sense which is why the movies desperately try to update the material. So we get Thanos and Sentinels as the villains for the current events – wow that is different.

Specific to DC comics is the issue of lost continuity. When they launched the new 52 they threw the baby out with the bath water. There is no legacy and the history of the characters is a blank slate that we have to guess at, but have no basis for our belief. Issues like how did Nightwing has a relationship with Starfire with out having a Teen Titans, if Hal never went crazy (which I’m convinced is the case now) why is Kyle a Green Lantern? You start to push on any continuity or history of the characters it all falls apart. I would have preferred a brand new start from the beginning instead of this squishy mess of continuity.

Another point is that now the actual stories have been devalued, not only from a collector or resale standpoint, but from the standpoint as a reader. On Ebay selling pre 52 stuff is giving away the books. The interest is very low in the more recent books. As a reader when I re-read the stories something is lost knowing that a favorite story no longer is “in continuity” for  a character.  I know many stories are that way and over time I’m sure I will just enjoy what I have.

Of course that is the point; I think it is time to just enjoy what has gone before. I can pick up stuff like Wonder Woman, Batman, Hawkeye and a few others. I can keep my finger on the pulse of good stuff from the big two via the websites. I can indulge myself with more and more of the indy titles and enjoy Todd the Ugliest Kid, East of West, Uber, Suicide Risk, Bloodshot, Red Team, Mind Mgmt, Wild Blue Yonder and other books. Time to leave the big two behind for the most part and to hope that maybe they can help maintain the fan base to keep the industry alive.

I think one solution for the big two is to so screw continuity and just tell the best stories then can or they can. Or they can continue their event driven marketing stunts to cover up the fact that both companies are stagnant. If they drop continuity at least the writers are free to tell their best story about a character. Look at Daredevil Knights by Lee Weeks and the old Batman black and white stuff, just iconic type stories. No worriers about what is in continuity or what is not.

My final thought is that I was talking with a friend about how long print comics will last as the next generation will not give a damn about print. The new generation will be happy to read their comics on a table style computer. I said that they will still be a niche market and then I realized that with a successful comic only needing to sell 50,000 issues in a country of 350 million, comics are already a niche market. It is the fact that they have been so integrated into the main stream via movies, cartoons and apparel that we tend to forget the actual product is a very small market. 

Marvel You Are Boring Me

So my last post was of a positive note and I had even forgotten a book like Overtaken #1 from Aspen comics, a promising science fiction book and the first issue was only $1. It came out last Wednesday.

Of course in order to continue to explore new series I need to chop away some dead wood and Marvel has grown a little too bloated in the buy category. I always need to be aware of the creep factor with Marvel. Marvel comics are usually the fastest reads of any book so I often forget to critically evaluate kicking some books to the curb.

This week the first kick to the curb is Captain America. I love Rick (Fear Agent) Remender as a creator but he often gets lost in trying to bring his story to a conclusion. This “epic” was 10 issues long and the retail price (I get a decent discount from my store that saves my ass) is $40 and often plus tax in many states. For this we got a story that (SPOILER ALERT)

*

*

kills off Cap’s girl friend Sharon Carter for no apparent reason. In Remender’s back matter, I think the time shift is the bigger deal with Captain America. Rick apparently felt that the time lost warrior theme was missing with Captain America. The fact that ten years or more passed for him in Dimenson “Z” while no significant time passed for the “real Marvel universe” brings back that time lost factor. This is too subtle of a change and will be ignored by every other writer and does not have the same impact of being out the real world for decades to only come back into a brave new world. Plus with Marvel’s sliding scale of time Captain America apparently was unfrozen in 2004, which means he missed almost 60 years. That idea or element is never brought up much at Marvel because it creates way too many problems with character that are all 50 years old. We are pretending they are not. Just think if the USA every gets out of being at war in ten years Iron Man will have to be injured in a mining accident or something and create his armor there or something as stupid. This of course is the problem with comics that want to be continuity based but are being continuously published forever.

The bottom line is that the story was not that great and while I’m happy Romita is off the book I have no interest in paying $4 for another epic. Captain America is boring. Heck I see him in Avengers all the time anyway. Finally Remender never invested us in the relationship with Sharon and relied on past history to make her death seem like anything. Then he added a cornball Nomad thing in Dimension Z.  Add to that Romita’s work turns into crap after a few issues and by the end of this he apparently is barely sketching an outline and it was an easy drop.

