QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 01-21-09
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583 (Second Print Obama Appearance) by A Simple Comic Book Company That Just Wants All Your Money. Check out the comic that has poor old Erik Larsen feeling soooo upset and doesn’t cost 75 bucks on E-Bay. BTW, the lead story by Waid, Kitson and Farmer is pretty great. And the back-up does have Obama giving Spidey the “terrorist fist-jab” even if it’s written like one of those old Hostess snack cake ads. Treat yourself. At cover price, of course.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #584 by Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. This one has all the answers to all the questions raised in the past year’s worth of Spidey titles! Who is Menace? Who is the Spider-Tracer Killer? Why couldn’t retailers get all the Obama covers they could have sold last week? (Okay, how about MOST of the questions…)

ASTONISHING X-MEN #28 by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. Did Cyclops really cut off his own head? Did Armor really kill a crippled Wolverine by cooking him over an open fire? Will any of this stuff ever be acknowledged in mainstream X-book continuity? It’s a week of questions at the House of Ideas!

DARK AVENGERS #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. Who are they? What do they want? And how long will it take Bendis to tell us? More questions!

FACES OF EVIL: DEATHSTROKE #1 by David Hine and Georges Jeanty. Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, the guy whose name can never be bad-ass enough, is making a comeback with a Face so Evil he has to hide it behind a mask, even though that mask just screams out “Punch me on the right side! That’s where I’m completely blind!” Just sayin’…

FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 of 2 by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke. It’s Grant Morrison and it comes with 3-D glasses. For most people that should be enough.

GARTH ENNIS’ BATTLEFIELDS: NIGHT WITCHES #3 of 3 by Garth and Russ Braun. Concluding a brutal series about the dust-ups between the Nazis and the Russians back in the day. Not for kids or anyone else still wishing to find anything glorious in war. Recommended.

GREEN LANTERN #37 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. In which we ask the musical question “Why don’t the Red Lanterns die of anemia from all that blood they’re vomiting in every single panel?!?” Not a great power, Red Lanterns!

HELLBLAZER #251 by Peter Milligan and Giuseppe Camuncoli. PioneeringVertigo author Milligan takes his turn at the plate with the life and fortunes of John Constantine. The storyarc “Scab” begins here. This one’s an absolute “Gotta-Look!”

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #29 by Dwayne McDuffie and Ed Benes. Hats off to McDuffie for bringing back Starbreaker, the galactic vampire who devours solar systems for snacks! Few things compare to the pleasure of seeing a villain you haven’t seen since you were a kid reading the original JLA title back in the year 19… Ah, nevermind.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #21 by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham. Wow! Hank Pym is back wearing his dead wife’s clothes, dating her robot clone and it sure looks like the Scarlet Witch is back from the Phantom Zone or Trans-Bagelburg or wherever they stuck her! And Dan Slott’s at the helm! Yet another “Gotta-Look!” Recommended.

PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE MAX #66 by Duane Swiercynski and Michel Lacombe. It’s “D.O.A.” Punisher-style! Some punks dose Frank with poison and tell him he’s gotta dance if he wants the fix-it juice. Stupid punks… Note the new title distinguishing this book from the one where Frank’s shooting capes with stolen Skrull artillery.

RUINS #1 by Warren Ellis and Cliff & Terese Nielsen. A reprinting of Ellis’ 1995 thumb in the eye to MARVELS, in which every one of the Marvel Universe heroes meets a horrible, depressing fate. Both issues collected here. For some reason there’s always a new generation that wants to read this story. Enjoy.

SPIDER-MAN: NOIR #2 of 4 by David Hine, Fabrice Sapolsky and Carmine DiGiandomenico. It’s the story of Spidey told as if he had lived in Depression Era New York. For lovers of all things Pulp and Parker.

THUNDERBOLTS #128 by Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre. The beginning of a new arc, a new order and a new creative team on a book that shows you how fun it can be playing The Bad Guy.

UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #2 by Matt Fraction and Mitch Breitweiser. Focusing on the life and loves of White Queen Emma Frost. Okay, maybe love isn’t the right term here.

X-FACTOR #39 by Peter David and Valentine Delandro. Siren and Madrox enjoy a blessed event. Wait, that was nine months ago. Now they’re just having a baby.

