A few more comments about yesterday’s new arrivals:
- Tim over at The Hurting has already done a fairly comprehensive review of the DC Comics Encyclopedia, and now that I’ve seen it myself, I have to agree that it’s an impressive volume. I haven’t bought it yet…though I honestly do love this kind of thing, I haven’t put together the scratch, especially since two other books I wanted popped up this week. I did flip through a copy at the shop, however. All the illustrations are reprinted from other sources, near as I can tell. The decided lack of John Constantine is a little puzzling, but it’s good to see that Ambush Bug made the cut. And I had to check…yes, Jonah Hex’s adventure in the future is referenced, thus making this the greatest book ever. Yes, even better than The Grapes of Wrath.*
As Tim notes, the previous versions of the Doom Patrol are featured, but no mention is made of its current incarnation. I wonder if it’s a subtle hint on the part of the editors that they don’t think the “together again for the first time!” gimmick of the new Doom Patrol series is going to stick. Or, more likely, all the DP-related material was assembled prior to having any info on the revamp. Anyway, as pal Dorian and I were discussing the other day, other DC creators don’t seem to be paying attention to the Doom Patrol “reboot.” Gordon noticed a reference to old DP continuity in Identity Crisis, and it looks like Geoff Johns’ recent reworking of Beast Boy’s origin in Teen Titans wasn’t so drastic that the Doom Patrol couldn’t be squeezed back in if necessary.
- Speaking of the Titans, the reference to “the 21st century’s Teen Titans” in one of the Teen Titans/Legion Special‘s caption boxes had me briefly thinking of some kind of super-futuristic Teen Titans team. Then I suddenly realized, “oh, yeah, we are in the 21st century.” I’m still not used to that idea. I mean, 2001: A Space Odyssey now takes place in the past…how weird is that?
- Something else both Dorian and I have noticed…our customers asking for the new issue of World’s Finest — by which they mean the new Superman/Batman. I don’t really have a problem with that…in my head World’s Finest is synonymous with “Superman-Batman team-up book,” but given the actual title of the book is squeezed into one corner of the cover in favor of the combined Supes shield/Bat logo, I suppose it’s not completely unexpected that some people may not realize what the book is called.
In other news (mostly about me, me, me):
- The Comic Treadmill has picked little ol’ me as their Comics Weblog of the Month, which was very nice of them to do. Thanks, pals!
- Dorian may be the top search for “Nanny Dickering”, but I’m still the top search for “Cicero Pig”. Oh, yeah. (EDIT: Oops…now I’m the top result for “Nanny Dickering.” How the heck did that happen? Sorry about that, Dorian!)
