question time

Steve hooks me in with

“Is there a comics publisher that you really like as a retailer? One that goes above and beyond to address retailer concerns, or goes out of its way to accommodate special requests, or one that just “gets” the retailing side of things? You always hear about the companies that go the extra distance for creators… is there one like that for retailers?”

At the previous job, one publisher that impressed me quite a bit was Zenescope, home of the Grimm Fairy Tales line of funnybooks. Plenty of emails and phone calls and outreach and backlist sales and doing whatever they can to help retailers stock the shelves with their books, which I appreciated. Now, at the new store, the Zenescope titles haven’t quite gained too much traction yet…they have some customers here, but I’m not yet at the point where I need that level of attention. Maybe soon!

Fantagraphics is another that comes to mind, particularly just recently when they came to my rescue on something that…well, let’s just say they saved my bacon. I’ll go into detail about what happened in a week or two (and explain just why I don’t want to do so right this moment) but I just wanted to make sure I mentioned Fantagraphics in this context of “swell comic book companies that help retailers.”

Boom! is another company that was willing to work with me when I was attempting to get my paws on, I believe, their Amory Wars hardcover, I think, that I couldn’t get through the usual channels. And…well, there are plenty more, sending emails and contacting us over Twitter and basically just making themselves available. Most smaller companies want to go out of their way to be helpful to retailers, to help them carry their product. It’s a small industry with not a lot of money to go around, and it’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle, and outreach is vital to keep their businesses afloat.

William fires away with

“Do those Dover reprints of comics from the 80s and 90s move at all for you?”

To be honest, I’ve not carried a lot of them, since I’m still a small-ish shop with a limited budget, and sometimes I have to pick and choose between something that’s new and something that’s reprinting an obscurish item from decades ago. Not that I don’t order archival projects, I do get plenty, but I’m not quite at the point where I can carry as much as I’d like. I did make sure to get The Bozz Chronicles, for example, and I talked about their edition of Puma Blues previously. And yes, the ones I’ve ordered do move for me, and I always keep an eye on their section in the ol’ Previews for any more goodies I’d want to carry. I can’t carry everything, but I at least try to carry some things.

Dan duns

“So, are there any good comic books?”

No.

…

…Well, okay, maybe there are a couple. I like the 1950s Popeye comic book reprints IDW is putting out. Daredevil is still really good, what with an actual lawyer writing it an’ all. Justice League 3001 is Giffen/DeMatteis redoing their League from a couple of decades back as a futuristic sci-fi superbook, and it’s pretty great and nearly unpredictable. Scooby-Doo Team-Up is a hoot. Love and Rockets continues to be good readin’. The Hellboy family of comics are solid, and the Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. series is a welcome and accessible addition to the franchise. I like all the Star Wars comics. There’s Saga, and there’s Bitch Planet, and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Kaijumax, and Heartthrob, and of course, Dark Knight III. There’s plenty of good stuff out there…just look around!

More As to your Qs:

Rich monkeys around with

“I’ve recently been doing some Watchmen research for an upcoming book. Other than the original Alan Moore series, the Zack Snyder film, Before Watchmen, the three RPG books, the New Frontiersman website, the viral videos made to promote the film, the mock New Frontiersman and Metro newspaper promos, the three video games, and the two Who’s Who in DC issues, do you know of any other in-universe Watchmen lore? I’m trying to be as all-encompassing as possible. Thanks!”

Well, that seems pretty comprehensive to me. I looked at my Watchmen Heroclix set in case there was any in-universe flavor text-type stuff, and no dice there. There’s also this card-game thing that I don’t own, but maybe there’s some supporting text there, too, maybe? I’m not sure. (Frankly, I didn’t know there were three video games, so I’m not as up on this stuff as I’d thought.)

A while back I did a post about this ad for what seems to have been an unauthorized RPG game and/or story. Like I said there, no idea if this was ever released in any form…and it wasn’t an official thingie anyway, but might make an interesting aside in your project.

Another interesting aside may be this “crossover” in The Question #17, which, again, isn’t technically “in-universe” but weirdly neat nonetheless.

