Drink and Draw
Our next D&D will be on November 14th at the same bat-time (8:00) same bat-channel (Goodsons on Beaver.) Pretty simple concept, grab a drink and then sit and draw. No, you don’t have to be an artist to attend. Everyone is welcome.
Unity Release Party
On Wednesday, November 13th, we will be having a release party for Valiant’s new team book Unity. We will be having sales, specials and prizes. …oh, and free beer too!
We have some great ordering incentives on this book and we are going to do as we’ve done with some of the Marvel or Dark Horse release parties of the past. I figure, if you have a big book and you send me cool stuff to try and promote it …and give me an excuse to drink at work… yeah, I’ll throw a release party for Unity #1.
The party will start around 4:30 and run till 8:00. We will have some great prizes and specials. Some will run all day, most will not.
So, what is Unity?
It is the most ambitious release for Valiant since their restart a few years ago. The book will be written by Matt Kindt and drawn by Doug Braithwaite. I’ll have more on the event next week, but here is what Valiant has to say about the book:
On November 13th, find out why Valiant is the must-read publisher of 2013 when UNITY #1 launches the most dangerous, most ruthless, most volatile team of heroes ever united against a foe unlike any other – X-O Manowar!
To kill a king…he has created an army. The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible – fear. Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come. Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known – UNITY. Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world, and the occupation of Eastern Europe… Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon… Kill X-O Manowar!
Valiant – a customer’s perspective
I have been trying to get you all to read more Valiant comic releases for over a year. Some of this comes from my friend and customer Chris – he sort of channels his pressure through me – but I can honestly say that they have three of MY absolute favorite superhero books being published right now. They are a stand up, good and honest comic book company and one that supports their retailers at the same time creating quality product they care about… and hope you will care about too. (Can you say any of this about the big two right now? -answer is no.)
So I asked Chris to write up a nice piece about the company, a little about its history and a short review of the best books they are publishing.
I am a Valiant fan past, present and future. I’ve been a fan of the publisher since 1991 and am pleased that Cup o’ Kryptonite recognizes the current Valiant as putting out quality comics and wants to support them with a release party for the new Unity #1, which comes out on November 13th.
I know a lot of people are new to the Valiant Universe and don’t realize how big the company once was. Therefore I have put together a quick write-up related to the history of Valiant and, in addition, I have written reviews/synopsis about the current Valiant books being published.
Enjoy!
Valiant History
Valiant Comics was formed in 1990 by former Marvel Editor-In-Chief and legendary writer Jim Shooter. Shooter left Marvel to co-create Valiant characters and the Valiant universe with top comic book creators from Marvel (Bob Layton and Barry Windsor Smith to name just two.) Valiant stormed onto the market with stories of unequaled quality and quickly became an industry leader with original titles such as Harbinger, X-O Manowar, Shadowman, Rai, Archer & Armstrong and Eternal Warrior.
During the 1990s, a period which saw more competition in the market than ever before with many new publishers springing up, Valiant Comics sold more than 80 million comic books and became the third industry giant in the newly formed ‘big three’ (as opposed to the previous ‘big two’ of Marvel and DC), which can be attributed to both the quality of its stories and the flawed realism of its characters. Valiant Comics has been praised by many in the industry as superior examples of both comic stories and continuity.
In 1994, Valiant Comics was bought for $65 million by video game giant Acclaim Entertainment (the company responsible for the Mortal Kombat franchise.) That acquisition can be directly traced to the demise of the Valiant universe. Acclaim marginalized the comicbook publishing division and focused on mining the Valiant properties for video games. Acclaim sold approximately 8 million video games featuring Valiant characters including the Turok and Shadowman franchises. In 2000, after sustaining heavy losses from its sports games, Acclaim discontinued comic book publishing and other non-core businesses.
In 2005, the Valiant/Acclaim intellectual properties were purchased by Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari. The new owners were hard core fans of the original Valiant Universe and worked for years to figure out a way to re-launch the characters they loved in a way that would stay true to the core values that made the original valiant stories such a huge success. After taking years to figure out a strategy to relaunch the universe and also amassing a team of fantastic writers/artists, the new Valiant published their first comic (X-O Manowar #1) in May 2012.
