It´s been a while since I have read any news at all and concerning DC my life has been better without it. Now some people may say that I´m just bashing DC because they flushed the DC universe I liked down the toilet but I think the trainwreck that is called THE NEW 52 is going more and more off the rails. And I´m not even talking about the recent news that they will have three different artists on JUSTICE LEAGUE. No, the snafus by the DC execs have become so numerous that there is a brandnew website called Has DC done something stupid Today ? where you can get the latest disaster news.
THE FIRE´S STILL BYRNING
Fellow blogger Pedro Angosto at MAN OF BRONZE has added another batch of John Byrne commissions . I have to say I still get a kick out of his cover recreations and DC / Marvel crossovers. As well as his books from IDW. After COLD WAR he has started HIGH WAYS and I think after that wraps up DOOMSDAY 1 is next. Yup, plenty of Byrne stuff for old school fans like me.
Oh, and there are also new ones about George Perez - without comment.
ARCHIE COMICS GROWING THANKS TO BOOK SALES
Calvin Reid has written an article at Publishers Weekly about Archie Comic´s continued growth thanks to their collected books .
In 2010, Archie switched its bookstore distribution to Random House Publisher Services, which lead to a revamped approach to get into the book market, adding more book formats such as trade paperbacks, and children’s book formats, said Harold Buchholz, senior VP of publishing, who joined Archie as head of its book division in 2010. Archie published 11 book titles that year and by 2012 it published 33 titles. This year the house will release about 40 titles and it expects to release 50 in 2014.
As somebody who has just recently re - entered the world of Archie after a decades long absence I have to say they are doing everything right. Okay, right now I´m only reading the MARRIED LIFE collections but when I see all the news about Archie Comics I really want to get into it more. Because as good as the MARRIED LIFE series is the wait between trades is really awfully long. On the other side most of the issues I got through FREE COMIC BOOK DAY or other giveaways seem to go into the one - gag story direction which is really not that appealing to me. The great thing about MARRIED LIFE is that it is a long, continuing storyline ( although the first big part is concluded in the third trade ) so I can get involved with the characters over a long period of time. I don´t know if that´s something new to the Archie universe but apart from Norm Breyfogle´s art that has ben the biggest pull for the series.
Anyway, Archie seems to avoid the mistakes other publishers are making and who knows ? Maybe there is a title for me after all......
Speaking of growing : it seems predictions for the death of floppies were premature as they are making a comeback. Now how about that ?
CLOSING OUT
No news post is complete with some previews and this one has the motherlode. Previews galore can be found at this link from Comicbook Resources which can be found at the blog roll.
My picks : FF 7 , NOVA 4 ( I´m so waiting for the trade on this one, but they got me once again with the racoon - don´t ask ), WOLVERINE 3 ( also waiting for the trade even though it is Alan Davis ), X - MEN 1 ( not sure about Olivier Coipel´s all girls team, I´d have to see more issues ) , WORLDS FINEST 12 ( Power Girl finally back in costume.......her real costume I mean ), AQUAMAN 19 ( I hope Paul Pelletier stay a while on this title ), ARCHER & ARMSTRONG 10 ( best relaunch of a series this year ), SAVAGE DRAGON 187 ( I can´t pimp this book high enough ) and ALL NEW X - MEN 11 by Stuart Immomen.
I have been a fan oif his art since his LEGION OF SUPER - HEROES issues and he´s hitting it out of the ballpark again. I just read his FEAR ITSELF hardcover this weekend and while it´s Marvel´s usual event - centric story that leaves little room for characterisation the art is worth the price of admission. Now the story in itself ( no pun intended ) is not as bad as it sound when you hear " the Red Skull´s daughter resurrects the asgardian God of Fear who gives seven hammers to guys like Hulk, Juggernaut and the Thing and then it´s Armageddon " and to tell the truth when I kind of rushed the reading since I was busy downloading the last episodes of Doctor Who. Since my computer has been constantly crashing the last weeks I´m four episodes behind and......aw, what the heck. Anyway, back to FEAR ITSELF, I finally ordered the thing from amazon when I saw the german monster edition and the beautiful art. I think I´m going to re - read it Today since it does have a few F - WORD YEAH ! - moments and I think the reader has to read it a few times to appreciate it. Anyway, good stuff and I´m anxious to get my first ALL NEW X - MEN hardcover.
Nope, the pic has nothing to do with X - Men. I just like it.
And with that I´m once again over the 2 hour mark at the internet cafe ( 2 hours 45 minutes to be exact ) so I´m going to wrap this post up. Today´s video is one I think I haven´t posted before : Drawing Comics the Marvel Way with Stan Lee and John Buscema. The constant rapping by Stan can get tiresome but it´s a great chance to see one of the true comic masters at work.
New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest
Don´t get into a spaceship with a madman. Didn´t anyone ever teach you that ?
No comments:
Post a Comment