I don’t know if I would go that far, but I think certain writers and executives and editors at the big two comic companies go a little over board in the attention they give the posts made and the posters who make them.

Why am I mentioning this, well it involves what took place in the last few pages of issue seven of Justice League: Cry For Justice.  I am giving you the big SOILER ALERT right now as I am about to talk about and ruin the ending of this book.

I’m going to do it.

Please avert your eyes!!

Your Last Warning!

DC’s Continuity and Morals: The fans who care and the writers who don’t…

Last week DC released the book Justice League: Cry for Justice #7 and with it came a storm of posts about the righteousness of what is done at the end.  In issue six Prometheus (Grant Morrison’s super villain created during his run on JLA) is defeated as he is taking down a group who might be the Justice League (I’m not really sure, I didn’t read the first couple issues.)  During the fight Arsenal (Green Arrow’s former sidekick Speedy) losses an arm.  (Yep, the whole thing, shut-up it’s important later.)

While Prometheus is imprisoned at a secret Justice League compound or something a back-up/fail safe goes into effect threatening a number of DC cities like Opal, Central and Fawcett with shimmery destructive, er, destruction.  If Prometheus is not released he will destroy one city at a time until he is.  The Justice League refuses and Prometheus levels Star City, Green Arrow’s home town, killing tens of thousands of people including Arsenal’s daughter Lian.

A lot of bad James Robinson writing (he has done so much better than this) later and a lot of different people talking leads someone, not sure who, in the Justice League to officially decide to let him go (the big splash page makes it look like everyone is talking at once.) I guess they do this so none of the other cities will be destroyed as they could not figure out a way to stop the destructive destruction which might or might not have started in the other cities that were not Star City.  (I wasn’t really sure if all the cities were actually being destroyed or not or if they were lightly being messed up… the art or storytelling isn’t very clear.)

This all, I guess, takes place before Blackest Night and in an epilogue three pages later, Green Arrow shows up in a secret secret Prometheus hideout and puts an arrow between Prometheus’s eyes exclaiming “Justice.”  Hence the name of the book, get it?

There are a number of problems I had with the few issues I read, but the posters on a few boards were put off by Green Arrow killing.  I ask, seriously, that is your problem?  The series is ripe with plot holes, inconsistencies throughout and art that didn’t flow well with the dialogue on the pages, but if the big ending/cliffhanger/thing is your first problem maybe you should look at the book again, but if you know your Green Arrow continuity this should NOT be a surprise.  Ollie has killed several times.

Now, he is no Wolverine, who can easily be put in the mass murderer section of our righteous quagmire, but in just a quick look through the first few issues of the Mike Grell ongoing Green Arrow series from several decades ago, Ollie and Black Canary kill nearly a person an issue and in The Long Bow Hunters (the mini-series Grell wrote and drew before the ongoing was started) Ollie kills or allows to be killed four people who had captured Black Canary and were torturing her.  Ollie is no Superman or Batman who always find a way.

I understand what is going on, the old “need to shake up the character and the character’s around him by creating a big moral question of right and wrong” card.  We want to question the thought process of the Justice League and Green Arrow’s morals.  I get it.  No really I do, but get your facts and your continuity straight first and didn’t we do this a few years ago?  What did we call it calling it… uh, Identity Crisis?  Nah, no one will remember, go with it.

The basic moral question, I guess that is a personal judgment call.  I like Superman and Batman and DC comics of old and do NOT believe killing is ever an option for a DC hero.  Marvel, hell, it’s a little more morally malleable.   I’ve read a lot of Punisher and LOVE Jason Aaron’s take on Wolverine in his Weapon X book, where Logan admits to holy righteous roller Captain America he’s a mega-murderer.

DC heroes don’t kill, but Ollie already has and, I guess, did so again for pretty good reasons. (Torture of your wife or girl friend equals pretty good reason.  Killing nearly 100,000 people in your home city, probably good enough reason for someone who has let people drown and allowed others to kill because they were poisoning the streets or running drugs or just a generally bad corporate criminal.)

So, where is this going?  This week Justice League: Rise and Fall Special comes out.  This is supposed to try and jump start the failing Green Arrow book (though the last couple jump starts haven’t helped either and this book has been REALLY bad lately.)  It is a major story arc that will put Ollie on the outs with and on the run from the Justice League.  This could be either good or bad as it sort-of ties you into a corner.

Breaking a bat-back is one thing, killing a Bat-man is another.  Having a Batman die via super evil god bullet that propels the victim into the past, probably easy to fix (Wow, that sounds bad when you say it out load, sorry Curt.)  Killing off Superman’s dad via heart attack, not so easy.  What I’m trying to get at is everything is fixable in comics.  Some fixes are as easy as forgetting about the pesky continuity.  Some are tougher when they are rather recent.  Do you make Ollie an outlaw for the next couple years?  Is he an assassin now?  Or this all years until we forget he hunted down and murdered someone.  “Hey, no problem.  We forgive you, come on back to the League YOU helped found.”

