Random Comic Books

[DennisMM]

Kind of off-topic, but today I received the latest issue of Comics Buyers Guide, probably the most-popular comics-oriented magazine. (I don't count Wizard as a comics-oriented magazine; too much film and games material.) The paper stock they used is so thin that it crackles when it moves. It's so thin that every page bleeds through, some to the point of causing eye strain. I'm not renewing my subscription if this is the sort of thing they are pulling.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

Remember when CBG was a weekly tabloid-sized newspaper?

[DennisMM]

Yeah! A friend and I shared a subscription back then. I miss those days. What I miss most of all is the weekly publication. Getting my comics news every week was fantastic, and the columnists all wrote weekly back then, too, rather than having their own websites or blogs. I guess the ad revenue wasn't sufficient to support the old format. At least they had some great days, with great art features that only worked at the larger size.

[DennisMM]

I went to buy comics at Halley's after lunch, forgetting today is Free Comic Book Day. The place was quiet when I arrived, but shortly a kid of maybe six or seven came in with his father. The kid immediately pounced on John, the owner, and asked, "Which ones are the free comics?" John was in the middle of ringing up three people waiting at the counter. The father told the kid to wait until John was finished. John completed the first transaction. The kid jumped over, again demanding to know which comics were free. The father told him to wait until John was finished. Second transaction done, kid did it AGAIN! The father, still casually, told the child to wait. Finally, John showed him the free books he thought suitable for a child of that age. The father took them. I wandered into the back issue room, asking John if he had an old Byrne miniseries. He looked at me as I walked, and my jaw dropped, exaggeratedly. The kid followed me into the room and asked, "Are these comics free?" I told him only the comics John had shown him were free. The boy told me I should speculate in old comics. I thought that had died out.

Not long after they left, a couple came in with two kids. They immediately asked which comics were free! John told them he'd be happy to show them the free stuff when they were ready to go. One of the kids, maybe five, started grabbing at the young-readers titles, bending down those in the front in order to see what was behind them. I politely asked him to lift out the comics he wanted to see, so he wouldn't bang up things. His mother looked at me and I explained I was not a store employee, just being collector-ish.

As John rang up my purchases, he told me a mother had come in, early in the day, with two children. One was very well-behaved, the other completely uncontrolled, running around the shop wildly. He ran behind the counter and John picked him up by his hoody and plunked him down outside. "Good thing he had a handle," John quipped. The kid also climbed up the new-releases racks, getting four comics high before he was pulled off.

My parents wouldn't put up with that kind of shit, and neither would my sister with her two youngish kids. Some people.

[Bloo]

I see that a lot where I work. We have a very popular local restaurant in the lobby of the hotel I work at and some parents just let their kids run wild in our lobby or down the halls or whatever. I've had to do similar things to kids.

[virtualzone]

You are right! Unfortunately some publishers comics are up on quality standards... may be they don't care to for their business image.

[Wolfpack]

Does anyone know if there exists a DVD set of all the Star Wars Comics released, be they of the Dark Horse or 1980's Marvel variety? I know Marvel has full sets of some of their IP's available on DVD. I am interested in reading the SW comics. but I don't want to deal with the weight and all the space they'd take up.

[RALaMothe]

Hello all!
I've been an avid reader of comics for many years and have read a lot of posts on here as well. One of the many complaints I've heard and agreed with of late (particularly with the movies, not comics ) is that stories are running low.
However, I'm not posting here to argue that point, we all have our own views on that - what I AM writing here for -- is your views, or reviews of a new CGI online comic story that I'm writing and producing on my own.

I call it a supernatural/erotic/thriller storyline and would like to invite any and all on here to view the comic for free online and let me know what you think. There's also a poll on the site that you can fill out and let me know what aspects you like or disliked about the comic.

The site is: http://fearthechimera.com

I look forward to hearing your views and opinions and thank you for the opportunity!

RALaMothe

[Bloo]

ok, I don't have a LCS in my town, but next weekend I'm going to wichita and I know I'm hitting up a comic store. I want to pick up at least one or two GN's to compliment my severaly lacking comic collection.

What do you all consider Essential Comic/GN's to own?

for the record, I only have a few. Watchmen, Kick-Ass, some of the new GI JOE TPB and an Ultimate X-Men TPB (issues 6-10 or something)

[DennisMM]

I know you already have an Alan Moore, but V for Vendetta is fairly important. If you are interested in "classic" material, go for some of the Marvel Essential editions or DC Comics Presents. Both are B&W and fairly inexpensive, good for getting into characters. The first Iron Man collection is great and the early volumes of Spider-Man material are wonderful Lee/Ditko stuff, as are the early Dr. Strange collections if in print and available. From DC, try Green Lantern v. 1 or Flash v.1. This old stuff is sort of silly but a lot of fun. I think Essential Howard the Duck is fantastic for a whole different look at the Marvel Universe. It may not be in print any longer.

