Did the Black Widow really fight in World War II? I never heard of that before. I’ve never seen any indication that she’s all that old. Was she frozen like Steve Rogers, or what? I guess all this must’ve been established during the decade I wasn’t buying any comic books.

I’m looking forward to getting Stumptown in collected form when it’s released, I really enjoyed the preview pages posted on CBR. Seems like vintage Rucka.

FWIW, this is our top selling book, with the latest issues outselling the first. We’re humbled by the support of this book. And let me tell you… it is good. So if you want to read a great comic with Waid at the top of his game, check it out. I’d say that if I wasn’t working at BOOM!

Also, INCORRUPTIBLE is set in the same world as IRREDEEMABLE, but one certainly doesn’t have to be reading IRREDEEMABLE to enjoy it. It’s a riot.

Best,

Chip
BOOM!

You’re right of course about trying to goose sales of Agents of Atlas, but at what point does oversaturation of guest stars become a poor marketing strategy? Issue 11 – I suppose considering that the ongoing has folded. I think it’s admirable that they’re letting Parker continue to run with the concept…but we seem to be verging on one of those cliched definitions of insanity being constantly repeating an experiment while expecting different results.

That said, I love Atlas and thought it was a fun book. But I’m not shelling out $4 for it as a backup feature.

He does talk about dumbass economics with that Black Widow mini. That’s some stupid s#!+ right there. Ghost Riders pulls a similar trick – but at least that has the half issue of a 70s GR to remind you how bad the character/concept was before Jason Aaron. The penultimate issue of Immortal Weapons was really good (as the whole series has been, IMO) and while the Danny Rand back-up story that’s been running through it feels slight, at least it’s new story for your extra buck.

Agents of Atlas has suffered from crossover-itis since the beginning of the ongoing. Wasn’t the opening arc the “Dark Reign” story where they have the fight with the (New?) Avengers to convince Osborn they’re bad guys? Whenever that was, that was when I dropped the book. I liked the mini a lot because it felt like Parker’s all ages work and was semi-self contained. I think some of the tie-ins are marketing driven (and a second mini – “Dark Reign: AoA”? – would have been a smart idea), but they also seem to be part of the plan to retro-fit the team’s cold war era adventures into continuity. For whatever reason, since the ongoing started this has not been my cuppa.

In other news, I’m liking Sweet Tooth a lot but I’m not sure I can articulate why yet, other than that Lemire’s art is different and really compelling and that the way he’s telling the story creeps me out. Secret Six makes me want Suicide Squad collected sooooo bad. Kelly Jones’ Batman is awesome, I’m teed that my LCS underordered Stumptown so that I have to wait for “Rockford Files”-esque goodness and, GB, you’re alright for a lazy reviewer who is wrong about Rucka’s work on ‘Tec.

I’m just of the kind that an artist should do the entire mini-series and not half. I’d rather wait months between issues, just so as long as the same artist completes the series. Bringing in a fill-in artist ruins the momentum of the series.

If it was an on-going series, then it’s acceptable to bring in an fill-in artist between story arcs.

That’s just me.

If you want a dark and cerebral story involving a Superman archetype, I strongly recommend The Mighty. Issue 10 came out this week, the TPB of 1-6 ships in December, and they’re only going to 12 issues (at least, in the first volume, with no direct follow-up solicited or announced). It reminds me of a really good Vertigo book without nudity and swearing. In fact, I’ve often said that it’d probably be selling much better if Peter Tomasi had written in some of that just so he could publish it seamlessly in the Vertigo banner.

Johnny P: You’re clever!

Manglr: I have to assume the guest stars were because of the sales problems. The original mini-series didn’t sell all that well, so why Marvel greenlighted an ongoing when they knew they were going to have to use a bunch of guest stars is beyond me. I wonder if they could have just done another mini-series to build on the buzz, if not the sales, of the first mini.

The amazing thing is…they’ve not even gone to the crossover that makes the most sense. I’d love to see Fury interact with young Woo and his team. After all those are at least two characters that have history together, even if Woo won’t remember it.

He wears practically the same robe-n-PJs outfit in all those old stories, basically looking like Hef before Hef. Remember, Hefner dressed like a stereotypical “playboy” to promote his magazine, and Bruce Wayne was always defined as “millionaire playboy. It was practically his surname back then.

Gardner Fox uses his civilian ID abit more and gives him Julie Madison as a fiancee in ‘Tec #31-2′s landmark story of “The Monk,” the one that also introduces the Batarang and Bat-Gyro. ‘Tec 35 expands this a bit more, having Bruce narrate part of an adventure to Gordon in his civilian ID, where Bruce paints himself as a spendthrift collector of curios. By Batman #1 in Spring of 1941, (roughly simultaneous with Robin’s introduction in ‘Tec #38), Bruce has adopted Dick Grayson and becomes the type to go on luxury cruises at the drop of a hat to cover for Batman’s mission to sop the Cat(woman) from stealing a valuable necklace.