Archive for the 'Preview' Category

The Week of April 22nd

Published on April 22, 2012 in Best Bets, Comics, Preview and Shop Crap. 0 Comments

New Shop

We are ever closer to opening day for our new location, 2608 Beaver Ave.

If you know all about this, skip on down to the bits of “news” on some great new series set to come out soon.  If you don’t know about it, here are some details.

We are starting the switch over from old shop on Fleur to New Shop in Beaverdale over night between May 4th and 5th.  We will have an End of an Era party starting around 8:00, that will include artists signings, specials, sales and free beer as well as laying out some of the free comic book day books at midnight.

Than we pack.

The comic book switch over will happen in the dead of night and in the first glimmers of the new dawn, 9:00 am, we will reopen in Beaverdale for a big grand opening and Free Comic Book Day event that will go all day and will also have artists signings, specials, sales and free coffee.

Anyone who would like to stay and help us move, is more than welcome too, though no one will be looked down on if you opt for bed.  Only the insane do something like this.

Sometime this week we should have the first pics of the front room of the new shop up on facebook.

 

I know some have bitched about this move.  It is nothing personal, it is NOT a slight to the south side.  I live on the south side of Des Moines.  If we could stay, we would.  However, after ten years, you must understand that financially, you need to consider what is best for a business first and this is what is best.  I can’t really tell you about all the amazing things we could have in store for the future, but they are great.  The new shop will be great.  I promise.

Next week I’ll have a list of new hours and hours for the old shop for the remainder of its existence.

 

New Sin City?!?…

Looks like a second Sin City movie is finally going to see the light of day AND start filming as early as this summer!  “yeah, yeah, we’ve heard this before.”  I think this time we might be actually be headed toward it happening though.  ComicsAlliance had a nice article about it.

What was so amazing about the first film was the accuracy of the translation.  There has NEVER been a better adaptation of comics to film and probably never will be.  If you think back, the original was what REALLY launched the comic to film insanity.  I don’t care what anyone says.  It was Frank Miller, as insane as he is, it is HIS work that is responsible for big companies taking the risk with Iron Man, Thor, Batman, whatever.  It started with Frank.

So, something to hope for out of this, besides another great Rodriguez movie with a ton of death, killing and accuracy to the source material, is the possibility of new Sin City comics… probably published by Dark Horse too.  That is good for everyone.

 

The Massive…

Some of you may know about this book, the rest of you will.  Coming in June from Dark Horse is Brian Wood’s new creator owned book, The Massive.  It is a story of what happens after the end of the world, but unlike most post apocalyptic stories, it will run like DMZ and be set in as close to reality as it is possible with a futuristic story like this.  Some sort of Science Fact, not fiction, if you can have such a thing about future thinking stories.

Over the next month, Ronnie and I will be bringing you a near weekly update on this book and collected Channel Zero (also coming from Dark Horse soon.)  I want to see The Massive as one of our biggest sellers.  I think that won’t be a problem after seeing the huge increase in Conan, after adding Brian Wood as the writer (quadrupled sales with him writing it.)

Just prepare yourself, The Massive is coming.

 

Tiny Titans, not done just yet… Superman Family ready to Launch…

I had a conversation with Art Baltazar at C2E2 and asked him many questions (if you’ve never met him or Franco, they are – without a doubt – some of the best people working in the industry) not the least of which was about what happened with Tiny Titans.

If you don’t know the book ended on issue 50 last month and as a retailer, I can tell you we were showing increased sales every month for the last year plus.

Art told me that it was not cancelled, it was stopped.  DC wanted to relaunch the series with a new number one and the creators were reluctant to cheapen it with the gimmicky restart.  So, a compromise was reached when they were asked what they wanted to do.  They said why not a superman series.  Hence the upcoming Superman Family Adventures, which will be highlighted in the FCBD release from DC.  I have read the little story and can tell you they have the essence of the character Superman better than anyone has for many, many years.

Also, Art said that Titans will be in an upcoming issue of Superman Family and will return in a new volume in the future.  So, fear not Tiny Titans fans.  They will return.  Ah, Yeah!!

As an aside, last year I told Art that sales on Tiny Titans was more than Amazing Spider-man, which prompted him to stand and shout, “I OUT SELL SPIDER-MAN IN – where you from?”  uh, Des Moines… “IN IOWA!!!  AH, YEAH!!!”

