So, lemme answer a couple of questions left in the comments for yesterday’s post:
Alex asks
“What are the Marvel titles that you’d be ordering that same month? I know it’s like apples-to-oranges, but I think it’d be an interesting contrast, both in the core characters/writers/artists/book styles, and in what each company is offering at this point in time.”
Well, I don’t get nearly as many Marvel books as I do DC, but I’ll poke through the Marvel solicits for books arriving in September, and see what I do get:
Hulk #40-1 – Hulk is just one of those characters, like Superman and Firestorm and Swamp Thing, I’ve been following for decades, and will likely still keep following so long as they keep publishing them. The last year or two we’ve seen an awful lot of Hulk tie-in series and one-shots that I mostly skipped, but I kept reading the main titles: Incredible Hulk (on hiatus this month) and Hulk, with the big red fella. Jeff Parker has been writing it, and it’s been been a lot of fun.
Daredevil #3-4 – Hmm. Two issues of this, too. The ol’ “cram everything else off the rack” trick Marvel is known for, paired up against DC’s own “cram everything else off the rack” strategy they’re running this month. This’ll be fun, fitting everything on the racks. Anyway, Daredevil. I really liked the first issue, and I plan to stick with it so long as Mark Waid is writing and / or the book isn’t buried under crossover events I don’t care about.
FF #9 – I like Fantastic Four, but haven’t always liked what was being done with the book. But, in recent years, we’ve had a good series of creative teams on the title, and Jonathan Hickman has been doing some solid and interesting work here.
Punishermax #17 – If I can’t have Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon Punisher, I will gladly accept Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon Punisher. Brutal and compelling storytelling here. I still hate that stupid “Punishermax” title, though.
The Stand: Night Has Come #2 – Yeah, I know. I’m a Stephen King fan, what can I tell you? (Gave up on the Dark Tower comics a while back, though.)
I also pick up Amazing Spider-Man, but that’s for the girlfriend. I don’t have any particular interest in it. And I really should have been reading Criminal, but I haven’t quite caught up on that series yet.
That fun guy MushroomJones notes
“Surprised to see Red Lanterns make your pick up list. I’m an unabashed GL fan and even I see that book as a short sided concept that can become a ‘limited series’ very quickly.”
As I said, I’m a big Green Lantern fan, so I’m willing to at least give it a try. But I do agree with you…this doesn’t have “Exciting Double-Sized 100th Issue” written all over it, does it?
~P~ laments
“I’ll look in on I Vampire, as I used to get the original incarnations, The Demon and any other supernatural title.
Except , maybe Frankenstein.
I’ve yet to find a vehicle outside of the original novel and some old Karloff films that made me care about the Monster.
Does that make ME a monster?”
GET THE RAKES AND TORCHES! Er, I mean…no! No, you’re not a monster! But honestly, this Frankenstein comic is only barely related to its literary origins or its filmic existence. It’s a badass monster dude that fights weird things. Really all you need to know!
My predecessor at the funnybook store, former employee Ray Van Buskirk, buzzes
“Pretty good list Mike. Just out of curiosity, among your customers, is there anyone subscribing to all 52 titles? I am getting all 52, but I have always been a heavy comic buyer and I am quite excited about the whole re-launch.”
Oh, so you buy comic books somewhere else, eh? …I have a couple of customers who seem to be planning on picking up all 52. I even, very briefly, thought about it, just for the first month, but…man, I’ve got enough stuff to read. And I’m just plain not interested in some of these new titles. Nothing personal, just that some of them aren’t my thing. Can’t like and read everything, after all!
However, I was thinking a little more about these all these new #1s and their potential sales…it occurs to me that there may be some percentage of customers who will buy certain big-name books just for the novelty of having, say, a Detective Comics #1 or a Superman #1. Particularly if there’s any kind of real world publicity around the time of the releases. I mean, you never know.
Related: I hope when Detective Comics #27 rolls around, assuming DC hasn’t reverted back to the original numbering by then, they do something to commemorate the original Detective #27 and the debut of Batman. Just a thought that crossed my mind.
In other news:
- Oh, hey, here’s an interesting thing. Remember that Elseworlds 80-Page Giant that DC was going to publish, but had it withdrawn and pulped instead because a baby was put in a microwave in Kyle Baker’s Superman’s Babysitter story and that clearly was going to cause a nationwide rash of babies-in-microwaves should the story ever be unleashed upon an unsuspecting public? Well, lock up those babies and throw out those microwaves, because in this here DC Comics solicitation listing there is this little tidbit:
“DC COMICS PRESENTS: ELSEWORLDS 80-PAGE GIANT #1
Written by CHUCK DIXON, KYLE BAKER and others
Art by KYLE BAKER, AARON LOPRESTI and others
Cover by TY TEMPLETON
On sale NOVEMBER 30 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
A legendary ‘lost’ comic is back! Don’t miss President Superman confronting the indignities of ‘Scandalgate,’ the return of the Super- Sons, the Birds of Prey newspaper comic strip, the adventures of Superman’s babysitter, a classic KINGDOM COME parody, and more!”
Well well well. (And yes, I know that babysitter story eventually saw print in a Bizarro Comics anthology after it was widely bootlegged and it won awards and DC kinda had to put it out there.) And it’s an 80-page giant, and this book is 96 pages…I wonder what else is in here?
- Speaking of kids being exposed to harmful material, this columnist reminisces about watching the Swamp Thing cartoon and then going out to get his first Swamp Thing comic…and boy, did he pick a doozy. BONUS: refers to me as “Swamp Thing’s biggest fan.” Well, I have put on a few pounds lately.
- You guys know how much I love sombreros. Thus, this new post from Bully the Little Sombreroed Bull is right up my alley: ¡SOMBREROS!
- Gerry Giovinco looks back at his pre-Comico Comics Duckwork newspaper and the Howard the Duck-inspired shenanigans presented therein. (And here is more background on Duckwork posted on the site a year or so ago.)
- Comics industry veteran Tony Isabella has jumped moustache-first into the world of comics blogging, and you can get in on the ground floor right here. He’s a swell guy, and a longtime supporter of my silly site, so please add him to your blog-readers and your feed-aggregators and whatnot.
