The Event Horizon Tells Me Otherwise

Lately, I don't quite know what's going on with my comics and I.

I know that I love them. I know this much is true.

It's just that I don't treat like I used to. I still look forward to the next issue of 100 Bullets like no one's business but as I was reading the latest issue, it dawned on me...

The comics that made me a fan all over again is coming to an end.

And likely, I won't ever find anything that good ever again. Better yet, I probably won't find that book that blows my mind, makes me reconsider what the comics format can do and has me hold it up in the air like a infant Kunta Kinte anytime some asks me, "What's good?"

The fact of it is that lately I just don't look forward to my comics like I used to. I am sitting here, typing and wrestling with the realization that the belief "that a man can fly" ain't what it used to be.

Today's comics market is filled with flying men and women talking loudly and not really saying anything. What it comes down to is this:

We should not be shocked when our superhero comics are actually, you know... good.

As I sit here typing this I realize my comics, overall, haven't been that great, much less that good, in a loooooong time. The exceptions usually a critically acclaimed and reader-shunned. For every Blue Beetle or Manhunter, there will be four more unnecessary X-titles and mini-series that will outsell it by the tens of thousands. This is and always has been the state of this industry.

It's not going to get any better any time soon. As DC Comics continually trips and stumbles towards Final Crisis, we've been promised... something. No one knows what it is, though and really, I just don't care. If it's has any of the promise of a Countdown or a Trinity, no thanks.

On the Marvel side of things, for the first time since Secret Wars II, I did not bother with their big "event" book, Secret Invasion. I'm just over events that will rock universes down to their very foundation being done once a year and over multiple $3.99 books.

As for Secret Invasion's sequel, Dark Reign?

To Marvel, again, no thanks.

I miss having something to look forward to in my comics. I am tired of being shocked when I put a comic down and thinking, "That was good." We should not be shocked when our comics are good. This should be our standard.

Individual comics storylines are continuously being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the "event" and the spirit of "the good comic" is the unintended victim.

In all of this, my good will is spent. Squandered by the companies I counted on to entertain me. I want no more crossovers. I don't feel like going on any more journeys with you. I should not have to work so hard to enjoy my comics. I simply want more good in my comics and I'm just not getting it like I used to.

I want comics I can recommend. I wish there were more coming. The event horizon tells me otherwise.

Trading Up

Last year, I made a switch. It began with Scalped. I somehow managed to miss an issue and it began. After years of watching comics pile up all over the place and panicking over missing issues, I started to convert to reading certain things in trade paperback.

And in certain ways, my appreciation for the medium has grown like I never could have imagined.

Two weeks ago, I picked up Scalped Vol. 3 Dead Mothers and fell in love with what the comics medium can do. Unlike television, comics gives you time to consider a character and his situation. The world of lead character, Dash Bad Horse is a harsh one and you have to become hard to live within it. Where it would have taken me seven months to maybe not realize this in comics form, in trade, I knew instantly that I had in my hands something special.

Six years ago, I stopped reading Captain America. I'm glad I did.

It gave me a chance to go back and read it in trade. Having just read "The Winter Soldier" and "Red Menace" trades, I now know and am grateful for my lack of patience with it the first time around. I love, Love, LOVE this book and oddly enough it was because of a shirtless Namor.

Let me explain.

There was this scene where Cap and The WW2 Invaders were in a brutal Russian snowstorm having just battled back a small rogue uprising. There there were huddled around a Human Torch generated campfire and there he was, a shirtless Namor, just sorta hanging back.

Thanks to the realism of Michael Lark, the image was, at once, goofy and inspiring. It allowed me to realize the stark contrast between soldier and superhero and the line someone like Captain America had to tread between the two. In trade, I have come to appreciate characters I once took for granted.

In trade, I have discovered the brilliance of pairing Action Philosophers scribe Fred Van Lente with the Power Pack.

In trade, I want more and am getting it.

I have not given up on the monthly. I still love the weekly rush of walking into a shop on a Wednesday. The trade allows me to defer that rush for a rainy cold day.

That said, I'm looking for new things to read so...

SECOND PRINTERS, ARE THERE ANY TRADES OUT THERE THAT ARE ROCKING YOUR WORLD THAT I SHOULD BE READING?

Death, Rebirth, Realization & Dan Green

For those of us of a certain age, the name Dan Green means a little something.

Walk up to a comics fan over the age of thirty and say the name, "Dan Green?" One, they will probably run away and hide amongst the stacks of Uncle Scrooge comics until it's safe to not interact. Two, there will be a knowing. Good or bad, there will be a knowing.

For those who don't know who Dan Green is, he is a comic book inker. He inked the X-Men.

That means he inked The Eighties.

For nearly a decade, there he was, inking away. During his run on The X-Men he inked all of the future greats.

Jim Lee. Marc Silvestri. John Romita, Jr.

Now, the other day, I was reading volume 18 of the excellent Modern Masters series. This one happened to feature John Romita, Jr. and as I read through the pages I came to a realization. Dan Green killed Romita. Not physically or anything but... artistically.

Yeah, he pretty much killed him dead.

Growing up, I hated... hated John Romita's artwork. On X-Men, he was just there to provide the pictures for writer Chris Claremont's story and that was it. As far as I was concerned, that's all he was there for: pencil helper monkey.

