Highway 62

I knew that my gut instinct regarding the ABSOLUTE line from DC was pretty much on, but I got a very vivid demonstration of it at the Vertigo panel on Friday. When talking to the crowd about who was reading what title, Karen Berger would throw out various titles and get a variety of responses. FABLES? Brought down the damn house; thunderous applause erupting on an exact cue. ABSOLUTE SANDMAN? Well, not so much. Those things are the prey of climax predator collectors, the kinds of books that are bought on birthdays and Christmas and only then. They don't do much to get the books into a wider audience, despite sitting on the shelves at big box bookstores and the like. I ask again, why don't I see a selection of ABSOLUTES or fancy Marvel hardcovers in Costco or Sam's Club or the like? Yes, they're declassé and only rubes in the suburbs go to those sorts of retailers, but dammit, that's a lot of eyeballs that they're passing up.

That's neither here nor there. I should be talking about Friday.

The Vertigo panel was a lot like every other one I'd been to, lots of diehard fans, lots of people who started reading these books when they were part of the regular DCU (though quite a few who hadn't yet been born when Vertigo split out of the DCU proper. And still, there was a nagging suspicion that the line is relying heavily on back catalog. A lot of their new offerings seem interesting in presentation, but that doesn't always translate to making for a book I wanna read every month. Notable exceptions exist, of course.

It was also interesting to note Vertigo snatching up more characters that had their roots in the DCU proper, but never letting Vertigoized characters back. It's kind of like a roach motel (forgive the analogy) for old magic/horror properties. They go in, but they never get out. Madame Xanadu and the House of Mystery (or was it Secrets) are the latest to go. But with Matt Wagner writing, you can bet that I'll be paying attention to the new MADAME XANADU book. Oh, and Josh Dyshart's take on THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER looks pretty damn good as well. Jamie Delano writing John Constantine again? If only for the duration of a single hardcover OGN? Yeah, I'll probably get that (though I'll admit that some of the post-HELLBLAZER takes on the character, like THE HORRORIST, didn't light my fire as much as they could.)

You know what I'd love to see sometime from Vertigo? Something funny. Darkly funny, even. But something not relentlessly serious and deep. But I suppose you gotta give the people what they want, right? Hmm. I guess ARMY @ LOVE kinda fits that bill, but I was thinking something along the lines of some of the Vertigo: Pop! books or something like that. I know, howling at the moon am I.

So, the floor. Friday was like Saturdays usually are. No surprise. Avoid the middle of the showroom and you'll be fine. Avoid the freebies and celebrities and you'll be fine.

Spent lunch with friends at the BBQ joint not far from the convention center. Gets my thumb's-up. Solid Kansas City barbeque, excellent onion rings and potato salad (and I'm picky about potato salad.) Kinda hot and stuffy in the building, but no more so than the show floor, really.

Oh, if you're dillydallying about getting in line to have Paul Pope sign something, thinking "how popular can he be?", well, think again. I did that and when I got over to AdHouse for his afternoon signing, there was a line of terrifying length. Didn't help that James Jean was signing at about the same time. Long story short, I'll see Mr. Pope when/if he ever tours through San Francisco. Still haven't taken a look at the PULP HOPE monograph yet, either. Maybe I'll get around to it when I stop blogging.

Y'know, I'm pretty sure I'm missing an entire panel in here somewhere. There were many that I meant to get out to see, but just didn't manage to somehow. Too much overlap, too much good stuff at the same time. Too much having to cross the floor to get to the exits that lead to the conference rooms and sometimes just saying "bugger it" and finding a nice corner to meditate in (in an increasingly futile effor to hang on to my sanity.)

Missed one group dinner, but managed to catch the second one (in the relatively serene locale of Joltin' Joe's Tavern and Pool Hall, far from the maddening crowds, or is it madding? Can't ever remember.) Then drinks and crowdwatching at the Hyatt. I'm sure the folks who were there for the Biochemistry Conference or whatever square event it was were very surprised by the Assault of Comicdom on their normal after-conference-routine. They kinda did stand out of the crowd.

Walked back to the hotel. Or at least walked until I found the Longest Train In The World parked between me and my hotel. It stretched past the Convention Center itself and all the way to my hotel in Little Italy. Over a mile. I'd have crossed it while it was parked, but I'm in no hurry to star in my very own YouTube video.

Posted by Matt M. at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like Marshal Law.

