FCBM7 Day 6

It's day six of the Seventh Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our next selected entry is from Daniel Monson. The comics that Daniel says he likes are:

1. Girl Genius
2. Questionable Content
3. Least I Could Do
4. Green Lantern
5. Fables

And his other thing of interest is Battlestar Galactica.

For Daniel I have a couple of Dark Horse One-for-One editions: The Goon #1 by Eric Powell; and Magnus Robot Fighter #1 by Russ Manning.

And as a bonus comic, Daniel gets a copy of A John Stanley Library Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Halloween Treat featuring Nancy and Melvin the Monster.

Daniel's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
13 entries
16 free comics sent so far
25 days remaining

Variant Covers

I don't normally mind the fact that there are variant covers on comics; as long as I get one issue to read, that's fine. I order most of my comics from DCBS, and sometimes they'll throw in a variant cover edition—which is usually good except when it's a photo cover; I'd rather have a nice piece of comic art than a re-used stock photograph.

Recently I loaned some of my Buffy season 8 & Angel season 6 comics to some friends who are only occasional comic readers but are fans of the shows. They had previously borrowed some of the Buffy comics from another friend. In looking through mine to see which issues they needed they got a bit confused due to the fact that some of mine had different covers from the ones they had seen. I explained about the multiple covers which they then grokked easily enough but thought was kind of strange.

I wonder what sort of general effect multiple covers have for those not used to the hobby aspect of comics? Do Buffy fans coming into comic stores looking for the latest issue try to buy a variant cover of a comic they already have?

Women Creators at Marvel & DC (and Image & Dark Horse)

David Welsh's recent post about tips for media writers when writing about female comic creators got me to thinking: just how many women are writing or drawing comics at the major pop comics publishers?

Let's go counting through the April solicits!

(Note: I'm not counting manga or OGNs.)

Marvel:

Writers: 2: Robin Furth on Dark Tower & Lords of Avalon; Jessica Ruffner on Anita Blake.

Artists: 1: Adriana Melo on Ms. Marvel.


DC:

Writers: 2: Amy Wolfram on Teen Titans Year One; Gail Simone on Wonder Woman & Welcome to Tranquility

Artists: 2: Nicola Scott on Birds of Prey; Sandra Hope on World of Warcraft


Image:

Writers: none

Artists: 1: Laura Allred on Madman Atomic Comics


Dark Horse:

Writers: none

Artists: 1: Jan Duursema on Star Wars: Legacy



So as far as creator gender representation in mainstream comics goes, things are no better than they were ten, twenty or thirty years ago--the days of Louise Simonson, Jo Duffy, Ann Nocenti, June Brigman, Marie Severin, Ramona Fradon, etc.

One might think that, with more titles being pushed out these days, there would be opportunities for more creators, and that some of those slots would be filled by women creators.

It's hard to address the why of the gender imbalance without speaking in supposition and generalities. I think that there are a combination of factors at work, some of which boil down to a lack of desire on the part of female creators to work on corporate super-hero comics when there are plenty of other avenues available for their creative expression.

(1/28: Edited, 'cause I totally spaced and left off Jan Duursema.)

Review: Old Boy vol. 1

Old Boy vol. 1
by Garon Tsuchiya & Nobuaki Minegishi
Dark Horse, $12.95

Old Boy is pretty much what I'm looking for in a seinen manga. The story is straighforward: an unnamed man, having been held captive for ten years, is released onto the streets of Tokyo. Not knowing why he was a captive or who arranged his captivity, he starts to put a life together with the aim of the one thing he has left: revenge. There's not much of the 'revenge' component yet, as this first volume is mostly set-up; but this is obviously a slow build story and the revenge will surely be that much sweeter when it arrives.

While I hold out to see if Tsuchiya's story will pay off, I can definitely recommend the art by Minegishi. In layout and pacing it compares favorably to Goseki Ikegami; he is able to use an eleven-panel page to give a simultaneous sense of timelessness and time passing, or break out a two-page spread at the moment of maximum impact. The backgrounds are often detailed to the point of gorgeousness and the figures are expressive without veering into cartoonishness.

If future volumes can hold up the level of quality and move the story forward, Old Boy should make for a worthwhile ride over its eight volumes.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5).

Missing Manga

MangaCast's list of on hiatus/abandoned/canceled manga is interesting, and in places a bit sad.

While many of the titles are no big loss for not finishing, there's some real quality work scattered throughout the list.

We all know of course what a crying shame it is that ADV isn't publishing any more volumes of Yotsuba&! And I'd really like to read the remainder of Blue Inferior.

CPM's list is nearly as long as ADV's; I think they're out of the manga biz all together, so fans of the popular Slayers may never get to see the end of that manga.

At Dark Horse, both The Legend of Mother Sarah and Shadow Star deserve to continue; strangely enough, both Mother Sarah and 3x3 Eyes have both been abandoned twice, as they were originally being published in comic-sized floppy format back in the day.

DMP's abandonment of Bambi and Her Pink Gun is a shame, but not surprising given that the nihilistic manga had a hard time finding its audience. Maybe DMP will make enough money from their Yaoi lines to be able to publish a quality title with a low readership that can take the time to find its legs.

And then there's Viz. Even the premiere manga publisher can't seem to find an audience for many of its oldest titles, like Area 88, Bio-booster Armor Guyver, and Pineapple Army, which were all initially published in floppy back when today's manga kids were still in diapers. The real surprise though is that Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura and Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack are on the list; when the works of two manga masters cannot continue, there is something deeply wrong.

All hope is not lost; there's always a chance that some of the missing titles may be continued, or even picked up by another publisher. This is what happened with the original abandoned manga title, Lone Wolf & Cub — after disappearing for year when First Comics folded, it was eventually picked up and finished by Dark Horse.

