what did five fingers say to the face?

Marvel started using bullet points. When you scroll through the list of comics debuting in April, there’s not a comic that has a paragraph-style description, it’s all just bullet points. Now, don’t get me wrong, sometimes those paragraphs all started to blur together after awhile and the slew of outrageous questions continues (“Who is this guy/gal? What’s going on? How will they survive?” etc.), everything has been distilled down to three or so talking points. Some of these talking points include story information like who’s appearing in these books, some just point out that this book will tie into another event like AvX, others just shout at you that this is the book where EVERYTHING CHANGES. Something tells me this says a lot about comic book marketing, but that’s for another time.

Right now, we’re looking at the April 2012 solicitations for Marvel Comics and hey kids, do you like… the Avengers? Marvel sure hopes you do, so let’s take a look at what the month before the Avengers movie debuts and EVERYTHING- well, you know.

Right off the bat, does any one think the X-Men are going to get a fair shake in this Versus event? Like, somehow, they might win this one or be seen less as the villains in the greater storyline? That’s the trick; in ‘sports entertainment’, when two face wrestlers go at it, there either has to be a sense of villainy from afar that’s making them fight or one of them has to slip into the Heel’s role and cheat or start showing a little too much pride. My guess is that the X-Men are going to be the boasting, ‘you people’ bad guys in this event because six out of the thirteen or so Avengers books published this month are AvX tie-ins and the X-Men are only getting two. We’ll be seeing more of a Avengers-centric point of view on this one, which makes sense. I mean, who’s got a movie coming out next month?

I don't think Cyclops will win this one...

The Avengers! We’ll be mere weeks away form the May 4 release of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the silver screen and I’m sure you all know that this means the usual spasm of Avengers and Avengers accessories will be on display at your local comic shop. There’s a lot of books to side-step current goings-on if the idea of checking in on the Avengers in the midst of an ongoing event seems too distasteful or daunting, like Bendis’s Avengers Assemble and the delightful return of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Adventures. We’ll have reprints of the first Avengers #1 and a handbook detailing the Avengers’s salient points (like Charlie-27?) and what I’d like to think is a guide to all the varied titles in the Avengers line-up: “Plus: Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers, An Update On The Team Itself And A Full Feature Profile On Hawkeye (Clint Barton)!” I like the idea of a little road map to the different titles on display and why you might read one over another, but $4.99 seems a bit steep for new readers to pick up profiles on Avengers people might never see in the current books and some backmatter promotion. An Avengers dossier on current events at a cheaper price might have been the better way to go.

Speaking of price, 12 issues of AvX is going to cost you around 50 bucks (plus tax, minus LCS discounts, etc.). There are 40 copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 sold New on Amazon for $20.00 and up. Discuss.

On the flip side, the “Omega Effect” runs through Avenging Spider-Man #6, The Punisher #10 and Daredevil #11. A three-issue event with a clever idea that won’t end all life everywhere as we know it and will add character changing events that will last through their respective titles. I know these smaller events don’t get as much press as they should, but maybe if we vote more with our wallets and start keeping an eye out for the tiny tie-in, maybe we’ll see more of them.

It’s not that I don’t like heart-stopping adventure and the idea that this issue is where EVERYTHING CHANGES, but if you see the threat of death and destruction enough, you start to lose your appetite. Case in point:

Incredible Hulk #7 – “We Dare Not Reveal More! We Wouldn’t Want To Spoil What Is Sure To Be One Of The Most Exciting Comics Of The Year!”

The Twelve #12 (Of 12) – “All Your Questions Are Answered And Nothing Can Prepare You For What’s Next…!”

Thunderbolts #172 & #173 – “Now, The ‘Bolts Of The Modern Day Come Crashing Into Their Earliest Days – And Will Make A Decision That May Destroy The Marvel U – Or Save It!”

New Mutants #40 & #41 – “Can They Stop The Virulent Mutation Of The Animator Before It Engulfs The Whole World?”

It’s like the bullet point solicitations; yes, it’s an eye-catching news note, but it seems a little empty.

LOOK AT IT!

Speaking of eye-catching news notes, from Winter Solider #4: “Bucky Vs A Gorilla! You Heard Me, Look At That Cover.” See? Not everything has to shout or yell. Sometimes a guy fighting a gorilla with a machine gun is enough.

Also? Defenders #5: “How Does Namor’s History Intertwine With… Captain Nemo?”

from Giffen's Defenders mini-series

Hee, that’s gets me every time…

Meanwhile, there are two milestones that we’ll pass by in April: the changing of the writerly guard on Wolverine and the fiftieth issue of the (red) Hulk. Yeah, that last one surprises me; it doesn’t seem so long ago that Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness were punching out the Watcher and punking out Thor in space, but here we are. Jeff Parker has sort of turned that book around from the World War Hulks days and brought it towards the adventure smashing book Marvel has wanted for awhile. There’s not a lot of the Bill Bixby-esque drama, the man versus his inner nature pathos that comes from Bruce Banner so effortlessly. There is however fights and explosions, villains and heroes, robots and Nazis and it all really works. Sadly, I wish there was a better name for it and a different man behind the monster, but the Red Hulk is a pretty solid book now so I’ll certainly salute a 50th issue.

Wolverine #305

The other big change is that Jason Aaron is leaving Wolverine at #304 and Cullen Bunn is taking over in the same month at #305. Thanks to the bullet point style solicitation, I honestly don’t know a lot about Mr. Bunn; he’s a rising star and his previous titles include Fear Itself: The Fearless, The Damned and The Sixth Gun. That’s all they bother to say, which sells the guy incredibly short, especially when he’s taking over the solo title of one of Marvel’s most popular characters. How about telling us he was nominated for the Harvey Awards for his series The Sixth Gun as Best New Series and Bunn himself was nominated for Best Writer. Yes, this is the start of a new storyline, but can we give readers and retailers any more information?   Why is there no love for Paul Pelletier and his past work on War of Kings, Fantastic Four or Fall of the Hulks?  How about another picture idea that’s not Wolverine standing in/nearby fire? Jason Aaron’s Wolverine, in my small opinion, wavered between amazing to pretty standard stock stuff, so there’s no way to judge based on previous storylines how this is going to go. We know Aaron is going to finish out a fight with Sabretooth and then… I guess, Bunn’s Wolverine will stand knee deep in lava. Jason Aaron won’t close the door on this title without slamming it, so expect big things from Wolverine #304. As for the next issue, I guess we can all keep a tight watch over the comic news sites (like us!) for more on what’s ahead.

And speaking of promotion, the solicitation for Mark Millar’s new title the Secret Service reads as follows:

“Secret Service Is The Ramifications Of [How] America Is Struggling On The World Stage, Funding Is Being Seriously Undercut To Balance The Books And Some People Are Trying Their Best To Take Advantage Of The Fragile Global Situation. The Hero And Sidekick Guys Who Lead The Book Are, I Think, The Best Characters I’ve Written.”

I like the idea that there is nothing Marvel could say in praise that Millar couldn’t say himself.

Can you believe that there are something like 40-some trades coming out this month? Are you excited that Bendis’ early work Goldfish is getting a new printing? Who was asking about the Dazzler and Beast epic from 1984? And have we lost count on how many printings X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga has gone through? Take a look at the entire solicitation for Marvel Comics coming up in April and sound off below. Excelsior!

Design an Avengers Tee

The fine folks at WeLoveFine.com T-shirts are holding a design-a-shirt contest in honor of the Avengers hitting movie screens later this year, and they’re giving away all sorts of cash prizes for the winners.

All designs must include the “big four” who appear in the movie–Hulk, Captain America, Thor and Iron Man–while Hawkeye, Black Widow and Loki can be used at the designer’s discretion. You also can’t use the Avengers logo or any likeness that looks like the actors from the film. Ryan Penagos, a.k.a. Marvel’s Agent M, will judge the contest with an as-yet-unnamed second judge.

A full run-down of the rules and prizes is available on the contest page. Submissions must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Feb. 12. Artists can submit up to five designs, and the contest is open to U.S. residents only.

Fatale

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Chris Mautner

If I had $15: I’d be all over Fatale #1, as I’ll grab anything Brubaker and Phillips do together. I’d go out on a limb and say that’s one of the best and consistently stellar collaborations in comics going on right now. I’d probably get the latest issue of The Boys as well, because that’s what I do.

If I had $30: Well, I haven’t read the first volume yet, but everyone says that the transgender manga series Wandering Son is stellar so I’d at least give it a look through, and perhaps nab volume one as my splurge for the week.

Splurge: Then again, I’m a big Larry Gonick fan and I see where is latest book, the Cartoon Guide to Calculus, is out this week. I have zero interest or aptitude for math, but Gonick knows how to make even the dullest and fear-inducing subjects seem fun.

Graeme McMillan

If I had $15 this week, I’d get my year started on the right foot with 2000AD Prog 2012 (Rebellion, $10.00), the annual extra-sized holiday issue of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, and the first one I’ll have picked up in quite some time. I’ve been looking for an excuse to check out some new 2000AD for awhile, and this oversized issue provides me with all the reason I need. Zarjaz! There’s also Fatale #1 (Image, $3.50), the new horror noir by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips, and who could really pass that up?

If I had $30, I’d add OMAC #5 (DC, $2.99), which continues to be a guilty pleasure every month, as well as Marvel’s Defenders #2 ($3.99)–I was ambivalent-towards-positive about the first issue, enough that I’m curious enough to pick up the second–and Uncanny X-Force #19.1 ($2.99), based almost entirely on the critical plaudits the book’s recent “Dark Angel Saga” received; I tried out the first trade and didn’t fall in love, but we’ll see whether or not I get won over by this jumping-on point. Curiosity also draws me towards Atlas Unified #1 (Ardden, $2.99); I don’t have any great love for the Atlas characters, but I do like Tom Peyer’s writing a lot, so I’m optimistic about what I’ll find.

When it comes to splurging, I’m going for a possibly unexpected pick of Avengers Academy Vol. 2 trade paperback (Marvel, $19.99); I really enjoyed the first collection, and have been eagerly awaiting this second volume.

Chris Arrant

Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega

If I had $15, I’d get two #1′s and two #5′s (ok, dump joke). My two #1s would be Fatale #1 (Image, $3.50) and Wolverine & the X-Men: Alpha & Omega #1 (Marvel, $3.99). I’ve got a lifelong subscription in my mind to anything teaming up Brubaker and Phillips, and Fatale is no different; seeing them melding crime plus horror plus time travel will be interesting to see, plus I just want to see Phillips draw some monstrous creatures. For the other book, I’m getting it for Brian Wood & Quentin Quire – both underrated by Marvel standards, and I’m excited to see what they can accomplish. My #5s would be Action Comics #5 (DC, $3.99) and Animal Man #5 (DC, $2.99). It’ll be interesting to see how Morrison retells Superman’s origin here; the only thing more I would have asked for is a different artist; last time Andy Kubert did an origin (Wolverine’s), it didn’t turn out so well. As for Animal Man, Lemire and Foreman are really showing what they can do with an off-kilter superhero.

If I had $30, I’d go from the Rot to the Green and pick up Swamp Thing #5 (DC, $2.99). No slight against Victor Ibanez, but I’m glad to see Yanick Paquette is back on with this issue; like Animal Man, it’s the artist that are turning it from a greatly written book to just a plain great book. After that I’d pick up the lucky 13th issue of Artifacts #13 (Image/Top Cow, $3.99). Seeing new work by Dale Keown is a rare treat, and after being recently won over to the Artifacts series it’s a crossroads of personal interest for me. The last two books I’d get would both be Marvel: Uncanny X-Force #19.1 (Marvel, $2.99) and Avengers: X-Sanction #2 (Marvel, $3.99). I’ve never really been interested in Age of Apocalypse, but Remender hooked me in with his previous issues of Uncanny X-Force so I’ll give him one chance to wow me here. Last up would be Cable’s one-man war on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; Loeb’s doing some really decompressed storytelling with I’m on the fence about, but Ed McGuinness’ art continues to make this a must-buy for me.

If I could splurge, I’d splurge for 2000AD Prog 2012 (Rebellion, $10). This is the 2000AD equivalent to Marvel’s recent Point One, with the first part of eight new serials with everything from classics like Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog and more recent hits. I’d reluctantly admit I’ve missed a couple issues of 2000AD in the past, but this should set me straight.

JK Parkin

Mudman

If I had $15, I’d start with two from Image Comics–Mudman #2 and Fatale #1, each $3.50. The first issue of Paul Grist’s latest, Mudman, was loads of fun, and I’m not sure what else I can add to my colleagues’ thoughts on Fatale besides “Yes, please.” I’d also get Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega ($3.99), the new X-miniseries by Brian Wood, Roland Boschi and Mark Brooks. And finally, I’d get the second issue of X-Club after the better-than-I-expected first issue. I wasn’t even planning on getting this until I saw the good reviews of it.

