Looks like the sequential reprints of Spawn have already hit a stumbling block. Don't expect to see issues 9 and 10 in the collection.
Issue 9 was written by Neil Gaiman, and within the pages he created Medieval Spawn and Angela. He has since had to sue Todd McFarlane to retain copyright to characters he created, despite Image being created to give more creative rights to the writers, artists and inkers. Todd lost.
Issue 10 was written by Dave Sim, apparently he has consented to the issues reprint, but it still looks like it will still be ommited from the final printing.
So the best two issues from the entire series arn't to be included. Ah.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Teen Boat
The Angst of Being a Teen, The Thrill of Being a Boat...
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you TeenBoat.
http://www.realmsend.com/comics/teenboat.htm
Actually, to be fair, the above people bring you TeenBoat, and then Comiccon point it out to me, and then I present it to you, but either way, there it is.
Glory be, there is even a theme tune too. More comic creators should do that, I would love to hear a pissed up Warren Ellis singing about Desolation Jones and Hitlers porn.
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you TeenBoat.
http://www.realmsend.com/comics/teenboat.htm
Actually, to be fair, the above people bring you TeenBoat, and then Comiccon point it out to me, and then I present it to you, but either way, there it is.
Glory be, there is even a theme tune too. More comic creators should do that, I would love to hear a pissed up Warren Ellis singing about Desolation Jones and Hitlers porn.
Friday, July 22, 2005
A lot to get through...
More Bombs in London: Copycat attacks done on the cheap my people who didn't know what they were doing and thought they could learn to be a terrorist over the internet in two weeks? In fact, I am pretty sure over the internet you could buy a certificate confirming your terrorist stature.
People who Can't Break the Cycle: These people fuck me off. These people usually have a real, deep-routed psychological problem with their parents and/or upbringing, and claim the last thing they want to do is become their parents. Yet they seem completely powerless to break the cycle as they continue on the downward spiral to destruction.
Case in point: One of my former best mates who shall remain nameless (but we will refer to as Asshole) went around some of my other friends house last night, in the middle is an ex-girlfriend of Asshole who is now going out with the aforementioned Other friend (I fucking hate this inbred hick shit, I hate it on EastEnders and I hate it in reality). Asshole decides, as he is as drunk as the Grandfather he claims to hate, to start causing shit on the property which leads to Other Friend having to call the police out.
Its fucking clownshoes, Asshole cannot overcome the demons of his past and actually have a life so he has problems with anyone who can, despite the fact he split up with this girl nearly two years ago.
I hate him. And you for reading this bile.
Racists: There is a great wrestler called Mohammed Hassan. He is great, and he has a very good angle where he talks about the discrimination that American Muslims have suffered since September 11, from the perspective of being an American-born Muslim himself. This usually ends with a fucking idiot crowd chanting USA at him, as if it was going to upset him - when it is his home country - because the average fucking IQ of the average wrestling fan is so low, that is the only way they can percieve a Muslim; Not One of Us.
I got this in an e-mail this morning:
"Looks like The Great American Bash will be the last time we see Hassan. UPN and its sponsors are outraged by the fact there is an arab on TV due to the terroist attacks they have told WWE they won't allow him on TV. WWE have bowed to the pressure and agreed to remove him after Sunday."
Thats basically saying that he cannot wrestle - which is the man's job for fucks sake - because of his ethnic origins. Equality in the works people. Orwell was right, society has failed. The experiment is over. Wipe the petri-dish clean and start again god.
I suppose as this is a comics blog I need to put something comic related in, here we go:
In the first move that could be considered clever from Todd McFarlane Productions since they didn't pay Bendis and he moved to Marvel (oh wait, that was a fucking dumb move!), they have finally announced a reprint Tpb series of the Spawn comic run in sequential order. Now while I hate Spawn, a lot of people love it, and these will sell, and probably help the future success of the Spawn comic franchise.
Good work Image.
People who Can't Break the Cycle: These people fuck me off. These people usually have a real, deep-routed psychological problem with their parents and/or upbringing, and claim the last thing they want to do is become their parents. Yet they seem completely powerless to break the cycle as they continue on the downward spiral to destruction.
Case in point: One of my former best mates who shall remain nameless (but we will refer to as Asshole) went around some of my other friends house last night, in the middle is an ex-girlfriend of Asshole who is now going out with the aforementioned Other friend (I fucking hate this inbred hick shit, I hate it on EastEnders and I hate it in reality). Asshole decides, as he is as drunk as the Grandfather he claims to hate, to start causing shit on the property which leads to Other Friend having to call the police out.
Its fucking clownshoes, Asshole cannot overcome the demons of his past and actually have a life so he has problems with anyone who can, despite the fact he split up with this girl nearly two years ago.
I hate him. And you for reading this bile.
Racists: There is a great wrestler called Mohammed Hassan. He is great, and he has a very good angle where he talks about the discrimination that American Muslims have suffered since September 11, from the perspective of being an American-born Muslim himself. This usually ends with a fucking idiot crowd chanting USA at him, as if it was going to upset him - when it is his home country - because the average fucking IQ of the average wrestling fan is so low, that is the only way they can percieve a Muslim; Not One of Us.
I got this in an e-mail this morning:
"Looks like The Great American Bash will be the last time we see Hassan. UPN and its sponsors are outraged by the fact there is an arab on TV due to the terroist attacks they have told WWE they won't allow him on TV. WWE have bowed to the pressure and agreed to remove him after Sunday."
Thats basically saying that he cannot wrestle - which is the man's job for fucks sake - because of his ethnic origins. Equality in the works people. Orwell was right, society has failed. The experiment is over. Wipe the petri-dish clean and start again god.
I suppose as this is a comics blog I need to put something comic related in, here we go:
In the first move that could be considered clever from Todd McFarlane Productions since they didn't pay Bendis and he moved to Marvel (oh wait, that was a fucking dumb move!), they have finally announced a reprint Tpb series of the Spawn comic run in sequential order. Now while I hate Spawn, a lot of people love it, and these will sell, and probably help the future success of the Spawn comic franchise.
Good work Image.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
No Coherent String of thought.
Its so hot today that all the fans are doing is pushing the hot air towards me quicker.
The sky is seaside blue, the masses are looking even less educated than normal today and the media is desperately trying to turn last Thursdays bombings into September 11th 2.
Sometimes i think its a good thing Bill Hicks died before we - as a "society" - got to this point.
The worst thing about the death of Bill Hicks is that he had a very important message to get across, a message that his impersonators and clones have failed to recreate because - and lets face it - its far easier to just do the angry man of comedy routine.
Sin City GN's have been selling stupidly well for us, over 100 copies sold in the last three months, which is fucking impressive for our store when you compare it to 2 Sin City Gn's sold in the first 9 years of business. One of the reasons they never sold well for us was, quite simply, there was no consistent uniformed range. People want to get the set of Sin City, and they want them to look nice on the shelf, it took a movie release for Dark horse to get their reprinting ass into gear.
