Big meaty people doing big meaty things.
So, a few of the new arrivals:
- I don’t often buy the Back Issue magazine, mostly because I’ve been having a hard enough time lately keeping up with my reading without yet another 100-page magazine being added to the pile. Why, it’s as if I don’t have as much free time to read stuff, particularly over the last four and a half years. Why, I wonder what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years that’s been eating into my extra time?
Anyway, I don’t normally pick up Back Issue, as I said, but this one seemed to have enough material right up my alley to get my attention. Lots of Hulk stuff in this issue, including a history of Hulk vs. Thing fights and an interview with Herb Trimpe (featuring an exclusive Trimpe drawing of Doc Samson, the Hulk, and Captain Tootsie!).
Plus, there’s an interview with Ron Wilson. Man, I love Ron Wilson, and I don’t care who knows it. Dig this, if you dare, straight outta The Thing #5 (Nov. 1983):
Wilson’s art always felt very Kirby-esque without feeling like a complete imitation. All the characters felt like they had a weight, a heft to them…just a lotta big meaty people doing big meaty things. Well, okay, I could have put that better, but the phrase popped into my head, and now it’s in yours, too.So, yeah, back to the subject at hand: I thought Back Issue #28 was worth picking up. There’s also a look at the Teen Titan’s Terra (all three of ’em), a history of Mark Shaw, Manhunter (by customer Jim – hi, Jim!), an examination of Kid Miracleman, and the article that made me finally decide “(sigh) okay, fine, I’ll buy it” – a look back at the Trial of the Flash storyline that killed the second Flash series. Hey, I liked that story, anyway.
And it’s all under a crassly amusing Drunk Iron Man cover by Darwyn Cooke (which you can see here). And yeah, that page says the mag will be in stock on May 21st, but it’s in shops right now, so go pester your local retailer for it, if this sounds like something you’d be interested in.
- DC Universe #0 – essentially your prologue for the imminent Final Crisis brouhaha, featuring some nice art, a brief tour around the DCU, and a surprise reveal at the end that’s apparently been spoiled by every single internet site in existence. It’s a nice little whetting of the appetite for whatever Grant Morrison is about to unleash upon us in his Final Crisis series.
- Blue Beetle #26 – the all…well, mostly Spanish issue, featuring a copy of the script in English in the back for those of you monolingual types. Here’s a sample of the translation:
Whew! Thank goodness that was there or I never could have followed that page!Okay, that’s just me being a jerk. But I am curious how this will sell…we do have a large Hispanic population in our area, and we receive requests for Spanish language comics on a reasonably frequent basis. Regular readers may be a little put out by having to flip back and forth from the story to the translation, if their Spanish is on the rusty side, but I may be selling this comic for quite some time to come.
- The New Gods action figures were probably our fastest selling set of DC Direct figures in a long, long time. I’m half-surprised they didn’t find a way to squeeze a Batman figure into the assortment, like every other DC figure series in recent memory. The figures themselves do look very Kirbyish, though Orion‘s alternate “savage face” head doesn’t look right to me for some reason. And Darkseid looks great. The best part, I think, would be the bases for the figures, made of translucent plastic and featuring some fine Kirby Crackle. Well done, well done.
- Helen Killer #1. Remarkably bad taste. And yet, remarkably fantastic. I direct you to this review by internet pal Chris, which I agree with wholeheartedly.
In other news:
- My citation in the Plastic Man Wikipedia entry was removed because it was a “citation from a blog,” though the links to my site from the other four or five Wiki articles are apparently still okay, I guess. But the actual point I was making, that it was silly to require a “citation” to prove that a humorous sidekick is, in fact, a doofus, apparently fell upon sympathetic ears. The line in the article now reads “Woozy Winks, a comedic sidekick” — no citation for “comedic sidekick” required, presumably.
I hope none of that sounds like I’m irritated or anything. I’m pretty amused by it all, to be honest.
- I’ve had a couple reports…excuse me, a couple OF reports from folks saying they couldn’t download the PDF preview from the House of Mystery page. I had no problem doing so yesterday, and I did it again just now, so I don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe a temporary issue, maybe a setting in your browser…who knows?
- Frank asks:
“Were there noticeable jumps in back issue sales when hit movies based on lesser-known comics were released? I’m talking about stuff like Blade, Men In Black, and The Mask.”
To a certain extent…I don’t recall if there was increased readership for The Mask prior to the movie, but there was enough interest apparently to keep a number of follow-up minis pumping out, though none of them really sold all that well. But I think The Mask was already had a bit of a cult following in the comics market, which may have provided the audience for this minis more than any influx of new readership from the film.
In the case of Blade and Men in Black, increased demand prior to the films’ releases primarily came from people who smelled a buck. Speculators were buying the Malibu issues of Men in Black hoping for a price jump, but actual readers didn’t appear to care, or even be aware there was a Men in Black comic. As far as Blade goes, there was only interest in the character’s first appearance in Tomb of Dracula #10. No interest whatsoever from anybody in any of the other Blade series.
And, as usual, once the movie comes and goes, so does the movie-inspired interest. Well, Tomb of Dracula still has its demand, but more from people hunting key ’70s books than from anyone trying to exploit the films.
Also, Tom had a question about movies affecting comic sales. I know most of you folks who’ve been reading my site know my opinions ‘n’ experiences on the matter, but if you want to see them yet again, here’s my answer.
My particular thing with the Iron Man movie is that IM’s comic sales are so down in the dumps as it is, with increased reader apathy toward the character due to his consistently negative portrayal over the last few years, that perhaps a movie as well-received as this one apparently is could only help sales. Thus, I’m curious as to whether or not the Iron Man may have the opposite effect on post-film comic sales. It’s too much to hope that non-comic fans will suddenly become Iron Man readers after seeing the flick…that’ll never happen. But maybe people already buying comics will start adding Iron Man to the reading pile, assuming Marvel’s able to put out anything that even slightly resembles what potential readers experienced in the theatre, not to mention in time to take advantage of that brief bump in interest. Not that Marvel’s managed it yet (remember when the Hulk movie was out, and the Hulk comic barely even featured the title character? Never quite got that, frankly).
Just so I’m not Mr. Negative Ned…you know what run of Iron Man I really liked? Around issue 190 to 200, which you can see at the bottom of this gallery page. Tony rebuilds his old armor, fights stand-in Iron Man Jim Rhodes, guest appearance from Shaman, and tries to regain control of Stark Enterprises, while introducing his new armor. (Which was actually spoiled by debuting in an earlier issue of Secret Wars II, but don’t tell anyone.)
- Yet Another Comics Blog is celebrating his fourth annual Free Comic Book Month (which, by complete coincidence, is in the same month as Free Comic Book Day). Every day for the month of May, he’ll be giving away a comic book out of his collection, and all you gotta do is send in your name and address, and a list of five comic series you enjoy. Read the details and help the man stripmine his collection!
