Column About Variants

New column is posted. While the title may seem like I rip variants a new one, I do support them to a degree.....just not that high of one

http://www.thesuffolkvoice.net/opinion/variants-are-stupid-1.1733269

Views

Wow. I'm pumped that a lot of people have been reading the site. If you guys want to hear me talk about something specific, feel free to post a comment. I'm always up for new ideas and I might even include the idea in my column instead of just a normal blog posting.

Liberties with Characters and Marvel TV

New column posted yesterday. Here is the link: http://www.thesuffolkvoice.net/opinion/liberties-with-characters-1.1722677

Teaser Adds

While this has been a staple of the comic industry, teaser adds have been quite the mixed bag recently, especially by Marvel. DC hasn't gone to the lengths that Marvel has with teaser images, and have had great success. The recent Brightest Day teaser that appeared in a lot of books was beautiful, and had to much to look at that I'm still deciphering the image. It's big, it's bold, and it makes clear and subtle claims at the same time.

Now Marvel. I'm going to start with Shadowland. There were so many teasers for this event that is stinking up the stands. What really bothered me was that one of the adds WAS A PANEL FROM SHADOWLAND #1! What the fuck. It's a splash page teaser, would it have taken that long to get an artist to draw one page?

Next is the new Hero for Hire series. It was blatant from the first teaser that there was going to be a new Heroes for Hire series. It totally defeats the purpose of a teaser. The rest of the week's teasers were pointless besides finding out who was in the book. If they were going to do something like this, why didn't they take the route the marketing department did with the relaunch of the Avengers books. Those teaser images were perfect. I was more pumped for those than I have been in a series in a long time

The only teaser image that I have actually liked recently from Marvel is the Bendis/Maleev Moon Knight ongoing. Although I hope Bendis isn't over stretching himself. And can anyone answer me when I ask if Scarlet is a miniseries or ongoing? I thought it was a miniseries (like Nemesis or Kick-Ass), but a lot of recent comments by people have said otherwise.

Comic Book Prices column

My new column is up. I talk about prices of comics and how they affect the reader and the seller. Hope you all enjoy: http://www.thesuffolkvoice.net/opinion/mr-comic-book-10-1.1691821

Twitter

So I have started up a twitter just for all my comic book thoughts. It has been around for a few weeks. I'll post review of books I have read and the most recent links to my columns. As well as anything else that pops into my head. Here is the link: http://twitter.com/#!/mrcomicbookSUVO

New Column Up

Here is the link to the new column post. First one of the year. Don't worry, I'll still try to post here regularly

http://www.thesuffolkvoice.net/opinion/mr-comic-book-6-1.1672314

Comic Book Sales

So there is some type of layout problem at the Suffolk Voice, so I can't put my weekly column up just yet. Here is what the article would have been:

We all know that print journalism is hurting. Magazines, newspapers, even comic books have all taken a sharp dip in sales. This past week, when Diamond Publishing released the sales numbers for August, the industry was shocked. Sales were down 17% from August in 2009. Graphic novels were down 21%. Now many things can be blamed on this, but I have a few ideas as to why there was a such a steep decline.

Lets look at 2009. By August, “Blackest Night” was into its third month, while Marvel was deep into the “Dark Reign” branding. Marvel also had the “Utopia” mini-event going on between “Dark Avengers” and “Uncanny X-Men.” While it many seem like a lot of events, it’s nothing in comparison to this year. For events, we have “Shadowland,” “Brightest Day,” the overarching “Heroic Age” branding, the mini-event “Curse of the Mutants,” “The Thanos Imperative,” and “Chaos War” to start very soon. Sometimes trying to have a lot events make people just say forget it. In something like “Secret Invasion,” people would be more likely to buy the secondary stuff. But in this case, with so many events, people can’t afford those. They stick with the main story, and if they happen to be reading a title that crosses over, well that’s fine.

This time last year, the economy looked like it was recovering more than it does now. Buyer confidence has defiantly declined in the last year. People are more careful about what they buy, sense if the comic doesn’t entertain them 100%, they will drop it from their pull list.

One thing I notice the other day when looking at the comics I bought last month, was there were a lot of delays on the more popular comics. Grant Morrison’s “Batman and Robin” and “Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne” were both delayed to September and October respectively. “Green Lantern” and “The Flash” were also delayed into September. It may not seem like a big deal, but these titles sell like hot cakes every time they are released. Strangely, Marvel didn’t have this problem during August.

“Brightest Day” #7 and #8 topped the list, with “Avengers” #4, “New Avengers” #3, and “Secret Avengers” #4 filling out the top five.

Movie Time

Photos of Chris Evan’s stunt double have surfaced. He is wearing the full Cap garb, and it look all right. Won’t make judgment until the final product is seen. HYDRA minions were also shown, looking almost nothing like they do in the comics. Instead of the traditional yellow and green, they went with all black. Still looks good though.

A trailer for “Thor” leaked, and it looks epic.

The trailer for “Priest” and “RED” have been released in the past couple of months

A Doctor Strange and Iron Fist movie are in the works

Trade/Series for Newcomers

Started reading “The Walking Dead” during the summer and I am stunned by how great it is. Easily one of the best comics to come around in the decade. The zombie setting is great and it’s something George Romero should read to make his movies better. Plus it’s going to be a TV series on AMC

Here is the first volume on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Dead-Vol-Days-Gone/dp/1582406723/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284489679&sr=8-2