tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60365496905002700562024-02-19T09:22:10.460-06:00CHRONIC INSOMNIAThe Worlds Most Absurd Comic Book Podcast.Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.comBlogger426125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-44734148591974226822014-12-12T01:08:00.001-06:002014-12-12T01:08:16.924-06:00<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Market Spotlight: Secret War # 2 and Marvel Super Action # 1</span></b><br />
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I'm going to lead with Secret War # 2, and the catalyst for that situation is Tuesday's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I can't talk about it without driving straight through Spoiler Town, of course. So if you don't want to know the Big Reveal that has folks stampeding over their grandmother to get hold of this thing, you need to stop reading here. Everybody else is free to continue reading after the break!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUTHrivQsl0x_UK4UJgOPmqISpiKvBDo6DvptJUcZ_cn3LKtSCs7Sn7nvlbr1C_gnkxFXVEAFuQPRvv1LOiOWdIQzifitCHXl7A6scxbof2_wxZNhw7VoGP6DSDHiBtNKomTpQ-piBEY/s1600/Secret+War+2+phone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUTHrivQsl0x_UK4UJgOPmqISpiKvBDo6DvptJUcZ_cn3LKtSCs7Sn7nvlbr1C_gnkxFXVEAFuQPRvv1LOiOWdIQzifitCHXl7A6scxbof2_wxZNhw7VoGP6DSDHiBtNKomTpQ-piBEY/s1600/Secret+War+2+phone.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a>So, now that everybody has been forewarned, I can safely tell you that Skye is actually not a Skye at all, but a Daisy. As in Daisy Johnson, as in Quake. None of this has been explained in plain English, but all the signs point there. Skye was hit with the terrigen mists and pretty instantly started sending out shock waves.<br />
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In the comics continuity, her father is Mr. Hyde, AKA Dr. Calvin Zabo. Skye's mystery father in the show is also named Calvin. Of course I still think of him as Paul Muad'Dib, or The Guy That Once Shared a Hot Tub With Elizabeth Berkley In That Really Bad Movie I Still Like.<br />
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Point is, all the dots connect Skye and Quake. Now, Quake first appears in the second issue of that giant narrative turd known as Secret War. Naturally there is a segment of the collecting/speculating sector that must now acquire Secret War # 2 at any absurd cost.<br />
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Before we get to crazy, though, I'm not even 100% sure that these characters are going to be the same or play out how we think it's going to play out. Marvel is releasing an Agents of SHIELD comic soon with the Skye character....she certainly doesn't look or act like the Daisy Johnson from Hickman's Secret Warrior book. Hard to imagine that those two are the same person. So maybe they really aren't? This might be much ado about nothing.<br />
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Also, if you're looking for the first appearance of the Skye character as personified by Chloe Wang, the one I think you really want isn't Secret War # 2 or Agents of SHIELD # 1. I think you want the photo variant of Uncanny Avengers # 14. Not too many of those floating around, but those that are can be usually be had for $5-$10. You want my opinion, that's a better place to park your money. <br />
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And as regards Secret War # 2, I need everybody to be aware of a couple things regarding these "news spike frenzies". The market still responds to these commands like a good Pavlovian hound, but they happen a LOT now. Pop culture is now 73.6% driven by comics, so we get a "this character is now going to be in a show/movie" news bite every four minutes. <br />
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What that has done to the News Spike Effect is weaken it, and made it more wispy. A good movie news item used to last for weeks or months. Now you have 72 hours at most to get in good. Honestly, you want to make your sale within 24 hours of the instant a news item hits the net.<br />
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Incidentally, not to belabor the obvious it never, ever, ever pays to buy into a news spike. Sell, Mortimer, sell! Wait three days and you'll be able to buy the exact same item for much less cash. Wait for the trough, buy, then wait for the news and immediately dump.<br />
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Here's how it works:<br />
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News Item! Warner Bros just announced that they're making a "Character X" movie! (Sell, sell, sell)<br />
Wait 2 weeks and then buy the issues up again for 30% of the frenzy price.<br />
News Item! They just cast Annoying But Famous Actor Y to play "Character X"! (Sell, sell, sell)<br />
Wait 2 weeks and then buy the issues up again for 40% of the frenzy price.<br />
News Item! Hey, here's the amazing trailer for "Character X" on national TV! (sell, sell, sell)<br />
Wait 2 weeks and then buy the issues up again for 50% of the frenzy price.<br />
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The closer you get to the actual Big Thing, the harder it is to find real bargains on a property. But the formula definitely works. You just have to understand that the market, she is fickle. If you aren't in there with the product immediately, you're wasting your time.<br />
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Also, I have no idea why people don't understand how the cycle actually works. I think people believe that they want to buy the comic so that when the movie/show hits they can capitalize on the infinite growth the comic will experience after that. In reality, the opposite is true 99.993% of the time. Once the movie or show hits....that's it. Nobody cares any more.<br />
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Back on May 13, there I was selling my raw NM+ copy of Hellblazer # 1 a day after the NBC trailer hit national airwaves. I got $182 for a nice raw book. Here's a NM+ copy of <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hellblazer-1-Jan-1988-DC-JOHN-CONSTANTINE-NEW-TV-NBC-SERIES-VERTIGO-CGC-9-6-/121501046646?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item1c4a06d776">Hellblazer # 1 that just closed for a sliver over $100</a>, and that's been certified and slabbed! So how did those investors trying to capture all those fantastic post-show gains do? Not very well. Hint: they really never do. All the juicy stuff happens in anticipation of the The Thing, not with The Thing itself. Once the ring is on...the magic is gone, baby!<br />
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It is theoretically possible to avoid this curse. It is possible that Marvel positions Quake in such a way that she becomes an integral part of the comics and the movie narratives, and she becomes the Biggest Thing Ever. That could happen. But if you're banking on that, you're not using your head, you're scratching lottery tickets. And if you're going to do that, you might as well....you know...scratch actual lottery tickets. The prize pool is bigger and the gains are much easier to collect. <br />
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If you want to be smart, you have to anticipate which characters are likely to appear in movies/TV before they are announced, and then you plop down a one-day auction on the first appearance the second the news actually hits. That requires research, courage of one's convictions, an understanding that you're going to whiff a couple times trying to bang one over the wall, patience, eternal vigilance of the news wire, and patience. It is possible to do that, of course. (I'm doing it) But I'm here to tell ya - pimpin' aint easy!<br />
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Let's move on and briefly discuss a magazine I'm in love with right now:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Marvel Super Action # 1</b></span><br />
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Stan Lee has spent most of his adult life desperately wishing he was "legit", whatever that means. To you and me, Stan is not just legit, he's "The Man". But Stan....he always wanted to grow out of comics and pursue more cosmopolitan ventures. The reason why we know him as Stan Lee and not Stanley Lieber is because he was saving his real given name to attach to the Great American Novel he planned to write someday. See what I mean?<br />
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That's what you're looking at when you look at Marvel Super Action # 1. This is one of Stan's many efforts to try and drag Marvel into a more adult position. When this was released, the comics were still largely strangled by the Comics Code Authority. It was a self-inflicted strangulation, but the ligature marks were still there. <br />
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But magazines? No CCA to dance around there, my friend! So you got a host of fantastic mags out of Marvel in the 1970s, most of them monster mags because the Code still technically forbade most horror elements. There were other genres, though. Savage Sword of Conan ran forever.<br />
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The common elements were these; the Marvel mags were all printed in black-and-white, and they all attempted to tell more adult stories. I wasn't in the meeting room when Marvel Super Action was born, but I think the driving force behind it was:<br />
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"What can we pull out of the Marvel universe proper that we can tell adult stories with? Because folks running around in their underwear just won't play."<br />
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And what they decided to do with Super Action is play around with crime, and espionage, and fantasy in one very weird stew. The book leads off with an early appearance of Punisher. This is not a goofy Punisher, though. This one is not afraid to blast a call girl in the guts without thinking twice about it. This is a good decade before Grant and Zeck really turned him loose in the regular books. He was nasty.<br />
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You've got an early Bobbi Morse deciding if she really wants to deal with SHIELD or go freelance. She's strong on action, fully in charge of her sexuality, and the theme of the story is taking control of her career and future. She's "The Huntress", dammit! It reads a little hokey in 2014, but it's LEAGUES ahead of the "Lady Liberator" crap Avengers # 83 was squatting out six years prior in terms of realistic feminism. <br />
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Howard Chaykin gets to do his Chaykin thing with Dominic Fortune, there's a quasi-literary review of the Mack Bolan novel series....and then there's the oddest of the odd ducks in this magazine - the debut of Weirdworld!<br />
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Weirdworld was a fantasy series born from the minds and talents of Doug Moench and Mike Ploog. The older I get, the more I crave Ploog artwork. Pure magic, pun lightly intended. The series is like Tolkein and AD&D mixed with a Marvel sensibility, and maybe even a little Chronic Insomnia? One of the dwarves in this thing is named Mud-Butt. Just sayin'.<br />
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It is a corporation's job to protect copyrights and trademarks, "use it or lose it" is the motto. This summer Marvel is dragging out every event it's ever published, and also dusting off Weirdworld. I don't think it particularly likely that Weirdworld will take off, mainly because it never has in the past. It really didn't help that Marvel published the Weirdworld adventures in so many different mags - after this the story continued in Epic Illustrated and then Marvel Premiere. Tough to follow the story when they keep changing the channel on you.<br />
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Fantasy is often a tough sell as well. But Image has laid some groundwork legitimizing genres outside of superheroes, though, so it's not unthinkable that a Marvel audience might be ready for this.<br />
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And that's part of why this magazine is one my Market Radar. It has an awful lot going for it. There's a historical angle as a crazy little sub-pocket of Marvel publishing, you've got an early Punisher appearance, you've got the ridiculously lovely Adriane Palicki spurring interest in Bobbi Morse, and this summer might just have folks interested in where all this weird Weirdworld stuff came from. <br />
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Answer: it came for a bizarre little ball intrigue called Marvel Super Action # 1! <br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-90109743086342256412014-11-11T13:24:00.002-06:002014-11-11T13:28:22.073-06:00Sonic Highways! - Foo Fighters New Album, Breakthrough or Bust?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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QUICK REVIEW!<br />
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I am one of the biggest Foo Fighters fans I know of and right off the bat I have to say I'm a little disappointed with "Sonic Highways." Let me start with the premise behind this album. According to Dave Grohl and company they traveled the country and recorded these songs in 8 different studios hoping to be influenced by each city they visited. That's all great, but all the songs sound the same. There is no way to tell which studio was used for which song, other than in the liner notes. Now I know I'm nit-picking a little here, but isn't the idea of recording across the country in different cities and studios to get different sounds? Each studio sounds different and that is the reason for using them. Hence the songs should sonically sound different, at least to a decently trained ear such as mine. However they all sounded the same. I was confused and miffed at the same time.<br />
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Now onto the songs. They seem like leftovers from the "In You Honor" CD. Besides the first two songs, which only halfway rock, the rest of the album is subtle and I hate to say it mostly boring. Let me stop myself right here and say it's not a bad album (if it was by a new band), but this is the Foo Fighters and if you are looking for a sequel or continuation of "Wasting Light" you better check yourself before you wreck yourself, this isn't it. I feel as though the documentary that is currently airing on HBO is more important than the songs. There is only so much focus to go around and with Dave writing all the lyrics on the spot in each city, and directing the documentary, I think he's bitten off more than he can chew on this one. I love Dave Grohl as a songwriter and lyricist but in both categories this album falls short. <br />
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I found myself bored with the music. After the first two or three songs, which like I said before, sort of rock, I was lulled into skipping forward to the next song. If you want lyrics paraphrasing what the interviewees said in the show, than this is pretty good. But as a whole the album lacks the normal shine and vigor of past albums. Are they getting older and unable to rock like they used to? I'm not sure. But I know one thing, this is NOT a rockin' Foo Fighters album, this is a slowed down and droning excuse for a documentary. <br />
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I wanted to like this album. I really did. I LOVED "Wasting Light" incredible album, one of their best for sure, but this one fell flat for me. I wouldn't rush out to get it, I would watch the HBO series and really listen to what they are doing and make your decision then. I give this album a C-, but remember it's still a Foo Fighters album, so that leaves it leagues ahead of most new releases these days. <br />
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MichaelUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-19393484964801188712014-09-24T19:33:00.001-05:002014-09-24T20:31:30.891-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Madness....It Must Stop!</span><br />
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Before we get going, I just want to say that I can't demonstrate my points without getting spoilery in this column. So if you don't want to know who the impostor Superman is in the new Future's End comic, don't read this. For the rest of you, pray continue by clicking "read more", down and to the left.<br />
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I bought a copy of Futures End: Superman today because word on the street was that there was a new Superman in town, and I'm sucker enough to be interested in that. From a distance, it looked like Superman was wearing a motorcycle helmet. I thought it looked pretty cool, which makes me an even bigger sucker.<br />
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For the uninitiated, the Future's End hook is simply a jump five years into the future. Now, I can forgive the fact that DC has already done this a couple times in its very recent past. Wasn't Trinity a mysterious jump forward, and we were meant to be deeply curious about what happened to DC's biggest heavyweights? Or maybe that was the premise of 52, and Trinity was wall-to-wall Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Couldn't tell you, for sure. I know for a fact "One Year Later" was a similar schtick, except this one must be five times better since we're leaping five times further. Yes! The point is: A) lame. But B) I can forgive it, if the stories are tight.<br />
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What I can't forgive is hackery and bullshit. It took all of four pages before the inevitable happened:<br />
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This stuff drives me bananas. It drives me into a festering pile of over-ripe. Dole. Bananas.<br />
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We don't know who Crotch Rocket Superman is. That's supposed to be the winning element, see? It's the delicious anticipation of the reveal, the foreplay before the hips start rocking. The problem is, the rewarding tension is replaced with teeth-grinding resentment when the characters in the book speak and act awkwardly to preserve the Big Secret.<br />
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It's established in that very panel that Lois Lane outed the identity of Superman to the world in a Daily Planet column. So why does this woman call Superman "whazzizzname?" To protect that secret from the reader....for 2 MORE PAGES. Those people on the street knows exactly who is impersonating Superman. Dan Jurgens had her spout that implausible dreck to maintain my "suspense" for about 30 seconds, real time. Except by then I can't even focus on the rabbit coming out of the hat, because I'm pissed off about being jerked around with dialogue that violently yanks at the soul. That woman would never say that. So why is it in there?<br />
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I suppose it's fair here to touch upon the suspension of disbelief. If I can believe a man can subvert the laws of physics when exposed to yellow solar radiation, why not just roll over for an absent-minded street random? My answer to that is two-fold. Firstly, even fictional worlds should play by some internal logic, and forgetting the identity of a Superman impostor is infinitely harder to digest than defeating gravity. Particularly when it's parked directly next to a line demonstrating that his identity is scandalous public knowledge.<br />
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That's the second part. I accept that it's a show, but a good puppeteer always obscures the strings. When you drag out clunky dialogue like that, it doesn't just paint the strings neon. It's like pulling the strings off the puppet and flicking them at my eyes. Don't do that.<br />
