I found a great article on Newsarama about the craziness of Miricle, eh, Marvelman.
Check it out here:
Monthly Archive for July, 2009
AH, the continued insanity of the busy… Bloody Hell. I don’t know how, but I think I am actually more busy mow then I was a year ago. I blame my wife… uh, I mean, no.. it’s all the computer thingies fault, the high def Wi-fi, yeah.
“You can look it up on your internet machine”…
Mike Shannon, St. Louis Cardinals Broadcaster, said that when talking about voting for the All Star Game a few years ago. Mike may have been (may have been?!?) three sheets to the wind when he said it, but his broadcast partner, John Rooney, asked him, if he meant a computer and Shannon said, “uh, yeah…” I understand Mike, I really do.
The website has a few new features, posts and changes. I know I mentioned this recently, but I’m actually fairly proud of my work to get it up and looking better. If you know me well, you know I am mentally handicapped, no, let’s just say it, I’m retarded when it comes to computers. It isn’t my fault, though. I grew up in Norwalk in the eighties. Come on, our programming class used floppy disks that actually looked like the dog from the local cartoon show! I missed the internet when I was in college by a year or so and I am NOT computer savvy… and I’m afraid of them actually.
It is good to face ones fears and admit to them though. I watched a lot of sci-fi and read A LOT of comics. Aside from Dr. Pym saving us all, I know in the year 2000, I will be one of the last humans left. The machines will look at me and know I am NO threat, laugh coldly and continue killing the tech-types. Don’t worry though, in the end of the story the Omega man (ME!) with his trusty pitchfork and torch wins… right? What? Machines don’t die due to that kind of a virus? Damn, it, I’m screwed.
E-bay, anyone?…
And with that rambling diatribe of nothingness out of the way, what I’m getting at is that I’ve added a couple side panels (with more to come) and one is a link to our E-bay store. Since Kyle has arrived in shop we have made a lot of extra money selling through this world wide web thing. That is where nearly all of the variants we get go to. Some go for crazy amounts of cash, and others don’t. However, here is the deal I will make to you, loyal customer. If you bid on something and win it from our store, it is yours minus any shipping and handling charges since you can come in and pick it up here at the shop. There is one stipulation though. If it is a variant comic you have to pay cover price. Kyle and I think this is fair and since we make the rules, it is now officially fair.
The “70th “ Anniversary of the Marvel…
I found a possible explanation to the math question I posed a few months ago in Marvel’s July Previews while doing the initial order this weekend. In a solicit for “Marvel Mystery Handbook: 70th Anniversary Special” it states “as the Marvel UNIVERSE celebrates 70 years…” I realized that all this stupid Marvel 70th Anniversary crap doesn’t have anything to do with the company, but instead is related to the UNIVERSE instead. I know, I know, I don’t agree 100% either, but if in some shred of rational thought can be………. Alright, I don’t have anything. I was just trying to reason it out. Yes, this horrible inability to add properly just pisses me off.
SO, let me be the first to announce the ANTI-anniversary party…
Yes, an ANTI-anniversary party. Here is why we are irritated and are going to “celebrate” by selling other companies stuff. As you know, Marvel “celebrated” their 25th anniversary in 1986 and obviously 45 years have NOT passed since then. It is not the highlighting of some of the earliest characters I have a problem with, but the forced, faked shoveling of it down our thoughts that I can’t stand. Marvel has never met a press release, or press, they didn’t like, but your company is NOT 70 years old and none of your books are at 600 issues either!
The other reason we are having an ANTI-anniversary party is that Marvel is trying to get shops to actually put on anniversary parties. No, seriously, they wanted shops to throw parties for them and then they would let you buy extra variants and get Marvel’s Project #1 a day early. Well, I’ve seen little interest in Marvel’s Project (though it is written by Brubaker and I will give it a read when it arrives) and I’m not throwing a party for someone, especially a deceptive jack-ass who can’t add.
Give the devil their due…
Hey, I’ll give Marvel this, they hit a homerun this weekend in the announcement department. Miracleman, which will now be known as Marvelman, is officially at Marvel Comics. If you do not know who this character is, you are going to have to go online and find his history, but let me just say these this is one of the most desired of all comic characters that is not currently being written. No word on when or if this deal means reprinting and republishing of the old stuff is on the horizon, but let us hope so. Supposedly, there will be announcements of some form at the Diamond Retailer Summit this fall. That leads me to believe we’ll see/hear something then.
