X-Men, ads, store stuff.
Thank you for many varied and well-chosen suggestions for good X-Men comics for new readers, particularly given my initial request was a tad more negative than I intended. Let me add a couple thoughts to some of your suggestions:
- I agree that the Grant Morrison run probably would be good for new readers…if their primary exposure to the characters was the movies, this comic would be a natural extension of same. However, the more you know about the X-books, the more you get from this series, particularly once you see it as a tour of all the standard X-cliches, given a new coat of paint and made to appear fresh again.
- The Asgardian Wars sequence of stories is…well, I don’t know how good that would be for new readers, as it seems like an awful lot of information for a newbie to absorb, but I do want to say that this is one of my favorite X-Men stories. Art Adams and Paul Smith art? Fantastic.
- God Lives, Man Kills – I read this years and years ago, and remember very little about it. In fact, my primary memory of the graphic novel is seeing it (along with several other Marvel comics) being discussed on a religion television show shortly after its release. The hosts of the show were, as I recall, a little taken aback by the scene where a crucified Xavier hallucinates his X-Men, including Kitty Pryde “phasing” through his body. After discussing this and other comics (“They’re calling this ‘Thor’ character a ‘god!?‘”), the conversation ends with this exchange:
“So, what’s the price on a comic like that?” (indicating the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel)
“It’s $5.95.”
“Wow, they’re expensive…I remember when they were a dime!”
- Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 – Another comic I read years ago and barely remember…but I remember enjoying it, and it is drawn by Alan Davis, who’s made many a troublesome script go down easy.
So that issue of Punchy And The Black Crow where I got that ad I posted yesterday has an interesting mix of other advertisements contained within. You’ve got your standard comic book ads, like “Grit” and “Gain Weight Now,” but then you also have things like “Beautiful Bust for You,” “Cover Up Those Varicose Veins,” and that happy fellow to the left, there, in the slimmin’ suit. 
Of special note is a full-page ad for Fantagraphics publications, which was (at least in my copy of this comic) printed horribly off-register. There’s a portion of said ad to the right. It seems like an odd mix, but there is a minor connection between this comic and Fantagraphics, as Milton Knight, creator of Hugo (another title featured in the ad) is plugged as a future cover artist for Punchy on Charlton’s hype page.
It’s been said that a good way to tell what a publication’s perceived audience is by looking at its advertising, so I guess this comic’s readers were veiny, skinny (but still in need of a slimmer look), Grit-selling mystical chanters who read Love & Rockets. That’s prime demographic, baby!
Around the store:
- The new Jonah Hex series is selling quite well, with lots of requests for the first two issues. Luckily I managed to get my reorders in and processed on these issues before DC Comics announced sell-outs on them.
- Firestorm has seen a jump in sales over the last couple of issues, thanks to the Infinite Crisis tie-in shenanigans.
- Speaking of which, the Jim Lee cover for Infinite Crisis appears to be the cover of choice for our customers this time.
- Haunted Mansion #2 was a quick sell-out…I’m very curious how the other Disney titles from Slave Labor will do. Tron, in particular, seems to be greatly anticipated by some of our customers.
- From the Secret Files 2 series that came out this week…we blew through all the figures except the lonely, lonely Martian
PegwarmerManhunter. The gimmick of switching heads on these figures (well, except Supes) has me wondering the obvious: can the heads from these figures be put on the headless Crisis figures I just happen to have floating around?