And then something happened Romita went on to do Daredevil and for some reason I started liking him, some guy named Williamson was inking him and made his art... not suck as much as it used to.

I was happy for Romita that he finally learned how to draw. Then Marc Silvestri soon followed and his art was alright, I guess. His people looked a little skinny but I kept hoping that Dan Green would fix that but it never quite happened, meaning Silvestri sucked it! (Last two words said as sixteen year old Devon would have so eloquently put it.)

Later, Jim Lee came onto X-Men and I had a track record with this guy. He was the guy from The Punisher and his art was nice. I really liked it and I was so ready to see what he could do on the X-Men. Jim Lee and The X-Men: you know if you shine a strobe light in an epileptic's face they pass out, if you said those five words to a comics fans, they'd induce nerdgasm.

Later, Jim Lee got inked.

Mind you it wasn't terrible or anything just not as good as his Punisher work. Not as good as the slick work the inker on Punisher War Journal, Scott Williams, was doing.

It was at that very moment I realized what an inker does. The penciller lives and dies by the inker's hand.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have much respect for Dan Green. When he was on, he was on but the fact of the matter is that he never really brought out the best in anyone's pencils. I always got the impression that he stayed in his spot for the simple fact that he was competent and could hit deadlines. A must on a book like X-Men, a title well known for suffering production delays due to pencillers turning in work late.

Now, John Romita, Jr is considered a modern master and primarily inked by Klaus Janson. Their artwork is gorgeous, a near-flawless clinic of pencilling and inking in collaboration.

Again, I actually like the man's work. I'll never forget when I saw his name in a DC Comic, The Weird. His name lent that not-very-good comic a certain sense of gravitas in my eyes. Anything that could lure Dan Green away from the X-Men must be special, an event.

That's what it comes down to. Dan Green inked one of my favorite eras in comics. For what it was, I appreciate it.

So, my question to you is this:

"WHO ARE SOME OF THE UNSUNG HEROES OF YOUR OWN PERSONAL COMICS EXPERIENCE?"

The Fate Of The Universe Is In YOUR Hands

The head of Richie Rich rests upon a pike.

The Archie Universe is close to fallen, a shadow of its former self. The Crusaders have fled for surer parts and Captain Pureheart wasn't strong enough to hold up the universe.

Betty AND Veronica accept their fates as they watch eternal love draw its last.

Dilton Doiley, the universe's lone male survivor, brilliantly having built himself a one-man, two women rocketship, flees the destruction, leaving with a message, a chance to lay seed and an opportunity to rebuild the universe in his image.

Elsewhere, the Virgin Comics Universe is no more.

Buddha and John Woo's Seven Brothers tried but could offer little hope or resistance.

A message is sent upon a frequency that reaches across the universes.

"Dilton Doiley here..."

"The information:

The assembled powers of (Insert Here) and (Insert Here) have threatened to visit destruction and enslavement of the universes."

"The threat must be met but there's a problem. The assembled powers of (Insert Here) and (Insert Here) threaten to attack from a pocket universe that exists like some hybrid of Brigadoon and the Mongol Empire."

"The universe's gateway opens at one specific time but could exist in theirs for years. In our time, it is a war that will last mere seconds but will leave every man, woman and child dead or enslaved and your universes in ruins."

"Your Earth will not be enough. They will take their campaigns of destruction across the galaxy and eventually, the universes."

"United, I believe, we can stop them."

"Cheil Matzav. Let unity be our garrison."

The call is sent out.

The greatest minds of the surviving universes (Reed Richards, Elijah Snow, Lex Luthor, Girl Genius, Tom Strong, among others) determine that the apparatus designed to spirit the champions away only has enough power to possibly send and bring back five of their number.

The invasion must be met at the destroyers' gate, as there is simply one very specific moment to push back the invasion.

The Green Lantern Corps and The Shi'ar Imperial Guard will stand watch just outside of the gateway while S.H.I.E.L.D. works in conjunction with, representing The Umbrella Academy, Spaceboy, The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a Greg Rucka-helmed Checkmate, an out-of-her-element Tara Chace and The B.P.R.D. to coordinate an emergency evacuation plan for all assembled universes.

It has been determined the independent universes, while small, can sustain life and can co-exists with the larger universes.

Five from the universes are chosen because of these different and valuable traits:

A brilliant, tactical mind.

Sheer power.

Experience with extraterrestrial and possible paranormal warfare.

Warriors who will not lay until they have breathed their last.

An ability to endure the tests of time.

The final choice of who to send off to save the universe comes down to YOU, The Second Printer.

Help keep Scott Pilgrim's little life, precious.

The universe rises or falls with your choice.

Five can save a universe.

WHO WILL YOU CHOOSE?

(The "winning" five will later go on to be written in a scenario befitting their status as universal champions.)

Catwoman: An Appreciation

Wrote a review of Catwoman #82, the final issue of the current series for Rack Raids and it turned into an appreciation of the work of writer Will Pfeiffer and artist David Lopez.

Catwoman has been consistently been one of our better books for nearly six years now, even surviving the sufferance of some really crappy Paul Gulacy artwork.

I'm kinda proud of this review because it sorta sums up my feelings on the current comics marketplace and certain comics' place within.

