Enjoy!

Reader Travis asked a question I get fairly often - am I the same Brian Cronin who occasionally has drawings in the New York Times?

Sadly, the answer is no.

Well, not sadly. Only sadly in the sense that I feel as though I am disappointing people when I tell them that no, that's not me!

That Brian does seem to be a very nice artist, though!

I may need to go by my middle initial someday (it's J, which stands for Danger)!
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Reader Perry asks:

Is there any hope for the trade-waiters like me out there in the case of the mega cross-overs Secret Invasion and Final Crisis? I intentionally waited and avoided reading anything about both series so I could treat myself to a mega Amazon trade purchase and sit down on vacation to read - trouble is, I can't figure out what to buy (at any price) to get a complete story and the bulk of the important tie-ins. I looked through lists of collected editions at my favorite online sites, boards (even a fan site that specializes in collected editions) and I just can't cure my ignorance - anyone willing to volunteer a collection list (including forthcoming editions - I know some things are just not out yet)?

Luckily, Perry, both crossovers were written so you can follow them FAIRLY easily just by their collected edition. Well, except for Final Crisis, but that's an interesting case because we still don't know what the collected edition will include. If it includes everything Morrison wrote, then you're fine. If it DOESN'T, well, you'll need everything Morrison wrote (not necessarily Final Crisis: Submit, but Final Crisis: Submit will definitely help).

Secret Invasion is easier - the trade (which already is out! Nicely done, Marvel! Then again, if you could rush it out this fast, you'd think they'd have it out BEFORE Christmas, no?) basically collects the meat of the story. Not exactly a ton of plot takes place in the comic. It's only about a couple of days of time, right? So for strictly following the plot of the comic, Secret Invasion is fine, although you may want to get SI: Fantastic Four (as there is a plot point in the beginning of Secret Invasion that is ANSWERED at the end of Secret Invasion, but the SI: Fantastic Four mini-series explains it) and SI: Thunderbolts (which also gives fuller detail on a plot point). Now, if you're going beyond just the standard plot of Secret Invasion, then you do "need" to read all the trades written by Bendis, as he uses Mighty and New Avengers to fill in back story (where and when each Skrull replaced the character they replaced plus a look at some new characters introduced for Secret Invasion).

SI: Thor was a lot of fun, but it was not necessary.

The rest of the mini-series were not necessary.
_________________________________

Reader Ariel S. has clearly gone insane, as he is actually REQUESTING that you good readers critique his comic strip.

Here it is (be forewarned, it's a long one!):

He chose that one he says:

because it's the latest I've done, but also because it's kind of universal. Most of the time my humour is too "argentine", even those which are speechless. If you'd like to check them out, however, I invite you to my deviantArt page: http://aksolut.deviantart.com

So get critiquing!
_________________________________

Meryl from the 92nd Street Y wrote in about the Marc Tyler Nobleman talk I wrote about the other week!

Here's a link to the description of the event!
_________________________________

Reader John asks a tough question that I was hoping you folks might know:

For some years now, I've been searching for a comic I remember from my childhood. It was in the early 70s, summer (likely ~ August) - probably 1972 or 1973.

It was comic of the type of Where Monsters Dwell, Weird Wonder Tales, Tales of Suspense, etc. It was almost certainly a reprint of a late 50s/early 60s story.

A remember a story about an advanced civilization, in which a character is talking about mass production of cyborgs. That's what I remember about this story - a panel showwing mass produced, faceless green cyborgs.

The cyborgs looked quite like the Mad Thinker's Android from Fantastic Four ~70-71. Therefore, I think it quite likely that the story I remember was drawn by Jack Kirby, since Kirby liked to recycle images and concepts from his earlier science fiction anthology type stories to his later superhero comic works.

If you ever come across something which sounds like it may be the issue I'm thinking of, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know. Like I said, I've been searching for this, and I ordered some comics that I though was it (based on publication date, etc.), but they were not the right ones.

I got nuthin' - how about you folks?
____________________________________

I believe that's about it for this week!

Good e-mails, folks! Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

20 Comments

• At January 8, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  Ariel S. comic is better than the shitty Comics Critics featured here.

• At January 8, 2009, hangmanjury wrote:

  I think Ariel's comic is brilliant.

• At January 8, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  I really like the trend to vertical single column strips for the web! The format really works well in ...

• At January 8, 2009, fb1990 wrote:

  This is to answer Perry's question for the Final Crisis trades.

  This site basically has run-downs on most DC trades http://collectededitions.blogspot.com/ ...

• At January 8, 2009, Rob Schamberger wrote:

  Ariel - You've got your storytelling down, which is what is important for comics. Now you'll just want to ...

• At January 8, 2009, Ariel S. wrote:

  Wow! First of all, thank you Brian, a LOT, for posting my strip! :D

  I want to get critiques because ...

• At January 8, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  Ariel, I kinda think it went a panel too long...before getting to the final, I was feeling "Ok...I get the ...

• At January 8, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Ariel S. comic is better than the shitty Comics Critics featured here. You stay classy, JackKing.

• At January 8, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Funny strip--Panels 7, 8, & 9 might have worked as two panels; it did feel about half a panel too ...

• At January 8, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  The strip's great. Excellent utilization of comics storytelling elements and a lovely (well, tragic, but in that lovely way) ending.

• At January 8, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  I'm always classy, why else would I wear a monocle?

• At January 8, 2009, davidwynne wrote:

  Ariel-

  First of all, the strip is great. I like it a lot.

  That said, I agree that it could have been ...

• At January 8, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "I’m always classy, why else would I wear a monocle?"

  That wasn't funny.

• At January 8, 2009, Da Fug wrote:

  Brian must have LOTS of presents to wrap this year!

  And I thought the strip was funny. Upon reading a ...

• At January 8, 2009, Tracer Bullet wrote:

  Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Perry finishes Secret Invasion and says to himself, "That's it?! I ...

• At January 8, 2009, Nick Marino wrote:

  Ariel, excellent strip. wonderful execution on the emotion.

• At January 8, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  I agree on two points about the strip:

  - great use of body language and the dialogue balloon

  - definitely better than ...

• At January 9, 2009, JackKing wrote:

  "That wasn’t funny."

  I don't care.

• At January 9, 2009, Ariel S. wrote:

  Whoa, thanks a lot for taking your time to write about my strip, folks!! I really appreciate it! :D I'm ...

• At January 18, 2009, Travis Pelkie wrote:

  Yay, Brian featured my question, even though it wasn't necessarily aimed for the mailbag. I almost missed it too, ...

Enjoy!

Comic book veteran Dave Olbrich (founding publisher of Malibu Comics) has a blog called Funny Book Fanatic (which you can find here) and he dropped me a line to note that he named the blog his "Fanatic Blog of the Week" here.
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Reader Elijah asked about a famous comic book panel that has made the rounds of the internet...

Basically, is it a real panel and if so, what's the context?

It IS a photo-shopped photo, but I have not been able to find the original.

This is the earliest version of the panel that I've seen...

But beyond that, anyone know what the original panel says and the context?
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Rebecca O'Neal wrote in to say that, in continuing her salute to truth in advertising, she is delivering over 20 more black super heroines over at her site here (bringing her total up to nearly 100 black super heroines).

And she does, indeed, show a bunch of black super heroines, so if you're interested, check it out.
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Reader Eric wrote in to ask:

Do you have any idea if JLA/Avengers is in continuity (for Marvel or DC)?

How about Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.? I started reading Ms. Marvel TPB vol. 4 and I see they are using the Nextwave version of Machine Man.

Kurt Busiek is definitely using continuity from JLA/Avengers in Trinity (and used them during his JLA run, as well), so I guess the answer to that one is yes.

As to Nextwave, they have appeared as a team in regular Marvel Universe titles (and Machine Man has shown up often by himself, and Tabitha has shown up by herself, as well), and there recently was a comic explaining why Machine Man changed his look, so yeah, Nextwave is in continuity.
____________________________

Lothor asked a couple of technical questions regarding the Comic Book Legends Revealed column. Specifically, why is the time stamp on the Legends always late-night Thursday and do I always acknowledge reader suggestions via e-mail.

First off, regarding the time stamp, for ease of keeping track of all the legends for myself, I have them all time-stamped as late Thursday night (so they're all exactly a week apart) even if they aren't posted until early Friday morning. It makes archiving a lot easier for me.

Secondly, regarding acknowledgments of legends sent by e-mail, I certainly TRY to reply to everyone who sends in a suggestion. I can't say that I always succeed. I get a lot of suggestions during the week, which I love, but if I don't reply right away, I can forget who I have and who I have not replied to, which surely leads to some folks not getting an acknowledgment. I read every e-mail sent in to me, though!
____________________________

I believe that's about it for this week!

Good e-mails, folks! Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

Happy New Year!

9 Comments

• At December 31, 2008, Eric wrote:

  Just to clarify, you probably mean that the slap-happy Batman "original" panel was the original Photoshopped panel, right? Those A's ...

• At December 31, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Yeah, Eric, thanks - I clarified!

• At December 31, 2008, Michael wrote:

  I hope Machine Man's new characterization stays forever.

• At January 1, 2009, onion3000 wrote:

  Good news, Brian!

  After a fun few hours reading I finally found the original panel of Batman slapping Robin.

  It's from ...

• At January 1, 2009, onion3000 wrote:

  Hopefully this will work:

  http://s474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/onion3000/?action=view&current=Batslapper.jpg

• At January 1, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Awesome, onion3000!

  Thanks a lot!

  I think that's actually worth its own post!

• At January 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  In the real world, Batman should be facing child abuse charges.

• At January 1, 2009, Cei-U! wrote:

  In the real world, Bruce Wayne would've been in therapy and worked out his abandonment issues long before he ever ...

• At January 2, 2009, Ant wrote:

  As a therapist I wish to apologize to the world for robbing it of so many potential superheroes.

Enjoy!

Reader Wesley wrote in with the following extremely important question:

Hey, Brian, long-time reader, first-time writer:

I've been picking up the Essential Defenders collections, when I noticed that Namor has no nipples. I figure they had been omitted due to the Comics Code. So I did a little checking, and found that he was still nipple-less by the end of his 1990s series, but had them in the "New Wave" series in 2003. So here's my question:

When did Namor get nipples?

Interesting question, Wesley, and it really is amazing how long he went without having nipples.

Well, while Byrne seemed to slightly getting towards having Namor have nipples towards the end of Byrne's run as artist on Namor, I think the real beginning of Namor having nipples was when Jae Lee took over the book...

Later artists actually seemed to show less nipplege, but by that point, Paul Ryan had picked up on it full force over in Fantastic Four, and showed Namor's nipples the entire time he was a cast member over in that book.

Can anyone find an earlier usage than Jae Lee (which would be early 1992)?
________________________________

Reader Aaron wanted to know if the blog could do more about webcomics. It's a great question, Aaron, and while I can't guarantee anything, it's definitely a real possibility!

