Sorry to break-in to the super-reviewing that Jeff and Graeme have been engaged in these last couple of days, but I wanted to quickly remind everyone that SUnday (Christmas Eve) is the 17th annual sit-around-a-comics-shop-and-drink-eggnog thing at Comix Experience. Its even less exciting than it sounds, really -- but if you have no friends, no life, or just don't have anywhere better to be, please feel free to join us in some nog, at 5PM Sunday night.
-B
If you were asking where all the comics have been the last few weeks, well, here's your answer, honeys. They're shipping this week. I'm totally crazy right now: Rob took his saved week of vacation this week, so I'm behind the counter every day, all day for the next while. As I think (?) I mentioned last time Rob went vaca, its really REALLY good for me to pull this duty. Exercises muscles I forgot I had, sharpens my skills. I mean, after 17 years of selling funny books, there are bits where it becomes a grind, y'know? So being thrown into the melee is really damn good.
And I think I totally nailed all 22 "Yeah, I want to buy a graphic novel for my [relative], but I totally have no idea what I'm talking about" conversations I've had in the last 3 days. That's way up from previous years, on a events-per-day average, so I'm happy.
I've been a productive little beaver, too, on top of the 79 other things that have transpired in Real Life (our cabinet fell off the wall, we're begining to tour the public schools for Ben's introduction to K, CEO and TaW last week, etc. etc.), I managed to go through the last 4 months of Biffage (unsalable dreck pulled from the rack) -- we really choked on a lot of the OYL/post-IC titles, yow! -- as well as sort through the last 6 months of receipts in preperation for all of the Year-End stuff.
Totally non-comics parenthetically, I decided that Ben's Christmas present from me this year should be a Hot Wheel (or equivilant) track. I have fond memories of playing with that flexible orange track as a kid. But, as far as I can tell, they're not just making track any longer. Everything is all themed sets (I could get the Spidey-man v Dr. Octopus tack, or a prehistoric Attack set with a working volcano, or all kinds of other 'splody, active set. Even the most basic basic set is built around a battery-powered accelerator. Man, am I alone in thinking that gravity used to be enough? But it doesn't look like you can just get track, foo.
Anyway, I need to go to sleep, and I haven't the foggiest notion why I'm still up typing, other than, dunno, I miss it.
Here's this week's comics:
52 WEEK #33 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #47 (A) AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #47 AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES II #4 (OF 8) BAKERS MEET JINGLE BELLE (ONESHOT) BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #213 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #171 BIRDS OF PREY #101 BOMB QUEEN VOL 2 #3 (OF 3) CABLE DEADPOOL #35 CATWOMAN #62 CHECKMATE #9 CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #9 (OF 11) CIVIL WAR WAR CRIMES ONE SHOT CONAN #35 CRIMINAL #3 CRIMINAL MACABRE TWO RED EYES #1 (OF 4) DARKMAN VS ARMY OF DARKNESS #2 (OF 4) DEADMAN #5 DEANNA OF THE DEAD #2 (A) DEVILS PANTIES #7 ELEPHANTMEN #5 FABLES #56 FANTASTIC FOUR #541 CW FIREBLAST ADVENTURES IN THE 30TH CENTURY #0 FRESHMEN VOL 2 #2 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #15 GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5 HUMAN ERROR PROCESSOR #3 (OF 6) HELIOS UNDER THE GUN #2 (OF 4) HELLBLAZER #227 HIGHLANDER #2 ION #9 (OF 12) IRON MAN #14 CW IRON MAN CAPTAIN AMERICA CASUALTIES OF WAR ONE SHOT CW JOHN WOOS SEVEN BROTHERS AMANO CVR #3 JUGHEAD #178 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #127 KANAS ISLAND #1 KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #4 (OF 6) LONE RANGER #3 MAINTENANCE #1 MAN CALLED KEV #5 (OF 5) MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #8 MS MARVEL #10 NEW AVENGERS #26 NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #1 (OF 5) OMEGA MEN #3 (OF 6) PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #3 (OF 8) PUNISHER #42 RAMAYAN 3392 AD #4 RED MENACE #2 (OF 6) RED SONJA #17 REX MUNDI #3 SCOOBY DOO #115 SECRET SIX #6 (OF 6) SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #33 SHADOWPACT #8 SHE-HULK 2 #14 SIMPSONS COMICS #125 SPIKE ASYLUM #4 (OF 5) TEEN TITANS #42 TESTAMENT #13 THUNDERBOLTS #109 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #103 UNION JACK #4 (OF 4) URSA MINORS #4 VAULT OF MICHAEL ALLRED #3 (OF 4) WALK-IN #1 WARHAMMER 40K #1 WASTELAND #5 X-MEN FIRST CLASS #4 (OF 8) Y THE LAST MAN #52 ZOMBIE #4 (OF 4)
Books / Mags / Stuff ACTION PHILOSOPHERS VOL 2 GIANT SIZED THING TP ALBION TP AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS ONCE AND FUTURE TP ATHENA VOLTAIRE COLL WEB COMICS TP BLURRED VISION VOL 2 GN CINEFEX #108 DEC 2006 COMICS BUYERS GUIDE MAR 2007 #1626 CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS SER3 WEAPONER AF DAN BRERETONS DROP DEAD GIRL & OTHER DRAWINGS SC DAREDEVIL FATHER HC DARKNESS COMPENDIUM EDITION TP EDU MANGA EINSTEIN GN FABLES VOL 8 WOLVES TP GOLGO 13 VOL 6 GN JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA HEREBY ELECTS TP JUXTAPOZ JAN 2007 VOL 14 #1 LITTLE LULU VOL 13 TOO MUCH FUN TP MAGDALENA VOL 1 TP MASTERS OF THE COMIC BOOK UNIVERSE REVEALED SC MOME VOL 6 GN NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER VOL 6 TP NEW ADVENTURES OF JESUS THE SECOND COMING GN PREVIEWS VOL XVII #1 PROJECT X SEVEN ELEVEN GN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES VOL 2 TP SUPERMAN FOR TOMORROW VOL 2 TP THOR BLOOD OATH TP TROUBLE WITH GIRLS VOL 2 TP WIZARD COMICS MAG RAMOS ART CVR #184 (HELLBOY REPLACEMENT) WOLVERINE BY CLAREMONT & MILLER PREMIERE HC WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ GN
Man, that's a lot of stuff (including 5 [!] CIVIL WAR crossovers this week -- last week, and [I think?] the week before had NONE. *sigh*)
What looks good to you?
-B
Whew. So, the twin vices of Nanowrimo (slow to get going, but a blast by the end) and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (a bazillion times more shallow than Freedom Force but if you're a button-mashing console-owning Marvel fanboy--and boy, am I!---it's insanely compelling) kept me from posting nearly all month, which is a drag because I was sure I'd blown my chance to write about my trip to Vegas, but Graeme's Friday post at Newsarama about favorite comic book stores gives me another shot. Now, of course, Comix Experience owns my heart (well, technically, my soul--damn that Hibbs!) but I just gotta give the mad love for Ralph Mathieu's Alternate Reality Comics in Vegas:
Ralph's shop is well-lit and just jammed with awesomeness. The three following pics form a very sloppy panorama shot, but it gives you a bit of an idea of what'd you see if you walked in the door and turned your head from left to right:
I think even at this thumbnail size, you can see the crazy amount of variety--like that last picture with Ralph. See how Uncle Scrooge is right next to first volume of The Ultimates (or, to use the shorter nickname by which it'll likely be known in the industry, "the good one") next to Kinetic right above Desolation Jones? Or, if you look over his left shoulder, there's The Waiting Place next to Tomine's Sleepwalk, adjacent to Promethea and crowned with that Challengers of the Unknown archive? That's a whole bunch of mighty good--and mightily diverse--comics right there.
When my wife and I showed up there, Ralph was incredibly kind even before I introduced myself. Once I did, however, Ralph and I did an incredibly truncated version of the Retailer Talk--truncated because I'm really a counter monkey, not a retailer. (The Retailer Talk, by the way, is kinda like how dogs have to sniff each other's butts when they first meet. Nobody's really going to relax and feel comfortable until each has asked the other: (a) how much square footage is your store? (b) how do you rack your books? (c) how's this year/quarter/mutually agreed upon fiscal period been for you? (d) [other stuff I don't know because I'm not a retailer and I usually don't pay attention this long] and, more often than not, (e) how is ____________________ selling for you? [__________ this year being, like, 52 or Civil War tie-ins.] And at that point, question (e) is usually what leads into the first rate story-swapping, rumor-trading and/or dirt-dealing that makes the conversation interesting for non-retailers like myself.) Ralph's also got a great conversational gambit in the form of all the amazing original art he's collected over the years which he has up in one section--Edi pretty much just stared at in awe while Ralph and I continued to bullshit.