This makes Sin City almost rival our sales of Transmetropolitan as best selling GN range ever, but consider this: Sin City took over £100 million at the box office and had adverts in and on; Bus Stops, TV, the London Underground, Cinema trailers, movie review shows, magazines and had the names of Quentin Tarrantino and Robert Rodriguez attached.
What advertising has Transmetropolitan had?
Good word of mouth.
Batman GNs have spiked a little, but they have always sold well anyway, so its just the Bat-curious picking up Year One and Arkham Asylum.
I doubt we will really see any real marked jump in Fantastic Four sales because a) You have to really really like the F4 to get past the campness of it all. b) Most people with a passing curiosity of F4 picked up the Ultimate series in periodical or Tpb. c) The movie looks dull and d) Our local two-screen cinema won't be getting F4, as it will be too busy showing Madagascar Pixar-clone and Willy Wonka's Chocolate-Rehash. So I am sure the 300 Free Comic Book Day comics we gave the cinema featuring the F4 are going to go down a treat when they are given away with NOTHING!!! (Our local cinema didn't get sin City either)
So why are our best selling GN ranges Transmet, Sin City, Barry Ween, Powers, the Ultimate range and Preacher?
Maybe, just maybe its because these are examples of comic lines being released SEQUENTIALLY as GNs. Meaning, in order and numbered.
The last 5 years have seen leaps and bounds of progress in the Tpb / GN arena, but there is still a long way to go.
Titles like Robin for example, which is a fairly decent seller. The Tpb range includes Tim Drakes origin, issues 1-7, and then jumps all the way to issue #123 with the Bill Willingham / Spoiler isues.
JLA, which was DC's flagship book for a long time (before Supes / Bats - which incidently screws over tpbs in favour of overpriced Hardcovers) only had numbering when it reached volume 8, (when I say numbered, I mean on the spine, its a bit useless if it only describes where it fits into an arc when you crack the title open only to find out you have missed three volumes) something which they have since rectified in subsequent print runs. The same thing applies to the first 5 volumes of Nightwing.
The list continues: Green Lantern; no numbering. Hellblazer; Volume 1 numbered, the following volumes nothing. Flash - another flagship DC title; no numbering.
I can understand it with Batman and Supes as the sheer volume of titles makes it impossible for it all to reach Tpb with any kind of consistency or quality control, better to keep to the core stories.
Marvel are hardly innocent either, pretty much every volume of the non-Max Punisher series by Ennis is out of print, the first two volumes of Mark Waids Fantastic Four have dissapeared, Morrisons New X-Men, Davids Captain Marvel
The people leading the way with numbering is Image / Top Cow, they have always made it very clear which volume of the title you are buying. Even Midnight Nation is marked as Volume 1, even though I think it will NEVER have a sequal.
But they are not perfect, there is a lot of money to be made (from idiots) who would buy a sequentially numbered, complete GN run of Spawn. Rather than the currently available volume 7 and 9, and two Spawn: Angela GN's.
Before the industry can make the inevitable leap from monthlies to OGN, this kind of lacklustre numbering and reprinting schedule needs to be addressed by all companys.
The sky is seaside blue, the masses are looking even less educated than normal today and the media is desperately trying to turn last Thursdays bombings into September 11th 2.
Sometimes i think its a good thing Bill Hicks died before we - as a "society" - got to this point.
The worst thing about the death of Bill Hicks is that he had a very important message to get across, a message that his impersonators and clones have failed to recreate because - and lets face it - its far easier to just do the angry man of comedy routine.
Sin City GN's have been selling stupidly well for us, over 100 copies sold in the last three months, which is fucking impressive for our store when you compare it to 2 Sin City Gn's sold in the first 9 years of business. One of the reasons they never sold well for us was, quite simply, there was no consistent uniformed range. People want to get the set of Sin City, and they want them to look nice on the shelf, it took a movie release for Dark horse to get their reprinting ass into gear.
This makes Sin City almost rival our sales of Transmetropolitan as best selling GN range ever, but consider this: Sin City took over £100 million at the box office and had adverts in and on; Bus Stops, TV, the London Underground, Cinema trailers, movie review shows, magazines and had the names of Quentin Tarrantino and Robert Rodriguez attached.
What advertising has Transmetropolitan had?
Good word of mouth.
Batman GNs have spiked a little, but they have always sold well anyway, so its just the Bat-curious picking up Year One and Arkham Asylum.
I doubt we will really see any real marked jump in Fantastic Four sales because a) You have to really really like the F4 to get past the campness of it all. b) Most people with a passing curiosity of F4 picked up the Ultimate series in periodical or Tpb. c) The movie looks dull and d) Our local two-screen cinema won't be getting F4, as it will be too busy showing Madagascar Pixar-clone and Willy Wonka's Chocolate-Rehash. So I am sure the 300 Free Comic Book Day comics we gave the cinema featuring the F4 are going to go down a treat when they are given away with NOTHING!!! (Our local cinema didn't get sin City either)
So why are our best selling GN ranges Transmet, Sin City, Barry Ween, Powers, the Ultimate range and Preacher?
Maybe, just maybe its because these are examples of comic lines being released SEQUENTIALLY as GNs. Meaning, in order and numbered.
The last 5 years have seen leaps and bounds of progress in the Tpb / GN arena, but there is still a long way to go.
Titles like Robin for example, which is a fairly decent seller. The Tpb range includes Tim Drakes origin, issues 1-7, and then jumps all the way to issue #123 with the Bill Willingham / Spoiler isues.
JLA, which was DC's flagship book for a long time (before Supes / Bats - which incidently screws over tpbs in favour of overpriced Hardcovers) only had numbering when it reached volume 8, (when I say numbered, I mean on the spine, its a bit useless if it only describes where it fits into an arc when you crack the title open only to find out you have missed three volumes) something which they have since rectified in subsequent print runs. The same thing applies to the first 5 volumes of Nightwing.
The list continues: Green Lantern; no numbering. Hellblazer; Volume 1 numbered, the following volumes nothing. Flash - another flagship DC title; no numbering.
I can understand it with Batman and Supes as the sheer volume of titles makes it impossible for it all to reach Tpb with any kind of consistency or quality control, better to keep to the core stories.
Marvel are hardly innocent either, pretty much every volume of the non-Max Punisher series by Ennis is out of print, the first two volumes of Mark Waids Fantastic Four have dissapeared, Morrisons New X-Men, Davids Captain Marvel
The people leading the way with numbering is Image / Top Cow, they have always made it very clear which volume of the title you are buying. Even Midnight Nation is marked as Volume 1, even though I think it will NEVER have a sequal.
But they are not perfect, there is a lot of money to be made (from idiots) who would buy a sequentially numbered, complete GN run of Spawn. Rather than the currently available volume 7 and 9, and two Spawn: Angela GN's.
