The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side...

So. I wrote up a review recently of "Flashpoint" #1, written by Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns).

Note the specificity in that sentence. A REVIEW of FLASHPOINT NUMERO UNO. I didn't review the whole "Flashpoint" event (after all, it's not over yet) and I didn't review Geoff Johns' entire career (it's not ending anytime soon either) and I didn't review every comic in the fictional DC Universe. And I reviewed the issue in question fairly negatively.

But I just read "The Flash" #12, the last issue of the current series and the end of a four-part story titled "The Road to Flashpoint", and goddammit if it doesn't give the story more emotional weight for our central hero Barry Allen! The truth is the story is stronger for being in a few parts. Spread over several examples of what writer Tom DeFalco once called "a complete unit of entertainment" (MARVEL Podcast, "The Amazing Spider-Girl", 4/28/2oo7), i.e. one comic-book, not two or three.

In this separate comic-book (also written by Johns), Barry mentions that the birthday of his long-gone mother is the next day and asks his wife Iris to "just give me tomorrow", for "one more day" (I know, very weird considering what Spider-Man's been through for the past few years) to think his life through, all quite wonderfully drawn by Francis Manapul (@FrancisManapul), and well, just look...
...

In the comic I reviewed, Barry wakes up on his mother's birthday, everything is different, she's alive, he's not the Flash, some of his allies are enemies to the world at large, and Iris is in love with someone else. OUCH. Not the "tomorrow" Barry Allen expected he'd be waking up to.

Johns set us up in the end of "The Flash" #12 and knocked us down in "Flashpoint" #1. IF you read both. (Mind you, "FP" #1 also has a huge amount of very obvious set-up for more to come.) Could it all have fit into one comic, one "unit of entertainment"? Probably. But if it was, it definitely wouldn't have had the space for all the other characters' story-lines, most of which I made it clear I found uninteresting. But something dramatic with a splash of traumatic has happened to Barry Allen and this particular thread is a wonderful surprise! The weirdest part? Neither are excellent comic-books. But they are excellent together.

This is what I love about American superhero comics, really. This is why I fell in love with comics in the first place. I was given a copy of "Spider-Man" #35 in 1993 or '94, read it lying down on the couch in my parent's living room, and I realized that because it was labeled "Maximum Carnage" Part 4 of 14, something came before it and something came after it. I HAD to know what. (There's a page devoted to the issue on The Amazing Spider-Man Gallery that gives you a good feeling for the flow of continuity.)

Et voila:
Shared universe ongoing stories. It doesn't end. As Adrian Veidt says "Nothing never ends." Something came before and something comes after. Like... life.

But it's problematic. Most people's brains don't seem to work like mine does apparently. "This is only part of a story? I'm not going to buy this. It's not complete."

So what's a mainstream American superhero comics publisher to do? For that matter, what's a review of mainstream American superhero comics to do? Can you see the dilemma here? You, the consumer, should not have to buy multiple items to get a complete story. I stand by that. But I know stories can become richer, fuller, and more life-like when expanded over multiple items. Several 'units of entertainment'. I stand by that.

I guess a quick and dirty solution is to do just what I did. I wrote a review of "Flashpoint" #1 with a side note alerting all of you, my readers, to consider that ramifications affecting perception of the story might be sitting in recent issues of "The Flash" and/or upcoming issues of "Flashpoint". As part of a larger, shared-universe, semi-mythological, 80-year story something did come before it and something will come after it.

Continuity flows:

*Superman was alive, then dead, then alive. Then "Dead Again", I believe. Since? Alive again.

*Spider-Man was single, then he got married, then he was a widower, then he was married again, then he was magically never married at all.

*Batman was alive, then his spine was broken, then he got better, then he was dead, then suddenly he was just trapped in a repeating pattern through time itself. Now he is back.

*Then there's Brás de Oliva Domingos, main character of the brilliant "Daytripper" by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá. In just about each of the ten issues of the series he's alive and then suddenly and tragically he's dead. Slowly, a picture of a life emerges across those ten comic-books.


But each issue stands alone, a cohesive unit. Of entertainment-- or art depending on the eye of the beholder.

Writer Grant Morrison once said at New York Comic-Con, that it occurred to him one day: When you pick up any issue of Superman, what you're looking at is a piece of a life. And what if some god was doing that with his life or my life right now? Picking up and reading it, a slice at a time.

This is actually the exact structure of the late Harvey Pekar's ongoing autobiographical stories. The first series "American Splendor" combined with the mini-series that followed and various graphic novels along the way, the latest of which was published quite recently: "Huntington, West Virginia 'On the Fly' ". And it's not the last. "Harvey Pekar's Cleveland" is yet to come out. Harvey's been gone for over a year and the output of stories still isn't quite over yet. All of them together tell the story of his life. I'm far from the first to point this out. He's made us all like gods who can peer into the memory of his imagination.

I wrote in my recent review "I don't believe we should encourage this one-comic-is-needed-to-understand-another storytelling structure" but you know what? I also really do. That's what first made me fall in love with comics and it's STILL a big part of what I love about comics. Barry Allen, Spider-Man, Brás, and Harvey included. A multitude of short incomplete stories that add up to more than merely the sum of the parts.

Part x of ∞

And so the monkey has swallowed its own tale, this linear-publishing model of life becomes a circle of death and resurrection, and I am back where I started all those years ago on my parent's living room couch. It's exciting. It's about life and death and the tension inherent in moving forward.

So I'll continue to review these units by themselves, while taking into account the traditions and ongoing stories as ever-expanding structures, of which each each comic is a single brick.

Long live the serial narrative.

~ @JonGorga

"Flashpoint" in the Pan? Maybe.

"Flashpoint" #1 from DC Comics

I'm sure you've heard the joke about "The Twilight Zone"? Which "Twilight Zone" episode am I talking about? Oh, you know, the one where he wakes up and everything is different? Right.

The joke's only funny if you know there's several episodes of Rod Serling's brilliant 1950s sci-fi paranoia anthology TV show that fit that description but I couldn't shake that joke from the back of my head as I read the first issue of DC's newest crossover event, "Flashpoint" #1. Barry Allen, police scientist and secret identity of the Flash, wakes up and the world is not as he knows it. That is the entirety of the premise of "Flashpoint" as I understand it.

Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) is not entirely on his game in this one, folks. I'm afraid there's simply not enough going on to keep my interest. Where's the ability he showed in the first twenty pages of "Blackest Night" #1 to make me care about the characters with a few carefully chosen powerful images and strong words? I don't care about Barry after the first five pages and I don't care about the overload of new characters introduced in this first issue. The first five pages are great. Is this what we're going to get, a slimmer and slimmer set-up with actual human feeling every time Johns writes an event book?

I also think penciler Andy Kubert's work has simply seen better days. The characters' body language and anatomy feel wrong. Off balance. Again, the first five pages feel much closer to physical reality, with weight to the bodies. Somehow things got rushed later on. Possibly the blame is to rest with inker Sandra Hope? A few moments are almost painful in their awkwardness. Mind you, it is still better than the great majority of comics art out there. Solid stuff from the Kubert family as always.

Back to the story: Why would you introduce me to a dozen new characters on one page and then give me four or five pages of those characters arguing about past events without specific explanations or emotions? The worst part is how much it all feels so rote now after so many alternate universe stories and so many crises. Bored is too strong a word. It's not boring. The cliffhanger at the conclusion of this first issue assures that. It is a very exciting reveal of a character's secret identity. The Batman of the alternate 'Flashpoint universe' (as it's being called) is NOT Bruce Wayne. Very cool. And a few pages before it we see a man used to moving at super-speed stuck in traffic. Drawn out to seven panels to make you FEEL it. Very well-done.

