Archive for the 'Comics' Category

The Week of February 20th

Published on February 20, 2012 in Comics and Events. 0 Comments

Your Weekly E-Mail from Cup o’ Kryptonite.

 

Not a lot of news this week.  Could have used such a slow week last week, but that is the way of comics I guess; big weeks and small weeks.

 

Order Note – If you have anything you want ordered out of the February previews, it needs to be submitted by Wednesday.

 

Bad news on getting Mike Richardson to our shop.  We found out on Tuesday that we didn’t win the contest, not real surprising, but hey, we gave it a shot.  Pretty honored to even make it that far.  Oh well, next…

 

Reminder of stuff happening…

3XWrestling is Friday at All Play!

I’ve been remiss in mentioning 3X over the last few months, but I shouldn’t be.  You should see what they have done with themselves.  The production value has become top notch.  (Seriously, if you watch Ring of Honor, it is hard to tell a difference.  They have really stepped it up.)

The next event, Reign of Terror III, is Friday February 24th and will see several great matches including Ryan Slade getting his King of Des Moines Championship match against Iron Man Mark Sterling.  Also, former WWE, WCW and ECW champion Perry Saturn will be in action.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Cup and at a discount too.

 

Neighborhood 3 at the Des Moines Social Club…

This is a new play that you might have interest in.  It is about Zombies, Video Games and broken families and has been getting great reviews.  Also, I can offer you a discount on tickets.  If you order on line and go through midwesttix.com and use the code COMICS you can get them for only eight dollars a seat.  However, you are going to have to go soon, show goes through the 26th.

 

Comic Book Men…

So, I guess there was this show on after last week’s airing of AMC’s Walking Dead.  It was called Comic Book Men.  Created by Kevin Smith, it was, I assume, in the vein of the reality show Pawn Stars.  Normally, this is not my thing – especially the Kevin Smith part, but a couple reviews have me wanting to see it – in the same way you can’t look away from a train wreck.

The first review is more positive.  It is a Five Sentence review by Dan Finney.  Though not an ultra high endorsement, it isn’t anything like the one from Comic Alliance.  Holy Cats, that one is a beating and a half!  So much so that one of the loser members of show fired back at them rather harshly.

Read the reviews, watch the show and decide for yourself.  I am not a fan of Kevin Smith, his writing or, for the most part, his movies (though Clerks was very good, he hasn’t really done anything of high quality since, though I will admit that Red State was not a total waste of time.)  I expect this will just make me mad, so, in the end, I will probably not watch it.

 

The Justice League of Hanna Barbera…

Do you ever see something on line that isn’t real, but if it was you would support.  I think I found one for sure.

 

Review…

Peter David and Mark Waid’s Marvel comics

This is less a review and more fan boy praise.  If you don’t read either of the regular books these two write for Marvel, X-Factor and Daredevil respectively, you are missing out.  Both are such throwbacks to older days and reminders of what comics used to be.

Most recently X-Factor, whose sales have been slowly increasing, has had a plot with Madrox the Multiple Man dying and hoping multiple worlds at each death.  Daredevil, whose sales now show crazy numbers like the book has never seen, has been slowly developing a mega plot involving super villains like AIM and Hydra while not really doing arcs at all, but just small one or two issue super hero stories developing the character.

Why do I mention these two writers and their books?  I mention them because I like reading old comics. I mention these writers who don’t feel the need to be part of the bigger more massive universe spanning plots.  Yes, both get pulled into crossovers, but both still write simple stories of good versus bad clad in spandex.  Comics we used to read.  Both are such fresh departures of what else is being done by both of the big comic houses and reminders of what and why we used to read.

Currently, these two old dogs are only on one book each for Marvel, but I hope the brain trust that is running the mickey mouse operation sees the quality they are putting out and allow them the opportunity to take over more.  How much better could Marvel be if the old guard were to reign over it?  We will probably never know, but I need not wonder, I just pull those old books off the shelf and I see what could be and has been.

 

The Week of February 13th

Published on February 13, 2012 in Comics, Matt's stupid ramblings, Preview, Reviews-comics and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

Your Weekly E-Mail from Cup o’ Kryptonite.

 

Sorry if all the posts are a little abbreviated.  I type this in the middle of nowhere northern Wisconsin while driving back from the Eagle River Pond Hockey Tournament.  The team with Cup o’ Kryptonite representation lost all three games and may have been the worst team, standings wise, in the tourney.  Oh, well, we had a lot of frozen fun anyway.

