The Transformers mythology is an eons-long inter-galactic tale that is rich in its own history. We have the rise of intelligent techno-organic lifeforms, a split between rival points of view, and a struggle for supremacy. All along the way, for reasons that are never spelled out in their history, Earth has been of particular interest to the Autobots and Decepticons.
That much has powered countless comics, animated episodes, and four live-action feature films. Rather than marvel at the wonders of the cosmos or reveal to us why the planet is important, the fifth installment, The Last Knight, retrofit the Knights of the Round Table to an already convoluted and, frankly, boring film series. This film, out now on disc from Paramount Home Entertainment, more or less retreads the first four films, mixing returning humans and Transformers and adding in a few new figures to freshen things, and yet, no one cares. The film was widely panned and crashed at the box office, another sequel that failed to interest its core audience nor attract new fans.
The blame clearly has to be laid at the feet of director Michael Bay, who is endlessly repeating himself and may have grown just as bored as his audience. The title is a clear link between Cybertron and King Arthur (Liam Garrigan) and tries to make this mess sound important. We have Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) turned into his evil twin Nemesis Prime, we have Quintessa (Gemma Chan), who claims to be leader of the Decpticons and a physical manifestation of Unicron, the source for all Transformers, and even Viviane Wembly (Laura Haddock), who turns out to be Merlin’s descendant, channeling the great wizard. Lots of reincarnation and resurrection, but really, lots of sound and fury without signifying a damn thing we care about.
Mark Wahlberg is back and we wonder why, much as we question Stanley Tucci and Anthony Hopkins slumming here for the paycheck. What should be a Big Kids’ action-adventure romp has grown weighty and ponderous with each successive installment so we can hope the pitiful box office means they will retire or at least retool.
The film is available in all the usual digital formats including the popular Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD combo pack. There, the high def transfer is sharp and satisfying, surpassed by the top notch audio track.
And if you think the film franchise is tired, the extras carry that theme onto a bonus second Blu-ray disc. There, you can watch Merging Mythologies (19:53), Climbing the Ranks (8:48), The Royal Treatment: Transformers in the UK (27:04), Motors and Magic (14:47), Alien Landscape: Cybertron (7:15), and One More Giant Effin’ Movie (6:45). What it needed was a primer on the larger Transformers mythology and how this film fits in.
You can’t keep a good demonically possessed doll down. Cult of Chucky, wwill be available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD October 3rd, and thnaks to our friends at Universal Home Entertainment, we have one combo pack to give away.
Written and directed by Don Mancini, Cult of Chucky brings back original Child’s Play cast member Alex Vincent (Child’s Play, Wait Until Spring, Bandini) as Andy Barclay along with Oscar®-nominee Jennifer Tilly (Curse of Chucky, Monsters, Inc.) as Chucky’s bloodthirsty bride, Tiffany and Fiona Dourif (Messenger, True Blood) as Nica with Brad Dourif (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Halloween) returning as the voice of Chucky, the homicidal plaything inhabited by the spirit of notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray.
Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica (Dourif) is wrongly convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new group-therapy tool — a “Good Guy” doll — a string of grisly deaths plague the asylum and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn’t crazy after all.
For you to win, all you have to tell us which childhood toy truly terrified you and why. We need your responses no later than 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, October 3. The contest is open only to North American readers and the decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final.
I think this happens because, despite nearly three decades of graphic novels aimed at adults, comics are still perceived as a children’s medium. Almost all defenses of censorship wrap themselves in the guise of protecting kids from “harmful” ideas. What constitutes “harm,” is, of course, wildly unspecific. It can be sexual content. It can be political content. It can be the idea that racial differences don’t make one group of people less (or more) human than another.
Most recently, it seems that most objections to graphic novels have to do with LGBTQ content as if the mere existence of queer people is in and of itself obscene. To quote Marika Tamaki (This One Summer), “I stand by my assertion that any person who wants a book removed from a library for having queer content should have to make their case to a panel of LGBTQ readers as to why their lives shouldn’t be represented in the library.”
