Week of December 2nd

Published on December 2, 2013 in Comics and retro review. 0 Comments

SHIPPING NOTE – It has taken years to get to this point, but Diamond packed and shipped our order early this week.  Books will be here and ready as per normal Wednesday Morning.

 

Further Holiday Hour Changes

These are the changes to hours due to the happy holidays:

Tuesday, December 24th – Open at 10:00am

Wednesday, December 25th – Closed all day to honor the X-Men

Tuesday, December 31st – Open at 8:00am

Wednesday, January 1st – Closed all day to honor… The all new X-Men

 

Reasons for the changes:  Diamond and publishers have decided that on sale dates for the weeks of the 25th and 1st will be the Tuesdays rather than the Wednesdays.  For all the good that is, there is a down side too.  The shipment in on Tuesday the 24th will be very small.  Approximately, seven books – give or take.  The next week, the 31st’s shipment, should be pretty decent sized.  Yes, if you were wondering, I have complained about “skip” weeks.  I hate them.

 

Drink and Draw

Our next D&D will be December 12th at Good Sons on Beaver at 8:00.  Our last was very well attended and though only Dave and Crater would entertain any talk of Baseball’s MVP votes, I think it was a good time had by all.

Remember, that you do not have to be an artist or have an undying love of comics to attend.  All are welcome.

 

Animal Lifeline Needs Drive

For several years now Cup o’ K has been doing a needs drive for Animal Lifeline every Holiday season.  It is our small way in giving back to them for all the work they do.

It is easy to help.  The drive is for simple needs that are cheap and easily picked up at your grocery store.  Then just bring it along when you stop in next time and drop it off.  I’ll deliver at the end of December.

Here is what the shelter has for a general list:

GENERAL SUPPLIES:

Liquid Laundry Soap

Dish Soap

Bleach

Clorox Anywhere Spray Cleaner

Tall Kitchen Garbage Bags

Lawn and Leaf Garbage Bags

Paper Towels

Toilet Paper

Kleenex Tissues

Endust Spray

Bottle brushes

Copy Machine Paper

Postage Stamps

Invitation Envelopes

CAT SUPPLIES:

Cat toys of all kinds – laser pointers

Catnip

Scoopable Cat Litter

Good Mews or Yesterdays News Cat Litter

Fancy Feast canned cat and kitten food – for the finicky eaters

DOG SUPPLIES:

Milk Bones brand dog biscuits-small

All kinds of Toys for puppies to extra large dogs

Peanut Butter – creamy

Small and Medium Flat Buckle Collars and Leashes

 

Last year we surprisingly topped my wildest expectations.  It will take a lot to do so again, however, every little bit helps.

 

I have one customer already in the spirit as he is donating art to encourage your participation.  Kyle Benning, the same Kyle who writes up the Retro Reviews, has done up a bunch of art cards and is donating them to those who bring in donations.  It is that simple, bring in something – or somethings – and get some of Kyle’s art.  You can pick what you want of what we have.  Thanks Kyle.

You can bring in donations whenever you would like.

In advance, let me thank you.  I am a very big animal lover that would do and tries to do whatever I can for animals.  I’m really not that keen on people, but animals make me go a great big softy.  This is my way to try and help just a little bit more.

 

Would you like 20% off your comics?

We will be starting a new program this month that allows you the ability to get 20% off your comics if you pre-pay and pre-order them.

How this will work is very simple.  You will look through the Previews Catalog and submit an order out of it with title, issue number and price.  I will send you an invoice with everything listed.  After confirmation, we will run your card and you get 20% off.

There are some small restrictions.  You will need to get it in by a set date each month, usually the third Sunday of the month.  This sets your hold in place.  No more dropping books every other week.  Your order is set.

However, if you hear of a great new book, that wasn’t on your pre-paid list, I can still get it for you.  We will put it on the list to charge the next month.  You will get 10% on it, but then you can add it to the next month’s order and start getting 20% then.

I will have more details the next two weeks.

I want you to think about the advantages this can do for you before throwing it out completely.  The number one thing we are told when people come in is “man, comics are too expensive” and “argh, my wife is going to kill me for how much I spent.”  This helps in both ways.  20% is nothing to scoff at and it will better help you budget.  As Jerry McGwire would say, “help me, help you.”

 

So, why would we do this?  There are some changes coming and we are preparing for them.  The industry is also becoming increasingly more difficult to work with and work in.  Among others and for example, Marvel continues to try and screw retailers by upping their print schedule (not to mention their prices.)  They now regularly circumvent the final order cutoff system by just publishing their books every three weeks.  Now instead of ordering with the most current data, we are ordering using a month and half’s data.

Throw in DC drawing the line at $3.99 or $4.99 or $7.99, not $2.99, and every company publishing more books than the industry can handle, well… we see the writing on the wall.  …for a good time call, NO, not that writing.

I will have more on this next week.  In the meantime, if you would like to get a digital copy of the December Previews, please let me know and I’ll get it out to you.

 

Daredevil will not be gone for long

As one of our best selling superhero titles – no, I’m not kidding – many were upset to hear that the current volume of Daredevil was coming to an end soon.  Marvel had been tight lipped about what was going to happen and what, if anything would be available for readers in print and not digital format.

But fear not (get it?) true believers, Daredevil is returning in March with a new volume and some big changes.

He is headed to California.  Not really sure why, but it has something to do with what happens at the end of this current story arc.

Yes, the book will have a new #1 issue and it will be priced at the $3.99 tag (it is happening to all comics.)  The good part, Waid and Samnee look to be staying on the book after the re-start.  That is the best news.

 

Hockey Tickets

I have the ability to get cheaper Iowa Wild tickets for the December 29th game against the Milwaukee Admirals.  Game time is 4:05 and cost is $18 per ticket.  If you are interested, I need money by December 12th.

The Wild put on a much better event then the old Stars or Chops did (much more professional organization running it.)  The crowd still isn’t what the Bucs are, but crowds have been pretty good for the new team as they are in the top ten in the AHL.

Let me know and get me money if you want to go.

 

Kyle’s Retro Review: The X-Cutioner’s Song

So how do you follow up reading some classic Silver Age Marvel stories that are chalked full of some incredibly well written stories with gorgeous art done in the classic Marvel House Style?  How about with some clichéd, over the top, ridiculous looking art and a dark story from the beginning of the worst era in Marvel Comics history?

That’s right folks, this week I ventured into Marvel comics from the 1990’s where shoulder pads, pouches, huge guns and speed lines ran rampant and rule supreme.  This is an era kicked off by Liefeld, Lee and McFarlane, where all of the mutants I guess continued to mutate from their classic 80’s look, while developing speed lines and wrinkles all over their faces (they need to consult John Kerry on some Botox injections) as well as growing and developed several extra teeth.  Don’t believe me? Google a Rob Liefeld X-Force drawing and you will undoubtedly find “art” depicting a mutant apparently screaming in agony and showcasing 60-80 teeth in their mouth. Maybe that’s why they’re screaming or why they are called Mutuatns? Or the agony of sporting a costume and weapons that weigh a couple hundred pounds… really, we could play this game all afternoon, the possibilities are endless.

