this week’s comics

The opposite problem of Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk.

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Well, this is certainly my favorite comic of the week, a complete reprinting of the original Popeye #1 published by Dell Comics in 1948. 48 pages of comics, plus inner covers and back cover plus a swell front cover, all filled with fights and jokes, which I know you people like, for only $3.99. Worth every single penny.


Mike Allred draws the new issue of Daredevil, and…okay, don’t get me wrong, I think Daredevil as written by Mark Waid is a great comic, and currently one of the best, if not the best, Marvel has to offer right now. Even the non-Waid annual, which was written and drawn by Alan Davis, was a lot of fun. But there have been an awful lot of Daredevil comics recently, and double-checking the invoices…sure enough, there have been three regular issues plus the annual released over the last five weeks. Of course, the indicia does say “published Monthly except in May and August” but still, I don’t know you want to push your readers’ pocketbooks quite that much, especially with current economic conditions and with an audience base that’s looking for pretty much any reason to reduce their disposable income expenditures. Flooding the stands with consecutive issues of a series on what appears to be no set schedule is a good way to overwhelm your readership, and cause them to cut even titles they like if they think they can’t afford to keep up.

I mean, I get it. It’s a publishing and marketing strategy, designed to push other comics off the shelves, and force customers to devote more money to your popular “essential” titles while taking money away from your competitors’ titles (and hopefully not from too many of your own, though that inevitably happens). And it’s the kind of short term profiteering necessary in the current depressed comics marketplace, where you have to grab that money while it’s being shoved in your direction, as trying to build up a solid readership over an extended period of time takes, well, an extended period of time, and who has time to wait for that, amiright?

…That’s a long-winded way to say “I wish they’d stick to a schedule,” because cranking out a new issue of a series every one or two weeks causes my customers to increasingly groan “another new issue already?” even on titles they love. And that’s not an attitude anyone in this industry can afford to encourage.

Okay, wasn’t intending to rant about that. The new Daredevil is great. And let’s end this on an up note:


So this relaunch of Supreme by Erik Larsen and Cory Hamscher, picking up from the Alan Moore run from a few years back, is a bit of a hidden gem, I think. It’s a hoot and half, despite that bloody cover I scanned up there which fits in fine in context, honest. There’s all kind of crazy stuff going on in this series, and Invincible fans may want to pick up this particular issue. That the Moore issues which preceded this series are out of print and not always readily available in back issue bins is a shame, and may have hurt this restart’s chances with those stories being mostly out of memory. But, hell, just jump on in…it’s a lot of fun, and it’s not like you’ve read every single issue of, say, Batman before you read your first Batman story. You’ll live.

Frankly, that’s just teasing the few folks still holding out hope for a Spawn/Spider-Man crossover.

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REMINDER: today is the day that Swamp Thing and Animal Man finally meet (after that sorta fake-out in the Animal Man annual), kicking off that “Rotworld” crossover hoohar in their twelfth issues. …They meet, they fight until they realize they’re on the same side, and then they team up and fly off into space to fight Galactus. It’s totally awesome. (You can see the diptych image from both covers on this page.)

Also out this week is Spawn #222, which will not only kick off a whole new round of people saying “oh, Spawn, that’s still coming out?” but also gives us another Spidey-tweaking cover to join last month’s:


Specifically, Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #316, respectively. …I don’t know, I kinda think these are funny, especially with that “SPAWN IS AMAZING” cover coming out the same week as The Amazing Spider-Man movie.

In other news:

Or maybe it could be released bi-weekly…my expectations aren’t totally unrealistic.

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So we had that little Avengers Vs. X-Men release party thingie last night…that’s where we get special dispensation from Marvel ‘n’ Diamond to release the comic ahead of the normal Wednesday street date. Well, a whole four hours ahead, I guess, since technically I could have started selling all the week’s new comics the second Felix’s paws were pointed at the witching hour*, but frankly I’ve put in enough time at the shop lately. I needs my beauty sleep…I mean, really, have you seen me?