Banning other points of view doesn’t make reality change, it only makes the perception of reality change. So banning books with queer characters doesn’t make everybody straight.
I assume most of you know how strongly ComicMix supports the First Amendment. I also assume you know about the many such organizations that support free speech and diversity of opinion.
Therefore, I’m going to talk about another form of censorship — self-censorship. This isn’t a First Amendment issue, but I think it can be just as relevant to you, Constant Reader, and to living your fullest life. I’m going to talk about going out of your way to encounter other points of view.
It is easier than ever to live one’s life without ever hearing a significant disagreement. I, personally, live in one of the most progressive zip codes in the country. I read lots of news and opinions, online and on paper, and while I watch less television news than I used to (talking heads drive me batty, because they rarely dig down into facts but rather tend to blather in sound-bites), I still spend a few hours a day trying to keep up with the world.
And I still don’t see every perspective.
Here’s an example. During the debate over the GOP plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, I heard a lot of different perspectives about what was wrong and right about Obamacare. However, I didn’t see any actual defense about what was in the specific bills designed to replace it. The CBO said the plans would push tens of millions out of the insurance markets, and I couldn’t find a single Congressperson who said this was a good thing, or why.
When we discuss what’s wrong with the news media, I would say right there is a problem. Reporters weren’t asking that question.
Lucky for me, the New York Times did, finally, run a few Op-Ed pieces defending the Republican plans or criticizing Democratic plans on policy terms, not popularity contests. I disagree with both of these columns (and we can discuss that in the comments, if you like), but I appreciated the thoughtful — even wonky — articulation of the situation.
As a fan of graphic story-telling, I especially enjoy a deep dive into other worldviews. Most recently, I’ve found it in Irmina and The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. The first showed me how it felt to be a loyal German in World War II, and the latter immersed me in the history of Singapore that was entirely new to me (and I studied Asian history in college).
Censorship is wrong, not only because it shuts people out, but because it shuts them up. I will never be able to consider every opinion and perspective, but my life would not be worth living if I couldn’t try.
A good franchise finds nooks and crannies to explore, taking the beloved characters to new places, letting us see how they handle new challenges or opponents.
A bad franchise retreads the elements from the first offering without really making any effort to show us anything new or to deepen our affection for the character(s).
This summer, sadly, we have been presented with several misfires starting with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) was a breath of fresh air when he first stepped ashore many, many years ago. But the tipsy captain with the heart of gold and squishy moral code is pretty much the same here, film number five. We’re learning nothing new about him, we’re seeing him do nothing we haven’t seen before and frankly, we’re bored.
Visually, Dead Men Tell No Tales, is fine. The sea looks lovely, the costumes, props, sets, and ships are nicely rendered and detailed. But we’ve seen dead pirates rise from the grave, we’ve seen sea battles, we’ve seen people swoon or swing at Jack.
His initial supporting cast is now largely gone through attrition which is a shame since they livened up the story. His closest comrades, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley) fell in love, married, and had a kid more or less ending their saga. The son, Henry (Brenton Thwaites) is now a man and is seeking a way to save dear old dad from eternal service aboard the Flying Dutchman. His quest has him cross paths with Jack, and we realize after two decades, he’s much the same. A Jack confronting age and mortality might have been interesting but Terry Rossio, back for one more bite of the apple, and co-writer Jeff Nathanson aren’t interested in that.
They came up with yet another relic, Poseidon’s Trident, and used that as the Maguffin to move the pieces around the seven seas. We do meet Carina (Kaya Scodelario), an amateur astronomer, who is interesting but doesn’t really play as large a part as she might have. When they encounter Jack, he is a lost man, without his beloved crew or powerful compass. Its loss, somehow triggers the resurrection of Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem) and his undead crew but, yawn, we’ve seen that, too.
In the end, we see justice and true love triumph, we have fine cameos from Bloom and Knightley and even Sir Paul McCartney turns up. But really, we’re done and hopefully so is Disney.
