snap judgments

YES.

Finally, I can speak about the great and mighty preview book we got in the mail last Wednesday.  When I opened the UPS envelope and saw it, I held it aloft like the mighty Excalibur for my co-workers to bask in it’s glory.  And lo, it was awesome.

But first:

Ms. Marvel Special One-Shot #1

Okay, real quick, all you need to know out of this issue is that AIM was actually trying to make more mutants like Wanda Maximoff (people who could change reality at whim) that would be under their control.  Because it tends to work out so well for everyone.  There was this little boy (probably a few of them, really) that could alter reality to whatever he was reading, making the story ‘come to life’ as the only life there was around.  Okay, easy enough: kid reads a sci-fi novel that Carol Danvers wrote about her time as Binary and she convinces the kid to change the story so that they can defeat her novel’s antagonist.  It’s something the kid has never done before as he’s been ‘trained’ somewhat to read from a script to change things around him, but he tries hard, alters the story to his will to allow Ms. Marvel to become Binary for a second so that everything can go back to normal.  Well, as normal as it will ever be again now that this kid has unchecked reality warping powers thanks to Ms. Marvel’s lesson in changing the ending of your own story.  Will we see this kid again?  Maybe not, but once again reality becomes more and more thin and stretched in the Marvel Universe.

Annihilation #6

YES.  Yes yes yes yes yes!  I can barely express how awesome this book is.  It’s like Christmas and my birthday and Wrestlemania all in one.  All of you who had been hesitant to read this story for any reason?  If you’ve been reading Civil War because that’s where Spider-Man is?  Please pick up back issues or, heck, wait for the trade if you’re so inclined to get the best ending of a story arc I have read yet.  Heck, I’ll go so far as to say Annihilation is the best event Marvel has pulled off in a long time.  Andy Schmidt and Daniel Ketchum have helped Keith Giffen give me everything I wanted in an epic cosmic scaled story, deftly drawn by Andrea DiVito, and I can only hope that Civil War is a tenth as good as this series.
First page, recap sets you up for everything that has gone down last issue and we are set for the wild ride that is the fury of Galactus.  Are there the vaunted ‘Editor’s Notes’ so hotly debated on news boards?  Nope!  Not needed as the setup for this story is all over and done, no mid-show minis or tie-ins or extra information other than what has already been provided within this title to get in the way of our cosmic final battle.
And it is fantastic! Spreads of every shape and size, everything drawn and staged with all the weight of one of the heaviest hitter’s in the Marvel Universe getting so angry, he makes the Hulk look like Katie Power.  The Silver Surfer is there to give us highlights as he heralds Galactus’s rage which decimates Annihilus’s forces from start to finish.  Ronan, seeing an opportunity, grabs Kree warriors like likes of which haven’t been rallied like this since the days of Mar-Vell and reminds us all why they and the Skrulls wage real war.  As nothing but Annihilus is left, Nova, Phyla-Vell and Star-Lord are there on hand and the last of the Nova Corp stands to end Annihilus once and for all.  Captain America and Iron Man haven’t done it like this because, at heart, they can’t.  This kind of fight can only come from one is epically good and epically evil.  When Iron Man and Captain America throw tooth-flying punches, there’s no one to root for; these are our heroes making terrible mistakes.  This, on the other hand, is Nova fighting for the safety of the universe and Annihilus fighting to stay alive and expand. It is ugly, it is brutal and with a telegraphed save from Phyla as an offer is made and the Quantum Bands choose another, the peril is no more.
Or is it?  Any story can defeat its villains and let the sunrise on another day, but it’s the quality of the next day that really makes the effort stand out.  Let’s face it, Annihilus had a lot of forces out there and there are some former heralds that want to go out and make sure they are wiped from the face of the cosmos.  The Surfer remains with Galactus, who’s now hungrier than ever.  Annihilus’s right hand man, Ravenous still lives and in the interest of ending the war, makes a treaty with the Kree Empire, splitting territory with Ronan and leaving both chomping at the bit to tear the other to pieces.  Drax has to look for something new to do, as what he was created for is over and his daughter is still on the arm of Phyla, who wants to try her hand at taking over Wendell’s old job.  In the end, Richard Ryder has to find a new place for himself, has to find something that feels like home and, just once, has to say that ‘We saved the universe’, to see how it sounds.
And I really feel he did!  The pacing of the book, the stories told, the perspective we are given, I really feel that might was used for right and good was done, no matter how much story is still left out there.  It was a long fought and well won battle that they get to uphold like a Ms. America crown.  And sure, there’s a lot to be done, but we’ve just proved through single minis and one major story that they are more than up or the job.  We have tested their mettle and found them worthy to be called heroes and I, for once, cannot wait to see what happens next.