So, g'wan over and take a look and don't forget to look below as our own Benny "The Hat" Hatton asks you, the Second Printer, to bring your "All-Time Top Five."

Best Week Ever?

Okay, maybe, the best week in a long time.

I have my comics and I'm only 4 comics in and already I've seen:

Brad Meltzer have Geo-Force do something we've all wished he'd done for a long time.

Brad Meltzer blow the doors off the place with DC Universe: Last Will And Testament.

Catwoman steal the batteries.

The Family Dynamic and was utterly charmed. (Channeling the spirit of The Incredibles and Mike Wieringo, not a bad thing at all.)

A dog eat a pair of former cartoon sidekicks.

I haven't even gotten to Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D written by Grant Morrison and comics' most underrated artist, Doug Mahnke or seen Black Panther fight Skrulls.

Four deep and ten more to go.

It's a great week to read your comics.

Comics & The New Mythology

Our god is better than your god.

The old god can call down the lightning, the old god can call down the thunder. The old god cannot contend with the man who can see through walls, create fire from his eyes or breathe with the force of a hurricane.

The old god never stood a chance.

The old god lay broken and battered. The hammer of the god lay silent, in need of a champion.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."

The man from another planet reaches down, grasping for the power of a god. He is found worthy.

With that, the war is won.

With that, a war we had no idea was being waged had been won. Superman, the champion of our new mythology, won.

Comics, won.

That was my first thought upon reading the final issue of JLA/Avengers, issue 4. Comics are the new mythology.

In this mythology, men like Maxie Zeus, with his delusions of godhood, ultimately defers to the guise of one of America's greatest contributions to the new mythology, the gangster.

In our medium the gods are secondary. The gods grant power and get out of the way. Solomon gifts a young boy with wisdom. Mercury hands the daughter of Zeus sandals, allowing for her to become Wonder Girl. Hercules has to side with The Hulk in order to receive his gift and to remind everyone of how incredible he is. In the pages of Captain Britain and MI:13, Excalibur, sword of King Arthur, is now in the hands of a daughter of immigrants.

Sometimes, we forget.

Sometimes, we forget we're the keepers of this new mythology. The new mythology is Jack Hawksmoor of The Authority, born and bred to master the urban settings of glass and steel. The new mythology is Local, where a young woman creates her own story.

The new mythology comes in four-color and in black and white.

The new mythology is yours. Comics are the new mythology. How we keep it is in our hands.

The Defining Moment

We've all had them. Moments that defines how you'll be viewed in the eyes of others.

We have them, it seems daily. The difference between us and the superheroes we read is that when we have that moment, girders, steel and flying into the sun with a rogue nuke usually don't come into play.

Sometimes, we don't take the bait and simply turn the other cheek. Some days, we pay the bills on time simply because no one else is going to do it for you.

For me, to be able to bear witness to a defining moment, whether in reality or on the printed page, can be almost transcendental.

Whether it be something as small as the day I saw my youngest brother, at the age of three, quietly help a girl his age down from a sliding board or having the privilege to read Captain America in the pages of Daredevil #233, hold the flag and say, "I am loyal to nothing, except the dream." I still feel like the teenager who was given the words to express who he wanted to be in this world.

These are moments that make living, living. These are the moments that remind me why I love comics.

So, my question to you is this:

"WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DEFINING MOMENT IN COMICS?"

The Drop Zone

There's been a change-a-coming for a long time in comics: the creator-driven comic.

Lately, writers have been falling in love all over again with characters, breathing new life into their childhood faves and burning down the creative house while they were at it.

It started with Brian Michael Bendis' weird obsession with Luke Cage in the pages of Alias and continued with...

Matt Fraction on The Immortal Iron Fist.

Greg Rucka on Checkmate.

Geoff Johns on Booster Gold.

John Rogers on Blue Beetle.

What these all have in common is a certain mission statement, a certain creative bent. These comics are written by fanboys waving their fanboy banners at other fanboys saying, "Look, they gave me that jetpack I've always wanted! Fellas, let's take a ride!"

What this does is give the writer a chance to shine new light on their childhood faves while getting the urge to "jetpack" out of their system.

They move on, leaving the book in different hands and we, the readers, are left with the difficult question of whether or not to drop a book.

That's just one reason to drop a book.

Of course, there's the economy. Another reason is that a book has simply gotten bad, meaning Bruce Jones has started writing it. Or you got bored as I was with Trinity.

We drop books every week for own individual and particular reasons and the numbers eventually tell the story.

What isn't told is the reason behind the drop.

That's where you, The Second Printer comes in.

At least once every other week, we're going to give you a forum to let us know which books you're dropping and why.

Who knows why we do what we do? Only we do, actually.

Are there any comics you have on your pull list that are dangerously close to meeting the chopping block?

Hopefully, this will be a forum for fans and everyone involved to voice their opinions in a right and proper setting.

So, with that said:

Let's enter THE DROP ZONE...

If A Superstar Tree Falls Exclusively Does Anybody Hear It?

Well, another Nerd Prom has come and gone. In previous years, I sat around all weekend staring blankly at the computer, waiting for the announcements, ready to be blown away. Nine times out of ten, I wouldn't be disappointed.

There it was some guy from some "reasonable hit" TV series would be announced as coming on to write something for someone and we would clap our little Cheese Doodle-stained hands in glee and wait... and wait... and wait...