The film was digitally photographed and the Digital HD copy that was reviewed was sharp, crisp, and just a delight to watch on the flatscreen. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack is also excellent so at least we’re getting a pretty film to enjoy despite the content’s shortcomings.
The film is also available in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD in varying combinations. Most contain the usual assortment of so-so extras including Dead Men Tell No Tales: The Making of a New Adventure: A seven-part behind-the-scenes feature made up of A Return to the Sea (3:33); Telling Tales: A Sit-Down with Brenton & Kaya (8:48); The Matador & The Bull: Secrets of Salazar & the Silent Mary (13:38); First Mate Confidential (8:48); Deconstructing the Ghost Sharks (3:50); Wings Over the Caribbean (5:11); and, An Enduring Legacy (3:59).
Additionally, there are some amusing Bloopers of the Caribbean (2:58), Jerry Bruckheimer Photo Diary (1:40), and four Deleted Scenes (2:59).
We were just saying that we hadn’t done a Loot Unboxing (Unbagging?) in awhile and then just as we got home from school and started wondering how late we’d be up editing interview footage after getting home from seeing The Red Shoes up in LA and then we saw this month’s Loot Wear package on the kitchen counter with today’s mail. You can’t argue with the Universe.
But what is even better is that this is probably the best Loot Wear package we’ve gotten all year. This month’s Robotic theme brought us a very cool woven button down Alien shirt, a ST:NG cute Data cardi, a Mega Man T, some Bender socks & undies, and argyle Invader Zim socks. So check out our swag.
Kingsman: The Secret Service was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. It was an action comedy that didn’t decide it could skip out on the action choreography part. Matthew Vaughn made a movie that was all the way both things. It was honestly a bit shocking to experience after so many Austin Powers movies where not giving a damn was basically part of the fabric of the movie. Obviously there’s no element of surprise with Kingsman: The Golden Circle but the formula is still solidly there. This is an action comedy that wants to have it both ways and while it’s perhaps a little worse on both ends there’s a solid movie in here anyway.
While Kingsman: The Secret Service was taking the piss out of the cliche British spy tropes, for Kingsman: The Golden Circle Vaughn decidesto invent some American ones to lampoon. Instead of being prim and proper buttoned-up bespoke suit salesman the Statesmen are rough and tumble cowboys who make whiskey (and bicker with their UK counterparts on whether that last e belongs there). It’s fun and more importantly I think it underlines for the American audience how absurd the characters are in the first movie. An audience raised on James Bond movies might think that’s actually what England is like so having that mirror held up can make all of the original jokes hit a bit harder. Is an electrified lasso that cuts through anything it touches completely ridiculous? Yes, but not that much more than the see-through umbrella nonsense from the first movie.
I’ve been sitting here for more than five minutes trying to figure out how I would end the sentence “Kingsman: The Golden Circle is about” without completely failing. On one hand it seems to be about how drug prohibition is ineffective as public policy but the people involved in the drug trade are universally unlikeable. It might be about how hypocritically we deal with illegal drugs versus legal ones like alcohol but there’s no actual condemnation of alcohol use and, in fact, even in the closing minutes we are asked to celebrate the liquor industry. Maybe it’s about the nihilism at the heart of political debate surrounding drugs but they don’t hit that very hard. I appreciate that I wasn’t beat over the head with a message (especially one about drugs) because I don’t need to be preached to but this movie kind of exists in a nebulous in the middle which feels more like a fear of committing or, perhaps, like a slew of studio notes.
The standout scene in the first Kingsman is the fight scene in the church set to an ever quickening version of “Freebird” and there’s no scene in this movie that’s better than that. I don’t understand why you would make a sequel if you weren’t prepared to do a heightened version of the signature scene from your first movie. There are two attempts to top it and they come close with a fight during a car chase in the beginning but the third act melee is obviously their main attempt and it’s flat. I’ve seen spies effortlessly deal with nameless mooks dozens of times before and it isn’t special like a church full of drug-fueled nobodies did. The sequences aren’t bad or anything and in a generic movie I would probably be gushing about them, but to be in a movie called Kingsman it needed to be better.