Marshal Law Returns ... and Top Shelf Has Him! - Comics Alliance

This is nothing less than supreme awesomeness. I already have all of these damn books, but now the rest of the world can. Gaze into the true face of costumed despair and watch the Good Marshal clean up the streets as only Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill bring to life.

Posted by Matt M. at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back from Con. Laptop died, so reportage got stopped up. Apologies. Too much to comment on immediately. Going to take some time to dig out.

But Grant Morrison on FINAL CRISIS? Man, I dunno. I'll probably read it, but I'm going to end up feeling dirty, I just know it.

Oh, and the big news so far as I'm concerned? Big creators doing creator-owned stuff and not necessarily hooking up with comics publishers for it. Darwyn Cooke doing his own thing out from under editorial? The same for Grant Morrison and JH Williams? Count me in on that.

Back later.

Posted by Matt M. at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah, where was I? Oh yes. It was the Thursday that felt like Saturday. Which is why I spent an inordinate amount of time not on the show floor and in panels or eating fresh fish and chips (which are criminally underrated--freshness is the key) or drinking (very moderately, contrary to the image of a booze-fueled GIN MAKES A COMICS CREATOR MEAN sort of affair) in the comfort of Seaport Village or the Hyatt bar. But again, if there was a tranquil yin to the swirling yang of the Media side, it was the comics/dustcatcher side of things. But then again, they weren't giving stuff away for free over there. Free stuff (like booze) tends to make people do silly things. Amusing to watch from a safe distance, but sometimes harrowing when you're in the teeth of it.

Heidi has mentioned that folks are shellshocked already. I'd corroborate that, to a point. Pros seem shellshocked; everyone else seems to be having a hell of a time. But for the teenager I spotted out front yelping "Mom, I'm at the end of my rope here! I'm not having a good time!" into the the cellphone screwed into her ear. And if you have costume, you're golden. You're a god. You're a beautiful American freak (no matter what your nationality) living the American dream. Captain Kirk's got nothing on you. Cosplay is king. Bow down to your new rulers, etc.

Lunch made me late to the instructional section of a graphic storytelling panel headed up by Darwyn Cooke, Coleen Coover, Carla Speed McNeil and Cameron Stewart. I ended up with just the tail end of things, the oft-dreaded questions from the audience. Which is kinda too bad. I'd shell out good money for an hour with those folks. But it seemed that I'd picked up enough by osmosis that the Q/A didn't do too much for me. Might have to scout out video of the first half of it though.

Given an early wrap-up for that, I had some time to kill, so I wandered through the show floor, sticking to the relative sanity of Indy Island (which generally has a pretty solid signal/noise ratio). Jim Ottoviani is no exception to that. His BONESHARPS, COWBOYS AND THUNDER LIZARDS from last year was a very moving portrait of Science Gone Bad, warped by personal jealousies and pettiness into something that not only retarded actual progress but corrupted two brilliant minds (in very different ways.) If you haven't read it, you really ought to give it a try. At any rate, Jim had not one but two very different offerings for the show this year, LEVITATION and WIRE MOTHERS. After talking with him a bit about BONESHARPS, he indicated that WIRE MOTHERS would probably be the more rewarding choice. I look forward to it. And so would anyone who is even vaguely interested in not only science, but the very real humans behind it. Even smart people jump to very dumb conclusions from time to time. And that's where things get real interesting.

Time, then, to head upstairs for the Darwyn Cooke spotlight panel. Darwyn is a pretty unique guy in the midst of a unique industry. He has (rightfully, many would argue) a reputation for being a prickly character to work with, but then he makes no bones about it either. He has a very clear vision for his projects which always makes it to the page, love or hate the work. But you know what, I'd rather see that than homogonized blends of Jim Lee sketchiness with Joe Mad smoothness and a touch of Hitch-like over-rendering. Anyways, back to the panel, which was moderated and introduced by frequent Cooke collaborator J. Bone. In a lot of ways, what Darwyn had to say wasn't much of a surprise (though I suspect many of the approaching-middle-aged-geeks would rather he talked about whether the Spectre could beat up Superman) to anyone who'd known Darwyn or his work.

