Mikester

Just out of curiosity, why the heck should anyone buy the first printing of any issue of Wanted when they keep putting out second printings with additional material?

If you’re gonna wait for the trade on any series, make it this one.

Poking through the DC solicitation info (because, you know, you haven’t seen it enough on everyone else’s weblogs):

• Firestorm #1 – yeah, I know, everyone’s having a conniption fit over it, but, as someone who bought every single gosh darn issue of the previous series off the stands, I don’t have any problems with any of the changes. Geez, relax, people.
  

• Justice League of America: Another Nail #1 – hey, cool. That first mini-series was a lot of fun. Alan Davis does some darn fine funny-bookin’.
  

• DC 100 Page Super Spectacular – even though I already have the original comic, it may be worth rebuying just so I have a nice copy of that Neal Adams wraparound cover. My copy looks like it was jumped on by a moose.
  

• Richard Dragon #1 – the heck? What’s next, a Star Hunters revival? More Rima the Jungle Girl? (Well, actually, now that I think about it….)
  

• Sea Guy #1 – in the very remote chance you haven’t seen it yet, go look. This new mini from Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart is going to be brilliant. And, yes, I’m sure the usual suspects will claim it’s “self-indulgent,” “hard to understand,” blah blah blah, so on, so forth…all the things they usually say to hide the fact that they can’t appreciate imagination when they see it.
  

• Swamp Thing #3 – isn’t the morphogenic field (in this context, anyway) that thingie from Animal Man? Anyway, I’m glad that they’re not entirely forgetting about the previous Swamp Thing series, since, you know, I’m a Swamp Thing fanboy, and messing with the character’s continuity is just the sort of thing that’ll mess with my Swamp Thing fanboy head.
  

So the John Byrne Message Board is trying to anticipate criticisms of the forthcoming JLA run by Byrne and Chris Claremont by posting some of the more common complaints the anti-Byrne crowd usually comes up with. A couple they forgot, courtesy pal Dorian:

1. I can’t believe that, upon encountering the vampires, Green Lantern turned to Batman and said, “friends of yours, Bats?” (Well, maybe not the “Bats” part, given how Byrne feels about that.)

2. I can’t believe that, once again in a [Claremont / Byrne / Claremont & Byrne] comic, when one of the female characters turned evil, she started wearing lingerie.

In other Byrne Forum news, the new URL for that site is byrnerobotics.com. Good name! (Read more about the history of that name here.)

…kneel before Zod at Generalzod.net.

Found via the Comics Journal message board, an online archive of John Stanley stories. Way, way cool.

More John Stanley online: Fred Hembeck has an article about, and full reprint of, a Little Lulu Hallowe’en story, and Scott Shaw! has a reprint of the creepiest comic book story you’ll ever read, the infamous “Monster of Dread End” from Ghost Stories #21.

So the other day I was flipping through the latest issue of Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Corey Walker, and found myself quite enjoying it. I ended up buying the Invincible: Family Matters trade paperback, a good deal at $12.95 for four issues plus bonus material. It’s a nice mostly angst-free take on the generational superhero, with a twist (noted by others) that the parents encourage the son’s superheroic activities, rather than the son hiding his abilities from them, parents protecting the child, et al. There are a couple “proofreading by spellchecker” typos that I noticed, but otherwise the production values on this item are quite nice. Kurt Busiek, whose Astro City is of a kind with this series, supplies an amusing introduction. The last thing I need to be reading is yet another superhero comic, but when it’s well done, and appears to have a specific point of view (rather than just filling a space on the new comics rack each month), it’s hard to resist.

Now I’m not a “wait for the trade” guy…I like buying the single issues. However, every once in a while a series will slip by me and I’ll pick up the trades and whatever single issues I need to catch up. I did the same thing on Planetary, James Robinson’s Starman, and, way back when in those pre-phone book days, I caught up on Cerebus with the Swords of Cerebus volumes. In the case of Invincible, though, I’ve decided to wait for the second trade, mostly because it’s due out Any Day Now.

You can read the first issue of Invincible (along with several other comics) here.

…hello to everyone stopping in from Journalista, Scott McCloud’s website, and other fine weblogs! Thanks for visiting, and your nice comments. It’s much appreciated.

Just out of curiosity, a Google search on the phrase “worst comic book ever” turns up the following titles:

#1 – X-Force – okay, who was surprised? It’s in the context of “look what Peter Milligan managed to do with this terrible comic!”

#2 – Shanda the Panda – poor Shanda. I don’t have anything against it, myself. And, believe it or not, it’s a store owner pointing at the comic, calling it the worst ever in this article. I would never do that in my store…that’s what weblogs are for.

#3 – Star Jam Comics #6 – oh, there’s no defending this one. It’s one of those X-Entertainment reviews, which are always worth reading.

The only reference I have found to the actual worst comic ever published, Shadow of the Groundhog, is here.

As I’m sure you already know, Dirk Deppey has put the completely essential Journalista weblog on hiatus while he takes on the job of managing editor for The Comics Journal. Hurry back, Dirk! Don’t leave us alone with this!

I’d also like to give him special thanks for the nice words he had about my little weblog thingie. I’ve been a reader of The Comics Journal for well over 20 years now, and it’s very gratifying to know that someone from TCJ appreciates what I’m doing.