Somewhat newer material: Crisis on Infinite Earths is a big deal if you are at all interested in DC superheroes. It shows how things started to go weird in the mid '80s. Sin City - The Hard Goodbye (v.1) by Frank Miller; it's a complete story. Gaiman's Sandman, available in a bunch of gosh-darn forms. Check the first few Hulk collections by Peter David. They are some of the best Hulk stories. Newer still and less significant but still very much worth your money are Planetary by Warren Ellis, Preacher by Garth Ennis (they are serials, so start with volume 1 on those), any of the Brian Michael Bendis crime books (Goldfish, Jinx and especially Torso; all are one-volume stories). And Scott Pilgrim - five manga-sized volumes. Volume 1 can stand on its own. Incredible work. More fun than should be legal.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

The Fascinating Origin of the Word "Fanboy"

[DennisMM]

This just in, for those who care: I have been re-reading old Wally West "Flash" issues. Signs look promising this time. Really.

[TheButcher]

From io9: Original Akira artwork puts you at ground zero of the destruction of Neo Tokyo

[macrylinda1]

We're a local comic shop. For local geeks.


Buy em online from thecomicguru.com.

It really breaks my heart that the price of comic books is so high. When the weekly comic (52) is supposed to be a bargain at $2.50...well it is just a shame.

[TheButcher]

From Hero Complex:
Wait, 'Inception' stole everything from Scrooge McDuck?

From CBR: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #133

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: The rolling boulder scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark was an homage to a Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic.

STATUS: True

The fact that George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg's Indiana Jones was at least partially inspired by Carl Barks' classic Uncle Scrooge comics is fairly evident, as Indiana Jones' globe-trotting searches for lost artifacts are extremely similar to Uncle Scrooge's similar trips (along with his nephew Donald and his other nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie). This fact was made quite clear when George Lucas wrote the introduction to the 1980's collection of Carl Barks' comics, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times, and spoke directly about the influence

[Fievel]

Superman Saves Family's Home

Very cool story in these troubled times of all-too-common foreclosures.

[Hermanator X]

Superman Saves Family's Home

Very cool story in these troubled times of all-too-common foreclosures.

That story inspired this collection of goofy covers : [urlhttp://io9.com/5604689/75-action-comics-covers-that-are-worth-their-weight-in-gold/gallery/]Link[/url]

Similar to the hilarious Superman is a dick site, and well worth a look if you enjoyed that one.

ie.

[Al Shut]

Arbitrary thought

If the superhero version of Donald Duck has a flashlight that produces a beam he can walk on, is that a Killing Joke reference or just an coincidence?

[Ribbons]

Check out these sweet-ass superhero posters:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/08/13/mark-grambau-superhero-posters/

[Pacino86845]

AICN's Ambush Bug interviews Pentouse Pet about comic books!

Interview includes poignant questions such as "What are you wearing now?" and lots of loud breathing into the telephone receiver. Check it out!

[so sorry]

AICN's Ambush Bug interviews Pentouse Pet about comic books!

Interview includes poignant questions such as "What are you wearing now?" and lots of loud breathing into the telephone receiver. Check it out!

I can't wait until he finds out that that interview was actually from some studly old dude posing as a Penthouse Pet.

[Fried Gold]

Click to embiggen:

[Leckomaniac]

Click to embiggen:

I really dug Superman/Batman #75. That scene especially brought the LOLZ! Bremejo can do peanuts? Who knew?

[Ribbons]

Nice link F_G; that might be my favorite new website

[TheButcher]

From Newsarama:
DC Comics LEGACIES: A Field Guide #2 - AQUAMAN

[Fried Gold]

The Digital Comic Museum - hundreds of public domain Golden Age comics for free download

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
"THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE"

George Khoury examines the impact of Alex Ross and Mark Waid's "Kingdom Come" limited series on the mid-'90s comic industry, the story's genesis and Ross' original intent.

[TheButcher]

From Hero Complex:
‘Peanuts’ at 60? That makes Snoopy 253 years old

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

Comic book coloring flub turns Darkseid into the universe's most evil pornographer (NSFW)

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
"THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE"

George Khoury examines the impact of Alex Ross and Mark Waid's "Kingdom Come" limited series on the mid-'90s comic industry, the story's genesis and Ross' original intent.

