If SHIPPING is outlawed, only outlaws will have SHIPS: June 27, 2007

in the meantimes, what to nexpect

showcase batman yesssssssssssss

also worth a yesssssssssssss:

Criminal
Immortal Iron Fist
Fantastic Four
X-Men First Class
Clubbing (I hope!)

Re-Gifters, BTW, was pretty great.

And Amazons Attack can attack deeznuts.

it reminds me of War of the Gods, except without the redeeming posters inside.

it's up!

BLUE BEETLE #16 - still better than most DC titles
GREEN LANTERN SINESTRO CORPS SPECIAL #1 - I wasn't gonna fall for this, but with solicits strongly hinting at the return of Parallax, I just didn't see how I could pass up the chance*
SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN VOL 2 TP - this is what's going to get me out of bed on Wednesday.
ANT MAN VOL 1 DIGEST TP - this is irredeemable, right?
SHE-HULK 2 #19 - she-sigh.

*PSYCH!!!

Blue Beetle, Showcase Batman (I can't wait to see who the Outsider really is), Criminal, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Iron Fist, She-Hulk, X-Factor, X-Men First Class.

well crap, with eight comics coming in maybe I WON'T get that Showcase this week after all.

I wonder what tragic real-life event Jenkins will offensively compare World War Hulk to in Frontline's back-up strip?

E1ian G0nzales

Dare I ask what tragic real-life event Jenkins offensively compared Marvel's Civil War to in Frontline's back-up strip? I mean, I was offended by that horseshit "YOU DON'T KNOW MYSPACE" speech Jenkins' cliched mouthpiece (oh, a hard-nosed drunk female reporter, you say? EDGY!) gave to Cap, & that was pretty benign.

IIRC, Jenkins conflated Civil War, the current mess in Iraq, and "Drummer Hodge" into one hilariously and depressingly awful "statement" of some sort. Might've been Siegfried Sassoon or something and not Hardy, don't remember exactly. It hurted my brains.

Hellboy: Dorkness Calls #3 (and I shall answer!)
Criminal
Daredevil
Iron Fist

Hopefully the completist in me can be beaten back sufficiently to stop getting Cuntdown.

reading it should do the job

Criminal, Daredevil, possibly LOSH.

For me...

CRIMINAL #7--tasty Brubaker goodness
DAREDEVIL #98--see above
WORLD WAR HULK FRONT LINE #1--against my better judgment
WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN #1--ditto

Man. Four Marvels, no DC. How'd that happen, as people always ask Dan Savage?

Criminal
Jack of Fables
She-Hulk

And the last few weeks of whatevs.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #6
DAREDEVIL #98

A selection which makes me look like a Brubaker-phile, which I'm not. (Could Brubaker inspire such devotion?)

WORLD WAR HULK FRONT LINE #1--against my better judgment

DON'T DO IT DOUGLAS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Also, I forgot Daredevil in my list of yessssssssssssss, because I am nooooooooooooooo. Or, more accurately, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I will buy these:
HELLBOY DARKNESS CALLS #3 (OF 6)
SHE-HULK 2 #19

I will thumb through this in the shop and maybe buy it at Amazingon:
ART OF BONE HC

For me:

X-Men
X-Factor
Ultimate X-Men
Thunderbolts
Daredevil
Supergirl/Legion
Wonder Woman

BLUE BEETLE #16 - gotta get around to reading these some day...
COUNTDOWN 44 - hey, it's only five minutes of my life, isn't it?
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #31 - will it suck?

FANTASTIC FOUR #547
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #6
THUNDERBOLTS #115
WORLD WAR HULK X-MEN #1 (OF 3) - (Some) hope for this, on the other hand I'm not letting Jenkins ruin my WWH fun, dammit!
X-FACTOR #20

JACK OF FABLES #12
WONDER WOMAN #10 (Er. Maybe. Has Gail taken it over yet?)
NIGHTLY NEWS #6
INVINCIBLE #43 (Again. Maybe.)
CRIMINAL #7
SHE-HULK 2 #19 (Just started picking this up. It's funny!)
SILENT WAR #6 (How is Black Bolt going to kickass now that the Hulk kicked his? Or is this not running chronologically?)
THUNDERBOLTS #115 (For Songbird. And Warren.)
WORLD WAR HULK FRONT LINE #1 (WWH is fun!)
WORLD WAR HULK X-MEN #1 (Ditto!)
X-FACTOR #20 (Endangered Species is fun!)
X-MEN #200 (Ditto!)
X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #1 (Non-canon X-Men romance is fun!)