But away, we put out the AvX #1s, and moved quite a few, which kind of surprised me since our town tends to roll up the sidewalks once nighttime rolls around, but we had a bunch of folks stroll on in and a good time was had by all. And we had bit of a mini-sale, too, so it was definitely worth staying open a little later than we normally do on Tuesdays.

I was mostly still working on processing the new comics order and pulling for the comic savers, so I tended to let other folks at the shop handle the AvX crowd. But there were a couple of things about this week’s new comics I wanted to point out:

1. Looks like Marvel is moving toward that slightly less-slick/”self-cover” format on some of their books. It’s not quite the same as the paperstock of the interior pages, but the covers ain’t as slick as they used to be. It’s not like that for every Marvel this week, but it is for quite a few of them.

2. The third issue of that Avengers movie tie-in Fury’s Big Week is out this week…and for second there I thought all our copies were damaged and missing pages. But no, it’s 20 pages of comics, the covers…and no ads. A while back Johanna was wondering what happened to comic book ads, in which it seemed like all the ads in recent Marvel and DC comics were just house ads for other Marvel and DC comics. But Fury’s Big Week doesn’t even have those…it just does away with the extra non-story pages altogether and gives you a 20-page booklet. Were previous issues of this series like this, and I just didn’t notice it?

Anyway, I guess this is the next cost-cutting device in maintaining the monthly floppy format…just plain using less paper, since they’re not making any money selling ad space on the extra pages anyway.

3. Also, Dave Sim has a new issue of Glamourpuss out. I love this comic, but God help you if you try to explain to someone what it’s about, because they’ll just look at you funny.

4. Swamp Thing is also out this week, with New Swampy finally making his debut. …I think it was worth the wait, though I wish every issue were 64 pages long, no ads, and released weekly, which I think is an entirely reasonable and economically-sound demand.

Enough about new comics…let me talk very briefly about some old comics. Reader Tom asks

I’d be happy to see an update, however brief, on the Great Grendel reread you were doing a while back… they were favourite comics of mind but I’m not sure they’ve aged well.

Yeah, I have a bad habit of not following up on things like “I’M TOTALLY GOING TO REREAD ALL OF, SAY, JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE AND REPORT BACK TO YOU” because Mike of Bloggings Future occasionally doesn’t like being constrained by plans made by Mike of Bloggings Past and I just never get around to, you know, stuff.

But I did reread all the Matt Wagner-written Grendels, and the Four Devils, One Hell mini by James Robinson, and a few of the other minis…and pretty much got burnt out/lost interest at about the same point in the various 1990s Grendel minis as I did when they were originally coming out. The minis that came out after that (including 1999’s Devil Child, which I first read during this “great Grendel reread”) tied back in to the early Hunter Rose-era of Grendel, which I have far more interest in than the future-history storylines that occupied most of the ’90s issues. I did reread all those late ’90s/2000s Grendel, but I think I’ll probably never get around to reading those few minis that I skipped originally. Ah, well…it’s not like I haven’t read enough comics.

* Yes, I know on most Felix-style clocks the hands aren’t in the shape of Felix’s paws. But I wrote it and don’t feel like changing it. So there.

A very minor spoiler for All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 is in this post.

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So anyway, at the shop on Wednesday, pal Dorian was flipping through some of the comics in his stack, and, while perusing All New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, he says to me “hey, Swamp Thing is in this issue.”

Me: “C’mon. Really?”

Dor: “Yes.” (shows me page with Swamp Thing)

Me: “Well, shit.” (takes copy of comic off rack)

Dor: “Well, I guess we know what you’ll be blogging about tomorrow!”

…Sigh. He knows me so well. And just to be clear, my expletive-enhanced reaction wasn’t to the fact that Swamp Thing was in a comic…that’s always okay by me, of course. It had more to do with the fact that I’m such an easy mark. I must buy the comics with Swamp Thing in them. It’s a sickness.