Next up on the drop parade is Thor. After an 11 issue epic story that was enjoyable and had terrific art we get a $4 fill in issue that focuses on an old character now having brain cancer. Ugh. Heck even the epic had a one shot of Gorr’s origin as a middle fill in book. Thor is by Jason Aaron, who I like and the art by Esad Ribic was great, but it was not worth $40 retail price. Heck most states are at 6% so it is $42.40 in reality. Would I pay $40 for this story as a graphic novel ($44 with the bad guy origin). The answer is no. Plus the design of floppy ear Gorr was something I never liked. So I save $4 a month and can spend it on Jason Aaron’s new Image series coming out called Southern Bastards. This is a win/win in my book.

Next up on the elimination parade is FF. With issue #11 Matt Fraction continues doing a little bit of homage to the original FF run on many issues. If you go back to the Lee/Kirby stuff issue #11 had the Impossible Man as does this issue. The problem is again the forever story. This group who is filling in for the FF has been fun in some aspects and with Allred’s art guaranteed to be quirky but nothing is moving forward. The old Torch story line has languished, the Doom story is going nowhere, characterization is being spread among a ridiculous large cast. You only have 20 some pages a month and therefore with a large cast you either ignore some people or move every character a tiny step each issue. I would rather read Fraction’s mini-series from Image. Another book I have to leave is Fantastic Four, but let’s face it 11 issues in and we are getting nowhere. Plus Fraction feels Inhumans series is more important and is leaving the script writing to others to finish out his story. Why should I invest if Fraction is not investing?

So that is four books off my list.

This week Marvel bored me even more with their mini-event, Battle of the Atom. At least is almost self contained as it includes the two Bendis books, the two part book end pieces and 2 issues of Wolverine and the X-Men as the entirety of the event. But the prelude is in Uncanny X-Men and who is attacking them Sentinels. Oh boy that is something different. We haven’t seen Sentinels as the big bads in X-books only all the fucking time. Oh wait a mysterious person is behind it – yawn. These books may have to go soon.

We also got another chapter in Infinity along with the last issue of Thanos Rising. My god this is really boring, I can eliminate three series in one fell swoop. I will probably follow the whole thing because I thing complete arcs sell better on Ebay.

And that is why MARVEL IS BORING THE CRAP OUT OF ME.

Make Mine IDW, no Image, no Valiant, no Dark Horse, no Dynamite, no Boom, if only we had some alternatives to check out.

September New Series to Check Out

Since the Big Two suck let’s see what else is coming out.

Let’s start with Boom Studios. I don’t get a lot from them but they don’t publish a lot of books either. Still they now have George Perez as an exclusive artist, Mike Carey and Paul Cornell onboard as writers and they just purchased Archaia. They are a company that appears to be moving up.

In September that have Hit #1 coming out by Bryce Carlson (w) and Vanesa Del (a). I have no clue about either one of the creators, but it is just a four issue mini-series and the cover looks awesome so I will give issue #1 a shot. The premise “Los Angeles. It’s 1955. It’s dark; it’s sexy. It’s dangerous. Everyone has an angle. And while infamous gangster Mickey Cohen rots in a prison cell, Los Angeles ignores the blackest parts of the city’s heart…where clandestine groups of LAPD detectives moonlight as sanctioned hitmen knows as “Hit Squads.” Sounds a little Red Team and is territory that has been done before, but I want to see if this team can make me interested in their version.

Next let’s look at Dark Horse. Dark Horse has been a solid publisher over many years and recently they have restarted the super hero books they once did. This time they are rolling stuff out slowly and doing limited series to start some books. Plus they have not abandoned other type of material.

For September they have Brain Boy #1 by Fred Van Lente (w) and RB Silva (P). This is a mini-series and is taking an old Dell comic character and updating him for today. This just sounds like crazy fun. The premise “When the United States Secret Service needs to stop an assassination before the killer’s even decided to buy a gun, they call the world’s most powerful telepath: Matt Price, a.k.a. Brain Boy. But when the secret agent that can read anyone’s mind finds that a powerful psychic network has been hidden from him, Brain Boy begins to wonder whether he knows everything or nothing at all!” Van Lente will always hold a special place in my heart for his work on Action Philosophers and he has done good stuff for Marvel and Valiant comics.

