Monthly Archive for February, 2010

The Week of February 22nd

Published on February 22, 2010 in Comics, Matt's stupid ramblings and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

I have a lot to bitc… uh, say this week, but am more tired than usual, so, we’ll see what we get to.  I’ve gotten less than the requisite eight hours per night for a good long while and have a scrimmage tonight, game Wednesday and tournament Saturday… and I’m tired now?  On the fifth and six shots of espresso for the day and blasting some Black Sabbath into my head should do the trick.

What would you pay for Action Comics #1…

There is a reported copy of Action Comics #1, graded and slabbed at 8.0, reportedly being sold for 1 million dollars.  Obviously this is only reported and would be the highest a comic book has sold for.  I found the news on, as always, Bleedingcool.com.  Rich Johnston reports that this is the second highest grading of a non-restored copy of Action ever found.  Just imagine for a second… 8.0 (the best was an 8.5) copy of the most important comic ever!  Holy Cats!!  The thing is I would want to look through it just once, especially if I bought it for 1 million dollars.  Damn right I’m looking through it… with gloves mind you.

A few years ago I read about a bounty of a million being put on a mint copy of Action #1 and reportedly, no one bit on it.  At the time it was estimated that five near-mint copies existed in the world and one was in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC (I’ve seen it and could not figure out how to get it and live to look through it.)

This comic is the (pardon my blasphemy) cup of Christ for comic collectors.  It is rumored that Action #1 does not have a decrepit old knight guarding it either.  Though, as you stumbled into a comic shop inside a mountain and this old LARPer is sitting behind the counter and you have to choose the comic of Christ with such choices as Action #1, Detective #27, Fantastic Four #1, Adventure #247, Amazing Fantasy #15 and say, New Mutants #86 among other crappy 90’s titles.  Of course the stupid Nazi in front of you decides to pick first, takes Youngblood #1, and turns to dust.  Stupid Nazi.

You go and, of course because you are smart and have an eye for actual quality and talent, choose anything else and make your way out of the shop.  You go to pay for it, but the dumb blond Nazi, why are you associating with so many Nazis, makes a break for it and the whole shop crumbles around you.  You survive and a nerdy dork (not a Nazi, but possibly a librarian) rides from the shop with you, nearly falling off his horse while you head off into the sunset.

Seriously, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a TERRIBLE film!

DC’s “big changes”…

Who cares?  Not I, said the surly man sitting in the shadows drinking his scotch and wearing two or three days of scruff on his face.  Last week Warner Brothers, Time and a slew of other corporate conglomerates sent out a figure head to announce that a bunch of yes men would helm the NEW DC.  Shocked I was not.  This is the latest in a line of revamps Warner has been doing to the comic subsidiary over the last couple years.

DC_Logo(I still hate the new ice cream logo.)

I could go off about the people who were put “in charge,” but if you read my posts you’ve heard it all before and probably read the “news” several days ago.  So, minor comments and on to something else.

I have some minor respect for Jim Lee because of some of his maneuverings to get Alan Moore’s stuff out through Wildstorm.  Remember, Tom Strong, Promethea and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen all came out in very regular fashion from Wildstorm, a side company of DC, who Moore would no longer work with.  In an interview with Comics Journal, Kevin O’Neill, artist of League, credits Lee with getting the Black Dossier published.  I’m less of a fan of his art as I have been with some of the stuff (Ex Machina) published under his watchful eye at Widstorm.  So, Lee is good.

I don’t like Dan Didio’s decisions as editor and chief and that won’t change now that he is Executive Vice Executive of Executive decision making.

Geoff Johns, can be a talented writer, but he can be, in my eyes a little lazy.  A long time customer said this weekend to me, “You don’t have to worry about re-reading those old back issues with Johns at the helm of your favorite character, he’ll just re-write them for you.”  But that is Johns the writer.  Could he help steer the DC in the right direction, I think so.  He probably has for several years and he just hasn’t had a Executive Executive name attached to him.  And he is probably being paid a lot more now.  Green Lantern, now $3.99 an issue?

Both are yes men to me and both willing to do as the company says even if it hinders a legacy of a character, old story or creator.  The other two I am somewhat unfamiliar with, but I’m sure are more of the same.  I will keep reading my characters I have read for nearly 30 years (sigh.)  I will read them like I read Marvel.  Hate the company, love the characters, hope not to have a storyline like Cap-wolf.

The concern I have about all this is for Vertigo.  I hope to hell they are just left alone.  They have been over the last decade and have put out the best stuff the company has published in that time.

