By Clicking Here!!!) and we’ll see what we can do.
I’m happy to announce that we are on track again and we’ll be back doing
regular Comic Updates. It’s my goal to bring a nice variety of topics to cover, from reviews to news to commentary and maybe some exclusive online comics and trailers, too. Stay tuned. We should be caught up with reviews in another week, along with some cool previews for you all, but in the meantime, I wanted to quickly address some things I never got a chance to talk about at the time, and make some other comments on upcoming books.
Amazing Spider-Man #36-This was the first comic to deal with the tragedy of September 11th head on. It was a risky venture. Some people were upset just with the fact that Marvel was going to do a story in the first place. Others would find a way to complain about continuity!?! All they did was miss one of the best comic stories of the year and one of the most inspirational stories in any medium regarding the horrific events of that day. John Romita Jr is in the prime of his career right now. He’s always been my favorite Spider-Man artist, but he’s become even better since J Michael Straczynski came on board as writer. Take into account that the man is also penciling the Incredible Hulk (and doing a damn good job) as well and you have a person who is as talented as he is disciplined. My only criticisms of Amazing Spider-Man since Straczynski took over the book has been on too much attention to Spider-Man in action and not enough about Peter Parker’s human, more personal side. Spider-Man is in costume throughout the issue here, but it’s Peter Parker who we’re reading about. They’re his emotions screaming out as to how this could happen, and why he wasn’t able to prevent it. They’re his warnings for people to be more aware but not to give up our daily lives. This isn’t a story where people need to be concerned about continuity or whether Dr. Doom would really cry for the victims (he would). It’s a story about looking back to the most terrible day in the history of our nation, using one of the most recognized characters in comics as our guide. Well crafted. Poignant. Perfect.
Amazing Spider-Man is published by Marvel Comics. Issue #36 sold out pretty much all over the country, but a reprint is planned in a forthcoming edition of ‘Mighty Marvel Must Haves’.
Catwoman-If you would have told me last year that I’d enjoy or even pay money for a Catwoman comic, I probably would have smacked you in the mouth. When it was announced that the series was being revamped and given a new direction, my reaction would have been toned down to a light shove and maybe a chuckle. When Ed Brubaker (Batman) was announced as writer, I stopped laughing and started paying attention. Artists Darwyn Cooke and Mike Allred have completed the pieces to the new Catwoman and the result is a bat book like you’ve never seen. Selina Kyle is still the Catwoman but gone are the purple tights and exaggerated breasts. If Catwoman is going to be sexy, it’s going to be subtle. This creative team is in no mood to appeal to the lowest common denominator and beat you over the head with her sexuality. Brubaker is setting out to redefine how we think of Selina: her motives, her methods, and her future. Characterization is the key word here and we get more of that in the first issue than I think we did over the course of the entire initial series run. It’s not exactly a crime book, but the seeds have planted for it to become just that. It resembles Greg Rucka’s excellent Detective Comics the most, in terms of storytelling, but visually, this book is on it’s own. Cooke has created a world of his own in which Catwoman can play and it’s one that I’ll be visiting for as long as this team is on the book.
Catwoman is published monthly and issue #1 is on stands now. Get it while you can!
Daredevil- Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev are back together after working on Image Comics’ Sam and Twitch series. There’s no surprise that they haven’t missed a beat. Having a regular creative team on the title was a much-needed decision. Having these two do it was just plain smart. Can you do a crime noir version of a superhero comic? Sure. Bendis is doing it with Powers, but here he takes that gift of storytelling and transplants it to a title featuring a main character who runs around in red spandex. The previous two issues have Daredevil have featured hard-hitting action, but it’s the quieter moments such as the courtroom scenes or the garage confrontations that leave you breathless for more. The creative team is really in their element here. The darker, grittier tone to the book suits Maleev’s artistic style to a tee and the storyline has all the elements of classic Bendis: courtroom drama, super-heroics, the internal workings of the criminal underworld, and strong characters. At the rate it’s going, this storyline is going to go down as one of Daredevil’s best so why not jump on the bandwagon, now?
Daredevil is published monthly by Marvel Comics
Joker: Last Laugh- I stayed clear of this ‘event’, but I was able to watch from the sidelines as reviewers and fans from all over criticized it. I’m glad to see that I didn’t miss anything. One can only hope that DC will have learned their lesson from this and maybe fans won’t have their regular comics interrupted for silly gimmicks anymore. I won’t comment on the book anymore than that, since I haven’t read it. God forbid I make another error like I did with my Black Racer criticism. I will say that I’m told the ending to Last Laugh fits perfectly with the overall quality of the story itself and that, in the end, the joke was on the fan. Please, no more of this.
The Joker: Last Laugh fiasco was published by DC Comics in October. Issues should be readily available.