THE LONG AND SHORTBOX OF IT?

This latest crossover-event offering from DC is not "Blackest Night". It's a 90% regurgitation of material and concepts we've seen many times and it's not done so well as to make the trip down the same road worth it. Passable art and just below passable story. That other 10%? Damn good stuff. We'll see where this goes.

Issue #2 does look more promising. Looking forward to reading it carefully. I am also currently reading "The Flash" #12 (the end of a story with the slightest of lead-ins to "Flashpoint") to determine if there are elements I'm missing that make this story a bit more understandable and/or exciting. I don't believe we should encourage this one-comic-is-needed-to-understand-another storytelling structure but I will post an update at a later date just the same.

~ @JonGorga

____________________________

As a side note, the "Flashpoint" crossover-event's structure looks something like this:

Five issues of the main limited series.

"Flashpoint" #1-5

In simultaneous or semi-simultaneous occurrence with...

1 series' tie-in issues.

"Booster Gold" #44-47

and

20 different side mini-series.

"Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Secret 7" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern" 1-3

"Flashpoint: World of Flashpoint" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Frankenstein & the Creatures of the Unknown" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Citizen Cold" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Legion of Doom" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Grodd of War" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance" 1-3

"Flashpoint: The Outsider" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Reverse Flash" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Project Superman" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Green Arrow Industries" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Hal Jordan" 1-3

"Flashpoint: Canterbury Cricket" 1-3

The problem I'm observing with these books is that they're not selling. No matter how good or bad they may be, they're too new to be comfortable and too old to be fresh.

If Image Comics (@ImageComics) was releasing an entirely new book called "The Canterbury Cricket", I would say to myself "What the hell is that? I'll take a look." But "Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket" is part of a larger game, and appears to be about an alternate version of Ambush Bug fighting in a resistance force with Lois Lane against the armies of Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

WHAT? Exactly. If you are familiar with these characters, they're all jumbled into a not particularly interesting new status quo. If you're not, you can tell that you're missing something in the parallel with the old status quo.

I'm sure some people have the money and time to read all of these books and make sense of the bigger picture. Maybe years down the line I will do so myself and discover a rich experience for my effort. That's what happened for me with Marvel's "House of M" event. But the difference is after reading "House of M" #1, I could read the "Wolverine" HoM tie-in issues and enjoy them. "Wonder Woman and the Furies" and even what's probably the best of them: "Batman Knight of Vengeance" written by Brian Azzarello (@brianazzarello) just aren't convincing me to give up my money because they stand-alone and together at the same time in an unsatisfying way.

______________
UPDATE 7/20:

I've posted an editorial about my reaction to "The Flash" #12 and its ramifications for "Flashpoint" #1, you can read it here.

Marvel Day-And-Dates The Ultimate "Death of Spider-Man"

What does THAT mean? Just that Marvel Comics announced plans this morning for a further flirtation with simultaneous digital and paper release of a comic-book at the same paper cost ($3.99) and this time with all the issues in a short but high-profile crossover 'event': namely the "Death of Spider-Man" from their Ultimate Comics imprint.

Those easily alarmed take NOTE: The Peter Parker in "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" isn't the same Peter Parker in "the Amazing Spider-Man". "Twice the Spider-Man!" said the marketing people in the year 2ooo and we've had two separate ongoing universes ever since.

And in the words of those marketing people: "Marvel is proud to announce that every issue of the hotly-anticipated DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN will be available day & date on the Marvel Comics app, available via iTunes for the iPad, iPhone & iPod touch."

CBR.com's article by Kiel Phegley reprinted that press release with a few comments from the main writer of the upcoming story, Brian Michael Bendis, and the interesting comment: "the issues mark the first event comics – a driving force in comics retail for the past decade – to be offered day-and-date online, though Marvel has been experimenting with high profile releases in this format including the recent 'Invincible Iron Man' Annual and the 'Ultimate Thor' mini series."

The first issues in the "Death of Spider-Man" story are to release in comics retail stores and on the iPad, in February of 2o11.

[via ComicBookResources.com]

And what of those comics retailers? Should they be worried? The crossover 'event' has meant big bucks for them for a long time. I've written on this very site about how much better suited the crossover is to digital simply because it the eliminates the: "Damn! I won't know how this story ends without reading a DIFFERENT comic-book? What the HELL!?" Press a button, problem solved much faster. Or could this prove one of the failings of digital comics? No ACTUAL HUMAN BEING to point to a comic-book and say: "Oh, I've already flipped through that, if you want the whole story you'll have to read THIS first."

However, whether or not "Death of Spider-Man" is a crossover 'event' at all is questionable to me because one of their defining characteristics is the multiplicity of inter-locking comic-book series. Not just one or two. I think one character (or set of characters) appearing in another's book is a guest appearance, two sets of characters appearing in the other's books for one story is a crossover, but a crossover 'event' requires a wider net. Those definitions are far from all-encompassing, I know, but are worth mulling over if for no other reason than nobody else seems to! Why has Phegley specified that "Death of Spider-Man" is an "event" not a "crossover event"? What does he mean when referring to other comics as "high profile" as opposed to "events"?

Is the entire family of terms: crossover, event, and crossover 'event', just marketing hype pure and simple? Perhaps this is all best left to the comics historians of the next generation to worry about, because by just about any definitions you can't call it a crossover 'event' until it's over and done. We will all have to wait and see.

~@JonGorga

P.S. ~ Josh and I have a little plan in the works to probe the nature of digital day-and-date releases in a series of reviews in the coming year!

Talking Over Balloons: artist Reilly Brown

In the strange, painful, but wonderful career of comic-book penciling perhaps the most strange, painful, but wonderful job you can get is to draw a small 'tie-in' part of a larger ongoing crossover 'event' story. With dozens of comic-books arriving on different weeks, all expected to create one multi-angle story, scripts change, continuity flows, schedules are tight and the number of corrections any one artist must make to keep that ongoing continuity mostly accurate in any one comic could be staggering. And undoubtedly makes for a challenging assignment.

So The Long and Shortbox Of It has secured an interview with Reilly Brown, Marvel artist who was himself recently put into this challenging position. Reilly's (@Reilly_Brown) work can be seen in this year's Hercules "Heroic Age: Prince of Power" mini-series, the wonderful back-up story that appeared in "Chaos War" #1 and the upcoming "Chaos War: Alpha Flight" one-shot written by Jim McCann (@JimMcCann) hitting comic-book stores everywhere tomorrow!

Jon Gorga: Let's get right into the delightful muck of continuity right away, you drew the back-up feature in "Chaos War" #1 that explained where one of the central characters, Hercules, has been cosmically stuck since the events of "Assault on New Olympus" and you also drew the "Alpha Flight" one-shot coming out this week that ties-into the larger "Chaos War" 'event'. Now, as I understand it, despite the fact that you've had an involvement with the past and the present of this story as well as the character himself you would still probably find that if you draw Hercules into a page of "Chaos War: Alpha Flight" you would find some surprising notes about how he looks NOW: wounds, hair, bags under his eyes, damage to his costume and any number of crazy other things that can happen to a demi-god in the Marvel Universe. Without giving away anything you can't, is that an accurate assessment of the game?

Reilly Brown: The majority of the coordination of these events takes place with the editors and writers, so if you really want the nitty gritty on planning a crossover event, you should ask them.

