A Referral Post to Remind You I'm Alive

I know I haven’t posted much on this site in the last six months. I hope to rectify that soon, but until I post again, here are two posts that are about comics (but not trade paperbacks) on another of my blogs.

Jack Kirby and creator credit

Last fall, the heirs of Jack Kirby reached a settlement with Marvel Comics. The terms of the settlement haven’t been announced, at least not that I have seen; it’s probable the settlement included cash for the family and increased recognition for Kirby in the comics and other media in which his co-creations are used.

The recognition is welcome news; the threat of legal action might have been part of the reason Marvel did not include Kirby’s name in many places it should have before. (Another part of the reason — and you can decide what proportion this makes up — is Marvel being stubborn and / or stupid.) The money is also good news for Kirby’s family; Jack Kirby is no longer around to be rewarded, but his family would have benefited if he had received in life the kind of monetary recompense his reputation suggests he deserves, so it makes sense they should receive some reward now.

I have been thinking about my feelings about the case for some time now — probably too long, as the case is passing below the public’s horizon. I admit I was somewhat ambivalent to the Kirby case. I have no idea what his heirs were legally entitled to, and in truth, it seems no one else does either. Decades of copyright decisions suggest the Kirby family would have lost, but given the Supreme Court’s interest, the outcome might — might — have been different this time. I often wondered why I followed the case at all; I have no affection for Kirby’s art, and none of the heirs created anything, making the legal battle one between a corporation fighting for profits vs. a family fighting for a ghost — an imaginary person fighting for money vs. real people fighting for a former person. Neither side appealed to my emotions.

(As an aside: While I don’t care for Kirby’s art, I do respect his place in comic history, and he remains one of the premier — perhaps the premier — imaginations to have ever worked in the comics industry.)

I should be sympathetic to the creative side of any argument, but the heirs’ contention that Kirby co-created Spider-Man, even though the evidence of this is thin at best and evanescent at worst, distressed me. Building the case for Kirby’s greatness shouldn’t mean diluting the credit given to others. Worse, it was Steve Ditko’s creation they tried to horn in on, and Ditko’s legacy is already dimmed by the shadow Kirby cast on Marvel’s Silver Age. I understand this contention was a bargaining chip; when you set out your demands, you always stake out ground as far forward as you can so you can give up some ground and still get what you want. Still, it rankled.

But this did make me wonder if too much stock is placed in the original creators and too little in subsequent creators. We moan and complain when Kirby isn’t acknowledged as a co-creator of certain characters, but when X-Men 2 broadly (but recognizably) adapted parts of Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson’s God Loves, Man Kills and Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X stories, we let that go by. It is enough if Kirby and Stan Lee are recognized as creators of the X-Men. But which comic creators had a greater effect on that movie? I would argue the Claremont, Anderson, and Windsor-Smith did far more to make X-Men 2 the outstanding movie it was than the men who created the X-Men and wrote the title for about two years.

Or to take an example entirely within the realms of comics, we can look at Iron Man. Iron Man was officially created by Kirby, Lee, Larry Lieber (who wrote Iron Man’s first appearance, Tales of Suspense #39), and Don Heck (who drew ToS #39). Lee claimed to have come up with the idea — he always claimed that, even when it might not be true — and according to Heck, Kirby designed the Iron Man armor, while Heck created the look of the other characters, including Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. But the original bulbous Iron Man armor was quickly done away with, and the more streamlined red-and-yellow armor we associate with Iron Man was designed by Ditko in ToS #48. So what did Kirby contribute that made a meaningful impact on the character? Little to none in the art department, it appears, but Ditko’s iconic design doesn’t get any consistent acknowledgement.

Of course, it’s possible Kirby contributed to the idea of Iron Man in the early stages; Kirby’s supporters often point out Lee’s bolts of inspiration were rarely as purely Lee’s as Lee claimed. Also, Kirby isn’t around to say what he did or didn’t do. Given that Kirby was a great idea man, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his thoughts were incorporated into Iron Man’s origin.

But that brings me back to what I was wondering before. We remember his long run on Fantastic Four (more than 100 issues) and, but Kirby didn’t stick around some of the Silver Age titles he created for very long: only six issues on Hulk, three of the first five issues on Iron Man, seventeen issues on X-Men. Seventeen issues isn’t nothing, but it’s important to note that X-Men was, until the late ‘70s, the biggest failure of Marvel’s Silver Age explosion. The title was cancelled in 1970 and turned into a bi-monthly reprint title until 1975, when Chris Claremont and a long string of talented artists made it into Marvel’s #1 title. How much credit — not in the sense of “created by” but in the sense of making something a success — do Lee and Kirby deserve for pursuing an idea for seventeen issues (21 for Lee) that the market essentially rejected?

