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Tuesday, August 17, 2004
DC Comics For November
I probably enjoy dissecting these early solicitations a little too much, when you get right down to it.
The ultra-super-hyper-uber "War Games" story comes to a conclusion, allowing us to enjoy seven Bat-Family titles "dealing with the aftermath." Which I think is code for "we couldn't think of anything to write about except the big cross-over which just ended."
Superman Titles
In Action, Chuck Austen is using a villain created by Michael Turner. Now, I've been enjoying Austen's run on Action on the basis that it's Superman hitting things for twenty pages, but this seems to be taking the mediocrity of the title to new heights.
Superman: Secret Identity gets a trade paper-back, which I'm sure will be a consistent seller for us as it was a very good series from excellent creators. If the sales on the Hush books are any indication, we'll have a consistent seller with the Azzarello/Lee trade Superman: For Tomorrow. I don't think the actual merits of the art or story will have anything to do with those sales, however.
Superman/Batman #14: I guess DC finally got fed up with people writing comics about doppelgangers of Bats and Supes taking over the world and decided to just go ahead and authorize their own version using the actual characters.
DC Universe
JLA: Classified: Of the writers who have written JLA since the new series started, the only one whose work I've enjoyed has been Grant Morrison. So Morrison writing a JLA story is good news. However, given that this "rotating creative teams" approach on the main JLA book has given us the much-beloved all-time-classics of Dennis O'Neil, Byrne/Claremont and Austen's current "Superheroes cry" arc, I'm not holding out much hope for quality after the initial Morrison story.
Speaking of which that classic Byrne/Claremont story gets reprinted in trade form. So now it'll be really bad and available outside of comic book stores so that people outside the comics industry will be able to see just how bad comics are.
Firestorm and Bloodhound cross-over, and I appear to be the only blogger enjoying both books so I have no problem with it.
Batman finally shows up in the Book Of Which We No Longer Speak. That should quiet some of the more fanboyish complaints about the series...
The solicitation for JSA: Strange Adventures #4 heavily implies that a JSA member will "die." Well, the cover kind of gives it away, guys...
Dear DC Comics: Regarding the cover of Justice League Elite #4, thank you ever so much for printing a book with the words "Justice League" in the title that I'm not sure I'm going to actually be able to put on display in my ultra-conservative community.
Rick Veitch's Question series finally gets released. Insert gratuitous Ayn Rand joke here.
Beyond the DCU
Oh dear. Has no one told Alex Ross that the Cartoon Network version of Space Ghost is probably taking the character about as seriously as it's possible to take the character? The whole concept of this project sounds like bad fan-fiction. "I know, if we get rid of the little kids and the stupid space monkey all the cool kids will have no choice but to realize how great Space Ghost is! Especially if we make him all grim and gritty! Because that would be kewl!" And yes, I realize that the book only exists to keep Alex Ross happy, but still is there anyone besides Ross who wants to see a "serious" version of Space Ghost?
None of the CMX books, Musashi #9 or Swan have much appeal to me, though the art on Musashi has a nice clean line to it.
The Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty trade may attract my attention, especially if it's not tied into the tedious Dredd-verse I just don't enjoy.
The Nikopol Trilogy is given a nice and fairly inexpensive omnibus trade I may need to pick up. Now if only there were any chance for getting a US release date for Immortel.
Wildstorm
The Intimates: Joe Casey has solicited enough good-will from me that I'll at least check out the first couple of issues. Even though the subject matter of this series strikes me as a trifle precocious.
The final issue of Tom Strong's Terrific Tales features an Alan Moore/Peter Bagge collaboration. My mind boggles...
Wild Girl by Leah Moore and Shawn McManus sounds intriguing as well. I wonder how much complaining I'll have to listen to from fanboys because "she only got the job because Alan Moore's her father" despite the fact that the stories she's written on her own prior to this were actually pretty good.
Vertigo
Angeltown should be a strong title. I suspect I'll have to do a lot of hand-selling to get people to pick it up, though. Unless it's C.S.I. we have a hell of a time selling mysteries around here.
At $18 for the Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place soft-cover I probably should have just spent $25 on the hard cover.
Cue the Green Lantern fans complaining that the costume is different and this therefore shows total disrespect for the character, his history, and the fans who have worked so long to give Hal Jordan the prominence he deserves.
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