It is at least a different direction and take on the character and heroes in the DC universe, but major changes are sticky things when consequences to the book are not fully thought out.  I’ll be reading, as I have a full run of every solo issue Green Arrow has ever appeared in and can’t stop now.  (At this point I don’t stop even if, shudder, Judd Winick comes back on the book, though that would seriously make me stop and think about stopping.)  But will other readers come on and give it a try?  Hopefully it will at the very least take a “good” turn in writing if though a “bad” one for the morals of one of DC’s top characters.

Review time…

Holy Cats, that new Steven King book “N” is great!  Alex Maleev’s art is so very creepy and Mark Guggenheim’s story telling is fantastic.  The basic premise is that the remains of a house where a grisly murder took place hold an evil spirit/demon/monster thing and after driving one man to kill themselves is after a new victim.  It takes place in Maine, too.

The thing I liked most about Guggenheim’s storytelling was his pacing.  It starts in the past with two page spreads and very little words, letting the scary pictures do the haunting.  It draws you in,  and will not let you go as it moves forward in time from one lost soul to the next.  I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys a good horror comic.  It is only four issues, but is priced $3.99.  It will be out in hardcover not long after the last issue is out, if you can wait that long.

Two quickies…

If you are not reading Unwritten and Sweet Tooth, I ask what is wrong with you.  Both are quickly climbing up our sales charts with Unwritten one of our best selling books.  Currently all seven issues of Sweet Tooth are in stock, starting with the first issue which is only a dollar.  The first arc tells of the post-apocalyptic road story an antlered boy and his savior take to the mythical (?) preserve.  Great, Sad and scary.

And Unwritten, the messed up alternate adult version of Harry Potter, has its first trade out and collects the first five issues for only $9.99.  Everyone should be reading this book.  If you have to drop a crappy superhero book and start reading this one on Wednesday.  No, scratch that, don’t drop a book, just eat less for dinner that night.

Join the BPRD…

Yep, another issue of BPRD is coming out this week making it worth doing the shipment.  Who knows, no BPRD, maybe I just decide to not do it some week.  Write Dark Horse and tell them to keep it coming or NO COMICS!

Nonetheless, now is your chance to join the BPRD yourself.  I’ve always thought you were a little weird, but now you can finally fit in.  Here is what Dark Horse sent me today:

The stories in Hellboy, BPRD, Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson and Witchfinder share a weave of common threads: strong characterization, an ongoing storyline that’s shared between titles, a pantheon of heros and villains, cool monsters, awesome superpowers and smash-em up action.
To celebrate a particularly exciting publishing period, we’ve created a new program that will give our most loyal fans something extra. We’re calling it “Join the BPRD!”
Readers who sign up will have access to monthly exclusives and first looks, including: news, covert art, interiors, editorial commentary, creator signings, first-in-line privileges, contests, discounts, freebies and more. The program will run on the Facebook platform as it allows fans to share a common social network, chat with each other, give us feedback, track events and get excited. We’re encouraging readers and retailers to join Facebook, but we’ll make the program available to non-members via a regular newsletter as well.

I’m already signed up and you can too!  Go here: www.darkhorse.com/Newsletter

Iowa Public TV Challenge…

I want to challenge all of you to call in to Iowa Public Television on Friday night and make some pledge (small is fine, just make a pledge) during the Red Dwarf segment between 10 and 12:30.  Several customers from the shop, a number of the 501^st Central Garrison and others from Geeky Christmas will be there taking pledges.

You’ve heard my praise of Public Television in the past.  We have a great station here in Des Moines and it needs help.  Frankly, this is something that needs to be done, because our suck government won’t do it for us, but don’t get me started down that road.

So please, if you can, call and make a pledge.

So, this week I would like to highlight just a few things I found that might have some interest for you.  If you sit up in amazement and say “I’ve got to have that when it comes out”  Just e-mail me or let someone know the next time you are in the shop.  OR, you could always get a coffee and sit with the phonebook shaped catalogue and flip through it?

…Now with panels instead of paragraphs.

There are some big names in literature getting in on this comic thing.  I’ll comment more on this with some general thought surrounding this later, but right now I just want to point out the books.

First up is Janet Evanovich (and Alex Evanovich) and her new work, Troublemaker.  Published through Dark Horse, this is a continuation of her very popular Barnaby series as a 112 page graphic novel.  The book will be hard cover and feature art from Joelle Jones, who most recently did the Dr. Horrible one shot.

Next up is James Patterson and a serialized version of his Witch and Wizard series.  Battle for Shadowland will see his teenage characters go up against the New Order after magic is declared evil incarnate.  The series will come from IDW, but will only feature characters from Patterson, not his actual writing.

And then there is Stephen King.  This guy, he sold a book or two here and there, has already been working with and in the world of comics for some time and it is understood he is a very big fan of the medium.  His Stand and Dark Tower series have been very successful, especially in collected form outside of the direct comic market.