Before the industry can make the inevitable leap from monthlies to OGN, this kind of lacklustre numbering and reprinting schedule needs to be addressed by all companys.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Why I hate the industry, why I love the industry.
Sometimes Ihate my peers in the comic retail industry. I had a lovely email this morning that read:
"I don't know what Warren Ellis did to my local retailer as a child but he refuses to stock any of his books.
"Best not to ask really, I was wondering if you had a copy of the second Global Frequency trade paperback."
Naturally I reply with the usual about how we are only to happy to help, that we stock all the Ellis backlist (including his Avatar and AiT/PLANETLAR stuff), and try and pimp a copy of Channel Zero while I am at it. I then ask which comic shop is prepared to alienate a pre-existing customer and a healthy sector of the comic industry (IE: Intelligent comic readers)...
"My local retailer is a nameless little shop in the mean back streets of Rhyl. It's a particularly ugly area of an unnecessarily ugly town with the unmistakable odour of faded dreams and warm desperation. Or that could be all the seagull dung."
And thats why I love this industry. Educated people that can see comics as what they really are, and are prepared to hunt out the really good stuff, even in the face of disparaging bigots.
The thing that really sucks about the industry:
Bad enough that comics are considered a niche market, but "true comic" fans are so quick to attack fellow comic readers if they step outside the very insular boundaries of what they think is acceptable.
If you read comics I am sure you have at some point encountered someone who says: "What do you read comics for? They are for kids?!?" in that strange, somewhat incredulous tone which sits somewhere between inquisitorial and accusational, but wihout commiting to one nore the other (because these people are weak and should die, for they cannot make this one, admitably very small decision on their own without TV to guide them). But you expect this from idiots.
So to then have comic fans ask: "What are reading that comic for?", which basically translates to "I don't read it, therefore it must be crap", in an environment which is suppose to cater to your hobby (a comic shop), really adds insult to injury.
Its just another cause of the abused becoming the abusers. A little taste of power in an otherwise stunted life.
Its like Manga fans who refuse to read American comics, or the American comics who refuse to read Humanoids. They are buying into an ideal, rather than buying a product, which - in a medium that prides itself on being counter-culture - IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF CONFORMITY.
Yeah, we are all guilty to some degree, I, for example, refuse to stop buying X-Men and Uncanny because I have unbroken runs dating back to 1976, even though I havn't enjoyed X-Men for 5 years except Grant Morrions "New X-Men" and Joss Whedons "Astonishing X-Men".
But I will read Maus.
And Bone.
And Soulwind.
And Ronin.
And Nightwing.
And Owly.
And Sharknife.
And Battle Royale.
And Spider-girl.
And more...
Partly because I consider it part of my job, but mainly because I love the industry. I will read something on a recomendation, or a whim, not just because I have been reading it for 20 years and don't know otherwise.
And thats the difference between me and a "nameless little shop in the mean back streets of Rhyl".
"I don't know what Warren Ellis did to my local retailer as a child but he refuses to stock any of his books.
"Best not to ask really, I was wondering if you had a copy of the second Global Frequency trade paperback."
Naturally I reply with the usual about how we are only to happy to help, that we stock all the Ellis backlist (including his Avatar and AiT/PLANETLAR stuff), and try and pimp a copy of Channel Zero while I am at it. I then ask which comic shop is prepared to alienate a pre-existing customer and a healthy sector of the comic industry (IE: Intelligent comic readers)...
"My local retailer is a nameless little shop in the mean back streets of Rhyl. It's a particularly ugly area of an unnecessarily ugly town with the unmistakable odour of faded dreams and warm desperation. Or that could be all the seagull dung."
And thats why I love this industry. Educated people that can see comics as what they really are, and are prepared to hunt out the really good stuff, even in the face of disparaging bigots.
The thing that really sucks about the industry:
Bad enough that comics are considered a niche market, but "true comic" fans are so quick to attack fellow comic readers if they step outside the very insular boundaries of what they think is acceptable.
If you read comics I am sure you have at some point encountered someone who says: "What do you read comics for? They are for kids?!?" in that strange, somewhat incredulous tone which sits somewhere between inquisitorial and accusational, but wihout commiting to one nore the other (because these people are weak and should die, for they cannot make this one, admitably very small decision on their own without TV to guide them). But you expect this from idiots.
So to then have comic fans ask: "What are reading that comic for?", which basically translates to "I don't read it, therefore it must be crap", in an environment which is suppose to cater to your hobby (a comic shop), really adds insult to injury.
Its just another cause of the abused becoming the abusers. A little taste of power in an otherwise stunted life.
Its like Manga fans who refuse to read American comics, or the American comics who refuse to read Humanoids. They are buying into an ideal, rather than buying a product, which - in a medium that prides itself on being counter-culture - IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF CONFORMITY.
Yeah, we are all guilty to some degree, I, for example, refuse to stop buying X-Men and Uncanny because I have unbroken runs dating back to 1976, even though I havn't enjoyed X-Men for 5 years except Grant Morrions "New X-Men" and Joss Whedons "Astonishing X-Men".
But I will read Maus.
And Bone.
And Soulwind.
And Ronin.
And Nightwing.
And Owly.
And Sharknife.
And Battle Royale.
And Spider-girl.
And more...
Partly because I consider it part of my job, but mainly because I love the industry. I will read something on a recomendation, or a whim, not just because I have been reading it for 20 years and don't know otherwise.
And thats the difference between me and a "nameless little shop in the mean back streets of Rhyl".
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Where are all the comments???
I know you fuckers read this, don't even try to pretend you don't!
I WANT FEEDBACK, I crave attention almost as much as Mark Millar does.
I WANT FEEDBACK, I crave attention almost as much as Mark Millar does.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Something Productive This Way Comes...
Probably not, but I'm sure I will achieve more with today than Live8 will (what a fucking stupid name), someone let me know what time they have scheduled in the elimination of all third world debt. That bit I might watch.
Y'know, the more the world fucks itself in the ass the more I am glad I am not a social satirist, because its getting less and less funny.
Hey - thought I'd chip in on some of this, can't be bothered to reference everything in a Comment, so Sam is in Red. Apologies to Brian Hibbs...
Christ, what a dull fucking day, glad I am not stuck in London.
Hey!
Yeah, yeah, but as it turns out I had to go to London yesterday for (another) NIN gig, but it was all good. I should come up to London sometime to hang out with you again sam, its been too long.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. Bored, bored, bored. Lets try and focus on the good in the world.
Eisner/Miller: its an essential discourse on the dichotomy of comic books yadda yadda yadda. Eisner comes up with a good point about the nature of the medium and Miller takes it the wrong way and gets all defensive about about his work as he suffers from small penis syndrome. Seriously though, its a good book and both men come out with very good points about the comic industry, each being unique to the generation and environment the creators work in.
