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Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Just when I'm despairing of having anything to write about today, DC's solicitations for February go on-line. So, I'll go over the list, briefly.
On a related note: I almost never go through the Previews catalog itself. Well, it's mostly because I just can't be bothered to give a damn about the majority of the stuff that's in it. Anything worthwhile I'll usually talk about after I read it. When it's on sale already. And other people can read it too. Unless you really want to know that I'm planning on buying Eros new book Sticky. Which they're billing as their first "gay porn comic," which tells me, first of all, that Sin Factory must actually be making money on Dangerous and Genus: Male, but also that whoever is in charge of writing the solicitations for Eros isn't familiar with their publishing history. Now, granted, Major Power and Spunky and Dandy Lion may not have been "porn" per se, but they were gay-themed humor books published by Eros. And I can understand why Eros might like to pretend that they never published Up From Bondage or Leatherboy, but that still leaves all those Coley books. Or are those technically "bi-sexual" porn comics? Anyway...
You may also have noticed that I almost never talk about Marvel's solicitations. Well, there are two reasons for that. One, the solicitations are written by monkeys on crack. No, scratch that, monkeys on crack would probably write more useful solicitation copy. Two, Marvel publishes almost nothing I have any interest in at all anymore. The only Marvel titles I buy are ones that Pete likes. It's also why you'll probably only ever see me write negative reviews of Marvel books from here on out, if I even bother to review them at all. Everyday I look at the shelf of comics, and I look at the Marvel books, and all I can see is "crap, crap and more crap."
Batman Family The only things noteworthy here are the War Games trade, which was a decent enough cross-over I suppose, and the one-shot Batman: The Man Who Laughs. Now, Brubaker is a writer I've learned to at least give a chance, but frankly I think I'm too old to be interested in a "Joker: Year One" type story. Had this come out when I was fourteen I would have been all over it. And I'm apparently the only person in the world who doesn't care for Doug Mahnke's art, so I'm guessing I'll give this a pass, unless it gets really incredibly good reviews.
Superman Family So, Ruin is really Jimmy Olsen, right? If that's the big reveal in Adventures of Superman I will be immensely happy.
I'll probably be picking up Scott McCloud's Superman mini, Superman: Strength. In general, Superman seems to be one of those characters that works better for me in smaller doses, such as minis and one-shots.
DC U As far as the regular ongoings and minis are concerned, I'll be picking up my usual assortment and ignoring everything else. I do have to wonder, though, if anyone was really clamoring for a Flash and Wonder Woman cross-over.
Green Lantern: Rebirth hints ominously at the "final fate" of Kyle Rayner. Sheesh. I doubt they're going to kill him, but really, they may as well. Green Lantern fans aren't going to be happy until DC retroactively declares that there never was a Kyle Rayner and sends out little Hal Jordan stickers they can use to cover up Kyle in all those comics he was in...
Everyone's already pointed this out, but man, the solicitation for Seven Soldiers is long. And at 48 pages for $2.95 that's quite a bargain.
Johnny DC So, are the books back to the normal page count and price or not? Because I have to say, upping the price on these books this last month seems to have hurt sales on them a little. A $2.25 book is an easier sell on a "kids" title than a $2.95 book.
The digest format continues with two more Scooby-Doo volumes. Now, these books have sold well for us. This is a great price point and page count for a kids comic.
Beyond the DCU Uhm...people seem to be liking Toe Tags, but I just can't get into a zombie comic. And I'm really going to be disappointed if Space Ghost ends up being a big seller, but all currently available evidence indicates that it's going to be. There's a lot of people out there who are upset over the current incarnation of the character and want to see a "serious" version. It ain't just Alex Toth.
CMX Musashi #9 looks to be really good, I need to get around to reading the first volume. Gals is the sort of book that tends to do well for us. No one's shown much interest in the first volume of Swan. We'll probably be able to move some copies of Tenjho Tenge...ninjas and high-school violence always seem to be good sellers.
2000AD Skizz is an excellent book, and a new edition is long overdue.
Humanoids Well, it was bound to happen eventually--everything this month appeals to me. Both 1000 Faces and Sanctum look good. Heck, I'm even curious about the first volume of Son of the Gun.
Wildstorm Both Legend and Twilight Experiment look promising. Otherwise, it's the same-old, same-old.
America's Best Comics Michael Moorcock on Tom Strong probably sounds more interesting than it'll end up being. I wonder how he'll ham-fistedly tie it into the concept of the "Eternal Champion?"
Okay, everyone's already talking about the big "variant" edition of Promethea's final issue. Now, I agree $50 is a little steep. But most of that money seems to be tied into the signed-and-numbered hard-cover. Here's the thing...I'd rather have the posters be made available separately than the hard-cover. I've got little to no interest in the hard-cover, but man, I'd sure like those posters...
Vertigo I'm glad that Vimanarama finally comes out. Otherwise, see my above comments about same-old, same-old and only buying what I've already been buying.
DC Direct A Simon Bisley designed Batman statue and two Jim Lee posters. Pretty standard stuff.
Now, the Crisis on Infinite Earths figures are a neat idea, but I kind of wonder if this is a case of "too little, too late." I'm constantly being harassed for new "Hush" figures and I'm already being asked about a new wave of "Dark Knight Returns" figures and even the "Long Halloween" figures...but no one except, well, Mike, seems to be excited about these "Crisis" figures.
Okay, maybe I'll get the Supergirl one, but that's only because I have a soft-spot for the character.
[Edit: This post would have been brought to you much earlier today, except, well, frickin' Blogger...]
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