Still waiting...No, I don't think Damon (Lost) Lindeloff's Ultimate Wolverine/Ultimate Hulk mini-series will ever be done. Give up, it's oddly freeing.

We got the announcements of writer and artists exclusives. And we jumped up and down and screamed over how awesome it is that "they" "stole" "so-and-so" from "whoever." And we waited... and waited...

Yeah, we got, like six Superman covers from Art Adams during Chuck Austen's Action Comics run. The Kubert Bros. were lured away from Marvel and the possibilities were mind-boggling, they could show up anywhere and they eventually were announced as showing up where it looked like they could soar: Andy on Batman with Grant Morrison and Adam with Geoff Johns on Action. What we got was delay after delay after delay, fill-in art after fill-in art and eventually DC threw up their hands and ultimately decided to make them their default big project cover artists.

"We" got Terry Dodson from Marvel fresh from working on Marvel Knights: Spider-Man following working with notorious deadline blower/writer Kevin Smith. DC, of course, was going to give this superstar artist a comic he could sink his teeth into, along with a superstar writer who could keep him enthused and help him hit deadlines, right?

No. He was teamed with the overcommited writer of Grey's Anatomy and his run on Wonder Woman sort of limped along. He got another writer Jodi Picoult who knew little about comics writing and was given the task of thrusting Wonder Woman into an ill-conceived crossover event. Gail Simone eventually took over as writer but by then, the damage was done and The Dodsons were gone. Three writers in two years. Back to Marvel.

Again.

You can't build readership that way, another consequence of the hype neither the company or the talent seems quite able to live up to.

Sean McKeever, fresh from building buzz with Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, was assigned what seemed like a no-brainer, Teen Titans and the results have been... *meh*

He takes on Birds of Prey and realized after five issues it wasn't for him. So after his "run," we get back the writer who was "filling-in" in for him. Umm... OK?

Thanks for playing, though.

This weekend was Nerd Prom and I fired up the internets, checked my e-mail, went to work, went on a date and went about my business.

Why? Because there was this revelation. Exclusives give the company a chance to crow in the short term and the talent a chance to, I guess, work on characters they've been wanting to work on for a while and I guess, get health insurance, which I applaud. In the long term, It does nothing for the characters. In twenty years, no one will think back and remember an awesome cover run.

Why should we get excited about the prospect of possibility when the reality of the thing has ultimately been disappointing?

What it comes down to is this: as Mike so eloquently put it yesterday, "The Big Two, DC in particular, got so burned by trying to bring in creative talent from other media, that they’re sticking with what they know. It’s the creative equivalent of exhausting your starting rotation because you don’t trust your bullpen."

This year's Nerd Prom found us with... not much. A few re-ups, a few additions to the bullpen and you know what...

I welcome it.

Exclusives do nothing but make me weary. Of talent. They usually aren't given the proper venue in which to work. As much as the idea of a Dodsons' Wonder Woman is exciting, the reality of it is that, let's be honest, it's only short-term. The company uses them for their name and the ability to put certain asses in seats, meaning guys who like the way he draws the pretty girls. The appropriate writer seemingly was an afterthought. We should celebrate talent, never become wary of talent.

Exclusives don't excite me anymore. Exclusives seem to me, to be the comics equivalent of speed dating. Names gets out there. There's some face time. Everyone moves on in too short a time and ultimately, everyone's time was wasted but somehow someone figured out a way to make money. Really, how the hell could anyone possibly build any sort of exclusivity in so sort a time?

That said, the lack of exclusive announcements may have been the best news I heard coming out of San Diego and it sounded pretty danged sweet.

Exploring The Classics

One of my big projects of late has been "grown-ass-manning" up my apartment. I've lived in the space I write from for just over a decade and a few things stood out:

One: With the exception of a truly boss vintage Foxy Brown poster, my walls are really white and boring.

Two: My apartment looks like a dorm room with it's plastic blinds, torchier lamps and futon. (And no, a grown ass man DOES NOT sleep on a futon!)

Three: I have too much stuff! My apartment looked like the comic book store I used to run.

Action figures, comics and statues were displayed on shelves everywhere. In my room, the closets, the kitchen, EVERYWHERE!!!!

I looked around and with fresh eyes realized that I was going through something, some sort of arrested development. My apartment looked like a headquarters for pedophiles is what it looked like. Amidst the plastic, pulp and cold-cast porcelain, I'd become lost and found identity in these things and for the first time ever, my comics seemed sort of silly to me.

It made me a little sad. Changes were made.

Curtains were hung, framed art went up, the G.I. Joe lunchbox stayed in the picture, though.

I started to put things in some kind of order. I went through my many piles of comics and found that maybe only half of what I had was worth keeping or even meant anything to me.

Since then, I've given away thousands of comics and the karma I've gotten from that small act has been priceless. The statues sit on one shelf. The action figures sit in boxes waiting for a seven-year old nephew to come play with them. Superman is as he was meant to be, soaring again in the hands of a child.

-----------------

The other day I was going through my trade paperbacks and picked up my copy of Watchmen and I had a thought, "What makes this comic more of a true classic than say, Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow?"

Quite frankly, I think in it's narrative, "Man of Tomorrow" is the stronger work and oddly enough, when others talk of Moore's DC work, this tale is often not even spoken of in the same breath with V For Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke and Swamp Thing.