X-MEN: LEGACY #220 by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton. Rogue’s back.

www.johnjudy.net

Spider-Man and Obama bits

Erik Larsen, Savage Dragon cartoonist, feels that Marvel Comics got the idea of putting Obama on the cover from him, since he did it in the fall.

And in the first case of comic book store profiteering I've heard of, Past Present Future Comics, 1387 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach, FL was charging $49.95 for the Spider-Man comic book according to blogger Rick Christie, who bought one, not appearing to realize that the book will be worth $8 or so in a month - flip it now Rick!

Florida seems to have some issues with trademarks as well, as we can see in this add from the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, although they reported that their local store sold out of the comic.

Spider-Man and Obama - a missed opportunity editorial

Marvel completely shot themselves and comics retailers in the collective foot by the way they handled this. I stopped at Big Planet at lunchtime and the phone was ringing off the hook with people calling for the Obama cover of Amazing Spider-Man 583 - which Big Planet didn't have due to the way Marvel released it. Marvel isn't going to make any money on the secondary market for these, and most retailers won't either.

What if you invited people to a party and then didn't actually have it? That's pretty much what Marvel did here, leaving all kinds of money in people's pockets instead of providing the comic book that they did want. It's no wonder that comic books are in trouble, with sales falling year after year, if this is the way they market them.

Stan Lee AND Zombie comics at Comic Riffs

Cavna ups the Washington comics blogger ante by getting Stan Lee to talk about Obama meeting Spider-Man - "Obama the Comic Superstar: Stan Lee Explains All..." By Michael Cavna, Washington Post Comic Riffs blog January 14, 2009. I think it's a little unfair because he can say he's from the Washington Post...

But he's not writing about the type of zombies you'd expect from visiting a comic book store where there's at least 2 good-selling zombie comics, one of which deserves to be (Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead) and the other which is just a bad idea even if it makes money (Marvel Zombies). Cavna writes about strips that are either done by dead people (Peanuts) or continued by other hands (Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Hagar). And he's got another neat chart.

Spider-Man and Obama cover at Annapolis store

This letter came over the e-transom today; I think Annapolis is close enough for real comics collectors, don't you? By the way, those three links are the most I've seen for a comics store - the Web 2.0 idea is spreading.

Not sure how close you'd consider Annapolis in relation to the DC area, but we will have a good number of the Obama cover on hand, to at least last us through the week (I might be overly optimistic about this though). Just wanted to give you the heads up after seeing your blog post on this big event. We plan on tomorrow being a very big day here at the shop.

Thanks!

Steve

http://www.thirdeyecomics.com
http://www.myspace.com/3rdeyecomics
http://thirdeyecomicsblog.blogspot.com
15 Old Solomon's Island Rd
Suite 102
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410)897-0322

"Where can I get the President Obama meets Spider-Man comic book?"

People who know I collect comics have been asking me about getting copies of Amazing Spider-Man 583, the President Obama meets Spider-Man issue, coming out this Wednesday. The issue will have two covers - one of which features Obama (pictured on right) and one regular issue which does not (pictured below). All of the stores listed here will have gotten the regular issue as part of their normal ordering process and should have copies of that for sale. Marvel Comics made getting the Obama cover more difficult by first not telling retailers that it would be a special issue, and then offering the two covers and requiring retailers to buy a certain amount of the standard cover before they could order the Obama cover.

Marvel's website has a story on the comic - "Marvel Team-Up: Spidey/Obama Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker talks about the Webhead’s historic meeting with president-elect Barack Obama" By Matt Powell, 2009-01-09.

In my first real act of reporting, I've called some local stores to see if they'll have the Obama meets Spider-Man cover.

Laughing Ogre stores in Lansdowne and Fairfax (near Burke) are going to be your best bet. One of the clerks, Frazier says, "We're taking reservations, but will only have so many." Drew, the assistant manager, told me, "We're limiting people to two copies at first to make sure that everyone who wants a copy will get one. It was a special order thing so you had to be on top of it."

Alliance Comics is in Silver Spring (the store that used to be Geppi's back in the day) and Bowie, MD. Troy Allen of the Silver Spring store says "Marvel dropped this on people at the last minute and our orders had already been placed so we're hoping to have enough to get through the day and then they'll probably fast-track the reprint, if the Death of Captain America is any indication." Some of the people in the store are working on their own comic book as well, so check back for more details.

