Recent Purchases

I used to be a once a week buyer. I used to be there on Wednesday without fail, waiting for the new shipment of comics to be put out. Now I get there whenever I can. Very rarely will I make it within a week's time of my last visit, sometimes a month will go by before I can make it. But I also don't try and buy every comic that comes out anymore either. I'm a lot more selective in what I buy. I figure if I buy a comic and after I get home I don't want to read it, than that's a comic that I won't be picking up the next trip to the comic store.

I picked up a few comics on this last trip. I've already talked about Batman and Robin and Detective Comics, so I won't repeat that here, except to say both are excellent and you should pick them up.

The New Avengers: Bendis is what pulled me back into Marvel Comics with his run on Daredevil after I had pretty much given up on it. His run on the Avengers has been so hit and miss. Part of the problem is that with all the events lately the Avengers seems to be just a spin off on whatever big even is going on. But this issue is Bendis at his best, setting up a new Sorcerer Supreme.

Daredevil: Still one of my favorite comics. I've been a fan of Daredevil almost since his inception. But the last few years have been my favorite version of the man without fear. I think it's better than Miller's run since Bendis and now Burbaker have been on it.

Echo: I was a fan of Terry Moore and his Strangers in Paradise, but in the end I wasn't that satisfied with that series. This series has suffered none of what I found wrong with that series. This is in fact one of my top comics that I pick up. I can't wait to see where he's going with it. And while I'm not sure what the frequency of its publication has been, I do know it's been pretty reliable.

Captain American: Reborn: Very well written and drawn but pretty much just a set up for the next issue. Not sure how I feel about the fact that Steve Rogers wasn't shot and killed now, he was shot with a gun that threw him a time statsis, where he now is tumbling through time. But than we all knew that Steve Rogers was coming back. (Not that I mind that, I am a big fan of the Steve Rogers Cap and am looking forward to his re appearance. Even though Burbaker did a good job with Buck as Cap.)

The Boys and Herogasm: Not for kids, but I love this series. Ennis is another writer I either really love and the opposite. And I'm loving this.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Maybe it was just me but I found some of the transitions between scenes to be confusing. I had to go back and re read some pages to figure out where I was supposed to be. Still it's Buffy.

Detective Comics: This was the second half of Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert's "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" I am a big fan of Gaiman but this book really didn't do it for me.

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Hulk Movie

I saw the new Hulk movie this morning. Let me state first that I'm one of the few that enjoyed the first Hulk movie. There were problems with it, but I thought it was nice that it tried to be different from the typical superhero movie. Still saying that I have to also say that I enjoyed the new Hulk movie.

It's not an Iron Man but for an action/super hero movie it was good. The movie kept things moving so the pace didn't slow down. I thought the scene in the bottle factory when Bruce Banner was trying to explain to a bully why he didn't want to upset him and with his poor grasp of the language actually ended up telling the guy "You don't want to make me...hungry."

I like the way that they are trying to tie all their movies together, with sly references to the super solider formula and of course at the end with the Tony Stark cameo. I'm one of those old fogeys from back when Marvel was introducing all their characters and I remember as a kid loving it when Spiderman popped up for a few panels in the newest Daredevil. They created a world where all their heroes lived in together. Seeing it in the movies is pretty cool too.

The movies not perfect, but overall I enjoyed it and think it's a good addition to the Marvel universe of movies.

Gene Colan in Poor Health

It's being reported that Gene Colan is in poor health at the moment. According to a release from his wife:

My darling, sweet, handsome and brilliantly gifted husband’s liver is failing. The complications are very nasty. This week it’s fluid retention and encephalitis. He’s on powerful meds now to diminish the symptoms. He sleeps a lot and has very little energy.

When I first started collecting comic books my favorite character was Daredevil. The first comics I can remember collecting were the Barry Smith drawn ones with Starr Saxon, but shortly it was Gene drawing the hero.

Gene's art was like nothing else out there. I loved his art. His characters always looked more real to me. His panel design was not always the standard. Gene was not afraid to try something different.

I grew up with Gene's artwork. To me he was probably the first artist that I followed. And for most of Howard the Duck's run he was the artist. How much better can that be: Howard the Duck, Steve Gerber and Gene Colan?

I hope I won't have to be writing about Gene's passing soon. We just lost Steve Gerber, I don't want to lose Gene too. For more about this and for something to do go check out this page.

Comics This Week

This week was a fairly light week as far as comics purchased. New Avengers # 40, Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula, Fantastic Four # 556, DC Universe 0 and I picked up a copy of Young Liars # 2 which I missed from a few weeks ago.

New Avengers was interesting, telling the start of the Invasion from the Skrull's point of view. The ending shows another hero that is really a Skrull. I won't spoil the surprise, if it really is a surprise. I'm not sure how many people will be surprised, this hero seems to have been named as a Skrull online awhile ago.

Daredevil I found to be a typical story that could have been done at almost anytime in the hero's continuity. While the monthly series is one of my favorite reads this was just bland.

DC Universe didn't make me want to pick up the coming Final Crisis. I have to admit that I haven't been following very many DC titles lately. Everytime I pick up a DC title I just find I can't get into it. I was enjoying Manhunter, so hopefully I'll be able to pick that up when it comes back. Again the ending of this issue has what is supposed to be a BIG surprise and again it seems that this reveal has been leaked online for awhile now. Nice art, but I still haven't decided if I'll pick up the series when it comes out or not.

Young Liars was better than the first issue, but I'm still at something of a loss with this series. I loved Stray Bullets and really want to like this series. The first issue really left me cold and that's why I originally passed on the second issue, but my local shop owner convinced me it was worth a second look. I'll stick around for another issue or two to see what's happening and than decide if it's worth continuing.