I mean, this comic has it all! Gorgeous artwork by THE Superman artist, Curt Swan, who is masterfully inked under the pens of George Perez and Kurt Schaffenberger. Not only is this comic significant for those reason but also because when DC wanted to close the door on 50-years of Superman history, they chose these men to do so. MoT was, literally, history in the making and yet, it is largely overlooked.

We walk into any LCS and there it is: standing there, flexing its muscles, the "RECOMMENDED" rack or table, filled with Watchmen, Y: The Last Man, some Marvel and Dark Horse stuff and it's... there. It's the stuff of ideas. These are the classics and we've been living with many of them for decades now.

So, my questions to you is this:

"WHAT FACTORS GO INTO CONSIDERING A COMIC, A CLASSIC?" and...

"WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, ARE THE NEW CLASSICS?"

By the way, when the hell are we getting an Essential Power Pack? :)

Second Printing Dream Teams

There is no doubt that amongst the flotsam and jetsam there's a lot of really good things being done in comics.

If we ruled the comics world, I'm sure there'd be comics of characters currently in limbo that we'd love to see come back with certain creators attached.

That said, we all have favorite characters and creators. So, my question to you is this...

"What character or team, currently without their own series, would you bring back and with what dream team of creators?"

To get the ball rolling, I'll start:

HAWKMAN, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Doug Mahnke

Your turn...

Seven Year Switch

Batman doesn't slap Robin around like he does in All-Star Batman and Robin. They're friends, after all.

It doesn't matter if Robin is Dick Grayson.

Green Lantern is one black man. (It's starting to really freak me out much I'm starting to look like this guy.)

The Flash has no kids and he's the funny guy in The Justice League.

These are the truths my seven-year old nephew knows about his superheroes.

I envy him this clarity.

To him, there are no Final Crisises.

It doesn't matter to him that Hal Jordan is The Green Lantern that most people in comics know. All he knows is that there is a Green Lantern.

It doesn't matter to him that for the majority of his short life, in the cartoon media, Robin was independent of Batman and the leader of The Teen Titans.

When they finally did put them together in The Batman cartoon, he was happily surprised someone put two of his favorite characters together in one place.

I've decided to read my comics as a seven year old would. With eyes wide open, not caring about continuity and what it all means. The rocket from Krypton will always arrive in Kansas. There is a Batman and a Robin and when they are together it's always a happy surprise.

Shock And Aw, Sh**: The Comics Event Style Guide

When the four of us started this blog we pledged "to write a blog that didn't piss and moan, that expressed our love for the wonderful medium of comics, to call foul when a book deserves it and praise a book when it is awesome."

We've been drinking the Kool-Aid for a while now. Our bladders are set to overflowing so it's time to piss and moan a bit.

We launched this blog in the midst of Marvel's launch of Secret Invasion and DC's Final Crisis. We've had much to say about both and the underlying theme's been this:

They weren't terrible.

Since we've started this blog, I've personally written a mini-review of a Justice League of America issue where I was shocked... SHOCKED... I was enjoying an issue of Justice League of America.

When I personally started my former blog "Seven Hells!," comics fandom was going through a period of growth unlike any we'd ever seen. There we were, loking over the edge, watching the architects of the DC & Marvel universes building towards something. At the time, they were building the frameworks for what would eventually become Infinite Crisis and House of M. For nearly two years, we were strung along with the promise of an experience. We, as comics fans, donned our fedoras, threw our "press-passes" into our hat-bands, ran to our computers and began to communicate our thoughts and feelings about being embedded in essentially, Comics Ground Zero.

We were there to bear witness to change.

Four years on and here we stand, with Final Crisis and Secret Invasion, we're watching new additions being built onto the Houses of M and Crisis and we are not as impressed.

For four years now, we have watched the lines being held. With the DC "sort-of" sequel of 52, we were given 52 new worlds to explore. With Countdown, we were given 52 worlds to shrug our shoulders at. With Marvel's follow-up to House of M, Civil War, with the death of the man who came to symbolize what an Avenger should be, we were given a new reason to not care for Iron Man. With the additions of The Mighty Avengers and Avengers: The Initiative, we were given more opportunities to buy more comics. The results, for this fan, more more reasons not to read anymore Avengers.

Four years on and I think we're all a bit tired of having our worlds rocked. I think we're all tired of having our senses shattered due to senses-shattering events.

We're standing over the edge, looking over, watching the architects argue amongst one another. Grant Morrison complains that due to the "events" of Countdown and "Death of The New Gods," the universe left behind, isn't the one he had in mind for Final Crisis. He doesn't care and is gonna go on with the story he wanted to tell.

Robin and Batman and The Outsiders writer Chuck Dixon has called out the heads of DC Comics for being "directionless."

I, for one, am glad someone finally said this. Four years now, we've been promised "something" and no one seems quite able to tell us exactly what it is that they're promising us?

Is it a unified universe? Is it streamlined continuity? Is it a pony?

What we seem to be getting lately are surprises such as "Hey, Action Comics was really good this month." or "Barry Allen's coming back? They've only been promising that for three years now."

I'm here to say this:

We should never be shocked when an issue of something issue is good. Do you know why, lately, we notice when something is good?

Usually, when it's not directly tied into with the "events" of the DC Universe or Marvel Universe.