Anyways….. I was in an X-MEN mood and had been recently re-watching the classic 90’s X-MEN cartoon (which was awesome at the time, and in my opinion it still holds up today.) It helps that Claremont was a major consultant for the show and its stories relied heavily on the Claremont & Cockrum and Claremont & Byrne eras of the comics.  I wanted to revisit those days of my youth and read the X-MEN comics that were on the shelves while the cartoon was at its peak of success.

The early 90’s were truly an era of mutant madness, as cartoons and comics depicting mutated heroes, and in turn their mutant menaces, were incredibly popular.  X-MEN, Spider-Man (that’s right I don’t care what Marvel says, if you’re bit by a radioactive spider, and absorb/develop spider traits on the genetic level, you are a MUTANT), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa, and Street Sharks all raked in the dough courtesy of capturing the imaginations of all of us kids born in the mid to late 80’s.  I remember that Hardee’s even had an X-MEN promotion, where you could get X-MEN cups, toys, and mini comics.  Pizza Hut also ran a promotion with a 4-issue “Special Collector’s Set” of X-MEN comics.

But I digress, back to X-Cutioner’s Song… this was a 12 issue story arc that hit shelves towards the end of 1992, and ran through the four X-Books at the time, Uncanny X-MEN, X-Factor, X-Force, and X-MEN. Each book had 3 parts of the total story broken down as such:

Uncanny X-MEN (writer: Scott Lobdell, artist: Brandon Peterson) #294(part 1), #295(part 5), #296(part 9)

X-FACTOR (writer: Peter David, artist: Jae Lee) #84 (part 2), #85 (part 6), #86 (part 10)

X-MEN (Writer Fabian Nicieza, artist: Andy Kubert) #14 (part 3), #15 (part 7), #16 (part 8)

X-FORCE (Writer: Fabian Nicieza, artist: Greg Capullo) #16 (part 4), #17 (part 8), #18 (part 9)

There were also 2 epilogue issues to wrap things up in Uncanny X-MEN #297 and X-Force #19, as well as a Stryfe’s Strike File one-shot later to touch on some points from X-Cutioner’s song as well as introduce future plot points.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Rob Liefeld was in no way, shape or form involved in any of the art or plotting chores of these stories. The story was already off to a better start than I anticipated!  To give this era a little context, X-MEN editor Bob Harras (yes the same Bob Harras who is currently ruining DC Comics) had just forced out long time X Franchise writers Louise Simonson and Chris Claremont, all in favor of giving sole control of the characters to artists like Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Rob Liefeld, so that they could draw as many speed lines and pouches as they wanted without being inhibited by the context of something called a story.

Of course this didn’t last long when those three creators, among others, decided to hit the road and draw “revolutionary art” at their own company, where they could miss deadlines as often as they wanted without answering to an editor.  A practice both Liefeld and Lee still employ today.  So Harras had to scramble to find new creative teams, something he should be an expert at by now.  Good to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same; at least he’s consistent.

The story centers around the mutant villain Stryfe, who was first introduced in the last days of the New Mutants title and had been the antagonist in X-FORCE since the series began.  Little was known about this mysterious and ridiculously clad villain from the future, other than he hates Cable, Cable hates him, and Stryfe must apparently have a super strong neck to support his odd metal helmet that appears to weigh upwards of 50 plus pounds.

Stryfe was the leader of the MLF (Mutant Liberation Front) a group of ridiculous looking characters designed by Liefeld that would be funny if they were created as a joke, like how Rodriguez does the Machete movies, but no, these were supposed to be totally super awesome bad @$$ villains done in a serious tone.  That pretty much sums up the plague of comics created by Rob Liefeld (and his many impersonators) that infected Marvel and Image during the 90’s; joke characters taken with the upmost sincerity and seriousness, armed with huge guns and the “latest” in 90’s fashion.  (Seriously look hard at the costume designs of Jim Lee’s reboot of DC and we see how much things haven’t changed in comics.)

The story starts off, with an assassination attempt on Charles Xavier’s life during a concert in a park. The assailant is apparently Cable, which we later learn is actually Stryfe (!!) dressed as Cable and without his ridiculous helmet.  The shot doesn’t kill Xavier, instead it injects him with the Techno Organic Virus, but a more highly advanced strain of the virus than the X-MEN and Dr. Hank McCoy (Beast) have ever encountered.

Meanwhile, Apocalypse’s Horseman have attacked and captured Jean Grey and Cyclops.  So the X-MEN, with the aid of X-Factor, go hunting for Apocalypse, while another group attempts to track down Cable and the members of X-FORCE (who have split from Cable at this point.)  Upon tracking down the Horsemen, they find that they are not under Apocalypse’s command, but instead being manipulated by Mr. Sinister (my all-time favorite X-Villain) via Stryfe.  Apocalypse’s Dark Riders then awake Apocalypse prematurely, before he is fully rejuvenated and at full power levels, to deal with the treachery of his chosen acolytes.

Sinister, on the other hand, delivers the captured Jean Grey and Scott Summers to Stryfe’s MLF forces in exchange for a canister containing the Summers/Grey genetic matrix.  Bishop confronts Sinister, who has broken into the X Mansion to check on Xavier’s worsening condition and Sinister reveals to Bishop that it is Stryfe behind the capture of Cyclops and Jean.

Stryfe confronts Apocalypse, saying that he wishes to settle a very personal vendetta.  Stryfe defeats Apocalypse, and with their master defeated, the Dark Riders enlist their services to the “Most Fit” mutant, Stryfe.  By this time the X-MEN and X-FACTOR have confronted and battled X-FORCE lead by Cannonball (Sam Guthrie.)

X-FORCE surrenders and is taken into custody by X-FACTOR and the X-MEN, which are now combined into one cohesive team for the remainder of the story, being referred to as “X-Squadron.”  Cannonball is allowed to join the X-Squadron, while his teammates remained imprisoned.  The Squadron then trys to track down Jean & Scott as well as find Stryfe’s location, hoping they’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Bishop and Wolverine journey to Canada to break into Department K to pull the files they have on Cable and Stryfe.  There they run into Cable, who has the same plan, they fight a bit, buy into Cable’s “it wasn’t me that shot Xavier tale” a little too easy and then team-up and head to Cable’s ship Graymalkin which is orbiting earth.  Once there Cable gives the lowdown of his history with Stryfe and they believe him.

Xavier’s condition worsens, as the TO virus continues to spread and ravish his body, with Moira MacTaggert and Beast at a loss for a cure, they allow Apocalypse, who has come to the X-MEN, willing to aid them in defeating Stryfe, to cure Xavier.  He accelerates the metabolism and growth of the virus until it can no longer sustain itself and defeats it.

This occurs while Jean and Scott are being cryptically interrogated by Stryfe, claiming they did some unforeseen evil to him in the past and that they must pay.  All the while he is dropping confusing hints that indicate he is their child that they sent to the future, which occurred in a previous X-Factor issue during the 80’s.

The X-MEN can’t find Stryfe or Jean & Scott anywhere on earth and it is during an escape attempt that Jean is able to send a telepathic SOS to Logan, who deduces they are on the moon, in one of Apocalypse’s old strongholds.  So the X-Men depart headed towards the moon, willing to take a chance at Logan’s ridiculous gut feeling on the location of their missing teammates.