Since their first issue, Valiant has released a total of seven comic titles (Archer & Armstrong, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior, Harbinger, Quantum & Woody, Shadowman, and X-O Manowar) and a four issue mini-series called Harbinger Wars that crossed over into two of their existing titles (Harbinger & Bloodshot). In my opinion, all of the new titles have been great, well written, and have kept me excited for the next issues.
Reviews
Archer & Armstrong – The best buddy duo comic in the industry. This comic is well written with tons of humor. The details of the book focus on 18-year-old Obadiah Archer, who after years of meditation and training, has been dispatched to New York City to carry out the sacred mission of his family’s sect – locate and kill the fun-loving, hard-drinking immortal known as Armstrong. But as this naive teenage assassin stalks his prey, he’ll soon find that both hunter and hunted are just pawns in a centuries-old conspiracy that stretches from the catacombs beneath Wall Street to the heights of the Himalayas. Archer & Armstrong will have to work together if the future is to stand any chance of surviving the past’s greatest threat.
Bloodshot – In the vein of a 1980’s big giant action shoot-‘em-up, Bloodshot tells the story of a secret military program using advanced nanite technology to create the world’s greatest super soldier. The developing story shows a lot more than just a big dumb action movie though and interweaves well with the Harbinger storyline. As we learn that Bloodshot is more than a weapon and fights with his internal programming.
Harbinger –This series is a fresh reboot of the original series and is currently written by Josh Dysart. The story is about a super-powered teenager (Peter) trying to stay ahead of a government agency that is pursuing him. When the government agency finally catches up to him, Peter finds help from another super-powered individual (Toyo Harada), or is he actually an enemy? This series is currently my favorite book being published and I recommend it to anybody who wants to read a great story. (Editor’s Note – Chris doesn’t over sell this enough. If you want one of the best reads in comics you can not go wrong with this book. Dysart is one of the best writers in the industry and you can get caught up quickly with trades and single issues. Do yourself a favor and read this comic! Heck, Ronnie even agrees on this.)
Quantum & Woody – This book is fun, full of laughs, and awesome, so see why Quantum & Woody are called the “World’s Worst Super-Hero Team.” The story is about Eric and his adopted brother Woody, who are estranged siblings, petty rivals, and washed-up failures. They are brought together by the mysterious death of their father and set out to find the killer. In the course of their investigation they are accidentally imbued with super powers – while of course fighting with each other. Using their new powers they fumble around to investigate their father’s death and sort-of fight crime.
X-O Manowar – This title is about a 5th century Visigoth (Aric of Dacia – heir to the throne of the Visigoth people) who is stolen from Earth by aliens and forced to be a slave. Aric’s only hope of escape is to band together with other slaves and steal the aliens’ ultimate weapon (the X-O Manowar armor). This title is one of my current favorites being published by Valiant and is the direct storyline that leads into Unity #1… which did I mention comes out on November 13th!!
Coming soon – Black Science
This is the next big thing from Image is Black Science by Rick Remender and artists Matteo Scalera and Dean White. It will hit shelves on November 27th and will also be part of our “If you hate it, Return it program.”
In a conference call with retailers and our distributor last week, Rick Remender had this to say about it, “Think of it as Swiss Family Robinson meets Quantum Leap.” He mentioned also that he has taken a year to develop the story of Grant McKay, former member of The Anarchistic Order of Scientists, who has broken the laws of time and space. Trapped in a different dimension with no way back, McKay’s formerly good intention has produced disastrous results. The issue number one will put readers right into the middle of the action with flashbacks filling in any blanks. The ongoing series is already outlined at 40 to 50 issues. Rememder says the artists are already ahead of schedule and he hopes because of this the high quality can stay on schedule too.
News from around Comics
Fables is Ending?
It looks like it. Bill Willingham let the cat out of the bag on his website Friday announcing issue 150 would be the end of the long running series. You can read more here. I am rather saddened by this. Fables was the first really big, successful new release my shop had. It has been a great run, but… I have to also admit to feel the need for it to end gracefully and it appears Willingham also sees that. The book will have another 16 issues to go and looks like there will be a very nasty Snow/Bigby/Rose Red focus as we head to the end.
