The Cover Count: Week of 8/13

Every so often, I take the comics I read in a given week and sort them into two stacks. In one stack are those that have a cover decently expressive of the interior. In the other are those that say little to nothing or are misleading.

I thought I’d make sure to do one this week especially, considering I’ll be traveling back to school this week and won’t have as frequent access to comics.  And since I’ve got a fractured foot and don’t feel like traveling downstairs to use the scanner, it’s a bare-bones edition!

Action Comics #868–The cover shows Superman confronting Brainiac.  And, well, that’s exactly what happens in the issue.  Woo-hoo!  Putting one in the first stack at the start!  Ahem.  Moving on…

Amazing Spider-Girl #23–Peter Parker is pushing at Kaine’s face with one hand (almost in a choke-hold, but not quite) while Spider-Girl restrains his left fist.  Sure, that happens.  Maybe not exactly like that, but close enough.  Two in a row.

Astonishing X-Men #26–It’s Beast.  And Beast’s head in the background.  Uh-huh.

Batman #679–If I were including scans, I’d show this cover, as it could be used in How to Make Useless Covers 101.  It’s Batman doing something dynamic.  Not really anything there except pretty colors.

Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1–The cover shows the main character (Kshatriya) with a bloody sword.  In the background is the face of a tiger.  It tells you little about what happens.  A tiger is important, especially in this issue, but that’s not really enough to put it in the first stack.  I might normally still put it in the first stack due to the back cover, but the description located there encompasses the series, not just this issue.

Captain Britain and MI:13 #4–It’s Captain Britain in a wrestler pose flying in front of what looks like a giant British flag flare.  (I’d call it a Union Jack flare, but there’s actually a hero named that in Marvel.)  Sift this to the second stack.

Fantastic Four #559–According to the cover, you’d expect a throwdown between the mysterious “New Defenders” (or so the text on the cover names them) and Mr. Fantastic helping a weakened Doctor Doom.   Text above the title indicates that these New Defenders want to kill Doom and the Human Torch.  If they do, that’s not clear in the issue.  Mr. Fantastic doesn’t have a scene with Doom or the Defenders.  Nope.  Too misleading to count.

Final Crisis: Revelations #1–The sliver cover, as all Final Crisis-related material has, shows Libra reaching out amidst a background of skulls.  Libra is in the comic, and plays an important (though not substantial) part.  It’s really a Spectre story.  With some Question in it.  So, despite what the cover tells you, it’s not a Libra story.

The Last Defenders #6–The cover depicts Hellstrom, She-Hulk, a Nighthawk, and Krang in a nice action-y group shot.  And I’m putting it in the first stack.  This series has largely consisted of a rotating cast, and the members of the cast get the spotlight in the issues.  Here is no different.  The cover tells you what Defenders are in this issue, while also telling you who’s important.  Well… mostly.  A couple of guys are left out.  That’s fine.

Secret Invasion #5–It’s a Skrull!  Moving on…

Secret Invasion: Inhumans #1–A (presumably) naked Medusa embraces the costume of Black Bolt.  If you look closely, you can even see that Medusa’s crying.  I’m feeling a little lenient today so, since Black Bolt missing is pretty much the driving point of the issue and Medusa’s grief and anger at said situation are important to a sizeable chunk of it, I’ll put this in the first stack.

Secret Invasion: Thor #1–The cover shows Thor holding his hammer up from underneath a pile Skrulls and blasting them all with lightning.  A neat visual.  A shame Thor doesn’t actually fight any Skrulls inside.

Sparks #3–There are four snippets relevant to this issue.  There’s an action figure, a hanged man (the lead character), a mysterious guy in a mask, and an injection needle filled with some red liquid.  It is all relevant and all interconnected, even though what happens within the story itself remains vague.  Into the first stack it goes.

Wonder Woman #23–Here, Wonder Woman battles a giant armored demon in a pool in front of a government building.  Wonder Woman looks normal on the cover, even though she doesn’t inside, but that’s a small matter.  The issue is largely about Wonder Woman fighting a giant armored demon named D’Grth in the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  So, there you go.

Trinity #11–Superman flies toward the reader with an American flag in the background.  And there’s a line of text that reads “LIBERTY…”  Not really good at all.