And that brings us to the grand finale, as the X-Squadron battles it out against the combined forces of the MLF and Dark Riders while Cable, Bishop and Wolverine try to find Jean and Scott.  The Dark Riders fight Apocalypse, and in his weakened state, beat him to death.  Archangel finds him, and leaves him to die a slow painful death.  Meanwhile, Cable finds Stryfe outside of the complex on the surface of the moon, holding Jean & Scott inside a TK bubble.  He confronts Stryfe, who rants and raves like a child about how he was abandoned and it’s all Jean and Cyclops fault.  He hates Cable, who is an impure clone of Stryfe.  They of course duke it out, before Cable is able to detonate a self-destruct mechanism in his armor seemingly killing both of them.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Sinister has his assistant open the canister he received from Stryfe that was supposed to contain the Summers genetic code, instead it was a seemingly empty canister, with the lab assistant coughing.  This was set to be the Legacy Virus, which would be a major plotline in future X-Book story arcs. This little one-page exchange was probably the best lasting legacy (excuse my pun) of the X-Cutioner’s Song story arc.

The ending showdown between Cable and Stryfe is left inconclusive, who was the clone of whom?  What was each of their origins?  The story was supposed to unveil the origin of Cable and Stryfe, but instead due to last minute editorial changes by Harras (gee imagine that!) it was left open ended and ambiguous.  There was also a Cable two issue mini-series (Cable: Blood & Metal), written Nicieza with art by John Romita, Jr. released around the same time as this story which sheds a little more light on Cable’s origin and his past with Stryfe, but that series was never referenced in this story arc.

Later down the pike, there would be more of the origin of both characters fleshed out and clarified. Most of this would occur in the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series which put the debate to rest.  I think the long time readers of the X books wouldn’t have been confused, as the reason that Jean & Scott sent their baby Nathan into the future, was because he had been infected with the Techno Organic virus since there was not a cure in their time. Stryfe did not suffer from the TO Virus, that is why he was so much more powerful  than Cable and Jean(a concept that would later be used for Nate Grey in the AoA verse, who was a more powerful alternate version of Cable, due to not being infected with the TO Virus).

So it would later be confirmed that Cable was the true Summers’ child, with Stryfe being a clone who was free of the TO virus, stolen by Apocalypse (thus his hatred towards Apocalypse in the story) with the intent of being raised as his next host body.  Upon learning Stryfe was a clone, and thus unfit for Apocalypse, he was cast aside and raised by Apocalypse’s 2nd in command.  This story has some obvious flaws, with the muddling of who was really who and only  adding confusion to readers.  All of that confusion was eventually resolved, but it would be over a year.  Had the Cyclops & Phoenix mini-series started immediately following X-Cutioner’s Song, I think the arc would have been more well-received at the time.  The lasting implications of this crossover were further dimensioned when the deaths of Apocalypse and Stryfe (which were both supposed to be permanent) were retracted and both reappeared.

The art and story was better than what I expected.  Capullo, who was relatively new to the scene, especially on the X-books, taking over art duties on X-Force the issue before this crossover started, was the best artist of the bunch.  His stuff was dynamic, the anatomy was great, and while you can poke fun at the costumes the characters wore during this era, they weren’t designed by him and he drew them well.  His art was flying on all cylinders and complimented Fabian Nicieza’s story and dialogue.

Speaking of Nicieza, he’s a guy I think that is unfairly lumped into this era.  It’s been a while since I read anything penned by him, but I was pleasantly surprised how great his scripts were, he wrote some pretty profound stuff and had some great dialogue coming out of the mouths of guys who could’ve easily been treated as one-dimensional B-List mutants that at times plague the X books of this era.  The second best artist in this crossover would be Andy Kubert.  His anatomy was great for the most part, his style matched the era, but looked pretty solid; he was pretty good at aping Jim Lee’s style which had become the standard on X-MEN.  My only issue was his panel selection.  It never failed that every issue Kubert drew in this arc that there would be a few panels where you stopped and had to scratch your head and wonder what exactly he was drawing.  It usually was a perfectly drawn, in proportion piece of art, but from a very weird vantage point.  You’d get these panels that don’t match the story; like a vantage point from the back of someone’s arm with a computer behind it or something.  It didn’t add to the story and pulled you out as you tried to figure out what exactly it was you were looking at.  In his defense, he came aboard the art duties on the X-MEN title just as the crossover was beginning and it was fairly early in his career. His art got noticeably better as the series progressed with these odd panels occurring less and less.

The worst drawn book was probably the best written, which is unfortunate.  Peter David brought an amazing take to the pages of X-Factor, he was funny, he poked fun at some of the ridiculous characters in X-Force when he got the chance to write them (something he still does today in the pages of X-FACTOR) and just nailed all of the personalities of the characters.  It’s too bad that his great writing had to be held back by the absolutely awful artwork of Jae Lee.  Jae Lee is a worse artist than Rob Liefeld.  Let that sink in.  One of the greatest cardinal sins Marvel ever did around this time period was removing John Byrne from art duties on the Namor book he was also writing, and having him write with Jae Lee’s artwork.  Talk about jarring, you go from one of the greatest artists of all time to one of the all-time worst.  Anyways… back to Jae Lee’s awful art and how it portrays to this story, imagine a terrible hybrid of art done by terribly imitating Simon Bisley, Mike Mignola (both of whose art I really enjoy), while mixing it with an even worse looking copy of Liefeld’s “style” (if you can even call it that).  Those are 3 styles that don’t mix well, especially not by a 3rd rate impersonator.  Lee’s artwork was so off-putting, there were probably upwards of 10 panels an issue, maybe 20, where I had no idea what he was even drawing.  About 25% of the pages he drew had at least one panel where it’s a shot of just the back of somebody’s leg, with a bunch of speed lines on it, surrounded by darkness.  I’m serious!  He just kept drawing half calf shots with the rest of the panel being black.  Then we had the obligatory terrible looking Wolverine profile shots surrounded by black every two pages or so and the huge white panel with terribly proportioned black silhouetted figures in a group shot at least three times an issue. It is painful to look at his art in the X-Factor issues.  Do yourself a favor and just read David’s word balloons and captions.  Your eyes and stomach will be thankful.

The last title in this crossover, Uncanny X-MEN, was written by Scott Lobdell with art by Brandon Peterson.  I don’t know much about Brandon Peterson, or if he’s an active artist still today, but his style at this time seemed to be a pretty derivative cross between Liefeld and Jim Lee, which started out very Liefeldy on the cover to part 1 of the story, and as the story progressed got better as his “style” was more of an aped Jim Lee.  It isn’t bad art, even during his more Liefeld inspired drawings, the characters are at least in better proportion than Liefeld ever drew them, but it wasn’t great art.  He had the occasionally “what am I looking at” panel that also plagued Kubert.  His art wasn’t as dynamic as Kubert’s was, but it also wasn’t near as awful as Jae Lee, so it was a much welcomed change to that garbage.  I was pleasantly surprised with Lobdell’s writing.  It was consistent and there weren’t any glaring issues or awful dialogue moments.  It wasn’t as spot on or humorous as David’s and Nicieza’s take on the characters, but it wasn’t bad.  It was infinitely better than any of the garbage he’s putting out at DC at the moment in one of the like 8 titles they have him writing.