Big Monkey Comics has been reserving comics for people who have been calling in and hopes to have some to sell on the rack - Assistant Manager of the DC store James Rambo says, "We've been reserving copies and have gotten a ton of reserves. We're definitely going to have to get extra copies in."

Beyond Comics of Frederick and Gaithersburg, MD has enough to cover to their subscribers and a couple of extra copies because "Marvel didn't release news about what would be in the issue until the after the initial order, and then had a very short reorder period" during the week before Christmas.

Joel Pollack of Big Planet Comics's Bethesda store said, "Marvel, in their infinite wisdom, made it impossible for us to get a reasonable number of copies of the Obama cover. We will try to fulfill subs with the Obama cover, but cannot guarantee it. We will be getting the Obama cover second-prints, hopefully on January 21."

Fantom Comics in Tenleytown and Union Station will have just the regular Spider-man issue, which still has the story featuring Obama, and hopes to have enough copies for people to drop in and buy them.

Barbarian Book Store is in the Wheaton Triangle, but does not appear to have a functioning website and the telephone number I found on the web goes to a payphone.

Any other stores in the area who would like to let me know about their plans is welcome to write in: mrhode@gmail.com

For those who like to collect this type of comic, Obama met Savage Dragon last fall and also appeared before the election in a biographical comic book. And as Randy noted last week, the free alternative comics Bash Magazine that's on the streets now has an Obama caricature by Halbert as the cover.

Spider-Man and Obama

As is the case with pretty much every other major news media outlet, The Examiner has a blurb on Obama being in an upcoming issue of The Amazing Spider-Man (p. 10 in the 1/9/08 edition). The story originally ran in USA Today.

Spider-Man strip reboot explained

Michael Cavna touched on Spider-Man's suddenly lacking a wife in Comic Riffs last week, and I can't be bothered to explain it so here's Graeme McMillan to do so for anyone following the strip in the Post. Brian Steinberg at the Examiner just posted on this as well, and appears as cranky about it as I am.

Super-balloons

Hulk, Spider-Man and Superman balloons at the Arlington County Fair, August 2006. I think there's a Jimmy Neutron poking up too. I ran across this photo so I thought I'd put it up. Look for Smithsonian shots of lunch boxes and Disneyland stuff soon.

Comic advertisements - a few old snapshots

Here's some more advertisements using comics motifs.


Dick Tracy advertisement for Franklin Bookman standup - Crown Books March 1998.


Spider-Man advertisement - Hardees May 1999 (in Kentucky, I think).


Thing from Fantastic Four - Dodge Caravan advertisement - NJ Turnpike September 1999.


Spider-Man - Got Milk Metrobus advertisement, August 1999, Washington, DC.


Disneyland ashtray.

Eiserike on Ultimate Spider-Man

I owe Josh a review of his comic book that I picked up at SPX but haven't had a chance to read yet. In my defense, I haven't read anything I picked up at SPX yet, including athe minicomics. So instead of the review, read "Column: For the love of Spider-Man and Mary Jane," By Josh Eiserike, October 30, 2008.

Someday soon I hope to get around to reading and reviewing some of the books from SPX including Josh's and some manga from Fanfare that I both bought and was kindly given by Deb Aoki who writes about manga for About.com.

Spider-Man artwork donation to Library of Congress "controversial?"

See "Donation spotlights comic book dispute" By Robert K. Elder of the Chicago Tribune in the Barre Montpelier Times Argus September 8, 2008. Sara Duke of the Library is quoted extensively.

Marvel attempting manga... again

For their current effort, see "Superheroes to Be Recast for Japan," By GEORGE GUSTINES, New York Times August 25, 2008. This is by no means new though - both Spider-Man and the X-Men were produced in Japan and reprinted in America, and there was a Hulk series not seen in the US. There's a nice big book on Batman manga coming out from Chip Kidd soon. Marvel also took a shot at putting Spider-Man in India recently.

NY Times notices Ditko

Boy, the world has gotten to be a strange, yet better, place - "From Spider-Man to Ayn Rand," By DOUGLAS WOLK, New York Times August 17, 2008 reviews the book STRANGE AND STRANGER: The World of Steve Ditko, By Blake Bell, Illustrated. 216 pp. Fantagraphics Books. $39.99.