Lee and Kirby deserve some credit, yes. But the person who should get the largest thank you at the end of an X-Men movie is Chris Claremont. Even if he didn’t create most of the characters, he’s the person who made many of them — Wolverine, Magneto, Storm — interesting. Without him and his co-creators, no one would want to watch an X-Men movie, let alone five of them.

This brings me to an idea I considered for some time. Since the versions of these characters that are best known are the movie versions, I thought about looking at who created what in the movies. At one point, I thought about trying to find the creator who was most valuable in the sense of box office receipts, but that would involve some arcane breakdowns of credit — what percentage of credit should be given to Wolverine for the X-Men movies’ success vs. Mystique or Magneto? — that was unprofitable.

(Besides, the answer for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe would almost certainly be Stan Lee.)

Without Jack Kirby, it is somewhere between possible and likely that Marvel wouldn’t have survived the early ‘60s. The characters we know would be greatly different or wouldn’t exist at all. But it’s been 45 years since Kirby left Marvel the first time, which means dozens of other creators have altered, edited, and recreated what the characters and concepts he created. His influence can still be seen in Marvel’s output, both on page and screen, and some of what they publish hasn’t changed much since Kirby put aside his pens.

One of the greatest literary talents of the early 20th century was Thomas Wolfe, who wrote sprawling novels with beautiful prose. I mean really sprawling — the original manuscript of his first novel was more than 1,100. His editor, Maxwell Perkins, cut Look Homeward, Angel considerably and helped make it a success. Does it harm Wolfe’s literary reputation to acknowledge that Perkins’s considerable work made Wolfe’s better? And if acknowledging that sort of collaboration improved a novel, supposedly a solitary effort, how does acknowledging the contributions of others harm the original creators in comics, which often relies on collaboration?

End of the Essentials

After months of decreasing output (much like this blog!), Marvel’s Essentials line has been declared officially dead, more or less. It’s kinda sad; I’ve got dozens of the thick black-and-white volumes, and they were the backbone of my comics library for years. The Essentials served two important purposes for me: it allowed me to get all the important, core stories I needed and hadn't read for characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the X-Men, and it also let me know whether lesser-known series I otherwise wouldn’t have bothered with were any good (Nova: No, Tomb of Dracula: Yes, She-Hulk: No, Spider-Woman: Sometimes). In both cases, the Essentials fulfilled their purpose without breaking my bank, which was important.

Marvel has mined all the core stories from its canon for the Essential books, though. The Essentials now reprint pretty inessential material for its core characters. (Essential Wolverine, v. 7, reprints Wolverine #129-48, which is about as inessential as comic book stories get.) The core continuity for Marvel’s major titles has been out in Essential form for years — fifteen years, for the first few Spider-Man, Wolverine, and X-Men volumes — and I certainly have all of those I want. I even divested myself of Essentials I didn't want any more after I picked up the DVD-ROM reprints of Fantastic Four, Captain America, Avengers, Iron Man, X-Men, and Spider-Man about five to ten years ago.

The Epic line has replaced the Essentials. I haven’t bought any yet, mostly because I’m not interested in most of the lines (because I have the DVD-ROMs), and they are expensive ($35-40 a pop). Eventually, I’ll buy a Spider-Man collection (I haven’t yet because I own physical copies of the issues in Ghosts of the Past and Cosmic Adventures) and … wait a minute — Daredevil / Elektra: Fall from Grace is an epic collection? I feel a bit worse for pre-ordering it now, since it’s slimmer and / or more expensive than other Epics. Still, it’s good to see the line expanding into Daredevil.

With a replacement already here and most of the good stuff already reprinted, I’m not really sorry to see the Essentials go. It was simply time. Still, I’m disappointed that some volumes didn’t get printed:

• Essential Daredevil, v. 7. This would have finished off the pre-Frank Miller issues. I feel lucky we got v. 6, though, and if Marvel is adding Daredevil to the titles in the Epic collection, we might get #147-157 reprinted eventually.
  