Most interestingly, Darwyn talked without shame about having a moral center for superhero books. This subject is pretty solidly taboo these days. Granted, the morality of might making right is up in the air, but let's accept that superheroes use their powers for good and not for personal gain. Instead of having license to do anything that they want, Cooke looks at superheroes as being members of an Order, an order with a fairly strict moral code, one that puts themselves in danger so that others less powerful don't have to experience said danger. This is in direct opposition to superheroes pretty much going out and just kicking ass, y'know? Cooke stated directly that THE NEW FRONTIER was a response to the challenge of writing superheroes as they were once written and yet have them come off not as chumps for sticking their necks out, but as something else, something greater than that.

He also confessed having little interest in traditional superpowered heroics, hence his focus on Hal Jordan ("The only one in the JLA who wasn't a freak") and characters like Batman, Catwoman and even Slam Bradley in his other work. He couldn't come up with a long laundry list of characters he'd like to work with, of toys he eyed enviously in DC or Marvel's toybox. And then there's his comments on the Direct Market, which echo mine in many ways. Basically the big two are in stasis now. They don't want new ideas; they want to mine their old ideas. That the monthly format is going to have to give way to a new format, sooner rather than later. That the shift to specialty stores may have saved the monthly superhero comic in the 80s, but it also made a sort of velvet coffin (my phrase) for comics. Very comfortable in the short run, but still a coffin nonetheless. Another of Cooke's bete noires was the reliance on shock storytelling and out of character plot hammering, and oh yes, the misuse of the "mature" label. "Most of the books labelled as mature these days are as juvenile as it gets, right?" Again, all points I can agree with. Oh yes, and there was some discussion of the fact that the room was mostly filled with middle-aged readers and very few if any kids. Once you stop catering to the kids, where are the big two gonna get readers, he wonders. I kinda wonder that myself.

Then the bad news. He and J. Bone will only be on THE SPIRIT until #12. The book will continue, but editorial changes made him pack up things a year early. However, he has two creator-owned graphic novel projects in the works. One is a near-future "fairytale" (though on his description, I might offer "fable" as a better summation) aimed at young adult readers. The second one is a much more mature offering, about a middle-aged-guy whose life starts unravelling. Neither has a publisher attached to it. But you can bet that I'm looking forward to both of those.

There was also a bit of discussion on the NEW FRONTIER DVD, which sounds interesting and all, but if I want to read that story again, I've got the great big ABSOLUTE edition sitting on the shelf.

After the panel, I took another run through the floor, came across a new Steven Grant-penned crime comic called 2 GUNS at the BOOM! booth. I'll give his work a shot whenever I come across it, though I'd really prefer a done-in-one sort of presentation, but I guess I have to take what I can get. I also ran into Cameron Stewart and was lucky enough to see some pages from APOCALYPSTIX, which will be coming out from Oni sometime this year (I hope.) If you were lucky enough to read the earlier APOCALYPSITX stories in the ROYAL RUMBLE anthology or the FCBD anthology from last year, then you know what to expect. Gorgeous, expressive cartooning meets post-apocalyptic power-trio action.

Oh, and I got a picture of Josh Dyshart (of the criminally-overlooked recent SWAMP THING) in a Halliburton shirt. And if you know anything about Josh from his writing, you'll find the irony rich.

Last up for official activities: George Romero. You heard me. George Goddamn Romero at his own spotlight panel. I'll just go over a couple of the highlights with a longer writeup later (time is short and I'm not hauling this damn computer around with me to get it done on the floor.) 1) DIARY OF THE DEAD (his most recent project) is a subjective camera portrait of three film students recording the first night of the dead rising from the graves. It is nearly done and will premiere in Toronto later this year. 2) J. Michael Straczynski is pitching a longform drama series based on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. 3) Max Brooks (who MC'd the panel) has a graphic novel based on THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL HANDBOOK in the works; I'm guessing at Avatar but that's unclear. I took extensive notes, but probably won't have time to get them input until the end of the show.

And with that, I called it a night, to then meet with friends and watch the shenanegains unfold in the Hyatt bar. Always entertaining, never boring.

Posted by Matt M. at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have seen the future.

And it is filled with content. A lot of content. So much content that you're going to be hard pressed to keep up with much of it, much less all of it. So much art, so much design, so many characters familiar and yet different, so many situations that you've seen before but just not quite. Toys made for two hundred lucky purchasers. Entire mythologies undreamed of, unimagined, existing alongside one another. It's Timewave Zero out there. So many fictions overlapping, coexisting (not peacefully, mind you.) So damn much information, signal, that it's useless without filters wrangling meaning and desire.

