The $3.99, 22-page comic book—threat or menace? Please write your answer down on a scrap of paper before reading the next paragraph for the correct answer.

Did you write “threat” down? Well then, you’re wrong. Did you write “menace” instead? Well, you’re still wrong. Ha ha! It was a trick question! As the $3.99, 22-page comic book is both a threat and a menace, as well as many other negative things, including “extremely annoying,”  “a poor investment” and “to the direct market as a giant asteroid was to the dinosaurs.”

Does that last one seem melodramatic? Maybe. So let me be more specific. I don’t think the introduction of $3.99, 22-page comics are exactly analogous to an asteroid slamming into prehistoric earth; it’s more like a new star appearing in the prehistoric sky, and getting bigger and bigger each month. It’s an indicator of an extinction level event, not the event itself. Or perhaps it’s just the start of the event, but not the really destructive part.

See, it’s as clear as a demonstration and a declaration as we’re going to get that the direct market’s leaders—the so-called Big Two—are fully committed to a strategy of selling as many comics as possible to the people who already buy their comics to make as much money as possible, instead of actively trying to increase the existing market (that is, the number of people who buy their comics in the direct market). And, once those readers are stretched as thing as possible, buying all of the books they’re going to buy (Marvel currently things there’s an audience for two Deadpool books, but there aren’t any fans who will buy a third Deadpool ongoing series, are there?), then if you want to keep making more money, you have to raise the price.

A lot.

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When you get down to it, the political comic is starting to go beyond Political Power, Female Force, and the Bo Obama bio comic Puppy Power.

Reuters is reporting that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also be getting her own comic book called “Miss Tschormanie,” written by journalist Miriam Hollstein and drawn by political cartoonist Heiko Sakurai. The book chronicles Merkel’s rise to power, all the way through the open election in September.

The 64-page comic seems to be less serious fare, based on lines such as “You boys only belong to the past, I, however, have gone down in HISTORY!” Still, if you’re obsessive about your political comics, this might be something to look out for.

Party on, Garth.

DC editor Brian Cunningham, via their blog the Source, has announced that the one-time Aqualad will be returning to the DCU in Blackest Night #1. Meanwhile, in Titans #15, writer JT Krul will be taking a look at where Tempest has been the last year or so, dealing with the fallout of the destruction of Atlantis.

The above image is from their preview for Titans #15. In some ways, I’ve found Tempest — with his water-controlling powers as well as his support structure within the Titans as well as his unease within Atlantean society — to make him even more viable a character than his orange-shirted mentor. What do you think?

Blair Butler announced yesterday on Attack of the Show that Top Cow would be revisiting their Pilot Season Competition, where fans will vote on five comics to determine which two will become a miniseries.

But instead of rookies and indie talent, this competition will be different: all five series have been developed by Image partners Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri.

I gotta say, with the success of Kirkman properties such as Invincible and the Walking Dead (and Astonishing Wolf-Man isn’t bad, either), I’m pretty excited. There’s no word on interior artists (as Silvestri is only doing the covers), but we’ll report more as we hear about it.

This is a “remix” of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Edward Cullen from Twilight. And yep, it’s pretty funny. It plays the overwrought, overdramatic bits of Twilight up against the snarky, sarcastic Buffy we all love.

Yet I am a bit irritated by the constant comparison of Buffy to Twilight as if Buffy was perfect and Bella Swan just a horrendous corruption of all feminist ideals. Was I the only one who remembers the part where Buffy slept with not one, but two vampires who also stalked her, hovered outside her bedroom while she slept, and in one instance, tried to rape her?

Buffy gets a pass because mostly she kicks vampire ass and in the end she doesn’t need any of the men. However, I very much doubt if you can scratch a Buffy fan and find someone who doesn’t get a bit emotional about Buffy and Angel. Forbidden love is as much a part of the Buffy mythos as Twilight–in fact, I describe Twilight to people as “The Buffy and Angel part of Buffy, without most of the sarcasm and action.”