 

Cup o’ Kryptonite was named number 28 of the top fifty reasons “why we love Des Moines” by Juice Magazine last week.  Most of the accolades or write-ups that the shop gets are nice and all, but I am really proud of this one.  Thanks Joe.  For a full list of the 50 reasons, you can check it out here.

 

We should find out Monday, at some point, if we are hosting Mike Richardson publisher of Dark Horse comics.  I’ll announce if we did on the website and the Facebook.  Don’t expect one.  We are the little shop up against a couple giants.  I’m sure Mr. Richardson would have a great time at the Cup, he would do things he wouldn’t do anywhere else (like make coffee,) we were the most creative in our pictures, but those other shops are just too big.  Either way, it was an honor to even be nominated.

 

Tony Moore’s Lawsuit against Robert Kirkman over Walking Dead…

Below there are links to a bunch of sites with the news of this creators rights suit.  Some of the links are better - journalisticly – than others but there is more than likely far more to this than some of the comic media reports, you can be sure.  All media, like all people, keep contacts close.  Robert Kirkman is a shrewd promoter and I’m sure has many contacts with many people in the comic industry.  So take read the “news” with a grain of salt.

You can guess what side of the coin I side with here.  Though not a close friend, I consider Tony a great guy that I always stop and say hi to when he is at a con I’m attending.  Without a doubt one of the best artists in the industry, he is a fantastic, if quiet, guy.  The little time I spent with Tony, I can tell you, he is not the type of person to put forth a “frivolous” lawsuit.  However, that is just my opinion.

The bigger picture with comics being made into movies anymore, you must have something in place from the get-go or this will happen.  When Hollywood money gets involved you are looking at cash flows that can turn everything into crap.

The Comic Alliance’s article can be found here.

The Comic Book Resources article can be found here.

The Hollywood Reporter’s article can be found here.

 

 

Stupid DC…

I don’t want to say I told you so… but…

There was a poll that retailers were encouraged to take to give DC feedback on their big changes they made with the re-boot/New 52.  Those poll results were released last week and I can tell you I am A) not surprised in the least and B) that we were not close to the actual results that were released, which shouldn’t surprise me either.

They show that what DC wanted, didn’t happen.  They didn’t get a ton of new readers in (we did) nationwide and that it really didn’t broaden the reader demographics much.  The poll was conducted with over 5,000 readers of comics.  There is a link below with some of the numbers.

This is not good for DC.  Though they thought they would be pulling in all these NEW readers, it is simply not the case.  Readership on the books is starting to change on their books, now in month six and these numbers show why (in my opinion.)  Without the new readers, there is nothing keeping people on the new stuff.  Sure the new books off the bat appealed in the sense that we were lead to believe they were something they have proven to not be, we now see that in September of last year, people were buying a lot stuff they weren’t sticking with and haven’t stuck with.  I got a lot of, “I’ll try these and cut down in a month.”  I’m still getting the cut downs and more and more every week.  However, the biggest books are selling better than before the reboot and are, for the most part, staying steady.

What does this mean for the future?  The sub books will all get cancelled and new sub will get started, run and get cancelled… just like it has been and will always be.  The problem is, sales will slowly sink as older more established readers, who are overall more sick of the big changes, stop trying the new stuff.  I really think the old continuity will creep back, eventually, and – sorry Arlen – I think Marvel sees that a reboot, doesn’t help, in the long run, to do anything more than give you a multi-month spike and eventually sink you below where you were overall.

What else it tells me?  Superhero comics are not where creativity lies in the industry.  You can trick the non-hero or other company’s primary readers to give your superheroes a try, but in the end, the best you can do is get a multi-month spike and eventually sink you below where you were overall.

-sigh-

A little sad, really.

Find much more here on Comic Alliance.

 

 

Evil Marvel…

If DC is stupid, Marvel is evil.  Last week Marvel offered a “deal” to remove the counter suit against Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich.  They will drop it, IF he pays $17,000 to them for the sale of Ghost Rider merchandise at conventions.  This too is over creator rights and there has become a great response from other creators, especially Steve Niles, in raising money to help.

Find more click here on Comic Alliance.

 

 

Quick Review:

Conan The Barbarian #1 – Written by Brian Wood and drawn by Becky Cloonan.

I can’t write a novel on this one, but I’ll just say it was fantastic and the best the book has been for many years (since Mike Mignola did his brief three issue stint.)  This is a great read with a great jumping on point and creators behind it.  I know that Conan isn’t for everyone, but if you are a peripheral reader of the character you will enjoy it.

