Mikester

1. Okay, so I’m a doofus: when I listed the other webloggers who answered this questionnaire, I unfortunately did not mention some of my other favorite webloggers who also answered the questions, for which I apologize. So, in addition to Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat, Comic Book Galaxy, Motime Like The Present, Johnny Bacardi Show, and Otto’s Coffee Shop, we also have Legomancer, Chris Brown (thanks for the kind words!), Near Mint Heroes, and the inimitable Ringwood.

EDIT: Miraclo Miles, too.

2. Pal Dorian and I both forwarded copies to ourselves of the forthcoming DC trades e-mail I mentioned here, so there may be some overlap in discussion. (You can also find the list here, via Thought Balloons, who also points to Comics.212‘s commentary.) Anyway, I did want to point out a couple things:

• The Vertigo book My Faith in Frankie is manga-format for $6.95. Nice to see DC putting some thought into what actually might appeal to your basic manga buyer, rather than just pumping out superhero trades in smaller formats and hoping they fly.
  

• Oh dear: the cover price on JLA: Another Nail is $4.90 less than the cover price for all three issues of the mini-series.
  

• That DC Rarities Archives I mentioned previously is a pretty hefty volume at 348 pages…given that the New York World’s Fair comics are 100 pages apiece, and The Big All-American Comic Book is 132(!), it’s a necessity. The other archives are about 200 to 220 pages, for comparison.
  

• Swamp Thing: Bad Seed, reprinting the initial storyline of the new series, is only $9.95. I like this trend of starting off Vertigo trade paperback series with a nice, low introductory price. I hope this continues.
  

• Gen 13: Ordinary Heroes: seems a little late in the game to be putting out Gen 13 books, but since this one has Alan Davis art and thus will most likely be cross-marketed with Another Nail (and it doesn’t hurt that he’s got a high-profile assigment at Marvel), it makes sense to release at least this volume, I suppose.
  

• Starman: Grand Guignol is, I’m pretty sure, the last of the Starman trades…hopefully, that’ll jumpstart sales on the other books in the series, as sales on them have stagnated around here. A shame, really, since it’s a fine comic…drags a little in places, but nicely illustrated and quite thoughtful. Plus, it took a couple of your dopier Golden Age villains (Shade and the Mist) and made them interesting.
  

• …and, looking at the rest of the list (lots of Humanoids, 2000 AD, Elfquest books, and so on) it almost makes DC look like a real publisher, with a wide range of products aimed at different markets. Whether the people in those different markets will come looking for them is another matter altogether.
  

3. New comics day: I hate when new comics day is pushed back a day due to holidays…it really throws me off. Don’t really have much to say about the new funnybooks: Superman: Birthright #11 opens with Lois spouting some dialogue that might as well have been “hey, you, reading this comic! Here’s what happened last issue!” It doesn’t seem terribly likely that anyone is starting this series with the next-to-last issue, so a little less exposition would probably be called for. Plus, it’s going to look darn awkward when the whole thing’s collected in that $29.95 hardcover. I do like this series, don’t get me wrong.

Girl Genius #11 – hey, it’s bigger! It’s magazine-size now, and that’s fine (even though everyone complained today that they won’t be able to file it with their other issues…look, we all survived the Great Eightball Size Shift, we can survive this too), as anything that emphasizes Phil Foglio’s fantastic art is okay with me.

Why must three of the four current Fantastic Four titles ship out on the exact same day?

4. My Canadian blood-brother Flat Earth has been on a Turok binge lately, of which I wholeheartedly approve. Go visit and hunt some honkers with the man. He even interviews Gary Panter about Turok…now that’s cool.