I didn't take a picture of the section, by the way, but Ralph's manga-fu is awesome: I picked up a whole bunch of stuff Hibbs usually doesn't stock because the early volumes didn't sell--Love Roma and Azumanga Daioh, for example, and the first three volumes of the Great Catsby (which was my birthday splurge because that shit ain't cheap)--and was just generally agog at how well Ralph had, like, arranged a separate yaoi section in the bulk of the manga section.
So, yeah, to sum up: Alternate Reality Comics is an awesome store, well-lit, friendly and jammed with great books. Next time you hit Vegas, you should check it out if you consider yourself a comic store aficionado. It's a great shop.
Whew. You can't believe how long I waited to tell you that.
Next: Reviews of books! Provided I can think of something to say that's not parroting Mr. McM's reviews, that is.
...Marvel officially delays Civil War #6 and 7 two weeks. It's because penciller Steve McNiven has strep, apparently, although I'm wondering what the schedule for #7 will end up being if he still hasn't finished #6 yet.
Here's your context for the entry below. (this is a repost from a couple of months ago):
****
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 suceed. 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 innaccessible now because of that accretion of history, I was clearly really really really wrong, and it seems all but inevitible 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.)
My especial apologies to Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagely for doubting thier creative accumen, and to Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas for doubting thier marketing instincts. They were right, and I was wrong.
****
I decided on, as you can see below, a Cricket. Crickets are sold by pet stores. These came in a box that said "The classic cricket experience! Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!", which I would have to say is fairly accurate.
Maybe more "squirty and gross on the inside", though.
There was a definate "pop" when I bit in, and bug guts went oozing into my mouth.
It wasn't, neccessarily, a BAD taste -- just a GROSS one. Foreign, y'know?
Really, though, the worst part was when Jeff & James Masente (our second witness, and the operator of the video on Jeff's camera) informed me the video didn't take, and we should do it again. Um, no. I said I'd eat "A" bug, not "multiple bugs until you get the shot right".
Either way, really, my truly sincere apologies to Bendis and Bagley, Joe Quesada, and Jemas -- they were right and I was wrong, and I have the mandibles stuck in my teeth to prove it!
Never let it be said that I am not a man of my word!!!
****
I should also point you over to the podcast that the guys at http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/ did with me this week -- 90 minutes of me blab blab blabbing about the comics industry and how we got where we are, and where we're going.... but thier server seems to be down. I guess I'm too popular for my own good, and I broke thier server. Whoops.
-B
Yes, it happened, and I was there to see it. Sadly, we were not able to catch this event in all the full videographic glory it deserves, since, at a crucial moment, my camera decided it didn't understand what it was being asked to do when someone pushed the shutter button. Until I prepare my signed deposition testifying that Hibbs did indeed eat a bug, you'll have to make do with these delightful pictures. And by "delightful," I mean, "not for the squeamish," as some of the faces Hibbs makes are...not for the timid. Anyhoo. Here's our first photo, where our man looks very sad that he ever expressed doubt that Ultimate Spider-Man would last in the marketplace and that he would eat a bug if it made 100 issues:
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| From Bug Hibbs |
And here we see him preparing to eat the wee beastie:
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| From Bug Hibbs |
And just so you don't think there's any sleight of hand involved, please see the following blown-up image:
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| From Bug Hibbs |
From there, our tiny friend traveled to the mouth of Mr. Hibbs. I'd like to say it was quick and painless, but at least for Brian, it was neither:
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| From Bug Hibbs |
(I know I should have adjusted the color balance on that one but, not only am I no Joe or Janie Photoshop, if I remember correctly, Brian really did change colors as he ate.)
Finally, Mr. Hibbs produces proof that he devoured the cricket. After this picture, he went outside for a very long time, where I believe he retched, smoked a cigarette, and tried to wash his mouth out with soda all at the same time:
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| From Bug Hibbs |
And there you have it--a fitting gift for your Friday the 13th. I'm sure my awful karma for participating in this event will return fivefold shortly. Have a great weekend!
Well, the original plan was that yesterday, Thursday, I was going to belatedly take care of last week's reviews. Not only was Sue on vacation, so I had an extra 3 hours of riding the register, but it was the first rainy day in SF all year -- first rainy days historically totally killing business as people adjust to the new weather (it did, we were off by 1/3), as who wants to buy paper when water is coming from the sky? There's no way I wasn't going to have MORE than enough time to get caught up on both reading and reviewing. And then Michael Lieberman walked in the door. For long-time CE customers, you'll remember Michael as "Little Mike", the store's original "Munchkin" -- a young kid who gets you lunch, does some scut work, etc. Michael is Munchkin no more, having been now to law school, just come back from a summer internship (I think) at the Hague (!), and about to start a new job in Washington DC at a law firm where, in his first year, will be making a greater salary than either my Mom (president of marketing), or my Stepmom (runs a 10 acre complex for the elderly) are after being high in their fields for 20 years.
Frickin' lawyers!
Michael is also Ben's Godfather, because I'm not an idiot, and I wanted to be sure that if Tzipora and I died in a fiery cash accident or something, that Ben would have someone both young AND capable of taking care of him.
Michael showed up around 1:30, and before I realized it, it was suddenly quarter-to-six and we had jawed the whole afternoon away, talking about supply-side economics, political ethics, morality & money, and a dozen other light subjects. Chris Carter (no, the other one) also hung out for like an hour and gave us some interesting primers on how globalization is affecting animation.
So, no, I didn't write any reviews yesterday.
Wednesday was Ben's 3rd birthday, and a wonderful time was had by all -- a small party at his preschool, dinner with the 3 American grandparents (mm, Pauline's Pizza!), and the beginning of the presents. Tzipora got him a super-realistic 1/6 scale garbage truck (Ben has the odd fixation with garbage men and their trucks), which, for like the first time ever got Ben to play 100% all by himself for like 90 minutes at a time. Usually, he's too interested in his parents to play alone -- he wants us to do all the playing with him -- but finally, FINALLY he's got a toy which utterly absorbs him.
Me, I started the decade-long project of doling out *my* action figures to the boy -- gave him my "Super Powers" Superman, Batman and Robin figures, with the cloth capes and all.
He liked the garbage truck better, at least on day one!
Sunday, we have his birthday party with all of his friends. We've got a jump house, and there's a hot tub at my parents house. And tons of screaming little children. Should be awesome.
Finally, I'll be eating that bug for ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #100 today (I think). I've decided on crickets, since the pet store carries those, and I was wowed by the packaging (?!?) of live crickets. They're in a box in which they'll live "a week or two", that has marketing copy like "The classic cricket experience -- crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside!" Um, wow. I was just expecting a clear plastic bag, really.
(I was also offered mealworms to buy, but they don't look enough like a "bug" to me, although the clerk assured me they were reasonably tasty) (?!?!?!)
I just lost too much time last week to do the bug eating, but it should be today, as long as I remember to bring the camera to work this afternoon. Hopefully sometime middle of next week for pix, depending on Jeff's schedule to resize and post them.
Like a said above, I was originally going to do last week's books yesterday (then this week's books early next week), but since I missed that window, I'm just going to skip ahead and handle THIS week's books, much earlier in the cycle than you are used to.
However, here's a quick run at last week's comics: my PICK OF THE WEEK was STAN LEE MEETS SPIDER-MAN. Not because it was any good, but because it was the strangest god-damn thing I've ever read in my life. Not only do you have Stan psycho-analyzing Spidey, and giving him... dodgy advice ("You've got to keep doing it, son – think of all the people depending on you with toys and movies and underoos!"), but then it had a Joss Whedon story that ends up with, and I swear I am not making this up, Stan going off to PornWorld. Ah, Marvel comics! We're not just for kids any more! Oddly, STAN LEE MEETS SPIDER-MAN was also my PICK OF THE WEAK, since, wholly fuck, can you BELIEVE that content?!?!?! My BOOK/TP OF THE WEEK: SHENZHEN A TRAVELOGUE FROM CHINA HC. I thought last year's PYONGYANG was one of the best books of 2005, and I was really looking forward to this. It isn't at all the same as PYONGYANG, which really gave me "deep" insight into a culture I'll likely never experience on my own -- instead SHENZEN (and this has to be an earlier work, no?) is much more about how Desisle personally feels while traveling in China, with all of the boredom and banality that being a stranger in a strange culture can bring. But, I didn't feel like I learned anything much about China or Shenzhen itself, that I didn't already know. Despite that, this was still, easily, my pick of last week's stuff.
As far as THIS week goes....
52 WEEK #22: We're rapidly reaching the halfway point (4 to go), though it doesn't at all feel to me like we're halfway into the plots. The back half is going to need to be pretty dense, I think, to handle all of the threads they've opened up (like, gosh, hasn't it been forever since we've seen Vic and Renee?). Still and all, I'm pretty much enjoying the run. My only real problem this week : "Going Themyscira" doesn't real sound that likely to me as a (what would you call it?) catchphrase -- there's 4 syllables in that second word! "Doin' a Diana" or "Going Wondy" would both parse better, I think (though the former probably wouldn't translate that well without a footnote, as I tend to think the average reader would probably first flash to the real English one). This is spectacularly OK work, all around, which for a weekly comic is like the gold standard.
