question time

I promise never to say “fave firstie” ever again.

filed under Categories question time 8 Comments

So let’s get a couple of things out of the way before I start answering your questions from last week:

First, the local paper ran a story on my new comic shop, which has certainly driven some business my way. (Everything’s going swimmingly at the store so far, I’m glad to report!)

Second, blogging brother Tim is taking an in-depth look at tie-ins to Secret Wars II, and God bless him for it.

And third, speaking of Secret Wars, just look at this thing. Eleven hardcover books reprinting everything Secret Wars-related, shoved together into a big ol’ box. That is completely insane. Of course I’m going to carry it at my shop.

Okay, now…As for your Qs!

• • •

Dave Carter inquires:

Do you have any idea as to how you are going to order all of those DC Convergence comics?

Nope, haven’t the foggiest. For those of you who don’t know, DC is taking a few weeks to do what amounts to flashback comics, set in the continuity/ies that existed prior to the whole New 52 thing, while putting their current continuity/ies on hold for the duration. …Okay, I may have exaggerated slightly when I said “haven’t the foggiest,” as I do have some lightly-foggy notion that I’ll order numbers on these Convergence books somewhat close to whatever I’m ordering on the slightly-related current ongoing series. Or I’ll order based on my best guess as to what general interest in the titles will be. Or I’ll just take a wild stab and it and hope I don’t fail too badly. Actually, in my particular situation, what with a brand new store an’ all, the stakes are somewhat lower, since I’m not quite selling the numbers I did in my previous situation. I don’t risk much danger of being stuck with too-huge piles of books I thought would be popular but ended up not moving — (cough) Death of Wolverine follow-up minis (cough) — but we’ll see where my sale levels are at that point.

• • •

Thelonious_Nick wants to know:

Here’s a technical, comic shop kind of question. So my LCS gifts me a copy of Previews every month. But I notice some local comic shops have graphic novels or collections that don’t appear in Previews. For instance, I’ve been eyeing some R. Crumb collections at one shop, and thought I’d find the page in Previews so my regular LCS could order one for me–but they aren’t in there. But this started me wondering–do some comic shops order from sources other than Diamond?

Sure they do. I made an order direct from Top Shelf just prior to opening my shop, for example. And there was several other companies that offer graphic novels and other goodies that aren’t necessarily available through Diamond. But some items may have been available through Diamond at one time, and are no longer available…it’s possible the items you spotted had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

On a different note, was Tooth & Claw #1 the most gorgeous debut issue you’ve every seen, or what? What are some of your favorite first issues of all time?

It certainly was nice looking, from the brief look I’ve been able to get. I’ve been pretty busy recently, as you might imagine, but I have noticed that it’s sold fairly well for me.

As far as favorite first issues…I have a soft spot for the debut of the second Swamp Thing series from the early eighties, as I was really looking forward to its release. Another fave firstie was Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories #1. I’d been enjoying Rosa’s “Captain Kentucky” strips that The Comics Reader had been reprinting in the early 1980s, and getting a long-form adventure in a magazine format with his wonderfully-detailed art was a great gift. I must have read that thing dozens of times.

• • •

Sir A1! brings the sauce with:

Do you think you’ll need to diversify as in becoming a comic-RPG-cosplay-catch-all kind of place? Will comics-and-related suffice in today’s marketplace?

Well, so far in my 2 1/2 weeks of business, my shop, which currently carries only comics, graphic novels, and comics-related merchandise, has been doing quite well just with those product lines. So it’s at least theoretically possible to do so, given a sufficient customer base and a reasonably low-enough overhead. However, the eventual plan is to expand into those lines — like, an imminent expansion — once I got the comics-end of the business going. That was always the goal, to at least have some gaming/CCG material available in the shop. That’s not my particular field of interest, no, but I’m getting some inquiries from customers along those lines, and I have no objection to that material by any means. I just needed to focus on one product line first before tackling the next.

• • •

Vester plays it close to the vest with:

Image has been publishing good comics for a few years now, at a good price both in single issues and trades. But I never had the perspective from a comic book store owner. (I live outside US, so I don’t really have a way to know this things). Do single issues sell in a daily basis? I mean, do people actually come and ask for Image comics besides The Big Two? And do YOU think they are publishing good, quality books?

For a while there, it seemed like Image was experiencing what I called “The Walking Dead Effect,” in that people were rushing in to buy multiple copies of the first issues to various new Image series in the hopes that surely this comic will be the new hot title, selling for many times cover price within no time at all.

