§ July 17th, 2007§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on This isn’t just an elaborate plug for my eBay auctions, I promise.
In response to my post from Sunday, where I briefly touch upon a reason or two for the mid-’90s decline of the Punisher’s popularity, Alan David Doane had this to say:
“Those Punisher comics that tanked in the 1990s? That had to be in part at least because they weren’t very good, like most Marvel comics prior to the Heroes Return event that briefly ushered in an era of quality storytelling in some of Marvel’s core titles.”
And he’s right, that was probably part of the reason as well, and one I should have mentioned. While one could argue that for some fans, the consideration of “quality” for a comics purchase may not be as strong as an imperative to “keep the run complete” (insert cheap shot at any given X-book here), there does come a point where there is some crap even the most ardent fanboy won’t eat.
Plus, considering the huge attrition of consumers the market experienced during that point in history, all the investors and casual readers and “just buying out of habit” folks were long gone, finding other investments (Beanie Babies! Action Figures!) and other time-wasters (Video Games! Sidehacking!) with which they could occupy themselves. All that were left were the people who were actually reading the comics (and, admittedly, some of the more diehard “buying out of habit” folks), and the big companies couldn’t so easily get away with filling 23 pages with junk, slapping a die-cut holographic scratch ‘n’ sniff cover around it, and expect it to sell.
I’m not saying this was a 100% turn-around in buyers’ attitudes…but I think enough of the audience rejected what was being offered to them that, along with the other reasons I touched upon (overall declining sales, character burn-out), it was enough to end the Punisher’s reign as a “hot” character.
On a somewhat related note, an odd phenomenon I’ve noticed from selling on the eBay is the still-strong demand for Valiant Comics. Not your standard issue, monthly issues of Valiant Comics, but rather the “gold” editions, or the variant cover editions, or the signed books.
I think most comic fans would agree that Valiant Comics were, on average, pretty good, particularly during its initial years. This was at a time when a number of new “superhero universes” were being started by a variety of publishers, but Valiant, for whatever reason, became the star that shined the brightest. Malibu Comics’ Ultraverse, Dark Horse’s Comics’ Greatest World — they had their fans, but Valiant had the most across-the-board success.
It didn’t start out that way…I can still remember looking at a stack of unsold Harbinger #1s and thinking “Oh boy, we’re stuck with these.” A big part of Valiant’s eventual boost in popularity may be attributable to the then-booming comics fad, the influx of investors from the crashed sports card market, encouraging in investment by Wizard, and so on.
But, eventually, when the comics crash came, Valiant went with it (though the beginning of the end probably started with the departure of Jim Shooter, who oversaw Valiant’s shared universe). It lurched on, in varying incarnations, backed with video game money (and found many of its properties converted into games), and even now a high-end Harbinger hardcover reprint (with a new story) is on its way.
Anyway, back to the variants: one day, a few years back, searching for some goodies to throw on the eBay, I noticed that we had in the backroom a set of the two Unity trade paperbacks produced by Diamond Comics (which you can see here and here). I figured, hey, Valiant’s pretty much dead, I don’t think I can move these books locally, and they’re not doing any good taking up shelf space in the back…I’ll just sell ’em on the internet.
So on the eBay they went, and a week later, I had winning bids on both of them in the hundreds of dollars.
Needless to say, I was a bit flabbergasted.
A little research, starting then and over the years since, has revealed a healthy aftermarket for the rarer Valiant items. Alas, I didn’t have too many left…I had a “platinum” Unity #1 that sold for about $16, a handful of blue-variant Harbinger trades for about $10 to $12, on average. That doesn’t seem like much, but compared to how the non-variant Valiants sell, in the store and online (i.e. hardly at all), it’s certainly something.
I’m seeing a little more action on an auction I’m currently running for a Shadowman #0 Valiant Validated Signature Series, which, as I write this, is up to $46.00. (According to this page, guide value is $45.00, last recorded auction sale, in ’05, was $48.00.)
I suppose it’s possible that it’s a small group of hardcore Valiant collectors all competing for the same items, but it may just be that there’s still a sizable following for these titles, and are simply using the eBay now to fill holes in collections and acquire rare items that were unavailable to them at the time. There have also been a number of in-store requests for last issues of Valiant series (i.e. the ones with lower print runs).
By comparison, when I tried to auction off a semi-rare Diamond-produced Youngblood trade paperback, similar to those Unity trades, I received no bids. (Yeah, I know, what was I expecting?) Some of the Ultraverse variants, with the full-cover holograms…those auctions ended with low bids, if any at all. And I think I’d have better luck selling Comics’ Greatest World stuff if I stapled dollar bills to the covers.