X-Men Origins: Jean Grey #1–The five original X-Men charge toward the reader.  Marvel Girl stands in the center.  In the background in a young Jean Grey, overshadowing the rest of the scene.  It’s a pretty cover, I’ll give it that.  The title essentially spells out what to expect in the story.  It’s the origin of Jean Grey.  But the cover offers no real inisght beyond that, so it has to go in the second stack.

That makes this week’s count 6:10 or 3:5.  Not great, but I’ve seen worse.

DC: Crises and Hypertime

A short while ago, I came up with a theory regarding the nature of the Multiverse and big events in DC.  In Crisis of Infinite Earths, worlds were eradicated by a giant wall, called an antimatter wave.  It ate through realities across time and space and the Anti-Monitor fed on the energies leaked therein.  Eventually, five Earths were protected and the heroes of those five Earths tried to stop the Anti-Monitor.  The result was that those five Earths were merged into a single Earth.  The Multiverse collapsed and a single universe was born.

Post-Crisis, to account for how heroes could travel to alternate worlds or that alternate worlds could interact with DC’s Earth, the concept of Hypertime was introduced.  Hypertime was this stream of timelines.  Sometimes the timelines went off in their own directions.  Sometimes they fed back into each other (leading to crossovers, for example).  But Hypertime only existed post-Crisis.  Why wasn’t it there before?  I theorize that Hypertime is made up of all the timelines the antimatter wave gobbled up.  The wave, a giant white thing much like Hypertime, condensed itself after the Anti-Monitor lost control of it.

And that brings up to Infinite Crisis.  There, Alexander Luthor, in a largely unexplained way, brought back the various worlds of the Multiverse and then some.  (Doing so in search of the perfect Earth.)  My explanation here is that, by using the corpse of the Anti-Monitor and a construct much one of Anti-Monitor’s tuning forks, Alex was able to tap into Hypertime and pull Earths from it.  He basically unleashed Hypertime into DC space.  And then the device was destroyed.  Ripples were sent through time as some things changed.  But Hypertime had been unleashed.  So, in the wake of the device being destroyed, the Multiverse returned, since Hypertime had been destroyed for Alex to do his work.

So, Crisis caused Hypertime.  Hypertime was destroyed in Infinite Crisis.  Now DC has a Multiverse.  But is it just limited to 52 Earths?  Hmm…

Bad Lettering, Bad Editing–One Page

Above is a page from Tangent: Superman’s Reign #5. I’ll let two of the panels on that speak for themselves.

Great job, Steve Wands! Kudos, Nachie Castro! Keep up the good work!

Small Rant Regarding the Black Knight

A while back, I listed by top ten favorite Marvel characters. I later did a follow-up to explain where those characters were at that time. (I would link to those entries, but it’s early, I’m lazy, and I’m going to give the important part anyway.) Dane Whitman, aka the Black Knight, was my #9. I really like this character. As such, it bothers me when people start talking about him online and use the following image.

I honestly don’t know who that is. The comic itself is a story involving the first Black Knight, Sir Percy of Camelot. But Sir Percy does not look like that, even in the comic.

So, since the story isn’t about Dane, the cover can’t be of him. But since it doesn’t look like Percy, it can’t be him either.  Perhaps there is an in-story explanation, but I haven’t read the story to know.

Quite simply, even if the cover is depicting the Black Knight, it can’t be Dane.  Unless Marvel editorial is far more asleep than I think they are or marketing has too much power.

The Cover Count: Week of 7/2

Every so often, I take the comics I read in a given week and sort them into two stacks. In one stack are those that have a cover decently expressive of the interior. In the other are those that say little to nothing or are misleading.

This week, I review Astonishing X-Men #25 as a bonus!

American Dream #5–The mini series comes to climactic finish and can you guess the focus? American Dream versus a giant crystal monster! Sure, they don’t burst through the ground and fight above the city. The conflict is the draw and it happens to be the final one in the issue. Comics from the week of Independence Day and this one makes it in the first stack. Kinda cool.

Astonishing X-Men #25–Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi pick up the X-Men after the events of “Messiah Complex”. The X-Men have moved to San Francisco and are still trying to figure out their new method of operation (which readers can figure out if they read the recap page at the front). Due to this, and probably the likelihood of people buying the title simply because of a change in creative team, Ellis spends the first half of the comic introducing us to the characters, their relation to each other, their respective roles on the team, and how they’re adjusting to San Francisco life. My only complaint here is that nearly everyone is funny, even when they don’t seem like they’re supposed to be (such as Storm describing how she got permission to be on the team).