I’m cautiously optimistic on Kingsman as a franchise. There’s good bones here and as long as every spy movie has to constantly race to be the most serious it can be, having a release valve like this is essential. Serious action combined with a ludicrous backdrop makes for a winning combination and I can even accept a romcom-esque meeting (the parents scene) dropped in in the middle. The high body counts mean it’s easy to churn in new talent (and maybe eventually Channing Tatum will have time to actually be in one of these) and their willingness to hand wave any consequences with super-science means that they only have to be as macabre as they want. The franchise needs to push itself, Vaughn can’t rest on his laurels like he sort of did with the action sequences in this one, but as long as this is willing to be arch and wry while James Bond is stuck trying to out-grim himself every time out, Kingsman is going to continue to feel like a breath of fresh air.
Look, over there – isn’t that Charlie Brown’s pal Linus, belly crawling through the pumpkin patch? No, not Linus, but somebody who’s awfully familiar. Let’s get closer and… Rats! Do you believe that?
It’s me, looking the way I look in photographs Mom used to keep in a chest of drawers – that is, like a skinny eight-year-old. And now I’m getting up, rising from the pumpkin patch like some pagan deity.
The question is, where will I be when I’m finally on my feet? Oh, the suspense is killing us! Okay, okay, maybe not killing us, but… I don’t know. Making us feel queasy?
Table that for now and have a look around. I’ve been here before, but when?
And suddenly I’m gobsmacked! Because I’m in the small store Dad and I stopped at after Sunday Mass that sold bread and milk and stuff like that and comic books and – omygosh!, isn’t Superman #96? That’ll be worth a pretty penny on the collectors’ market.
Except that it won’t. In this reality, there are no collectors and so in this realty Supes 96 is worth the dime that is the asking price of most comics and… just exactly what is going on here?
The faithful among you may recall that some weeks back I mentioned “browsing” and sort of half-suggested that I might revisit the subject. Welcome to Revisitation Junction. And here we find young Dennis in progress, reaching for a copy of The Sub-Mariner and a cosmic page is turned – a cosmic reality that would be and our young time traveler
Is not so young and he’s still reaching for the Superman, but now the location is different; this store is very large and filled with all kinds of merchandise and the comic books are displayed on a wire rack that revolves and let us now pause and bow to the wondrous wire racks of my youth.
Brace for the turning of a cosmic page and –
Dennis doesn’t like where he is: what must be a bus depot in a large city. He’s wearing a Navy uniform (isn’t that a surprise!) The air stinks of cigarette smoke, the floor is encrusted with something black and probably lethal, and the comics in front of him are displayed in another wire rack, this one wide and flat, pushed against a wall. The whole scene is dirty and cold and depressing.
Join me in the turning of a cosmic page and –
Big contrast to the last destination. A very nice shop. Clean and well-lighted. Pleasant and comfortable. And full of comic books, some in foreign languages, and almost nothing else.
So. A shop that sells onlycomics. Has he somehow stumbled into some kind of science fiction?
What the heck! Maybe the best move is to go back to where it all started. Maybe this time he’ll run into Linus.
At first glance, this does not sound like a good idea.
U.S. Avengers and Uncanny Avengers will not survive the new year. January brings us a three-month mini-event called Avengers: No Surrender. Okay; on the face of it, this seems like a good idea – and pretty much what I was calling for in this space back on September 6th when I said Secret Empire might have been a worthy eight-parter if it had been entirely confined to the two Captain America titles, segueing from Sam Wilson to Steve Rogers and completely in the hands of writer Nick Spencer. Okay, I guess I’m getting much of what I asked for.
However, Avengers: No Surrender also marks the cancellation of both U.S. Avengers and Uncanny Avengers and the “promotion” of The Avengers to weekly status… at least for the duration of the storyline. There are 13 shipping weeks in the first quarter of 2018, so at the current cover price that means it’ll cost you nearly $52.00 to read the storyline. Plus tax.
