Free Comic Book Day: A Roundabout Review

Where will you go May 4th 2014? Comic book stores across the country will be giving out free comic books. No gimmicks at all with the word free. Some comic book shops have sales to accommodate the throngs of customers coming into get their free stuff but what about all the juicy back stock, trades, and or special blow out sales. 

I work nights, but I plan on after leaning work at seven am Saturday morning to go home and change before going to my LCS Fat Jack's ComicCrypt on Sansom street in Center City Philadelphia. I've been shopping there for over three years, on a regular basis, of course this is every Wednesday. The kicker is it is one of the farthest comic book shops from where I live. So What makes the travel worth it. Other than having coffee with my dad.

Occasionally I make banter with the staff and the clientele. This makes it an ideal spot to go. I can find out about new books and tally the back issue bins for old ones. I tend to always attribute the seriousness of a comic shop by the back issues, in other words, no back issues means not a seriously good comic book shop.

I first found out about Fat Jack's over twenty-Five years ago when they were next store from their current location. My father worked around the corner and for thirty minutes I was allowed to peruse through the store. It was never enough. I still go and my father goes with. He's bored and for me there is still not enough time. 

I invite you all to go the first Saturday of May, but besides picking up the free comic books they'll have but maybe a back issue or two.

Thanks for Reading

A Glorious Morning: A Roundabout Review

The long of it:

Image has been a small powerhouse originally taking a piece of the industrial pie from the major two, DC and Marvel. Of course when they were first created it was almost like they were a Marvel lite. Titles such as Spawn, Youngblood, and Wildcats were added to my subscription list. I was Well into my adult life when I had to stop collecting. Space became scarce and my purge of possessions ended with the majority of my comic books. After my reclamation to the comic market I picked up my favorites based on memory. Image was not part of that process. I never jumped on the Walking Dead band wagon and still haven't, mainly because I'm not a Zombie Fan. I even skipped a few other decent stories due to the lack of money but now that Comixology has specials every Monday for .99 I have found it to be a glorious Monday indeed.

Stuck on a slow day at work I decided to purchase Morning Glories #1 and Son of Merlin #1. The following issues of the Son of Merlin were subsequently higher in price so I passed, as much as I enjoyed the premiere. Morning Glories however had issues one through twenty five all below one dollar. I have picked this up in Fat Jack's, skimmed through it, and passed on purchasing the book. At ninety nine cents I vowed to only buy the first one, then I vowed I would only buy the first story line. I didn't abide by that either. After reading a full nine issues at work on my iPhone and another nine issues at home I plan on getting to the last issue I have. But, then what? Will I continue to collect at the full retail price or wait again for a sale?

The artwork is clear cut and easy on the eyes. The story is J.J. Abrams-esque by giving flashbacks with the characters mainly involved. Nick Spencer is spinning a tale that Joe Eisma articulates very well. The covers alone by Rodin Esquejo are tantalizing that purchasing copies graded by CGC are weighing heavily on my mind and I wonder why I didn't skip a cup of coffee or two just to purchase the book...ok I know why I didn't skip coffee.

I picked up another Image title dubbed Non-Humans to figure out if I want the actual comic book or just the digital rendition. My decision was once that series was over I would stick with a Comic book I could hold in my hand and only get the digital copy if it came free with the comic book (thank you Marvel, but please have Daredevil added back to that mix). However, at .99 cents how could I pass on getting the whole series available.

The short of it:

Get the series by trade, back issues, or digital, but buy this title to read.

Thanks for Reading

The Avengers: A Roundabout Review

NOTE: I’m not dedicating myself to write about any one “Avengers” title, but different titles with Avengers in them. There are mini spoilers ahead. Be wary. 

Who would have thought that there are no less than nine Avengers titles; not including individual character titles. I'm passing on many of them, but have decided to give three of the Avenger titles a decent chance. I chose the Avengers because of Sunspot and Cannonball. I chose the New Avengers because of the Illuminati and then picked Uncanny Avengers because it would be interesting to see the two teams merge and cooperate.

Both Avengers and New Avengers I thought were anti climatic. After only three issues the initial story line had ended, and poorly. I feel like a child struggling to open a package to a chocolate bar only to bite into it and its nougat instead. Uncanny Avengers is at least better in that regard, because at the end of issue three Rick Remender tells me one of my favorite phrases... To Be Continued.

I haven't tried any of the other group titles but I gave Captain America a chance which ended after issue two, Iron Man however, I gave the first story arc too, and after a good solid five issues I decided to drop the book. This decision changed when I was at Fat Jack's Comic Crypt in center city Philadelphia. Entitled the God Killer, Greg Land's enticing artwork on issue #6 made it easier to overturn my previous inclination to stop collecting the title. Issue six was good enough to pull me in for the next two issues when this story ends. And Indestructible Hulk has me salivating over the next release.