After too many occurrences of this not happening, these rush sales on Image #1s finally slowed down to normal: mostly mild interest, with the occasional series attracting more-than-average attention. You know, just like most comics from Marvel and DC. The titles folks mostly ask about are Saga, Black Science and of course Walking Dead. I do think by and large Image produces some good comics…sure, there are some comics they put out that I probably would have liked better if they had stayed trees, but that’s not a feeling I have unique to Image.

PD: Sorry for my english.

You did quite well…no worries!

• • •

Paul Di Filippo yanks my chain with:

Have you ever done Swamp Thing cosplay, at Halloween or any other time? If not, why not? Are you waiting for the contributions of a mechanical genius friend who can construct an animatronic Cranius to complement your outfit?

Sadly, I’m not much of a costume guy, despite repeated requests that I cover my face with some kind of mask. My interest in certain comic book characters rarely crosses over into a desire to dress like them…and that’s not a knock on people who do, because hey, however you want to enjoy your fandom, more power to you. It’s just not an urge I’ve ever felt…well, with maybe one exception.

However, next time Halloween rolls around, I’m going to pop into one of those seasonal Halloween shops and pick up a mechanical dismembered hand to begin work on my animatronic Cranius. YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME, PAUL DI FILIPPO

• • •

Rich Handley goes ape with:

Have you been watching Constantine? If so, what do you think of the cast and the writing? And how many times do you think the show’s writing team watches Supernatural before writing each script?

Constantine started as I was in the midst of prepping the creation of my store. I have the first episode downloaded from iTunes, but haven’t watched minute one of it. However, given recent news, it may be easier for me to catch up on it now.

I’ve never seen Supernatural either. I’m a terrible watcher of television.

• • •

ExistentialMan wonders:

Why didn’t you name the new shop Mike’s Magical Comics Fort? Have you caught anyone spooning on the floor of the graphic novel section lately? Can we get an updated drawing of a capybara by adult Mike?

1. Because if everyone knew of my magical powers, I’d never get a moment’s rest.

2. EM is referring to this, and everyone will be happy to know there’s nowhere to hide in my new shop, so no surreptitious spooning in my store!

3.

• • •

More answers tomorrow, maybe!

“This is our Swamp Thing rack, and everything else is just kinda shoved into that old box on the back shelf there.”

filed under Categories question time, retailing 7 Comments

More questions, more hopefully-informative answers:

  • Adam asks

    “Mike, do you ever see any kind of temporary downturn for a brand when stuff like DC’s recent foibles (RE Batwoman and the Harley Quinn contest) come to light and make internet waves?”

    In general, no, because most comic fans, the ones that actually go into shops every week and buy things, don’t seem to be impacted or even terribly interested in online shenaniganery much beyond general news announcements and reports of, say, shortages of 3D comic covers and such. The Internet comics world seems to be its own insular thing, with not a whole lot of overlap with the real world; otherwise, Thor: The Mighty Avenger would still be published, and Dan DiDio would have been run out of town by villagers with rakes and torches.

    “Also, did people really like Spider Island?”

    Yeah, they liked it well enough. The actual Spider-Man comics that tied into the storyline seemed to experience a bump in sales, while some of the other tie-ins didn’t really go anywhere. I haven’t seen much back issue movement on them, however, since once it was over it became just another Marvel crossover event like Fear Itself and Civil War that was forgotten as soon as the next event came along.

  • Blogging brother Tim wants to know

    “Serious question, why is 29 issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that much worse than the situation in the 90s, when you had 50+ issues a year of AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, WEB OF, the adjective-less series, as well as a monthly VENOM and who knows what else? Was it that many people only bought the flagship book, so that the tertiary titles were less of an obligation?”

    Offering four or so different monthly series, each usually featuring their own storylines and subplot threads and so on, is a different animal (and problem) than offering one series with an unpredictable number of installments per year. With different series with a fixed number of issues per year, the decision on how much money to invest in how many series is still up to the reader. If you’re only interested in one series, you bought just the one series, and you generally knew how much you were going to spend to keep up with it. In the case of Spider-Man, most people didn’t buy every series, but some readers didn’t seem to mind buying the occasional issue from a series they usually didn’t follow if it was part of a cross-series event.

    Now, with a single series rushing out issues onto the stands as quickly as they’re able to produce them, that’s forcing you to spend more money to keep up with one particular set of storylines that you’ve already decided to follow, making you a captive audience of sorts, and that money has to come from somewhere. I wonder if people would have found more money in their budgets to buy the withering-on-the-vine Superior Foes and Superior Spider-Man Team-Up books if they weren’t already buying two issues of the main Superior Spider-Man title each month?

    As an aside, I have to agree with your later comment on the J.M. DeMatteis Spectacular Spider-Man run. That was some good, weird, and occasionally dark, stuff.