The only other official addition to the in-universe narrative were those promo posters, which offered brief glimpses into the lives of various characters from the series. They were just single shots, and it wasn’t so much narrative as “here’s what THIS character is like!” but they were pretty cool just the same. They’ve been reprinted in the deluxe editions of the graphic novel, so those aren’t particularly obscure but easy to overlook.

Of course, there was also this, which is totally official in my personal head-canon.

Paul polls me with

“In this vital election year, would you vote for a Lex Luthor-Pete Ross ticket?”

This year especially, I’d almost prefer the Lex ‘n’ Pete power pair. VOTE LUTHOR: MAKE AMERICA MANIACALLY VILLAINOUS AGAIN

Mike wonders

Do you think the super-hero genre can continue to evolve? We’ve gone from good vs. evil to soap-opera to deconstruction/ post-modernism to reconstruction and everywhere in-between. We’ve been through parody, stories without any traditional costumes or physical action, super-heroes as metaphors, distillation to the lowest common denominator, and tributes to every previous era. Has the idea well run dry?

Ooh, I never want to say the well has run dry on any creative endeavor. You never know what the future will bring, in terms of new ideas brought by new creators to apply to the superhero field. Yes, there will always be some percentage of titles just running in place, or just filling a space on a rack or maintaining a trademark, but I think there’s still a good chance of a fresh perspective on that old genre. What the next permutation will be exactly, I have no idea, but I’m sure folks working on superhero comics in the 1940s could never have predicted what would come decades later.

Dan battles me with

“The main thing Ive been collecting the last year or so is back issues of Warren mags; Eerie, Creepy, Vampi, etc. I would love to hear your take on these. Did you read these when they were on the newsstand, how often do back issues come into the store, and any other thoughts or comments. Thanks!”

I never personally collected many of these, no, though I may have read a few too many issues of 1984/1994 when I was far too young to have those in my possession. I did however read reprints of Berni(e) Wrightson’s work from those early Creepy/Eerie mags, especially in that Pacific/Eclipse-published Berni Wrightson: Master of the Macabre mini-series. Beyond that, I never really got into them, even though it seems like, given the talent involved, they would have been right up my alley. Probably just one of those “well, I can’t collect everything” kind of deals.

At the new store (that would be Sterling Silver Comics, located in Camarillo, CA) I actually haven’t had too many of the Warren comics mags come through, though I did acquire a huge pile of Famous Monsters of Filmland which sold out in short order. The previous place of employment, on the other hand, had many Warren mags passing through over the decades, but then that shop’s been around longer and has had more opportunity to have those items show up. Ask me again in about 30 years and we’ll see if I’ve seen more Warren magazines in that time!

I should note that, after processing tons of these mags for sale over the years at that old job, I have gained a strong love for their cover blurbs.

Aaaaand I’m back.

Okay, the way I’m handling questions this time around is going to be a little different. I am going to go through your Qs probably two or three at a time, instead of cramming a million of them into one long post. That means things are going to get stretched out a bit, probably interspersed with posts on other topics. I will answer all those questions eventually, but by doing them only one or two at a time, that will give me a chance to give a little longer and/or thoughtful response. Thanks for participating, pals, and if still have a question or topic you want to throw onto the pile, feel free!

Smicha1 smacks me with:

“Any thoughts on the Wasteland comic that DC published in the late 80s? I always loved that book and am still surprised that it hasn’t come out in trade or omnibus form from Vertigo.”

I thought that was a great comic, and one that I should probably reread at one point (being one of the series that stayed in my collection and not absorbed into the stock of my shop). For those of you unfamiliar with the title, it was an anthology series with stories written by John Ostrander and the late Del Close, and illustrated by a rotating team of artists (at first George Freeman, William Messner-Loebs, Don Simpson, and David Lloyd, with other artists coming on later in the run). The “rotating” bit is that three of the artists would each illustrate one of the three stories, while the fourth would provide the cover, and then the next issue the cover artist would draw one of the stories while someone else would move to cover duties for the month, and so on.