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But this is par for the course in these time-shift stories. It's a continuous blitz of people talking and acting in ways that are desperately uncomfortable to read, and they all just happen to conspire toward dodging critical information the reader wants to know. Here's another even more more painful bit toward the end of the issue. This is Superman explaining to Crotch Rocket Superman that he has to disappear for awhile:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just in case you were wondering what you should be wondering about...."Who says? Where?" AAAARGH.</td></tr>
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<br />
It's one thing to create awkward dialogue, which is annoying and unnecessary. Unnecessary if you're good, I should qualify. It's quite another, more diabolical offense to break character over these crimes. Superman would never, ever, ever, ever say "or so he says." Basic knowledge of human interaction says that your conversation partner will want to know the identity of who "he" is. Disguising it that way is passive aggressive. Superman is a lot of things - passive aggressive isn't on the list.<br />
<br />
Superman would probably be up front about where he was going and who was behind it. He's an up front guy. Barring that, I can only see Kal explaining that he can't say anything, for Billy's protection. Superman is never going to dangle a little gender clue and just bolt, though. It's not in his established nature. Are you seriously going to compromise a flagship character's behavior over this "mystery" nobody actually cares about? It's madness, and it has to stop.<br />
<br />
If you have to step on your characters and place vague, weird dialogue in their mouths, you've built the scene wrong. That's called hack work. If you're an editor and you see that Superman is acting passive aggressively to protect The Big Secret, it's time to email the writer and have her try another runway. If none of the runways work, that means there's a problem with the story platform - it's too cute to live. Throw it the fuck away.<br />
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In the case of Crotch Rocket Superman I'm picking on Dan Jurgens, but he's absolutely not the only culprit. Pick up 10 of these Future's End books, and I bet 7 of them are guilty of the same types of crimes. DC! Stop it. Just....stop it. You're killing me with this nonsense. If you want a template for building stories out of natural consequences and consistent characters, go look up Valiant. They'll show you how it's done. <br />
<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-7021571543162453322014-09-20T19:35:00.000-05:002014-09-20T19:42:40.126-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chronic Review: Astro City - Through Open Doors</span><br />
<br />
Scripts: Kurt Busiek<br />
Art: Brent Anderson<br />
Collects issues # 1-6 of the Vertigo series<br />
<br />
I had never read an issue of Astro City before diving into Through Open Doors, which represents the 9th volume of the series. This comic has always worn a badge of critical acclaim, but I've dodged it to this point because I'm generally not into analogues. Why bother with a half-assed imitation of something when I can wait for a quality creative team to tackle the real thing? <br />
<br />
I do find exceptions to this line of thinking. The Authority is worthwhile, and that makes no effort to disguise the fact that it's a Justice League commentary. I really loved Danger Unlimited, and that's not even a commentary. That was just John Byrne doing more Fantastic Four without the rights to the original property.<br />
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So when I started hearing podcasters and pundits talking about Astro City in special reverent tones, I decided that I would test drive the first volume when it got collected. So here we are.<br />
<br />
My quick capsule review is that Astro City is worthy of all the special reverent tones whispered about it. Here's how it works and why it's a cut above your standard comics fare:<br />
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<b>Astro City is Aptly Named</b><br />
<br />
Every other comic on the rack is focused on a character or a group of characters. Nothing wrong with that, by the way, I'm just stating the facts as they lay. Astro City is about Astro City. There are characters that tend to recur more than others, and characters more prominent than others. That prominence is entirely determined by their importance to Astro City the community, however. <br />
<br />
That approaches pushes the focus out into a web of interconnections instead of funneling it all into a specific person or a group. It's a very different different style of writing and reading, it stands out, and pleasantly so. Astro City is populated with a host of super-powered folks, and naturally those concerns tend to drive the plots. It's hard to talk about Metropolis without mentioning Superman, right? At that same time, Metropolis is much more than Superman. Superman has no real purpose or meaning without the Jimmie Olson's to save. Astro City is constructed in such a way that it can't forget that. Ever.<br />
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So while Superman gets a requisite amount of panel time, (he's The Samaritan in Astro City, and Busiek plays him perfectly) three of the six issues in this paperback feature characters with no super powers at all. The longest running plot in the arc consist of two issues spotlighting a call-center employee who feels she needs to atone for a call-routing mistake.<br />
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Your typical comic would flip Busiek's script and deal mostly with the Honor Guard mixing it up with the Skullcrushers. The tip that brought them to the enemy base may not even get a mention. Perhaps the call-center employee would receive a pat on the head for a panel. In Astro City, the meat of the issue are a couple of victims of the Skullcrusher's violence and the call-center employee who feels responsible for their suffering.<br />
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Astro City exposes the "weakness" of most superhero comics by offering the reader more layers of the action. The Big Two superhero books carve out the frosting off the cake, and it is sweet, to be sure. Astro City lays out the full spread, and then holds the camera on the table until everyone is done eating and reminds you that somebody has to clean the table when the patrons are done. Then it takes the camera back into the kitchen and shows you the cooks.<br />
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That's a different kind of storytelling. You might be wondering if Astro City turns this back in on itself and becomes banal and dull. Not at all<br />
<br />
<b>Astro City is Also a Mystery Cult</b><br />
<br />
The A plot of the book is centered upon a set of doors in the sky hovering above the city. Eventually a Celestial-type pops out of the doors and requests a liaison from the regular populace to teach him about the culture. Once the liaison gets the Celestial up to speed, more contact, sharing, and negotiating should follow.<br />
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Nobody is quite sure what to make of the situation, including the reader. Not even the Samaritan seems to be a threat to the new Visitor, and that's a bit scary. On the other hand, when he first appears the Celestial gets his volume wrong and has to fiddle with his Mother Box before continuing his speech. So clearly this guy is not omnipotent!<br />
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<br />
These are the fun little touches that define a good or great series - the devil is always in the details. This guy's power is not in question, so adding the foibles adds depth. That character is very hard to pin down. He seems mostly benevolent, but we never really have access to any conversations with his liason, (more on that situation in a bit) so its impossible right now to say what his intentions really are. We have no clue what info he's actually getting from his assistant, or what the objectives are.<br />
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In the sixth issue, an Astro City mobster also negotiates his way behind those doors, and steals a Macguffin with potentially disastrous consequences. It's hard to know how to interpret the Celestial's response to that development. He may have set the whole thing up as a test, and it's a little creepy. Who is this guy? What's the game plan? What's he doing behind those doors with the liaison? We don't know. Yet.<br />
<br />
But somebody might! I haven't talked about the Broken Man yet, and he's integral. Every now and again a purple-skinned man appears and talks directly to you. He tells you what you're are and are not supposed to read and investigate in Astro City. He tells you that there is something out there called an Oubor, and that he wants NO PART of it. He chastises you for getting too nosey and potentially drawing the Oubor's gaze. It's kinda trippy.<br />
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This purple person calls himself the Broken Man. We learn some things about him (against his protestations) that make him a bit of an unreliable source. And yet...maybe he knows more than anybody about what's going on. The Broken Man appears to have psychically nudged Ben Pullam to volunteer to act as the Celestials liaison. Possible so that the Oubur couldn't see him behind those doors.<br />
<br />
The Broken Man seems to be the one choosing for us what elements of Astro City we are exposed to, all in a labyrinthine plot to....I don't know...save Astro City from the Oubur? The vignettes seem random, but Busiek and the Broken Man are promising that these things are all folding in on each other.<br />
<br />
The good news is that the "slice of life" stuff is so good, it almost doesn't matter if the Mystery Cult stuff pays off or not. If it does pay off....this comic could enter legendary status.<br />
<br />
<b>Astro City Has a Ton of Great Characters</b><br />
<br />
Astro City # 4 is one of the finest issues of a comic I've read this year. Martha Sullivan was born a telekinetic, but she just doesn't have the will or temperament to be a crime-fighter. In the space of a single issue, Busiek walks us through Sully's development as a person, and what life for a regular folk with super-powers might look like, including all the perks and dangers.<br />
<br />
It really is remarkable how much character track gets laid in this one issue, and this is also probably a good entry-point to talk about Brent Anderson's art. Astro City is built on wondering how the superhero phenomenon would operate in real life. How would a JLA call center actually work? What would a world of intermingling gods look like? And the answer is that it would probably look exactly like Brent Anderson draws it.<br />
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Not every person with super powers would look like a model. I think that the design and rendering Anderson creates is critical to buying into the world. The Brent Anderson Martha Sullivan allows me to just fall in, because I feel like I know who that woman is, and it's pitch perfect. That's a no-nonsense woman who has lived some life and has some Kathy Bates in her. If you have to fight your way into believing in her, Busiek can't get where he wants to go. So I think a good portion of the verisimilitude I attribute to Busiek is actually Anderson, and I just don't have the tools to consciously recognize that.<br />
<br />
Anywho. In the Astro City tradition, Martha gets a full back story, a chance to grow, and a resolution to her plot in the same issue. You've got your steampunky Dame Progress, and the Cake Walker, who by all rights should be stupid and instantly rejected, but you can't. Because somehow this creative team makes you believe it fits in this world, and it all just works.<br />
<br />
Astro City is unapologetically a super hero comic, but it's an exceptionally layered and sophisticated one. For those of you pining for something like James Robinson's Starman book, this is an excellent tonic. I'm giving Astro City a strong recommendation.<br />
<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-5801178487048080952014-09-15T16:23:00.001-05:002014-10-02T00:54:47.702-05:00<span style="font-size: large;">NYCC: Ones to Watch</span><br />
<br />
Superfan David D asked me to make a list of books to hunt for in the bargain bins at New York Comic Con, so that's what I'm going to do. It won't be a comprehensive list because that would constitute 1,000 pages, and it's difficult to know what any particular convention is going to sport for inventory. Even vendors you've seen before can spin on a dime if the same old same old hasn't been working for them.<br />
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That's not to say that you can't make predictions and plan ahead, though. I know that when I go to a convention of any size, I'm going to run into a swath of Hellblazer overstock and piles of Chronicles of Conan. I can make money on several books from both series, so it pays to have your game sharp before you ever step onto the floor.<br />
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Obviously you can't know everything, but I would say it behooves one to get familiar with old reliables like Batman and Nightwing before you go. What's selling right now? These situations are fluid. I really like Batman: Scarecrow Tales, but I was shocked to find out how little it's trading for at the moment. I've sold copies of that book for $60-$80, but as I type this I think it's tough to drag $30 out of it in the best condition. <br />
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It pays to have this at the top of your head before you ever start flipping through the long boxes. Study the big earners and pay close attention to condition breaks. Some books only make sense to buy in nice shape. Yes, your smartphone has all the answers, and most conventions offer some form of complimentary wi-fi access. There are a couple problems with relying on that, though. <br />
<br />
Problem number one is that there are going to be 90 million other people with smartphones in the venue, and it's difficult to squeeze out a good signal most of the time. Problem number two is that most vendors don't want to see you staring at your Amazon app counting up how much profit you're going to make on their measly little $5 trade, likely a loss for them.<br />
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So you'll have to decide what kind of relationship you want to have the vendors. I generally don't check the phone while I'm digging, because it's bad form. I'm careful now about purchasing multiples as well. When you bring four copies of a book to the dealer, you are announcing to the dealer that you know their stock better than they do, and that you're going to profit at their expense. <br />
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I'm not saying I never buy multiple copies any more. I do. What I generally do is pick the nicest copy of the clump, and if I decide I need more, I'll come back later. Sometimes there are multiple folks taking cash at a booth, so I can buy the same books twice and nobody is the wiser. Most people do not remember what an individual customer purchased the day before, so I can buy my multiples the day after without rancor. You run the risk of another book scout snapping them up on you, of course. Some people reading this may think it silly to even sweat this stuff, but there's an old saying in poker:<br />
<br />
"Pigs make money, but hogs get slaughtered."<br />
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If you get too aggressive and open with your profiteering, a vendor can simply shut off the spigot on you. They can reassess their entire stock, cherry-pick it, and leave nothing but chaff behind. I did this 2 years ago at C2E2. A guy had long boxes full of gold, and I started grabbing 4 copies of certain titles. Now he's suddenly interested in his stock.<br />
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The guy looks at my pile and says "These are out of print, aren't they?"<br />
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Then he starts rummaging through his stock and cherry-picking the good books out of the chaff. That sucked. If that's how he felt about it, why didn't his lazy ass figure out what he was carrying to begin with? I don't know, but that's life.<br />
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Anywho, this is a tiny list of items that I find likely to be available for cover or much, much less at the New York Comic Con.<br />
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<b>Farscape Vol 1: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 9781608866212</b><br />
<b>SRP: $9.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $40/$50</b><br />
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This is my favorite book in the world right now because it is dirt cheap and easy to sell. Full retail is only $10, and I've been getting 4-5X that with ease. At the Baltimore Con I found multiple copies at $5 or less.<br />
<br />
It's possible that I'm actually selling these a little short. I'm sort of artificially down at the $40-$50 level, and after that it jumps toward $100. My thing is, when I get a book for $5 and I can sell it for $40, I'm not going to let it lay around for six months hoping to gouge out $80. I'm going to sell it for $40 quickly and plow that into other earners.<br />
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This is the perfect storm of culty goodness. It's a well-loved series, and the comics are co-written by series creator Rockne O'Bannon. Certain brick-and-mortar shops may not have a Farscape audience, so they try and blow these out. Merry Christmas! I don't know how Boom! is going to handle the license, but unless they go back to press soon, I think many of these Farscape books are going to be worth watching.<br />
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<b>Green Lantern Corps: The Dark Side of Green</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 9781401215071</b><br />
<b>SRP: $12.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min for used/new: $36/$46</b><br />
<br />
Geoff Johns lifted the whole Green Lantern franchise out of obscurity on sheer force of will. Alannis Morrissette would call that irony, but it's not. It's poetic, not ironic. None of the Johns Green Lantern books have ever earned me a nickel, because DC prints enough to sate the demand.<br />
<br />
Not so with some of the satellite titles. There is money to be made with some of the Green Lantern Corps books, essential to the hard corps fans but not printed in great numbers since it's perceived as an ancillary title.<br />
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I love Dark Side of Green because it's only $13 even at full retail. Many vendors fire their remaining GLC stock into the 1/2 price bins. I really like Dark Side at the $6.50 price point, because I know I'm going to sell it for 6-8X that, and it won't take 48 hours to flip it. If you see this book for cover or less, it's an insta-buy. <b>GLC: Recharge</b> is nice, too, but not as nice.<br />
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<b>Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 1401218539</b><br />
<b>SRP: $14.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $30/$95</b><br />
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Hellblazer has been quite the money machine for me in my career as a book scout. Batman is # 1 with a bullet, but other than the Dark Knight I think I've sold more Constantine tomes than anything else. With the NBC series launching you might think that now might be the best time ever for Hellblazer trades in the secondary market, but you'd be wrong.<br />
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What's happened is that the NBC series has prompted DC to go back to press on new editions of the Hellblazer series, and that has helped to keep prices stable and sane. The people that are interested in the character are getting their hands on the books.. Honestly, that's a good thing for the long-term health of the industry, so I applaud that. I can't be a disgusting pig of profit if nobody reads these things, so bravo to DC for recognizing that Constantine needs to be largely available.<br />