And that's just Thursday. The quiet day. The day before Friday (which is apparently gonna be just like Saturday now that there's been two consecutive days of sellouts.) If you didn't have a badge already, well then Cthulhu help you, because you're going into the grinder, the grinder of souls clutching their filled-out information sheets. And the grinder's gonna take its time getting to you.

Luckily, I got to bypass a lot of that. And I was prepared. I'd spent the morning going through the programming schedule, trying to make the hard decisions (Storytelling clinics with Cameron Stewart/Darwyn Cooke/Carla Speed McNeil/Colleen Coover or BLADE RUNNER?) Of course, preparations go out the window once you hit the hall and start to take it in. I went rummaging through the retailer end of the hall, trying to find STAR WARS toys for my son, but being distracted by the kiosks of Dodgy Purveyors of Asian Cinema. And oh yes, the project that was a cross between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and COPS. That looked promising (even if I can't remember the name right at the moment.)

And I have to say, that if you sought peace and quiet at the show, you were more likely to find it on the comics half of things than on the media side of things. As obnoxious as some of the large comic publisher booth setups were, they had nothing on the FULL SIZE PROPS that dominated a lot of the large media offerings. And man, they're agressive marketers, those media types. But then they've got audiences to build, and this is a big shot at the general public. Those stunned eyeballs of July may become the glazed Nielsen eyeballs of Autumn. But you gotta catch 'em early.

Ah, that's my wife on the phone. I'll continue this later.

More to follow. Darwyn Cooke, George Romero (with special guests), Cameron Stewart and the APOCALYPSTIX and Jim Ottovani follow.

Posted by Matt M. at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Returning to San Diego is a little weird. Everything's a little cooler, muggier (Hibbs was right about that much), and somehow distant. Feels like I haven't been away, but that's not the case anymore. I'm just another tourist in a downtown full of tourists. The Chamber of Commerce looks down its nose at us, but giggles a little more with every swipe of the debit or credit card, with every palm that finds itself in posession of a bunch of sweaty greenbacks.

The con in two words? White noise. Three words? Anxious White Noise. My friend Marc (of the Comics Waiting Room) was saying that Wednesday felt like the calm before the storm, but I didn't quite feel that. There seemed to be a lot of breath-holding. A lot of "when's the hammer gonna fall?" permeating the air. See, I think (and I'm not quite alone in this), that this is as big as SDCC is going to get. For one thing, the Convention Center simply can't hold any more. For another thing, making an announcement at SDCC is the equivalent of trying to pass a message by smoke signal during a gale force wind. Any information you're wanting to get out there is just going to be blown to tatters by the wind before it can be read.

Lots of publishers are promising announcements that will shake the halls of the convention center to their foundations, but when you have a lead-in like that, how are you possibly going to deliver?

Somehow, I've got the feeling that it's pointless for comics publishers to announce big stories at the show now, unlike years past where they could save up for either Chicago (Marvel) or SDCC (DC). Feels to me that if you're keeping your powder dry for when it's gonna be most useful, SDCC isn't the place to do it. Besides, with Newsarama and the like, anytime's a good time to try and grab a little thunder, but when you have Zeus-sized entities like Disney and Lucasfilm stomping around, you're going to be hard-pressed to shout over them.

I'd hope that this would mark some kind of splitting of the shows into (mostly) comics and (mostly) pop culture. The thing is, how many people would show up for a primarly-comics-show and how many thousands of more will come to the Megashow? However, E3, which was formerly a fifteen-ring circus, managed to shrink itself and doesn't seem to have lost its mystique (though I bet the businesses around Staples Center felt the pinch this year.)

Anyways, back to the show. Preview Night was plenty busy. I took the opportunity to hit the places that I remembered had show exclusives that I was wanting to get my hands on. First on the list was AdHouse and their double hit of Paul Pope goodness. Then I got the news that First Second was not only putting out Pope's BATTLING BOY (sort of announced last year), but they're going to be re-issuing Pope's THB in a four-volume set. That's music to my ears (particularly since those THB comics are about the only ones I really, really miss from my collection after part of it was stolen during a break-in at my home in 1996.)

I also swung by the Image booth to pick up the 5 minicomic by the likes of Becky Cloonan, the brothers Moon/Bá and a couple other artists I didn't know by name. By the way, they're not free, should you find yourself before their table. Pay them some money; they all came a long way to get here.

