The cover of Batman #701 and #702 proclaim that these issues are the "missing chapter of BATMAN RIP."
Wouldn't it be more correct to call these the "missing conclusion of BATMAN RIP?"
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August 27, 2010
1
Random Thoughts on a Friday Night
By Scott Cederlund in comicsI was cutting the lawn this evening so I blame these thoughts on engine fumes.
- Comics have become a lifestyle. I don't know if that's a good thing. Maybe more on this later.
- I want comics (and all entertainment) really that make me feel something, dammit. If you're not making me feel, you're not doing your job. Marvel and DC, you're lagging way behind here right now.
- Can we stop talking about "target audiences" when talking about Scott Pilgrim, the book or the movie? I'm sure that Edgar Wright and Bryan Lee O'Malley weren't trying to limit their audience in anyway to only 20-somethings who have nothing better to do than play video games and go to the movies.
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August 26, 2010
0
@ Indie Pulp– The Walking Dead V12: Life Among Them
By Scott Cederlund in comics
Over at Indie Pulp this week, I wrote a bit about The Walking Dead V12: Life Among Them.
There have been stretches during The Walking Dead where it felt like Kirkman was only interested in physically and emotionally torturing his characters. Whole volumes have been about taking Rick and the other survivors to the darkest and most dangerous possible corners of their souls, places that most likely would destroy you and me. Some characters have been lost in those places while others have come out only to find a road leading to even darker shadows of human cruelty. Even in the moments of quiet, Kirkman always reminds us of the zombies just outside the gates. Life Among Them actually shows us some hope and peace for the characters. The last time we saw real hope was with the discovery of the prison where Rick’s group sought sanctuary and safety, but even that was overshadowed by the discovery of the dangerous convicts residing inside.
You can read the full review here.
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- Weekend Reading– The Walking Dead Compendium
- Video killed the comic book star– thoughts on Kirkman’s video manifesto
- We all wear masks to fake our way through life– review of Faker #1
- Guestblogging about Jeff Lemire at Warren Peace
- Carpe Diem, Memento Mori and all that jazz– a review of Daytripper #6
August 23, 2010
0
@ Popdose: a bit about Ellis and Cassaday’s Planetary
By Scott Cederlund in comics
Last week at Popdose, I wrote a bit about Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's secret history of the 20th century in Planetary:
Warren Ellis and John Cassaday know where the bodies are buried. Not literal bodies but the fictional corpses of the 20th century heroes and legends. In a 1998 short introductory story, Planetary literally began with a buried body at the bottom of a missile silo; a victim of a radioactive bomb who became a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde kind of character. In that story, Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner and The Drummer investigate an Army general’s involvement, trying to discover exactly what happened to a once brilliant scientist that turned him into a raging monster. That was the first body, or story, that Ellis and Cassaday dug into, showing us a familiar story from a slightly different point of view. And that’s what they continued to do over the next 10 years as Planetary explored the stories and histories created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Woo, Alan Moore, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Walter B. Gibson, Ishiro Honda and so many other 20th century storytellers.
You can read the full review here.
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August 20, 2010
0
Its a tragishamockery of a comic book show– Blago meets the Wizard
By Scott Cederlund in comicsVia Boxwatcher who posted a link to this on twitter.
| Autographs & Photo Ops Pre-Sells Available Now! Don't Miss Your Chance To Meet Rod Blagojevich! |
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I guess if he can make money at Wizard World (at this point, I absolutely refuse to call it Chicago Comic Con) so my tax dollars don't have to pay for his defense, this isn't the worst thing in the world but what's Wizard thinking? How low are they willing to prostitute themselves?
I wonder if he'll be signing at the fountain? As I said on Twitter, have fun at your funny book show, people. I'm waiting for April I guess.
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August 19, 2010
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Popdose catchup– Invincible Iron Man v4: Stark Disassembled
By Scott Cederlund in comics
Over at Popdose, I mused a bit on the presumed guilt and sins of Mr. Tony Stark.
In the end, when Tony wakes up and sees the world around him, a world that he’s largely responsible for, Fraction gives Tony his own little reboot. This is not a Crisis on Infinite Earths or even Spider-Man: Brand New Day level reboot but Fraction does give Tony a small one and a slight bit of absolution from his sins. If there were questions you needed to think about before reading Stark: Disassembled, there’s one you’ve got to ask when the book is done; “does Tony Stark deserve the saving that he got?” He’s not judged guilty of his actions but he’s also not left completely off the hook either. Fraction leaves him as a man completely aware of his sins but now left having never actually committed them. It’s a paradox that Fraction has set up, judging Tony both guilty and not guilty of any supposed crimes and sins.\
You can read the full review over at Popdose.
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August 18, 2010
0
Popdose catchup– The Werewolves of Montpellier
By Scott Cederlund in comics This is a couple of week's old but I forgot to post it here. Over at Popdose, I wrote a bit about Jason's The Werewolves of Montpellier:
Jason never lets you get close to his characters. In this book, like in most his other books, he never easily lets you into the story. He draws every panel from practically the same viewpoint. Once he establishes a scene, he rarely shifts to give you another view of the room characters are in or follows a character as they walk out of a panel. He never moves any closer or farther away from his characters. Sven and all of the other characters remain visually constant to us, never changing. They never get closer or move away. Jason keeps his images very 2-dimensional and has no use for any kind of dramatic depth to his drawings. Add in the fact that all of Jason’s characters are animal-like men and women- cats, dogs and birds- and it almost feels like Jason does everything he can visually to hold his readers at a distance and to never let them fully into his story.