I find it interesting that a recently-defunct comics company like this, especially one from the heyday of comics faddishness, is still attracting collectors. Usually when “hot” popular items are past their sell-by date, that’s it for them. But Valiants — at least the “rare” items — still have their buyers. My confidence for the long-term staying power of the company would be stronger if we saw more general interest in the regular, non-collectible, non-rare issues. But that there’s still any interest at all, and that there’s enough apparent interest to justify a new hardcover collection…well, that’s unusual enough to keep me watching further marketplace developments involving Valiant.
(For lots more info on Valiant Comics, including print runs, average pricing, etc., I highly recommend the Valiant Comics fan site, which I’ve already taken advantage of several times throughout this post.)
§ November 12th, 2006§ Filed under UncategorizedComments Off on In which Mike is just a little mean.
Heard at the store – Mom: “Hey, look at this comic, Franklin Richards…this looks funny!” Kid (takes quick flip through book): “Nah, this is just a rip-off of Calvin & Hobbes.”
The specific increment of time between the weblog posting of a negative review of a comic and the appearance of that comic’s creator (or an overly-defensive fan, or just an outright “sock puppet“) in that particular post’s comment section may be referred to as “a Tokyopop.” (See also Chris’ opening statement in his latest review.)
The likelihood of our ability to purchase a comic collection from someone not immersed in the hobby decreases by, say, about 50% if that person owns a price guide that he or she clearly doesn’t know how to use. Our offer of anything less than the top mint price for any particular book, regardless of its condition, is an obvious attempt to rip people off, you see.
Is there a term for going through the blocked-bidder list in your account on the eBay, and checking the current feedback and/or status of the bidders in that list, and being very satisfied that the majority of them are no longer registered eBay members? I mean, a term aside from “being a smug jerk?”
Conversations I do not want to have any more: Person on phone asks for list of what came out this week. I run down the list of most of the new major arrivals. Person on phone then asks “Actually, I’m just wondering if Wolverine came out. Did it?” NOTE TO SELF: Ask if there’s anything they’re specifically looking for first.
On a related note: kid and (presumably) his mom who call every day asking about the Alex Ross Justice line of action figures, asking which ones we have, then telling us they’re just looking for the Superman figure. DON’T CIRCLE AROUND THE QUESTION, JUST ASK IT.
The more I look at this article that I linked to the other day, the more dumb it seems to get. Okay, yay, “did you know that like pretty much every other entertainment form on the planet, there are comics for kids and comics for adults,” that’s a message that still needs to get out there. But…man, this article needs some editorial interference, stat!
No, you can’t leave your wallet with us as collateral so you can borrow one of our books and go make photocopies out of it. “You lose…good day, sir!”
Dear creator: I like how, in the promo material you sent to us, you go out of your way to assure us that your comic, starring an HIV-positive character, doesn’t address the topic of sexual identity. Of course it doesn’t, otherwise your publisher, who has publicly stated that he doesn’t like “the gays,” wouldn’t touch it. DUH.
I was this close to saying something really nasty about National Novel Writing Month, but too many people I actually like are doing it, so I’ll just keep it to myself. It was really mean, though. I’m a bad man.
Something pal Dorian brought up regarding the return of Peter Parker’s clone Ben Reilly – ah, so that’s how they’re going to get out of the “Peter’s revealed his ID as Spidey” thing! (Well, you know, it’s possible….)
Spider-Man 3 trailer – I’m seeing lessons not learned from the latter films of the ’80s-’90s Batman franchise.
Three iconic images of Wolverine, and one image of Wolvie fighting Darth Maul.
If you’re lucky, you can get this guy to appear at your party or other special event. Here are a bunch of other folks you can get as well. (I imagine the person playing Elektra just kinda hangs around the office a lot, reading the paper and waiting for the phone to ring.)
“yea, marvel seems to be allowing wolvie to be in almost every book, i dont really think they understand what they are doin got the poor guy, he never gets any sleep, and they put him back in the yellow spandex, and he has to sit and watch an australian play him on the big screen…”
“The Wolverine and Jubilee Page is a fansite dedicated to one of the most interesting, fantastic, comic book duos around. Wolverine and Jubilee have been partners for years, and the great stories that comic book writers have spun about them continue to create and inspire devoted fans. So, welcome to the site! Batman and Robin ain’t got nuthin’ on these two!” The webmaster of this page also wrote an honest-to-goodness X-Men novel, so good on her.
“As many of you know, Nate decided to be Wolverine for Halloween…” The guy built himself retractable claws for his costume…enjoy the gallery of the costume in progress, the finished product, and his triumphant drunkenness at the Halloween party that followed. VICTORY IS HIS.