The Marvel Universe is my favorite playground to read, but I wonder did the issue #1's bring in enough new readers without any confusion? In Captain America, Steve Rogers is in some distant dimension, in the New Avengers, he just had his mind wiped by his fellow team members, in Uncanny Avengers he is following the leadership of Alex Summers and in Avengers he's leading his biggest Avenger team yet through gigantic space opera's... So tell me how did these four issue #1's make things less confusing? I also think this is the first time Captain America is in more books that Wolverine. I for one have no idea what is first, last, or coinciding. 

I wonder where in the Mighty Marvel Bullpen there is a map on the wall where everyone is. Each Marvel now title seems to be a force into itself and shows no solidarity as a group but an individuality of characters.

/kI recently reread/read Avengers Vol. #1 issues 273-277. I recently did the same thing with the original Superior Spider-Man, but this is about the Avengers. Under Baron Zemo's leader ship, the Wrecking Crew, Goliath, Mr. Hyde, and many others take down the Avengers, brutally. Hercules was beat into a coma, the Black Knight was knocked into unconsciousness, and the bravest Avenger of them all was tortured beyond anything Jarvis has ever been through. This five issue story arc spread out through other titles as well even going back as far as Avengers #14, you know from 1965.

In the eighties when I first started to collect Marvel comics they had these great story notations. If something in the story pertained to something else an (*) would guide you somewhere, not to mention (and yet I am) a few flashback panels to bring a reader up to speed.  In the Masters of Evil five issue story line these symbols appeared eighteen Different times and some of them for different titles; one was even to tell me it was being translated from French. I was never confused and I always had a link to the history if the character or the way the story developed. It also helped comic book shops by making the collector ravish the back issue bins.

I'm not disappointed enough to stop collecting but I really wish the companies would pay attention to what worked and use that, besides if it doesn't work they can always start over...again...for the first time.

Thanks for Reading

Supporting your Hobby

I never meant to write every day, but it is cheaper to do so than to go out and buy a comic book. I have enough to read, or rather to read over but where do I start? Do I start with my oldest issue? Do I start from where I collected? It seems off that I am having more fun collecting the comic books from my teenage years then I am collecting current issues. I fear that with trades coming out so quickly and on almost every title that I am beginning to think maybe I should just collect those.

I enjoy collecting CGC graded comic books and am currently even upgrading my latest set to a signature series. It was reported new comic book sales declined last month a whopping 8 percent. Eight percent is a lot and I wonder if this is because of Borders closing or the rise of the graded comic book. After all I don’t see sales declining when last month someone purchased a Captain America #1 for over $300,000. I am sure that any single comic shop would love to be able to make that amount off of comic books in a month.

Recently a comic shop closed as well. What does that mean for the future of comic books? Will store fade away? Will online services take over? Will digital take advantage? As a hobbyist I do support my LCS often, once a week often, but I also support my book store. My shelves are far from barren. Unfortunately there is no happy medium. One will succeed, one will falter, I just hope however many years I have left (and I hope they are a lot) that I am not around to see it.

Tanks for Reading

When it's Pouring Down Rain

I hated when it rained on the comic book release date, especially when I was younger. The comic shop of choice at that time was ComicCards. This store is no longer around. It is also the store I base all other stores off of. At the time I walked there, cutting through side streets and a portion of woods called Pennypack Park. These days I would ask my retailer to double bag the comic books just in case. I wish I was smart enough to purchase bags and boards. Maybe if they would have sold them individually like my LCS does today I would have had my comics in better condition.

I would walk home with the double bagged comic books under my shirt. During my walk I would silently curse the rain. This wasn’t because it was raining because I love this aspect of nature. No, this was because I couldn’t read them on the way home. There was a spot I would stop at every week and read at least one or two because I couldn’t wait to get home. I can still read them when I pick up my books from my current LCS because I take public transit to and fro the shop, with a minimum amount of walking.

Since I started going to Fat Jack’s Comiccrypt in Center City Philadelphia I have been fortunate because it hasn’t rained that much on release date Wednesday. Today is the weekend, or a portion of it. The type of day that I was stuck inside and all I wanted to do was go to the comic shop. Days like this I would reread many of my comic books as I would listen to the pitter patter of rain knocking on my window. I am glad that it doesn’t rain as much when I do pick the books up in the first place because I do go through the scenario of what if? What if they get wet? What if I crease them? What if it is so bad I actually have to wait an extra day?

Thanks for Reading