Index in February

AVENGERS, THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA: OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #10

The chronicle of the Marvel Universe returns as the All-New Official Index to the Marvel Universe delves into the history of three more of Marvel’s most enduring titles! Return with us to the Silver and Golden Ages to we launch our coverage of the Avengers (from AVENGERS #345), Thor (from THOR #460), and Captain America (from both CAPTAIN AMERICA #387 and 1941’s CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #32). Watch the Marvel universe’s history unfold month by month as each issue provides synopses for dozens of individual comics, including back-up strips, introducing the characters, teams, places and equipment that appeared within, providing vital information about first appearances, where they last showed up and where they appeared next! 64 PGS./Rated A …$3.99

Due tomorrow: Heroic Age: Super Villains!

Tomorrow sees the release of Heroic Age: Super Villains, the second of three special one shots where Steve Rogers gathers the facts on the post-Siege Marvel Universe! The full solicitation is here!

Also, keep your eyes open for the collected edition of the Official Index to the Marvel Universe: X-Men, which is said to be available tomorrow. I have my copy and it's great, an indispensable desk reference for people like me who spend a lot of time looking up facts on comics. The full solicitation can be found here!

Tales From the Crypt: back on tv?

I was in the barber shop yesterday during the shop's peak period and wound up waiting about a half hour for a chair. During this time, the televisions in the shop were broadcasting episodes of a Spike TV program called "1,000 Ways to Die."

The series claims to depict reenactments of actual events, dramatizing instances where someone was purportedly killed by an unusual or unlikely set of circumstances. I mused to myself that Spike probably considered this the more acceptable alternative to broadcasting snuff films.

But as I witnessed more segments from the program a deep realization sunk in; this wasn't a snuff film package, it's Tales From the Crypt with a new name! When I say that I specifically mean the original 1950s comic book incarnation of Tales From the Crypt, the one produced by Al Feldstein, Bill Gaines, et al.

You see, the stereotypical EC horror comic (or really any horror comic book of the early 50s) would introduce a sense of dramatic irony to support the gruesome fates their characters would receive: the man who picks on blind men is trapped in a dark room with grisly death on all sides; attractive women are punished for their vanity by being encased in plastic or burned to death by sun lamps; that sort of drill. "1,000 Ways to Die" takes the same angle, purporting that in each instance the person who dies "had it coming." So the woman dragged to death by dogs on leashes is first established as an animal-hater; the man who annoys people with his RC plane is impaled on the plane's wing; IRONY! In fact, "1,000 Ways to Die" repeatedly uses terms such as "fate" and "karma" in describing the deceased.

But the similarities don't end with the simplistic moralizing; like the EC titles, "1,000 Ways to Die" comes with an overblown narrator who strings groan-inducing puns into the various concussions, dismemberments and asphyxiations. During one segment about a wealthy but foolish young couple the narrator described them as "young, dumb and full of com ...fort." It raised audible groans in the barber shop from staff and customers alike.

I don't have a point to make with this observation, but perhaps the program should give a nod to Felstein & Gaines? Credit where credit is due, I say.

Next January's Handbook is a Blockbuster

Scope this sweet Raney cover:

BLOCKBUSTERS OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE

Select Character Artwork by GUS VAZQUEZ Cover by TOM RANEY

The chronicle of the Marvel Universe is filled with mind-blowing events — and, in this book, we begin recording them in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-style! Covering events from all eras of Marvel history! The Earth-shaking (The Great Cataclysm! World War II! House of M/M-Day!), the universe-changing (Operation: Galactic Storm! The Annihilation War! War of Kings!) and other significant moments in the lives of your favorite Marvel characters (the Richards/Storm Wedding! Lost in Space Time! Armor Wars!). Plus many more! Featuring new art by Gus Vazquez! 64 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

Index in January

AVENGERS, THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA: OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #9

The chronicle of the Marvel Universe returns as the All-New Official Index to the Marvel Universe delves into the history of three more of Marvel’s most enduring titles! Return with us to the Silver and Golden Ages to we launch our coverage of the Avengers (from AVENGERS #300), Thor (from THOR #398), and Captain America (from both CAPTAIN AMERICA #332 and 1941’s CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #31). Watch the Marvel universe’s history unfold month by month as each issue provides synopses for dozens of individual comics, including back-up strips, introducing the characters, teams, places and equipment that appeared within, providing vital information about first appearances, where they last showed up and where they appeared next! 64 PGS./Rated A …$3.99

DC comics: musings from an ex-patriot

I was recently explaining to the owner of my local comic book shop that I would not be purchasing as many Marvel titles as I normally did, but I wanted to ensure that all the independent titles I was following would be in my file. During this he remarked, "now you have more money to spend on DC!"