ALL NEW ATOM #4: Byrne's gone, and the book suffers from it a bit. I thought #3 was one of the best things Simone had ever written, but that spark doesn't follow through for this reader into #4. Probably because of Mr. Info Dump guy that lays out the Ivy Town weirdness in a very tell-not-show way. I'm also already getting pretty sick of the funny-talking aliens. The art is fine -- just a little too, oh, "DC House Style" for me, I guess. You can say a lot about Byrne, but at least there was always dynamism in his art, even (especially?) in scenes where its just people standing around talking. Merely OK.
AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2: This is much more what I was expecting from a Vertigo AmSplen -- Richard Corben AND Eddie Campbell? Cool! AmSplen's historical problem has always been the art -- I LIKE Gary Dumm's art just fine, but it makes Pekar's mundane tales that much more mundane, and having a Campbell or a Corben makes the mundane seem much more dynamic. Comics NEED dynamism, I believe. On the other hand, I kept expecting an ax murderer or something to show up in the Corben piece because, y'know, Corben. Still, I'll go with GOOD.
BOYS #3: Momentum builds here. Each issue has been better than the one before, which is great because I thought #1 was pretty darn weak. Here, finally, I'm getting a handle on the characters and their world. I'll go with a solid, if unspectacular GOOD.
CRIMINAL #1: Very dense, very strong, very pretty. Top notch stuff from two guys who have really strongly found their legs, and, clearly, work well together. I was going to go with an "Excellent", but I think I'm going to be a petty bitch and knock it down to a VERY GOOD because of the thin cover and the lack of "Good hand" when you pick the comic up. (But, it is actually really Excellent)
CROSS BRONX #2: There was that one SPECTACULAR page in issue #1 where the ghost lady rises up and causes the car crash, and there's nothing here that matches that astounding visual. But it is still GOOD.
DETECTIVE COMICS #824: There's something just a little tiny bit off here, and I'm not sure what it is -- maybe that there aren't any villains on display, or not any real detectiving going on, or maybe it's just the stupid Paris Hilton stand-in (which seems out of place even for foppish Bruce Wayne). Its certainly not bad, but it was pretty much just OK.
DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #1: Oooh, pretty. Plus it had some great bits of business (that Iron Fist opening), and some adept craft (excellent job fitting the origin into the issue without seeming forced -- that kind of natural info dumping is a hard trick to pull off, really), and, so, hard to not call it VERY GOOD from me.
FANTASTIC FOUR #540 CW: What I would have said, had I reviewed last weeks comics, is that, regardless of what you think of CIVIL WAR itself, they're doing some fairly amazing tie-in tricks; for the most part, every tie-in comic has seemed to be relevant and expansive, and you can see why they HAD to hold the crossovers for the main book, because core plot points are involved. That's REALLY rare in line-wide crossovers, especially doing them so well integrated. Which makes this FF even that much odder -- the only thing it seems integrated TO is last weeks AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, not CIVIL WAR itself. I mean, that's NOT how Sue left, is it? Now, I like this version better (Just like I liked FRONTLINE's Death of Giant Man better than the "real" one), but it is a real false note here. I also am really looking for a legitimate justification of Reed's actions, and I'm just not getting it at all. A big EH from me.
GIANT SIZE WOLVERINE #1: The front story was alright (if a bit MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS), but WTF is up with the reprint story as the back up? That kind of incoherent, ugly nonsense is exactly the kind of story that Marvel should be trying to forget, not mis-match pairing with a more "arty" Wolvie story. Brings the whole package down to an AWFUL.
IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #1: Decent and dense read, but it doesn't really hold up. SHIELD is comprised of these kinds of agents? So, then, like the only reason Hydra hasn't taken over, is because they have bigger boobs working for them, then? "The world's most unlikable character" is, perhaps, not exactly accurate (THE FLASH's Griffen takes the 2006 prize, so far, I think), but that's not exactly a sustainable pitch for an ongoing hero book, I think. Hard time Savage Critic Scaling this one, since I think the faults in premise and setup are large, but the skill of execution is decent, so let's be wishy-washy and say OK.
JONAH HEX #12: I had a few problems with pacing, and who-shows-up-where-when, but it's all minor, and this is one of those books that almost certainly deserves a bigger audience than it is getting. I never EVER thought I'd like a Jonah Hex comic book, yet I really do, so I'm going with GOOD.
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #119: Just one of those periodic reminders that this crudely drawn comic, with all of the annoying (since I'm not playing, and have zero use for it) gamer material in the back, is still pretty much the funniest monthly comic on the stands. No, it IS the funniest monthly comic on the stands. There's nothing special about THIS issue, and, really, everything is mid-story so maybe not the best jumping in point (last issue, #118, is probably better for that), but every once in a while I feel the need to remind you this is VERY GOOD.
MYSTERY IN SPACE #2: Bored now. I used to have a "Zzzzzz" rating, so consider it brought back for this.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #1: Nope, they're not really getting the appeal of Freddy here, are they? If this is what we're going to get from Wildstorm horror titles (especially where, I assume?, they're paying licensing fees too), then lets abort the line now, since this is just AWFUL.
NIGHTWING #125: So, first off, thank god Bruce Jones is gone. Wolfman and Jurgens are... well, they're kind of the equivalent of comfort food, as a creative team, aren't they? Not particularly good or anything, but filling enough, and evoking nostalgia. There's no way I could cal this better than OK, but, compared to what came directly before, this is a home run of a comic.
OTHER SIDE #1: Wow, that was a punch to the gut. Strong strong characterization, and a solid look at both sides of the Vietnam war. Loverly artwork. A solid home run, and one you should snap right up, because, let's face it, Vertigo is really really spotty about collecting mini-series into TP. VERY GOOD
X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #2: So, uh, wait, this book has nothing to do with Phoenix afterall? Now, that's a dead-brilliant move! Really AWFUL.
As for the Books/TPs, there were three major releases this week... all aimed at the bookstores, at that (though I'm going to sell a ton of each):
BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006 is a really nice package of work, with a superb presentation, but I have to admit it felt a little too close to MCSWEENEYS #13. Still, I expect to sell a shedload. On the other hand, I want to kill Elizabeth Moore for that fucking introduction ("Please please please take comics seriously. We're all adult and stuff! Plllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeaaassssseeeee") -- we're in a really sad place if we need the validation of someone else to bless the medium. I was also a little ... amused maybe that Pekar's introduction goes on an on about how comics are not just superheroes, and the VERY FIRST STORY presented in the book is a SUPERHERO STORY. Sure it's got a "he shouldn't have been a superhero" punchline, but that doesn't make it any less of a punchline. These kind of collections/surveys tend to be pretty snobby, high brow, and otherwise elitist in their presentation of "Comics are Art, damn it! Plllllease believe us!" (and they have been since since Fantagraphics did the BEST COMICS OF THE DECADE (1980s) sixteen or so years ago -- and I keep thinking there was at least one other even before that), but, let's face it, this IS a collection of really fantastic stories. I'm not all the way through it yet, but I haven't read one story that was anything less than "VERY GOOD" so far. Next year, turn down the desperate rhetoric, and I'd have nothing but good things to say. Up to the point I've read, I'm calling it EXCELLENT.
CANCER VIXEN: Its breezy, its focuses on what I think is a largely superficial and vapid segment of American (and specifically New York) culture, but I find it hard to really review autobio, especially when it's about something really fucked up like breast cancer? (or domestic abuse, in the case of DRAGONSLIPPERS by Rosalind Penfold; or abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder in Madison Clell's CUCKOO) Actually, I think those two are also good comparisons, because from a comics-as-craft sense, none of these are especially "good" -- Marisa Acocella Marchetto's cartooning isn't really strong enough to carry the parts of the story that have weight here, but it's breezy enough to make the fashonista stuff clever and fun -- but they're all affecting works if only for the raw sheer bravery on display. I'd put this in the hand of someone who has, or knows a woman with, breast cancer, most certainly, because "Yes, you can survive" is a really important thing. I'd also recommend it to people who are interested in comics-as-a-form because there are relatively few works that try to tackle subjects like these (I'd add PEDRO & ME, and MOM'S CANCER, and I know there are 2 or 3 more, but I'm blanking at the moment), and because of the "it"-driven nature of the book, I think this might ultimately be seen as a historical book in the widespread awareness of comics. If I have to give it a Savage Critic rating (and I do), it's not really much more than an OK, though. That might just be me, however -- if you read VOGUE and watch fashion on E! then you'd probably like it much more than me.