Bianchi’s art is decent, and the odd layouts work well enough. However, there are no real dynamic sequences for him to draw. The art works well for this issue, but can Bianchi handle a more action-packed issue?

There are clever concepts (such as the secret of Chaparanga Bay) and nods to continuity. But as character issues go, since that is essentially what this it, it’s nothing exceptional. I give it a 3:5. And, no, the cover doesn’t make the first stack.

Batman #678–The cover shows Batman standing in the city underneath a psychedelic light. It probably is meant to show that Batman is somewhat insane inside, which he might be. The cover is a bit symbolic that way. However, there are other important aspects and, well, that thing on the cover looks to me like an attack from above more than it does psychosis. Close, but not quite.

Billy Batson & the Magic of Shazam! #1–Here, Captain Marvel is depicted as slowly turning into Billy Batson. Or maybe vice versa. Either way, this is both an inaccurate depiction of the character, and says little to nothing about the story.

Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #5–From the cover, one can see that in this issue there should be a confrontation between these two guys and that the one on the right wants to kill the one on the left. More or less, that covers the first half of the story. First stack, away!

Dynamo 5 #14–The first third of this issue deals with a mysterious new protector of the city named Vigil. (And if you check out the back cover, that name is provided.) She does fight a strong guy and a guy with an electric fist. Good enough, but just barely.

Grimm Fairy Tales #28–The story is about a girl’s life as influenced by the tale of The Ugly Duckling. The cover seems to express this simply by including a group of ducklings and a swan. However, the focus of the cover is a bikini-wearing-girl that is presumably the mysterious redhead that essentially guides the story. So, I can interpret the cover going backward. But just looking at the cover itself beforehand, I’d assume it’s a standard poster wannabe.

House of Mystery #3–The cover depicts a shadowy figure standing in front of a skull. The figure in question appears toward the end, but has little impact on this issue specifically. Death is an important concept here, as well. However, learning important details about the story is nigh impossible.

Legion of Super-Heroes #43–The team above are trapped on Rimbor, on the run, and getting shot at whenever they make their whereabouts known. So, yes, they do flee from the sewer while hiding and, yes, Colossal Boy gets shot. It’s not a pivotal moment of the issue, but it is relevant and does adequately express one of the plots. I’ll put it in the first stack.

Nightwing #146–”BURIAL AT SEA”, it reads, while showing Nightwing surrounded by corpses. That scene isn’t that important, and is handled within the first two pages.

Noble Causes #35–I’m going to be lenient and let this one into the first stack. The Nobles confront the metallic guy on the cover, and his machinations are in pretty much every part of the issue. It would help if the cover showed everyone that attacks Crucible (said metallic guy), but I won’t be picky.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War #3–The main characters are in the clutches of a villain! (He’s named Deacon Dark, but you can’t know that from the cover.) Within the issue, they are, but they aren’t. Dark himself plays a small role in the issue, but it’s what he does and has done that’s of more relevance.

Star Trek: Enterprise Experiment #3–The cover shows Captain Kirk fighting a Klingon. It doesn’t happen. Nothing close does, actually.

Trinity #5–In a surprise twist, Trinity’s cover actually does fit into the first stack. Not only does Wonder Woman fighting the big monster (Konvikt), but that fight (though not depicted accurately here) is a crucial event.

This week, American Dream, Dark Tower, Dynamo 5, Legion of Super-Heroes, Noble Causes, and Trinity fall into the first stack. That makes the Count this week 6:8.

Avengers: The Initiative #14

This week, in lieu of the Cover Count, I offer a review. That review, as if the title weren’t any indication, will be of Avengers: The Initiative #14.

Now, let me start by saying that I’m a little miffed. I hopped on board with issue #13, as it promised a new class of recruits. (It helped that among those recruits is a favorite of mine, Prodigy.) And just as I decide to hop in, it starts a playing in Secret Invasion waters. …as it will proceed to do for a few issues. Ah well.

But just how good is the first part of the crossover? Actually not bad. The issue includes three important items: how the head instructor, Hank Pym, being a Skrull affected the Initiative (and the 50-State Initiative therein), the revelation of a few other Skrulls in the organization, and an adventure with Triathlon 3-D Man in Hawaii, the state in which he is assigned. Each of them is handled tactfully, but with a bit of humor. That’s about the extent of spoilers you’ll get here.

