New Spidey Director Announced!

The news we've all been waiting for!

http://io9.com/5452328/spider+man-has-his-new-director

Well, I'm excited. I saw 500 Days of Summer recently and thought it was pretty entertaining, even though the ending was rather Hollywood, but the rest of the movie was quite pleasing. I've been a big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and he did not disappoint in that film. BTW, if you haven't seen Brick, do yourself a favor and rent it. Gordon-Levitt did an amazing job. It would be pretty cool if Webb (rather a coincidence on the name, don't you think?) brings him along as Pete. THAT would be a Parker I would cheer for, that's for sure. Interesting idea and rumors abound....

As long as Obama doesn't make an appearance in this script, I'll be happy! (Did you know that the long-awaited Obama/McCain RPG book released this week? Yeah, not stocking that baby.)

Hitler Is a DC Fanboy!

Yesterday, Marvel made a big hubbub by sending out the following press release to the world:

In an effort to provide assistance to comic retailers in 2010, Marvel is offering retailers an opportunity to turn unsold comics into an extremely rare Siege #3 Deadpool Variant!

Retailers – for every 50 stripped covers of the following comics sent to Marvel, you will qualify to receive one FREE Siege #3 Deadpool Variant. The 50 stripped covers can be any combination of the comics listed below and all submissions need to be received at the Marvel office at the address below by Tuesday 2/16/2010. Also included with the stripped covers must be your store contact information including Diamond Account # and email address.

Stripped Covers To Be Sent:

Adventure Comics #4

Booster Gold #26

Doom Patrol #4

Justice League Of America #39

Outsiders #24.

R.E.B.E.L.S #10

Address To Send Submission:
James NausedasMarvel Entertainment, LLC417 Fifth Avenue, 10th FloorNew York, NY 10016

Information To Be Included With Submission:Store NameStore AddressContact PersonEmail AddressPhone NumberDiamond Account #List of stripped covers being returned and their quantities.

All the directions above must be adhered to in order to receive the free Siege #3 Deadpool Variants and the submissions must be received by Tuesday 2/16/2010 in order to qualify.

Please note that this is not a Diamond-affiliated promotion and Diamond should not be contacted. Retailers will be contacted via email once Marvel receives the submissions. Retailer with further questions should contact helpme@marvel.com.

When this information first hit yesterday, I went out of my way not to comment on it, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, in these days of all information ever being available online all the time accessible by everyone is not something I approve of, and I have commented on this again and again. I guess I'm the only one that thinks this type of PR is not for consumption by the general public. Why do my customers need to know this information? They don't, and there are many instances where this kind of information gets distributed globally. Why should I care? And if Marvel did send out an email to retailers only, I'm sure there are many retailers out there that would immediately post this info for the world to see, on their Facebook pages, as a Tweet, or Blog about it. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see this PR go out to all the news sites etc., and I'm not, but it is frustrating to have all information about my business out there for the world to see. To be quite frank I can't understand why all fanboys and girls feel the need to know all of this type of thing, they don't own/operate a shop, etc. So anyway, this is one of the main reasons I did NOT comment on this before, but now there is this great "Hitler on the Marvel Variant News" Youtube video that I DO now feel the need to share because it's way too funny for words.

Go. Watch this and enjoy. Warning, this video is not intended for any underage viewers due to the language content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8KbNag962A

Looking at offical PR (above) it seems like a pretty shitty move on Marvel's part to slap DC so hard and in such a public fashion. It has been pointed out on numerous comic news sites and comic message boards that DC has been dominating the online comic news of late, but really is that any reason to do this? If they REALLY wanted to help the retailers out, like they say they do in the PR, they would offer us returns on any number of crap Marvel books. Like Brian Hibbs pointed out, why not make the Captain America Reborn stuff returnable? We are all pretty much choking on those, and the Dark Reign shit too, again like Hibbs pointed out. But instead of doing something much more productive and helpful to the retailers, they offer to take about $200 (retail) worth of comics for ONE Siege #3 Deadpool variant. Really? Wow, thanks Marvel, that's just awesome! I suppose there are people out there willing to spend A LOT on this variant, but I would have to sell that one book for AT LEAST $100.00 or a little more to make it worth my while. I was a little shocked to see this PR yesterday, I have to admit. This is a new low for Marvel. Will I send a bunch of the ring books in for one of these ULTRA rare variants? Maybe, I haven't decided for sure yet, but why didn't Marvel offer this sort of deal for returns of their own damn books, that's what I want to know. I suppose if they did, Marvel couldn't have stolen DC's crazy announcement after announcement online thunder, but really was this necessary?