 

Ronnie’s Best Bets for Feb 15th:

BPRD Long Death #1 – Ah, BPRD. Always a solid read. If you’ve never read it, give it a chance. Don’t fear jumping in, in the middle, I did and was immediately hooked. For those that have been following along, I believe we will see the aftermath to whatever the fate of Johan was at the end of the last arc, which is really bugging me. This series is always a cut above with excellent art, writing, and a very tight continuity. This seems to be a trend with all Mike Mignola-verse stories (Hellboy, Lobster Johnson, Baltimore, Witchfinder, etc.)  It is easily the highest quality universe in comics and BPRD is the best of the pack.

 

Batman #6 – The startling end of #5 suggests that this issue will be the big showdown between Bruce and The Court of Owls, or at least the beginning of it. Writer Scott Snyder has shown us that he is an expert of long form stories, so I expect this run to have elements that continue for a long time. Which is a very good thing indeed. This is the only Batman book that is a must read right now. Snyder is taking the best elements of good horror and applying it to Gotham City in a way that makes you feel like it should have always been done this way. Just like his Detective Comics, pre-reboot, this is sure to be classic, legendary run.

 

Also looking good this week…

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1 – This title is being hyped as revealing the origin of the Force and the Jedi.

Super Dinosaur #8 – An all-ages books in the best sense. Me and my son both love it. Probably Kirkman’s best current work.

Hellblazer #288 – DC’s highest numbered book. If you like JL Dark, this is the better Constantine.

Catwoman #6 – This title is better than you think! I swear it! It’s not Shakespeare (or Brubaker) by a long shot, but it’s a big dumb fun adventure book. The first issue was nothing like it’s growing into now. Certainly a better Gotham book than Birds of Prey or Batgirl OR Detective Comics OR Dark Knight OR Huntress OR Red Hood OR Odyssey….

 

The Week of February Sixth

Published on February 6, 2012 in Comics, Preview, Reviews-comics and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

I am happy to announce we have made it into the final five of the “Get Mike Richardson to Come to Your Shop Contest to promote Dark Horse Presents #10” contest.  We are in the hands of the company now.  They will decide of these final five who the publisher will visit. Wish us luck.

Why are we so high on this?  Because it is Mike FREAK’N Richardson!!  This is THE independent publisher, fighter against the big two, mighty supplier of comics not wearing tights, the seven foot frost giant – in a suit coat jacket!!  I have the most respect for Mike Richardson.  To me, he is the last of a bread – long forgot – that believes in direct market because of what he publishes.  He was once selling comics out of the back of his trunk, he knows what retailing is and knows what it was like to be a retailer… The execs at DC/Marvel have never known and will never know what we are dealing with or what we have to think about on a daily basis.

Why Dark Horse Presents?  First time reading this blog, huh?  Last week was issue #8.  Below, I review why this is THE best book being published in comics today.

Either way, win or lose, This is a Huge Honor.  Look at the other four we made it into the final five with and we did it with your help, your kind words.  They are all pretty big shops, dwarfing us, but obviously not dwarfing our awesome customers.

Man I love Dark Horse Comics.

-sigh-

Which is a terrible lead in to…….

 

Who watches the Watchmen, again?

Anything big get announced this week?  Yeah…  Though not a big shocker that they announced this (we sort of all knew it was coming) the collection of the writers and artists is.  Here are the names of the books, bannered Before Watchmen, and who is on them:

RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

 

So, are yeah pissed or excited or merely, meh?

I have already heard several people say how disappointed they are that they need to revisit these old stories.  As you might have guessed, Alan Moore announced his less than displeased accurate irritation towards this – “I don’t want money; I just don’t want this to happen,” questions were raised on creator’s rights, again, and DC seems to think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread or at least the comic equivalency (which is probably something published by Dark Horse – like Concrete or Usagi Yojimbo or Dark Horse Presents or, well, something better than… this.)

Some of these titles make a lot of sense, with the creators.  Almost like they planned it out, actually thought out who would work best on what book.  Well, except J. Micheal Straczynski… I guess his are only four issues, he MIGHT finish that… might.

I guess I’m just thinking what would this amazing list of creators do to sales on their recently re-booted regular books, which continue to slide?  Sure, these will do well, but…  but…

I have no interest in reading any of these.  There is nothing that can be written in these books that wasn’t done already in the original twelve issues – available in a handsome Absolute Edition – but there isn’t a bad artist on these books.  I guess they should be looked like art books, with some really good artists in them.

These books will be released one a week for however long it takes.  It just makes me think what could be done with what they are already releasing… oh, yeah, this makes even MORE that is being published.  To me, we don’t need seven more books, just make the books that are being published… the best they can be.

