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Well its that time once again. San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone and once again I did not go. I swear that one of these days I will go to SDCC. It'll probably be in about ten years, but better late than never. On to the news!
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The first month of sales for the "New 52"
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The top 100 comic list from Diamond Distributors has been released for the first round of DC's New 52. Of the top ten on that list, eight of them were DC #1's and the other two were the Marvel books Fear Itself and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. The bottom three of DC's "New 52," were Static Shock, Men of War and OMAC. This is a sad thing because I have read both "Men of War" and "OMAC" and they were okay reads. OMAC I think needs a little bit more time under its belt to re-establish itself because the first issue did not give us a lot of explanation on what OMAC is or what the satellite in orbit (Brother Eye) is all about. I only know a little about this character because of what I saw on the cartoon "Batman: Brave and the Bold", and those of you out there that purchased OMAC that had not seen the episode or done research on the character, then you are just about as lost as I was reading the book. "Men of War" on the other hand is something that I think that needs to be out there. Granted, issue #2 came out last month and I was lost reading it and had to go back and read the two issues back to back to get the gist of what is going on. The only redeeming thing that the book has is that it has a back-up eight page story after the main story that deals with the more human side of a conflict like the ones that are going on in the Middle East. The main story in Men of War's second issue easily dipped into something that was very strange and that will hopefully be explained by the end of its first six issue arc. For example, who or what was the thing that was flying over the town that the men were dropped into in issue one and was said to be shot down in issue two? The other thing is; who or what is the strange woman that was with the Sarge when he was unconscious? After re-reading the books back to back, I think I understand a bit more, but the start in the present, flashback to the past and then back to the present is really hard to keep up with. It looks like whatever. "Static Shock" I would keep on the publishing schedule simply to honor Dwayne McDuffie and everything he has done to improve the writing in both comics and cartoons in his short time on this planet. I know that is a purely selfish thing to do, but DC has the money to throw a decent writer and artist at the book to keep it going and maybe actually drive sales up. My older brother is dropping the book after issue four when the original writer leaves for something else.
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Someone's Comin' on the Clone Wars Cartoon
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The "Star Wars: the Clone Wars" pages on the StarWars.com web site has a teaser trailer of something that is coming in the Spring of 2012. I'm not going to let you know what it is because I know there are people out there that don't want to be spoiled, but I will say that I called this as happening during the last season of Clone Wars episodes with the Sith Witches. The previews for those episodes seem not to have made the transition to the new site, but if you pick up the season three DVDs, then you'll know what I am talking about. What kind of bearing will having this character back in the Star Wars Universe have? I don't know, but it just seems like no matter what happens, George Lucas is hell bent on bringing the expanded universe into the canon universe of Star Wars. He's already approved the use of the Sith Witches, having Bossk work for Boba Fett when Fett was young. The less that can be said for the likes of Aurra Sing and Asajj Ventress being in the universe, the better. I know we have only seen six episodes of season four of "The Clone Wars" but I am going to say this right now. What I would not give for some one shot or two part stories. It seems like that outside the droid two parter (which was fun) and the one off episode four from this season, all the rest of the episodes this season have been a three part arc and an upcoming four part arc. I think a one off episode or two part arc can be good because they don't require a lot of time invested in watching them week after week and you can tell more stories about the wars rather than just dragging the stories out week after week for a month. Some of the episodes that resonate with me have been the one shot episode "Rookies" and the two part season premiere for season three "Clone Cadets" and "ARC Troopers". Sure, larger stories are fun to tell and can include a lot of stuff, but I was raised on cartoons of the 1980's where multi-part stories were only used to introduce a show and occasionally as a season opener. I guess now with everything being based on ratings and shows being canceled after two episodes on the major networks, I can kind of see why they do what they do for "The Clone Wars," but that does not mean I have to like it.
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HeroClix Brings Back an Old Mechanic.
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Maybe it is not as old as I like to think, but WizKids is bringing back the Alter Ego mechanic in their next Marvel HeroClix expansion. I called the mechanic dead after the release of Web of Spider-Man because they had not put out any Alter Ego's in subsequent sets, but for some reason they felt compelled to bring it back in The Incredible Hulk expansion. So far, the only ones that they have shown (as of this writing) are Bruce Banner and Hulk, John Jameson and Man-Wolf and Matt Murdock and Daredevil. At first I thought the Alter Ego mechanic was a good idea because it gave you some point flexibility on your teams, but then I found out that they are hamstrung at a lower power level than playing the super powered version from the first click. I can see making the alter ego a separate clicky miniature, and giving them a lower powered dial because we sometimes see characters like Batman and Superman out in public as Clark or Bruce and something happens that does not give them time to change into their costumes to show their full strength. I think having the alter ego be the lower powered version and only having one or two special abilities that are only useful in certain situations has been averted with John Jameson and Bruce Banner. John has two clicks of super strength and toughness and a decent attack number when on the super strength clicks. Bruce Banner on the other hand, gives a bonus to energy explosion from the first click as well as toughness and outwit. Having that outwit means that this miniature will be on every min/max players team. The only things that bug me about the sculpts in this expansion so far are that the Bruce Banner miniature has painted purple pants, but the two Hulks who have been spoiled have either blue or orange pants. Now I have not picked up a Hulk book in a long time so things may have changed, but I thought when Bruce changed into the Hulk, his pants were purple no matter what. The other thing is that John Jameson mini is sculpted in street clothes rather than in his space suit that we first see him in. The only other thing I want to see in this set is a Constrictor. Constrictor made his first appearance in an issue of "The Incredible Hulk" and he has not had a new mini since then.
