I liked the idea of Scarface being controlled by a female from a narrative perspective, but did they have to make her into a literal scarface as well? There's more than enough physically-deformed bad guys in the Batverse.

I'm sure you're right, but I wonder just where the generational divide falls as regards digital comics. I'm 48, & I'm online all day long (heck, it's my *job* -- I'm an online editor), but I'd just about as soon not read comics as read them on a computer screen. (Then again, I'm more of a Luddite than most people, regardless of age -- I also seriously doubt I'll ever own a cell phone, an iPod, etc etc etc.)

Regarding Larroca: His work is good, but his photo-ref is TOO obvious. I mean, I can tell which actors he's using and it takes me right out of the experience. It kills my suspension of disbelief and removes me from the internal world of the comic book to see Ed Burns staring back at you.

I'd love to know how much of the existing price structure is tied up in *format* .... that is, in the fancy slick paper that I assume the vast majority of fans can't imagine doing without (& that as a child of the Silver Age I couldn't really care less about.)

I'm especially curious because if memory serves (my recent buys are so hopelessly stacked up around here right now that looking for the newest issues would consitute a fool's errand), at least a couple of Vertigo books -- UN-MEN &/or VINYL UNDERGROUND, maybe (probably the only Vertigos I buy anyway, & of course the first one has recently been cancelled) ... &/or perhaps the recently ended FAKER -- are printed on paper that's closer to the newsprint of yore than the slick stock of today ...

... And I'm pretty sure they don't cost a penny less.

Does *that* consitute price-gouging? I dunno.

I'm sure DYNAMO 5 is lovely but that annual is WAY overpriced. This is the kind of thing that makes it so, so hard to be a reader these days. The whole industry needs to find more cost-effective ways to reach new readers (most of whom have priorities above buying comics) because price-gouging the current fanbase isn't going to work much longer.

I guess Erik Larsen & co. are bound & determined to make me either trade-wait (which I've never done) or wait to buy runs for a fraction of cover price on eBay or at a discount as back issues from online sellers, which is what i've started doing with certain DC & Marvel titles. Oh, well, that'll give me time to start catching up on a few dozen short boxes' worth of unread stuff. It's not like Larsen or whoever will be missing a Ferrari payment, I'm sure. *sigh*

Tyson: Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be good to mention that I was quoted on the back of the annual. I enjoyed the stories in the book for little slices of life about the team that sets them in the context of the greater book, but I didn't dig the packaging and the price. I stand by the fact that Faerber is writing some very good superhero books, though!

Rex Libris is quite awesome, isn't it?

But anyway, I also was wondering why the X-Factor one-shot was self-contained and not just an issue of the series. More sales, I suppose. Ah well. It's a decent story. It could've used more Crystal/Luna, in my opinion, but what can you do?