The most interesting thing about this book was, without question, the way they disagreed with each other. I think it's pretty rare that two people have such different approaches and attitudes to their field, clearly spark off each other and get a little antsy about the whole thing, but still admire each other enough to actually argue and fight sensibly over points.
Really made me want to pick up some of the Spirit Archives too... but £30 a pop? Yikes...
Sin City: Great books. Volume 5 was a little weak and volume 6 suffers from what all anthologys suffer from, being a mixed bag. But all in all, thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Oh yeah, fine ass movie too. People whinge that Nancy didn't have her tits out, yet no-one has said to me "its a shame we didn't see Dwights knob", so I don't think the faux-concern over Ms. Callahans breasts was for the sake of accuracy.
Going to go see this one again. I've only got the first 5 books (you didn't like Family Values? That suprises me, actually), been warned against vol. 7. But without question, Yellow Bastard, Hard Goodbye, Dame to Kill for and Big Fat Kill are the strongest and essential reading.
It's a shame though that in the film we didn't get to see Dwight's kno... wait, nevermind...
Family Values just seemed a bit bland, I don't really like Mio, I don't really like 40 year old guys trying to appeal to the skater generation, and while I felt most of the tit / nipple shots in the first few volumes had a place in the story, I felt the sheer volume of pointless tit-tape slips detracted from the charcater development and story.
Family Guy Series 4: Yeah, its an illegal download job, but I will buy it on DVD so its not all bad for Seth. This fills my life with humour in an otherwise bleak world populated by Coldplay fans.
Brian Wood: The art in Couriers Vol. 2 let down an otherwise fine, if somewhat by the numbers story; would make a great 1/2 hour movie. As would Ellis' "Red". Whatever happened to the half hour movie format? Surely in this post-media apocalyptic MTV-2 fallout limited attention span era the 1/2 hour format would be immensely popular, yet the movie studios keep churning out 2 hours at a time?!?
Pounded was immensely good, fantastic really, an Oni tpb. £6. I have never heard of it before seeing it listed in the back of another Wood publication. If you think fake Hardcore (pre-emo) kids are tossers, read this book and laugh along with (or at more acucurately) the trust fund babies.
I'm still a Wood newbie. Grabbed his Martial Arts extravaganza, Fight For The Future for 50p each the other day, enjoyed that, but Demo remains a mystery to me. It's on the list though, don't worry.)
Channel Zero!
24 Hour Party People: Great film. The Joy Division back story was brilliant as I was too young to have lived through it and didn't really like music until I was 18, so its the first time I have really seen the formation of that scene. And Partridge is in it too.
Video Games: Can't get into them at the minute, don't know why. Roll on Halo 3.
People should give Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within a go. There's some great gameplay, enough action and properly mind-warping puzzles in those games. Other than that, yeah, it's all a big Meh.
Yeah, PoP:SoT was amazing, one of the best balanced video games I have ever played, simple yet mind-boggling puzzles and the most charming lead character I have seen in a video game for some time, and the emotional content of the story rivaled most Hollywood blockbusters.
Warrior Within; An otherwise great game marred by zero character growth and a lead character who tried too hard to be "cool" and "edgy" (look mummy, he swears!), and a cast of villains who are in the game for little more than to give 14 years olds (and probably a few 40 years olds too) something to wank over. Ubisoft turned out a sequal which would make EA proud: sold shitloads and was inferior to the previous incarnation.
Deaths Head: The Original. Met Geoff Senior at a TF con the other week, nice bloke, bought him a pint. Shame he is wasted on advertising and not drawing comics anymore. Cracked out the old Deaths Head series. Real shame Marvel own the rights, it would be great to see a return of Deaths Head.
Hey Simon Furman, if you are reading this, how about we through a pitch together for Marvel? Get Mr. Senior on board. Could be glorious.
Life Update for anyone who cares:
Got a few story ideas in the pot. Maybe a small publishing house with a mate. Need artists. Anyone have Charlie Adlards e-mail?
Trying to organise a signing for my shop as well, got Dillon, Fabry, Hitch and Lloyd; no reply from Ellis, which is a real shame, would have loved him in my shop, would hate to meet him (for the same reasons he never wanted to meet Hunter S Thompson).
Driving lessons going well.
Wrestling company going fine, got our new ring, we wrestle fortnightly.
Monthly Metal night is winding down a little, wouldn't mind if it disapeared to be honest.
Gym is going well, personal trainer leaving which is a shame.
Girlfriend is great, couldn't be better to be honest.
Un-read Monthly comics starting to pile up, really couldn't care less about X-Men or Laphams Detective Comics, or Spidergirl. More about that in a future column.
One of my cats has gone insane, looks confused and keeps doing the same thing over and over..
Y'know, the more the world fucks itself in the ass the more I am glad I am not a social satirist, because its getting less and less funny.
Hey - thought I'd chip in on some of this, can't be bothered to reference everything in a Comment, so Sam is in Red. Apologies to Brian Hibbs...
Christ, what a dull fucking day, glad I am not stuck in London.
Hey!
Yeah, yeah, but as it turns out I had to go to London yesterday for (another) NIN gig, but it was all good. I should come up to London sometime to hang out with you again sam, its been too long.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. Bored, bored, bored. Lets try and focus on the good in the world.
Eisner/Miller: its an essential discourse on the dichotomy of comic books yadda yadda yadda. Eisner comes up with a good point about the nature of the medium and Miller takes it the wrong way and gets all defensive about about his work as he suffers from small penis syndrome. Seriously though, its a good book and both men come out with very good points about the comic industry, each being unique to the generation and environment the creators work in.
The most interesting thing about this book was, without question, the way they disagreed with each other. I think it's pretty rare that two people have such different approaches and attitudes to their field, clearly spark off each other and get a little antsy about the whole thing, but still admire each other enough to actually argue and fight sensibly over points.
Really made me want to pick up some of the Spirit Archives too... but £30 a pop? Yikes...
Sin City: Great books. Volume 5 was a little weak and volume 6 suffers from what all anthologys suffer from, being a mixed bag. But all in all, thoroughly enjoyable throughout. Oh yeah, fine ass movie too. People whinge that Nancy didn't have her tits out, yet no-one has said to me "its a shame we didn't see Dwights knob", so I don't think the faux-concern over Ms. Callahans breasts was for the sake of accuracy.
Going to go see this one again. I've only got the first 5 books (you didn't like Family Values? That suprises me, actually), been warned against vol. 7. But without question, Yellow Bastard, Hard Goodbye, Dame to Kill for and Big Fat Kill are the strongest and essential reading.
It's a shame though that in the film we didn't get to see Dwight's kno... wait, nevermind...
Family Values just seemed a bit bland, I don't really like Mio, I don't really like 40 year old guys trying to appeal to the skater generation, and while I felt most of the tit / nipple shots in the first few volumes had a place in the story, I felt the sheer volume of pointless tit-tape slips detracted from the charcater development and story.