From CBR:
Pop! THE JSA/KINGDOM COME SAGA

In September, we examined the impact of the classic "Kingdom Come" story on the DC Universe and the comic industry as a whole. This month we look back with Alex Ross upon the "Thy Kingdom Come" storyline that encompassed the third volume of "Justice Society of America" #1 - 23 along with several one-shots.

The return of Ross to "Kingdom Come" was plotted with Geoff Johns, DC's current writing ace, and mainly illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Fernando Pasarin. Amongst his co-plots, cover art, and various interior pages, the event would see Ross accomplish his first solo written and illustrated book in "Kingdom Come Special: Superman."

[TheButcher]

Kurt Busiek Plans Batman-Focused SECRET IDENTITY Sequel

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

Tokyo bans sales of sexually explicit comics to minors

[TheButcher]

Newsarama Topics:
An Oral History of CAPTAIN MARVEL, The Series

An Oral History of CAPTAIN MARVEL: The Fawcett Years, pt. 1

We’re going to do something a little different here at Newsarama...

This past year marked the 70th anniversary of Captain Marvel’s first appearance in 1940. If you didn’t know...well, neither did we until the Captain Marvel spotlight panel at San Diego Comic-Con this part summer. So we decided to do something about that.

With the Big Red Cheese getting a new spotlight with the Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam animated DVD and Chip Kidd and Geoff Spear’s new book Shazam!: The Golden Age of the World’s Mightiest Mortal, we wanted to give Captain Marvel the birthday celebration he deserves.

So, for the next few weeks, we’re going to take you on a trip through Captain Marvel’s history from the 1940s to the present. But this isn’t just any trip – guiding you will be some of the names most associated with the character over the years, who’ll be sharing their thoughts on the character and some incredible anecdotes. Who all did we get? Read on to find out.

But that’s not enough for us, so every installment will include a wide variety of original and rarely-seen art provided by some of the industry’s best comic artists and the generous collectors at Comic Art Fans. And what’s more, each installment will feature an all-new piece of art created exclusively for this series!

To start off, here’s a special piece from an idea by yours truly entitled “Captain Marvel’s 70th Anniversary.” It was penciled and inked by Rick Ellis (http://www.elliscomics.com) and colored by Grace Allison (http://www.gracifer.com). Click on the thumbnail for the full version.

All right, let’s get into the series we could only call...

An Oral History of SHAZAM, the World's Mightiest Motal
The Original Captain Marvel - The Fawcett Years: 1940-1954, Part One

[TheButcher]

From io9:
When Larry Niven reinvented the Green Lantern universe

[TheButcher]

From Bleeding Cool:
Flash Of Two Publishers

The Flash Of Two Publishers: Part Two

Last year, Bleeding Cool reported how both Ardden Entertainment and Dynamite Entertainment were both publsihing Flash Gordon comic books, somehow seemingly sharing the same licence – though Dynamite’s book has yet to bve published or scheduled.

Well, now two more publishers have entered the fray, over classic Flash Gordon strips – indeed the very same material.

British publisher Titan Books are publishing Flash Gordon: The Alex Raymond Sunday Strips Vol. 1, in the USA as well as the UK.

But IDW Publishing are also publishing the Ultimate Alex Raymond Collection: The Definitive Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, offering both Sunday strips together.

This could get confusing. Especially when Dark Horse have licensed the Flash Gordon comics to reprint, while Checker BPG still has copies of the same material available in the market.

So that’s currently six potential Flash Gordon publishers. Any more for any more?

[DennisMM]

Personal observation: I never thought I'd say this, but comics are beginning to bore me. Over the past week or so, I read a compilation of the original Steve Gerber Howard the Duck stories, and it was more interesting than any new comic I've read in months.

[TheButcher]

Shelf Life: And Here's the Pitch...

The fans want to know. Some of them want to know everything: who's working on what, what's going to happen, what's coming out next. For those fans, it's about what's over the horizon rather than what's here now. It's no coincidence traffic on comic-oriented websites shoots up when solicits are released. I've even seen some fans admit to getting more excited for the solicits than the actual comics.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't understand that level of "need to know" -- the people who would rather read Wiki spoilers than the issues themselves. That's akin to studying the menu instead of eating the meal, but to each his own. I think that mindset is fueled, at least in part, by the ever-increasing interconnectivity of titles in the Big Two respectively, pushing readers toward keeping track of a universe-wide storyline and its myriad tie-ins.