• Essential Defenders, v. 8. I own v. 7, and even though I haven’t read it yet, I suspect publishing it was one volume too many. Still, it would have been nice to finish off the series with #140-152.
  
• Essential Dr. Strange, v. 5. This is the one I really wanted; it would have finished off the second Dr. Strange series (the one that didn’t continue Strange Tales’ numbering), printing #57-81. Hmm … that would have been a bit long, with 25 issues included.
  
• Essential Power Man & Iron Fist, v. 3. Another one that would have had to stretch to make it to the end, v. 3 could have reprinted PM&IF #101-125.

Still, I should celebrate the successes of the Essential line, not bury it with my disappointments. We received full runs of Killraven, Tomb of Dracula, Marvel Two-in-One, the OHotMUDE, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Dazzler (Dazzler!), Spider-Woman, and Ms. Marvel. This is remarkable, and really, some of those lines deserved black-and-white reprints, either because the Essentials’ black-and-white reproduction enhanced the art and stories’ atmosphere (Moon Knight and ToD) or because the original stories deserved only a cheap reprint (Dazzler). And I should have read more: I should have picked up Essential Black Panther and Essential Rawhide Kid, just to see what they were like, but I did not. (I might still pick up Rawhide Kid, which is still in print and cheap to buy used. But Black Panther is going for $60 secondhand on Amazon, which is much too much.)

RIP, Essentials. You were the product of a long-ago, mostly TPB-bereft time. We loved you for your reassuring heft, and because you were cheap, but the world has moved on, and you’re just not needed any more.

Top 10 Occupations from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, A to Z, v. 2

They should have this book in guidance offices in high schools across the country instead of … whatever it is that guidance counselors use to inform kids about their choices. This volume is so full of great careers even “vampire hunter” (Blade) and “monster hunter” (Elsa Bloodstone) don’t make the list.

10. Kalorian (Count Abyss). “Kalorian” is term some writer made up. It has something to do with being in a symbiotic relationship with a very powerful alien. Exactly what it has to do with being a symbiote is left unexplained. It’s probably unpleasant, but I left it on the list because it would certainly allow you to write your own job responsibilities. What does a Kalorian do? Whatever I say.

Still, being a Kalorian is probably better than being an “avatar of Agamotto” (Cadaver). It’s never good when a high muckamuck magical being is telling you what to do.

9. Protector of the Universe (Captain Marvel). The hours are awful, and there’s no retirement plan. But you do get to see, well, everything.

8. Cultist (Betty Brant). I suppose it does take up all your time, but room and board is usually provided. Those perks are what sets “cultist” apart from Panther Cult acolyte (Kasper Cole), because Black Panther is not shelling out money for your extras. You can lift yourself up by finding your own heart-shaped herb (and hoping it doesn’t kill you).

7. Self-declared ruler of the Negative Zone (Blastaar). I think I’m going to list this as my occupation on my 1040 next year. It’s not a perfect job; it requires more responsibility than “self-proclaimed savior of Earth” (Centurius), and it’s harder to establish yourself as a ruler than savior. (Generally, saviors only have die to prove their bona fides, and we all do that.) On the other hand, all you have to do is say you’re either one, and you’re set.

6. Competitor (Champion). Now you’re talking. He’s a competitor! All broadcasters of all sports ever love him. He doesn’t even have to win! Imagine going up to people and challenging them to competition all the time. Because you’re a competitor! That’s what it’s like to be Champion!

On second thought, that sounds depressing.

5. Investigator of reality (Contemplator). Think of the comically large magnifying glass you’d get with this job! Plus, you can confidently say that most things are, in fact, real. You’d rarely be wrong. It’s a better job than “reality traveler” (Blink); I travel through reality every time I walk to the bathroom. I suppose I could start investigating reality too, but that seems like too much of a bother unless I were going to make a career of it.

4. Demonic pawn (Copperhead). This has a retirement plan that is worse than protector of the universe, and your boss calls you into work all the time — weekends, late nights, apocalypses. But supervisors are very clear about what they want, and it’s one of those jobs you go into knowing exactly what you’re in store for. Recommended for those who aren’t self-starters but are good negotiators.

3. Scavenger (Caliban). You do get to set your own hours, and you’re your own boss. You aren’t trapped behind a desk all day, either. However, you do risk someone sticking a knife between your ribs. It’s a little better than “drifter” (Cammi), since being a scavenger implies a little more ambition.

