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It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

That Marcie kills me.

Randy and Chris over at 2 Guys Buying Comics have designated this First Comic Week. Great question, which I actually addressed some time back…

I see where SECRET SIX is planned for a six issue run while SHADOWPACT is to be an ongoing series. This seems backwards to me.

Speaking of backwards, is the new MAN-BAT series really necessary?

Judging by the Google hits my post speculating on a Brad Meltzer Justice League gets (25-30 a day), I’m speculating further that the debut is going to be a chart topper. 

Revival of the comic book in Turkey. As opposed to projects like WILDCATS, NEW UNIVERSE or HEROES REBORN which might best be called revival of comic books that were turkeys.

Been rushed around here lately (hella busy, as the young folk say), so how about some binary reviews on the recently read:

Lion, Tigers and Bears, vol. 2 #1: Yes

Archenemies #1: No

Albion #4: No. (Like alternating current, this book.)

Fantastic Four First Family #’s 1 & 2: Hell,Yes.

Amazing Spider-Man #530: No.

Desolation Jones #6: A very black-hearted Yes

Planetary #25: Yes

Moon Knight #1: Yes

Let’s see how this works. I’ve used FilmLoop to create a strip of all the comics I got this week. Can you figure out which one doesn’t belong?

Yep, the OPENING SHOT SKETCHBOOK for CIVIL WAR. I didn’t pick that one – those tricky comic shop guys must have slipped it in my bag.

The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #36

I haven’t really looked at one of these in years; the last one I bought was number 10, back in 1980. Not much has changed. Well, okay, the production values are certainly better. And prices have gone up. But this is basically the same beast and there’s a certain comfort in that.

As far as I’m concerned the biggest change -- which I’m sure was implemented some time ago -- is the reliance on the 10 point Comic Book Guide Grading over the old standby Good-Fine-Mint system. The more basic system isn’t abandoned complete -- the letter associations appear right above the numbers on every page -- but the CGC numbers serve as a more permanent reminder of the industry’s collector/investor influence, one that hasn’t always been kind. (And any negative perceptions associated with the collector’s side of the industry are probably not helped by the fact that the company which dominates direct market distribution also publishes the guide.) The valuations associated with the various ratings have changed as well. In 1980 a Good comic was typically worth one-third of its Mint version. These days Good has been devalued to about 7.5-8% of the high end ratings for Near Mint versions. Apparently there is no way for a comic to ever be “Mint” in today’s market, which is kind of sad. 

While I find the price listings fascinating and actually enjoyed several articles (in both the old and new volumes) the advertisements are the most compelling. As you would expect, most of the ads in the 1980 book are pretty cheesy. Goofy drawings, text pounded out on the old Smith-Corona, or even hand-written, and promises of cash for comics were the order of the day in 1980. The ads are universally more professional in the current edition. Not surprising with a color, full page ad running $2500 and black and white $900 and many advertisers marketing across multiple pages - it seems only prudent they would spend at least a little on the actual ad production. (Which, thankfully, hasn’t completely eliminated the occasional oddball.) I was surprised at how many of the advertisers had no web page – just email addresses.

I didn’t give this much time, but I did find a couple of folks from the 1980 book still in the current one: Doug Sulipa, Lone Star Comic and Redbeard’s Book Den. I’m sure there were several others. Lone Star has a pretty good on-line site that I’ve bought from on more than one occasion.

Here’s Doug Sulipa’s ad from my 1980 book (click for larger image):

All the ads were printed on yellow paper back then. In some future post I’ll put up some of the ads – from both books. A geat deal of unintentional humor there.

Collector’s price guides are nothing unique; nearly every hobby has some published record establishing prices, laying out the ground rules and providing space for advertisers. But I wonder how many of the guides themselves actually turn in to collector’s pieces? According to my current book the 1979 and 1980 volumes I have are now worth as much as $140.