Now if you’re like me (which means at some point you made a drastically bad life decision) you do not presently read all three titles. Usually, I only follow The Avengers. No slight against the other two titles – there are only so many hours in the day, and only so much cash in the kitty. Writers Mark Waid, Al Ewing and Jim Zub, at least, will remain on the weekly title, doubtlessly divvying up the work in some equitable fashion.
Waid, one of the best superhero writers around, is blessed with a wit that is equal to his comics prowess, and he told The Hollywood Reporter No Surrender is “half celebration, half wake.” Well, that sounds half-interesting: it’s been a couple decades since readers would be vested in that “half wake” part.
I am merely expressing a concern; I’m not judging something that I haven’t read – something that, likely, is not yet fully written. No Surrender begs a serious commitment from Marvel’s evidently-dwindling readership. Not all True Believers have that kind of time, money … or desire.
This mini-event begs the question “what happens after?” Will The Avengers remain weekly? Will the title revert to monthly status allowing for the return of U.S. Avengers and TheUncanny Avengers, or will Marvel create two new titles? A year ago, I would have thought resurrecting U.S. Avengers and TheUncanny Avengers with new number ones would be a given, but Marvel has since gone on to eschew such overworked marketing stunts.
But a couple weeks after the alleged conclusion of No Surrender, the world will be lining up for Marvel’s latest and most crowded movie yet… Avengers – Infinity War. History has shown us this is not the time the House of Idea will cut their output of comic books with the word “Avengers” in the title. And with a couple dozen heroes in that movie, it seems unlikely that Marvel will be weeding out capes from the comic book team.
I suspect most comics shop owners will have a hard time deciding how many copies to order. They’re going to have to order at least two-thirds of No Surrender – eight or nine issues – before they find out of their customers will go for the thing. This is not a comfortable position for their retailer base, no matter how frequently they have been put in that position lately.
Let’s hope No Surrender knocks it out of the park.
Vault Comics is one of the biggest stories on the indie comics scene this year. With publisher Damian Wassel and editor-in-chief Adrian Wassel at the helm, Vault has created a line of science fiction and fantasy comics with seasoned veterans like Tim Daniel doing design and art direction as well as books like Fissure and rising stars including David Booher on Powerless and Alien Bounty Hunter (with producer Mark Wahlberg) and Natasha Alterici on Heathen.
JOE: What’s the elevator pitch for Maxwell’s Demons? What’s the hook?
DENIZ: Maxwell’s Demons is the story of Maxwell Maas, the greatest mind of his generation. Told in a series of standalone stories, each focused on Max at a different point in his life and arranged non-chronologically, it is the story of transformational greatness, as a boy of cosmic importance struggles against the horrors and wonders of a science fiction universe. He’ll journey to other universes, face alien assassins, fall in love, and confront his own demons in as mind-bending a fashion as possible. At the heart of it all is Max himself, his own abilities and inadequacies, and the changes he goes through, externally and internally.
VITTORIO: Nothing to add here, Deniz summed up the story perfectly.
JOE: How did this book come together? Were you both already collaborating, did you find each other?
DENIZ: I wrote what would eventually become the first issue of Maxwell’s Demons on my own. It was shorter, about 12 pages. I found Vittorio while browsing DeviantArt and was immediately struck by his work, his ability to capture scale and shadow and light. All of these, I knew, would be crucial to Maxwell’s Demons, so I browbeat him into working with me! When he said he was game, I expanded the page count and added content, and when he said he was game for more, I built a bigger, more intricate pitch for the series and the world, knowing that he could handle anything I asked of him. So far, he’s destroyed every expectation and hope I had! Vittorio will have his own take, I’m sure!
VITTORIO: Before Deniz contacted me, I had a completely different idea regarding my career. As many Italian artists, my goal was to find a job in the French comic book market, so, at the beginning, Maxwell’s Demons should’ve been just a brief diversion for me. But the potential of this series and Deniz’s talent convinced me to see where this story goes – and being a part of i
DENIZ: Vittorio says “talent”, but what he’s not saying is he means my talent for kidnapping his loved ones and holding them hostage. All’s well that ends well, though!