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Hasbro, I Love ya' but...
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I love the fact that Hasbro picked up the reigns of Star Wars from Kenner and ran with it, but some of the things you are doing make no sense. For example, you are putting out a Tauntaun in vintage style packaging and expect us to pay $30 for it. I don't think that even adjusted for inflation from 1980 the toy would be that much. I can justify buying the new "mini-rigs" for $17 each because they come with a figure and that is easily $7.00 of that cost and the other $10 is the price of an old school "mini-rig" adjusted for inflation. Thirty dollars for something that does not come with a figure and the figure that goes with it. Luke Skywalker in Hoth Outfit, does not even come out until early next year. There is a Han Solo in Hoth Outfit out now, but he also comes in a battle pack along with a Tauntaun and Hoth Rebel Trooper for the lower price of $25. That is easily $46 worth of stuff. You get two figures that each run about $8 apiece and a $30 Tauntaun. That is a deal and you don't have to pay for the fancy throwback packaging.
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Two Issues In
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We are two issues into the DC "New 52" and the book I am surprised I like is "All Star Western." I'm not a big fan of the western genre in general, but there just seems to be something about this book that makes me want to come back to it month after month. Maybe because the book is nothing like the old style westerns that run on normal television here in the states. There have been no Indian stereotypes and the only one that really talks like he is in a western is Jonah Hex. The second issue I did not want to end because they were finally doing something to quickly advance the plot. It also helped that they had Jonah take out a posse of guys who were out to get him, and Dr. Arkham, all by himself. Now all I have to do is Google about the Crime Bible just to see where this little plot point came from and I'm all up to speed on it. The only thing that I don't like about this book is that they started a eight page back- up story in issue two about Zombies taking over this old west town. (Yawn) zombies; at this point I am all zombied out and wish writers would get past the whole Zombie, Werewolf and Vampire thing and give us something about the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein or just Ghosts just for some variety. "DC Comics Presents" has also surprised me in how well it has been done. They seemed to get through all the metaphysical nonsense in issue #1 and in issue #2 they actually get down to the nitty-gritty of the story. The whole thing with the Librarian being an angel sent to Earth to be the keeper of everyone's stories having her books written not only in Braille, but also Aramaic throws a new twist into the whole blind librarian reading the history of people thing. The nightclub that they sent Deadman into to find the Librarian seems to be straight out of White Wolf's Word of Darkness role-playing game series. There was some off hand comment made by one of the characters in the book about the Vampires getting uppity on the A.B. Negative Blood they have been getting. First, it is not A.B. Blood, it is AB blood; no periods it is not an acronym. Second as rare as type AB Negative people are that blood better be the cost of a nice magnum of champagne or someone is getting ripped off. The book that I don't have on my pull list, but I buy if I have the extra cash, "Justice League International" really needs to speed up their storytelling if they want me to keep reading. All they did in the second issue was manage to get the team out of the mess they were in last issue and then reveal a plot point at the end that really needed to be made. In this issue though, we find out that Guy still has feelings for Ice when he hears that she has been hurt. This seems to be a callback to the original series from the 1980's when Guy had a thing for Ice. This also seems to show that the old continuity from the old books has not been 100% thrown out in this "reboot." This issue also shows more of the competition between August General in Iron and Rocket Red. Either those two will be friends at the end of this arc or the writers will have missed a good opportunity to make a Blue Beetle and Booster Gold friendship out of them for this new book. "Batgirl" is hitting its stride after two issues and I may add a second copy of it to my pull list because I like it so much and want to see where this is going. Gail Simone gets us into the meat of The Mirror and we kind of see what he looks like from the front and we learn his real name and motivation. If what happened to this guy turns out then I am seeing a lot of connections to The Mirror's backstory and the backstory of Snake Eyes from the old G.I. Joe books. They are both military, both lost their families in an automobile accident and one seems to have a death wish while the other only wants to feel the sun on his face again. The only difference is that The Mirror can talk and Snake Eyes cannot. The last one that I want to talk about is "Detective Comics." This book is really getting me liking the Batman series of books after they were ruined by writer Grant Morrison. The reset of the universe seems to have done away with all of his nonsense and given us a quality story with a minimum of needing to know Batman's backstory. Although I am beginning to think that that was not the Joker we saw in the first issue, but someone impersonating him. The cliffhanger in the second issue was a good one after the one in the first issue and not quite as gruesome. I'm just beginning to wonder who this group is that not even Batman knows about that is running around the streets of Gotham City killing people and taking various body parts of the dead.
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