Speaking of Lobdell’s awful writing at DC, that brings me to another brief point.  I was pleasantly surprised how seamless the transition was from book to book.  It’s amazing what happens when a story involving multiple creators is dealt with properly and well planned, instead of thrown together at the last moment in an attempt to garner a temporary sales spike with a gimmick.  Each issue took off right where the previous issue left off, only requiring a brief paragraph to summarize what happened in the last issue to get the characters/teams where they are currently.  This was a pleasant change to say, the Lobdell written story that happened in the first 6 issues of both New 52 Superboy and Teen Titans.  That story arc lasted a total of 12 issues, and told a story that honestly even in today’s drug out written for the trade atmosphere could’ve been told in 4 issues.  Each issue of that terrible story required half of the issue devoted to the recap of the whole 2 minor occurrences that happened in the previous issue.

So to finish this rant off, I was pleasantly surprised by this crossover, despite the weak ending, I still really enjoyed it.  The story doesn’t promise to be some mind stimulating story that makes you think (like Uncle Sam I reviewed a few weeks back) but instead delivers on an action packed over the top fun story with spandex and mutants running rampant.  You get to see a lot of mutant on mutant fighting, and like all books of the time, even though the story is Cable-centric, you never actually see Cable use any mutant powers, he just shoots really big guns.

When I was little I wasn’t exactly sure what his mutant powers were, and this story doesn’t do anything to clarify.  When all of the other mutants are fighting and using their powers, Cable just shoots guns that weigh 300 pounds, so I guess he’s super strong.

It’s still a fun story, with better art than I expected.  It really took me back to those days as a kid, of waking up Saturday mornings to watch the X-MEN cartoon on FOX, while I looked over my latest issue of X-MEN or X-FORCE and pointed out the characters I knew.  It’s definitely a product of the 90’s and suffers from a number of those clichés and problems that would plague Marvel during this time period, but it actually was a better story with some of the better art coming out of Marvel at the time.  Go ahead and give this book a look, I think you’ll find it a fun read and if nothing else get a good laugh making fun of the cheesier aspects.

 

Week of November 25th

Published on November 25, 2013 in Comics and retro review. 0 Comments

Blood Thirsty Thursday

We will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday November 28th.

 

Further Holiday Hour Changes

These are the rest of the changes to hours due to the happy holidays.

Wednesday, December 6th – Open at 10:00am – due to the shipment that day.  Thanks Diamond.

Tuesday, December 24th – Open at 10:00am

Wednesday, December 25th – Closed all day to honor the X-Men

Tuesday, December 31st – Open at 8:00am

Wednesday, January 1st – Closed all day to honor… The all new X-Men

 

Reasons for the changes:  Diamond and publishers have decided that on sale dates for the weeks of the 25th and 1st will be the Tuesdays rather than the Wednesdays.  Now, that said, the shipment in on Tuesday the 24th will be very small.  Approximately, seven books – give or take.  The next week, the 31st’s shipment, should be pretty decent sized.  Yes, if you were wondering, I have complained about “skip” weeks.  I hate them.

 

Special Sale this coming Weekend

We will have a special sale this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Want to know what it is?  Ah, that would be telling.  Come in and find out or pay attention to the Twitter or Facebook for more.

However, do me this favor.  Don’t go shop on Thanksgiving.  Tell the big box stores to #$%@ off!  If no one goes, they won’t do this crap.  Stepping down from my soap box.

 

Drink and Draw

Our next D&D will be December 12th at Good Sons on Beaver at 8:00.  Our last was very well attended and though only Dave and Crater would entertain any talk of Baseball’s MVP votes, I think it was a good time had by all.

Remember, that you do not have to be an artist or have an undying love of comics to attend.  All are welcome.

 

Animal Lifeline Needs Drive

For several years now Cup o’ K has been doing a needs drive for Animal Lifeline every Holiday season.  It is our small way in giving back to them for all the work they do.

It is easy to help.  The drive is for simple needs that are cheap and easily picked up at your grocery store.  Then just bring it along when you stop in next time and drop it off.  I’ll deliver at the end of December.

Here is what the shelter has for a general list:

GENERAL SUPPLIES:

Liquid Laundry Soap

Dish Soap

Bleach

Clorox Anywhere Spray Cleaner

Tall Kitchen Garbage Bags

Lawn and Leaf Garbage Bags

Paper Towels

Toilet Paper

Kleenex Tissues

Endust Spray

Bottle brushes

Copy Machine Paper

Postage Stamps

Invitation Envelopes

CAT SUPPLIES:

Cat toys of all kinds – laser pointers

Catnip

Scoopable Cat Litter

Good Mews or Yesterdays News Cat Litter

Fancy Feast canned cat and kitten food – for the finicky eaters

DOG SUPPLIES:

Milk Bones brand dog biscuits-small

All kinds of Toys for puppies to extra large dogs

Peanut Butter – creamy

Small and Medium Flat Buckle Collars and Leashes

 

Last year we surprisingly topped my wildest expectations.  It will take a lot to do so again, however, every little bit helps.

I have one customer already in the spirit as he is donating art to encourage your participation.  Kyle Benning, the same Kyle who writes up the Retro Reviews, has done up a bunch of art cards and is donating them to those who bring in donations.  I’ll have more on that next week.

Until then, you can bring in donations whenever you would like.  I’ll have a box out front and if it is too big, we’ll put them in back.

In advance, let me thank you.  I am a very big animal lover that would do and tries to do whatever I can for animals.  I’m really not that keen on people, but animals make me go a great big softy.  This is my way to try and help just a little bit more.

 

News from the Internets

Found a couple great articles this last week that you will want to see.

The first one is the continued ban of Sex Criminals by the horrible and wretched fascists at Apple.  With issue three they have again not allowed it for purchase and have now retroactively taken issue one, which had been available off of sale as well.  “But Bill, why do you care?”  I don’t really, but it makes Apple look stupid and I plan on harping on it as long as they are so stupid.

No, actually, I do care.  I care that a giant corporation censors.  I care that they are so scared of sex, nudity and a misplaced sex toy, but have no care as to whatever violent video, game or news program incites others to do and be wrong.  Apple sucks and censors suck.

You know what doesn’t suck, Sex Criminals.  This is still the one of the best books on the market.  You can expect to see it on my year end list, for sure.  Others who don’t suck are those at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  Read the full article they have about the ban.

Video games don’t cause your kids to kill

Before we get done with the good people at the CBLDF it is wise to take a look at the article about how violent video games have little effect on children’s behavior.  Yep, a study of some 11,000 kids shows it doesn’t really cause behavior disorders and only excessive TV (over three hours) can even start to show behavior problems.  Darn it Congress, I guess you’ll need a new scapegoat after the next shooting.  Try parenting.

The Walking Dead is dumb

Next on my hit parade around the inter-webs is a stop at everyone’s (well, not just everyone’s) favorite TV show the Walking Dead.  Now, I haven’t watched it since the second season and didn’t like that one.  Really, I haven’t really liked the show since the first episode… I wonder if there is a correlation between Frank Darabont not being on the show and its quality.

Well, the director has something to say about his former associates on the show and it is pretty pointed.  He calls them sociopaths – “There’s a deep commitment and emotional investment that happens when you create something that is very near and dear to you, and when that is torn asunder by sociopaths who don’t give a shit about your feelings or the feelings of your cast and crew because they have their own reasons to screw everybody, that doesn’t feel good.”  This comes from a Variety article due out on November 26th and was while he was being asked about his new show on FX called Mob City.  Here is a link to the first article.