Daredevil #93

What could possibly follow that?  Oh, well, how’s about Brubaker’s end cap on his first story arc?  In an interesting twist, we’re given a recap page in the actual story as a blind and bedraggled Matt Murdock reflects on how he got to this point and lays out the main conundrum of last issue.  Knowing that Daredevil is an honorable man, Vanessa Fisk’s offer still stands: give him back his regular status in his book (blind lawyer by day, vigilante by night, the works) if he springs the Kingpin out of jail so that their dance of death can continue.  Once her death is publicized and Foggy Nelson gets back in the game (the reunion may just bring a tear to your eye), you can see the honor in the matter.  She held up her end of the bargain, so Matt Murdock’s forced to hold up his.  It’s the right thing to do.  As the pieces fall into place in the book, Matt Murdock knows what he has to do and makes his way back to the jail to have himself a talk with Wilson Fisk.  A very human moment between them occurs, simply written but straight to the point.  Now, I’m not the biggest Daredevil fan and I haven’t read a great deal, but Joe Quesada really likes the guy and now, thanks to Brubaker, I’m starting to see why.  In the end, the Kingpin has a really quiet moment of mourning and humanity before he’s stripped of his US Citizenship and shipped off to Japan, Matt Murdock’s life is looking up again as he realizes the ghost of Karen Page still haunts him and we get a shot of an unexpected surprise at the end.  Once again, I am horribly hooked on a book thanks to the writing stylings of Ed Brubaker.  Uncanny X-Men?  Well, he’s 2 for 3.

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Guilty Pleasures #4

I want to tuck this book inside another so people don’t see me reading it.  I know Brett Booth can draw butcher men than this,  but there is just something so deflating about a ‘threatening’ man wearing a skinny bowtie.  Anita gets out of whatever vampire place she’d found herself in, we learn that the guy who wishes he were Prince is named ‘Valentine’ and he wears his Vega mask because Anita scarred him with holy water when he tried to kill her.  Sure, she’d be trying to kill him first at his house but we don’t get to see that.  Instead we see them wrestle in the grass and her pull the equivalent of mace on a very physical attacker.  Oh, she also burned his house down with two other hunters, one of who is a totally 1337 deadly killer hitman guy who couldn’t weigh more than 160 lbs.  Another long tall guy who’s nothing but trouble at her doorstep as she gets to her apartment after her last harrowing three issues; they trade banter, she goes to sleep and we find out she likes stuffed penguins because you know, she’s human and quirky that way.  It’s to keep her humble and cute, you know.  After a dream of Jean-Claude that involves violence and a coffin of blood, her bestest friend is at the door step and is of course, completely understanding and big sisterly towards Anita and this crazy story.  They both were witty T shirts with clever slogans and toast morning coffee to one another in a way that is just this side shy of a Celestial Seasonings commercial (‘What was the waiter’s name?’) and I swear, they’ll be planning on getting down to the actual plot of this story which is hunting down a serial vampire killer.

X-Men #195

I think this is one of those books written for the trade as with each passing issue, I’m confused as to why things are so important and how a fight scene gets slapped in and why characters aren’t there when they are on the cover…  Digging deep, I think there’s a good idea in here: Rogue being a team leader isn’t smart, but it is sassy and the book could use a little right now.  Mystique goes missing in a teleport from the Girl Sentinel (who I cannot seem to remember when she showed up.  Didn’t all the Human Models get destroyed in Zero Tolerance, way back when?), so they continue the mission with an eye out to find her.  Fighting occurs because… well, because and we learn that Iceman’s ice-form isn’t ice, but crystal, continuing my theory that people don’t understand how useful freezing water really is.  We meet the bad guy, who looks to have grafted Rogue’s power onto himself and, in order to get a leg up on the villainy, Cable and Cannonball push Sabretooth out of their floating headquarters.  We hope he’ll land and be very angry.

There was a Marvel Spotlight as well (more ads) and a Ghost Rider ‘Finale’ #93, an issue that wrapped up a series from way back when; sadly I did not get a chance to read it and I’m pretty sure I would have been confused as heck about whta it was supposed to be wrapping up.

But hey!  Today, you be the judge.

Happy Wednesday.

I wrote this article last night after some serious nail biting for a topic when I remembered that one of the managers at the store thought that in Wolverine #50, Sabretooth telling Wolverine that ‘he is what he will be come’ was telling the reader that Victor Creed was Logan from the future.  Like the way Cable was in Ultimate X-Men.

I wonder:  why don’t we get the DC previews anymore?  And will this paltry list matter when I go to work tomorrow and find the last issue of Annihilation in the next set of Marvel Previews?  Can I just jump ahead a week?

Oh, also coming out today is Civil War: the Return with your favorite or just mine, the Sentry bringing back the one man who could stop him if he ever really truely lost it this time, he means it.  It seem like a dumb idea that is again the Sentry’s fault, but it’s also being written by Paul Jenkins… who wrote  the now infamous Civil War: Frontline.  Man, hard to call this one.

These books, a lot easier.

Avengers Next #5

First off, let me congratulate “Mercenary Molly” and her Editor’s Note within this issue letting me know that some events relate to Last Planet Standing, the last big event in the M2 universe.  She’s a brave and, apparently, mercenary soul.  Anyhow, the book winds up with no particular shockers, no tricks or switch ups as Loki’s daughter looks to turn Earth into the New Asgard and her personal playground.  The Avengers do what needs to be done and fight the villain, screwing courage to the sticking point and coming out a little battered, a little bruised, but on the winning end.  Sure, looks like there still may be some squabbling amongst the members and they took on some questionable folk but, as America Dream says, they are all Avengers.  And that’s what it’s all about.