For my part I'm mostly at the mercy of what's in the script, which do contain certain notes about characters to keep me up to date. For instance in the Chaos War event, Mikaboshi the Chaos King is constantly growing throughout the story, and that's something that the script for Alpha Flight mentioned, but I really didn't feel that was any different than any other note I might get in a story set in a shared universe like Marvel's. For instance, scripts frequently have reference photos attached to them, usually containing images of character's most recent appearances, so as long as I use that as a guide, I should be in the clear.

The most specific note I've seen went to another artist based on something I drew. The short Hercules story that appeared in Chaos War #1 was originally planned to appear in an earlier comic, so I actually drew it a while ago, while the last Incredible Hercules story, "Assault on New Olympus" was going on which was drawn by Rodney Buchemi. In the final issue, there's a scene where Typhon is breaking Hercules' bones, and the script was written to specifically match how I was drawing my story, with his left arm and right leg being the ones that were broken.

JG: That's an impressive display of continuity editing right there: two stories showing the same moment drawn in a different order than they were published, but specifically coordinated to match. Reilly, explain to us, for the hell of it and for anyone who isn't a huge follower of mainstream superhero comics, what is a crossover 'event'? Or perhaps, if you prefer, what are these things that Marvel and DC Comics produce that involve lots of different ongoing comic-books and mini-series woven together? I'm curious about the artist's point-of-view in this narrative machine.

RB: Ha! Does anyone not know? You can't even avoid them these days!

The simplest way to describe a comics "event" is to say that it's a story that takes place in more than one comic book series, and lately the main way to do that is to launch several new series that are specifically based on that event, such as my comic that's spinning off of Chaos War, Chaos War: Alpha Flight.

It's a story that doesn't just affect a single character, but an event that happens in the fictional world that effects everyone, and several characters will have their own stories about how they're dealing with the event.

In the end, if the characters were to meet up later, they could ask each other "what were you doing when the Chaos King attacked?" and we'd have their answer.

JG: That is about as succinct an explanation I can imagine, so tell us how "Chaos War: Alpha Flight" fits into the larger story of the main "Chaos War" mini-series?

RB: Without giving too much away, at one point in Chaos War #3, we've seen that the Chaos King attacks all the pantheons of the world, including all those pantheon's equivalents to heaven and hell. As Alpha Flight fans know, Snowbird is the daughter of an Inuit goddess, so this attack effects her directly. Also as Alpha Flight fans regretfully know, many prominent Alphas are dead, so when heaven and hell get attacked, this effects them as well.

JG: Did you communicate with the other artists like the main series' artist Khoi Pham and the artist on the excellent one-shot "Chaos War: Chaos King", Michael William Kaluta, about how they are drawing the characters, scenarios, objects and on and on required to make the story tick? Is simple comic-to-comic continuity for the things like where a shirt is torn or what time of day it is at any given time managed purely by the writers and editors or some combination of everybody? Where do those continuity notes come from?

RB: Keeping everything straight is really a team effort, but like I said before, it's the writers and editors who figure out most of the nitty gritty. From time to time I'll read the script and ask for more information about things, and the editors are always happy to provide it.

As Chaos War got bigger, someone put together a database with all the scripts and all the art that had been turned in at that point for easy reference, and that was really useful. Also, I'm good friends with Khoi Pham, so we're in frequent communication anyway, so I was always aware of what he was up to.

JG: Have you begun to feel a special connection with the son of Zeus? You've drawn him now in the "Prince of Power" mini-series and a few other places.

RB: Yeah, I've been drawing Herc on and off for a while. First in the Hulk vs Hercules 1-shot, then the infamous "Replacement Thor" story in Incredible Hercules (which was actually reprinted recently in a Thor vs Hercules greatest hits collection, which is pretty cool), then a few fill-in pages in "Assault on New Olympus," and the Agents of Atlas backup stories in the Hercules: Funeral for an Avenger issues, and then Prince of Power and the recent Chaos War short, including designing his new costume.

So yeah, me and the Lion of Olympus are pretty tight at this point!

Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak are great to work with, and have been doing an awesome job with all their Hercules stories, and honestly, working on Herc's the most fun I've had at Marvel since working on Cable & Deadpool a few years back, and some of the stuff I'm most proud of.

JG: That's always great to hear a creator say! I'd imagine after re-designing his costume yourself, you must have a rather detailed understanding of how it would be affected by different circumstances. Tell me, I'm also curious about the other end of the spectrum. What if you suddenly have to draw a corporate Marvel character you've never drawn before? Do you have an official character sheet from a database of some kind to use as reference? Or are you just expected to Google everybody as best as you can?

RB: Ha! Google really is the best reference you could ask for! The writers and editors are pretty on top of things as far as getting reference to me, and I can always ask if there's something else I need to know, plus I typically do my own research anyway-- usually based on Google and Wikipedia. AlphaFlight.net was a significant resource to both me and Jim McCann while working on the new issue.

So to any fans out there-- keep your Marvel fanpages up to date!! The creators ARE looking to you for reference!

JG: That is very funny to me, because the first two sites I ever built were Spider-Man fan pages. I was probably twelve-years-old at the time! Are there more short back-ups coming from you in the "Chaos War" 'event'? What's next on your drawing board?

RB: Alpha Flight's the last Chaos War-related thing you'll be seeing from me. Next up for me are a couple of Amazing Spider-Man backup features, a cover to an upcoming Thor issue, as well as a creator owned thing I've been slowly working on over the past year that I'm almost ready to come out with. Expect to hear more about that in the new year.

JG: That is very exciting, Reilly! The Long and Shortbox Of It wishes you luck in expanding into this new stage of your comics career! New creator-controlled characters and stories are the backbone of any narrative art. We also thank you for making the time to do this for us, of course!

RB: It was my pleasure! Thanks for the interest in the project! We'll have to do this again sometime. And don't forget--Chaos War: Alpha Flight comes out on Wednesday! Look for it at finer comic book stores near you!

_________________________________________
And there you have it Long and Shortbox readers! The artistic side of shared universe storytelling in its glory and complexities. A whole lot of work goes into them funny-books, right? When a crossover 'event' is carefully structured, marketed, scheduled, edited, written, drawn and colored, it is one of the most alive forms of fiction out there because it moves and changes on schedule with the real world!

Check out Reilly Brown's blog at Outpost 51 here on blogspot and his work in the Alpha Flight one-shot out tomorrow!

Talk Over Balloons: writer Fred Van Lente

One of the many talented writers to more recently make a mark in the American comics industry is the versatile Fred Van Lente. Since 2oo4 Van Lente (@fredvanlente) has collaborated with artist Ryan Dunlavey (@RyanDunlavey) to create the well-loved "Action Philosophers" series and its to-be-completed follow-up series "Comic Book Comics" for their small-scale publisher Evil Twin Comics. He has also done a great deal of work for Marvel Comics including co-writing "The Incredible Hercules" with Greg Pak (@gregpak) and writing issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man" (inarguably among the most high profile comic-books published in America today!) as well as fun stuff like "Marvel Zombies 5" and "Iron Man: Legacy" with many, many various artists.

The Long and Shortbox writers have been aware of his work for a good many years and Fred graciously agreed to answer our questions about his comics writing work- past, present, and future.

Jon Gorga: So, off the bat and into the trenches: By working on comics like "Comic Book Comics" as well as comics like "The Amazing Spider-Man" you straddle the line between the mainstream and the indie worlds of American comics. The truth is you are one of many who dance the same dance at Marvel: Fraction, Bendis, etc. Do you think we're in a new era of creators playing wherever they please, and if so why?