Do you know why the last two issues of Justice League Of America were really good?

The League didn't have to jockey for position with the likes of "Salvation Run" or "Countdown." With Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, a Flash and a Green Lantern in the same room, Justice League should always be treated as it's own best "event."

A single issue of anything should be its own best event. I'm tired of looking over the edge. I'm tired of "events." I'm tired of "the big picture." I'm tired of "going forward." I'm tired of comics that have to fix continuity. I'm tired of this "Spider-Man: One More Day, Batman: R.I.P, we'll fix it in post." mentality the companies seem to have adopted of late. I'm tired of Skrulls explaining away a lack of direction. I'm tired of watching the books I like being canceled due to lack of interest from above. I'm tired of crossovers. I'm tired of not feeling excited anymore. I'm tired of being shocked when you get something right. I'm tired of "events."

I'm tired.

DC, Marvel, I just want my comics back.

Devon Vs. His Comics

TRINITY #1

I'm intrigued. Superman, Wonder Woman & Batman hugging it out on a weekly basis, while a trinity of super-villains tries to kill them, sounds like it could be fun. While I wasn't blown away, I can easily see where this is headed and well... it's enough to make me wanna stay. Under Busiek and Bagley, the guys who brought you the highly under-rated Thunderbolts series, I really don't see how this book could go wrong.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #561

See? This is what I want more of from Spidey. Tight plotting, new villains, old friends and more writing from Dan Slott and gorgeous art from Marcos Martin. Give me that and I'm picking this book up on the regular.

DETECTIVE COMICS #845

It's like Detective Comics writer Paul Dini is making comics specifically with me in mind.

Paul: "Hey, Devon! Wanna read a detective story with Batman, a chimp and The Riddler in a chatroom?"

Me: "Hell, yeah!"

Paul: "Done."

JONAH HEX #32

I'd been thinking of dropping this book. I don't know where it happened but this book just became downright ugly. The thing that worked in Jonah Hex's favor was that, at heart, he was a good man. Not so much these days. Lately, he's been blind-stinking drunk and killing whoever shows up in a cheesy mustache. This issue had all of that but it was a welcome return to earlier form. This issue finds Hex in Mexico, where beautiful women fall in love with matadors and pay a high price for doing so. Tons of dark humour in this issue written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and the art by semi-regular artist Jordi Bernet is simply stunning in its deceptive simplicity.

NIGHTWING #145

If there's anything more fun in a comic panel of Batman, Robin & Nightwing running towards The Batmobile while Alfred looks on, I haven't seen it. Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's and mother of Batman's son, Damien is systematically trying to build an army of super-powered assassins, like all mothers in blended families do. Standing in her way, Nightwing, the adopted son of her ex-lover. God, don't you just love DCU family dynamics?

MANHUNTER #31

Put this image in your head: Ben, in the background singing falsetto, "Baby, I love you..."

Me, in my rich baritone: "Girl, where you been?"

Ben: "Baby, I missed you..." (Does a little twirl)

Me: "You've been gone way too long. There've been others but no one could take the place of you."

Ben: "Whoooo-OOOOOOW!!!! OOOOoooo...."

Me: "Other men tried (Dan DiDio) to take your love from me, but a love like this is eternal..."

Ben: "Eternal, baby. Eternal. Wanna do it all night long..."

Me: "and only gets better when you showed up with that little Latin kid."

Ben: "I... can't be here." (Walks off)

Me (Chasing after Ben) : "Dammit, Ben. I... I... was talking about the last page of Manhunter #31. Read it. Seriously."

It smartly starts you off with a recap of who she is and what she does, who she knows within The DC Universe and jumps right into a plot involving the disappearances of young girls on the Mexican border. Writer Marc Andreyko provides whip-smart dialogue and the promise of kick-ass with a severed head and a note in a box. The last page will make the internet squeal with glee. Artist Michael Gaydos is the perfect choice for the Manhunter, providing dark moody artwork that flows flawlessly in whichever direction, quiet moments or action sequences, the story goes.

Manhunter #31 makes me happy to be a reader of comics. How else would I have found you, girl?

Age Old Concerns

Not too long ago, I had a debate with a former customer about which "age" of comics are currently in:

Here's what we know, so far:

The Golden Age of Comics truly begins with the publication of Action Comics #1 featuring Superman whose popularity soon begot Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Plastic Man and a host of other often two-fisted four-color champions.

The Silver Age is widely accepted to have begun with the first appearance of Barry Allen as the all-new, re-imagined Flash in the pages of Showcase #4. The Silver Age is mainly remembered for the replacing and re-branding of Golden Age characters with newer science based counterparts such as Ray Palmer, The Atom & Hal Jordan, The Green Lantern. The Silver Age is also fondly remembered for ushering in the Marvel Age of comics were old favorites such as Captain America and The Sub-Mariner were dusted off and re-introduced to audiences, new and old. It may be better known for Marvel's introduction of young heroes forged in the science of their time such as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and The X-Men.

Many believe that The Bronze Age of Comics began with the 1971 relaxation of The Comics Code that allowed for the publication of horror titles such as Tomb of Dracula & Swamp Thing. Many more believe it may have begun with Jack Kirby's exit from Marvel Comics, the death of Gwen Stacy, the re-emergence of The Batman as The Dark Knight by Denny O'Neil & Neal Adams or the introduction of "relevancy" to comics such as Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy's drug dependency.