Post starts comics blog; also makes Spider-Man shower curtain purses

Michael Cavna, who's done some nice editorial cartoons for the Post, under the guise of illustrating stories, has got a new comics blog, ComicsRiffs. So far the only thing posted there is an intro which reads in part, "...we celebrate, contemplate, eviscerate and pontificate on cartoons -- focusing on daily comics but also addressing other art forms. Each and every day, we'll critique something from that morning's funny pages. We'll also offer regular interviews with cartoonists, conduct reader polls, swap news about the industry and discuss trends and buzz within the comics field." That sounds promising - I'll try to remember to check in with it regularly (and I appreciate the link to this blog under Michael's Fave Sites) .

Also, in the Source section, Courtney Ruff shows how to make that Spider-Man purse you've always wanted!

"Look Out! Here Comes the Spider-Bag," By Kris Coronado, Washington Post Sunday, July 13, 2008; N02.

Who donated Spider-Man to the Library of Congress?

It's a new parlor game! One blogger guesses Stan Lee although he was going by memory rather than rereading my original post. I don't think he's right as the art probably sat around for years after it was first published, and as one of his commenters also noted, Sara Duke says it was given to the donor as a gift that he's now passing on. Blake Bell for example has demonstrated that the artwork was reshot again years later for reprints in Marvel Tales, for instance. Also it wouldn't have to be one of the original bullpen members as it wouldn't have been considered that important until the Marvel offices had grown a lot.

Wow, Sara Duke is the new version of Woodward and Bernstein. Who is DEEP POCKETS?

Marvel e-giveaway based on LoC's Spider-Man gift

This press release came out from Marvel:

Spider-Man's First Appearance Free On Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited

It's the story of a nerdy teenager bitten by a radioactive spider, gaining the proportionate strength and powers of a spider to become...the Amazing Spider-Man! Now, you can read this history-making story as the first appearance and origin of Spider-Man from Amazing Fantasy #15 is available for free for one week over at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

It was reported this week that the original artwork by Steve Ditko from Amazing Fantasy #15, the 1962 comic that introduced Spider-Man to the world, was anonymously donated to the Library of Congress. And now everyone can read this historic and heralded story for free for one week at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

For those fans who want to own the entire Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider-Man run in one gorgeous hardcover, be sure to pick up the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, now available at your local comic retailer

Subscribers to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited can read through the first 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man as well as other long runs of Marvel's greatest titles including the Uncanny X-Men and Fantastic Four, as well as current favorites including New Avengers and Astonishing X-Men to name just two of the countless titles subscribers can read.

Now offering over 3,500 titles to enjoy, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is the greatest collection of Marvel comics ever assembled online and the collection only gets bigger as over 25 new digital comics are added every week from Monday through Friday.

Be sure to head on over to Marvel.com and get into the action at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

Amazing Fantasy 15 - Library of Congress press release

The Library of Congress has issued a press release for the story we broke over a week ago, thanks to a casual conversation. Ahh, Washington - it's all in who you know...

Check out their blog post too, linked to further down in the press release. I grabbed two pictures from it, but there are a couple more.

(Photos from Library of Congress blog)
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

April 30, 2008

Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Sara W. Duke (202) 707-3630, sduk@loc.gov

Library of Congress Receives Original Drawings for the First Spider-man Story, “Amazing Fantasy #15”

In a deed of superheroic proportions, an anonymous donor has given the Library of Congress the original artwork by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics’ “Amazing Fantasy #15” – the comic book that introduced Spider-Man in August 1962.

This unique set of drawings for 24 pages features the story of the origin of Spider-Man along with three other short stories – also written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko – for the same issue: “The Bell-Ringer,” “Man in the Mummy Case” and “There Are Martians Among Us.”

“The donation of these wonderful drawings is a treasured gift to the American people. The opportunity to see the original art behind the published stories will benefit comic-book readers as well as popular-culture scholars,” said Sara W. Duke, curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division. “Looking at the drawings inspires a new appreciation for the artist’s skill and design choices and also deepens our understanding of how a superhero created to attract a teenage audience became a cultural icon with mass appeal.”

For comic-book scholars and fans, this donation is a fantasy-come-true. Those who have heard the news of the survival of these drawings and their future availability at the Library of Congress have already expressed great excitement.