As an aside to the aside, everyone who was getting Tiny Titans need not worry about even talking to me about Superman Family, I am just moving your pull over to the new book.

 

Punk Rock Jesus!…

Just announced is the July release of Punk Rock Jesus, a six-issue mini-series written and illustrated by the super awesome Sean Murphy, to be published by Vertigo Comics.

Sean has been hinting and teasing about this project for years.  Best known for his work on Joe The Barbarian with Grant Morrison and American Vampire: Survival of The Fittest with Scott Snyder, and infamous for Jason Aaron’s run on Hellblazer (and Scarecrow: Year One, but I digress).  He also showed off his writing ability in Off Road.

Punk Rock Jesus, what the heck could that be about? According to Sean himself:

“Punk Rock Jesus is my next OGN about what would happen if a major broadcasting company tried to do a reality show of Jesus Christ by cloning him from the Shroud of Turin.  Mayhem ensues between different types of fans: religious people who love/hate the show, angry politicians worried about Jesus running for president one day and scientists who morally appose (sic) cloning.  Eventually the project collapses and the young clone has a breakdown when the show “eliminates” his mother because of ratings.  He runs away, tells the world that he’s an atheist, and fights the power by starting a punk band, The Flack Jackets.  His bodyguard is the witness to the whole epic, reminding him of his own IRA struggle in Belfast when he was young, fighting a different sort of power.  The script is meant to bring up different types of beliefs and comment heavily on the poor state of our country and terrorism in general.”

So, why should you care?  Not only will this series have some of the best art on the shelves, but it will do what comics do well.  An ambitious, nutty plot entertaining the crap out of you, while it also questions and explores topics that most popular media won’t touch.  The very reasons why you loved Preacher, The Invisibles, Transmetropolitan and, I suppose, Crossed.  Every time a series successfully breaks barriers like this, the medium, as a whole, is moved forward.

I’ve got a gut feeling this will be one of the best series of 2012, and I urge all of you to give it a shot.  I believe it will be solicited in the May Previews catalog in a couple weeks, so make sure you pre-order it.  (If you’ve never done a Previews pre-order, just ask the jerk at the counter how.  It’s simple and not only ensures you will get what you want, but lets us know what our customers want and helps us order and stock more accurately.)  Otherwise, this will be the series you’ll be pissed you could only get a 2nd print of, or pay out your nose on E-bay.

Murphy sums up his reasoning for doing this project thusly, “I’d be neglecting my responsibilities as an artist and an atheist if I put off Punk Rock Jesus any longer. Especially in an election year.”  Man, this series is going to rock!

 

Ronnie’s Best Bets

BPRD: Hell on Earth – The Pickens County Horror #2 of 2

If there is one book this week I can honestly recommend, it would be this two issue mini-series.  The first issue was excellent, along with one of the best covers in recent memory (Becky Cloonan.)

If you have never read BPRD, this is your perfect chance to find out why it is so consistently one of the best series every month.  The shop has a few copies of #1 left, but ask nicely and I can get more.  Get it, love it.  No excuses.

I’m also gonna grab All-Star Western #8, American Vampire #26, Spaceman #6 and Pigs #7. Probably take a look at The New Deadwardians #2, the first issue showed some real promise.

What are you gonna get?

 

Week of March 12th

Published on March 12, 2012 in Comics and Preview. 0 Comments

C-Day is Wednesday!…

Not only is it the launch of the new Crossed book, Badlands – written by Garth Ennis – but we are also having a party to support it!  The madness starts at 5:00 and goes until 8:00.  We will have prizes, variants, discounts, freebies, sales, drink specials and yes, of course, FREE BEER!  What do you have to do?  Well, not much but show up.  (It would be great if you came in a costume, but it is not required.)

 

Avengers vs. X-Men…

We are having a launch party for the new mega Marvel crossover event as well.  It will be Tuesday, April 3rd.  I will have more details in the coming weeks.

 

On to the rest of the weekly.

 

Moebius Passes Away…

The comic industry lost another of its greats over the weekend.  The French artist Jean Giraud, who went by the pen name Moebius, passed after a long illness.  He was 73.

If you are not familiar with his work, go look it up.  He is one of my personal favorites.  Comics-wise he is known for starting Metal Hurlant and working on primarily French language comics.  However, he did concept art, story boards or design work for such films as Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, The Abyss and The Empire Strikes Back.