…but, this is what we are getting.  Meh.

 

But this is not the only prelude that has been written…

If you want a little Watchmen prelude history, I recommend this Comic Book Resources link.  It is interesting for a great many reasons, the least of which is how Alan Moore worked on this role playing project too.

 

 

Review…

Dark Horse Presents #8 by various writers and artists.

I can not tell you how much I love this comic book.  Every single time it comes out, I hold it until last thing I read… ‘cause it is THE best comic being published AND it really is many of the best comicS being published, but I’ll get to that.

If you read it, you understand all this.  You know why it’s cover price, at $7.99, is actually a steal.  If you read it, you understand why it is the best comicS being published with a page count of 80 and the number of stories reaching ten.  (start the abacas tumbling in your head and you see that a standard issue stupid hero book from, say, DC is 20 pages at $2.99 or from Marvel 22 pages for $2.99 or $3.99 if Bendis is writing it.  Think of the 30 page monsters for $3.99 and yes those are tears of sorrow… so we will stop and move on.)

But what are these “best stories” I speak of… well, in the latest issue there are none other than a BPRD story entered around and connected to Hellboy’s death, a new chilling Beasts of Burden story and Brian Wood’s latest venture to the less than perfect future in The Massive.  Those alone were, for me, more than worth the price of admission, but we also receive a (I think Bleeding Cool’s?) Rich Johnston story of elderly murder and a crazy time travel story that will leave you paused and thinking.  But, more than all of those, it was the post apocalyptic Tarzan story that really tripped my trigger.

Some have said, “oh, I don’t like this story” or “that story” and to that I reply “me neither.”  That is what is great about anthology publishing, you don’t have to love everything to still get a great deal and enjoy a majority of what is in it.

The book does pretty well for our shop, I just wish THIS style would catch on for more stupid heroes.  Can you imagine a Bat-family or Super-family book? Or at Marvel, maybe an Avengers Family book…… oh, wait, all of these ideas have been tried and failed.  Why, did they fail if this is so good?

I’ll tell you why.  In all of those stories above I didn’t even mention all the creators that worked on it.  Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Duncan Fregado, the greatest colorist in the world Dave Stewart, Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson, the greatest Batman Artist ever Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Tom Yeates, Brian Wood, Kristian Donaldson, spot illustrations by (the best artist in the world?) Geof Darrow, a great intro to every issue by Mike Richardson and that is only about half the creators in the book.

I could go on, but I’m not going too.  I now leave it up to you to decide what is value and what is quality.

 

Matty J’s look ahead…

Three words, Conan the Barbarian.  If that is not enough it is a new jumping on point at issue #1 AND it is being written by Brian Wood and drawn by Becky Cloonan.  I did some research on this and found that Becky is the first (non digital only) Conan artist since Judith Hunt’s King Conan three issue stint in the mid eighties!  (Marian Churchland did a Myspace Dark Horse Presents story, but digital comics aren’t the same.)  That is pretty big news in and of its self, but toss in the fact that she is a perfect fit (in my eyes) for this book – long thin, dark eyed, dark haired, dark souled people – and Brian Wood, well, I love nearly everything he touches.  It will be interesting to see his take on this important character.  I think this is a match made in comic heaven, but I am biased and love Howard’s Barbarian… but don’t take my word for it.

 

Ronnie’s Best Bets…

Conan The Barbarian #1 – Who would’ve thought the creative team behind the awesome Demo and Channel Zero:Jennie One would make a barbarian comic? Who would’ve thought that I would be excited for a barbarian comic? Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, some of the best creators out there, are gonna be tackling the beloved Conan story Queen of the Black Coast. I’ve never read the story, but it’s apparently a really good short tale that has many years in the middle left vague, which is where this series will focus. Brian got me to read and love Viking stories in the excellent Northlanders,and I have loved Becky’s art in Pixu and Wolves, and Matt says Conan is cool (he’s been right before, I think?), so I’m gonna give this a shot. I hear it’s about a boy from Norwalk.  If you need a preview, try this link.

 

Penguin: Pain and Prejudice #5 of 5 - I don’t hear people talk about this mini-series much, but it is actually doing a really good job making Oswald into a dark and vicious figure. I don’t think anyone can change the fact he is themed off of an ice bird, so inherently ridiculous. But this is Gotham City. Everything there is themed off something dumb. In the end, this has been an above average series with pretty cool dark art. Way better than what David Finch and Tony Daniels has been doing to Gotham.