CHICKEN WITH PLUMS HC: I haven't had the time yet this week to read it! I suck! On a flip through, it looks instantly better than EMBRODERIES, so I am heartened and eager to get to it, but I haven't been able to yet. But the reason I am even typing a thing is because I CANNOT believe they went for the cut-out dustcover. God, those things are a nightmare. Virtually every copy of EPILEPTIC that we received ended up damaged, if not from distribution or transport, then from rack damages. The cutout is "safer here, being in the middle of the book, but my god, if you're going to do a dustjacket that *in any way* can be mishandled (Also this week, Gaiman's FRAGILE THINGS falls into the same category), shrinkwrap the son of a bitch. Trust me, WE can open the ONE copy for display.
So, uh, PICK OF THE WEEK: Aw, CRIMINAL #1 by far.
PICK OF THE WEAK: it is either X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #2, or NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #1, and I gotta go with the latter. Freddy should have FOUNTAINS OF BLOOD, man
GN/TP OF THE WEEK: No contest, screwed up introduction or not -- BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006.
ASSHAT OF THE WEEK: It really really bugs me when publishers ship the HC and SC version of a book at the same time. That, almost always, means the SC is DOA. So, give it up for both WALLYS WORLD and LIFE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II IN COMICS. Eedjits!
And, if I may ask, what did YOU think?
-B
Why is it that "three day weekend" holidays end up with MORE work being needed to catch up? I'm more swamped than normal, and I've got, maybe, 20 minutes now before the truck shows up with this week's comics, and I'm oddly grumpy about everything.
First off, because I'm sure someone cares, that "3 week supply" I described last week RE: LOST GIRLS? Looks like I'm higher than a kite. We sold our last copy this morning. I've even brought back my copy from home (because I don't much care if I end up with a first printing or not) -- so, yeah, we ended up having a really good week last week, thanks to that $75-a-throw pornography.
I'm not really in much mood to review this week, sorry, but I did want to say that I was deeply weirded out by BLACK PANTHER #19, where both T'Challa and Doom tell Storm to shut up like a good girl, and, uh, she does. And gives the Panther a big kiss for it, too. Yikes.
Yeah, that's all I want to write for now. I'll try to do some real reviews for this week's books, if the loss of a day doesn't kill me...
I'd ask you what you think... but I didn't tell you what *I* did, did I?
-B
While I still feel like there's a steel rod, barbed with little razors, in my throat, it is, at least, no longer rotating, and pounding in and out at piston-speed. Was able to swallow solid food this morning, and I actually got almost a full 8 hours of sleep last night, so I think I am "better".
What a fucked up virus that was. "Yeah, can't do anything for you," said the doctor, "we're no good with viruses yet -- antibioticis will do nothing, and while you're inflamed, it isn't tonsilitis or Strep, so all I can do is give you a perscription for vicodin and ice cream."
The vicodin didn't do much but allow me to sleep for a whole hour at a time, rather than just 20 minutes -- and by day #2 it started to WIRE me, and give me really nasty hallucinations of the angel of death floating around the roof of my bedroom.
Tzipora suffered more from cabin fever than anything else -- she had bad naseua (nothing worse than having to puke, and puking up nothing but water, right?), and a severe case of the spins -- but the fact that she couldn't escape the house in nearly a week was worse for her than almost anything else. The lady is a free spirit.
And Ben smiled through the whole thing, with nary a symptom in sight -- other than being really really sad that we kept handing him off to grandparents to take him to the park. "Where sickness from?" he'd keep asking, as if, fireman-style, he'd go kicking down some door to battle it and get his parents back. Heart-breaking, really. I love the little guy so much, but am glad he had existential pain, rather than real pain.
I'm taking one more day to get back up to speed, but I think by tomorrow I'll be down to "dull roar of pain", and I can go catch up on nearly a damn week's worth of paperwork and stuff at the store.
SO: big BIG thanks to the staff for keeping shit together while I suffered sleep-and-food deprivation -- and even more so from the absolute last-minute warning I heaped it on to them.
Especially double-plus thanks go to Jeff Lester for fighting an unfamiliar photocopier and getting ONOMATOPOEIA run off. He called me 3-4 times on Firday, each with a "Uh, WTF is this machine doing?!" question, and each time he sounded more and more defeated by the mechanical beast -- escpecially since I couldn't answer ANY of his questions (I've never USED the "duplex to simplex" feature, sorry!). But he perservered, and got shit taken care of, and he should be lauded -- LAUDED -- by the Gods themselves.
Anyway, now that I CAN sleep, I'm going to go and try and fit in another 12-16 hours today.
Mm, yeah, The newest Tilting also made it up at:
http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting27.html
go give it a read, I guess, though it was written in a vicodin haze and contains AT LEAST one absolutely, verifiably, 100% false statement. Can YOU spot it? Because I have NO idea how I could have written it (except for the whole "vicodin-haze" thing) -- me, of ALL people should have known better....
-B
So, listen, I’m not sure if I’m the perfect audience (long-time DC fan) or the deadly worst audience (long-time DC fan) for this kind of stunt – every “jumping on” point is equally a “jumping off” point, after all. Some mechanical stuff, first, I think… that “One Year Later” logo looks disturbingly like the “DC Bullet” doesn’t it? Plus, I’m of the mind that it was misplaced, in most cases. “Most” stores either rack with an overlapping top-to-bottom, or with overlapping left-to-right (We’re in the latter group) – this means that the single most valuable piece of “real estate” on the cover is the top left hand corner. Sadly, most of the OYL books have the logo in the middle-right… basically a terrible spot for the logo to “pop” off the cover. A banner would almost certainly have been more effective.
Now, sure, that’s almost moot, because pretty much all of the books sold out on the national level, but still, it’s basic Event Design.
Some (HI, D.G.!) have suggested that, perhaps, DC knowingly “under-printed” the OYL books, in order to get week after week of press releases out of it. While I find the rapid sell-outs at DC to be pretty fucking sad lately, I can’t go all the way to “on purpose”. Why? Because that would be FUCKING STUPID. If you don’t have stock on hand WHEN people come looking for it, then you’ve blown your best chance for a new reader. I also don’t believe that press releases on Newsarama (or whatever) really do jack shit for selling comic books (sorry, Matt!) – the people who regularly visit sites like that are either in the business (I personally check the major sites 3-5 times a day), or are the “Heavy Users” – those people who are already buying huge scary stacks of funny books, and who aren’t moving the needle very much on big events. They are ALREADY ON BOARD.
On-the-ground demand has been pretty heavy for the OYL stuff. I pegged most books at +20%, but, on most titles, I should have gone +30-50%.
What will be interesting is how much of this “growth” sticks at all – what is unclear is if these are OYL buyers, or if they’re genuine “samplers”, and, thus, how many of them will come back. When you add the crazy “Who The Fuck Knows” nature of the upcoming weekly “52”, it could well be an insane roller-coaster of trying to order DC comics in the next few months…
Speaking as a long-time DC fan (over 31 years of loving those characters), I’ve felt pretty cold to a lot of the OYL changes. Why? Well, part of it, I think, is that the “DC Universe” isn’t just about plot points, but about the accretion of familiarity and affection over a long period of time. Monthly hero comics are more like Soap Operas, than not, and there’s a certain amount of staidness I want as a reader. Superhero universes are sort of the equivalent of “comfort food” – Chicken Soup with Stars, or something.
OYL, of course, is trying very hard to not be Chicken Soup with Stars – several of the books seem like they’re trying to be Beef, Mango, and Rice soup, if you understand my metaphor – but even switching to Chicken with NOODLES would have been a big change, you know what I mean? The upheaval of the status quo means that the DCU isn’t (to change metaphors, suddenly) a comfortable old pair of shoes any longer – I don’t like the fit and feel of some of these new designs.
Ultimately, OYL makes us ALL strangers to the DCU – my 31 years of patronage really don’t seem to mean much any more than your “I just started reading with INFINITE CRISIS” tenure. Now, I’m sure Dan Didio will really embrace that – clean starting place for everyone, and all – but I tend to suspect that in the medium-run, it is going to be the long-term DC readers that will continue to be the largest portion of DC’s revenues, and that a significant percentage of the Grazers will wander back to their traditional pastures.
Part of the reason for that is that there’s really only 2 ways to do a OYL comic – either you a) completely shake up the status quo, so the book might as well be an all-new #1 anyway, or b) make it a mystery (“How did things get to be like THIS?!?!”) that makes filling in the backstory the driving narrative thrust. Problem is that mysteries get tired after a point (I suppose it is just possible for it to last, say, a year – but I think 6-9 months is about all of the patience that the audience is going to have.) (especially given how many books this is touching)
What I find… interesting? Ironic? Is that, so far, I’d call the largest successes of OYL to be the core Batman and Superman books, AS THEY (seemingly) TAKE THOSE CHARACTERS BACK TO THEIR PRE-EVENT STATUSES. The “un-Asshatting” of Batman, in particular, is both long-over due (I think he’s probably been going the wrong direction since, jeez “Knightfall” maybe? Though it really reached peak in “War Games” and “Omac”). Given that the universe probably rises or falls on the Big Icons, this is a positive and hopeful sign.
But, perhaps
Let’s get into individual titles, shall we?