The black-and-white, large-format drawings (21 x 15 inches) detail the transformation of high school bookworm Peter Parker into Spider-Man. He is bitten by a radioactive spider, discovers his new powers and develops his now well-known disguise. The first episode concludes with several of the most famous lines attached to the story of Spider-Man: “With great power there must also come great responsibility … and so a legend is born and a new name is added to the roster of those who make the world of fantasy the most exciting realm of all.”

To view a sample of these drawings, visit the Library of Congress blog at http://www.loc.gov/blog/?p=290.

The donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, preserved the drawings with great care before turning to the Library of Congress to ensure that the designs will be available to researchers for generations to come. In the next few weeks, the Library plans to scan the drawings for easy access on-site in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, and the digital reference copies will also help preserve the fragile original artwork.

Appointments to view the original drawings can be requested through the Prints & Photographs Division’s “Ask a Librarian” service at http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html.

The Spider-Man drawings join a premier collection of original cartoons in the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division. The collection includes more than 125,000 caricatures, comic strips, and political and social commentaries from the 1600s to the present. An ongoing program to preserve and exhibit drawings and to encourage cartoon research is sponsored by the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. For more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swannhome.html.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with more than 138 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. As the world’s largest repository of knowledge and creativity, the Library is a symbol of democracy and the principles on which this nation was founded. Today the Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site, in its 22 reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through its award-winning Web site at www.loc.gov.

# # #

PR08-89

4/30/08

ISSN: 0731-3527

Amazing Fantasy #15 original Spider-Man artwork given to Library of Congress

The first appearance of Spider-Man, an 11-page story which includes his origin, now belongs to the American people. According to curator Sara Duke, an anonymous donor has given the 24 pages of original interior artwork from Amazing Fantasy #15 to the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs division. The artwork, drawn by Steve Ditko and written by Stan Lee, first appeared in print in 1962, and is in good shape. The art has some whiteout where features of the women were modified, apparently not by Ditko, as well as pasteup word balloons. According to Sara, who called it a "lovely and generous gift," the donor checked with Ditko before donating it, and was told that since the story was a gift to him (although not from Ditko), he could do what he liked with it. The donor declined to have it appraised when giving it to the Library so the actual value of the gift is unknown, although certainly in the six figures range. Three other non-superhero stories were in the book - "The Bell-Ringer", "Man in the Mummy Case", "There are Martians among us!" - and were also donated.

Sara hopes that the Library's collection of comic book art will continue to grow with similar donations since they can't afford to buy them.

The donation has been given the accession number 2008.043. All unprocessed collections require an access to unprocessed collections request form to be filled out prior to making an appointment to see art: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/022_unpr.html

Members of the press should contact Donna Urschel in the Public Affairs Office, 202-707-1639.

This post has been corrected from an earlier version.

A few bits and pieces from the papers

Catching up with some from the holidays, in the Washington Post we found:

Thursday's Holiday Issue magazine, which in addition to having food photos by my friend Lisa Cherkasky, also had an article illustrated by Kevin Pope. Pope became familiar to us DC types last year when he did a series of illustration ads for an IT firm that ran regularly in the Express. Barry Blitt had a political cartoon on the last page, "All I Want for Christmas: Young Elites and Their Holiday Wishes" that poked fun at some of the politicians and chattering classes. This was reminiscent of his work for Entertainment Weekly of a few years ago. Neither of these appear to be online.

The Examiner had the free Spider-Man reprint comic book today, although it was hard to find the paper. Reprinting a bit of Amazing Spider-Man #7, it features a new cover by Olivier and Morales. Yesterday, the paper ran a couple of articles on comics. One was a review of the videogame based on Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon, and the second was an AP article "Too Many 'Toons?" which strikes me as stupid. Nobody complains about too many sitcoms.

Upon reading the Post it appears Richard Thompson is on vacation (in any event the website is weeks behind). "Cartoonist Held After Siege at Miami Paper" details José Varela's inappropriate attempts to reform publishing. And they mention an exhibit at the Postal Museum that I'll post separately on.

While out of our purvey officially, the NY Times has been going gangbusters with comics articles. Yesterday they had a review of the new exhibit of African comics in Harlem and today, articles on DC Comics' new line for girls and an another article on the editorial cartoonist in FL going crazy and occupying a newsroom. Skipping past that last one quickly, they also ran one of James Stevenson's excellent "Lost and Found New York" pieces of cartoon journalism - this time burlesque.