 

Severed #7 of 7 – Don’t worry, you get your dose of Scott Snyder awesomeness this week, which these days amounts to 3 out of every 4 weeks. We live in good times. This is the final issue of the best horror story in recent memory. If you haven’t been reading it, you are really missing out. I’ll loan you mine for a $100 deposit. Also, there are whispers that there will be another mini or more set in this world. Good times indeed.

 

Dungeons and Dragons #15 – I just wanted to remind everyone that the covers for this series have been done by Tyler Walpole, Des Moines Native Son. Support local creators and buy this. Feed Tyler’s kids before they eat him!

 

Also Looking Good This Week:

All New Batman the Brave and the Bold #16 – The highest numbered Batman title! Possibly the 2nd best Batman title!  (Ronnie is wrong, this is the best Batman title.)

Black Panther:The Most Dangerous Man Alive #529 – Final issue! You missed out!

Lobster Johnson – The Burning Hand #2 – Mignola-verse! Better than the Avengers!

Spongebob Comics #7 – 4 or more laugh out loud one-and-dones per issue!

Strain #3 – Vampires del Toro!

Thief of Theives #1 – Cat burglers!

 

The Week of January 30th

Published on January 30, 2012 in Comics, Matt's stupid ramblings and Reviews-comics. 0 Comments

Your Weekly E-mail from Cup o’ Kryptonite.

VERY IMPORTANT

Go Get Us Mike…

Two more day left to vote for our store in an attempt to get Mike Richardson, Publisher of Dark Horse Comics, to come to our shop in March.

All you have to do is go to this link and say something nice about us, or how much you want to meet Mr. Richardson.  If he does come, he brings tons of freebie books and pizza.  To say the least, we would make a big deal out of this… meaning a huge party.

 

Other Parties…

Just a few things on the calendar are March 14th, C-Day.  This will be the launch of the new ongoing Crossed book with Garth Ennis writing the first three issues.

Also, April 3rd (yes, it’s a Tuesday, grrr) is the Avengers vs. the X-Men launch party.  We will be having one and doing some cross promotions, offering contests and variants and prizes, oh, my!  We are still unsure who we should side with though?  See, as part of the party, Marvel is offering one “side” or the other to sign up with.  You can help us.  Go to our Facebook page and vote for either the Avengers or the X-Men.

 

Cup o’ K on the Moon!!…

I want to take this opportunity to make my firm commitment to Newt Gingrich’s plan of having a Moon base by the end of his second term and be the base’s sole and official coffee and comic book shop!  Now, we know that we are just a little shop in little Des Moines, Iowa, but we are more than willing to be shot to the moon to provide the best coffee and comics to the astronauts and workers on Newt Base One.  I’m sure there will be other shops trying to get in on this, but seriously, do any of them have more reason to be there than us… We are a crazy outlandish idea AND are already an official Sci-Fi named shop and since the Iowa Caucus, I am an actual registered republican.  That has to count for something, right?

There are some logistics that are going to need to be worked out.  One, I can’t imagine how bad the customer service will be from my distributor when we are on the freak’n Moon and just how much the UPS shipping cost will be on getting those comics up there… but fear not, we are determined to be that shop for the base!

I am also willing to stop all talk of how stupid an idea this is from a candidate who has not one shred of decency towards humanity, the poor or those in need, but instead will be willing to forward you to others who believe in these lies.  (I have no association with these blog posts – no matter how accurate they may “seem” to be.  Don’t hold it against me Newt, I support you.  Send me to the moon!!)

You can find one here, it is on my favorite site on all the net, Bad Astronomy, and is written by the astronomer and author, Phil Plait.  Phil also wrote a great rebuttal to Candidate Gingrich too.  Both are excellent reads. …er, I mean, horrible and you shouldn’t read them.

 

Changes Coming?…

You may be seeing more artist and writer changes coming, but not the ones you would expect.  Looks like the great experiment of exclusivity towards talent might be coming to an end, at least for some.  It seems that a couple artists are being allowed to relax or break their contracts and work for someone else.  So, someone you’ve seen only with one company for years could be doing freelance work for others.

Why?  Well, money of course, but because of the lack of it, not an overabundance of it.

These contracts were designed for two reasons; locking in talent with one company and not another for a period of time and giving some security for the writer and/or artist (health benefits, for example.)   When they were really being used by the big two back five/six years ago, they were looked at as a cold war like arms race for the comic’s industry.  “They signed artist X, but look at us, we signed writer Y and Z exclusively.”  For the creators it was nice to have the added security of being able to know where you would get a paycheck and/or what you would be working on for a certain period of time.