Family Guy Series 4: Yeah, its an illegal download job, but I will buy it on DVD so its not all bad for Seth. This fills my life with humour in an otherwise bleak world populated by Coldplay fans.
Brian Wood: The art in Couriers Vol. 2 let down an otherwise fine, if somewhat by the numbers story; would make a great 1/2 hour movie. As would Ellis' "Red". Whatever happened to the half hour movie format? Surely in this post-media apocalyptic MTV-2 fallout limited attention span era the 1/2 hour format would be immensely popular, yet the movie studios keep churning out 2 hours at a time?!?
Pounded was immensely good, fantastic really, an Oni tpb. £6. I have never heard of it before seeing it listed in the back of another Wood publication. If you think fake Hardcore (pre-emo) kids are tossers, read this book and laugh along with (or at more acucurately) the trust fund babies.
I'm still a Wood newbie. Grabbed his Martial Arts extravaganza, Fight For The Future for 50p each the other day, enjoyed that, but Demo remains a mystery to me. It's on the list though, don't worry.)
Channel Zero!
24 Hour Party People: Great film. The Joy Division back story was brilliant as I was too young to have lived through it and didn't really like music until I was 18, so its the first time I have really seen the formation of that scene. And Partridge is in it too.
Video Games: Can't get into them at the minute, don't know why. Roll on Halo 3.
People should give Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within a go. There's some great gameplay, enough action and properly mind-warping puzzles in those games. Other than that, yeah, it's all a big Meh.
Yeah, PoP:SoT was amazing, one of the best balanced video games I have ever played, simple yet mind-boggling puzzles and the most charming lead character I have seen in a video game for some time, and the emotional content of the story rivaled most Hollywood blockbusters.
Warrior Within; An otherwise great game marred by zero character growth and a lead character who tried too hard to be "cool" and "edgy" (look mummy, he swears!), and a cast of villains who are in the game for little more than to give 14 years olds (and probably a few 40 years olds too) something to wank over. Ubisoft turned out a sequal which would make EA proud: sold shitloads and was inferior to the previous incarnation.
Deaths Head: The Original. Met Geoff Senior at a TF con the other week, nice bloke, bought him a pint. Shame he is wasted on advertising and not drawing comics anymore. Cracked out the old Deaths Head series. Real shame Marvel own the rights, it would be great to see a return of Deaths Head.
Hey Simon Furman, if you are reading this, how about we through a pitch together for Marvel? Get Mr. Senior on board. Could be glorious.
Life Update for anyone who cares:
Got a few story ideas in the pot. Maybe a small publishing house with a mate. Need artists. Anyone have Charlie Adlards e-mail?
Trying to organise a signing for my shop as well, got Dillon, Fabry, Hitch and Lloyd; no reply from Ellis, which is a real shame, would have loved him in my shop, would hate to meet him (for the same reasons he never wanted to meet Hunter S Thompson).
Driving lessons going well.
Wrestling company going fine, got our new ring, we wrestle fortnightly.
Monthly Metal night is winding down a little, wouldn't mind if it disapeared to be honest.
Gym is going well, personal trainer leaving which is a shame.
Girlfriend is great, couldn't be better to be honest.
Un-read Monthly comics starting to pile up, really couldn't care less about X-Men or Laphams Detective Comics, or Spidergirl. More about that in a future column.
One of my cats has gone insane, looks confused and keeps doing the same thing over and over..
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Letter of the Blog
I recieved the following e-mail today. its nice to get stuff like this now and then, kind of makes running the old comic shop worthwhile, god knows the money doesn't.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright mate, my names (deleted for obvious reasons). I came by the shop a few days ago and purchased "Batman: Dark Victory" and "War Games Act 2" and we discussed my poor choice of company to receive my monthlies from (Forbidden Planet)? Anyways just wanted to let you know I have cancelled my subscription with them (and I'm glad I did, they were very rude about it) and I would like to order my monthly titles from you instead. I would be happy to come into the store to pick up the issues as I plan on buying graphic novels pretty much every week anyway.
The list I would like to have kept aside is below; let me know if there are any problems etc:
(Deleted as its really not important, but all good stuff!)
I'll probably have more to add over time, but if you could start saving these for me from the June issues I would really appreciate it. Forbidden planet were always several months behind, so it was a bit of a nightmare to follow the stories.
Btw I just wanted to say I think your shop is fantastic! Excellent selection and very friendly staff (oh and good music, you can’t beat the police!). I’ve never been to a comic shop before without being watched like I’m about to steal something. It’s always a pleasure to come into your shop and discuss Batman etc with you. Your knowledge on the subject is so impressive. If you ever need any new employees, full or part time work, do let me know, as I would fly over like a shot for an interview and be willing to work for pennies. I have worked in many shops before (in fact right now I work at terrible tesco) but never a store where I would actually be able to discuss the items with confidence and interest (I stack fizzy drinks at the mo, there really isn’t much you can discuss on that ).
Anyways mate, let me know about the orders and price lists etc and thanks for reading,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And how cool is that? the strange thing is, where he said "your knowledge on the subject is so impressive" he is actually talking about Glyn, the intellectually moribund owner of the store.
What I want to know is why is his FP store several months behind? They should recieve the comics on the Thursday following the American release.
The other cool thing that happened this week was that my store got a mention on Warren Ellis' Bad signal mass email. Is my hard work finally starting to pay off?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright mate, my names (deleted for obvious reasons). I came by the shop a few days ago and purchased "Batman: Dark Victory" and "War Games Act 2" and we discussed my poor choice of company to receive my monthlies from (Forbidden Planet)? Anyways just wanted to let you know I have cancelled my subscription with them (and I'm glad I did, they were very rude about it) and I would like to order my monthly titles from you instead. I would be happy to come into the store to pick up the issues as I plan on buying graphic novels pretty much every week anyway.
The list I would like to have kept aside is below; let me know if there are any problems etc:
(Deleted as its really not important, but all good stuff!)
I'll probably have more to add over time, but if you could start saving these for me from the June issues I would really appreciate it. Forbidden planet were always several months behind, so it was a bit of a nightmare to follow the stories.
Btw I just wanted to say I think your shop is fantastic! Excellent selection and very friendly staff (oh and good music, you can’t beat the police!). I’ve never been to a comic shop before without being watched like I’m about to steal something. It’s always a pleasure to come into your shop and discuss Batman etc with you. Your knowledge on the subject is so impressive. If you ever need any new employees, full or part time work, do let me know, as I would fly over like a shot for an interview and be willing to work for pennies. I have worked in many shops before (in fact right now I work at terrible tesco) but never a store where I would actually be able to discuss the items with confidence and interest (I stack fizzy drinks at the mo, there really isn’t much you can discuss on that ).