If you are not familiar with Moebius, check out some art and a write up from Comic Alliance and if you want to learn more about this amazing man, his art and influence he had on the industry, head over to Jimmy Palmiotti’s site and watch the video the BBC did on him.

 

It has been a bad year for the passing of comic greats.  Just last week Shelly Moldoff passed away and earlier Joe Simon left us.  Hopefully though, knowing there will be an ever increasing number of the founders of passing on, the industry will do the best thing for these legends and get their work back into circulation before they pass and use proceeds to properly fund groups like the Hero Initiative or directly give more of the profits back to these creators in their later years.

 

Reviews…

Justice League #6 By Geoffery Johns and Jim Lee

I am not going to review this book.  I will leave Comic Alliance to do so.  They had a very nice point/counter point two part review on their site this last week.  Here is the positive and this is the negative. I think most people know where I stand on this comic, so, instead I will review websites.

 

The Comic “News” Website

There are a bunch websites out there about comics.  It seems like there are more every day.  Frankly, too many if you ask me.  I have heard a lot of people say how often they visit one or another and I want to point you to one over several.  It is Comic Alliance.  I have moved from Newsarama (probably the worst) to Comic Book Resources (pretty whorish, these guys never write a bad review about a Marvel or DC book) to Bleeding Cool (all rumor all the time) and finally have found one that seems to point out the important news without all the BS.

They do a nice job of writing actual stories about the “news” that is going on (Bleeding Cool seems to write about three sentences and leaves you in the end going to find more info somewhere else anyway.)  They will write a bad review about a book or a show.  They know and understand that doing a review is going to potentially piss someone off and you might not be able to get a comment from them, but then in the end, that is what journalism is about… not making everyone happy all the time.

It is just a damn good site and you should really use it over the others mentioned.  Please.

 

DC’s New Website

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention DC setting up their new site.  I’m always interested (repulsed) by the big company’s sites.  Most of the time they have little to no new or decent info, yet these idiots are constantly sending out press releases and whathaveyou to other media outlets.  I don’t get it.  Over the last couple years, DC had been getting good about putting up more new info in house, if you will.  Releasing it on their “Source” blog.  Then, the new 52 made it better to release it every Tom, Dick and Harry that has a news service.  I guess it really is in vogue to carry and cover comic “news” ‘cause these entertainment “news” types jump when one of the big two says too.

What I’m rambling on about is the terrible new DC website.  Big, gaudy and sterile it looks like an operating table on the web with pictures of DC heroes we once might have recognized.  They just can’t seem to get anything right.

 

Ronnie’s Best Bets…

It appears that this week’s theme is new series with titles starting with “S”.

 

Saga #1 – The return of Brian K Vaughn (Y The Last Man, Ex Machina.)  His return to comics is a much hyped event, but from what I can tell about Saga, it’s probably deservedly so.  He is one of my favorite writers, and like Brian Wood, I will try just about any creator owned series they do.  They almost always deliver some of my favorite series, and always with a great artist.  This time around Vaughn brings along the awesome Fiona Staples (Mystery Society).

Saga appears it will be as ambitious as Y The Last Man, but this takes place on another planet.  The hook of this sci-fi epic is that it follow the lives of new parents on this alien world while they try to raise their child in the middle of a huge space war.  A scenario most parents in peace time have probably thought about themselves, but maybe minus the intergalactic part.

The first issue is scheduled to be a double-sized 44 pages with no ads. And still 2.99.

 

Saucer Country #1 – From formerly Marvel-centric writer Paul Cornell and artist extraordinaire Ryan Kelley (Local) comes a political drama centered on the Governor of New Mexico running for president. The only problem is that she had recently been abducted by aliens, and now needs to save the world.  The book will have an interesting style to it.  After every arch there will be a “true” tales of abduction that Cornell promises to be scary, funny and the gambit inbetween.

 

The Secret History of DB Cooper #1 – You’ve probably heard the story of DB Cooper. He’s the guy who in 1971 hijacked a commercial flight, got a $200,000 ransom, than parachuted from the plane never to be heard from again. No real evidence ever surfaced on what happened to him, but it is largely believed he got away. The guy is one of my folk heroes.

This series, like last week’s The Manhattan Project, is doing a revisionist history job on the legend, filling in the blanks with secret government projects too weird for the public to know about, this time during the Cold War rather than WWII. Published by Oni Press, which is always a good sign.

 

The Week of March 5th

Published on March 5, 2012 in Comics and Preview. 0 Comments

Next Week Is C-Day!