I DID put Achewood in my Top 10 Comics of 2008 list, by the way! Achewood is a web comic! Achewood is a really funny web comic! You should all go read Achewood now! achewood.com
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Reader Patrick asked:

You posted this week about how The Comic Book Heroes by Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs is one of the best books for funny book history and I totally agree, but could you tell me whatever happened to the man who did the most current cover, Travis Charest? Slow as hell, but I miss his stuff.

A number of years ago, Patrick, Charest officially dedicated himself to doing just European comics, where the slower pace is an accepted practice. However, amusingly enough, Charest's pace was actually too slow for European comics, as well, as the Metabarons project he was working on for Humanoid Publishing (Charest was painting each page) ended up as just 30 pages in seven years. He was replaced on the project in 2007.

Nowadays, he does covers for Marvel, such as this one for Captain America: The Chosen...

and is working on some creator-owned stuff (he was doing a web comic called Spacegirl for awhile - you can follow it here)

________________________________

Kristin Kirkpatrick, of University Press of Mississippi, wrote to tell me about a Comic Studies Reader from University Press of Mississippi.

Here is the press release:

A Comics Studies Reader (University Press of Mississippi) provides an introduction to comics scholarship and critical commentary, offering essays on a wide variety of comics forms-gag cartoons, comic strips, manga, comic books, graphic novels-over the course of the 20th century and beyond. Featuring the work of such noteworthy writers and theorists as Gilbert Seldes, Fredric Wertham, David Kunzle, M. Thomas Inge, Amy Kiste Nyberg, Martin Barker, Thierry Groensteen, and others, this ollection testifies to the rich cultural conversation that cartooning has generated throughout the world.

This volume is divided into sections on comics history and origins, aesthetics and form, narrative and identity, and close readings of selected texts. Editors Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester provide contextual introductions to each thematic section along with a general introduction that gives an overview of the major critical approaches used to discuss comics.

The volume includes seminal essays on European and Asian comics as well as American works. Such pioneering works as R. F. Outcault's The Yellow Kid, Art Spiegelman's Maus, and Rodolphe Töpffer's oeuvre are discussed, as are subjects such as the influence of manga, the Comics Code, and formal theories of comics as art.

A Comics Studies Reader is one of the first comprehensive collections of comics studies from the early twentieth century to the present. By introducing readers to the major debates, issues, and points of reference that continue to shape the field this anthology establishes the significance and breadth of comics studies. With Chris Ware and Chris Oliveros, Toronto-based writer Jeet Heer is editing a series of volumes reprinting Frank King's Gasoline Alley, three volumes of which have been published. Kent Worcester teaches political theory at Marymount Manhattan College. He is the author of C. L. R. James: A Political Biography and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Together they have edited Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium for University Press of Mississippi.

________________________________

Reader John wants to know:

I was thinking about writing a letter to DC comics and beg them to reprint Garth Ennis and John McCrea's Hitman along with their earlier run on The Demon. Who would be the best person to send a letter/email to about this.

I'll be honest - I have no idea.

Anyone know?
________________________________

John Seavey has another new non-comic book related Storytelling Engine piece up at his blog fraggmented.blogspot.com, which you can find here. This week, the Storytelling Engine is Universal Pictures' Frankenstein.
_________________________________

Marc Tyler Nobleman wrote in to say:

On the flip side of New Year's, I will be speaking about Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, the first standalone book about the two teenaged nerds who created the world's first superhero:

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
8:15 p.m.
92nd Street Y (click for event information)
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street

The talk includes the story itself, plus reveals the startling discoveries I made during research, the path from 22 rejections to the front page of USA TODAY, the connection between Superman and Judaism, funny highlights of the various promotional gambles I've tried, and more.

The Y charges for their programs and this one is $27. Add in the cost of babysitting and I understand that this may not be in the budget. However, if you can swing it, I do think you'll enjoy it--even if you're not a Superman fan. I'd love to see you and will be staying after to say hi.
_________________________________

I believe that's about it for this week!

Good e-mails, folks! Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

Merry Christmas!

Now off to wrap some more presents!!

4 Comments

• At December 25, 2008, Birmy wrote:

  Glad to see more comics criticism and theory from the Univeristy of Mississippi Press. My girlfriend, currently in the ...

• At December 25, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  OK, now that's how you make Namor look silly.

• At December 25, 2008, aboynamedposh wrote:

  That's a Jae Lee? Goodness. I'm glad I'm not familiar with his nineties work. Even Maleev's is better.

• At December 26, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  Send those reprint letters to Bob Wayne.

Enjoy!

Matt D. opens up the mailbag with a question about DC's editorial structure, or more specifically, what exactly is it that "Creative Executive" Ivan Cohen does?

Well, Matt, I can't say that I know.

Anyone out there know exactly what Ivan Cohens' job description would be?
_________________________________

Reader joshschr thought it would be a good idea if I posted the quick guide to putting html code into your comments, and he's probably right, so here it is!

Okay, obviously you do < > and then < / > with these letters and words for the effect.

b for bold
i for italics
del for strikethrough
blockquote for quotes

Josh also wanted to know the code to make "pipe" links - you know, like having the word "link" be a clickable link rather than posting the full address in the comment.

I'll gladly tell you folks, but I don't believe it is something you will be able to remember offhand. But if you can, it is:

< a href="http://(whatever the address is)" > The word you want to be the link < a > - with the second < > having a / at the beginning (and no spaces, of course).

Josh followed with some complimentary words about the site - thanks for that, Josh!
_________________________________

John Seavey has another new non-comic book related Storytelling Engine piece up at his blog fraggmented.blogspot.com, which you can find here. This week, the Storytelling Engine is Soap, the classic late 70s TV series.
_________________________________

J to the AAP wrote in with a fun link to British politicians making superhero references in Parliament.

Check it out here.
_________________________________

David S. wrote in to talk about some recent praise that NBM (which had quite a good year for comic product in 2008 - They did Little Nothings, which was on my Top 10 Comics of 2008 list, and I would probably have The Lindbergh Child as an Honorable Mention, and perhaps more NBM products - I'd have to think) has received in the mainstream media:

• The Wall Street Journal is running a feature on David B., creator of NBM Publishing's new NOCTURNAL CONSPIRACIES: NINETEEN DREAMS. The WSJ piece, which quotes the artist on the 35-year process that went into making the book, is part of a wave of mainstream-media news on
NBM's publications.

• New York magazine has named Veronique Tanaka's love story METRONOME to its list of 2008's Top 10 graphic novels.

• The New York Times recommends Dirk Schwieger's MORESUKINE: UPLOADED WEEKLY FROM TOKYO in its annual guide to the best gift books for the holidays.

• School Library Journal has placed Marc-Antoine Mathieu's THE MUSEUM VAULTS on its list of 2008's Best Adult Books for High-School Students.

• Publishers Weekly lists Rick Geary's A TREASURY OF 20TH CENTURY MURDER: THE LINDBERGH CHILD among its Best Books of the Year.

_________________________________

Reader Jonathan wants to know:

What was the first retcon in a comic book?

Boy, fine question, Jonathan, and man, there are a LOT of possible answers, because back in the Golden Age, stories were retconned often.

For instance, Action Comics #1 has a totally different origin for Superman's powers than was later established.

But the FIRST one?

That's tough.

I'm sure there are earlier ones, but for now, I'm going with Batman...I believe it is #4, but in either event, sometime around then (which would be 1940), where there is an editor's note saying "The Batman never carries nor kills with a gun!" while Batman used AND killed with a gun just three issues earlier.

Beat late 1940 people for an earlier retcon, people!!
_________________________________

My old pal Eric asked me about good books about the history of comics in the 1970s and early 80s. It is an interesting point to note that yeah, most good comic book history books gloss over that time period.

So I am going with The Comic Book Heroes by Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs as the best book covering comic book history in the 70s and 80s. The most recent edition (originally it came out in 1986) was 1996, so it should do you fine.

It's not too pricey, either (although I do believe it is currently out of print - the original can be had VERY cheap, and since that was 1986 - it works just as well as a 1996 book for the history of the 70s).

_________________________________

Gary Butler wrote in to note my pal Michael's article was published in the latest issue of Driven magazine. You can read it on Drivenmag.com - page 18.
_________________________________

That's it for this week!

Good e-mails, folks! Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

25 Comments

• At December 18, 2008, P_B wrote:

  Okay, so, Superman, Spider-Man, and . . . who? Lady Deadpool? Liefeld Lass?

• At December 18, 2008, JP wrote:

  I believe thats Zealot...

• At December 18, 2008, Anonymous wrote:

  That would be Jim Lee's Zealot.

• At December 18, 2008, geoff wrote:

  isn't that one of the youngblood characters. or maybe from wildcats?

• At December 18, 2008, joshschr wrote:

  Many thanks for responding, Brian!

  I doubt most people will remember how to pipe correctly, but now they know they ...

• At December 18, 2008, Teebore wrote:

  Thanks for the html tips!

  And I love that Jones and Jacob book-very readable and it does cover in more ...

• At December 18, 2008, Matt Bird wrote:

  After the success of "Men of Tomorrow" and "The Ten Cent Plague", I would love to read juicy general-audience tell-alls ...

• At December 18, 2008, Matt Bird wrote:

  And why is Spider-Man wearing clown shoes? Wait a minute, that's not Spider-Man... ...That's Sideshow Bob!

• At December 18, 2008, b_rad wrote:

  Wow, the graphic for that book really brings back the artistic nightmare that was mainstream comics in the late 80's ...

• At December 18, 2008, jazzbo wrote:

  I have that book but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'll have to move it closer to the ...

• At December 18, 2008, Cass wrote:

  All those lines on his face and neck, Superman really is 70 years old.

• At December 18, 2008, Bill Reed wrote:

  The Jones/Jacobs book is an excellent text, yes. Highly recommended!

• At December 18, 2008, David wrote:

  Sorry if this comes off a little harsh, but misuse of the term "retcon" is one of my bigger pet ...

• At December 18, 2008, Thok wrote:

  I feel like you should have mentioned that there are retcons that predate comics. For example there's the fairly ...

• At December 18, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  To Eric, I would also add he could check out BACK ISSUE magazine that is published by TwoMorrows and edited ...

• At December 18, 2008, Apodaca wrote:

  "“Retcon” requires that something be negated or otherwised change."

  I don't believe that's true, actually. The term stands for 'retroactive continuity', ...

• At December 18, 2008, Brian wrote:

  I'll second Matt's call for a behind-the-scenes history of that 70s/80s period, but in the meantime I'd like to track ...

• At December 18, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Tony Isabella has occasionally written short behind-the-scenes bits about Marvel during his time there in the '70s in Comics Buyer's ...