Hitler is mad and so am I. I may not be yelling and screaming as loudly as Hitler in the video, but I can understand his frustration. I just don't want this whole episode to escalate into any kind of pissing match between the Big Two. Why can't we all just get along? Silly question, I know, we are talking about comics here, and we are a medium traditionally steeped in rivalries, but still....

More One Measly Dollar Books coming!

Image has announced the $1.00 reprint month, starting March 31st, running through April 28th. Every week during the promotion they will reprint 2 Image #1's for just a BUCK! Following on the heels of DC's "After Watchmen...What's Next" promotion, along with Marvels #1 reprint month, Image is getting in on the game. How long before Dark Horse follows suit? I have no problem with this idea, not in the least. Who wouldn't spend a buck to try a new book that they've heard of but never read before? Too bad I've already read all of Image's offerings, but that shouldn't stop the rest of you! Here is the list of what they will be reprinting for ONE MEASLY DOLLAR:

Youngblood #1
(*groan* seriously folks? Do they HONESTLY think that IF someone is willing to spend a buck on this that it will somehow translate into graphic novel sales or Youngblood issue sales? Dear god, no. In fact, if someone picks this up as their only $1.00 try an Image book experiment, I'm betting they will NOT be back for more. I can't fault Image and Liefeld for trying, I suppose it's POSSIBLE although highly unlikely that someone will buy this issue, read it, and return for more Youngblood.)

Walking Dead #1
(Just in case, there is SOMEONE out there that HASN'T tried Walking Dead yet, lol. Just looking at my numbers and reorders for the floppies and the graphic novels, I would find that to be very surprising, but this choice was a no brainer on Image's part).

Spawn #1
(Hm... I guess they had to include this one, since Spawn and Savage Dragon are the only still ongoing books from the original Image founders that are being published by Image proper. At least this books LOOKS nice, you remember back when McFarlane would actually draw his own book? Wow those days seem like eons ago...)

Chew #1
(Another no brainer on Image's part. This book has been the runaway sleeper hit of the past year. For one measly dollar, we should be able to turn a lot of new folks onto this unique book.)

Savage Dragon #1
(Ok, ok, I know this one like Spawn #1 HAD to be reprinted, but I wonder if this $1 issue will translate into any subsequent sales of Savage Dragon comics or graphic novels. Fans of the Dragon are die-hard indeed, but how many new possible Dragon fans are there? Interesting, very interesting, to witness the after effects of this particular reprint.)

Age of Bronze #1
(Great choice Image! I'm VERY excited to see this first issue reprinted for One Measly Dollar! This is a great book, that more people need to read. Damn fine historical fiction that I certainly hopes translates into graphic novel sales.)

Witchblade #1
(Again, this book is by one of the founding Image partners, so it rather has to be reprinted with this promotion, even though Silvestri and all of his properties splintered off into Top Cow years ago. This book, despite my lack of enthusiasm, has some staying power. They managed to spin this book off into a TV show, a video game, a manga, and I think a movie might be in the works if I remember correctly. Just goes to show you that not every book is for everyone.)

Girls #1
(Interesting choice here Image. This was a mini-series from the Luna brothers, that was a rather entertaining read, but it is not a current on-going series from Image. The Luna brothers have made their home at Image, so it was a natural choice for Image to reprint ONE of their books. Maybe this will translate into some graphic novel sales.)

Invincible #1
(Another no-brainer here. This is Kirkman's other flagship book at Image, that continues to sell well, not as well as Walking Dead, but respectably well for a non-Big-Two superhero book. I expect this reprint to spawn (no pun intended) an upswing in Invincible back issues and graphic novels.)