The current argument is just what age are we currently in?

The Bronze Age is clearly over as we've moved beyond the things that categorize it. Are we in The Modern Age of Comics, as my friend suggests?

My buddy says The Bronze Age ended when Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee left comics for Hollywood and left his name to become a banner used to identify a Marvel comic, ushering in the first generation of writers and artists who grew up reading comics.

I believe we're in The Platinum Age of Comics, starting with the "Big Bang" of DC Comics' Crisis On Infinite Earths, an event that forever undid or re-positioned parts of their Golden and Silver Age histories, allowing for out-of-continuity comics landmarks such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. I also believe that The Platinum Age of Comics began when a creator's name (superstar creators as marquee talent) on a comic became a comic's selling point starting with former Marvel mainstay John Byrne's exit to DC Comics to take on Superman, tangentially, leading to the formation of creator owned Image Comics by some of comics' hottest artists.

There's a very valid argument that the formation of Image may have kickstarted a whole new age, in and of itself but that is another fight for another day.

So, here's my question to you reading this:

What COMICS AGE do you currently think we're in and why?

Mortar Combat

The comic shop, as we know it, is a strong and mighty thing.

So was the record industry. And much like the record industry, digital downloading threatens to take a substantial bite out of the industry pie.

We've heard the arguments:

"Comics cost too much."

"They're doing too many crossovers. Who can afford to keep up with them all."

"Comics haven't been very good lately. Why should I pay for something I may not want?"

Sure, alot of the blame could and SHOULD lay at the feet of the comics publisher but you know what? I've never published a comic so I can only talk about what I know: selling comics in a comic book store.

With bookstores, online subscription services and digital downloading more prevalent, the comics shop as we know it, is on notice and doesn't seem to know or care.

I think the idea of the comics shop needs a lot of tweaking. Too many comic shop owners hold onto a model of “If we open the doors, people will come in.” Maybe they will but can you make them WANT to stay? Only in the comic book business model does the usually customer EXPECT to get “fair” to “middling” service on a weekly basis. Too many comics shops run like extensions of an owner's basement. Televisions blaring, product remaining unorganized, their friends hanging out. You walk in and usually you're asked if you can be helped, all said in a way that infers they'd rather be doing anything but. This is no way to run a business. The brick and mortar experience, in some stores, isn't anything you'd want to experience. In order to combat this, here's my advice to any comic shop wanting to do better:

Think.

You sell other's ideas, some of these ideas have been done to death. There's nothing you can do about that. All of the other comic shops have access to the same Previews order forms and the same product that you do. There will never be anything you can do about it.

You can't change the product so here's what you do:

You change the customer.

You have them expect SERVICE.

You bother to memorize their names. They walk in having CHOSEN to do business with you. This is what you call a “business relationship.” Box numbers are for soapbox racers, not customers.

Greet them as they walk in. You don't know what type of day this person is having. Your store should be their own little “Fortress of Solitude” each and every time they walk through the door. Don't kill that buzz, encourage it. Treat your shop as a their haven. This is how you keep a customer by building community and reputation one customer at a time. Encourage that.

Keep in mind that with your actions, the first time someone walks into a comics shop could be their last time. You don't want to be the cause of that.

Make yourself obsolete. When I say this, I don't mean it in the sense of, "Fire yourself." No, train your employees. Train them to be knowledgeable. Don't keep them ignorant. Enable them. Encourage them. A good employee will work as hard while you're gone as they would when you're there. The greatest compliment I ever got was from a customer who called to let me know he didn't know I was on vacation.

If I request something, don't give me an "I don't know." Any business that follows that up with a "...but let me find out for you," will likely keep me as a customer.

Order as if you were a new customer. This should be a no-brainer but keep comics & trades in stock. Don't think that because someone bought DC: The New Frontier Volume One your job's done. Ask yourself, while you're waiting for that person to come back and purchase Volume Two, did you lose a new customer by not re-ordering Vol. One?

Don't arrange your sections according to some sort of logic that only you can understand. Alphabetically by book title usually works for me.

Be quick to make it right. Screw-ups happen. Diamond may have screwed up your order but you know what? The customer really doesn't care. Instead of making excuses, make it right. Do whatever you need to do remind that customer why they chose your business in the first place.

Try to order a few titles outside of your comfort zone. Not everyone's in love with superheroes. Stock your store as if you were a customer on the hunt for something new and exciting. Treat your store as if it were a treasure chest. Try a new Oni Press title every once in a while. If it doesn't sell, lesson learned. There is no sweeter sound than a customer shocked that "They have this!?"

Have a favorite title? Try and keep it that way. Books get canceled due to low sales. Sell a book as if its life depended on it. When I worked at a certain place, I would scream from the rafters the glories of Blue Beetle, Local and Manhunter, we took our numbers from single digits to doing “mid-tier” X-Men title numbers. All on word of mouth. Use your words to sell your comics.

Always remember that your doors literally open to some of the greatest stories ever told. Under your roof, gods battle for control of the universe, redheaded teenagers in their 70's stay young and alive, aliens invade on a weekly basis, animals stand upright and do whatever it takes to make you laugh, Superman fights “The Never-Ending Battle,” crime wars are waged on top of rooftops and giant typewriters and stories about ordinary lives thrown into extraordinary circumstances unfold on the comics page.

