Hey, remember when Miracleman #8 finally came out and it was just 1950s Marvelman reprints and we were all totally annoyed?
Just thinking about that for some reason.
So, anyway, some bits of business from San Diego:
- As you’ve probably heard, Marvel Comics has acquired the publishing rights to Marvelman, which is kind of a big deal considering the convoluted ownership history of the character. Steve Bissette has a great run-down of just how much of a mess that history is. As Steve says, and as Alan Doane noted in that post of his I linked yesterday, this deal may not necessarily guarantee the release of what everyone actually wants: the Marvelman revival material from the ’80s (released as Miracleman by Eclipse Comics). Mark Buckingham, the series’ last artist, seems pretty upbeat about it, so we’ll see. I’m presuming Marvel didn’t go through the trouble just to have more 1950s material to put into expensive hardcover editions. Now wouldn’t that be a bit of ironic repeating of history? It would be like what happened with Miracleman #8 (where we waited what seemed like forever for the next chapter of the story, and got reprints instead), writ large.
Anyway, what I wanted to mention was some of the online reaction to the news, a lot of which was along the lines of “so what?” “Who cares?” Or my favorite, “Yawn.” I don’t know, I think the possibility of the return to print of early comics work by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman is kind of a big deal. Particularly a work as influential and as highly-regarded as Marvelman (which, I swear to God, I still keep calling Miracleman when I talk about this news at the shop, and keep wanting to type that name here as well). And, as Mr. Bissette mentioned, that John Totleben’s artistic tour-de-force that accompanied Moore’s final storyline is out of print is a damned shame.
Should also note that Marvel wasted no time, in that they’re already selling the “MM” t-shirts in their online store, and soliciting orders for a Joe Quesada-drawn poster.
- DC Comics has apparently nailed down the publishing rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, which had its own ownership rights issues throughout the ’80s, when it seemed like a half-dozen different companies all tried to claim the property. Kind of curious how the current audience will respond to these characters. Marvelman, at least the ’80s version, features Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, which would help sell those comics to a modern audience. The appeal of the original T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is that they were of outstanding quality, with work by many an amazing artist (Wally Wood, Russ Heath, Steve Ditko, many more). And it didn’t hurt that there weren’t too many ofthem, so they were relatively easy to collect. For most fans today (unless they’re old enough to have nostalgia for the originals, or they’ve picked up on the characters via back issue collecting, or they encountered them during the various ’80s revivals), introducing these characters outside of the context of those original comics would just mean “hey, look, more guys in costumes.”
I suspect DC already realizes that (given that they plan to reintroduce the characters in other DC Universe books) but I’m still curious how it’ll play out.
- The biggest news from the convention, however, is Fantagraphics announcing the Complete Bushmiller NANCY reprint project. Judging by the number of people who’ve left comments about it on my site, e-mailed me, or even linked to me in their own announcements about the project, folks are assuming that I would be happy about this turn of events.
My response was pretty much exactly like that, only I was wearing a shorter skirt. - A couple more collections of Flickr pics from San Diego: Kevin Church brings the black and white, and pal Dana is cosplay ahoy! in her photos: here she is totally ready to exterminate you.
- So enough about the San Diego convention…it’s now all about Bully Con 2009!
In more commercial news, that new Green Lantern: First Flight animated DVD is out today, and if you plan on buying it, how ’bout using one of these links:
Green Lantern: First Flight (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Green Lantern: First Flight (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
Green Lantern: First Flight (Single-Disc Edition)
…and help a pal out? I’ll get a smidgen of coinage from each purchase via those links, and every little bit helps. Thanks! (I should be viewing a copy soon, so hopefully I’ll have some kind of review up eventually.)
