Shipping Note
Due to Labor Day sneaking up on Diamond, again, comics on September 4th will be delayed by a few hours. We will open at 9:30 that day and hope to get product on the shelf as soon as possible, usually by about 10:30 or 11:00. Sorry, can’t be helped.
Drink and Draw September
Our next D&D event is Thursday, September 12th. Same Bat-time (8:00pm) and Same Bat-place (Good Sons on Beaver.) The people at Good Sons have been great to us and last month one of the regular waitresses who is usually there on our night happened to have the night off, but was still there. She remarked how nice we are and how nice it is when we show up.
Remember, you don’t have to be an artist to come, but that is the general design. Get a drink, grab a seat and sketch, doodle or draw. We allow non-artists too and we range in discussions from the greatness of Longshot’s hair to recent political events. Only one requirement, that you have a good time.
DC IS the true villains this month
This week starts the 3D cover nightmare I’ve been dreading for over two months.
First, I want to tell you how these are going to work at our shop. We were collecting orders starting two months ago. Yes, we do not have the amounts that we ordered either, but very few of the customers that put in orders by our initial order are being shorted. There are a couple, but they have been alerted and problems have been dealt with.
We will have plenty of the regular, non-enhanced covers on the shelf. If you have interest in any of these and want to make sure they are waiting for you when you come in, please let me know. We may have a few extras of specific 3D books and we will have some of these on the shelf. Here is where the nightmare starts. There is SO MUCH speculation on these books that they are already going for serious money on e-bay. I, however, do have ethics and any pre-orders will be sold to those customers at regular retail price. I don’t expect many of these customers will turn them around. If you do, I wouldn’t tell me. The 3D shelf copies will be marked up.
I don’t like doing this. It is NOT our norm. However, I’m also not going to and would rather take a full loss on these extra covers rather than let one speculator get their hands on a book under the going rate.
I feel DC has fairly been taken to the woodshed on this in the media. However, if you haven’t read of some of the great mocking promotions that are going on by other retailers or want to hear numerous pissed off reports check out The Outhousers write up and link to bleeding cool. The picture of the true villains of this month and flyer from WonderWorld comics is well worth it. Also, you should see what Heroes Comics in London, Canada is doing. You will need to check their facebook page, but it is great.
Lazarus
The book you should be reading above nearly all others is Lazarus. Greg Rucka and Michael Lark have constructed an amazing story of a bleak future where extremely influential corporate families have amassed great wealth and power and control large segments of the country-side like warlords or organized crime lords. Wait, that doesn’t sound much different than the world we live in, does it? It is and it isn’t.
The book is a one – but certainly the best – of a new wave of future fiction. Similar to the Massive in the sense that it is post-apocalyptic, but not in the sense we have seen before. I grew up with nearly every other film about a dystopian future after the cold war bombs have gone off. How will normal run of the mill Joes survive this bleak and barren future? If only we don’t make those mistakes we can avoid these horrors.
Where The Massive is about environmental horrors, you can see the amazing complex structures of our current class structure and corporate dominance in Rucka and Lark’s book. Rarely if ever do you find a more intricately woven tapestry so early (only issue three has come out) in a comic. To help in the story, which had to have been worked on with years of development, there is a fantastic set of notes in issue one and a timeline of events in the letter columns of issue one and two. Rucka has also been including real world science news that is helping him feel less and less science fiction-y about his main character.
So, the story… I’ve described the structure and the basics, but at its core is a story of family and not a nice family either. It centers on one daughter – who can regenerate tissue at an amazing rate, a Lazarus if you will – who is the center piece of negotiations with fellow “corporate” warlord tribes. She is extremely loyal to her “father” and her family, though there are problems with the rest of her siblings. At its core, a very simple story, but the work to weave so much amazing background plot into it – THAT is what makes this more than a family drama. This is science fiction at its best and one of the five best books on the rack.
I implore you to give it a try. Don’t wait for the trade, as I’m sure it will not have the letter columns in the back. Lazarus is one –the best – of the new breed of super smart creator owned books from Image, but where it differs is the hugely well thought out back story. There will be no on the fly changes and shocking plot reveals – that show how the writer didn’t have a clue he was going to do it until the month before he did. This is a great book and one you must be reading.