Woah. Heavily Marvel this week.

How To Not Start Things Off, By Paul Jenkins: MEET DEEP THROAT

Also - Ben Urich WTF 0_o

Nothing for me, but some reactions:

MAR070019 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER OMNIBUS VOL 1 TP $24.95 - wtf? is this the first four issues of the Whedon series at a ludicrous price, or, like, the five or so issues by TV writers they previously published bundled together with a dozen other rubbish ones, or...?

JAN070377 NEIL GAIMAN AND CHARLES VESS STARDUST HC (RES) (MR) $39.99 - wts? wasn't this, like, $24.95 the first time around? (I actually looked, and couldn't find a price on it)

APR073850 COLLECTED TOUPYDOOPS TP (MR) $14.95 - has anyone heard of this, ever? I never had until they took out double-page ads for this in TCJ saying "OH SHIT DUDE all your excuses for not buying our comic JUST DISAPPEARED booyah IN YOUR FACE", but: my excuse was previously 'I have never heard of your comic,' and now my entire knowledge of the comic is a) they think they're great b) they think you have heard how great they are and are just resisting c) why do they think this? d) I know absolutely nothing about what it is about or what the work is like except that e) their one promo image is poorly drawn in three completely different ways and e) they have a really, really stupid name. so, non-great job there.

DEADMAN #11 - although I'm beginning to think it isn't going anywhere I might as well stay on board till #13
JACK OF FABLES #12 - BE MORE FUN PLS
JSA CLASSIFIED #27 - The Day My Baby Gave Wildcat A Surprize
SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN VOL 2 - Poison Ivy is pernicious
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #31 - Hooray! Another story that CHANGES EVERYTHING IRREVOCABLY!
WETWORKS #10 - beginning to lose interest
WONDER WOMAN #10 - last before Gail
DAREDEVIL #98 - "racing towards a shocking conclusion" agane
FANTASTIC FOUR #547 - Marvel Zombies: Aftermath
SHE-HULK 2 #19 - The Leader? WTF?
SILVER SURFER REQUIEM #2 - The first of these was quite nice. Surfer dying, yadda yadda yadda, but done well.
THUNDERBOLTS #115 - I alternate between thinking this is brilliant and rubbish, tbh
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #43 - Torchy: "lol Surfer wtf is California in space?"
ULTIMATE VISION #4 - Holy crap, I forgot about this
ULTIMATE X-MEN #83 - Big Morlock Fite
WORLD WAR HULK FRONT LINE #1 - HULK DO BIG SMASH
WORLD WAR HULK X-MEN #1 - HULK FIND OUT XAVIER SUPPOSED TO BE AT MEETING HE NOT AT. HULK SMASH ANYWAY.
X-FACTOR #20 - "turning point issue". hmm.

FLASH: what do you expect an indy book to do to grab attention, especially when they shell out $$$ for a 2-page spread in TCJ? Play it close to the vest? NOT talk themselves up? Actually own up to their supposed shortcomings? WTF!

Also: the OMNIBUS is a collection of previous Buffy sttories (TV-related, & not TV-related) in a chronological order, I think.

Yeah, that's totally weird -- I mean, it's advertising, that's what advertising is like...

Though I wouldn't mind if Marvel used a lowkey ad strategy:

"World War Hulk. From Marvel. Hey, we think you'll like it."

"Joss Whedon on Astonishing X-Men, from Marvel. You liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, right? Maybe? Just think about it, OK?"

"Irredeemable Ant-Man, from Marvel. It's not like it's going to cost you much, because we're going to cancel it soon."

"Marvel Comics is proud to present Peter David writing stories based on Stephen King's stories. Because it cost us an assload of cash to get the rights to use King's name, and we need to recoup, especially if we don't sufficiently penetrate the bookstore market. You know how much that stupid 1985 fumetti crap is costing us?"

(x-post by one)

I'd expect a World War Hulk ad to tell me that a big green guy fights a planet, and whether it's written by Peter David, or something.

This doesn't talk itself up at all, it claims that YOU ARE ALREADY FULLY AWARE of the comic but have just been putting off buying it, and in fact fabricating excuses for doing so. I am not aware of it, and it sounds like none of you are either. Go on, what's it about? Is it really not drawn shit?