It’s a fun Halloween-ish comic, by the way, with Batman and Zatanna trying to solve a crime at the House of Mystery, with cameo appearances by lots of DC’s horror characters, such as the aforementioned Swamp Thing, who gets in a panel or three.

Other notable items this week: the new Smurfs collection The Smurfs Apprentice, which I haven’t read yet but I’m sure it’ll be as fun as the rest in the series; Superman #2, which is slightly more readable than #1, but only just; Breed III #6, guest-starring Dreadstar…man, I do love the Dreadstar; Fury of Firestorm #2, which again I haven’t got around to reading yet, if only because I didn’t care for the first one so much, but I like the Firestorm character enough to give it another shot; The Incredible Hulk #1, which gives us Bearded Hulk, and Bearded Hulk is nearly always a mark of quality…as is the fact it’s written by Jason Aaron; and Jason Aaron as writer on Wolverine and the X-Men #1 got me to at least flip through the comic and check it out…well, X-Men books are still not for me, I guess, but folks I know who are more mutantly-inclined seem to really like it, so there you go.

GRATUITOUS PARAGRAPH BREAK: Aquaman #2 was probably one of the fastest selling second issues of DC’s New 52 relaunch, so that’s a good sign…the comic wasn’t bad either; I’ve been hearing here and there people are having trouble finding the free Legion flight ring that’s out to promote the Legion Secret Origin #1…I know we didn’t get our full allotment, so maybe there was a shipping issue with this? I don’t know; Daredevil #5 continues to be remarkably good, and hopefully no editorially-mandated crossover events will come along to spoil things; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 continues the series that really, really surprised me with the demand I’m seeing…this is a series that has had moribund sales for years, and it’s really taking off. Good, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for TMNT; and a couple more strip collections: volume two of Fantagraphics’ Mickey Mouse strips, gorgeous as ever, and Reheated Lio: Still Another Lio Collection, peculiar as ever.

Oh, and drop a buck on Spaceman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso…an intriguing, and beautiful-looking, first issue.

And in conclusion: Comics! I have…won’t you?

You probably weren’t expecting me to end the post this way.

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Seemed like an appropriate image to post, considering our current travails. It comes from the cover of Miracleman #7 (August 1986), published by Eclipse Comics as it was attempting to recover from a flood that devastated its offices and much of its comic stock.

We’re recovering okay from our own flood, as not a lot of actual store stock was lost…most of the unrecoverable items were personal materials from the back office. The primary issue is needing to move stuff out of the back so that we can clean up the mess, and that’s a lot of stuff. Thankfully, we have a lot of people helping out, so everything should be back to normal relatively soon. Still, it’s a huge pain and a significant disruption to the business, but thankfully our customers have been very understanding, gracious, and sympathetic, for which I am very thankful.

• • •

Let me note a few new comical-type things that came out this week:

  • Some nice archival stuff turned up this week, including Gahan Wilson’s Nuts! from Fantagraphics (a somewhat nostalgic/somewhat terrifying look at childhood), volume five of the Complete Bloom County, a third volume of John Stanley’s Libary: Nancy Vol. 3 (with our favorite ruffian on the cover), and the fourth volume of Prince Valiant from Fantagraphics (beautiful as ever).

  • In the “people in capes punching each other” department, the second issue of Batwoman shows that the art continues to be the star of the show, but thankfully the writing isn’t too bad, either. Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. is still full of monsters fighting monsters and being strange about it, which is okay in my book. And Green Lantern #2…you know, if this just becomes a Hal Jordan/Sinestro buddy-cop series, I’d be okay with that.

  • The Shade #1 is probably best read without trying to think about how it fits into the New DC’s superhero continuity, because…yeah, no way. I mean, it spins out of the James Robinson Starman series, the very premise of which isn’t possible in DC’s “no Golden Age heroes in continuity” thing, if I’m understanding that right. Unless the Starman series now retroactively takes place on DC’s forthcoming Earth-2, where the Golden Age heroes are going back to, but that would mean the Cry for Justice series, referred to in Shade, is also on Earth-2…AAUGH. Mike no like think. Anyway, just enjoy it as a Starman follow-up…which was totally written without any of this new 52 business in mind. Don’t try to figure out how it fits with everything else. DON’T MAKE MY MISTAKE.