Anyways mate, let me know about the orders and price lists etc and thanks for reading,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And how cool is that? the strange thing is, where he said "your knowledge on the subject is so impressive" he is actually talking about Glyn, the intellectually moribund owner of the store.
What I want to know is why is his FP store several months behind? They should recieve the comics on the Thursday following the American release.
The other cool thing that happened this week was that my store got a mention on Warren Ellis' Bad signal mass email. Is my hard work finally starting to pay off?
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Essential Reading
Two weeks since a blog, I am slipping, I try to get one a week churned out, but to make up for it, here is a stupidly long blog.
So I was in Bicester a week past, getting more ink from Jon at Atomic Tattoos (01869 247536 plug plug), whilst there I had a peruse of the local toy and book stores, something I do in every town I visit. I popped into a small book shop as I usually find them not only more interesting than the multi-conglomorates, but they rarely have a coffee shop filled with pretentious students reading "The Da Vinci Code" in a bid to look interesting.
After a quick peruse, I asked at the counter where the Graphic Novel section was (always presume they have one, it makes them feel inadequate that way - make them think comic books in book stores is the standard because, damnit, it should be that way). They didn't have one. Apparently they had the Star Wars Episode 3 adaptation and that was it, according to the woman at the counter the had a GN section years ago but it died off and they discontinued it.
Lesser comic fans would have walked out, dismayed. But not I. I explained to the woman that I work in a comic shop and a big fan of the industry in general and that I was happy to help out by recommending a list of essential, preferably adult themed comic books (yes fine, kids may be the future of the industry, but adults are verifying the medium as literature). In my arrogance, I thought this would be a quick, 20 minute job. Bang together the Top 20 sellers and e-mail it over. I now realise what a big undertaking this is.
How do you summarise an entire medium into 20 books? Preacher and Transmetropolitan combined are 20 books. No, I need more. I need depth, and I need reasons. Remember, the people at the book store don't know comics, and whilst Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns may seem obvious to us comic readers, it may not be so obvious to them.
This is just scratching the surface here, there are many more GENRES that I haven't represented here, never mind individual titles. Many of my favourites I haven't listed here as I have tried to boil it down to Essential stock.
Just post your comments for any comics I may forget, audience participation needed.
Watchmen: Arguably the best selling comic of all time. The super hero genre dichotomised, and a real life arms race cautionary tale, as relevant now as it was 20 years ago during its first printing. Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons
Maus; A Survivors Tale: Still the only comic ever to win a Pulitzer prize award. This amazingly personal work deals with the Jewish struggle for survival in Nazi Occupied Poland, a real life narrative told to the author from his father. The genius touch is the use of animals as metaphors for people and races. Jews are portrayed here as Mice, Germans are Cats, French are frogs and so on. Art Spiegalman.
V for Vendetta: Coming out in November as a Motion Picture. A tale of totalitarian fascist dictatorship recommended for fans of Huxley, Bradbury and Orwell. "V" fights the system in his homage to Guy Fawkes by blowing up the Houses of Parliament in the opening pages of this brilliantly crafted tale of humanity. Alan Moore / David Lloyd.
Blankets: A semi-autobiographical remembrance of first love told beautifully over 500 pages, as one man tries to deal with love, family, loss of innocence and religion. Craig Thompson.
Jimmy Corrigan: A beautiful dichotomy of life's mundane aspects, peoples inability to express their true emotions to each other and one mans all out fear of living. A true masterpiece of a comic ground breaking in its combination of both word and image, and former Guardian book of the year. Mr F C Ware.
Bone: A prefect read fans of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings - of any age. Join the Bone cousins on their quest through a magical world on a voyage back to their hometown of Boneville. Featuring bugs, plagues of locusts and Dragons! Available in the complete black and white epic, or as separate colour versions. Jeff Smith.
Strangers In Paradise: Think romance comics are dead? Proving once more that super heroes are just one genre within a medium, Terry Moore appeals to both genders with this simple tale of young people in love.
Preacher: A 9 volume, mature readers saga. Not for the faint of heart or the easily offended, but if you've ever laughed at the cracks in religious ideology, this book is for you. Combining the kind of tough talking, no-nonsense action sequences from a Clint Eastwood movie (acting era) with the thought provoking ideas of a Tarantino flick. Join one man on a quest to find God and ask him the ultimate question: Why does he treat his creation so poorly? Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon.
Hellblazer: See the movie? Forget it. Before Ted "Theodore" Logan flipped his lighter to the annoyance of millions and before Preacher hit the comic stands; Garth Ennis wrote 45 odd issues of the bleak, poll-tax era, horror fantasy starring John Constantine; chain smoking, trash talking modern day mystic.
Also, check out the two volumes by Warren Ellis, one of the best comic writers in the industry.
A Contract With God: The first ever Graphic Novel by arguably the most important figure in the comic industry ever; Will Eisner. Before this, comics were written purely for the periodicals, this was the first comic that was decidedly packaged for book stores and long-term shelf life. A masterpiece of sequential story telling.
Kingdom Come: DC Comics meets the book of genesis, in this future tale of super-heroics gone wrong. An old man takes a walk through a prospective future, where the overpopulation of super-hero prodigies builds to the point of inevitable collapse. Mark Waid / Alex Ross.
Marvels: The Marvel Universe seen from the eyes of a young photographer upwards through the ages, examining the golden, silver and modern age Marvel icons. See the Marvel universe from a unique point of view, as one man deals with being a normal human sharing a city with Marvels. Kurt Busiek / Alex Ross.
Hellboy: If for no other than the speculation of casual fans who have heard of the movie, this book will sell. Mike Mignola's horror fantasy featuring the kind hearted red demon who likes nothing more than to explore haunted houses and punch Nazis.
Sin City: Clearing up at the box office and in the best comic shops (we sold out week of release). Frank Miller's creator owned crime noir set in a shared universe set a new standard for sequential story telling, and in a move similar to Alfred Hitchcock's directing, its not what you see that works best, its what you don't.
Pedro and Me: A very moving account of author Judd Winnick's friendship with HIV victim Pedro, detailing how they met, how he dealt with his friends departure and how he honoured his life's work after he passed.
Transmetropolitan: Future gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem goes on a Hunter S Thompson drug fuelled rampage in a totalitarian future, battling the corruption of politicians and bringing the truth to the people.
Neil Gaiman: Author of best selling novels "American Gods" and "Coraline" cut his craft in the world of comics with a wealth of material to choose from. The complete Sandman library (Vol.s 1-10), the Death tpbs, Black Orchid, Midnight Days, 1602 and the Last Temptation.
