Mikester

ScienceGiant looms over me with

“Wow, have the Charlton heroes been ill-served by DC, or what? With the most egregious example being what’s happened with The Question.”

Oh, I don’t know. I mean, if all that was ever done with the Charlton heroes at DC was serve as inspiration for Watchmen, that would have been a worthy use of them.

Overall, though, I think DC has found some good use for the Charlton heroes over the years. I remember when DC first acquired said heroes from that publisher, this was just before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the Blue Beetle was introduced in that series as, I guess, the representative of whatever parallel Earth he was supposed to be from. “Earth-Charlton” didn’t last very long, as the characters were folded into the DC Universe proper and we got that Blue Beetle series, Captain Atom, a Peacemaker mini, and so on. Plus, of course, we got Blue Beetle as part of the more humor-inclined 1980s Justice League series, which has pretty much defined that version of the character to this day.

In more recent comics, we have the new Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle, who’s had a couple of short run series with a new ongoing on its way, and has been prominently featured in several of DC’s animation projects.

Now, the Question…he had a sizeable and well-regarded run of a series (that even featured him “meeting” his Watchmen counterpart Rorschach), a weird but great mini by Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards, and was replaced by Renee Montoya from the Batman comics (and cartoon). A popular interpretation of the character was his portrayal as a super-conspiracy theorist in the Justice League cartoons (voiced by fellow Oxnard native Jeffrey Combs).

So overall, the Question’s done okay, though his most recent, post-New 52 interpretation as some kind of being from parts unknown, punished by cosmic powers with the removal of his face and memories and cast down to Earth, where he hung out with Pandora and the Phantom Stranger, was…perhaps a little off-model. Points for trying something different, but it just didn’t seem right. Also, the Question’s alter ego Vic Sage appeared in one of the Suicide Squad titles, but I didn’t know about that ’til I looked at the Wikipedia page. So, yeah, the Question’s use of late has seemed a little sloppy, but as we all know after reading DC Universe: Rebirth, New 52’s continuity/character issues were all caused by Dr. Manhattan, which seems kind of fitting in the Question’s case given the relation between his Charlton origins and the inspiration for Watchmen.

As a whole, the Charlton heroes have had a fair shake at DC, I think, despite some recent lack of use/misuse. I’m sure they’ll pop up again…plus, there’s Blue Beetle, who is popping up again, like I’d said.

And ScienceGiant had another question:

“Also (yeah, yeah, one per commenter. I know. But I gotta know) what was the deal with Pandora from DC’s New52? Or should I call her Poochie, based on the way she disappeared after Trinity?”

…which was sort of made moot by recent events, which ScienceGiant responded to just a few days ago. Yes, you can ask another question if you’d like!

Anyway, my initial answer was that I thought she’d have a more metatextual function, relating to whatever undoing of the New 52 continuity would eventually happen, given her introduction in Flashpoint presented her knowledge of multiple timelines/universes/etc. I guess that was sort of right, considering her ultimate fate and where/how it happened. And there was that bit of business where she had cameos in every(?) New 52 launch title, implying that she was super important, and, well. You got that one Justice League story and that one short-lived series, and I suspect whatever ultimate plan was originally plotted out for her, it never really came to fruition. I mean, I don’t know. Sometimes stuff works out, sometimes it doesn’t. What Can You Do?

In response to last week’s post, David asks

“Have you ever seen a market for ‘misprint’ comics?”

Well, in fact, I was Googling up a couple of misprinted titles that I remembered, and what appeared before my eyes was the site Recalled Comics, which appears to be a very thorough database of what it says on the tin, there. Not just recalled comics (like the infamous Elseworlds Giant and that Hooters comic) that were presumably error-free, but things like that Venom: Lethal Protector #1 where errors in the foil application resulted in some oddball variations (and enormous eBay prices).

One specific error comic that I’m still interested in obtaining is the All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #10, in which the naughty words in the dialogue that were supposed to be “censored” by black boxes were in fact still legible due to the insufficient opacity of said boxes. It did answer the question, at least in the case of this specific release, that when comics do the redacted black-box thing, the actual words they’re blacking out are there. My memory of the event is that, when this comic first was released, the copies that made it out into the wild did end up on the eBays for a significant amount of money. Right now, just doing a quick search, you can get a copy for around $20. so there’s still some demand for this, too.