2. Wealthy recluse (Moira Brandon). This is the job for those of us who are lazy but are too inept in social situations to shift blame or work onto co-workers. Wealthy recluse narrowly edges “heiress” (Crimson Cowl), since there’s a touch of entitlement to heiress that raises resentment in others; people usually believe wealthy recluses have done something to earn the wealth that allows them to recluse.

1. Insane menace (Bloodwraith). Insanity has a low bar for qualification; all of us are psychologically abnormal in some way or another. The “menace” part is what gets you the respect similar professions — such as “megalomaniac” (Brothers Grimm [Nathan Dolly]) — are denied.

Additionally, Bloodwraith was a squire before he was an insane menace. It’s a strange career progression that takes you from knight’s assistant to crazy threat to everyone.

Dishonorable mention: Would-be conqueror (Bain, Count Nefaria). Keep trying, guys. Let me know when you accomplish something.

Wonder Granny!

If you’re wondering what Richard Howell’s Wonder Granny looks like, here’s a panel from Vision and the Scarlet Witch (v. 2) #2:



Now get off her damn lawn.

Everyday papal excuse

I missed putting up a review today. You, the loyal reader, deserve a better excuse than “my personal life was crazy” or “I was crushed by the amount of work I had to do this week.” Frankly, you can get those kind of excuses anywhere, and we all know they’re lies, just excuses for being too lazy to put in the kind of quality work an unpaid “labor of love” deserves. So you get a better excuse. Like this one:

For the first time this year, I did not post a review on Friday. I apologize. The reason is quite jejune; I was doing some last-minute campaigning before the upcoming papal conclave . I'm not Catholic, but it’s a cushy job, and I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained; also, I've always been a fan of Cardinals (as long as they were from St. Louis).

The neo-Mok excuse

I try not to let personal problems interfere with this site,⁶⁵ but some of you may have noticed how long it has been since I posted a review. My excuses are:

• Last week I had a cold; that, and my other responsibilities, kept me from getting anything useful done. I do not suspect Filthy Flagellum had anything to do with the matter, but I cannot be sure.
• The week before, I was performing my annual service on anti-Claus duty a little early. One week a year is a small price to pay for defeating the forces of the Frozen North. Keep those engines running, and keep pumping out those kids — we’ll beat the ice yet!
• The rest of the time — from late July to Labor Day — I spent in quiet contemplation at my Mok farm. Well, I say “farm,” but I suppose a stickler, such as the Department of Agriculture, might call it a “secret private experimental facility.” Semantics, really.

I founded the farm in 1995, when I realized that — contrary to what the narrator in the Thundarr the Barbarian intro says — the Moks weren’t going to create themselves. So I dedicated the old family farm to the project, hired some of the sharpest scientific minds in the tri-county area, and began playing God. Or Steve Gerber, if you prefer.

We’ve come a long way in less than 20 years. Morphologically, our neo-Moks are quite similar to the TV models, with lustrous coats in autumnal colors and a yodeling growl that routinely inspires passersby and visitors to suggest, “Lords of Light, would put a muzzle on that abomination?” Their incisors are the correct size (about 6 inches long), and we were fortunate to find the genetic markers for the distinctive raccoon-like eye markings early in the process. We’ve never managed to breed the correct size — ours are a mere 5 feet tall and 125 pounds — but I prefer them this way. Larger Moks would be too hard to control.

Sentience is a tricky goal; Professor Jethro says, “The neo-Mok blindly responds to stimuli without reason, lashing out at its environment like a beast. It is nothing more than a machine that coverts organic materials into excrement.” Dr. Zebediah disagrees: “That’s no different from most of your family, Jethro, but I ain’t recommending putting them in cages … except your double cousin Obadiah, maybe.” That prompted Professor Jethro to challenge Dr. Zebediah to a duel; as the challenged party, Zebediah chose the peer-reviewed scientific paper as his weapon. One of them should have satisfaction in the matter in a generation or so.

I don’t know who to agree with — except with Zebediah about putting Obadiah in a circus, or perhaps a humane zoo. Have you seen that boy? I’d call him a freak, but that’s an insult to freaks.

Anyway. Got a little distracted there. Reviews should recommence Friday. Barring another squabble between Jethro and Zebediah.