• At December 18, 2008, davidwynne wrote:

  Wow, people are slating Travis Charest as supposedly epitomising the worst of the nineties now? Sheesh.

  David- “Retcon” requires that something ...

• At December 18, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  The Jones/ Jacobs book is great, but I do remember reading that it contained minor factual errors. I like the ...

• At December 18, 2008, SKFK wrote:

  The Comic Book Heroes has one sidenote that I always wanted to submit as a potential Comic Book Legends entry. ...

• At December 19, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  There is a real case of two artists with similar names working either side of the pond...

  Flint Henry and Henry ...

• At December 19, 2008, DanCJ wrote:

  …stating that Batman never uses a gun when he has been previously (heck, recently) depicted doing exactly that is negating ...

• At December 19, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Not saying that I agree with his definition (as I don't in this particular instance), but I believe David's position ...

• At December 23, 2008, DanCJ wrote:

  Not saying that I agree with his definition (as I don’t in this particular instance), but I believe David’s position ...

Enjoy!

We have a Storytelling Engine from John Seavey basically every week, but awhile back, he ran out of comic books to do new Storytelling Engines for (there will be more in the future as new collections get released, he just ran out of available comics at the time), so he moved on to Storytelling Engines for stuff beyond just comic books, and I've continued to keep them at the blog, so long as they have SOME comic book involvement (which, due to the licensing boom, is basically every media property). This week, however, John had his first Storytelling Engine without a comic tie-in at all. I still feel like linking to it (as it's a neat piece), so check out John's take on The Critic at his blog, fraggmented.blogspot.com, here.
________________________________

"Voodoo Mama" of the Voodoo Dolls, a trivia team, is looking for members to join their team for KVSC's XXX Trivia: 30 Years of Trivia Lovin', a local Minnesota trivia contest held each February that has, in recent years, gone national (heck, I suppose even international, as you can be on a team via the internet).

Check out KVSC's website for more details. The contest began in 1980, so this is, indeed, the thirtieth year they've done this contest! Wow!

Since it is a team e-mail, I don't think there's really much harm if I give you folks their e-mail address to contact them if you're interested - it's voodoodolls at charter.net.

I once did a trivia thing in college, and I did well (My pal Tim was freakishly good, though - wow, did that guy know him some trivia), but I also ended up blowing the game at the buzzer, which was too bad.
________________________________

A person named "Ronn" asked:

I am playing on a game called city of heroes and its a super hero game based on making your own characters with powers and costumes and back stories and such. I am wondering if the name Marvel Boi is a trademark. I know that Marvel Boy is a Marvel trademark but i want to use the name with the i at the end of it. is this trademark infringement? just wanted to ask and hopefully you can help me before i do.

Without putting a lot of research into it, Ronn, I think it's not infringement, on the theory that you are not using the name "in commerce" (as you playing the game is not use in commerce). HOWEVER, I do know that City of Heroes was sued by Marvel under the notion that City of Heroes allowing (heck, in Marvel's view, ENCOURAGING) players to use names similar to Marvel's trademarks WOULD be a "use in commerce." That lawsuit settled (most likely because the use in commerce thing was a BIT of a stretch) but while they settled, I believe City of Heroes strongly recommends people not even come close to trademarked names.

But I dunno - I don't play the game. Does anyone who plays the game know if they discourage players to use names similar to trademarked names?

If this was a standard infringement case, I think you WOULD be considered infringing on Marvel's trademark (like, let's say you wanted to do a Marvel Boi comic book). The use in commerce thing is your defense here - but really, if City of Heroes wants people not to come close, I think you're better off just picking a different name.

I'd say, "Does anyone else have an opinion on this?," but let's be real, do I even need to ask?

_____________________________

Tim (AKA Blackjak) wrote in to say:

When you covered the Marvel covers recently, you mentioned that you wanted to see some Clint Langley interiors...

Amazon have three hardcover 2000AD collections - the three-parts of "Slaine: The Books of Invasions", written by Pat Mills.

Irish epic sword and sorcery. May not be your cup of tea, but there is some gorgeous artwork in there...

Thanks, Tim!

You scare me for a moment - I thought, "Wait, I read the first Slaine stories - Clint Langley couldn't have drawn them!!" But then I realized you meant NEWER Slaine stuff!

The covers certainly look cool!
_______________________________

Alan David Doane takes a look at his picks for Best Comics of 2008 here.
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Becca sent me this link to a video on her blog of a bunch of black female superheroines (from comics, TV and movies).

It was, well, a video of a bunch of black female superheroines from comics, TV and movies.

Here is the link.
_______________________________

The Mutt has a great question:

The idea that the very existence of superheroes creates super villains has been conventional wisdom in comics for a while, but is there a particular writer or story that first postulated the notion?

I really don't know.

This is the sort of thing that is best left to people posting the first time THEY saw it, and whoever is the earliest, then that can be our answer!!
_______________________________

Nice publicist Margot sent along a link to a contest the Wanted DVD is having over at newsarama. Here's the link! The winner gets to meet Mark Millar in Scotland!
_______________________________

That's it for this week!

Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

11 Comments

• At December 11, 2008, Brian Mac wrote:

  I'm an avid City of Heroes player, and while I try to make only original characters, I've followed some discussions ...

• At December 11, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Right, Brian, the "use in commerce" would apply to the people who run the game, that's why i was telling ...

• At December 11, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I'll go ahead and suggest that it was Elliott Maggin that suggested the heroes-create-villains idea. He was kind of edging ...

• At December 11, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Though "Marvel Boi" would be an especially tempting target for Marvel Comics, given how much effort they went to in ...

• At December 11, 2008, Eric P. wrote:

  I am a CoH player too. If your character looks anything like Vance Astro, and/or has powers like his, ...

• At December 11, 2008, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Hmmmm... the "heroes create villains" notion sounds like something J. Jonah Jameson might have pushed, but I couldn't say for ...

• At December 11, 2008, Jeff R wrote:

  It was probably Miller who Batmanized the idea: the first place I can remember it was from the lip of ...

• At December 11, 2008, yo go re wrote:

  The trivia link goes nowhere. Nowhere!

• At December 11, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  It goes somewhere now!

• At December 11, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Oh, and the inside of the new Slaine books is all just as fully-painted as the covers...

  I know he's done ...

• At December 11, 2008, Thelonious_Nick wrote:

  >>>Hmmmm… the “heroes create villains” notion sounds like something J. Jonah Jameson might have pushed

  Although this would be quite a ...

Enjoy!

Mailbag entries were a bit slim this week - it was almost as if people were spending the Thanksgiving holiday with their families rather than sending me mailbag entries - how dare they!!

Friendly publicist David got me hip to a cool new thing NBM is doing - a blog for all NBM's comic creators! And since NBM has such awesome people as Rick Geary, Neil Kleid, Ted Rall and Lewis Trondheim, that's a pretty sweet sounding blog!

Check it out here.
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Some new podcast called the Handsome Genius Club sent me a link to their podcast site. Here it is!
________________________________________________

ed!=Awesome! took issue with the #1 fight on the Top 25 Comic Book Battles, and sent me a link from his website where he explains why Batman could never defeat Superman. Here is the link. I think he seemed to believe that I picked the results myself - I did not - they were voted on by you, the readers!
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Our favorite young comic book hopeful, Chris Jones, wrote in to show some pages from the comic he is shopping around:

I talk a lot about the comic I'm working on, and I'd figure you might want to know what it WAS, and make sure that I wasn't just pissing into the wind with flights of fancy.

Well, here are the first couple of scripts, and some art for the second issue, drawn by the wonderful Serena Guerra. If you think it's worth showing off on the blog or in the letters section, you can do that, or don't if you think it's garbage, or simply choose to ignore the whole thing. Enjoy!

It's not like I have a lot of other letters here, Chris, so sure, let's show everyone your comic!

________________________________________________

Comic book blog Destructo Co. is doing a holiday scavenger hunt to benefit Hero Initiative!

Here's what they're doing:

Here's how ComiXmas works: On Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm (CST) Destructo Co. will post our Xmas Wish List containing a combination of 12 Hidden Items and Trivia Questions online. You have 24 hours to collect as many of the hidden items and answer as many of the trivia questions as you can. One of the items participants must supply is proof of their donation to The Hero Initiative in the amount of at least $1. The first participant to submit the most correct items and answers to comixmas@destructoco.com (email must contain "ComiXmas List" in the subject line) before 12:00 pm (CST) on December 14, 2008 wins a grand prize of 12 FREE COMIC BOOK SUBSCRIPTIONS from Marvel, DC or a combination of both. All proceeds from the event will go to benefit The Hero Initiative. Contact Destructo Co. at ComiXmas@destructoco.com with any questions. See the Official Rules for complete details before participating.

That's about it, but in case you were wondering, you don't have to participate in the scavenger hunt to donate. Every little bit helps. Good luck and thanks for your support!

Happy Holidays! - The Destructo Co. Staff

Check out their site here for more details.
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Good ol' Bright-Raven is having a holiday sale at his DeviantArt website! Some pretty darn cheap prices there! Check it out here.
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The nice publicist Margaret wrote in to remind folks about IDW's big Customer Appreciation sale!

DECEMBER 6, 10 AM - 3 PM. The sale will be held in IDW's parking lot, 5080 Santa Fe St, San Diego, CA 92109.
________________________________________________

Another nice publicist, Margot, showed me this neat Wanted game.

I used it to create the following...

____________________________________

That's it for this week!

Send more e-mails!

If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

14 Comments

• At December 4, 2008, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Well, that's just mean. Now I have to go into hiding.

• At December 4, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  awesome pages, Chris! Serena's stuff is terrific.

  btw Brian i love this weekly mailbag.

• At December 4, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  I just adore Serena Guerra's artwork... Any relation to Pia Guerra of "Y: The Last Man" fame?

• At December 4, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  At the risk of falling into painful fanwank -- oops, too late! -- I'm not sure that the idea in ...

• At December 4, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  Also, "best" in the above post should read "Batmanest." In fact, that's probably true of all my posts.

• At December 4, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Plus in TDKR, Superman doesn't really want the fight, so his heart's not really in it...

• At December 4, 2008, Jeff Ryan wrote:

  The point of Dark Knight Returns, for me, was that if the Joker is a guest on David Letterman, and ...

• At December 4, 2008, eD! Thomas wrote:

  In my defense, I only thought it was your list because I had been awake for something like a gajillion ...

• At December 4, 2008, jazzbo wrote:

  A Super-Loogie to the junk would be a horrible way to go.

• At December 4, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

  You can see more art and script for the story at:

  http://comixbycj.blogspot.com/

  Hope to hear more feedback ...

• At December 4, 2008, Patrick Rennie wrote:

  The pages look good. Without words on them, it looks like Cat in the Hat gone horribly wrong.

• At December 4, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  That's some of the Batmanest comics art I've seen: strong layout sense and great storytelling skill!