If I had $30, I’d also get Avengers Annual #1 ($4.99), which continues the Wonder Man story that started in New Avengers Annual #1. I love the concept of an annual, at least as I was first introduced to them–that big, special story that may have included some fun guest stars or wrapped up a storyline introduced in the regular book or took the characters to somewhere exotic. New Avengers Annual contained two of those three elements, so if this one takes everyone to the Savage Land or the Blue Area of the Moon or Asgard, it will have scored a trifecta. Mostly, though, I hope we get some of the back story around why these anti-heroes came together to take out the Avengers. Moving on, that would leave me with about $10, so I’d also pick up Dynamite’s new Lone Ranger #1 ($3.99), which should provide a nice jumping on point if you’ve never read their Lone Ranger comics before, as well as the second issue of Defenders ($3.99).

For my splurge item, in all honesty I’d probably spend any extra monthlies I skipped over, stuff like Swamp Thing and OMAC and iZombie and The Punisher. There was a lot this week I would have gotten for a few dollars more …

Brigid Alverson

Psyren

If I had $15: I’d probably grab vol. 2 of Psyren ($9.99), which is one of those survival-in-the-desert manga from Viz. This one put a few cute twists on the standard plot in volume 1, and I’d like to see where it’s going. Viz manga are reasonably priced, so that leaves me enough for a floppy; I’d go for issue #4 of Terry Moore’s Rachel Rising ($3.99)

If I had $30: I’d keep Rachel but shift the rest of my dollars to Archaia, which has been producing a bumper crop of beautiful books lately. I’m tempted by Billy Fog: The Gift of Trouble Sight ($24.95), which is storybook/comic hybrid with a Lemony Snicket vibe, but I’m drawn by the color art in their first volume of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: The Creation Myths ($19.99), a prequel to the movie, so I’ll grab that one.

Splurge: Chris already picked up on vol. 2 of Wandering Son, which is pricey at $19.99 for a volume of manga (even a hardcover) but definitely a good splurge.

Tom Brevoort, photo by Luigi Novi

Let’s not mince words, the online presence of Tom Brevoort has provided hours of great reading for Robot 6 readers. Given his constant and unflagging willingness to interact with consumers via social media, Brevoort is a quote machine (His Twitter bio? “A man constantly on the verge of saying something stupid–for your entertainment!?”). There’s always a directness (some would say bluntness) to his manner online–making him the ideal subject for an interview. Last year saw Marvel promote Brevoort to senior vice president for publishing. 2011 was a year of some major successes for Marvel, as well as a year where some hard business decisions were made. In this interview, conducted in mid-December via email, I tried to cover a great deal of ground (we even briefly discuss DC’s New 52 success)–and Brevoort did not hold back on any of his answers. For that, I am extremely grateful. Like any high profile comics executive, Brevoort has his fans and his critics (and many in between), but I like to think this exchange offers some perspectives everyone can enjoy.

Tim O’Shea: Whether it’s in your job description or not, fan outreach via social media is definitely part of your job–clearly by your own choice. What benefit or enjoyment do you get from interacting with the fans/consumers?

Tom Brevoort: I’m not sure that I get a particular benefit, except maybe just being the center of attention for a few minutes—maybe everything I do is motivated by ego! I’m a whore for the spotlight! But I started doing this kind of outreach back in the formative days of internet fandom, largely because I like the idea of internet fandom. I know that, if the internet had existed when I was a young comic book reader, I’d have been on those message boards and in those chat rooms all the time, obsessively—just like a certain portion of the audience today. So I like the idea of giving back, of being accessible enough that anybody who has a question or a concern knows where to find me, or at least to find somebody with an insider’s track who might have the background and knowledge to speak to their point. In a very real way, it’s all an outgrowth of what Stan Lee did in his letters pages and Bullpen pages. Joe Q, I think, was really the first person to perfect that approach for the internet age. As EIC he was incredibly available to the audience in a myriad of ways. It’s a philosophy that’s very much woven into our DNA at Marvel. And for the most part, our fans are interesting, vibrant, cool people, especially when you meet them in person.

O’Shea: Much has been made of the miniseries cancelled in mid-arc, or announced projects killed, but I am curious to learn how it impacts you to see co-workers being let go in the recent round of belt tightening? When I ask this I don’t necessarily mean on a personal level, per se, but rather in terms of the loss to Marvel’s collective creative/editorial talent, how challenging is it to deliver the best product Marvel can produce when you lose some talented editors?

Brevoort: It’s terrific, I love seeing people let go into one of the worst job markets in recent memory! I’m sorry, Tim, but I don’t think it’s possible to answer this question in anything other than a personal way—or if it is, I’m just not that dispassionate about it. I certainly understand that a business is a business, but there’s also a very human face on all of this. The people who were let go were my co-workers and friends, none of them were dismissed for cause, they’re all great, talented people. But that’s the economic world we find ourselves in right now, and as somebody who has to keep an eye on the business as a business, I understand and accept that. And it definitely means that those of us that remain have to work harder to do the same thing—that’s just simple mathematics. An editor who was once dealing with six projects maybe now has to cope with seven, or eight, at least until we’re through the backlog of material that was initially in the hands of those editors no longer on staff. So it’s definitely a lot to ask—but we’ve got the best crew in the business at Marvel, and though we may all grumble from time to time, everybody steps up to get the job not only done but done with the greatest level of excellence that can be managed. It really is an extraordinary group of dedicated people. And, on the flipside, there’s now some editorial talent out in the marketplace with super-strong skills that any other company could benefit enormously from. So a word to the wise there.

O’Shea: When 2011 began, could you ever have envisioned Marvel having cancelled a miniseries before it even finished?

Brevoort: It’s an unfortunate thing, but yes, I could. I’ve seen it happen in the past, though not quite in the way it happened on All-Winners. And some of that is my doing. We could have gone in at the last minute and tried to hack up the climax of the story, bringing things to a truncated resolution in issue #5. But with three whole issues left to go, I didn’t want to do that. Admittedly, that would have given the readers some kind of resolution, but it would have been a bad and unsatisfying reading experience. So I made the argument that, with so much story still left to tell, we should simply stop. That way, if market conditions improved down the line, and there was enough sustained interest in the project, we might eventually be able to return to it and finish it properly in the future. Hey, the last issue of Ghost Rider that I edited saw print ten years after it was created, so anything’s possible. I’m also a child of the 70s, where books would often be cancelled mid-stream, with no warning and no resolution, so I may be more immunized to this happening than a lot of other people, because I’ve seen it happen before. It stinks, nobody likes it, but again, that’s the marketplace in which we seem to find ourselves. The one thing I know for certain is that putting out issues that lose money is a good way to get to the point where you can’t put out any issues at all.

O’Shea: At the beginning of 2011, you assumed your senior VP role. With almost a year under your belt, I am curious what have you most enjoyed about your increased responsibilities? With your increased executive duties, is there an aspect of your pre-2011 responsibilities that you wish you still had time to do?

Avengers: X-Sanction #1

Brevoort: People, I think, get dazzled by the title, which maybe sounds like a lot more than what it actually entails. I’m still very much doing all of the things I was doing last year, just with a bit more stuff added on top of it. I’m maybe looking at the whole line more, rather than just half of the line. But I’m still directly editing a good number of books—Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Fantastic Four, FF, Captain America, Children’s Crusade, X-Sanction, Defenders at least for the first two issues, and a lot more. So there isn’t a whole lot of down time, and there are definitely days when I feel like I could use another me to handle all of the stuff that’s stacked up while I was on the phone talking to a creator or off in a planning meeting of some kind.

O’Shea: While clearly a main focus of 2011 was Fear Itself, what were the other main successes of the past year?

Brevoort: I think we had a bunch of successes this year, and I’m probably going to forget all kinds of things as I run down the list. But certainly the death of the Human Torch and the rebranding of Fantastic Four as FF was a bigger success than we would have imagined. The Death of Ultimate Spider-Man and the introduction of Miles Morales. The “Spider-Island” crossover and just Amazing Spider-Man in general, a series that not only has been garnering all kinds of good fan reaction but has also consistently come out twice a month. Schism, and even more so the relaunching of the core X-titles as Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & The X-Men. Waid, Rivera and Martin’s Daredevil, probably the best-reviewed title we’ve got right now, Remender and Co’s Uncanny X-Force—I feel like our line is very strong overall right now, even though it’s easy for people to sometimes take that for granted. You take a book like, say, Fraction and Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man, and it comes out like clockwork 12-16 times a year, with the same creative team telling highly-polished stories. After a while, people start to overlook it because it’s so consistent. Also, the steady growth of our digital initiatives. That’s a world that’s going to become steadily more important to us, and to the business in general. We had a couple good movies, too.

Miles Morales

O’Shea: In terms of “the steady growth of our digital initiatives,” what kind of milestones or successes did Marvel see in the steady growth?

Brevoort: I don’t know that there are any specific milestones I can point you to, in that most of our data about the digital world is confidential. But especially in instances where we had mainstream coverage on a particular storyline—Miles Morales, say, or Fantastic Four #600—we saw a pronounced uptick in our digital sales, with each new one besting the sales records of the previous. And all without having a measurable impact on our tangible copy sales. I think that everybody has still only scratched the surface of digital as a delivery platform for the kinds of material that we do, and that it’s only likely to grow further into a cornerstone of our overall publishing business.

O’Shea: You don’t work for DC, but you clearly have an opinion about the other major industry publisher, so I have to ask: Did DC’s 52 perform beyond your expectations, or is their success (still potentially short term, only time will tell) along the lines of what one might expect from a major line relaunch?

Brevoort: I don’t think we have good enough optics yet to predict the long term—we’re only now heading into the period of time wherein retailers can return their unsold copies, so the numbers for those months aren’t finalized yet. But there’s no two ways about it, regardless of how many books they get back, DC did a great job of getting their message out to the world and getting excited readers new, lapsed and existing into the stores to check out what they had going on. I don’t know how, at least judged in those terms, it could have been any more of a success. And I’m very happy about it—not just because we’ve seen an uptick in our sales for those months as well, but because increased competition leads to more excitement and better books. A lot of people have maybe misunderstood my message over these months, and maybe that’s my fault for not getting it across as clearly as I might have. But my biggest complaint and concern for the longest time was that it often felt as though DC had given up the fight, that they were content to just drift along, doing business as usual and not making waves. And a marketplace that Marvel is half of or more isn’t healthy—it puts too much weight on one part of the machine, too much responsibility. So I couldn’t be happier that the new DC team is stepping up to the challenge and hitting the field ready and willing to play the game. And that’ll force us at Marvel to up our game as well. The question now, of course, will be whether and for how long they might be able to maintain that increased readership base.

O’Shea: You recently discussed Marvel’s plans for the 2012 Free Comic Book Day. In reading your Formspring discussion of FCBD, I was left wondering, what is the main goal/point of FCBD to you? And while you think FCBD is being served in 2012 by a reprint, for those who are disappointed, do you understand when they may strongly disagree when you characterize them as potentially “petty”?

Avengers/FCBD 2012

Brevoort: Well, in fairness, I characterized a single question-asker’s question as possibly petty, not the audience as a whole. But as I understand it, Free Comic Book Day is an outreach program that enables local retailers across the country to mount the kind of mainstream promotion and local event that potentially draws new people into the stores. The existing fan base is served by it, sure, but it’s not really aimed at them, but at everybody who doesn’t regularly make the trek out to their local stores. So on that level, I want our FCBD entries to be entry-level friendly—not unsophisticated, but self-explanatory in terms of the story presented. And I want them produced at the highest level of quality possible. But I don’t know that there’s any pressing need for them to be all-new material. Certainly DC’s had no problem with running repurposed material in their FCBD entries the past couple of years. I mean, it’s great to be able to give people an all-new story by our best guys absolutely for free, but we’re talking about an economy in which we had to let a number of people go—it’s an expense that doesn’t recoup itself in any way, and one that isn’t even really necessary in terms of what the goal of the event is. So sure, I’m sorry that our regular readers will have to make do with “only” an Avengers comic written by Brian Bendis and drawn by Bryan Hitch that they may have purchased previously. But, y’know, this even isn’t really about you!

O’Shea: With the news of Brian Bendis of departing the Avengers franchise, after his long and very successful run, it got me wondering. When faced with the prospect of finding a new writer for a successful book like the Avengers, what kind of criteria do you use in your search?

Brevoort: Well, it’s different every time, in that you’re working with a completely different array of variable each time. But to paint the process in broad strokes, you need to assess where the series is at, what’s been strong and working and indispensable about it and what it might be lacking. In other words, and this is pretty obvious, you want to try to maintain the appeal that a book has under its current creative team and then build upon it by accentuating those areas or aspects that haven’t been explored as much. To point to a specific example and provide you some context, when Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch were finishing up their run on Fantastic Four, I needed to line up their successor. In looking at the series as a whole, having come off of JMS and Dwayne McDuffie before them, and Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo before that, I felt like the time was right to try to get a younger voice into the mix—the book had been done by apex talent for a long run, but Fantastic Four is a series that’s got a strong almost gravitic pull towards its past, those initial 100 issues are so seminal. So I wanted to bring in somebody who would have something new to say, and who maybe wouldn’t be as shackled in his thinking to the past. At the same time, I wanted to maintain the overall positive/optimistic flavor that the series has always had when it’s been really clicking, in my opinion. Given those parameters, it didn’t take me long to start speaking with Jonathan Hickman, with whom I was working on Secret Warriors at the time. Jonathan went away, pulled together his ideas, and came back with a strong pitch for the series—and away we went! So it’s very much the same kind of thing on Avengers. Brian is leaving behind a legacy that it’s going to be very difficult for somebody else to equal or surpass, but that’s the challenge of the incumbent. As it happens, I’ve already got the next Avengers writer lined up, though it’ll probably be several months before you all learn who it is—Brian’s still got about a year’s worth of great stories to tell before that switchover happens.