Swamp Thing: The work that made Alan Moores name. Teaming with a variety of artists, Alan Moore reset the standard not only for modern day horror, but for what could be achieved with sequential storytelling. This set for the standard for the entire Vertigo line of comics and introduced the character of John Constantine. Swamp Thing Vol. 1-7
Authority: Warren Ellis' deconstruction of the super hero genre continues in the groundbreaking Authority. In a world where no one can save themselves, this superhero team decide they can save the world, whether they want saving or not. With excellent characterisation and cutting dialogue, Authority changed the superhero landscape with an effect which is still visible today.
Batman: Must have reads (Batman as a prefix): The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Arkham Asylum, Black and White, Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, Hush Vol. 1 and 2, Death in the Family.
Superman: Essential Supes stories: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, Man of Steel Vol. 1, Death of Superman, Return of Superman, World Without a Superman, Superman / Batman Vol. 1, Red Son.
Spiderman: Amazing Spiderman Vol. 1-8 (written by Babylon 5 creator JM Straczynski), Ultimate Spiderman Vol. 1-12.
X-Men: Ultimate X-Men vol. 1-10, Origin, New X-Men Vol. 1-7 (Grant Morrison), Days of Future Past, Weapon X.
Resource Books: Will Eisners Comics and Sequential Art. Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, some people may wonder why I am helping out a book store, a place that some perceive to be the natural enemy of the Comic shop. Bollocks to that. I want people of all ages to be able to walk in to ANY book store and buy a Graphic novel. There will always be a place for the comic store as long as there are readers, but if there aren't any readers, they will be no need for a comic store.
So I was in Bicester a week past, getting more ink from Jon at Atomic Tattoos (01869 247536 plug plug), whilst there I had a peruse of the local toy and book stores, something I do in every town I visit. I popped into a small book shop as I usually find them not only more interesting than the multi-conglomorates, but they rarely have a coffee shop filled with pretentious students reading "The Da Vinci Code" in a bid to look interesting.
After a quick peruse, I asked at the counter where the Graphic Novel section was (always presume they have one, it makes them feel inadequate that way - make them think comic books in book stores is the standard because, damnit, it should be that way). They didn't have one. Apparently they had the Star Wars Episode 3 adaptation and that was it, according to the woman at the counter the had a GN section years ago but it died off and they discontinued it.
Lesser comic fans would have walked out, dismayed. But not I. I explained to the woman that I work in a comic shop and a big fan of the industry in general and that I was happy to help out by recommending a list of essential, preferably adult themed comic books (yes fine, kids may be the future of the industry, but adults are verifying the medium as literature). In my arrogance, I thought this would be a quick, 20 minute job. Bang together the Top 20 sellers and e-mail it over. I now realise what a big undertaking this is.
How do you summarise an entire medium into 20 books? Preacher and Transmetropolitan combined are 20 books. No, I need more. I need depth, and I need reasons. Remember, the people at the book store don't know comics, and whilst Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns may seem obvious to us comic readers, it may not be so obvious to them.
This is just scratching the surface here, there are many more GENRES that I haven't represented here, never mind individual titles. Many of my favourites I haven't listed here as I have tried to boil it down to Essential stock.
Just post your comments for any comics I may forget, audience participation needed.
Watchmen: Arguably the best selling comic of all time. The super hero genre dichotomised, and a real life arms race cautionary tale, as relevant now as it was 20 years ago during its first printing. Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons
Maus; A Survivors Tale: Still the only comic ever to win a Pulitzer prize award. This amazingly personal work deals with the Jewish struggle for survival in Nazi Occupied Poland, a real life narrative told to the author from his father. The genius touch is the use of animals as metaphors for people and races. Jews are portrayed here as Mice, Germans are Cats, French are frogs and so on. Art Spiegalman.
V for Vendetta: Coming out in November as a Motion Picture. A tale of totalitarian fascist dictatorship recommended for fans of Huxley, Bradbury and Orwell. "V" fights the system in his homage to Guy Fawkes by blowing up the Houses of Parliament in the opening pages of this brilliantly crafted tale of humanity. Alan Moore / David Lloyd.
Blankets: A semi-autobiographical remembrance of first love told beautifully over 500 pages, as one man tries to deal with love, family, loss of innocence and religion. Craig Thompson.
Jimmy Corrigan: A beautiful dichotomy of life's mundane aspects, peoples inability to express their true emotions to each other and one mans all out fear of living. A true masterpiece of a comic ground breaking in its combination of both word and image, and former Guardian book of the year. Mr F C Ware.
Bone: A prefect read fans of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings - of any age. Join the Bone cousins on their quest through a magical world on a voyage back to their hometown of Boneville. Featuring bugs, plagues of locusts and Dragons! Available in the complete black and white epic, or as separate colour versions. Jeff Smith.
Strangers In Paradise: Think romance comics are dead? Proving once more that super heroes are just one genre within a medium, Terry Moore appeals to both genders with this simple tale of young people in love.
Preacher: A 9 volume, mature readers saga. Not for the faint of heart or the easily offended, but if you've ever laughed at the cracks in religious ideology, this book is for you. Combining the kind of tough talking, no-nonsense action sequences from a Clint Eastwood movie (acting era) with the thought provoking ideas of a Tarantino flick. Join one man on a quest to find God and ask him the ultimate question: Why does he treat his creation so poorly? Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon.
Hellblazer: See the movie? Forget it. Before Ted "Theodore" Logan flipped his lighter to the annoyance of millions and before Preacher hit the comic stands; Garth Ennis wrote 45 odd issues of the bleak, poll-tax era, horror fantasy starring John Constantine; chain smoking, trash talking modern day mystic.
Also, check out the two volumes by Warren Ellis, one of the best comic writers in the industry.
A Contract With God: The first ever Graphic Novel by arguably the most important figure in the comic industry ever; Will Eisner. Before this, comics were written purely for the periodicals, this was the first comic that was decidedly packaged for book stores and long-term shelf life. A masterpiece of sequential story telling.
Kingdom Come: DC Comics meets the book of genesis, in this future tale of super-heroics gone wrong. An old man takes a walk through a prospective future, where the overpopulation of super-hero prodigies builds to the point of inevitable collapse. Mark Waid / Alex Ross.
Marvels: The Marvel Universe seen from the eyes of a young photographer upwards through the ages, examining the golden, silver and modern age Marvel icons. See the Marvel universe from a unique point of view, as one man deals with being a normal human sharing a city with Marvels. Kurt Busiek / Alex Ross.
Hellboy: If for no other than the speculation of casual fans who have heard of the movie, this book will sell. Mike Mignola's horror fantasy featuring the kind hearted red demon who likes nothing more than to explore haunted houses and punch Nazis.
Sin City: Clearing up at the box office and in the best comic shops (we sold out week of release). Frank Miller's creator owned crime noir set in a shared universe set a new standard for sequential story telling, and in a move similar to Alfred Hitchcock's directing, its not what you see that works best, its what you don't.
Pedro and Me: A very moving account of author Judd Winnick's friendship with HIV victim Pedro, detailing how they met, how he dealt with his friends departure and how he honoured his life's work after he passed.