Now he finally putting pen to paper for comics in American Vampire.  (He did do a short Marvel story some years ago in a benefit book, but nothing since.)  King will write one of the two stories in the new mini-series about a new form of vampire, purely American and not glittering in any way.  The first issue arrives on March 17^th from Vertigo.

King also has an adaptation of his novel The Talisman coming from Del Rey books (but not for a couple months.)  It will be hard cover and feature the writing of Robin Furth and Peter Straub.  I believe this to be a series of books, much like the Stand and Dark Tower are.  It tells the story of a journeyman traveling from our earth to an alternate world.

AND… this very week will see the MUCH less hyped series “N.”  It is based on Just After Sunset from a recent collection of King short stories.  It is only a four issue long mini-series and has some serious hitters putting in work on it.  Mark Guggenheim is taking on the writing chores and Alex Maleev will be on art.  I really haven’t seen much on this, which kind of surprises me.  The story, however, sounds great.  It revolves around a Stonehenge like structure in, of course, Maine that might be controlling one man and may have already killed another.  Oh, and there is an evil eye at the rock ring’s center and scary looking demon on the cover.  Okay, I’ll read it.

How many Hornets are too many?…

One month ago there were, count them, NO Green Hornet books out.  In two months time, there will be not one, not three, nope… not four, keep going, YES, FIVE!!  In comics, nothing says success like over saturation?!!?

All this is structured around Kevin Smith’s script for a Hornet movie that didn’t get enough traction a few years ago.  (A shame, because I think more so then the eighteenth X-Men movie or the forty first Superman re-boot, this could have been pretty good.)  It is that script that is being turned into Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet (book 1.)  This comes out Wednesday.

Then there is The Green Hornet: Year One (book 2) written by Matt Wagner and Kevin Smith’s Kato (book 3) written by Ande Parks and drawn by Ale Garza.  These start next month in April.  After that are Kato Origins: Way of the Ninja (book 4) and The Green Hornet Strikes (book 5.)  They will be out in two months, May.

I could not find a listing in Previews as to the limited-ness of their runs, but I assume some, if not all, are limited to some extent.  Every single one of them have at least two variant covers and several have multiple regular covers.  The regular Green Hornet (um, book 1 if you need numerical reference) book’s issue three has at least seven different covers listed and order options for a signed one as well.

Who would unleash such a monster on the unsuspecting comic buying public, well, none other than Dynamite Entertainment the comic publishing wing of super speculating Dynamic Forces.

So, why is this too much?  Well, I was marveling over this onslaught (get it?) aloud and my wife asked what I was mumbling about.  I told her, “well, there will be five different books from once there were none, all based around Green Hornet” and I kid you not, she stopped me and said, “who is Green Hornet?”  My wife is not dumb and fairly with it on pop culture references. I rest my case on this being too many books too fast.

More Rings Anyone?…

The Blackest Night ring promotion must have gone over well, because there are more to come.  I don’t want to give anything away, but there will be White Lantern Power Rings associated with the release of Brightest Day #1. (The “revelation” of this new Lantern was in Blackest Night #7 which came out last week and frankly, if you didn’t see that coming, you are blind as a Batman.)

There will also be Flash rings connected with the release of the new ongoing and relaunched issue number one.  If you are not familiar with the character of Barry Allen, he carried a tightly rolled up costume inside a lightning bolt emblem embossed ring.  (Yeah, and still no one knew it was him.  “Hey, Barry was your high school the Bolts?”  “You born in the year of the lightning bolt?”)

We will be offering the same deal with both of these rings that we did with the Blackest Night tie-in books.  Buy the book, get a free ring or if you just want the ring it will be $2.00.  We hope this will present a reason to stay with the book.  Pretty good guess that once the Legion of Super Heroes is relaunched with Paul Levitz at the helm, there will probably be flight rings too.

Two books to report on…

Read today that Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s new creator owned book, formerly called Splatterman, has had to go through a renaming.  Due to a legal challenge and deciding on the better part of valor they will now call it Random Acts of Violence.  It is set to come out April 28^th and though the price will be $6.99, you will get 66 pages of blood spattered goodness.

Speaking of violence and blood, Crossed #9 hits stands Wednesday and Avatar is already set to go with a new story happening “at the same time” the events in Garth Ennis’s twisted tale take place.  It will be called Crossed: Family Values and if your thoughts are, “no, no one should write more,” go read the editorial page in Previews by long time twisted story teller David Lapham.  It is some funny and probably rather sane logic that he lays down about creative types, insanely horrific storytelling and Garth Ennis.  It had me turned from, “no I don’t want any of that” to “yes please, more.”

AND… if you have not read Crossed, one of the best and most disturbing horror reads I’ve ever put before my eyes, it is due out in trade paperback and hardcover sometime in April.

