No. More. BJs! - Hibbs on 8/1/12

Foggy, gray Sunday here at the store (yes, working this weekend as well), but comics bring light and happiness! ACTION COMICS #12: One of my quintessential problems with the New52 is here were are at month #12, and I still really don't have a strong idea of whom this Superman is. This one is certainly not the same one appearing in the rest of the DCU, but, even here in the Grant Morrison penned series, Superman's character seems allll over the map.  So I have this weird relationship with this comic -- on the one hand: all over the map, so I am sad; but on the other hand, this issue features Adam Blake, Captain Comet, who, in few senses, can be considered the first Silver Age hero, and it also features a Silver Agey plotline of a super learning feat, and Batman is in it, and oooh, the first bits of a new Mr. Mxyzptlk... so awesome!  No backup story either, which made this a lot denser read. I'm sad Grant is leaving at #16, but mostly because I can't see how they replace him, especially without a clear frickin' direction for Superman, buuuuut I don't necessarily enjoy each issue fully..... *sigh* I suppose this one was GOOD.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9: You know what's nice to see? A genuine moment of heroism in the Marvel universe. So, yay for that.  Too bad it is in service of general nonsense -- the idea that puny Parker could stand up to a punch from Colossus is kind of ridiculous, let alone one that is Phoenixed-up. Then there's the whole off-camera "...and then the two Rasputins defeated each other...somehow." silliness. I'd go "Very Good" for Heroism, and "Awful" for story logic, and then we're something like an OK for a final grade?

FUCK ALAN MOORE BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL #2: I really didn't think it was possible that this could get worse, but it's clear that I suffer from a severe lack of imagination. I remain convinced that this is somehow intended to be a parody, because no one could fundamentally misunderstand WATCHMAN like this on purpose. CRAP.

BLACK KISS II #1: Wow, that's really dirty. And not a BJ in sight! There's no real "protagonist" on display here, so how much you'll like this is going to come down (heh) to how much you like seeing Chaykin do "dirty".  EH.

DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE #1: Deadpool, for me, is one of those characters I don't really "get. I understand some people find him funny ("Yeah, funny like a crutch!" he said, in his best Lisa Loopner), but there's none of that in THIS comic, where they ECT the funny out of the concept, and go straight for the gory. Have fun with that, I guess? AWFUL.

FIRST X-MEN #1: Once, a long long time ago, Neal Adams was the hottest thing in comics; then "ToyBoy" happened, I guess? As a retailer, it is pretty dispiriting to order what you think a modern Neal Adams X-MEN comic might sell like, then to find that you've overshot your (extremely, extremely low) guess by 100% or more. AWFUL

HAWKEYE #1:  So this is what tears me up inside: there's no real market for a "Hawkeye" comic, as something like the last 30 years of the Marvel universe has taught us over and over again. What's the over/under on sales for this, nationally? Maybe 45k, if they're lucky? Down to 30k by issue #6?  Now, what's the same for "Matt Fraction, and David Aja on anything whatsoever"? See, I think it's something like 30k, maybe down to 21-22k by #6 (I mean, not in THIS store, I would have ordered the SAME 25 copies of "Purple Marksman #1" as I did of this, but I concede we're a little different)... but my point is, since this CAN'T be a "hit" for Marvel, why on earth do it FOR Marvel? There's no advantage in the medium run, and, in the long run, what odds do you want to give that Fraction/Aja will be earning significant royalties for this in 2020? Meh.

What's interesting here is: no costume, no villains, no antagonist (at least anywhere on Hawkeye's "level"), no hook to come back for #2 (except "well, that was PRETTY!") -- I mean, I liked it, and quite a bit, but almost as a novelty... I have a harder time imagining liking this the same after I've read six of them, because "Done in one" really shouldn't mean "Kinda dull, objectively". Overall, I think I'll call this GOOD.

LOVE AND CAPES WHAT TO EXPECT #1: Thom Zhaler's cartooning chops are really terrific, and I love his light hearted and loving DC universe romance comic here, but I want to murder him for those stupid translucent word baloons which make the dialogue incredibly difficult to read. *sigh* GOOD, and not two grades higher for those balloons.

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #13 DWF:  Spidey is happening in a universe that's not even close to the same one that the other two "Ultimate" comics are set. Doing a "crossover" here that only highlights how Spidey is wildly out of tone and time with the rest of the universe is so odd. I like this comic for what it is (it is GOOD), but, man, once you commit to destroying Washington DC, and having Texas secede, and so on, fucking commit to it, will you?

That's it for me, me thinketh. What did YOU think?

-B

How can ya' miss me when you've forgotten who I am?

Ah yes, reviews, I remember those! Been a while, but I think I'm finally back on the weekly-review-train now! ACTION COMICS #7: I know the book's been a little uneven, but the issues that are good are so good that it makes my teeth hurt. I thought this was one of those issues. I'd rather read Morrison doing Superman than almost any other superhero comic by almost any other creator. I'm a little amused, however, that Brainiac is, y'know, the internet. VERY GOOD.

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1: I have little-to-no natural affection for any of these characters (I sort of think the IDEA of the original AoA was more interesting then the actual execution), but I thought this was non-heinous, with some pretty nice art from Roberto De La Torre. What I don't see is how this is an ongoing series, because I can't imagine that (even with the X-Force lead in), there's more than, say, 10k people (by issue 4 or 5) who will want to read about alternate universe version of the X-Men? it's strange to me -- this is the kind of book that Marvel used to make fun of DC about (alternate versions of the same characters), but that Marvel is doing in multiple ways now (Ultimates, Zombies, this) -- this is the kind of thing that led to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, y'know? Anyway, this comic is perfectly OK for the kind of thing it is

AVENGERS ACADEMY #27: This, on the other hand, I thought was terrific -- funny, and real conflict and stakes, and just really being the "legacy" comic in a way that DC has entirely walked away from now with the 52. The "voice" of some of the Runaways is a little off, but over all, I thought this was a fun little romp of a comic, and was VERY GOOD.

AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #9: If this had come out over the course of 9 months, I think we'd all be talking about what a great comic it was; but, of course, it has been TWENTY months, and the Marvel universe this story began in is kinda different than the one today. Characters live, characters die, and "Young Avengers" is largely thrown away as a concept by the end of this -- which is too bad, because I liked that first incarnation a whole lot. I'm glad Hulkling and Wiccan get their kiss at the end, though. Overall, I'll go with GOOD here, I think.

DEFENDERS #4: I pretty much flat out hated the first three issues -- I'd probably not have disliked it had it been, like, "Magic Man" and "Kung Fu Guy" instead of "Doctor Strange" and "Iron Fist", if you see what I mean? I just don't think that the characterization Fraction tried to graft on here really bore any relationship to past characterizations -- but this issue I kinda liked just fine. The problem is, at $4 a throw, the audience has now made up their minds about whether they like the book or not, and you have to hit the ball right in the first issue... you can't wait until #4. Either way, I can give it a low GOOD, but it's probably too late -- we sold 32 copies of #1, and just a meager 13 of #3.

FAIREST #1: I thought the premise of this FABLES spin-off was "it focuses on the female Fables"? *looks at the cover* Yeah, that's how they're selling it. So... why no female Fables as anything other than furniture here? This is the comics equivalent of the Senate hearing on Contraception, isn't it? Also, I have to say that I think the choice of the flat matte paper was a poor one with fully digital painted art -- it looks muddy and bland, and, frankly, ugly to my eye. Shockingly EH.

GREEN ARROW #7: Ann Nocenti's first issue... and it's just kind of weird, sort of like her later DD run. I mean, I liked it, don't get me wrong, and it's a big step up from the first six issues of this version, but triplet mutant killer seductresses? Mm, dunno. Also: what on the earth could they possible have "twelve of these" be referring to? Did they each lose eight toes, somehow?

Oh, and here's where I'll slot in the rant against the new DC logo. Here's how you know it is an utter and abject failure as a static object: they have to print the words "DC Comics" underneath it so that anyone could POSSIBLY tell that that is what it means. *sigh*

Anyway, Green Arrow #7: A strong OK.

MANHATTAN PROJECTS #1: I thought this was utterly spiffy, with a wonderful Jonathan Hickman high concept (if I tell you it, I'll thoroughly spoil the comic), and some really terrific art from Nick Pitarra. Man, it's kinda like a younger Frank Quitely. Image is on a helluva roll these days, isn't it? VERY GOOD.

NIGHT FORCE #1: Well, it was fairly pretty, but I really had no idea why I should care, or whom I should root for. Much like the original series, when i think about it. EH.

STORMWATCH #7: Paul Jenkins comes in as new writer, and it's a little better, though I'm still not finding the compelling reason for these characters to be together. At least when it was THE AUTHORITY, you got the who "We're smarter than you" Warren Ellisy vibe going for it. Very strongly OK, but not any better than that.

SUPURBIA #1: Ah, if only this hadn't been so strictly mapped to existing archetypes, I might have been more attracted to it, but I don't really need YET ANOTHER pastiche of Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman, I don't think. "The Real Housewives of Superville" is a fun enough pitch, and the execution was at least competent, but this largely feels recycled and warmed over. OK.

SWAMP THING #7: SEVEN ISSUES for the protagonist to actually appear in his own comic, terrific. And yet, I still like it adequately. I really do rather hope that out protagonist and antagonist both manage to defy their expectations -- but I also think that this "rot" plotline just can't go on indefinitely, and may already be outstaying it's welcome. One problem: the big Green Guy is too wicked powerful -- look at the way he routed all of those minions in a single double page spread. I'll just barely give it a low GOOD.

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #8: I'm kind of creeped out that the guy on the cover looks very little like the guy actually in the comic book. There's also something boringly predictable about the Aunt May and Uncle Prowler scenes -- now all we need is for Nick Fury to step back in where he left off. When you add that to how Miles' voice is virtually identical to Peter's... well, I'm kind of not feeling this book, sorry. (especially for $4, jebus!) EH.

Right, that's me... what did YOU think?

-B

Wait, What? 57.1: Ones Divided by Two

Howdy, everyone. My apologies in advance for such a rushed entry, but I'm actually taking a break from editing 57.2 and my concentration is a little bit on the "shot" side of things. Although I'm very happy San Francisco has decided to grace us with some lovely, lovely weather, my apartment is too hot in a "why doesn't my brain work?" kind of way. (Now I know how the rest of the U.S. felt this summer...)

Anyhoo, Wait, What? 57.1! It's very nearly an hour, and Graeme McMillan and I discussing not only the Miles Morales-based Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and the subime Daredevil #3, but also New 52 books like Deathstroke #1 ( with some spoilers), Red Lantern #1, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1, Demon Knights #1, Suicide Squad #1, Green Arrow #1 and Justice League International #1, as well as discussion about the August estimated sales numbers from ICV2.  Also! A delicious waffles update!

[I feel like I should cue the Entertainment Tonight theme music here.]

Sensible lads and lasses undoubtedly uncovered this installment already on iTunes, but the rest of us can listen right here, right now:

Wait, What? Ep. 57.1: Ones Divided by Two

You'll be happy to now the gripping finale is right around the corner, and, as always, we thank you for listening!