Fred Van Lente: Well, there's a pretty straightforward reason for it: the indie publishers are the farm teams where Marvel recruits its talent from. Fraction, Bendis and Jonathan Hickman were all Image creators prior to coming to Marvel, and I was a self-publisher and had some stuff done through Moonstone. We all began as indie creators and that's how we were first introduced to the comics world, so it's no surprise we want to remain a part of it. The independence and creative freedom of creator-owned work is an addictive drug; a lot of time it can't match Marvel paychecks, though.

JG: I can imagine returning to your roots at Evil Twin feels good when you can manage it. Speaking of your indie work, what stage are you and Ryan Dunlavey at right now with "Comic Book Comics" #5?

FVL: It's almost wholly scripted, and Ryan is pencilling hard. Life has thrown us some bumps along the way but we hope to have it for New York Comic Con in October.

JG: Then we will see you both there! I'm curious, how did a project that's a comic-book about the history of comic-books come about?

FVL: We knew ACTION PHILOSOPHERS would eventually end, and we wanted to continue doing the Humanities in comics form, for lack of a better word. It occurred to me that no one had ever done a comprehensive history comic about comics before.

I also knew way more about comics history than philosophy when we started, as I served for many years on the Curatorial Committee of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in New York City, where I'm now a trustee.

JG: MoCCA is among my favorites places in NYC. Always has been. Let's move over and talk about your Marvel work like "The Incredible Hercules". Hercules and Amadeus Cho made a pretty damn strange team. The Prince of Power and the Prince of... sugary snacks? What made them work together for you?

FVL: It's a deceptively simple concept: Brains plus brawn equals great team. Also, it helped Hercules as a character to be paired with someone arguably more irresponsible than he was.

JG: Balancing humor and pathos seems to be something you're particularly adept at. Do you find that it's the reader feedback that helps you find that balance?

FVL: Sort of. It's more of a lifetime of being a wiseass, so it's the feedback from classmates and family members when I was in the eighth grade. The problem with depending on reader feedback is that they're reacting to stuff you wrote quite some time ago, usually about six months, and you've moved on since, so their comments aren't always applicable anymore.

JG: Where did the inspiration come from for those sound-effects in "The Incredible Hercules" issues you co-wrote with Greg Pak?

FVL: Assistant editor Nate Cosby, who started it in WORLD WAR HULK, and carried it over into iHerc and we ran with it. That's why in the climax to SACRED INVASION, when Herc takes out the god of the Skrulls, we made the SFX "NATECOSBOOM" as a tribute to him (and that's now his Twitter handle, 'cause he's a nerd).

JG: I'm actually following @Natecosboom myself. The advice he's giving away for free on there is invaluable. SDCC's announcement pointed to Dan Slott as the new solo writer on "The Amazing Spider-Man". Are you looking forward to reading some "Amazing Spider-Man" you didn't have to sit in a meeting about or are you feeling wistful about your time tag-team writing the series as one of the 'web-heads'?

FVL: It was a lot of fun and a very special way to work. The best part of working on the book were those writers rooms. Since I was doing AMAZING and also the anthology title, WEB OF SPIDER-MAN, I've got to say I'm a little Spider-Manned out, so Dan came to the rescue at just the right time. But I have a couple small Spidey things lined up already for the future, so the readers of AMAZING aren't quite rid of me yet -- and I wrote the lead story in our last "Web Head" issue, #647.

JG: Well I'm glad to know there will be a little more Spider-Man material from you coming to us. Now, all three of us at The Long and Shortbox Of It are big fans of "The Immortal Iron Fist" work from several years ago that really rejuvenated Danny Rand as a character. How much of that stuff is informing your writing of the character for the "Shadowland: Power Man" mini-series that has just begun and next year's "Power Man and Iron Fist"?

FVL: It's definitely a part of it, but IMMORTAL IRON FIST mined that mythology pretty thoroughly. I'm more interested in the mismatched private investigating duo that made Mary Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammil's POWER MAN AND IRON FIST so terrific. It's a spellbinding mystery with El Aguila the center, and introducing a lot of great new villains like Don Pagliacci, Noir and the Commedia dell'Morte.

JG: Before we let you go, a large number of our readers are college-age and plenty of them are aspiring comics-folk. What advice do you have for writers and artists just starting out?

FVL: We're back where we started -- start making your own comics. It's how you're going to get noticed, and thanks to the Ye Olde Interweb, you don't even need a publisher any more to get that notice.

JG: Good advice. Any upcoming releases you want our readers to keep an eye out for?

FVL: Don't forget, CHAOS WAR is the multiverse-shattering climax to me and Greg Pak's "Incredible Hercules" saga, shipping (twice!) in October, and in November I'm doing the tie-in DEAD AVENGERS, which is exactly what it sounds like.

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Fred's writing will be instrumental in Marvel's upcoming crossover-event "Chaos War", pitting gods of the Marvel U against one another! And in October, "Comic Book Comics" will illustrate another chapter of the history of the medium of comics in the Twentieth Century. Check out Fred's website here!

Thanks for reading!

And Fred, a thanks to you for your time! We were lucky to have you!

Out of a Field So Far Left That It's In Wakanda...

So, the Panther's out of the bag, and the new Man Without Fear is going to be T'Challa, picking up where Matt Murdock left off with issue #513.

Be honest: Who saw that one coming?

With Daredevil going to be Reborn (again) and all of those "Who'll be the new Man Without Fear?" teasers from the last couple of months, we knew something like this was coming, but I don't think anyone really expected that it was going to be the Black Panther, given that the character's recent home has been thousands of miles from Hell's Kitchen and that he hasn't been involved in Shadowland (well, as of yet- I've only read through issue 2).

I still think there's something funny going on here- why not just relaunch the Black Panther in his own title? My best guess is that Marvel is trying to build a Daredevil "family", like what they've been doing with the Hulk (as Kevin Melrose points out in the article linked above, there is some precedent for this in the launch of Incredible Hercules a few years back). This announcement, plus Fred Van Lente's Power Man and Iron Fist mini (also starting in December) combined with these teasers, which suggest a new Heroes For Hire series, indicate that something's cooking in the Kitchen. Perhaps Shadowland is the start of something bigger than we really know just yet, and perhaps this welcome focus on street level heroes isn't going to ride off into the sunset once that mini finishes.

Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #513 ships in December from creative team David Liss and Francesco Francavilla: I've never heard of either, but since Francavilla is the guy who drew all of the Man Without Fear teasers, there's at least something definite to be excited about.

Too Bad "Born Again" Was Already Taken

Jock's cover for Daredevil: Reborn #1 (which debuted earlier today over at Robot 6) is just killer. I love pretty much everything about it.

What I don't love so much is this whole Reborn idea. It has long been my belief that Daredevil is, quietly, one of the best titles that Marvel puts out. It seems to me that a solid run like that, unbroken over a decade plus and through three writers, is a terrible thing to cancel. One wonders if the title wasn't selling as much as Marvel would have liked for an ostensibly A-List character, but even if that were the case why put Daredevil through this again? He's already been born again once, right?

My problem with Shadowland isn't that it's bad (in fact it's pretty good), nor is it with the concept on its own merits: a small-ish event featuring street level characters, particularly the often overlooked ones, is a pretty fantastic idea. Mostly, I don't like that Daredevil doesn't seem to play a part in his own story, that all these things happen to him and we don't really get to see how he reacts or understand what he's thinking- ol' hornhead is just a fascist, and that's all there is to it. The logical conclusion to this, of course, is the end of Daredevil, and then perhaps a phoenix-like rebirth.