O’Shea: You tapped Hickman to write Fantastic Four partially because he was someone “who maybe wouldn’t be as shackled in his thinking to the past”. Am I right in thinking you also do not mind tapping writers who can partially mine the past and find new story potential, given what a writer like Ed Brubaker has been able to do with James Bucky/Winter Soldier Barnes (as well as some elements of Hickman’s work on Secret Warriors)?

Brevoort: Well, yes, sure. One of the strengths of the Marvel Universe is the conceit that it’s one vast, interconnected place in which all of these stories co-exist, going back to 1961 and beyond. So sometimes you want to take advantage of that fact. But you always need to keep the bigger picture in mind. There have been times in Marvel’s history when whole stories have been written to explain some gaffe in an earlier story—those tend to be “comics about comics” and only of interest to our most hardcore audience. The continuity and the history is meant to be there to service the stories, not the other way around. At times, people at Marvel have lost sight of that. But there’s no problem with mining the past of our characters and our publishing history, so long as the stories that you do with that material are genuine, and have some compelling emotional touch-point for a modern reader who may not have read the earlier stories your tale is based on. In other words, you can do Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan, but like that film, you need to do so in such a way that an audience member can have a great experience even if they’ve never seen the earlier Star Trek episode that Khan was introduced in.

O’Shea: How do you avoid burnout in your demanding job–how and why are comics still fun for you?

Brevoort: I just love comics. I love the characters, I love the stories, and I love the form. And not just any one style of comics, but all sorts of comics. I still go to the comic store every week like clockwork and drop crazy money on assorted new releases. And while what I do isn’t always easy or always fun—it is a business, after all—I never lose sight of the fact that, in a very real sense, I get to sit around and make up stories about people that fly all day, and then they pay me for it. And that’s pretty great! I also get to collaborate with a broad spectrum of supremely talented people, from our assorted creators through our incredible editorial staff, our promotions guys, online, the film and television folks—just about everybody. So yes, the hours are long and the days can be grueling, and there are those times when things aren’t breaking the way you’d like them to or there’s some difficulty that has to be worked through. It’s a high-pressure situation, keeping this many trains on the tracks every month and getting to their destinations on time. But it’s also a considerable amount of fun. There’s never a better feeling than when the printed copy of an especially good issue comes into the office, and you get to look it over before anybody else.

Fantastic Four #600

O’Shea: The death and return of the Human Torch this year (and the saga that transpired along with it) has clearly resonated with readership. From your standpoint, what is it about series writer Jonathan Hickman’s approach to Marvel’s First Family that enables him to click with readers?

Brevoort: I think that readers are only now starting to get a sense of what Jonathan’s been doing, not just on Fantastic Four but on all of his books, and that is to create long-form stories in which the individual parts all mesh together with mechanical precision to create a much greater whole and a much grander reading experience, one that truly rewards multiple rereadings. In a world of short attention spans, Jonathan is one of the few guys who comes onto a series with years’ worth of concepts, and he’s able to set things up in such a way that events past a certain point continue to build and build and build in a logical way, and then ultimately pay off great. Now that folks can look back at all of Secret Warriors as a whole, it’s easy to see just how much of the overall story Jonathan had in his head when the book began, and how even events in the first teaser short story we did in the Dark Reign: New Nation book fold back into the climax 28 issues and three years later. On Fantastic Four, I just gave him a sense of the kind of thing I was looking for and set him loose, and he came back with a gameplan that we’re only now, almost three years later, getting to the climax of. I think it was beneficial as well that Jonathan had never really been a Fantastic Four reader beforehand, in that he was able to come to the characters and the material fresh, to look over the entire history of the series and figure out for himself what he thought worked best about it without any personal nostalgia coloring his viewpoint. He clearly loves writing the kids, to the point where they would often threaten to take over the series.

O’Shea: This past year also saw Daredevil endure a great deal through Shadowland, as well as Daredevil: Reborn. But when all was said and done, the new Daredevil series by Mark Waid (along with Paola Rivera or Marcos Martin on art) is a major shift in tone that has been embraced by critics and fans equally. How satisfying is it to see Marvel take such a creative shift and pull it off so effectively?

Daredevil #1

Brevoort: It was a gamble to break with the past so severely in terms of the tone and the style of Daredevil, but it’s definitely a gamble that’s paid off big time. And that’s all thanks to the efforts not only of Mark, Paolo and Marcos, but especially those of editor Steve Wacker and his team. For my money, Steve is the solidest line editor in the business today. He’s great to work with, he’s got a strong point of view and a vision for what he does, he thinks about the whole package even beyond just the story and the artwork, and creators love working with him. And maybe it’s just that his sensibilities and mine are similar, but his batting average in terms of the content of his titles has been tremendously good: Avenging Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, Venom, Scarlet Spider—those last three are books that, by all rights, I shouldn’t be enjoying anywhere near as much as I do. And, of course, keeping the juggernaut that is Amazing Spider-Man on the rails and successful both commercially and critically for such a long period of time. Getting back to Daredevil, obviously Marcos Martin is a genius, and Paolo Rivera’s an incredible talent, but it’s especially nice to see somebody like Mark Waid gathering such kudos. Like we were talking about with Invincible Iron Man before, Mark’s been around the industry for so long and has such a track record for producing excellent work that I think it’s easy for people to overlook what he does; “Oh, it’s another good Mark Waid comics again. Yawn.” Whether it’s just ageism or familiarity breeding contempt or whatever, the fact remains that Mark’s been a power hitter of great consistency for two decades now—so it’s very nice to see him getting the sort of attention and praise often reserved for new hot young guys.

O’Shea: We have talked about some of the great writing of Marvel in the past year or so, and while we have briefly touched upon the greatness of Paola Rivera and Marcos Martin’s work, I wonder if you’d like to discuss some of the other artists that really seemed to hit their stride in 2011 (and/or you look forward to knocking it out of the visual park in 2012)?

Brevoort: It’s truly an embarrassment of riches at Marvel in terms of artistic talent, so this is something I could go on about at length, and never run out of material. But focusing more on promising up-and-coming talent, there are three or four creators who seem to really be hitting a stride, beyond the ones we mentioned earlier. Sara Pichelli has been a revelation on Ultimate Spider-Man, her sense of environment and character acting is second to none. Nick Bradshaw harnesses the detail-craziness of an Art Adams around an appealing, bouncy, energetic penciling style. Jerome Opena is a terrific action artist, with a subtlety of line that I’m not sure entirely translates into ink. Ryan Stegman draws great , appealing characters with a lot of bounce, very much in the spirit of Joe Madureira or J Scott Campbell. And there are plenty of others, of course—but that’s a smattering of folks that come to mind this morning.

O’Shea: Looking ahead to 2012, if response is strong enough to the Marvel Season One books, would there be a possibility of pursuing an ongoing series with those creative teams, or is the focus solely on original graphic novels of the characters’ origins?

Brevoort: I wouldn’t rule anything out—every option has been discussed, doing follow-up volumes (“Season Two”) or serialized follow-ups, and every other option in-between. But it’s all a moot question until we can see how people respond to the initial books. At this point, I’ve read the completed Fantastic Four Season One volume front to back, and it is outstanding! I couldn’t be more pleased with it—and I say that having had nothing particular to do with it. All of the credit goes to Roberto Sacasa, David Marquez, Lee Duhig and editor Lauren Sankovitch. These guys understood the mandate of the line and really delivered the goods, in a way that I think will be appreciated by fans old and new. The X-Men Season One book is similarly looking and reading well, based on the 40 or so pages I’ve gone over so far.

Brevoort's Twitter photo

O’Shea: Any closing thoughts you’d like to leave Robot 6 readers with?

Brevoort: I think that my general message for comic book readers of all kinds right this moment would be: relax! It’s so easy to become overly anxious or overly outraged or overly agitated about all sorts of aspects of what we do, the characters we create and the worlds we build. And we love that sort of emotional investment! But keep in mind, these are just stories! It’s all just entertainment! If you’re being entertained, then everything is fine! And if you’re not, try something else! Try something new! Reading comics shouldn’t be a job, and neither should it be a series of existential crises on a month-by-month basis. Also (and I know that this isn’t something that most readers are going to be willing or able to do), stop being so concerned about what’s going to be happening three or six or nine months down the line and try to focus a little bit more on what’s going on right now! Don’t miss the precious moment in the anxiety about what tomorrow will bring! None of what we do is life-threatening, it’s not likely to change the world in any but the most subtle of ways—the drama need not be quite so overblown!

Also, it’d be nice to get into a blog entry headline from time to time for something other than saying something provocative.

by Ilias Kyriazis

I linked to Ilias Kyriazis’ image of his favorite DC characters earlier this month, and as we wait patiently for the Marvel version he mentioned he’s starting, here’s something to enjoy in the meantime: Kyriazis imagines what the Avengers might look like 15 years from now.

The line-up includes several kids of current and former Avengers, like Luna Maximoff, Valeria Richards and Danielle Cage, all grown up and following in the footsteps of their parents. They’re joined by a few wild cards like Molly Hayes and Quentin Quire. If you head over to his blog, he shares the background of each character and why he chose their respective looks.

Archie #631

Creators | Dan Parent discusses an upcoming Archie storyline that will bring Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats to Riverdale, causing sparks to once again fly: “The fans can expect the next step in what I think is the most romantic story in Archie history. The chemistry between Archie and Valerie was hot the first time they got together, and now you’ve really got to see it simmer, all the way from the rekindling of their romance to getting much more serious than we’ve seen before.” [USA Today]

Editorial cartoons | Cartoonist Jeff Stahler has resigned from The Columbus Dispatch following accusations that he lifted ideas from other cartoons, including one that ran in The New Yorker. [Poynter]

Creators | Former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter responds to a video that highlights the strange and disturbing events of Avengers #200, in which Ms. Marvel was raped and then gave birth to her rapist: “I take full responsibility. I screwed up. My judgment failed, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Sorry. Avengers #200 is a travesty.” [Jim Shooter]

Batman: Noel

Sales | ICv2 and John Jackson Miller offer additional analysis on the November and year-to-date sales charts. [ICv2, Comichron]

Retailing | Patrick Rosenkranz checks in with retailers in Chicago, Hollywood, Brooklyn and Portland, Oregon, for a “seasonal snapshot” of the current comics retail climate. [The Comics Journal]

Publishing | AnnaMaria White, director of marketing and public relations for IDW Publishing, is leaving to start her own marketing company. [The Beat]

Creators | Paul Gravett interviews Shaun Tan, the award-winning creator of the wordless graphic novel The Arrival. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | Atomic Robo creator Scott Wegener guests on the latest Comic Book Diner podcast. [Comic Book Diner]

Creators | Archie Comics writer and PR guy Alex Segura talks about the Archie Meets Kiss arc in the latest War Rocket Ajax podcast. [Comics Alliance]

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1

Manga | Deb Aoki picks 25 manga she’s really looking forward to in 2012. [About.com]

Exhibits | A new show at the Kyoto Manga Museum in Japan showcases the art of three Americans who work in the manga style: Takeshi Miyazawa, Felipe Smith and Svetlana Chmakova. [Anime News Network]

Publishing | Mark Millar’s hint that some sort of big change is about to rock the industry has Rich Johnston speculating on five possible big events, aside from the domination of digital, that could change comics forever in 2012. Here’s a fun idea: Set a reminder on your calendar for December 31, 2012, to go back and check how he did. [Bleeding Cool]

Design | French designers Thomas Blanc and Florian Amoneau have kicked off the Comic Sans Project, which “tries to re-imagine the much-maligned font by posing a simple aesthetic question: What if the world’s most recognizable logos used Comic Sans?” I don’t think the redesigned logos, which include Star Wars, Microsoft, Playstation and McDonald’s, really make their case. [Mashable]

Reviews | Rob McMonigal reviews Zahra’s Paradise, First Second’s webcomic-turned-graphic-novel about a protester who disappears during the Iranian elections. [Panel Patter]

Comics | When historians, academics and other nobs gather at NATO headquarters in Brussels to celebrate the 30th anniversary of martial law in Poland, comics will be there, too: Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia will do a presentation and signing of their graphic novel Marzi, the story of a girl living in Poland at the end of the Communist era. The comic was published in the U.S. by Vertigo. [Forbidden Planet Blog]

History | Mike Lynch presents a gallery of old photos and caricatures of the late Jerry Robinson from National Cartoonists Society events of years gone by. [Mike Lynch Cartoons]

Mudman

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

What’s that, you say? Paul Grist’s new Mudman series starts this week (#1, Image Comics, $3.50)? Well, that’s how I’m starting my $15 haul this week. While I’m at it, let’s add Avengers Origins: Luke Cage #1 (Marvel, $3.99) and Kirby Genesis: Captain Victory #1 (Dynamite, $3.99), before finishing up with the third issue of Wonder Woman (DC, $2.99) for a superheroic week that goes from the earth to the gods, with some blaxploitation and aliens thrown in the middle for flavor.

