Ramblings of a 20-Something
James Knows…Comics
No One Cares About Wonder Woman So Shut Up Already
Jul 1st
If you’re anywhere near as big as of a nerd as I am, you’re no doubt aware that Wonder Woman got a new costume this week as her comic finally hit 600 issues. The same month saw Batman and Superman reach the 700 issue mark. The reaction has caused a sudden surge in Nerd Rage all over the Internet. I don’t understand this at all.
First of all, these are comic books we’re dealing with. Costumes change for characters all the time. It’s a stunt to sell more issues and keep people talking. It’s happened with Spider-Man at least half a dozen times (Black costume, Iron Spider, That weird metal costume from the ’90s that lasted a single issue, the Scarlet Spider, I could go on), not to mention Superman (do I really have to bring up Electric Blue?) and tons of others. People talk about it for a little while and then after a few months everything goes back to normal because nerds hate change. This will probably happen to Wonder Woman as well. They’ve even thrown out the buzz words like “bold new direction” and “never be the same” which are always surefire signs that nothing will actually make a difference.
Aside from that, I don’t know what people are talking so much about this anyway. No one actually cares about Wonder Woman to begin with. Despite the fact that she’s one of the Holy Trinity at DC along with Batman and Superman, she’s relegated to the back seat. If the Big Three were the daughters of the Brady family, Wonder Woman would be Jan. Her comic has been canceled a bunch of times because readers stopped buying it. They only got to 600 issues after adding up all of the previous volumes of the comic to get there. Did they have to do that with Batman and Superman? Nope!
Yes, Wonder Woman had that TV show with Lynda Carter
So bottom line: Shut Up. Nerds freak out over change when everyone knows that the comic companies will just go back to the status quo within a few issues anyway because they want your money. Giving Wonder Woman pants is not going to destroy the character or ruin your life. They’re pants. Here’s a newsflash for you: Women have been wearing pants for decades. They don’t actually wear giant star covered panties. Deal with it.
The Comic Book Pile is Slowly Shrinking
Jun 20th
My plan to sell off my single issue comic book collection is now underway. Last week I tossed up the first of many ebay auctions for a batch of Marvel Civil War comics. The 40 comics sold for $76, which is way more than I thought they’d go for. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, my goal is to make enough money to re-buy the issues as trade paperbacks. I understand that I’m going to take a loss on the initial sale, but this way I’ll get rid of the comics that I’ll never read again and basically trade in the other issues for graphic novels that I’ll actually read and will be readily available on my book shelf.
I put up three more lots this week. (Green Lantern, Batman: War Games, and Y: The Last Man). I think that the Green Lantern one will sell for big. I hope so at least because it’s 53 issues. Y will probably go for an OK amount, but I don’t know if Batman will sell because even though it’s about 30 issues, the storyline included wasn’t that popular. We’ll see though. I’ve still got a few days before it ends.
I thought about putting up more, but with all the stuff going on with the move and our road trip it’s going to be a pain in the ass to get all these together and ship them. I’m going to stick to about three each week and take it from there. That way I’m not overwhelmed with shipping and whatnot. I’ll have to move some of the comics with me to the new apartment, but that’ll be OK. At least by that time they’ll take up a little less space.
Trade In Your Funny Books for Cash!
May 12th
Some time ago I stopped buying single issue comics. I just flat out stopped. There were a variety of factors that led to this decision (time, money, car travel, lack of interest, etc.), but my comic collection stopped growing. I’m still interested in some of the stories though. My biggest problem with owning these comics is the difficulty involved in reading them again. If I want to read a story again, I have to search through the long boxes to locate the chosen issues, put the boxes back in their places, read through all the issues (with ads) and then put them back afterwards. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but for a six issue story, it’s a pain in the ass. I thought I had come up with a solution some time ago using a few binders and sheet protectors from Staples. This was still annoying though, plus they took up a lot of space. So a new decision was made. I’m selling them all.
That’s right. Everything must go. All of my single issues are going out the door. This is a two pronged strategy. On the one hand, I’ll finally get rid of the comics that I know I’ll never read ever again. So long, OMAC Project! See you later, Chris Claremont penned Uncanny X-Men! Peace out, 1602 sequels! That’s the one side. The other goal is to sell the single issues for stories I actually want to read again (ie: Civil War, Sinestro Corps War) and then re-buy the comics in trade paperback form. I fully acknowledge that I’ll be taking a loss by selling the comics. I dropped about $3 an issue and I know I won’t get that back. I’m just going to try and get enough money to buy the book as a trade. That way I can sort of break even and any money I get for the books I don’t plan on re-buying will be extra and can go towards new trades and books I don’t have yet.
It sounds like a good idea (at least to me), but I’ll see how things net out. I’ve got a few people that are already interested in some of the issues. If anyone else wants to have a look at the list (now typed up in Excel), let me know. I’ll probably see what I can get rid of in the next few weeks and then put a bunch of them on ebay and get what I can get.