And we've never seen that before, have we?

It would be nice to get some good swashbuckling kung fu crime comics again. That's all I really want. Is it really so much to ask?

San Diego 2o1o Final News Round-Up!

So it's been over a week since the end of the San Diego Comic-Con but there were a few things Josh didn't cover in his previous post and that I think should be talked about. They are laid out below:

-"Concrete", Paul Chadwick's unique man-trapped-in-the-body-of-a-monster character returns after an absence of about five years! The unfortunate professor, the gal pal, the assistant (all of whom I cannot remember the names of, but fondly remember the existence of) will return with the series that was one of Dark Horse's first critical successes. The related and almost equally cool announcement is that Chadwick's characters will return in "Dark Horse Presents", the company's original anthology comic which is itself returning to a printed page existence (after several years in webcomics form as MySpace Dark Horse Presents) sometime soon!

-"Kirby: Genesis" is the (I hope, tentative) title of an unusual project from Dynamite Entertainment bringing old Jack Kirby characters and concepts (some of them long since lost from the public eye) back in what will probably be a comic-book mini-series written by Kurt Busiek, designed by Alex Ross, and drawn by some artists yet to be announced. As you may have gathered, the details are fuzzy.

-Although I'd be lying if I said it excited me personally, John Byrne's "Next Men" will be returning with IDW Publishing in December 2o1o after disappearing from shelves, on a cliffhanger ending, for fifteen years!

-"Ultimate Doom" will complete Marvel's trilogy of minis started with "Ultimate Enemy" years ago. They seem to be making a concerted effort to not reveal the 'ultimate' enemy but... they've titled the final mini "Ultimate DOOM". If you're any kind of fan of Marvel Comics I think you know who this'll be.

-I suspect this will mean nothing to many of our readers but: Marvel has acquired CrossGen's old characters. It probably wasn't too hard since Disney bought them years ago and then bought Marvel late last year, putting them both in the same 'house' so to speak. Now Josh mentioned in his post that "it can't be every year that Marvel buys Marvelman and promptly does nothing of note with the property" but in a way we do have a very similar announcement here. Marvel now owns a cadre of little known, but in some cases well-loved, series: "Sigil", "Scion", "Ruse", "Way of the Rat", "El Cazador", and J.M. DeMatteis' "Abadazad". The shared universe in which many of them live having been cut-short in the middle of its first crossover event by bankruptcy in 2oo4. Only in the past few months have we finally seen some actions utilizing the Marvelman family of characters that Marvel announced acquiring at the San Diego Comic-Con LAST year. Hopefully we won't have to wait as long to see an effect from this year's acquisition.

-And connected with the new direction for Spider-Man Josh mentioned there will be:
A. A new series featuring Arana re-branded as a new Spider-Girl.
and
B. A Norman Osborn mini-series.
and
C. A Carnage mini-series.

~ @JonGorga

P.S. ~ And well, of course, on the adaptation movie front there was this HUGE news. Awesome.

That and there's going to be an "A Contract With God" film. Exciting, but sad for me. I wrote an adaptation script for that classic comic by Will Eisner back in college... Probably never going to get that job now!

The Devil You Know...

As always, here there be spoilers, so watch out if you haven't read any Shadowland yet.

I've really, really enjoyed Daredevil, recently. When Ed Brubaker's run was finishing up last year, I wholeheartedly believed that it was the best comic that no one was reading, the one really great comic that no one ever wrote about, that no one ever read about, that no one ever heard about. When Andy Diggle took over for Brubaker last fall, I figured there was going to be a drop in quality but it turned out that Diggle's writing wasn't any worse, just sort of different. The fact that the new writer took the old writer's toys and made me think we were playing a whole new kind of game was really an impressive feat and his Daredevil remained the best book that no one was reading.

I suppose that Shadowland aims to change that, to make the 'Devil' one that we know, and, although my first impressions of its first two issues (Shadowland #1 and Daredevil #508) were rather negative, I think the story so far reads a lot better the second time around. Shadowland #1 goes like this: Daredevil's gone all fascist in Hell's Kitchen and has built a huge pagoda to remind everyone who's in charge, the leaders of the Avengers aren't happy, send the leaders of the New Avengers (read: Luke and Danny, who, lets be honest, I'm always happy to see together in print) to talk to ol' Hornhead. That, of course, ends in an homage to one of Frank Miller's most famous Daredevil moments- which is, in and of itself, a clue to just how much different this Daredevil is to the Daredevil we're used to. Bullseye's moment of realization just before that homage is really clever, as is Diggle's Alan Moore-style arrogant-gods-above-the-fray portrayal of the big three Avengers and if nothing else, those moments are proof that Diggle is a master plotter in the old Marvel style, constantly building off old stories while also setting up new ones and, even if these ideas aren't exactly fresh, Diggle is building his tale and tackling his characters in a way that incorporates ideas that we've seen before and makes them feel new and interesting. My only major problem with what's here is that it feels like a prologue- there just isn't enough meat to it, despite the strength of some of the storytelling. It's definitely part of something bigger, but what it isn't is satisfying in and of itself, which is too bad- this stuff really is pretty good, and it would be a shame if it gets ruined because Diggle doesn't demonstrate an understanding of serial storytelling.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel, though; rather than telling the next part of the same story in Daredevil #508, Diggle and his co-writer Andy Johnston are writing a parallel story, equally as important but not necessarily contingent on having read the first. This seems to be where Marvel is headed as far as event storytelling is concerned- tell a bunch of stories, all of which work on their own but add up to something greater and, as far as I'm concerned, it works. It means I can buy the parts of the story that I want, and not the parts that I could do without- hello Fred Van Lente's Shadowland: Power Man, see ya later Moon Knight one-shot- without missing a beat.

As for the issue itself, it's pretty good- it feels like a more complete story than Shadowland #1 and manages an equally compelling ending, which is another reason to write-off the incompleteness of that other issue as fluke rather than pattern- but I wished it focused more on Matt. We get a lot of what's going on with the people around the title character, but don't hear very much of his internal dialogue, which is a fascinating choice given how important narration has been in the character's past. What we get instead is an idea of how Matt's choices affect those closest to him: Foggy, Dakota, etc, those people that he's recently shut out and the manipulations that are really behind what's going on- that is, we see the Hand behind the curtain and the people of Hell's Kitchen, but nothing of the Devil himself.

Whether or not this is an effective storytelling technique remains to be seen, however, given the crossover so far, I have faith in what Andy Diggle has planned. I'm just hoping that it's as far-reaching and well told as it has the potential to be.

A quick note about the art- both Billy Tan and Roberta De La Torre do good work here, although the latter isn't quite as good on Daredevil as he has been in the recent past and neither did anything that really blew me away. What's really disappointing, though, is looking at their art in comparison to the killer John Cassaday covers (you can't see me, but trust me when I say my hair is windswept)- here's to hoping we get to see something sequential from the Drummer soon.

Well, That's Done.

Siege has, finally, come to a close.

What do I think of issue #4? Well, for the most part, it's a case of the third verse being the same as the first two: Bendis' script has fewer words than usual, Olivier Coipel's art is really the major attraction here, the comic is a big, bombastic, crowd-pleaser and, for better or for worse, it's still the comic book equivalent of candy: you like it, you want more, even if there isn't a whole lot of substance.