We are going to see more and more multi-media crap that has nothing to do with comics, only loosely based on something that might have once been a comic.  There will be press.  More news of movies then comic book stories and maybe that is good.  Let the unwashed masses watch barely tolerable movies based on those things we collect and enjoy.

I would dare say if the under ware on the outside crowd gets their capes and cowls pushed, Vertigo will continue to quietly publish money for the company.  The stuff will quietly be turned into movies, the type where mongoloids will continue to say, “I did not know dat waz comic book first.”   We will feel smarter for reading and collecting it before it was made into a terrible film..  Hmm, maybe there is a silver lining here and it is called superiority.

I hate being proven somewhat, sort-of wrong…

Now, I am in no way saying I was wrong with what I said last week about the Tea Bag Party people.  I stand by it, I believe in a strong government that watches over its people and protects them (not what we currently have, by the way.)

However, the long hand of the fake conservative tea party reached out to our shop today and slapped me upside the head.

Sarahpalin

(Think of it as gnarled, like Death’s, in a Ron Lim drawn Silver Surfer book.  Hmm, Sarah Palin kind of looks like Thanos’s idea of Death too.  Put Death in glasses, Palin in a purple hood… Creeeeepy. )

The Iowa Department of Agricultural something something and Land Stewardship stopped by to check our scale and make sure it was accurate.  (I didn’t even know these guys existed, let alone did this for coffee shops.)  We got a fancy sticker and wrote them a check for their, and I guess my, efforts.  They check to make sure business’s aren’t ripping people off.  When you buy a pound of beans, you actually get a pound of beans type of thing.  I get it.  I support it.  You don’t want gas stations not giving a full gallon of gas when that is what you pay for do you?  It makes sense to have the government do this.  I don’t like paying taxes either, but I understand we (the royal we) as a society need to do this to keep the infrastructure intact …however…

I could not get the ghostly sound of a moronic yet slightly hot “hockey mom” out of my head.  “Don’tcha know, the Tea Party does not support such horrific taxations without the representations.  Told yah so.  Told yah so.  Told yah so.”

And, Speaking of horrific…

Supposedly, next week will see Crossed #9.  I await this book like nearly nothing I can think of in recent comic memory, except maybe the final issues of Transmetropolitan and my favorite comic series of all time, Preacher.  The one book more than any other series I would want to be stranded with on an island.

You ever thought of it?  What book would you want washed up with you?

Yes, Kyle, All Star Superman, I hear you.

The Week of February 15th

Published on February 15, 2010 in Censorship, Comics and Matt's stupid ramblings. Closed

So… let’s see, anything happen in the world of comics this last week?  No.  Anything happen in the real world that impacted comics?  Heck, yeah.  I’ll get to all three of what I thought were the week’s big stories, but first, this word from our sponsor, Previews, the comic shop’s catalogue.  Orders are due this week if you want anything strange or weird from the back of the book.  Stuff can be ordered after the initial order has been placed, but guarantees on shipping drop considerably.

Also, I want to point out a book that is shipping this week.  It is called Doomwar.  It is taking the place of Black Panther for the next couple months.  This storyline has been growing for several months and will now include lot of guest stars in the miniseries.  I was very unsure what to order on this.  Two people, the only two get Black Panther each month, will be getting it pulled, but you might want to let me know if you want it added to your pull list.  Here is the solicit:

doomwar1

Wakanda has been conquered, its Vibranium reserves plundered. Storm faces execution in the next 48 hours. And Dr. Doom stands triumphant. It will take the combined forces of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the two Black Panthers to stand against him. A war has begun that will pit the world’s most relentless super-villain against a collection of the world’s most powerful super heroes — one that will span the globe, offering twists and turns and surprise players (hello, Deadpool!) that neither side will see coming.

First Event…

The Tea Party doesn’t like Captain America.

This last week the internet, e-bay, Des Moines Register (who has given these clowns a lot of face time lately) and our shop were ripe with talk of tea bagging and parties who want to do it to others before they get it done to them or something…

tea_bag

This is, if you haven’t heard, all in reference to Captain America #602 in which a protest, resembling a Tea Party rally, is shown and in it are signs taken from actual Tea Party rallies.  Organizers and Right Wing Nuts got up in arms because, among other things, the protests are being staged and pushed by an ultra nationalist hate group, The Watchdogs, now run by the evil Cap from the 1950’s.

If your head is spinning from all this allow me to try and explain a little.  The Tea Party is a national group, who in my opinion might be the dumbest political group in America and that is really saying something.  They seem to support very small government, little to no taxes and a rather extreme right wing social agenda.  They, however, do NOT support Libertarians or are affiliated with Libertarian candidates and tend to take marching orders from politicos like the handlers of Sarah Palin.