He said this because he's primarily a DC comics fan. It did cause me to reflect that I had only one DC comic on my pull list: Kurt Busiek's Astro City (technically published by Wildstorm via DC).

I've looked long and hard at DC's current lineup of product to find something I'd enjoy. There are a few titles that I think I would like, but I'm so far behind that it would make more sense to buy the trade paperbacks.

Then again, sometimes the DC trades department is lacking. It recently occurred to me that it might be nice to pick up Jack Cole's Plastic Man, considering how imaginative his artwork was and how I've enjoyed every Plastic Man by Cole I've read in the past. But the only format where DC reprints Cole's Plastic Man is their Archives, which run $75 each! And the first volume is out of print! Forget that noise!

Then I'm looking over DC's solicitations for January to see what I might want to buy when I see there's going to be a Shazam! one-shot. Shazam! was a childhood favourite of mine, second only to Superman, but as a kid it was very difficult to find comics the character appeared in. So, I examine the solicitation:

SHAZAM! #1

Blaze, the current ruler of Hell, has an offer for Mary and Billy Batson that may be too good to pass up! Left powerless, will the two former heroes have the strength to deny the devil? Can Freddy Freeman save them? And how does the Titan Osiris fit into it all? Find out here, in this one-shot special written by Eric Wallace (TITANS) with art by Cliff Richards (THE ROAD HOME: BATMAN & ROBIN #1)!

Oh for--!

COME ON!

No one wants to buy this comic book. Anyone who does possesses a collector's mindset which "forces" them to support anything bearing the Shazam! logo. I realize I can only speak for myself, but to me Shazam! is a perfect kids comic about wish fulfillment, talking tigers and other things we grown-ups are supposed to have grown out of. Someone at DC knows this because their recent books Shazam!: the Monster Society of Evil and Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! were more faithful to the original spirit of Shazam! than anything since the 1970s. But for the most part, DC doesn't want a kid-friendly book, so we've had repeated tales of the Marvel Family being corrupted by power, being unworthy of their power, dumped on by he's-morally-dubious-and-therefore-more-interesting Black Adam, sent to Hell, et al. All for the older, more mature reader who needs at least one dismemberment per issue to justify spending more money in a year on a highjacked children's product than he does on groceries. I'm asking aloud here, can't we just let Baston be Baston?

It's about this:

...Not so much this:

More of this, please:

...Less of this, thank you:

*sigh*

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might wonder if DC's handling of the Shazam! property since the 70s was deliberately blundered because a directive from on high demanded that the characters be mistreated as punishment for being more popular than any of DC's heroes in the 40s, back when they were owned by Fawcett.

With all the recent shake-ups at DC, there is some hope that change is coming. Bob Harras has been made DC's new editor-in-chief, having been Marvel's for most of '95-00. I bought about as many Marvel books per month with Harras as e-i-c as I did DC books since Dan DiDio became publisher in 2003, so at the very least the statistics say I won't be buying fewer DC books. ...Right?

Then again, as part of their restructuring DC have seen massive lay-offs, including most of Vertigo editorial, sacrificing several editors who produced books I read. They're also eliminating Wildstorm, leaving the one-and-only Astro City's future in jeopardy; well, that is to say, leaving its future with DC in jeopardy; perhaps a year from now I'll be reading Dynamite's Kurt Busiek's Astro City?

I am completely willing to delve back into DC, be it the DC Universe or stand-alone Vertigo titles. All I'm waiting for is for DC to produce something so compelling that I can't wait for it. Well, things are changing at the company; we'll see what develops.

...Where was I?

So, this blog has become a very occasional thing for me lately; apologies to anyone who's been dropping by hoping to see updated content, only to be disappointed. I do have plans for this blog's future and hope to get some regular features running.

For now, I will observe that the Inkwell Awards were handed out this last weekend; my favorite inker Al Williamson joined the hall of fame, so thank you everyone who sent in their votes!