A Beer with Batman…

Though that sounds better, I would rather have a beer with Superman, but as we know DC won’t allow that (tried to happen on the cover of an issue of Action Comics once, don’t ask) but now you can if you want to.  There are pint glasses offered from the company Toon Tumblers again and now available to be ordered individually.  We will be getting some of these, but preordering (making it a little easier for me to know how many of each to order) will get you a dollar off each you put down AND pay for.  They are $10.99 each and Batman, Superman, The Joker, Justice League, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman are all available.  I have several Marvel characters myself and they just so mauch better then a regular plain pint glass.

Enough hocking of goods.  Time for some incoherent rambling.

Best Selling Blah, Blah, Blah…

Isn’t it great that we are being blessed by the mere presence of such a fantastic bunch of writers who so graciously are bestowing their talents to us, the sub-humans that dwell in the dark dank corners of comic book shops like foul bug eyed morlocks.  These the high and mighty of the New York Times’ Best Seller ranks, who can’t sell an idea to Whorey-wood anymore because of those darned upstart comic creators, are now going to give it the “old college spirit” and try their hand at this new literary SUB-genre.

My mother gave me an article out of that there Des Moines Register Newz-paper about the James Patterson book I mentioned above.  (I think she gave it to me because she secretly wants to read it without saying the words, “Son, would you please order me this comic book.”)  In the article, Patterson is quoted as saying, “Comics could reach a much larger audience than they do right now.  With the quality work and talent that’s out there, this industry could be much bigger.”

WOW JAMES, are you going to save us?  Well, [expletives deleted] and the horse you rode in on.  Frankly, we don’t need you.  I was fine without these writers and will be fine once they go away.  Thanks for gracing us with your presence, but kindly go back to where you came from and leave us alone.

OH, I get why the comic companies what them here.  Publicity, real mainstream news attention and you get to have your COMIC books on the same rack as the REAL literature.  You get to feel like you’ve made it in the REAL world of REAL publishing.  And with a big city name on it, you can sell it to some Hollywood hotshot for big bucks.

Some of the above is sarcasm, if you hadn’t guessed, but a goodly amount is straight up fact.  We need to be proud of our medium for what it is and challenge the interlopers to produce.  Anyone remember the cluster left in the wake of Dick Donner on Action Comics or Brad Meltzer’s run of quality on Justice League?  I’m not saying we need a secret club with decoder rings, though the blackest night rings really kind of do that for us already, but the above noted publicity/media attention and new readership, which are all good things, should not be worth sacrificing our industry’s soul.  Or is it too late for that at this point?

(and you thought you wouldn’t get some real venom from me this week?)

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.

(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.

(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.

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:

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…

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.

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.

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/

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…

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?

Well, I have a new reason to hate them.  Rich Johnston of Bleedingcool.com found a couple of priceless quotes from moron public relations people (yes, I know… it’s redundant) promoting Spartacus: Blood and Sand (some gladiator show on Starz.)  You can read his full story at www.bleedingcool.com/2010/01/24/im-spartacus-but-i-am-not-a-graphic-novel/, but the comments that really bore into my skin and the reason for the Johnston article refer to the shows style as “graphic novel” like.  Take this quote for example, “We always wanted to tell this story in a very graphic novel way.”  They refer to the special effects as “graphic novel” like.  Unless it is done with FREAK’N pictures, it isn’t going to be even anywhere close to a graphic novel!!!!

Johnston says the press release for Sherlock Holmes stated the movie was based on a graphic novel – which as far as anyone knows, does not exist.

So, besides being lazy, ignorant and unable to read, what would be the reasons for constantly referring to comics? (Granted I’m sure the *&%#ing idiots do not even have the foggiest idea what an actual graphic novel is and would certainly not know the difference between a comic, a collected edition or collected work and a graphic novel, but like always, I digress.)

I can only come up with the thoughts that comics are so far superior then the absolute &%$# they have been getting from “real” writers over the last few years, that our superior medium must look like it is packed with geniuses galore.  Books, having SO many pages and words are just too time consuming and… long or like Steven Spielbergo said a few years ago, before he put out yet another terrible Jones film and after directing Road to Perdition, that he needed to make more films based on graphic storytelling – these are already story boarded.

Now, granted, what happens when the untalented hacks get done failing with film?  We let them come and write bad comics – Kevin Smith, Reginald Hudlin, Dick Donner, the list goes on and on – and then over promote their crap, probably saying it is very film like in its storytelling.  I quit.

Walking Dead on TV…

So why am I telling you that it looks like The Walking Dead is finally going to be made into a TV series and Frank Darabont might direct the pilot episode?  I don’t know.  Maybe because I respect Darabont as a creator and The Mist is one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen.  Maybe, I thought you’d care.  Here, go read for yourself:

www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=13750

Then ask Robert Kirkman some time, if you see him, about how much his “co-creator” Tony Moore is making off the rights.  Do it, I double dog dare you.

