Tagged: Marvel Comics

MIKE GOLD’s Top 10 Comics Of 2011

It’s the end of the year and everybody’s got their Top 10 list, and since I went to journalism school I’m obligated to list mine. I’m looking at titles that were released in 2011 because cover dates are meaningless. I’m not looking at original graphic novels or reprint projects, even though in dollar volume they constitute the majority of my purchases. Besides, original graphic novels are done to very different standards. Finally, some of these titles are done by friends of mine; I refuse to disqualify them because they just might buy me lunch. Having said all that…

#1 – Life With Archie Magazine (Archie)

Top of my list for the second year straight. Two stories – Archie marries Veronica, Archie marries Betty. Parallel worlds which converge, but that’s not why this book is great. There’s very real character development here, layered on personalities that existed for 70 years without it. We watch them grow, not into adults, but as adults. Better still, the most interesting character in both series is Reggie Mantle! Paul Kupperberg writes this, with art from Norm Breyfogle, Fernando Ruiz, Pat and Tim Kennedy and a host of others.

#2 – Tiny Titans (DC)

If you see this as a kid’s comic, that’s great, particularly if you’re a kid. If you see this as a brilliant loving satire of DC Comics and its convoluted universe, that’s great too, particularly if you’re an “adult.” Art Baltazar and Franco are pushing towards 50 issues here, and there ain’t a clunker in the bunch.

#3 – Elric: The Balance Lost (Boom)

Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion has been in the hands of a lot of comics creators and a lot of comics publishers, and the output has been… inconsistent. This latest series is among the very best: all of the various shades of Elric are here, and interweaved through the storyline are very contemporary elements and environs. Good stuff from Chris Roberson and Francesco Biagini.

#4 – Daredevil (Marvel)

Once again, Mark Waid does what he does best: he takes a well-established character that, like all well-established comics characters, has been covered in paint about a dozen too many times and strips it back down to the wall, preserving everything that made the character work while imbuing it with a contemporary environment. On this series, he’s going just that – and he’s doing it better than ever. Penciler Marcos Martin ain’t no slouch, neither. This is a real superhero book.

#5 – Justice League Dark (DC)

This one’s my surprise of the year. While very little of DC’s New 52 answers the question “why bother,” this one takes a bunch of characters of a somewhat mystical nature and thrusts them, Justice League like, into a trauma vastly larger than any one of them… and maybe all of them. Sort of like The Defenders, with all the style and John Constantine’s wit. Peter Milligan’s DC work has been inconsistent for me (I tend to prefer his U.K. work), but I’m glad I checked this one out. Mikel Jann draws the series. Very different… and very good.

#6 – Fly (Zenoscope)

I reviewed Raven Gregory and Eric J’s series about a recreational drug that gives kids the power to fly way back here. I liked it then, I like it now. Of course it’s out in trade paperback, so if you blew me off in August, give it a shot now.

#7 – Red Skull (Marvel)

Retrofitting a backstory onto a well-established character is a gambit that is often ill conceived and, worse, boring. Not this one. Greg Pak and Mirko Colak take us back to the villain’s adolescence where we learn – definitively – where his allegiances truly lie… and why. The fact that it’s got the best covers I’ve seen on a mini-series in a long while doesn’t hurt, either.

#8 – Batgirl (DC)

I don’t have a clue about how this series fits into any continuity, current or past. I’m told it does. What I do know is that this is a series about a young woman who’s trying to reestablish herself as a superhero after enduring traumas that shattered her body and soul. She’s not necessarily great at being a superhero, but she’s giving it all she’s got. This is exactly what I expect out of Gail Simone, and that is a very high standard. Adrian Syaf offers solid and exciting storytelling.