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Not every book has received a new edition yet, though. Top of the heap right now is the Laughing Magician. In my experience, it's very easy to find dealers who don't know what they're sitting on blowing these out for $5 a book or half price. If the book is nice shape, Laughing Magician is very easy to flip for $60. So if you find one for $5, (I snagged one for $4 at Baltimore) you'll be the one laughing - all the way to the damn bank.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;">UPDATE: Sold that $4 copy for $59.99 on 9/14 </span><br />
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<b>Nightwing: The Great Leap</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 1401221718</b><br />
<b>SRP: $19.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $90/$130</b><br />
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Nightwing is a beast in the secondary market. His fan base is dedicated and willing to spend. I don't have enough data to prove the case, but in my anecdotal experience this is another property driven by interest from women. I see a LOT of female names on the invoice when I sell Nightwing material. I don't think they're all buying them as birthday gifts for their boyfriend. Chicks dig the 'Wing.<br />
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There are a ton of earners starring Mr. Grayson, and many vendors know about the older ones. You are unlikely to find a copy of Rough Justice, Hunt for Oracle, or Year One laying around the bargain bins. (If you do, buy all means employ an insta-buy strategy) <br />
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I'm amazed at how many profitable Nightwing trades are left in the 50% boxes, though. The strongest play of the newer generation is Great Leap, from 2009. Prices are in serious nose-bleed territory. Sometimes things sit in the nose-bleeds and don't actually sell. You can sell a copy of this book for $80. Easy.<br />
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It's a good thing, too, because full retail is $20. That's pretty steep. If you can rescue one from that $5 box, that's quite a bonanza. You should also keep an eye out <b>Lost Year</b> and <b>Renegade</b>. I promise you, somebody is going to have all of these available for way under retail at NYCC. <br />
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<b>Deadpool Corps Vol 1: Pool-Pocalypse Now</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 0785148256</b><br />
<b>SRP: $16.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $95/$100</b><br />
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The big money in the secondary market is always on the niche satellite, never on the big shiny object. Deadpool is an institution now, the Wolverine of the new millenium. Most of the Deadpool proper trades don't do a bloody thing on the secondary market, because Marvel prints enough to books to soak up the extraordinary demand.<br />
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The Deadpool saturation has all these little spin-offs lurking about now, and many of them do not have print runs able to support the demand. So you have this Deadpool Corps volume trading for close to triple-digit prices. It's hard to make par ($100) in the trade market, but this might be a place to do it. <br />
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You should also have your eyes open for <b>Deadpool Corps Prelude, Deadpool: Merc With a Mouth Vol 1 Head Trip, and Deadpool Team-up Vol 3: BFFs</b>. I didn't find any of these at Baltimore, and was a little surprised. I bet that somebody hits big on these at NYCC.<br />
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<b>Amalgam Age of Comics: Marvel Collection</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 078510240X</b><br />
<b>SRP: $12.95</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $65/$90</b><br />
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The Amalgam books are hard to find now, partly because they're relatively old. (for the TPB game, 20 years is actually quite old) Another reason is that Amalgam was a hybrid experiment crossing DC and Marvel characters, and those two companies simply do not get along like that any more. I can't imagine a world in which the Amalgam material ever gets reprinted, and for that reason I get very excited when I see these trades.<br />
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Sure, the actual comics are mostly terrible. Mostly. But they were also fun, a unique stamp on a bygone era, and there is a niche crowd committed enough to the material to pay good money for these.<br />
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The good news is that when you do tend to stumble on an Amalgam trade, the vendor likely has no clue about its real value and has dumped it in the $5 box. They've been staring at it for 20 years and just can't take it another day. Scoop them up and say thank you!<br />
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When I find these in nice shape, I get them graded and stow them away. Stuff that will never see print again smells like retirement money to me. But I'm kind of crazy. Your move is probably to buy them for $5 and flip them for $60. Also be on the lookout for the<b> Return to the Amalgam Age Marve</b>l, and the <b>Amalgam Age DC Comics collection</b>. I tripped over a couple of these at Baltimore, and I'm betting there will be a couple laying about in New York as well.<br />
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<b>Wolverine Legends Vol 5: Snikt!</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 0785112391</b><br />
<b>SRP: 13.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $20/$55</b><br />
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Irish Mike McLarty would probably hunt me down if I didn't include this little gem. The catalyst here is the Tsutomo Nihei work. The style feels a little too manga for the mainstream American audience to really grab hold of it, but a rapid subset really, really wants that. This is the cauldron from which booms are made of.<br />
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I've actually seen this book trading for much higher than it is now. I've sold this for as much as $80, usually I get about $60 for it. I never have to pay much to get it, either. Full retail is $14, but when you do see it, it's generally being sold by somebody who can't find a buyer in their local market and thinks it's garbage. I got one at Baltimore out of a $5 box. I'm going to get $50 for it, I promise you.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;">UPDATE: I did. Sold my Snikt! for $49.99 on 9/28 </span><br />
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<b>Gargoyles: Bad Guys</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 1593621930</b><br />
<b>SRP: 17.95</b><br />
<b>Amazon min in used/new: $145/$221</b><br />
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Something is going on with the Gargoyles property, and I don't know what. The old Marvel material is spiking a bit, and crazy/bizarre things are happening with the Slave Labor Graphics trades. I'm sure part of the equation is just the microscopic print runs. Gargoyles have not been a huge property in years, and Slave Labor just can't be printing even 1,000 of these, can they? <br />
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A piece of me hesitates to put this on here, because I've never actually sold one. Hell, I've never seen one! <span style="color: lime;">UPDATE: I've since found 2 copies. Sold the first for $99.99 on Oct 1</span>. But I did see a copy of <b>Gargoyles Vol 1: Clan Building</b> close for $250 a few weeks ago on eBay. I can't seem to sell one of those for even $100, but still - something must have happened that kickstarted this price movement. Usually these things happen on the heels of a movie announcement, but I haven't heard anything - have you?<br />
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The bottom line is that if I saw a copy of this book, I would pop on it instantly even at full retail. There might be $200 hiding in there! Kids books tend to get dumped into bargain blowout bins, as well. If you find one of these at 50% off, there's really no risk at all. Same holds true for Gargoyles: Clan Building. I don't know what the market really thinks of that book, but I'll certainly pay $5-$10 to find out. <span style="color: lime;">UPDATE: I've now sold two copies of Clan Building Vol 1 for $79.99, on 9/20 and 9/23. </span><br />
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There's quite a bit of profit in the kids bins, if you know where to look. You know those Teen Titans Go! digests you always see lying around the comic shop collecting dust for $6.99 retail? Well, <b>Volume 1: Truth, Justice, Pizza!</b> is a $40-$60 book in nice condition, and <b>Volume 4: Ready for Action</b> is a $30-$40 book as well. I can make money on all kinds of Darkwing Duck trades, and the <b>Darkwing Duck/Duck Tales book Dangerous Currency</b> wins me $60-$80 all day long. If you see these at NYCC, they are likely sitting lonely in a $5 box.<br />
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So. Not a comprehensive list by any means, but these are few of the juicier opportunities from a variety of publishers. Happy Hunting!<br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-58705659427488563662014-08-10T14:18:00.001-05:002014-08-12T02:22:32.236-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Chronic Review: And Then Emily Was Gone # 1</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Comix Tribe </span></b><br />
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<b>Script: John Lees</b><br />
<b>Pencils: Iain Laurie</b><br />
<b>Color: Megan Wilson</b><br />
<b>Letters: Colin Bell</b><br />
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Emily is a delightfully weird little horror comic. The story is set in the Scottish isle of Merksay, and the boogeyman of the piece is a local spook named Bonnie Shaw. When parents get jammed into a corner so bad there's no way out...ol' Bonnie Shaw will appear and offer them a solution. All he asks for in exchange is the couple's child.<br />
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Emily tells her best friend Fiona that she know it sounds crazy, but she's seen Bonnie Shaw. Emily is so convinced of this, she tells Fiona that she's leaving the island. Meet me tonight, and we'll leave together, says Emily.<br />
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So Fiona shows up at the meeting place and waits for hours. Nobody shows. And then Emily was gone.<br />
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This is not the kind of story the police are likely to take seriously, at least not the regular police. So Fiona visits Greg Hellinger, who used to be impossibly good at finding missing people. That is, until he started seeing monsters everywhere. Now he mostly huddles into his apartment without pants and tries to drink the monsters away. He hasn't had a good night's sleep in five years, but you can see why Fiona might think Hellinger is useful.<br />
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And that's the crux of the hook. It's one of those stories loaded with unreliable narrators, so you're never quite sure what to believe. There are a couple keys to making a story like this work. One is to build real characters around the madness - if the madness doesn't "pay off", it doesn't matter because the human element is enough to draw you in. In my opinion, Emily neither excels nor fails at that element. <br />
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I would say that the leads of the story (Fiona and Hellinger) are fairly flat...but with some plusses. Lees did not go over-the-top with Hellinger's character, thankfully. He's clearly suffering from depression with a side of suicidal tendencies, but that's to be expected when you've been seeing monsters for five years.<br />
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Fiona shows some hints that there might be more than just a little girl lurking beneath the surface. Very subtle hints.<br />
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Subtlety is the second element that a good "is there a supernatural element here or not?" story.requires. Here, Emily does excel. Emily is gone, so the only witness we have to the Bonnie Shaw part of the story is Fiona. All of this could plausibly be in a couple people's heads. Teenage girls run away all the time. <br />
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Except. We do get to meet Emily's parents... and something is definitely sideways with her father Gordon. He's mumbling cryptic nothings fit for a psycopath, and he's building a box with ornate Cthulhian symbols on it in the basement. There's something in that box that he needs to show his wife. We'll get to see it next issue....<br />
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About the art. We need to talk about the art. I'm a bit of a cave man, so Iain Laurie's loose pencils don't do it for me. My rigid perceptions prefer the glossy, illustrative style of a Jamie McElvie, where it looks like the pencil has been gliding across the page like Oksana Baiul. Laurie's pencils look like they were scratched into the page with an awl. <br />
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The proportions are not true to life, (Fiona's eyes are usually right next to her ears) and most people in the book have very weird overbites. Maybe it's an Orkney islands thing? I don't know. I think it's a funny Iain Laurie thing. The loose pencils are not a deal-breaker for me, and to be fair I don't think I'd want a Jamie McElvie drawing this story. It's not about glamorous, super-hot, L.A. people. It's about weird backwoods Scottish peasant people. I don't know who I'd put on here. Matt Wagner, maybe? Yeah, he'd be good.<br />
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The point is that I'm a cave man, and you probably aren't, so you'll be fine. If you're a horror fan that found yourself enjoying movies like Insidious, Let the Right One in, or May, I think it very likely that you enjoy this comic. This is not a gory monster comic. We don't see Bonnie Shaw in this issue, and we may never see him. That's perfectly fine, in my opinion. The mystery/suspense elements shine, and that's more than enough for me.<br />
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I recommend the book, and really doubt your local comic shop ordered many (or any) of these. If you want to see how the series turns out, ask your shop to order it for you, and use your Jedi mind powers to make them rack a few extra copies as well. This comic deserves to be seen by more people. <br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-43793261759904847312014-08-02T19:01:00.002-05:002014-08-02T19:01:49.961-05:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">Market Spotlight: Pedigree & Prototypes</span></b><br />
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David Lyon posted this on the wall, and he makes some important, salient points about my last Market Report on Big Hero 6 strategy, so I thought I'd share it here and respond:<br />
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$2:0"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HSQkYXlB9ypxVeNh8_a90K-22ChJX6K4u83bQNBP7EU4mUaCI0378-rswV7MT_YchKRGm9JJufGAyJ7MXmGwO8JIhyphenhyphen5ABaxMr-vkt7WdtszAowH2HjgK9pYtS0Pj6dMB9ts3YFFt3b4/s1600/MSH+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HSQkYXlB9ypxVeNh8_a90K-22ChJX6K4u83bQNBP7EU4mUaCI0378-rswV7MT_YchKRGm9JJufGAyJ7MXmGwO8JIhyphenhyphen5ABaxMr-vkt7WdtszAowH2HjgK9pYtS0Pj6dMB9ts3YFFt3b4/s1600/MSH+18.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></span></span></div>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$2:0">"I agree for the most part on Big Hero Six (sell soon, etc etc).
However, I AM a bit cautious about saying that the early issues won't
raise in v</span></span><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">alue
because of lack of ties and emotional connection to the film. Why?
Because the precedent has been set with the GotG movie. Marvel Super
Heroes 18 abso-freaking-lutely SKYROCKETED in value, even though Yondu
was the only movie attachment to the original team, and that status was
pretty well known for a while. Case in point, about 5-6 months ago, I
sold a NM unslabbed copy for $550(!!). Probably would've gotten more if
I graded it."</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">This is good to talk about, because David is 100% correct about the Guardians situation:</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">1) Marvel Superheroes # 18 has seen significant increases since the movie announcement</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">2) Those characters have almost nothing at all to do with the movie itself</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">Yondu is in there, sure, but other than the blue skin bears almost zero resemblance to the source. The mohawk is all wrong, and the attitude is completely backwards. I won't ruin too much for you, but they got Michael Rooker to play Yondu, and he approached the character as a Space Hick. The comic book Yondu is kind of a quiet, dour, altogether too serious dude. Movie Yondu is searching the galaxy for Ned Beatty so he can plunder his ample backside again. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">So...if the Guardians have shown us that a movie can spur value increases even if the movie attached is similar in name only, why am I worried about connections with Big Hero 6?</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">The answer is pedigree, and the prototype phenomenon. The Guardians of the Galaxy have always been B-Listers on their best day, but they do have a history. They've been around the block a few times, they've hooked up with the Avengers a few times, and they were an integral part of the Korvac Saga. The Korvac Saga is legendary. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYg2ICROWQ4hXUz7iC_9tAM6xspbvQ30YAdNwhbaaiXVDj0GAKxoodlWb5k8mCG-avyEWaYnfBRlw4-FhUieWl44hKg-v8836CPXCmSn-KMm7TtjD0x0an8oWVLbRm01-v61GEt9oiq9c/s1600/Baymax+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYg2ICROWQ4hXUz7iC_9tAM6xspbvQ30YAdNwhbaaiXVDj0GAKxoodlWb5k8mCG-avyEWaYnfBRlw4-FhUieWl44hKg-v8836CPXCmSn-KMm7TtjD0x0an8oWVLbRm01-v61GEt9oiq9c/s1600/Baymax+1.jpg" height="200" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comic Baymax</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">The Valentino series ran 62 issues, which is a pretty good sized run. A grand epic by today's standars, actually. And Valentino is a founding Image guy. The Guardians don't have the resume of a Batman, that's for sure. Ask 100 people on the street what they can tell you about Charlie 27, and you'll get 100 blank looks. The team does have some meat behind it, and some historical weight. There was (some) ambient interest in that property, though, and then a movie launch stacked more interest onto it.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">When we're talking about Big Hero 6, we're talking about a single appearance nobody cares about in an Alpha Flight book nobody cares about, eight issues of worth of mini-series, and a one-shot reprinting five of those eight issues. Your Big Hero 6 "omnibus" contains nine obscure comics. They've never carried their own ongoing title. Not only do <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsPg9aenTG9DTSW1-fzi1YLyyi5ZCknIZ-5KUtpbJZbn_4Xc-Ij5o93IL_AuCSHd44QwuhzIXUNc71XFEgvlFHBaUSvKGdw2mseZpgLLlvmnt44I2wYpNYId29vd47SbCHdMMy86pMtLQ/s1600/Baymax+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsPg9aenTG9DTSW1-fzi1YLyyi5ZCknIZ-5KUtpbJZbn_4Xc-Ij5o93IL_AuCSHd44QwuhzIXUNc71XFEgvlFHBaUSvKGdw2mseZpgLLlvmnt44I2wYpNYId29vd47SbCHdMMy86pMtLQ/s1600/Baymax+2.jpg" height="200" width="154" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Movie Baymax</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