  • GregNGray wonders

    “Would it be comic shop suicide to place indie comics front and center and big-two comics on secondary or side racks using the (undocumented and totally lacking in evidence) theory that:
    a) big-two readers are far more likely to know exactly what is out each week and will have no problem finding what they want and,
    b) they are less likely to make spur of the moment purchases?
    Thanks.”

    Oh, I wouldn’t think so. Racking any comics in an easily-accessible manner is never a bad thing. Well, okay, maybe putting Faust next to Fantastic Four could be a problem, but you know what I mean. Ideally, though, all comics would be racked together alphabetically (barring age-appropriateness considerations), or by genre, if you want to get all fancy-pants about it. At the very least, if you have a Marvel/DC rack and an Everything Else rack, keep ’em close together. The fewer barriers you put between a customer and the books he or she wants to buy, the better.

    We have kind of an oddball set-up, mostly based on rack types and available spacing: one larger wall rack that has enough room to accommodate new Marvel/DC/Dark Horse/Image books, and smaller wall racks of another type that have the room to accommodate all the new indies. The two are right next to each other, and I haven’t had any problem displaying and selling the indie titles. I would prefer to have the entire new comics area be one uniform series of shelving, and all the comics be mixed together, but this set-up seems to work okay for now until I can make that dream come true. One advantage is that a number of the indies tend to skew a little higher in recommended reading ages, making it a little easier to direct parents to the rack with the superhero books on it. Not that a lot of the superhero books are appropriate for Little Billy, but kids want the guys they saw on the TV and in the movies, so there you go. (And yes, we help ’em find comics that won’t turn their kids into juvenile delinquents.)

    We also have another rack of kids comics (Archie stuff, My Little Pony, etc.) right at the front of the store, along with shelves of kid-friendly trades, so I guess in a way we do have a shelf of indie books front ‘n’ center.

Mostly I’m just bitter there aren’t four or five ongoing Swamp Thing titles on the stands right now.

filed under Categories question time, retailing 9 Comments

So I had a couple of questions and comments to this post from last Friday that I wanted to respond to:

  • LFC notes, regarding my comment on having 17 issues of Superior Spider-Man in eight months:

    “2012 saw 29 issues of Amazing Spider-Man (including point ones, Ends of the Earth one shot and anything by Slott), 2011 saw 29 issues as well, 2010 saw 33 issues and so on. Luckily it’s a very good book.”

    The quality of the book almost doesn’t matter. It’s just too much. Comic fans only have so much to budget for their books, and every dollar that goes towards maintaining their run of Amazing or whatever at two or three copies a month are dollars not going toward maybe trying out something that isn’t a Spider-Man comic that month. It’s rack crowding and market flooding, and I don’t like it when Marvel is cranking out two or three issues per title per month, and I don’t like it when both Marvel and DC are cranking out a half-dozen titles or more for each of their franchises. We don’t need this many Batman books, or this many X-Men or Green Lantern or Avengers or Superman books, except we now have a marketplace that depends on devotion to the big franchises and doesn’t leave room in anyone’s budgets to try out or support something different.

    And before anyone says anything, this isn’t absolutely 100% across the board for all fans everywhere, that everyone is just buying this stuff and not buying that stuff. But there is a trend toward this kind of marketplace, where the only comics that sell well are Batman or Avengers books because if you throw a dart randomly at a comics rack that’s what you’re gonna hit, well, there you go. “We keep putting out Avengers books because those are the comics that sell” is the self-fulfilling prophecy of the comics market.

  • Sean writes:

    “haven’t been paying much attention to Marvel’s books for the last couple of years, so I got a good laugh out of the three-digit issue number (017) on the front of Superior Spider-Man. Is there anyone out there who genuinely thinks any of Marvel’s books are going to get to 100 before being rebooted with new issue #1′s?”

    It’s a design element not just to accommodate the eventual possibility that any of the comics will make it to the triple digits, but also because it creates a uniformity of design with those few remaining comics Marvel is currently publishing that are in the triple digits. (Or is X-Factor the last?) Also, I think having the three digits seems a little more aesthetically pleasing than just having the two digits. Anyway, I’d be surprised if the current cover layouts are around for more than a couple more years at most, so the problem will likely be moot.

  • ~P~ has a comment or three for me:

    “I’m not sure if you’ve mentioned it yet, but how does the Marvel ‘NOW!’ trend of placing issue numbers on the BOTTOM of the cover affect your display and sales?”

    Most of our comics are racked with the full cover face out, so the issue number isn’t obscured. We have some wall racks that overlap the books, and if any of the comics have non-traditional logo and number placing, I’ll make a small sign to rack with the comic to indicate any of the relevant information. A minor annoyance, but racking thing properly is what they pay me the Big Bucks. (NOTE: Bucks may not be as big as may be implied.)