#9 – Action Comics (DC)

I went here because of Rags Morales’ art – I’d buy Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes if Rags drew the box – and I stayed for Grant Morrison’s innovative and engrossing script. This is the all-new young Superman, before he figured out what to wear on the job. It’s set well before the all-new older Superman in his eponymous title. I don’t know how this leads up to that, and I don’t care. This is supposed to hold up on its own, and it does. I’ll get over the slap in history’s face with the numbering (if such lasts); this is the best-produced Superman title in a decade-and-a-half.

#10 – To my friends who didn’t make this list: each of you came in tied for #10. Now go fight it out.

Notice how there aren’t any teevee or movie tie-ins? I never warmed up to that stuff. Not even as a kid. Which means it took me a while to realize Steve Ditko actually drew Hogan’s Heroes.

I have no doubt that within weeks at least two of the above-named will start to suck. Like all commercial media, comic books are subject to the whims of the lords and ladies of irony. But as a professional cynic, these titles and perhaps another half-dozen meet and exceed my bizarrely encrusted standards. Your opinions might differ, and that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong.

Of course not.

Extra: Happy birthday wishes to fellow columnist Marc Alan Fishman, who turns 30 today and, therefore, is old enough to know better. His son turns 0 in about a month.

Extra-Extra: Thanks to Gatekeeper Glenn for saving my life this year.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

MIKE GOLD’s Holiday Trauma

Holiday-themed comics have long been a tradition, along with holiday-themed… everything else. That’s cool; if you can’t make a buck pushing Santy Claus, when can you?

As far as our four-color medium is concerned, we inherited the tradition from the newspaper strips. These guys went all-out, and back when there were still a lot of continuity strips stories would be interrupted for Christmas and New Years (Hanukkah rarely, Kwanza, Ramadan and Saturnalia never) or, better still, holiday themes would be incorporated into the ongoing story. This was carried over into proto-comic book form when Will Eisner and his largely Jewish crew produced their annual “Christmas Spirit” story.

Outside of Santy-themed covers, it took a while for the comic book publishers to reliably produce annual holiday fare. The two that lasted the longest where Archie’s Christmas Stocking (with variations on that title, including the all-embracing evil “holiday” word) which started in 1954, and DC’s Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, licensed from Robert L. May, who owned the glowing streetkill. That title commenced in 1950. Dell had special Christmas editions of the various Disney and Warner Bros. cartoon characters, and before long most other publishers jumped on the sleigh.

As a child, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer confused me. That’s a statement you don’t often read, but it’s true. The original series ran for twelve years, which meant twelve issues. All were unnumbered. At some point I understood DC didn’t number their first issues (I later discovered why), but I knew Rudolph to be an annual event. A collector even as a child, I wanted to know how many issues I had missed. The title continued in various formats – giants, tabloids – until it was no longer worth the licensing fee. Yet holiday-dedicated superhero comics continued; DC was way ahead of the curve with its Holiday Special (sic) going back at least to 1980.

This year, we continue to have holiday output from Archie – including a trade reprint of Stocking stories – and a pretty nifty tome from Marvel that first appeared as individual digital stories. This latter book is one of my favorite Marvels of 2011. But unless I overlooked a page in the Diamond catalog, nothing from DC Comics. No Christmas title, no Holiday title, nothing from the company that pretty much started it all.

At first I thought Mark Waid just didn’t need the money this year and is probably overbooked writing every seventh title published. But then it dawned on me.

Maybe Bill O’Reilly is right. Maybe there is a War On Christmas. After all, those bleeding hearts at Warner Bros. studios now have full control of the company, and Bill and his friends at the New York Post keep telling us they’re heartless bastards. I guess this is proof.

O.K. Fine. I’ve got my Marvel holiday comic, and my Archie reprints, and besides, I firmly believe there ain’t no sanity clause. But I’m sentimental enough to wish you-all a wonderful holiday season.

