So, is that a tacit admission by Simone that DC has been half-assing it before "Flash Point"?And hopefully everyone at DC and elsewhere will step up their game.
What do you mean, shittier paper? They are not exactly using high end stock now.It would help if individual issues went back to shittier paper, too. Floppies are disposable; they're not long-term investments.
If they drop the quality of the paper too much, I will just give up on single issues. If they drop the quality of compilations, I am out.
Bundling comics, (as manga does), only works if people are willing to pay for (and spend space storing) comics they do not want to get the comics they do want.
Of coure, anthology comics do not tend to do well in the US. Anybody remember "Marvel Comics Presents"?
Of course, we also know that the big two, (and likely IDW), would game the system. I can see "Birds of Prey" bouncing between the street level anthology (with the bat-books) and the sci-fi or team anthologies (owing to the characters's ties to the Justice League or Green Lantern).
To be fair, they were never "cheap". Remember, that dollar we used to spend on comics would buy a hell of a lot more back in the day.I think comics have simply gotten too expensive. They aren't a cheap hobby any more.
And, this week, I wonder why I bother....
-Transformers #26: I will review this later.
-GI Joe Cobra #5: Ain't read it yet. Maybe it will buck this week's trend.
-Ultimate Spiderman #1:
And....everybody is talking about it I guess. It was poly-bagged, so you know it is important. I am still looking for a scented-chromium-holofoil cover.
Okay, joking aside, this is the first issue of the Miles Morales Spiderman. The letters column is generally balanced between positive and negative letters, with most of the negative trending towards "we want Peter Parker bawwww" in tone.
The issue itself shows the origin of the new Spiderman. He gets bitten by a spider and his power set includes invisibility. Bendis is setting up a different set of circumstances for the new Spiderman. He had both parents and a ne'er-do-well uncle looking out for him. (Said irresponsible uncle is responsible for the spider bite.) Luck and chance are the themes for the first arc. They might play out for a bit longer though.
It is neither a great nor a terrible start. But it is a start, and I am in, if only for a bit.
Grade: B
New Avengers #16 and general "Fear Itself" notes:
Bendis opens and closes this issue with the same "documentary interviews" that he has been using in recent issues. Apparently, DareDevil is on the team now. I have no idea how long this will last. But, it probably has something to do with the "Daredevil" title getting a reboot.
There is a sequence featuring the destruction of Avengers Tower that is bothersome for two reasons. At a basic level, it raises the question of how long before the whole team is back in the mansion. As it stands now, without the tower, the Avengers are one step closer to pre-Bendis spec. In other words, things are going back to "just how they were in the 80s".
The other problem with the destruction of Avengers Tower is that it pretty clearly, (and we can assume intentionally), evoked the destruction of the WTC 10 years ago. This would be crass enough, but doing so more or less at the 10th anniversary only makes it harder to stomach. I am not sure if Bendis or Marvel Editorial is to blame. Either way, I am seriously considering dropping this book. (Of course, all of the cape/mask books that I read are Bendis writing for Marvel.)
Apparently, Bucky died either in "Fear Itself" or a crossover. Wow. Bucky is dead....and Steve Rogers is going to be Captain America again. (And, they are doing this at the tail end of the movie's run. Good work Marvel.) Remember the big deal with Bucky took over for Steve? Yeah, that lasted. Odin decided he wants to help humanity again over in "Iron Man". And, some other stuff happens.
Grade (New Avengers only): C/D
Dom
-not a good week.