DC would dominate the other half of my budget if I had $30. I’d be grabbing the third issues of Green Lantern Corps, Justice League and Supergirl ($2.99 each, except Justice League for $3.99), but I’m surprising myself as much as anyone else by grabbing The Bionic Man #4 (Dynamite, $3.99) for my final pick – I read the first three issues in a bunch this weekend and really enjoyed the book to date much more than I’d been expecting.

If I were to splurge this week, my money would probably end up going to Dark Horse, because I’m kind of tempted by Drawing Down The Moon: The Art of Charles Vess ($29.99). I’ve liked Vess’ art ever since I first saw it, which was possibly in his Spider-Man graphic novel in the late 1980s…? Nonetheless, this is more than likely something I’ll end up loving the hell out of.

Chris Arrant

Wonder Woman #3

If I had $15, I’d grab (with both hands) Wonder Woman #3 (DC, $2.99). The only time I’ve bought three issues in a row of Wonder Woman was the Amazons Attack crossover Pete Woods drew years ago, but this team-up between Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang has been consistently amazing. Next up I’d go from amazons to vikings for Northlanders #46 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99); I’ve bought every issue of this in singles, but seeing artist Paul Azaceta’s arc on this re-invigorated my appreciation for the title. Getting my super-hero fix on, next I’d get Avengers #19 (Marvel, $3.99). I admit seeing Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers isn’t high on my list, but I’ve continually enjoyed what Bendis has done to varying degrees and seeing Daniel Acuna join the book is a big bonus in my book. Lastly, I’d be one of the zombie horde to buy Walking Dead #91 (Image, $2.99).

If I had $30, I’d thankfully double-back to get Greg Capullo’s ongoing return in Batman #3 (DC, $2.99) – seriously, I think Capullo is entrenching himself as a top artist in mainstream comics (again). Next up I’d get two Marvel joints – Thunderbolts #165 (Marvel, $2.99) and Venom #9 (Marvel, $2.99). After that, I’d get me weekly fix of Pilot Season with Seraph (Image/Top Cow, $3.99) then get Justice League #3 (DC, $3.99).

For splurging, there would be no question that I’d get the trade paperback edition of Drawing Down The Moon (Dark Horse, $29.99). I missed this when it came out in hardcover in 2009, so I’m glad to see it coming back into print. I seriously think Vess is one of the overlooked great in comics, but only because he hasn’t done a standard “run” on a title like seems to be needed to ingratiate yourself with the comic buying world at large. Regardless, Vess is a master and I’m glad to finally get my hands on this for a decent price.

Chris Mautner

Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker

If I had $15: It’s a quiet week for me for the most part, so I’d probably limit my initial purchases to the fifth issue of The Boys‘ spin-off Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker. For some reason I was under the delusion that it was a four-issue series and not six. Oh well.

If I had $30: A lot of people who’s opinions I respect really like the work of Golden Age artist Bob Powell, so I’d at least take a gander through Bob Powell’s Terror, a Craig Yoe-edited collection of ghoulish tales.

Splurge: That $150 one-volume anniversary edition of Bone would probably make a good Christmas present for somebody on my gift list. If I was splurging for myself though, I’d grab another Yoe-edited book, Felix the Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails, a collection of long-form stories done for Dell and Harvey back in the day by Otto Messmer, who did the original Felix comic strip as well.

Brigid Alverson

Saturn Apartments

If I had $15: I would end up leaving some of it on the table, because this is a good week for manga, and all the manga costs less than $15. Viz has three new volumes coming out this week, and my first choice among them is volume four of Saturn Apartments ($12.99), which I mentioned in What Are You Reading? this past weekend. It’s a lovely sci-fi story about a window washer in a space colony and the people he encounters. I’m hooked, and I’m ready for volume four.

If I had $30: I would add Tesoro, an anthology of short stories by Natsume Ono. Viz has been publishing a lot of Ono’s work lately, and it’s all beautiful. Her stories are more literary and romantic than your standard run of teenage manga, and she has a clean, linear style that is easy on the eyes. With the leftover money, I’d pick up Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #3, just for something different–and because I find Atomic Robo irresistible.

Splurge: Let’s start with the third Viz release of the week, vol. 10 of Real. It’s a splurge for me because it’s a bit of a risk–I haven’t been keeping up with the series, and I don’t know anything about basketball, let alone wheelchair basketball. But volume 1 was amazing, and I’d like to see more. And if I’m really binging, I’d add the first volume of Fantagraphics’ Pogo collection ($39.99) and Drawn & Quarterly’s The Adventures of Herge ($19.95), a graphic biography of the creator of Tintin, drawn in his own ligne claire style.

Michael May

If I had #15, I’d spend most of it on DC. Eventually, I’m going to have to cut back on the number of series I’m buying from them, but not this week. I’m still enjoying Batman ($2.99), Birds of Prey ($2.99), Supergirl ($2.99), and Wonder Woman ($2.99) and want the third issues of each of them. Finishing off my budget, I’d grab Fear Itself: The Fearless #3 ($2.99). I caught up on it last night and even though I didn’t read Fear Itself, I’m going to enjoy Valkyrie’s globe-trotting adventures tracking down a bunch of MacGuffiny weapons and fighting vampires and Avengers along the way.

If I had $30, I’d quickly add Planet of the Apes #8 ($3.99), Bonnie Lass #3 ($2.99), and Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #3 ($3.50). And like Graeme, I’d be sure to try out Paul Grist’s Mudman #1.

Splurge-wise, how unfair is the universe for making the color, one-volume Bone ($150.00) available on the same day as Fantagraphic’s Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 ($39.99)? And that’s on top of DC’s Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers collection ($49.99) and SLG’s Royal Historian of Oz ($14.95). Bone and Pogo are especially impossible to pick between, even with the massive price difference.

Oh Phoenix Force, we know you...

As most of you CBRians know, Marvel’s solicitations for January 2012 came out last Friday, so our look forward into the past is a little delayed. On the bright side, the first of 2012′s books seem like something that deserve a few more days reflection. After all, 2012 is the year it all comes together! You guys, there’s going to be an Avengers movie. A real, live action, big budget, A-list star Avengers movie! All Marvel’s rather crazy Hollywood ideas are paying off next summer and, with a little hard work, the House of Ideas could come to a beautiful fruition.

So while our celebratory May month is still off in the distance, the recently hung Chrismas decorations let me know that January is just around the corner. Can we get an idea of what next year will look like, through the first books to roll out at the start of the year? Let’s just read along and find out, shall we?

Alright, I’ve got some good news and bad news, and I’ll be honest: “brave” and “bold” are not words I’d use to describe January’s line-up. The Avengers, while obviously the focus of mainstream media in this blockbuster year, should be giving us something different. They should be at least “Road-to-Wrestlemania”-ing their way to the big movie.   By reading books now, we should get a sense of build-up to what May will be like. We had a bajillion Thor comics last year as we got close to the Thor film, showing different aspects of the God of Thunder; Captain America spread his patriotic heroism throughout several one-shots, miniseries and collections well before July, so that by the movie’s debut, there would be a plethora of material for movie-goers to feast upon. So far, January is starting out pretty slow. Yeah, you’ve got your Secrets, your Academies, your New, and Adjectiveless … there are plenty of types of Avengers out there, but what are they all doing?

For example, Avengers Annual #1 brings back the Revengers, returning to let the reader debate whether or not being a strong force in the world makes you a target.  The same idea seems to apply to X-Sanction, albeit with a different creative team and Cable. In Avengers #21, the team battles “the combined forces of Hydra, AIM, the Hand and H.A.M.M.E.R. under the leadership of Norman Osborne.”

Since Disassembled, the message is clear: DO NOT BE AN AVENGER. It’s all conjecture at this point, but January starts with the target squarely on the Avenger’s head rather than leading to a major threat or event (we’ll get to the Phoenix in a moment). They seem to be less “Avenging” and more “Defending,” but that’s a whole different book. If anything, it looks like the same holding pattern we’ve seen before, through seasonal restarts.

More of the X-Men will be inching their way toward box office gold as Cable will return from the grave to annihilate Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Wakandan queen Storm will be joining the Avengers and our pal, the Scarlet Witch, will finally be returning to mainstream continuity with an official game change across both teams. You know, you got your people will live, people will die, nothing will ever be the blah blah blah. Considering the big IT’S COMING teaser shot shown at recent conventions, let’s figure that if the Avengers or X-Men are going to fight something huge in that yearly big event kind of way, it’s coming from the cosmic entity known as the Pheonix Force, and Hope and Wanda are probably involved.

The rest of the X-Men have forgone ramping up for a big change and are instead hauling out the past to settle the Regenesis in a little bit. Remember, just in the month of January, the Phalanx return in an Uncanny X-Men one-shot, the Jean Grey School of Empty Graves will be in full swing in Wolverine & the X-Men, there will be a preview of the new Age of Apocalypse book in Uncanny X-Force, goddammit the Magneto clone Joseph is returning in the Magneto: Not a Hero mini-series, Exodus (really?) will show up in X-Men: Legacy, Havok and Polaris come back to X-Factor and oh yeah, the big looming threat is the Phoenix force.

It’s a lot of old ideas. Again, three months from now, maybe we’ll be hankering for a little slice of the ’90s (Joseph? Really??) but looking forward, I can’t say I can see a brave or bold future on the horizon. In fact, right now my big horizon line is May, not January, so maybe my eyesight’s gone a little funny.

With all the recent changes of the current year and the fallout still left to come, perhaps it’s better that we linger with the toys we have rather than throw them out in anticipation of what’s to come. I know that the Fearless and Battle Scars books will be handling their fair share of Fear Itself fallout and maybe, as much as the X-Men have restructured themselves again, we might want to go back to our roots and see how they fit in with our swanky new teams.

It can’t always be all new and all different. Sometimes, we still have pieces to pick up, ideas to finish, characters to haul out of storage and dust off a little and see if they still work. January seems entrenched in our past as a foundation for all that’s to come in the year and, while certainly not glitzy or glamorous, might be what we need.

Take a look through the solicitations (again) and share your thoughts. Excelsior!

Avengers Assemble

Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought news for the Avengers, Superman, Legendary Comics and … Disney’s Prep & Landing? Here’s a round-up of announcements from the show today.

• With a big, blockbuster Avengers movie scheduled for next May, Marvel announced a new ongoing series, Avengers Assemble, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. The book will launch next March and will feature most of the Avengers featured in the movie — Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. The first arc will feature the villainous group the Zodiac.

• Speaking of that big, blockbuster Avengers movie, fans were treated to new footage from it featuring Bruce Banner and the Black Widow. Tom Hiddleston spoke to CBR about his work on the film.

• Marvel also announced that writer Rick Remender and artist Gabriel Hardman will take over Secret Avengers with issue #21.1, adding new members and pitting them against a new Masters of Evil.

• At the Cup O’ Joe panel today, Marvel also announced a Disney/Marvel crossover — Prep & Landing: Mansion: Impossible. It features the elves from the Disney television special who prepare homes for the arrival of Santa Claus every Christmas eve — only this time they’re trying to break into Avengers Mansion to get it ready for Santa. Written by director Kevin Deters and drawn by story artist Joe Mateo, the story will run in the back of the Marvel Adventures books as well as Avengers #19 in November.

• Marvel CCO Joe Quesada also announced that Marvel will publish a comic based on the Showtime television show Dexter. Novelist Jeff Lindsay will bring the popular character to comics with an all-new ongoing series with new stories set in the world of the Dexter novels

• During their All Access: Superman panel, DC Comics plans to release a second Superman: Earth One graphic novel next fall, by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Shane Davis. They showed off the book’s cover, and Davis revealed the Parasite will appear in it.

• It was confirmed that Keith Giffen and Dan Jurgens will take over Superman from George Perez beginning with issue #7.

• DC’s CCO Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank have been tapped for “The Curse of Shazam,” a back-up story that will appear in Justice League starting with issue #5.

• Fans were treated to the first episode of Warner Bros. upcoming Green Lantern animated series. The first scene is available to view online.

• Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi will bring back Sabretooth, the character they decapitated some years back.

• Harold Parrineau will voice Blade in the upcoming Blade Anime from Marvel.

• Top Cow announced that David Hine will take over as writer of The Darkness, and a second volume of his comic with Shaky Kane, Bulletproof Coffin, is in the works.

Dragon Age

• Dark Horse Comics, who already have the license for Bioware’s Mass Effect video game, will publish digital comics based on the video game series Dragon Age. The comics will feature characters from the first and second game — Isabela, Alistair and Varric. (As a huge Dragon Age fan, I can’t help but wonder, which Alistair will appear in the comics? I have three different saved games on my Playstation 3 — one where Alistair became king, one where he became a drunk and one where the new queen of Ferelden had him killed. It’s likely not the third Alistair).