    “I just spent some time this past week filing away about a year’s worth of adopted comics into their drawerbox longbox forever-homes, and having logos placed wherever the heck the artist thought was aesthetically pleasing was bad enough, but issue number placement at the bottom is murder!”

    Honestly, this doesn’t bother me at home, when I actually do get around to sorting my own comics into boxes. The only thing that bothers me is when no issue number is on the cover (like on many Gold Key or Dell comics, or, in the case of Hellboy or B.P.R.D. comics, when the overall series number for the various minis isn’t on the cover (as I described in annoying detail way back when). In those cases, I note the issue number on the white resealable sticker I use to seal the comic bag (because only savages and the deranged would use tape to seal their comics, I mean honestly).

    “But then, what will happen when any unsold comics go into back-issue boxes?
    Kids (sure, kids. Why not?) rifling thru boxes to see if you have a specific issue will have to pull the comic most of the way out of the box, and will inevitably BEND the comic backwards a bit to see the numbers.”

    Well, regardless of issue number placement, anyone of any age going through back issues without prior instruction or the proper encouragement from the Knuckle-Rapping Yardstick of Enforcement is likely to mishandle the back issues, so I’m keepin’ my eye on all of you. Yes, you, you comic spine-breaking vandals. Anyway, the way we try to handle issue numbers that are in less than obvious positions on the cover, or not on the cover at all, is to write them onto our price stickers which are generally placed in the upper right hand corner on the front of the comic bag.

Thanks for leaving your comments, everyone. I know the big thing on the Internet is “don’t read the comments!” and while I, ahem, may have a somewhat neglected side-project devoted to how terrible commenting can be, I do appreciate and enjoy the comments you folks leave here. A big part of my enjoyment in doing this site is the interaction from you that I receive, and I thank you for it.

No, seriously, you need at LEAST three copies.

filed under Categories fakeapstylebook, question time, self-promotion 12 Comments

So, yeah, sorry about that post yesterday. I really meant to keep it short, honest, but, you know, get me talking about Swamp Thing, and look what happens. But at least I do it here, where you all have avenues of escape, and not at the store, where I could possibly corner some poor bastard and discuss Patchwork Man continuity for half an hour.

I answered a couple of questions in yesterday’s comments already, but let me address a couple more here today:

Dwayne the Canoe Guy asks:

“I saw today that Tamga.com is selling a discount subscription to Swamp Thing and recently featured Justice League. Tanga normally discounts boardgames & novelty electronics. Does this discounting indicate that DC is desperate?”

I’d say the fact that DC restarted all their books with new #1s was already a pretty good sign of desperation. But no, offering cheap subscriptions to comics on a discount deal site sounds more like loss-leading promotion than “oh dear God someone please buy our comics.” It’s just another venue to hawk their wares, rather than just pushing their offerings through the usual places.

eee-gah wants to know, in response to my slightly snarky comment about blood ‘n’ guts in DC’s superhero books:

“Has anyone ever complained to you at the shop about the level of gore in a random DC book?”

No, not really “complained” as such. The few people who have noted it usually do so with a sense of…bemusement. Like, “oh, look what DC did THIS time.” But I haven’t had any angry parents stomp into the store and gripe that their precious Little Billy picked up a copy of Teen Titans: Risk – A Call to Arms #1 and was offended by all the violence therein. But I have had a parent complain about Lesbian Batwoman, so I guess I know where the lines are drawn in our neighborhood.

Also…it’s been a while since this happened, but I always like to mention that one mother who complained that the Spider-Man comics her son was reading were “too sexy.” Specifically, the Steve Ditko Spider-Man comics her son was reading in reprints. That’s probably the one and only time that particular complaint was leveled at Ditko’s Spidey.

• • •

Okay, so you’ve read Fake AP Stylebook, you’ve bought your mandatory three copies per household of the Fake AP Stylebook book Write More Good, and maybe some of you are following our lonely, lonely Twitter feed The Content Farm. Now, The Bureau Chiefs bring you…Fake Pew Research, featuring improbable statistics for an intractable society.

Anyway, as pal Dave L. so accurately puts it, it’s just another goofy thing we’re doing to make each other laugh, and hopefully it’ll make some of you laugh too.

My free advertising for DC Comics continues.

filed under Categories question time, retailing 15 Comments

I asked a couple of days ago what DC books you were looking forward to the most, and the big winner was Action Comics by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales, followed closely by the J.H. Williams Batwoman comic. Neither of these are a real surprise, as Morrison on Superman is always a draw (and the Siegel & Shuster/Golden Age-esque take on the character intrigues), and we’ve all seen the beautiful work Williams has done on Batwoman in the last couple of years.