• At December 4, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  If you liked this stuff then you should definitely check out the blog. More great artwork and the script to ...

• At December 4, 2008, Clayton wrote:

  I like the art style in those sample pages. It's Don Bluth-meets-Adrian Alphona, or something.

Enjoy!

Reader toto toto wrote in to ask:

I checked the Marvel Comics Solicitations, February 2009 at the CBR site & the Hulk #10 cover featuring the Defenders had a new (??) different Dr. Strange & I don't remember reading any news about a Dr. Strange change so do you have any intel.?

The thing that is odd, if it's a change, is how come Marvel resisted the desire to change it by a female Dr Stange?

Here's the cover in question:

No, toto toto, that's likely just Jeph Loeb returning Doctor Strange to a previous look he once used in the late 60s.

Towards the end of Doctor Strange's first series (which took over the numbering of Strange Tales), Roy Thomas and Gene Colan did a storyline where Doctor Strange took on a new masked identity.

This presumably was to make Strange look more like a superhero, as the sales on the title weren't exactly awe-inspiring. The book was canceled not too long afterward.

Loeb is likely just bringing back that look.

But I suppose we'll know for sure in February!
_______________________________________

Nick Marino wrote in to ask about an old comic book color question...

I don't know if you've already covered this or not, but here's the question: What's the deal with all the super villains who wear either purple, green, or a combination of both? A huge chunk of classic comic book super villains (Lex, Joker, Doom, Magneto, etc.) are clad in these colors. Was it just accepted that purple and green would largely be reserved for baddies, or is there something else to it?

I dunno if anyone has ever officially declared that this is the reason, but I'm pretty sure that yes, people decided that the primary colors would be used for superheroes while purple and green would be villain colors.
_______________________________________

Reader Cord asked:

Like many Germans and Europeans in general, I am a huge fan of Don Rosa and the nostalgic, gentle, occassionally anarchic humour with which he has reinvigorated the Donald Duck Clan.

To my surprise, a friend of mine recently told me, that there are nearly no Duck-Comics published in the US at the present moment. He added that Rosa is more or less ignored by fandom at conventions. Is that true? Has the US and A lost interest in these characters that, after all, embody fundamentally American values?

Sadly, Cord, that is, in fact, the case.

While beloved by readers of his work (as well they should, as he is excellent), Don Rosa toils in mostly obscurity in America.

Disney Comics are a tough sell in the United States, and Gemstone Publishing has been doing their damndest to keep the comics in print, but it's a tough row to hoe.

Currently, they're down to two titles, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge, which are both over-sized (with great reprints each issue) and $8. They're trying to find a format that works.
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Reader Tim (Blackjak) asked a couple of questions...

Firstly, as a UK comics fan, and subscriber to 2000AD, I was wondering how well-read it was in the States, particularly as it is now available online via clickwheel.net (http://www.clickwheel.net/features/219)...

Or has it been missed due to a lack of marketing in the States? (I have to say I've only seen it mentioned in 2000AD itself, and a really brief press-release on CBR)

I was just thinking that there is so much out there that you guys are missing both art and story-wise and was reminded by the news that Andy Clarke is doing the new R.E.B.E.L.S. comics with Tony Bedard...

Yeah, for all the quality it holds, 2000 AD is definitely not all that big in the States.

But thanks to your comment, maybe more people will check out clickwheel.net!

Secondly, and here's complicated question... How many animated Spider-man TV shows have there been, and how successful (both critically and by number of episodes produced) have they been... I would have guessed that the old Hanna-Barbera-style 70s show had the most episodes, but the "Spider-man-The Animated Series" show from the late nineties may have been the better received... (apart from some of the 3D backgrounds which now look quite dated...)

I'm just not a fan of the character-design in the new "Spectacular Spider-Man" series, particularly as Gwen and Aunt May look so similar...

Well, going by amount of episodes made, the original 60s series and the 90s series both had over 60 episodes (the original series has the most, with 77 episodes).

By quality - the original series is beloved, especially the theme song ("Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can!"), but that's likely just nostalgia.

I dunno, I don't think any of them were all that good. I guess my favorite was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
_______________________________________

Rich Handley has been writing me a few times to let me know about the Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology, so, well, here's a link to the new book coming out that is, you know, the Timeline of the Planet of the Apes:
The Definitive Chronology!
_______________________________________

Reader Eric wrote in to ask:

I borrowed the hardcover of X-Men: Messiah Complex from the local library. I get the X-Factor series and I was collecting Cable & Deadpool (mostly for Deadpool) but I haven't kept up with the main X-Men titles in quite some time. Can you recommend any sort of primer to try to figure out who a lot of these characters are, without having to read a very large number of comics as background?

I'd imagine that uncannyxmen.net would help you a lot.

Plus, we have a thread at the X-Men forum at Comic Book Resources (a forum I moderate) that is just for readers to ask questions, so feel free to stop by there!

The other thing I wanted to ask doesn't have anything to do with comics, but I figured comics is part pop culture and nostalgia. I've been trying to figure out the name of an old TV show I remember. Maybe the question could go in the column if you don't know the name? In the show, a family was somehow transported to an alternate Earth (so it already sounds sort of like a comic!). I want to say they might have gone through some sort of pyramid? In this other reality they were somehow in trouble with the law, and constantly hunted. In the one episode whose plot I sort of remember, the teenagers of the family became pop music stars by performing mainstream hits that they remembered from their own reality. The authorities were able to figure out it was the family they were hunting, though, because of the likeness of the toy figures produced in their likeness. Sound familiar at all? Probably from sometime in the 80s.

Wow, I don't have the slightest idea.

Anyone?
_______________________________________

Margot the Publicist wrote in about some bonus material on the new Wanted DVD.

Check out the bonus material here and !
_______________________________________

John Zito wanted folks to know about the following:

Book signing with graphic novel author Kevin Colden (Fishtown) this December 5th for First Friday at Brave New World in Old City.

My writing partner and I will be joining him (BlackCherryBombshells.com) along with Miss Lasko-Gross (Escape from Special).

_______________________________________

Reader Nate P. wanted to take the time to share his point of view regarding $3.99 comics...

As a comic fan, I have a hard time sometimes reconciling my feelings about comics when prices are as high as they are. I feel like publisher's don't care about people like me. But comics are an escapism I do enjoy.

I used to by comics all the time when I was a kid and a teenager. As a young man, I must rely on SSDI. I don't have much disposable income, and can't afford new comic books. The way the comics are priced now, even buying comics at Half Price Books is a bit expensive. Aside from borrowing from the library, I get old comics from a street vendor for 25 cents each, or bargain bins (dollar, 50 cents, etc) at comic shops.

When I'm in a shop, I feel really weird having to go straight to bargain boxes, when most guys my age are buying hardcover trades, or piles of $3-4 comics. I'm outside the cultural experience discussing new plots bring.

Comic publishers, creators, and their stories ignore issues of poverty in America. Publishers should make lower cost comics, by using cheaper paper, and forgoing color, while keeping quality of story telling. It would also help to do shorter arcs. And in their comics themselves, it would be cool if social issues relating to economic class, and also disability, were examined more often and in honest ways.

_______________________________________

I believe that's it for this week!

Be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

Another week of good e-mails - keep it up!

Have a good Thanksgiving tomorrow!

28 Comments

• At November 26, 2008, Geoff wrote:

  I believe the show was called Otherworld (if you are a child of the 80s like me)

• At November 26, 2008, suedenim wrote:

  "Otherworld" is the '80s TV series in question. I thought it was pretty good at the time.

  I *have* read ...

• At November 26, 2008, Brian Mac wrote:

  Geoff's got it right; the TV show was Otherworld.

• At November 26, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I don't think Nate P should worry too much about going straight to bargain bin boxes - I used to ...

• At November 26, 2008, SanctumSanctorumComix wrote:

  Toto Toto,

  Doctor Strange wore that costume first in the last few issues of his 1969 era first self-titled series.

  It was ...

• At November 26, 2008, Alan Coil wrote:

  Someone needs to be a real editor and tell the artist for the cover of Hulk #10 to seriously take ...

• At November 26, 2008, Andrew-TLA wrote:

  I've got a four-year-old niece who absolutely loves Mickey and Donald and Goofy. She's learning to read, but there's no ...

• At November 26, 2008, Random Stranger wrote:

  To continue ~P~'s comments there was a brief revival of the blue face costume toward the end of the that ...

• At November 27, 2008, Bat2supe wrote:

  hey, guys!!

  I'm toto, hehe.

  Thanks for the clarifications. 1rst i saw that cover i guessed that maybe it had to do ...

• At November 27, 2008, Bright-Raven wrote:

  Alan Coil: "Someone needs to be a real editor and tell the artist for the cover of Hulk #10 to ...

• At November 27, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  Thanks for posting my questions Brian!

  I guess once the price of 2000AD is converted into dollars and freight ...

• At November 27, 2008, Chris McAree wrote:

  Hey Toto,

  Another possibility is that instead of the costume being a throwback to the Stephen Saunders persona, it could be ...

• At November 27, 2008, Rich Handley wrote:

  Hi, Brian,

  Thanks so much for plugging the Planet of the Apes book! Your column is a definite highlight on ...

• At November 27, 2008, Bat2supe wrote:

  Hey, Chris McAree !

  Clearly that what I though & was the 1rst motive to my mail to Brian, who knows ...

• At November 27, 2008, Dorf wrote:

  Bat2supe: Um...........huh?

• At November 27, 2008, Michael wrote:

  *Why* would Loeb bring back that look? Aside from it being pretty lame (especially next to his classic "Vincent Price ...

• At November 27, 2008, Graeme White wrote:

  I think it's more likely that that is Dr Strange under the mask, as although ther'es a new Sorcerer Supreme, ...

• At November 27, 2008, Michael wrote:

  Except he's still wearing the cloak.

• At November 27, 2008, AnthonyX wrote:

  Regarding the Purple /Green Colours. I had read an interview with Jack Kirby where he stated that those colours were ...

• At November 27, 2008, Matt wrote:

  I highly doubt Loeb read any other comics than his own (he obviously didn't read the two previous volumes of ...

• At November 27, 2008, Justin wrote:

  On the Comic Book Club podcast from during the Marvel retreat, Bendis is making some noise about Dr. Strange and ...

• At November 27, 2008, Eric P. wrote:

  My most sincere thanks to Brian for posting it and for the people who replied with the answer of Otherworld. ...

• At November 27, 2008, HammerHeart wrote:

  "Dr. Strange isn’t a damn superhero. He just has a lot of them in his Rolodex."

  Agreed.

• At November 27, 2008, Random Stranger wrote:

  "I think it’s more likely that that is Dr Strange under the mask, as although ther’es a new Sorcerer Supreme, ...