So let's all hope for a few resurrections!

Dave's Dozen: Collections/GNs

Concluding my look through the October Previews (for items supposedly shipping in December or January or later), here are a dozen collections and graphic novels that I feel are worth your attention:


Alice in Sunderland
(Dark Horse, $29.95, p. 27)
Even after reading the solicitation copy I have no idea what this is actually about. But any new work from Bryan Talbot (Luther Arkwright; Tale of One Bad Rat) is cause for celebration.



The World Below
(Dark Horse, $12.95, p. 30)
Raise you hand if you like weird & creepy monsters! Paul Chadwick's underrated underground adventure story gets a long-awaited collection.



Gunsmith Cats Omnibus vol. 1
(Dark Horse, $16.95, p. 40)
Kenichi Sonoda shows that you can do a manga with plenty of violence and fanservice and still have a story that's, well, good. And now you can get it in a big thick omnibus edition at a fraction of the cost that those of us who bought the original collections did.



Batman: Year One Hundred
(DC, $19.99, p. 63)
I heard plenty of excelent things about Paul Pope's take on the Batman of 2039, but didn't buy it because I just knew there would be a trade. Now there is.



Doom Patrol vol. 5: Magic Bus
(DC, $19.99, p. 117)
Another collection of the classic Morrison series, with plenty of Dada--the Brotherhood of Dada that is!



Action Philosophers! Giant-Sized Thing Volume 2
(Evil Twin, $8.95, p. 278)
If you missed picking up issues #4-6 the first time around, now's your chance to laugh and learn about Karl Marx, St. Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes, and the rest.



The Grave Robber's Daughter
(Fantagraphics, $9.95, p. 278)
Richard Sala returns with a new GN story of Judy Drood, Girl Detective. More dark funny from Sala.



Jane's World Omnibus volume 1
(Girl Twirl, $19.95, p. 284)
It's a massive 400+ page compilation of Paige Braddock's lesbian slice-of-life comic; that is, if your life includes alien abductions, vegan Amazons, and super spies!



Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
(Last Gasp, $9.99, p. 300)
Fumiyo Kouno's manga about a young woman in Hiroshima ca. 1955.



The Treasury of Victorian Murder volume 8: Madeleine Smith
(NBM, $8.95, p. 308)
The latest in Rick Geary's line of darkly whimsical recountings of 19th century murders.



My Dead Girlfriend, vol. 1
(TokyoPop, $9.99, p. 322)
It's a story as old as time: awkward boy meets cute girl, finally asks her to the dance, and they fall in love. Problem: the girl's a ghost! Should be a fun OEL manga from Eric Wright.



Roadsong, vol. 2
(TokyoPop, $9.99, p. 330)
The second volume of Allan Gross & Joanna Estep's OEL title promises to bring the two on-the-lam stepbrothers to Nashville for a little country twang to go along with the comedy/action hybrid.




Hey look, this month I actually managed to get all the way through Dave's Dozen before the end of the month! (Earlier in the week I posed my picks for mainstream comics and indy comics.)

Dave's Dozen: Mainstream Comics

Each month (usually...) I go through Previews to highlight twelve items worthy of attention in three categories: Mainstream Comics, Indy Comics, and Collections/GNs.

First up for the October Previews (comics supposedly available in December) are the following dozen mainstream comics picks:


The Bakers Meet Jingle Belle
(Dark Horse, $2.99, p. 23)
Sometimes you don't even know that something will make you happy until you hear that it exists, at which point you then realize that there's at least one reason to go on living for the next couple of months. Kyle Baker drawing a Jingle Belle story--that'll do it for me!



All Star Superman #7
(DC, $2.99, p. 65)
Morrison! Quitely! Bizarro! That's pretty much all you need to know. Well, that and the almost certainty that given the delays this comic will not actually be coming out in December. Maybe by March?



52 week 33
(DC, $2.50, p. 71)
Phil Jimenez draws a special Christmas issue featuring Batwoman. And Mark Chiarello draws the origin back-up story. Should be a good looking comic.



Justice Society of America #1
(DC, $3.99, p. 80)
Not much of a reason to start over at a new #1, excepting for the name change to bring it in line with the new JLA title. But I have to say that I'm pleased with the large team line-up. I wonder who the new Liberty Belle is...?



Manhunter #26
(DC, $2.99, p. 84)
Kate Spencer returns from hiaitus to battle a deformed Wonder Woman. With a second trade collection and membership in the new Birds of Prey, DC is giving this book the push it needs; now it's you job to buy it!



The Spirit #1
(DC, $2.99, p. 88)
Yeah, I'm going into this with a bit of trepidation with the rest of y'all; but I'm hoping that Darwyn Cooke can capture the right, um, spirit of The Spirit.



Justice League Unlimited #28
(DC, $2.25, p. 94)
It's just not Christmas without the Phantom Stranger, now is it?



Fables #56
(DC/Vertigo, $3.50, p. 117)
An extra-long issue that promises to answer the question: Is Santa Claus a Fable? I'm guessing no, because fables aren't supposed to interact with the 'real world,' and Santa does all the time. But we'll just have to wait for the issue and see for ourselves.



Marvel Holiday Special
(Marvel, $3.99, p. M39)
Roger Langridge does a Fin Fang Four holiday story. That's worth your $4 right there.



Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #19
(Marvel, $2.99, p. M40)
You probably flipped right by the little quarter-page spot for this comic and didn't realize that Kano is drawing this issue. Yup, Kano!



newuniversal #1
(Marvel, $2.99, p. M43)
In the realm of things I never figured I'd see is Warren Ellis doing a reimagining of Marvel's New Universe.



NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #11
(Marvel, $2.99, p. M47)
I chuckle every time I see this cover. Mark Millar Licks Goats. Heh.