Comic Book History

I’ve been meaning to go through the May Diamond Previews catalog for two weeks now, but I kept putting it off. I’m still barely timely, since today’s the last day — consumer orders are due to shops today. I wonder why I’ve been dawdling about it, and then I stumble across something that reminds me of how much I sometimes despise the whole process. Exhibit A: a full-page ad for the digital version of Previews that calls it an “evolution”, one that they want to charge you $3.99 for. I can possibly see an argument for Diamond being reimbursed for printing and shipping costs for the paper catalog version — although it is typically short-sighted to charge people to buy things from you — but a digital version? That costs you nothing, since you have to produce the catalog for retailers anyway? Why should they charge for that, let alone almost full cover price? Although I don’t read a lot of their titles, I admire Dark Horse’s tenacity and the way they’ve kept going all these years. However, I can’t get excited about their big plan, announced here, of putting out more superhero books. The world has more than enough of those, thanks. I understand, I think, why they’d want to do that — that’s about all that the direct market is set up to cope with, still, and they’re going to have to do something when the Star Wars comics go away. (You know it’s coming. Probably not immediately, but Disney now owns them, and you saw what happened to The Muppet Show comics that used to come from Boom!.) Given how targeted much of their releases are to the traditional direct market, relying heavily on horror, science fiction, Conan, and video game and other licenses, it shouldn’t be surprising that they’re keeping with that young male approach. Moving to DC’s section, I stumbled across Batman and Catwoman #22 (MAY13 0162, $2.99). “Oh, neat!” I thought, “I wonder how long that teamup has been running?” Then I realized it was a relabeled Batman and Robin. Now that Robin is dead, Batman is apparently rotating through a bunch of other characters who likely hate him, creating a tracking and filing nightmare for the obsessives as the book goes from Batman and Batgirl to Batman and Nightwing. Also, I suspect the cover artist (Patrick Gleason) doesn’t realize just how hot those spotlights are. The Batman 66 title (MAY13 0204, $3.99) I’ve been looking forward to is now available for order. So there’s one DC comic I can look forward to. Oh, wait, I forgot Batman: Li’l Gotham #4 (MAY13 0239). Cuteness works for me, too. Right State I haven’t heard a thing about Right State (Vertigo, MAY13 0262, $16.99, due August), but I liked Mat Johnson’s Incognegro, and after the departure of Saucer Country, I’d like to see more comics take on politics in an entertaining (as opposed to hectoring) way. Andrea Mutti draws the original graphic novel thriller about an attempt to assassinate the second African-American President. I am stunned to finally see the solicitation of The Complete Omaha the Cat Dancer: Volume 8 (NBM/Eurotica, MAY13 1198, $15.99, due July), the new conclusion to the adults-only furry sex series. The previous book came out five years ago, and the reprint series started in 2005! (I first heard of the comic in 1989 or so, when a friend of mine got the picture disc featuring music by Reed Waller’s band.) I guess patience really is a virtue. I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up. Be sure to check out the first issue of Watson and Holmes (New Paradigm Studios, MAY13 1211, $2.99, due July). There were previously two issues released digitally, but the series by Karl Bollers and Rick Leonardi was so well-received that it’s moving to print. It’s a good read, an African-American take on the Sherlock Holmes setup. Jon Watson is an overworked intern at

Here we look back at the very first Issue of Score 'N' Roar , the 2 in 1 football comic from IPC / Fleetway which came out in the pre - decimal days of 1970 when pence was spelt with a letter " d ". It came with the customary free league ladder but also saw the debut of Nipper , who would cross many comic titles during his series arcs over the years. Enjoy.The End.