• Famed creator Mike Kaluta is working on a “big, meaty graphic novel” based on the John Milton poem Paradise Lost. Legendary Comics will publish it.

• Legendary will also publish a collection of Paul Pope’s The One Trick Rip-Off, an early work first published by Dark Horse.

• Viz Media will replace its Shonen Jump magazine with a weekly digital magazine called Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha.

• Steve Jackson Game will introduce a card game based on Image’s Skullkickers.

• Lucasfilm debuted a poster for the upcoming film Red Tails, drawn by Joe Kubert.

• And finally, ABC showed a sneak preview of their hey-isn’t-that-kinda-like-Fables TV show Once Upon a Time. A fan asked about the similarities between Once Upon a Time, Fables and NBC’s Grimm. “I haven’t seen what the movies are doing and I haven’t read those scripts,” said creator Edward Kitsis. “For us, this is our interpretation of this world. Fairy tales have become a genre the way science fiction is a genre, and I am always up for watching someone in a spaceship heading somewhere on a mission, and this is our version of that.”

George R.R. Martin

Talk about your harmonic nerd convergences: John Hodgman spoke with George R.R. Martin about Marvel Comics in yesterday’s episode of public radio’s The Sound of Young America. In one corner: George R.R. Martin, author of the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and its #1 New York Times–bestselling latest installment A Dance with Dragons, executive producer of the HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones, and inspiration for Dynamite Entertainment’s own comics adaptation A Game of Thrones, whose first issue debuts tomorrow. In the other corner: John Hodgman, nerd-friendly writer, comedic cultural commentator for The Daily Show, and “I’m a PC” guy, filling in as the radio program’s guest host. The topic: One of Martin’s first pieces of published writing, a piece of fanmail published in Avengers #12 in 1964 when Martin was 16 years old.

Hodgman used the letter, which entered wide Internet circulation a few weeks back, to kick off the interview. And he was probably kidding around when he asked Martin to explain why his 16-year-old self believed Avengers #9 to be superior to Fantastic Four #32, as his letter had argued. But once Hodgman jogged Martin’s memory by reminding him that Avengers #9 marked the debut of Wonder Man, Martin knew exactly why he liked the issue so much. His explanation to Hodgman is a solid exploration of why the early Marvel superhero comics were so groundbreaking for the genre — and in offering it, Martin seems to come to the realization that that issue had an impact on his own writing that resonates with him to this day. (For readers of the book or viewers of the show, the influence will be obvious.)

Read a transcript of the relevant section below, then listen to the entire interview.

[George R.R. Martin:] I liked Wonder Man. And you know why? [Laughs] Now it’s coming back to me vividly! Wonder Man dies in that story. He’s a brand new character, he’s introduced, and he dies. It was very heartwrenching. I liked the character — it was a tragic, doomed character. I guess I’ve responded to tragic, doomed characters ever since I was a high-school kid.

[John Hodgman:] Especially those who might die at any minute.

That’s right. Of course, being comic books, Wonder Man didn’t stay dead for long. He came back a year or two later and had a long run for many, many decades. But the fact that he was introduced and joined the Avengers and died all in that one issue had a great impact on me when I was a high-school kid.

I imagine it was pretty surprising, in a comic book at that time, to see a whole story arc resolve tragically in that way in one issue.

Yes. It’s hard to understand, I think, from the vantage point of 2011 exactly what was going on in comics back in the early ’60s. The Marvel comics that I was writing letters to were really revolutionary for the time. Stan Lee was doing some amazing work. Up until then, the dominant comic book had been the DC comics, which at that time were always very circular: Superman or Batman would have an adventure, and at the end of the adventure they would wind up exactly where they were, and then the next issue would follow the same pattern. Nothing ever changed for the DC characters.

The Marvel characters were constantly changing. Important things were happening. The lineup of the Avengers was constantly changing. People would quit and they would have fights and all of that, as opposed to DC, where everybody got along and it was all very nice, and of course all the heroes liked each other. None of this was happening. So really, Stan Lee introduced the whole concept of characterization [chuckles] to comic books, and conflict, and maybe even a touch of gray in some of the characters. And boy, looking back at it now, I can see that it probably was a bigger influence on my own work than I would have dreamed.

(via Westeros)

Incredibles by Bill Morrison

Day two of D23 kicked off early for us, as the big movie presentation kicked off at 10:30 a.m. and we knew there would be a line. We just didn’t realize how long of a line …

*****

(Before I get into that, though, I should mention the above artwork has nothing to do with the movie panel; it’s Bill Morrison’s homage to New Teen Titans #1 and the Incredibles, and was being sold at the Disney Fine Arts booth. I just thought it was really cool).

So yeah, we got there early and there was already a line snaking back behind the convention center. D23 had two lines each morning, one for D23 members and one for non-members. Members could start entering the show at 9 a.m., while everyone else came in at 10. We got in line around 8, I believe, and it was around 9 by the time we got into the convention center. We went directly to the Disney Arena line, where the big presentation was being held, and waited … and waited … then we’d move a little bit and wait some more. Eventually we made it really close to the door, and someone popped up to tell us we might not make it in because they were running out of seats. We almost bailed at that point, but luckily we didn’t because we were in the very last group of people they let into the arena.

They confiscated our cell phones before we went in, gave us the wand to make sure we weren’t sneaking in a camera, and sent us to the very top row about two minutes before the presentation began. The presentation itself went from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., I believe, and was a star-studded, clip and news-filled production. Let me see if I can remember everything they covered … the first part of the presentation focused on their upcoming animated films, as Pixar’s John Lasseter walked through several upcoming projects for both Pixar and Walt Disney Studios. These included:

–Planes, a direct-to-DVD spinoff from Cars that features, um, planes. It features a cropduster named Dusty, who will be voiced by Jon Cryer … the first of many special guests to come out on stage. They introduced him as “The star of the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men …” and at that point I was thinking how awesome it would be for Charlie Sheen to come out and talk about Tiger Blood. The clip they showed had White Zombie’s More Human Than Human playing behind it, which was an interesting choice.

–Wreck-it Ralph, which I mentioned yesterday … it’s about the bad guy from a video game who wants to be a good guy. So he spends his days in a 1980s video game destroying buildings so that the game’s hero, Fix-it Felix Jr., can use his magical hammer to fix it and of course take down Ralph. They had the game set up at one of their booths:

Fix It Felix Jr.

Wreck It Ralph

They showed the first four-and-a-half minutes of the film, which features John C. Reilly as Ralph, Jack McBrayer as Felix, Jane Lynch as Sergeant Calhoun (a character from a Halo-like game) and Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz. The footage was incomplete; in some parts it was black-and-white line art, but the voice over by Reilly was really funny. At one point Ralph attends “Bad-Anon,” a support group for video game bad guys. I didn’t know anything about this film until this weekend, but what we saw was great … it comes out in fall 2012. Oh, and both Silverman and McBrayer came out on stage to say a few words about it.

–Brave is next year’s Pixar film, set in Scotland and featuring a princess who has to choose one of three idiotic suitors for political reasons. She rides a horse, she shoots a bow, and she ends up meeting a witch who casts a spell … they showed clips from this as well, and brought out Kelly Macdonald and Kevin McKidd, who voice characters in the movie. It’s an action-adventure fantasy thing from Pixar, so it ought to be good.

–Monsters University, a prequel to Monsters Inc. Before they were buddies, Mike and Scully were rivals back in college, and this will detail those college days. Billy Crystal, who voices Mike, showed up to huge cheers from the crowd. It comes out in 2013.

–They also announced two new Pixar movies, which would come out after Monsters University … both of which are currently untitled. The first one is kind of a “What if the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs never hit the Earth?” and the promotional image showed a kid riding on the head of a brontosaurus. The other will take you into how your mind really works. They had mock logos made up for both of them, i.e. “Pixar’s Untitled Movie about Dinosaurs,” which was pretty funny.

–The animation part of the presentation ended with Buzz and Woody from Toy Story bringing out a cake in honor of Pixar’s 25th anniversary, and everyone in the arena receiving a cupcake. This was pretty awesome, and the cupcake was really good.

Next up was the live-action stuff, which included:

–John Carter, for which they brought out director Andrew Stanton, and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins and Willem Dafoe. Stanton said he was first introduced to John Carter through the 1970s Marvel series, then went back and read the books. They showed the trailer and several clips, including one that featured Dafoe’s character, one of the nine-foot-tall four-armed martians, meeting Kitsch’s character. Both Dafoe and Samantha Morton’s characters will be done with CGI, but both of them walked aorund on stilts when filming their scenes so they could interact with the other characters. It sounds kinda insane. I like dthe clips they showed; Collins’ Deja Thoris should be one of the highlights.

–Frankenweenie, which is actually a stop motion animated film by Tim Burton. Burton is working on the film in London, but sent over two of the producers and a model of Frankenweenie for them to play with on stage.

–Oz the Great and Powerful, which tells the story of how the Wizard came to Oz. It stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz, and it’s currently filming in Detroit. None of the stars were there, but they sent a video.

–The Odd Life of Timothy Green, for which star Jennifer Garner came out to promote. This is a Peter Hedges film, who wrote What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Pieces of April. It’s about a couple who find out they can’t have kids, so they write down everything they’d want in a kid and bury the scraps of paper in the back yard. A kid, Timothy Green, grows out of the ground.

–Jason Segel, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy came out to promote this fall’s Muppet film. They showed a couple of clips, which look funny and awesome and really made me excited to finally see this.

–The they promoted an upcoming DisneyNature film about chimpanzees. It looks like a propaganda film to make us think these things are cute and cuddly, but we all know better, right? Like I never saw Planet of the Apes …

–Last and certainly not least, Marvel’s Kevin Feige came out after they played a “sizzle reel” that recapped all the Marvel Studios films that have come out since 2008 (i.e. the Iron Man films, Hulk, Thor and Captain America). The clips they pulled all kind of tied together, so you had General Thunderbolt Ross talking about the super soldier program, Nick Fury visiting Iron Man, etc. In other words, it was all about the continuity they’ve been building. Interestingly enough, the Hulk clips didn’t feature Ed Norton Jr. at all.

Feige then introduced a scene from the Avengers that he said the rest of the world wouldn’t be able to see for awhile. Let me see if I can remember all the details …

It opened with Loki trapped in some sort of cell in the helicarrier, talking with Nick Fury. Fury says if Loki so much as tries to scratch the glass, the cell will fall 30,000 feet to the ground below. Loki says the cell wasn’t really built to hold him, but a mindless beast … they then flash to Black Widow, who glances up at Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner. So apparently SHIELD has captured Loki and has him imprisoned. They also flashed to Thor at one point in their conversation, and to a glove that was either Iron Man or Cap (I think it was Cap), as well as Cobie Smulders/Maria Hill. Loki says something about how powerful he is, and Fury offers him a magazine to read. It cuts to Banner, who says something like, “He really grows on you, doesn’t he?”

Next a plane is shown flying over a city — I’m assuming this was a Quinjet. I mean, it’s gotta be a Quinjet, right? It was quick, so I’m not 100 percent on that. Anyway, the next scene has Tony Stark talking to Loki, and he gives the God of Mischief a “roll call” of the Avengers, noting they have two super assassins, Hawkeye and Black Widow, who we get to see in action; a demigod — hey, there’s Thor being Thor-like; a living legend “who kinda lives up to the legend” — hey, there’s Cap! — and then says they all have a reason to hate Loki.

Loki says, “I have an army.”

Stark replies, “We’ve got a Hulk.”

Flash in a quick shot of the Hulk roaring, and cut to the logo …

There were other flashes in there … I’m pretty sure there was another shot of Hawkeye, plus Clark Gregg/Agent Coulson at some point. It was pretty loaded and looked really cool.

Next Feige said that Joss Whedon and the cast were wrapping up shooting, for which they had about two weeks left, and said that unfortunately Whedon, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Evans couldn’t make it, but sent their best … then he introduced the cast members who were at the show — Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders and Tom Hiddleston. Downey took the microphone and made a comment about how they felt like kids visiting their parents on the weekend, then told them to roll the footage one more time. Here’s the group out on stage, courtesy of Marvel.com:

So, wow … it was pretty cool to see all of them assembled like that. We did some other stuff today, but it’s hard to top all that.

Supergirl

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

As we’re heading towards the middle of August, it’s no surprise that curiosity is getting me to pick up more than a few DC books just see how particular series “end;” I’d be getting Justice League of America #60 and Legion of Super-Heroes #16 (both DC, $2.99) anyway, because I’ve been following those series for awhile, but I’m likely to add Batman #713 (DC, $2.99) to the pile as well, if only to see the explanation as to why Dick quits being Batman before the big relaunch. But it’s not all endings for me with my $15 this week; I’d also make a point of grabbing Daredevil #2 (Marvel, $2.99), because the first issue was just breathtakingly good, and the series became a must-read before I’d even reached the last page.

If I had $30 this week, I’d add to my list of DC final issues with Supergirl #67 (DC, $2.99), which Kelly Sue DeConnick has talked up in interviews as being the highpoint of her short run to date and a great capper to the series as a whole. I’d also check in with the third issue of David Hahn’s All Nighter (Image, $2.99), as well as see if Nick Spencer’s Iron Man 2.0 is worth a look with the mini-collection of the first three issues, Iron Man 2.0: Modern Warfare (Marvel, $4.99).