The ending of the book is exactly what it should have been- the death of the Sentry (who, for all intents and purposes, is a Marvelman stand in*) and the reformation of the Avengers is really the only way the story could end. In many ways, this feels like a reinvention of the Marvel universe and I suspect that's the case because Bendis' story cycle really has run its course. I complained a while ago about how I hate it when writers put away their toys, but this ending doesn't feel like Bendis has undone everything that he's made; instead, it feels as if there are new stories to tell and, although the history won't be forgotten, it can be put in the past. I suspect this represents a pretty important shift; maybe this is the moment where our heroes get to be heroes again, at least for a little while.

If that's the case, then I certainly look forward to this "Heroic Age", this "Brightest Day"; there are new stories to tell, and perhaps they're a little less dark (although hopefully no less nuanced) than what has come before.

*I'll probably write about this some more when I'm done with finals.

Really, Marvel?

Fallen SUN? Come on now!

Digital Comics Part 3: Threat or Menace?

Okay. So I've talked about comics made FOR the internet put on the internet, i.e. webcomics, and the creativity they display in Part 1.

I've talked about comics made for print delivered THROUGH the internet by official channels: Digital Comics Unlimited, Wowio, Eagle Media and so on as well as the aesthetics of their presentation in Part 2.

But let's talk about pirates. (Arrr.) Then we'll talk about the positive implications of all this.

For quite a few years, people all over the world have been spending some of their free time scanning printed comics page-by-page into their computers with an optical scanner and then combining those image files into one 'zipped' file which merely retains the images and their correct reading order. Those files can in turn be read by specially designed programs that present two images at a time to imitate the recto-verso page-turn of printed comic-books and graphic novels. If you access any large P2P sharing network with one of the programs designed to do so like DC++ or Shakespeer and do a search for any popular comic-book series by name, you will most likely find a surprising number of these files. Then if you download one of the programs designed to read them like ComicBookLover or CDisplay all you've got to do is drag one of those zipped CBR files into one of these reader programs and you are bada-bing reading what is probably an illegally scanned-and-uploaded print comic for free. Nothing about the program is illegal, it functions just like iTunes used to (i.e. with no internet-ready iTunes Store function).

There is also a legal source of scanned print comics files. Marvel Comics and a few other companies (including Archie Comics!) released CD-ROM and DVD-ROM packages with a company called Graphic Imaging Technology INC. with tons and tons of scanned comics in PDF format. (Wikipedia has a list of these CD-ROMs.)

The most exciting of those, to me, were the ones which collected all the comics in a particular crossover 'event'. If you've read my old rant about the way these stories are collected, you'd understand. Marvel produced a "House of M" The Complete Collection Collector's Edition CD-ROM as well as "Civil War" The Complete Collection DVD-ROM. I'd try these out if they weren't so bloody expensive. Especially since Marvel unveiled Digital Comics Unlimited and discontinued these sets in 2007. This might actually be the best way to experience these highly splintered stories. Buying something in the neighborhood of 100+ comics to fully understand one big story is a pain in the neck!

This is why we most need an 'iTunes for comics.' I did receive one of these type of sets as a Christmas present. I'd like to be able to read those files on whatever I'm reading my comics on.

(The question that leaves is: Where the hell is DC Comics in all of this? Archie Comics can be bought digitally in two formats and DC/Warner Bros. does nothing? Perhaps the company that brought us the first comic-book with new material, the first superhero, and the first corporate webcomics site is biding its time to wait for the right solution to the entire digital conundrum and slap all the competition upside the head. Who knows?)

Of course like I said in Part 2, Marvel doesn't put out its brand new comics in digital form either in their old boxed DVD-ROM sets or on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited or on Panelfly/the Marvel Comics app. They seem to have an unwritten six-months-or-older-only rule. They're protecting their interests. But that will only last as long as there is a sizable interest to protect. And the digital pirates get an entire new-comics-Wednesday's material worth of comics on the net for illegal download in a matter of hours anyway. Anyone in the world can read pretty nearly every single comic ever published for free. Illegally.

So will digital comics replace print comics?

The short answer is: Yes they will, but not anytime soon.

It was pointed out that I wasn't very specific in Part 2 of this article series. I should have written: as academics and creators, we should be prepared because comics will be largely digital within our lifetimes. As artforms move into the digital format, the relationship of dependence between the art-concept and the art-object (vinyl/plastic, paper/vellum) changes. A huge amount of music is available for download on iTunes. Prose of all kinds is available on the Kindle. And newspapers are moving digital, of course they really, really should as there's very little about their product that is dependent on visuals and even less that is dependent on layout. But a newspaper has images and a layout. A comic is images and layout. It may be a 'book layout' instead of a 'page layout', but it's still about organizing visuals into a sequence.

Comics = Sequential Art
Sequential Art = Art + Sequence

Comics = Images + Layout

You take away either of those elements? You no longer have comics. Moving comics into digital files is very problematic for this reason, among others. But these are formal concerns and not financial ones.

Let's talk about money.

Clare's father K. J. pointed this out to me: consider music. Only sixty years ago music first became available for affordable mass-consumption on Long Playing records, i.e. LPs. Forty years ago music became available on 8-Track. Wasn't a disaster, but didn't last. Lower quality and slightly higher convenience. Twenty years ago came the Compact Disc, i.e. CDs. Lower quality (compared to LP), but higher convenience. Ten years ago music became illegally available on Napster and the Recording Industry had a conniption in their general direction. Today music is available for download from various sources legally. Again at lower quality (when compared to LP), but with extreme convenience. Now iTunes is the #1 source of music, but CDs are slipping from the #2 spot. Vinyl outsells CDs in some markets, collectors and audiophiles want them more than ever. It's a niche market. I buy very, very little music: but I pretty much buy only vinyl. There are many collector edition LPs. There is an annual Record Store Day. Convenience and quality, right?

I can see a world that wouldn't be so horrible:

My comic arrives in my digital device. Maybe it is a 'comic-book' with multiple 'pages'. Maybe it is a 'comic-strip' with a single 'page' that I scroll smoothly through for a good hour. I read it on the same device I used to buy it with a credit card number, on which I can buy comics made by people from all over the world. I review and discuss it online when I'm done. I have a digital 'subscription' with a list of preferences which can be changed instantaneously. ('Would you like to subscribe to the new upcoming superhero crossover event: only the main title, all the tie-ins, or continue with your subscriptions as they are, sir?' 'Would you like to be alerted about new comics by this artist, sir?') I can read old files. Maybe I have pre-sets as to how I want to see panels, pages, splash-pages, balloons and in what order. Maybe if I really, really loved seven random issues, I follow a few links and pay again to buy a nicely printed trade-paperback collection to MY specifications. Maybe if I really liked a mini-series I wait a few months and then shell out big-bucks for the glossy hardcover at a bi-annual 'Comic-Book Store Day' where I meet some real people and have a nice time.

There is, in fact, already an annual Free Comic Book Day to be held this very Saturday May 1st! Its main goal is to drive people into comic-book stores. Go take advantage of the fact that many, many publishers will be putting out a free non-digital old-school print comic on Saturday!

There will still be people who will buy books and comic-books and vinyl for a long, long time. People will probably buy the things they want to keep forever in physical form. In the words of my friend Aaron LeBow: "a book can't get a virus". But we as a culture read/hear/watch a huge amount of stuff every day! In a complimenting sort of counter-point my friend David Bustlin is planning to go digital with his comics as soon as possible for very practical reasons: freeing-up closet space and reducing paper waste.

If we combine the physical promotion of Free Comic Book Day with: ComicBookLover

(Which is like iTunes, the program. Easy, flexible, and compatible with all kinds of image files.)

and with: Panelfly

(Which is like iTunes, the online store. Simple, inexpensive, and compatible with all kinds of publishers.)