Lot’s of fun stuff in these guides, but for now I’ll leave you with the top ten books by dollar value from the 1980 and 2006 editions:

	1980 Title					$$				2006 Title				$$
1	Marvel Comics #1					26,488				Action Comics #1				550,000
2	Action Comics #1					26,458				Detective Comics #27				450,000
3	Detective Comics #27					20,728				Marvel Comics #1				400,000
4	Donald Duck					18,644				Superman #1				335,000
5	More Fun Comics #52					17,112				All-American Comics #16				200,000
6	Whiz Comics #2					15,970				Batman #1				150,000
7	Walt Disney’s C & S #1					14,932				Captain America #1				150,000
8	Superman #1					13,288				Flash Comics #1				120,000
9	Adventure Comics #40					12,664				More Fun Comics #52				97,000
10	Captain America #1					11,925				Whiz Comics #2				90,000

15 Comics

This was tougher than I thought it would be. I’m taking up the challenge put forth by Jake at Ye Olde Comick Booke Blogge. Fairly simple on the surface: I’m in charge of all of comicdom. Once I’m through hammering my fist on the desk and chewing out all the previous regimes for how badly they’ve mucked things up, I pink slip the lot of them and choose 15 comics to go forward. I can only choose 15 because of some sort of post-apocalyptic, paper shortage -- I’m choosing to blame that on Joe Quesada -- but I’ll be publishing bushels of crap on the web, count on it .

Action Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely

Too easy. There has to be a Superman title and there has to be an ACTION COMICS. I’ll just rename ALL STAR SUPERMAN and off we go.

Detective Comics
Writer: Matt Wagner
Artist: Jim Lee

Like ACTION COMICS, there has to be a DETECTIVE COMICS and there has to be a Batman title. I’m tempted to put Frank Miller on this because I’m a money-grubbing capitalist and I know the books will sell, but Wagner is clearly better at Batman right now. So I’ll assign the art to Jim Lee to ensure I can afford my boat.

Amazing Spider-Man
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: John Romita Jr. 

I could go Peter David here as well, except I’d end up spending hours arguing politics, movies, etc. and we’d get no work done and I’d probably end up firing him or assigning him to a very special Don Rumsfield tribute book. So no Peter David. And yes, I’m going to be an SOB to work for. My current employees can attest to that. By the way, this is the only book Bendis gets and he gets his own, full-time editor.

Fantastic Four
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Andy Kubert and/or Adam Kubert

Slott’s a bit of a risk, but I like what he’s done on THE THING. If he gets too bwa-ha-ha then I’ll yank him, put him in charge of the MILLIE THE MODEL on-line letters page and give the book to Joe Casey. One of these Kubert guys did a pretty good job on the ULTIMATE FF title so they both get the nod here. As long as the pages get turned in on time I don’t care which actually does the work. When I stick my head out of the office and yell, “Kubert!” I expect them both to answer. And they can call me “Chief” – everyone is going to call me “Chief”.

JLA/JSA
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: George Perez

I almost gave Perez the FF book out of nostalgia but this is more to my liking. Think of this title as a sort of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED for big kids – or maybe, not for little kids. The roster of the book will be very fluid -- any character from any universe is fair game -- but there can be no less than six used in any given storyline or issue. And lots and lots of cameos. You know, lounge shots from satellite headquarters showing Moon Knight playing chess with the Shining Knight (and I don’t mean playing with her chest – get your mind out of the gutter), Ares arm-wrestling Powergirl, or Green Arrow discussing gambling debts with Wonderman. Kurt Busiek will treat this just right and he’s free to mix in some of his ASTRO CITY characters.

The Avengers
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Bryan Hitch

I was tempted to make a Marvel equivalent of JLA/JSA but I don’t think the Avengers lend themselves to that quite as well. So this will have a relatively tight line-up. Cap, Iron Man and Thor anchor the team, with Spidey (because he’ll have only one title under my reign and I think he works pretty well as comic relief and we're trying to sell books here), Ms. Marvel, She Hulk and maybe Hawkeye. I'm tempted to load this thing up with every heavy hitter in the Marvel Universe and let them take on some major villains but we'll keep it simple for now. When Busiek gets too busy I'll let Bendis write a two issue fill-in. The guy will probably blow up.

Brave and the Bold
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Rotating

A team-up book combining any two (and only two) characters from any comic universe. It’s your sandbox Grant, have at it. 

The Ultimates
Writer: Warren Ellis or Mike Millar
Artist: Steve McNiven

I’m skeptical about this one, but Millar and Ellis begged. My gut tells me this won’t be nearly as successful without a bunch of surrounding Ultimates titles to support the concept as a complete universe rather than a What If or Elseworlds offshoot. If the numbers drop too low I'll pull the plug and put a Teen Titans book in this slot.

Wonder Woman
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Pasqual Ferry

Not really sure if Simone’s a good fit here. I almost put her on JLA/JSA but decided to give her a female lead to work with. I kind of expect this to roll up some of the BIRDS OF PREY storyline as well, but that may be asking too much and you can be sure I’d hear from ladies about compressing all the distaff heroes under one roof.

