If you take a look at the solicitation from this month’s Previews catalog (or simply flip through them online), you’ll notice a particular trend: mega-events! These are story lines on steroids, big epic arcs once again set to shake the Marvel Universe to its core. Mega-events are the new black from the Big Two, each one setting up these major story lines full of characters and change, reinvention and old favorites, giving you as much bang for your buck as humanly possible. And looking over what Marvel has in store, we have a hell of a lot of bang.

So far, one mega-event has fallen into the other: Avengers: Disassembled fell into House of M which nudged the likes of Civil War which slammed head first into ‘The Initiative’; sure the last one isn’t really a ‘mega-event’ as it doesn’t have a particular storyline that’s pressing these changes, but for argument’s sake it is at least a theme or setting change that’s effecting multiple books at once. In June, the domino effect is splintering off in three directions: World War Hulk, Annihilation: Conquest and X-Men: Endangered Species. Each storyline can be considered a ‘mega-event’ as their stories span multiple issues with a huge cast of characters and all of them promise that infamous Marvel credo, ‘And nothing will EVER be the SAME!’

Now I know a lot of people are a little worn out on the mega-event; I for one will be the first to admit I took one look at the list of books for each and knew I might have to start saving ahead of time. But unless you’re a hardcore completest, I think Marvel might actually be giving us a break with three different flavors of mega-event for a full and hearty meal.

Think that metaphor was a little off beam? Keep reading and tell me what you think.

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And we’re back!

After doing battle with a sea of troubles, the Fifth Color is back and on the mend.  We’ll be heading to the June solicits for Marvel next week since there’s a lot to go through (NOTE: gird your pocketbooks, True Believers!  June is going to get expensive!), but while I recoup from a recent bout of illness, I wanted to talk about the retail biz and a bit about the trials and tribulations of having to answer the rather daunting question of “What’s Good?”
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Now, a few weeks ago, I played a little game of What If? with The Fifth Color here and thought about what would happen and why it would happen if Captain America died at the climax of Civil War. It’s fun to think about these kind of things, to come up with your own endings to major (and delayed) events as it keeps you involved and in the moment of the story at large. Marvel likes to throw fuel on that fire by giving out what Joe Quesada called “disinformation” in the last Joe Fridays, pictures or solicitations that are misleading or just out and out false in order to misdirect the fans from a secret reveal.

But how often can a company call “Wolf” before we as readers just stop listening? (more…)

I know, it’s kind of weird, but bear with me on this:  I have something to say about Marvel Comics.  Really.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to get a trip to WonderCon out San Fransisco way.  It was incredible fun, lots to see and do, but I had to admit that something felt off.  As if something was missing.  But since I did get in under the field of “the Press”, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about it here.  The last two panels I sat through on my last day was the Resident Evil 3 panel with Oded Fehr and oh yeah, that schitzo chick on Heroes.  After a half an hour of zombie fun, I was promised by my program a Spider-Man 3 panel.

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Getting personal for a second, let me just say that I like the Hulk. A lot. But I hadn’t always; growing up, I saw some of the TV show and snored through it. I only bought one comic of the big green guy at my first comic shop tenure, and that was due to the subject matter (PAD did AIDS before Winick shed his Real World days!). I did what most people did: looked at the cover, saw a big monster throwing truck and based my opinion from that.

A friend of mine changed all of that. He’s the one who got me to actually open a book and look inside, something very integral to all Marvel characters. While someone can take a look at Superman or Batman and get their gist (Superman, dressed in red and blue, sailing through the sky, Batman, dark, normally hunched in shadows, lookin’ mean), you really have to find out about guys like Spider-Man to learn about Great Power and Responsibility and the real heart of their stories. Thus it was with the Hulk; one of the first things I read was Incredible Hulk: Beauty and the Behemoth (from the House of Ideas!) with Peter David’s forward and afterward, and I found a remarkable romance within the character and got that all important connection that grabs most readers from the House that Stan Built: character identification.
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Much apologies for the late article this week, but in the wake of Civil War #7′s release, talking about anything else would feel a little like missing out.  Anticipation was high as I rang in copy after copy of the biggest thing to shake up the Marvel Universe in a good long while.  Solicitations have shown that this event really does change everything and yes, nothing will ever be the same.

At least until the next retcon, but that’s a rather pessimistic view point.

On my break, I snatched up my own copy and rant to the back room for an uninterrupted reading spree.  I had ten minutes to gorge myself on this shocking conclusion and digest the information about the fate of my favorite heroes.  What I learned shocked, but didn’t feel surprising.  If anything, I think the issue taught me that gray is a truely depressing color.