Kissing Chaos and US War Machine- Say what? A slice of life road adventure and an Iron Man clone together? Well, they do have a lot in common. Both are black and white. Both have experimented with unusual publishing schedules (Kissing Chaos from Oni Press ships every 3 weeks and War Machine from Marvel Comics is weekly). And both stories knock you on your butt until and have you begging for more. People always complain about how publishers are always doing the same old thing. Most of these people never set foot in a quality comic store or bother to read up on the latest news, but these two books (and companies) are taking some pretty dramatic changes with their publishing schedules. Going weekly enabled Chuck Austin to tell the first War Machine story at his own pace. A few of the earlier issues were slower paced and not much in the way of action, but at the cheaper cost and weekly schedule, readers had an incentive to come back for more and they were rewarded for their efforts. Kissing Chaos is another book with certain fluidity to the writing and pace where you don’t want to wait a month (or two) for the next installment. The stories dictate that they are told in a different format and that’s what we’re getting. Not every comic needs to be weekly or bi-weekly, but it’s encouraging to know that at least 2 companies are attempting to do something different and market and publish the book based on the parameters of the story and not the other way around. Let’s hope there’s more tampering with formats in the years to come. Kissing Chaos is on sale every 3 weeks from Oni Press with the first 3 issues on sale now.
US War Machine is published weekly. The 12th and final issue is on sale now with a Trade Paperback to soon follow. A weekly, on-going series is planned for next year.
Ruse- After just two issues this is Crossgen’s best book and one of the best books of the year. It still has a touch of the fantasy element that is evident in all the company’s titles, but Ruse is the most unique of the bunch. Sherlock Holmes is the character that comes to mind when everyone talks about this comic, but Mark Waid has made Simon Archard so much more than just a Holmes clone. Archard is a fascinating protagonist, with layers that are only beginning to be revealed. He’s charming and confident, almost to the point of being egotistical, but you can’t help but be captivated by every line of his dialogue. Penciler Butch Guice is the real unsung hero of this book. He manages to create incredible detail in his inanimate objects and cityscapes while at the same time rendering very realistic features for his human characters. With just two issues on the stands, the book is easily accessible and should be on the ‘must have’ list for anyone complaining about too much of the same old thing in comic stores.
Ruse is published monthly by Crossgen Comics.
Trout- Oni Press has the most varied comic line in comics. From the hilarious adventures of boy genius, Barry Ween, to the endearing teen angst of Blue Monday or the all ages adventure of Alison Dare, and the horror of The Marquis, or quirkiness of Magic Pickle, Oni covers just about everything. Leave it to them (and creator Troy Nixey) to publish a comic that’s nearly impossible to define. Trout is the story of a strange little recluse of a boy who happens to live above a turnip factory. When a mysterious puppet show comes to town, Trout is forced to observe the festivities and the bear witness to the shocking results. This is a story that takes you on twists and turns on every other page in terms of mood, where you think you can predict what’s going to happen only to be proven very wrong. By the time you’ve reached the final pages, you’re not only amazed at where the story ended up, but you’re craving the next installment. Nixey creates an incredibly vivid fantasy world that captures your imagination and holds your interest. This is one mini-series you surely won’t forget.
The first issue is on sale now through Oni Press.
DK2- Ahhh, the big one. The first issue The Dark Knight Strikes Again topped the sales charts with a reported 175,000 copies, making it the highest selling comic of the year. The question is, will it live up to expectations? This could be the greatest comic ever written, but on Wednesday afternoon fanboys all across the country are going to be bitching about one thing or another and we’ll have to accept it. Not having read the issue yet (it arrives in stores next Wednesday, December 5th) I can’t really comment on anything but the first few pages and sketches that were shown online. I will say that I’m starting to not care so much for Frank Miller’s art. I don’t know what it is, but his current style (or at least since Sin City) has become so gritty, almost to the point of ridiculousness (ie the Captain America print in Heroes). This is only having seen the first few pages of the book, too, so things can change. His writing has never ceased to amaze me, though, and it should be enough to make this a winner.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again is published by DC Comics. The first issue hits stands next week. Good luck getting a copy if you didn’t pre-order it. Most comic stores open around 11am on Wednesday, FYI. Get ready to wait in line.
I’ve taken DC to task for a number of things and continued to do so in this piece, but I will give credit where credit is due. They’re to be congratulated for hitting that 175k number for The Dark Knight and also for going out and advertising the book. I saw reviews of it in mainstream magazines and even an advertisement for the book in Entertainment Weekly. Good job on getting the word out, DC. Another great move was Batman: The 10 Cent Adventure. Can you think of a better way to get your book in the hands of more people than making the price 10 cents? Retailers could order 22 times the amount of Batman issues they normally order and it’ll still come 5 cents cheaper. And even if they only gave _ of those additional books away, that’s thousands of more Batman comics floating around. Having Greg Rucka as the writer on this is only going to help, but it’s up to the retailers from here on. They needed to order high on this and make sure the book gets out to people who don’t normally read Batman, or even comic books.