Captain America
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Current artistic team, possibly rotating with new storylines

What do I look, stupid? If it ain’t broke…

Uncanny X-men
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: John Cassaday

I can’t stand most of the X-books currently on the market, but they sell so I’m resisting the urge to scream “No More Mutants!” and scratch them all. Van Lente is a bit untested in these waters but I think he’ll bring just the right intellectual firepower to bear and I want UNCANNY X-MEN to be a smart book from now on.

Horror Anthology

I don’t like the title, but marketing and editorial are efforting a new one for me. This is the first of three anthologies we’ll put out to satisfy some of the non-mainstream superhero needs. I expect this to alternate between Eric Powell’s THE GOON and Robert Kirkman’s WALKING DEAD.

Warren Ellis Anthology
We’ll have one title that will bop across four story lines: FELL, PLANETARY and DESOLATION JONES, the fourth one to be named later, maybe NEXT WAVE or TRANSMETROPOLITAN or JACK CROSS. Okay, that last one was a joke. One of my first commands will be to have all existing issues of JACK CROSS pulped for use in lining the packages of the comics we ship. The titles will use the same artists who now work the books, alternating each month so that three new issues will come out per year. In the case of PLANETARY that’s one more than we typically see, so I’ll brook no complaints.

Guns
The final anthology series. Each month will alternate between one-shot westerns and ongoing war stories – specifically WWII since no one will get worked up over that. The war stories will be penned by Chuck Dixon and Garth Ennis and the westerns will be a rotating team. This a vanity title created and written just for me because I like war stories and westerns. I’m thinking of acquiring the comics book rights to The Guns Of  Navarone and Rio Bravo, just for this book. Remember, it’s my universe, you’re just buying comic books in it.

And finally, drumroll please…

The Everpresent Universe Changing Humongous Crossover Event Cash Cow Comic
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Cast of thousands

This book comes out immediately after my press conference during which I’ll malign the previous publishers and editorial teams as hacks who lacked vision, guts and true understanding of what comic fandom really wants, which, it turns out, is exactly what I want. You’ll love it, you’ll hate it, you’ll love to hate it. And you’ll buy every single stinking issue as well as the 13 variant covers and the occasional Secret Files or Universe Guide. In truth, this one’s for the comicblogosphere, got to give you guys something to write about. You’ll thank me later.

   

DP7 #1 & Nightmask #1: New Universe Samplers

Marvel Comics
Nightmask
Script: Fred Van Lente
Art: Arnold Pander & Kris Justice

DP7
Script: C.B. Cebulski
Art: M.D. Bright & John Stanisci

Comic shop stream of thought:

“Hey, there’s a couple of those New Universe things I’ve read only briefly about and have no real connection to since I wasn’t reading comics when they first came out and really shouldn’t be buying anyway since I’m already holding 40 bucks worth of comics, but look, Fred Van Lente wrote the NIGHTMASK book and he writes ACTION PHILOSOPHERS -- which is very cool -- and ‘NIGHTMASK’ is a pretty cool name although, **gad** gnomes and does the whole thing take place in a dream? Not bad art really, reminds me of something – not sure what. This has potential…maybe it’s just Van Lente. That guy could make the phone book interesting.

“Displaced Paranormals? Sounds like a PC term for lost kids. They’re not lost, they’re a displaced pair of normals. I shouldn’t buy this one it doesn’t look nearly as interesting as NIGHTMASK. But what if they’re connected? What happens when Warren Ellis starts writing that NEW UNIVERSAL thing this summer and I’m left in the dark? Or left in the dork, as the wife says.

“Oy. Some kind of X-men/Outsiders thing. Jeez this art’s weak. Oh and look Indians and a shaman. Can’t have Indians without a shaman. So the sister is the bad guy - er, girl? Why? Hey, zombie Indians. When all else fails write in some zombies. Eric Powell could pull this off but here it’s just stupid. Should have put them on the cover. This is really bad, now I have to buy it.

“Okay, I’m buying them both. I’m such a soft touch. That’s why our refrigerator’s full of girl scout cookies. Even those Thin Mints which are just like Grasshopper’s but four times as expensive. Eating three of those is like the financial equivalent of eating a comic book. Now there’s an idea for a column, what foods are the cost of a comic? Man, I’m hungry…”

Thing #5

Marvel Comics
Script: Dan Slott
Art: Andrea DiVito

I really like this series, but the sales number have been less than impressive (it debuted at about 30K but issues 3 & 4 came it at 21K apiece) making me doubtful it will last past 10 issues. Slott’s humor is well used and I like how he’s turned this into a throwback title of sorts – lot’s of old style Marvel mayhem and some fun villains we haven’t seen in a while. Plenty of opportunities for clobberin’ time. It seems like there would be a place for this at the Marvel table and the fact that it’s an ongoing monthly gives me some hope. But since both Marvel and DC have given short shrift to titles that can’t consistently tread above the 25K mark, I’m not holding my breath. 