civilians not know or care about Big Hero 6, most ardent comics fans couldn't name a single team member outside of Sunfire or Silver Samurai. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">Apart from this movie...there is nothing there for Big Hero 6. That's why I think the visual/emotional connection matters more for that property. There's nothing else in the culture letting us know these characters even exist. Since the movie is largely defining the property, I think it matters more that the perceived source comics line up properly.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">My other concern is the "protoype" phenomenon. All things being equal, first appearances rule the day. But collectors are a fickle lot, and sometimes they organically decide that certain appearances are "true", and others aren't. And by the way, these definitions can change relatively quickly.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">My go-to examples on this is Sgt Rock. Our Army at War # 81 features a prototype "Sgt Rocky" character, and that book does pretty well on the secondary market. Overstreet lists a NM value of $8,500 on that comic. There was a long time when most considered that his first appearance. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8sl1BSB5hL2A3-BxlnvNCs5LsUmzNHWmB2-JTmQ2vVQM3nxHyqM3VwmhHuFtwvl_MAQRpw_4l8dD9G8HCHvsZibXpnZJLxYV2f3ybT68EAdZfVYIKgI-jg5_t7JS3qgk7IiMfuB3aSc/s1600/Our+Army+at+War+83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8sl1BSB5hL2A3-BxlnvNCs5LsUmzNHWmB2-JTmQ2vVQM3nxHyqM3VwmhHuFtwvl_MAQRpw_4l8dD9G8HCHvsZibXpnZJLxYV2f3ybT68EAdZfVYIKgI-jg5_t7JS3qgk7IiMfuB3aSc/s1600/Our+Army+at+War+83.jpg" height="200" width="136" /></a></div>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">Over time, though, the War Book folks determined that the real foundations of the character weren't established until Our Army at War # 83, "The Rock and the Wall". So now that comic leap-frogged # 81 and now commands $15,000 in 9.2 condition according to Overstreet. In reality, if you actually had a 9.2 I bet you could get $20K for that, easy. The point is that it's definitely possible to back the "wrong horse" in situations like this, and it can cost you money. Big Hero 6 isn't going to cost you Sgt Rock money, but still.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">Now, nobody can perfectly predict how the collecting community is going to feel about anything. Maybe they take to the original Sunfire & Big Hero 6 without a hitch and it works like a standard first appearance. I could be wrong about all of this. The other thing to clarify again is that prototypes aren't worthless - they just pale compared to whatever the community designates as the "true" first appearance.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">What I have discovered in my old age is that most humans make their decisions entirely on emotion. I worry about those obscure comics holding value when the characters on the page look almost nothing like what appears on the screen. I think the resonance might fail, and it's disconcerting enough that my cautious nature is shouting at me to pull the plug on the earliest of the Big Hero 6 material.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0">Thanks for chiming in, Mr. David Lyon! We got a little deeper into the weeds on some relevant market stuff, so I thank you for prompting that. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><span data-reactid=".14.1:3:1:$comment10152624377647328_10152624819797328:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$0:0"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-64849384505152321782014-08-02T02:51:00.001-05:002014-08-12T02:26:34.599-05:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">Market Spotlight Report: Sunfire & Big Hero 6</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJ_C3bylPIrS6YpVOg2LNdrNCCYnqyRnJY_gWp1oUpAsSLqX3BljWtMgnbzNSobSya8MlEpYtwBpCL_PSyg9CZOKUUCGlGSIJ6CdF6b2B6Jurm8gJ4_n-2iQJOFG-XHcxD2vc3qYGK9M/s1600/Sunfire+Big+Hero+Six+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJ_C3bylPIrS6YpVOg2LNdrNCCYnqyRnJY_gWp1oUpAsSLqX3BljWtMgnbzNSobSya8MlEpYtwBpCL_PSyg9CZOKUUCGlGSIJ6CdF6b2B6Jurm8gJ4_n-2iQJOFG-XHcxD2vc3qYGK9M/s1600/Sunfire+Big+Hero+Six+1.jpg" height="400" width="271" /></a></div>
Sunfire & Big Hero 6 have been speculator darlings for some time now, for lots of reasons. Tops on that list being the fact that the property has an animated feature from Disney coming out in late fall. Disney is a powerful horse to be hitched to, and the creative team is helmed by the Man of Action folks. In the comics community, we know them as crazy bastards like Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, and Steve Seagle.<br />
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Man of Action is responsible for stuff like Ben 10, the Ultimate Spider-Man Cartoon, and Avengers Assemble. They know how to transition comic book material into other quality media. So Big Hero 6 seems like a pretty strong play on paper, and the returns have already been solid. Alpha Flight (2007) # 17 is the first appearance, and that trades for around $40-$50 in nice raw condition. The first issue of the initial mini-series sells for similar figures.<br />
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Those books do not have particularly large print runs. These were niche books, and hitting right smack in the "we don't overprint any more" era of Marvel. Again, on paper this has all the makings of a long-term speculator bonanza.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3biFxZIJOQ&feature=youtu.be">Having just watched the trailer for the upcoming movie</a>...I feel like The Move is to cut bait on everything before the 2008 series and sell for whatever you can, as soon as possible. Judging from the trailer, your POV character is Hiro, with his trusty balloon robot companion Baymax. They're both great, but they bear little resemblance to those early Marvel issues.<br />
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In the Sunfire mini-series, Hiro wears glasses, appears a little older, and cobbles together guns to fight off secret agents. Baymax is absolutely unrecognizeable as the same character. In the trailer he's a dopey, harmless looking balloon blob. In the comic, he looks like a giant angry lizard.<br />
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If you squint really hard, you can trace the lineage back. Both Hiros are smart kids that program an artificial sidekick to take care of them. I'm not suggesting that these early Big Hero 6 books have no future value. I'm saying that when a kid comes out of that Big Hero 6 movie, the best case scenario is that they are very excited about what they saw. When that kid gets to the early Big Hero 6 comics, he or she won't recognize the Hiro and Baymax on the covers, and they won't give a flying fig about no damn Honey Lemon or Sunfire.<br />
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So why would anybody pay big money for characters they can't emotionally connect to the thing they actually like? Answer: I don't think they will. I think the earliest issues of Big Hero 6 are not good long-term plays, and I would get out toot sweet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTDRCwhkZGHCThVSuWClPOTLzvlsiNRKBdiFYbhxHUs-KvNVN0IvMkIk9XFnaJEOueO1_UeafHylshrx0h35tntBTUw5SXz2MuJtDoKB8XvJgS8kxVnubqUwyJiHZd9dOgehmOxj4Nsw/s1600/Big+Hero+Six+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTDRCwhkZGHCThVSuWClPOTLzvlsiNRKBdiFYbhxHUs-KvNVN0IvMkIk9XFnaJEOueO1_UeafHylshrx0h35tntBTUw5SXz2MuJtDoKB8XvJgS8kxVnubqUwyJiHZd9dOgehmOxj4Nsw/s1600/Big+Hero+Six+4.jpg" /></a></div>
Things get a little more interesting when you get to the 2008 mini-series by Chris Claremont and David Nakayama. The Hiro and Baymax from that series visually "feel" much closer to what's going on in the trailer. I think the movie audience might find some resonance in that series. These books also do quite well in the current secondary market. No single issue from that series approaches the $50 mark like Alpha Flight # 17, not even the first issue. I have seen complete sets of the five issue series go for $100, though.<br />
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Should you sell those right now and avoid getting burned? Hmmmm....I don't know for sure. I'm fairly risk averse, and this feels like risk. If I had one set of the 2008 Big Hero 6 series, I would get out now and make sure I'm in the black. If I had multiple sets, I absolutely positively would sell at least one set now, and if you really believe the audience will feel that emotional connection between comic/movie, you can hold on to the rest for greater gains. It's definitely something you should be thinking about now if you're holding this material for profit.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Other Books That Have Recently "Popped"</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-3J2SL9nm_ynwzvRudO9BhidZ-5Zol0sDrhUtPyIl19vP5DgtKTaUMVQxQKN9AjcVwlhvReAqHMoja0c3HH3kayKc2p-PiCyeX2HiQGscTHhGBC9iWulP8NvEmrZ2ZdQEjw63WqyzYw/s1600/Hellblazer+Phantom+Pains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-3J2SL9nm_ynwzvRudO9BhidZ-5Zol0sDrhUtPyIl19vP5DgtKTaUMVQxQKN9AjcVwlhvReAqHMoja0c3HH3kayKc2p-PiCyeX2HiQGscTHhGBC9iWulP8NvEmrZ2ZdQEjw63WqyzYw/s1600/Hellblazer+Phantom+Pains.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<b>Hellblazer: Phantom Pains</b><br />
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John Constantine has been a big earner for me in my history as a book scout, and I expect the upcoming TV series to increase those earning opportunities as demand outpaces the already limited supply. Hellblazer is a perfect secondary market machine. It maintains a fervent, dedicated fan base, but that base is never large enough to entice DC into quick reprints. Eventually DC does go back to press, they always do. But there are often extended windows on huge chunks of the Constantine library.<br />
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Right now Phantom Pains is sitting directly in Crazy Town. I recently posted a copy on Amazon for $80...the next in line for the "new" category is $225. Now, I'm not suggesting that you're likely to ever sell that book for $200+, but I will say that listings don't get to that level unless the supply is severely stripped. If you see this in your LCS, it's an insta-buy. There are lots of Hellblazer titles that can make you money right now, (India, Laughing Magician, Roots of Coincidence) but that's the one I'd be most interested in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9N_CLciEqAK41liSQtAbLTkR69KQFR4raXEzu-6wgIll1X_DS67ezP71MmpVtggyF_sMq3b1qPnVuVDojWlLG9_gwe0EHpnAXIvTDayI90Ha9HZCguwGUZMJVwfQp5Km6g5jcyW9Ok8c/s1600/Batman+Monster+Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9N_CLciEqAK41liSQtAbLTkR69KQFR4raXEzu-6wgIll1X_DS67ezP71MmpVtggyF_sMq3b1qPnVuVDojWlLG9_gwe0EHpnAXIvTDayI90Ha9HZCguwGUZMJVwfQp5Km6g5jcyW9Ok8c/s1600/Batman+Monster+Men.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<b>Batman & The Monster Men</b><br />
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I've been waiting for this to pop for ages and eventually I'm always right. This is not a tough thesis to crack - Batman is the most powerful force in out-of-print trades, and Matt Wagner writes a helluva Batman story. Wagner handles the art chores on this one as well, so...double bonus! <br />
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This is an easy sell at $40 in nice condition, and as recently as last week your Amazon min for a "new" copy was over $100. It would not surprise me to see a book like this trading at that level. Wagner is a strong name, and Batman is the strongest brand.<br />
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Let me clarify that a bit. Any volume of the Walking Dead is going to sell more copies than Batman & The Monster Men. The difference is that Walking Dead is also going to stay in print, precisely for that reason. If DC ever allowed Watchmen to go out of print, that would be a $100 book inside of a month. Nosebleed prices happen at a magical little sweet spot between Some People Really Like This and We Don't Want To Print 5,000 Copies Because It Will Take Us Three Years To Sell Them. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhra6Z2ljLDMv8J31NGuWpdjQMPg2tB5yG6AFEvxEmHYv8SmWKcBTO4H_QYQVLiju4hceAxgokRusbZx7DpAoOx58eHK-yYgyP8nUZEcsXfyduRptU-UtsY6EICL5qfgZKc5N_SY3je-UA/s1600/Scarlet+Spider+Lone+Star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhra6Z2ljLDMv8J31NGuWpdjQMPg2tB5yG6AFEvxEmHYv8SmWKcBTO4H_QYQVLiju4hceAxgokRusbZx7DpAoOx58eHK-yYgyP8nUZEcsXfyduRptU-UtsY6EICL5qfgZKc5N_SY3je-UA/s1600/Scarlet+Spider+Lone+Star.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<b>Scarlet Spider Volume 2: Lone Star</b><br />
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You've got a window right now on this book, and it just might be sitting at your LCS collecting dust. This series had a decently sized cult following. People liked the Yost concept ("All the power, none of the responsibility) and they really liked the Ryan Stegman art.<br />
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There are four collected volumes of the series, but the second has gone out of print. Amazon mins for nice copies are trading for $40+, and there's a possibility this could go higher. The bad news is that the Scarlet Spider series is cancelled, which makes it less likely that current readers want to go back for old volumes. The good news is that Dan Slott is about to roll forward with "Spider-Verse", which will feature nearly every spider-character in some fashion or another. It's going to be big, and if Kaine gets the right kind of spotlight, it could definitely drive more people toward this book.<br />
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The problem these days is that the newer material carries a pretty hefty SRP. A copy of Lone Star at cover price is going to run you $19.99, which is a fairly steep investment if you conservatively figure a sale at $40. If your shop is running a sale or you have a nice discount, there is room for some good profit on that book right now. <br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-75755777961935729412014-07-31T03:09:00.003-05:002014-08-12T02:36:06.948-05:00<b><span style="font-size: large;">Rapid. Fire. Reviews.</span></b><br />
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I read a metric ton of comics worth talking about. Because of the volume, I'm going to attempt efficiency. When I start to go long....tell me to shut up!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCSxvuNGIhR39h7GbWq0-WJeAPq7A488Dtf_MKttciERDoDupeLpGeLfAbZVFfk0adc2oT4a1vOuuBA5r80AKrpLE-bVogRuWRpSjOio8iLupcfxPp7aIex6N11hhPxslTfDSmtAHHCk/s1600/Auteur+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxCSxvuNGIhR39h7GbWq0-WJeAPq7A488Dtf_MKttciERDoDupeLpGeLfAbZVFfk0adc2oT4a1vOuuBA5r80AKrpLE-bVogRuWRpSjOio8iLupcfxPp7aIex6N11hhPxslTfDSmtAHHCk/s1600/Auteur+5.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<b>The Auteur # 5</b>.<br />
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HOLY SHIT. I want to write many paragraphs on Auteur. I may at some point. For now, let me just sum it up thusly...this is the series of the year for me. There are a few months for something to knock it off the King of the Mountain, but it would have to work awfully damn hard.<br />
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We talked about Auteur a couple of times on Chronic Insomnia, always in a positive light. Auteur kinda dresses itself up as an untamed stallion - the spectacle is refreshing, but in the end it's hard to know what to do with pure chaos other than smile, clap, and move on. Auteur is absolutely NOT a mad stallion, and it is not chaos. I hesitate to use the "G" word, but I'm calling it a work of subversive genius. I think it's best to read Auteur and be surprised about what it's doing. So for now, I'll say no more.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeUarjZjxuH_Hu4OaIIEdyAwF5EZLZF3i6pzROsdt-UsZ24AmlYUMhW0Cw_3MnZhp0XGu21x68JRXRwDdbrAHiqbO2Hq2dSp6A2pEq8AGg5XBleApxfnXF-hmuRXm2NGLo4z1fLHCq70/s1600/Black+Market+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfeUarjZjxuH_Hu4OaIIEdyAwF5EZLZF3i6pzROsdt-UsZ24AmlYUMhW0Cw_3MnZhp0XGu21x68JRXRwDdbrAHiqbO2Hq2dSp6A2pEq8AGg5XBleApxfnXF-hmuRXm2NGLo4z1fLHCq70/s1600/Black+Market+1.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
<b>Black Market # 1</b> <br />
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Black Market is not genius, but it is pretty entertaining. It's also a very rare jewel in the comics scene - it does not bend the knee to the Bunny Briar. The hook is that medicine has discovered a potential cure-all in the form of superhuman DNA. Our POV characters are involved in extrapolating said DNA from said supers....whether they like it or not. They incapacitate, capture, and violently rob DNA from largely innocent victims. You understand why some of these regular folks would want to do that, but they're portrayed as total dicks.<br />
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The obvious parallel here is stem cell research...which would lend itself toward poking at the Religious Right. That's not actually how the book operates, though. It's functioning more as a bitch-slap to the lazier end of the 99%, believing they're owed something from the exceptional just cuz. That makes it extra interesting to me, although I would have to say that stripped of the political score-keeping, Black Market is just middle-of-the-road in plot and character. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWdQFMMICjFg9Eg7GTF44NOayDhRF83Vnjwc03kryu_DCzqq9cbXj1U80drWZ13q-CllikisUpFQbJe786rQ9XM1TLqc5TQAp2vyIhc0FWrH4MUwy4b4A2D7M3A0lNwFY4HwdBoyzZ3c/s1600/Sinestro+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoWdQFMMICjFg9Eg7GTF44NOayDhRF83Vnjwc03kryu_DCzqq9cbXj1U80drWZ13q-CllikisUpFQbJe786rQ9XM1TLqc5TQAp2vyIhc0FWrH4MUwy4b4A2D7M3A0lNwFY4HwdBoyzZ3c/s1600/Sinestro+4.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
<b>Sinestro # 4</b><br />
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Echhh, what a waste. I love Sinestro the character very much, and he spends a lot of time tripping over interesting things that are never properly explored. As a small example...one of Sinestro's core elements is a fierce loyalty to all things Korugar.<br />
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So he's been introduced to a handful of his own people, once believed lost forever. There's a lot to be mined from interacting with those folks and deciding what to do with them. If you wanted to, you could really paint from the current Palestine/Israel canvas. That would take giant brass testicles, so one might eschew that option and just add depth to the character by having him really get involved with these people's lives. My point is that he just carries these people around like inanimate trophies. There's plenty of juice there, but it's just ignored.<br />
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What we get instead is more nonsense about emotion colors and things that counter-act emotion colors, (still not clear when "willpower" became an emotion exactly, but I'm willing to let that go) and posturing, and an incredibly pedantic love/hate relationship with his Green Lantern daughter. And look, next issue he talks to Hal! (The cover would have you believe this issue is about that. It's not. The cover is a liar head) Which admittedly will be far more entertaining than anything that's happened in the first four issues, but man. Talk about going back to the whip a little too often. This comic should be a lot better than it is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3EoUruWBFAoHEl7ZAOAvoEgoiigrvUGVwTOt1Fvda_jeP4MnjDMGv0mzqoijgmp896sCHCzYD9Va4-yCsSbldbBoD_2RUNFYLigHi9Nr6RrcIPkBGF_0zcw9_4KJ3Ge9tgVhTxs54lE/s1600/Grimm+Tales+of+Terror+1A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3EoUruWBFAoHEl7ZAOAvoEgoiigrvUGVwTOt1Fvda_jeP4MnjDMGv0mzqoijgmp896sCHCzYD9Va4-yCsSbldbBoD_2RUNFYLigHi9Nr6RrcIPkBGF_0zcw9_4KJ3Ge9tgVhTxs54lE/s1600/Grimm+Tales+of+Terror+1A.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
<b>Grimm Tales of Terror # 1</b><br />
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On the other end of the pool, here's a comic a lot better than it should be. Zenescope gets a bad wrap for it's shameless cheese-cakery and empty contents. I have dropped trow and pooped on these comics myself, mainly because I find the interiors of Zenescope books tend to pale when compared to the covers, and I generally find the stories to be empty calories.<br />