Editor in Chief Death Matches
As your Emperor, I have declared a set of fights between the Editor’s in Chiefs of the comic industry, of course, for your amusement. Much like in Roman times – or today – games were used to distract the populous. I too use them as I don’t really have time to write up a new post (yes, I’ve had this one in the bag.)
An EC’s job is to run heard over all the projects and group editors of company. They are, literally, the Head Editor. When I speak of comic problems, it is an editor’s job to catch this stuff before it hits the shelves. Most are running on serious deadlines and most are, like producers of TV, Film or News, the ones who are controlling talent and making sure sh!t gets done and done on time. With the bigger companies this also results in making sure certain overarching plots and crossover events are worked into a story seamlessly. Also, a good editor is making sure the best quality is put into a series. They are the ones that challenge creators to give their all and send back story or pages that aren’t up to snuff. These are all things to consider when looking at a good editor. That and the ability to get along with others. Really, you look at Editor’s in Chief around the industry and most do a fantastic job.
Let’s start with Marvel.
The most improved EC over the last few years is Marvel. Their Editor in Chief, Axel Alonso, and most might think he is a somewhat newcomer to the comic game, but you would be wrong. Long time editor at DC (edited many of the best books at Vertigo in the late 1990s) and moved to Marvel in the early 2000s. Alonso took over the position from Joe Quesada in January of 2011 and has turned the company into a steady rock where production is, for the most part, kept on schedule and the talent seems to be rather happy.
Alonso has changed how the books at Marvel are published too. Think about how many interconnected stories the main Marvel NON-Team books used to have and now think about it. Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, all the core heroes are now – Primarily – left alone to create a story on their own. Not everything is perfect, yes, the Avenger team books and the X-books seem to be constantly in a perpetual crossover, but even those – because seriously, crossovers are pretty complicated juggling acts – have been pretty good, at least from a production stand point.
So, from even… what, four years ago?… can we even say two or three?… Marvel is on much better ground with Alonso’s leadership than they were and that is really saying a lot.
Next up, oh, yeah… DC Entertainment. I don’t believe anyone one can seriously defend Bob Harras, I won’t, can’t and am not about to try. His reign of terror at DC started in 2010. Before that he worked for Jim Lee and his ABC/Wildstorm imprint that was part of the pre-restructured DC. Before that, Harras was the EC at Marvel during one of the company’s worst financial times.
In recent memory, no one at DC has had as many struggles as Harras has had at DC. Massive, disgruntled departures of talent, not to mention questionable decisions on creative direction have caused many to asking why he has not been fired from his post. The latest of questionable decisions – which may or may not be laid at his feet – is the 3D covers of Villains Month. Though not all of the problems at the embattled publisher are Harras’s fault, like the wiping clean of continuity and the alienating of retailers, the buck on the creative side needs to stop somewhere.
Image is the fastest increasing – sales wise – of any comic company right now and doesn’t really count when it comes to a true Editor in Chief because of how they publish. This goes all the way back to when the company was formed. Much of the reasons for the original formation was to escape the pressures and editor’s of Marvel in the very early 90s.
There are editors and a corporate structure at the company, but it is designed and was set up as for creator ownership of properties, hence the overall lack of control. This also leads to lateness and sometimes other problems.
They are the unseen force right now in comics. Image with its structure and creative freedom is very attractive to established creators. They may very well be the future. I’m sure someone also said that in 1994 too.
IDW is so predominately licensed properties that it is almost its own wing unto comic publishing, but think about the difficulty of this – most of the stuff, art and story, has to be put through an approval process – and with the quality of these comics that you get on the other side, Editor in Chief Chris Ryall deserves a lot of credit.
The company is only a little over a decade old and of the smaller publishers commands a great deal of respect. They are now starting to publish an increased number of original, non-licensed works – and though I don’t know the specifics of the deals with the company these creators work out – this only amounts to more creativity in the industry.
Boom! Studios is sort-of IDW lite. Not the same size and not the same number of titles, they too have started to grow their original, non-licensed works. Matt Gagnon is the Editor and Chief and since his taking over for Mark Waid in the position, the company has grown dramatically. The next few years could really be make or break for this company as they strive to find their place. Just recently they purchased the struggling Archaia Studios, who have long been known for their very high quality production values.
Next in line is Dynamite. I am of a mixed mind with this company. On one hand, they sell some books that people want to read. I have some very dedicated readers of several titles they publish, but on the other hand I sometimes feel like they are more interested in publishing covers than comics. That said, Nick Barrucci (Publisher, as the company doesn’t have a true EC) is a great and personable guy. I think, much like with Boom, they will be struggling for identity in the coming years.