Doctor Strange: the Oath #4

After trying to take on an undefeatable monster, Doctor Strange watches as Wong and Night Nurse try and step into help, but wind up getting tangled up within the monster’s grasp in the process.  Doc Strange pinches at the bridge of his nose and utters the utterly quotable phrase, “This is why I didn’t join the Avengers.”  Oh, irony.  He does defeat the monster of course, resorting to pistol violence he finds distasteful and everyone gets to see our opposing side.  Note I didn’t say villain, as the guy actually presents a decent argument at the end of his monologing origin story (‘Hey, Doc, you know your origin?  I was like three steps behind you!’).  If the magic elixir that this little mini revolves around can really cure all illnesses, what kind of world would we live in if no one ever got sick?  It’s an interesting moral complexity I’m sure will be answered in the next and sadly final issue where we’ll also learn if Wong just really died or not.  Man, I wish this was an ongoing.

Heroes for Hire #6

Two stories in here:  on one side, we have a Jewish enforcer by the name of ‘The Shadows’ going to Heroes for Hire to look into a situation for him that he can’t have his hands on.  Turns out this all leads to a possible trap/ unfortunate coincidence wherein Man-Ape, the Grim Reaper and some chick named ‘Saboteur’ who apparently are resorting to old school villainy by trying to threaten New York with a bomb.  Now, this would be a great storyline if Civil War wasn’t going on and SHIELD in the way, but there’s still another issue to find out how all this is going to resolve.  Now, the other plot is the Humbug going to help a little boy rescue his ‘pet robot’ from the Head Hunters.  And no, it’s not the kid from Sentinel.  But he’s grumpy and the kid’s precocious, so I expect next issue their little subplot will be heartwarming to some extent.

Silent War #1

Some time between the end of Son of M and Civil War #4 comes Silent War, meaning that the events of this miniseries really won’t have any big effect outside itself, as such events would have to be mentioned or mirrored in the books that are set after this mini is over.  Ah, well.  Gorgon and some of the kids from the Inhumans mini go and make a big huge statement at the raging metaphor that is a performance of the Tempest at some fancy theater.  Everything is going ‘according to plan’ (because letting Gorgon talk is a good idea) when the kid with plant powers pops people’s heads off on live TV.  People are understandably upset.  The Fantastic Four show up and just make sure to kick ass before taking any real names.  They have a fight, the FF win and Gorgon and Co. are taken prisoner and a very evil scientist subjects Gorgon to the Terrigen Mists they stole as an experiment/torture device.  This leads to a very big and scary last page of a tricked out Gorgon-Beast.  Meanwhile back at Attilan, Black Bolt is wishy washy about what to do about all this and the Council is just as forced into taking a non-position.  Something else may be at work causing all this uncertainty, but while that’s getting sorted out, the Statement Squad are going to be in for a world of hurt.  On a personal note, anything done with the Inhumans that does not jibe with Jenkins and Lee’s phenomenal miniseries isn’t going to fly right with me and considering this is the same guy who wrote X-Men: Colossus – Bloodlines and District X, my expectations are somewhere around my shoes.  Civil War is enough political problem for the Marvel Universe right now; it brings in Atlantis and Latveria and Wakanda as potential threats to the central plot.  Adding in the Inhumans seems kind of vestigial.

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #14

Six more glorious issues left!  Here, we are given one of the best examples of how high school games of telephone really work.  It’s not just a few panels of people relaying information, it’s a really cool way to look at the characters through their point of view on what exactly is the ‘big secret’ Peter Parker has.  Well, it looks like Gwen Stacy’s got the news of Peter Parker’s big secret before Mary Jane, who winds up crying in the locker room because he chance with Peter is nil.  Liz is pissed because her friend is hurt and winds up telling Harry about her ire and bemoaning the whole situation to Flash, both of whom let on to Peter that they are in the ‘know’.  Flash gives Peter the ol’ ‘wink-wink’ while Harry just seems a little worried about his ex.  Peter thinks Gwen’s dropped the whole ball when she lets on that she might have told MJ she knew something desperately secret about him.  And the circle is complete.

Wolverine #50

Welcome the second coming of stories you already know.  Wolverine vs. Sabretooth, Logan confused about his past, the infamous Silver Fox story, it all comes back again like well worn friends.  Suffice it to say, Loeb does nothing exciting or thrilling about his first issue on this #50 milestone (well, #50 for this run of numbering).  First off, Wolverine has a confusing dream about were-people where a black wolf fights a sabertoothed furry person and even Logan has no idea what it means.  Though apparently, this metaphor is important and he’s even given the horrendously violent reoccurring dream pet names.  He has this dream on the way to the X-Mansion, where to be perfectly honest, he really doesn’t belong anymore.  He’s a solo guy now an it just looks weird for him to be walking on by, like a high school kid visiting their old elementary school.  He shoves a claw through the lock and finds Rogue, who wonders why he didn’t just knock.  Logan then finds Sabretooth and they get down to business.  Fighting ensues, with Victor Creed taunting Logan about how he remembers everything else about his life now except for the one crucial thing that this storyline revolves around.  Quick aside: how does Sabretooth know that Wolverine has his memories?  Was there a memo?  Did the X-Men tell him?  Anyhow, Logan recounts the Silver Fox story ( the short story being that Logan and Silver Fox were in true love when Sabretooth came in and murdered her.  Turns out that this whole scenario was an induced memory from Weapon X and Silver Fox was an agent for them.  Oh, Sabretooth killed her for reals this time and Logan was still rather weepy over the whole affair).  “Quod sum eris”, Sabretooth tells Wolverine amidst kicking and punching, “I am what you will be”.  Which actually is a great sentiment I could wax poetic on for quite some time, but it’s set aside for the time being so that Logan can once again pop his claws through Sabretooth’s head in a fade-to-black panel cliffhanger.  After this is a strange story about Wolverine’s first appearance in Incredible Hulk #181.  Ed McGuinness  draws a big beefy fight while we get commentary about how ridiculous it all is by Logan’s inner dialogue.  Then comes the strange part: the Hulk grabs Wolverine and we get a two-page splash of the Ultimate Hulk/Wolverine fight.  You know, the rather infamous shot of him being ripped in half?  Yeah, redrawn by Ed McGuinness and stuck into the story.  Fantastic picture?  Hells yes!  Bad timing? Oh yeah.  Because people are going to see that then come to the store and ask me about it.  And I’m going to have to tell them the sad sad story of how late the book that had that picture first is.  Ah well.  Wolverine seems to wake up after that shot and shrugs, blaming Canada and walks off into the snow.  A great start for a celebrated author on a mega-hit character?  Not really.  But thankfully, Jeph Loeb is still cool (even after Onslaught Reborn) and there’s more issues to come.