  • As an aside, here…speaking of things that didn’t account for the new 52 relaunch…I guess that big ol’ Firestorm cliffhanger from Brightest Day #24 is no longer an issue, given the character’s complete reboot.

  • I’ve been enjoying the new Hellraiser series from Boom!, which treats the whole premise with a little more seriousness and respect than most of the movies have. Clive Barker being involved in the book, even just a little, certainly helps.

• • •

In other, other news…I shaved my beard and dyed my hair. No, not because I’m on the run…the girlfriend and I wanted to see how it’d look, and by that I mean “she made me do it.” Hair is perhaps a shade…too dark, probably from not rinsing it out fast enough. I mean, “teak” is a nice color, right? As a result, I’ve been frightening the populace with my dark brown hair (a color that’s never been on my head, by the way) and my shorn face. I’ve also been called “Aaron” at least once, which I don’t understand since my face at least gets touched by a razor once in a while.

Photos possibly to follow, because if it’s one thing the internet needs, it’s more pictures of my mug.

What the well-dressed Swamp Thing fan will be wearing very soon.

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I was going to save these for my next End of Civilization post, but decided I couldn’t wait. Now, I’m not much of a t-shirt wearer, but I think I will make an exception for these fine items, available in the October issue of Previews:


That’s the cover of the new Swamp Thing #1 by Yanick Paquette, and here is a plain ol’ logo shirt:


…one of which I’ve been awaiting for a long time. At last, I can finally retire (well, more retire) this worn-out piece of clothing.

• • •

In other news…I picked up five of the new DC #1s this week (minor spoilers ahead):

  • Superman #1: lots of stuff crammed into this issue — interesting, but can’t really describe it as “enjoyable” — and the last hope that someone, anyone, could make Superman’s new costume look good is finally dashed…though George Perez comes closest on the cover.

  • Aquaman #1: pulls off the nice trick of taking all the criticisms and mockeries aimed at Aquaman over the years and putting them in the mouths of a bunch of folks harassing our fishy friend. Effectively puts reader in position of siding with the hero against all those old jokes, probably a more effective defense than attempts at bad-assifying the character. I wasn’t planning to get this, but picked it up on a whim and, surprisingly, turned out to be one of my favorite relaunches of this whole New 52 hoohar.

  • Fury of Firestorm #1: noted just recently that I love the Firestorm character, but I’m not quite sure what I think of this new version. It’s a complete reboot, which seems to be taking things in a slightly different direction, and…I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I’ll keep reading and see what happens. However, I am not down with reboot Cliff Carmichael…sorry, this is “Superman’s new costume” level of tragedy.

  • Green Lantern: New Guardians #1: think this may be the “one Green Lantern title too many” series. I’ve said before that I’ve probably had enough of the different-colored Lantern corps for the time being, so it’s probably not you, baby, it’s me. However, totally judging this from just this one issue, this feels like it’s more suited to a storyline in another GL book rather than a series on its own. Then again, you can probably say that about every GL series beyond the first one.

  • Justice League Dark #1: only picked it up because of John Constantine, not expecting much…but turned out to be not half-bad. Still in the “let’s get the band together” part of the story, being only the first issue an’ all, but am looking forward to more. And looking forward to any possible Swamp Thing cameos, but that goes without saying.

Also picked up Love & Rockets #4 by those Jaime and Gilbert cats, which is, as usual, a masterpiece of comics storytelling despite its lack of Swamp Thing. L&R, always recommended.

…If you want reviews of all of last week’s DC #1s, pal Dorian has got you covered.

You may now refer to me as “The Ever-Lovin’ Gray-Haired Mike.”