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I don't know if they're just putting their best foot forward for a new # 1 or if this comic is indicative of the current Zenescope, but I was delighted by Tales of Terror # 1. The unnamed narrator may look like a giant whore on the cover, (we have to sell these things in a tough market, dig?) but inside she's dressed tastefully, speaks eloquently, and genuinely seems to have her shit together.<br />
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The story inside was competently executed on all counts. They're updating classic horror stories the way they updated fairy tales in the flagship book. This comic puts a fresh twist on Poe's "Telltale Heart", which in this case means blending it with Stephen King's "Boogeyman". Are they re-inventing the wheel? Probably not. This played out like an above-average episode of Tales From the Darkside, and jinkies, I'm in for that as long as they'd like to publish it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZOu58_5jf9MZ1eXQq4oVm4zpx92muyogbz7Hoa0uMZNBhSee4mfgvzKIYzJ_dT8n6F9E1bxAgUaUomxCqNge9mYo8rZvfOlXjyQN9vy_EL0aoF6PAWRSnnn5943LjzvXcStUHJLt_ts/s1600/Weird+Love+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsZOu58_5jf9MZ1eXQq4oVm4zpx92muyogbz7Hoa0uMZNBhSee4mfgvzKIYzJ_dT8n6F9E1bxAgUaUomxCqNge9mYo8rZvfOlXjyQN9vy_EL0aoF6PAWRSnnn5943LjzvXcStUHJLt_ts/s1600/Weird+Love+2.jpg" height="200" width="128" /></a></div>
<b>Weird Love # 2</b><br />
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Man, this book is great. If you just can't tolerate one more second of the bullshit-dripping 21st Century and it's obsession with avoiding hurt feelings.... you MUST buy this comic.<br />
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Craig Yoe is pulling the most bizarre gems from the romance genre, much of it from the pre-code era. The standout in this issue was absolutely "Too Fat For Love", which is exactly what you're thinking it's about, and even more awesome than you're hoping it is. The ending is so absurd you just want to punch yourself in the face, and by the way, that's precisely what I want out of these comics. <br />
<br />
In the horrifyingly stifled modern era, every one of these stories comes off as so fresh, unashamed, and honest. I never want this to stop. <br />
<br />
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<b>Armor Hunters # 1</b><br />
<br />
I worry about Valiant now, and I was dreading this when I saw the solicitations. I don't really want Events out of Valiant, I want them to continue to be Valiant. That means the Events are born from the consequences of the rich characters and their decisions, not some impossibly obvious title that sounds suitably violent and action-packed. It smells like money-driven desperation from a distance.<br />
<br />
Once I got a good close sniff, though, I was pretty much worried about nothing. The Armor Hunters themselves are coming from a little out of left field and not from an established place, I guess, but that's no crime.. The hook is that galactically speaking, X-O armors are not neutral tools that can be used positively or negatively. X-O armors are giant assholes that always end up taking over their hosts and ripping shit apart. So the Armor Hunters are bad asses devoted to wiping these things out.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, Aric is not going to buy into any of that, and he isn't going to just hand over his good skin. That's way more than enough to hang a nice event on, and it does so while strengthening the X-O mythos in a new way. I still worry about Valiant, because the sales aren't there. The quality, though? That has been remarkably consistent.<br />
<br />
PS: I bought a chromium cover for this issue, and I apologize for nothing. <br />
<br />
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<b>Devilers # 1 (Dyanamite)</b><br />
<br />
Dynamite is clearly trying to re-make a piece of themselves in the image of Image with their new "creators unleashed" line. That's not the worst idea in the world, actually. I never really understood the licensing angle myself. You're going to pay licensing fees on top of the creator costs and then sell 6,500 copies of Duke Nukem or whatever? I don't know where the profit is hiding in that arrangement. But I digress.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: <a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/07/31/idw-trademarks-micro-fun-packs-after-selling-half-a-million-of-them/"> I guess this is how you find the profit</a> - you get yourself a pony license and then sell half a million "fun packs" <br />
<br />
The Devilers are not a licensed property, but a bunch of new demon-hunters from the mind of Joshua Hale Fialkov. Go, Creators Unleashed! The gist is that The Vatican cut a literal deal with The Devil to keep Hell out of earth. Since The Devil is not really a reliable dude, he welshes on the arrangement and the expected sort of global level hijinx ensue.<br />
<br />
I'm not in love with any of these characters yet, but the stakes are high, things are moving, and there might be a really good book in here somewhere. I like the tone. It's not quite as footloose as say, Buckaroo Banzai, but neither does it take itself too seriously. That feels about right. If the price point stays at $2.99, I might stick around to see if it's going somewhere. These reviews are getting too long. Doh!<br />
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<b>Supreme: Blue Rose # 1</b><br />
<br />
Lately I like to tout Fiona Staple's Alana as the sexiest woman in comics. Turns out, that is incorrect. Turns out, the sexiest woman in comics is actually Tula Lotay's Diana Dane. That's not <i>the </i>reason to read this comic, but it certainly is <i>a </i>reason.<br />
<br />
I had to catch up with Supreme on his wiki page in order to glean what I needed to get within 30 miles of whatever the fuck is going on here. If that sounds unkind, let me be clear - I really, really enjoyed this issue. It's simply not one of those vaunted "great jumping on points." If you're familiar with the Supreme mythos, my assumption is that you'll find this a shockingly sophisticated, welcome addition.<br />
<br />
PS: Warren is back with a vengeance and taking different paths in his newer work. You can still catch a strong scent of the old dialogue for sure, but also twists. This Diana Dane voice....I don't believe we've gotten that from Warren yet. I'm in for the series, and also glad that this isn't pretending to be an ongoing. It's not pretending to be an ongoing, is it? This should just be a wonderful little thing that lives on its own in one trade paperback.<br />
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<b>Nightbreed # 3</b><br />
<br />
I have a fondness for these characters, so I've been enjoying this a great deal. If you don't know or care about Boone or Peloquin, I can't imagine you giving a shit about what goes on here.<br />
<br />
On the plus side, one of the Midianites has a bunch of babies hatch from eggs, and the torch/pitchfork wielding yokels are given pause in their murderous intent when one of the babies begins reciting The Lord's Prayer. Yikeez. So I think on some level Clive Barker would be proud.<br />
<br />
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<b>The Woods #3</b><br />
<br />
A bunch of high school kids get spontaneously transported to an alien world. They are given some non-verbal cues to enter this Thicket of Impending Doom. A scant few do take on this challenge. The rest retreat into the school and start recreating those old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment">Stanford prison experiments</a>.<br />
<br />
If you thought you were going to like Morning Glories and then dropped it after 7 issues because it was just getting too deep and too convoluted...you might want to try out The Woods. It has a lot of similar interests, but the path is far more straight, and the engine is moving more quickly.<br />
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<b>Afterlife With Archie # 6</b><br />
<br />
We take a break from Riverdale and catch up with Sabrina, who of course got the ol' gulag from her aunts when she resorted to dark sorcery. So what's up with 'Brina these days? Well, she's being constantly harried and pyschologically tortured by the most Cthhulhian agents of all - HP Lovecraft and Arthur Machen themselves! <br />
I won't ruin any more of the surprises in this comic, but they are big, and they are bold. If the objective was to make me interested in the upcoming Sabrina series....mission accomplished. Every time I think this series can't get better, it taps me on the shoulder and says<br />
<br />
"Hey. I'm better".<br />
<br />
Then I smile and remark inwardly to myself<br />
<br />
"I can't believe that Archie is actually producing this comic. We are going to remember this for ages."<br />
<br />
And that's a good thing. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-90637433004719277362014-07-18T02:38:00.002-05:002014-07-18T11:16:26.834-05:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-8td6_JzKiavDZ8ZJG1iLTvxTCDEH7aLA6Lbqel1c8o0bx7dHYOGKP4CUKK2tIb7dG__8EmR7Fggn3m8o29Y8LLMCuusM4XtCmN8VELq5gZa-4V7ZgLucwj2s_L2gJybBV9SP2RvWpg/s1600/Thor+(1998)+22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-8td6_JzKiavDZ8ZJG1iLTvxTCDEH7aLA6Lbqel1c8o0bx7dHYOGKP4CUKK2tIb7dG__8EmR7Fggn3m8o29Y8LLMCuusM4XtCmN8VELq5gZa-4V7ZgLucwj2s_L2gJybBV9SP2RvWpg/s1600/Thor+(1998)+22.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thor (1998) # 22</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Market Spotlight: Thor Girl</b></span><br />
<br />
I've been thinking about possible plays on the recent Thor news. However one might feel about the scenario, it's received a good dollop of media attention, and it's taking over a really strong title for a furlong. Whoever that woman carrying Thor's hammer may be....she's not a nothing. For better or for worse, in the short term she's A Thing.<br />
<br />
Here comes the fine print advisories:<br />
<br />
What I'm talking about here is reckless speculation. I don't know anything about the future contents of the Thor title. Even if I did know that, it is grand hubris to believe one can predict exactly how the market will respond to any given stimulus. This play I'm sharing with you is thick with risk, is what I'm telling you.<br />
<br />
I'm telling you to consider rustling through the longboxes of your local LCS for appearances of Tarene. Her first appearance is Thor (1998) # 22, by Dan Jurgens and John Romita, Jr. She's got a moderately interesting and convoluted backstory that includes cosmic-level abilities, a magic hammer, connections to Thanos, and a brief stint as something called Thor Girl.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M8qzVNseZhgQanvMDnmXArQybVZLYOO6NsPrxX4G18U6bdI778xmi0_d7cofz3ja0twRY1j5SKWcuolUi05HorZgt3mjU0jgZrquS2qn8__-jrFBWPOpnNr-9g4V8IOGrobSarLDwxQ/s1600/Thor+(1998)+33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7M8qzVNseZhgQanvMDnmXArQybVZLYOO6NsPrxX4G18U6bdI778xmi0_d7cofz3ja0twRY1j5SKWcuolUi05HorZgt3mjU0jgZrquS2qn8__-jrFBWPOpnNr-9g4V8IOGrobSarLDwxQ/s1600/Thor+(1998)+33.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thor (1998) # 33</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Thor Girl makes her first appearance in Thor (1998) # 33, with a lovely cover by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove. First appearances generally rule the day, but the cover for Thor # 33 really pops, and gets more to the heart of the public fascination. If Tarene does indeed pick up Thor's hammer, these issues become instant magnets for the reactionary set. <br />
<br />
Why? Is there any chance we're thinking about this character a year from now? Three years from now? Possible, but highly unlikely. This is the kind of volcanic explosion I'm happy to cash out on and then duck out of the way. In the hands of Jason Aaron and company, it is possible the new Thor has legs, (pun mostly intended) but history is working against her.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSXffFPY7Ha9MsVpe9WQCdRvYOb35D7qz3E1ZzPjhYKVsZEibf7Yt7XtpJg2dh4guf0Pi79pt4JQuECGvbSx_7P4QDM6cpU_TpWemrNQ4aDoP1Bs6AhxNiaMsv3c_08fmOr49ICWYq9x0/s1600/What+If+51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSXffFPY7Ha9MsVpe9WQCdRvYOb35D7qz3E1ZzPjhYKVsZEibf7Yt7XtpJg2dh4guf0Pi79pt4JQuECGvbSx_7P4QDM6cpU_TpWemrNQ4aDoP1Bs6AhxNiaMsv3c_08fmOr49ICWYq9x0/s1600/What+If+51.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What If (1989) # 51</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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It's entirely possible that the new Thor has absolutely nothing to do with Tarene. Even in that case, I can see a potential window for these books, especially Thor # 33. Remember back when Marvel was teasing that star logo around Fraction's Punisher War Journal book? The whispers in the dark decided that Punisher was going to take on the mantle of Captain America, and suddenly What If # 51 went from a $1 dust <br />
collector to a $40 must-have. <br />
<br />
We're talking about a book that was strictly outside of continuity and didn't have a damn thing to do with the actual narratives at work. When people get worked up about a thing, logic takes a holiday. If the new Thor is a girl, those Thor Girl books may see a sharp spike whether the mystery woman is Tarene or not. For a couple moments, at any rate.<br />
<br />
Upon reflection, I guess the risk I'm advocating is pretty minor, because I don't advise throwing a whole lot of money into it. The odds are good that your local shop either A) Doesn't have these books or B) They will have them available for $2 or $3. I don't like the idea of paying more than $5 for these at any point, but your tolerance for pain may be greater than mine.<br />
<br />
Still, it wouldn't surprise me at all if these were $25-$50 comics in October. If you want to take a little risk and try to get ahead of this thing, Thor # 22 and # 33 are cute little lottery tickets.<br />
<br />
<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-60344071960086925072014-07-16T16:39:00.003-05:002014-07-18T11:13:55.304-05:00<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If you think she's Thor.....I can barely sit down!</span></div>
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<br />
So, <a href="http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/7/15/22875/marvel_proudly_presents_thor">Marvel was pretending to have news today</a> in that adorable way they always do - by spouting meaningless hyperbole and lies. In case you missed it, Thor will be a woman starting in October.<br />
<br />
Except, she won't be Thor. Can't be Thor.<br />
<br />
Thor is not a mantle, or a title. It's a guy. Thor is a person. Yeah, he might be Asgardian, but I think we still have to call him a person. It's not an separate identity. "The God of Thunder" is his separate job title. Somebody else, perhaps even a woman, could be that. Well, technically she'd be a Goddess, and wouldn't that send The Bunnies into a tizzy? Might be worth it just for that.<br />
<br />
Thor is a guy, and he has a magic hammer. The hammer's inscription says this:<br />
<br />
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."<br />
<br />
Marvel's press release is interested in the "he" part of that inscription, because in 2014 you are contractually obligated to be obsessed with gender relations at the expense of all logic. If logic were in play, they'd be more worried about the "power" part of the inscription.<br />
<br />
So keep up with me now....even if you lift the hammer, you don't get to BE Thor, you get to possess the POWER of Thor. If you grab my spatula, you don't become me. You stay you, except now you need to wash your hands. Because I know stuff about that spatula that you don't. <br />
<br />
But that's not how Marvel is spinning this. They're saying this mystery woman IS Thor, which is patently stupid. Marvel says a lot of stupid things.<br />
<br />
As an example, editor Wil Moss says "This Thor isn't a temporary female substitute - she's now the one and only Thor!"<br />
<br />
This tells me one of three things:<br />
<br />
A) Wil Moss is a dirty, dirty liar<br />
B) Wil Moss is not in any way familiar with comic books<br />
C) All of the above<br />
<br />
I suspect it's C, but I'll believe any of those options. Marvel likes to pretend that there's overlap between the movie audiences and comic book readership. The instant that Hemsworth bloke comes back to the theaters as Thor....the uterus is goin' bye-bye. <br />
<br />
Marvel says this is one of the most shocking and exciting changes to one of the "Big Three" (Cap, Iron Man, Thor) in history. They're wrong.<br />
<br />
This is just the transparent implementation of two agendas:<br />
<br />
Agenda # 1: Get a new # 1<br />
<br />
God forbid we have a title run for three years consecutively. The strategy is now is to pray they can keep a title afloat for 8 issues. If it won't die on its own in 20 issues, time to actively kill it. This is not "exciting", it's tedious and reckless.<br />
<br />
<br />
Agenda # 2: Pander to Bunnies For Good Public Relations<br />
<br />
Marvel openly admits the move is designed to attract female readership. Apparently, women are only capable of being interested in reading about other women? This is a good thing to say publicly, because if you just repeat the same tired nonsense about a lack of "strong female leads" and readers "needing to find themselves in the comics", people still clap when you finish.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
It's all rubbish. I just watched "The Strain" premiere, and my favorite characters are the old Jewish guy with the sword cane and that Ephraim dude's partner with the CDC. Contrary to popular belief, I am not an old Jewish man. If a couple of young toughs entered my pawn shop and tried to rob me, I would wet myself, not take a knife to one of my assailants and force the other to surrender his weapon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcLXBoli18vtzbp1SJwhfrOTuhLweK5-2suuYJkdQ6F-s4hyphenhyphenfGlrd7k8zZPSQ532XLLb_y1ir1KsenDW7103vLBi1YsHfG53bAzShUSnidxj6bSNJF_1FCU-LsfgJUaCv_YS2KebAmi8/s1600/old+jewish+guy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcLXBoli18vtzbp1SJwhfrOTuhLweK5-2suuYJkdQ6F-s4hyphenhyphenfGlrd7k8zZPSQ532XLLb_y1ir1KsenDW7103vLBi1YsHfG53bAzShUSnidxj6bSNJF_1FCU-LsfgJUaCv_YS2KebAmi8/s1600/old+jewish+guy.jpg" height="200" width="400" /></a></div>
I have zero in common with the CDC woman. She doesn't look, talk, or act like me. I like her just fine, but she's not really what's drawing me into the story. I like the plot and the heightened drama of the story. I like the "how in the world is the human race ever going to get out of this pickle?" angle.<br />
<br />
So either I'm an outlier, or this whole business of needing to find oneself in the story is overplayed.<br />
<br />
The mistake here is in assuming that women wouldn't like the previous issues of Thor: God of Thunder, a premise I reject entirely. This stuff always sounds good at first blush. It seems reasonable that Marvel should want to accommodate female readers by showing them a character to identify with. <br />
<br />
The problem is that in their effort to placate The Bunnies and show everyone how Not Sexist they are, Marvel shows their true sexist colors. Women don't need a pair of breasts on the page to get engaged, they want what a everyone else wants.....a good story.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqI9MxA14CGAUvprnGjMyTYteASfrjVRn9R8x8gFSaWAJDswVLIMgsdEnkz0Csk7WuFDuhbGTQ_nvrrpRpcNb_7VzPKvTDacAScwbdIvoKycpbAbwyhWFevdC7slcOhVw3VuJw38zX0fM/s1600/CBG+19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqI9MxA14CGAUvprnGjMyTYteASfrjVRn9R8x8gFSaWAJDswVLIMgsdEnkz0Csk7WuFDuhbGTQ_nvrrpRpcNb_7VzPKvTDacAScwbdIvoKycpbAbwyhWFevdC7slcOhVw3VuJw38zX0fM/s1600/CBG+19.jpg" height="200" width="192" /></a></div>