Do you wonder… well… who he might be referring to and if it might be a certain writer in comics?

 

 

Kyle’s Retro Review – Marvel Reprint Series

This week my Retro Review isn’t as much of a review of a particular series but more of the ramblings of a madman about Marvel Reprints prior to the TPB age of comics.  I touched on this briefly in my “Bring on the Bad Guys,” Retro Review about 2 months ago, and I’m going to take a little more of an in depth look at it this week.

It’s hard to believe in today’s current publishing style, where every story is ‘written for the trade,’ and each issue represents a small piece of a 4-6 issue story, but back in the Silver and Bronze Ages, comics were comics and for the most part, each time you picked up a single issue of a comic, you got a complete story.  This story had a concise beginning, middle and end… and it took you longer than 5 minutes to read.  Every once in a while you’d have 2 or 3 part stories, such as the 2 issue introduction of the Inhumans in Fantastic Four #46 & 47 or the Galactus trilogy that ran all the way through Fantastic Four #48-50.

At this time in American History, comic shops for the most part didn’t exist, so the primary distribution of comics was done on newsstands and on the spinner rack in the corner pharmacy.  This resulted in inconsistent stocking and availability, often times with monthly books only appearing every couple of months; publishers had to have complete stories in every issue.  If they had written 6 part stories, only 2 or 3 of the issues may have appeared in the same area, making it impossible for readers to follow them.

It’s no secret that in the early to mid-60’s Marvel absolutely exploded, with many of the characters that are now raking in millions at the box office making their first appearances in comics during this time period.  So, in an era with no trade paperbacks, no collected editions, how do you get these early stories of the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor and Spider-Man stories into the hands of their readers who are 5-10 years late to the party?

With whole ongoing series dedicated to reprints, that’s how!  And so this week I’m going to take a brief look at some of those great reprint series that Marvel put out from the late 60’s to early 70’s to help readers get their hands on the origin stories and early issues of their favorite heroes, so that they can jump on at issue #215 and have a decent idea of who the characters were and what they were all about. Crazy idea right?  Publish a long ongoing series and reprint some old origin stories so they’re readily available and allow the reader’s to catch up… it seems like a far out concept nowadays, but when Marvel and DC think that we readers are so dumb that we can’t follow a series unless it’s re-launched every 12-18 months, maybe it isn’t.

This weekend was my birthday and so I chose to spend my day relaxing and reading comics.  I grabbed a handful of old Marvel comics, sat down, and started reading some classics.  I sunk my teeth into some early issues of the Lee & Kirby Fantastic Four, Captain America, Hulk, Sgt. Fury, and the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.  “Wow,” you must be thinking, “that must be a couple hundred dollars’ worth of comics!”  Nope, try issues I’ve picked up over the past years for 50 cents to the occasional dollar, all courtesy of the underappreciated reprint series that Marvel cranked out during the late 60’s to mid-70’s.  While Marvel’s intentions were to hook young readers who were already reading the current issues of their great series, who knew that 25-45 years later that they’d still be peaking interest in these series and hooking older readers and getting them to drop money on trade collections now due to scoring these issues on the cheap decades later.

The first issue I picked up was issue #4 of “Marvel Collector’s Item Classic.”  This series ran for 22 issues and usually reprinted multiple stories each issue.  Issue #4 reprint Fantastic Four #7, the Doctor Strange story from Strange Tales #111, one of the Hulk stories from Hulk vol. 1 #4 and the Iron Man story from Tales of Suspense #41.  There you have it, four complete classic stories, from some of Marvel’s most popular characters of the time (and still today) all in one book for a whopping 25 cents.

I didn’t need to know what happened in the previous issue, or the issue afterwards, each story was a complete telling of a great Marvel character, wrapped up in 23 pages or less.  Marvel Collector’s Item Classic started in 1966 and ran for 22 issues into 1969, before it was renamed to Marvel’s Greatest Comics with issue #23 and became solely a classic Fantastic Four reprint series through its conclusion with issue #96 in 1981.

This wasn’t the only series that reprinted Fantastic Four stories, arguably Marvel’s most popular comic series throughout the 60’s to mid-70’s.  They also had their stories reprinted in a few other formats. Another series that reprint early Fantastic Four issues was the series Marvel Triple Action.  This series debuted in 1972, with issue #1 reprinting Fantastic Four #55.  Issues #2-4 reprinted Fantastic Four issues #58-60.  With issue #5, Marvel Triple Action became a series dedicated to reprinting the Avenger’s series, starting with Avenger’s #10 and continuing from there.  Marvel Triple Action ran until 1979 when the series was cancelled after 47 issues.  The series remained an Avenger’s only reprint title, with the exception of issue #45, which reprinted X-Men #45, which happened to feature the Avengers.

MTA wasn’t the only series that reprinted past Avenger’s tales either; there was also the similarly named Marvel Super Action series, which started off as a Captain America reprint series in 1977.  It reprinted Captain America #100-102 in issues #1-3, reprinted Marvel Boy #1 in issue #4, and then returned to Captain America reprints with issues #5-13 dedicated to reprinting Captain America #103-111.  The series lasted 37 issues until 1981, reprinting issues of Avengers starting with Avengers #55 in Marvel Super Action #14 and continuing from there.

Another reprint series was Fantasy Masterpieces vol. 1, which debuted as a tie-in to the Marvel Super Heroes cartoon program, which were very basic cartoons that were essentially motion comics of popular Marvel comics like Thor, Fantastic Four, and Captain America.  Issue #1 of the series featured reprints of Daredevil #1 and Avengers #2, as well as some Golden Age comic stories.  This format would be expanded to include a combination of Silver Age reprints of fan favorite Marvel characters and Golden Age reprints of All Winners Squad (The Invaders staring android Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and Captain America) as well as including an all-new original story.  It was renamed Marvel Super-Heroes with issue #12 of this series, which also happened to feature the debut of the Marvel Captain Marvel or Mar-Vell character (this character is what has caused classic Whiz Comics turned DC Comics character Captain Marvel to be referred to as Shazam). With issue #21, the series became solely a reprint series, and lasted until 1982 with 105 issues.

Before Captain America and Iron Man had their own solo series, they both starred in Tales of Suspense in the early to mid-60’s. Iron Man made his comics debut in the Marvel anthology series, Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. From that point on, Tales of Suspense would feature an Iron Man story and with issue #58 Captain America also began to have a regular feature in the book as well.  These stories would later be reprinted in the 1973 Reprint Marvel Double Feature.  This issue ran for 21 issues, featuring Captain America and Iron Man stories from Tales of Suspense, with issue #19 featuring Iron Man #1 and the Captain America story from Tales of Suspense #95.  In the last 2 issues of the reprint series, Iron Man was replaced by Tales of Suspense stories that featured both Cap and the Black Panther (Tales of Suspense #96-99, with the book being renamed Captain America with issue #100).  Ironically, this reprint series served as a mix and match type series, instead of having a single issue reprint both the Captain America and Iron Man stories from the same issue of Tales of Suspense, it would pull a Cap story from one issue and an Iron Man story from another.  It was definitely a puzzling format choice, but it’s still a great way to read these classic stories.  This wouldn’t be the only puzzling reprint choice made by Marvel.