Eventually there was a bit of a foul-up in the production of the series, as issue #5 was accidentially given the cover for issue #6 (not just the cover image, but the issue number as well), which resulted in DC not only reprinting #5 with the correct cover right away, but putting a “blank” cover on #6 the following month (numbered on the cover as “the real No. 6”) since presumably everyone already received the cover art for that issue on the misprinted #5. Yes, it was a little confusing.

Here’s the Real No. 6 in question…it’s almost like a prototype of the modern “sketch cover” variants:

The high point of the series, for me at least, was the recurring adventures of The Dead Detective, by Ostrander and Messner-Loebs, which was pretty much what it sounds like: the immobile corpse of a detective, who is still conscious and thinking, providing a running commentary on (or a continuing stream of bafflement about) the various oddball situations that occur to him. But there was a lot to enjoy in the series…not everything hit, which is to be expected with pretty much any anthology comic outside of E.C., but overall I thought it was a good run of interesting stories.

The graphic nature of some stories inspired some debate about content that went on in its letters pages and in the trade papers, which is a fine and healthy thing, I think. There was a bit of a sour note in the last issue editorial farewell, as a particularly insulting thing was written about a creator I happen to like. That was a shame.

As to why it hasn’t been collected…I don’t know. According to the copyright information in each issue, the material is owned by DC Comics, but perhaps there was some behind-the-scenes ownership/contract stuff to which I am not privy and prevents reissue. Or maybe DC just doesn’t feel like reprinting it. In any case, these should be relatively cheap if you can find them…just make sure you’re getting the right #6.

Bruce Baugh breaks in with the following:

“Mike, talk to us about what your dream comics format would be for ongoing series. Any quality of pages, prices, etc.. What’s the coolest format you can think of that would probably sell enough to be worth it?”

Actually, something similar to Wasteland‘s format would be idea to me. A 32-page comic, with 27 pages of comics, a couple pages of editorial content, printed on Baxter paper, with cover stock thick enough to actually feel like a cover to a comic/magazine (and not slowly curling on the stands, like a couple of recent Dark Horse books and the new Moon Knight, for example). Not too long, to keep the price down (three bucks!), but long enough to allow for a lead story and a back-up, if desired. Only a few ads.

Okay, realistically, that’s not economically feasible nowadays, probably, but that’s the format I like the most. You know, the 1980s Baxter-era Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes format, only with coloring that doesn’t stab you in the eyes. Nice paper, lots of pages of comic, so on. I liked those.

I haven’t done this since late 2014, so let’s try it again: ask me your questions, hopefully related to the comics business and artform somehow, and I’ll answer over the following posts for the next few months days. I’ve been trying to get the ol’ blogging juices flowing again (…ew, gross) and I find I’ve been having more luck of late responding to specific topics rather than generating content on my own. Not “writer’s block” so much as “topic block,” I guess.

In fact, let’s cast a slightly wider net this time…feel free to ask me a question (just one per person, please) or suggest a comics-related topic you’d like me to discuss, just right there in this post’s comments section. I don’t know everything about everything, which I realize may come as a shock to some of you, but if I can’t dazzle you with my brilliance, I’ll at least try to baffle you with my…well, you know. But I’ll give your questions and topic suggestions my best shot and try to avoid responding with “duh, I dunno” too often.

So please, leave your single question or your single topic in a comment for this post, and I’ll start taking a crack at ’em in a few days. Thanks, pals!

Finally, the end, just about, to my answers to your questions: here are parts one through five (1 2 3 4 5), and BEHOLD, part six:

John gets to the root of things with

“Did you bother to keep tracking of the multiple Swamp Thing appearances in all the Convergence series books? There sure are a bunch of tiny ones. I counted 14 (not including the Convergence ST variant covers). I’d love to know if you kept a list.”

I discussed this at the time, where I noted that buying every. single. Convergence. tie-in. just for what was (kinda sorta) the same Swamp Thing panel was a bridge too far for me. I didn’t keep track, though I often think I should go back and at least note which ones had ’em in case I ever decide to plug those holes in the collection. But frankly, getting a pile of books just for that single image seemed wasteful to me, particularly since I had more use for them on my store shelves than sitting in a box back home.