The biggest problem for me is that since I don't live right next to a comic store any longer, I miss a lot of stuff. Therefore a *whole damn lotta* stuff at the show looks all bright and shiny and ends up near the top of the "gotta have" list. Like that new Jeff Smith book that I have no idea how I'm going to get back home (it's tabloid size and not so very sturdy by the looks of it.) Ah, to have such heady and important problems to solve.

Made a trek over to the Artist's Alley. Which was mostly deserted, 'cept for the most professional man I know in comics, one Steven Lieber. No really. He's a machine. A very friendly, genial, approachable and talented machine, but when it comes to the convention, he's there to do business (even if that business is a firm handshake and a quick chat.) I expect there to be more artists today, as there could hardly be fewer.

Cut my visit short for a meet-up with friends (my real reason for flying down some 500 miles and shelling out for a hotel room.) Had a quick bite and some muscular discussion of What's Wrong With Comics and The Show Is Too Damn Big before retiring to the Hyatt bar for some bourbon and further discussion of WWWC and TSITDB. Waited on the longest freight train ever to pass through downtown San Diego, caught the second to last trolley of the night and then walked up the last six or so blocks to my place of fitful sleeping. The moist dark quiet was broken only by the clatter of bike pedals and the profanity-laden arguments of Young Love Gone Bad.

Ah, San Diego. I kinda missed ya.

Oh, and normally I'd be posting pics (like of the lobster man hentai love clutch) but I screwed up and grabbed the wrong cables. No pics until I get home. Bah.

Posted by Matt M. at 09:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So much for my musings of cons past. Between Moveable Type and my cookies being blown away, I'm not able to log in properly. Which is just as well, as I haven't had the time to "compose" any thoughts. Maybe I can get this thing working from my portable on the road. Maybe.

Posted by Matt M. at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SDCC time. Can it really have only been a year ago?

I have to say, last year at the Con was pretty much the suck for me personally. Sucking black hole void of suckage. Don't get me wrong. It was great to see the people I only see once a year. That's always great.

But between the free-floating anxiety of an impending move 500 miles from where I currently lived (to within a stone's throw of the in-laws), the sale of my home, an exploding water heater at 9pm on a Friday night when my car was towed and took nearly 4 bills to get out of the tow yard in the deserted part of town, and oh yeah, the collapse of publishing for STRANGEWAYS, SDCC2K6 was a hotbed of nervousness and gloom. It didn't help that everywhere I wandered the halls it seemed like people were just making stuff to sell to other people to announce how exotic and unusual they were without actually being exotic and unusual.

This year? Looks better, I guess. Though I'm still in a holding pattern waiting for Diamond to get back to me on the fate of MURDER MOON. Much longer and I'll just print the damn things to hand-sell them and run a chapter online to get some eyeballs latched onto it. You know, that "build an audience, get some hits and then get pushed out into the 'real' world" sort of thing. Have to say, it's wearing to have had the project done for so damn long and not out in the vast ocean of the monthly PREVIEWS catalog. But the love you take is equal to the love you make, or something. It's all building momentum, overcoming inertia, getting ready to roll down the ramp and squash the hapless archaeologist in its path.

Anyways instead of being maudlin and such, I wanted to share some of my fonder memories from SDCCs past. I'll post a few a day until I head down to the show in a couple days. In the meantime, gotta make sure previews are printed up (not wanting to hand out ones announcing the title coming out from Speakeasy in 2005 any longer.)

Posted by Matt M. at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Savage Critic(s)

I just hope that Jog will still be able to post on his own blog from time to time. But look at that lineup. Not a chucklehead or nincompoop among them.

Well, 'cept for Graeme, maybe...

Posted by Matt M. at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Easy. Right there on the shelves at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart To Sell Jesus, Religious Action Figures - Local News Story - WKMG Orlando

What was that line about "false idols"? I'm trying to remember...

Posted by Matt M. at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now I'm linking to Wizard. But it's okay, because it's a link to the THB: COMICS FROM MARS #1 coming out at SDCC in a mere 10 days.

Wizard Entertainment

Courtesy Sean Collins ADD blog.

Posted by Matt M. at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And I can't really explain why. It must be the weird dream-logic thing going on, I dunno. Maybe it's just a catchy tune.

Feel free for mocking my tardiness in turning this up. It only came out about a week ago...