Fantasy Masterpieces vol. 2 made its debut in in 1979, lasting 14 issues, and reprinting early issues of the Silver Surfer series and the Adam Warlock stories from Tales of Suspense and Strange Tales. However they didn’t reprint the whole stories, they cut panels and pages from the story, an odd practice that unfortunately would last through the 90’s, resulting in incomplete collected editions of great story arcs that still today have never received a complete, proper collected edition (I’m looking at you DC!  Release a @#$% complete Superman Exile collection already!!!).

In 1974 and 1975 Marvel had a series of “Giant-Size Specials” which reprinted past stories from the Silver Age and early Bronze Age as well as featured a new story or two. These Giant Size specials were 68 pages, including ads and covered a wide-range of Marvel comics, from horror titles like Dracula, Werewolf By Night, and Man-Thing to Kung-Fu with all of their popular superheroes in between.  Most of these series were only 2 or 3 issues, with a few lasting a bit longer – such as Dracula getting 5 Giant-Size issues and Fantastic Four having 6 Giant Size specials spinning out of Giant Size Super-Stars #1.

This is just scratching the surface of the Marvel reprint series they released, allowing their readers to track down and get their hands on these great silver age issues in an era where collected editions and trade paperbacks were all but non-existent.  There are many more series and specials which collected old material and sometimes contained other new stories as well.

Standard comic size reprints weren’t the only way to get some of these old classics stories.  Marvel would eventually follow DC’s lead and start releasing large “Treasury Editions,” which unlike the DC counterparts that usually featured all new stories, most of Marvel’s early Treasury Editions featured solely reprint material in a large oversized giant page collected edition.  My favorite of these in my collection would be Marvel Treasury Edition #2, “The Fabulous Fantastic Four,” which reprinted Fantastic Four #6, 11, and 48-50.  Marvel also had its “Pocket Books,” series which reprinted classic stories in a small digest size format.  This would be a popular reprint method employed by Marvel and used for reprints of many of their series at some point in the 80’s.  I have a few of these Marvel Transformers Digest reprints of the very early issues.  This digest size reprint method has been abandoned by most publishers nowadays, except for the Archie Double Digests which are still readily available in grocery store checkout lines as well as a few comic shops.

While these series served as a great way for readers to collect the issues in the 70’s, it is hard to track down whole runs of these reprint series today.  As I pointed out above, these reprint series picked and chose random issues from each series they were reprinting, so they don’t offer a complete view of each series.  Luckily, we don’t have that problem today as there are multiple ways to collect all of these great Silver Age stories and early issues in their entirety.

First there is the Marvel Essentials line, which are black & white reprints of well…the essential Marvel issues.  You can grab almost every single Marvel series in very affordable black and white phone book size editions.  Who can resist $15-$20 for a collection of over 250 pages of classic Marvel stories?  Marvel has also begun to select Epic runs and print them in giant size soft cover reprints, but in full color for double the price (or more) than the essentials.  For those of you that want full color, high end reprints, give the Marvel Masterworks Hardcover Collection a look and of course there will always be the Omnibus volumes.  Marvel Masterworks run about $70 a collection and the Omnibus’s are $125 or more.

There are a lot of opportunities to get your hands on these stories, and for the most part all of them still hold up today.  There’s a reason the 60’s are referred to as “The Marvel Age,” as their stories were clearly the dominant Superheroes of this time period.  Give these series a look, and maybe slap a few Essential volumes on your Christmas list this year.

Week of November 18th

Published on November 18, 2013 in Comics and Events. 0 Comments

Drink and Draw

Our next D&D will be December 12th at Good Sons on Beaver at 8:00.  Our last was very well attended and though only Dave and Crater would entertain any talk of Baseball’s MVP votes, I think it was a good time had by all.

Remember, that you do not have to be an artist or have an undying love of comics to attend.  All are welcome.

 

Animal Lifeline Needs Drive

I was hassled by this muscle bound brute of a pro-wrestler this week.  He put me in move number one of his thousand holds and wouldn’t let me out of it until I agreed to help the animals of Animal Lifeline again.

So, it is my great pleasure to announce we will again have a needs drive for the no kill shelter this year.  I think this will make something like five or six years in a row we have done this.  Last year was a huge success and though it will take a lot to top that this year, I’ll sure try.

I wouldn’t want to get some sweet chin music or an elbow off the top rope.

More info and a list of things we will collect next week.

 

Thank you, and a very big Thanks to Valiant Comics

Last week’s Unity release party was a HUGE success.  We did great business on the issue’s launch and I think we have several people now on their way to reading more of the company that makes the best superheroes in this industry.

Thank you to all who came out and an even bigger thanks to Valiant.  See, it was them who made the event no cost.  They sent us out a special, very limited variant cover of Quantum and Woody which we sold on line.  It was with that money that we bought the beer and soda as well as the extra trades we gave away as prizes during the event.

Valiant isn’t the biggest comic company on the block.  They know that, but they are willing to support and work with the retailers by seeing what works and works well for other companies in regards to passing on benefits, special offers – like returnable covers and increased discount thresholds – as well as variants cover, order all covers and specialty covers.

They are expanding their universe, but remember when one company came out with 52 books out of the gates?  Valiant has slowly grown each of their books rather than launching all of their titles at once.  They are smart and they want you reading their books.

I want you reading their books too.

Need a good place to jump into – Seriously, try Unity #1.  It really is a great starting point to the Valiant universe.  You are going to feel like you entered in the middle of the story, but don’t you remember doing that with old Marvel comics you would get your mom to buy you when you were in the grocery store?  I know before the days of the shop, I used to have what I called Saturday reads.  Books I would grab a off the rack (usually at Old Dragon Fire comics – I miss those guys) that I had wanted to try/read, but the pile was always too big on Wednesdays.  I would get through everything and want another fix on Saturday.  Eventually, I would be adding it to my hold list and hunting down back issues of the title, but these were always books that I was jumping into the middle of a story on.

Here is the nice thing about Valiant and Unity.  If you like this I can get you caught up pretty quick and inexpensively.  And seriously, what is not to like about Matt Kindt writing and Doug Brathwaite drawing a book about a Conan-like Barbarian guy in an Iron Man like suit of super armor who has returned to Earth and laid claim to present day Romania and the super-powered team – lead by another Valiant book’s villain – who is sent in to take him down.  You need more incentive?  Fine.  If you buy it, read it and hate it, you can return it for store credit.  You have no risk.  Valiant gave us no risk and we are passing it on to you.

So, please, give it a try… you might just like it.

 

Kyle’s Retro Review – The Longbow Hunters

What can I say?  I’ve caught the Green Arrow bug!  After missing the entire first season of Arrow last year due to the interference of life, I finally got a chance to rent Season One from a video store (Yes, they do still exist) and watch it over the past two weeks… holy crap it blew me away!  Once I got started, I couldn’t stop!  Despite the obvious “CW-ness” that has to accompany every show on the network, this is a near perfect “Green Arrow” show.   A much better representation of the character than the Green Arrow on Smallville.  So after watching the first season and getting caught up on season two, what else could I do to satisfy my craving for more Green Arrow awesomeness?  Why pick up and reread the Mike Grell written and drawn Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters story!