Next up is Buzzkill #1, another mini-series by Donny Cates & Mark Reznicek (w) and Geoff Shaw (p). I’m unfamiliar with the writer and only have a vague recollection of the artists, but I need to try the first issue due to the premise “Ruben is not your average alcoholic; he's an unstoppable superhero who derives his powers from imbibing MASSIVE amounts of alcohol. After all the disasters it's caused in his personal life, he's ready to get clean . . . and the city's supervillains couldn't be happier!” That type of over the top odd ball premise will at least get me to buy issue #1.

Also Dark Horse has new mini-series for Resident Alien and Baltimore (Mignola’s early 1900’s Vampire Hunter).

Dynamite is an interesting company. They almost have a house style and seem to try and exploit characters in the public domain or those with less cache or utility for licensing deals. Still they have made great strides and boost a talented writer line up. They are producing a lot of very good books with original material as well as licensed work.

The first book that has my interest is King’s Watch #1, a mini-series by Jeff Parker (w) and Marc Laming (a). I have no clue about Laming and Dynamite is usually weak on art. What has me most exciting is Jeff Parker. I have loved his work from Marvel (Agents of Atlas, especially), but he never became a name at Marvel. If it was not for his name on the credits I would have passed on this oddball team up of Flash Gordon, The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. The premise “Panic spreads across the world. Strange phenomena fills the skies. Millions have nightmares of wild lands filled with horrible creatures... then wake to find the monsters are real. What are three men willing to sacrifice to save us all? “ If anyone can pull this bizzaro shit off it is Parker. Of course expect multiple covers as only Dynamite can deliver.

Next up is Codename Action #1, another mini-series. I appreciate that Dynamite does these books mainly as mini-series. Otherwise I would be less likely to try them out as unlimited series. This is by Chris Roberson (w) and Jonathan Lau (a), both are quality creators. Roberson has my admiration for willing to speak out about what was going on at DC and of course probably burned that bridge forever. Lau’s art is solid and sometimes excellent. The book is about the old Captain Action character that DC once published as a licensed deal and the character was a GI Joe like doll for boys back in the old days. The premise “During the height of the Cold War, unknown forces scheme to heat up a global conflict. As key officials on both sides of the Iron Curtain are replaced with doppelgangers, the infiltration threatens to disrupt the precarious state of world affairs. The security of the Free World depends on a young secret agent, one assigned to shape the world's masked heroes into a force with singular purpose and unyielding resolve!” The mix of creators and premise make this a book that I want to check out. Again Dynamite does not skip on producing a host of variant covers.

Okay so now we need to check in on Image. Image seems to be the place for new projects from many people. Can’t believe the company founded by artists is more of a writers’ haven today.

The first one that I’m going to try out is Sex Criminals #1 by Matt Fraction (W) and Chip Zdarsky (A). Fraction I’m well aware of and Zdarsky I have no clue about his work. Fraction is a decent writer, but I worry that he often is trying too hard to be the cool kid and does not trust himself enough. I say that because of the Hawkeye series, where he often changes the order of the pages to make a story non-linear. The stories have been good enough and with most of the artists being strong the book has done well. So the writer is a yes, I do not judge the artist until I see the book. The premise “Suzie's a normal girl with an extraordinary ability: when she has sex, she stops time. One night she meets John... who has the same gift. And so they do what any other sex-having, time-stopping, couple would do: they rob banks.”  It is being labeled as a comedy and I would guess a raunchy comedy. I’m buying number one, but no guarantee I will be buying another issue. This will be a hard premise to pull off.

Another book I want to try the first issue of is Reality Check #1 by Glen Brunswick (w) and Victor Bogdanovic. I know Glen from New Jersey Gods and have no clue about Victor. The premise is very convoluted “A struggling artist, Willard Penn, scores an unlikely hit with his new comic. The story centers on a hero more concerned with his libido than serving justice. After an unexpected sell out, Willard can't recall anything about his story. That night the book's hero shows up outside Willard's window refusing to return to the comic until he finds true love. Exasperated, Willard is forced to help the lovesick hero meet the perfect woman. But he'll need to hurry because the book's villain, a homicidal maniac, has entered his world as well.” This either works well or will be a total disaster. Let’s say this, that the first issue better be good or else this book crashes and burns. It may crash and burn anyway.