I can find no information on an actual “party” platform, a leader or leadership group (except many splintered fringes) and can also find no reasoning as to how NO taxes and very little government keeps the infrastructure intact or the wars these people are so fond of going.  This, of course, is what separates them from Libertarians, one of the smarter and certainly most American of all political movements (and mind you, this comes from a Socialist.)  (If you don’t know about the Libertarian Party, please go do some research on them.  My guess is they are closer to your political philosophy then your realize.)

I could go on and on with this.  I love politics and have since I was young, but how this relates to Captain America is even more infuriating the political movement I’ve mentioned.  The problem certain Tea Party people had was that Cap was against their movement.  However, nowhere in the story is the protest called a Tea Party rally, except one placard a person is carrying and I’ll get to that in a second.  In the comic Cap and Falcon (Bucky and Sam) never come down on the protest, only the people organizing it; calling the protest anti-tax and the organizers anti-government.  If the Tea people had ever read any Captain America they would know Cap is NOT the government and is NO one particular ideology or party.

What the delusional Tea people don’t get, and I think this goes a long way to helping you understand their “party,” is that the essence of the character Captain America is more than one person or a group.  He is everything good and right (not politically) about America.  He is the Marvel equivalent of Truth, Justice and the American way, even more so, quite literally, then Superman.

So, what was the one actual literal connection to the Tea Party movement?  In one panel a placard says “Tea bag the Libs, before they Tea bag you.  The letterer very last minute had to get all the signs in this protest filled.  He went to the internet and used actual signs used at anti-tax rallies, including this exact sign.  Now giving this issues of Captain America the infamous name, The Tea Bag Issue.

Captain-America-602

If you would like to read more, on this including some very interesting twitter responses Ed Brubaker made about the Tea Party movement (probably proving that the protest IS a tea party protest – well, duh!) check out this site on Bleedingcool.com:  www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/10/marvel-to-remove-tea-bag-gag-from-captain-america-reports-fox-news/ and the Cup o Joe page from Joe Quesada on Comicbookresourses.com: www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24784.

And if you would like to read a rundown of what the right wing started posting on blogs about that horrible freedom hater Captain America, head back to Bleedingcool.com: www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/15/how-the-blogosphere-learned-to-hate-captain-america/

and a great story on the national movement: www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/tea_party_movement?utm_source=EMTF_Onion

Now, if anyone actually cares, I really liked the issue. It reminded me of old Mark Grenwauld written stories from my childhood.  I can NOT say this enough, even though Cap Reborn was a disaster of monumental proportions, the book is still really good and I think everyone should read #603, which is on sale THIS WEEK!!

Second big event…

This one I’m pretty sure you didn’t hear about.  There was a court case that has some in the comic industry a little on the concerned side.  It is, as it always seems to be, a free speech/obscenity trial.  This one deals with some extreme Japanese manga on the sexual side.  Everything in question dealt with the sexual abuse of minors.

Here’s the thing, guy who was convicted, they gave him six months and he was from Iowa by the way, went through a series of psychological studies and was deemed not a sexual predator and won’t even go on the sex offender watch list.

I’m going to have you read more on Bleedingcool.com: www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/11/iowa-man-sentenced-for-six-months-for-drawing-obscene-comics/

In the piece, and there are some links to a manga site with details on the case, Rich Johnston states “It is always forms of free speech that you personally object to, that make it more important to defend.  Defending free speech that you agree with is too easy a battle. If free speech means anything, it should include speech that you find offensive. Otherwise, it isn’t free…”

After reading about the case, I took a second, thinking about what if anything I had in my collection that might be deemed “to offensive.”  Of course the first and last thing I came to was Preacher and who would consider that “to offensive.”  I might not like little girl hentai from Japan, but the slippery slope is one that when started down, it is very hard to get back to where you once were.  Again, I am concerned about the “progress” we are making as a “free” society.

And the third non-comic world event…

Diamond had another delivery truck accident.  This one severe enough to send two people to the hospital.  I talked to my customer service rep and she said that it appeared there would be no shortages, allocations or delays we didn’t already know of.

Related to that, the snow in the Washington/Baltimore area is playing havoc on the Diamond home office, some reorders and their website.  Hence, no “Expected to Ship” list again.  Hell, there is barely a website for them right now.  My rep said they don’t know what to do with all the snow.  Kids haven’t had school in over a week.  Kind of makes the annoying-ness of near constant snow falls of the last month seem, really, not so bad.