Get it on ALL your digital devices, make it CUSTOMIZABLE...

And maybe we've really got something exciting there.

There is only one thing that can be said with definitiveness: Print comics will continue to be made as long as publishers continue to perceive it as a solvent business and as long as individuals continue to find comics challenging and exciting to work in. And digital comics (of all kinds) will continue to be produced/made available as long as publishers continue to percieve it as a solvent business and as long as individuals continue to find comics challenging and exciting to work in.

Like J. Jonah Jameson, the long-time persecutor of Spider-Man, you can choose to frame the question as: "Threat or Menace?" or you can choose to ask: "What can digital comics do for me?"

Simple as that.

UPDATE 5/7/2o1o: Apparently the days of the comics scanning pirate may one day come to a close: A press release can be read here about the recent joint effort of the F.B.I., a law firm specializing in intellectual property, the U.S. Department of Justice, and a coalition of comics publishers including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Bongo Comics, Archie Comics, Conan Properties LLC, and Mirage Studios Inc. in the seizure of the servers propping up htmlcomics.com, one of the websites hosting scanned-and-uploaded comics.

Be wary pirates. Be wary.

UPDATE 5/8/2o1o: Marvel publicized here a long while ago about the various formats and devices its comics were becoming available on. The problem is all three of these devices use separate formats meaning none of these programs can swap files. Not very convenient.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 2/10/2o1o!

At the time of this writing I still haven't picked up all the issues from last week I intend to, and I am still reading the comics from 2oo9 for my Year-End review post, and I don't really have money for buying comics, but here I am doing another Looking Forward To... post anyway.

"Spider-Man & the Secret Wars" #3 is the book I was most looking forward to this week. The first issue fits in quite well with the events as originally related in the "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" mini-series from 1984. It is pretty light fare, but nearly unique in that it adds material to a really strange and quickly done with moment of Marvel Universe history.

This third issues embellishes the story of the acquisition of the symbiotic Spider-Man costume which was originally seen in "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" #8 and had far-reaching consequences that could never have been foreseen by Jim Shooter at the time! So we now get a version of the story with embellishments that connect it with the stories that take place later. Will this 'untold tales series' become canon? That is up to the fans and the scholars, i.e. to all of us!

This is What Is Going To Pass For My Siege #2 Review...

Seriously, though, this is good stuff. It is a little like candy- you like it because it's packed full of sweetness and despite the fact that there isn't a whole lot of substance- but in the end this is good stuff. Olivier Coipel is at his absolute best here. His figure work strikes a perfect balance between cartoon-y and serious, and his sense of scope is really quite impressive. I think I said this last month, but Coipel (and his colorist, Laura Martin), are really the stars here.

Bendis, too, is on the top of his game and I think it's because he lets his artists do the storytelling- Siege #2 may have the least number of words of any comic that Brian Bendis has ever written, and it just works. In fact, even when there are a lot of words, there's a certain economy to them; arguments that would have gone on for pages elsewhere end simply and easily here.

I know that many comics readers have grown tired of events like these, and believe me when I say I understand why, but think about it this way- Siege started in January and it will be over in April. We've reached the midpoint, and so far it's been pretty much non-stop action. Yes, this isn't GREAT COMICS, but it is great comics. Sometimes we forget that superheroes aren't necessarily all about doom and gloom. Sometimes it's important for us to remember that over the horizon there is a Heroic Age or (I can't believe I'm about to type this) even a Brightest Day. It makes me wonder if we actually have reached the last hurrah for superhero deconstruction- is now the time that our heroes get to be heroes again?

I certainly hope so.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 2/3/2o1o!

Hello true believers!

On this upcoming Wednesday, when I take a trip to my local comic-book shop to pick up my comics I'm most definitely going to buy:

"Invincible Iron Man" #23

Wow. That was actually quite hard this week! Considering that "Siege" #2 comes out this week and apparently "The Siege has begun and it claims its first victim as AN AVENGER WILL DIE!!" Who could it be? Who could it be?! Oh I may not lay my head down to rest until I know!!! I'm assuming that based on what I picked as my top choice of the week... you can tell that's sarcasm.

On top of that, a graphic novel I've been waiting for since it was announced at the MoCCA Festival way back in June is coming out! I urge you to take a look at Raina Telgemeier's "Smile". It looks human and sweet and funny and sad. All the things good autobiographical comics should be. It's available in both a hardcover and softcover edition tomorrow at considerable difference in cost!

Plus the second volume of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan's "Demo" starts up this week. That can't NOT be good.

And that is pretty much my whole pull-list, actually. Light week, thank goodness!

Check back to see what becomes a part of the Gorga-Cave!
Don't worry I don't actually call my home that...

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/27/2o1o!

Okay, I'm going to follow Josh's lead on these posts because something has to change for them to still have a point, don't they?

If Josh and I are both wrong and you really enjoy these posts as just simple lists let us know! Post a comment and let us know how wrong we are! But from here on in, I am going to name one book, the big book, the one book that I am most excited about and am most likely to buy (similar to what Josh is doing) and then I am going to write an update to the post in which I show you a picture of all the things I bought for the week, whether they're this week's books or not.

So my big book for this week is: "the Amazing Spider-Man" #619

I am finally catching up on this series and I'm getting a lot of great surprises along the way. I'm only three issues behind! This idea of throwing all of Spidey's old major villains from Kaine to Electro at him in a short period of time and calling it "The Gauntlet" is just spine-tingly good. Check back to see what I pick up!

UPDATE: 1/29/2o1o
So, still being short on cash (fingers crossed on a few job prospects), I'm limiting my purchasing again big time.

So I just got the aforementioned "Amazing Spider-Man" #619 and "New Avengers" #61, which I feel the need to point out looks to have almost nothing to do with "Siege". I seriously, seriously WANTED to pick up "Green Lantern" #50 because it looks like another big turning point in the "Blackest Night" event storyline. Sigh.

Back to "Siege", both "New Avengers" and "Dark Avengers" aren't so much tying into "Siege" as they are wrapping up their respective stories (I'd be surprised if the "Mighty" tie-in issues don't do the same). Which figures as all the Avengers titles are about to be canceled and we will finally have one single story in a comic titled "Avengers" which Josh posted about earlier this month and upon which there will be more to come soon.

However, if you really want to see a fleshing-out of the story in "Siege" #1, I'd recommend reading "Dark Wolverine" #82 and "Avengers: The Initiative" #32. So far, those two titles have actually showed us some more of the events leading up to the siege of Asgard. (And Josh and my respective thoughts about the current ongoing "Iron Man" story and the just completed "Thor" story being lead-ins to "Siege" turned out to be pretty much right on the button.)

We shall see what time and the Marvel executives have in store for the characters.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/20/2o1o!

Hellooooooo.

And thus follows the perfunctory pull-list post of what I'm thinking of getting this Wednesday in my weekly comic-book store visit:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618
"Amazing" has been consistently good for about four months now. And that means a lot more than usual because it comes out three times a month. That's really more like a year's worth of stories from any other title. I ain't complaining.

"Web of Spider-Man" #4
It's the Spider-Man title that doesn't really feel like a Spider-Man title. Yeah his name's on it and yeah he shows up sometimes, but basically it's the villain of the month book now. I'll probably pass on this again.

"Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas" #1 of 4
I think this looks delightful. I haven't read much of Agents of Atlas, but Josh speaks well of it and I'm really getting even more into the Avengers as "Siege" ramps up.