More on Daredevil Ending
Last week I mentioned that the current run of Daredevil would be coming to an end. Well, now more is starting to come out about that. Looks like the book will go to online only. The specifics are not real free flowing at Marvel, but it looks like it will become similar to what DC has done with some of their digital first books. What, when, where, if we see these in collected edition or basic print eventually… I do not know yet, but it tells me more that the big two do NOT want comics to be printed and will slowly try to move money to where they can control all sales. Of course that means no need for stupid retailers or a crappy distributor. The big two will tell you emphatically that they do not want this and have no desire to move comics to that. However, if they didn’t they wouldn’t have such releases like Origins II where you get extra DIGITAL content when you buy the physical copy. We shall see.
More reason to hate digital? Or Why does Apple hate Sex… criminals?
Looks like the second issue of Sex Criminals is being held up for sale digitally by Apple’s fascist thought police. I am not going to explain, expand or say much more on this subject and leave the CBLDF to do it in a fantastic article you can find here. I will point out two very important things here though.
One – Seriously, who in their right mind would buy an Apple product?!!? Do you really want to purchase anything from a company that believes it knows better what you should or should not be reading? They may be their own entity and can allow or not allow whatever they want per their business’ plans and designs, but this is not the first time they have felt the need to censor or “review content” in comics. Frankly, F@#$ them and I would encourage you all to not buy from them… ever. And while you are at it look at the rest of your purchasing and buying habits and review them too!
Two – all right, sorry, off the soap box. (don’t put it away, I’ll have more later.) If you are not reading Sex Criminals though, what the hell are you waiting for? This is one of the best uses of dialogue in a comic I’ve ever read. The breaking of the fourth wall and use of flashbacks is truly amazing storytelling. I so very much recommend it.
Hopefully you didn’t go see Ender’s Game.
Ender’s Game came out this weekend and I really hope you didn’t see it. If you do not know, Orson Scott Card is the writer of the original novel the movie is based on and he is also a bigot and hatemonger (not THE Hatemonger, who is a villain from Marvel, but A hatemonger… slight difference, maybe. Do a search of the Marvel villain and you will see why I say “maybe.”) Now I have written on why he shouldn’t be supported at all ever and I feel this extends to stuff made off of his early writings too. But I am not as elegant of a writer as the Great and Wonderful Ron Marz (creator of Kyle Rayner and savior of the Green Lantern title many moons ago.) If you want to read a great write up on why Marz will not be seeing the movie – and not calling it a boycott – go here and read his weekly column. It is fantastic and I support it 100%. I hope you will too.
And finally, The Goon.
Issue 44 will be here soon. No, really. It is on Final Order Commitment for retailers this week and SHOULD see release on November 27th!!
In an interview with Diamond and released for retailers only, creator Eric Powell said he was finishing up a Goon Miniseries to see print soon and a few creator owned projects. He also mentioned that he hasn’t really read too much new stuff that has been coming out except the Richard Corben Poe adaptations and was loving those. (No kidding, they are great and you all should be reading them too.)
He was also mentioned about the Goon Movie and had this to say, “Blur is working on the animatic that we successfully Kickstarted last year. They are planning to have it wrapped up really soon. At that point we take the story reel out there with all of the other test footage and everything else we have and try to get the rest of the funding. So, yes, we’re still moving forward. Inching closer. But we still need the rest of the funding. David Fincher, Blur, Dark Horse Entertainment, and I remain confident someone with vision (and deep pockets) will step up and help us finally make the film and get it in the theaters and in front of the fans who have been clamoring for it.”
Kyle’s Retro Review – Uncle Sam
-be warned- Kyle does invoke some political discussion. If you don’t like that, just go get an extra copy of superhero book B and shut your brain off. If you can handle that, read on.
This week, I read a series that quite frankly is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s definitely not what I expected and it turned out to be perhaps the most thought provoking book, comic or otherwise, that I’ve ever read. I’m talking about the Vertigo Uncle Sam (or as it is labeled on the cover just plain U.S.) It is a two issue prestige format series written by Steve Darnall with absolutely beautiful artwork by Alex Ross.
The series hit stands the year after Ross’s other huge hit at DC, Kingdom Come which he collaborated on with Mark Waid, and like that great Elseworlds Tale, Uncle Sam is an amazing, thought-provoking gem of a comic. At the time (and still today) it shows just what mature comics could be in an industry flooded with stories of over the top vigilante violence, poor art, and awful stories all done in the name of “mature comics.”