9-11: Emergency Relief-The comic book industry continues to do their part for the victims of the terrorist attacks on 9-11. There have been charity auctions (most notably the one organized by Oni Press last month which raised upwards of $20,000), the Marvel Heroes book which seems on its way to a 3rd printing and now comes 9-11 from Alternative Comics. ‘From legendary creators such as Will Eisner to hot new talents such as cover artist Frank Cho, cartoonists from all areas of the cartooning world have joined together in this community effort. Scheduled for January 2002, 9-11: ER is a collection of these cartoonists’ personal non-fiction accounts of their experiences relating to the tragedy.’ Jessica Abel, Tom Beland, Guy Davis, Renee French, Phil Hester, James Kolchaka, Tony Millionaire, Michael Avon Oeming, Ande Parks, Gail Simone, and Jeff Smith are just a few of the talented creators who are contributing to this incredible project. This is an incredible project, again for a good cause, and you may discover a few more creators in the process.
Available January 2002. 200 pages. $14.95
‘Nuff Said- I’ll try to get more thorough reviews of these books in the next week or so, but I wanted to touch base on this before too much time passed. The Fourth Rail (www.thefourthrail.com) has a handful of reviews up on ‘Nuff Said books in their Two-in-One section they seem to share my feelings on the books so give them a look if you want. Marvel challenged their writers and artists to tell a story using no words (ala the famous Silent Interlude issue of GI Joe) and the result is a smashing success. Out of the 8 books I previewed, Hulk #35 (Bruce Jones and John Romita Jr), Thor #44 (Dan Jurgens and Stuart Immonen) and Punisher #7 (Steve Dillon) and Daredevil #28 (Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev) handled the tasks with perfection. I don’t even usually read Thor but the creative team did a top-notch job with this issue. The Punisher issue is worth noting due to the fact that Steve Dillon wrote the story for the issue, as well as penciled it, and it shows Steve’s strength as a storyteller. One of the greatest mysteries of the universe was whether Brian Michael Bendis could tell a story without dialogue. The guy loves words so much that he uses his middle name in credits. It shouldn’t surprise people, but his Daredevil issue is one excellent. His plot and Maleev’s pencils combine for a flawless execution of the ‘Silent Month’ concept. Daredevil is a book that keeps getting better and better. It is worth noting however, that Daredevil #29-31 will be in an all text format to compensate for the wordless issue.
‘Nuff Said is running through most Marvel titles (with the exception of the Ultimate and MAX books and Origin) for the month of December.
Seriously, though, that is similar to something Greg Rucka and Yoshitaka Amano are doing on the 3-part Elektra and Wolverine mini-series. The story is written in prose by Rucka (an accomplished novelist) and has illustrated full-page art by Amano. I’m not much of a fan of either character, but this book proves that capable creators can make anything work. This mini is a great experiment that I hope to see more of in the future, from Marvel or any other publishers out there.
The first issue is on sale now through Marvel Comics
Potlatch 2001 Anthology- To quote the latest edition of Previews: ‘What is a Potlatch? For many Native Americans, it’s a gift, a festival of giving. And with the new Potlatch 2001, that’s what it means in comics too!’ There a lot of several reasons why you should be pre-ordering this book. It’s being produced to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Anthologies like this are always usually a great buy (and this one is only $4.95 for over 100 pages) where you can discover the work of some up and coming talent and most of all…it features the work of a few quality creators I know pretty well: Sal Cipriano and Kristof Spaey. They’ve collaborated on the 8-page ‘Heartache Hotel’, a clear example for fans as to why we’ll be hearing a lot more from these two in the future.
You can find the solicitation for Potlatch on page 241 of the December Previews. Please order it now and reserve your copy for March 2001.
Spider-Girl #44- Ben Reilly returns to comics. I’ll be pushing this book until the deadline for ordering it passes. This February, Ben Reilly aka the Scarlet Spider (and co-star of the infamous Clone Saga) makes his first appearance in comics since his ‘death’ in Peter Parker #75. It’s not a dream…it’s not a hoax…it’s a great jumping on point for this fantastic, all ages series, and a wonderful reintroduction to a character unjustly tarnished for so long. Reilly has a devoted fan following to this day and it’s our goal to make Spider-Girl #44 the event that will bring them back out and into the comic stores. The best way you can show the ‘Powers that Be’ that a Ben Reilly comic will sell is to pre-order Spider-Girl #44 this month and of course buy the issue next February. Tell your retailer, post on the message boards across the net…just get the word out for people to take advantage of this event and pre-order (ya gotta Pre-Order, folks) Spider-Girl #44.
Marvel is offering people the best of both worlds here: The ‘real’ Spider-Man is a part of the regular continuity, but maybe Ben Reilly can peacefully exist in the alternate MC2 Universe?
On sale February 6th and published by Marvel Comics. Pre order this now and maybe you won’t be complaining about why Marvel doesn’t do reprints when it sells out in February. Pre-ordering is the name of the game.
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