Quite frankly, we deserve it.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

 

Indie Creators Headline Marvel’s Mars

  • News
  • December 20, 2011
Cover Art: Julian Totino Tedesco
Two Indy comics creators have been tapped to chronicle the further adventures of John Carter’s Mars for Marvel Comics. John Carter: The Gods Of Mars is the publisher’s latest collaborative project with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate.
Sam Humphries, writer of the self-published comics Our Love is Real and Sacrifice is teamed withwith artist Ramón Pérez, the illustrator of Archaia’s hardcover graphic novel Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand.
John Carter: The Gods Of Mars is based on the 1918 Burroughs novel and is slated for five issues debuting March 2012, the same month John Carter, a live-action feature film from Marvel parent company, Disney, is scheduled for release. Currently, Marvel has two John Carter miniseries running; John Carter: World of Mars and John Carter: A Princess of Mars.
“From Landridge and Andrade to Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, there’s an impressive foundation of awesome John Carter stories to build on,” Humphries said in Marvel’s press release. “Combined with Marvel having the most exciting comics going on right now, and most talented editors in the industry — I can’t wait to get myself to Mars.”

MICHAEL DAVIS: The New DC 52 – Is It All That?

Most people in the industry know that my best friend is Denys Cowan.

Denys is one of the greatest comic book artists that the business has ever seen. He’s the artist a lot of other artists look at and as to underscore that fact he’s been nominated for not one but two Eisner awards for best penciler.

He has worked for every major publisher out there. He’s one of the few artists that commands respect from both Marvel and DC without pissing one or both off.

That’s rare.

There’s not a major publisher out there that would not consider it an honor to have a Denys Cowan project under their imprint.

Denys is really hard to impress when it comes to comics.

Me?

I like what I like but I don’t have the depth of knowledge about comic books like Denys does.

Both Denys and I both think the new DC 52 are just wonderful comics.

I’ve got a less than stellar history with DC comics. That said, they are and have always been my favorite comic book universe since I was a kid.

It’s not just nostalgia I’m thinking about. I feel that way because I think DC comics has done some great creative stuff in the last 20 plus years. The second silver age was 90% DC in my opinion.

Denys looks at comics from a much more artistic point than I do, but we are both fans of the New 52.

So, are Denys and I on crack? Is the New 52 as good as we think?

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold

 

MARC ALAN FISHMAN: Voldeshamus – The Dark Wizard

Once upon a time there was a powerful Wizard who had evil in his heart. He saw the comic world as a place he could bend to his will. And for a time, publishing companies flocked to him as loyal lap-dogs. Their best artists and writers were doled out to him to make appearances at his traveling circus. He was gloriously powerful, but feared his mortality. Soon, his spells… terrible fluff charms with no bite or news illusions presented way past their prime… weakened his power. The Wizard flailed madly to stay relevant. The people of the comic world simply stopped paying attention. His power dwindled. His traveling circus became a geek show of tired acts. He was left with no choice. He took the few followers he’d kept a grasp on, and sucked their life force… and ran into the forest. And there he stayed, seething, and cursing the public for abandoning him. When a court jester dared make fun of him, he shot from the darkness! But the shot was less than even a first year spellcaster’s magic missile. It fizzled, and died before it could even hit. He-who-everyone-knows has quit magic altogether.

There was a time when the word “Wizard” was synonymous amongst comic book fans as a glorious thing. Wizard Magazine was the zeitgeist of the comic community. Wizard also put on amazing shows featuring top talent, insightful panels, and legitimately helpful workshops. And then the Internet became a thing.

Slowly Wizard became more and more out of touch. As comic book news was published more frequently, its articles became old hat by the time they reached print. The helpful price guide that anchored the last third of the magazine ceased to be of any value. And their shows? I think anyone who has long frequented my writings here know all to well that a Wizard Convention fell from grace harder than Lucifer. Most recently, Wizard shut down its publication arm. It took subscribers’ cash, refused to refund it, and started publishing an e-magazine. No one read it. It shut down too. And should the Internet be believed… the now resigned CEO, Gareb Shamus, perhaps attempted to get an artist fired from his day job for making a scathing webcomic about him.