But you know, the reason a lot of girls don’t want to call themselves feminists is because they think it means they have to hate men, or fit some certain vision of a “strong woman” that maybe they don’t want to fit. What if they’re quiet and bookish, like Bella Swan, not coordinated enough to fight vampires?

I’m not saying that Twilight is a perfect vision of the romance I think girls should aspire to–it’s not. But it’s fiction. The romance in Love in the Time of Cholera or Lolita or Beloved isn’t one that I want teenage girls aspiring to, either, yet I think those are all wonderful works of literature that should be widely read. And Buffy? Well, the human parts of Buffy are the ones that really kept us with her for seven seasons, not the perfect ass-kicking sarcasm machine. That would’ve gotten old, fast.

The above is an image of Machu Picchu by artist Paul Pope, which he recently posted on his blog.

My short review: I like it.

Of course I’m not going to let you off that easily. I’ve got far more to say about it than that. It’s a pulpy, splashy romp with classic Bat-villains let loose on their own and teaming up to cause trouble. It owes more to Tarantino’s grind-house classic Kill Bill, with women in stylized costumes performing acrobatic fighting feats never seen in nature, than to common superhero mythos, though of course there’s that, too.

I picked it up because I can’t resist the bad girls. They’re easy to do wrong, sure, but I think there’s so much more possibility for a really interesting female character, at least in superhero-dom, in a transgressive villain. I love Catwoman because she’s always walked that line–she’s part noir femme fatale and part straight-up supervillain, with just enough heroine in her to keep your sympathy.

Here she isn’t quite up to her old tricks, and a run-in with a frat-boy wannabe bad guy takes more out of her than she’d like to admit. Poison Ivy saves her and brings her to the house she’s sharing with Harley Quinn and another familiar face, who hasn’t had much say in the matter. The all-bad-girl team-up is fraught with tension and mistrust from the beginning, of course, and the biggest problem is the one question that Harley and Ivy assume the Catwoman must know the answer to: Who is Batman?

I’m sure there have been complaints about the art–that the girls are oversexualized, that Harley’s wearing a schoolgirl uniform–and maybe it just says something about my comic-reading tastes, but I didn’t find them offensive. Guillem March’s art is hyperstylized and kinetic, with characters male and female twisting and bending into shapes not usually seen in nature, and the characters strike me as less sexualized than simply, well, comic-booky.

The three leads are very different women, and by virtue of their constant second billing have always been a bit of a stereotype, but giving them their own series allows for them to be fleshed out a bit more. I’m hoping for more especially from Harley, who has less to do in this first issue as far as character development goes, though she does get to kick some butt. Paul Dini is definitely capable of doing dark, as is hinted in the treatment of poor Eddie Nigma by Ivy and by the brief mention of the Mad Hatter, and I rather hope he goes for it in this series–I’d love to see a series where these three characters can really let loose all the screwed-up bits of their psyches and yet retain our interest and sympathy.

The little stack of comic books I brought home from the shop yesterday contained Justice League: Cry For Justice #1, the first six pages of which I had previously encountered as a preview in the back of some DC comics a few weeks back.

The Batwoman story from Detective Comics and the first issues of Power Girl and The Last Days of Animal Man were similarly excerpted as previews in the backs of DC comics this year.

Another new book I purchased this week was Marvel’s USA Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1, which ended with a five-page preview of The Marvels Project #1, a miniseries that will launch in August.

So here’s my question. Well, questions. Do you guys like seeing these sorts of previews in the backs of your books? Do you read them? Ignore them? Skim ‘em? Have they ever convinced you to buy a book you weren’t already planning on buying? Have they ever convinced you not to buy a book you might have seen unseen?