Comics Corner – Week of 12/4
Dec 6th
My ever-shrinking comic pull list got a little smaller this week. I almost didn’t go to Alternate Realities this week since there were only 5 comics that I wanted to pick up, but with the conclusion to Secret Invasion amongst them I figured I should probably make the trip. So here’s what I think of this week’s books. Feel free to skip to the end to call me retarded.
Batman #682 – I thought that the previous issue (which I didn’t really care for) would be the end of this whole Batman R.I.P. thing. Unfortunately, I was incorrect. It seems that there’s this issue and one more that basically consist of Grant Morrison trying to make sense of DC’s embarrassingly fucked up continuity. See, Batman R.I.P., this story that’s supposed to completely change the Batman stories forever and ever, takes place BEFORE the current crapfest, Final Crisis, where Batman (Bruce Wayne) is currently held captive and strapped to some weird machine. So all the thought of Bruce dying or in any way leaving the Batman cape and cowl behind is for naught because we know he’s still running around later on in Final Crisis. This issue jumped around like a crazy person and I still don’t really understand it. I think it’s supposed to be told from Alfred’s point of view and it basically jumps from weird point to weird point in the life of Bruce Wayne / Batman. I was going to pick up this and the next issue to make sure I had the issues that were in the trade. Now? Eh. I’m good with this. I don’t need anymore.
Rating:
My Comic Book Storage Solution…For Now
Nov 18th
With my comic book habit reaching critical mass, I’ve realized that I just can’t keep collecting single issues, especially when trades are just so easy. I made this decision about two months ago and I’m working on canceling all of my regular issues. Now what to do with all the books I’ve already got? They’re all collecting dust in a bunch of long boxes in a corner of my apartment, never to be read again. I could try and sell them and then buy the trades of the ones I’d like to read again, but that seems illogical, especially since I literally just bought some of them.
I think a main reason that I don’t re-read the single issues is accessibility. They’re in their boxes and it’s a pain in the ass to rifle through them, lifting up box after box to get to a story buried in the back. Once it gets filed away, it’s basically out of sight, out of mind. So I set out to find a way for me to make the comics I had readily available like a regular book. I think I found a rather affordable way to do it too. More >
James Knows Comics: Serenity – Those Left Behind
Oct 26th
I had just started hearing about Firefly
It is actually. One of Television’s tragic stories (in my opinion) is the fate of Firefly
It’s Not Delivery. It’s Holy Shit I’m Hungry (10/16/2008)
Oct 17th
Greetings and salutations, alarm clock. Your glaring buzz awakens me once again at 6:30. Some episodes of Roseanne are watched and Monica doesn’t feel too good. A cold is on the rise. We both head off to work.
On the way in to the office I notice that there’s this one part of my commute that always smells like crap. It’s like there’s a huge vat of sewage just lingering on this one part of the road. I don’t notice it on the way home, but it’s always there in the morning. Horrible poo smell.
I get to the office and the usual stuff goes on. Emails, phone calls, Excel spreadsheets. Such exciting times that I live in with a computer and whatnot. More >
Heroes Hoedown- Chapter 4: I Am Become Death
Oct 7th
And now things get a lot more interesting. While this episode had elements seen in countless other episodes of Heroes (ie: Horrible future), this one just felt a little different. That super powered train is starting to get back on track. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll make something out of all this.
So what happened? We had some more info in the horrible future as the Peters jumped around and tried to figure out why things didn’t change when Future Peter went back to the past to shoot his brother and damn, I hate time travel. Anyway, more stuff happened, but let’s take a look at this week’s line up for the hoedown! More >
Comics Corner – Week of 9/24
Sep 26th
A relatively small week in the grand scheme of things. I picked up 10 books that came out on Wednesday plus Welcome to Hoxford #2 which came out a couple weeks ago. In addition to these, I dropped about 7 titles including X-Factor, The Boys, and Angel. More will be coming as more storylines end though as I make my transition away from regular monthly comics.
Now for some reviews! Don’t forget to call me retarded at the bottom as your opinion is always welcome. K THX. More >
Comics Corner – Threepeat – “The Rest” Edition (Part 3 of 3)
Sep 23rd
Angel After The Fall #12 – I could have sworn that this book was supposed to end with this issue. Unfortunately I wasn’t that lucky. I mean, that was really the only reason I was holding on at this point. There was just a couple more issues so I stuck by the horrible art and the convoluted story. Well, no longer. Angel is off the list. As much as I loved the show, this book has been a huge disappointment. It’s taken too long to get to the point and by now I have no idea what’s going on. It seems like Wolfram & Hart have been behind everything forever which is sort of a bummer and also sort of expected. At this point though, I don’t care. Let Gunn just kill Angel and everyone else and then himself. That’ll make for a satisfying ending. Otherwise I’m just going to try and forget this whole thing ever happened and just use the TV show ending as the one I stick to.
Rating:
Astounding Wolf-Man #8 – While I’m a big fan of Robert Kirkman’s work, the lateness of his books is starting to get irritating. I think this book was supposed to go monthly but I don’t see how that’s possible at all. The last issue had a great cliffhanger and this one builds up from that. It just took me about half the issue to remember what the hell happened. This is definitely not as strong as his other books and as a result, I’m going to cut this one out of the list now. I might look into it for the trades because the art and the story is rather interesting. It’s just not enough to grab me each month.