X-Factor #15

Thanks for making me highly uncomfortable while reading my favorite book, Mr. David.  I just think my quota on the Merry Marvel Masochist Society is tapped out.  You see, Jamie Madrox decides to go collect his Agent of SHIELD dupe and winds up getting kidnapped by Hydra.  Everything was going fine until they hooked him up to the brainwashing treatment that has felled both Guido and Northstar.  Joy of joys, this puts Jamie in a precarious position in his head with his parents beating him to death and calling him a failure.  This leads to him beating himself up, spreading the mind control ju-ju thin enough for him to break free but not enough for the ‘mind control’ to be tossed off entirely.  Brainwashing: slowly replacing clones as plot device that need to be put to bed for a very long time.  Meanwhile, Siryn and M go to France and get caught up in an anti-mutant demonstration there.  Causing a disturbance as only two hot headed characters can, they do the right thing of turning themselves into the authorities and going along peaceably.  While waiting in jail and with the proper authorities knowing that M is the daughter of Ambassador and Wealthy Man Cartier St. Croix, they find out that their intervention and good behavior has done nothing positive and for this, M kills a man while waiting in her jail cell.  I miss Rictor and the great direction the last issue had.

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

I swear, I was just going to look for the new New Avengers list so I could talk about it here, but when I see a new Joe Fridays Monday edition, I thought to myself, “… well, I’ll just scan the questions. I won’t read the replies, just the questions!”

Oh, silly silly me.

NRAMA: Going back to last week again, it seems that there was a bit of a furor over your comment about footnotes. Do you want to elaborate on this anymore? And what do you say to critics that claim that the footnotes can be used to get customers interested perhaps in some older stories?

Hey, a question important to me! Something I expressed my opinion about last time! I’m a critic, does ol’ Joey Q have anything to say to me?

JQ: [laughs] Yeah, I’ve noticed that a few folks here and across the net got themselves all in a tizzy about this, so let me clear a few things up.

A tizzy. Not a valid opinion, not ‘Well, there are some really good points made out there, along with some overexaggerated ones’. Nope, a ‘tizzy’. Wow, way to dismiss criticism!

I never said we don’t do footnotes, I said we discourage writers from using them.

You discourage them, so they aren’t used as much, thus are not done. Pretty logical jump to make, if not entirely accurate. But that’s semantics! Sure he’ll jump right to the heart of the matter and not pick on critics!

So, it’s not like they’re banned from our comics. As a matter of fact if you look closely, you can find a few with them. So, to me this just sounds like people that want to complain.

That totally answers my question! They are there, we’re just not using them to answer important questions like what book follows another in a major crossover event that’s months behind. Man, I sure do like complaining.

Now, what I don’t understand is the following.

Sure, I’ll bite.

1.) If almost everything you need to know is in the recap page, why are people upset about footnotes? You’re getting the information that a footnote would contain, they’re just not in a footnote caption.

Very simple. Not everything you need to know is in the recap page. Sometimes, the recap page is very vague and doesn’t help for when specific events happen out of sequence. That infamous Sue Leaving in CW#4, then Leaving Again in FF issue? If people were confused on the order of those books (whch couldn’t be judged by how they came out), a little yellow box at the start of their conversation wouldn’t have ruined the flow and would have kept the recap page to just what happened last issue, rather than what’s going on everywhere in the Marvel Universe.

2.) As you stated above, if the recap page doesn’t cover it, and we really feel we need a footnote, we add the asterisk and the reader can find the footnote information in the letter’s page. Again, why are folks so upset that there isn’t a footnote caption, there is, it’s just in the back of the book as opposed to within the story. Are they saying that they need it right on the page in order to get the info? Hmmm.