I’m just curious because I’m so ambivalent about them.
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IGN has a cool interview up with DC Direct’s Georg Brewer, about what sorts of figures will be coming out during the upcoming Green Lantern megaevent, Blackest Night. A highlight:

I always love when we work on project with Geoff. Not only is he a great storyteller, but he is a huge toy collector as well, so his insight and participation always makes things better. We run as much by him as is practical, from selecting the figures, to writing the copy, and he is a great collaborator. Out of our brainstorming sessions sometimes cool ideas come up that he then can support or play with in the story as it unfolds.

I found that to be particularly interesting — that the toys and licensed products might actually give back to the story side of the equation. But then again, I’ve heard of editors and artists occasionally looking at toys and statues for reference (because seriously, how many of us know how to draw ’80s Nightwing’s back without reference?), so maybe I’ve just been underestimating toys all this time!

In addition, Brewer announced the list for the upcoming waves of figures that will come out soon:

Wave #1
- Black Lantern Earth-2 Superman 6.5″
- Alpha Lantern Boodika with removable face plate 6.75″
- Blue Lantern Saint Walker with power battery 7.5″
- Atrocitus with power battery 7.25″

Wave #2
- Black Lantern Martian Manhunter 7″
- Green Lantern John Stewart with power battery 6.75″
- Indigo with Power battery 7″
- Kryb with removable back cage that stores 2 alien children 7″

Wave #3
- Black Lantern Aquaman 6.75″
- Green Lantern Arisia with power battery 6.5″
- Star Sapphire with power battery 6.625″
- Larfleeze The Orange Lantern with Glomulus and power battery 7″ GLOMULUS is 2.375″

Wave #4
- Black Lantern Firestorm 6.75″ to top of head (helmet increases height)
- Green Lantern Kyle Rayner with power battery 6.75″
- Black Hand with Batman skull 6.75″
- Wonder Woman 6.625″ to top of head (hair increases height)

Brewer mentioned that figures for Hal Jordan and Sinestro would not be forthcoming, only because they have had their own figures released fairly recently.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

By Bon Alimagno

More next week…

Nuke the Fridge is reporting that Blade: Trinity’s Jessica Biel is in talks for the upcoming Thor film.

Here’s the highlight of what they have to say:

Reportedly if cast, Biel will play the love interest of “Thor.” The most probable love interest for “Thor” would more than likely be “Jane Foster,” a nurse and girlfriend of “Thor” alter ego Donald Blake. But the problem is that our source was not sure of the character’s name, but seemed to believe it was the same female character from the animated “Hulk vs Thor.” If that is the case, since “Jane Foster” was not in the animated movie, Biel is more than likely playing either “Amora, The Enchantress” or “Sif.”

Granted, at this early stage in the game, everything is still rumor, and even if Biel is in talks, they could fall through at any point. While I know a lot of sites are betting she’d play Sif, I really can’t imagine her going brunette. And remember that in Blade Trinity, her battle preparation was uploading songs to her iPod.

Thoughts?

It’s been a long time coming, but Watchmen fever has finally decreased a bit.

Inspired by the marketing on the Zack Snyder film (and eventually transcending the atrocious reviews of the commercial flop), Watchmen has been sitting pretty on the sales charts for nearly a year — at #1, to be exact.

Well, ICv2 has reported that for the first time since June 2008, Watchmen was no longer the king of BookScan’s list of top-selling graphic novels, with the top spot now being taken by Bleach Vol. 27.

Manga has traditionally dominated the list, with only Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis hardcover and Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 4 representing from the top mainstream companies.

From Moonstone Books $3.99

Written by Joe Gentile

Art by Carlos Magno and Andy Bennett

Yes, just a little more Sherlock Holmes. I couldn’t resist this one after having reviewed work from SelfMadeHero and Dynamite Entertainment. A matching of Sherlock Holmes with the ’70s TV series, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” sounds goofy but Moonstone Books is up for the challenge.

“Cry of Thunder,” a three issue comic, written by Joe Gentile, begins in 1890 out in the Wild West as two desperados peer at something weird just out of our sight. We then cut to present day LA at the modest offices of the Hollywood Dispatch. Kolchak’s purple prose is in full swing as he describes his good luck: Brandy Lexton, a pretty young woman, is interested in him helping solve a 100-year-old unsolved murder. She even provides him with an old journal full of clues.