This is hardly a comprehensive scientific survey, I realize, but it surprises me that the Green Lantern franchise makes such a poor showing, with only one respondent noting interest. Given that there are four GL-related titles coming our way monthly, I wonder if that doesn’t bode well.

Another one that sort of surprises me is Mr. Terrific, if only because, at least at our shop, there seemed like there was an unusual amount of interest in this title, considering he’s hardly one of DC’s first-stringers. This was a while back, though, right after his title was announced, and perhaps it’s since been overshadowed by other more attention-grabbing series.

And despite my jerkiness about the title in the initial post, some brave souls still indicated that Hawk & Dove was their pick. I can tell you, having broken down the comic order and pulled comic subs Tuesday night…we’ve got more than a few requests at our shop for it. Liefeld is still a draw…or at least not enough of a deterrent to keep Hawk & Dove fans away. And seriously, more power to ’em. Like whatever you want, man, I’m not going to judge. Out loud. To your face.

Okay, okay, really seriously, read whatever you want. “People reading comics” is the primary goal here. We can worry about “people reading the comics I like” later.

Speaking of which, only two of you picked Swamp Thing. …I’m very disappointed.

Anyway, I might have more to say on this later, but I’ve had a long work day, and I’m still recovering from my illness. But let me say this, as I’ve had a “sneak peek” at the new DCs this wek whilst breaking down the order: decided I’m going to get Batgirl, too…looks like a fun read, as is typical of writer Gail Simone. And Action…not the kind of Superman story that’ll be familiar to folks accustomed to the post-Byrne revamp era of the character. Quite good. And Swamp Thing…ah, yes, Swamp Thing. Still spinning our wheels a bit on the “Alec must rejoin with Swampy” jag that we endured in that mini-series, but only it’s done well this time. Animal Man is about as good as you’re hoping, and I’m still undecided on Justice League International. Maybe if Swamp Thing joined.

Just in case you haven’t read enough about the new DC titles lately.

filed under Categories question time, sick day 79 Comments

So I was planning on responding to a couple of lengthy comments recently left on this here site regarding DC Comics and its current launchalanche, but neither 1) time nor 2) health are cooperating with me. I’ll get to them soon, I promise.

In the meantime, since I didn’t really have anything else planned for today…let me ask you: what’s the one new DC book you’re looking forward to the most? Just tell me ONE…don’t be wishy-washy and leave me a list of, like, your fourteen favorites. Pick one and stick to it, pals! …I think you can probably guess mine.

And I know Justice League already came out. You can say you’re looking forward most to #2, if you’d like. Or you can even pick Hawk and Dove. Either case, I won’t make fun of you. Promise. And you don’t need to pop in and declare “I’m not buying ANY of them because I hates DC forever” because that’s not what I’m asking for. I mean, c’mon, don’t be That Guy.

Anyway, I’ll probably do a tally of them for…Wednesday’s post, let’s say, and see what you folks are most interested in. Assuming I get enough response to tally, of course.

A particularly lazy post.

filed under Categories question time 8 Comments

So I asked on the Twitter late last night for a couple of topics that I could write about today in brief, and this is what I was given:

From Celamowari:

…Did you like any of DC’s RetroActive books?

It seems that I’m liking them more in concept than I do in actual execution. And that might just be me. I’ve been told the 1970s-style Flash one-shot has some clever stuff in it. But it’s been a real…”you can’t go home again” kind of thing, I guess. I did pick up the 1970s-style Superman book, but I’ve only read about a third of it so far and haven’t gone back to it. I just might not be in the mood for it or something…it’s hard to say.

I am looking forward to the Justice League retro special illustrated by Kevin Maguire.

Nscottg supplied a few topics here:

“the Absence of Wally West”

Actually, as far as I’m concerned there’s an absence of the Flash, period, since I gave up on the Flash books a while back. I stuck through Flash: Rebirth, but the relaunched series with Barry Allen under the cowl just felt like a step backwards. And it didn’t help that the new series was just kinda bland.

As for the larger implications of the absence of former Kid Flash/former regular Flash Wally West…just one of those casualties, I suppose, of DC’s attempt to revitalize a moribund property critically damaged by too many restarts and retoolings in too short a time. Bringing back Barry seemed like a last resort, since Wally’s sales didn’t seem like they’d be going back up any time soon, and since Flash sales are up (or rather, were up, since they’re relaunched the series again as part of DC’s September Flood and who knows how it’ll do after that) I’m guessing Wally’s either out of the picture or reduced to a supporting role for the time being.