And the truth of the matter is that Jason Aaron has been telling really, really good Thor stories that just about anybody can enjoy regardless of plumbing. Why would you feel the need to dangle a ponytail in front of women as bait? The book doesn't require it. Women like Thor just fine! Don't take my word for it, <a href="http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/7/15/22875/marvel_proudly_presents_thor">Comic Book Girl 19 </a>will tell you all about it.<br />
<br />
That should be the news! Why ISN'T that the news??? Hey ladies, did you know that comics are fantastic and all that mythological garbage about rampant sexism is complete bullshit? That should be the message.<br />
<br />
Instead, Marvel tries to trumpet this ridiculous marketing scheme as some engine of social change. They're trotting their "strong female lead" out there like they just found The Loch Ness Monster or something. I'm strangling the next person I hear utter that absurd bullshit about a lack of strong female leads.<br />
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Because when you think about it, these are the only strong females carrying their own book right now:<br />
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<br />
<ul>
<li>Ms. Marvel</li>
<li>Captain Marvel</li>
<li>Cassie Hack</li>
<li>Shutter</li>
<li>Hinterkind</li>
<li>Princess Ugg</li>
<li>The Princess from Princeless</li>
<li>Bold Riley</li>
<li>Lazarus</li>
<li>Veil</li>
<li>Queen & Country</li>
<li>Everything that ever has been and ever will be written by
Greg Rucka</li>
<li>Wonder Woman</li>
<li>Rat Queens</li>
<li>Supergirl</li>
<li>Batgirl</li>
<li>Batwoman</li>
<li>Brian Wood’s entire X-Team</li>
<li>Pretty much everybody driving Wicked + Divine</li>
<li>Catwoman</li>
<li>She-Hulk</li>
<li>Black Widow</li>
<li>Myriad Birds of Prey</li>
<li>Red Sonja</li>
<li>Courtney Crumrin</li>
<li>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</li>
<li>Rachel Rising</li>
</ul>
<br />
You know...just those, and about 57 others that simply didn't spring immediately to mind. Those are just the women driving their own titles. That's not even scratching the surface of the strong female supporting cast like Storm, Sue Storm, Lois Lane, Anna Maria (Spider-Man), Mary-Maria (Archer & Armstrong), Maria Hill (SHIELD/SWORD), Kitty Pryde, Valkyrie, Sif, and we could go on for days and days with this stuff.<br />
<br />
The question is agency. Women need to be portrayed as making decisions in their own lives and taking actions to achieve those choices. Let me ask you this...do you know of ANY female character in ANY comic that isn't doing that? Not only are comics not sexist in 2014, they are so actively Not Sexist that it's difficult to find a character with a uterus and an ounce of real vulnerability. At this point women are kicking all asses, all the time. That's reality. And that's fine, but then what is gained by pretending otherwise?<br />
<br />
Yes, Zenescope has issues. Yes, Vampirella's costume is deliciously absurd. I'm not blind. I don't see these as crisis level problems, though. There is nothing wrong with sexy women being sexy. The problem arrives when that is all they are allowed to be. I just ripped off a list for days of women that have more going one for them than attractiveness. Can you name five that are limited to sex objects? I rather doubt it. Take a whack at it in the comments if you like.<br />
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My final judgement on Mystery Uterus Thor is that I trust Jason Aaron enough to believe that the stories will be good, so I'm not going to melt down about it. It is depressing, though, to see all the wrong angles get all the headlines, as per usual.<br />
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PS: Not that it matters, but it's Angela. <br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-39693493877650137162014-03-26T17:31:00.001-05:002014-03-26T17:31:38.190-05:00New Show!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-25810996979456219622013-04-11T17:57:00.004-05:002013-04-11T17:57:42.874-05:00Another new show. Episode #3 is ready for your ears. As always, we love the all of you. Enjoy the show. <br />
<br />
http://chronicinsomnia.podbean.com/ <br />
<br />
MichaelUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-17594084242715704012013-03-15T01:34:00.002-05:002013-03-15T01:34:41.336-05:00Another New Show!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-85586917690081398762013-02-25T19:31:00.004-06:002013-02-25T19:31:52.611-06:00We're Back! Issue #1 is up for grabs. Enjoy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em>...for now, we're limping to our deaths like a couple of loser fucks. Somewhere Johnny Rotten is smiling. </em>Famous last words! <br />
<br />
We're limping back in with a new format, new studio, new attitude and same old vulgarity.<br />
<br />
Join Ryan and Michael in this new version of Chronic Insomnia. As always, we love the all of you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-2828163135706709352013-02-23T15:29:00.004-06:002013-02-25T19:32:34.684-06:00Chronic Insomnia: Presents!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-8979038942772858542013-01-22T23:28:00.001-06:002013-01-22T23:28:15.967-06:00Hello......I love you won't you tell me your name.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-90458356040583067272013-01-09T18:57:00.001-06:002013-01-09T18:58:04.271-06:00Hello......Is it us your looking for?<br />
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We see you!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-6176856089063786282012-05-26T23:03:00.001-05:002012-05-26T23:14:57.543-05:00Chronic Referrals!Other Nick asked us to post links to the podcasts we recommended on the series finale - so here they are!<br />
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Mike recommends:<br />
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<a href="http://www.nerdist.com/podcasts/"><span style="font-size: large;">The Nerdist Podcast</span></a><br />
What began as Chris Hardwick and a couple of pals interviewing nerd-centric celebrities has turned into an empire of podcasts covering a wide array of weird crap. Ryan particularly enjoys the Writer's Panel show. Enjoy your burrito! (This will make sense if you listen to the Nerdist show. Sort of.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4F80C7D2DC8D9B6C&feature=plcp"><span style="font-size: large;">The Table Top Youtube Channel</span></a><br />
Wil Wheaton and various celebrities play table top board games on Felicia Day's "Geek & Sundry" channel<br />
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Ryan Recommends:<br />
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<a href="http://wheremonstersdwell.ca/"><span style="font-size: large;">Where Monsters Dwell</span></a><br />
The most unique and comprehensive comics podcast experience on planet earth! Mike, Remy, and Red Shirt Ryan combine host charisma, creative interviews, and live interaction. Where else can you get all your comics news, talk to the hosts, then ask your favorite creator a question on live radio? Answer: nowhere. <br />
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<a href="http://thncc.libsyn.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">Two Headed Nerd</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.legendcomicsomaha.com/">Joe Patrick</a> and <a href="http://www.worthpoint.com/author/matt-baum">Matt Baum</a> are writing and performing the snappiest comics podcast on the market. They try to keep the run time to around 30 minutes, so you're not going to kill your workshift, but my does it pop. The most densely packed, hilarious little morsel you'll listen to all week. <br />
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<a href="http://www.savagecritic.com/tag/wait-what/"><span style="font-size: large;">Wait, What? </span></a><br />
Graeme McMillan writes for every comics news site you visit, and several you don't. Jeff Lester is essentially Eeyore, if Eeyore waxed more philosophical, read comics, and laughed mirthlessly every five minutes or so. Together they've created the most thoughtful and thought-provoking comics podcast on the rack, covering a wide range of topics (including waffles) in staggering depth. A <a href="http://www.savagecritic.com/">Savage Critic</a> production.<br />
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<a href="http://henchcast.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">The Hench-Cast</span></a><br />
Chronic fan Mike W and his friends John, Jeff, and Jason record their role-playing hijinx for your amusement. The show has already bought this crew a ticket in to the <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boating">Urban Dictionary</a>, ("boating" entry # 2) and they get more hits than Chronic Insomnia....clearly they're doing something right!<br />
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<a href="http://www.comicspodcasts.com/category/comic-podcasts/close-the-door/"><span style="font-size: large;">Close The Door</span></a><br />
PJ and Kyle have essentially created Chronic Insomnia: The Next Generation, blending a bawdy cold-open with comics news, reviews, and inappropriate levels of personal disclosure. Sound familiar? Thought so. They're young in the game, but they've both got chops, and charisma to burn. The future is CTD!<br />
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Bon Apetite, you degenerates! <br />
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Ryan Lee<br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-20794394645421322962012-05-24T01:39:00.001-05:002012-05-24T01:39:06.101-05:00An Emotionally Compromised Ending To Chronic Insomnia!<br />
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I just uploaded the final issue of Chronic Insomnia. The studio is dark. The mics are off and the chairs are cooling from the heat of our fine asses. It's a sad moment in my life. Five years of podcasting and it comes down to tonight. It's been ten days since the big reveal and I know it seems that I've been distant but it's been emotional for me. I was unequipped emotionally to respond to the love that came forth after Ryan's blog entry last week. I was amazed, overwhelmed and shocked at the impact our little show has had on all of you. I am humbled and emotionally torn asunder. </div>
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The last five years of doing the show have been some of the most creative years of my life. Ryan and I have been recording into microphones for many years off and on, but this was something different. This was creative on a consistent basis. We also laughed A LOT! Week in and week out we boiled our brains in semen and spit electrolytes to the airwaves. I was doing a show with my best friend once a week, are you kidding me, it was the time of my life. I know that Ryan knows this in the back of his mind but I want to thank him for all the years of laughter and creativity. It's been a wild ride and there is no one I would have rather done this with. We strapped on the hiking boots of comics podcasting and walked up the path together. For good or bad, mostly great, we were ourselves and we laughed together. For me that was the best part of the show. The show was Ryan and I, and we put ourselves out there and a very small group of you loved us for that. I can't express how much that humbles me. To be part of something this big in my life for so long was an honor and a privilege. </div>
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I am damn proud of Chronic Insomnia. I thought our show sounded, audio wise, as good or better than anything out there. Ryan and I laced the show with bits, drops, fake commercials and original songs and I don't know of another show with our unpredictability. I will take credit for a little of that. I was the insane one. The one that came from left field with the craziest shit. Ryan is the one that made it work. However crazy my idea was, he would smile and help me figure out how to make it understandable to humans. Since we had humans listening to the show, that was probably a good thing. I applaud him for putting up with my crap over the last five years, and more importantly the last 30 years. It's been since 1983, that first recording with all the "Crossbows and Catapult" pieces flying everywhere, since we started this audio madness and I hope at least in some way it never ends. </div>
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I'm not saying that Ryan isn't crazy, he's fucking nuts at times, but he's crazy in a normal way. Ryan is a sophisticated lover and a silver track suit wearing, kate beckinsale banging', magenta hair lovin' grey templed ass-man. That's Ryan Lee in a sentence and he's also my best friend. </div>
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You all need to know that Chronic Insomnia was mostly Ryan. He did all the research and most of the work. Definitely most of the writing. I just don't have the chops like he does. He's wicked smart and he really carried me along throughout the years. I'm not saying I didn't do anything, but what I did could be trained into any monkey with a mouse pad and an itchy finger. What Ryan did was infuse our absurd show with intelligence and sophistication. He legitimized us. I wanted to do more fart and dick jokes but Ryan could sense the limit of vulgarity we needed and held me fast to it. I am glad he did, otherwise we'd have failed miserably. </div>
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In the end Chronic Insomnia is something I will cherish until I die, as I cherish all of you reading this. Chronic Insomnia you have been a friend and confidant and I hate to let you go, but I think it's time we pack up our microphones and ride off into the sunset. (who am I kidding, I'm going to walk off into the graffiti filled city that God forgot). Ryan's got some Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi waiting for me and I don't want to be late. I think we're going to watch "Fletch" for the 50th time and perhaps talk longingly about our five year run. Ryan, we've got enough "inside jokes" between the two of us to keep us in stitches for a while. I'm looking forward to more laughter together in whatever we do. </div>
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Don't fret my friends, you might see us again sometime, the sun hasn't gone down on us completely, we're still kicking around in the dust. If you listen closely to the wind you can still hear us laughing…. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-67468044945481394272012-05-15T00:45:00.001-05:002012-05-15T12:44:21.282-05:00Never Mind the Bollocks.....Here's the End of Chronic Insomnia!<br />
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Things fall apart, the center cannot hold...and after nearly five years of elegance and sophistication, the Chronic Insomnia comic book podcast is no more.<br />
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"Good riddance", say some, and to that I say "Shut up, world at large!" But others, a very tiny sliver of really passionate people that anticipate that (semi) weekly dose of Chronic vulgarity, people that I love dearly...they will want to know:<br />
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Why?<br />
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Truth is, it's the people that want us to stay the most that make it impossible for me to stay. Truth is, and this is scientifically demonstrable, the quality and consistency of the show are not there, and the commitment is lacking.<br />
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I won't do this half assed, because I have too much pride in my work and too much respect for my listeners. I won't do this half assed because Remy, and Jesse, and Dave Rancor, and Miracle Keith, and Nick, and Glenn, and Other Nick deserve better. Somewhere out there Elizabeth Scott is waiting to instruct half-assers to get into the toilet. And you know what? She should.<br />
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Last week's recording got fumbled again, and it was just general life stuff. But it happens a lot lately, way too much lately, and it never used to. Our worlds used to revolve around the show.... and it became clear to me that the show has run its course, and that half-assed is all that's left in the tank. Not good enough. Not by half.<br />
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So I'm done, and Quincy agrees with me, and that's OK. It's a strange and wonderful little legacy, this show of ours. I don't think the world will miss us much. We left a smaller cultural footprint than the Baja Men, and that's fairly horrifying.<br />
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On the other hand, I remember Quincy and I with elevated heart rates and girlishly raised voices squealing about how episode # 36 or whatever achieved A WHOLE 12 DOWNLOADS, and HOLY CHRIST, that meant somebody out there was listening that WE DIDN'T KNOW! As I type this, our latest effort has 382 downloads, many of them from other countries, and many more that listen and don't download. It aint exactly Adam Carolla numbers, but when we started this nonsense in 2007, neither Quincy nor I ever envisioned 382 people giving a shit about what we were doing. <br />
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Regrets? I suppose. A part of me would have liked to continue, to get better, get bigger, and someday be recognized as one of the "leather helmet" pioneers of comics podcasting. Was that ever possible for us? I don't know. I notoriously used to wonder whether we were the Sex Pistols of Podcasting, or whether we could be The Beatles. <br />
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I think in the end we were the Sex Beatles, often compelling as we drenched honesty, energy, and balls in a syrup of childish, rebellious shit. Never quite great, but the spectacle was usually worth it, and I think the pearl beneath the excrement was tantalizing. We did some good fuckin', us Sex Beatles. (and some really bad fuckin', too)<br />
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I think in the end we did provide a unique, viable product. The format was essentially what Remy refers to as a "two monkey's on a davenport" vehicle, and that's nothing to be proud of. But love me or hate me, I had a point of few, and I shot straight with no editing and no bullshit. When you listened to Chronic Insomnia, you got some comics info, fine. Some of it was even useful, if I'm not too biased to make a declaration.<br />
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Apart from that, and better than that, we invited you into our lives and hearts and thoughts, and even my unintentional celibacy, and the status of my physical plumbing. It wasn't just:<br />
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"Here's comics!"<br />
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Anybody can do that. For Chronic Insomnia, it was:<br />
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"Here's me, ALL of me, and here's how we feel about life." I don't see another comics podcast doing that. Maybe that's a good thing? I don't know. Me, I'll miss it.<br />
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I'll miss lots of things. Doing this show's blog brought me into brief but memorable contact with Ethan Van Sciver, Dan Slott, Chris Samnee. For fuck's sake, I made up some nonsense about marrying the Fantastic Four and Jonathan Hickman "gave away the bride" to me live on Canadian radio!!!! Are you shitting me???<br />
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My review of Morning Glories # 1 made it to a CBR article, my review of Crossed Family Values # 3 made it to a feature article on Bleeding Cool, and when Irish Mike McLarty was pinch hitting for Rich, Bleeding Cool even had a feature on Market Spotlight. I'll never forget any of those things.<br />
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I never would have had the chance to interview Anthony Del Col, Meagan Marie, or Comic Tube Vikki without the show. And I never would have met the folks at Where Monsters Dwell. LOVE the folks at Where Monsters Dwell, now more than ever. The show has done a lot for me, personally.<br />