 

So for this week’s retro review, we’re going to take a look at one of the greatest Green Arrow stories of all time.  Mike Grell is pretty synonymous with Green Arrow, his first work with the character started in 1976 in the pages Green Lantern #90, when he handled the art duties for the Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up story penned by Denny O’Neil.  From there he would eventually go on to not only draw but also write Oliver Queen as the Green Arrow.

And that brings us to the 1987 three part Prestige Format (at this time still called “New Format”) Green Lantern: The Longbow Hunters.  In this story, we follow Ollie and Dinah as they move their lives west, to the Seattle area and when getting settled in their home find themselves literally thrust into a local drug related case.  A strung out junkie leaps into their new home through the window nearly killing herself.

Meanwhile, Seattle is also being terrorized by a Slasher who has claimed 18 victims and a new “Robin Hood Killer,” who had been stalking a number of victims across the nation until arriving in Seattle.  As Dinah heads out undercover determined to find the source of the drug trafficking, Oliver, now 43 years old, reflects on his life, the glory days of his crime fighting youth and how he became the Green Arrow while being deserted on an island.  He realizes that he was once a sharp, cunning hunter, a great archer and as he’s aged he’s lost that sharpness and become reliant on his trick arrows.

Ollie sets out, determined to find the Slasher.  He once again faces how slow and careless he’s become, as he is almost killed before recovering and turning the tables on the serial killer before he can take his next victim. While doing so, Oliver also stumbles upon and witnesses the Robin Hood Killer taking her next victim, a rich businessman. He is surprised to see that the archer is girl, in ninja garb and sporting a dragon tattoo on her arm, which he would eventually discover is a sign of the Japanese Mafia the Yakuza. From there the story progresses, as Oliver confronts this Robin Hood Killer, gets involved in the case and determines that he and Dinah are chasing down the same lead from different ends of the thread.  From there the story bounces back and forth between different vantage points telling a coinciding story from the past and present as Oliver rediscovers his hunger and the thrill of the hunt.

This story is told in some absolutely gorgeous artwork by Grell.  One of the greatest storytellers of all time, Mike Grell was among the first crop of artists who turned into writers to really find their creative footing and give us some of the most amazing stories they would produce.  Some of Grell’s other amazing work can be found in titles such as Warlord, Action Comics and Adventure Comics where he did some amazing work on the Legion of Superheroes.

Following the success of the Longbow Hunters, a mature readers Green Arrow ongoing series (set inside the regular DC continuity) would start in early 1988, which would be written by Grell and feature his covers, with interior art done by talented artists such as Ed Hannigan and Dan Jurgens.  Grell’s take on the character is the definitive Green Arrow; challenged only by the O’Neil/Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow work and perhaps the Kevin Smith/Brad Meltzer penned runs featuring gorgeous artwork by the very talented (and native Iowan!) Phil Hester.

Go check out the Longbow Hunters.  You can get in a brand spanking new trade due out on November 27th at a very reasonable price of $14.99. It is listed as volume one so there may be more coming.  If you can’t wait, go hunt down the rest of the issues.  You won’t be sorry you did.

REMINDER

Published on November 13, 2013 in Events. 0 Comments

Our Unity Release Party is today from 4:00 to 8:00.

Some of the awesome stuff we will have includes specials, prizes and FREE BEER.
Here are some of the sales:
If you PURCHASE Unity #1…
you are welcome to take part in a special sale:
All Trades and Hard Covers are 25% off
Any Special Orders are 25% off (pre-pay only)
You may also enter to win prizes
(must be present to win) (drawing around 6:30)
Sales Open to Everyone:
(regardless of your taste in superhero comics)
Old Wall Books (Pre-September 2013) – half off
Old Room Dollar Books – now 50 cents
Old Room Fifty Centers – now 25 cents
Free BEER & Soda for Everyone
Prizes will include trades, special comics and the opportunity to literally have the shirt from my back… but only if you buy Unity #1.
We are doing a few things differently this party.  If you want the big discounts, we didn’t make it a requirement to buy the book.  This time we actually feel strongly about the product and because the book has been made returnable for us, we are passing that ability to return it on to you.  If you buy it and hate it, you can return it for store credit.  Valiant offers a no risk to us, we give the no risk to you.  However, as an added incentive to give it a try during the party, we are offering the trade and hardcover sale IF you buy the book.  Everybody wins!!  Except maybe the big two’s superhero books, because once you start reading Valiant’s superheroes, you probably won’t want to read the stale old DC and Marvel retreads anymore.
I read the book last night and it is really good.  Not your typical number one issue as it has a high degree of action mixed with its set up.  I do think you can just jump right into this without anything before, but like I said, once started you may want to try the other ones too.  Matt Kindt’s dialogue is very good and Doug Braithwaite really presents some of his finest work on art.  This is a new must read.

The Week of November 11th

Published on November 11, 2013 in Comics and Events. 0 Comments

Drink and Draw

Our next D&D will be on November 14th at the same bat-time (8:00) same bat-channel (Goodsons on Beaver.)  Pretty simple concept, grab a drink and then sit and draw.  No, you don’t have to be an artist to attend.  Everyone is welcome.

 

Unity Release Party

On Wednesday November 13th, we will be having a release party for Valiant’s new team book Unity.  We will be having sales, specials and prizes.  …oh, and free beer too!

We have some great ordering incentives on this book and we are going to do as we’ve done with some of the Marvel or Dark Horse release parties of the past.  I figure, if you have a big book and you send me cool stuff to try and promote it …and give me an excuse to drink at work… yeah, I’ll throw a release party for Unity #1.

The party will start around 4:00 and run till 8:00.  We will have some great prizes and specials.  Some will run all day, most will not.

What’ll we have at the launch?

If you have been to one of our launch parties, you know we always have sales.  This time the sales are going to be linked to the book though.  If you buy Unity, which by the way will be returnable if you don’t like it, you will be able to get 20% off trades and/or hardcovers.  This offer will extend to any special orders if you pre-pay.  All Valiant Trades will be 25% off!

We will also have our more traditional discounts on old room dollar and fifty cent books and we are bringing in a bunch of new dollar books, just for this release party.  The old wall will also be discounted.  And no, you cheapskates you don’t have to buy Unity to get cheap dollar and 50 cent books.

Who wants to win something?

We’ve been given a few free-bees from Valiant to give away during the party too.  However, you have to be present to win or have bought a copy of Unity earlier in the day.  Sorry, dems da rules.  Give a ways will be around 6:00.

And, have I mentioned, there will be free beer… and soda.  I wish I could say punch and pie, but since free beer is better than punch or pie… where was I going with this…

Carter and Tom

We will also have Carter Allen and Tom Finley in house drawing and sketching.  Both have new books out, Carter’s is the Nicky Harris Collection and Tom’s is the next in his Alphapet City series, Gentle Giraffe.

 

So, what is Unity? 

It is the most ambitious release for Valiant since their restart a few years ago.  The book will be written by Matt Kindt and drawn by Doug Braithwaite.  I’ll have more on the event next week, but here is what Valiant has to say about the book:

On November 13th, find out why Valiant is the must-read publisher of 2013 when UNITY #1 launches the most dangerous, most ruthless, most volatile team of heroes ever united against a foe unlike any other – X-O Manowar!

To kill a king…he has created an army.  The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible – fear.  Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come.  Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known – UNITY.  Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world, and the occupation of Eastern Europe… Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon… Kill X-O Manowar!

 

Why should you give Valiant and Unity a chance?