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The fact that there isn’t an ongoing Thing solo series with this exact title and logo:


…is a sad indication of our failure as a culture. How could a comic titled The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing not sell like gangbusters?

Also, said theoretical The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing logo would require that pic of the Thing in a circle just to the left of it at all times.

image from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 (1976)

• • •

In other news:

  • I never got around to reviewing my picks from last week’s New DC #1 haul, but thankfully pal Dorian did. Dor points out something about Mr. Terrific’s name that…I hadn’t really considered. Hmm.

    In case you were wondering: I picked up Batwoman, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Green Lantern, Red Lanterns, and Demon Knights. Will be back for second issues on all these. Tried Mr. Terrific, but didn’t do anything for me, sadly.

  • Tony Isabella presents six-part behind-the-scenes look at an Ant-Man story he did with Steve Ditko, beginning with the introduction here and the first page of the story (including original Ditko pencils!) here.

    Also, at the end of this post, Mr. Isabella expands on a comment he left here, lamenting the lack of a creator credit for Jack Kirby in the new Omac series. I hadn’t noticed that lack of a credit, so shame on me for that. Another person noted that Kirby did get a credit in Demon Knights, so hopefully the same will pop up soon in Omac.

  • Bully, the Post-Flashpoint Little Stuffed Bull with an All-New Costume and Origin, details all those other changes made to the DC Universe you might have missed.

I was planning to write more about the new DCs this week, but got a late start on the post. Sorry.

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So the weekend before Justice League #1 was due out, I had a last minute feeling of “hmmm…maybe I should have more copies of this, since it is the first New DC title, and will likely sell well.” Thus, along with my regular reorders I sent in that Sunday evening, I put in an order for an extra bushel or two of that first Justice League comic.

Well, the immediate response from our distributor was “only available via back order,” which most of the time is the equivalent of “fat chance, laughing boy.” That, coupled with the reports of sellouts and announcements of reprintings, told me that my reordering was in vain.

…Until this week, when we received a big ol’ stack of Justice League #1, first printing, with our regular weekly shipment. Not sure how our distributor came across these (warehouse find? initial order for a now defunct store?) but there they were. And I threw them back on the new comics shelf, with a little “1st printing!” tag on them, and sold them for cover price. I didn’t do the “one per customer” thing, if only because 1) that results in panic buying, making people feel like they have to buy it rather than just picking it up if they’re interested, and 2) I didn’t feel like dealing with dudes returning to the shop five minutes later wearing a beret and a fake mustache saying “Bonjour! I am Monsieur I-Wasn’t-Just-Here-Buying-A-Copy-of-Justice-League-#1…may I buy a copy of Justice League #1?”

Speaking of panic-buying…remember a while back, when I looked at the sales patterns of the multiple Flashpoint tie-ins, and thought maybe the seeming new-series fatigue that sort of set in there may reflect a similar fatigue with this onslaught of DC debuts? Looks like the opposite may be true…with the constant sellouts and reprint announcements, this seems to be encouraging higher and faster sales than before, with folks not wanting to miss out. We planned ahead as best as we could, trying to anticipate sales among our clientele, but with customers from other comic shops coming to us for their books, along with a cascading demand feeding more sales and even more interest, we went from looking at our initial orders thinking “hope we don’t get stuck with these” to “oh crap, that’s not nearly enough.”

I did place back orders on everything hoping for a repeat of that Justice League situation, but lightning probably won’t strike twice. I did get some confirmations on some of my advance reorders, so we’re not totally out of luck. And I’m getting lots of the second printings as well.

In other non-DC news…the new Optic Nerve (#12) is out, and it’s a good’un. Actually, really good. Sergio Aragones Funnies #3 is also out, and you should be grateful that there’s a regular monthly booklet of cover-to-cover work by one of the world’s greatest cartoonists. You really should buy it. Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera’s Daredevil (also #3) is pulling off what I thought was impossible – me buying a Daredevil comic that doesn’t have the name “Miller” anywhere in the credits. Punishermax #17, that great comic with the worst name, (re-)introduces a character that usually isn’t of any interest when appearing in comics that don’t have the name “Miller” anywhere in the credits, but is sure used effectively here.