But that's just the stuff that makes it to the shelves. If those "need to know" fanboys ever realized the number of projects that are discussed, planned and even pitched, yet never get off the ground, their heads might explode. Most of the creators I know have projects like that in a drawer somewhere -- stories cooked up via phone and IM and email, creative teams put together over drinks at a con bar. But for reasons as varied as the projects themselves, they never come to fruition. Once in a while, word leaks out and we hear about something like the Mark Waid-Mike Wieringo Aquaman pitch, or the Morrison-Millar-Waid-Peyer Superman revamp. But most of the time they disappear without a trace.

Good projects don't always get approved, and bad projects don't always get turned down. Pitches are killed in the cradle for reasons from quality to scheduling, from budgets to office politics, even just sheer bad timing. My own list of almost-but-not-quite includes:

* A Hulk-Ghost Rider graphic novel with painted art by Joe Chiodo.

* A 64-page Batman story with overtones of Poe's tales, set in Arkham Asylum, with art by Claudio Castellini.

* A Martian Manhunter prestige-format one-shot drawn by Bryan Hitch.

* A period Hawkman-Green Lantern adventure, set during World War II, with art by Dusty Abell.

* A companion to the Batman-Tarzan project I wrote at Dark Horse, featuring Superman and John Carter of Mars.

* A retelling of the Arthurian legends, but featuring the Green Lantern cast.

The one I regret more than any of them, though, is a project called "Altered Egos," by me and artist Cully Hamner, one of my best friends and favorite artists. Here's how it went. And how it didn't.

[Leckomaniac]

Shelf Life: And Here's the Pitch...

The fans want to know. Some of them want to know everything: who's working on what, what's going to happen, what's coming out next. For those fans, it's about what's over the horizon rather than what's here now. It's no coincidence traffic on comic-oriented websites shoots up when solicits are released. I've even seen some fans admit to getting more excited for the solicits than the actual comics.

I'll be the first to admit, I don't understand that level of "need to know" -- the people who would rather read Wiki spoilers than the issues themselves. That's akin to studying the menu instead of eating the meal, but to each his own. I think that mindset is fueled, at least in part, by the ever-increasing interconnectivity of titles in the Big Two respectively, pushing readers toward keeping track of a universe-wide storyline and its myriad tie-ins.

But that's just the stuff that makes it to the shelves. If those "need to know" fanboys ever realized the number of projects that are discussed, planned and even pitched, yet never get off the ground, their heads might explode. Most of the creators I know have projects like that in a drawer somewhere -- stories cooked up via phone and IM and email, creative teams put together over drinks at a con bar. But for reasons as varied as the projects themselves, they never come to fruition. Once in a while, word leaks out and we hear about something like the Mark Waid-Mike Wieringo Aquaman pitch, or the Morrison-Millar-Waid-Peyer Superman revamp. But most of the time they disappear without a trace.

Good projects don't always get approved, and bad projects don't always get turned down. Pitches are killed in the cradle for reasons from quality to scheduling, from budgets to office politics, even just sheer bad timing. My own list of almost-but-not-quite includes:

* A Hulk-Ghost Rider graphic novel with painted art by Joe Chiodo.

* A 64-page Batman story with overtones of Poe's tales, set in Arkham Asylum, with art by Claudio Castellini.

* A Martian Manhunter prestige-format one-shot drawn by Bryan Hitch.

* A period Hawkman-Green Lantern adventure, set during World War II, with art by Dusty Abell.

* A companion to the Batman-Tarzan project I wrote at Dark Horse, featuring Superman and John Carter of Mars.

* A retelling of the Arthurian legends, but featuring the Green Lantern cast.

The one I regret more than any of them, though, is a project called "Altered Egos," by me and artist Cully Hamner, one of my best friends and favorite artists. Here's how it went. And how it didn't.

Just found that Waid-Weringo Aquaman pitch. It was pretty awesome.

[DennisMM]

Reading old Hulk comics. Boy, that Peter David guy could write. I wonder why he left the series? Oh, I remember -- he was fired because he refused to participate in a really pathetic revamping of the character.

[TheButcher]

From Newsarama 08-30-2007:
TALKING SHOP: EVENT FATIGUE?



From CBR:
THE POST-CRISIS EVENT HORIZON: OSTRANDER, ENGLEHART & GIFFEN

It may be difficult for some of us to remember a time when semi-annual "Event" comics weren't the norm in the mainstream superhero world, but before "Crisis on Infinite Earths," the concept of a line-wide crossover was practically non-existent. Sure, you had the JLA bopping around with pals from parallel worlds and you had Captain Marvel fighting the assembled Monster Society and you had Spider-Man swing by the Baxter Building every once in a while, but Marv Wolfman and George Perez's twelve issue celebration/course-correction of the DCU begat something that comic book readers have lived with ever since: the idea that once every year or two, some series will tie into everything else and it will star all your favorite characters and nothing will ever be the same again.