WARNING:  Spoilers to follow; visuals will be poor as my scanner died on me, so please pick up your copy (Marvel always says that late shipping books still sell fantastically so I know you got one!) and read along!
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Oooh, this one nearly snuck up on me as February is that odd time of the year when paychecks are a little smaller on weekly wages, bills are due a little sooner when they fall on the first of March and the new solicitations jump up on you when you’ve sworn you got another week in there. So, my apologies if things seem a little rushed.

In that vein, Happy Valentine’s Day, folks. And if it’s not that happy a holiday for you, just think about how lame Peter Parker’s holiday is going to be. Hard to buy roses for your supermodel wife when you’re wanted by Johnny Law. Not to mention your wife’s not exactly modeling right now.

On with the show!
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Okay, I really tried not to think about this, but in the light of the very real fact that 75% books produced by Marvel nearly require you to be reading Civil War to understand where characters’ motivations are at, there’s no way to be staring at the 800 lbs gorilla and not wonder ‘Well, where’s he gonna sit?’. Quesada and company are on a mission to change the landscape of the Marvel Universe forever, bringing fresh ideas and new direction to everyone’s table; as long as this is kept coherent and continuous (I know, I know, bear with me), this could be a return to the hey-day of the House of Ideas, where the events of the books seemed like ‘one big cocktail party’, as Brian Bendis once said. Mind you, it won’t be a cocktail party per se, more like a governmentally allocated heroic future which has a lot of very serious weight, but if it things fall into place, a greater story could emerge than the sum of its parts.

And that’s why I think Captain America should bite it. BIG TIME.
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I try my best on this column to pose ideas rather than just come out with specifics.  Mind you, I try my best but who’s perfect these days, right?  But today, there is something I have to shout to the hills about, something to sing about, even.  In the days where Civil War slogs on, showing us the dark underside of ‘no villain, just opposing view points’, one might even be looking for some catharsis, some sort of epically scaled battle of good and evil where hard work pays off, where heroes are heroes, where men are men and women also kick ass and the universe is saved.

Ladies and gentlemen, look no further than Annihilation #6

Spoilers ahead, not to mention some fairly biased commentary on a book I so delightfully enjoy, so consider yourself warned.  And, if you can, go find and read Annihilation.  Enjoy this book.  And if you don’t plan on any of that, keep reading.
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Rivalries make heroes compelling. Conflict drives stories. And while we may like the kicking and explosions, what motivates the character to fight is what makes the fight worthwhile. What creates the friction between hero and villain cannot be stopped, that’s why there hasn’t been a real heart-to-heart between Iron Man and Captain America these days. If the two just listened to one another, this whole War might just be put to bed.

But if you can count on two people not listening to one another, it’s Wolverine and Sabretooth. Let’s take a look at Wolverine #50, shall we?

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Well, with seven titles CLASSIFIED in the April Solicitations for Marvel Comics, You might wonder what’s actually in there to look forward too. Fear no longer and take a look!

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Civil War: Frontline #10 has come and gone and we’ve all watched lovable Robbie Baldwin, young hero and fun-loving, bouncing jokester become a dark and grim petulant leather clad masochist. In order to pay for his crimes for letting all hose poor innocents in Stanford, Connecticut perish because well, he survived and was moderately involved, he had an underground caped costume designer build him a black leather suit with spikes built in to cause him a point of pain to remind himself of the lives lost. You see, where once he could bounce about with the greatest of ease with force fields to knock the bad guys into next week, he now can apparently pop a streetlight by causing himself pain. And he’s going to go hang out with Bullseye and Venom on the Ellis’ written Thunderbolts.

He’s fulfilled all the angst and grit requirements, folks! Everything the character had been has been officially kicked to the curb, bringing the world ‘Dark Speedball’, leaving us to wonder the musical question of “… why?”

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This is what happens when you time your articles to come out when the new books do. Oh, you off putting holiday shipping schedules!

Though there have been worse things. Because I know something you don’t know… or at least hoping you don’t. I know it because when the store manager was told by the owner over AIM (our preferred method of communication at the store), that same store manager yelped out a “WHAT?!” the likes of which you only hear when someone’s been shot.

And in a way, we were. Because the catastrophe involved the word ‘allocation’ and since we’re a small one-shop town private business, this wasn’t going to be pretty. On top of that, it involved Marvel Comics.
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Well, this is it, Folks, the End of 2006. What a wild, wild year it’s been. The Marvel Universe has indeed changed forever and continues to change all the way through the new year. I have to admit, the change has been a little jarring as Joe Q makes good on the idea that these, indeed, aren’t your Daddy’s comics. Heck, these might not even be your comics when all is done.

So what do we say to the new year?

We say…. WOO HOO! NEW FF TRAILER ONLINE! The Silver Surfer looks AWESOME! WOO!

More coherent thoughts in the new year.

Have a happy one, everybody and remember new books come out on Thursday for this week and next.