Local kid cast as Conan?…

Does this make us all Cimmerian’s?  (Pronounced with a hard C, say it like carrot… Ka-marry-anne.  Good.)  Jason Moma, who grew up In Norwalk (yep, the same home town as Superman) has the part.  His biggest roles were in Stargate: Atlantis and Baywatch.  Moma is a big guy and certainly looks the part of the barbarian.  For his sake though, I hope Iowa Native has a better big movie first casting  then Brandon Routh did (and it most certainly wasn’t Routh’s fault in Superman either.)

I don’t know how good this will be.  The director is known for the remake of Friday the 13^th and they are talking about having Conan’s father in it (to possibly be played by Mickey Rourke.)  We don’t need an origin story for a barbarian warrior, we need cleaving of giant  flying ape men, an evil sorcerer and mostly naked damsels being in a great degree of distress.  Conan is not brain surgery, though it is amazing how much bad Conan has been done – in comic, prose and film.

I hope it is good…. But… I just don’t have faith.

But on to good things, like REAL paper comics…

Switching subjects to good, happy, positive things.  So… what is coming out this week?  Hmmm, could it be… BATMAN AND FREAK’N ROBIN!!!?!!!  Yes, after a month off the title returns and with MUCH better art.  Cameron Stewart, the man who worked with Grant Morrison on Sea Guy, will be behind the pencil this arc.

Thank Dio, because was it just me or was Phillip Tan’s art so bad it made you want to skip the pictures and just read the balloons?  Double sized bad on it was, the only reason he was on the book was to promote his art chores on the editor in chief’s stint on the then upcoming Outsiders!  How bad are you when you need THAT kind of help (writer or artist) or how bad is Outsiders?

I’m going to again mention two, what I would consider, underperforming Marvel books due out this week; Daredevil and Fantastic Four.  If you don’t read them and are looking for a solid, well written super-hero stories, give them a try.

If you are reading the Blackest Night series and need a little bit more, I am going to guess the Atom and Hawkman #46 due out this week should be pretty good.  Geoff Johns is writing and Ryan Sook is doing art… Yes, that Ryan Sook, we don’t get his art very often, so take advantage.  I haven’t read all of the one shots and specials, but the ones I have, have been pretty good.  I think overall for a giant universe spanning crossover it has been better than the ones of recent years.

Starman #81, which was also one of those cancelled, now revived DC Blackest Night books, was actually really, really good.  It reminds me why I loved that series when it was coming out.  James Robinson, when he isn’t writing bad Superman books, can be a good writer.

So, why do those Superman books suck so bad?  I think, if you read the Starman issue you see why.  Robinson tells a great character driven story.  The great revel is slow and deliberate, not the big bang that is, I’m sure, required from the Superman stories.  If Robinson was allowed to write a book where we could see Clark Kent on an assignment for the Daily Planet and dealing with his day to day troubles, I’m sure it would be good.  However, DC has long taken the character of Clark Kent out of Superman, to the detriment of the character, and the poor writers who have been stuck on the book.  But that is just my two cents, I could be wrong.

Sir, Your filtered bean extract is ready…

I don’t usually talk about coffee in this column, but it is a part of our business.  If you don’t care skip ahead, but I wanted to bring to your attention something Bonnie, my best customer, told me today.  The [expletives deleted] coffee chain that I won’t even utter the name of has decided to once again raise their prices.  The story is right here:  www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/business/21sbux.html

I just found it so very interesting that this is their second major price increase in a year during a recession and it reminds me what kind of business practices they operate under.  We were contemplating a slight raising of prices, for some items the first time they have ever been raised in the shop’ history.  Hmm, this really makes the decision a little easier.

Everyone who knows me knows I don’t just hate the “coffee” chain that shall not be mentioned, I will start fights with people who drink their stale burn bean juice.  They are the devil incarnate, if you believe in that sort of thing.  If the world worked like comic books, my mission in life would be to see this company fail.  Now I would probably do it from behind a cloak and with iron gauntlets charged with some kind of glowy anti-protons or something.

In the real world, I can still hope to see this company fail.  I can’t fight against it like I wish I could with laser beams and power rings, but I can ask you to make a conscience choice to think about how you buy.  Everywhere there is a “coffee” chain that shall not be mentioned there is a local shop (or the remains of one they put out of business, because that is how they operate.)  Go to the local people.  Support the owners of shops who LIVE in your town.  Buy local and tell Seattle to suck it (if you could see me I would be making a DX slashing motion, but you can’t.)

So, who do I hate as much as the chain that shall not be mentioned?…  No one or nothing compares to them, but probably in the top ten, let’s see, um…

The Great Marvel Return Controversy of 2010…

Marvel announced last week they are offering a variant to retailers if they return fifty stripped covers of DC’s Blackest Night ring crossover books.  These are the first parts of the crossover issues of Justice League, Adventure Comics, REBELS, Doom Patrol, Outsiders and Booster Gold.  Part of the deal with these books was a promotion that DC offered allowing us to buy the plastic power rings you’ve undoubtedly seen in the shop.  The ratios for purchasing these was buy 25 copies of an issue and you can buy two bags of 50 rings.