Wait, What? Ep. 51.1: You and Me and USM

My hope is the days of iTunes drama is behind us and Wait, What? Ep. 51.1 has already begun a safe and steady trek to your listening device of choice, but if not and it leaves you hanging (as it did some of us for the better part of the week with our last episode), please feel free to listen to it here. It's got everything you could want in a comics podcast: Graeme McMillan! Miles Morales! Jack Kirby! Nick Spencer! Alan Moore! The library! (Oh, and also me and Marvel and Secret Avengers and legal wrangling as wrangled by two individuals utterly untrained in the art of said wrangling...):

Wait, What? Ep. 51.1: You and Me and USM

Pull up a chair and hunker down--the second installment should be around before you know it!  (Hopefully, on iTunes as it is under heaven...) Thanks for listening!

Honestly, I have no idea for a title -- Hibbs on 7/3

BOYS #57: I really have nothing to say about this issue (other than "I've become generally bored with this title, and the only thing that keeps me reading is Hughie and Annie's relationship"), but how.... bizarrely  ironic, maybe, that this cover came out the same week as ULTIMATE FALLOUT #4? Still, an EH comic. FLASHPOINT #4: Again, not a ton to say -- this is competently executed, but it really isn't buttering my bread, if you know what I mean? --  but on the meta-level, there's something, again, ironic about the notion that the universe is about to have its reality rewritten by the only true Saint of the Silver Age, who effectively has a form of Alzheimers?  Also? I found something kind of genuinely creepy about the editorial at the back of this week's DC books explaining "why" people should buy DC comics in August. *shudder*. A perfectly OK single issue.

FLASHPOINT BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #3: This, on the other hand, was 32 flavors of fucked up and wrong, and darkity-dark-dark, and I kind of really really liked it. It's funny, you could really say this is at least as dark and wrong as, say LEGION OF DOOM, but that nebulous ol' "craft" makes a difference, doesn't it? I thought this was VERY GOOD.

INFINITE #1: I think a story so dependent on Time Travel requires an artist of a certain subtlety to capture the difference between a "young version" and an "old version" of a character. Rob Liefeld is not that artist. Did I mention that HAWK & DOVE is the only one of the DC 52 that I have no series-based subs on, whatsoever? I thought the set-up of the comic is clever enough, and there's a sold premise here, but for me, Liefeld's art is a game-breaker. EH.

MYSTIC #1: I have no particular affection for or nostalgia about the CrossGen books, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this debut issue -- the art suffers a bit from "everyone has an open mouth expression all the time", maybe -- but I thought the writing was crisp, and the premise somewhat interesting (though there's something about the stratified society, and just how these girls are really able to know as much as they do, that didn't add up to me), and I certainly would like to read more. Solidly GOOD.

PUNISHER #1: I don't know. There are so many wonderful things being done on the "Max" side of Punisher, that a book starring the character square in the Marvel U needs something incredibly outstanding to interest me. I love Greg Rucka's writing normally, and this seems like it might be more "p0lice procedural" than anything else, but after putting it down, I found that nothing stuck with me here at all. I'd rather have another issue of Jason Aaron's run, I guess. EH.

RACHEL RISING #1: You got to admire Terry Moore for launching ANOTHER new series less than two months after his last one (ECHO) ended -- not just that, but to be doing it in a completely different genre (Horror) this time through. Though, from the first page it looks like it is taking place in the SiP universe anyway. I thought this was a GOOD first issue, largely marred by the last page, where I kept thinking that two pages must have stuck together or something, because that last beat wasn't a "come back for more next time!" one.

ULTIMATE COMICS FALLOUT #4: This has been such an uneven, purposeless series, with nothing in this issue having much of anything to do with the first three issues at all. The Spidey segment was fine, but nothing that would lead me back to the ongoing, in and of itself. My largest problem is that this spidey doesn't seem sufficiently different (insecure, nervous wise-cracking) from Peter Parker, though let's be fair, there's not a ton one can do in 8 pages. Well, no, that's a lie, there IS a ton you can do in 8 pages, but that's not within Bendis' skill set, that I can see. Oh, speaking of Bendis! Man, I get the shuddering creeps everytime I see that photo of him in the Architects double-spread -- he looks like a drag queen whose wig has fallen off! Anyway, yeah, this reader will RAPIDLY need to see something that differentiates this Spidey from Peter Parker.

The Reed Richards story was somewhat amusing from the POV of having an anti-Future Foundation from the writer of FF, but it took me a few pages to realize that this was Reed, as he really looks very little like even Ultimate Reed.

I thought the last story was adequate, but I'm really starting to think that Nick Spencer might be completely over-rated. The art was nice, though.

Overall, an OK issue, I guess.

That's my thoughts, what did YOU think?

-B

Wait, What? Ep. 47.1: Treat Them Mean to Keep Them Keen

Honestly, our goal is to hit a sweet spot -- somewhere between filling you up to the tippy-top and leaving that last little bit unfulfilled such that you want more.  And given our druthers with the podcast, Graeme and I usually err on the side of "too much."  Like....maybe way too much?

However, this last time, we ended up talking for a little over two hours and that seemed, you know, maybe a bit excessive to listen to all at one go.  So, here is Wait, What? Ep. 47.1, with nearly an hour and fifteen minutes of of-the-moment discussion ranging from Steve Englehart's The Strangers and the Ultraverse line of comics to more gossip about the DCnU and Warren Ellis' thoughts about same.  We also manage to discuss Ultimate Spider-Man #160 and...more.  Yes, I think it's safe to say more.  And by the end of the week, I think we can modify that to read "and...much, much more."  (This also may be a good time for you to get caught up since it looks like Graeme and I won't be recording this week so it's more than likely we won't have an installment for you next week....)