“I don’t care how hyped up SE is, there is no way he could even come near Wolverine. SE would never be able to sneak up on him, because Wolvy can smell his stench from a mile away, and the whole adamantium skeleton thing, the healing factor, and the fact that he’s an X-Man, SE should just kill himself.”
Wolviex.com – Flash interface, sound, pics, and and other Wolvie stuff.
Joss Whedon quoted as saying that Kitty influenced his creation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
A thread on my all-time favorite message board, Killer Movies, discussing the Kitty and Iceman kissing scene from the third X-Men movie. At least, it starts out that way, until the posters’ miscellaneous fantasies come into play:
“She is hot, it wasn’t Bobby she was kissing it was me.”
“No it was me, they decided I don’t need a stunt double.”
“you guys were kissing …um… fake kittys the real kitty/ellen page was in my trailer with me.”
“can u guys get over urselves, she hasnt even met any of u, u should stay on topic about kitty and bobby, not ur own fantasies, there is a thread in the off topic forum about that”
“These are logs of roleplay on Project Infinity, a text-based online RPG. I play Kitty Pryde there, a young woman sometimes better known as Shadowcat. Kitty is not by any means my original creation; she belongs to Marvel Comics. The take on her is original, though, as this Kitty’s timeline diverges from mainstream continuity close to twenty RL years’ worth of comics ago.” May I recommend this story: “Pete, Kitty, and John Constantine run into Steve Rogers in Chinatown.”
I don’t think this is supposed to be the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, especially since there are references to Starfleet in some of the entries, but I’m going to pretend it is, because it’s funnier:
“Bare breasted, my chest only crossed by the straps of my twin blades, in tight leather pants, stradleing an unconcious man. His buddies lay dead not more then five feet behind him.”
“Blood. Blood on my clothes, blood on my hands, blood in my mouth. I taste blood and it excites me. I haven’t felt this thrill in a long long time. The animal that was caged inside of me is barely being restrained. I’ve killed two men today, severly injured another as well as stripping him of his clothes and what little dignity he had with my bare claws.”
A character overview of Kitty from X-Men: Evolution. The main site has embedded sound, but also has the greatest animated gif ever at the bottom of the page. (You may have to click away a Tripod password dialog box.)
“Yeay!!! I am dead pleased to hear that, and i can only imagine hwat one Ms KittyPryde must feel about it! Personally I think I’d be more excited to see that than either Wolverine OR Magneto…GOSH.”
“who is this david o Russell?? because I LOVE him, I need to tell him he has such good ideas, no not good BRILLIENT. Oh my gosh movie based around Kitty pryde […] I wonder what they will do?? Days of future past? somthing from astonishing? Shadow and flame!?”
A “9.9” CGC-graded copy of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2. In other news, someone sent in a copy of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2 to be “professionally graded.”
“Sure, Kitty’s got ninja training, but if her opponent can’t be touched, then it ain’t happening. Unless… when two intangible-turning-people both turn intangible, can they hit each other while they’re intangible? Cause maybe they’re… geez, I dunno…”
“I created this website especially for those of you who still dought Goku’s superiority over Superman. Death to Superman!” (And that’s pretty much the entire content of that site.)
“Even GOD has asked Son Goku for Help! It doesn’t even matter if it’s Pre-Crisis Superman. Son Goku is just too powerful. Superman can’t beat a lot of guys in the Dragonball Universe.”
“I hate both of them, but seeing that Goku could go to SS3 and fucking slaughter Superman (and Goku has a shitload of stamina), so my vote goes to Goku.”
“i used to be a huge dragonball z fan, and i still like it, just not as intensely, so im gonna vote for goku, simply because superman has never done those sick fadeouts/fade back in behind the guy.”
“Alright….I just got in the biggest argument over this with one of my friends. Goku would just demolish superman in every single way. Look at the facts, Superman can been hert by man made weapons and as for Goku…NO. Im talkin about Goku at his max of 1 bill, nah …even SS2 would demolish him. And dont give me that criptonite ****, Doomsday fuked him up without it and its so obviouse that Superman has never fought someone as strong as Goku…cmon”
“DRAGONBALLZ is in a hgh league and you gotta accept that. Very Happy some idoits on the web think superman can beat goku…wel they are crazy cause goku can rip superamn in half without even powering up..why even krillin ,yamcha cn du it. tien does waste tme fighting weaklings lik superman…vegeta dnt even get me started”
§ February 6th, 2006§ Filed under silver surferComments Off on The Silver Surfer is stupid.