Start with the Batman books. As alluded above, I thought DETECTIVE #817 was VERY GOOD, with BATMAN #651 probably in the GOOD range (there was some padding, I thought, on the latter)
CATWOMAN #53: used it’s OYL jump well, I thought – it really does feel like a year has past, but even older events are still relevant. I do think that it should be obvious to anyone (even, yes, the sad Angle Man) that Holly and Selina have different builds, but I guess that is comic books. Still, a promising new start: GOOD
NIGHTWING #118: Pure shit, as Dick seems as out of character as can be, and as editorial idiocy reveals the JT thing in the next issue box, but never mentions it in the comic book itself. Sad that he’s here, too – the story as left at the end of “Under the Hood” wouldn’t haven’t suggested this path to me. I’m also kinda annoyed that #117 ended with “Babs, will you marry me?” and #118 begins with Dick banging some anonymous redhead. Feh. CRAP.
ROBIN #148: Aside from the very very very clumsily staged opening (and thus the short-term plot of the book), I liked this more than I’ve liked the book in some time. Still, just OK
The Superman books were great, giving both SUPERMAN #650 and ACTION #837 VERY GOODs (though the latter sorta spoils IC #6, doesn’t it?)
SUPERGIRL #7: Oh, wait, this hasn’t come out yet. Ooops. I thought that was the whole point of shortening the Loeb run? For that matter, is #25 of SUPERMAN/BATMAN (though not OYL) going to come out in anything like a rational schedule, as it relates to INFINITE CRISIS?
Then into the general DCU…
AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #40: Suffered a bit from ugly-in-places art, and there’s the somewhat…well, I don’t know, “derivative”? No, that’s not it… “Know ye, O Prince” narration, but this was probably the most like what I expected from OYL books – a radical rethinking of the base concept, and a strong new direction. I’ll go with a solid GOOD. Oh, and now that I’ve gotten home from unpacking the new comics, and have read #41 as well, yeah, AQUAMAN is what all of the OYL should have been, in theory.
BIRDS OF PREY #92: A bit clumsy, I thought – the Black Canary pages seemed like they belonged in another book, and I didn’t understand the “Jade Canary” thing, since Shiva wasn’t wearing that color. But, at least, Babs wasn’t running around in costume with her legs perfectly back (my biggest fear). A solid, if somewhat confusing OK.
BLOOD OF THE DEMON #13: Almost certainly the weakest of the OYL books – it felt like I missed 1, maybe 2 issues, not a whole year. No way this will make it past #24. Either a low EH or a high AWFUL.
BLUE BEETLE #1: OK, so not technically OYL (in fact, half of it was “pre-Crisis” – I guess Superboy punched something to explain the differences between the origin here and in IC), but, still it seems to fit. While I pretty much hate that new costume, and I’m very very confused as to powers (holding off a GL? Really?), I thought the human set up and reactions were pretty right on, and that this was a real enjoyable read. A very solid VERY GOOD, and a possible contender for PICK OF THE WEEK status.
FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #23: I was a little dismayed that 1 issue after bringing back Prof Stein, he’s already gone, but the Firehawk thing was kinda cute, so there you go. Oddly, the was the sole OYL book for us that sold LESS copies than the previous issue. Couldn’t tell you why, however. Maybe too many changes too fast? I liked it OK.
GREEN ARROW #60: The first of the “did you see your own cover, man?” issues, wasting 22 pages to tell us what we already knew before we even opened the comic. Maybe it is me, but this also seems like the most unlikely/compelling OYL change. I mean, EX MACHINA works because it very much isn’t about super-heroes – I can’t possibly seeing GA either being believable or sustainable with the concept. Like when Luthor was President – that shit just didn’t WORK. I’ll go with a very weakly stated EH, close to AWFUL
GREEN LANTERN #10: Worked fine to give the sense that a geopolitical year has passed. Am very very worried about the “Sinestro Corps” idea. Wasn’t fond of the “Hal was a POW thing”, really, because wouldn’t one of a dozen other characters have come and rescued him? I’ll give it to Geoff, though, because this does allow him to neatly sidestep the tendency to make OYL stories a mystery ABOUT the lost year. I’m split between a very high OK and a very low GOOD though.
HAWKGIRL #50: Woof. That was…. Not very good. Between the art that was far too often phoned in stock poses and layout, and a script that seemed to be written to 8 year olds (“and then…” “…the lights went out!” ), this was almost an epic misfire. Or maybe I was anticipating it too much? Truly AWFUL.
JSA #83: Wait, a year passed? Honestly, it feels like Just Another Issue of JSA. I’m like a mad crazy JSA fan – on display in the store is a custom set of Matt Wagner JSA sketches (I’m, what, 6 short of the full set?), I was the biggest retailer booster of the characters at RRPs over the years, etc. – but, man, I just don’t care about the book any longer. And there’s a spin-off title too, yeesh. I’m Jumping Off here because it was just EH, just like JSA has been for nigh on a year (or more) now. (#84, which I just read tonight, cements that – double EH)
JSA CLASSIFIED #10: Much the same rant, with the addition that I like Paul Gulacy’s art on many things, but not on Superhero comics. On the very low end of EH.
MANHUNTER #20: Surprised me how much it felt connected to the (DC) Universe it actually felt. Problem is I still don’t find the base character to be all that compelling. OK
OUTSIDERS #34: Blech. Pretty much the only time “covert action” and “super heroes” has ever worked was in John Ostrander’s SUICIDE SQUAD. This is no SUICIDE SQUAD. AWFUL.
SUPERGIRL & THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #16: Like GREEN ARROW, working to it’s last page, despite the cover. On the other hand, because the legion has changed a lot, and this might be the introduction of the “new characters” for a large # of people following Supergirl, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this case. Still, “I’m dreaming you” better have something to back it up, Toot Sweet, cuz the next year being “is it? Isn’t it?” might just be too much to bear. Still, generally GOOD.
TEEN TITANS #34: I’m squeaking this in because I unloaded the comics today, and had time to read it. It didn’t ship in OYL month 1. (which, might I add, had 5 weeks in it!) Lots of big changes, but it looks like it is going route “b) make it a mystery (“How did things get to be like THIS?!?!”) that makes filling in the backstory the driving narrative thrust” with Vic as our POV character. What I will say is that I by and large think that TITANS is not X-MEN, and having former enemies join the teams as members just doesn’t work for this book. (despite not having read the next 4-6 issues!). Having said that, I liked quite a lot of this – especially the time-compressed first 3 pages from Vic’s POV, and I’ll be charitable and go with a low GOOD.
MM, that’s it then.
Hrm, for this week’s books (3/29) I liked ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #3 or BLUE BEETLE #1 or X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL #3 or FALLEN ANGEL #4 as my PICK OF THE WEEK. Listed in order of If-You-Held-A-Gun-To-My-Head, but take your pick, they were all terrif.
For the PICK OF THE WEAK I’m going to go with IRON MAN #6, not because it was that bad, really, but, because after the year and a half, or whatever it was, it left me saying “And that’s it?”
My TP/GN OF THE WEEK is the softcover of TRAILERS from NBM. Terrific little book with art by the love child of David Lapham and Terry Moore. Big-time recommended!
What did you think?
-B
Today, April 1, marks the seventeenth anniversary of Comix Experience. Hoo-fuckin-rah!
OK, time to get back to inventory....
-B
I had a dream, dear friends, the other night. And it was a dream in which I met DC's Dan Didio, and he was wearing an old-fashioned circus strongman's outfit, and his moustache was newly waxed to match. As he led me through the house where I grew up, he told me in no uncertain terms about the secret cabal he belonged to, and how said cabal was looking to change the way the world viewed "old media" such as print. At one point, I asked him if he was telling me all of this because he wanted me to join the cabal, and he laughed as if I'd just said the funniest joke in the world.My subconscious? Not so kind to me, apparently.
Anyway, for those of you who read Brian's column on Friday, you may be interested in Tom Spurgeon's response, the (surprisingly small) thread on The Engine, and a more direct market-centric commentary from Millarworld. Alternatively, you might want to check out the 22 page preview of upcoming Image graphic novel The Five Fists of Science on (Five Fists writer) Matt Fraction's site, which he was nice enough to put up in a format crappy enough that even I could read it at my work computer, running Windows 95 (Yes, dear readers, I am who he's talking about at the end of his post there). Just some things to keep you busy until the new comics come out tomorrow...
http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting26.htm Are Marvel & DC crowding indies off the shelf?
Does the DM only want super-heroes?
NO!
-B
Nearly back to "fighting trim" -- my green mucus is now back to clear, and I'm only having to blow my nose first thing in the morning. I expect I'll be back to 100% by this weekend. I'm at 96-97% right now. Now that my brain is starting to work again, I've got to pound out a TILTING AT WINDMILLS for Friday on Newsarama, plus, this week is ONOMATOPOEIA week, so I don't think you'll see any reviews from me until next week. Actually, what I really want to do is to do a big "One Year Later" catchall, I think.