But obviously they have also created an increase in “costs” for these two companies and now with massive cost cutting measures going through Warner and Disney, these two want out of some contracts.  Obviously, a bleeding heart lefty, pro-union jerk like myself is with the workers, but do more research for yourself.  I’m just letting you know what you are going to be seeing.

 

Reviews…

Ronnie is off this week, so, you will have to put up with me.  Sorry.

I’m giving more of a recommendation, rather than a review and it’s a recommendation for some of Marvel’s big character books that I’ve seen slippage in sales over the last few months.

Only just a few of our customers, our beloved Marvel Zombies, collect nearly every single one of Marvel’s main characters.  I totally understand that you can not get everything.  I am merely saying you should consider these.

Fantastic Four (and by association FF,) and Iron Man have been great before, during and after Fear Itself.  All have dipped recently and I’m surprised, because if anything, they have improved in their storytelling.

Fantastic Four and FF are dealing with a Kree invasion as well as lingering plotlines associated with the past year’s storytelling.  Easily this Jonathon Hickman run is one of the best in the books history (I can name only two others that even come close.)  How good is it?  Curt and Kyle actually buy the book and still profess their dislike of nearly all the characters in it.

Iron Man is one of those characters I’ve never really liked.  I don’t think the basics of the character, rich industrialist inventor type, doesn’t appeal to me, but he is one of Marvel’s big three, so, got to give a new storyline a try, right?  That was way back when Matt Fraction took over like four (?) years ago.  I’ve been reading and enjoying it every month since.  It is simple VERY character driven storytelling.  Nearly the complete opposite of what Hickman is doing on FF or Warren Ellis just did on Secret Avengers.  This run is really more how comics were back in the late 80s and early 90s.  Years worth of storytelling building up and tearing down a character, only to do it again and again.  If done right, these are runs that grow a character’s sales… unfortunately, it can do the opposite too, as we are seeing with Shell Head.  …and that is a shame, because this is a really good superhero book.

 

Preview of the… Future…

Many of you have read the first two volumes of Darwyn Cooke’s Richard Stark adaptations, so, when I  found the solicit (that will be in the February Previews, out on Wednesday) for the new one, entitled The Score, I thought I would share it with you:

 

Fresh from his Eisner Award-winning efforts on The Hunter and The Outfit, Darwyn Cooke now sets his steely sights on The Score, the classic Richard Stark Parker novel from 1964. Parker becomes embroiled in a plot with a dozen partners in crime to pull off what might be the ultimate heist — robbing an entire town. Everything was going fine for a while, and then things got bad. Considered one of the best in the Parker series, The Score is the perfect vehicle for Darwyn Cooke to pull out all the stops and let loose with a book that has all the impact of a brutal kick to the solar plexus!

Done in Cooke’s trademark style harkening back to the ’50s and ’60s, the New York Times bestselling Parker: The Hunter won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Adaptation from Another Work and Cooke won the 2010 Harvey Award for Best Cartoonist for the book.  In 2011, Cooke personally won the Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist.  It is also important to note that Parker is heading to theaters later this year in a major motion picture starring Jason Statham, Michael Chiklis, and Jennifer Lopez.

The Score goes on sale May 16.

 

The Week of January 23rd

Published on January 23, 2012 in Censorship, Comics and Ronnie's Reviews. 0 Comments

 

VERY IMPORTANT

Go vote for us.

Get Mike Richardson to come to Cup o’ Kryptonite.

Dark Horse is running a contest to have Publisher Mike Richardson come to a shop to promote Dark Horse Presents #10.  You just need to go to the link below and leave a comment on the site under our post.  Say you love us or some such.  Yes, I’m running behind on this, that is why I need all the help I and Ronnie can get on this.

Thank you much.  Now go comment on us here.

http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/777/mike-richardson-comes-your-store

The Comic Pendulum and what to make of Marvel…

So, I’ve been pretty harsh towards DC in the last couple months.  Well, they deserve it.  Frankly, what I’ve written in this blog is tame in comparison to what I have to say about the company in person.  So, of course that will bring those saying why don’t you ever say anything about the good things they do.  Because, since they flushed their company down the toilet I haven’t had anything nice to say.  Funny thing, I used to get this when I would incessantly rip on Marvel a year or so ago.

It is the swinging of the comic pendulum.  In the nearly ten years I have been doing this retail thing, I have seen this pendulum swing between these two so many times.  Funny thing though, when the spotlight is on the one, the other usually is putting out better product.

