Sorry, no rundown of every comic title this week. I’m still recovering from the last four weeks’ worth of commentary!
To build on something my esteemed weblogging colleague pal Ian noted…I posted something* quite a while ago about how the “Giant-Size Man-Thing” jokes should probably be given a rest now that the joke has come full circle and actually been used in a published issue of Man-Thing. So, now that one of the Big Two has actually published a comic with the slightly unwieldy title of DC Countdown to Infinite Crisis, all those jokes, like the one Ian mentions, about crossovers with ridiculous names like “Atlantis Attacks the Secret Crisis of the Millennial Genesis of Champions,”** should hopefully come to a rest as well. Though, to be fair, the actual indicia of the comic reads DC Countdown.
Yes, that means I’ve read next week’s DC Countdown, since DC surprisingly included it in the retailer preview pack this week. Well, I can say that I enjoyed it for what it was: a semi-tour of current events in the DC Universe, and a lead-in to forthcoming events in various books. “To be continued throughout the DC Universe,” it says at the end. It’s certain to royally piss off people who were already pissed off by Identity Crisis, so keep that in mind before you buy it.
CONVERSATIONS AT THE STORE, ONE
Yesterday morning, after the new comics order has been broken down and counted, and I’m taking a moment to flip through the new Overstreet Price Guide:
Me: “I’m going to poke though the glossary and see if Overstreet has officially accepted the term ‘Bronze Age’…whoa, hold on.”***
Dor: “What?”
Me: “Not only does the definition appear without any disclaimers, they say the Bronze Age runs from ’70 to 1984!”
Dor: “What about the other ages?”
[brief discussion follows about the other comics ages, until….]
Me: “Lemme look up ‘Modern Age’ — huh? It’s ’92 to present?”
Dor: “What’s ’85 to ’91? [makes wild, sarcastic guess] ‘Copper Age?'”
Me: [after looking it up] “Holy crap, it is Copper Age!”
Conversation devolves into laughter and swearing shortly afterwards. Tape ends.
Later, poking through Overstreet, Dorian discovers an article about “Pioneer Age” comics, from the 1500s into the early 1800s. Oh dear.
I’m assuming “Bronze Age” ends at ’84 because of Crisis on Infinite Earths, probably as clear a demarcation between “eras” as you’re going to get in the early ’80s. And presumably 1992 is the start of the “Modern Age” as that’s the year Image was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.
I’m not sure what was different enough about ’85-’91 to keep it from being listed as “Modern Age” as well…the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the subsequent black and white boom? The release of stuff like Miracleman and Watchmen and Dark Knight? The proliferation and success of certain indie companies, some of which were dead or dying in ’91 (like, say, First Comics)? Well, okay, I guess in retrospect, it was quite a different period from the Image/Wizard/speculator boom that followed…but still, “Copper Age?”****
Oh, and on the topic of actual prices in Overstreet…every time a new edition comes in, the first thing I look at is the House of Secrets listing to see how #92 (the first Swamp Thing) is doing. Looks like my copy is in the $600 range now. Cool. Er, not that I’m selling.
CONVERSATIONS AT THE STORE, TWO
Instead of a semi-accurate, partially-fictionalized transcript, I’m just going to tell you that pal Corey and Kid Chris had a discussion about Booster Gold as a Christ figure, and leave it at that.
Oh, yeah, new comics yesterday. The Manhattan Guardian, the newest Seven Soldiers of Victory spin-off, is quite good. And, well, I’m trying to keep current DC events out of my mind as I read about the adventures of the Giffen-era league in Justice League Classified, but, well, as I’ve said before, it’s kind of rough to see jokes about Sue Dibny’s pregnancy.
Ah, and I see what took New Avengers #4 so long to come out…they were busy constructing extra butt for this cover. And what’s up with the trade dress on the new issue of Rogue? The stripe across the top of the comic, with the little Comics Code Authority-esque stamp at the right hand side with Spidey’s face? A portent of things to come? Or did I just miss one of Marvel’s many press releases somewhere along the way? EDIT: Well, duh. Commenter Craig points out what should have been obvious to me. What’s odd is that I had two separate thoughts about this cover during new comics day: “hey, what’s with the trade dress” and “oh, look, it’s based on the cover to Uncanny X-Men #173.” Had the two thoughts ever encountered each other in my head at any point, I would have answered my own question. See what new comics day does to comic shop employees?
All you Jhonen Vasquez fans should note that there’s a new issue of Filler Bunny this week as well. Now with extra offensiveness! (We’re sure to sell a ton of ’em.)
The last part of the second Simpsons/Futurama crossover is out…and, well, the first series was better, I think, though not to say this series was bad by any means. Hopefully now they have enough pages to put both series into a much-needed trade paperback.
If any of you picked up the James Bond Casino Royale book this week, Dorian noticed that one of our copies was missing several pages, so you might want to check yours as well.
We also got our Free Comic Book Day shirts today, so it’s time to turn ourselves into walking billboards. Well, Kid Chris and I got ours…Dorian sprang for the tasteful polo shirt, which apparently hasn’t shipped yet.
* It’s at the bottom of the page…you may have to scroll down a bit. I hadn’t quite worked out the whole image-posting thing at the time.
** Actually, that was kinda fun, making up that title!
*** In retrospect, I think I already did know that Overstreet had accepted the Bronze Age term…I just have the old price guide caveat of “Bronze Age is an informal definition” stuck in my head.
**** Yes, I realize how nerdy and obsessive this all sounds. Honestly, I don’t worry that much about it…my time’s better spent keeping track of all that obscure Swamp Thing trivia.