We are having a party next Wednesday (March 14th) to celebrate one of our best selling horror books of all time, Crossed.  This is a national day of recognition for the re-launch of the book (now ongoing) with Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows returning.

The party will be from 5:00pm to 8:00pm and we will have Prizes, Variants, Freebies, Discounts, Drink Specials, Sales and yes, of course, Free Beer!!

It is the beginning of the new end of the world, what better reason to have a party.

(…and if you were wondering, YES, we are having an Avengers vs. X-Men party.  It will be Tuesday, April 4th, but I talked about that last week, this week is about Crossed.)

 

Avatar and Crossed…

So, Crossed?  Has there ever been a company or a specific book that screams, “is this the one that has finally crossed the line?”  It might be, but that is exactly why I defend it, stock it and recommend it to th right customer.  However, you need to know a little history to understand why.

It all dates back to the 1950’s.  Entertaining Comics, EC, was not the first company to come under fire for publishing comics.  However, it was their set of horror books that were singled out in the mid fifties with censorship that would eventually cause them to cease publishing.  It was also those horror books that were declared to be one of the main reasons for juvenile delinquency.  No, it was not families moving to the suburbs.  No, it was not those moves creating board latch-key kids.  No, it was not massive social and psychological changes created by a near perpetual war economy for over a decade and a half.  It was Comic Books!!

It is the same type of argument used then that is used whenever there is a school shooting.  “What caused this?  It must be the violent video games or that devil inspired heavy metal music!!!”  You understand this isn’t the case, I understand this isn’t the case, but do the infinitely wiser powers that be understand this?  NO, they do not.  They need a scapegoat and if it isn’t found, and found quickly, they might have to deal with the real problem.

Now, I’m not saying our current slew of violent and gory video games, movies or comic books are safe for everyone.  I am not saying they should be sold to everyone, especially kids, but should they not be sold to those who are mature enough to read them?  That in lies the question about censorship and begins to bring about my extreme support for Avatar publishing.

 

When Crossed came out originally, it was looked at as simply taking the zombie genre to its extreme next level.  If you have never read the book, let me explain.  It takes the typical and extremely overdone zombie plague situation and instead of creating flesh eating cannibals, it turns average citizens into completely depraved psychopaths.  Being chased by a zombie, well, sure, you are in a bad situation, but if the zombie catches you, the worst that might happen is being eaten alive.  Yes, not a real great end, but in Ennis’s Crossed, the people who have turned have their moral centers flipped off.  They have crossed over.  If you haven’t read the comic, well, think of the worst thing that someone can possibly do to you… well, whatever it was you thought of, the book shows you something worse.

It is the comic equivalent of the new film genre dubbed torture-porn.  Avatar, with the success of Crossed, realized – and had already been publishing some rather extreme books up to this point – that there was money to be made in pushing those boundaries.   Like the film genre this comic genre is NOT for everyone.  However, for those who can deal with it and enjoy it, it is offered and I support the right of the publisher to create it, my right to sell it – responsibly – and your right to read it.

However, this is NOT how some feel.  Can you imagine what a political hack like say current Republican presidential candidate and frothy mix-master Rick Santorum would say about Crossed?  He would call for it to be banned – but then he would probably like to see us move back to the mid fifties and the extreme censorship of that era and the next three decades our industry suffered under.

 

I got a call from Avatar about a year ago and was offered an ordering incentive.  I asked why I was being called and my rep, Keith, told me, “Well, you are one of the top 100 shops that sell Crossed.”  I responded, “but we are a small shop.  Really, we are one of the top 100?” Keith responded, saying, “Actually, you are in the top seventy five.”  I was so shocked and said, “I don’t know if I’m surprised happy or surprised scared that my customers are… crazy!”

 

Avatar might be the hardest working comic company in the industry.  They are fighting for space on the shelf against companies that feel whatever they publish should be carried; no matter how poor it is in quality.

It is why I am having a party to celebrate them – and the top horror book being published.  Little companies need as much or more support -and help- than the big two.  The books might not be for everyone, but if you dig ‘em, awesome.  I’ll always stock them for you.  I will never fear the big black specter of censorship.

 

Want even more Crossed… and for free?

Avatar is launching a web comic on C-day as well.  It is called Wish You Were Here and being written by Si Spurrier and drawn by Javier Barreno.  It’ll be put up on a weekly basis on Avatar’s website.  The plot will revolve around a group of Scottish survivors who are attempting to create an island stronghold.  It will eventually be collected in trade.