The last number one from Image for September I want to try out is Zero #1 by Ales Kot (w) and Michael Walsh and Jordie Bellaire (a). Again the writer I know from Suicide Squad and the art is unfamiliar. Ales had a good vibe on Suicide Squad. The premise “Edward Zero is the perfect execution machine – a spy who breaks the rules to get things done. When a stolen device appears in the center of a long-running conflict, Zero comes to retrieve it. The problem is, the device is inside a living, breathing, bio-modified terrorist and there's an entire army after it.” It sounds like a good premise and if the art is decent this could be a hit.

Also in September the former mini-series, Todd The Ugliest Kid #5 is due out. This was one of the funniest books I have read in years and the premise and characters are fantastic. Finally this month is almost light in what Image has planned to roll out in the coming months.

Next up is IDW. Let’s check in and see if they have any new series that are of interest.  And after scanning and scanning the answer is no, which is fine as IDW has many books that I get and enjoy and I do not need new series from every publisher every month.

Next up to check in on is Valiant. This restart has been hit after hit for me. A little hyperbole but every series has been readable and enjoyable and I have yet to drop a title.

The first and only new series is Eternal Warrior #1 by Greg Pak (w) and Trevor Hairsine (a). Greg is somewhat hit and miss for me with his work. So that is both a negative or a positive, Trevor’s art is usually above average and the preview pages have looked nice. The other big plus is Valiant’s EIC seems to have a good mix of building a cohesive Universe but letting the writers be the best they can be inside the structure. The premise “Across ten millennia and a thousand battlefields, Gilad Anni-Padda has traversed the darkest, most mysterious corners of history. But the horror and bloodshed of constant warfare has finally taken its toll on the man myth calls the Eternal Warrior…and he has abdicated his duties as the Fist and the Steel of Earth for a quiet life of seclusion. But when a blood vendetta from the distant past suddenly reappears in the modern day, he must decide if he will return to the ways of war…for the child who betrayed him thousands of years ago...” The premise allows for stories to be told in modern day or the past, could be fun. I like the slow roll with how Valiant is adding titles.

Ok the final place to check is the Vertigo Imprint under DC. I hate the new DCU but always have hope that Shelly Bond can keep Vertigo alive. Checking, checking and no we have a miss for Vertigo this month.

So that is it for the new number ones I’m looking for in September, join in and try a few to avoid lenticular Villains at DC and event mania at Marvel.

Variant Covers / Specials Covers – Who Gives A Damn

Let’s hit variant covers first. I recently read an article by The Beat about variants being almost 50% of the market. This type of crap reporting is what I would expect from some other sites, but not The Beat. The near 50% is on items offered and has noting to do with actual numbers. So item one could be New Book #1 and item #2 would be the 1:100 variant. Meaning the actual items percentage for variants are 1% of the market, not 50%.

Anyway I had a store back in the mid-nineties and variants were all the rage at that time. It did hurt the market and almost turned comic books in baseball cards with a market dominated by collectors and re-sellers and not by actual readers. Today the variant stuff is stupid and amusing, but it is not as bad as ruining the market place.

What variants are doing for the companies is a way to try and inflate the sale numbers on books. The idea being that the retailer, who is ordering 75, may get daring and order 100 to get the variant hoping he can sell the variant on the secondary (EBAY) market and make his money back. Since direct market books are non-returnable the retailers who are gambling like this will not be around for long anyway. They will lose their shirts when the book only sells 25 copies and the variant only went for 5 times cover price. Still the companies continue to offer them since it does jack up the sales on certain books.

To be fair some companies, like Dynamite offer 4 different covers on each comic but fill them with the regular order.  They are true variants and not chase variants. They still have the limited variants, phantom variants (stupidest thing ever) and some now have subscriber variants. The only person this really preys upon is the collector who feels the need to own every cover of a particular issue. I feel bad for that collector who continues to but all four covers of the Shadow series every month. That person is paying $16 for a decent story by Roberson with some so-so art work. I could care less about what I get whatever cover my store shoves in the box for mail order is fine by me.