JOE: Well whatever you did, it’s working! So what made Vault Comics the perfect home for Maxwell’s Demons?
DENIZ: Vault has been amazing! At its core, Vault is a family and feels as such. I talked to Adrian and Damian (EiC and Publisher of Vault, respectively) just after their coming out announcement. By then we had already been producing Maxwell’s ourselves, and had many completed pages to show. They’ve been amazingly supportive of the book, and of us as creatives. They understood what we were going for right from the start, and gave us the freedom to pursue our most avant garde and strange formal ambitions, while helping us keep the story and the characters clear. It’s a better book for their involvement; richer, clearer, and more intentional. I’m incredibly grateful, and I think spoiled for all other publishers!
VITTORIO: Vault is fantastic! Adrian and Damian are always helping us in the creative process with their advice. And working alongside many talented artists is something that really pushes me to give my best. In general our working environment is always fresh and cheerful, except for when
Deniz writes too much complex stories and I have to menace him with a voodoo doll. True story.
DENIZ: This is a true story, but this ever-expanding rash and string of bad luck is a small price to pay for great comics!
JOE: I’m glad to see it’s working out! I also see a little bit of an Adam Strange influence in Maxwell’s Demons. What were some of your influences both in the story and the aesthetic?
DENIZ: Maxwell’s Demons was influenced by a lot of science fiction, and some of that pulpy scifi was in the DNA of the first issue, especially in the aesthetic: Flash Gordon (He’s a miracle!!), Buck Rogers, Adam Strange, John Carter, etc. But Maxwell’s Demons is a modern book, and we’re pulling from a diverse range of modern and retro influences to create something that feels new, and (hopefully) surprising. Rather than another world, in the first issue.
VITTORIO: Like Deniz said, pulp sci-fi was a big portion of our inspiration. Calvin and Hobbes was too. Max is, in fact, very much like Calvin, save from the fact that Calvin is often visiting other worlds just in his imagination. Also, we wanted his design to be somewhat naive, to better contrast with the dark tones of the story.
JOE: Maxwell himself is portrayed as a very lonely, yet determined kid. How did you both handle balancing this on the page for the readers to create a flawed and troubled yet sympathetic protagonist?
DENIZ: We’re all flawed, troubled-yet-sympathetic protagonists, right? (Well, everyone except Martin Shkreli, maybe. He F***** w/ the Wu Tang Clan).
Despite the absurd scifi trappings, Maxwell’s Demons is a very personal book for me, and I think it has the potential to be personal for a lot of readers. We’ve all felt isolated, by our intelligence or our inadequacies or interests or appearance. We’ve all had our best moments, and our worst. What I’m hoping to do with not just Max, but with all the characters in the book, is to show that dimensionality, to constantly upturn your understanding of the characters and your expectations as a reader. At the heart of Maxwell’s Demons is the thesis that not only do people change over time, but how the world sees them changes over time, too, as our understanding grows, or as the human being becomes subsumed by the legacy they leave behind.
VITTORIO: I think every one of us felt, at least once in his lifetime, alone because the way he saw the world. It’s very common when you’re a teenager, I think.
Max it’s defined not only by his intelligence and his adventures, but also by the regular, boring (often cruel) world around him, which is the reason why he built a portal to new universes in his closet.
DENIZ: Our metaphors are…unsubtle. :)
JOE: Maxwell has a very complicated relationship with his father. How did you both work on conveying this relationship in a way that would ring true to readers that may also have complicated relationships with family?
DENIZ: You can’t ever know how people will take these things, but speaking for myself: I wrote it from my own experience. When you’re a child, the world is a place of stark contrasts; people are heroes or they’re villains. The older you get, the more you come to understand that everyone’s just doing the best they can with what they’ve got. As a boy, even a very brilliant boy, I’m not sure Max can see it that way, but we can.
VITTORIO: In issue 1 Max’s father is very two-dimensional. But as the story goes and grows (and Max with it), we start to better explore and know this character, to see that he’s not just bad, but a complex, yet flawed, human. After we completed issue 1, Deniz wrote a beautiful epilogue to the story, to have a better view on him.