"Incredible Hercules" #140
Continuation of "Assault on New Olympus", Marvel's other-other-other crossover 'event'.

"Spider-Woman" #5
So the new Avengers might be in here... or they might be more skrulls or whatever. We'll see.

"Dark Avengers" #13
Like Josh, I feel the siren song of the crossover 'event'. I want to know what Bendis will feel the need to hide in "Dark Avengers" that he doesn't put in "Siege".

"The Brave and the Bold" #31
The idea of the Atom and the Joker quote-unquote teaming-up makes little to no sense, but since JMS is writing it that actually means it's probably going to be remarkable.

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #3
or
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #4?
Or nothing. Both issues have been solicited for this week. Between the erratic release schedule and erratic tone of this title I'm falling further and further out of love with it.

"RASL" #6
"RASL" #6 might be coming out. This is another series that arrives when it feels like although it's far more worth the wait than "Cowboy Ninja Viking".

"Joe the Barbarian" #1 of 8
I can't help thinking "neato!" Because I'm sure twelve-year-old Jon Gorga would be absolutely enthralled by this title. We shall see what twenty-three-year-old Jon Gorga thinks of it.

Mind you I have no idea what I will really be able to afford... Check back here to find out!


UPDATE: 1/22/2o1o
So... this past Wednesday was a job searching day. I went to some of the comic-book shops in NYC I hadn't been to yet and as I wanted to make it clear that I read comics and love comics I bought a few at every store I visited while I dropped off resumes.

Long story short I'd spent more than I usually do on a Wednesday before I even got around to buying my new books. Mind you, I got some good deals. But money being tight I scaled back my purchases for the week to:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618

It was really the only essential buy for me this week anyway. Next week perhaps will be more exciting.

Already Tired of Tuesday...Cap is Back!

Hey guys! Big week this week, so let's jump right into it, shall we?

So....

You can tell why I'm excited, right? With issue #602, CAPTAIN AMERICA IS BACK- and I don't mean Steve Rogers- I mean his comic book. Reborn has come and gone (ok, not really, but it's supposed to be over), so we get to go back to reading the adventures of Captain America. I was pretty happy with the end result of Who Will Wield The Shield?, so seeing Ed Brubaker get back to telling the sort of relatively down to earth Cap stories that I've become so fond of is, well, kind of like a really cool Independence Day present (or something). Anyway, the tale looks to be the best sort of Captain America tale; the kind that's about what it means to wear the Flag, what it means to represent America. This is exactly the kind of story I'm a sucker for- and I'm ready for them to be back.

I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to pony up for Dark Avengers #13. I want to get the full picture of Siege and, while I'm not made of money, buying the books that Bendis is writing (along with those titles I would buy anyway, like Thor) will probably give me the best idea of what he thinks I need to see- it is his story, after all.

With that said, Incredible Hercules #140, Uncanny X-Men #520, Starman #81, Joe the Barbarian #1 and Fables #92 are all definite pick ups. A couple of notes on the last three: 1) I haven't been reading Blackest Night, but it's hard for me to pass up on an issue of Starman, even if I'm not sure it really counts, 2) Grant Morrison is writing Joe the Barbarian, which makes it automatic pick-up (this puts the Scottish Scribe in some very exclusive company) and 3) a Fables story about baseball and murder? What could be bad?

"What Madness is This?"

It's good to see Oliver Coipel drawing Thor again.

That's a weird way to start my review of Siege #1, I know, but in a lot of ways the most satisfying thing about this issue is seeing Oliver Coipel's gorgeous artwork. From the first image, a beautiful one pager of Volstagg riding away from Asgard, to the last, another one pager, but this time of a surprised Steve Rogers, this book just looks fantastic. Occasionally the page design leaves something to be desired- some of them take a little bit of figuring out- but in between his distinctive pencils (which strike a good balance between cartoon and realism) and Laura Martin's incredible colors, the art here is really what's worthwhile.


NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.

That's not to say that the writing isn't- in fact, the story is basically as big and bombastic as has been advertised- but instead, at this point, there just isn't a whole lot to it- Loki has manipulated Norman Osborn into manipulating Volstagg into accidentally blowing up Soldier Field during a Bears game (and incidentally, my reaction went from, "Hey, they got the Bears colors right" to "WTF?!" One wonders if Bendis would have had the guts to blow up The Meadowlands), invaded Asgard, pissed off the president and brought down Thor. There's not much here below the surface, just a lot of fighting and blowing things up. Not that there's anything wrong with that- Siege is, surprisingly, a lot of fun. It's not, as of yet, dark or depressing and we know, because of its short length, that the next issue is going to move the plot forward rather than running in place. The villains have the upper hand- but for how long? And how do our heroes bring them down?

Most importantly, how long until the Avengers Assemble?

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/6/2o1o!

So, as 2o1o begins and I read my huge pile of unread comics from 2oo9 and re-read my almost equally huge number of bought and read comics of 2oo9 here's my quick first 'Looking Forward To...' post of the new year!

This week of the Wednesday, the sixth of January in the year two-thousand-and-ten we have:

The books...
"The Chill" (maybe)
The idea of a series of crime graphic novels from Vertigo, the 'HBO of comics', is really awesome, but the first two failed to really grab my loins, if you know what I mean...

"Town of Evening Calm Country of Cherry Blossoms" (maybe)
This looks beautiful.

"The Box Man" (maybe)
Well... that sounds crazy, right?

The weeklies...
"Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot" #1 (maybe)
The chances that this won't leave me feeling lukewarm are slim, but you never know!

"Cable" #22 (maybe)
The last issue wasn't bad. I took a chance on it. I like Hope as a character and I really enjoy the way she interacts with Cable. It's kind of a 'Lone Wolf and Cub'-thing, but it's also a kind of a 'Leon, The Professional'-thing.

"Siege" #1 (definitely)
It's a story that's been seeded as far back as "Secret Invasion" in 2oo8, if not "Avengers: Disassembled" waaaay back in 2oo3. And it's only a commitment of four issues. Why not buy it?

"Siege: Embedded" #1 (maybe)
Well, I don't know if this one will turn out to be one of the titles I'll regret not buying when the event is over and done with so I'll at least look at the damn thing.

Right now, you're thinkin' "Damn that's a lot of maybes." And you're right. What can I say? I'm doing sporadic file clerk work now for cripe's sake! And reading all the comics from 2oo9 I bought and DIDN'T read is making me think hard about the way I spend my money.

Check back and see who wins: the Gorga or the Wallet!


UPDATE: 1/10/2o1o

The Wallet doesn't pull its punches and achieves a knockout folks, he weaved left, he weaved right, he...
I didn't pick up anything this week.

"Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms" turned out to be 2 stories in one and left me confused as to its publishing history, which has left me burned a few too many times lately for me to pick it up and get disappointed that there was a cheaper, earlier version out there.

Quick Amazon.com research shows that there was indeed a cheaper paperback version published in 2007.

"The Box Man" looked like a damn mess of pop-surrealism. That's all I gots ta say about that.

The first issue of the new "Jackpot" mini looked like so much crap. So much rigamarole just to introduce the actual character of Jackpot and not someone pretending to be Jackpot, only to have her be someone who doesn't want to be Jackpot. And now the writers change their minds, have her change her mind and now she's Jackpot.

"Siege: Embedded" looks like something I wouldn't mind reading, but it's not a must read.

And "Siege" itself? Yeah, it's really good. But do I need it?
I read Clare's copy like a Moochie McMoocherstein.

Next week... I'll probably buy something.