Once alone with the book, he is chilled to the bone to see his own name scrawled within its writings but where exactly, or why, we do not know. Kolchak proceeds to read the journal which makes up the rest of Issue One. We are in London in 1905 as a new Holmes case takes shape involving the murder of Brandy’s ancestor, Clara Lexton. It turns out she was killed by a gun runner. This leads to Holmes disguised as a sailor, in mortal combat, after he’s gotten a little too close to a syndicate trafficking in American machine guns to the UK.

An opportunity to build on the momentum of the first issue is lost in the next when the assignments of the two artists are muddled. In Issue One, it was the light line style of Carlos Magno that illustrated the Holmes story and the rough style of Andy Bennett that illustrated the Kolchak story. It made perfect sense.

However, in Issue Two, we find the two artists working together through both stories and it’s like a third, painterly, style has emerged. It’s pretty good but the work is not nearly as tight and there are a lot of scenes that appear rushed, especially a less than dramatic fight scene between Holmes and a thug. I can’t fault the artists for experimenting. Overall, I dig what they’re doing but I still prefer what they started to do in the first issue.

I also have a little constructive criticism for the writing. I think that we might get bogged down with details a little too much for what should be a smoother ride given all the great elements at play. I would have preferred more solid connections between Kolchak and Brandy. I think I would have created a few back and forth scenes between the Holmes story and Kolchak and Brandy reading and reacting to it. Those opportunities to interact would have allowed clues to flow more easily and would have made their unlikely romance more plausible.

Issue Three has a lot of things to resolve but it catches a nice push at the end of this current issue. We get a little payoff on the last page as we get a full view of the highly coveted photograph that could explain everything while revealing something out of a nightmare.

The library is a great place for readers to discover comics, and it’s a great place for comics readers to check out things that they want to try without spending their hard-earned cash. I’m looking at comics that I find in the New York Public Library system.

Disaster and Resistance is important comics. I enjoy a fun, escapist adventure as much as anybody, but I also feel that as a human being, it’s my responsibility to pay attention to what’s going on in the world. Given my general lack of interest in most typical political discourse, smartly written and well drawn comics are a welcome option. Disaster and Resistance collect comics created by Seth Tobocman over the past several years, with a particular focus on the plight of the disenfranchised “slum” denizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He also visits Israel to gain firsthand knowledge of the living conditions faced by Palestinians and

Tobocman’s a good reporter, often illustrating people he’s met in headline-grabbing locales, and using their own words to explore the problems that they face from their own perspectives. If he has a failing, it’s what I think of as Michael Moore-ism. Even when you agree with Tobocman, he sometimes paints those he disagrees with (the Right, Corporations) as cartoonishly nasty caricatures, dismissing others’ perspectives as maliciously evil rather than looking into some of the greyer nuances between two polar positions. He spends a great deal of time examining perspectives of former New Orleans slum residents, however, exhibiting a far greater deal of care.

A powerful illustrator, Tobocman uses black & white, woodcut-style pages for many stories, but also mixes in full-color painted sequences. Each style suits the mood and temperament of the narrative unfolding, and his ability to capture abstract ideas in physical form is admirable.

A great looking comic that’s smart and examines the causes of disenfranchised and lost citizens of the world, Disaster and Resistance is a comic that we should all read. Even when you disagree with him, Seth Tobocman makes some great point and he’s trying to let you know about important people who are facing terrible circumstances. It’s good to know that we have cartoonists like this out there, alerting us to what’s going on, and that we can find their work in the local library.

It’s almost time to go buy comics, but in the meantime I bring you linkage from across the Internets on a variety of different things.

From Splash Page, Grant Morrison talks comics with Percy Carey, otherwise known as MF Grimm, the writer of Sentences.