The Immortal Iron Fist

For most fans X-Men was the best work of the Claremont/Byrne team. To me it will always be their work on Iron Fist. They created a believable and likable character in those early Iron Fist comics. Up to that time the Iron Fist comic had been handed to a score of different writers, each not really sure how to deal with a comic that was just added to the line due to the popularity of kung-fu. Iron Fist's character reflected that. When Claremont and Byrne took over the book they injected a new sense of life into the character. Danny became a person and not just the face beneath the mask. The supporting cast came to life. Misty and Danny's romance became a central point of the book. A back story was created. The reader just knew there was a lot of history coming up in the comic.

And than the comic was merged with Luke Cage's Hero For Hire comic and not long after that the two creators departed the series. After that the series had its ups and downs, but for my money never equaling those first dozen or so issues.

Now Marvel has brought Iron Fist back to life. The creators of the new series are Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja. Brubaker writes one of my favorite comics at the moment, Daredevil, so I had high hopes for this series. I was somewhat afraid what would be tried also, for me the memory of the old series still held a very special place in my heart and it's when fans feel like this about a series that they become overly protective and wary of any different take on what they feel is "their" character." I have to admit I was feeling a little like that.

But happily I can report the new team has updated Danny Rand and Iron Fist and created a great new comic. They've made the Iron Fist a legacy comic. Evidently this is a character like Green Lantern where their power is handed down from person to person, keeping the hero alive if not the person himself. This actually fits in with the original series, as the Iron Fist was always said to exist before Danny Rand became the hero. Here they take the concept and flesh it out. I was a little apprehensive when I first read about this, afraid we'd see some really crazy Iron Fists throughout the years. But their versions of Iron Fists throughout the year fit into the time they lived.

What they've did is help make a history for Iron Fist. They've created a great character in the Iron Fist previous to Danny Rand. There is a lot of back story in Orson Randall and I'd like to see more of him and his history of the Iron Fist.

Still none of this would matter if they screwed up Danny Rand. And they didn't. Danny is one of those characters that is still somewhat naive in the scope of life. He's not as bad as he first was, but there is still a nice naviety about Danny Rand. He's not the jokester of the Spiderman comics, but he still can deliver a one liner when things seem dark and gritty. We see the friendship between Danny and Luke Cage, which was the best part of combining the two comics years ago. The contrast to their two personalitites and background made for a fascinating friendship.

As for the art side of things, Aja brings a grace and beauty to the character. When we see Iron Fist leaping acoss a building and jumping from a group of Hydra assassains there is a grace to the character that we've never seen before. I'm still not sure if I'm sold completely on the costume changes, I liked the old cut away shirt style, but it's close enough to the original that I don't hate it. It's just different and I'm not completely adjusted to it yet.

I missed these issues when they original came out and just now picked up the trade. I don't buy the trades for a lot of comics, but Iron Fist will be one I continue to. This is one to add to the collection.

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book

Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book

by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon

I'm part of the generation that grew up with Stan Lee. The first Marvel comic book I remember reading was Daredevil #48. It wasn't written by Stan but at that time all the Marvel comics were written in his style. Even if he wasn't writing them, you could feel his presence in every word. At that time finding back issues was fairly easy and inexpensive so once I started collecting comics I started going backwards as well as forward. Before long I was immersed in Stan Lee's writing.

I have to admit that Stan is one of the people that helped influence me more than most. His writing may be overblown and more than a little grandiose but at its heart there laid a truth about right and wrong, about how you should live your life. Then comic book heroes were true heroes, ready to lay down their life for others, not willing to bend the rules to help themselves. I grew up believing that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Today it's easy to criticize Stan. I believed that the Bullpen was a great group of artists working with Stan that loved everything about their job. Today we know the truth was a little different. Stan was as much a showman as a creator. During some tough times we would have liked to see Stan take to heart the philosophy of his creations and do the right thing.

During the Jack Kirby art situation Stan has claimed there was nothing he could do to get Jack's art back from Marvel. This was probably true, by that point he was little more than a figurehead at the company, but the right thing to do still would have been to stand up for Jack. Add his voice to the others that were calling for Marvel to give Jack his artwork back. Even if he couldn't do anything let everyone know he saw the wrong and wanted to right it. That's what Captain America would have done. And perhaps it's naive to believe in right and wrong according to a fictional character like Captain America, but that's how I grew up.

The voices of Stan's creations were always a part of my inner voices helping to guide me in right and wrong. They were added to others that helped guide and shape my life, but they were always there.

So all this is a preamble to the fact that I come to a book about Stan Lee with just little invested. As I mentioned above, today it's easy to lay the entire failure of the comic book market at the feet of Stan Lee. For some he's been demoted to no more than basically a secretary to Jack Kirby and Steve Dikto, just adding what they wanted in the word balloons.

The real truth of who created what and how much of each creation was due to who may never be known. Too many of the people at the point of creation are no longer here or no longer talking. All we can know for certain is that none of the Marvel characters were created alone and without help.

This book presents the most even handed portrait of Stan Lee that I have seen in a long while. The writers don't try to cover up Stan's mistakes, but they don't throw Stan on the garbage pile and ignore his contributions to the comic industry either. It presents a fascinating look into the creation of American comic books and their history alongside the history of Stan Lee who happened to be there alongside a lot of this history and helping to create some of it.

The history of the comic book intrigues me and I want to see more books like this. In the last few years we've been lucky to have a few more written, but we need to see more while some of the creators of the comic book are still alive. I'm eagerly awaiting Mark (who seems to know everyone in the comic book industry and a lot of the history) Evanier's book on Jack Kirby. I'd love to see more books about the history of the comic book medium.