The rationale behind this was to promote struggling books, the same as every crossover has for twenty years and it worked as some of these books were more than doubled in total orders worldwide.  Shops were not restricted as to how they sold, gave away or distributed their rings.  We gave free rings with purchase of the book and charged $2.00 per ring without.  We did very well and have heard from people who mentioned how much they really liked the rings.

(Kyle and I had two ladies, probably mid-thirties in age, were in last week who asked what was in the jars.  We told them they were “Super Power Rings corresponding with an emotion!!”  They thought they were rings, but a different type of ring… if you get my meaning.  However, after we explained the what and why they had to have a couple and were wearing them out of the store.  Two people who have probably never read a comic in their lives are now running around town with hope and compassion power rings.  Nonetheless, back on track.)

Marvel – because they’ve heard from retailers, or so they say – that these issues didn’t sell well, is now, oh so benevolently offering a rare, special, implied valuable, hard to obtain Siege #3 Deadpool Variant for fifty heads of, er, covers of their competitors’ books delivered to their offices .  These extremely underachieving books that outsold most Marvel Comics that month by A LOT!

Now for us, we don’t even qualify.   We sold out of several of the titles and had to reorder second printings because we sold out of those too.

Here are a couple links with more info on the anti-promotion.  First off is the official press release from Marvel and additional info from Rich Johnston (of Bleeding Cool.com) and his two cents, which is pretty accurate.   Comicbookresources.com has a response from ass hat in charge Tom Brevpoort of Marvel.  Brian Hibbs comments on it in his monthly column Tilting at Windmills, it is at the bottom of the column.  Then finally, two different people sent me this from youtube. Be warned it is a theatrical portrayal of a mass murderer and not someone filming me in the back room with my anti-coffee Gestapo.

I think this whole thing shows what pompous [more deleted expletives] a-holes Marvel really is and, if they are right and these issues didn’t sell well for other shops, how out of touch our shop is with the rest of the nation.  (Personally, I like that last part to be true.)  I heard Geoff Johns say something to the affect “Deadpool Variant?  That isn’t very rare.  He’s on or in everything.”  He is so very right and he should know, he owns a comic shop.

In the end Marvel doesn’t like to lose.  They are like a four year old throwing a temper tantrum and fear what happens when Siege dies out, no one buys the end of it and Blackest Night outsells it too.  Do they just start wholesale killing everyone in the Marvel Universe AND “bullpen?”  Do they pick up spears and swords and head across New York to do battle?  Bullies do not play fair and don’t like to be shown losing to, as they put it, a Cracker Jack toy.

Now, a better way to handle this, if I was head of Marvel would be to write a really kick ass comic that was not so damned depressing and/or bleak.  To lower prices, to work with retailers, to listen to real fans – not just the ones who post on their internet sites, make returnable stories they failed… OH, HEY, that’s the one I was looking for!

And now we finally come to why Matt has his Red Power Ring on when writing this column today.  I’m all raged up on this because Marvel has, over the last couple months been HORRIBLE about keeping their books on schedule and by this I mean Captain America Reborn, which was dropped like a bad habit by most of my shops readers.  (There are a slew more late books I could mention, like Marvel Projects, but this is long enough.)  These are not returnable, but hey, no problem asking for another companies books to be stripped of a cover and removed from the racks.  They won’t stand behind their own published books, but we will certainly take returns of someone else’s.

Marvel, Shame on you.

Rob, it’s okay if you, I mean your character, is gay…

If you’ve been reading the lost X-Book X-Factor, you might or might not have noticed Peter David pissing in someone’s pool again.  But this time it is no one of consequence.

David is one of the greatest comic writers in the industries history.  His run on Hulk alone is one of those monumental achievements never to be duplicated in the modern era.   When he is on a book he is usually on it for the extremely long haul and the characters are there with him… oh, and they WILL change like real people tend to do.

Rob Liefeld is a hack.  One of the worst artists and creators in comic history.  He or his characters don’t seem to grow, change or adapt with the times… or is it because his characters are so one dimensionally cookie cutter that they can’t?

One of these characters is Shatterstar.  David has been doing a great job providing an Ellis Island for the throw away X-Characters on his book X-Factor.  If you are reading it, and many of you who do not read the rest of the X-books are, you’ve seen Shatterstar kiss Richter and then David take lashings in his letter column from close minded bigots.

I asked the most knowledgeable X-Reader I know, Mr. Mike Nuttal about this possibility.  Mike says this is an old sub-plot that has been hinted at way back in X-Force.  I think it shows the growth a character can go through when a good writer has a hold of them.

I’ll leave the rest for Rich Johnston to show you in pages from X-Factor: www.bleedingcool.com/2010/01/14/peter-david-tweaks-rob-liefeld-twice/

X-Factor has been a great book I’ve enjoyed since David restarted it.  Recently it had a weird 200^th issue and long running plots were summed up and finished.  Now is a great time to jump on.  If you can handle your favorite old late eighties shoulder pad wearing characters changing a little.  Oh, and Longshot is in it too.