Splurging this week is tough. On the one hand, there’s the hardcover Secret Society of Super-Villains (DC, $39.99), but there’s also the We3 Deluxe Edition with brand new story pages (DC, $24.99) and also a rescheduled release for the Alex Toth book Setting The Standard (Fantagraphics, $39.99). Any one would be good comics, but I’m probably going to plump for the SSoSV. What can I say? Read something as an impressionable pre-teen and it stays with you…

Brigid Alverson

Elephantmen, Book 2: Fatal Diseases

If I had $15, I’d borrow a dollar (or, more precisely, 98 cents) so I can afford my top two picks: vol. 16 of Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys ($12.99), possibly the most awesome manga ever, and Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors #4 ($2.99), continuing the charming and action-packed saga of a school for super villains.

If I had $30, well, call me fickle but I think I’d hold off on 20th Century Boys until next week and pick up the Elephantmen, Book 2: Fatal Diseases ($24.99) instead. I’m still reading the first volume, but I’m intrigued by this quirky comic.

Splurge: The Smurfs book from Abrams looks tempting (I can’t believe I just said that!), but my love of all things retro is going to lead me to Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising ($29.99) from Fantagraphics instead. And if my splurge could extend to one more book, it would be the seventh volume of the Library of American Comics collection of Little Orphan Annie, a steal at $49.99.

Chris Arrant

Daredevil #2

If I had $15, I’d carve off half of it to get the awesome line-up inside DC Comics Presents Teen Titans #1 (DC, $7.99). Seriously, Bob Haney, Mike Allred and Jay Stephens? They seem ideal candidates for DC’s Retroactive titles; hell, I’d love to see them mastermind more. Next up I would get my two long-term serials, DMZ #68 (DC, $2.99) and Walking Dead #88 (Image, $2.99); both are bleak as hell, but they offer some redeeming qualities in their humanity.

If I had $30, I’d double-back and get a trio of Marvel titles: Avengers #16 (Marvel, $3.99), Daredevil #2 (Marvel, $2.99) and X-Men Schism #3 (Marvel, $3.99). I’m particularly interested in Daredevil #2 to see what Waid, Rivera and Martin continue to do on this; can they keep being as good as #1? Last up I’d get the Image one-shot Deadlands: Death Was Silent (Image, $2.99). I have some serious admiration for Bart Sears, and this is the latest in an all-too-rare fix for that.

If I had a chance to splurge, I’d get the long-delayed 99 Days (DC/Vertigo Crime, $19.99). Writer Mateo Casali and artist Kristian Donaldson are two up-and-comers, and I’m anxious to see more of them. I’ve read the story solicitation but couldn’t tell you what it’s about; I’m buying this strictly for the creators involved.

Michael May

Mr. Murder is Dead

If I had $15, I’d start with Supergirl #67 ($2.99) to finish the fun story Kelly Sue DeConnick’s been telling there. I’d also grab the latest Deadlands one-shot, Death Was Silent ($2.99) by Ron Marz and Bart Sears, as well as Heap #1 ($3.99), because if there’s anything cooler than comics about swamp creatures, it’s comics about Nazi-fighting swamp creatures. To round off the ticket, I’d grab Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero ($3.99) based on Graeme’s recommendation.

If I had $30, I’d put back Soldier Zero for another day and use that money toward Mr. Murder is Dead ($19.95). Artist Brent Schoonover is a friend of mine, but don’t hold that against him. He’s a fantastic artist and the perfect one for this whodunit homage to Golden Age comic strips. And since it’s from Archaia, you know the package is going to be beautiful too.

I have way too many splurge items this week, from the latest volume of B.P.R.D. ($19.99) to the special editions of We3 ($24.99) and Elephantmen Vol. 2 ($24.99). But if I had to pick one thing it would be Tales of the Batman: Gene Colan ($39.99) for the same reason that Graeme’s getting The Secret Society of Super-Villains: ten-year-old me couldn’t get enough of that stuff.

JK Parkin

X-Men Schism #3

I guess I’m the opposite of Graeme in that, with the exception of the titles I was already reading, I find myself less intrigued by what DC is doing this month as storylines are wrapped up in preparation for the relaunch in September. So this week I find myself DCU-less, though there are a couple of Vertigo books I’m considering. In any event, I do know four books I am eagerly awaiting for Wednesday — Captain America #2 ($3.99), Butcher Baker Candlestickmaker #2 ($3.99), Daredevil #2 ($2.99) and X-Men Schism #3 ($3.99). As a longtime fan of Ed Brubaker’s run on Cap, as well as The Boys, those first two were easy. And like Chris and Graeme noted, Daredevil #1 was pretty great, so I’m looking forward to the next issue. Schism actually kinda surprised me; over the last few years I’ve bought the big X-events as trades, usually well after they were over and at a decent discount. I’m an old-school X-Men fan, but in recent years my interest has waned. I ended up downloading the first issue of Schism via Marvel’s iPad app (as it was available on the same day it hit shops) and was really impressed with it.

That eats up my first $15, so if I had $30, I’d also get the weirdest Fear Itself tie-in and possibly one of the weirdest Marvel titles I’ve read in awhile, Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #3 ($2.99). It features Howard the Duck, Man-Thing, Nighthawk, She-Hulk, Frankenstein and like 10 different artists doing the art. Well, not really, but so far it’s featured artwork by Ryan Bodenheim (more or less the regular artist, or at least the guy who has drawn most of it so far), Michael Kaluta (he’s also doing the covers), friggin’ Simon Bisley, and this issue will feature Flint Henry. But wait! There’s more — it’ll also include the New Fantastic Four (Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk and Ghost Rider) plus the Psycho-Man! It’s been part crazy throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink fun, part train wreck, but I’m reluctant to look away at this point.

Wow, I kind of went long there, so I’ll be quick and say I’d round out my week with Fables #108 ($2.99), Walking Dead #88 ($2.99) and Avengers #16 ($3.99). And finally, for my splurge, I would probably also go with 99 Days ($19.99).

Marvel and Williams-Sonoma announced today that they’re partnering on a line of bakeware merchandise, including cookie cutters, aprons and more, that will be sold by the retailer.

The products are available now on the Williams-Sonoma website, along with a custom comic book that features the Avengers fighting the Frightful Four while a shrunken Jarvis makes hamburgers (really). The 12-page comic was written by Marvel’s resident foodie, C.B. Cebulski, with art by Todd Nauck.

Products will also be available in Williams-Sonoma’s retail shops in the United States and Canada.

“Building upon our incredibly successful relationship with Williams-Sonoma Inc., we are excited to launch a great new line of merchandise at Williams-Sonoma stores, bringing the Marvel brand to another audience and product segment,” said Paul Gitter, President of Consumer Products for North America, Marvel Entertainment, in the press release. “We are working with Williams-Sonoma on helping kids and adults spend time together in the kitchen.

Daredevil #1

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item. We’re coming a little late today due to a power outage in my neck of the woods — due to a blackout, not because I spent the money for the electric bill on Flashpoint or Fear Itself tie-ins.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Graeme McMillan

Because I’m not doing San Diego this year, some kind of crazy comic karma has decided that this week will be filled with comics I want to read. For example, if I had $15, I’d run to grab Daredevil #1 (Marvel, $3.99), which I’ve been looking forward to for some time — Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera *and* Marcos Martin? How can anyone refuse? — before scooting back to the DC aisle to pick up both DC Retroactive: The Flash – The ’70s #1 and DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman – The ’70s #1 (Both DC, $4.99), because I am such a sucker for old-school DC that even this weird “slight return” of the same seems exciting to me.

If I had $30, I’d probably pick up both last month’s #1 and this month’s #2 of Image’s Witch Doctor mini, after getting recommendations from friends (Both $2.99), before wandering grabbing Locke & Key: Clockworks #1 (IDW, $3.99) and then rounding it out with Batman: Gates of Gotham #3 (DC, $2.99), which is turning into an enjoyable little Batfamily series.

To splurge or not to splurge? Well, there *is* that Thor: The Black Galaxy Saga trade (Marvel, $19.99), and I really *do* like my Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz Thor, so that might have to be coming home with me…

Chris Mautner

Butcher Baker, Candlestickmaker

If I had $15:

Unlike Graeme, this is another quiet week for me, with my initial purchase being the first issue of The Boys: Butcher Baker, Candlestickmaker, the latest (and, I believe, final) spin-off of the Boys franchise, this time delving into the origins of the group’s leader Billy Butcher. I’ve been a bit down on the comic lately, disappointed with the heavy info dumps and not really digging John McCrea’s art, but this issue features the return of co-creator Darick Robertson, so I’m hopeful.

If I had $30:

I’d either grab Neptune, a charming all-ages book by Aron Nels Steinke about a girl and her dog, courtesy of Sparkplug Books, or I’d nab La Quinta Camera: The Fifth Room, a new manga series from Natsume Ono. I haven’t been exactly wow’d by Ono’s work, but this book seems to adopt a cartoonier style and, like I said, it’s a slow week.

Splurge:

The sixth volume of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku is out this week. I’ve only read the first volume so far, so for my splurge I’d get Vol. 6 and the other four books to catch up.

Michael May

Deadlands

If I had $15, I’d start with a couple of Weird Western comics: Deadlands: Massacre at Red Wing ($2.99) and Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman #2 ($3.50). The Deadlands one-shot is by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, who know a thing or two about the genre and Zeke just looks and sounds fun. Next I’d add Criminal Macabre/The Goon: When Freaks Collide ($3.99) because Cal McDonald and the Goon are a match made somewhere very far away from heaven. Finally, I’d add Daredevil #1 ($3.99), not just because Mark Waid fills me with confidence about every Marvel or DC series he writes, but I’m just happy to see a superhero smiling again on that cover.

If I had $30, I’d add a few more single issues. The top of this part of the list is Marineman #6 ($4.99), the double-sized wrap-up to the first story in Ian Churchill’s excellent underwater superhero series. Besides the price, the only thing keeping this out of my $15 list is knowing that the collected version is coming out next month and I’m going to want that anyway. After that I’d add the redundantly titled Sergio Aragones Funnies #1 ($3.50) and Rocketeer Adventures #3 ($3.99).

My splurge item for the week is Ray Fawkes’ One Soul graphic novel ($24.99) that Brigid’s written about a few times. I saw a preview of it at C2E2 and was so impressed that this really isn’t a splurge item. I’d find money for it regardless of my budget.

Chris Arrant

DMZ #67

If I had $15, I’d dial into DMZ #67 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99) by Wood and Burchielli; although this book has entered the marketing doldrums the way 100 Bullets and Preacher did during it’s last year of release, the book’s reaching a high point quality-wise. After that I’d pick up Rocketeer Adventures #3 (IDW, $3.99), which has been non-stop hit and thanks in no small part to editor Scott Dunbier. After those two, I’d settle in for the next Walking Dead #87 (Image, $2.99) and then try the new Daredevil #1. For the latter, I’ll borrow a phrase from Tom Spurgeon and feel like I’ve read all I need to read on Daredevil… but the creative team on this has given me second thoughts enough to try this out.

And since this is Food or Comics, with my $1 left over I’d get an Icee from Burger King.

If I had $30, I’d drink my Icee and put my money all in at Marvel with Uncanny X-Men #541 ($3.99), Invincible Iron Man #506 ($3.99), Avengers #15 ($3.99) and Generation Hope #9 ($2.99).

For my splurge this week, I’d write a check to Misters Ross and Edwards for the Turf hardcover (Image, $39.99). Tommy’s art here is more than worth the cover price even though I bought the single issues, especially for the extra features promised.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50

Hello and welcome to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Ross Campbell, creator of Shadoweyes and its recent sequel, Shadoweyes in Love, as well as Wet Moon, Water Baby, The Abandoned and “Refuse,” a short story in the recent Strange Adventures anthology from Vertigo.

To see what Ross and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, click below.

*****

Tim O’Shea

Avengers Academy #15

Avengers Academy #15: As much as I love the teen stars of this series, Christos Gage is writing the best dang Hank Pym since the days of Kurt Busiek’s Avengers. At the heart of most comic book series I enjoy, there’s a soap opera element. And artist Tom Raney pulls off the soap opera angle in this issue, showing the anguish in Pym’s face, when faced with certain hard choices.

Last week I avoided contributing to WAYR, because all I could think to write about DC comics was “What the hell is the point of recommending these any DC main titles, given that the series–no matter how great they may be–will end in a few months?” Well, Bryan Q. Miller’s Batgirl coming to an end is a prime example of a comic and creator who I will hate to see go. I expect Gail Simone’s Batgirl will be a big hit with folks, but I was dismayed to see Miller has not been tapped (to date) to work on any new DC projects. Here’s hoping that’s not the last I will see of Miller’s writing in comics.

Hulk #35: I love Jeff Parker for writing a scene where Thunderbolt “Red Hulk” Ross opines on his admiration for George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Few other mainstream comics are as equal parts quirky and entertaining as Parker’s Hulk.