So are variant covers a problem? I don’t think so. My store gets variants just based on their normal orders. Eventually what they can’t sell week one for $10 they try and sell the long box worth of variants for cover price or less as a special on occasion. (Short aside: I always wonder if the variant cover is better, shouldn’t the company being using that as the cover?). The stores that order too many books to get a variant will not be in business for long. As the demand decreases the companies will slow it down. The only inherent problem I can see for variants are companies maybe basing their business plan on jacked up sales as opposed to trying and make the best book possible. The market has both readers and collectors. In order to cater to both I believe as long as print is here we will still have the occasional variant to garner attention and maybe boost the sale of a certain book.

The bigger problem is the special cover and DC I believe may have solved that problem with the 3D books coming out in September. They have pissed off readers and retailers alike so that while it will be a sales success, it will cause a nasty backlash against publishers doing this type of stunt again. Of course I’m kidding as long as the fans lap it up and the sales are thru the roof they will come back and f**k the fanbase again – because they liked it. Hell I’m hoping to Ebay any of that 3D stuff I get and make my money back and maybe a little more.

The special covers have their place, when DC wrapped extra cardboard around the Death in the Family books; I thought that was a great way to give the tie in books a trade dress. As a retailer I wanted that type of help, especially when the cover price is not raised. But jacking up prices by a dollar on every book to just get a special cover is not what I would want as a retailer. Shorting the orders is ever worse. Now the retailer disappoints the customers who want it and they end up trying to save face with their base of customers.

Are special covers a problem? Yes, because it is a gimmick and a device so over used by publishers that it no longer provides any merit. Will they go away? Nope, as long as something sells it will continue. The big two are corporate comics. We will see great stories at times from great creators and often get some very cool moments, but do not mistake the fact that this is not about trying to tell the best stories, this is about selling the most books. The only way it becomes about telling the best stories or when the best stories are the biggest sellers. 

Epic Stories – Please Stop

It is almost funny that with the advent of so many epic stories coming out from the big two that I find I almost miss the decompressed stories of just six issues. It was all about writing for the six issue trade. That epidemic just occurred a few years back. Heck I’m now longing for the days of the Jonah Hex series that was actually set in the West when most stories were one and done. Alas that is not to be at this time.

Instead we get the 11 Part Zero Year from Scott Snyder on Batman. We are only two years into his run and this is after the epic length Court of Owls and Death in the Family story lines. Worse Scott is going over the same territory that has been trudged on by many many others. I know he is bringing in new elements and that we have great art work by Capullo, but it still is not as exciting as going forward. Worse DC is constantly trying to piggy back off the success of this series by adding tie in books to the nth degree. After the horrendous Death in the Family added books deluded what was a decent story I will only buy the books I normally get this time around. The problem is that a story that takes a year to unfold loses any immediacy. Take the Joker’s Five Way Revenge story by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams as an example of what can be delivered in a single issue story.

Hickman I have beaten up for the epic story telling before. I will try to not belabor the point on Hickman too much except to say that it appears that all the preliminary work he has laid in over 24 issues of the Avengers and New Avengers is almost treading water as he built up to Infinity.

Worse, with Marvel all the build up is almost more about a lead up to launching new series. The jaw dropping, nothing will every be the same consequences fade into memory after just a few months. Civil War, Secret Invasion and other events had “impacts”  that are already long gone. Infinity, which remember has been building with 24 Hickman books and will encompass a few other series, seems to now just be a prelude to the Inhumans series, which of course threatens to change everything we have ever known.

The writer of said series Matt Fraction was winning me over to be a pure fan of his work with Hawkeye. Although I thought he gimmicked the time jumps too often and did not trust that his story was good enough without tricks. Yet Matt also succumbed to the siren call of the epic story with both FF and Fantastic Four. We are a year in with no resolution in sight. Worse, as his writing assignments grew past his ability to be able to handle all of them he has had to let FF and Fantastic Four go to other writers to conclude his story.

