Wikileaks: Comic Book Secrets

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Image Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,

If you took the time to read through the nearly 250,000 documents released this week via Wikileaks, you’d find a comic book connection in several of them. We at Comix 411 have nothing but free time and did the heavy lifting for you. Here are the comic book-related highlights from the document dump:

When visiting with US President Barack Obama, the CIA codename for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is “Bucky.”

Interrogators at Guantanamo routinely asked prisoners to choose: Betty or Veronica?

Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il sometimes dresses up as Wildcat before he tours a factory. In other news, North Korea still has factories.

Click to continue reading Wikileaks: Comic Book Secrets

WEBCOMICS WEDNESDAY: Karen Ellis, Barack Obama & Mark Ricketts

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Hey all, before we take a look at some webcomics, there’s a webcartoonist out there who could use a helping hand. KAREN ELLIS, who does the webcomic Planet Karen, recently lost everything she had in a fire that started in the apartment above her. She’s really got nothing except the desire to get drawing again and put her life back together. Supporters can head over to her website and make a PayPal contribution (label it “gift” not “donation”) and help her out. Times are tough and money’s tight, but we are all just one faulty light socket away from tragedy ourselves. Lea Hernandez, who lost her worldly goods in a fire a couple of years ago has a terrific post about things that can and should be done to help out others in a situation like this. Benefit book? Bad. Cash? Really good!
(h/t to the gang over @ Fleen)

BARACK OBAMA: Well, it had to happen. After appearing in both Spider-Man and Youngblood #8 (by Rob Liefeld), President Barack Obama is now the star of a once-a-week webcomic, President Awesome. This one’s by writer Dean Trippe (creator of Butterfly) and Evan Bryce. It’s too early to tell where this will go (the Weapon O one is funny because it feels so true), but it’s not too early to bookmark it and keep checking in. Once thing’s for certain, Bryce has no trouble drawing Mr. Obama.
(h/t to Heidi MacDonald @ The Beat)

MOOSE MOUNTAIN: If you’ve known Mark Ricketts through his graphic novels like Night Trippers and Crime Scene Forensics, you’ll see a different side of him on top of Moose Mountain. Moose Mountain is the tale of naïve, gullible Ranger Todd who patrols the woods around Moose Mountain National Park. Ricketts hit a milestone last month of 100 strips. He posts every Tuesday and Thursday, and yes, there are talking bears.

MASSACRE FOR BOYS: Jimmy Baker Animal Hatmaker runs up against an old Nazi nemesis at the London Zoo. And yes, Gorillas and animal headgear are involved. Written by Chris Denton and Illustrated by Steven Denton (the lads behind Walking Wounded) this isn’t an ongoing comic but it’s an offbeat, short read from a couple of guys who are outside the box.

That’s all for this week - more next time. And if you have a favorite webcomic, feel free to champion its cause in the comments. Otherwise, I’ll just have to spend hours and hours surfing, reading and searching for my new favorites!
(illustration from Planet Karen and © Karen Ellis)

Thunderbolts 128: A Great Moment in Comics History

Posted by Todd Matthy Categories: Reviews, Marvel Comics,

This week’s Thunderbolts was a gem. It features an appearance by President Barack Obama, but unlike his appearance in Amazing Spider-Man, he actually does something. Instead of punching out the Chameleon, President Obama actually has to do something, evaluate Norman Osborn. Doc Sampson is out to prove to the President that Norman Osborn is what we all know he is, a blithering psychopath called the Green Goblin. Unfortunately, good ole Normie has a back up plan to deceive our brand new President, and it involves his all new, covert, and off the books version of the Thunderbolts.

But that’s not the “great moment in comics history” (as my friend Joel likes to call it). The “great moment in comics history” is the blonde Black Widow’s clever transportation method for Ant-Man. Let’s just say he’s “sandwiched between two pillows”. I’ll say no more, needless to say it’s a great moment in comics history that makes fanboys want to be Ant Man. I’ll say no more.

Tuesday Preview

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Welcome to the Tuesday Preview. We are up to 2 in a row!

Books will be issued on regular Wednesday. Monday was MLK Day but if UPS doesn’t take the day off, Diamond ships stuff. On the other hand, If we are supposed to celebrate the day, why do the Knicks play MLK afternoon every year?

Dark Avengers is the big book. Now we are inaugurating a new president on Tuesday so I could make a really cheap joke but I won’t. Rumor has it that some Thunderbolts are switching sides so we have Change Baby. Astonishing X-men also drops. The art and writing are usually fine but the storyline is hard to follow so the book is better in trade paperback format. Still, we hope. Spider-man Noir was. I thought, okay and with one main character it is certainly easier to follow than X-men Noir.

Remember that the 2nd printing of Amazing 583 debuts. The is the orange variant cover which is not the highly saught blue variant. Do not over pay for this.  Also the Obama trading cards are here. The media reported that a signed Obama card went for $3100 on E-Bay. My distributor thinks this is insane because a Thomas Jefferson cut signature went for only $3000. Needless to say we are going to see a lot more Obama signed items in the future but they ain’t making anymore more Thomas Jefferson items. But if you come to my store,buy the cards anyway.

Finally, sad to say, Diamond has cancelled MILF Magnet 1. Now I always say to the comic critics that if they think it is so easy, design a complete new super power. All my customers were anxious to read this book although none of them actually committed to buying it.I guess, however, when we discuss which super power we want, this might beat flying.