Heh, though the second season finale of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA probably did it better than any of the OYL comics I've read to date.
Plus today makes 2 weeks without smoking a cigarette (Right, well, I had about 1/4 of one last Friday -- but the racking coughing fit it brought on was really good for me) -- that's how sick I was, and I think that it's going to stick this time. I stopped smoking for... 2 months? when Ben was born, but then Tzipora's mother came from Israel, and stayed with us, and my stress level went so crazy high that I fell off the wagon. I certainly WANT a cig, but "one day at a time" feels right for me right now. And, unlike last time, this is crutchless -- no patch, no Wellbutrin (fuck those altar-your-brain-chemistry drugs!), so I feel more like it's from me, if you see what I mean.
What else? My mother reads this blog (and Googles me -- doncha love moms?), and said that I should say what a lovely lunch we had at Lulu's this weekend. Which we did. So I am.
Mom is (Probably, let me not jinx it!) moving up to San Francisco proper (she's in San Jose now), which will be great for Ben having her closer. He's ALLLLMOST ready for the sleepover, I think.
Right, and Graeme decided not to mention his new bi-weekly column on Comic World News. Thankfully Ace McDonald mentioned it today, because that's not a site I usually go to. Guess I have to start now!! Find it at http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=grimtidings&page=26
So, here's what's coming out tommorow at Comix Experience -- another smallish week (five Wednesday month, donchaknow?), but there's a few gems in there
100 BULLETS #70 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #30 (A) ANGEL OLD FRIENDS #4 (OF 5) ANNIHILATION PROLOGUE ASPEN SWIMSUIT SPECIAL #1 ATHEIST #3 (RES) BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #201 BATMAN YEAR ONE HUNDRED #2 (OF 4) BETTY & VERONICA #216 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #164 BEYOND AVALON #3 (RES) BIRDS OF PREY #92 BLACK HARVEST #4 (OF 6) BODY BAGS 3 THE HARD WAY ONE SHOT CVR A CONAN #26 CONAN BOOK OF THOTH #1 (OF 4) DMZ #5 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #338 ELFQUEST THE DISCOVERY #2 (OF4) EVIL ERNIE IN SANTA FE #4 (OF4) FATHOM #7 FLAMING CARROT SP FOUR #28 (Actually, not retitled on cover -- still "4") FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #6 FURY PEACEMAKER #2 (OF 6) GENERATION M #5 (OF 5) GIRLS #11 GREEN ARROW #60 INFINITE CRISIS SECRET FILES 2006 JETTA RATE ONE SHOT JLA CLASSIFIED #18 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #120 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #113 LIVING WITH ZOMBIES #6 LOOKING GLASS WARS HATTER M #2 (OF 4) MAJESTIC #15 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #287 NEW MANGAVERSE #3 (OF 5) NIGHTWING #118 PAINKILLER JANE #1 PERHAPANAUTS #4 (OF 4) PLANETARY BRIGADE #2 (we didn't receive it, in actuallity) PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #5 (OF 5) PURGATORI (DDP) #5 PVP #24 RED SONJA CLAW DEVILS HANDS #1 (OF 4) RUNAWAYS #14 RUNES OF RAGNAN #4 (OF 4) SCOOBY DOO #106 SEVEN SOLDIERS BULLETEER #4 (OF 4) SIMPSONS COMICS #116 SPIDER-WOMAN ORIGIN #4 (OF 5) SPIKE VS DRACULA #1 (OF 5) SUPERMAN #650 SUPERMAN SHAZAM FIRST THUNDER #4 (OF 4) TALISMEN #2 (OF 4) TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1 TRANSFORMERS BEAST WARS (IDW) #2 (OF 4) TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #1 (OF 5) ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #3 (OF 5) ULTIMATE X-MEN #68 UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE JUSTICE WALKING DEAD #26 WITCHBLADE #96 X-MEN APOCALYPSE DRACULA #2 (OF 4)
Books / Mags / Stuff ANIMATION MAGAZINE APR 2006 #159 BACK ISSUE #15 CALL OF THE WILD PUFFIN GN CHRONICLES OF CONAN VOL 10 GIANTS WALK THE EARTH TP CONCRETE VOL 4 KILLER SMILE TP CRYING FREEMAN VOL 1 TP DRACULA PUFFIN GN DRAX THE DESTROYER EARTH FALLTP ESSENTIAL GODZILLA TP FAIRY TAILS VOL 1 TP FRENCH KISS #15 (A) GRAY HORSES GN HARLEQUIN PINK IDOL DREAMS TP IRON WOK JAN GN #17 JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #45 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE VOL 16TP LUBA THE BOOK OF OFELIA TP MORA VOL 1 ALL BEASTS WILL SHOW THEIR TEETH TP OUR EVERLASTING VOL 2 GN PHOENIX VOL 6 TP PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE TP SAMURAI EXECUTIONER VOL 9 TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL 1 TP SUPERMAN THE DAILY PLANET TP SWAN VOL 6 TALES OF COLOSSUS GN TERRITORY HC TOYFARE GI JOE SIGMA SIX CVR #105 ULTIMATE IRON MAN VOL 1 PREMIERE HC ULTIMATE X-MEN ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL 1 TP WIZARD BEST OF BASIC TRAININGCHARACTER CREATION TP
What looks good to you?
-B
Hey. I'm back from a great time in Buenos Aires where my wife and I went to visit her best friend who's subletting a place for a few months down there. The weather was great, the food was even better, and the exchange rate was downright dreamy. I'm not officially "back" in that we returned yesterday and I probably won't get to CE until Friday, but thought I'd share what I gleaned about the comix scene down in Buenos Aires. This is long, and has not a comic review in it, so if you want to skip it, I won't mind. Hibbs has a great write-up about Sweeney Todd just below, so while this may not be your week to get your snarky comic reviewer fix, it's certainly content-rich.
Anyway, The Master List of Comics shops has four stores in Buenos Aires listed. I visited two of those stores, Entelquia and Punto de Fuga, as well as a third, Club del Comic, which Edi found through the Time Out Guide, while I was there.
If you know anything about Buenos Aires (and I basically didn't), five or six stores is not something to jump up and down about. Buenos Aires proper has close to three million people, and the Buenos Aires area, which includes the metropolitan area surrounding the city proper, claims more than eleven million inhabitants, approximately a third of the entire population of Argentina. While one shouldn't generalize about how many stores there actually are in such an area based on one website and one travel guide, that's a lot of people and I didn't see anything close to that in comic stores. Club del Comic and Punto de Fuga were located about two long blocks apart from each other, and both were almost achingly tiny. Club del Comic is jammed with toys and anime in the front, and then set with shelves on each side and through the center, while graphic novels and some bound volumes are set in racks that reach almost to the ceiling giving the upper walls a scaly feeling. Punto de Fuga feels even smaller, but that's probably because they also do duty as an Internet cafe, with five or six computer stations, and some sort of area where they make the coffee and the tea and the mate and stuff.
(Amusingly, whether through predilection or economic necessity, Club del Comic seemed to be more of a DC store, and Punto de Fuga more clearly a Marvel store. They both had some Corto Maltese volumes, Spanish translations of various internationally published volumes (at CdC, I was thrilled to find all of the volumes of Grant Morrison's Zenith for only 100 pesos, but discovered it was indeed in Spanish), and some neat stuff here and there, but by and large it was mainly the big two, and only the most mainstream of those works. I'm not sure why, but there wasn't a copy of Watchmen in graphic novel form to be had anywhere.)
The third store, Entelequia, was located right where you'd expect a comic store to be--close to the University (or maybe the law school, I couldn't quite tell from all the surrounding bookstores which all had legal volumes in the window)--and had the far more extensive selection of the three stores. The top floor was all non-superhero stuff, while the capes were consigned to the basement. But the stuff in the basement was all pretty current and in English--they order their stuff from Diamond and it ships once a month There, I talked to a really sweet guy who patiently answered all of my questions, and cleared some stuff up. According to him, the comics market in B.A. went through the same collapse as the market here in the mid-'90s but it suffered the additional blow of the economy's collapse in 2001. Before that crash, Entelequia had approximately 80 to 90 subscribers; now, it has approximately 40. (This is probably true for the one location I visited, and not the second location--if it still exists.) The retailer certainly had the same party line as U.S. retailers: the guys who grew up reading comic books are still buying comics, but their kids aren't; the kids use their disposable income on stuff like video games; manga is seen as an emerging force but they're not seeing as many kids in shopping for it as he'd like; and so on.
Anyway, that's the retailing side of things, but I'm no Brian Hibbs so I can't tell you what it means or how to change things up for those shops. Although if I was DC, I'd see what was up: not being able to buy a translated trade of Watchmen or Dark Knight makes no sense at all to me.
