Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett reviews his comments on Honey West, and looks ahead to the JLA/The 99 crossover, and what the reaction might be.

I want to thank James Meeley (see "James Meeley of Sequential Treasures: Comic Art Sales on Bennett'€™s Reviews") and Dara Hannon (see "Dara Hannon of Pyrimid Comics and Games on Bennett’s Reviews") for their comment on my column last week.  I'd be a liar if I didn’t say I preferred James Meeley’s spirited defense of my right to be have my own opinions.  I doubt I can improve upon it, but in the spirit of reconciliation (and never knowing when to leave well enough alone) allow me to add…
 
The last thing I wanted my comments to have was a "tone of superiority and condescension."  For starters it’s pretty hard for me to feel superior to anyone given upon reading Dana’s response I immediately posted on Facebook that I had just been accused of having a "tone of superiority and condensation."  In my defense it was the first thing in the morning, but… master of malapropism, me.
 
Likewise, it was never my intent to insult anyone; my opinions were just that, mine, though I do acknowledge I have a forum that most retailers don’t, which is one of the reasons why I don’t regularly review comics in the first place.  And I definitely should have added the caveat “individual results may vary”; of course you know what sells (and doesn’t) in your own shop and never was I trying to dictate what you or anyone else orders.
 
When I wrote that Honey West #1 was "definitely something every comic shop should have" I meant in an ideal world--not that you had any way of knowing that.  Believe me, I know how hard it is to believe in and actively support a certain title and still not be able to sell a single copy.  And when I wrote that it was something “every comic shop retailer should read”, well, I meant just that.  In a market where it doesn’t happen nearly enough Honey West #1 caught me entirely off guard by being both good and unexpected--and hopefully we can agree that there aren’t nearly enough of those kinds of comics being published these days.
 
October 27 is the release date set for the first issue of JLA/The 99, a six-issue miniseries crossover with Teshkeel Media Group’s The 99, about a group of people infused with the 99 attributes of Allah.  Forbes Magazine has described The 99 as being “one of the Top 20 trends sweeping the globe;” an animated version will appear on the new cable network The Hub,* also in October (which I don’t believe for a moment is a coincidence); and even President Obama has praised the property.  The comic didn’t get a whole lot of attention when it was originally announced and I pretty much assumed it would make about as little a splash as these inter-company crossovers usually do.
 
What a difference a couple of months make.  The headlines are full of stories about the furor over the Park 51 project a.k.a. the "9/11 Mosque"... and Mosques being burned and Muslims attacked and I’m now I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before somebody somewhere decides to turn JLA/The 99 into a "thing."  And it goes without saying it won’t be a good thing.  Now The 99 aren’t seen practicing any religion, and the comics are meant to show Islamic archetypes and give kids positive role models, but I’m guessing none of that will matter in the slightest.  Not given a slow news day when someone decides the comic constitutes "indoctrination of our children" and "Muslim propaganda."
 
Of course this could be paranoia on my part; the project might be too small for anyone to notice or care.  And before anyone can write in, I know better than to insert political controversy into these things, but then, I never thought I’d live to see the day when any of the Four Freedoms would be considered "controversial."
 
And I’ll end this column by recounting a phone conversation that Tony Barry of Super-Fly Comics swears he recently had with a customer which pretty much sums up why I’m glad I’m not working behind the counter these days:
 
"You guys used to have a Jimmy Olsen comic."

"…yeah?"
 
"Do you still have it?"

* They’ve posted previews of the series online and... this is just my opinion you understand... it looks just horrible.  I should confess that I don’t care for a lot of television level computer generated animation to begin with and it may very well be that I’m old and/or it’s just not intended for me (both really strong possibilities).  But it actually looks inferior to the animated “news reports” created by Taiwan’s Apple Daily newspaper which have been popping up between shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely  those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.