And the Eisner goes to…
Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s All Star Superman received the award for best series. I’m not going to say anything more than, yeah, duh. I feel everyone who did not read this book when it was coming out should not be given a chance now. You could have bought it and loved it then, but no, you’ve lost your privileges to enjoy good comics. “…but I just don’t like Superman…” Fine. Go buy two copies of Batman and Robin to atone for your sins!!
Sudo-seriously, our sales were okay at best on it, but never as good as, say (choke) (gag) New Avengers. Sad really. A better issue then All Star Superman #10 last year? Uh, NO.
Here is a list of all the winners here: www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_09win.shtml
What no more stupid comments…
No. I’m not really into the whole Comic Con thing. At one time I would have loved to go to San Diego, but I don’t really like comic conventions anymore and if I found myself in San Diego, I would go to a baseball game instead (as I’ve never been to Petco Park.) I was asked today if I was excited about any of the news coming out of San Diego. This was from a middle aged Hockey Grandma who comes in for a mocha in the morning. I asked her where, how she knew about Comic Con and she replied, “I heard about it on the news.” WHAT?!? How are hockey Grandma’s who have maybe read a comic to their grandsons know more about the industries supposed top event?
Sure I would go if it didn’t cost an arm and a leg, but the convention is more for entertainment and less about comics. That is why my one post about it this week was about the big COMIC related news to come out of it and not about the Scott Pilgrim video game(don’t play video games even if they at one time were comic books), the latest movie news on Batman begins again for a third time (didn’t care, still don’t) or a Black Panther movie (oh, hold back my massive surging excitement.)
I like comics. Let’s get back to the days when they were the focus of our conventions.
Thank you. Good night and good luck.
After a little over a month of nightmares the website is back, looks better and will get more attention. I would like to do more with it over the next couple months and years, but hey, I’m from an age when these computer things were to be feared not used for our benefit. So bear with me.
If you want to ever leave a comment on anything I write about, please do so at the site, www.cupokryptonite.com. It’s as close as a fan forum of Kryptonite as we will get… for now.
Thoughts about the Main-steam…
Someone once said, “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.” Well, I don’t know how flattered I feel, but we are getting copied a lot lately. Now we can count New York city as another place a Comic Book Coffee House is located. Makes sense that there would be one in the biggest city in the nation. Omaha has one and one might be going up in Columbus. The coffee/comic idea isn’t exactly Fourbucks coffee (one on every corner) yet, but it is catching on.
It is an interesting how much comics are entering mainstream. I mention this as we head into another week of Comic Con Crazy out in San Diego. Nothing to me proves we (comics as a whole) have moved out of the proverbial musty basement then with Comic Con. This is one of THE entertainment events of the year. Cable networks (like G4) have live coverage all week and 24 hour “news” networks cover it like it was real news. This all just blows me away as I still look at comics as slightly silly.
Don’t get me wrong, I make my lively hood off of them, but still… well, let me put it like this; when the industry sold comics in the millions, no one cared and anyone could get a ticket to Comic Con. Now a big seller does 300,000 copies (less than a third!!) and the average Joe can’t get into the industries main event? THAT is silly.
Hey, good. Comics need recognition as legitimate literature, art form and media force. Too bad it is the idiots at the comic companies who are going to take all the credit for this.
Speaking of media forces…
I mentioned last week Ryan Renynolds is going to play Green Lantern. Well, it looks like that is not the only DC superhero that is being moved forward towards the silver screen.
The Hollywood Reporter announced The Flash now has another producer and someone to do the initial screen treatment; that man being Geoff Johns. Remember, that Johns was an assistant to Director Richard Donner before becoming a comic book writer.
In addition to Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman were also mentioned as having future duties as consultants to DC/Warner Brothers film projects.
I know one of my biggest complaints of recent comic adaptations is the lack of connection to its original source material. With connections like these, that could all change.
The Punisher…
Ever since Garth Ennis left the max version of Punisher, sales and interest in the book has lagged. Not to say there hasn’t been some great stories by some well credited writers; it is tough to follow up Garth Ennis. However, new and old names are coming on board that could give the book a shot in the arm.
Jason Aaron (Scalped, Ghost Rider) will take over with a new number one issue in October and his artist will be Steve Dillon of Preacher fare.