“something random about G’nort”

I liked Bad-Ass G’nort in that Howard Chaykin Guy Gardner mini. But I don’t think we’ll ever see G’nort as a regular player in the Green Lantern books. Unless he’s a Blue Lantern now…the “hope” thing would really fit him.

what Marvel Characters would make awesome Black Lanterns

Uncle Ben, natch. Imagine the head games a Black Lantern Uncle Ben would pull on Spider-Man.

Also, Black Lantern H.E.R.B.I.E. Yeah, I know he’s a robot. Still want to see it.

Comic miniseries that refuse to die (see: Secret Six, Suicide Squad, Agents of Atlas, etc, etc)

I know it’s a way to artificially bump sales with a new #1 every year, but it gets to be kind of a drag to follow, you know? If they’re going to do a series, just do a series, instead of giving readers nice jumping-off points after six months and hoping they’ll come back with the next series.

On the other hand, it is nice that the mini-series format gives certain sales-challenged but critically-acclaimed properties like Agents of Atlas multiple chances to find a more extensive audience. Not that it did, but at least they tried.

And then there’s the mini-series that should probably be given a rest. The first Marvel Zombies mini? Like printing money. The recent Marvel Zombies Supreme mini? Like printing Shadowhawk. Time to let that property sit on a shelf for a while, guys.

Marvel’s ratio of female creators?

Well, I didn’t check every book Marvel is currently publishing, but it looks like there’s at least two comics coming out this week with female writers (X-23 by Marjorie Liu, Mystic by G. Willow Wilson). So there’s two!

The shirt off my back.

filed under Categories question time, swamp thing 8 Comments

A few more questions from you, the loyal Progressiveruin.com readers:

  • Thelonious_Nick wonders

    Why do all these big events that the comics companies are always pushing on us sound so awesome ahead of time but end up being so god-awful when they actually occur?

    Well, we’re only human, and we’re comic fans (two states of being that are not mutually exclusive, despite popular belief)…it’s pretty easy to buy into the hype and excitement, or at least absorb a small bit of it, ahead of time, which perhaps inflates expectations beyond any point the event in question can possibly satisfy.

    Or maybe they just end up being terrible. (The true answer is probably somewhere between these two options.)

  • Moonrock rockets off

    “Having just picked up some back issues of Secret Wars II, which I hadn’t read since it first came out years ago, I was curious if I was the only one who thinks the Beyonder looked like Jim Shooter with a jheri(sp?) curl? Mike, do you think Shooter was egotistic enough to write himself in SWII as an omnipotent being?”

    If I remember correctly, there was some thought at the time that the Secret Wars II Beyonder was indeed a “Mary Sue” of sorts for Shooter, and the Secret Wars page on TV Tropes even refers to the Beyonder as “Self Insert Fic” in regards to the character’s relation to Shooter.

    I don’t know if it was an intentional thing, but, to be frank, had I been in his position, I would have done the exact same thing. I totally would have made myself the main character of Sterling W–er, Secret Wars II. Except I wouldn’t have had to change my hair, since my hairstyle has already achieved beautiful perfection.

  • Roger Green inquires

    “Did you see this Swamp Thing item?”

    Actually, I did not see this amusing alteration to Steve Bissette’s drawing of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing palling around until you pointed it out. Thanks! Also learned at the link: there’s a Facebook application which allows you to make your own Life magazine cover, which could result in some mischievous fun.

  • Professor Booty is about to be partially disappointed in at least one answer to his two questions:

    Are you watching Game of Thrones, Mike? On a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome is it?

    I haven’t seen one single frame of Game of Thrones, nor have I even read any of the books. However, I understand Peter Dinklage is involved in the TV show, and Mr. Dinklage always…always…gets a 10 on the awesome scale. (Yes, even in Underdog.)

    Do you wear any clothes with Swamp Thing on them? Did Mike Sterling ever dress as Swamp Thing for Halloween (or just to work or something!) and are there pictures of it? If so, how come I never seen them here?

    The only piece of Swamp Thing clothing I’ve worn is this 1994 t-shirt, which I couldn’t find a pic of online so, in a Progressive Ruin first, I scanned the actual shirt from my own closet:


    It…shows a little wear, and I haven’t worn it in a while, but I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. And yeah, it’s a bit of a peculiar design, what with Swampy ‘n’ Abby’s daughter Tefe sittin’ up there.

    You know what Swamp Thing shirt I’d love to have? One with this cover. I would so pay money for that.