Lastly…

If you see the hockey jersey in the shop it is the jersey of the Cup’s D league sponsored team.  I had a few for sale last week, but they sold much quicker than I ever thought possible.

Two things on this, if you want one, let me know.  I can get them and get them printed, but I’d need a couple on order to warrant the expense (or it would cost you WAY too much.)  I will be doing a new jersey for my C league team this fall; a great old school one that uses the Hartford green third jersey for the base.  It will rock your socks off and hopefully be filled with the power of many goals for the team.  Expect info on these in the coming months.

And, if you are watching some Olympic hockey and saying, “hey, that Cindy Crosby doesn’t have much, why did the Americans put that loser on the team?  I could do better.”  Well, there is still room in the beginner league.  Let me know if you need info.

The Week of February 8th

Published on February 8, 2010 in Comics. 1 Comment

It has not been a good weekend.  The shop’s main computer succumbed to its virus on Saturday and was pronounced dead at approximately 8:45 that evening.  The shop computer, also known as that stupid slow ass piece of crap, was diagnosed with a pathogen that slowly drove it and others around it berserker mad.  Truly sad is the fact that in its final moments and in a fit of dementia shop computer convinced the POS Point of Sale and Internet Café Software to go with it into the waiting hands of sweet oblivion.  Funeral services for the three have not yet been planned.

What I’m saying is I’ve been working long and hard to get this new POS up and running and won’t have much for you this week.  That and Ronnie and I drank ourselves into a stooper after losing big on the Bears last night.

Interview with Grant…

Found a great link to an interview with Grant Morrison, writer of Batman and Robin.  Give it a read if you have time: comics.ign.com/articles/106/1063765p1.html.  Why do I keep talking about this book?  Because a) it is better than all the other cape and cowl books on the rack and b) you keep buying it.  It is by far our best selling comic (that is not a mini-series about undead ring wielding super-freaks.)  It is our best seller by almost double the next comic.

People like Batman and now more than ever one of the caped crusaders books isn’t complete unreadable crap either.  So, go read the article and enjoy.

Disturbing news…

I found some disturbing news this last week.  Bleeding Cool was the first to post some pseudo official information on a Watchmen 2 comic sequel and/or prequel.  I will post links in a bit, but the basic gist of the articles is that with Paul Levitz “stepping down” as President of DC, editor and chief Dan Didio would finally push through this project to make profits and impress his new overlor… er, bosses.

This project has been rumored for some time, even long before a movie was in the works and though financially this sounds like a no brainer, you need to understand some history (and have read the original) to know why this is the worst of comics never ending stream of bad ideas.

Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen, has not had a good history with DC due to issues with royalties, creator rights and merchandising.  Obviously there would be no Alan Moore on this project and even though Paul Levitz didn’t see eye to eye with Moore on many an issue, Levitz would never have let this idea of a Watchmen sequel come to pass.

Levitz is one of the great 70’s and early 80’s writers and is most predominately known for his long and beloved run on The Legion of Superheroes.  Levitz has been criticized for, lack of better words, not being Marvel and it finally cost him his job.  Levitz had a good and stable run as head of DC and though DC may not have ever dominated the sales charts during his tenure, the company never went bankrupt and was always profitable.

If you were paying attention last fall after Marvel was sold to Disney, DC announced some changes in how they would be doing business under their long time corporate umbrella Warner Brothers.  Levitz resigned to move back to writing – in other words was pushed out – as Warner wanted one of their own controlling how the comics were being streamlined to make the parent company more money.  And yes, you can read that as they wanted the comics to be better turned into movies, TV and other forms of film like animation.

As sad as this all is, it is to be expected.  Warner couldn’t sit back and watch as it’s film rivals churned out super hero success after super hero success and they didn’t have to pay a dime for rights.  This is not to even mention all the actual potential (and actual quality) that exists in the Vertigo vault.  So… of course without the last roadblock a corporate shill like Didio would gladly take marching orders to make more Watchmen.  “Yes Sir, Madam.  How much, How many and How fast?  Quality is no issue here at the new DC!!”

I got to meet Paul Levitz at a comic convention a few years ago.  He was THE HEAD of the publisher, President and he was on the floor and greeting customers and retailers, signed autographs and took questions at panels.  I was able to spend a little time with him and two of the best people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting at a con, Louise and Walter Simonson.  Levitz was an average guy and I’m guessing will be much happier just writing and not dealing with the crap what I’m sure comes with running a comic company.