The argument that they've got to go big once they've shelled out for a double-page ad is The Fallacy Of The Straw Before The Cart, or something - they shouldn't be shelling out for such a big ad in the first place! And once they have, they don't have to fill it with owning up to shortcomings (who says they have any?) - they should take advantage of the huge space to tell you what the comic is about, show you some of their panel-to-panel storytelling, run a couple of good gags from the book to get you interested. Not fill one page with two giant sentences and another with a picture of two dude with strange alien heads looking up at you with arms folded like "that's right."

It communicates nothing about the content. It places the reader in a false position, which is offputting. This is not a good advertising strategy, and it's not one I'm familiar with from any other product!

Any random DC book from the late '80s probably has two house ads that get you intrigued and give an indication of the tone of the comic. I've never seen an ad for a comic bigging itself up in the way I'm reading these examples as anti-mocking that has ever made the slightest impression being making me skip to the next page faster.

the word "shit" is an adjective there. shit-ly.

(and "being" should be "beyond" but that whole para is incoherent so I'm going to bed)

SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN VOL 2 TP
BOYS #8 (RES) (MR)

I'VE SUCCUMBED TO THE ILC GROUP CONSENSUS:

and purchased WORLD WAR HULK #1. If I see this through, it'll be the first crossover I've partaken of significantly since X-ECUTIONER'S SONG (excepting SEVEN SOLDIERS, I suppose). Which means I'm probably not getting WWH: X-MEN unless the contents include Cable shooting Prof. X.

And I suppose I kinda liked it - Pak's phrasing and dialogue leave much to be desired (I found myself finessing the opening narration whilst reading) but really the "HULK SMASH" silliness supercedes my doubts. Fun, with violence.

Oh, I missed The Boys. Leaving a big publisher has done... er... possibly what you'd expect to Garth Ennis' writing.

What did he do in the last issue of The Boys that was any different than what DC let him get away with? (I'm serious - I forgot what happened in the last issue.)

Re: finessing - I just realized I do this sometimes, too! Not w/ abhorrently shitty writing - I just flip it off while yelling "fuck you" over & over, because I'm mature for my weight - but w/ good writing that hits speedbumps, or just maddeningly mediocre writing (cf. INFINITE CRISIS).

I think I've inadvertenly done this with Justice League of Meltzer!

I suppose it wasn't much worse than when it was at DC, really. I think the guy behind the comic shop is going to be a really sick fucker though.

Green Lantern Special is 8 kinds of awesomely bad. Imagine every wince-inducing scene from Infinite Crisis condensed into ONE SPECIAL.

I have just been reading the Newsarama reaction thread on it Huk!

"OMG OMG I HAS ALL THE VILIANS"

"BIGGEST THRET EVAR DCU IS PWNED KTHXBAI"

Total action figure storytelling. Good old Geoff!

Ha - I saw the inclusion of Eradicator Robot Superman Reign Guy in the background as Sinestro winced & hovered in the foreground of a house ad for SINESTRO MUSTARD CRISIS, and was like, "uh, OK?"

Also - WTF is w/ the Noosearama pullquote in that very ad about GJ's GL "ramping up the excitement every month like a Tonka truck rolling down the street with tin cans tied to the back bumper." IS READING NOT FUNDAMENTAL ANYMORE!

I browsed through the special without really reading it, and (please let me repeat this was done WITHOUT READING THE WORDS) found myself kind of excited at the prospect of EVERY ONE against the lanters. Anyway the

SPOILER

Anti-Monitor on the last page did remind me of "action-figure" storytelling, besides of the fact that last time it took every hero to defeat him, what are they going to do now?. Also , it was nice that no one had tried to revive him anyway. He isn't so great a villain, isn't him?. More of a gigantic plot device.

Also: would they please leave Kyle Rayner alone? (even though the change in Sinestro Corps has "reversal" written all over it).

I like the way Johns constantly refers back to his earlier stuff, as if to say "HEY THIS WAS FORESHADOWING! I AM A WRITER!"

This week's IMMORTAL IRON FIST had enough thrillpower to fuel 17 WORLD WAR HULKS. Don't accept anything less.