It's a slightly lighter edition of Moments of the Week thanks to May being a five-week month, but we still have some good stuff on tap! This week saw the launch of the new Image series Dream Merchant, Tony Stark's origin begins while he was still in the womb in Iron Man, and Wonder Woman fights a Moon. More after the jump as always. Adventures of Superman #3 In this webcomic edition of the two meeting, Superman hasn't yet mastered Bizarro-speak, so he's actually saying he wants to hurt Bizarro. Send Bizarro to some planet off world to help NASA, which takes up some time flying to and from the place, and you have an easy way for everyone to be happy with the outcome. Adventures of Superman is quickly becoming the stand-out Superman series in its brief run so far. Age of Ultron #8 For a series titled Age of Ultron, this is really going somewhere else. Morgana LeFay is the big enemy of this world, and the Defenders are an autonomous group while Tony, Xavier, and Emma Frost work for SHIELD. While Sue attempts to escape custody, LeFay does attack: The key point we're supposed to get is that with Pym dead, magic takes over half the world, but it still feels hard to really think any of it matters at this point, and if the series could even wrap up decently. Bloodshot #11 Elaborating on the fight seen in Harbinger Wars #2, we see what was going on in Bloodshot's head when his Harada Protocals were activated. It was something the P.S.R. had hidden even from Kuertich. But a twist that accompanies that big explosion from HW#2: So now Bloodshot's in complete control, on his way to Las Vegas to meet up with the psiots and Renegades. The Dream Merchant #1 That's Winslow, a young man who's so lost in sleep that he was sent to a psychiatric hospital to help with his liffelong condition. During one session, the same dream he always has sheds a new revelation: He wakes up, but those things follow him into our world, leading Winslow and his nurse friend Anne to escape the hospital and nearly get killed in oncoming traffic, but is saved by a man who shares his name with the series' title: You get 45 pages of story in the first issue, and while the plot seems a little light, the art is kind of hypnotic with how varied faces look and how it all flows well. It's not detailed but still comes across as very expressive and carries the issue with little problem. Iron Man #10 Tony was a problematic birth, one that seemed impossible to come to term, but thanks to an alien who looks like he might have come from American Dad we realize the alien's casino is holding the robot 451 in their possession: Tony's just as confused as we are, the story continues next issue. Wonder Woman #20 "Krunk" is a great sound effect. While Diana goes to help Lennox, who ran away with Zeke to protect him from Moon trying to kill him, War returns Moon to Apollo: The subplot from previous issues finally arrives, and Lennox looks to hold them off a bit next issue. X-O Manowar #13 This moment kind of makes me wonder if Mjolnir ever knock's someone's head off on its way to Thor. Cary Nord sure knows how to choreograph a one man wrecking crew.

This seems like such a bad idea… If you want to see the new Superman movie Man of Steel on Thursday, June 13 (instead of its opening day of June 14), you have to buy tickets in store at a Wal*Mart. I’m sure someone is making lots of money from this advertising deal, but for me, since I refuse to shop at Wal*Mart, it’s just one more reason on the list of why I don’t care about this movie. It’s directed by the guy who made Sucker Punch (and Watchmen). It’s PG-13, which makes me wonder how violent it will be. They don’t seem to have learned their lesson from the downbeat Superman Returns. There’s already a lot of concern in Hollywood about there being too many blockbusters planned for this summer, so I’m sure Warner is doing whatever they can to drive ticket sales, and they think teaming up with the nation’s biggest retailer is good for that. I know a lot’s riding on this movie for DC, but it just doesn’t look like a must-see for me. I want my superheroes to have humor and a sense of fun, not be so damned dark and depressing. Similar Posts: Superman Anthology Comes to Blu-ray § Batman Year One Animated Movie to Have Catwoman Short § Dark Knight Sets Box Office Record § Animated Dark Knight Returns Images Released § Upcoming DC Animated Films for 2013

Following on from our look back at the Victor Summer Special 1974 in March of this year , we now will look at the 1970 offering. There was always something special about these Issues and even if you weren't a big fan of the weekly title , most were so well produced as to make it worthwhile purchasing. The usual fare of complete stories , some in colour , cartoons , features and the obligatory puzzle ... Enjoy!The End.

From the lengthy TCJ.com piece on why the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival is no more, as said by Bill Kartalopoulos: “There’s a bigger infrastructural point here which is that a big part of the indie comics economy at this point seems to rest on the shoulders of people who work very hard for very little reward to create these festivals…. No one is making money personally doing these things, and you can’t have an industry that depends on volunteer labor forever…. This whole industry is not financially sound. If it weren’t for people working against their financial interests we wouldn’t have an indie comics world.” That’s why comics is in many ways a young person’s game — most of the older folks have wised up and gotten out in order to support themselves. Which is why you see the same problems and scams over and over again. There’s a loss of institutional memory. The problem is, what do you do about it? Where does real money come from? Similar Posts: Real Comics for Girls § There But For Grace We Go § More on Review Copy Disclosures § Are Comics Detrimental to Creators? § Advice on Job Hunting