Shamus reportedly attempted to get an artist fired from his day job for a webcomic published on The Gutters. No other details aside from the strip’s writer (and Gutter EIC Ryan Sohmer) are available, aside from his post on the subject. As he said:

“Should you find yourself the subject matter of a Gutters page, and take offense to it, don’t go after my artists. Should you be so offended that you attempt to get someone fired from their day job, don’t be a coward.

“Come after me.”

Let’s pontificate on this, shall we? If this is to be true, Gareb needs his head checked. Last time I looked, the Internet is a place built on the idea that anyone can say anything they want about anyone else short of legal slander or accusation of murder or rape. I don’t actually know if that’s true, but it sounds right, doesn’t it?

Perhaps Shamus forgot he once ran a magazine that sent quite a few barbs towards Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and anyone else in the pop culture arena. Half the fun of Wizard, in its hey-day, were its jokes crammed in the margins and in word balloons to article’s pictures. And not once did I read of them getting reamed by Rob Liefeld for drawing pretty man boobs… let alone have an artist potentially fired for drawing a commissioned strip. It’s mind-numbing if this indeed happened.

It’s a sad tailspin the Wizard corporation seems to be in these days. I’ll be honest. I subscribed to their e-mailed magazine when it came out. I gave it three issues. And then it was junked, I unsubscribed, and moved on with my life. For all the good they used to represent, they simply never figured out a way to make their content current. Suffice to say with the utter glut of talent around the edge of this industry just waiting for a chance to write a nice op-ed piece, or jam on a funny strip… Shamus and company truly can’t see the forest for the trees. Well, I’m a nice guy.

And Steven Shamus was immensely helpful in getting Unshaven Comics into two very excellent conventions this year. So, here’s my good deed of the season; Wizard (are you paying attention?), here’s how you can fix your tattered reputation:

1. Have Gareb Shamus post an honest-to-Rao apology to the comic fans around the world. We need to know, in detail, why money was taken for subscriptions not filled, and nothing was done to even things up. We need an apology for promising content, and never delivering. If there’s a pool of people’s money sitting somewhere, you need to make it right. Take it, commission some jam pieces from the artists who still may like you. Better yet, get young, up and coming talent and commission them to do some great pieces. Then send that artwork to the former subscribers, with a big fat I’m sorry written on them.

2. Take the conventions you own and put them back in the hands of those who make the industry work. Ditch the aging wrestlers, and D-List sci-fi extras, and find a way to get back the creators who make these shows what they are meant to be… comic book shows. Not pop culture festivals. Mend fences with those you lost over the years. Comp them. Get them back into the buildings by any means necessary (like groveling)… so they can see their fans. Get them to interact in sketch-offs, trivia contests, and wicked debates. Make the conventions a place to be, and be seen; Not just an overgrown flea market, and autograph zone.

3. Take what resources you do have, and create timely content for other people’s more successful sites. The industry doesn’t need another Newsarama, Comic Alliance, Comic Book Resources, Bleeding Cool, or ComicMix. But all of those sites sure like a good article, a snappy comic, or relevant video. Create the content, release it for free, and excite the fans again. Earn back the goodwill you once had by doing what you should have done a while ago; Apologize. Work hard to earn back the trust and respect from the industry you took for granted, and produce something that stimulates the fan base… instead of pandering to your stock holders in an attempt to appear profitable.

We see through the spells, Wizard… and we know all your tricks already.

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

Marvel Adds Three More Season One Books for Summer 2012

Marvel: Season One, a line of all-new graphic novels, just got bigger as Marvel is pleased to add three titles to the highly anticipated line-up with Ant-Man: Season One, Hulk: Season One & Doctor Strange: Season One! These all-new complete stories offer fans a chance to immerse themselves in the Marvel Universe like never before. Journey into the unknown with Ant-Man, learn about the mystic arts with Doctor Strange and find out how Hulk balances humanity and monstrosity as each of these graphic novels offer new revelations for long-time fans and give new readers a fresh introduction to the character. With modern retellings of the world’s greatest super heroes seminal origins by some of the most critically acclaimed creators in the business, no fan can miss this! Each of these graphic novels also include a code to download each book for free, via the Marvel Comics app, making them must haves for every fan.