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And now it's done. Quincy has talked about doing a series finale episode to say goodbye, and I think that's a good idea. This week I'm headed up to the cabin when we would normally record, (see how life keeps getting in the way?) but that really ought to happen soon.<br />
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And after that? Hmmmm, never say never I suppose. I'm not retired from thinking, and I'm certainly not done with comics. We may hear from each other again some day, in some capacity.<br />
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But for now, we're limping to our deaths like a couple of loser fucks. Somewhere Johnny Rotten is smiling.<br />
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- Ryan Lee<br />
Always the Manatee, Steve McQueen, or Louden Swain of Podcasting<br />
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<br />Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-12466012280431081942012-03-28T18:49:00.000-05:002012-03-28T18:49:52.732-05:00Chronic Guest Review: Dotter Of Her Father's Eyes!And now, may I present the Honorable Miracle Keith, who will be reviewing a very froofy text whilst engaging in as little actual froofery as possible.....<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Review of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dotter Of Her Father’s Eyes</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Bryan & Mary Talbot</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Published by Dark Horse</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s been a nearly endless amount of academic papers, biographies and even entire college courses devoted to author James Joyce; heck, my wife took a course covering just one book (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysees</i>) and though she got a lot of enjoyment out of it, the book is so densely packed with ideas/allusions/cultural idioms that nobody can fully understand it but Joyce himself, and he’s kinda dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this review, I’m not going to pretend like I’m some expert on Joyce (far from it).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m just going to bring you my reaction with the understanding that I’m a woefully uneducated, underachieving fan of the graphic novel art form.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>The book delivers the parallel stories of Mary Atherton/Lucia Joyce, both daughters of highly regarded but difficult men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joyce is raised in the shadow of her father’s literary fame during the roaring 1920s/30s in Europe, while Atherton is raised in middle class Britain of the ‘50s/’60s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book opens with Mar’s seemingly innocuous discovery of an old passport photo, setting up the framing sequence and beginning the tales of two iives in flashback.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mary’s case, her father was renowned Joycean scholar James Atherton, an Englishman who rules over his daughter’s life with an iron hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A perfectionist who dictates his daughter’s every academic step, his brief displays of affection are entirely conditional; her very existence seems to annoy and anger him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Joyce family is modestly wealthy but itinerant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucia falls in love with dancing as a little girl, but James Joyce is an easily distracted, somewhat indifferent father and his wife Nora is an emotionally abusive mother, who vocally dislikes her daughter’s greatest dreams of becoming a professional dancer/dance instructor.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25beSoO57iEL2MuFl3qXWshd_k9KzfIqWivfpjncCqoMQS8Mp4MKnVuc9TxeO8gUliDiP5VHh5kRUCHZRzEh8PpHEWk4Co5q5LvxiWYe6CtxFurrjrG87_Y45IfeRDWTotbFna7TZ1qQ/s1600/Dotter+p45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25beSoO57iEL2MuFl3qXWshd_k9KzfIqWivfpjncCqoMQS8Mp4MKnVuc9TxeO8gUliDiP5VHh5kRUCHZRzEh8PpHEWk4Co5q5LvxiWYe6CtxFurrjrG87_Y45IfeRDWTotbFna7TZ1qQ/s400/Dotter+p45.jpg" width="289" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>The artwork changes as the story jumps from Mary’s life to Lucia’s – the former is done in Talbot’s beautiful, modestly detailed style;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lightly colored, elegant drawings that add a deeper layer of tragedy to the more violent scenes of child abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucia’s life is illustrated in deep blue-washed ink and watercolor; an appropriate contrast between the biographical/autobiographical stories (and by the time Lucia’s story concludes, the color blue seems most appropriate -those who know about Lucia’s fate can attest). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I have one complaint about this book, it’s fairly small: the dialogue spoken by the Joyce family is sometimes over-expository.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, there’s a great deal of historical record about what Joyce did and his novels are still in print; however, the way his daughter spoke is not documented, so the writer (Mary) is left to make up her dialogue with a “best guess”, which unfortunately contains a lot of gems like:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Lucia:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Margaret Morris is on at the Comedie!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, Babbo, let’s go and see her!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>James Joyce:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, you mean William Morris’s granddaughter? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Didn’t she marry a Scotsman?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Fauvist fellow I used to know, Fergusson.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Lucia:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How should I know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s an expressive dancer – she’s famous!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yikes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no easy way to get around that dilemma, and it ends up being this book’s only flaw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scenes with Mary and her father are excellent, brief scenes of tension and sometimes terror, as she negotiates her life under the control of her asshole father.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>Talbot is a highly underrated illustrator in the comics industry, though he has worked on high profile titles like Sandman and Fables.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would personally recommend his graphic novel The Tale of One Bad Rat (also published by Dark Horse), with the caution that its plot does involve child sexual abuse (no graphic depcitions, but still…).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All in all, this is a recommended work for those who need a break from the tights n’ capes variety of story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An excellent reminder of the power of the comic book medium and an emotionally charged examination of what it means to live with both an artist of great insight into the human condition (but woefully little compassion for the real people in his life) and an academic who writes critically lauded analysis of said artist’s works (also unable to love unconditionally).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">- Miracle Keith </div>Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-30025675529383760552012-03-20T19:24:00.000-05:002012-03-20T19:24:10.207-05:00A Jouney Into Journey Into Mystery!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLSfCWJRbXMCorrfgW2dHecN6Zk0CZbmOhslfk00gFWb-sRGxEtBvhOkO6_0LgzK4yfluDKmyiWipZIJju9v-Arj5fhjLceHnm4YOcpOU-HuMOdhA-qMgl9FQCtHZosu5C3zYUidqVSY/s1600/Journey+Into+Mystery+635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLSfCWJRbXMCorrfgW2dHecN6Zk0CZbmOhslfk00gFWb-sRGxEtBvhOkO6_0LgzK4yfluDKmyiWipZIJju9v-Arj5fhjLceHnm4YOcpOU-HuMOdhA-qMgl9FQCtHZosu5C3zYUidqVSY/s400/Journey+Into+Mystery+635.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br />
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I wanted to spend a few moments diving into Journey Into Mystery, because it deserves it. It deserves it, and it doesn't get but a sliver of the recognition due. There are bad books, and meh books, and good books, and great books, and then there are a very select handful of "special" books. These are books that not only demonstrate quality, but also exude a sense of inspired singularity...a sense while reading it that "this author is doing their best work right here." Take that scribe off the book and it isn't the same animal. Take that scribe and put them on another set of characters and it might be good...but not<i> this</i>. Journey Into Mystery, or "JIM" as Kieron Gillen is fond of calling it, is one of those books. <br />
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Here's how it works.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloAOu9d-f3cdS5dfavaYJKz9_KT4XcwZ2TEp1AgI-xCnFtiqSpLtLWLZVxGBHHzXHnO738OkxeJI0_yO-b7mSULob-BIlcZLq40dJuJdAXzeY-o5U36ZfDvjorbEUENE3XiUdHE3Wrik/s1600/Cadaver+Thor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhloAOu9d-f3cdS5dfavaYJKz9_KT4XcwZ2TEp1AgI-xCnFtiqSpLtLWLZVxGBHHzXHnO738OkxeJI0_yO-b7mSULob-BIlcZLq40dJuJdAXzeY-o5U36ZfDvjorbEUENE3XiUdHE3Wrik/s320/Cadaver+Thor.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>Take the latest installment, Journey Into Mystery # 635. In some ways it might seem like a bad place to do a primer on the series being that it's the third chapter of the four part "Terrorism Myth" arc. It's also got that ugly "Shattered Heroes" banner on it, which lets you know that it's representing itself as post Fear Itself nonsense, and instantly wants to make you sad.<br />
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Forget all of that. You should never be afraid of picking up Journey Into Mystery at any point, for a couple of reasons. First of all, Gillen will catch you up before you start. In this case, he has "Cadaver Thor" relate recent events while breaking the fourth wall and also loudly announcing the anachronistic "wink nudge" humor that permeates the rest of the series as well.<br />
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This kind of thing isn't unprecedented. Peter David often throws some extra panache into his intros as well. The point is that it shows craft and caring. Before you've hit page one of the narrative you have the basic necessary facts packed into your brain kit, and you've got the irreverent tone of the thing to prime you for what's to follow. You probably already laughed once, too. "Cadaver Thor is dead, too, and he's all about positivity." It's completely absurd, and wonderful. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhu3ImLQbkcVUSpSarwDeep2iBBcsD6Dc25VeW8j-sCF7rqnx8S9kC8FYPKg3NyEoQxtMSVlv-TjAw4BrvkLT7mF6CqQZX1zPNNXBMiucqqxpz50vsc-gozvMcv1nX5hVpeAMGb0W37U4/s1600/An+idea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhu3ImLQbkcVUSpSarwDeep2iBBcsD6Dc25VeW8j-sCF7rqnx8S9kC8FYPKg3NyEoQxtMSVlv-TjAw4BrvkLT7mF6CqQZX1zPNNXBMiucqqxpz50vsc-gozvMcv1nX5hVpeAMGb0W37U4/s320/An+idea.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>This is the product of somebody that gave a shit about what he was doing. Recap page? Could be a throw-away pain in the ass. Gillen uses it as an opportunity to encapsulate the JIM experience into a delicious little fun size morsel. <br />
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The plot does follow in the wake of Fear Itself in meaningful ways, so no cheat there. In fact, I would say that JIM # 635 does what it does more meaningfully than the main event is allowed to be. The crux of the action is about Nightmare gestating little lethal fear bubbles in people's brains, looking to harvest them into a crown of power. It's silly in the ways that superhero comics are almost obliged to be.<br />
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But where Fear Itself is all about the NSF check that says "Everything Changes Here - BBBBOOOOOMM!" and then forgets that it happened to itself, JIM takes on the real drama that frankly ought to unfold in the event that preceded it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgTDQQ1F8ZEEXjKoMA7e2Udk8CN_ms9qbqnFRyeU_AcS2Mw2l1vB-Ie7_iVQL0Wqwm1Fc483d2G6rsNnWpCHevdUMvimE2dAjA0ngrrAFJTXhCuk46_muHozWbvrqOhEqyPBPEk21Afw/s1600/Lucas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgTDQQ1F8ZEEXjKoMA7e2Udk8CN_ms9qbqnFRyeU_AcS2Mw2l1vB-Ie7_iVQL0Wqwm1Fc483d2G6rsNnWpCHevdUMvimE2dAjA0ngrrAFJTXhCuk46_muHozWbvrqOhEqyPBPEk21Afw/s400/Lucas.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>I'm talking specifically about the little Victim Vignettes of the fear bubble patients, locked in their own personal comas, all born from happenings in Fear Itself, all overlooked and made trivial by Fear Itself.<br />
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Before I go on, let me just say that I'm not specifically taking shots at Matt Fraction with that assessment. If the event books took the time to actually delve into these things properly, they'd run 1,000 issues and we'd never be done with them. Truthfully, the event book's purpose isn't to tell stories - it's there to move copies. Event books are designed to have big splashy pages and characters behaving oddly because the point isn't to make sense, but to create mindless buzz and feign elevated importance.<br />
<br />
So you get a scenario where the world is supposedly on the brink of madness, and half of France gets turned into statues, and it simply gets waved away in Fear Itself # 7.4653, and a month later nobody knows, cares, or remembers what happened, because goddamnit, something's coming from space and the Avengers and X-Men definitely need to fight about it in a manner that will be cleared up neatly in Avengers Vs. X-Men: Spider-Man's lament: Healing Heroes # 4.86594. <br />
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Or you could read Journey Into Mystery and get a peek about how that might actually play out in a way that feels satisfying, and at a pace that doesn't make you want to pluck your own eyes out to make it stop. You could read Journey Into Mystery and get a peek at Leslie, Lucas, Luiz, Deborah, and Molly, and say to yourself "Holy Crap, living in a world where Fear Itself occurred would be quite a trip, and maybe there's more to this universe than just ciphers moving the plot along." Because in Kieron Gillen's book, there are things like vulnerable human beings that lose, and consequences. Can you even imagine?<br />
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Journey Into Mystery fills those gaping potholes that the thundering moron books leave in their wake. It does so with humor and grace, and it does it every month.<br />
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I'll never get over the anachronistic tightrope that Gillen jumps on every month, either. "You know, Leah, when you get past the urge to retch, these energy drinks are delightfully addictive." JIM contains all the stilted and elevated Asgardian trappings as previous Thor books, and then it tosses them into Angry Birds America. Somehow it works. Somehow it makes me laugh, every time.<br />
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And while the tone is irreverent and playful, it would be inaccurate to call JIM fluff. One of the great triumphs of the book is that Gillen<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Loki is a villain, or at best a tragic hero</li>
<li>Loki is a liar and a trickster</li>
<li>Loki is a genius on the path to global level mastermind</li>
</ul><br />
Gillen's Loki is as ethically complicated as James Robinson's Shade, and that's as high praise as I know to give. Young Loki has magic, and allies, and power, but mostly he uses his tongue and his scheming abilities to leverage his situation. Without giving the entirety of the plot away, he averts disaster in this issue (at least temporarily) by halting his ineffectual heroic efforts and recalibrating mid-stream to give the tyrant what he wants! You simply don't see this in Marvel books. Gillen is off the reservation and doing something different.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie10ojbx0wTpOF5J-M8xjpGd0W0Rm8GAvWa8my6E39e3LhDxjDQPKB2sAM4j8hN9qb0VXt7oCJsP9cP_8dnUTXE8Vxkxuk2i_cOiVhUpkB1wbDSuLJLqoEoIylg9qIzwm81g1pFC5tgYo/s1600/Hellstrom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie10ojbx0wTpOF5J-M8xjpGd0W0Rm8GAvWa8my6E39e3LhDxjDQPKB2sAM4j8hN9qb0VXt7oCJsP9cP_8dnUTXE8Vxkxuk2i_cOiVhUpkB1wbDSuLJLqoEoIylg9qIzwm81g1pFC5tgYo/s320/Hellstrom.jpg" width="320" /></a>Nobody seems to notice or care, mind you. The latest numbers show Journey Into Mystery coming in at # 91 with a barely sustainable 22,000+ copies sold. This is the part that always confuses me. I guess I just don't understand why Secret Six wasn't a top 10 comic, and I don't understand why we can't sell 50-100 copies of this at every retailer. Do people not like good stories at certain shops? In the age of Twitterbook, do they not know that JIM is elite?<br />
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Apparently, they don't. So I'm telling you. Spread the word. Get on Paul Revere's horse and bark to the masses that there is a tiny mystical dog named Thori in this book that grumbles death threats to any poor bastard that stops to converse with it. Tell them that it's still possible to read a Marvel book that understands scope and stakes without sacrificing all manner of reason and sanity. Tell them that Journey Into Mystery is the best comic they're not reading, because it's true.<br />
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- RyanChronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-4735479253606305152012-03-17T00:47:00.000-05:002012-03-17T00:47:10.255-05:00Market Spotlight!Some stuff I've tripped over lately....<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfhUYikuIXYLwEBWdEb-CtdsmRSUaKpVNKUykephYIrbT50S3cinPOiq1ZREHTIhe9nsuvJqO_wCizHECDatX6GAU1w6mgtNEChqHJTIOnKgmDBPvzyxhGwZjGVIsQou5A4tsTZYktvE/s1600/Orc+Stain+TPB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfhUYikuIXYLwEBWdEb-CtdsmRSUaKpVNKUykephYIrbT50S3cinPOiq1ZREHTIhe9nsuvJqO_wCizHECDatX6GAU1w6mgtNEChqHJTIOnKgmDBPvzyxhGwZjGVIsQou5A4tsTZYktvE/s200/Orc+Stain+TPB.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><b>Orc Stain</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 160706295X</b><br />
<b>SRP: $17.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon Min: $75+</b><br />
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James Stokoe is a special talent, and Orc Stain is a special book. It's really hard to pin down exactly what this book is "about", but mostly its an examination of orc culture as created by Stokoe from mostly whole cloth. Obviously there are influences, from Tolkein to....I don't know, Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China? But mostly this is James Stokoe running wild with a very potent imagination. Orcs don't have names, and spend a good portion of their day collecting orc penises, seeing as how that's the prevailing currency. That kind of imagination.<br />
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More importantly, Orc Stain contains some of the most singularly stunning images in the medium. I don't know anything about art, and I can see that. If you did know something about art, Orc Stain might melt your face off. You could profitably spend an afternoon just picking out all the little details. It's crazy.<br />
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I guess what I'm getting at is that I can really see this pulling in some long term interest and developing a legitimate cult following. Stokoe might go back to press at any moment, but I don't really see that happening immediately. I don't know if the book actually trades at the $75 mark, but it is exceptionally difficult to find, and I can see a segment of the population that simply HAS to have this book. It's a winner. Easy decision to buy whatever you find, even at full retail.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSGMCqPSD0cN1AzmQxmLrxkGM9kW7y7rIxY6p4H8YwU2toNxIGzQ2LWvZbeFCaha5Q6gHmh8cX1onM9e6OUBrm01984XIrczDzOf76KDSkbc4n-Wq2-p8Hxu5mYnRnw116T1wWRZtw6g/s1600/52+Vol+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSGMCqPSD0cN1AzmQxmLrxkGM9kW7y7rIxY6p4H8YwU2toNxIGzQ2LWvZbeFCaha5Q6gHmh8cX1onM9e6OUBrm01984XIrczDzOf76KDSkbc4n-Wq2-p8Hxu5mYnRnw116T1wWRZtw6g/s200/52+Vol+4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>52 Volume 4</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 140121486X</b><br />