DENIZ: Most of issue 1 is told from Max’s perspective, and his father is very much one thing from Max’s perspective. But with the backup we’re able to get a story from Max’s father’s perspective, and that’s necessarily smaller, more intimate, with a less sharply defined morality.
JOE: Over the course of the first issue one thing I did notice was that there didn’t seem to be any female characters.While Maxwell’s Demons at its core is about a struggle between a father and son, will we be seeing any female characters introduced in future issues?
DENIZ: Yes! One particular female figure hangs over the whole series, but we’ll meet a very powerful female character in issue 2, and another (very different, but equally powerful) female character in issue 4. Vittorio has done an amazing job designing both, I might add.
VITTORIO: As Deniz said, later on the series we’ll see important female characters too. Which is good, because they are the one I usually have more fun designing!
JOE:Many comics today often feel that they are written for the trade paperback which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We tend to get first issues with big cliffhangers that leave the reader unable to really tell you what the first issue was about. Here, while Maxwell’s Demons doesn’t answer all your questions, it does feel like a complete story which is very refreshing. What made you both decide to take this route with the series?
DENIZ: Thanks for saying so! I love comics as a medium, and I believe in writing to the medium and the format. Maxwell’s Demons is coming out in 24 page single issues, and each of those issues will be complete story. I want readers to come back because of the content, not because they got a 1/5th sliver of a story that’s unsatisfying on its own. The more you read, the more you’ll see that we’re actually telling one complex narrative, with connections and plot points that modify the issues that come before and foreshadow what comes after, but you can pick up any individual issue and get a complete story. In keeping with “writing to the medium”, future issues will feature a lot of experimentation in layout and the narrative tools that are unique to comics.
VITTORIO: I think this is one of Maxwell’s Demons’ strengths. Each issue is about a given moment in Max’s life, and they can be very far away in time from each other (you’ll see in issue 2!), so having a complete story simply was the best choice of narration.
JOE: Thank you both so much for taking the time to chat with me! Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to add?
DENIZ: Just that we’ve poured our hearts and souls and brains into this book, and I genuinely believe it’s going to be one of the most ambitious and beautiful books you’ll read this year. I hope you’ll give us a chance! Thanks for the opportunity, Joe!
VITTORIO: ’Max’ is the biggest and greatest project I’ve worked on so far and I’m proud of it and my co-workers! Hope you’ll like it!
You know the old saying: One’s man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That applies to me and my pals so often.
Now, I realize I’m very blessed: I have a great bunch of friends. I share interests and/or a long history with each them. I guess that’s part of the definition of a friend. But we don’t all love the same stuff. And when it comes to Geek Culture, a bunch of my friends just aren’t that into it.
I pity those fools as I flip through the latest PaperGirls.
Freddie P is that type of friend. He’s a long-time pal. We grew up in the same small town, kept in touch through college and lived near another in those wild just-a-few-years-outta-college days. After that, we always stayed in touch. We’ve watched each other’s families grow up. We laughed in good times and were always there in tough times.
My pal and his effervescent wife, Mare, just came for a visit. We had way too much fun catching up and enjoying some of the local wines and craft brews. I’m now in the Finger Lakes NY region, and this place is just crawling with ‘em.
There was one thing that I didn’t expect. Freddie surprised me by bringing his dad’s stash of comics. He wanted to me to evaluate them, see if they were worth anything.
He carted up three tattered old boxes with about 100 comics. Spoiler Alert: there was no Action Comics #1 in the lot. But there sure were a lot of treasures. As near as we can figure, this collection was cobbled together at different times over the years. Some comics his dad collected and some he would’ve snagged from garage sales. The Freddie P Collection is a nutty, mixed-up combination of wildly different comics.
Some of the wacky highlights include:
Walt Disney Comics There’s a bunch of gorgeous Walt Disney Comics and Donald Duck Comics in this collection. These stories were reprinted several times, and these particular comics are not from the first run. But they are still pretty old. Most are from the late 40s and early 50s. They are joyous to read and some of the features, like the one-pagers on the inside front covers, make you smile from ear-to-ear.