An Emperor, not a Queen

One thing I didn’t discuss in my review of Invincible: Ultimate Collection, v. 6 is Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley’s interesting decision to make Freddie Mercury the king of the evil Viltrumites. I mean, look at this guy:



I suppose it was inevitable that with that mustache being a racial characteristic, eventually one of those aliens would look like Mercury. But, man, I didn’t expect it to be the leader of the race:

Tradepaperbacking in the '90s

Re-reading Deadpool #26 (March 1999), I noticed a footnote by editor Matt Idelson referring to the previous arc: “A somewhat condensed retelling of issues 23-25, to be trade paperbacked in ten years.”

Which wasn’t quite true. It took almost twelve years before Deadpool Classic, v. 4 reprinted those issues. I wonder what the delay was?

DC August 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Just as DC announces none of this matters and everything will start all over again in September, here are DC’s books for August 2011:

Will buy:

Nothing again. Sorry, DC!

Might buy eventually:

Birds of Prey: The Death of Oracle (hardcover): I keep forgetting that I’m caught up with the Gail Simone Birds of Prey issues, and I could probably read this if I wanted to without being confused. But I haven’t read v. 1, and I’m going to wait for the trade for v. 2, and everything gets reset in September, and … you know, I think DC is trying to discourage me from reading Gail Simone. Weird. ($24.99)
• Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland (hardcover): I’ve picked up the first … 15? volumes in trade paperback. I can wait for the trade again. I’m a patient person. ($22.99)

Might buy if the price is right:

Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers (hardcover): Marshall Rogers is a great Batman artist — one of the best ever. This collection includes 24 issues ranging from his ‘70s work on Detective Comics, a ‘90s run on Legends of the Dark Knight, and the 21st century mini Batman: Dark Detective. I don’t want it badly enough to spend $50 for it, but if you’re a big Bat-fan, then maybe you should. ($49.99)

Already have or read:

100 Bullets, Book One (hardcover): An excellent start to a series that lost some of its momentum over time. Reading 100 Bullets in huge chunks, however, can only help the story. ($49.99)
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Omnibus (hardcover): $50 for the first to League minis? No, thank you. Unless you have a hardcover fetish, you’d be much better off with the two trades, especially since the trade doesn’t mention any special features. A couple of Jess Nevins essays might help make this more worthwhile. ($49.99)

The Rest:

Batman: Arkham City (hardcover): It’s a video game tie-in, which is bad. It’s written by Paul Dini, which is good. It bridges the time between the two Batman: Arkham video games, which is … soul sapping, is the phrase I’m looking for. Yes, that’s it. ($22.99)
• Batman: Eye of the Beholder (hardcover; $22.99)
• Batman: The Widening Gyre: Diehard Kevin Smith fans only. Sorry. ($17.99)
• Cuba: My Revolution: That’s a weird way to look at a Communist revolution. I mean, surely one’s personal development, like the tractor and the land, belongs to everyone in a Communist society? ($17.99)
• A God Somewhere: This doesn’t appear to be a Vertigo title, despite a premise (man who gets powers in a normal, non-powered world) that would seem to fit under that imprint. ($17.99) Greek Street, v. 3: Medea’s Luck: If it weren’t for Medea’s luck, I’d have no luck at all: gloom, despair, and agony on me. ($14.99)
• Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War ($29.99)
• How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less ($19.99)
• iZombie, v. 2: uVampire: OK, enough with this Apple knockoff naming. It has ceased to be funny. ($14.99)
• JLA, v. 1: What do you mean Grant Morrison’s JLA isn’t already out in trade paperback? I thought everything the man had done at DC had been reprinted. That being said, I’m not quite a big enough fan of JLA or Morrison to pick this one up. ($19.99)
• Justice League of America: Team History: This reprints issues from Blackest Night? How long ago was that? More than a year, almost a year and a half. Anyone who waits that long for a James Robinson JLA story either has some weird priorities or really likes Mark Bagley art. ($17.99)
• Justice League: Generation Lost, v. 2 (hardcover; $39.99)
• Justice Society of America: Super Town ($14.99)
• The New York Five: “Collecting the four-issue miniseries the [sic] exposes the underbelly of college life in the Big Apple!” Nice advertising — if you wanted it to sound like a pulp sex novel from the ‘50s and ‘60s. ($14.99)
• Night Force (hardcover): An intriguing idea — a collection of an obscure early 1980s horror comic by the creators behind Tomb of Dracula — but it’s so obscure I can’t imagine wanting it, and the price is certainly more than enough to put me off. (Even for 14 issues in hardcover.) I’ll probably give it another thought when the trade comes around, if it comes around. ($39.99) Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book 6 (hardcover; $24.99)
• Showcase Presents: All-Star Comics, v. 1: This is the JSA, for those of you who can’t immediately twig to the significance of “All-Star Comics.” (That category includes me.) Always nice to see DC reprint different stuff, but the JSA has never been that interesting to me. ($19.99)
• Superman / Batman: Sorcerer Kings (hardcover): Because, sooner or later, there has to be a story about Batman using magic in Superman / Batman. ($22.99)
• The Flash: The Road To Flashpoint (hardcover): “This hardcover collection of THE FLASH #8-12 leads up to FLASHPOINT, the biggest comic-book event for summer 2011!” In other words: By the time this comes out, Flashpoint will be over. ($22.99)
• Titans: Family Reunion ($14.99)
• Tom Strong’s Terrific Tales, v. 2: Of all the ABC titles, I think Tom Strong was the one I had the least interest in. ($17.99)