This issue probably didn’t help matters in either direction; anyone jumping on board with this issue because of the good things they might have heard could be disappointed. The focus is on Yancy Street -- long Ben’s anchor as well as a source of slapstick humor -- but the vibe was bit melancholy and at times preachy, and the humor just a forced. Despite the tone, Slott continues to show a nice feel for the Ben Grimm character (far better than what I’ve seen from JMS so far in the FF proper) and I think he’s nailed Ben’s reaction to sudden riches just right. Things pick up towards the end of the book and issue six looks to be back to the same sort of romp the first four were.

Andrea DeVito’s art is wonderful. This is the best Thing being drawn at Marvel, bar none. DeVito doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to depicting Benjy’s various moods and that’s no easy task. Lot’s a of little touches as well -- I loved the “4” on the bottom of Ben’s boots -- making for a really fun package that reminded me a lot of the early MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE and George Perez FANTASTIC FOUR days.

Here’s hoping Marvel sees fit to let THING build an audience. With all the new titles out there I suspect this one has been overlooked and that’s a shame. It’s not ground-breaking or earth-shattering, but it is fun and only mildly tangled with current Marvel continuity; and comics can certainly use a few of these titles.

The Life and Times of Squadron Supreme – Part I

Squadron Sinister and Squadron Supreme

In late 1969 Squadron Sinister made its first appearance in the pages of the AVENGERS. It was issue 69 to be exact and they turned up in the first of a three part story arc involving an obscure Avenger’s villain known as Kang the Conqueror (what ever happened to him?) and the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster created them by changing the personal histories of several Earth men (or in Hyperion's case, a subatomic man) so they would become Nighthawk, Hyperion, Whizzer and Dr. Spectrum - all thinly veiled analogs for certain high profile JLA’ers. Comic historians note this as the first recognizable instance of retconning.

As plotted by Roy Thomas, the Avengers would battle the Squadron Sinister on Kang’s behalf to save the Earth. The Avengers version of Earth, that is. Guess who wins? After this Squadron Sinister would split up and bop around the Marvel Universe trying to destroy the Earth, battle various Marvel heroes, pretend to be Wanda and Pietro’s father (wait, sorry, different Whizzer), battle the Defenders, join the Defenders, and, on occasion, die. (Issue number 71 of the AVENGERS also debuted the classic Invaders team of Captain America, Sub-mariner and the Human Torch. Not a bad few months work for Rascally Roy.)

In AVENGERS 85-86 (Feb/Mar 1971) the Squadron is back. But it’s a different Squadron as the Avengers (well, Quicksilver, Wanda, Vision and Goliath) have been transported to a parallel universe where the Squadron Supreme fights for good instead of evil. (Apparently the Grandmaster’s prior dealings with this Squadron, prompted him to try and recreate them in his earlier contest with Kang. I’m not surprised it didn’t work. We all know what happens when you try to copy a copy.)  This group includes a few new JLA analogs: Tom Thumb, American Eagle, Lady Lark and Hawkeye (no confusion since the Avenger’s Hawkeye is Goliath and Goliath is Yellowjacket). This time the Avengers -- along with the help of Nighthawk -- are trying to stop the launch of a solar rocket set to cause a supernova, consuming the Squadron’s Earth. The Squadron has been duped into launching the rocket by a character called Brain-Child. Once again the Avengers must battle the Squadron. Guess who wins?

Eventually the two teams work together to over come Brain-Child and the Avengers are retuned to their own dimension. Or are they? Cue Twilight Zone theme…

The Squadron Supreme would stay in their own universe until AVENGERS 141-144, 147-148 (1975-76).  This plot is somewhat convoluted, involving Patsy Walker, her ex-husband Buzz Baxter (both of Marvel humor comics fame), President Nelson Rockefeller and a really ugly green snake hat. Somehow the hat has created an evil mind-meld between the wearers in various universes. The hat has reportedly been worn by most of the CEO’s on the Avenger’s Earth (and several on ours judging by Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, etc.). Cap has had a run-in with the hat and has traced it back to the Red Skull. He’s followed the Skull's men to Roxxon Oil and enlists the Avengers (he’s been on sabbatical and out of touch) to help him breach a top secret research facility where they run smack into a Squadron Supreme guard detail.