Proof #1
(Another great call Image! This book doesn't sell very well as a monthly, but the graphic novels do rather well, and this affordable reprint may be just the ticket to rocket this fun comic into the big league. Recommended reading for any Hellboy fan imo.)

So ten FUN new reprints for ONE MEASLY DOLLAR, coming your way in April! Try a couple of these, and odds are good you will find something new that is worth getting excited about.

The Spectre Animated!

This is pretty cool, The Spectre will be animated in the new Justice League, Crisis on Two Earths, direct-to-dvd animated special, as a special animated short included with the full length movie. Check out the details, and a preview on the link from Newsarama here:

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=32838

I'm pretty excited about this! I love The Spectre, from the Golden Age, down through the present, but I have to say Detective Corrigan has always been my favorites of the Spectres, and the only one that counts imo. They have also announced that they will be doing more of these little animated "shorts" in the future, the next one being, surprise surprise, Jonah Hex. I can't wait to see which other characters they choose to highlight this way in the future. Obviously they want to devote some time to these secondary characters, but DC knows that the odds of a Spectre full-length animated special would most likely sell significantly less than say... the Justice League or Wonder Woman. Who could be next? I would love to see them produce some animated specials based on Vertigo properties, wouldn't that be brilliant? I have serious doubts that we will EVER see the Sandman or Death movies, since they have been in Hollywood limbo for years with options all over the place, but nothing officially green lit. Or better yet, how about a direct-to-dvd Constantine movie? I would be all over that, and they wouldn't be limited by the budget because all of the effects would be animated, John could travel to hell and back again for a lot less than a full-length feature film. Damn, am I the only one that would kill to see a trippy animated Invisibles or animated Doom Patrol? Oh the possibilities are endless....

Spider-Man 4 to be Spider-Man 1!

Yes, I'm a day late reporting the Spider-Man movie reboot announcement, but I still have to run a busy comic book shop by day, so sometimes it's hard to find the time to blog. MTV has an amusing "Five Things We'll Miss about the Raimi Spidey Movies" here:

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/01/12/five-things-well-miss-about-sam-raimi-tobey-maguires-spider-man-franchise/

So, good or bad? I think it's about time if you ask me. I was getting a little tired of Tobey Maguire as Peter, and don't even get me started about Kirsten Dunst as a drab not very model-like MJ. Tobey is getting a little old to pull it off anyway. Spidey 3 sealed the deal for me, time to move on, although I will miss ol' Bruce and his chin, making the Raimi-required cameo. I think the second Spider-Man film was my favorite of the trilogy, and the same can be said for the original 3 X-Men movies, number two was again my favorite, following in the tradition of Empire Strikes Back. There is something magical about Part 2 of a trilogy because all of the origin stuff can be skipped and we can get into the meat of the characters without all the necessary wrap-ups at the end of trilogy. Incidentally I think Two Towers is my favorite of the LOTR films because that battle is SO incredible.

It will be interesting to see who they cast as the new younger, high-school aged Peter Parker, Ultimate Spider-Man anyone? Some folks are crying for Bendis to take over the Spidey movie script chores, and maybe he could pull it off, but it does make me a little nervous. Keep in mind, Bendis is the man that managed to drag out Spidey's origin over SEVEN issues in Ultimate Spidey, whereas back in the day, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee did the same damn thing in ELEVEN PAGES. So if Bendis does get involved in the Spidey movies, we can expect to see the series dragged out to at least 6 movies instead of the usual magical trilogy.

Right now it's just a lot of speculation out there, no real news to report expect the actual announcement that the franchise is being rebooted. So there you go, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man will be your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Kid soon. Can't wait. Really. No really, you are mistaken if you note any sarcasm in this post whatsoever.

And So Brightest Day Rises!

DC has announced Brightest Day, the new storyline that will follow Blackest Night. Read the full story here at Newsarma:
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/Brightest-Day-Announcement-100111.html




Ok, show of hands, who DIDN'T see this coming? I'm a little shocked that the main series is going to be 26 bi-weekly issues, but I'm not surprised that DC is following the mega-successful Blackest Night with the flip side, Brightest Day.

More details as they become available.

2010 is here!