Jeff Lemire, whose work I normally love, is used to telling a story with a beginning middle and an end. This means that stuff like Essex County, Sweet Tooth and Underwater Welder were great stories, but Green Arrow has that epic scale to it and I’m not a fan of the 50 issue super hero story. Longbow Hunters was not as long as the story Jeff has mapped out with the various different mystical branches and houses involved in this current story. Plus Jeff’s GA does not line up with the JLA version of the character at all. Not a bad thing, just a general trend that is starting to take shape.

This is not to say that an Epic story line can’t be a good thing. Matt Kindt’s Mind Mgmt. is telling us a long form story; Saga is advertised to be a long form story. Of course with independents that story can be long form as we get to watch the characters grow and change. In the spandex set it is not the same. The change is artificial and due to be re-written the next time sales need to be goosed.

Variety is the spice of life and comics need to understand that. We need more Hawkeye comics and less of the Odyssey. It is not that some of the epics are not well done, but even the recent Thor 11 part sage could have benefit from a quicker pace and a tighter plot. I enjoyed it, but Gorr was a poorly designed bad guy (the floppy ears made him seem like a humanoid bunny) and the pacing was very slow. It reminds me of many movies I have seen over the last few years, you think we have reached the climax of the movie and then it continues and you think this is the climax and then it is the next scene instead. By the time you get to the end of the story you forget why you ever cared. 

Why DC Needed A Black Female Flash – Or The New 52 Sucks Part 14

So it just occurred to me as I'm reading the Flash Annual (I’m behind on my reading) on the way DC really screwed everything up. When they did the Flashpoint reboot they tried to have their cake and eat it too. That was a huge mistake. Making Barry Allen and Hal Jordan the Flash and Green Lantern again is not real change. They just made them younger and destroyed any legacy they had. Instead they should have restarted it in a bolder way and one that makes more sense in today’s market.  

It would've been cool if perhaps the Flash was a black female character to give us a little diversity and have the character have a different perspective. Heck make Hawkman a Hispanic man instead of what now feels almost vaguely racist in today’s world with Vibe being the Hispanic hero. Also why not have a Japanese America as Green Arrow or a Native American. Instead DC got wrapped into making everything the same yet strangely different. They have alienated old time fans like me and lost a chance to make the DC Universe more reflective of today’s society. Hell we shouldn’t have to limit ourselves to just a few characters or any race or gender either. Instead of trying to force fit Cyborg into the JL as a black character get bold and have this Earth’s only Green Lantern be black.

DC and Marvel have to learn (and Marvel is learning with Potto Parker) that the super hero name is important. Secret identities are almost passé in today’s super hero books so why not go the whole nine yards and be bold. Fans would reward boldness but having Carter Hall as the Hawkman was just boring. Oliver Queen as Green Arrow is only marginally better since Lemire took over and got rid of the Bruce Wayne type Green Arrow.

It makes no sense to destroy the legacy if you're if you're not going to build something new. Instead DC is building the same thing but the twist is that instead of Flash having Iris Allen as his girlfriend it is now Patty. Man what a shocker, Barry switched one white girl for another white girl.

While the Silver Age was started Flash was not Jay Garrick, Green Lantern was not Alan Scott and the list goes on and on. Outside of Superman and Batman, everyone else can be a different person and have a different background. In some ways James Robinson was doing his best to reinvent the Golden Age characters in Earth 2 and was willing to vary the cast with Alan Scott being gay and Dr. Fate and Hawkwoman are not white characters. The new 52 left everyone being essentially the exact same. Of course since it is a new “universe” DC gets to play fast and loose with their continuity so no one know what is the background of any character.


It reminds me of the illusion of change that Marvel always produces where they shake things up but nothing really changes. Peter Parker is still Spiderman Reed Richards, Susan Richards Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are the Fantastic Four and Steve Rogers is still Captain America,  Clinton Barton is still Hawkeye and on and on. These characters are 60+ years old. The stories have been done over and over and over again.

Listen just because I put on a green t-shirt and shave my head, it does nothing to change whom I am. That is what DC has done with the new 52. I read that Marv Wolman wanted to change things up with Crisis on Infinite Earths and DC said no at that time. That was 1985 in 2011 you thing that using a bold stroke to make changes would have been a smart choice. Why not open up comics to being more in tune with America as it exists today and not the one I was born into in 1955.