Reborn
Jun 15There’s a lot of news happening right now. While God knows what is going on in Iran, while a new iPhone is tantalizing the gadget-savvy, while the economy continues to do whatever it is it’s doing at this exact moment, and while Matt cradles himself against the weight of Orlando’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Lakers, Marvel has managed to garner more MSM coverage that 1) spoiled its entire fanbase before comic shops even open, 2) fails to mention that the shocking event kicks off in a book that is available in stores today and 3) pulls the rug out from underneath a certain returning character’s well-received replacement, who has been kept insulated from the rest of the publisher’s shared universe until about six months ago.
Every time that Marvel pitches a story like this to the press, I wonder about the quantifiable long term gain they expect/realize in terms of new or returning readers. Are there people out there who have never read a comic book or who have abandoned them in the ether of nostalgia only to come back to the fold based on a story in the NY Daily News? Someone is running numbers over there, which is how they’ve calculated that this is going to be “Civil War #1” big instead of “J. Jonah Jameson is the mayor” big. Do these people exist? From the retailers that I know, the answer seems to be, “No.” Some shops see a run on the issues from the investicomics set, yes, but I’m not sold that Marvel is creating new customers by doing this (while doing something of a disservice to the existing fanbase in sacrifice to this goal).
I’m not talking about the content of the story itself, which I’m actually anticipating, but solely the PR/marketing rationale behind it. Given that your friendly neighborhood Alert Nerds work in PR/Marketing/Journalism when we’re not nerding out here, it’s only natural that we would. I’d be interested to see the sales figures on the individual issues that have gotten press attention over the past few years – with the exception of the Obama appearance in Amazing Spider-Man, I’m predicting a trend of diminishing returns.
If you’re a fan, I’d love to hear how this type of promotion affects your buying habits and your enjoyment of the book. If you’re a retailer, I’d love to hear about how you’ll be adjusting your orders/how many new faces came through your door today. And finally, if you’re Jim McCann or someone else in Marvel’s mighty marketing arm, I’d love to pick your brain about the strategy behind this.
Up
Jun 09I’ve read plenty of reviews of Up, and talked to plenty of people who have seen it plenty of times. I feel like there’s almost no point in reviewing it. It’s a Pixar movie. Just like Metallica albums, even a bad Pixar movie is better than a great effort from nearly any other creative team, and Up is not a bad Pixar movie.
On the other hand, there is something purposefully uneven about the film that might be off-putting. There is a very full, resonant beginning to the film and a long stretch of cute fun comprising the rest of it that doesn’t match the emotional core that’s built at the outset. There are moments that come close, but they are only callbacks to that segment and not powerful emotional moments in and of themselves. And this is exactly what Pixar wanted.
See, I’ve heard a lot about how this is a film about adventure and never letting go of your dreams, but that’s not what I think the movie is about. This is the Pixar version of that John Lennon lyric, the one about life happening to you while you’re making other plans. It is far less about the things you do than the people you spend it with, which is what both of our protagonists come to grips with in the end.
The notion of waiting for life to start and then being shocked when you realize that you’re an adult all of a sudden and you haven’t done anything is not alien to me at all, nor is the Pyhrric aspect of achieving what you hoped for and realizing that nothing fundamental has changed. It’s the very thing that Elizabeth Kostova is talking about in The Historian when she talks about the disappointment of rediscovery: to paraphrase, the narrator talks about searching out a place that you once loved and revisiting it, but discovering that some mercurial thing you loved about it isn’t part of the equation anymore – like going to a place in the company of friends and going back alone, or finding it alone and returning with friends. Which is exactly what Up is about – the kind of love that makes every day an adventure, and how nothing is the same when it’s gone.
Of course, there’s also the easy joke about Up being an allegory for the subprime crisis. So, whichever.
What Are You Waiting For? Scalped
May 28“You’re reading Scalped, right?”
“Dude, read Scalped!”
“You didn’t pick up Scalped this week? What is wrong with you?”
“I will kill a puppy if you don’t add Scalped to your pull list.”
People overestimate how much I like dogs, which is why it shames me to say that no, I haven’t read Scalped yet. I’m asked frequently, by the online crowd, by my friends, by my comic shop employees; they all want to know if I’m reading it. Lord knows I should. Yes, I’m a Jason Aaron fan. He’s rescued the ongoing solo titles of two Marvel characters who rarely ever have entertaining, well-written ongoing solo books (Wolverine and Ghost Rider), and his breakout work The Other Side, drawn by Cameron Stewart, is excellent. I pick up what Aaron throws down over and over and over again, but have not read the critically acclaimed OMGawesome book that established him as a voice with real staying power in comics.
What am I waiting for?
Well, I’m waiting for Fables to end, bascially. It’s a strange and annoying calculus, but I limit myself to a (completely arbitrary) total of three Vertigo book at any given time. Right now, they’re Fables (spinoffs count as part of the main title, BTW), Madam Xanadu and DMZ. I cling to it stubbornly, because I can’t start a diet, I can’t drink less, and I can’t find freaking love, but I can stick to my Vertigo limit. Except for Jack of Fables. But that sort of counts as Fables. I’m so alone.