Treasure Chest
I really wasn’t that familiar with this anthology series, but I’m glad there were a bunch in the boxes. Treasure Chest is a “wholesome” comic that was distributed in Catholic schools until 1972. Each issue contains an eclectic mix of stories many with non-traditional themes. One issue sports a fantastic Reed Crandall cover. Another features an Eisenhower biography inked and penciled by Joe Sinnott. It’s gorgeous!
Barbarians at the Gate
This paragraph may be painful for collectors. There’s a copy of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian #1 and Kull the Conqueror #1. They are both in pretty good shape, except for the fact the corner boxes of each have been clipped out. Was it a kid making a collage, a trademark lawyer, or a young Joe Jusko preparing for a later-in-life painting series? We may never know the truth. Grrr…
Still Watching the Detectives
For some reason, there’s a bunch of late 60s issues of Detective Comics (starring Batman and Robin) but not a single issue of Batman. As you may know, both titles were published concurrently since the early days of the industry. What type of kid would buy only Detective Comics but not Batman comics? Another mystery.
There’s even a copy of Detective Comics #414, one of my favorites, which I had written about here.
What’s that you say, Archie?
There’s a bunch of Archie comics here, but one in particular really grabbed my attention. One adolescent, probably just learning about sex and sexual terms, had vandalized modified the characters’ word balloons so they are each saying obscene things. It’s childish, tasteless and hilarious. It had me snickering and I just had to read the whole thing.
Two’s Company
Those old Marvel “split books” would force two characters to share one comic. There were some real economic reasons for this, but there’s no denying that each issue is jam-packed with a lot of story! Comparing and contrasting these treasures with so many of today’s comics’ decompressed storytelling, one is amazed by how long it takes to read each comic. This collection contains: Tales of Suspense #96 (starring Captain America and Iron Man), Strange Tales #160 (starring Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Tales to Astonish #72 (starring Sub-Mariner and The Hulk).
License to Thrill
It’s easy to forget how many licensed comics there were on the racks back on the day. The collection included these comics:
Get Smart
The Three Stooges
The Fantastic Voyages of Sinbad
Lassie
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
and last, but least:
Lancelot Link Secret Chimp
War is Heck
There’s just a smattering of war comics here, but what they offer a fantastic across the board representation of the genre Sgt. Rock, Capt. Storm, Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos, Air War stories, Combat and Sad Sack. The covers are particularly compelling – I can see why some kid snagged them all those years ago.
Metal Men
I never loved the Metal Men. Not even those issues with the Walt Simonson art. I kind of learned about these quirky robot heroes via reprints and the occasional Brave and the Bold team-up. So for me it wasn’t a big thrill to stumble across an old copy in this collection. But the weird part is that there are two issues of Metal Men #28 here! Seems like a pretty ordinary Metal Men adventure to me. The Metal Men fight bad guys, and get destroyed, and get rebuilt and then something happens with their responsometers and all the while Platinum, the female Metal Man, gets lovey-dovey with Doc Magnus (which still seems creepy to me). How did one kid in 1967 ever end up with two issue of Metal Men #28?
I’m going to take this collection to the Buffalo Comic Con this weekend (I’m a panelist on the Kirby panel) to find some fans who might treasure these comics. Maybe I’ll find some buyers. Who knows? Freddie P didn’t think these were treasures, but I sure do.
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Thanks to Jeff Vaughn his merry band of dedicated and detail-oriented compatriots who publish the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. Of course, we all know it’s great for estimating the value of comics. But The Overstreet Guide is indispensable when it comes to understanding the complicated numbering of series like Walt Disney Comics and Treasure Chest. (Full Disclosure: I have contributed articles to the Guide.)
The Transformers mythology is an eons-long inter-galactic tale that is rich in its own history. We have the rise of intelligent techno-organic lifeforms, a split between rival points of view, and a struggle for supremacy. All along the way, for reasons that are never spelled out in their history, Earth has been of particular interest to the Autobots and Decepticons.
