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It's January of 2013 and that means that the world has not ended with the end of the Mayan Calendar and the world is wide open with possibilities. We've all made a resolution or two we may or may not keep in this upcoming year. A new year also means new projects for the comic book world and a new line of toys for Star Wars and other major licenses. Now let's get to the news at hand. I thought I would take this article for the new year and explain my dislike of the way that the end of Amazing Spider-Man was handled. For those of you not in the know, the comic series Amazing Spider-Man wrapped up the day after Christmas with its 700th issue and there has been a huge bruh-ha-ha on the internet about it. I feel that as if Dan Slott decided to say "F-U fans" and give you what he gave you. In issue 698, which he was hyping up to be the biggest issue since 298, it was revealed that at some point Dr. Octopus and Spider-Man switched bodies and ever since then everything that has happened has been Otto in Peter's body and Peter has either died, or nearly died, in Otto's body. This is how Dan Slott wants to start his new era of Spider-Man; with the main character not even in his own body? He's said that he wants to make the audience more sympathetic to Dr. Octopus, and to give him a taste of being a good guy. I had sympathy from the first time I saw Doc Ock because of that stupid bowl haircut he had. Granted a lot of Doc Ock's plans nearly worked out and I guess this one was the biggest of them all and it worked. I have not picked up an issue of Amazing Spider-Man in years, and I thought they had a good thing going with the Brand New Day storyline, but some decisions were made on stories that I really disagreed with and I dropped the title. I'm glad I did not stick it out because I don't think I would have liked to spend my money on what Dan Slott wrote.
With what has happened with the Amazing Spider-Man storyline; I don't think I'll be picking up any of the "Marvel Now!" trades except Hawkeye in the future. I like Hawkeye as a character and feel bad that they kind of dropped his hearing impairment by the wayside and only bring it up for stories sake. I just don't like having to wait until the end of March 2013 to get the trade when the first issues were out months ago and could be collected a lot faster than that. That's the problem with going all trades; you are stuck for months at a time with only one storyline for you to read before the next one comes out. Valiant comics cranked out their first Trade, X-O Manowar, about a month after issue five of the book was released. That is shrewd planning on their part. Image also does the same things with their more popular titles like Saga. They crank out the first six issues and then put out a trade and in the same week put out issue seven. It's like it is good comics crack and they get you in with the first cheap trade and then make you a month to month reader with the next floppy issue.
I checked out the Graphic Novel Underwater Welder from the local library mostly because it had won a lot of best of 2012 awards on various comic sites that I go to. It took me two days to get through it, and I was kind of impressed. It does capture the sort of mood and tone of the old Twilight Zone television episodes from the late 1950's to the 1960's, but it just took a long time to get there. I thought this book was going to be about under water welding and the things that go on down in the depths of the ocean. Instead it is a tale about loss and one man's torment about his father's death, and how he recovers from it. Having watched a few episodes of the Twilight Zone recently I would say that I think the Graphic Novel could have been about twenty pages shorter and still maintained that other worldly feel to it. When I watch an episode of the Twilight Zone, at the end of it I feel that I have seen a good story told on television and it gets me to thinking. Underwater Welder did not do that for me. If you are into artful storytelling and black and white comics then by all means go out and buy this book. For those of us that like a little bit of super heroes in our lives then you can just check it out from the library and read it and see if you like it. For me it was a good story, but not something that I would seek out to buy at full price or half-price.
On the next to last day of 2012 the internet was abuzz with the story that comic and television writer Peter David had a stroke while on vacation in Florida. I just thought I would share a story that I posted on my blog that describes the one encounter that I had with the man. I wish I had some kind of nice story about how he changed my life in some way, but I only met the man briefly at one of the Wizard World Texas conventions when they had them here in Dallas and I went. I got his autograph on a random issue of Supergirl that I pulled out of the fifty cent boxes at the show. He was a nice enough guy, we exchanged pleasantries and he gladly signed the Supergirl comic for me. I went home that night and got some of Mr. David's stuff from my older brother, who is a big fan of his, and took it with me to the convention the next day to get signed. One of the things that I got signed for my older brother was his copy of the first book in the Star Trek: New Frontier series that Mr. David wrote. The only thing was Mister David had to go looking for an ink pen to sign the book because the sharpie he was signing comics with would have bled through. Back then I did not carry an ink pen with me when I went out and he had to borrow one from the artist next to him in the artist's alley. I got everything signed for my brother, which broke the self-imposed rule I have of having no more than five things to autograph when you go up to a comic book person. Later on I wandered back by his table because I wanted to pick his brain and there was someone from another table in the artist's alley with a stack of comics twenty to thirty high and Peter David was signing and talking with this person at the same time. I walked away because he was engaged at the time, and never went back. I know I should have, but never did. There was no line at his table at the show, and you would have thought that he would have had one. There was no grousing, or fussing from him about his position at the convention. He was humble man who was just there to meet his fans and take in the convention from the artist's alley when he could have easily been a draw in the dealer's room at the DC or Marvel booths. I learned two important things that day at the show; first, always carry an ink pen with you when you go to a convention and want to get a novel autographed. Heck I just carry one with me most of the time when I go out anyway. Second, writers don't get half as much attention as the artists of comic books and that is a sad state of affairs. To Peter David and the rest of the David family, you are in my thoughts and prayers in this time of trial. I know Peter is a fighter and will get through this trial in his life.
That's all I have for right now, but don't forget I am here every month with your dose of Random Crap from the Internet.
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