Except that the Fantastic Fangirls did the What Are You Waiting For? thing. And the thing I was waiting to read was Scalped.
So here we are.
I’ve read the first two trade paperback collections of Scalped and, I’ve gotta say, they were awesome.
Despite having a nunchaku-wielding Jeet Kune Do crooked cop/brawler as its main character, Scalped manages to be a gritty, introspective crime drama that is noir and Western at the same time. Jason Aaron’s straightforward plot and cynical, self-destructive characters are incredibly engaging, thanks in part to R.M. Guera’s bleak sepia-toned art. And did I mention that Jock does the covers? I probably shouldn’t, or else I’ll start to crave monthlies.
I mean, really. Just in that last paragraph, we have
- nunchaku
- Jeet Kune Do
- Noir
- Western
- self-destructive
All of which are things that I love. So, thank you, Jason Aaron. I’ll be catching up with Scalped as soon as I can, and then adding the book to my pull list. Thanks for ruining my life.
Hey, New Readers!
May 19The response to Alert Nerd Press’s latest work of monumental genius, Matt’s Poodoo ebook, has been absolutely freaking staggering. We’re hoping that some of you stick around for a bit, maybe subscribe to our RSS feed and check out some other posts.
Alert Nerd was founded by Matt, Chris and Sarah in 1865. Present for the explosion of the Claywater Meteorite in Wisconsin, the trio of intrepid frontiersmen (and women) used their strange new powers to preempt the age of digital publishing, and are currently suing the creators of the television program Smallville for slander. Me? I’m Jeff, the new guy. I was assigned to handle these three a few months ago after my predecessor disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
We blog a few times a week about comics, movies and any other nerdy thing we can think of. Stick around for a bit and you’ll catch the fourth issue of our pet project, Grok – an honest-to-Spock ‘zine full of original content from some of the blogosphere’s best hidden talent. The Extra Life issue is due out after the Memorial Day weekend.
In the meantime, amuse yourself by browsing the archives and by following us on Twitter and checking out our personal blogs:
Chris Stewart: @castewar / Proton Charging
Sarah Kuhn: @sarahkuhn / Great Hera!
Matt Springer: @AlertNerdMatt / POPGEEK
Jeff Stolarcyk: @TheOtherJeff / Jefferson Stolarship
And get updates about this site by following @AlertNerd.
Four Color Critiques: Atomic Robo, Jersey Gods
May 13It feels like it’s been awhile since I’ve actually blogged about comics. This week’s delivery from Heavyink is probably a good excuse to get back on that horse.
I got two books in the mail this week: the first issue of the new Atomic Robo mini and the fourth issue of Jersey Gods. It’s rare that all of the books I read in one sitting make me this happy.
If you aren’t reading either of these books, I really gotta recommend that you check them out.
Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time #1: This installment of Robo (from 8 Bit Theater scribe Brian Clevenger and Scott Wegener) takes place in the 20s and pits Robo, Charles Fort and H.P. Lovecraft against things that are best described as…squamous. Clevenger’s wry comic timing distracts from the bulk of this issue consisting of talking expository heads as Fort tries to enlist Tesla’s (and then Robo’s) help while Robo tries to get rid of the two writers so he can study. Wegener manages to make a character with no facial features exude attitude, which is no small feat. The new Atomic Robo isn’t as laugh out loud ridiculous (in a good way) as the Free Comic Book Day “Atomic Robo Hates Dr. Dinosaur” story, but it’s well-crafted, fun entertainment that is even better if you’re already a fan of the Cthulu mythos.
Jersey Gods #1-4: I managed to snag the first issue of this Image title at NYCC this year and, just like Helen Killer surprised me last year, this year Gods was the book that I kept passing around to friends and forcing them to read. I probably should have had the issue slabbed and graded immediately, since Glen Brunswick and Dan McDaid signed it, but I guess I fail at investicomics.
Jersey Gods is certainly similar to Joe Casey’s Gødland, a book that is maybe Casey’s best work but still a book that I am a bit lukewarm about. Both are indebted to Jack Kirby’s cosmic work of the 60s and 70s, and McDaid definitely has a streak of The King in his artwork (which is some of my favorite comic art right now, check out his sketchblog), but the book doesn’t live in its influences too much or lean on them too heavily. While Jersey Gods is a mash up of cosmic superheroes and Patsy Walker-style romance comics, it embodies the best of ‘Mash-Up’ Age comics and makes itself its own thing in the process. I’ve been following the Barock story and the Zoe story with equal zeal and can’t wait for the next issue, the last one in the first arc, to see what happens to the two leads. We know from the previews that ran prior to the book’s launch that they end up married and in suburban Jersey, but dammit, I want to know how. The book is equal parts action, drama and humor with a touch of Kirby nostalgia and that should make it compelling to everybody who reads comics.