Unless another series follows up with a complete reversal of everything in the first series.

But with "Flashpoint" and "Fear Itself" coming up and with nostalgia in the rear-view mirror, Robot 6 and Spinoff Online's own Graeme McMillan kicked off an email discussion on that holy trinity of post-Crisis event books. "Legends," "Millennium," and "Invasion!" The three comic book series that shaped the lives of young Tim and young Graeme and pointed a way for event comics ever since.

Actually, it was all Graeme's idea...

THE POST-CRISIS EVENT HORIZON PART 2: WAY TO GO, BATMAN!

Last week, the nimble-minded Graeme McMillan and I began our discussion of the holy trinity of post-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" series by looking at "Legends" and debating the merits of "Millennium." We conclude the discussion this week as I set Graeme straight on what good event comics look like. As in, not-"Millennium," but rather, "Invasion!"

[TheButcher]

From Newsarama:
FEAR ITSELF Q&A w/ Fraction & Brevoort: A Call for Questions

From CBR:
Immonen Draws on "Fear Itself"

From IGN:
Early Look at Fear Itself #2

[TheButcher]

From IGN:
War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
Pipeline: Dissecting "Age of Reptiles"

Who doesn't love a good dinosaur comic? Augie's going gaga over the "Age of Reptiles Omnibus," with over 350 pages of beautiful silent storytelling. Also, are bi-monthly comics late comics? Perhaps not.

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
When Words Collide: Revisiting "The Comics Journal" - SECRET WARRIORS PART 2: I MAY NOT EVEN GET TO THE SHOOTINGS AND BACKSTABBINGS YET

Last week, I talked at length about Nick Fury and dipped my toe into a discussion of "Secret Warriors." One of these days, I'm going to look at a few single issues from Jonathan Hickman's series and use them as jumping off points to think about what he's doing, and what it all amounts to. And write about all of that. But I may not get to it this week.

Because, first, as always, a digression.

I've been reading a lot of "The Comics Journal" issues from the late 1970s and early 1980s recently, now that Fantagraphics is beginning to make its archives available online, and in those dwindling days of the Bronze Age, pre-"Maus," pre-"Watchmen," many of the interviews and essays end up circling around the same few concerns again and again: (1) The medium of comics has great potential, but most comics of the time are terrible; (2) Since mainstream comics is a corporate affair, what's "good" is defined largely by what sells best, and there's no clear barometer of quality beyond that; (3) The median age for a comic book reader was, at the time, 11.8 years of age; (4) Writers like Steve Gerber may well have been "good writers," but they weren't "good for comics."

It's fascinating to see the history of comics play out in real time by reading these 30-year-old "fanzines" (which is what "The Comics Journal" was called by pretty much everyone who refers to the magazine within its pages, even though it was already much more than that within the first few years of its existence) and reflect on how much the industry has changed and yet how the same questions and concerns from 1980 still pop up in conversations around the comic book water cooler today.

And I'm pretty sure we can look at these topics through the lens of 2009-2011 Jonathan Hickman superhero/superspy comics, and that will give us something to ground the discussion in. That's the plan anyway. So let's see what shape emerges, this week or next.

[TheButcher]

From Newsarama:
FACING FEAR: Q&A with Fraction & Brevoort on FEAR ITSELF #2

[TheButcher]

From Hero Complex:
‘Flashpoint’ shakes up DC — and Aquaman goes to war with Wonder Woman?

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
On Point with "Flashpoint"

ROBOT 6's Tom Bondurant reviews "Flashpoint #1," and despite some reservations says "'Flashpoint' has a lot of potential, and right now it’s off to the best start of any of Geoff Johns’ recent big-event miniseries."

[TheButcher]

From CBR:
Page by Page with "Flashpoint" #1

CSBG's Greg Burgas takes an in-depth look at the first issue of DC's new crossover event, "Flashpoint," examining and dissecting the miniseries' entire first issue, page by page!

[Seppuku]

Ten best comics I've read this year:

Beanworld!!!

Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix & Buddha (Scott Green recommendation)

Slaine - The Horned God

Chew

Strangehaven

Madwoman of the Sacred Heart

The Hollow Grounds

I Kill Giants

THB

Judge Dredd - Necropolis

[TheButcher]

From CA:
'Hejji': Dr. Seuss's Awesomely Surreal Comic Strip From 1935