That comic was quite literally recalled at the last second, as it was on the invoice that accompanied that week’s shipment. Our copies were pulled out of the boxes prior to being shipped to us, but other stores did get their allotment, and I’m sure in some cases they “sold” “out” before word of the recall came down.

Not all errors result in demand, of course. Comics with the pages out of order and never corrected with reprinted editions (like Batman: The Cult #4) or comics reissued with corrected cover prices (like a recent issue of IDW’s Popeye, initially released with a $3.99 price, with a $4.99 replacement coming a week or so later)…nothing’s ever happened with those. And there’s that All-Star Squadron annual where everyone’s green for half the issue…it’s amusing, but it was never corrected either, so there’s no rarity to it.

So, David, my answer is “yes, sometimes, depends on the comic.” In general, if every copy of the comic has the same error, there’s probably no extra demand, but if only a few copies have the error and was re-released in corrected form, some demand may accrue. In general, I repeat myself. I’m sure there are exceptions.

And then there’s this comic, where the error can only repel due to its disgusting nature:

UUUUGH.

Anyway, so that’s my commercial for the Recalled Comics website (which I’ve been enjoying over the last few days), and was also me pushing reader David ahead in the old Question Time queue. Back with more in a day or two.

Let’s tackle a couple more of your questions, shall we?

BRR chills me with

“I’ve seen some recent distinctions between newsstand and direct market editions of some back issues in a couple online marketplaces. Do you have back issue customers seeking one or the other?”

By and large, no, not really, unless there’s something else different about the comic beyond whether it has a UPC code instead of Spider-Man’s head in the little box on the cover there. Like, for example, that one Amazing Spider-Man annual where Peter and Mary Jane were finally married, for ever and all time, never to be undone. The direct market comic shop edition had Peter ‘n’ MJ in a tux and wedding dress, respectively, whereas the newsstand edition had Peter in the red and blue longjohns. Usually there’s a preference either/or when someone’s looking for that comic. And then there’s the early Image Comics releases, like Spawn and WildC.A.T.s, that had newsstand editions with different cover stock and (in the case of WildC.A.T.s #2) a non-enhanced cover to contrast with the foil-y shiny cover that went to comic book stores. Or there were those covers DC test-marketed to newsstands (on the far right here).

I seem to recall very early on, a few decades back when I was but a young comic shop employee and not the stogie-wielding/martini lunch-having comics retail mogul I am now, that there would be some resistance from certain back issue customers against buying one version of the cover or the other, when the only difference was whether or not it had a UPC code. I tried to reassure some folks, when they questioned the difference, that there really wasn’t any, but some people just preferred one over the other for aesthetic reasons.

Now I just did a quick eBay search on the word “newsstand” in the comics section, and I see a lot of entries where people are emphasizing “NEWSSTAND VARIANT” or words to that effect on items where it probably doesn’t make any real difference (like an issue of Harley Quinn, where the only change is that the one that went to comic book stores had “DIRECT EDITION” with the UPC code on the cover). And I see one of those aforementioned Spawns that went to newsstands with an adventurous $50 price tag. But for the most part it looks like “newsstand” is being thrown around as yet another descriptor to make one’s listing stand out.

I mean, yes, for the sake of informing the customer, letting them know this was the version of the comic distributed on newsstands versus comic shops is yet another detail to more finely describe the item for sale, but I haven’t looked into it enough to know if “newsstand variant” (in which the only difference is UPC code vs. Direct Market UPC code vs. picture of Spider-Man’s head) is enough to create a significant jump in demand/pricing. Online sales, particularly eBay sales, can be a whole different animal than in-store sales, so it wouldn’t surprise me if some subset of collectors are seeking out newsstand editions only. I’ll have to look into it a little more.

• • •
The Mutt mixes up a couple of breeds with

“The Fat Fury v Swamp Thing. Who wins?”

Well, I love ’em both, as some of you readers out there already know. The personal bias is for Swamp Thing, of course, but realistically Swamp Thing would likely find himself outmaneuvered and stymied at every turn by Herbie “The Fat Fury” Popnecker’s nigh-magical influence over man, nature, basically all of creation itself.