Marvel August 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Sorry this is up a little late — I was serving my time in Canada earlier this month, and I’m just now getting caught up. Here are Marvel’s books for August 2011:

Will buy:

Shock of shocks — I’m not definitely going to buy any Marvel books in August. Is this my failing, or is something wrong with the House of Ideas? You decide!

Might buy eventually:

• Avengers Academy: Arcade: Death Game: The first TPB isn’t out yet; that will determine whether I pick up this second book. On the other hand, this is an odd collection: an issue of Marvel Team-Up from the late ‘70s, a Spider-Man from the early ‘90s, and Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1. Actually, this looks more like an Arcade collection than Avengers Academy. ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785156307)
• Spider-Girl: Family Values: On one hand, the early issues got good reviews. On the other hand, this is Anya Corazon, who starred in the badly received Arana. Ah, well, at least it’s complete in one volume. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785146940)

Might buy if the price is right:

• FF by Jonathan Hickman, v. 1 (hardcover): This isn’t the first time the team has lost one of the founding members to death, but it is the first time they’ve changed the team name and costumes because of it. So that’s something, I guess. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785151449)
• Green Goblin: A Lighter Shade of Green: I am interested in this title; I heard good things about Green Goblin back in the ‘90s when it originally came out. Am I $40 interested? Hell, no, I am not. I can get the original issues for less than half that and then have them bound together in hardcover. ($39.99; ISBN: 9780785157571)

Masterworks:

• Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners, v. 4 (hardcover): They were golden, and they were all winners. Even the Silver Loser. ($64.99; ISBN: 9780785133599)
• Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, v. 13 (hardcover): I had no idea the Masterworks were so far into the post-Lee / Kirby era of Fantastic Four; this reprints #129141, which I don’t remember as very good despite John Buscema’s work. ($59.99; ISBN: 9780785150404)
• Marvel Masterworks: The Sub-Mariner, v. 1: I just read the Essential, and I don’t think color’s going to help this one. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785150688)

Already have or read:

• Essential Web of Spider-Man, v. 1: An interesting choice for an Essential — the third-tier Spider-title — but we all knew we’d get here sooner or later. It is curious Web begins before the title it replaced, Marvel Team-Up, is finished. It would be like the Essential Thing coming out before Essential Marvel Two-in-One finished. Ha, I kid! Marvel Two-in-One is never going to finish. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785157564)
• Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus, v. 1 (hardcover): Always worth reading. ($125; ISBN: 9780785158240)
• Fantastic Four by Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo Ultimate Collection, Book 2: Have it on the GIT Corp. DVD-Rom, which I heartily recommend. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785156581)
• Hulk Visionaries: Peter David, v. 8: Volume 8 gets us about halfway through David’s run. I don’t know what is more astonishing: that it will take at least 16 volumes to get through the entirety of Hulk Visionaries: Peter David or that we might actually get all those volumes. ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785156031)
• New X-Men by Grant Morrison, Book 4 ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785155324)
• X-Force: Assault on Graymalkin (hardcover): Not really a run of X-Force I would choose to collect, but, you know, whatever. It does have the benefit of coming during X-Force’s first non-Cable period. As a side note, this contains the first non-crossover X-Force issues that I ever read. ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785158998)
• X-Statix Omnibus (hardcover): Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s classic work, in one gigantic volume. The same price as the John Byrne Omnibus, but it has 116 more pages. (Total: 1,200 pages.) Bonus! ($125; ISBN: 9780785158448)