Michael May

Alpha Flight #1

My enjoyment of Alpha Flight #1 was unfortunately tainted by paying an extra buck for two story pages and a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff I’d already seen online, but the story itself was a welcome return to what I originally liked about the team when Byrne created the series. I’m even digging Marrina’s new personality now. Van Lente and Pak sold me on it in three panels that simultaneously made me laugh and suddenly, totally get why Marrina would be exactly the way she is now. I’m still a bit sad about innocence lost, but they’ve found the silver lining in the storm clouds of Marrina’s history. Also, hell of a cliffhanger.

I don’t know what it was, but I just couldn’t stop adding periodical issues to my stack this week. I’m a stubborn trade-waiter by nature, so that surprised me. Cullen Bunn’s (The Sixth Gun) writing a Defenders vs Atlantis story in Fear Itself: The Deep was too tempting to pass up and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s gotta be hard to make a team starring Doctor Strange, Namor, and a Hulk feel like underdogs, but Bunn pulls it off and makes it look easy.

I also read Kelly Sue DeConnick and ChrisCross’ Supergirl #65 and it reminded me that there are still great comics being published by DC that don’t tie into a larger story. This is the first of three issues that have Supergirl going undercover for Lois Lane at a college to investigate some student disappearances involving robots and possibly faeries. Maybe even robot faeries. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s only going to cost $12 to read.

I did pick up another event-related comic though: last week’s Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1. (I think it was last week. Two weeks ago?) It’s sort of the perfect Flashpoint tie-in because it starts during WWII and drops its heroes into the present, Captain America-style, so that readers can learn about the Flashpoint world along with them. Unlike Grodd of War, which I also read, I didn’t feel like I needed to have purchased Flashpoint and World of Flashpoint and three other mini-series to understand everything that was happening. It’s just Frankenstein and a bunch of monsters whooping up on some bad guys and trying to figure out what’s going on. Cool characters, great action, and a nice mystery.

Carla Hoffman

Batgirl #22

I gotta go with Tim on this one: I love Batgirl so much. Batgirl #22 was just as good as the issues that came before it and was totally bittersweet because I just don’t know if we’ll ever see its like again. The art was clever and fast paced, the writing was swift and adventurous, never leaving you too long to explain anything but connecting all the dots along the way. Stephanie Brown is fun, funny and confident in her role, a fantastic female character without having to be The Best Female Character, if that makes any sense. However, this is the killer part: you get a full story in that one issue. It’s one of the reasons I’ve kept up with Batgirl as much as I have: each issue tends to give you the most bang for you buck and requires very little from me but to kick back and enjoy. I kind of want to go back and read the Knight and Squire mini-series thanks to the fun I had with this book.

To show my true colors, I also read X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 and have deemed it the best of the prelude books out thus far. I still don’t know what’s going on plot-wise besides the obvious (there is a threat! there is a decision!), but this week we took a peek inside the head of Scott Summers as he makes the decision to fight … something. Jenkins hasn’t been this on for personal storytelling in awhile, at least for me; I enjoy a good quiet moment where we really look at the motivations of why a particular hero is the way they are and he nails it for one of the quietest load-bearing characters of the X-Universe. Scott, even in his new souped up position as the leader of Utopia, remains reserved and thoughtful and it’s easy to see why in this issue. He is, in effect, a blind man leading people who are in a whole new phase of existence, which is a neat little way to look at this event, whatever this event may be.

I also read Avengers #14 because I have a streak of masochism. It’s embarrassing how much I don’t enjoy a book I actively seek out every month, like I should have learned by now not to do this because I’m just not the person Brian Michael Bendis is writing these books for. There are plenty of people who enjoy this flagship book of the Marvel Universe, its sales are consistent and the story is popular, so they don’t need me as a reader. But yet, here I am. Whereas X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 is giving me one quiet character moment, this tries to give me several with a variety of talking heads, some living, some dead, being interviewed. At the same time, the main point of the story is that the Thing fights the Hulk. Not only that, but the Godly-Hammer-Chosen Thing fights the nigh-unstoppable Red Hulk! And it’s drawn by John Romita Jr. who, from his work on World War Hulk, kind of sort of declared himself Artist King of Hulk Fights(tm) in my humble opinion. Why didn’t I like this? Why won’t you let me love you, Avengers!? Because it’s slow. There’s a whole lot of tell-not-showing in the issue, some beautiful shots that have these little head shot boxes dotting their margins telling you how awesome this picture is. Because they destroy Stark Tower and I can’t say I’m worried for where the Avengers will live now, nor is Stark Tower so endeared to our hearts as the Avengers Mansion was when it also was destroyed by Bendis. Because at the end of the book, Jarvis tells us that this moment was more terrifying to him than having his life threatened in front of Captain America in the classic “Under Siege” story line. This is just, what, two issues in? He tells me this point blank, instead of showing me a moment that tops the classic panels from the Avengers’ past and, as a reader, I don’t feel like that’s really happening between the panels.

Ross Campbell

Remake Special

Remake Special by Lamar Abrams: The first Remake is hilarious but this second book is without a doubt the funniest comic I’ve ever read. Being a connoisseur of poop humor, I was delighted to see that Remake Special features hero Max Guy and his pals Magma Boy and Sick Rick going up against people made of poop.

Happyface by Steve Emond: Emond is most known for his comic Emo Boy from SLG Publishing, but he really shines in his first novel. It does include artwork, though, which is interesting, I’ve never read a book quite like it. Anyway it’s really good, I saw a lot of my younger self in the main character, a self-absorbed, angsty, whiny, sometimes delusional hopeless romantic high school boy, which isn’t something I look for in fiction but which turned out to be entertainingly embarrassing. It starts off kind of superficial seeming but it unfolds really interestingly and unexpectedly, and ends up being honest and unflinching.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: I only just started reading this the other day but I had to include it! I’ve been reading Nnedi’s books for a while and they’re all great, and her last book Who Fears Death, about a powerful mystic girl in post-apocalyptic North Africa, was amazing but it looks like she may top it with Akata Witch, which is about an albino black American girl, Sunny, living in Nigeria, who discovers she has magical powers.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson: Man, this book sucked me the hell in, I was so absorbed in this. It’s about a girl dealing with anorexia and it’s brutal and sad and compelling.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: City At War by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and Jim Lawson: I grew up on the old Mirage TMNT comics and felt like reading City At War again, and I’d forgotten how awesome it is. Issue #50, all wordless, is super awesome. I love when Leonardo says of Splinter “I would gladly die for him… but I don’t know if I can give him my life.” DANG.

Alpha Flight

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.

Michael May

If I had $15, I’d start with Alpha Flight #1 ($3.99). I had mostly positive feelings about the prequel issue with the only negatives being a mixture of “that doesn’t look like Sasquatch” and some anxiety born from being used to disappointment from Alpha Flight books. Neither of which has anything to do with the people creating the next eight issues, so I’m looking forward to this in a way that I haven’t since John Byrne left the book. Next I’d grab Flashpoint: Grodd of War #1 ($2.99), because an all-out Gorilla Grodd comic sounds awesome. And then I’d give Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths #1 ($3.99) a shot to see how well IDW can manage two Godzilla comics at a time. They certainly managed the first one well. Finally, I’d pick up Mickey Mouse #309 ($3.99) because it’s a globe-trotting adventure with a ton of guest-stars, including my favorite: The Phantom Blot.

If I had $30, I’d add Anya’s Ghost ($15.99) to the stack. I’ve already read it, but I’d buy it again; it’s that good. The most enjoyable, surprising comic I’ve read in a long, long time.

My splurge item for the week is The Sixth Gun, Volume 2 ($19.99). I picked up Volume 1 at C2E2 and have been waiting for this so that I could read them back to back. I’m excited to see what all the buzz is about.

Graeme McMillan

Kirby: Genesis

If I had $15 this week, the first thing I’d pick up would be Kirby: Genesis #1 (Dynamite, $3.99), the second issue — but first full-length one — of Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ love letter to the King of Comics. I’ve talked about how much I love this series already, but suffice to say, this is the issue where it all really kicks off and the result is even more fun than last month’s #0. Talking of fun, I’d also grab Supergirl #65 (DC, $2.99), which begins Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chriscross’ short run on the title, pre-reboot; I’ve got really high hopes for this, so fingers crossed it delivers. Also on the DC side, I’ll likely be getting Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1 and Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 (both $2.99), although for different reasons: I’m a big fan of the characters in the former, and curious enough about the back story of the latter. The Flashpoint tie-ins have been uneven so far, but here’s hoping these trend toward the higher end of the quality scale.

If I had $30, I’d grab Ruse #4 (Marvel, $2.99), the last issue in Mark Waid’s light but fun reboot of his Victorian detective series from CrossGen, as well as the debut of Roger Stern’s Captain America Corps series (Marvel, $2.99), about which my inner conflict can be summed up with “Concept sounds dumb, but Roger Stern is pretty damn awesome, so… maybe it’ll be good?” Beyond that, I’m saving my pennies for…

Splurging this week: the Legion Lost hardcover (DC, $39.95). I’m a big Legion fan who had drifted away from the series by the time Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Olivier Coipel launched this year-long mini. I’ve been hoping to read it for a long time, and now, finally have the chance to do so in one place.

Brigid Alverson

Anya's Ghost

It looks like First Second will be getting a lot of my money this week.

If I had just $15, I’d pick up Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy ($9.99), which is funny and smart, a kids’ comic that a grownup can enjoy as well. It’s a cute idea‹a school in outer space, which allows Dave free rein for all sorts of outlandishness, but at the same time, the kids are typical kids, with the full range of personalities that you see in elementary school. And that will put me in such a juvenile mood that I’ll have to pick up Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors #2 ($2.99), the second issue of Mark Andrew Smith’s delightful story of kid super villains–again, a clever setting with believable kids.

If I have $30, I’ll have a dilemma on my hands: Do I go for Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost or Gene Yang’s Level Up? Both are $15.99, and it’s a tough call. For me, Anya’s Ghost gets the edge because it’s about a girl and I’m not a gamer, but I love Yang’s storytelling, and Level Up looks like it will go far beyond gaming. I’ll save it for my splurge pile.

The splurge starts with Level Up, but it won’t end there. There are some books coming out this week that aren’t all sweetness and light, and I’d like to cleanse my palate with That Hellbound Train #1, the first of a three-issue miniseries from IDW that looks totally kickass, and the second volume of The Sixth Gun ($19.99), because we all need a little evil (or a lot of evil) to keep things interesting.

Chris Mautner

Welcome to Oddville

If I had $15: It would go toward Welcome to Oddville ($14.99), a collection of newspaper strips by Jay Stephens starring superkid Jetcat. Stephens is a real underrated talent in comics, and I hadn’t heard of or seen any of these strips before now, so I’m really looking forward to diving into them.

If I had $30: First Second has a number of books out this week, but Anya’s Ghost ($15.99) would probably be my pick. It’s a really well-told, smartly observed story of a girl who befrends a ghost, only to discover that the friendship isn’t everything she bargained for. Plus, cartoonist Vera Brosgol has some serious cartooning chops.

Splurge: I’ll probably check out the ninth volume of the heavy metal satire Detroit Metal City ($12.99) and pick up the other eight volumes as well. I am splurging after all.

JK Parkin

Northlanders #41

This week’s issue of Brian Wood’s Northlanders, issue #41 ($2.99), features artwork by Marion Churchland of Elephantman and Beast fame. So it goes to the top of the list. I’m also looking forward to Graveyard of Empires #1 ($2.99), the new zombie/war book by Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta. I’d also grab Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths #1 ($3.99), as Chew scribe John Layman and Unknown Soldier artist Alberto Ponticelli send a detective on vacation to Monster Isle, courtesy of the mob. One of the covers is by Geof Darrow, which is the one I’d be looking for. And finally, Alpha Flight #1 ($3.99) … I was a bit lukewarm to the zero issue, but I have enough faith in the creators to stick with it for a few issues to see what happens.

That puts me at $13, so for the second tier, I’d also add the Deadlands one-shot ($2.99) from Image; this is based on a role-playing game I’m not familiar with, but I am familiar with the team of David Gallaher and Steve Ellis, who worked on Zuda’s High Moon, among other projects. So I know they can do weird westerns well. Like Graeme, I’m also looking forward to DeConnick’s run on Supergirl ($2.99) so throw one of those in the bag. Also, I’ve been meaning to retry Soldier Zero since Abnett and Lanning came on board, and since issue #9 ($3.99) starts a new story, it seems like a good week to check it out. And to round it out, I’d get the second issue of Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors ($2.99) and Avengers #14 ($3.99).

To splurge, I’d go with Graeme and get the Legion Lost hardcover ($39.95) but all the First Second titles everyone’s talking about also sound very tempting, so what the hell … let’s throw those in, too.

‘Nuff said.

Previously: Wonder Woman I, Wonder Woman II, Wonder Woman III, Wolverine, Aquaman, Batman, Lois Lane, Kraven, Thor (with Nicholas Gurewitch), Rogue page 1/Rogue page 2

Did I miss any?

Alpha Flight

Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.