This series was writer Steve Darnall’s big break into the comics industry, as his previous work consisted mainly as an editor on the magazine Hero Illustrated, and being used as reference material for his friend Alex Ross’s artwork. In fact, if you look through the background closely in issue #1 of Kingdom Come, you’ll see a marquee with the headline “Steve Darnall’s Big Break!” which when I asked writer Mark Waid about earlier this year, he said it was Alex’s way of giving Steve a shout out, since Steve helped Alex by posing for reference shots in his art.
I had picked up this series about a year ago, because I love the old DC characters Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters and it’s been sitting in my “to read pile” ever since. The reason I picked it up this weekend and decided to finally read it, was due to a combination of the release of a new Alex Ross Marvel Variant cover image and the announcement that Fables would be ending next year. I guess the announcements made me nostalgic for a time when Alex Ross was doing more than just covers, and doing full stories with his gorgeous art, as well as missing the days that Vertigo was the industry leader in intelligent, thought provoking boundary pushing comics.
Vertigo was once the leader in creator owned projects that redefined what comics could be, but with the departure of Karen Berger and the ending of Hellblazer, Sweet Tooth and now Fables, it seems like those days are long gone. With creators like Hickman, Morrison, Wood, Palmiotti, and Chaykin heading to Image to tell these stories instead. But luckily, here I had a Vertigo series, from Vertigo’s heyday featuring Alex Ross’s gorgeous artwork during the peak of his career. Like Sammy Hagar says, I want the best of both worlds.
I’m not sure I really knew what to expect when I sat down and began to read the book, but all expectations I had going in were shattered. The series opens in a crowded city where we see a disoriented Uncle Sam, unsure of who he is, where he’s from, and how he got in his current situation. Instead of the majestic representative of the American Spirit that we’re used to seeing, he instead looks like a broken down disheveled bum.
As he wonders around the city, he is the subject and victim of America’s current apathy, greed, and total moral decline. He is spit on, has his shoes stolen, and even has gas dumped on him while he’s passed out and lit a blaze by youngsters in a gang. Throughout Sam’s wandering through the city and out into a rural setting, he tries to remember who he is, as his life flashes before him in a series of random, jumbled-up flashbacks spanning past centuries and marquee moments in American history, all replayed how they actually occurred, versus the quaint way history books paint them to today’s youth in our education system.
They say history is written by the winner’s and Sam’s flashbacks show just how far America was willing to go to “win.” He sees a band of American soldiers murder Chief Blackhawk’s tribe despite their surrender, all while breaking the umpteenth treaty they made with the Native population of this country in the name of Manifest Destiny.
Sam also remembers going to war, the first Great War of American History and laying it on the line to give this nation its start. Later he recalls standing against countrymen, people he fought side by side with in the Revolution, as he takes the first shot in crushing Shay’s Rebellion and killing those poor New England Farmers, who stood together in the name of American Freedom, only to return home after the war to find the banks had taken everything from them.
The history lessons continue as does Sam’s struggle to find his identity, deal with his nation’s haunted past and the terrible mistakes made in American history. All of these realizations come to him as he finds himself a first-hand witness of the cruelty, street violence and political corruptness that plagues America today.
Sam finally begins to realize who he is, but that doesn’t deter him, instead of packing it in and giving into the fatigue and senility that plagues him, he chooses to stand up and fight for atonement of his sins. He decides that there isn’t anything wrong with the American Dream; there were just some missteps by some Dreamers along the way. It can be corrected, this nation can be saved, but it requires action.
Alex Ross’s art packs so much detail into each page and I found myself spending minutes pouring over each panel, all the while Darnall’s script provoking more thought than honestly any comic I’ve ever read before. While I may not agree with the political bias portrayed in the story as solely a one party problem, when it is most definitely a fault and corruption plaguing both parties currently (as it has always been), the message still hits home.
This comic really makes you think and contemplate the state of our country and society, and frankly the validity and truth of this tale of America’s past, as well as its dark present are truly sad. I’m sure at the time this book came out, it was probably viewed as a fairly cynical and pessimistic view on our country’s past and current society, however reading it now 16 years later it doesn’t seem cynical at all.