It is just very sad that things he fought to keep from seeing the light of day are now the first things to be rolled out only months after leaving office.

Here are some links – YEP, all Bleedingcool.com.  Why even bother going anywhere else?:

The Rumblings First:

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/03/get-ready-for-watchmen-2/

Rich lists out all the potential of Vertigo for the mindless hordes of Hollywood:

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/04/the-untapped-movie-mine-of-vertigo-comics/

Why I use “” around the words News when referring to comic “news”:

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/05/watchmen-2-how-modern-journalism-works/

And possible confirmation:

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/02/05/richard-pace-confirms-possible-existence-of-watchmen-2-project/

The Week of February 1st

Published on February 1, 2010 in Comics. 0 Comments

Good week to you all.  I hope the weekend was good and I’m coming to you with calming air and incense floating on your computer screen.  May the sound of my voice in your head come like a Blue Lantern of Hope (I don’t know, it was the only thing I could think of.)

blue-lantern-corps

I promised someone I would sound more upbeat and make my e-mail not quite such a downer.  There you go Dan, flowery enough for you?  Good.  Now that you are all filled with Hope, joy and peace (notice I didn’t say Compassion, I don’t like the Purple Lanterns or is it that I don’t like Purple?) let’s move on to mocking Marvel.

Insert Joke Here…

If you went to any of the regular comic “news” sites, you probably saw that there was a fairly major accident involving a truck carrying Marvel comic books to a Diamond.  No one was hurt apparently, but a bunch of Marvel product was damaged and/or destroyed.  Supposedly Marvel is going back to press quickly on this and there should be additional printings of these books.

Our distribution hub was the one most affected by this, however, we were lucky and there will not be any title to greatly affected by this.  If you pull Invincible Iron Man off the shelf (I.e. it isn’t on your pull list, you might want to e-mail me.)

Batman & Robin #7…

b

What a difference a real artist who can actually draw makes.  Batman and Robin #7 was such a breath of fresh air this last week (in a week that saw a slew of good books.)  I know my two comrades in comics, Curt and Kyle, loved the issue too, and I’m sure we would all agree that the art was such a huge improvement.

I can not stand Philip Tan’s work.  He’s no Rob Liefeld, but he is a not good either.  There is one panel in issue four that has me especially pissy.  It had Alfred, Damian and Dick all in it and the only way you can tell them apart is because of costumes.  Now, Cameron Stewart’s work is so crisp and clean, it is very much like coming to the other side of a great fog.

If you do not know Stewart’s work, you should check out Sea Guy which he worked on with Grant Morrison.  Some very weird and trippy stuff, but also just enough old school comic cool to make it fun.

I personally loved the tour around London in this latest issue.  If you have ever been to the great city, you had to notice all the great landmarks.  If you have not, Rich Johnston of Bleedingcool.com has a nice little write up on what was what and a helpful little glossary of terms.

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/01/28/batman-and-robin-7-a-british-glossary/

and for those of you who were a little confused with a panel towards the back of the book, Johnston also has a great quote from Stewart on it.

www.bleedingcool.com/2010/01/29/reading-batman-and-robin-7-part-two-2/

Can you do better than Johns?…

I’m not making a comment on his writing, I’m saying asking if you could come up with better ring bearers then Geoff Johns did in issue six of Blackest Night?  A post on Comic book resources had a few options, that are pretty good.  Check them out here: robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/01/the-fantasy-lantern-draft-begins/.  I’m still not 100% if I like Blackest Night or not.  I thought issue six was just a blatant excuse to try and sell action figures, but, nonetheless, the thought of who would make a better choice is total nerd fodder you could all eat up.

And lastly…

I was asked today what I thought of Siege.  I said I was fine with it and will read it through, though was neither big time loving it or hating it.  They pressed and I said I liked what was being done in Iron Man, Captain America and Thor more than the big reuniting of the Marvel Troika.

However, what I don’t like is the fact that Marvel is already on to promoting the “event” or thing after Siege.  Seriously, we aren’t even on to issue two of a four part comic and we are getting teaser images for what comes next.  Their entire promotions department is the most ADHD group working in all walks of life.  And this goes for DC too.  They released the design for Brightest Day and won’t show us retailers a damn cover to the last installments of Blackest Night.

I’m going out on a limb here, but maybe if the two of them were less freaked out about trying to trump each other and finished a major event or series on time and with, what at one time was called a climactic well thought out ending, the industry as a whole would be better off… or we could just read better comics.  Hmmm.  Anyone pick up any of that Criminal?  How is Sweet Tooth or Unwritten or Joe The Barbarian?