Transmetropolitan: Future gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem goes on a Hunter S Thompson drug fuelled rampage in a totalitarian future, battling the corruption of politicians and bringing the truth to the people.
Neil Gaiman: Author of best selling novels "American Gods" and "Coraline" cut his craft in the world of comics with a wealth of material to choose from. The complete Sandman library (Vol.s 1-10), the Death tpbs, Black Orchid, Midnight Days, 1602 and the Last Temptation.
Swamp Thing: The work that made Alan Moores name. Teaming with a variety of artists, Alan Moore reset the standard not only for modern day horror, but for what could be achieved with sequential storytelling. This set for the standard for the entire Vertigo line of comics and introduced the character of John Constantine. Swamp Thing Vol. 1-7
Authority: Warren Ellis' deconstruction of the super hero genre continues in the groundbreaking Authority. In a world where no one can save themselves, this superhero team decide they can save the world, whether they want saving or not. With excellent characterisation and cutting dialogue, Authority changed the superhero landscape with an effect which is still visible today.
Batman: Must have reads (Batman as a prefix): The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Arkham Asylum, Black and White, Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, Hush Vol. 1 and 2, Death in the Family.
Superman: Essential Supes stories: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, Man of Steel Vol. 1, Death of Superman, Return of Superman, World Without a Superman, Superman / Batman Vol. 1, Red Son.
Spiderman: Amazing Spiderman Vol. 1-8 (written by Babylon 5 creator JM Straczynski), Ultimate Spiderman Vol. 1-12.
X-Men: Ultimate X-Men vol. 1-10, Origin, New X-Men Vol. 1-7 (Grant Morrison), Days of Future Past, Weapon X.
Resource Books: Will Eisners Comics and Sequential Art. Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, some people may wonder why I am helping out a book store, a place that some perceive to be the natural enemy of the Comic shop. Bollocks to that. I want people of all ages to be able to walk in to ANY book store and buy a Graphic novel. There will always be a place for the comic store as long as there are readers, but if there aren't any readers, they will be no need for a comic store.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Target 2005 - Franchise Execution...Commence
One year after the Transformers 20th anniversary, the toy line was celebrated with a patronising (even to kids) cartoon, a weakly supported toy line (Hasbro Loves Action Man first and foremost) and a bankrupt comic publisher.
Where can TF go from here?
Well, if you look to the East - carefully avoiding looking directly into that rising sun - you'd think that all is well and good with no less than 6, count 'em, SIX successful TF toy lines. The Cybertron Line, Robot Masters, Takara reissues, Beast Machines (currently airing in Jap for the first time), the awesome Binaltech and the E-Hobby variant line (and I am pretty sure I have missed one (god, I use brackets a lot)).
So what has gone wrong here? And can the future be any better?
The answer to the second question is yes.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Transformers: the Movie, arguably the crown jewels of the TF world, and the 10th anniversary of Beast Wars. And should see the launch of the live action Bruckheimer explosion fest. All in all it could be a great year for the original Robots in Disguise.
And what of the comic? IDW picking up the license can only be a good thing and it seems like they have the right idea, KISS.
Keep
It
Simple,
Stupid
It may as well be "Ultimate Transformers", as all the familiar themes and ideas will be there, but free from the constraints of one of the worst continuity tangles seen since before Crisis.
By making a cheap, easily accessible launch book, IDW should bring in all the fans of TF for a look. By avoiding brand saturation like Dreamwave didn't, there is no excuse for TF fans to not at least try the book, which will focus on a core identifiable group of Autobots and Decepticons. And by dropping IDW standard practice of the $4 price tag, all this will cost the same as the Dw titles ($3), but with the added benefit of having Simon Furman write the core Transformers title, for the first time since Marvels TF #80, way back in the day.
If we are really lucky, we might get a Beast Wars comic out of the deal too.
So what about the toy line? Well, sensible people will continue to import the Binaltech from Japan, theses die-cast versions piss on the American Alternators and are easily worth twice as much money for the detail put into them.
I will continue unabated in my quest to get all the Takara reissues (if only for the packaging) and the elusive E-hobby variant line and the occasional Robot Master.
But as far as the Hasbro line? As long as they keep producing line after line of hackneyed, cheap plastic, poor paint jobs repaints, I will continue to not buy them, or there inevitable repaints two months later. Or at least, not until I find them cheap :)
Until the movie, which will be hyped to shit, be really popular amongst annoying twats which will suddenly think TF's are cool and retro, saturate the market, kill everything that was fun about the original toyline, piss on everything I have ever cared about and then rape my girlfriend. But we have to stay positive.
Where can TF go from here?
Well, if you look to the East - carefully avoiding looking directly into that rising sun - you'd think that all is well and good with no less than 6, count 'em, SIX successful TF toy lines. The Cybertron Line, Robot Masters, Takara reissues, Beast Machines (currently airing in Jap for the first time), the awesome Binaltech and the E-Hobby variant line (and I am pretty sure I have missed one (god, I use brackets a lot)).
So what has gone wrong here? And can the future be any better?
The answer to the second question is yes.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Transformers: the Movie, arguably the crown jewels of the TF world, and the 10th anniversary of Beast Wars. And should see the launch of the live action Bruckheimer explosion fest. All in all it could be a great year for the original Robots in Disguise.
And what of the comic? IDW picking up the license can only be a good thing and it seems like they have the right idea, KISS.
Keep
It
Simple,
Stupid
It may as well be "Ultimate Transformers", as all the familiar themes and ideas will be there, but free from the constraints of one of the worst continuity tangles seen since before Crisis.
By making a cheap, easily accessible launch book, IDW should bring in all the fans of TF for a look. By avoiding brand saturation like Dreamwave didn't, there is no excuse for TF fans to not at least try the book, which will focus on a core identifiable group of Autobots and Decepticons. And by dropping IDW standard practice of the $4 price tag, all this will cost the same as the Dw titles ($3), but with the added benefit of having Simon Furman write the core Transformers title, for the first time since Marvels TF #80, way back in the day.
If we are really lucky, we might get a Beast Wars comic out of the deal too.
So what about the toy line? Well, sensible people will continue to import the Binaltech from Japan, theses die-cast versions piss on the American Alternators and are easily worth twice as much money for the detail put into them.
I will continue unabated in my quest to get all the Takara reissues (if only for the packaging) and the elusive E-hobby variant line and the occasional Robot Master.
But as far as the Hasbro line? As long as they keep producing line after line of hackneyed, cheap plastic, poor paint jobs repaints, I will continue to not buy them, or there inevitable repaints two months later. Or at least, not until I find them cheap :)
Until the movie, which will be hyped to shit, be really popular amongst annoying twats which will suddenly think TF's are cool and retro, saturate the market, kill everything that was fun about the original toyline, piss on everything I have ever cared about and then rape my girlfriend. But we have to stay positive.
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