There probably does not exist a character that garners more diverse fan reaction then the Punisher. Some (DC Fans mostly I’m sure) hate him for his ultra-violent vigilantism and others love the dark realism. If you are ever at a comic con with Phil Hester see if you can get him to do a sketch of Frank, I’m betting you cannot. He told me once he was the one character in Marvel he most disliked.
Personally, I love him when he is taken very seriously and for the most part the Max line that perfect place for an ultra-realistic take on him. I feel he has no business in the real Marvel Universe. However, I will point out Rick Remender’s work on the Marvel continuity Frank Castle has been very good since it was relaunched and might be worth a pick up if you have a couple extra bucks in your pocket.
Blackest Green of Darkening Night…
You probably expect me to rip issue one apart, scream about how much I hate it. Well, I don’t really know what to think about it.
The first issue set up to be more of sequel to Identity Crisis and a much better comic then Infinite Crisis was (that was bad comics!) Those that read it might have got the same feelings that I did… DC is fixing their mistakes of the last three or four years. “Oops, we killed him? When? Alright, um, have that Johns kid fix it with his Zombie Lantern story.”
Frankly, going in it isn’t what I thought it would be and am a little unsure what the directions of the GL books will be. Maybe this is but the first part of a massive Green Lantern story that will see year’s worth of storylines each dealing with the “war of light.” We might see more of what the direction is after this week’s Green Lantern and next month’s Green Lantern Corp (which in my opinion has been the better book of the two over the last couple years.)
It isn’t really my type of comic storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, I can get down with long storylines and crossovers, but I like to see a little more beginning, middle and end to plot lines. However, if it continues what has been an overall good, if silly, run of stories on the Green Lantern books and sells well, and I’m talking gets people to read the core GL books as well as the crossover stuff, I’m game for it… and the black rings were a pretty cool promo item, especially when someone who has NO IDEA what they are asks about them or buys one for their themselves. That is how to promote your book.
And who knows, maybe we will get Aquaman back with this storyline too. Then Grant Morrison can write Aquaman Rebirth…… OH, Man, that would be awesome!
Have I mentioned that Batman and Robin is the best book on the racks?!?
I’m in a bad mood (yeah, yeah) after reading what I read this morning. Some serious suck from your “friends” at Marvel. So, let’s get right to it…
The evil of the foil is back…
I can not say anything worse then what Marvel said themselves. So, from their actual words in their actual “press” release:
“Marvel is pleased to unveil the special variant covers to Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 and Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #1 utilizing the brand-new Foilogram cover treatment! Part foil, part hologram, these reflective covers will jump at you from shelves! Watch as Spider-Man’s webbing catches the light! Examine the intricate technology of Tony Stark! And, yes, that’s Captain America’s shield shining back at you!
“This is Marvel doing the nineties right,” explained David Gabriel, Marvel Comics Senior Vice President of Sales & Circulation. “We’re taking two of the most popular cover treatments of all time–foil and holograms–to create an all new kind of cover, as a ‘thank-you’ to fans who’ve been demanding this kind of variant! Retailers and fans don’t need to worry. We’re only doing this on a limited basis. You won’t see one on Ms Marvel #46 or Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #4. We’re using them to mark very special occasions…such as the launch of Ultimate Comics line.”
It is like some kind of monster crawling out of the sewer in the final frame of the movie; like the hand reaching out of the burning house and grabbing the mangled hockey mask and chain saw, however, in this case it is not a large breasted babe being stocked in the sequel, it is the comic industry as a whole.
Marvel is like Frank from Hellraiser or the kid from Time bandits. I mean seriously, Dude, why screw with something so truly evil!!
Mark my words, (great does this make me the old man from the start of Gremlins or the Max Von Sydow priest from Exorcist?)
This is a bad thing and once out of the box they will use these and use these and the hooks, I mean, Hollo-foil-ogasms will destroy us like the little Critters or things from The Gate… and you know for gaud damn sure it WILL be on Beppo the Detective Super Chimp issue 10. Why? Because the evil crazy person in the horror movie always lies!
Choose your horror…
I read today that Ryan Reynolds will be your Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, The Movie. Eh, whatever. He is probably a better choice than, say… Justin Timberlake. No, really, he was in the running.
Reynolds would have made a better Wally West in my opinion, and was at one time in the running for that part, but this is okay.
Here, I’ll start early on this one. Not going to see it.