<b>SRP: $19.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon Min: $20/$50</b><br />
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This was kind of a surprise for me. I considered it a weird thing to dry up, but then again, it's about 6 years old now, and does anybody really want to go back to this stuff now that it's largely old news?<br />
<br />
Apparently somebody wants this stuff, because it's trading at pretty lofty levels, and it's pretty tough to find. I looked for it at four comic shops this week and couldn't scare up a copy. Matter of fact, of the four volumes I found zero copies of the first volume, one copy of the second, three of the third volume, and no copies of volume four. If you look on Amazon right now, even volume one is about set to dry up. The whole series is primed to blow.<br />
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It's an interesting phenomenon on price, though, and I'm seeing this more and more. Back in the day, trades retailed for $10-$15, and I would wait for the books to hit $30 and worst I was 2:1. That's not the case any more. I'm still selling most of my books in that $25-$40 sweet spot....but the newer books are now retailing at $18-$30. And now you've got a situation where the best you're looking at is 2:1, where before that was the bare minimum. Bigger risks for smaller returns....yechh.<br />
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Of course there are other ways to get books than to pay full retail. I do it every day. But the game....she's getting tougher. C'est la vie.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe96yvaT_X46iZYd_YiC1dlaHHrVqBhLk0JtJ3ECi59JdePlQwHFJBGa-Ss3_GnL9wMAIjoFdUYffyIpPozOCbXBZ831ghme1-mITil8zs-nuowyLxPcDJ_DDeiy7ifnHjuvaUibH54nc/s1600/Gotham+City+Sirens+Union.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe96yvaT_X46iZYd_YiC1dlaHHrVqBhLk0JtJ3ECi59JdePlQwHFJBGa-Ss3_GnL9wMAIjoFdUYffyIpPozOCbXBZ831ghme1-mITil8zs-nuowyLxPcDJ_DDeiy7ifnHjuvaUibH54nc/s200/Gotham+City+Sirens+Union.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b>Gotham City Sirens Vol 1: Union</b><br />
<b>ISBN: 1401225713</b><br />
<b>SRP: $17.99</b><br />
<b>Amazon Min: $44/$27 (no, that's not a typo...you can get a new copy for less than a used one currently)</b><br />
<br />
This just in, folks - Harley Quinn is the real deal. Harley Quinn is DCs version of Deadpool in terms of hardcore obsessive interest, only she's better. She's better because she isn't nearly as overexposed, and because she does better with the ladies than she does with the men. <br />
<br />
Ms. Quinn is a member of the Sirens, of course, and I can't prove this scientifically, but that's why this is popping. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gotham-City-Sirens-Vol-Union/dp/1401225705/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331962329&sr=1-3">The HC version of Union</a> made it to the audio podcast Market Spotlight ages ago, and is still doing quite well. Better now then when I first recommended it, actually.<br />
<br />
Now the softcover trade is climbing toward profitability as well. If you can snap up a copy at less than retail, it's already profitable. And yeah, eventually I expect DC will go back to press and ruin this party. But before that, I expect this book to continue to climb. Cuz Harley Quinn is the real deal.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTz1Dcc4n_69NGcqvhR2jthblhAu3-FPoeanl34O-H0xL75Y9rpq3cYFd4gpCUfvTD9Sp9Nb6VZg-CV3n4_katDvOJp_4p2vbMOtzM8v0ZhGjhB5nFuG1ebgTMR-cuJZsoQxzT7B8Wa90/s1600/Suicide+Squad+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTz1Dcc4n_69NGcqvhR2jthblhAu3-FPoeanl34O-H0xL75Y9rpq3cYFd4gpCUfvTD9Sp9Nb6VZg-CV3n4_katDvOJp_4p2vbMOtzM8v0ZhGjhB5nFuG1ebgTMR-cuJZsoQxzT7B8Wa90/s1600/Suicide+Squad+6.jpg" /></a></div><b>Suicide Squad # 6</b><br />
<b>SRP: $2.99</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Hey, remember that Harley Quinn chick? Suicide Squad # 6 begins the New 52 retelling of her origin story, and it was severely under-ordered. A second print is coming down the pipe, but collectors are going to want the first print, and I really like the short term on this comic, and sorta like the long term. If Wizard was still doing their thing, this would have made the Top 10 hot books, that's for sure.<br />
<br />
It's not trading at crazy levels yet, ($6-$10) and may never do so. But if you've got copies available at your LCS, I would grab a couple and wait for the fireworks. Chronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036549690500270056.post-71936273960133830932012-03-15T01:48:00.001-05:002012-03-17T00:52:50.218-05:00Chronic Reviews!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSF-qI3bh0vVMmI2wcWvcli__YnKwViPv0MHL_NF-8qjGdR1Zg86sTwTzrhbBcSaay20TKV5KUBrtjW2-DNXcQ59TwipaboO3GNKcPIwrkglUSLy28tggxFlk7Ov1Jwtq4JlHEnFWwBEc/s1600/Saucer+Country+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSF-qI3bh0vVMmI2wcWvcli__YnKwViPv0MHL_NF-8qjGdR1Zg86sTwTzrhbBcSaay20TKV5KUBrtjW2-DNXcQ59TwipaboO3GNKcPIwrkglUSLy28tggxFlk7Ov1Jwtq4JlHEnFWwBEc/s400/Saucer+Country+1.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, MAN do I love Saucer Country!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Let's do a series of rapid-fire reviews, shall we? If I start running long, somebody do swat me.<br />
<br />
Today was "Saga Day" in my head and in a lot of other comic fans' heads. And for good reason. Like Ron Burgundy, he's kind of a big deal in a niche market that could really use some big deals. (Is it scary that I still think that way just six months after the New 52 launch? I think it is, but I'm not going to revert back into Chicken Little mode just yet) Matter of fact, I should just skip to it...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKfzb-Im2Panqjv5DfJAGUh-8cMZF8qD097ODXwhZb6TY8NLKvybXnIc9L10A2iwNv2SFn6xcE_zmZ96mB4EuoU65H3RYenn30BwrLE-yuHeNCbC7VgsSIl9MbBKMBQV5ypWkfMkrRmc/s1600/Saga+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKfzb-Im2Panqjv5DfJAGUh-8cMZF8qD097ODXwhZb6TY8NLKvybXnIc9L10A2iwNv2SFn6xcE_zmZ96mB4EuoU65H3RYenn30BwrLE-yuHeNCbC7VgsSIl9MbBKMBQV5ypWkfMkrRmc/s200/Saga+1.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><b>Saga # 1</b><br />
<b>Image comics</b><br />
<b>Bryan K Vauhan/Fiona Staples</b><br />
<b>44 pages for $2.99</b><br />
<br />
Firstly, welcome back to Mr. Vaughan, you were greatly missed and we're glad to have you. Thank you also for PACKING this book with content and selling it for $2.99, because bargains are hard to find in this industry presently. This book is without question great value.<br />
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I was worried about the horn head/wing back/racism bit coming off preachy and tiresome. It's not. I was not worried about Vaughan scoring hits with the narrative. And now I am.<br />
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Something is....not quite right with the blend. Alana is bawdy and gets the Chronic stamp of approval. She's fun. As we meet her, she's equating her ongoing childbirth with taking a massive dump. I should be in love, yes?<br />
<br />
Marko is a little more centered, and likeable, and the "couple" aspect of the book is more of a focal point then in any comic I can think of. I kinda like that, actually. Vaughan implies a world with depth, and it's loaded with unexpected little charicatures, and I'm wondering if that's where it's losing me.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking of the robots especially and the little alligator guy....taking in Saga is a little like mixing chocolate milk and Jameson. That's a little unfair, because that concoction would be hideously terrible. Saga is not hideously terrible.<br />
<br />
It didn't land for me, though. The mix is a little off. Honestly, if this were a different writer, I'm not sure I'd give it much time. Because it's BKV, I think he's got six issues minimum. Is that wrong?<br />
<br />
PS: The book is currently sold out at Lone Star, which is insane. It's already <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAGA-1-FIRST-PRINT-2012-BRIAN-K-VAUGHN-IMAGE-COMICS-STAPLES-SOLD-OUT-RED-HOT-/260974597684?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item3cc34c5634">trading for $10+ on Ebay</a>, which is equally insane. All good things, incidentally. Go, Saga! We need a buzz book. I just happen to think it should be Saucer Country more than this one. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wp56MVQw7Wkw-RTjft5K23g0qr-xpq4WFIMr9V1dA0vibA_gj8Q0y0gjpxnP8iRvnu2We-H1R7N9_oQTFrWYCFvOppVSzOZthE7OxYfxWJq6Ra2ZK1_FbHKOvbh_prfZteNiuB9P88w/s1600/Green+Lanern+%282011%29+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Wp56MVQw7Wkw-RTjft5K23g0qr-xpq4WFIMr9V1dA0vibA_gj8Q0y0gjpxnP8iRvnu2We-H1R7N9_oQTFrWYCFvOppVSzOZthE7OxYfxWJq6Ra2ZK1_FbHKOvbh_prfZteNiuB9P88w/s200/Green+Lanern+%282011%29+7.jpg" width="128" /></a></div><b>Green Lantern # 7</b><br />
<b>DC Comics</b><br />
<b>Geoff Johns/Dough Mahnke</b><br />
<b>20 pages for $2.99 </b><br />
<br />
Every time I think I might be done with this book, I get all Godfather 3'd and it pulls me back in. Or maybe I'm getting Brokebacked, and I just can't quit it. <br />
<br />
Point being, Johns always seems able to spur a little life in the ol' girl with his characters, and putting his characters in forward motion. On the one hand, yes, it does seem a little silly that Sinestro is back 12 seconds later for more Odd Couple hijinx. On the other hand, I adore the Old Couple hijinx. <br />
<br />
Do I really care about The Guardians new plan and the reverberations of great feigned import on the history of The Corps? Certainly not. But I liked watching Carol throw that ring on and hit the fray, I think the Indigo folks are a curious catalyst and curious about how/why they were chosen, and there will be plenty of ripe scenarios coming down the pipe for these characters to strut their Johnsian stuff around in. <br />
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I like it. So sue me.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g4b6yo4mutiYqrCtGyBqr8WYcyHG-dMZOSUZmHX31R1BvJyjFi4y7cRsk0168OUUenKaM_ae9Xw2DVwhKETDP-VPY4IWQ3W7eJ5bgnL7OGqlEL6tOR60tcO0IicyyyRxUfRyQtR7-2w/s1600/Batgirl+%282011%29+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g4b6yo4mutiYqrCtGyBqr8WYcyHG-dMZOSUZmHX31R1BvJyjFi4y7cRsk0168OUUenKaM_ae9Xw2DVwhKETDP-VPY4IWQ3W7eJ5bgnL7OGqlEL6tOR60tcO0IicyyyRxUfRyQtR7-2w/s200/Batgirl+%282011%29+7.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><b>Batgirl # 7</b><br />
<b>DC Comics</b><br />
<b>Gail Simone/Ardian Syaf </b><br />
<b>20 pages for $2.99</b><br />
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I bought this because I was curious about the solicitation, which inferred that there might be some fleshing out on the whole "Barbara gets shot in the Killing Joke" thing. I can't pretend to know how this issue will work for you if you care about that sort of thing.<br />
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I can tell you that it's in there - they didn't dodge, shirk, or wuss out. I found myself caring not so much about all that, and began pining in earnest for Secret Six, a book that I desperately miss, because there was a little of it in Batgirl in the form of Grotesque, the Big Bad.<br />
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Obviously Gail can't do Secret Six in Batgirl. She's within sattelite range of a major lunchbox property, so there's naturally a governer attached to the motor. And Barbara Gordon is not damned, so it can't be The Six. But there's just a taste of it in most everything Gail writes, and I can't decide if that taste hurts more than it pleases.<br />
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I think if I was down on books and looking to add, I could see myself reading Batgirl. I tend to have the exact opposite problem, however.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1m5HruvTRxPt5uw8gXpBHmFE4SGfntwU3CJOljhCQPW4W1IIbxpVL2Oeor2rWdWc1PjgSubmkBcmOa7_VfBStSGZ-SWlb1FZn9vVRca-QallkY7ZN4RwV58p-yM2l1K9Ky7mvuSstjE/s1600/Crossed+Badlands+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1m5HruvTRxPt5uw8gXpBHmFE4SGfntwU3CJOljhCQPW4W1IIbxpVL2Oeor2rWdWc1PjgSubmkBcmOa7_VfBStSGZ-SWlb1FZn9vVRca-QallkY7ZN4RwV58p-yM2l1K9Ky7mvuSstjE/s200/Crossed+Badlands+1.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><b>Crossed: Badlands # 1</b><br />
<b>Avatar Comics</b><br />
<b>Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows</b><br />
<b>22 pages for $3.99</b><br />
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I have adored this series, but approach Badlands with some wariness. You can only "push the envelope" so far before your story ends up about pushing envelopes in the most predictable and boring manner possible. Also not a fan of double shipping, and that's the plan for Crossed: Badlands. You're getting two per month, and if you want to keep up? That'll be $8, please.<br />
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The original crew gets the first arc before Ennis hands off the writing reins to Hellblazer legend Jamie Delano with # 4, and I'm semi-pleased to report that this is the most reserved/refined issue of the series to date. There is an infant tossing incident in the middle thrown in for obligatory reasons, but I honestly think it's in there just to pacify the mindless portion of the mob. I don't think his heart is in the shock shit any more, and frankly, that's a good thing.<br />
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No, this is a subtler Crossed, with a better set of characters than the original arc, truth be told. Harry is a trip, you want my opinion. I was almost hoping this fell flat, because it would make my decision to cut a double-shipper very easy. No such luck. I like this story, and I'm on for the rest of the Ennis stuff at the bare minimum.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP43kz7xIvMr5V1Q_QXnbaJr3KneNKt2T_zPVtUc0jqm0cNsRnUomhi-E9qzgzpGsTUDLZOuMGua6iaX34g-_rooZhKRD68OsgBMlG8jLjHYJqSn7YClRpfHxkJTCMm1jQt_EHhj2QlSs/s1600/Luther+Strode+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP43kz7xIvMr5V1Q_QXnbaJr3KneNKt2T_zPVtUc0jqm0cNsRnUomhi-E9qzgzpGsTUDLZOuMGua6iaX34g-_rooZhKRD68OsgBMlG8jLjHYJqSn7YClRpfHxkJTCMm1jQt_EHhj2QlSs/s200/Luther+Strode+6.jpg" width="128" /></a></div><b>The Strange Talent of Luther Strode # 6</b><br />
<b>Image Comics</b><br />
<b>Justin Jordan/Trad Moore</b><br />
<b>25 pages + some pinups for $2.99</b><br />
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What a revelation this series has been, and I think it paid off handsomely. Oh, I can hear the critics spouting nonsense in the background about how Jordan took the "lazy" road with Pete, and that there was too much fighting in the resolution, and that the fighting was too gory and sensationalistic, and that the ending was too cliched.<br />
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Fuck all that rot. The juice is in the execution, and everything about Luther Strode has been pitch perfect from "go" to the end. The story as presented answers enough questions to be satisfying, but didn't over-explain in the third act and kill future arcs. This is the kind of pacing, dialogue, structure, and craft I would expect from talented veterans in their primes. Where did these guys come from?<br />
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The final issue is a kinetic emotional bomb, and I will be intentionally seeking out work from both Jordan and Moore in the future. Rabid dogs will not keep me from the next Strode series. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-a7TLJNe9dMKDrD0iZpC-qRcPPJvJ4cNf7eJgG2gMz3iMNEE-AZluJohDwBtyP8ckABOceteTVAwEAsPlDclSaYfz06qL92uc6u7_9Y7WKFzNd25dDq6gclDOBplwfGGP9vv-BRRwx8U/s1600/Thief+of+Thieves+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-a7TLJNe9dMKDrD0iZpC-qRcPPJvJ4cNf7eJgG2gMz3iMNEE-AZluJohDwBtyP8ckABOceteTVAwEAsPlDclSaYfz06qL92uc6u7_9Y7WKFzNd25dDq6gclDOBplwfGGP9vv-BRRwx8U/s200/Thief+of+Thieves+2.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><b>Thief of Thieves # 2</b><br />
<b>Image Comics</b><br />
<b>Robert Kirkman/Nick Spencer/Shawn Martinbrough</b><br />
<b>20 pages for $2.99</b><br />
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This was of course created by Robert Kirkman as kind of a television "writer room" collaborative experiment, and it plays as what I expect would be a fantastic television series and a nearly fantastic comic.<br />
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The problem, of course, is that Nick Spencer is already geared toward directing pages full of three panels worth of facial expressions and splash pages of characters looking very earnestly at old photos. You push him toward a television script? You get nothing but.<br />
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To be fair, in the hands of Shawn Martinbrough is looks so good it hurts at times. Some of those panels, particularly some of the Audrey panels,they look less detailed and a little uneven. But when Martinbrough is on....look out, brother. That is some wicked good shit.<br />
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As per usual, Spencer is absolutely terrific at creating moments and absolutely dreadful at creating comic book value. You'll be done with this thing inside of three minutes, even if you do linger on the Martinbrough goodness. I recommend you do. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSF-qI3bh0vVMmI2wcWvcli__YnKwViPv0MHL_NF-8qjGdR1Zg86sTwTzrhbBcSaay20TKV5KUBrtjW2-DNXcQ59TwipaboO3GNKcPIwrkglUSLy28tggxFlk7Ov1Jwtq4JlHEnFWwBEc/s1600/Saucer+Country+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSF-qI3bh0vVMmI2wcWvcli__YnKwViPv0MHL_NF-8qjGdR1Zg86sTwTzrhbBcSaay20TKV5KUBrtjW2-DNXcQ59TwipaboO3GNKcPIwrkglUSLy28tggxFlk7Ov1Jwtq4JlHEnFWwBEc/s200/Saucer+Country+1.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><b>Saucer Country # 1</b><br />
<b>DC/Vertigo Comics</b><br />
<b>Paul Cornell/Ryan Kelly</b><br />
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Oh, MAN, do I love this issue. I like layers, and mysteries, and deep worlds, and established themes, and Saucer Country is serving them all up, my friend. I like unreliable narrators, too. They abound in this book.<br />
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I hesitate to say overmuch and ruin anything for the uninitiated. Here's the gist - Arizona governor Arcadia Alvarado is thinking about running for president. She's got ex-husband trouble, and she's got alien trouble. Is she even fit for office? Could be she's a total nutjob. But if she's right, can the nation, hell, the planet survive without her? If she is right, is she actually fighting the extraterrestrials, or are they controlling her? Who the hell knows? It's BRILLIANT!<br />
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Super strong hook, and I was surprisingly taken with Arcadia and her supporting cast. The implied depth is off the charts, and I think Paul Cornell is good for it. It works as a creepy sci-fi drama, it works as a character study, and I think it might be one of the few comics that can tie into the zeitgeist of its political day without distracting from the narrative flow or sacrificing its replay value. <br />
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I've been this excited by first issues before only to be woefully disappointed later, (see: Scarlet, Bendis) but I was exceptionally impressed with Saucer Country. PS: Ryan Kelly's work is phenomenal. Just phenomenal. I'm in love!<br />
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This was supposed to be Image's big day to pound us in the face with Saga. I think I'm going to remember this as the day that Saucer Country hit, instead.<br />
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- RyanChronic Insomniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03556955611235055093noreply@blogger.com0