This first installment should be available already on iTunes, or you are more than welcome -- in fact, consider yourself invited! -- to listen to it here and now:

Wait, What? Ep. 47.1: Being Mean To Keep Them Keen.

Oh, and for those of you who enjoyed Graeme's stellar interpretation of Logan, here's his no-really-it's-totally-different-we-swear-it take on Ultimate Captain America:

Ultimate CapGraeme America

And, as always, we hope you enjoy the podcast and thank you for listening!

Things That Actually Happened This Week: Graeme Really Manages To Review Some 6/22 Books

Why, if it's Monday, then it's capsule reviews. And, for once, proper capsule reviews about books that came out on Wednesday! How did that happen? (Also, scroll down for John's reviews, and then down some more for the shipping list. Yes, it's a surprisingly busy Monday here, for once.) ACTION COMICS #902: Oh, look. I really like Paul Cornell, and I can kind of see what he's going for here - The big, epic return to Metropolis and Action Comics, with Lois saying things like "He'll save us or die trying" and Superman stopping the unstoppably falling spaceship from crushing Metropolis - but... it's just not working, somehow. Everything's feeling very rushed, and the art isn't helping sell the scale of it in the slightest. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, exactly, but it's just Eh when it should be much, much better.

BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM #2: I'm still unsure why this is a stand-alone mini, aside from the need to get this story finished before Dick stops being Batman again. That said, it's weirdly enjoyable, if very familiar to anyone who's been reading Batman comics for as long as I have. Does anyone remember "Destroyer," in which a villain was destroying Gotham's buildings to - and this was admittedly a ridiculous moment even for 1990s comics - reveal the Anton Furst-designed architecture that somehow still existed underneath? If you liked that story, chances are, you'll like this one, because it's essentially the same plot but with slicker execution and more Bat-family characters. Maybe that's why they kept Bruce out of it, because he'd have a terrible sense of deja vu. Anyway, Okay.

BRIGHTEST DAY AFTERMATH: THE SEARCH FOR SWAMP THING #1: I'm tempted to say "What Hibbs said," but I read this after reading a comp of Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket, and that book is so bad that this genuinely looks a lot better by comparison. But, yes, this is a pretty Awful book, with Constantine's accent going all over the place ("Now sodd off, ye tosser!" Why's he saying "ye"?), one of the weirdest Batman portrayals in recent memory and a plot that really doesn't hang together well at all. Considering we're getting the reboot and a new Swamp Thing series in a couple of months, I really have no idea why this book exists other than to take up shelf space.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #58: Despite the last page, I really enjoyed this issue, especially the way that James Robinson clearly loves DC mythology - He works Bob Haney's Brave & Bold story where the Atom essentially works Batman's body like a puppet from inside his head into continuity, which is easily the highlight of the issue - and there's really something great about the incredibly expansive approach he's taken to this book since taking over: Alan Scott has pretty much become part of the team, and seeing characters like the Manhattan Guardian and Knight and Squire even for wordless cameos still brings a sense of unity to the DCU that so many other books (and other takes on the JLA) have been missing. I'm not sure exactly where this story is going, with only a couple of issues left, but it's been Good so far, and it'll be a shame to lose this one in the relaunch.

SUPERMAN #712: Ignoring all the controversy about replacing the originally planned story for this issue with the shelved-for-five-years Kurt Busiek/Rick Leonardi story about Krypto dealing with the death of Superboy, I have to say: This broke my heart. Maybe it's because I had a rough week last week with one of my dogs getting a corneal ulcer, leading to many hours in the animal hospital and a very depressed dog in between visits, but this issue completely destroyed me. Krypto howling for two pages because he can't find his owners, and then running away to be sad on an asteroid? If that's not the most upsetting thing I'll read this year, I might just want to stop reading anything right now. Very Good, but maybe that's entirely my own biases.

ULTIMATE DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN SPIDER-MAN #160: Wait, that is what the logo says, right? This was... underwhelming. I don't know why, because it does do everything it promises: It totally kills Spider-Man. But it does so in such a way as make that seem not only inevitable - That was to be expected considering the title of the story, surely - but also entirely boring. There's not only any sense of surprise here, there's also no emotion... which feels surprising for a Bendis comic, especially this Bendis comic, but it's true; all the angst and anguish feels rote, and everything feels generic and (no pun intended, I promise) lifeless. For someone who's enjoyed this comic since it was relaunched - and before then, too, but especially since LaFuente and Pichelli came on as artists - this was a really depressing comic, but not for the reasons Marvel wanted it to be. Crap.

(Almost) All DC, All The Time: Graeme On Some 5/18 Books

Wow, Jeff's really laid down the gauntlet with a second week of capsule reviews. Let's see what I can come up with, even with the short amount of time I have... BATMAN: GATES OF GOTHAM #1: I talked about this some over at Techland last week, but I admit to liking this far more than I'd expected to. It's not that I didn't have any faith in Scott Snyder - I'm a fan of both his Detective and American Vampire runs - but there was just something kind of... unnecessary about the whole idea of this series from the start, as if it was being rushed out for some reason (A co-writer? Why couldn't it just be a Detective arc? etc.). But I ended up thinking it was somewhere in the region of a low Good or high Okay, nonetheless, in large part due to my being entirely sucked in by the mystery at the heart of the story... Trevor McCarthy's weird, animation-cell-esque art helped, in a strange way, as well; I'm not sure if I like how the book looks, but it's definitely got its own look, and not trying to copy the many other Bat-books out there, and that's got to count for something, right...?