Is there any point in renting graphic novels through the mail? No, not so long as my library will get me anything I want to read, without worrying about postal damage. I’m not sure that the plans are economical, either, since only having one book at a time will mean you’re not able to get through very many in a month. Maybe it’s just my reading speed, but it would seem like you’d spend a lot more time waiting to get a book than enjoying one. That assumes that they even have the comics you want to read in stock or available. Books are so much heavier (and costlier) to mail than DVDs, so aiming to be the “Netflix of comics” seems like a decent idea but will likely fail in execution. As a commenter points out, this makes most sense for books too expensive to buy and too rare to find easily, and what’s the likelihood a new company will have any of those? Should publishers stop making miniseries? I think so, in favor of original graphic novels, but Brian Hibbs doesn’t care for either format, because it’s hard to predict sales. The only virtue miniseries have is the possibility of a real ending, but the corporate publishers have even backed away from that. (Mystery Men from Marvel, I’m looking HARD at you. Most disappointing lack of ending in a long time, after a promising beginning. That series flat-out asked to become an ongoing, but clearly, sales weren’t there — and I was so turned off by the taunting “want to see what happened? hope for more” that I wouldn’t be interested in following a series anyway.) Since Hibbs seems to be talking mostly about the corporate superhero universes (including such works as BPRD), the question of “which stories matter?” winds up playing a role. And with restarts and reboots and relaunches, fans have been taught the hard way that there’s no point in getting too invested, because it can all be taken away next time they need to goose sales artificially. So they stick with the characters they’ve loved a long time. Red She-Hulk, apparently cancelled. Why wouldn’t you want to read this? If a miniseries looks interesting, why not wait for the trade collection? By that point, you’ll find out whether it really fulfilled its promise (unlikely) or simply forget about buying it, thus saving yourself time and money. Why can’t Marvel sell books starring women, as Graeme asks? Could it be that the stories just aren’t very good? This is an interest of mine, as you might expect, but I found the recent relaunch of Captain Marvel incomprehensible, Red She-Hulk boring when it wasn’t mired in continuity, and the Fearless Defenders just plain bad. Having a woman star isn’t enough — you have to tell interesting stories that new readers can understand and (more importantly) enjoy. That means introducing your characters, giving readers some reason to care about them (beyond “they used to be…” or “they’re related to…” or “Marvel has this trademark…”), and doing more with them than having them punch things. Attractive, readable art is helpful, too. (In response to a particular point Graeme makes: what a long-time comic reader considers a good book and what a casual reader does may not be as close as one would hope.) Has Yale Stewart got the best take currently going on the JLA cast, even though he draws them as eight years old? For my money, yes. Of course a baby Wonder Woman would want to play “truth or dare”! And when feelings get revealed, watch out. Power Girl’s got a crush on Superman (they aren’t cousins here), while he cares about Diana and is being counseled by baby Batman. (Not the best idea.) Lots of drama still to come, I’m sure. Not comics, but fascinating: when did we start sleeping in only one session? Culturally, people used to expect to wake up midway through

Heavy Traffic Shout! Factory is putting Heavy Traffic on Blu-ray on July 16. This animated film was Ralph Bakshi’s second feature, after Fritz the Cat. It doesn’t stray far, being the story of a New York cartoonist who lives with his parents while drawing images of the city. Based on reviews, the movie is worth watching more for the animation techniques, which incorporate live-action sequences and film clips, than the dated-sounding story about urban life in that era and the struggles of being an artist, man. Similar Posts: Old People Kick Ass: Red § The Lord of the Rings (Animated by Bakshi) § Phantom Tollbooth Coming From Warner Archive § The Secret World of Arrietty Out Next Month § Dredd on Blu-ray January 8

In 1993, Dark Horse published a small handful of Universal Horror adaptations. I completely missed these the first time around, but lucked out during some bargain bin diving a few years back. While they are all quite good, the Creature From the Black Lagoon issue is the real standout. I love the movie, but I was concerned that it would not translate very well to the Four Color format. This is mainly because part of what makes the movie so great is the phenomenal underwater camerawork and just the overall sense of being below the water's surface with the Creature clawing at your heels. I tip my hat to Mr. Art Adams who not only does a superb job conveying that eerie feeling, but absolutely nails the whole vibe of the movie - from the characterizations to the pacing. If you're a big fan of the film, I urge you to hunt down this book. It is a joy to read. My runner-up selection from the series is the Mummy adaptation, as it features some very moody artwork by Tony Harris.