All this is lengthy preamble to what I actually did buy, pictured above at right. There are a lot of kioscos in B.A.--little shops where you buy candy, cigarettes and drinks--and I was right off several areas where the streets were only for pedestrian use and where there were kiosco de diaros on every block. These had all the current magazines, but also sometimes had terrifyingly old, torn-up comic books that were just there to fill up shelf space--I came across a copy of X-Men from early in Joe Casey's run that looked as if it'd been dug out of the ground--and at a few places, there were these cellophane wrapped books with iconic cartoon figures on the cover and a logo, "Biblioteca Clarin de la Historieta." They were thick books, over 200 pages, but I couldn't tell if they were essays or reprints or what. After seeing them briefly on our first day walking around, I became obsessed with trying to find them again and buying them, particularly Dick Tracy: Chester Gould's work is so iconic and masterful in its own right, it didn't matter if I could read it or not.
Of course, it being the volume I wanted the most, it took me forever to find it again. The next day, we couldn't find the kioscos with the volumes at all, and I didn't see the volumes until we ended up at Club del Comic, which had multiple copies of the Superman and Batman volumes, some volumes I wasn't interested in at all, and the Flash Gordon copy. The Superman and Batman volumes were marked up to sixteen pesos (as opposed to nine at the kioscos) and the Flash Gordon copy was marked down to eight. I bought it, tore open the wrapping when we hit the street, and was relieved and delighted to see that it wasn't essays (I love Raymond's Flash Gordon, but think even the staunchest academic would be hard-pressed to fill two hundred pages on the topic) but black and white reprints that was one-third Rip Kirby and, of the remaining two-thirds, one-third Dan Barry material. I was hooked. Because I didn't have a ton of space (either in my luggage or at home), I tried to keep my shopping choices limited. Of course, now I'm kicking myself for not picking up the two volumes of El Eternauta by Oesterheld and Solano-Lopez, which may well have been the raison d'etre of the Biblioteca Clarin de la Historieta line in the first place. El Eternauta is a classic of Argentinian comics. (I was kind of shocked that there wasn't more work available of Francisco Solano Lopez, one of the few Argentinian cartoonists whose work I recognized but maybe I just didn't come across it while I was there.)
In the end, I found a kiosco that had a torn and ravaged copy of Dick Tracy on the ground for cover price. Fortunately, the kiosquero took pity on me and took a less-ravaged copy out from under his glass display and also sold me a similarly well-preserved Corto Maltese volume (that has color pages!), for ten pesos each. Entelequeria had a five peso copy of El Loco Chavez that rounded out my little mini-collection--eleven hundred pages of reprints for thirty three pesos, or approximately eleven bucks. The Dick Tracy volume is the only one I've spent any time with, and it's worth all those pesos just on its own. Even the "Lunar Chica" story from 1963 is as insane and interesting as anything Ditko's ever done--if the deluxe strip collections continue to gain ground in the book market, I hope we'll see some major retrospective of Gould's work some time soon.
So yeah, that's what I've been up to the last ten days or so. Next week: some comic book reviews, maybe both old and new depending on what catches my fancy. I've also got a Wondercon pic of Ben and Hibbs and some other stuff I'll be posting in the next few days. Anyone who knows more about the B.A. scene or Eternautas, feel free to throw info or links in the comments.
Airplane writing on the Alpha-Smart, here (with later editing/linking now that I’m home) I just got back from the NY con (well, the trade show, more accurately – I left back for home on Saturday morning), about which more later.
First though, let me tell you my “Only In New York” story….
I got into town on Wednesday, and went to the current restaging of Sweeney Todd that night. To be honest, I generally hate musicals, but I really really like Sweeney. Perhaps it is the dark story, which ends in horror and insanity, without a single bit of redemption – that’s not what musicals are, right?
I’ve actually seen Sweeney before on Broadway – when I was…. Hm, 10, 11 maybe, I was taken to the original production with Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou
That original production was mesmerizing to me, especially because of how the sets worked. Effectively, the set was a giant cube on wheels, with one face of the cube being Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop, one being a street scene, and so forth, and as the action in the play moved from place to place, the extras, or sometimes the principles, would turn the cube on its wheels, creating an illusion of distance or speed or volume that a single set couldn’t possibly achieve.
Thanks to Jeff Lester doing a recent search, after I leant him my very very worn out video tape of the Great Performances telecast, I now know that the Lansbury/Hearn version is back in print on DVD. I strongly urge you to seek out that performance, just to see the masterful way they approached the technical challenges.
Anyway, back in 2006. THIS version of Sweeney has a whole ‘nother set of technical challenges to face. See, the play, as originally mounted has ten “speaking” (and/or singing) roles, easily an equal number of extras providing chorus, and of course, a full orchestra doing the score. The current version only has the 10 principals – so that the principals have to not only being their own stage hands and chorus, which would be kind of insane enough, but they top that by being their own orchestra as well.
I mean that literally – they’re carrying their instruments around the stage, each taking turns playing parts! Some fun can be had in playing “Watch how they hand off piano duties as the various actors are needed upstage”
Understand how complex this is – not only does the crew have to act and sing, but they also have to tackle a pretty damn complicated score, while also being their own stage hands. That is, frankly, insane! There’s almost always someone or something moving on stage. And while it is a very minimalist stage and dressing (Pretty much two chairs represent 50% of the physical objects in the production – set that way to be a boat, this way to be a couch, and so on), there’s a kineticism on display that I’ve never seen before.
These are pretty astonishing performances, as well – Patti LuPone, for example, brings a wickedness and sensuality to her interpretation of Mrs. Lovett… and she does it while carrying a tuba around the set! Just…. Wow! Is all you can think.
On The Savage Critic scale, I’d give the strongest possible VERY GOOD, just a gnat’s breadth from “Excellent”, which is quintessentially unfair to this cast and production, because my qualms pretty much all come down to “Huh, why’d they make THAT choice?” or “Well, that’ not what I’d do” kind of things. For example, there’s lots and lots of instances where the cast is looking at the audience, and not each other. This can be jarring when Anthony sings “Oh, look at me, look at me miss, please look at me!” to Joanna, while HE is turned away from her. The problem was, I couldn’t see a consistent pattern of when they did or did not engage each other – sometimes characters WOULD make eye contact, sometimes they wouldn’t, and I couldn’t see the rhyme or reason.
Much of the staging truly worked – even when you thought it couldn’t. How on earth could “God, That’s Good!” or “City on Fire!” work without extras?! Yet, work it did, exceptionally well. On the other hand, I KNOW the play, and I know exactly what everyone is supposed to be doing and motivations, etc. So the minimalism worked just fine for me. I do wonder if a viewer just seeing Sweeney for the very first time would think the same thing?
I was also happy that the somewhat simpler score allowed some bits -- “Quartet” might be the best example -- to fully appreciate all four vocal lines of the song. In the fully orchestrated version, the orchestra tends to utterly overwhelm the performers, but with never more than 6 instruments at any one moment, everything was much clearer.
I thought the performances were very strong, especially Lauren Molina who portrayed Joanna, and Manoel Felciano who was Tobias. Both do a lot of “background” bits and action, that really add to the mounting insanity of the story. One of the conceits of the show is that the set and setup is reminiscent of an insane asylum, where the inmates are putting on this play – rather than it being that *we’re* watching the story of Sweeney, himself, it is more that we’re watching lunatics act out the story of Sweeney, which at once makes the play more immediate and horrifying (if that were possible), and yet also slightly distancing. So, Molina and Felciano really did a lot of “selling” this conceit -- Tobias creeping around the stage, or perching up on chairs observing the action, looking bug-fuck nuts, Joanna quivering her lip in mad, nervous panic when scary actions she isn’t involved in happen cross stage. Also of note is Donna Lynne Champlin who plays Pirelli (and interestingly, the didn’t change any gender references whatsoever, so she says “…when I was just a lad”, and things like that.) starts off the play as one of the keepers of the asylum, so there are several occasions where as the violence of the play escalates, Champlin steps closer in as if to be saying “Huh, if they take it too far, I need to be able to step in and stop it.” It’s a very effective device, really.
I was less impressed with Benjamin Magnuson who played Anthony, and Alexander Gemignani who plays the Beadle. In the former case, it may simply be that my brain is far too locked in on the DVD ’82 performance of Cris Groenendaal in the role. THAT Anthony is essentially Dudley Do-Right – a big, strapping, utterly earnest, and thoroughly clueless person who has his entire life turn to shit thanks to Todd. So, my brain has a hard time accepting a much weedier guy, who looks more like an NY intellectual than a young and vital sailor, in the role. His actual performance was good, but not, I thought, fully up to the level of his cast mates. Still, this is the difference between “really good” and “really really good”, so perhaps I’m being unfair.
As for Gemignani as the Beadle, the choice was made to deliver most of his dialogue in a monotone. You can practically hear the periods between. Each. And. Every. Word. I don’t know if it was the actor’s choice, or the director’s, but I thought it was a really poor choice. Other than that he was fine – the Beadle has some really difficult lines to sing, and he acquitted them very well.