I mean, c’mon. It’s a guy, who’s silver from head to toe, who rides a surfboard…through space, and all the while belting out Shakespearean-esque monologues. There is no possible way this idea should work…and yet, not only do most comic fans take this creation of Jack Kirby in stride, but the Silver Surfer is one of those few characters whose image has been embraced by folks in the “real” world as well…even being name-checked in films like Richard Gere’s Breathless and in a well-known scene, written by Quentin Tarantino, from Crimson Tide. There’s just something about the iconic presence of the character, an elegant figure riding his board through the stars, that appeals to people, whether they’re aware of his four-color origins or not.
There have been other silly sports/recreation inspired comic book characters, like outer-space hockey goalie Gaard, or Kirby’s embodiment of death-on-skis, the Black Racer…why we didn’t get the Hoopster, with his cosmic powered slam-dunk of destruction, or Zamboni-Prime, the mighty shape-shifting robot that travels from planet to planet, resurfacing ice at their poles, I can’t imagine.
But the Silver Surfer, as goofy an idea as he apparently is, has stuck around for forty years now, ever since Kirby snuck him into the artwork for the March 1966 issue of Fantastic Four. Not only stuck around, but has managed to maintain a measure of fondness from the character’s fans, including yours truly.
Even if he is kind of silly-looking.
Additional linkage:
This article discusses the origins of the Silver Surfer, and compares and contrasts Kirby’s take on the character with Lee’s. Lots of original pencil work is presented.
A collection of links regarding a possible Surfer film. And here’s an old rumor about the Rock starring as the Surfer. (Also mentions a Scorpion King 2, which is about as likely as an X-men 4.)
A brief animation showing the Surfer zipping through space. Warning: techno music.
Steve Englehart talks a bit about his work on the character.
Reviews of a few Silver Surfer graphic novels and trade paperbacks.
“you think silver surfer is better at surfing then ghost rider doing stunts ? thats how ghostrider got killed and became a ghost is from killing himself doing a stunt. so yes i think ghost rider is better doing stunts then silver surfer surfing.”
“your wrong about that the penance stair can hurt surfer because he is not insane and he has hurt alot of people in the past thats what sucks about being a harald of big G you got like billions of deaths on your head and Surfer does have that he has caused pain and thus he is even more vunreable to the penance stair and for your info the stair was used on galactus himself almost killing him you think surfer would do any better?”
“Hmmmmmm , surfer does have a board , which indicates that he could possibly surf/snowboard…but GR has a motorcycle made from hellfire…..which is badass…….damn this is a difficult choice “
Here’s the Marvel Legends Silver Surfer action figure, which is packaged with Howard the Duck, for some reason. Yes, I have one…I got it for the duck. A more extensive review may be found here.
On a related note, here are a bunch of bootleg Surfer toys. Enjoy “The Star Surfer.”
This excerpt from Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon) mentions Stan Lee’s proposed treatment for a Surfer movie (fourth paragraph from the end).
Some British company tried to register the name “Silver Surfer” for clothing and toys lines, to which Marvel had a minor objection. Here’s a very brief summary of the ruling in Marvel’s favor, but you really should download the PDF file to see the huge list of products that Marvel had licensed the Surfer for. (Ear muffs?)
Another “versus” disussion, this time involving Superman versus the Surfer. “Surfer’s far more powerful, Supes is a better fighter. The one thing you don’t want to do though is piss off the Silver Surfer. If Supes angers the surfer at all, he’s toast.” There’s seven pages of stuff like that. Fantastic.
The infamous Siamese Human Knot Web Site, celebrating the most nefarious trap ever faced by the Dynamic Trio. Includes fan art, fan fiction, video of the event in question, and more info on this subject than you can ever possibly imagine.
The Wikipedia entry includes (for the moment) the following passage:
“Comic book fans who know Batman as a grim ‘masked avenger of the night’ speak of the TV series with a near-universal revulsion and hatred. The series is seen by fans as a black mark on the medium of comic books, as it cast comics as silly, light-weight entertainment meant strictly for young children….”
“Welcome to Hell” image courtesy the mighty Mr. Dan Kelly.
WARNING – SELF-LINK: I discuss the ending of The Killing Joke (under March 4th – may need to scroll to it), and how it can be read as the death of the Joker. (This previous version of a Wikipedia article on The Killing Joke had included a huge chunk of that post of mine in the body of the article. It’s since been removed from the current version. I’m still in the Brian Bolland article, though!)
The Joker loves his Hostess Cakes! (The last panel of this ad is actually laugh-out-loud funny.)
Seems like every comic book character has been adapted to the Hero System role playing game, and the Joker is no exception.
I don’t know who brought this to our attention first, but here’s a good overview of the “Joker’s Boner” comics that swept the internet a few months ago.
The 
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