The Hank Pym stuff is more funny than it is interesting, especially the scene in the cafeteria. The Skrull reveals (there are two, not counting Pym) aren’t that shocking. The latter of them probably should have been more, considering it led into the climax of the issue, but it’s done with a bit of confusion at first. We don’t know how he was detected until a few panels later (and after a two-page ad). Well, unless you happen to know a bit about a certain 1970s superhero. It takes a little of the oomph out of the reveal, but nothing out of the climax itself.

The Hawaii team is fun to read about. First off, they’re called the Point Men. A fairly symbolic name that they explain in the issue. They have they’re very own Pigpen of Peanuts. And Devil-Slayer returns. They’re all very cool things.

Another thing I like is that Caselli returns for art duties. I just was not enjoying Uy’s art as much. There are other capable artists that could handle this title, and some of them I would probably prefer to Caselli, but he does a fine job. I have a complaint regarding a small bit in the fight of the issue, in which something important occurs that could be better portrayed, but I’m not going to spoil that. Try finding it yourself. Like a game of Where’s Waldo?

It’s a fun issue. It’s a funny issue. It has decent art, a decent story, and leaves us with an interesting cliffhanger (though albeit a confusing one).

The positives outweigh the negatives. I give it a 4 out of 5.

A Pricing Observation

When looking at my comics this week, I noticed that DC currently has the US and Canadian price of the comic as the same thing.  I looked back a few weeks and realize that this is not a new development, but still a recent one.  Check out two sequential issues of The Brave and the Bold (the prices are under the bar code).

So, the change from two prices to one seems to have occurred somewhere within the May ‘08 cover date month.

For a while now, I’ve wondered why the Canadian price was always higher, since the Canadian dollar had become more valuable than the US dollar.  Now, according to this recent Reuters article, the Canadian dollar is only slightly more valuable, by a little over two cents.  So I think DC’s in the right here to charge the same price for both sides, as the difference is so slight.

However, other companies do not do the same.  Marvel, for example, is charging Canadians six cents more than Americans.  In the scheme of things, it’s not that much of a difference, but it adds up over time.  Since the Canadian dollar is two cents more valuable, shouldn’t it, at the very least, be the other way around?  Ah, but perhaps there is some other reason than the value of currency.  Maybe mass appeal, maybe something in production.  I don’t have that kind of insight.  But considering DC titles haven’t seen a noticeable drop in sales since changing pricing, I imagine something is afoot.

In any case, kudos to DC.  I may not like many of your titles, but this seems like a smart business decision.

The Dixon Fiasco

Compared to many comic readers, I’m likely considered a newcomer of sorts.  I grew up with comics and was interested in them from an early age, largely due to reading through my dad’s stuff and the influence of the various animated programs.  I know I’ve been reading comics for at least over a decade, but only actually ordering some for myself for a little less than that (I started in 1999).

I tell you that to tell you this.  One of the highlights of my reading in the late 90s was Chuck Dixon’s run on Nightwing.  I could go on about what makes that run great, but that isn’t the point of this entry.  Suffice to say, I looked forward to that title every month and enjoyed it every time it arrived.

Now, Chuck Dixon may have defined Nightwing for me, but, little did I know it at the time, but he had also essentially created the Tim Drake (Robin III) character I’d come to enjoy as well.  I learned by reading some of my dad’s Robin issues.  I was reminded every time I would return to the first comic I ever owned, Detective Comics #649.

So, when it was announced that he would be returning to Robin, I knew it was something I wanted to try.  At first, the solicitations for upcoming events did not grab me.  Finally, though, issue #177 promised a solo issue involving Robin, the newly resurfaced Spoiler, and Cluemaster.  Considering all three are featured in my first comic, such stories hold a special interest.

Unfortunately, a few days after submitting the pre-order for August (the month in which #177 will ship), I learned the Dixon was no longer working at DC and, a few days after that, that #177 would no longer be the story previously shown.  I’m a bit heartbroken, a little sad, and, more than anything, angry.  I don’t order anything from DC, really.  I only look forward to two of their title a month, Justice Society of America and The Legion of Super-Heroes, and I read them because a family member orders them (meaning I don’t have to).  I was willing to order an issue of Robin.  I was willing to continue ordering issues of Robin.  The Powers That Be at DC have now taken that away from me.