Comics Worth Reading has a nice review of Patsy Walker: Hellcat that makes me want to read it.

Also from Splash Page, Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming are confirmed as part of the cast of “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark,” the upcoming Broadway musical directed by Julie Taymor. I don’t know about you, but between the casting, the subject matter, and the direction, this is shaping up to be a must-see for me.

Laura Hudson at Comics Alliance puts together the top 5 Michael Jackson moments in comics.

Laura Lee Gulledge answers some questions for The Big Feminist BUT.

Not quite. But maybe.

George Clooney’s production company Smokehouse Entertainment is working on a movie entitled Escape From Tehran, documenting the true story of how the CIA used a fake movie project to smuggle hostages out of 1979 Tehran. What does this have to do with comics legend Jack Kirby? Jack Kirby did the storyboards for this faux movie.

Back in 2005, Wired Magazine did an article about it which you can read in full at their website. Long story short, Kirby did storyboards for a prospective movie based on the  Rogr Zelazny novel entitled Lord of Light. It also chronicles attempts to make a Colorado theme park entitled “Science Fiction Land” based on Kirby’s set designs for the movie.

Sadly, the movie and the theme park were never made — but work from it was used as part of the subterfuge by the CIA against Iran.

This story, and the larger one about Tehran would make good movie magic. Let’s hope they have room for Kirby in there somewhere.

Jeff Lemire’s Question: I’ve got a question about Jeff Lemire—how is it that he draws this well when he’s just warming up? Jeez.

“Even when the rest of the comics industry was struggling to survive, the X-Men always sold…People bought the comics no matter what”: Comics blogger Tim O’Neil has been thinking about the X-Men in preparation for what will likely turn out to be a couple of think-piece posts on the franchise, focusing on the fact that for years and years it was the top of the comics heap, and seems to be in sharp decline now (Marvel’s own Avengers franchise now ranks higher than their X-books). What’s going on with the X-books, and why are they no longer as popular as they once were? O’Neil ponders, and his readers offer some input. Few (if any) comics bloggers no more about the X-Men than Paul O’Brien, and he speaks to some of the X-books’ existential problems in this review of X-Men Legacy #225.

I would buy both the Wolverine comic and the Man-Thing one: Speaking of think pieces, retailer, blogger and Sluggo enthusiast Mike Sterling has been wondering “What if the characters/teams from Marvel and DC were allowed one starring title, and that’s it?” and how that might impact the market and industry, as unlikely as it is that either publisher would ever embrace and enforce that rule. Here’s Sterling’s original post on the subject, and here’s his follow-up. They’re both well worth a read and a think, and even if Marvel’s unlikely to ever  cancel Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: Weapon X, Wolverine: First Class and the weekly miniseries and/or one-shots starring Wolvie to concentrate on making Wolverine the greatest Wolverine comic imaginable and maybe encouraging fans to try new and different books, it’s not like they couldn’t start leaning in that direction.

“The Craziest Costume Changes in Comics”: You can probably guess what most of these are by the headline, but this Comics Alliance post is well worth checking out just for the visual gag that accompanies the last person on that list.

“No superhero or super villain name is too great or too dorky, and no costume is too skimpy, provided its legal”: If you live in or around Reno, Nevada and enjoy playing dress up and/or adult beverages, there’s an upcoming superhero-themed pub crawl there. While pub crawling doesn’t sound like a terribly superheroic activity (unless you’re this guy), proceeds go to the Washoe County School District Canine Drug Task Force, and keeping kids off drugs does seem like something superheroes would be into. Here’s the event’s official website.

The 2009 Harvey Awards nominees were announced this morning. Congratulations to all the nominees; this must be an exciting day for everyone who received a nod. I do have a few thoughts on some of the nominees, and since I can, I’m going to share them with you, my faithful readers.