Hence Marvel Comics right now.  The spotlight is squarely on the DC (I will not call them DC Comics as it is redundant) and Marvel is using that to post some good year end numbers and set up for a great year in 2012.

A good friend and much better hockey player than I sent me an Associated Press article last week on Marvel’s year end numbers.  It was written for the general public and I felt glossed over/completely ignored some huge glaring problems with Marvel’s publishing (which I will get to in a moment) but was interesting to see how the public views our little wing of literature.

In the article it talked about how DC took away nine of the top ten highest selling comics of the year, but Marvel sold more in total units and had more of the overall market share.  It also mentioned, and this is the one really interesting part and needs to be pointed out that it is solely DC who did it, the comic industry rose in overall sales by 1.2 percent.

It is constantly doom and gloom when people talk about comics, but as Dan Buckley, publisher and President of Marvel is quoted in the article saying, “Let’s stop counting comics out” and adds “Let’s stop talking about how this is going to end because I’ve watched this try to end three or four times already, and it doesn’t end.”

Now, the real concern I have is that some of Marvel’s publishing policies ARE part of the doom and gloom creation.  It is great to hear that the head of the largest comic company thinks this way, it is another to allow the over publishing that threatens to sink the ship.  The arms race between Marvel and DC is great for stockholders, but not so good for those actually purchasing or collecting this stuff.

DC is at fault, but Marvel is to blame.  Their insane publishing schedule (think about the number of books that come out twice a month) is something only a super villain, a junkie or a corporate raider trying to suck dry the last ounce of profit would love.

These big two are not the only ones doing it too.  IDW gets one hit off a book and starts publishing, at the minimum another side book damn near immediately.  There are three GI Joe books, two Transformers books, two TMNT books.  Dark Horse seems to think if one is good, four or five or six Star Wars books are better (however, Dark Horse Presents is a nice island in the comic book sea of stupid.)

I just wonder if things would be better if there was less.  If comics were bigger or cheaper and there was less of them… would things be better?  I don’t know.

Nonetheless, back to that pendulum.

This is the great opportunity Marvel needs to set up for a huge year and become the industry leader it could be.  I have heard mixed thoughts on Avengers vs. X-Men.  Primarily, it looks like people are interested, if more than a bit apprehensive.

Either way, this is THE book from them this year.  It is going to be a twelve part story that, as Editor in Chief Axel Alonso says is, “the kind of high-octane, action-packed story that fans demand while also having a profound effect on every character involved — and reshaping the Marvel Universe in its wake.”  There you go, we shall see.  Let’s hope they don’t fug it up.

 

DC’s New logo and other bad from them this week…

I heard from a lot of you this week about this repugnantly dull logo.

My favorite was from my employee Chad who said, “I have a graphic arts degree and I can do better than that.”  My friend Carter summed it up the best though, “I’m not sure what I’m looking at.  Is it a sticker/label company?  If it is, I think it’s fairly ominous that the D looks like it’s being pasted onto the C (digital replacing real comics?).”

I heard one response from DC on the net saying that the logo represents a lot as DC is so much more than just comics.  Oh, Brother!

And…

I couldn’t resist this dig on DC’s continued retooling.

Here is a great link to an article about the Huntress and her now fourth, fifth (?) rebooting.  Seriously, DC remove your head and get some direction… or maybe the character isn’t that important and if that is the case, then we don’t need to see her.

I would also add, that with this new wave of “awesome” books they have “planned” I still don’t see anything close to a timeline, explanation or some feeling that the lighthouse is being tended.  There are so many books that contradict statements that were made before they started.  (Superman’s Death is in continuity or Green Lantern’s storyline isn’t affected.)  They need a history of their universe.  But I am guessing that is WAY too complicated for the three headed hydra that has it’s paws in too many pies/books already.

Another winner and by winner I mean we are the losers…

Oh, and Justice League #5 was supposed to ship last week and will be in this week.  If you had Justice League in your office pool for first book to ship late you win.  What was that lie about “books are guaranteed to ship on time?”  One week wouldn’t even be an eye batting if the company publishing it hadn’t said, “books WILL ship ON TIME!”

 

When Conservative Super Villains Attack…

Oh, Boy.  Is Fox News behind the times or is… wait, I think that obvious, like the 1950’s.

How do we know this, because of a little “news” piece released this week by the Washington DC Fox Affiliate.  I’m going to give you the link, you can go watch and then I will comment.

What a fantastic craptacular job of fear mongering.  What an outstanding job of pulling out the Fredrick Werthum classic Seduction of the Innocent and again proving; if you don’t learn from your past, you are doomed to repeat it.  What a top notch job of dropping any journalistic quality at the door… oh, wait this was Fox News, all of these are common place in any piece, segment or report done by this hack of a company.