Random Thoughts

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Let me start on the Spider-Man variant story. Marvel and DC usually make dealers buy 20, 40, or even 75 copies of a book to get one variant. Sometimes you can buy as many copies of an unimportant variant as you want. Now, dealers can change their orders via an FOC three weeks before they arrive. In this case, Marvel announced that any dealer that ordered more copies of Spider Man 583 than 575 could get as many copies of the Obama cover as they wanted. This slipped by most of the dealers. And who knew that Joe Quesada would be all over TV to plug it ? So I didn’t get any, but I could have sold plenty.

And next week they are printing a second printing with the same Obama variant cover except it has an orange background instead of a blue one. Don’t be fooled as some people on E-Bay who are buying the second printing thinking they are getting the original variant. The original variant is worth up to 100 dollars on E-Bay.

Now the real random thoughts (SPOILERS!!!):
 

• You’ve been warned about SPOILERS… stop now!  Okay…
• So Darkseid kills Batman in Final Crisis 6, but which Batman died in RIP? And if the continuity was screwed up by having a live Batman in the next two issues of Batman, what the heck is going on now? Even DC couldn’t straighten it out to me on our weekly call. Luthor zapping Libra was cool, but Sivana saying “and that’s the classic we haven’t heard the last of him” was priceless.  Batman and which Superman were flying around in Crisis 6 heat visioning everybody in sight? For a non-killer he seemed to kill a lot of who? Good guys or bad guys? Can’t tell. Is it the same Supes carrying Bat’s body in the end? Final Crisis 7 comes in two weeks and we are promised that Grant Morrison will clear everything up. I am holding my breath.
• In Faces of Evil - Prometheus,  it seems he goes off to a secret monastery in the Himalyas to learn all about evil. Holy Dr Doom, Batman, where have we seen that before?
• Adam, Legend of the Blue Marvel was great. What they plan on doing with a hero who has talks with the Watcher after the series is over is interesting. Calling the Watcher a white guy with attitude is classic.
• Batman Confidential is a fun way to introduce all the old villains but I am sure they are screwing with continuity? But, who cares?

President-elect Obama To Team-Up With Spider-man

Posted by Jeffrey Harris Categories: Editorials, Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

USA Today recently got the scoop about the latest issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #583, appearing on store shelves today.  In the issue, Spider-Man gets to team up with the next President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.  The story penned by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck, and Frank D’Armata will depict the Chameleon trying to thwart Obama’s inauguration.  The issue will be sold for a cover price of $3.99, and the limited-edition cover by artist, Phil Jimenez, will be limited to half the printing run.

Preview panels from USA Today show Obama going up to Spider-Man and performing a legendary fist-bump to end all fist-bumps as Obama expresses his fandom and support for Spider-Man.  Reflecting on the incident, Spider-Man thinks, “I can’t shake the feeling that if I hadn’t showed up, he would have handled the Chameleon all by himself.  Guess it’s time to head back to New York.  It looks like Washington is in capable hands.”  Joe Quesada, Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, was excited about Obama having a cameo in a Spider-Man comic after the President-Elect said he was a fan of Spider-Man in an Entertainment Weekly pop-culture survey.  Obama’s then opponent, Senator John McCain, only mentioned liking Batman, the flagship character of Marvel publishing rival, DC Comics.

The mainstream media outlets and the overt love over Obama getting elected is hardly a secret.  But this appearance just feels so blatantly overt with Spidey basically hero-worshiping Obama in the story.  Yeah, Obama could’ve handled Chameleon because everyone knows Obama has had training sessions with Captain America like Spider-Man.  Also, if I was Spider-Man, I would be telling him to watch out for Norman Osborn, who is now in charge of HAMMER in the Marvel Universe in the fallout of Secret Invasion.  Just saying, if Obama trusts Spider-Man and the admiration is for real, “Mr. President, the guy in charge of HAMMER is a psychopath and admitted former super-villain that’s killed a ton of people.  Might want to do something about that.” 

Just saying.

Read More | USA Today

1.13.09 - Tuesday Preview

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Welcome to what I hope will be a series of Tuesday previews to let you know what to look forward to on comic day.

Tomorrow, Amazing Spider-Man 583 comes out with a variant cover and a five-page Obama back-up story. The variant cover is a one of fifty so, as usual, I didn’t get any. And, as usual, I have people coming out of the woodwork to buy it. Luckily Marvel is coming to my rescue by issuing a second printing variant next week and I will have plenty. Of course what this does to the resale value of the original variant is anyone’s guess.
 
X-men Manifest Destiny should be here tomorrow to make up for the screw up of last week. Those miscover books were up immediately on E-Bay, but they tell me the real book will be free to me to make up for it, but as they are not on my invoice I won’t know until they get here. Destiny?

Also appearing is Adam, Legend of the Blue Marvel 3 and the first two have been pretty good.

On the other hand, there is Death Defying Devil which is part of Project Super Powers. They could call it Hard to Read Devil because the entire series makes it difficult to follow this storyline, but we’ll give it another try.

Final Crisis 6. What can I say? When Final Bar Mitzvah comes out I will comment.

And last but not least is Mad Magazine. I know everyone thinks I am old and senile (Thanks Dennis; ED: No problem, buddy.  Hahaha.), but compared to the past Mad this is horrible and not funny. Pick up a few Mad trades if you don’t believe me.

And to cap everything off we have Obama trading cards. Now I once asked a distributor why cards don’t come out before the movie opens? It would be great to sell cards before an anticipated hit (Iron Man) or bomb (The Spirit) comes out, but I was informed that movie cards contain scenes from the movie so they don’t want to give away spoilers. But folks only buy the cards for the inserts anyway. Bikini swatches and kiss cards from Benchwarmers and costume cards and autographs from Iron Man are big hits. They say there are inserts in these cards and I am wondering what they are.

That’s all for this preview. Tune in next Tuesday for our hopefully second installment.