What’s wrong with that? And I had no idea about the asterix addition as it was never officially mentioned in a Soapbox or a Letters Page or even as part of the Recap ( “Where a * is noted, please see the letters page for additional information.” Not too difficult. ) Maybe people are upset about the lack of a caption box is because that’s what they are used to. Back in the Way Back Day, Stan used to use them to talk to the reader about something silly within the story or about how pleased Jack Kirby was to draw some slick new car. While in this VERY SERIOUS age of comic storytelling, such a side note would be jarring if not obnoxious (I think JMS did an issue almost primarily using editor’s notes, which is just being childish, really…), it’s what became familiar. An unexplained asterix isn’t the same as a little yellow box positioned unobtrusively in the relating panel.

3.) If a particular back issue or trade is important in order to understand a particular current story arc, again, we would flag the mention of that past event as it occurs during the course of a story with an asterisk within the caption or balloon it appears in. We would then include all the pertinent information in the letters page.

This … this isn’t a question. Just a defence of the above.

Also, keep in mind that we don’t write our stories that way anymore. We try to make them as inclusive and none confusing as possible,

Well, he did also say ‘Dead is Dead’, so … I guess Over 123 related issues are fairly simple to those not in a tizzy.

I think that’s where the letter’s page comes in handy. I never understood why comic books and comic continuity had to be a puzzle only solvable by the most hardcore Fanman?

I agree, I don’t understand that either. You’d think that with such wonderful movies and media tie-ins that anyone and their mom could just walk into a store, pick up a book with Spider-Man in it and BAM! They’d have all the basic knowledge they’d need to read it. Did I mention that Civil War is listed at 95 issues on wikipedia?

4.) And finally, this has been in effect for nearly six yearsz! Six years without footnotes and nobody has complained nor noticed really until I said something last week [laughs].

Well, on a personal level, I just started complaining about Joe Quesada’s position on editor’s notes last week. Ha ha. But just because people are in favor of a good idea all of a sudden that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any merit. If a lot of people are in favor of something, maybe instead of seeing it as an attack or being against being against editor’s notes, it just might be an opportunity to look into something to keep paying fans happy. Maybe it might force the editors to keep a tighter reign on their books and akes sure that art goofs like when a girl has a broken arm and when she doesn’t or who’s sitting in private conferance with supervillains and who’s standing up in front of the rest of the resistance and surprising them with new help (who are also supervillains).

So, yeah, I think we’re covering all the bases with respect to getting the fans all the info they need, it’s just not in those little yellow caption boxes.

So what’s going to happen in the April releases of Captain America and New Avengers so retailers know what to order for the upcoming months? Oh! Oh, gosh. My bad. He said fans.

Okay, you want to discuss the lack of smoking within our comics?

I have nothing personal against Joe Quesada. Really. I wish him all the best and don’t think he’s a big meanie head for making the descisions he does. I just want the best product for the customers and I know he wants exactly the same thing. And yeah, I get snarky. So does Mr. Tizzy, it’s human nature and more importantly, fanboy nature to mock what we do not like so I can’t really fault him the tizzy remark and the general defensiveness of the answer.

Actually, I can because he’s a professional and should treat the paying customers professionally; I mean, I work at a comic shop and I have to do the exact same thing. But I won’t fault him because having a fan is more important than having a suit and having a readable book with recognizable footnotes to place a particular story within a timeline is more important than the trade paperback.

And that’s my unpopular tizzy.

Okay, so I don’t read a lot of Ultimate Spider-Man. If someone says a particular storyline is really good, I’ll flip through it. I bought the first HC when it first came out and really enjoyed it. I also bought the scriptbook and a few other assorted issues.

I recommend it, but I am certainly no authority. I admit this. But since it is a popular book and from what I understand the Clone Saga storyline went over pretty well, I have to ask you the viewer an important question.

How did Spider-Man (and Girl-Type) defeat Doctor Octopus.

As far as I understood, Doc Oc had just admitted to getting his hands all over Peter Parker’s troubled life to … test him… make clones… I dunno. Do evil. Because he’s a villain and that’s what he does. He may even be doing it for the government! Double evil. Anyhoo, he admits this as well as the fact that he has a mental control over metal instead of just arms. He’s throwing metal bits all over the room and it’s looking all very swirly and wind tunnely and in one panel, it even looks like part of Girl-Type’s face gets ripped off! Yikes! So he’s monologuing and Peter’s angry (as well he should be goddammit!) and getting beat up by what I can only assume is a very powerful villain. Man can shove a metal spike through him at a distance, go clone another one and start again. A bunch of dudes just watched ‘Peter Parker’ walk out of a room previously filled with his clones! People don’t know what’s what.Sure, the clone would degrade and probably turn… I dunno, evil or insane (oh, both is the new black!), New-Clone-Peter’s life would spiral out of control and hey, some dude named ‘Ben Reilly’ can show up, be real Peter and then outsmart the entire mess!
Or he and his Girl-Type can punch Doctor Octopus to death.

Death. Not just knocked him out. DEATH. With a punch. Sure, it was a combo punch but a moment ago this guy was throwing everything and the kitchen sink around and Girl-Type got part of her face ripped! Oh, Octavius and your glass jaw.

Tell me that’s not how Peter Parker conquered the man who was ruining his life. Tell me all this madness from issue #1 doesn’t come down to a team attack with his girl clone.

At work on Wednesday, my boss is trying to get people ot pick up the new Spider-Man: Reign mini-series that he just might have over ordered on.  “It’s like Dark Knight Spider-Man,” he lures customers with and for some, it works.  Other want a little more info.

