New comics day.
So a couple weeks ago I received from our distributor a reorder of Jonah Hex #1, and most of the copies had an orange ink mark in the corner (as pictured to the right). I know, it’s no big deal, but I think our customers would rather have copies with no ink mark, so I called them in as damaged copies, and replacements turned up in short order.
This week I received our order of the second printing of Fell #4…and one of those had a green ink mark, about the same size and in the same place as on the Jonah Hex cover.
So, hey, whoever’s waving the markers around at the warehouse…watch where you’re puttin’ those things!
A few notes about this week’s comics:
Punisher: The Tyger: John Severin can still draw like nobody’s business, and Garth Ennis’ look at Frank’s childhood is both fascinating and unnerving. There was something wrong with that kid from the get-go, wasn’t there?
Hero Squared #1 – After a one-shot and a mini-series, the regular series finally launches, by creators Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Joe Abraham. Like I’ve said before, the combination of the humorous dialogue and the unique premise really drives this title’s success. The climatic battle of the book, involving Milo and Captain Valor (parallel universe versions of each other) and their girlfriends/arch-enemies Stephie and Caliginous (also paralled versions of each other), doesn’t involve a single punch being thrown, a single caped person being tossed through a building. It’s all in the dialogue, with witty jabs and sudden revelations, that’s far more involving and dynamic than any superpowered fistfight.
Second Wave: War of the Worlds #3 – Miles and the group of folks he’s joined up with try to escape a city under siege by Martian invaders…only to run smack dab into more Martians in the countryside. It’s a fast read, as once we leave the city the panels suddenly become large and spacious and dialogue-light…but that only enhances the feeling of immensity of the huge Martian ships/creatures. It’s a fun action movie of a comic, with leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next, as good serial fiction should.
Superman/Batman #26 – This is the Sam Loeb tribute issue, plotted by writer Jeph Loeb’s late son, and featuring contributions from folks like Brad Meltzer, Jim Lee, Joss Whedon, and others. The back-up story is a tie-in of sorts to Loeb and Tim Sale’s Superman: For All Seasons, related the story of young Clark and his pal Sam, obviously based on Sam Loeb. That story is a real heartbreaker, particularly when you think about how Jeph Loeb must have felt as he was writing it. I’m not going to be critical of this book…heck, I’ll even give Rob Liefeld a pass…as regardless of what you might think of the execution of this funnybook, you can’t deny that it’s certainly a nice gesture in honor of a young man who left this world too soon.
Mouse Guard #3 – Primarily being purchased by people looking for the new hot thing to invest in. Yeah, that is a shame.
Mona Lisa Eve Of All Saints #1 – I suppose the involvement of Tim Vigil should have indicated that this was an Adults Only title…but I was so busy breaking down the order and pulling for the comic savers that I never even checked. So there it was, right on the rack next to Metal Gear Solid, for most of the day. Hey, kids, comics! Luckily I didn’t sell any of these on Thursday…”luckily” being relative, of course.
So, are you folks finding the “Links Pal Dorian and I Found” sidebar link-log useful? Interesting? Can you tell who’s posting what? (I bet in at least a couple cases you’d guess wrong!)