Posted by Matt M. at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

But I'll make an exception when it's a story by Fábio Moon. Beautiful work.

Posted by Matt M. at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So DC wants to get into online comics. That's spiffy.

The only thing is, does online comics need DC? Or does DC just need new talent to sift through? If they're serious about getting people interested in online comics, then where's the daily JLA strip to anchor things? Are they going to allow new creators to do new takes on the franchises?

I didn't think so.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that someone has stepped up and offered the chance of a page rate for webcomics creators. The question remains, how much of that webcomic will the creators actually own when all is said and done. At least when Epic relaunched, it explicitly said that "You shouldn't create something new for us and expect to hold onto it (PHANTOM JACK notwithstanding.)" And yes, it's great that they're open to genres besides superheroes (because superheroes really don't do all that well outside the fandom hothouse.)

Could this be something big? Sure. At the very least, it's DC acknowledging that there are other platforms (though they're still eyeing traditional publishing, else they wouldn't be ensuring that a set format be used for the submissions.) And maybe someone will get a new gig or two out of it. And maybe DC will learn something in the process.

Posted by Matt M. at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And tried to sell the first version of STRANGEWAYS to Dark Horse, I, at the time, fancied myself a graphic artist. I even dummied up a cover to attach to the project.

Yeah, I was a big fan of Dave McKean at the time. Why do you ask?

Original was cobbled together in 1994 or so, maybe 1995. There's a few other pieces on my flickr site from about the same period, just recently posted. A couple of 'em even got the nod of approval from Mr. McKean himself back in the mid-90s (back when I was brave enough to show this stuff around.)

Posted by Matt M. at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cthulhu Chess set - WetCanvas!

As it says, a homemade Cthulhu-inspired chess set. Apparently the artist is going to make more of these. Man, this would make me break out the paints and brushes again.

Posted by Matt M. at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

deseretnews.com | Comics industry is here to stay

This needs to be examined. Hopefully this afternoon.

EDIT - By "this afternoon" I certainly meant "Saturday evening or Sunday before the kids get up."

Okay, got a little time to spend on this, so let's take a look. And when I'm talking comics industry here, I'm talking about Marvel and DC. There's some argument that things are considerably rosier for people who are putting out non-superhero genre books (in terms of being able to approach new book publishers, as opposed to monthly pamphlet publishers.)

It opens up with the intimation that the comics industry is dying, which DiDio immediately deflects by saying it's "transforming". Well, I suppose you could say that, but what exactly is it "transforming" into? Right now, you could argue that it's further turning towards franchise maintainence with attempts to update marquee characters and playing to a shrinking fanbase. When I look at sales charts, I see that big event books keep the other stuff afloat. That's quite possibly a jaundiced view, but it's my view nonetheless. Now, profits might be up in other places, like selling the toys based on the comics, and whatever money comes in from film versions of the characters, but I don't know all the numbers.

Point is, the big two are still trying to sell old characters in monthly comic books by way of a limited amount of retailers. I know a bunch of retailers, and they're all going out of their way to get readers wherever they can (the good ones, that is.) Even so, there's just not that many outlets for the bulk of comics sold. Yeah, that's gotten better with the success of graphic novels in bookstores (for which I'm thankful), but that itself has some effects on the Direct Market, just look up retailers who are competing with online sellers (and deep discounts). That'll become even more of a critical issue once publishers come to depend more on backlist sales (and even now, with the creation of instant backlist items once a miniseries or story arc has concluded.)

Next, DiDio goes on to say that collectability drives the market and makes single issues more viable in the long term than say, newspapers. If by "collectablility" he means, "motivation of the established fanbase" then he's probably on to something. Goodness knows that neither DC nor Marvel are really interested in bringing new readers into their mainstream lines. Superhero books (with some noble exceptions) are largely impervious to new readership, being a super-tuned product aimed at a very particular readership. This is a readership that can *afford* comics, knows *where* to get them, and is primed to *consume* them. But there doesn't seem to be much interest in a sustainable market in the monthly arena. Nor does there seem to be a ton of interest in making stuff that's accessable to new readers (the kids' lines of both the Big Two make some attempts at this, however, and that's to be commended -- now, get those digests in grocery stores and drugstores and skateboard shops and maybe we'd be talking.)