BOOSTER GOLD #44: I've been on a Booster bent lately, picking up the trades to Dan Jurgens' run on the new title from the library and finding them to be... workmanlike, but nothing inspiring. Unsurprisingly, then, this issue is exactly like that, and feels like nothing as much as "An Idiot's Guide To Flashpoint." Wonder what the hell is going on in #1, and didn't quite understand the exposition there? Here's a simpler version of the same thing, with functional but generic art to make it go down easier. The attempt to raise the stakes for a series that deals in alternate timelines (The Flashpoint world is, according to Skeets, somehow the "only" timeline) doesn't really make any sense, but... Well, that's not entirely unsurprising. How else are we supposed to know that Flashpoint will change everything forever no really honestly we're not joking this time? Eh, but I can't help but feel as if it's weirdly necessary for some reason.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #57: Talking of books I've recently read from the library, I picked up Cry For Justice as well, and... I'll leave that for the next Wait, What Jeff and I record. But it has to be said, James Robinson's JLA feels a million miles away from that series and, ridiculously cliffhanger aside, this issue continued what's quietly turned into one of my favorite runs on the series. I couldn't really tell you why, beyond saying that there's something weirdly nostalgic and comfortable about the mix of ambition, rushed character dynamics and familiar faces that Robinson's turned this book into; it feels like an updated version of Gerry Conway's 1970s/1980s run on the book in ways that I can't quite explain or even understand. It also feels, for the first time in a long time, like a book that's aggressively part of the DCU in a way that doesn't feel shoehorned in or inorganic, even with the weird continuity issues with other books (This storyline apparently happens midway through the last Justice Society story? You'd think the JSA might've noticed the moon being split in two, but apparently not. Also, what happened to the Spectre's beard? Or is he not Crispus Allen anymore, and I missed that?). It's one of those comics that you end up loving, but can't really work out why. In case you've never had any of those comics for yourself, let's just call this a potentially-biased Very Good and move on quickly.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #158: I'm pretty sure that anyone who ever wants to know how to provide readers of a long-running series a wonderful jumping-off point will, in years to come, just look at these last issues of Brian Michael Bendis' run and find everything laid out for them. Never mind the entirely forced, entirely meaningless "crossover" with Mark Millar's Ultimates - in part because Bendis clearly didn't put any effort into it - what's wrong with "The Death of Spider-Man" is that it all feels heartless and written on auto-pilot, with characters reduced to machines acting out the too-obvious plot, and all of the sense of fun or family that this series has excelled in completely drained. That Mark Bagley has returned to replace the more stylish, more modern, more appropriate David LaFuente and Sara Pichelli speaks to the lack of soul here. It's Crap stuff, and so bad it kills whatever curiosity I may have had for the upcoming relaunch.

But, as the Hibbs has been known to say, what do you think?

Events in mah brain!

It is April, and we're starting this year's cycle of event storytelling. I'm fairly unconvinced this is what the audience actually and truly wants -- at best I tend to think that the market supports them because its been sooooo long since we sold comics purely on the strength of the comics that we've forgotten anything BUT events, but I guess we'll see what shakes out.  

Clearly the market is reeling right now -- January and February were abysmal, and March not really that much better -- and there's a sense to me, at least, that this year's are "make or break" for the Marvel and DC universes in some fashion or another.

Not like comics will go away, of course, my big happy thought from WonderCon was that Larry Marder is still doing Beanworld, and getting paid to do so, and as long as THAT still happens, comics are just fine, thanks very much!

But that's something more to develop in a TILTING (which, huh, I should get to writing, shouldn't I?) -- this is to talk about the comics themselves.

FEAR ITSELF #1: In many many many ways, I think that the success of failure of an event can often be determined by looking at its "log line" or "elevator pitch" -- the one sentence summation of what the book is about. I'm not all that terrific at perfectly encapsulating them, for example I'm sure someone can come up with something more precise or sexy for CIVIL WAR than "Superheroes fight among themselves over liberty versus security", but that was pretty much what I used in '06, and it worked a charm, selling a bucketload of comics for me.

In the same way, DC's biggest recent hit, BLACKEST NIGHT, can be reduced to "Dead superheroes come back from the grave as murderous zombies" -- that the kind of thing people often say "Wow, cool!" to. The CLEARER the pitch, the more direct and large the sales.

FEAR ITSELF is a weird "event" comic -- I'll say straight up that I liked it pretty well. I have problems with bits of it (when don't I?): I thought the Avengers pro-Stark shilling was a bit.... strange, given the libertarian nature of some of the characters; I thought that the interactions between Thor and Odin were kind of heavy-handed; and I thought the lettering was oddly large, but all in all I liked the issue as I was reading it, and I'll even skip to the chase and say I thought it was pretty GOOD.

But I still can't log line it! Even after reading it! That's not a great situation.

I mean, I could say "An older pantheon of gods returns to kick the Asgardian's asses", I guess? But I don't think that's all there is to it, and, anyway, that sounds way too insider baseball for fan-off-the-street. Very very few people ACTUALLY care about "the Asgardians" as an abstract group, we have decades of sales information to clearly show that. And, clearly, Marvel is struggling with it as well, because THEY'VE yet to log line it themselves -- their marketing is all over the map, and not defining things in terms of story really. Even the title doesn't suggest what the story might be about.

Our first week sales were "fine" -- just a smidge above AVENGERS... but I have a hard time considering an event book a hit unless it does, say, twice, three times that. That's kind of the problem with Direct Market 2011 in a nutshell, in fact -- the bottom- and middle- sellers are no worse than flat, and even substantially up in a lot of cases, but the top-selling books have cratered to less than half of what they were 2-3 years ago. That's an ugly prospect.