    I never dressed as Swamp Thing for Halloween, unfortunately. Nor do I dress as Swamp Thing for the shop, nor do I dress as him while just hanging around the house, vacuuming or something. Because I know you were wondering. However, I have had two employees dress as me for Halloween…only one of whom was male.

  • The Mutt shouts

    “Henderson!”

    “HENDERSON!”
     
     
     
    (Listen to a few of these for further explanation.)

Podcasts and swamp creatures.

filed under Categories question time, swamp thing 10 Comments

Okay, one last Twitter question from last night, which came when I was plotting to destroy my enemies sound asleep, from TheMeanGeek:

“do you listen to podcasts? which ones and why? totally self-serving by the way”

“Self-serving,” he says, because he has his own podcast which I haven’t listened to yet, but I promise I’ll give it a try!

Anyway, I do listen to a handful of podcasts, which include the following:

  • War Rocket Ajax – the only comics podcast I listen to, mostly because I usually don’t like listening to people who aren’t me talk about comics. But I like the hosts (Chris Sims and Matt Wilson, and former host Eugene Ahn), I enjoy their senses of humor, they have good interviews, and generally cut through the usual fan-nonsense that pollutes most comics discussion. Or they completely wallow in it to the point of hilarity.

  • Look at His Butt – a title that may take some explaining if you’re not familiar with the podcast, I realize. It’s a William Shatner-centric Star Trek podcast, with the “his butt” in question being Mr. Shatner’s own. The two gals in charge of the site, LT and Jungle Kitty, have a lot of fun talking about Bill, about Trek, about Trek conventions, about Trek merchandise, and some more about Bill. Always an enjoyable listen.

    Also, a couple of years back they were kind enough to interview me about my own Trek fandom, so feel free to give that a listen if you missed it the first time.

  • As some folks may have gathered (more from my Twitter feed than from this site, I’m guessing), I have an interest in science and skeptical matters. A couple of podcasts along those lines that I enjoy are the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe (a longer show with interviews, discussions of current skeptical topics, and general shenaniganery), and Skeptoid (runs about ten minutes, usually devoted to discussing a single topic per episode). (Also, I won’t list them here, but I occasionally listen to a couple of pro-paranormal ‘n’ woo podcasts just to exercise the ol’ “pick out the logical fallacy” muscle.)

  • A couple of comedy podcasts I enjoy: Sklarbro Country, featuring identical twin comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, and the Pod F. Tompkast with Paul F. Tompkins.

That’s not all of them, but those are the main ones I check out regularly. Keep meaning to start one myself, but that would require, you know, time. And effort. And probably equipment.

A question or two from “White Lantern Alec Holland” from yesterday’s post:

“I need a complete accurate list of of all of DC Comics letters pages of the last forty years responding to previous Swamp Thing related guest-appearances and intros in these titles that I have yet to follow, including [LIST OMITTED]”

Oh, Lordy, I don’t know. To be honest, it never occurred to me to collection Swamp Thing’s mentions in letter columns, though I suppose in some cases, if it was a series I was buying regularly, I got them by default. So…um, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

He also asks

“What did you think of Garbage Man vs. Mossy Man in Weird Worlds #6?”

I’d actually given up on the Weird World series, but Tim O’Neil mentioned to me on the Twitter that there was a Man-Thing-ish type critter who popped up in that last issue, so I gave the comic a quick poke-through at the shop. My general feeling is that this one story felt more like a classic ’70s-style Marvel/DC horror comic than the other “Garbage Man” installments. More even than the (relatively) recent Swamp Thing/Man-Thing comics themselves, which were too much of the Vertigo Comics generation to really be evocative of the simpler stories of times past. The basic story of a misunderstood monster befriended by a child is straight out of an old House of Mystery. Or the Gamera films, for that matter, I realize, but this particular execution of the plot did give me that slight twinge of nostalgia.

…

So long as I’m in a question-answerin’ mood, if you have any lingering queries, go ahead and pop ’em in the comments and I’ll give ’em a go. In the meantime, I’ll just be sittin’ here approximatin’ a casual speakin’ voice by replacin’ letters with apostrophes.

#AskMike.

filed under Categories question time 7 Comments

So normally when I do my “question times”, I put the call out on this site and gather up a few dozen comments and then answer them at length over the following eight or nine weeks, much to the delight of everyone who reads this site, I’m sure. But this time, I pulled a Chris Sims (who regularly does this for his Comics Alliance “Ask Chris” column) and put a question-call on my Twitter thingie. In short order I received, amongst the abuse, a few actual questions, so let’s see what I can do here:

From Chris Sims his own self, he asks

“My question is Swamp Thing is dumb, and I’ll take my answer off the air.”