Lots has been happening since the new year began, and I'm a little behind in my posts. First up, David Finch has been announced as going exclusive with DC. Interesting little bit of news there, since he has been almost only producing Marvel-related books for the last few years. The above sketch is from his sketchbook, not for any particular Bat-book, so don't freak out just yet. This is very good move on DC's part if you ask me, fans really like Finch, so if he does a bunch of covers and/or interiors for any of the Bat-books, or any title for that matter, should help boost the sales for that book/books. Would it help if Finch suddenly starting drawing a less popular book such as R.E.B.E.L.S. ? Hm... maybe a little bit, for a little while, but it wouldn't help long term, I don't think so anyway.

Apple's ITablet/ISlate is coming as well as Microsoft's version, both will most likely be available later this year. Everyone is talking how these devices could spell doom for brick and mortar comic shops, and they may well kill us at some point, I think it will take a LONG time for that to happen. I don't imagine that either one of these items will be very affordable, at least not for a little while, and what with the economy being what it is these days, with many folks still out of work, these devices will sell, there is no doubt about it, but will everyone I know have one by the end of the year? Obviously not. Just another platform for viewing pretty pictures, just like laptops, cellphones/pda's, and other such devices. All very cool and exciting, but I wish people would just relax about these things already. Amazing Fantasy isn't going anywhere, we will continue to be here selling comics and graphic novels, for many years to come. Let's see how many people completely switch their comic buying habits to digital once these devices become affordable. I'm keenly interested to see how this will all play out, because this could also obviously affect the book market in a big way, much like Amazon's Kindle and B&N's version, whose name is escaping me at the moment. Hell, I didn't know B&N had their own version until yesterday, but it makes sense if I had just stopped to think about it for a moment. I don't really frequent B&N's website, for obvious reasons. (I have enough reading material temptations in stock at the shop, I don't need to look elsewhere for more). Any of you that read this blog, are you going to run out to buy one of these new fancy electronic tablet devices AS SOON AS they become available for consumption?

Oh before I forget, I need to thank everyone who came out to our New Year's Eve Eve parties! We all had loads of fun and by all accounts most attendees also had a good time. What a successful non-new-comic-book day Wednesday! The karaoke machine at the Frankfort store was too much fun, lol, I'm not sure I will ever truly recover after hearing some of our customers singing their favorite songs, but since everyone seemed to enjoy it, I'm sure we will do that again at some point. We are now back to our normal routine, all kinds of shiny new comics and graphic novels came in yesterday, so if you haven't been to your local A/F, be sure to swing by, to see what kind of cool stuff is waiting for you.

2010 looks to be the year of, you guessed it, MORE comic-based movies, who would have thought? Scott Pilgrim, Losers, Kick Ass, Jonah Hex, and Iron Man 2 just to name a few. I'm especially looking forward to Scott Pilgrim and Kick Ass. I'm sure you've all seen the Scott Pilgrim stills that are out there, and the various Kick Ass trailers that are online at this point, so I won't bother linking to those here. I head that Scott Pilgrim was coming to theatres March 19th, but there aren't any trailers yet, which makes me think that that is no longer the case. If anyone has further info, please feel free to share.

And I can't really talk about the beginning of 2010, without at least mentioning James Cameron's mega-hit 3D film, Avatar. I can only assume that most folks have seen it by this time, but if you haven't, I must say, stay away, unless you see it in 3D. There isn't much point, wasting your money and time, without seeing the amazing 3D effects. The story and dialogue is some of the worst that I've witnessed in a long time. I understand that he wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but wow. The plot seems like a mosh-up between Disney's piece of garage Pocahontas and Dances With Wolves, which isn't much of a compliment. Did the film LOOK amazing? Hell yes, very pretty and colorful. It ran a bit long for my taste, I started to get antsy about 30 minutes before the end of the film. Nothing against long-running movies, as long as the run time is warranted, I'm cool with it. Avatar, not so much. I realize that I am in the minority here, but since everyone is talking about it, I figured I would chime in with my two cents for no particular reason.

2010 is shaping up to be a very interesting year in comics. Can't wait to see what the next big announcement will be, can you? I have my fingers crossed for that Marvel/Disney variant cover month, or better yet, that new Bendis-penned X-Disney book.