They have totally changed the opening to the Walking Dead.
Now, hit the break for lots more foolishness, including the latest on the “real” Batman movie, the status of the Deadpool flick, Green Arrow’s TV show, new Garth Ennis work, and the latest on The Walking Dead. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Captain America, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Thor, Zombies
IGN published a top 100 comic book heroes that made me crazy, both in its predictability (Hey! Superman and Bats are #s 1 and 2!), overinclusiveness (every single Robin except Damian Wayne (who is the most interesting one by far), as well as Superboy and Supergirl? Really?) and its attempts to be esoteric without providing sufficient justification (Groo makes the list, but they don’t really say what makes him so essential; James Gordon makes the list, but Aunt May and Uncle Ben don’t–nor does Jarvis; and Nova makes the list, but nobody really gives a shit about Nova). Maybe it was the list’s sketchy criteria for placement: “Picked by their cultural impact, character development, social relevance, general cool factor, and importance of storylines, these are the best of the best.
It made me so nuts, I made my own list. Yes, there’s a lot of overlap. But mine is better. Because I said so.
Note: If you’re just looking for a list without supporting arguments, you can jump to the last page of this post. But you can’t tell me I was wrong to put Thor at #33 unless you go and read why. So, read every page and then tell me why I’m full of $#!+.
Enjoy!
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Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Daredevil, Ed Brubaker, Fantastic 4, Filthy Muties, Flash, Frank Miller, Garth Freakin Ennis, Grant Morrison Sucks, Green Lantern, Hulk, Iron Man, Punisher, Spider-Man, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Wonder Woman, Zombies
The lead story has to be the October 2011 sales figures, which still show success vis a vis DC’s new 52. It’s safe to say that the new 52, and the new 52 alone, is responsible for America spending 12% more on comic books than they did last October. Comic-book unit orders are also up—by over 32% from last year. That’s tremendous. They’re also up from the first month of the new 52, but I assume that’s because so many DC #1s sold out in September and were reprinted in October. What does 32% mean? It means a million more comic books were sold. DC’s market share was 42%–a new record for the world’s number two comic book publisher. They haven’t hit that number since December 1999, when Grant Morrison’s JLA came out. In comparison, all indie publishers combined got only 28% of the market.
Here’s the top 10 for comic book sales, October 2011:
10. Superman #2.
9. Fear itself #7.
8. Wolverine and the X-Men #1.
7. Hulk #1.
6. Detective Comics #2.
5. Flash #2.
4. Green Lantern #2.
3. Action #2.
2. Batman #2.
1. Justice League #2.
Rounding out the top 25 were second issues of the other Bat-family books, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Teen Titans, Justice League International, and only three other Marvel titles: Fear Itself: Fearless #1; Amazing Spider-Man #671, and the last issue of Uncanny X-Men. So only six Marvel titles cracked the top 25, in a month where one of its bestselling titles ended and we saw a #1 with the word “X-Men” in it. Amazing.
Things didn’t fare much better for Marvel on the trade front, with only one book, Ultimate Spider-Man: The Death of Spider-Man, managing to crack the top 10 (and coming in at #10, no less). DC had 5 books in the top 10, several of them hardcovers, including Flashpoint. Walking Dead got two trades in the top 10 and worth mentioning is that Alan Moore’s horrendously shocking, disgusting, horrifying and brilliant Neonomicon trade paperback came in at #9 for Avatar Press. You should all go buy it, unless you’re easily offended.
Now for the rest of the news, hit the break.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superman, The Avengers
At the break, you can read my thoughts about the best of the new 52 and what I think of Starfire’s boobs. But the headline has to be the new Avengers trailer, and related news…
First off, the trailer is awesome. Why is it awesome? Cap uses a gun! Avengers Tower! Updated costumes (except, strangely, for Iron Man)! We get to see Loki versus the U.S. Army, and of course they’re ineffective, so Nick Fury and Agent Coulson summon the team. The trailer then shows a fairly traditional “assemble” scene, with each of the heroes getting ready to answer the call, but then we flash ahead to Loki in custody. At least the heroes don’t all fight each other. (But Cap and Thor do, later in the trailer.) It makes me wonder how much screentime the heroes will actually share…But it’s extremely geek-out cool anyway. Next, we see Fury addressing the team. They’re getting ready for something; presumably, either Loki escaped or the rumors of a Skrull invasion were true and we get to see a little sub-story. I certainly hope there’s more than one major battle. No, I don’t hope it. I expect it. The trailer closes with the inevitable Hulk transformation, which looks pretty good as CGI. I wonder if there will be only one Hulk appearance? Frankly, one is probably enough. With so many interesting characters in the film, I don’t think you need more than one big Hulk scene.