“Who’s Kaare Andrews,” one asks, leaving him to pause and think.  I take the opportunity.

“Oh, he’s done a bunch of covers, some one-shot stuff, do you remember the movie poster take-off covers on the Incredible Hulk awhile back?  He did those, but I think this is one of his first big things as a writer and artist.  In fact, he dedicated the book to Seth Fisher, who passed away-”

“Seth Fisher passed away?”

“Yeah!  You didn’t hear?”  I fill him in on the sad story an we both agree that the art has a certain similarity.  He buys the book.  Another familiar face at the register asks about the book and I get to tell him how fascinating the book is without really answering any questions.  “Just kind of one ‘What?’ after another, but in a good way really,” I joke.  Man picks up the book.  Someone else who heard about the Seth Fisher dedication asks who he is and I show him a copy of Iron Man/Fantastic Four Big in Japan, which he buys.

Another customer asks as to how good the book is as well.  “Oh, I haven’t red it,” the boss admits, “but the art looks really good.”

“I read it and it’s weird, but really good!,” I call from the register, but am shut out of the Big Boy Conversation.

“Oh, and it’s dedicated to an artist that died,” my boss throws in.

It’s been one full year today that I started this blog for exactly the above reason.   I still have a lot to say, I still love comics and some one, somewhere, doesn’t mind taking advice from a girl.  I have met so many awesome people through this blog and I have read so much by some really incredible people, so of course, everyone on my right there?  The link list?  BLESS YOU!  Thank you so much for your opinions, rants and reviews that get me off my butt and get me thinking and writing.  Thanks to Graeme McMillan of the late Fanboy Rampage! and Dave Campbell of Dave’s Long Box, two people who have no idea how much their sites made me go out and purchase webspace to do this blog.  Thanks to Ragnell and kalinara for taking a peek this way and giving my little posts a shot on When Fangirls Attack and helping me create some hits.   Thanks to the late 2 Guys Buying Comics and the current Calvin Pitt over at Reporting on Marvels and Legends for being cool.

And I’d like to thank the Academy-  wait, what am I doing?  It’s a tiny milestone, but I thought I’d give it some fanfare.

Say it ain’t so! Tell me Sean McKeever isn’t leaving Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane! Tell me he isn’t leaving Marvel for a DC exclusive!!

SM: … As far as Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, um … my last issue of that will be #20.

NRAMA: You look like you’re about to cry.

SM: Yeah. Leaving that book was a huge heartbreak for me. And it still is. I’ve got two issues left to write at this point. I will have written 28 issues of that book by the time I’m done, and that’s the most I’ve ever written of any one title. And that book just means a lot to me. It has a special place in my heart. It’s a lot like breaking up with a girlfriend, to leave that book. So I’m still kind of struggling with it.

Not to get all girly on you all, but…. OMG I AM GOING TO CRY TOO!!! I adored his honest take on Mary Jane and the Spidey-supporting cast that I learned more about the character than anything in the main titles. MJ is a sparkling diamond for new young female readers and a delight for the young at heart as she’s such a real girl and so much fun. I know these people, I went to high school with all of them and now they’re transferring.

Sean McKeever has given me something to hand to girls instead of Betty and Veronica that parents can get behind. There’s a little girl who comes into the shop with her dad, just like I did and this book was the first one her dad and I were able to get her interested in. So now they come to the shop together and they are such a joy. I hated to break the first cancellation to her and boy… breaking this news is gonna hurt.

NRAMA: Wow, you really do look hurt. Is there anything you want to say to your Marvel fans who are feeling rejected right now — to soften the blow?

SM: Sure. I love you guys. I still love Marvel. You haven’t seen everything that I’ve done for them yet. I do have a painted one-shot coming out next year from them. I think that’s all I have coming out yet. And you know — I’ll probably be back someday.

YOU ARE THE WIIIIIND BENEATH MY WINGS, SEAN! The only thing that’s going to soothe this broken heart is the very notion that DC could be smart enough to give you Supergirl.

Marvel, you have no idea what you lost.

So, we all know Greg Land’s a hack, right? He’s know for making pictures look like actors (sometimes the wrong actors), ripping off exact photos of moments from movies and whatnot and… some people are fine with this. The fact that his X-Men: Phoenix Warsong work looked like Victoria’s Secret battledome doesn’t bother some people. Porn face is alright by them because the art is pretty and the women are hot.

In Ultimate Power #2, he’s illustrating a big battle royale between the Ultimate Fantastic Four and Squadron Supreme. Hyperion is taking the Thing to task, shown here:

And you know, it’s a pretty good punch. Who am I to quibble about the use of ‘FABOOM’ in-

Wait. Who’s Reed loosely wrapped around?

That’s Squadron Supreme member, Arcanna! It turns out that she’s been re-written to be less of a Zatanna rip-off and more of a Scarlet Witch ripoff, with the ability to “see all the quantum possibilities and choose which will become reality”. Lame, sure, but… what’s she doing?

WHAT’S SHE DOING?!? Is she being thrown? Is she kicking funny? Did she get a hand cramp there? Why are her eyes closed and her head thrown back like that? I have shown this picture to every one at work and I have no clue what is going on with her back there.

Well, the ugly truth is obvious, but I’m talking about artist’s intention. What was Greg Land thinking when he drew her in like that? What is she SUPPOSED to be doing? Or having done to her…

I need a shower.