• At November 27, 2008, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Looks right to me, bukco. Sorry if you want the 6′4′-6′8″, 200 pound scarecrow toothpick swimmer look. That’s not who ...

• At November 28, 2008, Bat2supe wrote:

  Thanks guys for all the response, I guess that Dr Strange look let alot of people guessing & not only ...

• At November 28, 2008, Nick Evans wrote:

  Why would Namor look like a human swimmer? Not only is he partially non-human, but he's built to live ...

• At November 29, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  Thanks Brian!

  And thanks AnthonyX! I'm going to have to do some digging around to find that Kirby interview.

Enjoy!

Reader Dan K. wished to pass on the article about President Elect Obama that I'm sure a few of you have seen where it states as one of the facts you might not know about the man...

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

_________________________________________

Reader Keith S. wrote in to ask:

Who were the writer/artists responsible for those Hostess ads that appeared in the Marvel/DC books in the 80's? I'm sure it varied, but was there any big name talent working on these one page wonders?

Great question, Keith!

I know Bob Rozakis wrote a bunch of the DC ones, and some of the artists who worked on them include such luminaries as Curt Swan, Ross Andru and John Romita.

Beyond that, I'm afraid I do not know.

Anyone out there able to help us here?
_________________________________________

Reader Stephane S. came up with another stumper:

Where did the trope of "intense telepathy brings on nosebleeds" come from? It's been appearing in coming regularly for years now, and strikes me as the sort of thing which might have originated there... or maybe some kind of 80s Sci-Fi movie. Any thoughts?

I admittedly do not have the slightest idea.

Anyone have any clue?

One thing I CAN do, though, to make your question not totally in vain, is link you to Polite Scott's awesome website, Polite Dissent, where he does a weekly feature about nosebleeds in comics.

First, here is Scott's primer on nosebleeds.

Next, here is a link to his nosebleed category, where every week he gives us good readers "Your Weekend Moment of Psychic Nosebleed Zen."
_________________________________________

Nice publicist David sent along a note about Jonathan Baylis' new comic collection, So Buttons.

Here is a sample (click here to check out Baylis' website, and click on the image to enlarge).

_________________________________________

Reader Jonathan S. wrote in with some interesting links to Canadian comic book history.

The first one can be found here.

The second one can be found here.

Good stuff!

Thanks, JC!
_________________________________________

Reader Jerry wrote in to ask:

In the mid 1970s, DC went an entire year without publishing any new JLA stories. Justice League of America #109 came out with a Jan-Feb 1974 cover date. The next seven issues, #110-116, reprints two or three stories per issue, with each issue billed as 100 pages for 60 cents. The next new issue of Justice League of America is #117, with a cover date of April 1975.

I don't ever recall reading a reason why this occurred. I know X-Men went to reprint status for issues #67-93, but that was mainly done so as to not lose the title spot with the distribution company, which I believe at the time was owned by DC. I can't imagine DC would need to follow the same steps as Marvel did. And a very quick search has not turned up anything online explaining why this occurred.

Any insight you could share or track down? Thanks!

Well, Jerry, I'm afraid my answer is going to be a bit of a let down.

You see, those issues were not all-reprint issues.

Each of those issues you mentioned had one new story along with the reprints.

#116 was one of the first Justice League comics I ever bought as a kid, so I definitely knew THAT one had a new story in it, at least!
_________________________________________

Nice publicist Margot wrote in to drop a line about a really neat interactive chat with Hellboy II director Guillermo Del Toro next Thursday, November 23rd!

To participate, all users need to do is log into www.UniversalHiDef.com and then enter the "Director's Chat" under my account to enter up to 3 questions for the Director to answer. Then connect your Blu-rayâ„¢ player to the Internet and chat with Guillermo Del Toro on November 23rd!

Hmmm...so wait, you need a Blu-ray player? I guess that's less cool.
_________________________________________

I believe that's it for this week!

Be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

Another week of good e-mails - keep it up!

20 Comments

• At November 19, 2008, Rhod wrote:

  I'm guessing here but I reckon the oldest psychic nosebleed might be The Fury, a film with Kirk Douglas I ...

• At November 19, 2008, RAB wrote:

  Everyone quotes that damn Telegraph article as if it's some kind of definitive word on the subject, but they don't ...

• At November 19, 2008, John Seavey wrote:

  I was going to guess Stephen King's 'Firestarter' or 'Carrie', but he might have been cribbing from 'The Fury'.

• At November 19, 2008, Keith wrote:

  awesome!!! Thanks for answering my question. I always get a laugh over the old hostess ads. If ...

• At November 19, 2008, Matt Bird wrote:

  I've always assumed that the first comic to use the psychic powers nosebleed was Akira, but I trust Scott to ...

• At November 19, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  According to Comic Book Artist vol. 1 No.9:

  The principal writer of the ads was E. Nelson Bridwell, with Rozakis ...

• At November 19, 2008, Luis Jaime wrote:

  From the very cool website that you sent us to:

  The History of the Psychic Nosebleed

  Filed under: Comics, Medicine | ...

• At November 19, 2008, Polite Scott wrote:

  Initially, I thought SCANNERS was the first mention of the psychic nosebleed (1982), but since then -- as mentioned above ...

• At November 19, 2008, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Re: Psychic Nosebleed

  Wow, guys. Good info there. Thanks a lot! I remember that nosebleed in God Loves ...

• At November 19, 2008, stealthwise wrote:

  I haven't read Firestarter in forever, but I thought that the nosebleed starts there. He definitely gets headaches and ...

• At November 19, 2008, The Mad Monkey wrote:

  The psychic nosebleed...

  I've always taken it as what happens when you increase the blood pressure to your head. Such ...

• At November 19, 2008, fourthworlder wrote:

  I had a friend who'd get sudden nasty nose-bleeds during every take-off when he flew, until he got the inside ...

• At November 19, 2008, M Bloom wrote:

  That JLA issue with the murdered Santa Claus - #110 - if memory serves that was the one issue of ...

• At November 20, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  If President-elect Obama hated Brand New Day, would Marvel relent?

• At November 20, 2008, SplintChesthair wrote:

  Neal Adams, as mentioned above, drew one of the Hostess ads, but it was also noteworthy because it was the ...

• At November 20, 2008, Rhod wrote:

  "If President-elect Obama hated Brand New Day, would Marvel relent?"

  Do you think he could issue an executive order to have ...

• At November 20, 2008, fnord12 wrote:

  Re: the hostess ads, Sean Baby has an interview with Bob Rozakis that gives a little insight (but not too ...

• At November 20, 2008, Omar Karindu wrote:

  I must say that my favorite Hostess ads were the ones starring the Joker, who a) hated Hostess pies, unlike ...

• At November 20, 2008, Tho wrote:

  Regarding the hostess ads, I think Batman and the Mummy was drawn by Dick Giordano, and Neal Adams drew the ...

• At November 30, 2008, fatboyskinny wrote:

  Actually, it was Vinnie Colletta who drew the majority of those Hostess advertisements, or inked them at any rate.

Enjoy!

Reader Rhodri T. wrote me this one awhile back, but I was waiting to ask Mark Evanier about it, and I did this past week.

Rhodri asked:

Something I've wondered for a while but didn't really know where to find the answer: Who wrote the Marvel credit boxes in the 60s? logic would suggest Stan Lee for the most part, but the way they were always so derogatory to the letterers, Sam Rosen and Art Simek mostly I believe, makes me wonder if they wouldn't have objected, even though it was in jest? So maybe the letterers did these themselves?

I presumed it was Lee doing it, but I'll admit that I've never heard anyone speak about this specifically, so I asked the always informative Mark Evanier, and he graciously answered that yeah, it was Lee doing the credit boxes, although he added:

Other writers like Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich wrote 'em on issues they scripted, though Stan (as editor) occasionally fiddled with them to get them into the proper style.

So there ya go!

Thanks a lot, Mark!
_________________________________________

A few different folks wrote in to ask about the name change to Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed.

Well, sadly, country singer Keith Urban's lawyer sent us a cease and desist letter about using the word "urban," so I had to drop it.

Seriously, though, awhile back someone mentioned to me that they thought "Comic Book Legends Revealed" sounded better than "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed," and I actually agreed, that DID sound better, so I eventually got around to changing it a few weeks back.
_________________________________________

Reader Pitr S. wrote in to ask:

Your posting of the Mazzucchelli cover reminded me of a question I've been looking for an answer to for some time. Who was the first person to place so much importance on Martha Wayne's pearls? More specifically, who drew the first incarnation of the now-oft-used image of her necklace snapping and the pearls scattering? Was it Frank Miller in DKR? That's the earliest example I can think of, but I don't know if he was using someone else's motif.

Good question, Pitr, and not one that I can answer with 100% certainty, but I am pretty darn sure that yes, it was Miller who first made the big deal out of the pearls (which the film Batman Begins recently used to good effect).

If someone out there can find an earlier use, let me know!
_________________________________________

Reader Daniel really wants to promote Megan Rose Gedris' "I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates," so here is a link to Gedris' website for the book.

Nick Marino (here is Nick's website) wrote in to ask:

There was a short period in the mid to late 90s when I stopped reading comics regularly (ha! me and lots of other people!), and it was right around this time when Marvel came out with Over the Edge, featuring a rotating cast of Marvel Edge characters. Back then, I missed out on any interviews or other behind-the-scenes material on this series and the Edge imprint. I picked up the Over the Edge books from a quarter bin in the early 00s and thoroughly enjoyed most of them. For example, there's a Mr. Fear tale with Daredevil, a great Daredevil and Black Panther team-up, and an incredible Elektra story that all seem to exist somewhere between Marvel Adventures and Marvel Knights. What happened with this imprint? Do the Over the Edge stories factor into current character histories? Are these "in continuity"? (And for bonus points, what happened to Over the Edge penciler Robert Brown? He had a great Bachalo-meets-McFarlane style.)

Over the Edge was part of Marvel's ill-fated plan in the mid-90s to split the company into different "groups."

Around that time, Marvel had also been experimenting with 99 cent comics (to little success), and they decided to give the "Marvel Edge" line of comics (which basically meant the heroes who weren't connected to other groups) a spotlight 99 cent comic book.

The silliness of pairing the Hulk, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and the Punisher in a "line" of comics was spotlighted in the "Double Edge" crossover where John Ostrander and Kim Yale had to somehow bring all the characters together for a ridiculous storyline involving the Punisher being brainwashed into killing Nick Fury, who Punisher ultimately "kills" at the end of the story (leading into Ostrander's new Punisher series).

I actually liked Ostrander's Punisher series, although Tom Lyle would be about the last guy I'd ever think of for a Punisher series, and I guess that made sense, because the series was about as far from the Punisher concept as you can get (or so we thought at the time - we did not, of course, know that the days of the Punisher as Magic Avenging Angel was going to be upon us in a few years).

Anyhow, Over the Edge WAS in continuity, it was just designed to be read by a new reader.