The note was from editor extraordinary Scott Allie about the revels in the series that have already made news and what it means for orders on the current .  I am one who does not read Buffy and has never seen more than about 20 minutes of any one episode.  The book has sold well since it started with its “Session Eight” premise, one that takes the idea of a canceled TV series continuing in comics.

Allie described what was going on in the book, a big revel of a current villain in issue 31 and explained why this was done, what it means for potential sales and who would be writing the new arc which starts next month.  The thing is at no point was I talked down to as a stupid fanboy or corporate tool.  I was treated like a retailer of comics books and given information that would HELP me order better and wiser.

I harp on how good Dark Horse is as a publisher, but this is one more reason why I love them so much.

Switching gears…

A big reveal today as to what DC’s next big thing is after Blackest Night, how about Brightest Day?  No, seriously, that is what they are calling it, but I’m sure you saw that coming, now didn’t you?  It will be a 26 issue bi-weekly comic written by Peter Tomosi and some guy named Geoff Johns starting in April.  This was announced on DC’s “news” page The Source.

I read about it on Rich Johnston’s site Bleedingcool.com in which he also spoke about Marvel’s new Heroic Age and called both Light’n Bright Comics, the end of the doomy gloomy days.

I would like to add that all I see is more monkey see, monkey do and a nothing close to originality, but I’m a grouch and nothing like the great Cat in the Hat that Quesada and Dildio seem to be portraying… or is that just thing one and thing two?

One last look back…

So, last week I mentioned I would take a look back at the best of 2009.  I’m not going to do this in any real order.  Everything I’m speaking of is merely opinion from someone like I said earlier is a grouchy retailer looking for new and different in his books he reads.

• Unwritten – It is hard to do good Vertigo books that bring me, a traditionally underwear on the outside, comic reader back and interested.  It’s not the greatest thing I’ve ever read from Vertigo, but the characters and feel of the book make me WANT to read it.  I feel writer Mike Carey and Artist Peter Gross have a beginning, middle and end worked out.  The first trade just came out and is a very reasonable $9.99 for the first five issues…
• Chew – I have to admit I was late to this one.  Not my fault, the damn thing kept selling out and I never got a chance to give it a good read.  Image is learning from Vertigo and going the cheap first trade route (the first five at $9.99) too.  It is one of the most odd and original comics I’ve read in recent memory.  The main character is a food and drug administration cop on a world where all Chicken is banned, and just happens to be able to read history’s or information from what he eats.  Strange with a wacky art style, this is the big new thing you should be reading.
• Beasts of Burden – Written by Milk and Cheese’s Evan Dorkin and drawn by the children’s artist Jill Thompson comes a book SO NOT FOR KIDS I can’t make the words any more capitalized.  What looks like a cute innocent talking animal book kills off characters faster than the X-Men and has more bizarre F’ed up stories then Hellblazer.  OH, but it is superbly written and drawn and deserves multiple Eisner’s next year.
• Top of the pile reads – Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Hellboy/BPRD, Echo, REBLES, GL and GL Corps and I have to say I LOVE Tony Moore’s art on the Punisher right now.  The story is weird, but the art is so freak’n good I don’t care if he stays Franken-Castle forever.
• Crossed – This is one of the most messed up books I’ve ever read and I always read it before anything else the week it comes out.  I feel bad for liking it, but Garth Ennis has a story that makes all and every horror story pale by comparison.  “Zombies” but completely totally evil.  However, this is not a comic you can just get into now.  You will have to wait for the collected edition sometime, probably late spring.  It will bother you, you’ll like being bothered, but if it doesn’t there is something very wrong with you.  I don’t want to be your friend.

The three best things I read or enjoyed this last year were:

• Darwyn Cooke’s first Richard Stark’s Parker Novel, Hunter.  Some of the best art I’ve ever seen in comics, storytelling better then nearly everything being put out right now.  This is crime comic perfection.  If you don’t like this, you shouldn’t be reading comics.
• Batman & Robin’s first three issues.  I vowed I would cut back on collecting single issue comics and just get them in trades.  I mean seriously, this won’t be so good I NEED the singles too right.  I was in Pittsburgh at the time it came out and bought it for my good friend Mike, knowing if it was good, he’d start reading it too and I wanted to look through it.  It had been a really long time since I didn’t have a new comic to read on a Wednesday.  I read it three times over the next day and have it on my “pull list.”  Grant Morrison is the best writer in mainstream comics today and Frank Quietly is the best artist.  Period.  This is the best Batman has ever been and that is all I have to say on that.  Don’t disagree with me or I’ll sick Curt on you.
• And the best thing I read last year – Essex County, the complete collection.  This is one of the best comics, like top five, I have ever read.  Hunter is probably in the top twenty.  In so many categories, books I should have been collecting when they were coming out, artists I should have known about before this, comics you can NOT put down… It is how I wish ALL comics could be.  Jeff Lemire writes and draws a generational story in four parts of a people/family connected in and by the area they live in, Essex County Canada.  I am not saying this is for everyone.  The cape and cowl crowd will not be impressed and I am sad for them.  The high artsy fartsy collector will probably have problems with the simplistic simplistic art, however, if you like a good character driven story that moves and will move you I can not recommend anything else higher.  And if you like it start reading Lemire’s Sweet Tooth too.