Patti Lapone was really terrific as Mrs. Lovett, bringing, as I said, a real raw sexuality to the character that once certainly never get from the Lansbury version. I was pretty iffy on some of her readings and interpretations in the SF Symphony production of the play that she participated in 2001 (also on DVD), but in the intervening years, she’s really claimed the part.
Michael Cerveris as Sweeney was a revelation. While he’s not really old enough in appearance to be convincing physically, he absolutely psychically takes upon the mantle of Todd, and sells it 100%. It’s a very challenging role, and Cerveris sticks the landing (to mix a metaphor badly)
Bottom line: this is an astounding and audacious production of a play that was always a masterpiece of its own. If you’re in the New York area, I whole-heartedly recommend you see this production if/while you can.
Anyway, back to the “Only in New York” portion of the story… So, I really like Sweeney as a play, and I know the libretto backwards and forwards. It’s pretty disturbing on my part, actually.
So, I’m… well, I’m not actually SINGING along, because, y’know, you can’t actually DO that at a play, but I’m “mouthing” along with the music, if you see what I mean. My hands are also moving in my lap with the different musical lines. In short, I’m Really Fucking Into It, and It Shows, right?
2 seats over from me (which reminds me, I owe Mark Evanier a big wet kiss for advising me that I was better to sit in the 7th row than the first or second – I had my pick of the theatre when I booked the tix, and I ended up with superb seats thanks to ME’s advice), was sitting Michael Imperioli, who was Chris on the Sopranos, right? He was with a fairly large party of people, and they, in turn, had a friendship with an artist (whose name I didn’t catch) who was doing a “live sketch” of the performance, during it. “Capturing the energy” or something.
Anyway, during the intermission, some of the women in this party start up a conversation with me, “Who are you? How do you know all the words? Where are you from?” that kind of thing. We chat all pleasantly, and the second act begins and that’s that, right?
Well, we’re getting up to leave, and I say my goodbyes, and one of the women (Eva, I think?) says, “Look, we’re going backstage, how’d you like to come along?”
Obviously, I told them to fuck off. Er…. No wait, the other way, “What? Are you nuts, of COURSE I’d like to go.” So I got to go backstage, meet most of the cast, ask several questions on the staging, and wander around the set, and examine the props and dressing close up! Totally awesome!
As they say, it was a truly magical night. There was even an after party that I could have gone to, but I thought it better to not be “a leech” and know when to leave on my own. That makes it at least a little more likely that they’ll continue to be kind and inviting to absolute stranger in the future, y’know?
(Having a reasonable amount of contact with the comics talent, and watching as people sometimes have inappropriate fangasms sometimes, I’ve largely learned to restrain myself in my own encounters with celebrities)
Anyway, how cool is that? A great night at the theater, topped off with a backstage visit just from being excited about the work. Only in New York City though, right?
Garth Ennis and Ruth Cole were gracious enough to offer to let me stay at their place during the con, not only saving me a big wad of money from the hotel, but allowing me to spend some real quality time with one of my dearest mates, and turning my experience from just “going to a con”. I don’t think I would have heard about the Paul Pope/John Cassaday party at the Slipper Room, for example, without Garth – which ended up not only being a tremendous amount of fun, but being very productive in setting up a few things in the future.
I went out to NY for 2 specific reasons: 1) Marvel, in the original plan, was gong to have a “retailer day” of some kind, which got turned into “just” a cocktail party (We were there 4-5 hours, actually) after I booked the trip. But I thought it was REALLY important to go out and support Marvel working with retailers (especially as the guy who sued them, y’know?), because Marvel is getting better and better in working with us each month, and it is good to have a closer relationship. I met Dan Buckley, and Joe Quesada and I have buried the hatchet (If there was a hatchet to begin with, really) – we did it in email a few months back, but I wanted to do it face-to-face as well. Plus ay opportunity to tell more people what a godsend David Gabriel has become to Marvel and the retail community is always welcome.
I also went out to NY because 2) the first day of the con was a trade show. We need more trade shows in this business, especially ones that aren’t directly controlled by Diamond comics. I was, I think, the only retailer from west of the Rockies to show, but I thought it was very important to support the thing.
Of course, the trade-only *day* turned into “4 hours” (noon to 4) until they started letting the fans in, so it “wasn’t much” of a trade show this year, but still, a man has to do what a man has to do, right?
The con itself was pretty impressive for a first show – attendance seemed pretty huge to me. Even during the trade show portion, there were times it wasn’t possible to move in the aisles. Once they started letting in the fans it became a real madhouse. When I finally left the Javits ~6 pm, there were STILL a couple hundred people standing in line to get badges.
I suspect Saturday is going to get ugly, and I’d lay coin that the fire marshall shuts it down at least once during the day. The aisles aren’t nearly wide enough to accommodate the NY comics community – they need to be twice what they are, really. Really really glad I’m going home and not staying for the con, proper, because it will be a madhouse.
Also on the trip, I visited Rocketship in Brooklyn, which is a fab looking store for only being open 6 months. They looked like they were doing well, and I’m really proud that I’ve been able to help them succeed.
I also spent some time up with DC at their offices on Thursday– had Lunch with Dan Didio, and an afternoon meeting with the Vertigo editors, offering up a retailer’s brain to pick. All part of the service, ma’am.
Anyway, so that’s my little travelogue. I’ve really not read much this week – ASTONISHING X-MEN #13, which I’d rate an EXCELLENT, GREEN LANTERN #9 (I think? Comics are packed away right now), which I thought was a solid GOOD, and CATWOMAN #?? Which I’d say the same. That’s all I’ve read so far, despite 11 hours of flight time in the last 96 hours! (slept a lot of those plane hours, really) So, uh, PICK OF THE WEEK is ASTONISHING X-MEN #13, PICK OF THE WEAK is “I have no idea, hurray!”, and TRADE OF THE WEEK is…”your guess is as good as mine, I have no internet 30k miles in the air here I am, and I don’t recall what shipped this week.”
I am gong to be SOOOOOO happy to see Ben when I get home, though. I REALLY missed the little guy. Tzipora, too, but it is different with the 2 year old – four days away is…what? One half of one percent of his entire life?
Suck ass part is I have to do the weekly reorders, this months ORDER FORM (haven’t even cracked it yet), and the March subscriber setups all before Tuesday. That’s gonnnnnnna suck! So If you hear noting from me next week, that’s the reason why.
-B
The newest column, on BookScan in 2005, is up at Newsarama -- alway interested in your thoughts! http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1629090#post1629090
OK, time to get ready to go to WonderCon....
-B
It's been one of those months, really -- I just realized today that we still had the Christmas window display up, uh, in February. So I asked Sue if she had any ideas for a new window, and she told me she's pretty much run out of ideas after her 4 (?) year run in setting them up. Now, me, I've been doing this coming up on 17 years now, and all of MY ideas are long since dull or uninteresting, and while, sure, I can go back to making color photocopy blow ups of covers and banging them up in the bay, honestly it's better if we have SOME creativity involved.
Comix Experience has a huge bay window -- it is (roughly) 5 feet wide, 7 feet tall, and 4 feet deep, and it is seen by thousands and thousands of people driving past Divisadero St. every day.
And I need someone to fill it.
We've had some killer and kick ass windows over the years -- a small sampling of them can be seen at http://comixexperience.com/windowdisplays.htm -- and I'd like us to return to that standard of excellence set by Chris Hsiang, David Marshall and Susan Riddle over the years.
BUT, we don't pay all that well, really (I am cheap), and I'm no longer a really wonderful generator of concepts (I am burned out), nor do I communicate all that well (I'm an asshole, really), while I'm, shall we say, "fussy" (like I said: asshole), so it might be a gig for a self-starter less than an artiste, ya dig?
So, if you're in the Bay Area, and you're an artist who can work big, and you're looking more for exposure than Big Cash Money, drop by a couple samples of your work to the store @ 305 Divisadero St., SF, 94117.
If you're a Bay Area comic book CREATOR, I MIGHT be willing to entertain one-off windows shilling just your book, too -- though I'm really looking for someone to do a regular gig. But, I am open to proposals...
-B
Today should be the day the new Onomatopoeia comes out at CE, and as mentioned elsewhere, Mr. McMillan is the new shining star in our smudgy-colored-paper firmament. Graeme covers the New Comics and dispenses such wisdom as "A stay in Rhode Island may be enough for some to retreat into a catatonic state that deadens the mind and kills all creativity, but luckily Ron Rege, Jr. is no mere mortal," and "[Wolverine: Origins] is supposed to focus on all of Wolverine’s missing years between Origin and his joining the X-Men, which only narrows the focus down to, what, a hundred years or so? However will they make that last?" It's exactly the shot of kickapoo joy juice CEO needs as it heads into its eleventh(!) year of publication. If I have any regrets at all, it's just that there was a snafu and Peter Wong's column wasn't printed (we were this close to having three writers for our newsletter!) But other than that, I'm god-damned delighted and hope Graeme enjoyed the gig enough to do many, many more.
Like I said, if you get the chance, you should stop by the store and pick up a copy. It's fine reading.