So, holidays are over and the hours at work have increased which means I’m reading more books and that means… MORE POSTS!

Like the fact that, against my better (snap) judgment, I read Joe Fridays this week. I know I shouldn’t, the man just gets me blood pressure up, but I like the Christmas tune from last year and wanted to find out if there was a new one this year.

Ha ha, it was late, despite being recorded last year.

Anyhow, reading on, there are a million and one things again that just yank my crank about the defensiveness and the wait-n-see approach to answering questions about upcoming content, but that’s par for the course on Joe Fridays.  What really gets me in new and interesting ways is the attitude about Editor’s Notes.

No joke, right next to each other are the following Reader Questions and Staff Answers: First, a sensible question from ‘ireact’ about the continuity trouble in Civil War and associated crossovers, Sue leaving and then REALLY leaving from Civil War #4 to Fantastic Four #540, Amazing Spider-Man’s squeaky clean Area 42 vs. Civil War: Frontline’s dirty hellhole Area 42, Punisher opening fire on two recruited villains in a meeting in Punisher: War Journal #2 and two villains as surprise help in Civil War #6 who then get shot by Frank. I mean, these are good questions and Joe Q. side-steps over to Tom Brevoort (WIZARD MAGAZINE’S EDITOR OF THE FREAKIN’ YEAR).

Tom Brevoort: In most of these cases, these aren’t continuity mistakes, but a necessary duplication of certain story points in different books so that each one can be read individually. And it’s no different than working out how Captain America can be facing certain death in his own book, but hanging around with the Avengers in New Avengers seemingly at the same time – one story, one scene, one event happens before the other.

On the first part, fine. Duplication of scenes from different angels certainly do tie a story together… if they are reasonably recognizable as connected. If not, then it should be an editor’s job to create a time line of events in such a large scope for the writers to use as a guideline. Right? Or at least make sure that the writer to first put it to print is used as a guideline for writers to come.

We’ve covered the Sue sequence of events a few times already, but just to reiterate it: in Civil War #4, Sue is present for the battle in which Goliath gets killed. Then, in FF, she and Reed have a blow-out argument after she helps Wildstreak to escape and she storms off – and Ben says, “she’s laving, huh?” Then, towards the end of Civil War #4, we read her final note to Reed and see her and Johnny leave the Baxter Building while Ben watches.

We have? Where have we covered the Sue sequence? I’m an honest comic purchasing fan and I have apparently missed the explanation. Funny, because I read the books, you think all the information would be contained therein. Does this mean there is no such thing as a casual comic reader? Should all issues have a link to the Internet so the content is properly explained? Oh, wait. Writers are supposed to do that.

I could make fun of the ‘laving’ thing, but that’s just too low a blow for WIZARD MAGAZINE’S EDITOR OF THE YEAR. I will give him props for a reasonable explanation (but not of the Thing’s departure which took a few issues to actually happen), but it still makes me wonder how an editor could keep an explanation like this when writing gets choppy within the book itself instead of on the internet.

The Punisher War Journal scene aligns pretty precisely with the scene in Civil War #6, with the additional sequences taking place in-between panels in Civil War #6. We’ve got a limited amount of space in the core book, but if you look at that scene, while the Punisher is walking with Spider-Man on the previous page, he’s not in the scene when Diamondback brings the villains in.

Uhm. No. Now, I will fix my scanner, but with the issues right here, trust me on this one. In Civil War #6, the ‘reformed’ villains are walking into the room as sort of a surprise introduction. In Punisher: War Journal, they are sitting at a table with Cap when the Punisher walks in. In Civil War #6, there’s the whole rebellion there. In Punisher: War Journal, it looks like a private meeting. Again, this looks like something an editor would see (perhaps an over arcing editor of a gigantic company wide crossover reading all these books and checking the art) and make a note of before it saw print. Maybe it was forgone to make sure the book got out on time? Maybe because it was so late they skipped the check over and trusted the artists on credit? Maybe I’m just making up excuses?

The dirt floors in Front Line had more to do with the fact that Steve hadn’t drawn the prison yet in the main book, and so to some extent Ramon Bachs had to determine his own interpretation. As it turned out, the place was actually designed by Ron Garney in Amazing, because he needed it before Steve was going to be able to get to that issue, and so we then provided Steve with the appropriate reference.

So, Civil War artist hadn’t drawn the prison yet…. BUT IT WAS ALREADY DRAWN BEFORE THAT? There was a reference available already from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man? So McNiven and Ramon Bachs could have worked from the same art? How is this an explanation? How did Ramon Bachs miss getting this important reference art?

The only item on your list that’s a genuine mistake

Oh really.

is the turn-around on Iron Man’s take on the prison being temporary or permanent between Amazing and Civil War, and that was simply a miscommunication between JMS and Mark.

Okay, so the two misspoke to one another. But… isn’t there a third party? Perhaps… oh, work with me, an EDITOR who would read both issues before they went to print and noticed ‘gosh, these two ideas don’t match up!’? Maybe at one of these infamous summits shouldn’t there be an answer to something like this? Or is the prison such a weak idea that not too much thought was put into it as a story device? Why do I have so many questions when these are supposed to be the answers?  I feel like such a jerk but I can’t be the only one wondering things like this, can I?