This week I got caught up on X-O Manowar.  I had borrowed these issues from a friend and customer and had sat on them for several months.  “Ah, I’ll read them later.”  “Well, I better stay current on Captain America.”  “Nah, I’ll read this old Grant Morrison DC book instead.”  I had pushed them off and pushed them away and it was getting ridiculous.  So, I just sat down and read the first issue, which lead to the second…

X-O is freak’n great, by the way.

But what made me push them aside time after time?  I think I know.  We in comics, we who read comics, we who read about comics… we are all brainwashed.  We only see through the eye of the beholder and that ugly gross disgusting monster is the big two of superhero comics, Marvel and DC.

Some of this comes from a feeling of what we are most comfortable and familiar with.  We grew up with Marvel, we will gravitate towards it.  Grew up with DC, then your tastes tend toward underwear on the outside.  All news about comics is sided toward the big two.  Movies, cartoons, video games… all geared towards the familiar and comfortable.  “What is this weird superhero I’ve never seen before?”  “It doesn’t say Marvel or DC, on the cover anywhere…. Um, I better pass.”

Why can’t we break free of this?  I don’t know.  I am susceptible to it too, but as Jules in Pulp Fiction would say, “I’m trying REEEEALLLL hard” to break free.

I’m sure there is a smarter, college educated egg head that can tell me the reasons, but I know comics and can point to a few other reasons.  One is price.  In the good old days of slightly cheaper comics, we had it easier to try new and different, because frankly it cost less to do so.  Another is choice.  Right now, like anytime I can remember there are more comics being produced than at any time… ever!  Couple in overpriced comics into the over saturated market; it takes a lot to figure out what you will pick up.  Add in familiarity and comfort, man the little guy is going to have a hard time breaking through.

But a good retailer sees the best of the best and will try and help when they can.

Valiant Comics is THE best superhero publisher in comics.  Period.  They publish seven titles.  I read six of the seven each month now.  I rank four in the must read or highest recommendation category and one in my top ten (Harbinger is the second best superhero book I read; second only to Daredevil.)  Look at Marvel and DC.  Do they have anything close to that kind of percentage?  NO.  I wouldn’t come anywhere close to recommending over half the books of either of those two companies (and there is probably a real good lesson in the less is more philosophy… but that is a topic for another day.)

What I’m trying to say here is give Valiant a chance.  You WILL NOT be disappointed and might actually get excited to read superhero books again.

 

 

Yeah… Apple hates Sex….

Last week I mention how Apple was holding Sex Criminals #2 and had not yet allowed it to be sold through their app stores.  This week comes with more.  Now Apple is out and out censoring the digital distribution of the book through their online stores, and better (or worse) yet, is not giving the creators any information as to why.

If you want to read more, you can check out the article on the CBLDF’s website.

I am going to say again, Sex Criminals is one of the best written books out right now.  I will also say that what Apple is doing is paramount to a return of the Comics Code.  I’ve never been able to figure out why a giant company hates sex, nudity and any combination of the two SO MUCH, but they do.  Maybe they are possessed by puritanical ghosts or Bill Gates was the biggest prude who ever lived, either way censorship of anything should make you want to read it!  Do not ever let some horrible giant corporation tell you want you can and can’t read.

 

Sandman issue 2…

If you thought the first issue of Sandman was great and can’t wait for issue two, it is going to be a bit of a wait.  DC notified retailers all previous orders for that issue are cancelled and the book will be re-solicited in December.  What does that mean?  Well, you won’t see it until February.  No other news as to a why it will be late was given.

 

Kyle’s Retro Review-Iron Fist!

This past week, I sat down and read a truly great, underrated classic comic series, featuring one of my favorite and drastically underrated characters, Danny Rand, the Living Weapon, Iron Fist!  Iron Fist was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane in the pages of Marvel Premiere #15 in 1975. Marvel Premiere was a great series and the Marvel equivalent of DC’s Showcase series, where new characters/teams made their first appearances or existing characters featured in other team books but who didn’t have their own solo ongoing series, had their origins told and gathered fan support. After a lengthy 11 issue run in Marvel Premiere – much longer than the standard 3-4 issue stint new characters made – Iron Fist got his own ongoing series in 1976.  During Iron Fist’s 11 issue run in the pages of MP, he was tackled by a handful of downright legendary comics creators, including the writing talents of the aforementioned Roy Thomas as well as Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, and artists such as Gil Kane, Larry Hama, Neal Adams, Arvell Jones and Pat Broderick before the dream team finally came together in Chris Claremont and John Byrne.  Claremont took over writing duties with issue #23 and Byrne took over art on the final MP issue starring Iron Fist in issue #25.  From there the series received its ongoing series, written by Claremont with some absolutely gorgeous art by John Byrne.  This was in the very early days of his work at Marvel and I don’t need to tell you what an awesome fit these two storytellers were together; their X-MEN run speaks for itself.

 

The series starts with a great origin issue, in which we learn the secret history of young Danny Rand’s path to becoming the living weapon, Iron Fist.  Danny Rand was the son of an entrepreneur, who could hear the mysterious call of a mythical land called K’un-Lun.  And so, his father Wendell along with his business partner Harold Meachum, wife Heather, and son Danny, headed to the Himlayan mountains, in search of this mystical land that only appeared once every 10 years.  However, in the cold mountains, treachery and tragedy would strike.  Meachum betrays Danny’s father, pushing him to his death due to greed for the sole ownership of their business and lust for Wendell’s wife Heather.  Heather and her young son Danny escape, but only for Heather to die sacrificing herself to ensure Danny’s safe arrival at the footsteps of K’un-Lun.

Now an orphan, Danny is taken in by the Monks, and trained by Lei-Kung, the Thunderer.  Danny grows to adulthood and after passing the test of the Dragon to become the Living Weapon.  Holder of the name Iron Fist, he returns to an America that thought he was long dead.  From there he becomes a classic street level Kung-Fu hero and partnering with Misty Knight and Colleen Wing they bring justice to the streets of New York.

He battles corrupt King-Fu gangs, using the power of mystic Iron Fist, which focuses all of his inner Chi into one dynamic punch.  Along the way he is entwined in what was pretty common for Marvel comics of the 1970’s, emotional turmoil when trapped in a love triangle between Colleen and Misty.

Eventually Danny would travel the globe, fighting threats in London and later in the icy cold in North America, all while secrets of his uncle’s treachery and part in his father’s death are revealed.  The Iron Fist ongoing series would last 15 issues, including the highly sought after issue #14 which features the debut of Sabretooth.  After issue #15, Iron Fist was rolled into Power Man’s ongoing series, becoming Power Man & Iron Fist with issue #48 of the PM title.

 

These issues are a ton of fun; you have some amazing art, some action packed stories and all in a great cross between Superhero Comics and the rising Kung-Fu comic’s genre of the 70’s.  This run is nicely collected in two great Marvel Masterworks HC volumes, which are definitely going to be more affordable and easier to come by than trying to track down the solo issues and the very pricey issue #14 (believe me, I’ve tried!).  Or, if you can find it the Essential Iron Fist collection which has all of these issues, but published at a more affordable price due to the lack of color.  It’s definitely an underrated series and an underrated character, but one I assure you, once you pick up and give a try, you’ll be a fan for life of.  Just like I’ve become.