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 reacts to DC, then takes us on a tour of the comics he's liking right now.To be honest, I didn’t think DC was really going to do it (see "DC Renumbering All Titles"), not just the renumbering but going digital date and day with their full line. And it occurs to me the two might be connected; that the revamp and renumbering isn’t so much for us as the potential audience who'll be downloading their comics online. This might well be a last ditch attempt to get 'civilians' to read DC Comics; if so, DC should with all speed start developing new versions of Swing With Scooter and Rex The Wonder Dog.
I'm sure there's a lot of outrage working it's way through the Internet and I'll admit ten years ago I might have been contributing to it. Though I certainly like what I'm hearing about the comics being more "modern and diverse;" hey, maybe Superman will finally get that red hoodie (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Go Ahead, Tug On Superman’s Cape"). But the bottom line is, one look at the monthly circulation numbers should tell you somebody had to do something--and it's about time somebody did.
It's a title I've mentioned in at least a half dozen previous columns but this time I'd like to look at it from the prospective of a retailer. Super Dinosaur is everything so many retailers (like myself) have been asking for for years; a kid friendly, all-ages comic so far featuring done-in-one stories that you can safely put into the hands of the youngest readers. There aren't nearly enough comics like it.
Well, another one does come to mind. I was absolutely startled by just how much I enjoyed Mega Man #1 from Archie because when it comes to licensed titles I've learned from hard experience to keep my expectations rock bottom low. But writer Ian Flynn and artist Patrick Spaziante have crafted a comic that feels like the best episode of a Mega Men cartoon ever, helped by Matt Herms coloring which helps make each panel look like an animation cel. Plus there’s lettering by the great John Workman, a name I didn't see nearly often enough in comic book credits.
For those who haven’t gotten around to reading it the first issue of Kirby: Genesis shipped last week and it is, in this comic book guy's opinion, just wonderful. It's a fitting continuation of Jack Kirby's characters and concepts, getting right what so many previous attempts have gotten so wrong. If it has a fault it might be that it's tried to shoehorn in too many of them into a single story, but given that #2 is going to feature an appearance by Thunderfoot the Half Human (my favorite unpublished Jack Kirby character) I can hardly complain about that.
One obvious thing both Marvel and DC have missed out in their various attempts to make the worlds their characters live on more "realistic" is if there were really were guys who could fly you know that every night a certain number of people would be up on their roofs trying to shoot them down. Out of fear, loathing or just plain fun -- I mean, being invulnerable and all it’s not like Superman is going to make a federal case out of getting hit in the thigh by a load of buckshot. Well, that very thing finally happened in the pages of The Mighty Thor #2.
And, finally, I’ve been enjoying Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors from Marvel since it's beginning and I’ve even (just barely) been able to keep up with all of its devious twists and turns. But something happens in the current issue, #27, that spoiler protocols prevent me from revealing here, but what I can say is that it involuntarily made a hard, brutish "Ha!" spring from my mouth. Within a year Marvel will have no doubt found a way to walk this development back to the standard status quo, but that shouldn't cheapen its impact.
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.