The Daredevil stories, for instance, take place in continuity right before Karl Kesel's run on the book.

Over the Edge features, I believe, one of the last stories ever written by Mark Gruenwald before his tragic passing.

Robert Brown was part of another failed 99 cent comic, Marvel Fanfare, which also made a big point about being "in continuity." Stephen Jones was the artist paired with Brown on both title - they tended to do every other issue.

As for Robert "REB" Brown, the last I heard from him, he was doing licensed comics eight years or so ago, like the Undertaker comic book. If anyone knows what Mr. Brown is up to, let me know!
_________________________________________

Reader Chris McAree has an interesting question...

I really don't know if you can help me with this but it's been bugging me for years! One of my first introductions to American comics was through Frank Miller's Daredevil. Now living as I do, about 80 miles from my nearest comic book store, and at the time, not having my own car (I was about 8!) I used to pick up the occasional TPB to fill in missed issues and the like. One of my friends lent me "The Elektra Saga," which, naturally, I thought was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Years later, when the Frank Miller Visionaries series came out, some of my friends bought them for me as a birthday present. Being a chronic insomniac I actually read them in one long and slightly inebriated sitting, after celebrating my birthday with my friends. The next day it occurred to me that there were several scenes that I could remember reading as a child, that didn't seem to be present. At first I ascribed this to having had a couple too many drinks, and skipping pages, and later, after scouring the TPBs and not finding the missing scenes, I broke open the long boxes and rooted out all my old DD issues. Still without success, I had begun to wonder if I had imagined the scenes, until I stumbled across a copy of The Elektra Saga on eBay and the penny dropped. One quick delivery later, and I had found, among others, a character defining scene featuring Elektra on an airplane, then later, brought before the Jonin of the Hand.

Now, after this long preamble, my question is this; were these extra scenes written by Frank Miller? They fit together so nicely with the other excerpts from Miller's run, that since discovering these "link" scenes I have always wondered whether they were Frank's words, or who it was that did the excellent job aping his style? Can you help?

Fine question, Chris.

Okay, first off, the Elektra Saga comics reprinted a little-seen Elektra story from Bizarre Adventures #28 in Elektra Saga #1, so right there, most people don't recognize this story.

That said, yes, Miller and Klaus Janson sprinkled in some new material within some of the issues of Elektra Saga, on top of the brand-new (very cool looking) covers to the issues...

_________________________________________

The nice publicist, Margot, has sent me a bunch of stuff about the new Hellboy II DVD.

Here is an online Hellboy II card game.

Here and here are some behind the scenes featurettes from the film.
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Margaret from IDW let me know about a big sale that IDW Publishing is having for those folks in the San Diego area.

On Saturday, December 6th, from 10am to 3pm, IDW is trying to clean up its warehouse by selling off as many of their comics as possible, at very low prices!

The sale will be held in IDW's parking lot, 5080 Santa Fe St, San Diego, CA 92109.
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SeqArt dropped me a line about the upcoming release of the Legion of Superheroes essay book edited by our friend and yours, Tim Callahan.

Pretty darn cool looking, Tim!

*cough*send me a review copy*cough*

Man, I must have had something stuck in my throat.
_________________________________________

I believe that's it for this week!

Be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

So far, you folks have been sending quite a few interesting e-mails - keep it up!

14 Comments

• At November 12, 2008, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  What's up with Elektra's face in the Elektra Saga covers? She looks... part leopard or something.

• At November 12, 2008, Andrew Collins wrote:

  Glad to see someone else is enjoying "I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space" as much as I ...

• At November 13, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  What Andrew said about I WAS KIDNAPPED BY LESB IAN PIRATES FROM OUTER SPACE -- really, really fun.

• At November 13, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  Brian - Thanks for filling me in on the Over the Edge stuff! I know about the attempt at "groups" ...

• At November 13, 2008, Rob R. wrote:

  There's something odd about a Daredevil cover on which DD is spooked by Spider-Man's big, shiny light. How would ...

• At November 13, 2008, yo go re wrote:

  Speaking of Comic Book Legends Revealed, it got a shout-out in the newest issue of ToyFare magazine as one of ...

• At November 13, 2008, Rhod wrote:

  Thanks for answering my question Brian, and thanks for reminding me about the Over the edge and under a buck ...

• At November 13, 2008, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>SeqArt dropped me a line about the upcoming release of the Legion of Superheroes essay book edited by our friend ...

• At November 13, 2008, Paul C wrote:

  Those Elektra covers are fantastic and such a good idea behind them. I'd say those Over The Edge comics would ...

• At November 13, 2008, Chris McAree wrote:

  Many thanks for the answer to that longstanding question Brian.

• At November 13, 2008, Craig wrote:

  Consider me another vote for I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space. I did pick it up on ...

• At November 14, 2008, Scavenger wrote:

  I loved that look on Doctor Strange, the Mark "Fables" Buckingham designed overcoat of levitation rather than the Ditko Cloak.

• At November 14, 2008, Mr. B wrote:

  @Dan Bailey

  Yeah, Teenagers From the Future has been out for a while, I got a copy from Amazon around a ...

• At November 16, 2008, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Yeesh. Were those "Over the Edge" covers designed to showcase the worst styles of 1990s comic book art? Most are ...

Enjoy!

Alan David Doane wrote in to let me know about an audio interview he has up with Ivan Brunetti about a new comic book anthology Brunetti is doing through Yale University Press.

Check it out here.

Reader Scott K. wrote in to ask:

The store I frequent (Excalibur Comics in Portland yeah!) has a 50% off back issues sale about 2-3 times a year. I enjoy grabbing 6-12 issues of something that I usually don't read & try out new titles on the cheap. Usually these books are from years past, they don't have to be recent. When I first went I did some research on various sites for 'classic' comic book runs from major titles. Whoa and behold the Pheonix Saga was not available for half off in the boxes that day! Most times I show up with a list but end up picking a book almost at random and grabbing a year's worth of issues based off cover art- needless to say it's hit & miss. What are some comic book runs that you feel are underappreciated from years past that I'd be able to find at one of these sales? They don't have to be DC/Marvel.

Great question, Scott, and honestly, it will likely tie in with another reader's question, so let me post his question, as well.

Here's Derek O.'s question...

I recently bought a few complete runs of DC series from the mid to late 90s on eBay, namely Resurrection Man, Hourman, Hawkworld and Ostrander and Mandrake's Spectre and Martian Manhunter. These series' are awesome and I cant believe they haven't been collected! Shame on you DC! Anyway, my question for the mailbag column is: what Marvel or DC series from the last 10-15 years do you think deserves to be reprinted that hasn't yet? Its such a shame that the big two spend so much time and effort collecting everything they currently publish but some gems have been completely overlooked. The treatment they are giving Starman is an exception rather the norm and I just feel with so much good stuff published in the recent past, why not reprint it? (who buys the trades of some of the current dreck that clutters up bookshelves? for example do we really need to see Eclipso: Music of the Spheres in trade format?)

Okay, so I think "series that should be collected but aren't" are almost certainly going to have some overlap with "good series to search for full runs in discount boxes," so here are a list of series that qualify for both "good series to search for full runs in discount boxes" as well as "series that should be collected but aren't":

John Ostrander's Suicide Squad - Eventually, we WILL see a collection of this awesome series, but until then, search through those back issue bins! I once saw the entire run in a 50 cent bin in Upstate New York. Sadly, I already had the whole run by this point. I don't think there was a single bad point in the 66 issue run.

Ambush Bug - Next March will see the very first collection of Ambush Bug comics! You can still find the individual issues cheap, though. Great comics.

L.E.G.I.O.N. - Especially the early Giffen issues, although the later issues with Waid were quite good, too. Vril Dox is probably the coolest character that basically no one knows anything about.

R.E.B.E.L.S. - This continuation of L.E.G.I.O.N. is less loved, but I think it was a lot of fun. Tom Peyer did a great job with it.

Paul Levitz' Legion of Superheroes - Just get anything Legion written by Levitz. Some of it is in trade, but not enough.

Keith Giffen's Legion of Superheroes - It is amazing that the "Five Years Later" Legion is not in trades. This was one of the densest comic book reading experience imaginable, and I loved it.

Post-Zero Hour Legion - There is a trade (or two, maybe) of the first issues after Zero Hour, but the whole run is worth picking up.

Legion Lost - How is this NOT in trade? It is even a more or less complete story of a group of Legionnaires trapped far, far away from their homes.

Young Heroes in Love - Dan Raspler and Dev Madan's fun look at superheroes and relationships. It ran for 18 issues.

Chase - Dan Curtis Johnson did a great job with Cameron Chase, an agent for the Department of Extranormal Operation. It also happened to be drawn by J.H. freakin' Williams III!!!

Most of Joe Kelly's Deadpool - The first 20 issues or so were great, with #11 being an instant classic. It lost some luster when Kelly thought the book was cancelled, then it wasn't, then it was, etc. They just recently announced a trade of the first storyline, which is great (and long overdue) news.

Warren Ellis' Excalibur - None of it is in trades, right? It should be - it was typical Ellis goodness.

Chronos - John Francis Moore and Paul Guinan did a fun job on this time-traveling series.

Karl Kesel's Daredevil - None of it is in trades, right? Cary Nord joined Kesel for a return to fun Daredevil stories that were quite a blast. Gene Colan came back as artist, and Joe Kelly

Deadshot - Ostrander and Yale wrote a great Deadshot mini-series. In fact, just get everything written by Ostrander and Yale, okay?

Justice League International - It's all being collected eventually, it seems, but still, it is all pretty cheap right now still, so go buy it! Basically, if it was a DC comic book with Giffen plotting it in the 80s and early 90s, it was good.

Heckler!! - Giffen!!

Quantum and Woody - Most of it has been collected, but not all of it. Very fun series by Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright.

Steel - Is Priest's run collected? If not, it should be. Great stuff.

Black Panther - All of Priest's stuff up to #50 (only the early stuff is in trades), and then even the post #50 stuff.

Thunderbolts - All of Busiek's run (only the early stuff is in trades), and if you liked it a lot, then all of Nicieza's run.

Okay, I know way too many comic books - this is annoying - I could just keep going on and on and on, so I am just going to stop here.

Our young would-be comic creator from last week, Chris Jones, wrote in to ask:

I was at the APE this weekend to submit my story proposal. When I got back somebody said it was likely that it was thrown in the trash, unread. As much as I wouldn't like to believe that, how good do you think the odds are that that was true?

I'd have to know who you submitted it to.

That said, I sincerely doubt they'd trash it. They might not pay it real attention, but I don't think they'd actually trash it.

Any convention submission acceptors out there that can let us know how you handle things typically?