Rating:
Boys #22 – Wrapping up this arc with some more back story and some more questions. I’m a little confused as to who the Legend’s other son was that Hughie killed. Was it that guy from Teenage Kix? As usual, we’re given some more peeks into the lives of the characters. Also as usual, the superheroes are a bunch of assholes. Not a bad issue, but not the best.
Rating:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer #18 – As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t read Fray, so a bit of this story arc that might be super geeky cool is lost on me. Things progress and the super hero team up that started with fighting has gone into more fighting between Fray and Buffy. Only this time Fray has the upper hand with some help from Future Willow. Meanwhile, Present Willow gets it on with Kennedy in order to talk to creepy snake lady. Who knew that’s how magic communication worked? Oh, and there’s some werid wood nymphs or something outside the Slayer castle. They encounter Xander and Dawn and talk it out.
Rating:
Criminal 2 #5 – Goddamn this book is good. This gritty film noir-esque story is amazing. So the cartoonist is your typical down on his luck, cop-avoiding, lonely man and after he gets suckered into helping an asshole and his girl in robbing a local mob boss, it looks like he’s going to get iced. Of course, it doesn’t go down like that because any plan is bound to fall in a crime book. I love everything about this book. The art, the story, the dialogue, the characters. Amazing. The fact that the cartoonist (who’s name escapes me) sees his own creation as a form of conscience is also a great idea. As a backup we’re treated to two brief essays. These have all been pretty good and a great way to find out about film noir movies and pulp novels that I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. The first is about a film called One False Movewhile the second is about a pulp novelist that died under mysterious circumstances in Chicago. Needless to say all of the stuff mentioned has been added to my wishlist.
Rating:
Ex Machina #38 – The Evil Republican National Convention looms in New York City as Mayor Hundred is faced with decisions. I can’t help but think that this issue went through some last minute editing to be a bit more relevant to current events. That being said, the layers have continued and it looks like Kremlin’s plan might begin to unfold. I really dig this book and while it’s got the crazy powers every so often, I love how “real” it feels. In the end, it’s like a big “What If?” story about NYC. I don’t normally care all that much about politics and what not, but the decisions that are left up to Mayor Hundred are somehow insanely interesting. Can he justify speaking at the convention being an Independent and holding on to his views? Or will he deal with this psuedo-terrorist female leaping from buildings? Decisions!
Rating:
Invincible #52 – Wow. While I wasn’t as impressed by Astounding Wolf-Man, Invincible just continues to get better and better. When a spontaneous fight with the Mauler twins turns ugly, Kid Omni-Man (Mark’s half-brother) arrives on the scene and rips them to shreds in some pretty brutal fight scenes. Covered in blood, he argues with his brother when he’s reprimanded for killing. Why can’t he kill the bad guys? Is it just because he’s a good guy? What if their father was right? The shock of this child brutally killing these intelligent behemoths pales in comparison to Mark’s response. Holy shit. Where can this go? Has Invincible started down a road that he can’t turn back from?
Rating:
Transformers All Hail Megatron #3 – OK. We get it. The Decepticons have invaded. Humans are being killed. It’s been 3 issues and we have no idea why or how. They just sort of showed up. Megatron hints at a betrayal that allowed him and his troops to do such a clean sweep. Is this a human or an Autobot betrayer? While the fights have been a little interesting and the response from the humans has been pretty cool, I’m still not really digging this book. I crave explanation. Plus, where does this fall in the Transformers mythos? Everyone seems to not know what the hell the Transformers are, so is this their first encounter with the Robots in Disguise? I have no idea, but damn, these covers are awesome, aren’t they?
Rating:
Walking Dead #52 – Speaking of Kirkman being awesome, Walking Dead gives us another chapter with just a few zombies and a whole lot of character driven story. Rick starts to accept that he might not make it much longer and as he’s teaching his son Carl (who’s like 10? 12 maybe?) to drive, he runs into Michonne. She uses her samurai sword fighting skills to dispatch a few zombies. In a last glimmer of hope, they all continue on in search of Hershel’s farm. When things look lost they run into Glenn and his wife (who I think is Hershel’s daughter?) on horseback. There’s hope again. Maybe Rick won’t lose his mind, but I won’t bet on it. Things have been pretty harsh for these guys recently so let’s hope things get at least a little better for them soon. I’ve said before that I’m actually a little afraid to read this book each month. Kirkman pulls no punches with these characters.
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War Heroes #2 – Let’s get this out of the way first. Yes, there’s a penis in this issue. It’s there in two different angles for all to see. Was it necessary? I didn’t think so. Will I drop the book in disgust? No. I don’t really care. The book wasn’t about a penis. This issue felt like the planning part of a heist movie. The group has infiltrated the army training camp and they’re ready to get their super power pills. They go through extensive and painful training and just as they’re ready to be deployed, we’re let in on the next step of their plan. And holy crap, it’s a doozy. That last line is un-fucking-believable and I cannot wait for the next issue.
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