Fabian Nicieza has been announced as the new writer.  I like Nicieza and probably could not ask for a better choice, but I can’t support the title now.  What I wanted is gone and supporting what comes next feels like supporting DC’s decision to get rid of Dixon.

Dynamo 5, Volume 2

As those who frequent this blog are no doubt aware, I am a big fan of Dynamo 5.

To those of you who have been and plan to get the series in trade paperback form, the second volume comes out tomorrow.

…and it will look like that.  If you are interested, this article by Wizard includes five preview pages.

I thought I would remind people, in case it slipped by unnoticed.

The Cover Count: Week of 6/11

Every so often, I take the comics I read in a given week and sort them into two stacks. In one stack are those that have a cover decently expressive of the interior. In the other are those that say little to nothing or are misleading.

Action Comics #856–The cover emphasizes Brainiac and bottled cities. Those are important elements, and may become driving elements to the overall story, but I especially like this cover for including references to the other people who appear. Three bottles devoted to Daily Planet staff and one devoted to the Kents. A nice touch. The story is about Brainiac and the rest of the elements are at least referenced, so this one fits into the first pile.

We’re off to a good start! Let’s see where this goes…

Amazing Spider-Girl #21–Okay, moving from left to right in a clockwise fashion, this cover includes Peter Parker (somewhat) assaulting Normie Osborn, a blurb regarding a mystery girl that matches the image next to it, and Spider-Girl fighting a powered enemy. All three images are essentially panels from the story inside. Peter does get upset at Normie and manhandles him a little. The mysterious May-looking girl is a prominent figure. Spider-Girl does fight that character, a mutant named Nucleus. This one definitely goes into the first stack.

ClanDestine #5–Readers of ClanDestine know that a fair amount happens each issue as various plot elements are touched upon. In this cover, we essentially get a glimpse at the climax of this issue. It really isn’t much, as that event is only a few pages long. However, it is unique to this issue specifically (as opposed to the other plots). It may be a little marginal, but I’ll put it in the first stack.

Green Lantern Corps #25–A cover that depicts the Green Lanterns of the issue! Yawn.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #3–In one corner, we have Doctor Doom wielding Excalibur! In the other corner, we have Iron Man wielding… the normal stuff! In the background is a sheath within a pink glow and a stone structure! Okay, that fight takes up the first half of the issue or so and the sheath in Stonehenge (as it is) is a key part of the second half. Definitely a cover for the first stack.

The Last Defenders #4–The cover shows Atlas (of the old Thunderbolts) being crushed by a giant metal hand.  He stands amidst a large amount of rubble and debris, with Nighthawk and Paladin unconscious around him.  Nothing close to that happens.  The Defenders do face a giant robotic construct, but it’s dealt with fairly quickly and everyone stays conscious (save maybe the guys in the construct).  Admittedly, it is really the only action sequence in the comic, so I think I would’ve settled for that scene being depicted somewhat accurately.  It goes into the second stack.  Still a neat-looking cover, though.

Skaar: Son of Hulk #1–There are two covers for this issue.  I happened to get the variant one, which shows Skaar hunched over amidst ruins and rocky terrain.  I don’t think I have to tell you where this one goes.

Titans #3–First off, the cover tells you the themes of the issue:  Lust, Rage, and Envy.  Lust is shown through Nightwing and Starfire looking longingly at each other.  Rage is shown in the fight sequence between Beast Boy, Red Arrow, and Raven.  Envy is shown with Donna Troy and Flash arguing.  To top it all off, Cyborg even gets thrown on there just to say he is in the issue.  All of that is true to the comic.  In fact, Flash is even in the exact same pose here as he is on the inside for one panel when arguing with Donna.  First stack, away!

Trinity #2–Remember last week, when I said Trinity might become a recurring part of the second stack?  Well, in a theme stretching across three inter-connected covers (which means we have one more to go), this week we get Batman standing on a rooftop in Metropolis.  Next week we’ll have Wonder Woman in Gotham City.  I do not expect that one to make it, either.

So, if you’ve been playing along, you might have noticed something.  It’s a week where the first stack won!  I love it when that happens.  The count is 5:4.