I’m sure in the midst of your holiday shopping, at one time or another you’ve turned to yourself (a trick in and of itself) and asked, “Where are those March Solicit Reviews from The Fifth Color? How am I going to plan my Women’s History Month without them? Or do my St. Patrick’s Day shopping?”

Or maybe you haven’t. But in either case, a week late and about $3.22 short (more in Canada), the Fifth Color proudly presents a look into the new year. Spider-Man 3 will be on the horizon, the Dark Tower mini-series will have started and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine.

Or maybe not.

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Sorry, guys. The holiday season has Yours Truly turned around and a mite confused as to when the Solicits were due out.

Turned around and a mite confused, rather like the woman who came into the local comic shop at which I’m empoyed with a Christmas list for her 15 year old son. He’s into trades and we have a sale going on so I’m helping her out and she’s balking at having to buy her son … what he wants I guess. That cranky parent who thinks the books are too much and don’t want to have any idea what they’re doing, on and on…

Well, she turns to me and says, “I can’t believe he even likes this stuff. What kind of kid his age likes Superman?”

Very calmly, I answer, “Well isn’t it better that he’s into someone who does good?”

Gosh, she was awful quiet after that, regarding what her son should and should not be reading…

Stay tuned, we’ll run through the future in a few hours, please stand by.  But until then, here’s what was lined up for today that some very kind folks already responded to.  Who am I not to give you what you want?

Woe!  Drama!  Horror!  Civil War is miserable!  None of the characters are acting the way they’re supposed to!  This isn’t the way comics were written when *I* was a kid!  What happened?

I mean, it’s a bit overdramatic but sentiment is high on nostaligia.  Why can’t Marvel write books the way they used to be?    And to tell you the absolute truth?  They do.  You just don’t want to read them.

And there’s a perfectly reasonable answer to all of this.
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My grandmother used to love soap operas.  It was cliche, but she still called them ‘her stories’ and would avidly follow the exploits of who was sleeping with who’s evil half-cousin who showed up mysteriously at the funeral for their mother who was having an affair with the mayor who wanted no one ot know about his secret dealings with the mafia don’s girlfriend.  And heaven help us if there was a wedding going on, because those were the best, full of pageantry and romance.

Comics are kind of similar, really.  There’s always some twist and turns, plenty of clones and long lost relatives, evil twins and dirty business.  And as we saw with the Black Panther/Storm affair, everyone loves a ‘Wedding of the Century’.  But is that where it ends?  Does the gown and the reception just lead to misery and heartbreak?  What is with the 2006 and Year of the Mighty Marvel Marriage Meltdown?
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Isn’t it amazing to see so many comic book movies available?  Not too long ago, we had Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher or the bad taste of Schumacher Batman films making comics look bad.  Now it seems like every year there’s a new flick taken from the pages of our favorite funny books.  Some of them are gold, others totally miss the mark, but it still gets unknown characters out into the public consciousness.

That doesn’t mean people are reading the books.

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Welp, it’s that time of the year again, though I swore it came a little earlier than last time. Nope, not the impending holliday season, but Marvel’s Mighty Solicitation list! Do note the highly exciting classified items that will be sure to change the world as we know it one more time. Remeber kids, this month’s phrase is “This issue, EVERYTHING CHANGES!” as in the coming year, we’ll be seeing yet another all new, all different Marvel Universe. Excited? Let’s take a look…
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What makes the X-Men … the X-Men?  What is the book’s signature style that has drawn in fans with a steady media consistence?

Like a lot of comic fans (and some not-so-comic fans, thanks to the proliferation of X-Men movies and cartoons and whatnot), I think the X-Men are keen.  I can wax poetically on Marvel’s merry mutants at the drop of a hat.  I know more of their continuity and stories through sheer love of characters and concepts than I remember of my second year philosophy classes in college.  Like a lot of fangirls in my age bracket, I grew up watching that god-blessedly-awful cartoon show on Fox and just went for it.  They were my gateway drug into the world of tights.  They resonated with so many, I feel, because it’s true escape fantasy at its finest.  Everyone at some time or another has felt left out, outcast or disaffected, not to mention wondered what it would be like to have some super cool power.  The X-Men provide both as a metaphor for having to sit at a table by yourself during lunch and as a way to daydream about going to school, only it’s a school that’s awesome.    Not only that, but they’re are dedicated to a morale movement that speaks of peace and understanding, an idea most of humanity can get behind.  This is good stuff.  Not only does it appeal to younger readers, but characters have grown up for the most part and can still touch base with those of us older kids thanks to how relatable the base concept is.  Living in a world that fears and hates them, the X-Men want to live their lives in peace and fight the good fight for equality while shooting laser beams out of their eyes and controlling the world’s weather.
But is that really what they’re all about today?

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