BEST ARTIST

Jimmy Gownley, AMELIA RULES, Renaissance Press

BEST LETTERER

Jimmy Gownley, AMELIA RULES, Renaissance Press

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM - PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

AMELIA RULES!: FUNNY STORIES, Renaissance Press

Don’t dismiss the kid-friendliness of Amelia Rules!, because it’s one of the best comic books being published today. Jimmy Gownley is a master at mixing humor and gravitas to create hilarious and heartbreaking stories that can be enjoyed and loved by people of all ages. And the characters are instantly endearing. If you don’t fall in love with Amelia after reading just one issue, then you must be a robot or something. If you haven’t read Amelia Rules! yet, give it a shot, and then you can thank me later for the recommendation.

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL

BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY!, Tim Rickard, Tribune Media Services
GET FUZZY, Darby Conley, United Features Syndicate
MUTTS, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate
THE NORM, Michael Jantze, Uclick Gocomics
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE, Stephan Pastis, United Features Syndicate

These days, it’s very difficult to break into the syndicated comics biz. The newspaper business is dying a slow death, daily comics are becoming less of a priority for them, and there are way too many crappy old comics past their expiration date wasting space simply because the newspaper editors are too afraid or too lazy to get rid of them (I’m looking at you, For Better Or For Worse). So I have tremendous respect for Tim Rickard for the success he’s had with Brewster Rockit. That being said, how the $@#% did it get this nomination? In my opinion, it’s a painfully unfunny comic, and it’s not remotely as good as the other four nominees. There are so many other strips that are more deserving of that nomination. Hell, I’d give it to Blondie just for John Marshall’s gorgeous inkwork. Is there something about Brewster Rockit that I’m just not understanding? Could it be that it’s the Andy Kaufman of daily comics, in that it’s so unfunny it turns around and becomes funny?

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

LOVE AND ROCKETS, VOL. 3 #1, Fantagraphics Books

Hell yes. As painful as it is to wait a year for new Love and Rockets now that the Hernandez brothers have switched to an annual format, it’ll be worth the wait if each issue is going to be as good as this one. Jaime Hernandez created the best superhero story of 2008 for this issue, and it should be required reading for anyone who reads or creates comics.

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

NASCAR HEROES #5, NASCAR Comics

WTF? I didn’t realize this comic book even existed. And with all due respect to the creators of this comic, I’m having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the idea that a comic book devoted to a competition where the winner is the person who can make the best left turns could deserve a Harvey Award nomination. Are any of you reading Nascar Heroes? If so, I’d really like to hear your opinion of it. Is Nascar Heroes a hidden gem in the world of comics?

So there you go. Feel free to share your own opinions, particularly if you disagree with me or want to talk about something I didn’t cover.

What happens when the quest for eternal life goes horribly wrong?

Captain America artist Mitch Breitweiser and new comics writer Patrick Stiles are finding the answer, in their new webcomic The Futurists, which has just opened on their web site, WhoAreTheFuturists.com. The series will come out about 3-4 times a month, Breitweiser says, according to his commitments at Marvel. Here’s a taste, from the first page (bigger image here):

The logline of the story: ” Set in colonial India in the late 1800’s, The Futurists is an epic tome about the quest for eternal life gone horribly wrong, the search for absolution , and the path to self destruction.” Want to know more? Mitch was kind enough to answer a few questions from Newsarama on the series.

David Pepose: I see on your web site that The Futurists is a story “set in colonial India in the late 1800’s… about the quest for eternal life gone horribly wrong, the search for absolution, and the path to self destruction.” So the first question I’d have is — what inspired this story?

Mitch Breitweiser: Patrick and I had been crafting stories since college, but  with my career taking off, and his writing talent really maturing, we felt the time was right to fully develop and publish one of our collaborations.

As for the inspiration for The Futurists, we actually sat down one weekend for a creative jam. Our previous ideas were good, great even, but they were too familiar. We wanted to take advantage of the perspective we’ve gained since our college years and create something with greater depth of character and a richer atmosphere.  Then, we threw it all out and just focused on elements that entertained us, which was far more satisfying.

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