Now, Herbie versus Tolkien’s Tom Bombadil…that’s a fight!

So a couple of weeks back I passed a question asked of me along to you about your favorite single issue comic book story. Frankly, I’m not sure what I was planning to do here…going through and commenting on every submitted story would try everyone’s patience (not that I’ve been shy about that in the past), and there really wasn’t enough of a consensus to declare “a winner.”

That said, a few stories did pop up more than once, like Doom Patrol #34, by Grant Morrison and Richard Case, in which the Brain and Monsieur Mallah…well, I’ll let pal Dorian explain it to you in this guest post on my site from way back in the Golden Age of Progressive Ruin.

“The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” from Amazing Spider-Man #248 is another good’un, one I actually picked up off the stands at a time when I was only sort of sporadically reading Spider-Man comics. This Wikipedia entry tells you about it, but really, try to read it for yourself if you haven’t already, before looking at any spoilers. It’s probably one of the best short stand-alone Spidey stories, right there along with the origin from Amazing Fantasy #15. The Wikipedia entry also mentions its semi-adaptation into a 1990s Spider-Man cartoon that I swore I’d written about on this site at some point, only for how badly they botched it.

“This Man, This Monster” from Fantastic Four #51 is also brought up a couple of times, featuring one of the all-time classic covers:

The story, in which a no-goodnik steals the Thing’s appearance in order to infiltrate the Four and destroy Reed Richards, but learns about nobility and sacrifice in the process, is certainly superheroic melodrama in the Mighty Marvel Manner, but it’s touching and effective nonetheless. (And yes, there are subplots ahoy for ongoing storylines here, too, but that’s just how Marvel was then, and I think we can let that slide.)

Some mention was made of Superman #400, the extra-sized anniversary issue that was basically an anthology that featuring how Superman would be perceived at increasingly distant points into Earth(-One)’s future. (An interesting note about the comic…artists were chosen for the book based on their not really having drawn or been associated with the character in the past, including a pin-up by John Byrne who would be taking over the franchise a few years later.) It’s not really a single story, as per the foggy parameters of this particular inquiry, but there is that common theme through the book, and it’s a good comic to boot, so I’d recommend seeking this one out, too. And, like was mentioned in the comments, I’m also surprised some more permanent edition hasn’t been reissued recently, given the piles of talent therein.

James wonders in the comments if anyone had read “Master Race,” a short story by Bernard Krigstein that appeared in EC Comics’ Impact #1. Oh, yes indeedy I have, and it’s definitely one of the classics…when people talk about comics being “cinematic,” this story is practically the definition of it. It’s been reprinted a number of times, such as in the Gemstone reprint line from the 1990s/early 2000s, or in 1981’s awkwardly-titled A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics, which should be easy to find in libraries or used book stores or this handy Amazon link. And just Googling up “master race ec comics” will get you plenty of discussion about it.

There were plenty of good suggestions in those comments, and I will probably go back and respond further to them. And I apologize for the nebulous constraints as to what I was and wasn’t accepting as “a single issue story.” Mostly I was trying to exclude multiple issues collected into a trade paperback as a single story. But short stories that were only part of the issue are acceptable, too, like that “Master Race” story,” or the story from Detective Comics #500 that William mentioned…I think pretty much every story in that comic qualifies!

A list of Eisner winners for Best Single Issue was copy ‘n’ pasted into my comments — Jackie never did tell me which was her favorite — and there are a few quality comics in there, to be sure. Sandman #22-#28 winning the category one year seems to be stretching the definition of “single issue” a bit. Yes, it was the “Season of Mists” storyline, but that seems to be six issues over the limit of “single issue.” NOT SAYING IT WAS BAD I put in ALL-CAPS to stave off complaints…I quite liked those issues…I was just wondering how this was rationalized at the time.

Commenter D asks if anyone has a run of The Comic Reader fanzine, where Don Rosa featured a Comic Book Hall of Fame in some of his columns. As a matter o’fact, I have a sizable run of The Comic Reader, complete from about issue 90 or so to the end of the run in the 200s, so, like I said in the comments, if I can turn up from free time, I’ll take a look for it!

Anyway, that’s a solid batch of good funnybookin’ in those comments, there…if you’re looking for some fine reading, that’s a nice place to start making your lists!