Bleedingcool.com
I want to remind you all of a great website. Bleedingcool.com is Rich Johnston’s new website. I’ve mentioned it before, but wanted to again. Rich is a much better writer then most who do the comic “news” thing. Give it a try and when you go to it look for Sunday internet concerning San Diego. Go all the way to the bottom of that post and check on Gary Erskine’s awesome digital drawing of Mega City One. Love the Dredd!
Last week’s new wall…
Man, again with the crazy influx of people. I don’t know where all of these people are coming from. If you felt you missed anything, let me know. There were a couple really good books I wanted to point out from last week.
First, BPRD 1947 saw art from Gabriel Ban ad Fabio Moon and story from Mignola and Joshua Dysart. This was such a good book and just keeps getting better. Similar to the 1946 story done a year plus ago, this is Professor Bruttenholm as a young investigator in the BPRD’s early days. Nothing against Guy Davis, as I love his stuff, the Moon/Ba combo is so great and adds something similar but different to the book. The writing has such great atmosphere and the first issue gave me a couple moments of what might be considered “the chills.” I can not recommend this book higher. It is better than nearly all superhero comics being published.
And secondly, Wednesday Comics. The comics themselves are what I’m recommending. Some really great work in just this first issue. I don’t know how many times I said, “OH, that would make a great tattoo!” I love the concept of Sunday comics in comic shops on Wednesday. This has been done before with some Hellboy stuff in Comic Shop Weekly… HOWEVER, I have a real problem with the price in relation to the paper/printing/talent cost. NO WAY does this need a price tag of $3.99. The Des Moines Register is only 75 cents and I assure you the total cost to write, print and distribute a newspaper is more than it is for a comic. (Granted no one actually is employed by the Register anymore; I do think they laid off the last employee they had last week.) I don’t blame anyone for passing on this with a 12 week $3.99 price tag. DC has lost the chance to reach out to non hardcore readers by pricing it WAY out of their reach or desire. Had this been half of it’s current price, it would have sold double as well. It still looked awesome though.
Darkest Black in Greenest Night, Zombies!…
Just pointing out, again, Blackest Night “started” last week with issue 43. Lead up has actually been running for months in both Green Lantern and GL Corps. The first issue of the actual mini-series is out this Wednesday, but you should prepare yourselves, this will most likely lead into a lengthier story in Green Lantern. Sinestro Corp War, which was last year’s big GL story, was but one part of a much larger multi-facetted story Geoff Johns has planned for the books. Can you resist? I can’t.
Dan’s diatribe on B.M. Bendis…
The last couple months, a great customer, Dan Musgrave and I have been
having a conversation on Brian Bendis. We both read his Avengers stuff,
though neither of us is much impressed.
He has been trying to come up with theories on his writing, both why it isn’
t as good as it used to be and themes that have been running through it. He
has allowed me to pass along what he thinks:
Most action in the Bendis titles occurs in the form of TV interviews lately.
They’ve been stuck on one stupid publicity stunt as the main suspense
driving factor for like 3-4 months. It’s the most idiotic twitterific bit
of superheroing I’ve ever read. Where does the conflict from, viral videos?
Yep, that’s right, let’s fight with sound clips. WOW, Great.
“People are supposed to pummel each other’s super powered faces in the
Marvel U, not text them to death. I swear, it’s like the writers at Marvel
just got their grandsons to come fix their PC for them and they’ve just now
discovered the internet. Maybe the Blogger will be the next member of Nick
Fury’s Secret Warriors. It’d be just as original as the rest of those
characters and just as useless.
The whole thing is like a plot I.V., where we’ve given story only one
drop at a time.
Did things happen in the latest issue of New Avangers? Yes and they
revolved around Brother “Don’t call me doctor” Voodoo, a ghost and a naked
woman on a bed.
It has become a real chore to read this book lately. I shouldn’t have to
read through each page several times to figure out what’s happening. When
Bendis actually tries to write action, it’s like a shit throwing festival.
I have absolutely no idea what is happening and from who words are coming
from. Pure chaos.
I would drop it all, but I feel like I’d lose my bearings in the
Marvel U as a whole. I’m holding out hope that soon I’ll get to see
Danny Rand’s baby Iron Fist its way out of its mother’s uterus in
Alien-like fashion. That would be something to see. Put one of those
crazy scottish/british writers on it. I think you’d see a minimum of
10 lower jaws punched off in the first issue.
Thanks Dan, I could not have said it better myself. We’ll have another
Musgravian update after the next issue of New Avengers here in a couple
weeks.