Dan dresses me down with

“There’s a new DC t-shirt I just saw at Target. All the characters appear to be Superpowers toyline era. I thought I was a DC fan but there are two characters I can’t ID: the guy between Aquaman and GA (some sort of Mexican Superfriend?) and then top right, next to Zod?”

The shirt in question is right here, and the first fella was easy, because I’d discussed him on the site before. That is El Dorado, who has, if I may quote myself from about seven and half years ago, “the superpower of having whatever superpower happened to be convenient at that moment.” The other fella was harder to figure out, and I was looking at Super Friends wiki after Super Friends wiki until I had the bright idea to look at this showcase of Super Powers action figures. That is Orion of the New Gods, believe it or not. I’m sure the fact that he appears to be smiling on that shirt is what threw us off.

Matthew passionately notices

“lately, I’ve been noticing and encountering passionate/opinionated fans of comic characters that have appeared in TV and movies. They seem to get extremely worked up over continuity and staying true to their characters canon yet they typically don’t read the books.
What kinds of interactions have you had with fans of TV/movie comic characters?”

For the most part I haven’t had a whole lot of varied experiences with folks who are solely mass medium fans of characters versus fans of the actual characters as they are in the comics. It’s usually along the lines of “I liked so-and-so in this movie/TV show, watcha got comic book-wise with him/her/them?” and then I try to find something they’d like and hope for the best. Mostly, I seem to get the “Walking Dead has a comic book?” folks who then decide to try out an issue or two, or just jump right into the graphic novels.

Basically, if they’re coming into the shop, they’re aware of the existence of comics and are willing to try them out, or at least give ’em the ol’ hairy eyeball. I haven’t had much opportunity to slip the chains at my shop and walk amongst the common folk, to hear what those who have no interest in comics may have to say about those TV shows and movies. I’m still presuming there exists people who watched Smallville all ten years and have never realized it was inspired by a comic book.

Adam Farrar goes too far with

“I’ve gotten used to the unnecessary bags on issues of Miracleman but what was up with ‘Miracleman By Gaiman and Buckingham #3’ being bagged and boarded?”

You’re not going to like my answer, and my answer is “haven’t the foggiest.” I suspect there was some miscommunication along the way, and the boards were inserted by accident. Aren’t Marvel’s subscription comics mailed wrapped in a polybag with a backing board? Maybe there was some confusion there. I’m not sure. At any rate, since the backing covered up the comic’s UPC code, I suspect that error will not recur.

I can’t say “nay” to Anthony Naylor’s idea:

“What do you think about Bruce Timm’s team doing a DC animated Elseworld’s episode? Every episode would be a self contained Elseworld based story. On occasion they could do a 2 part story but it would all lead up to an Infinite Crisis story”

I think that’s just dandy. Don’t know what kind of budget that would entail, since that’s basically doing new character and environment designs for every episode, but I think it would be fun. I suspect if such a thing could happen, it would be The Big Three (Supes, Bats, Wondy) being thrown from Elseworld to Elseworld as the through line, since that’s probably, realistically, the only way it could get made. Anyway, yes, that would be neat. I’d like to see it someday.

John emerges from the muck once again to ask

“It has been a busy and exciting year for you. What do you do to unwind and when you aren’t busting your butt at your shop and working on your website?”

Mostly I hang out with the girlfriend and her family, or I try to catch up on my reading (mostly failing) or those few TV shows I like to watch (only slightly less failing) and of course, sleep. Wonderful, wonderful sleep.

PTOR finds the silver lining with

“Does Sterling Silver Comics only sell Silver-age comics, and whether or not that’s the case do you only accept payment in Silver coins or will sterling silver cutlery be accepted, and being if that is the case might it NOT be prudent to begun minting your own coin of the realm, in sterling silver, of course…?”

Oh, that’s very amusing, PTOR. Come closer, I have this silver hammer I borrowed from my friend Maxwell to show you….

Okay, that wraps it all up from my original post, at least. There are a couple follow-ups I’ll address later, but for now, it’s time for some of that wonderful, wonderful sleep I mentioned earlier. Thanks for participating and reading, everyone, and I’ll be back sooner than you’d probably like!