Oni is and has always been the small, quality publisher that can. They don’t publish a lot of books and probably never will, but it seems the stuff they do publish is of pretty high quality. They, like most of the much smaller publishers, are at a constant disadvantage from the two big buzzards flying over head. When they do find a hit with great art and writing in swoops Marvel or DC to get them on one of their dull cookie cutter superhero books. These smaller publishers can’t compete with dollars and hence the book becomes late, or in the worst cases, never finished.
But a superhero publisher has arisen to fight back. Valiant restarted just a few years ago and is showing the big two how to publish these types of characters. Mostly with writers not given a true chance or big money at either DC or Marvel, Valiant saw the talent and provided the structure and characters and let the writers go to it.
Easily, these are the best superhero universe being published right now. If they don’t expand to fast, this is the company to watch in the coming years and if a movie comes out of one of these properties, the rest of the world will know of them too.
I seem to have forgotten a company. Oh, no, I left the best for last. Everyone knows my favorite company in comics is Dark Horse. They publish my favorite comics and have the highest in quality publishing standards in their finished product. However, in an editorial capacity, they can’t be touched. Officially named Editor in Chief about a year ago, Scott Allie has overseen the Hellboy and BPRD comics as well as the horror books for the company for the last decade. Always contributing to each of his comics with fantastically informative letter’s columns, he is the man!
I used to have a yearly meeting with him in Chicago and have been out to Portland as well. Allie treated me like a king in each of the visits; he represents what is the best comic company in this industry. If there was to be one company to lead all the rest and show them how it is supposed to be done it is Dark Horse and Allie is the top dog. He would cleave through the competition with his Conan like two handed battle axe! He is the true winner of our Editor in Chief Battle Royale.
…but could there anyone else?
With the rise of independent publishing it is always wise to look for the guy with everything on his shoulders. The one who has the most to lose and also the most to gain too. The best of these is Terry Moore. He is his own Editor in Chief – of Abstract Studios – and his own writer, artist, inker, letterer, cover creator and publisher. You want to know how to do it without a company telling you how it should be done, Terry is the king. Of all of comics, the truly independent publisher should be put on a pedestal so high the buzzards can’t get to them. Now go get Rachel Rising and find out why I feel this way.
Joshua Dysart might be my favorite writer
Who is he, you might ask. Well, I can see how you might not recognize the name right away. He is currently writing one of the best superhero books on the market, Harbinger from Valiant, and is most known for his absolutely amazing Unknown Soldier series from a few years back.
He has also been contributing to Occupy Comics as well. He is one of the two writers that put together the “Casino Nation” playing cards segment. In issue three he has aces and, of course, lays down the crimes four of our recent Presidents have done to the American people in regards to our financial crisis we suffer under. I especially liked his write up on Bill Clinton, easily one of the worst presidents since the robber barons of the 1880s. It is so nice to see your own thoughts put on paper by someone else. It makes you feel a little less alone in the world.
Ah, but what could make him even better? He tweeted last week about the casting of Ben Affleck as some character in a movie too. He said, and I quote, “You know who I’d cast as Batman? Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Norm Breyfogle, Davis Mazzuchelli, Kelly Jones. F@#K superhero movies. Read Comics.” WOW, Joshua Dysart, you are my hero!!
…and lastly – yes, he is this awesome – I have a gift from his website for you. Just watch the video and look at the pictures as he describes them. A great scary story. After that, go follow him on Twitter.
Hellboy is 20 years old
It was earlier in August that, in my biased opinion, the best character ever created in comics celebrated his twentieth birthday. Hellboy is without question one of the finest reads ever in comics and few if any of the stories written are even of a “so, so” caliber. He has spawned a spin off series, now over ten years old, and multiple characters out of that too.
The site Multiversity Comics recently wrote up a fantastic look at what has come before, is currently happening and what we can expect from the future of Hellboy and all his supporting characters. Check out Multiversity Comics write up for the full report. It is a MUST read for all Hellboy fans.
…and for those of you who have not read this series. It’s not the easiest character to just jump into, if you want help please ask. You will not regret your falling down this rabbit hole.