“As a result of the great response from fans and retailers, we realized we couldn’t just stop with one wave of titles” said David Gabriel, Marvel SVP of Sales. “We’re showing our continued support for this line by insuring that fans have a reason to come back into comic shops month after month to get the next volumes in the Season One line of original graphic novels.”

The complete second wave of Season One graphic novels includes:

  • Ant-Man: Season One by Tom DeFalco (Spider-Girl) and Horacio Domingues (Incorruptible), on-sale in July 2012
  • Hulk: Season One by Fred Van Lente (Alpha Flight, Herc) and Tom Fowler (Venom), on-sale in August 2012
  • Doctor Strange: Season One by Greg Pak (Astonishing X-Men, Red Skull: Incarnate) and Emma Rios (Osborn, Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger), on-sale in September 2012

Whether you’re picking up a comic for the first time, or looking to add more to your comics reading experience, then it’s time to discover the world’s greatest super heroes all over again in Marvel: Season One!

Joe Simon

Joe Simon: 1913 – 2011

One of the last of the founding fathers of comic books, writer/editor/artist/publisher Joe Simon, died yesterday at the age of 98.

Joe was the first editor at Marvel Comics, then called Timely Comics. After creating Captain America with artist Jack Kirby, the team moved over to DC Comics to create the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter and take over the Sandman feature. The “Simon and Kirby” team were the first to receive regular cover credit. In the past several years, both Marvel and DC has reprinted all of this material in hardcover.

After World War II, the team reunited to form their own comics imprints, Prize Comics and Mainline Publications. In those endeavors they created the romance comic (Young Romance) and published titles including Boys’ Ranch, Black Magic, Bullseye, Foxhole, In Love, Police Trap and Young Love. They also created what at first was a knock-off of their own Captain America titled Fighting American. By the end of the first issue, Fighting American became a straight-forward yet satirical series lampooning the excesses of the anti-Communist hysteria at the time.

Their final creative collaborations occurred after the team formally split up following the dissolving of their imprints: they created The Adventures of the Fly and The Double Life of Private Strong (a.k.a. The Shield) for Archie Comics at the end of the 1950s, which was another knock-off of their Captain America, complete with military theme.

On his own, Joe Simon did an enormous amount of work for his friend Al Harvey and Harvey Comics, including covers to many of their newspaper reprint titles such as Dick Tracy and co-creating their short-lived mid-60s superhero line. More significant, in 1960 Joe created one of the few successful Mad Magazine imitations, Sick. It differed from most of the many, many competitors of the era in that Sick was both well-drawn and actually funny.

Returning to DC Comics at the end of the 1960s, he created and edited Prez, Brother Power the Geek, Outsiders, and The Green Team, and reunited with Jack Kirby for a one-shot featuring their take on Sandman.

His autobiography, [[[Joe Simon: My Life in Comics]]], was published earlier this year by Titan Books. Preceding that was a personal history of comics, [[[The Comic Book Makers]]], was co-written with his son Jim.

In the past several years, Titan Books has been publishing The Simon and Kirby Library, starting with [[[The Best of Simon and Kirby]]] and continuing with [[[The Simon and Kirby Superheroes]]], [[[Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics]]], and [[[The Simon and Kirby Library: Crime]]]. This series was compiled and edited by Joe’s long-time friend and agent, Steve Saffel.

Joe was the recipient of the Inkpot Award in 1998 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame award the following year.

Joe Simon was one of a handful of creators without whom the American comic book field would not be as we know it today. To say he will be greatly missed would be to overstate the obvious.

