One particular item in DC’s solicitations stirred some mixed emotions in me:
SOLOMON GRUNDY #1
Written by Scott Kolins
Art and cover by Scott Kolins
Born on a Monday! Writer/artist Scott Kolins (THE FLASH, FACES OF EVIL: SOLOMON GRUNDY) brings you the origin behind one of the most mysterious figures in DC comics! Smashing out of the pages of his “Faces of Evil” one-shot, Solomon Grundy teams with Cyrus Gold – the man he once was before becoming a monster – to uncover the truth behind the Grundy curse! But how can he team with Cyrus Gold? How was Solomon Grundy created? And can Cyrus ever be set free? There are seven issues for each day of the nursery rhyme that haunts the longtime DC favorite, and by Sunday, could this be the end of Solomon Grundy?
On sale March 4 • 1 of 7 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
My internal dialogue went something like this:
THING 1: Solomon Grundy? Who wants to read about Solomon Grundy?
THING 2: It’s Scott Kollins. Make no mistake, the man can draw.
THING 1: But can he write? And this sucker is seven issues long. That’s twenty-one bucks… in a recession, no less.
THING 2: It’s seven issues because there’s an issue for every day of the rhyme. Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday…”
THING 1: Couldn’t it be just a chapter for every day of the rhyme? Aren’t they soaking us a little bit here?
THING 2: Do you really want to see Kollins’ art compressed to squeeze a week into three issues? Shouldn’t it have room to breathe?
THING 1: Shouldn’t it be on a more interesting character than Solomon Grundy?
THING 2: Hey, stories on the fringes of the DCU are often better than the ones front-and-center. And James Robinson really remade the character back in Starman. Grundy was a tragic figure, reborn again and again with a new personality.
THING 1: Yeah, but that was over ten years ago…and even then, no one gave him his own book. And besides, if the comic follows the rhyme, don’t we already know the story? And wasn’t it already told in, like… seven lines?
THING 2: Ten lines, technically.
THING 1: Now you’re splitting hairs.
Anyway, Thing 1 and Thing 2 will never agree. But what do you think about the upcoming Solomon Grundy miniseries?
December 16th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
7 issues for a B-list villain?
7 issues that Scott Kolins could be used for something of higher profile? There are other, bigger series he could work on to give them a regular artist
DC is being run by idiots.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
It will be selling <7000 copies by the final issue.
Nobody reading that solicit thought to themselves “Grundy teaming up with Cyrus Gold – OMGHOWCANTHATBE?!?” Honestly, was there demand for a definitive Grundy origin? Baffling.
Scrap this and put it’s production budget on Johah Hex advertising.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
7 Issues for Solomon Grundy – I think it’s worth it.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Heh. I’ll buy it. I actually had the idea for a seven issue Solomon Grundy mini a long time ago. I bet I’m not the only one, either…
December 16th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I gotta agree with the first two posts… Seems like a waste of time, money and paper. I like Grundy (I think it was his appearances on Justice League/JL Unlimited that made me like him), but I can’t see this sustaining seven issues. I also can’t see myself honestly waiting for all seven issues to come out. Visions of that god-awful Martian Manhunter miniseries a year or two back (which I honestly looked forward to) are coming back to me while reading about this.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
No, I’m going to be skipping this one. If it’s actually excellent, I’ll want it in trade anyway.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I’m a fan of Grundy as a character. Love Scott Kollins’ art. Interested to see his writing skills. I’m definitely picking up the first issue and will see where it goes from there. Not much different than any new series.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I’m very glad to see this and happy to see DC is willing to put out a book that doesn’t have Batman or Superman in it.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I’m betting that this is a vanity project. That is, Kolins pitched for the mini, not the other way around.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I think I re-read AAC#61 last night and Solomon versus Cyrus will be incredible. 7 issues? No problem.
Cheers,
B
December 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
And now I think you’re *all* voices in my head! I’ve thought all of those things about this project.
Also, this: How incredible must the pitch have been to overcome a kneejerk response of “You want to devote HOW MANY issues to WHO?”
But still, I’m wary.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Beard Guy: Interesting comment, considering how Bats and Supes are being more less “taken off the table” in 2009. Yes, they’ll be showing up in other books, but so what? TDK proves Batman’s popularity, and Supes is the single most influential comic character ever. Why wouldn’t DC want to use their most popular and lucrative characters?
Not I said “use them”… I didn’t say “use them WELL.”
Anyhow, if the Grundy is series is any good at all, then it’ll hopefully be released in trade form and I’ll check it out then.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Urrgh… I meant to say “Note I said…”
December 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I may pick up the first issue but after that I’ll have to wait and see. Though the Manhunter mini from a few years back is a good example of a series that ran too long. What has left a bad taste in my mouth and why I’m concerned about Grundy was the Metal Men mini from 2007 written and drawn by Duncan Rouleau.
I’ve had very little exposure to Rouleau writing, and for that matter I think he has had very limited opportunities. To say that the Metal Men mini was painful to get through would be an understatement.
Now here comes Grundy with another artist I respect but have no idea of his writing skills. I’m not sure I want to go through that pain again.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Of the current batch of artists that I can think of whom has made a successful transition from artist to writer has been Stuart Immonen and Keith Champagne.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:51 am
“Beard Guy: Interesting comment, considering how Bats and Supes are being more less “taken off the table” in 2009. Yes, they’ll be showing up in other books, but so what? TDK proves Batman’s popularity, and Supes is the single most influential comic character ever. Why wouldn’t DC want to use their most popular and lucrative characters?
Not I said “use them”… I didn’t say “use them WELL.”
Excuse the wall of text…
Just because a character is popular is no reason to use them ad nauseum. Marvel has the same problem with Wolverine and Spider-man. Why wouldn’t a publisher want to use their most influential characters? Well for starters I would say to keep their over-exposure from getting stale. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be used, but DC has a penchant for sneaking Batman and Superman into everything. I understand they are icons and will be more prevalent than third-tier characters, but that’s no reason to put them in everything. Over-exposure of a character only weakens them.
Look at Wolverine. He used to be a badass loner anti-hero and so everyone loved him. People loved him so much in fact that Marvel put him in every book. Now there are a lot of people who can’t stand him because he is on every team. The core of the character has changed because of his over-exposure. The same problem problem exists with Batman. People love Batman because he is an ordinary man who fights ordinary, albeit crazy, villains in an urban setting. Due to his immense popularity DC has always felt the need to put him against larger threats in environments he does not belong (i.e. outer space). This kind of over-exposure essentially weakens the character and has the potential to make them impotent.
As a sidenote, TDK does not prove Batman’s popularity, it proves Nolan’s abilities as a filmmaker. Just take a look at Batman & Robin.
December 18th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I’m cautiously optomistic. I’m actually a fan of the character, thanks to Robinson’s Starman. I was really surprised to see a 7 issue miniseries solicited right after his faces of evil special.
On the one hand, I do wonder how interesting can a seven issue miniseries about a mentally retarded zombie strong-man be?
On the other hand, I would like to think that DC wouldn’t have committed Collins and 7 issues to the series if it wasn’t good. Especially since this is not being sold based on fanboy requests. The 7 issue format makes sense, and this could have the potential to be good. I’d hate to think they’d risk a seven issue mini unless their confident in Collins writing skills.
Who knows, it could a nice critically aclaimed, cult, sleeper hit, a-la Agents of Atlas.
December 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
A one-shot could have been interesting. But a 7-issue run? It’s weird. I would never devote so much time to read about Salomon Grundy.