I’m disappointed to report that the current state of our country and the world as a whole is perhaps the worst it’s ever been. While this may have been viewed as an extreme look on our world in 1997, today it might not paint the world dark enough. All you need to do is turn on the television to see the latest headline of political corruption, domestic violence, and rising tensions in the Middle East.
We have friends & family members going overseas and fighting on foreign soil, only to return home and find their houses have been foreclosed on while they’re gone, just like what happened to those poor militia men from Massachusetts almost 250 years ago.
We have government bailouts given to companies who take the check & close their company doors, pocketing the most profitable financial transaction they’ve had in history while their employees are sent packing with no severance pay. We have record highs of people on welfare and food stamps, record lows in work force participation, escalations in racial tensions and a skyrocketing national debt that our children are doomed to shoulder the burden on.
The biggest culprit is the blind following of a political party, whether it is the mainstream left or mainstream right and accepting all of their policies as “correct.” There’s a Right and there’s a Wrong, and it seems like most politicians, as well as most of their blind supporters, have substituted that for a Conservative plan or a Liberal plan, and no common ground or compromise allowed in getting to what works for the country and its citizens. Now a vote for a candidate has become in society’s eyes, and sadly in individuals as well, a blanket statement of support for ALL of a candidate’s policies and actions, regardless of how awful they are, resulting in an almost cult like following of a politician or party while turning a blind eye to the negative effects of how the legislation they pass will affect us all.
There used to be the same goals by both parties, a better America (at least I hope at some point there was), just with different ways to go about it; however that’s been replaced with politicians on both sides grabbing for power and filling their pockets along the way. Make no mistake, the members of our government on both sides of the aisle make up the rich 1% and despite claiming to have the best interest of the people (supposedly us) who they’ve never met and don’t want to meet, they increase their power and wealth at our expense, and they’re doing it by passing emergency legislation to give themselves more power, more control, during these dark times that require their “emergency intervention.”
It’s a sad truth, and as this comic book illustrates so perfectly, this sad truth isn’t something new, it’s something that’s been around since the 1770’s, and sadly it’s gotten worse since the 1990’s. Somewhere along the way we got lost, and have taken the road of apathy, and replaced the opportunity to change something by voting with a “what’s it matter anyway” attitude. The ship isn’t going to right itself, it requires action; it requires a voice. What was once called “Common Sense” by Thomas Payne is now considered by most as radicalism and voicing your opinion on any issue you feel passionate about, results in you be labeled as a nut, no matter how logical your argument may be. Our society seems to think most problems are dealt with best by turning a blind eye and ignoring them in hopes they go away.
Well, obviously, from my tangent here, you can see this 2 issue mini-series provoked quite a bit of thinking and emotion, and a very strong reaction. Isn’t that what mature comics are for; provoking thought, stirring something up inside of us and igniting passion? Not showing Superman snap someone’s neck or watching Batman and Catwoman get busy on a rooftop. You don’t have to agree with everything I’ve ranted about, you don’t have to agree with the validity or accuracy of the events portrayed in this book, but at least it will get you thinking and contemplating the past, present and future like few – if any – books out there on the stands will.
I really recommend you go get your hands on this and give it a shot. I have the original issues, but this series also got a Deluxe Hardcover release a few years back, which I think would probably be a pretty great way to read this story. It has some behind the scenes concept art and pencils from Ross, along with some thoughts from Darnall. It does make great extra features, but either way go check this one out, I guarantee that it will stir some reaction inside you like few comics ever have.
Lastly – Tuesday is a City Council Election in Des Moines
Please, if you can, please take the time to vote in this very important election. There are numerous candidates running and a few ballot measures on tap too.
To separate myself from the shop for a moment and speak as home owner and resident of the south side of Des Moines. The long time Council member Christine Hensley is running (again – she was first elected in 1994!!!!) and spending a great deal of money to keep her seat. If you live in her district, I beg you to go to the polls and please vote against her. I am a supporter of term limits in government – at all levels – and especially when it comes to entrenched and flaunted power. She is being challenged by someone I know and respect a great deal, Cal Woods. Cal has been endorsed by several local labor organizations and I feel would bring a fresh people, not big business, first mind-set to the council. Something this city very desperately needs. To hear it in his own words please read his letter to the editor.
So, if you can, please find time and go vote. Do your research first and then make an informed decision. It is important and something you should do without my badgering. Thank you.