Dr. Evil Returns to Menace Captain Action in July

SOUTH BEND, Indiana – 12/06/2011 – Round 2 and Captain Action Enterprises are pleased to announce the addition of Captain Action’s long-time nemesis Dr. Evil to the 2012 Captain Action toy line.

Captain Action, the popular super hero toy from the 1960s returns to toy shelves with new costume sets, including Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man, Thor and Captain America. new costume sets will debut in March 2012.

Dr. Evil, a menacing alien complete with his traditional creepy exposed brain, served as the original antagonist to Captain Action during the 1960s. Just as Captain Action can assume the identities of popular heroes, the new Dr. Evil will assume the identities of villains such as Thor’s evil brother, Loki, and the Red Skull via costume sets. “Every good hero needs an evil counterpart, and who’s more evil than the original Dr. Evil?“ said Ed Catto of Captain Action Enterprises.

The new figure will be created from all new sculpts and molds, and even add one creative innovation. “The new Dr. Evil will have interchangeable brains! The figure will come with three different brains: a battle brain, a brilliant brain and a bionic brain” said Mike Murphy, Creative Director at Round 2. “Fans will be able to swap the brains in and out of his head with each one having a specific purpose that will aid Dr. Evil to carry out his diabolical schemes!”

Comic legend Joe Jusko is providing the Dr. Evil illustration for the packaging. Dr. Evil and the Loki costume set will be available in July of 2012.

Review: “Avengers” #19

Review: “Avengers” #19

imageCR Review: Avengers #19
Creators: Brian Michael Bendis, Daniel Acuna
Publishing Information: Marvel Comics, comic book, 40 pages, November 2011, $3.99

Perhaps the oddest thing about the Avengers property becoming Marvel’s flagship title the last few years is that there’s no underlying concept involved in its execution. It’s Marvel’s biggest superheroes (and some of its stronger supporting characters) teaming up to take on various super-baddie threats… and that’s really about it, as far as I can tell. It’s not a family, it’s not a community, it’s not a certain way of doing things; it’s everybody the fans think are cool put into the same room. In a similar vein, the writer Brian Michael Bendis recently announcing the conclusion of his run with that property surprised only in that there’s little in the way of a dramatic arc — at least not one I can see, from several steps back — that would indicate he was close to wrapping up whatever personal, creative business he might have brought to the series several years ago. In most ways that count, the defining characteristics of this comic book series lies in how it resists past signifiers. For all that it defines the current superhero mainstream, Avengers is one contrary comic book.

MICHAEL DAVIS: I’ve Got A Secret

This week I received a very early Christmas gift! It’s something I’m dying to tell everyone, but I have to be cool for at least a little while.

However…

If I tell people what it’s not then I can talk about it without talking about it! And… if someone guesses what it is, how is that my fault?

Well, except that I opened my big mouth in the first place and talked about what it wasn’t thus giving raise to what it could be so someone could guess, except for that, how is it my fault?

I mean really.

There’s an old TV game show called I’ve Got A Secret. The object of that show was to figure out the secret of the contestant on the show. This was done with questions being asked by a panel.

I’ll give clues as to what my secret is and will if someone guesses cool! If not and some of you out their want to send me questions to answer that help you along, great!

If no one plays that means no one will win the fantastic prize!

What’s the prize? No idea, but when I figure it out it will be fantastic!

So here are the clues!

It’s a huge deal that features comics.

It features a book but not a comic or graphic novel.

Some of the biggest names in the industry are involved.

The project will take a year to complete.

It’s not a TV show or movie.

It’s not a benefit or comic convention.

It will be newsworthy in comics and mainstream.

It’s not a new comic company.

That’s all I’m going to share because there are way too many nerds and geeks out there that can figure this out very quickly.  Yes, I am a proud and geek and I know just how smart my people can be.

Let the guessing begin!

Send your e-mails now to my erstwhile editor, mike@comicmix.com

WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold

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