If you need all the info Go to Avatar’s website for more.

 

Sheldon Moldoff

It is my sad duty to inform you all of the passing of this great golden and silver age artist.  Shelly is primarily known for his long artistic run during the 50’s and 60’s on Batman.  However, he was un-credited as he did the art, but Bob Kane took the credit.  Shelly never felt anger about this though.  He was happy to have work doing what he loved when so many other artist were unable to.

If the name rings a bell, but you just can’t place it, it is because he was the guest of honor years ago at a Xanacon put on by former comic shop (Xanadu Comics) owner James Kirby.  It was Kirby that helped me down my path to what I do today, but it was Shelly who made me want to learn more about the history of comics.

I was at the con when Kirby came over to me and asked me to run Shelly over to the dinner across the street from the hotel the con was at.  I must have had a blank look of shock on my face, “Yes, of course I would do that.”  I took Shelly for a grilled cheese sandwich and talked golden age comics.  It is one of my most fond and pleasant memories I have with comics.  Thank you Shelly, you will be missed sir.

 

Ronnie’s Top Picks and Previews…

A new month and this brings a pretty big week of big stuff.  It was nice to see a Scalped last week, but look at all these new goodies!

Fairest #1 – –Get this for $1.99 if you buy it Wed the 7th!!–

A new ongoing in Bill Willingham’s Fables world, if the quality is anything near the Cinderella mini’s in recent years, it should be a good time.  Featuring a rotating creative crew, the first arc boasts Willingham scripts with art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning.

 

Animal Man #7/Swamp Thing #7 - Two of the best titles that DC has to offer are nearing their crossover they hinted at since the beginning of the series.  Both of these books keep getting better and better and weirder and weirder.

 

Manhattan Projects #1 – A new ongoing from Jonathan Hickman is always worth a look.  A lot of his creative owned series have been some of the best stuff on the racks (Nightly News, Pax Romana), the other half were always ambitious and attempting some new idea or angle (Transhuman.)  This one is supposedly the untold story of events surrounding the creation of the atomic bomb, which was apparently the public cover for all sorts of weird experiments.  Starring all your favorite mad scientists like Robert Oppenheimer,  that old hippy Einstein, and probably some Nazi’s too.  Featuring art from Nick Pitarra who did Red Wing with Hickman last year.

SIDE NOTE – Ronnie’s irrational aversion to Marvel is causing him to miss Hickman’s work on The Fantastic Four.  One of the three best runs on the book in its illustrious history and we aren’t done yet.  Each issue is an amazing science experiment in storytelling, with a really cool family that you wish you were part of.  I wish the style and panache that Hickman writes this book would rub off onto other writers.  Probably too much to ask.

Also, in another month, Hickman has another creator owned book coming from Image called Secret.

 

Also worth your time:

Fatale #3 - Criminal meets Lovecraft written by Ed Brubaker!  Not many copies of this as it has been selling out with each issue.  You need to get this on your hold list if you want it, though I’ll have second prints eventually.

 

Rachel Rising #6 – What would it take to get you to try this? This is what comics are for!  A perfect melding of art and writing.  If you don’t read this book… why are you reading comics?

 

Sweet Tooth #31 – If not now, when? Like Rachel Rising, this is an example of a master comics creator using the full potential of the medium. One of my top 3 favorite titles right now.

 

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #8 – This is one of those rare books that defies all logic: A good Bendis superhero book? A death of a major character, and he stays dead? A book suitable for a 10 year old as well as anyone else? A minority character without an ethnic codename? An exciting angle on Spider-Man? A Marvel book I read? I started buying this for my 8 year old son, but I read it before I give it to him because I dig it too. Highly suggest.

RONNIE?!!? – you read this but not Fantastic Four or FF?  Really?

 

The Green Lantern Animated Series…

The News Man, Dan Finney, has another five sentence review this time of the Cartoon Network’s new Ring Slinging Emerald Warrior, Green Lantern.  Hopefully they get Guy Gardner right.  You can find it here.

 

Note on Gaming at the Shop…

We occasionally have Heroclix tournaments and games on Sundays at the shop.  Next week we will have a 500 point plastic Heroclix game if you are interested or know someone who might be.  All are welcome and if you would like to learn how to play, you are welcome too and Adam will teach.

 

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!