"Death of Aquababy" and other phrases I thought I’d never say.
“So, Mike, what’d you do at work today?”
“Oh, looked for the death of Aquababy.”
“That’s ni…uh, what?”
For some reason, that subject was brought up over the weekend, which had me turn to the Overstreet Price Guide to track down the exact issue in which this happened. (I suppose I could have e-mailed Laura, keeper of all Aqua-knowledge, but why make things easy on myself?)
Anyway, I don’t bring this up to talk about the death of Aquababy (which the mighty Dave’s Long Box has already covered quite well), but to talk about Overstreet’s guide notations. You’d think, given Overstreet’s predilection for the lurid, they’d be all over a character death like this. But, no, here’s how it’s listed:
“441-452-Aquaman app.”
Adding insult to Aquababy’s injury, issue 443 is pointed out for special attention:
“443-Fisherman app.”
I’m guessing, since, as Dave mentions, Aquababy’s death is remarkably underplayed, and not even cover-featured, it’s just been missed by whoever it is that decides what gets notated and what doesn’t.
Just poking through the Adventure listings, I see notations that would be of use to fans, like “Death Earth-2 Batman,” and “Unpubbed G.A. Black Canary story,” but then you see something like “Intro. Mighty Girl” in #453. One, I think this is the one and only appearance of “Mighty Girl,” and two, given who Mighty Girl really is, fans may be more interested in knowing that this issue actually features a young Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon (er…SPOILER, I guess).
Now, I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of comic dealers putting crazy notations on some of the comics they’d list in ads, just as a goof, only to see those same notations show up in subsequent price guides. I’m guessing this is the result of price guide researchers scouring comic listings and actual sales seeing these notations, thinking “hey, people must be looking for ‘Mighty Girl’ appearances,” and adding that info to their guides.
I need to start doing that in our ads. “Silver Surfer #59: 1st hatless Thanos – $99.95.”
Hey, as a result of those House of M/X-Men: The 198 shenanigans, did the Sub-Mariner, as “Marvel’s first mutant,” lose his powers? Or is he a different kind of mutant from all those X-folks runnin’ around, and thus unaffected? (The things I wonder about at work, sometimes.)
“The comic book genre has evolved quite a bit over the past few years, though, resulting in a new incarnation called ‘graphic novels.'”
Actually, it’s a positive review of Paul Has A Summer Job, so I shouldn’t make fun. I’d rather have a well-meaning positive article (or an open-minded critical appraisal) than something like this (found via The Comics Reporter):
“I used to be crazy about comic books. But I really can’t figure out why anyone would pay good money for such supposed ‘adult’ versions of the stuff I read back then, or why reams of words have been wasted explicating such ‘books.'”
Ouch. (EDIT: Just noticed that same quote had been posted on the Great Curve’s “Heroes & Villains” entry earlier today. Didn’t mean to step on any toes, there!)