Reader Ryan S. wrote in to ask:

A while back, you did a Top Five month. Within that month, you had two related lists. You had a list for characters created in Infinity, Inc. and a list for characters from Earth-2. Since none of the characters on the first list ended up on the second list, does this mean that you do not like the ones from the first list as much? Admittedly, a few of those Infinity, Inc. members were created post-Crisis, but Mister Bones (your number one) definitely wasn't.

Also, the Earth-2 list is nothing but Infinity, Inc. members. Does this mean you have an affinity for that series? I love it and would like to hear your thoughts on it.

First off, for a refresher, here's a link to the two Top 5s in question - The Infinity Inc. one and the Earth 2 one.

Yeah, Ryan, it is fair to say that I did not like the characters from the first list as much as a like the characters from the second list. Although, really, now that you mention it, my top pick on the first list (Mr. Bones) probably should have netted an honorable mention on the second list.

Really, the point of the first list was twofold - 1. An amusing notice that the main members of Infinity Inc. were not introduced in the pages of Infinity Inc. (hey, I get my little amusements wherever I can get them!) and 2. Since the main characters did NOT appear in Infinity Inc., then it would be a nice challenge for me to come up with five good characters that DID first appear in the pages of Infinity Inc. (one could argue that I was not able to ).

As for Infinity Inc., if you note the Top 5, almost all of the characters on the Top 5 of the Earth 2 heroes were based on what happened to them AFTER Infinity Inc. That said, I enjoyed Infinity Inc. well enough, but I can't say that it is a favorite of mine. You should write back in, Ryan, with an explanation of why you think Infinity Inc. was so good!

Reader Austin asked a stumper...

Once upon a time, late 80s???, I bought a comic book (I think the only one I ever bought) that dealt exclusively with female characters. I think it was a special issue. I don't know if it was Marvel or DC or what. I just remember thinking it was sooooooooo cool because it was all female heroes and characters in that issue. In my head I have this picture of the cover which had like a 3x3 or 4x4 grid with headshots of all the females that make an appearance in the issue. Maybe I'm nuts. Maybe I was drunk. I can hardly remember anything about it. I think She-Hulk put in an appearance. Maybe Firestar too. But I can't be sure - like I said, this is from a long time ago and the memories are a little hazy. For some reason this popped into my head the other day and I'm obsessing about it now. I even checked out some of your comic book links trying to locate it. But with my limited information (and possibly not even correct information) I wasn't able to track it down.

I'll be honest - I have no clue.

Anyone else?

Readers Sprout and filrouge both wrote in separately to suggest this 1986 Marvel Graphic Novel plotted by Jim Shooter, scripted by David Michelinie with artwork by Greg LaRocque.

Let us know if that was what you were looking for, Austin!

Reader bat2supe wrote in to ask:

So, my question deals with the ultimates, I remember that Jeph Loeb was supposed to write the vol.3 then Ultimatum & then Ultimates vol. 4 with art by Ed McGuinness & IIRC Loeb stated that Mc Guiness already pencilled if not his entire run, at least some issues & even preview art was shown IIRC.

Now, you've got Millar & Hitch returning for what is now called Ultimate Avengers.

When did marvel take the decision & Was this change due to the poor review of Ultimates Vol. 3 by Loeb & Madureira.

Will the McGuinness work have a place near all the previous deleted project by Marvel.

I'm pretty sure Loeb has stated that his plans for Ultimatum conflicted with his plans for Ultimates Vol. 4.

As to the completed McGuinness artwork, I do not know.

I believe that's it for this week!

Be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

28 Comments

• At November 6, 2008, indysleaze wrote:

  The Deadshot mini had art by Luke McDonnell, which makes it all the more awesome. I'd add Major Bummer by ...

• At November 6, 2008, Sprout wrote:

  I may have an answer for Austin :

  it may be The Aladin effect : a marvel graphic novel from 1986 ...

• At November 6, 2008, Filrouge wrote:

  I remember the comic book Austin is talking about, I have the french edition of it, it was called "L'effet ...

• At November 6, 2008, Derek wrote:

  Thanks for answering my question Brian. I will keep my eye out for some of those titles in the back ...

• At November 6, 2008, MJ wrote:

  If it is not the Aladdin Effect that Austin was thinking about, it may be an issue of Bizarre Adventures ...

• At November 6, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  L.E.G.I.O.N. was utterly brilliant! The best thing to come out of Invasion! I love it whenever they ...

• At November 6, 2008, Annoyed Grunt wrote:

  They released a trade of the early Deadpool issues a decade or so ago.

  I'd suggest picking up DC's ...

• At November 6, 2008, will_butler wrote:

  I'm buying way fewer new comics than I used to for a variety of reasons (expense, spotty shipping schedules, lack ...

• At November 6, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  I totally agree with you on every comic you wanted to see get a trade collection there. You hit most ...

• At November 6, 2008, Filrouge wrote:

  Ellis did not really do a run on Thor, it was only a story arc of 4 issues.

• At November 6, 2008, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Hitman. It's criminal that they didn't reprint more, and that it's not still in print.

• At November 6, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  I know it's been covered again and again, but two volumes that for legal reasons apparently CAN'T be reprinted, but ...

• At November 6, 2008, Eric Michael wrote:

  L.E.G.I.O.N. was fantastic and I got into by pure accident. I was sick, my mom went to the ...

• At November 6, 2008, Sprout wrote:

  Matt D : Ellis' Thor is collected in the Marvel Visionnairies, Thor : Mike Deodato

  check out here : http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/aug02/gmorrison2.shtml

• At November 6, 2008, Sprout wrote:

  oops wrong link : it's here : http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=1319

  sorry for the goof ;-)

• At November 6, 2008, MJ wrote:

  My memories of Bizarre Adventures from an earlier comment were muddled to say the least. I was combining two ...

• At November 6, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  Sprout: Thanks. That's good to know. It blew me away as a kid in a way that his Excalibur run ...

• At November 6, 2008, Stefan wrote:

  I like the "Whoa and behold" in the first letter...

  New Joe Kelly Deadpool trades!? Woohoo!

• At November 6, 2008, Aqualad wrote:

  Ellis' Excalibur was head and shoulders above the other mid-90's X-Men books, but I don't know if it'd hold up ...

• At November 6, 2008, Sprout wrote:

  Matt D : and the TPB includes also the Bill Messner-Loebs'issues that were quite good.

  Too bad this revamp was shot ...

• At November 6, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  I'm so glad The Aladdin Effect made it into this mailbag cause I'm gonna buy it now!!!

• At November 6, 2008, Teebore wrote:

  Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I was actually asking the question for a friend of mine, who orignally asked me. ...

• At November 6, 2008, JD wrote:

  Loeb is STILL doing Ultimates 4... but with Frank Cho. It's been confirmed this summer soon after the Millar announcement ...

• At November 6, 2008, MLViola wrote:

  Glad to see your list of "should be in TPB" comics. I have most of them. I am also planning ...

• At November 6, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Add Hellstorm to the list (particularly the Ellis issues) and (as far as I know, not yet collected) Alan Davis' ...

• At November 6, 2008, danjack wrote:

  i totally agree with these runs of comics. L.E.G.I.O.N. lost some steam at the end, but then morphed into R.E.B.E.L.S. ...

• At November 6, 2008, Scott wrote:

  Brian: thanks for answering my question, I'm stoked that I haven't read any of those books.

• At November 7, 2008, Teebore wrote:

  My friend emailed me back to say she's fairly certain the comic in questions was, indeed, Aladdin Quest. She is ...

Enjoy!

Da Fug wrote in to ask:

This is kind of a stupid question, but back when the blog was getting all negative on The Dark Knight (movie) you were amazingly silent if I recall correctly (though I could have missed a comment somewhere). Your silence seemed to indicate that you were just not going to get in on that mess and not going to take sides. Or maybe you were just busy

So I was always wondering what you thought of The Dark Knight (better than Begins? Disappointing? Satisfying movie experience? Hong Kong scene good/bad? etc.)

That's a good point, I don't think I did give a review of the film on the blog.

By the by, I kept meaning to do a New York get together to watch the movie, but it never materialized. Sorry, Gina! Maybe a screening party when it comes out on DVD?

Anyhow, as to my thoughts on the movie, I liked it well enough. Probably not enough to recommend it, but it was mostly an entertaining movie. I said to my girlfriend when we left the theater that what struck me was just how simple the movie was, in the sense that we shouldn't be stunned when superhero films are as good as Dark Knight is (as some of the reviews at the time certainly were suggesting) - good films should be the baseline of what we expect. Films should off the bat be as good as Dark Knight (or Iron Man, for that matter) and then strive to be better. We shouldn't, like, reward competence in superhero movies just because so many of them have been incompetent.

This doesn't mean, of course, that you shouldn't enjoy the movie - Dark Knight was an enjoyable movie, although I think it's fair enough to note that the film seemed to want its proverbial cake and eat it, too, by having it be a rollicking action film while also being "realistic" - it's extremely difficult to mix the two, and if Dark Knight HAD achieved that mix, then I WOULD think of it as a film to recommend, but as it were, this film was mostly for people who are impressed when an action film is smarter than, say, Die Hard 4 (a film that also was credited mostly for not being as dumb as, say, Die Hard 3).

The Hong Kong scene was a lot of fun, but the film probably would have been tighter without it.

One thing I absolutely loved, though, was the way they did not explicitly tell the audience whether Joker lied about the addresses where Harvey and Rachel were being held. Very nice.

So yeah, fun movie that I liked well enough, but I wouldn't recommend it.
_____________________________________________

A nice publicity lady, Margot, sent me a link to a thing where you can transform yourself into the Hulk!

I, sadly, did not have a lot of good pictures to use on the internet (you need one where you're starting straight ahead), but this is the closest I had, so enjoy seeing what happens when I see someone say "revert back"...I get so ANGRY!!!

Click here for my rage

Here's where you can do your own.
_____________________________________________

Reader Michael V. wrote in to say:

Did I miss something or has someone pointed out that one of the big components of the underlying premise of Marvel's Secret Invasion (the hidden sleeper agents already in the Marvel Universe) was done by DC for the Millennium crossover with all of the sleeper Manhunters - none of which were detectible beforehand.

All too often, when DC or Marvel has a universe wide crossover, the other company is doing a similar one (or already did that cross over). For example, in Civil War heroes and villains took sides on whether or not the registration act was a violation of civil rights. Was that much different from Identity Crisis in which heroes dealt with the civil rights violations incident to Zatanna's mind-wipes.

Michael, Michael, Michael...they're COMPLETELY different! In Secret Invasion, they're Skrulls - in Millenium, they're Manhunters! TOTALLY DIFFERENT!

In all seriousness, yeah, you're not the only one - in fact, note how DC has recently collected both Invasion! and Millennium into trade collections, while they had basically ignored both crossovers for years? It's almost certainly to tie in with the similarities between the three crossovers.