Of course, there’s already controversy with several folks alleging that the preview used existing footage from Iron Man. Michael Bay recently recycled a sequence from his godawful “The Island” picture in his somewhat less godawful Tranformers 3, so movie nerds are on the watch for this stuff. I’m not all that worried—I wouldn’t expect Whedon to have a lot of completed FX shots available for a trailer for a movie that isn’t set to come out for over 6 months. It’s frankly too soon for a trailer, but in these days of instant rewards, I guess the studios feel like they have to keep the hype going. It’s kind of like holding a primary for a national election in January—too soon, and leaves too much time for doubt and negativity to damage the actual release date.
Bleeding Cool has a side-by-side comparison, if you’re curious.
Watch the trailer here:
Meanwhile, Hasbro previewed the toy tie-ins at NYCC, showing both 3- and 6-inch action figures of the main characters. You can find pix of all of them on the internet; Hawkeye has the most remarkable resemblance to the actor (Jeremy Renner), but of course he looks nothing like the actual comic character he’s based on. Black Widow, unfortunately, looks like a cheap sex doll. In the actual film trailer she looks completely different: Like an expensive sex doll. Iron Man is the coolest—but he’s got the circular unibeam, while the trailer shows the more modern one.
Now, hit the break for more comic news.
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Superheroes, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Thor, Zombies
I had so much to gab about—I’m such a cape-yenta—that I split the news column this week into one about movies/TV and one about print. This is the print one. The other one came yesterday. So unless you like reading (i.e., are over the age of 30), you probably don’t want to …
Hit the break for news about The Walking Dead; Captain America joining Alpha Flight; the end of Batman, Inc.; the return of the Human Torch; and two new Avengers teams!
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Avengers, Zombies
Glad you asked. Or, to be exact, glad I asked me on your behalf.
Hit the break for the latest news and my views. Drop a comment and argue with me while you’re here.
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Zombies
Before I launch into the semi-regular comic book news items, I want to throw attention to Turbo Defiant Kimecan, an online graphic novel that’s been around since January 2010 and is poised to jump to print later this year. But it’s not the print work that’s catching my attention, it’s how they handled the online publication. The panels jump seamlessly, the art is beautifully reproduced…It’s actually fun to read it online, as each mouse click builds suspense. This is the future of comics. Why they’re going to print, I don’t know. Oh, wait. Yes I do. Because you can’t make money with online indie comic book.
This week: The new Daredevil! Joker versus Dick-Bat! More new DC books announced! The X-Men First Class sequel! And more! Hit the break!
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Daredevil, Filthy Muties, Green Lantern, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader
I’ve read a few complaints already about Marvel Comics’ current “event” title, Fear Itself. The comic focuses on Captain America and Thor, with major roles by Iron Man, Hulk, and some major Marvel mutants. The complaints I’ve heard are all pretty much the same: “Gee, ain’t it a coincidence there’s an event about Cap and Thor when they both got movies coming out this summer?” (It’s spoken sarcastically.)
Here’s my response: Duh!
Look, Marvel sells over 65% of the comic books in this country for a reason: They know how to market. They’ve always known how to market. And if I had two major film studios (remember, Disney ain’t behind X-Men: First Class) promoting my characters, you can pretty much bet I’d get as much of them as I could on the stands, stat! It’s a no-brainer. But more to the point: Thank God for Marvel! How many of you got into comic books for the first time reading “Criminal,” or “Sweet Tooth,” or “Morning Glories,” or “Cerebus The Aardvark,” or “Dreadstar?” I’d bet zero. But how many got into comics because of Spider-Man or The Avengers? A lot more, I’d bet. If Marvel ever forgets how to reach new readers, we’re gonna lose the smaller comic shops. We’re gonna lose the indie books that all the indie snobs read while they sniff and snort about how Marvel sucks.
As for the book itself, Fear Itself is two issues in: A prologue and issue #1, and so far it’s mostly set-up. But the foundation is being laid with plenty of action mixed in the concrete. And I’m digging the irony of Sin, Red Skull’s daughter, being possessed by a God who, too, has daddy issues. Plus, you’ve got to hand it to Marvel: If this is a sell-out event just to tie-in to a movie or two (or three), at least they’re using less mainstream characters and fitting it into Marvel’s complex continuity. It’s not like they just plucked the heroes off the street, threw them on a distant planet, and told them to all fight. (Having said that, Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars kicked ass. Face it, it just did: It was the first real “event” book and it rocked the planet.) And so far, the story is self-contained. In fact, the companion book is all but irrelevant. You can read it if you want, but you really don’t have to.
So, if this gets a few new readers out there or generates just a little bit more press than it otherwise would due to the movie hype, I’m all for it. The printed word is dying a slow, painful death, and I’m not ready to see my favorite artistic medium die. Plus, I just dig superheroes.
DC’s doing a similar thing, too, with a new big Green Lantern event coming just when the movie hits. It just makes sense. God bless ‘em.
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Thor
My semi-regular post about all things related to comic books–America’s greatest contribution to the literary field. This week, updates about the Chew TV show, the Deadpool movie, and more….
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Deadpool, Garth Freakin Ennis, Spider-Man, Superman, The Caped Crusader, Thor