While the Squadron is pretty clear that they aren’t Sinister this time around, judging by these two covers, Marvel wasn't so sure:

Maybe this comment from the Whizzer threw them off:

“Sold out”??!! But…I thought they we’re like the Justice League. They can’t sell out. And that's more than one syllable. Wait, there’s more…

Why…why, they’re worse than sinister, they’re capitalists!

And then Cap takes the Whizzer out with his patented Boomerang Shield Maneuver. There’s also a very cool fight scene where the Vision proves he is, in fact, the baddest Avenger on the block. The whole thing is quite Airwolf, to borrow from a certain well-known comic blogger, currently celebrating his one year anniversary.  The Avengers escape back to their own universe, with the snake helmet, leaving the Squadron to deal with a mild crisis of conscience.

Before I forget, this stint gave us the Amphibian, saw American Eagle become Cap’n Hawk, updated Hawkeye’s name to Golden Archer and his appearance to a more Green Arrow-like countenance, and introduced “Rocket Central” the Squadron’s orbiting satellite headquarters and winner of the 1976 award for Worst Secret Headquarters Name. In issue 147 Hyperion also mentions his “arch-foe, Burbank” -- who becomes more important under the JMS Squadron -- and is clearly a Lex Luthor reference. (Lex Luthor, Emil Burbank – clearly taken from that evil early 20th century botanist, Luther Burbank.)

Also of note, issue #141 marked George Perez’s first appearance on the title.

Because any good story is worth retconning, in 1989, in the pages of AVENGERS WEST COAST ANNUAL #4 and WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #5, Mark Gruenwald would write a sort of wrap-around story where he tied up a several loose ends and introduced Zatanna doppelganger, Arcanna, into the story. These are among the few Squadron books I don’t have, but you can read an account of them here.

Squadron Supreme and the Defenders

You probably know Gruenwald as the writer most frequently attached to the Squadron Supreme, thanks to a well-received 1985 SQUADRON SUPREME maxiseries. But before getting to that I have to mention The Squadron’s late 1982 appearance in THE DEFENDERS – issues 112-114 to be precise. The story, penned by J.M. DeMatteis, finds the Defenders magically transported to the Squadron’s Earth where they discover a dying Hyperion, their own Earth’s Nighthawk (who the Defenders thought dead) and a planet taken over by the Over-Mind via control of Kyle Richmond (The Squadron’s Nighthawk) who has left the SS and became President.

When Richmond invokes martial law and starts jailing innocents the Squadron resists but are quickly assimilated by the Over-Mind. (Notice a trend here?) Hyperion resists, but is forced underground, poisoned by concentrated Argonite (think Kryptonite) rays being pumped into the atmosphere. The Defenders help Hyperion back to health and then defeat the Over-Mind (with the aid of a supernatural creature called “Mindy” - seriously) and of course battle the Squadron in the process. In the end President Richmond turns out to be an alien doppelganger and the Nighthawk who thought he was from the Defenders’ Earth is actually from the Squadron’s.

I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say, “Waaaa?” And I don’t have issue 115 to see what exactly happened although my understanding is that the Squadron’s Nighthawk came back to the Defenders’ Earth and assumed that Earth’s Nighthawk mantle, and later died. But I couldn’t testify to that, at least without the aid of some Advil and a stiff Scotch.   

This is among the weakest of the various Squadron Supreme stories, but it does introduce a few new Squadroners: Arcanna Jones (despite Gruenwald’s previously mentioned update of the AVENGERS 141-145, 147-148 arc, this is her first official appearance – in this one she even uses Zatanna’s backward incantations), the Power Princess from Utopia Island, and Nuke, the er, Nuclear Man. As an interesting side note, the story arc which began in THE DEFENDERS #112 marked DeMatteis’ official, full-time take over of the scripting chores from none other than Gruenwald. There’s some evidence that Gruenwald set the table for this Squadron arc as well, as it actually kicked off in issue #109 when Daimon Hellstrom, Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange and Bruce Banner are transported to the Squadron’s dimension.

Coming in Part II – Kicking off the modern Squadron era with the Gruenwald Limited Series, New World Order and Ultimate Squadron Supreme.

Comics By The Numbers – February 2006

My latest Comics by the Numbers column -- reviewing February's Direct Market sales -- is up over at PopCultureShock. This was easily one of my top three PopCultureShock columns ever, so I have to insist you go there straight away and read.