I'm cool with the stock I have on hand -- worst case we'll sell out sometime right around the last issue shipping, but I *want* to have to go back for more, say, before issue #3 arrives in store.

Anyway, log-lines, yeah. That's the problem here. The comic is pretty GOOD, but I can't find the words to SELL it.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #622: Kieron Gillen's first issue, and also the first crossover tie-in to FEAR ITSELF, and I really REALLY liked it.  If you had said "Neil Gaiman wrote this" I might have believed you. Gillen's always been strong on plotting, but this brings his prose up to a new level, and I'm anxious to see how long he can sustain this questing story with Loki as a lead. I hope it's a real long time.  VERY GOOD.

FLASH #10: This is the second "prelude" issue to the upcoming Big DC event FLASHPOINT, and every problem I have with FEAR ITSELF is magnified widely for FLASHPOINT -- what the hell is it about? Well, I've figured out that the best thing to say is maybe "It's 'Age of Apocalypse' for the DC Universe", but if you don't already read comics (and lots of them), then I have to explain what AoA is, right? I guess you could also say "It's an 'Elseworlds' as an event", but same problem, right?

Comics ABOUT comics are kind of a hard sell.

The problem is compounded by the fact that FLASH has really been a dull book, to date. I *still* don't know what compelling narrative reason there was to bringing Saint Barry back in the first place, and I *like* DC's Silver Age.

What I *did* like about this issue was the *idea* of "Hot Pursuit" as being from Earth-47 (or whatever), and I'm intrigued about the rest of the heroes on what could potentially be a "no non-tech superpowers" world, but since I'm sort of expecting HP to *be* the bad-guy here, I suspect that is going to go nowhere? I also hope very very much I'm wrong, because isn't that more or less the plot of the first FLASH arc anyway?

Bottom line: There's nothing here that interests me, or, more importantly, creates more interest for FLASHPOINT, and a lot of what DC is doing this year would seem to depend on one or the other of those conditions being met? FLASH #10 was essentially EH.

BRIGHTEST DAY #23: I know that there's one more to go, and I should probably hold off until then just to see if they tie the loose ends well.... but I can't see how they can?

I guess I'm just flabbergasted that the POINT of an entire year of a series, not to mention the end of BLACKEST NIGHT seems to have been to return Swamp Thing to the DCU universe? Really? Realllllllly?

Then there's the "And what the FUCK did that have to do with a WHITE LANTERN?!?!" I mean the whole "lantern" concept seems sort of inherently more than about parochial Terran concerns, no? Or how about how this ties in with some of the other returnees most specifically Max Lord? Or how about, how do you return the Terran Earth elemental with a cat from Mars, and another one from frickin' thanagar?

Plus, Alec Holland's body? Meatless.

Plus plus, how are you returning SWAMP Thing to what's clearly meant to be a Northwestern city (like Portland or Seattle)? Meh.

I also think the cosmology, as already established in the DCU is kind of off -- Firestorm ALREADY was the Fire Elemental, and there was mm, whatsname, Niaid is it? as the Water one. I mean, those are DC comics, not Vertigo ones!

I don't know.

But, at the end of the day, I can't believe all that was leading to the return of Swamp Thing, because I'm a retailer and I know that no Swamp Thing comic NOT written by Alan Moore is going to be commercially successful within a year. So why waste all of the effort to reintroducing what, at very very very best will be a supporting character?

I thought this was pretty AWFUL.

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #157 and ULTIMATE AVENGERS VS NEW ULTIMATES #3: OK, now I *think* I see what they're going to do here, and it seems like they are going to kill "Spider-Man", presumably by completely crippling Peter Parker. Maybe they'll then turn Peter into the new Reed Richards of the Ultimate U, or, like "Professor P." running a team from his wheelchair or something. I guess there's some slight story potential there.

The thing is.... the thing is, as a marketing concept, they sold this entirely the wrong way. We had the postcards proclaiming "THE DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN!" on our counter for several weeks, and MANY people asked about it. "Yeah," says I, "It's in ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN". "Oh," says them, "so not the 'real' one". I'd then try to convince them that USM is actually spiffy, indeed, but you can see the eyes glaze over.

So, yeah, by marketing it like this, especially with the 3 "prequel" issues, boldly bannered and all that, they're setting up some false expectations, at best. I guess that I feel that if they had just DID it, without trying to make it a marketing "event", that it would have caught everyone by surprise, and sales could have built up from the sheer buzz and audacity of it. But, by doing it "top down" like this, I think you're not going to get the kind of audience response that the Ultimate line desperately desperately needs right now.

I quite liked the Spidey portion of these two issues (GOOD), but thought the Avengers portion was overblown, and undercooked (EH)

Yeah, that's enough out of me. What did YOU think?

-B

Hibbs will probably have to eat a bug, and shipping 8/24

Just because I am a big enough man to admit when I was wrong, I stumbled across a post in the Comic Book Industry Alliance boards from 3/2/01 where I said this about ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: >>>LONG TERM...I really really really don't think it will succeed. By the time it hits issue #50, how is it really going to be any different than the "real" Marvel universe, RE: the accretion of history? If it makes #100, I'll eat a bug.<<<

While I do think the line has become SOMEwhat inaccessible now because of that accretion of history, I was clearly really really really wrong, and it seems all but inevitable that ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN will, in fact, make it to #100.

(Unless something were to happen to Bendis. And we wouldn't want that. No.)

So, although I have a year-ish to go before the actual #100, I post this for 2 reasons: A) I know my memory, I WILL forget about this by then. You are now being pressed into Keeping Me Honest when that day comes. and B) I am entertaining suggestions for What Kind of Bug I should eat.