Out with the old…

There’s 2009… So, what has me jazzed for 2010?  Not much, but hey, I was just way to positive with those books above, what did you expect me to say.

I really want to see Jonah Hex.  I’ve loved Polmiotti and Grey’s book has been great and I’ve always loved the character… and it’s a western, no one does these anymore.

I’m really excited to find out what is going down in the next arc of Fantastic Four.  Jonathan Hickman’s start to the series has been a great read so far.  Some teaser images have been released on upcoming issues.  Holy Cats, someone kicked the crap out of Galactus or Glactus is dying or it’s a zombie… no.

I’m also expecting a good year from my favorite series BPRD.  The first issue from last week was amazing, pulling story threads from ten years ago in Hellboy.  I think this will prove to be the culmination of stories in what has been my favorite overall mainstream “superhero” book for the last couple years.

Other than that, I hope for a good end to both Siege and Blackest Night.  Something that will leave the readers with full bellies, but not full enough they don’t want the next course.  No more World War Hulks or Secret Invasions or Countdowns.

I hope big books come out on time.  No more Captain America What’s-it or Flash Who’s-it.

I hope… Ouch!  I just got hit with some blue mood ring… It says I have much hope and am now a… wait, no.  A red ring just crushed the blue ring.  Oh, I feel better now and right at home.

The big sale that we had running last week is going to be slightly adjusted, but keep running into this week.

• The books from the warehouse that are in the shop will continue at 50cents each, but they will leave next Monday or Tuesday.
• Our overstock boxes will continue at 40% as well as the blow out 75% off boxes.
• We will also be adding a box or two of 50% off trades.

This week’s shipment…

This week’s shipment has a couple issues you may or may not have interest in.  The first is Marvel’s big giant seven year in the making super spectacular, The Siege.

(I am contractually obligated to refer to The Siege with at the very minimum of five adjectives.) I don’t know how many of you will want this pulled.  We have plenty of copies, but you might want to add it to your list when you come in.  Personally, I think Marvel is trying too hard.  Seriously, we are going to read it.  You don’t need to threaten us with violence.  Maybe they are just concerned we will think it will be as bad as the Denzel Washington Movie of the same name.  So, if you look at it that way, we already know The (Marvel) Siege will be better then that pile.

The other is the Blackest Night specials.  All of them will be an issue from series that have been cancelled or came to an end at some point in the past.  I’m not sure what the stories will entail, but the marketing plan is something close to “like zombie comics rising from the grave.”  These I did NOT order in huge excess.  Frankly, I don’t have enough confidence in them.  Know though that there is no issue of Blackest Night this month, so, maybe you need a little extra zombie fix.  You can e-mail me if you really, really want them pulled.

And then for the good kids who have waited patiently, BPRD King of Fear #1.  Wrapping up a big multi part story, we find out the fate of Liz Sherman, Lobster Johnson and the rest of the crew.  Easily the first read of the week for me.  Top five book for years running, I dare anyone to find a better more consistent comic.  If you aren’t reading it, buy the trades and get to it.  You will not be sorry.

Lastly about the shipment this week, Previews is out.  If you want anything specifically ordered I wouldn’t wait.  I’ll start on the monthly this coming weekend and would like to have it finished by the 23^rd, shortening the month by a week or two.  Please look, but don’t dilly dally with the ordering.

Lack of news…

There isn’t a lot of “news” this week in the land of comics.  Seems like everyone has a best of the year or decade (someone want to fill in the idiots that a decade runs from 1 to 10, not zero to nine).  I’ll probably have a yearend thing next week.  Sorry, would have had it this week, but I would like some input from a few people and, well, I was on the ice a lot this last week.

Did you see Patrick Stewart is now Sir Patrick Stewart?  The English government finally got the dead done over the weekend.  About time.  I’m sure other’s have had it happen for a lot less than being one of the coolest people in the world.

Speaking of the second best starship captain ever (that’ll get me into an argument), I have  treat for you.  A buddy showed me a link to some very funny YouTube reviews.  Go to this link: www.youtube.com/user/RedLetterMedia The reviews of the four Next Generation movies are great, but the seven part critical review of The Phantom Menace is priceless.  I was laughing so hard I was crying at one point.  You will find little better on all the internets.

A big thank you to our good customer Dave Maine.  The next time you are in the shop take a look at our new policy sign he made up for us.  It has even (somewhat) jokingly been challenged already and then we ripped on political correctness and oprah (and no she doesn’t get capitalized because she sucks).

I think that is it.  Sorry for the lack of insults and snarky criticism of your favorite books.  I will endeavor to do better next week.