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August 16, 2010
0
@ Indie Pulp– Love and Pilgrims
By Scott Cederlund in comics
Over at Indie Pulp and with the assist of IP’s own A.N. Ommus, I wrote a bit about Scott Pilgrim and how it’s very similar to an alternative comics classic, Love and Rockets.
Fantasy elements like the wrestling, superheroes and video game logic are the fun, enjoyable parts of the Hernandez Brothers and O’Malley’s work, but those are only part of the story. It’s the characters that keep us coming back. It’s Scott and Ramona’s relationship troubles, Steven Stills’ musical drive, Kim Pine’s impatient longing to grow up, that keeps us reading Scott Pilgrim. In the same way, it’s Jaime and Gilbert’s characters that are the heart of the Love and Rockets stories. In his Palomar stories, Gilbert has created an entire village of characters and their extended families in other cities. Through the comedy, and even the sexcapades, his stories are always about how people relate to one another. Gilbert’s Luba stories are about how everyone Luba has met have affected her one way or another. Characters come in and out of a Gilbert story, but you never feel like they were just plot elements. For the limited time that Gilbert gives them on page, you feel like these are true characters who have complete lives beyond what we have glimpsed.
You can read the whole piece here.
Tags: Bryan Lee O'Malley, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets, Scott Pilgrim
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August 6, 2010
1
So what do all those numbers mean anyway?
By Scott Cederlund in comicsHonestly, I haven't been really paying any attention to when The Beat posts the sales numbers for the past few months. Of course, I give them a cursory glance but those numbers don't really affect the way I buy or enjoy books. I buy books at the top of the sales charts and I buy books at the bottom of the sales charts. But for some reason today, I decided to read this months sales reports (DC, Marvel, Indie,) really wanting to check out the comments. The first comment in the Marvel post is from Brian Hibbs, the owner of Comix Experience out in San Francisco.
If I could make one single change in the way you report these things, sir, it would probably to change every time the word “sales” appears, to globally replace it with “orders”.
As a very general rule, the orders for an issue reflect only the sales of TWO ISSUES BACK (sometimes three)
“Sales trend” is probably OK usage, but in virtually every other case what you actually mean to be saying is “orders”, or, perhaps if you prefer, “sales to retailers” — when you talk about that line in ASTONISHING X-MEN that’s not even good speculation about consumer reaction… it will be #35 that will tell you how #33 sold to consumers…
By now, I think we all know that the "Sale Numbers" aren't true sell-through but only reflect the amount of comics that Diamond sells to comic specialty shops. And even that's suspect since the sales numbers are really just estimates based off of arcane and secret equations, taking the square root of Batman sales and multiplying it by Pi.
It's the line about how the orders really reflect the sales of two issues back where things get interesting. Based on the way shops have to order stuff weeks in advance of when they're published, These numbers, according to Hibbs, reflect the sales of a couple of months ago, and not actual June sales.
I would think the truth is somewhere more in the middle because retailers have to do a certain amount of speculation on titles, events, creative teams and changes to the status quo when it comes it making their choices I'd imagine. I'm indulging in a certain amount of arm chair quarterbacking here (and it's an extremely comfy chair) but I think that there's a certain amount of reliance or just plain acceptance on the retailers behalf that something like The Heroic Age or Brightest Day will be a shot in the arm for lagging sales. Wasn't it just last year we were talking about the undeniable dominance by Marvel in the top 10? Now DC owns half of the top 10 as both companies ride the wave of their events.
But Hibbs's statement is probably true once we get out of the hyped top sellers and that's kind of fascinating. As retailers adjust their orders based off their own monthly sales, the charts and distribution are lagging two months behind for your average, run of the mill, uneventful ("unevented?) comic.
But it's had to look at the top sellers and not see anything that isn't somehow driven by a creative event or creative team. That's what Marvel adn DC are about right now, constantly churning out books and then revamping them before you get too comfortable with them.
All I know if that I admire anyone who can make a living right now selling comic books. You're so dependent on Marvel and DC and their decisions seem so random that you've got to be living and dying by the solicits.
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August 2, 2010
0
Weekly Shopping List 8/4/10
By Scott Cederlund in comicsLast week was kind of a wash when it came to writing. But I’ve been reading a lot, hoping to parlay it into some writing in the next week or two.
Let me just say, a weekend with Peter Bagge and Buddy Bradley makes for a weird weekend.
- Sweet Tooth #12– I think this one may be getting dropped soon. I like the series but I haven’t paid much attention to it lately. Probably going trades-only on this one.
- Darkstar And The Winter Guard #3– This series has been a lot of fun. Gallaher and Ellis have really created a nice love letter to Bill Manto’s writing here.
- Spider-Man Gauntlet Book 4 Juggernaut HC– And here’s another great 80s callback– Captain Universe, the hero who could be you!
- Casanova (Marvel/Icon Edition) #2– Otherwise known as Casanova #2 and #3.
- Tezukas Black Jack Vol 12 TP– Tezuka!
- Slam Dunk Vol 11 GN– Inoue!
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