My especial apologies to Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagely for doubting their creative acumen, and to Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas for doubting their marketing instincts. They were right, and I was wrong.

****

Here's what is shipping in to Comix Experience this week: the usual cavaets about how this may or may not be similiar to what arrives in YOUR Local Comic Shop apply. Different Diamond warehouses receive books at different times, there can be manufacturer error, maybe I fucked up and didn't order something I should have, etc. etc. ad infinitum.

A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #18 (A) ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #643 ANGEL THE CURSE #3 (OF 5) ANT #1 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #94 ARCHIE DIGEST #219 BANANA SUNDAYS #2 (OF 4) BATMAN #644 BATMAN JEKYLL AND HYDE #5 (OF6) BATTLE POPE COLOR #2 BLACK PANTHER #7 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #12 CITY OF TOMORROW #5 (OF 6) CONAN #19 DAREDEVIL #76 DAREDEVIL VS PUNISHER #3 (OF 6) DAY OF VENGEANCE #5 (OF 6) FANTASTIC FOUR #530 GIFFENS WHAT WERE THEY THINKING ONE SHOT GLOOMCOOKIE #24 GOD THE DYSLEXIC DOG #3 GROUNDED #2 (OF 6) HELLBLAZER #211 HULK DESTRUCTION #2 (OF 4) INVINCIBLE #25 IRON GHOST #3 (OF 6) JACK CROSS #1 JSA CLASSIFIED #2 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #106 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #9 LETHARGIC LAD JUMBO SIZED ANNUAL #3 LITTLE STAR #4 (OF 6) MACHINE TEEN #4 (OF 5) MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #17 MEGA MORPHS #2 (OF 4) MONSTER WAR DARKNESS VS MR HYDE #4 (OF 4) MUTATION #2 NEW X-MEN #17 NIGHTCRAWLER #9 OMAC PROJECT #5 (OF 6) OTHERWORLD #6 (OF 12) PURGE BLACK RED & DEADLY #2 (OF 4) QUEEN & COUNTRY DECLASSIFIED VOL 3 #3 (OF 3) RISING STARS VOICES OF THE DEAD #3 (OF 6) SIMPSONS COMICS #109 SPELLBINDERS #6 (OF 6) STRANGE GIRL #3 SUPER MANGA BLAST #54 TEEN TITANS #27 ULTIMATE X-MEN ANNUAL #1 UNCLE SCROOGE #345 WALKING DEAD #21 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #660 WOLVERINE #31

Books / Mags / Stuff AUTHORITY REVOLUTION BOOK 1 TP BATTLESTAR GALACTICA VOL 2 MEMORY MACHINE TP CATWOMAN WILD RIDE TP COMICS BUYERS GUIDE NOV 2005 #1610 COMICS JOURNAL #270 DAMPYR #5 UNDER THE STONE BRIDGE HANK KETCHAMS COMPLETE DENNISTHE MENACE 1951-1952 HC HISTORY OF VIOLENCE NEW TP NEW EDITION HOWLS MOVING CASTLE FILM COMICS VOL 1 TP ILLUSTRATION 05 MAGAZINE #1 IRON WOK JAN GN #12 (RES) LITTLE LULU VOL 5 LULU IN THEDOGHOUSE TP MARVEL VISIONARIES CHRIS CLAREMONT HC PREVIEWS VOL XV #9 (NET) ROBIN ARCHIVES VOL 1 HC ROCCO VARGAS WALKING WITH MONSTERS HC SHIRLEY A SEX COMEDY VOL 1 TP(A) SIN CITY VOL 1 DURO ADIOS HARD GOODBYE SPANISH ED SLOP ANACLETA TP SMOKE #3 (OF 3) SPIKE OLD TIMES ONE SHOT SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL VOL4 TP VAMPIRE HUNTER D VOL 2 NOVEL RAISERS OF GALES SC WAR ON FLESH VOL 1 GN (OF 3) WESTERN GOTHIC BALLAD OF UTOPIA TP

What looks good to you?

-B

(who should have reviews up sometime tomorrow, and thinks Jeff's "Topless version of Gremlins" line in his reviews this week (just below this message) was the funniest and most insightful thing I've read this week)

Comics of 8/18

Yah, like Lester I was thinking about how good ol internet time made it seem like we never posted. What's up with that? I've mostly been trying to unravel a Mystery in the UK the last few days -- I think I have most of it sussed, but I'm still not sure HOW to solve the crime, as it were.

I also finished TILTING (appears on Friday on Newsarama), and have started making notes on Deppey's NuMarvel essay in the new Journal. Damn, that's one fine issue.

Plus I dinged 30 in CoH, and am now playing the How Long Until I Get Bored and Quit game (I doubt I'll make it to 35, is all I can say, but we'll see -- really this is all a function of running out of Content and having to Street Hunt too much at the higher levels)

I'm going for my bi-annual haircut in a bit, so let's see how many comics we can bat away first....

For some reason, IE won't connect to blogger this morning, so I'm doing this via Opera, which means I don't have easy itals. I probably should learn the HTML commands, but I'm lazy and I'll just use CAPS for stress and titles this post instead.

(After the fact note: When I went to publish this, Opera wasn't working with Blogger either, so you won't see this until I get home tonight)

SIMPSONS #97: Usually I'm the big singer of Ian Boothby's praises -- he's usually the Funniest Writer in Comics, or something -- but I thought this issue was kinda flat and boring. The feud thing really didn't work -- maybe because it's too much of a staple cliche. Anyway, EH.

SHE-HULK #6: Some cute and decent Ha Ha in a few places, but the art, being mostly done in Marvel House Style reduces the humor for me by tons. OK.