Michael May

Even if I didn’t have any money at all, I’d stand on the street corner and beg until I collected three bucks to buy Alpha Flight #0.1 ($2.99). I’ve never not bought an issue of Alpha Flight and I’m not breaking that streak this week. Fortunately I have $15 and can afford to get not only that, but also Rocketeer Adventures #1 ($3.99), which I’m only slightly less excited about. And since I’ve still got some money I’d add Drums #1 ($2.99) – because it’s been a while since I’ve read a voodoo story and this looks like a good one – and Snake Eyes #1 ($3.99). I’m not a GI Joe fan, but ninjas are cool and expect that I’d be entertained by a comic about one who fights an evil spy organization.

If I had $30, I’d trade-wait Drums and Snake Eyes and grab Courtney Crumrin Tales #2: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen ($5.99) because Ted Naifeh. Then I’d add Batgirl: The Flood ($14.99), because Batgirl has come up in a couple of recent conversations about modern comics that are sort of quietly fun and appropriate for younger readers without being “kids comics.” I want to check that out.

I’ve got a couple of splurge items this week. I’ve been catching up on The Adventures of Dr. McNinja online and it’s hilariously fantastic. I definitely want to support that by buying The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Night Powers ($19.99). But I’m also extremely interested in Winshluss’ darkly beautiful and wordless take on Pinocchio ($26.95) from Last Gasp.

Chris Arrant

Courtney Crumrin Tales #2: League of Ordinary Gentlemen

If I had $15, the belle of my comics buyin’ ball would be Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Crumrin Tales #2: League of Ordinary Gentlemen (Oni, $5.99). Naifeh continues to amaze me, and although he might be overshadowed at Oni by Bryan Lee O’Malley he does amazing work. I love this prequel story of Courtney’s ward, Aloysius. Second up would be DMZ #65 (DC/Vertigo, $3.99), which writer Brian Wood said is the first ending for the series –- with the finale coming later this year. Third and final would be Avengers #13 (Marvel, $3.99) for Chris Bachalo’s amazing work; in fact, the previews for this push me even more to buy it than his name alone. I still think him and Bendis could do a great, and great-selling, Dr. Strange series.

If I had $30, I’d double back and pick up the new Rocketeer Adventures #1 (IDW, $3.99) and then spend the rest of my money on Ross Campbell’s Shadoweyes In Love (SLG, $12.95). Seriously, why isn’t Ross Campbell more appreciated than he is?

For my splurge, I’d spend my hard-earned money on Chester Brown’s Paying For it (D&Q, $24.95). I’m buying this based on Brown’s name and previous work, as well as the review Tom Spurgeon gave it a couple days ago.

Chris Mautner

Paying for It

If I had $15: This is a mostly “already own, but let me recommend” type of week. The main exception would be Liar’s Kiss ($14.95), Eric Skillman and Jhomar Soriano’s noirish detective story about a detective who’s surveillance case takes a turn for the gruesome. Skillman is best known as the top designer over at the Criterion Collection, and he’s done a couple of crime-themed comics titled Egg. I have a strong suspicion this is going to be very good.

If I had $30: Paying for It ($24.95) is clearly the book of the week, and surely one of the most anticipated and talked-about books of the year to date. I offered my own thoughts on it here. To sum up: It deals with a touchy subject, prostitution, in a rather forthright and honest way, which may make some uncomfortable. It also makes some proposals about the nature of romantic love and relationships that may irk others. On the other hand, it’s by one of the finest cartoonists alive today and offers a fascinating, at times even funny, look at a world rarely viewed in broad daylight.

If all that hits your “ick” button too much however, let me suggest Eye of the Majestic Creature ($18.99), a lovely little collection of comics by relative newcomer Leslie Stein, mainly concerning a young girl named Larrybear (basically a stand-in for Stein) and her adventures with her best friend, an anthropomorphic guitar. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up, but Stein quickly won me over with her charm and good humor.

Splurge: If you’re looking for a great book to splurge on, look no further than French cartoonist Winshluss’ rather loose adaptation of Pinocchio ($29.95). I picked this up at MoCCA this year and it was easily one of the best purchases I made, a tour-de-force that reimagines the little wooden boy as a metal machine housing some nasty weapons of destruction, Jimminy Cricket as a slacker, stoned cockroach and more. Yes it’s a puerile and “oh so naughty” take on a classic fairy tale, (think classic-era underground comics) but masterfully done, full of sharp, knife-edge humor and wonderful art. Highly recommended.

Graeme McMillan

IDW’s Rocketeer Adventures #1

If I had $15 this week, I’d probably blow more than half of it immediately on DC Comics Presents Batman: Dark City (DC, $7.99), a collection of a little-remembered three-part Peter Milligan-written story from the 1990s that accidentally served as the basis for a lot of the Gotham mythology in Grant Morrison’s The Return Of Bruce Wayne arc (It’s been a long time since I read it, but I remember the Kieron Dwyer art being pretty great, as well). I also wouldn’t be able to resist IDW’s Rocketeer Adventures #1 ($3.99), the start of a new anthology series about Dave Stevens’ famous character with work by Kurt Busiek, Mike Allred and Mike Mignola, amongst many others. With the $3 left to me, I’d give in again to nostalgia and pick up Alpha Flight #0.1 (Marvel, $2.99); I read the original John Byrne stories when I was ten years old, in the back of Marvel UK’s Secret Wars reprint title, and remember them far more fondly than they deserve… It’ll be a depressing but necessary sight to see what they’ve become today, I think.

If I had $30, I’d continue my Batman fix with the first issue of Scott Snyder’s Batman: Gates of Gotham (DC, $2.99), before picking up regular purchases like Justice League of America #57 (DC, $2.99), Legion of Super-Heroes #13 (DC, $2.99) and recent addition (at least until Cullen Bunn leaves), Superman/Batman #84 (DC, $2.99).

I’m torn when it comes to splurging. I mean, the superhero fan in me is very, very tempted by The Flash Omnibus By Geoff Johns Vol. 1 (DC, $75), especially as I’ve not read the majority of those stories before, but I have to admit, I think Paying For It (Drawn & Quarterly, $24.95), Chester Brown’s book about prostitution that, from the sounds of it, is part admission memoir and part polemic, would be more bang for my buck. So to speak.

I’m hard pressed to think of a more unexpected development in superhero comics over the past half-decade or so than this: Somehow, the Avengers and Green Lantern have become the genre’s biggest franchises. On a one level it’s not much more complicated to explain than “Brian Bendis and Geoff Johns are very good at writing superhero comics people want to read, and their editors are very good at recognizing this and structuring their lines to support those comics.” Both writers reimagined these perpetual also-ran concepts — Bendis broke the team up, reassembled it with a mixture of Marvel superstars and personal favorites, and placed it at the center of years’ worth of shadowy conspiracy storylines; Johns revived the character at the core of the concept as we know it, then cracked that concept open to reveal a sprawling sub-universe of heroes and villains that arose from the original concept in a totally intuitive way; both of their publishers crafted multiple major event comics in which these freshly popular properties took center stage.

But in Marvel’s case, the newfound primacy of the Avengers was startling in that the franchise appeared to eclipse the properties that used to be Marvel’s bread and butter, the X-Men and Spider-Man. Sure, Wolverine and Spidey are members of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and adding them to the team likely gave it that initial push to the top, but it’s really the “Big Three” of Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America who’ve driven the Marvel Universe’s meta-plot for years now. It doesn’t take an omega-level intelligence to notice that these characters, and the team they’ve historically led, fall under the Marvel Studios movie-rights umbrella, while the Web-Slinger, the Ol’ Canucklehead and company belong elsewhere.

Which leads to one of my favorite comic-book conspiracy theories: Marvel deliberately pushed the Avengers in order to boost their future movie projects, while relegating the X-Men and Spider-Man to the back seat since their movie money goes to Fox or Sony rather than the House of Ideas. It’s a theory I’ve put before Marvel honcho Tom Brevoort myself; his response was that the franchise’s success was simply the result of the company trying to get the “Marvel heroes” area of their line firing on all cylinders the way they’d previously done with their other properties. After all, while Grant Morrison and J. Michael Straczynski were jolting the X-Men and Spider-Men, and Brian Bendis and Mark Millar were taking the Ultimate line to the top, those non-mutant, non-spider, non-Ultimate characters were keeping a relatively low profile. It just so happened, goes this line of reasoning, that when Marvel did decide to get the Avengers characters up and running — in no small part by taking Bendis’ Ultimate-line heat and transferring it to the Marvel Universe proper — they ended up being really, really good at it.

That’s an eminently reasonable and plausible response, as is Brevoort’s accurate contention elsewhere that they’ve published plenty of high-profile Spider-Man and X-Men comics since the Avengers blew up, thank you very much. But in a recent “Talk to the Hat” interview with CBR’s Kiel Phegley, Brevoort goes further than I’ve ever seen in confirming a relationship between Marvel Studios’ rights to the Avengers franchise and the concurrent rise of that franchise to the top of the sales charts. It’s just not quite the nefarious, Illuminati-style relationship you might have imagined…

[Kiel Phegley: I get the feeling that those of you in the office are a bit more connected to the Marvel Studios films not just because creatively Marvel has more of an impact on them than, say, the "Spider-Man" or "X-Men" movies, but I also feel that the in house movies have seen their characters benefit from an extra spotlight in Marvel publishing the past few years. Have you guys internally said, "Since our eggs are in the Iron Man/Cap/Thor basket, let's try and ramp up those properties"?

Brevoort: Well, I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Certainly we publish a lot of X-Men comics and a lot of Spider-Man comics. The difference is that – at least in publishing – on a day-to-day basis we're not even aware of what's going on with the film production on both of those characters. I've seen the "X-Men: First Class" trailers, and I know exactly as much about it as you do. Where as with the Marvel Studios films that we're doing ourselves, we're much more actively involved on a regular basis, and so there's a little more opportunity for cross-platforming and cross-integration. A lot of that also has to do with the fact that the Marvel Creative Committee – which includes Dan [Buckley] and Joe [Quesada] and a few other folks – are involved in giving notes and feedback to Kevin Feige and his guys. So there’s a more direct pipeline. Every once in a while, Brian Bendis will start talking about something in regards to an “Avengers” script, and it’ll take me a few seconds to realize “Oh! He’s had some previous conversation with someone who’s involved with one of the films, and he’s put forth an idea there that he also wants to explore in ‘Avengers.’”

The immediacy of the interaction is such that it’s more natural that those characters are going to come to the fore. I think regardless, if you’re doing a big film with any of the characters, they’re going to become bigger. And if you have a successful film as we did with “Iron Man,” well then Iron Man is almost immediately going to become a much more important, much more prominent Marvel character. That’s true regardless of what we do in Publishing, though I think we should certainly take advantage of that in Publishing and steer into that. As Marvel Studios gears up towards a major film, we’re going to know about it, and if we’re not doing a lot of stuff with the characters involved yet – though it’s not like we were ever not doing stuff with Iron Man, Thor or Captain America – it’s easier when we know what things are coming up to direct our efforts on them. We aim for the movie release time and make sure there’s an accessible, mainstream-friendly story that’s in a collection on bookstore shelves. And we make sure there’s enough exposure for those characters, to help prime the pump for the film release.

[...]

So I don’t think there’s any greater emphasis on the Marvel Studios characters than the ones optioned by other studios. If you look at our “Previews” catalogue, it’s not like we’ve taken our foot off the gas on X-Men or Spider-Man. We still publish plenty of both, and we still put the same kind of resources against those books as we do Iron Man or Thor. Those characters matter to us. It’s just a little easier to get behind Iron Man or Cap or the Avengers because we know more about what’s going on on the film side. More of us have read the script or seen the production designs, and that tends to get people excited about the possibilities.

As you can see, Brevoort characterizes the link between the fortunes of the Avengers film franchise(s) and their comic-book counterparts as one of convenience rather than conscious effort: Many of the same people are involved in both mediums via the Creative Committee, so there’s a free flow of ideas and information there that simply doesn’t exist between, say, the X-office and the producers of First Class, a flow that naturally creates a “rising tide lifts all boats” scenario between film and funnybook.

Brevoort goes on to note several complicating factors. For one thing, Marvel’s ability to make superstars out of its C-listers remains untested: Thor and Iron Man may not be Wolverine and Spider-Man, but nor are they Ant-Man or Cloak & Dagger. For another, Marvel Studios may not control the movie rights to Spidey and the X-Men, but their animation wing is working with these characters, and similar cross-pollination is going on there. And in his latest “Talk to the Hat,” Brevoort says that the publisher’s Spider-Man-centric Free Comic Book Day offering was done in part to prime the pump for Sony’s upcoming Spidey reboot, showing that the publisher still cares enough about other studios’ productions to craft product with them in mind. But it does seem as though Cap, Thor, and Tony will remain Marvel’s marquee players as long as they’re on actual marquees.

No trip to Hollywood is complete without buying a map to the stars’ homes. Now you can do the same thing for New York City superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Only – thanks to Dorkly – the map is free. They tell you where to find your favorite heroes’ hangouts, but the best part is that they also have photos of the real life buildings that inspired the fictional ones and/or reside at their addresses.