Retro Review – Mark Waid’s Captain America
This week, I’m going to take a stroll down memory lane and look back at Mark Waid’s incredible run on the Star Spangled Avenger, Captain America. Now of course Mark Waid should be a familiar name to you, because if you love Superhero comics, you’re already reading his current Daredevil and Hulk series, which I can’t recommend enough. If you are not, for shame. Go, right now and get them. You will thank me.
Cap has been blessed by having some incredible artists over the years, including Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Mike Zeck, Dan Jurgens, and Mike Perkins to name but a few, but Waid’s run may feature the best Cap artist of them all, the incredibly talented and yet highly underrated Ron Garney. Waid and Garney took over writing and art duties respectfully with issue #444 of Captain America (volume 1) in 1995. When this new creative team took over, Cap like a lot of heroes at Marvel, was a victim of the full swing over-the-top crazy 90’s style of darkness in both look and storytelling. Don’t believe me? Check out the cover to Captain America #443, the issue before Waid & Garney took over. I think the best way to describe it is….gross. Waid & Garney instantly brought an action-packed, classic feel to the book and really spent their first 11 issues reestablishing who Captain America is and what makes him the greatest hero in the Marvel Universe. Garney’s art here is so gorgeous, he is such a dynamic storyteller and the panel layout and detail he puts into every page is absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately, their first run on the character was interrupted when volume 1 was ended in the summer of 1996, and the title was re-launched with the absolutely terrible Heroes Reborn event, which resulted in volume 2 of the series being written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Rob Liefeld. Yep, you know the series. You’ve seen the images; the Cap with Double D’s or the issue #2’s cover where Steve Rogers is crouching in mid-air with terrible body proportions and unexplained heads and hands floating around him. Yikes!
This era of Cap is definitely better left forgotten, but for history’s sake we continue. Captain America wasn’t the only character butchered by this event at Marvel. Pretty much every major Marvel character got their classic look scrapped and replaced by overly extreme 90’s look and feel. I glad that none of the major comics companies today are re-launching their franchises with a totally ridiculous new focus that ignores what makes their characters great and gives them dumb costumes! I’m doubly glad that the industry learned from the mistakes made in the 90’s and that the people either fully or partially responsible for these atrocities aren’t currently holding positions such at other comic companies. That would be really bad if that happened!
Anyways… luckily the Heroes Reborn initiative was dropped in about a year’s time, with the real version of the Marvel characters returning, and the whole Marvel Universe going back to a little more classic feel. With that, we got Captain America volume 3, which saw Waid and Garney return as the creators, and once again they instantly returned the character to the classic Man out of Time that we all know and love. Additionally, Cap also got a new series to supplement his main title, appropriately called the Sentinel of Liberty, which debuted in 1998. This series was also written by Mark Waid with co-plotting attributed to Ron Garney and featuring not only Garney’s great artwork, but also art from the very talented Ron Frenz, Doug Braithwaite, and Andy Kubert. This series ran for 12 issues, and served as more of a Tales of Captain America type series; jumping around in time from the WW II Invaders era to Cap’s first moments thawing out in modern day America.
Mark Waid tackled the writing duties for the first 24 issues of Volume 3, with Garney and Kubert cranking out some amazing pencils. During this run we see Captain America tackle some of his traditional villains, fight against tyranny and we even get a fun story where Cap battles a supernatural villain who is trying to steal and kill the American Spirit of patriotism that can make America so great.
Dan Jurgens then took over writing duties with issue #25 and eventually the art duties as well with issue #32 and continuing both until the volumes conclusion with issue #50 in 2001. This is also a pretty incredible run that I recommend checking out as well. Jurgens continues the tone and high quality storytelling that Waid and Garney established when they took over the character.
If you are a fan of Captain America or classic superhero comics at all, you really need to check this series out if you haven’t before. Or if you have read it, and haven’t revisited it for a while, really, read it again. You’ll see just how great of a character Captain America is.
All of Waid’s amazing run on the character, in either trade paperback format or Marvel Premiere Hardcover in 6 volumes can be found at or through order at your local comic book store.
Operation Rebirth which collects Captain America Vol. 1 #444-448 & 450-454
Captain America To Serve & Protect which collects Captain America Vol. 3 #1-7
Captain America American Nightmare Vol. 3 #8-13
Captain America Red Glare Vol. 3 #14-19
Captain America Land of the Free Vol. 3 #20-24
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty which collects all 12 issues of the series