NEW INVADERS #1: Too much time spent introducing the characters in far too obvious ways -- the whole first half of the issue passes in a weightless plot free fall. The second half is also mostly plotless as the flat characters revolve around each other in obvious ways. It's not BAD or anything, but, unless you really have a hankering for these characters it is pretty lifeless. For $3, I have to go for a high AWFUL.

TERRA OBSCURA V2 #1: I don't really care about any of these characters, and I'm surprised anyone else did enough for there to be a second go round here. Having said that, I like this much better than V1, and I'll go with a strong OK.

BIRDS OF PREY #72: You might have noticed most of this week's DCs came bagged with a SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW CD. Well, you didn't notice this at CE, at least -- I unbagged all of the copies (that was a fun 45 minutes I'll never get back). One the other hand, this means a certain VP gets a fun package on his desk on MOnday morning. They filled up an entire DoubleWide Diamond box, sheesh! Anyway, this comic mostly felt like marking time to me -- not much happens except setting things in motion for NEXT issue, which, while fine, makes me only say OK

HAWKMAN #31: This is well done comics, but I think this arc (while adding to the Dead Girlfriend in the Refrigerator count [sorta]) really shows why a traditional Hawkman comic really doesn't have much for legs -- at least with the Ostrander HAWKWORLD run they were able to get into neat outsider-looking-in concepts. But this Hawkman is pretty much Just Another Hero. *shrug* OK

GOTHAM KNIGHTS #56: "War Games" 4 Lots of super-villains. They don't do much. There's an attempt to go with the throughline of GK's "Wow, Hush is a badass!" thread, but he's not, really, and he comes off far more as Chump to this reader. Batgirl also feels written very wrongly here. My fav bit is at the beginning where all of the bosses finish each others sentences. Only in a comic book, man. AWFUL.

ROBIN #129: "War Games" 5. Tim shows everyone in the whole city that's he's a super bad-ass, which makes me hope all the more that the speculation of his returning to the mantle at the end of WG (and/or IC) is wrong. My fav bit is right at the last 2 pages where a seemingly invisible gunman shoots the chick, then seemingly decides it's not worth (despite being, y'know, invisible) to follow up and make sure she's, y'know, dead or something. A very low EH

BATGIRL #55: "War Games" 6. Almost nothing happens in this one -- the overall WG plot isn't moved ahead one fraction of one inch. Still, Sean Phillips art makes this the first chapter I've genuinely liked LOOKING at, so OK.

TOUCH #5: Suddenly, the book starts moving right before it gets axed. Huh. OK

FRACTION #5: This one on the other hand just feels like it's standing still. Nice art, but this can't end fast enough. A very low EH.

DC COMICS PRESENTS: THE ATOM: Damn, they both picked a "Julie saves the day!" turn. I liked the Gibbons story better, mostly because Waid "cheats" on the second one and only has the cover be a brief one-panel bit in the story. Still, OK

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #631: Quite a bit harsher than one would expect from a Superman story -- I don't know I'd let a kid near this one. Having said that, very strong and moving, really only undercut by the sequence of Supes hearing that last shot. How does he hear that from halfway around the world when I bet there's guns going off in, say, Detroit too? Meh! OK.

EX MACHINA #3: Finally, something to get excited about! This is a really terrific book, and one of the rare recent example where we're gaining new readers with each and every issue. Between this and Y, THE LAST MAN, Vaughan is cementing himself as one to watch. VERY GOOD.

EXILES #51: I also quite liked this -- the happy twist at the end was both unexpected and was celebratory of heroism. I don't feel that often enough in super-hero books, which is pretty fuckin' weird, don't you think? GOOD.

FANTASTIC FOUR #517: An "Avengers Dissembled" crossover (Which is about as "red skies" of a crossover as you can get), and, to celebrate the sales increase, the book is now $2.99. Huzzah! A perfectly reasonable issue, but the previous points left a nasty taste in my mouth, so I'm going with a patently-unfair AWFUL. (If it weren't for that, I might have gone for a low GOOD)

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #64: IN every technical way this issue is just as good as the book has ever been -- but something in me somewhere says this arc was a mistake. None of this was anything I wanted to see, and it largely strikes me as pandering. So, foo, let's settle with EH.

MANHUNTER #1: There's nothing for it but to compare this with BLOODHOUND, because the two books seem to occupy a similar "space" in the DCU. This one tries way way way to hard to set up it's moral dilemma, and given that it seems to be moving to "Murder is fine, as long as it is scum!" rather than anywhere else, I'm going to give this the big thumbs down. The art is nice, the writing is adequate, but I don't want to read about super-powered murderers, thanks. There's really nothing here, no mystery no suspense, that makes me want to come back for issue #2. The worst part is this is naturally going to sell better to the retailers because of the legacy name, and the suggestion somewhere that this ties into IDENTITY CRISIS somehow (though I can't seem to find that citing now that I'm looking for it -- I know I read somewhere that there was a connection though). Sorry, though, this is AWFUL.

DOCTOR SPECTRUM #1: Not only does nothing happen, but it doesn't happen between panels of earlier issues of SUPREME POWER. Wrong way to do a spin-off, kids. EH.

SUPREME POWER #12: Meanwhile JMS does a good job with the formalist four-panels-across story. Things are starting to move here, and I like what he's doing all in all. VERY GOOD.

JSA STRANGE ADVENTURES #1: Period work, which always fits the JSA. Nice nice art from Kitson. But the story feels a bit light for the HOLY SHIT, $3.50?!?! Man, that's too much. EH.

Right, be back with more tomorrow, I think -- that's what I've read so far. Whatta d'you think?

-B