And even within that, from a story point of view I can rationalize Iron Man telling Spidey that the prison is a permanent measure in order to try to scare him back away from doing what he’s thinking of doing.

Not only a futurist, Iron Man is a mind-reader. But I’ll give Tom Brevoort the No-Prize on this one.

So, what we see here are a bunch of … I don’t want to say nit-picky as they involve major point of plot charging through the Marvel Universe, but notes on story and continuity that need to be addressed. And to be accessible to new readers, the basic information of how these books interweave if it’s not addressed within the story needs to be accessible somewhere in the book itself, not on the internet. You have to admit, it sounds really elitist to have all the answers to fairly common questions like this on specialty sites. In fact, when moments of opposition meet, there could be a little note, like a footnote to let you know how an enormously late book fits into a book that’s semi on-time or a little off in the grand scheme of things. Such as a note to tell you that the current X-Books are WAY ahead of Astonishing X-Men, that Iron Man just caught up to Civil War, anything that can’t be covered in the ‘Previously’ in the front of the book. Heck, Annihilation’s got this nifty timeline thing rocking it’s front pages…

Lo and behold, one of the questions after ireact’s is exactly that! What about those Editor’s Notes, Joe? What do you say? Take pity on your poor readers who’ve stuck by you on all these delays and help us put together your grand puzzle design!

JQ: The footnote boxes were very important to our business when our business was primarily on the newsstand and stories were much more of a continuous soap opera and not constructed in story arcs.

So, what he’s saying is that there are no ongoing stories in Marvel, but ‘constructed’ story arcs with clear beginning, middle and ends so that footnotes wouldn’t be needed. The reader would be following the storyline and all the information they would need to understand it would be in that constructed arc an would be designed to be insular.

Because Civil War is very insular and self-contained.

But, while they may have been informative back in the day, I find them annoying during the course of a story today. They became a sort of tradition in Marvel comics, but to me they take you out of the story.

Please note! Joe Quesada says that he finds them annoying. Not redundant, not useless, not unnecessary. Annoying.

Imagine if you will, you’re watching your favorite weekly TV show and as your enthralled in the middle of a scene suddenly they pause the action and a voice over announcer’s comes on saying, “for more info on the background behind this scene, make sure to pick up the Season 3 DVD set, disc 4, chapter 11.”

I would be first, infuriated, and secondly infuriated again because it takes me out of the scene. Now, imagine that happening in the middle of your favorite movie.

A small yellow box in the corner of a comic book panel versus a pause in live action and a voice over. Now, I’ll give him that sometimes the references got kind of crazy and could take up more than a few picas of space in that panel, but I’m not really sure how this comparison matches up.  Not to mention how infuriated I get when I see a continuity error in a story that’s supposed to orchestrate all the issues to come after it.  Double infuriated, even.

So, while we haven’t banned them altogether, we encourage our editors and writers that, when possible, if you need a footnote, add the asterisk and then place the footnote in the letter’s page.

Really? Again, that’s something nice to note at the front of the book so when people start to read, they know to look back to the letters page to get filled in. Oh wait, that’s kind of stopping the action, isn’t it? I’m going to see if I can’t find an example of this in any of my books.

Also, all of our books come with a handy dandy recap page that should give you all the info you need.And the final thing to consider is that the footnotes would be redundant and kind of annoying in the trade paperback of the story.

Oh, well, yeah. How could I possibly not have considered the almighty trade? And while I am a HUGE fan of the recaps, sometimes they just don’t cover what book was supposed to come out before what other book in a mega crossover event like this.

Makes me wonder if Editor’s Notes killed Joe’s family as a child.

Okay, we’ve all read Civil war: Frontline #10, right?

Well, none of you have been reading it like a friend of mine. The moment Civil War hit the stands, I wanted to make a condolence call for the character assassination that was about to take place and boy howdy, that is not a metaphor this time.

Speedball is dead. Now, we have Penance, or as Dorian delightfully puts it, “Dark Speedball”. Because YOU demanded it!

I know a Speedball fan. Oh, they are out there, trust me. All of them wide eyed as a masochistic torture device is strapped on to what once was a fun, happy-go-lucky character. And for really no good reason, other than to show how tough things are these days and how ‘stupid’ characters can totally go edgy and dark and wow, it’s a leather costume! That’s hip these days right?

To my poor friend, I can say only this: Honey, I’m not joking, I really did weep for you when I read through CW:FL #10. I want to send a condolence card. To you and many other people who got hooked on to Marvel comics thanks to the very human characters and how much fun being a good guy could be.

Now, I adore Paul Jenkins, but it just looks like his powers were used for evil throughout Frontline’s run. The backup stories trying to compare Marvel’s Civil War to real historical events were contrived and inaccurate and The Pulse’s crew just seem to be running around with little to show for it. Sure, this issue’s plot with them was mostly filler (gosh, Thanks Tom Brevoort for your hard work keeping these books on schedule, guy!), but this revelation better be good because this issue’s was heart-wrenching.

The guy who designed Penance’s costume (‘Penance’, Christ, it didn’t work for Generation X…), Marko Djurdjevic, did some work for things like Hellgate: London and whatnot and it shows. The new costume looks like something out of a Heavy Metal mag and nothing that would come from a Marvel comic.

Take that as you will.