And that Sugar and Spike Archives is really good. Yeah, that doesn’t fit under “non-DC news,” since it is DC, but I don’t care. It’s great cartooning by Sheldon Mayer, and in every way deserving of its reputation.

Okay, let me complain about Superman’s new costume.

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To follow up on yesterday: I ended up not getting Justice League International…just seemed a little too…generic-y superhero, you know? I also picked up Omac, after giving it a look-through or two, and hearing a good word or two about it from comrade-in-funnybook-arms Chris Sims. It’s Keith Giffen doing a totally-nuts Kirby riff, and if you’re gonna do a book like Omac, Kirby it up as much as possible, I say.

And Swamp Thing…my mystical eye of Aga-Mike-o has peered across the nerdinet and has witnessed the pleasingly positive response most people have had to this new debut issue. Like I said yesterday, it continues the “Alec Holland evading his Swamp Thing destiny” storyline from the mini-series, and I’m assuming Scott Snyder will eventually provide the explanation for the sudden reseparation of Alec from Swampy, when the rejoining of the two was such a big deal at the end of Brightest Day. But, also like I noted, where the Search for Swamp Thing mini-series seemed awkward and forced, this new issue is more along the lines of what I want from a Swamp Thing comic…creepier and more introspective.

There’s also a bit of business introducing Swamp Thing’s next adversary, which features a certainly intentional reference to one of the more disturbing visuals from the Moore/Bissette/Totleben era. I don’t know that it’s supposed to be the same thing from the Moore run, but…well, I realize I’m being vague here, in an attempt to avoid spoilers. But you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.

One more thing, and this could be a SPOILER, I guess: this comic features, I believe, the second in-story appearance of Superman in his new costume that we’ve seen since the beginning of the relaunch. And while Yanick Paquette does a remarkable job illustrating this issue, there’s only so much one can do with that new Superman costume. It just plain looks awkward. Even the dude who designed the thing couldn’t make it work in the one panel he had to sell us on it in Justice League #1.

I like to think that I’m not simply being a typical reactionary comics fan, hating something because it’s different from what I’m used to. I mean, it’s…I’m not even sure how to articulate it. I think it’s a level of…pretension, perhaps, that seems uncharacteristic of what we think of when we consider the character of Superman. I think it’s that collar. It sort of gives him, like…airs of royalty, maybe? A “hey, this is my important uniform, I outrank you” kind of thing? And the action figure space-boots he suddenly has? It’s like Superman is slowly turning into the kind of superhero Old Superman opposed in Kingdom Come, with the overwrought, overdesigned ’90s tech-fest look.

Yes, maybe the red underwear over the blue tights was kind of goofy. Actually, there’s no “kind of” about it…it is goofy. And as someone reminded me on the Twitter not long ago, Superman’s costume is essentially just an old-timey circus strongman outfit. And…I’m okay with that. “Simple” works for Superman. So does “goofy” — it’s a little more humanizing, helping to bring a fantastic (in the original sense) character like Superman down to earth. (Compare also with the work jeans and boots costume in the new Action.)

Granted, that George Perez cover makes it look okay, but then, that’s George Perez. He makes purt’near everything look okay. But I’ll have to see what he does with it inside the book. Maybe once I get the in-story explanation for it (if there is one), I’ll be a little more accepting.

I mean, sure, if DC sticks with this costume, I’ll get used to it. But it’s really no improvement, especially if no one can draw it in an appealing fashion. It’s just change for change’s sake, and just one more shout of “hey, look, we’re different now!” among DC’s cacophony of similar cries.

So, in conclusion, I liked the new Swamp Thing comic. And let us put an end to the DC posts on this site…at least ’til next week.