These are the things an online subscription service can't offer the consumer, that sense of adrenaline you can feel on a new glorious Wednesday. This is the thing only you can offer them.

A "New Comics Day!"

If the idea of that doesn't excite you then, man... you're in the wrong business.

The End Run

What If... DC Comics decided to end Batman once Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson and Bob Kane had left?

Would we have gotten Batman: The Dark Knight Returns?

What If... Vertigo decided to not end Sandman with Neil Gaiman?

Would we have gotten something akin to Nancy Collins' Swamp Thing following Alan Moore's heralded run?

What If... DC Comics had continued Starman after James Robinson's departure?

Would his have have remained the "definitive" Starman run?

With writers John Rogers and Greg Rucka leaving the titles Blue Beetle and Checkmate, respectively, I'm left with this question:
"Is there really anything left for anyone else to say?"

Let me elaborate, new comic launches are a risky proposition nowadays. With the market being what it is, in order for a book to survive a new superhero launch has to be...

A. An extension of an already popular title or character i.e. Supergirl or a Robin.

B. "From the pages of..." a popular event such as what DC did to launch Blue Beetle after Infinite Crisis.

or...

C. A very specific vision on the creator's part.

Books such as Sandman, Starman and John Ostrander's Spectre were considered to have fallen into the category of "C" and allowed the rare liberty to end as the writer saw fit. These runs have gone on to be heralded as classics of our storytelling medium. Whereas, comics such as Swamp Thing were allowed to go on, eventually petering out under the weight of the respective legacies their "definitive" writers left behind.

The above mentioned were uniquely creator-driven comics.

Comics such as Blue Beetle, Checkmate & Matt Fraction's Immortal Iron Fist, to me, fall into the C category, as well.

Blue Beetle and The Immortal Iron Fist are two of the quirkiest comics to have hit the stands in years and in much the way I just cannot imagine anyone other than Keith Giffen writing Ambush Bug, I just can't see anyone bringing as unique an energy to these two characters. It was because of this particular energy that we came and maybe stayed in the first place. Without that particular vision to guide it gone, will these titles be able to sustain themselves independent of their roots?

That said, the next few months will find me at the crossroads.

On one front, I'll most likely stick around for Matt Sturges' Blue Beetle run. I adore the character and Sturges seems to love it as much as anyone. Sturges is great on Jack of Fables and I really enjoyed his first issue of House of Mystery. Here's the "but."

He's not Grant Morrison. Who is? Only someone with the stature of a Geoff Johns or a Morrison can sustain a low-selling title such as Blue Beetle. He shows up, readers show up. Sturges, while an excellent writer, can't sustain a title, not just yet any ways.

Checkmate had Rucka's handprints all over it: a love for all things procedural, an adoration of the interconnectivity of the DC Universe and pacing that unfolded as the story saw fit. Checkmate was heaven for a Rucka/DC fan. Next month finds this title written by Bruce Jones, a man known, in my circles, as "an excellent jumping-off point." Nothing against the man but everything I've read by him lately has left me cold. After reading Nightwing for nearly a decade, his run was what made me finally drop the book. I hate to say it like this but I believe they should have canceled Checkmate outright rather than let it come to the end I see for it, imminent cancellation.

The Immortal Iron Fist? I just don't love the character that much. Matt Fraction on the hand...

Characters like Superman and Batman can sustain themselves due to their iconography and the fact that once popular they, by necessity, had to become a collaborative effort. Nowadays, with every comic rapidly being swept up in "events" it's truly refreshing to see comics such as a Blue Beetle or an Immortal Iron Fist, comics that aren't necessarily directly tied into an editorially, bottom-line driven agenda. Essentially, these comics were allowed the space to grow and tell their stories, essentially becoming comics with a vision.

These are the comics that I love to read.

So, my question is two-fold:

"Will you still read a comic once a certain creator leaves?" and...

"Should more titles become "retired" once a creator's told the story they set out to tell?"

Why I LOVE Comics

Amidst the 52SECRETCRISISCIVILFINALINVASIONWARS, I forgot to mention something:

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE COMICS.

And, for one I don't always love what's going on in them but the actual reading of comics. Every time I hold a comic book, I am reminded of something these folded bits of colored paper had a part in showing me: love.

The other day, I was telling someone that I never knew that I was poor until someone with money pointed it out to me. Was I ashamed? A little bit. Not so much because of a lack of money but the knowing that a comic a week at fifty cents a piece was possibly taking something away from somewhere else. I decided to give up comics. One day, my mother noted that she hadn't seen me with a comic for a while. I told her the reason why.

The next day, a brand new comic was sitting at the foot of my bed. I remember having this sense of excitement at seeing something that made me so happy sitting right there waiting for me.

For me!

As much as I wanted it, I knew I didn't need it. I took the comic back to my mother and asked her to take it back. This fifty cent comic cost too much.

I'll never forget what happened next. She just looked at me and said, "No, it belongs to you." I'm sure I hugged her before and after this but this is the one time I really remember how awesome it was to hug someone and truly feel it.

Every time I pick up a comic and take it home, I know that it belongs to me, knowing it's a special gift given back to me by someone even more special.