The basic thought the piece WANTS to put forth – that these books are sexual and violent – I actually agree with to some extent… but like typical TV journalism (especially local) there is nothing brought forward except fear mongering.  My guess is none of the reporters or anchor monkeys read any of these books because – Comics Are For Kids, Right?

I do feel that DC has dropped the ball on their new line in regards to miss labeling and not doing a better job of making the lines between their teen, teen-plus and mature lines more defined, but this is pretty unfair.  It really does smack of the stuff done in the 1950’swhen comics were brought up before a Senate hearing as subversive and a primary cause of juvenile delinquency.  Comics were burned and banned, censored and creativity was stymied for decades.

LEARN from your past, don’t repeat it.

And if that wasn’t enough…

But maybe I’m over reacting.  This kind of crap has always been here, right?  Well, maybe.  There is a retrospective look at the demonizing of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the early 1990s up over at Comics Alliance worth a look.  No, not the original Eastman/Laird book with the extra dose of violence, no, the TMNT Adventures book published by the same company that put out Archie.  It is head shaking how these religious nutjobs are able to breathe and walk at the same time.  You can find it here.

 

Judge Dredd!!

I’ve already heard from a few of you.  “Oh, Wow.  Have you seen the Batman Trailer?”  “Sweet, Avengers is going to be great.”  I seriously could care less about both of these and anything else coming this summer…. Except, Judge Dredd!

I am a fan of the character, after being immersed in him by a collection my sister brought back from Scotland many years ago as a gift for me.  I just love the political and social satire that is going on in the book, which is published in an anthology titled 200AD.  Dredd turns 35 this year and they are releas…. Why is the sound of crickets chirping the only thing I can hear right now?  You should all be excited for this.

Whatever.  Here is a link to an article about a good superhero movie.  If John Wagner says it’ll be good, It’ll be good.

The rest of you can take your crappy mush mouthed non-Hispanic Bane and bite me.

 

Ronnie’s Reviews…

Batman #5 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capulo

Dang that was awesome.

Grant Morisson spent the last number of years showing us that no matter what, Bruce Wayne is five steps ahead of everything. Usually, more like seven.  He got shot by Darkseid, battled his way through time – all the way to the very end of everything – and came back unscathed!  He was very godlike… and it was awesome.

This current run seems to be the flipside to that. Snyder appears to be deconstructing Bruce and making him battle his own ego, as well as this Court of Owls. This issue we see Batman in the worse shape since the great Venom story by the Denny O’Neil in the early 90s. It’s terrible to see Bruce in such a state, being tormented and torn apart by unseen enemies for days, watching his mind unravel and resolve being destroyed. Like a lot of great horror writers – and this is a horror story – Snyder is keeping us in the dark on a lot of story elements and constantly ratcheting up the tension. This first arc seems to be just the beginning of something very epic and memorable, much like his run on Detective Comics.

Loved it, loved it.  5 Stars.

 

Ronnie’s Best Bets for Books Coming this Week:

American Vampire #23 – Another Scott Snyder written series (Swamp Thing, Severed, Batman), which of course means it is excellent. This will be the second part of the 50s arc featuring a hot rod death race between a young James Dean-ish vampire hunter and the monster that killed his family. The last issue, #22, was not only well written – with hidden twists and turns – but also a terribly fun read.  It would be a great jumping on point to test out this great series.  I think there are a few left in the shop, if not I will order you one and have it in next week.  Did I mention that Rafael Albuquerque is one of the best artists in the biz?  No, well he is.

 

Sweet Tooth TP Vol. 4 – for all y’all saying you are trade waiting for this series, here you go. You now got four volumes to catch up on.  One of the best stories out there by the master of the cliffhanger Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Animal Man, Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.).  Lemire writes and illustrates this tightly written, creepy post-apoclyptic series full of human/animal hybrids, plagues, and survivalist horror.  No more excuses, start it today.  This is one of my favorite series in a long time.

 

Dark Horse Presents #8 - This issue is scheduled to have a new BPRD story – a wake for Hellboy.  It’ll also have the final chapter to the awesome Howard Chaykin story Marked Man that has been running since issue #1.  Most exciting though, is the premier of The Massive by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson. Word is that The Massive will be a post ecological collapse tale. If you were a fan of DMZ (you did read DMZ, right?), this seems to be following some of the same themes, but takes it ten steps further. Can’t wait! This anthology series is for fans of everything.