Then, DiDio "talks about COUNTDOWN." I suppose I should actually read it, but frankly, the world being laid out in 52 and the way in which it was being done just didn't do anything for me. I see no reason to hope for improvement in the second iteration. And of course "we're counting down to SOMETHING" gets slipped in. See, this has been the problem with most of the events from the Big Two, is that the SOMETHING is always being built up to but never delivered. Hard to make that stick when the whole point of superhero books is about the establishment and protection of a status quo. Again, exceptions apply, but by and large...they don't.

He also notes the importance of working ahead. Well yeah, editorial has to keep all them writers in line, right? But as smarter guys than me have pointed out, periods of heavyhanded editorial control always peter out and things swing back to a time of greater creative freedom. Eventually.

Oh yes, the joys of the Crying Superman. Because if Superman is crying, then you know that THINGS ARE PRETTY GODDAMN BAD, aren't they? Revel in superpowered schadenfreude. Their tears sustain the fans! CRY SUPERMAN, CRY! His tears are golden eggs from the goose that never needs die again (after all, that's been done.)

And DiDio also admits that sales are down, but he expects them to pick up. Has any maxi-series ever experienced such a sales trend? Maybe when some stuff actually *happens*, people will flock to it, but I seriously don't expect any new readers to be won because of the bold, new characterizations being undertaken in COUNTDOWN. But then I'm a notorius crank when it comes to these sorts of things.

Hmm. Somehow I expected to be more savage about this. Maybe next time...

Posted by Matt M. at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not a suckling pig, but a big goddamn PIG. It was roasted and crunchy and succulent and extra good with a bit of salt tossed on the cracklins. It was roasted in honor of my friend Jason's 40th birthday (Jason who I've known since nineteen eighty and five.

It will forever be known as a pig that lived in gluttonous infamy.

Posted by Matt M. at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

stevegerblog - Blog Archive - It's All in the Scars

Could it really be? More Steve Gerber MAN-THING? With Kevin Nowlan on the art? Be still my little fluttering fanboy heart.

Apparently this 20 year old project may not be quite dead on the vine, just resting. I'm not going to hold my breath until it's solicited or anything, but I'll keep an eye out for it when/if it hits the shelves.

Now if only Marvel would get around to doing a collection of Gerber's stunning FOOLKILLER miniseries from the early nineties. I read it a couple years back and I'm *astonished* it saw print at all, given the ground that the series covered. You might think you know what it is by the middle, but I guarantee you'd be wrong at the end.

Posted by Matt M. at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HELLBLAZER 230/231 -
At least I think that's the numbers. Who really pays attention to the numbers, anyways? Anyway, if Andy Diggle were here, I'd plant a wet one right on his kisser. Or at the least buy him a drink. Why? Because Diggle has given us back our dear old Constantine. Instead of being miserable and wallowing in his being miserable and having potentially no end to the miserableness in which he's wallowing, Diggle has made a U-turn with the character. This isn't gonna be shabby John bumming a fag from you because he's so down and out that down looks up to him. I'm figuring that we've seen an end to aimless wandering the occult slums of the UK, and instead see Constantine with something like...wait for it...purpose driving him. Sure, it might be a superficial purpose that'll blow up in his face, but it's PURPOSE all the same. Purpose drives character. Aimless characters that never change might be fun for awhile, but it does get old.

Seriously. I haven't felt this engaged by the book since Jamie Delano started out the run some...wait for it...TWENTY years ago or so. Yeah, roll that one around on your tongue for a while. Twenty years of the trenchcoat brigade. Twenty years of JC who's more or less the same character since Delano wrapped up his "Magus" storyline (with some really beautiful Dave McKean artwork) and actually explained why John was the way he was and gave him some sense of closure, having gotten past the things that fucked him up. Of course, that's no fun, so we've gotta just leave Constantine in neutral and have him parade through and endless menagerie of spectres and boogeymen. Sometimes entertaining, but I'd had other things to do with my time.

See, though, Diggle gets it. He knows why you can't get anywhere with the car left in neutral. I mean, that's fine if you enjoy the scenery right then, but if you want to move along, well, you gotta put things in gear. And he does so quite well in this two-part story. I'd had these on the read pile for some time now, and hadn't gotten to them, but you can be sure I'll make it my business to catch up and keep up as long as Diggle is on the case.