Well, Mr. Chris “I Love My Little Pony with All My Heart and Soul” Sims, I’ll have you know that, as revealed in Swamp Thing #75 (August 1988, by Rick Veitch & Alfredo Alcala), the template for Swamp Thing’s mind was formed around the critically-injured and dying Alec Holland’s mind:


…and as such, doesn’t function as well as a normal, healthy brain. However, over the course of this issue, Swamp Thing grew himself a big ol’ brain to think himself out of a particular stumper of a dilemma. So he’s not really dumb, since his mind is based on that of a scientist, after all…it’s just that his thinker doesn’t think too quickly. A limitation he can get around, apparently, but sitting down and growing a giant Hector Hammond-esque head. So put that in your Twilight Sparkle and smoke it, mister!

“Franzferdinand2” wants to know

“Jay-Z and Nas decide to revisit their beef, but will settle it without using rap. What is the forum they use?”

I know next to nothing about either of these men, aside from having heard Jay-Z’s name in passing, but I will go with the default time-honored method of solving any disputes: Rock-‘Em Sock-‘Em Robots, which you can read about here, or, apparently, see in this forthcoming movie from the looks of things.

Pal Alex dares to ask

“who / what is this Swamp Thing everyone’s talking about? sounds dumb”

Swamp Thing was rocketed from the distant planet Houma and crash-landed on Earth, whereupon he was bitten by radioactive eelgrass and thus gained all the powers of plantlife, such as climbing walls and the invaluable “plant sense” – which comes in handy when he’s confronted by the metallic tentacles of the nefarious Doc Arcane.

Alex also tempts fate by asking

“What was it like going to high school with Abe Lincoln when dinosaurs still walked the earth?”

Man, these new school textbooks aren’t doing anyone any good.

JacobMartin queries

“I feel pop culturally baffled as to what to get into next, and the movies coming out recently fail to interest. What to do?”

Well, if nothing new is grabbing your fancy, that’s okay. There’s no need to force it…you don’t have to be “into” something at any given moment. Just go ahead and enjoy what you’re already enjoying, and chances are that thing will eventually lead you into something new, or that your attention will eventually be caught by something new that comes along. You don’t always have to chase it…sometimes it’ll come right to you.

Leeatard has a question:

“Do you think there’s a possibility the upcoming DC reboot will finally cure event fatigue?”

That’s hard to say. It depends on whether or not DC stops doing “events” after the September Number One-alanche, and I think we can all assume that the big events will continue. Particularly if the whole initiative flops and DC suddenly has a “Crisis of Going Back to The Way Things Were” crossover series.

But then again, this September thing is sort of the ultimate expression of a Big Event, isn’t it? Can they kill the disease with a big ol’ dose of said disease? We’ll find out in a few months.

And of course, it’s not like Marvel is going to scale back their eventifiying. It’ll probably be two or three going on at any given time, as per usual.

Tim O’Neil wonders

“Who is more powerful, Gladstone Gander or Longshot?”

They do both have powerful “luck” powers, in which events will somehow miraculously fall in their favor. It does seem like an “immovable object meets irresistible force” situation, but I will give the nod to Gladstone, as he is a funny animal, and funny animals have that additional level and / or expectation of “defying all sense of physics and realism” that human comic characters generally do not have. Well, aside from Plastic Man.

TheBrobe inquires

“Have you ever had a week without a mistake or damaged book from Diamond? In my three years it hasn’t happened once.”

It does happen, if rarely. With the sheer number of books and comics being processed, errors and damages are bound to creep in, and that’s, you know, just a thing you gotta deal with. However, this one time, after a string of error-filled shipments, we had an order come in with no problems whatsoever. Completely flawless. So impressed were we that we placed our regular call to our Diamond sales rep anyway, just to compliment folks on a job well done! …And we think we ended up irritating our rep, who thought we were being sarcastic. We weren’t, honest!

Celamowari asks

“What is your stance on other swamp monsters like the Heap, the Glob, etc.?”

MY STANCE IS WIDE. Er, that is to say, I’m cool with other swamp monsters. I really dug Steve Gerber’s Sludge, for example, and enjoyed what little of the Heap I’ve been able to read. And I liked this brief Heap revival book from 1971. So I’m all for more swamp critters in my funnybooks.

Celamowari also asks

“Tapping Tommy – threat or menace?”

A tap-dancing super-villain? “Freakin’ annoying” is what I’d call him. I hope Scourge shot him twice.

And then he adds

“What is the deal with DC super-villain Quakemaster?”

He makes quakes. What’s so hard about that? Pretty sure he does it out of anger over the discontinuing of his favorite cereal.

Finally, Celamowari wants to know

“Do you…do you like me?”

Oh, I guess.