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 looks at some of the stories that came out of C2E2.

I confess that I like my comic book conventions to be called things that have proper words in them instead of passwords and to me C2E2 sounds like something you have to type into a box before your download can begin.  Plus having the name of the city where the convention is taking place in the name of the con would be helpful for those of us with middle-aged brains; in spite of the fact Super-Fly Comics & Games was very much in attendance last weekend I actually forgot it was being held in Chicago.

Or maybe I just blocked it out because I didn't get to go to one of my favorite cities.  Chicago has (conveniently enough) Chicago style hot dogs and the Onion Ring Tower at Mike Ditka's Restaurant off of Michigan Avenue (I realize lots of places have a "tower of onion rings" these days but do yourself a favor; if you get a chance, order the actual article), not to mention world class museums.  I know from personal experience just how hard it can be to take time away from the con but retailers really should try to enjoy at least see some of the city they're in, especially when that city is Chicago.

Not a lot of big stories came out of C2E2 but there were lots of interesting little ones, or at least little ones that were interesting to me.  The biggest small one being the announcement of Thor: The Mighty Avenger, a new  all-ages title written by Roger Langridge (the genius behind Fred the Clown, though these days he's probably better known for his wonderful work on The Muppet Show comic) and drawn by Chris Samnee.  It's a do-over of his early Marvel Universe adventures and with a Thor movie in the pipeline getting more Thor comics out into the field is kind of a no brainer.  Not to mention the fact (I don't) I could be accused of going out a limb by suggesting Marvel is most likely contemplating a Thor: The Animated Series, which makes the premise of this book (which is essentially Ultimate Thor without the baggage that comes with the brand) letter perfect for just such a show.

Now that my cynical side has been satisfied I think I can admit the rest of me is pretty well tweaked by the prospect of a Marvel superhero series done by Roger Langridge, who from all of the interviews with him posted online really seemed to 'get it.'  For one thing his version of Loki promises to be closer to the one from myth (who was a whole lot more interesting a character than the clichéd cuckold mustache-twirling Marvel version) and for another he plans on balancing all of the robot bashing with the kind of simple, human moments that used to regularly appear in the Lee/Kirby Thor stories.

So essentially this is everything I've always wanted from a contemporary superhero comic (all-ages, check; self-contained stories, check; focus on the human element, check; etc.) so now it's mostly a matter of whether our customers will buy it.  Me, I'll be doing everything I can to try and sell it.

Almost as unexpected is the prospect of an all-ages update of The Infinity Gauntlet by Brian Clevinger (Atomic Robo) and Brian Churilla (Rex Mundi), though of course it's being done under the title of Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet because clearly there are just not enough Avenger titles being published.  Still with a creative team this good who am I to complain?

Then there's the return of Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba's Casanova in July via Marvel's Icon imprint; and the winner of last year's Eisner for Best Webcomic Carla Speed McNeil makes her triumphant return to print comics when Dark Horse starts publishing her Finder series as part of their revival of Dark Horse Presents.  And Oni Press clearly wins the prize for most ambitious licensed kid's comic of the year with Yo Gabba Gabba Story Comic Book Time, though seeing as how it's a 128-page hardcover clearly it's the parents of preschoolers that'll be buying this one.

And for Mickey Mouse fans there's the news "Mickey Mouse on Quandomai Island" by Italian artist Casty will be released this summer in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories just a few months after its publication in Italy.

Finally in the past I admit that I've given Archie some guff for not picking up on trends and fads the way they used to do back in the 1960's (when the Riverdale Gang somehow were able to simultaneously be both superheroes and super spies).  Well on the one hand I've got to give them credit for chasing some of that Jersey Shore heat, but on the other hand... ewww.

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.