GUTSVILLE 1
I love Frazier Irving's artwork. Craftsmanship, whimsy, darkness, and a keen sense of design are all on display there. His art on KLARION was one of the high points of the SEVEN SOLDIERS series(es), and the work showed in GUTSVILLE is no different. The setting (inside the belly of a Leviathan, where Puritanical survivors have set up some semblance of a normal life, building a town with all the fixings including ratcatchers and darkie fortunetellers) very much comes to life, and very much plays to Irving's strengths as an artist. Selective color palettes change the mood from scene to scene, and there's a very real sense of claustrophobia, of tightness (both literally and figuratively in the moral strictures of the town).

I'm certainly interested in what's going on here, but I'm a little uneasy at what seems like a great deal of pretty standard storytelling/character motivations/types going on. Religious intolerance is bad, I understand that. Persecution of artists, bad. Rich people taking your childhood sweetheart and trying to marry her up, bad. In terms of story (aside from the imaginative setting) there's not a lot new going on here. Of course, there doesn't *have* to be, but it certainly makes things a little more interesting when you do. At any rate, I'm still on board with GUTSVILLE; let's see where this fish is going.

SPIDER MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR 1-3
Dude. This is what superhero comics oughta be more like. No breast-beating, no crying supermen, no continuity navel-gazing. This is comedy, whereas most capes books seem to want to be tragic. The only difference between the two is how they turn out. An alien presence takes over the world thousands of humans at a time? Wow, sounds like a great start for a horror story, but the way that Parker and 'Ringo are handling things, we all know that things are going to be (mostly) okay. Which is ironic, considering the drubbing that I gave of John Constantine's status quo above.

But in this case, I don't mind it. Because it's fun. Sometimes you just want to have some fun. COUNTDOWN is not going to be (intentional) fun. We all know this. Sometimes you want to see Spidey quipping with the Impossible Man. Sometimes you want to see Dr. Doom single-handedly running the aliens out of Latveria (and siding with the FF for reasons that are character and not plot-based.) This isn't brain surgery. This isn't going to win the Nobel Prize (or even an Eisner, sadly), but it's an entertaining antidote to summer megacrossover follies. Looking forward to the fourth issue once it rolls around.

SLOTH OGN
Boy, that Hernandez guy can draw. And boy, the first half of the book is awesome. But once that switch is made, and those of you who read it will know what I'm talking about, then it stopped being the awesome coming-of-age tale and became kinda...disappointing. Still, some excellent cartooning, but I'm coming away from it feeling like there was a missed opportunity there (though it does make me want to pull out my copy of LOCAS again, which is...somewhere....somewhere in the garage.)

ARMY OF LOVE 1-2
Just wow. Some really good stuff going on here. I find it amusing that the violence has almost been entirely substituted with sex and drugs and rock and roll (Ian Dury would be proud). I'm not sure that there's any really empathetic characters (other than the burnout guitarist). There's plenty of sympathetic ones, I suppose, or at least understandable, even if you wouldn't want to stand in the same room with them for any length of time.

The satire is pretty over-the-top, but why do things halfway? Why explain that the Pentagon has an accepted interface for a Stratocaster to orchestrate the actions of a weapons-encrusted stealth drone? Just ride with it. (But please, in the trade, spell Link Wray's name right.) This is a smart, funny and sad book. I'd wait for the trade, but I'm not that patient.

Posted by Matt M. at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Or an attempt at explanation:

LOLTHULHU - UR SANITY HAS A FLAVOR

Posted by Matt M. at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Highway 62: It's a very, very Mad-Bomb.

Kirby's Captain America versus the Madbomb. How fitting for Independence Day. Of course, more fitting would be talking about any of the Kirby inventions that he got to benefit fully from (precious few, to be sure.) But nothing says the Fourth like Steve Rogers.

I'd say RIP and all, but this is comics, kids. We all know where it's going to end up.

Posted by Matt M. at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ansible 240, July 2007

Destroy all arbitrary genre boundaries. That is all.

Posted by Matt M. at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PULPHOPE: THB: COMICS FROM MARS

Okay, it's not a replacement for my THB comics that got ripped off from my house (along with my computer and guitars and such) more than 13 years ago, but it's a start. New THB is one of those Very Good Things. I'd love it even more if it meant there'd be a reprint of the older stuff eventually, but I suspect that Paul Pope isn't one of those "looking backwards" sorts of guys when it comes to his own work. Just so long as there's a steady stream of new work, I can live with that.

Posted by Matt M. at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)