That said, while I definitely do allow that a lot of these big crossovers tend to blend together, thematically, I think Civil War and Identity Crisis are a bit of a reach compared to each other, particularly since Marvel had already done the Superhuman Registration Act storyline in the late 1980s (where Reed Richards argued the completely opposite side that he argued during Civil War, but hey, who's keeping score?).

I don't think it's particularly a big deal - I think the execution is a lot more important than similar general plot lines - heck, if you want to go with similar stories, Secret Invasion is a lot more like Battlestar Galactica's Cylons than anything, right? I think they're just general ideas that would occur to any writer involved with shape shifting characters.

Of course, that doesn't mean it isn't fun teasing these things on how the plots are all fairly generic. Heck, I, myself, did a bit where I teased Secret Invasion for its fairly formulaic opening issue...

_____________________________________________

Reader Steve B. asked:

When Marvel created the Not Brand Echh and What The ? comics was there any backlash from DC or the other publishers that were parodied and how come DC didn't jump on the bandwagon and release their own version of the comics?

Also just as a little neat thing, I recently read Volume 2 of The Doom Patrol and in I think issue 9 where they are up against a load of plastic men in the background you can make out Plastic Man popping up with a smile, are there any other comics featuring similar situations and I mean stuff where it's the actual character rather than a non lawsuit type version?

Well, Steve, as has been seen, while comic parody comics can be quite excellent, there was never exactly a big market for them, so I think that's why DC did not try to match Not Brand Echh - it really didn't sell all that well. It only lasted 13 issues. DC did, however, try their own take-off of a humor magazine that DID sell well, Mad Magazine. DC did Plop! Marvel later did their own version of Mad, too, Crazy, the same year Plop! came out. Plop! was probably more critically acclaimed (it had Sergio Aragones!), but Crazy lasted much longer - 24 issues or so for Plop! while almost 100 for Crazy.

As for the appearance of other companies characters in comics, you're right, I can't recall off the top of my head seeing, say, a Superman comic appear in an issue of Spider-Man. I'm sure it has happened, though. Someone out there, find it for me and Steve!!
_____________________________________________

Amanda, from the 92nd Street Y wrote in to tell me of a neat cartoon exhibit they're having until January, 2009.

It features the work of Lauren Weinstein, Tom Hart, and Matthew Thurber.

92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10128

Check out the website for the 92nd Street Y here to view information on cartooning classes and some upcoming lectures, including a discussion between Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd about the 20th Anniversary of Sandman!!
_____________________________________________

Reader Dan C. wrote in to ask:

In the past year or so, and maybe as a reaction to the decompressed stories I was loving four or five years ago, I've been gravitating towards titles that have more "meat" to them - ones that take me more than 5 minutes to read. So, I've been enjoying Fred Van Lente's work (both for Marvel and his self-published stuff), Jonathan Hickman, Grant Morrison, Abnett and Lanning, and a few others. My question is: what should I be looking at? What are the densest comics that more people should be reading?

Interesting question, Dan.

I initially replied with giving you a list of writers that I felt fell into this category, but then as the list got bigger and bigger, it began to occur to me that I think a LOT of comics give you a lot of "meat" in them. I just think that the "problem" is that a lot of the most popular comic books out there really don't, like Secret Invasion and Loeb's Hulk.

This doesn't mean that a decompressed comic book is BAD - a lot of the issues of Northlanders are fairly sparse, but they're still excellent examples of storytelling through visuals more than dialogue/words.

That said, Image has a few titles, Casanova and Fell most prominently, which are specifically designed to be EXTRA compressed - heck, they fill in more story than most comics in LESS pages than other comics, which is why they're only $2.
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Reader Drew wrote in to say:

I"m reading the Watchmen for the first time ever (I know!). Just got through the arrest of Rorschach. So far I'm more interested in the ship-wrecked pirate than any of the unlikable superheroes. Yeesh. Also, did the original pamphlets have the backups from the novels, etc. They're really annoying.

The pirate story WAS good. Not my favorite part of the comic, but it was good.

And yes, the original comics had the backups.
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Reader Frank F. wrote in to ask:

I stumbled over your web page while doing a web search for a Joseph Keppler cartoon from 1887. It's called "European Equilibrist" and it shows Otto von Bismarck juggling the European nations. I can't find a good quality image online and I was hoping you have access to it and would be so friendly and scan it for me. I am a teacher at a secondary school in Germany and I would really like to use it in my class (Also, it is driving me nuts not to have it. I remember seeing the cartoon when I was a student and since I became a teacher it's been haunting me). I'd be much obliged.

How could I let Frank down?

Here you go, Frank, "European Equilibrist," by Joseph Keppler....

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Reader Chris J. wrote in to ask:

I know that Jim Shooter was the youngest to start doing comics at 13, but do you know how old some of the runner-ups are? I'm 17 and I'm itchin' to break some records!

Well, Chris, contemporary to Shooter was Cary Bates, who was in his late teens at the time. Back then, guys in their early 20s (sometimes late teens) hung around fandom and the Marvel and DC offices and eventually got some gigs writing books.

That doesn't happen anymore, so unless you have an independent hit when you're in your teens, or had some other notable hit like a hit novel or something like that, you're not going to become a writer at Marvel or DC when you're in your teens.

If you draw, however, then that is generally a pretty level playing field - if you can draw, you will likely find some writer who needs an artist, and if Marvel and DC see it, they WILL try to hire you if you're good.
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Reader Reid (of Reidaboutit) had the following rant:

After a few years of only reading comics in TPB form, I decided to get back into the monthly grind. After something else I was subscribing to got cancelled, my subscription got transferred over to The Mighty Avengers. I figured I'd give it a chance, so I read the first two issues together.

Of course, they're both Secret Invasion crossovers. In the first one, it's revealed how Spider-Woman is a Skrull, and the current plot has existed all the way back through House of M. The newest issue features the Hood, and how the supervillains are reacting to the Skrulls' plans.

Both were good issues, decent plot, good artwork. They fit right into the Secret Invasion pocket. What's the problem with them?

No Avengers.

Yep, two straight issues and there's not a single superhero in them. These are two issues that are completely parts of the Secret Invasion whole. They'll look great in the trade paperback, where they'll make perfect sense. However, if I were a new reader picking up my first issue, there would be no way I could follow what's going on, and I'd wonder where the Avengers were. Had I bought them for my kid, I might be upset I just spent six bucks on books with no story and no superheroes, only villains.

I don't feel like I bought an issue of a comic book. I feel like I puchased an interlude.

That's definitely a problem with the current issues of Marvel Avengers and New Avengers, as they're basically useless unless you're reading Secret Invasion.

Still, if the issues are good, I don't think it's a major problem. Remember when Byrne gave Doctor Doom the focus in a classic issue of Fantastic Four? That was awesome.

It's definitely an odd stylistic decision, though.

Those Skrull homage covers, however, they make me so angry.
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NBM wanted to let us know about an upcoming exhibit starting November 19th at MoCCA featuring European comic book artists.

In mid-November, the Cultural Services Department of the French Embassy in the United States is bringing to New York a group of French cartoonists, including NBM Publishing writer-artists David B. (EPILEPTIC, NOCTURNAL CONSPIRACIES) and Nicolas De Crécy (GLACIAL PERIOD). From Wednesday, November 19, through Friday, November 21, the artists will visit the School of Visual Arts and Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) for events including a gallery opening, a book-signing session, and discussions of contemporary culture.

Follow MoCCA's web site for more information as it becomes available (click here).
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Chris wrote in to tell me that the season finale of Captain Blasto has begun, so check it out on their web site here.
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Michelle from the Sundance Channel wrote in to tell me about a new episode of Iconoclasts, featuring Iron Man director, Jon Favreau, discussing the differences between directing Iron Man and Swingers with Tony Hawk.

Here's a clip.

The episode airs tomorrow, Thursday Oct 30 at 10p E/P
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Finally, Adam wrote in to send me a link to a political debate on his web site here between Dr. Doom and General Zod.

That's it for this week!

Be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!

21 Comments

• At October 29, 2008, Brad Curran wrote:

  The proximity of those last two items has warped my mind. Now I want to see a political debate between ...

• At October 29, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  Hey Brian. Thanks for answering my question! I'm actually going to be at the APE this weekend touting a series ...

• At October 29, 2008, Michael wrote:

  If Marvel hires Christopher Paolini, I swear to God I'll set the place on fire.

• At October 29, 2008, Chris Jones wrote:

  Dude-c'mon.

  I'm not THAT bad.

  :p

• At October 29, 2008, Matt D wrote:

  Man, Cronin. It's one thing to expect comics should be good, but movies, too?

  What else? Decompression isn't nearly as ...

• At October 29, 2008, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  I'm hurt, boss.

  You could have at least mentioned to Mr. V. that yeah, he DID miss something on the blog.

• At October 29, 2008, Daniel W. wrote:

  Regarding Steve B's second question, there's a spread in Grant Morrison's first arc on JLA showing a bunch of supervillians ...

• At October 30, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  I’m hurt, boss.

  You could have at least mentioned to Mr. V. that yeah, he DID miss something on the blog.

  Hey ...

• At October 30, 2008, Carl wrote:

  I'd like to comment that the story about the Skrull Queen did have an Avenger in it. Jessica Drew ...

• At October 30, 2008, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Jae Lee started working at Marvel at a young age- I seem to recall he was 17 when he started ...

• At October 30, 2008, Blackjak wrote:

  I remember an issue of Fantastic Four where She-Thing mentions that she and Ben went to see "Batman" and he ...

• At October 30, 2008, T. wrote:

  I disagree on Dark Knight being a smarter movie than Die Hard. Was it more pretentious and aspiring to ...

• At October 30, 2008, T. wrote:

  By the way Brian, you have sly yet rugged good looks.

• At October 30, 2008, ken wrote:

  I believe there was an issue of Thor, during Simonson's run, in which Clark and Lois make a one-panel cameo.

• At October 30, 2008, Da Fug wrote:

  Thanks for your review. The rest of the mailbag was also a fun read.

• At October 30, 2008, Chris McAree wrote:

  I like the Hulk-morph.....but was disappointed at the lack of purple pants!

• At October 30, 2008, Chris McAree wrote:

  Revert back....grr

  Old adage....snarl

  Very unique....Chris smash puny grammar and syntax!

• At October 30, 2008, Anthony Cheng wrote:

  "If you draw, however, then that is generally a pretty level playing field - if you can draw, you will ...

• At October 30, 2008, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Fair enough, Anthony - "really good/exceptional" can work in place of "good."

  What I meant to say is that if you ...

• At October 30, 2008, Anthony Cheng wrote:

  Since art has an element of craft, I think on one level, a young writer or artist simply hasn't had ...

• At October 31, 2008, Steve B wrote:

  Daniel W., Yes I remember that one now too, I definitely remember seeing Wolverine in there. Blackjak and ken, ...