But seriously - THE ADVENTURER'S CLUB (see page 1 - panel 1), "Danny...don't be an idiot", "Hail Hydra?", "We're doooooomed", the complex panel structure that flows with liquid ease, the jumpkicks that blow apart two whole stories of the Rand Building...an exemplar of superhero action entertainment.

bwah hah hah (via The Beat):

04/2007: 52 Week 49 — 94,681 (- 0.0%)
04/2007: 52 Week 50 — 97,073 (+ 2.5%) [100,214]
04/2007: 52 Week 51 — 94,934 (- 2.2%)
05/2007: 52 Week 52 — 102,075 (+ 7.5%)

05/2007: Countdown #51 — 91,083
05/2007: Countdown #50 — 83,752 (-8.1%)
05/2007: Countdown #49 — 81,484 (-2.7%)
05/2007: Countdown #48 — 79,810 (-2.1%)

Pride/saving face requires they publish the full year's worth, no matter how low it goes, right?

I'd like to feel schadenfreude, but I'd rather have, you know, a FUN COMIC.

Uh, I have no idea where the profitability line is, they may be nowhere near it for all I know. (xpost to self)

90-100K, these days, is very very good - 52 was in Diamond's top 20 the entire year w/ those sorts of numbers. 70-80K is respectable, too, but I'm guessing DC was hoping for 52ish levels of success (especially given how many of their titles have fallen off in the past year) - in May, only JLA & ASSBATS were in the top 10, and ASSBATS comes around like Halley's Comet. Meanwhile, Marvel's riding high on post-Civil-War book bannering & Cap's death, & it doesn't look like they'll fall flat anytime soon.

How on earth is there anything laughable about those figures? They're very high numbers, a remarkably moderate drop from 1 to 2, and holding almost steady on the third and fourth. It's going to be #16-20 (or, er, #32ish in backwards numbers) before we see even the slightest evidence of market correction on these, as they're pre-order numbers and nothing at all to do with sales.

I'm sure DC were expecting this to sell a good whack less than 52.

I have finally decided there's nothing worth sticking around for in that Countdown mess. And only about a month later than anyone with a brain! I'm very proud.

This week's IMMORTAL IRON FIST had enough thrillpower to fuel 17 WORLD WAR HULKS. Don't accept anything less.

-- R Baez, Thursday, 28 June 2007 19:15 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

So OTM that words almost fail me. Immortal Iron Fist truly is a marvel of the comic book art. I read this from cover to cover with a big grin on my face. And I'm abso-bloody-lutely kicking myself that I only got on board last issue. There's always the trade, I suppose.

Yeah, IIF is great stuff. The resolution of the drinking contest got a literal lol.

Also, I was this close (squeezes fingers together) to buying that mini trade of Irredeemable Ant-Man. But I had already committed to dropping $15 on the Girl from H.O.P.P.E.R.S., so maybe next week. Or hell, today's payday, after all.

I'm sure DC were expecting this to sell a good whack less than 52.

EFG, I really don't know if that's the case. The only books that sell upwards of 100K for DC are: ASSBATS (hahahaha), ASSUPES (slightly more frequent, but hahahha), JLA. JSA and BatMorrison (& maybe Action Comics, when the "regular" team deigns to put out an issue) (& I HOPE Brave & the Bold) tip the scales around 80K.

Their other established books are middle of the pack or worse. All of the IC spin-offs & revamps are treading water on the lower end of the spectrum (& in danger of getting thwacked). The WildStorm revamp is falling on its ass (thanks to GMo & Co dragging their collective footsies, and the other books not selling much).

Maybe this GL nonsense will spike sales for that book. & maybe Waid's Flash will tip the scales at high levels. & maybe Countdown won't continue to decline & wear down any folks curious about what Countdown is counting down to. But, right now, things ain't looking so great.

But then, I could be full of shit. & I would quote more #s, but The Beat is down.

you guys, Thunderbolts is fucking incredible

IIRC, I don't think DC expected that much out of 52--certainly not that its first 40 or whatever issues would account for 11% of its total floppy sales for 2006. So Countdown might be performing to 52's original expectations. Though if ILC is representative of anything (highly unlikely, thank god), the June numbers will be something to titter at.

That definitely makes sense: unexpected success of 52 = "hey, let's try that again, but w/ cheaper talent; THAT should make some $$$"

I love the notion (which I think was brought up in The Beat's DC analysis) that the idea for the new Waid-abetted Flash came about just as the first issue for the last new Flash book hit the stands.

I bought that first issue. I don't blame them.