Licensed books:

• Formic Wars: Burning Earth (hardcover): Burn, Earth, burn! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785136095)
• Marvelman Classic, v. 3 (hardcover): No, this isn’t the Moore / Davis / Gaiman stuff. Quit asking. ($34.99; ISBN: 9780785157236)
• Oz: Ozma of Oz (hardcover): Eric Shanower’s Oz is well regarded, but I personally have no interest Oz. ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785142478)
• The Stand, v. 1: Captain Trips: Horrible line from the solicitation: “For when Captain Trips works its way across the land, it is time to make a stand.” First, “Captain Trips” is the superflu, and making a stand against a virus is likely to be a futile effort. Second, way to awkwardly shoehorn the name of the series and volume into the book while making it sound like you haven’t read the source material or the book solicited. ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785135210)

The Rest:

• Annihilators (hardcover): Although I have all of Guardians of the Galaxy and have read Annihilation, I don’t have any interest in this. Weird. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785160403)
• Black Widow: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider (hardcover): I don’t think I’ve seen any artist draw the Black Widow in a way that could be described as “itsy-bitsy.” ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785158271)
• Captain America: Prisoner of War (hardcover): The solicit doesn’t say what war Cap is a prisoner of, so I’m going to choose my favorite: The War of Spanish Succession. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785151210)
• Carnage: Family Feud (hardcover): In which Carnage kills Richard Dawson, Ray Combs (again), Louie Anderson, Richard Karn, John O’Hurley, and Steve Harvey. That’s why it’s five issues long! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785151128)
• Daken: Dark Wolverine: Empire ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785147060)
• Deadpool / Amazing Spider-Man / Hulk: Identity Wars (hardcover): I’ll take random team-ups for $800, Alex. Although I suppose it’s not as random as it could be, given that both Spider-Man and Deadpool have been featured in team-up books. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785155683)
• Incredible Hulks: Dark Son: So, in this book, the Hulk has three kids, and his cousin, wife (?), and best pal are all Hulk critters as well. There has to be a reset button in there somewhere. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785150015)
• Invincible Iron Man, v. 6: Stark Resilient, Book 2 ($15.99; ISBN: 9780785148357)
• Invincible Iron Man, v. 8: The Unfixable (hardcover): Hmm, the hardcover and TPBs are two apart now. That’s probably not good, although I’m too lazy to look up whether ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785153221)
• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man: Friendly Neighborhood (digest): I remember when digests cost $7. (I’m not old; I’m just surly.) ($9.99; ISBN: 9780785152576)
• The Marvel Art of John Romita Jr. (hardcover) ($49.99; ISBN: 9780785155355)
• Marvel Zombies: Christmas Carol (hardcover): Nothing says “Christmas” like a zombie collection released in August. Ho ho ho! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785157724)
• Namor: The First Mutant, v. 2: Namor Goes to Hell: It’s rare for any publisher to put such a bald statement of quality on the cover. Bravo, Marvel! ($16.99; ISBN: 9780785151760)
• New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, v. 2 (hardcover) ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785148746)
• Shadowland: Lots of Shadowland this month! Are you excited? (No, you’re probably not, and that’s not uncommon.) ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785147633)
• Shadowland: Daredevil: Wait — shouldn’t this be Daredevil: Shadowland? Does the crossover really deserve top billing over Daredevil? ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785145226)
• Shadowland: Street Heroes: When you can’t bother to come up with a better name than “Street Heroes” for a crossover that was almost entirely about street-level crimefighting, then you may have a problem. Also: Bullseye (featured in the Shadowland: Bullseye one shot) is not a hero. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785148883)
• Shadowland: Thunderbolts ($15.99; ISBN: 9780785152194)
• Silver Surfer: Devolution ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785156659)
• Spider-Man: The Fantastic Spider-Man (hardcover): Might pick this up in paperback, but I have no real desire to even look at it in hardcover. Especially if it’s shrinkwrapped. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785151067)
• Spider-Man: The Next Chapter, v. 1: Do you want to see Howard Mackie and John Byrne screw up a Spider-Man relaunch? And by “screw up,” I mean spectacularly. (Tired of the stupid plot twists and characters from the previous titles? Then you’ll love this relaunch, which immediately brings back those same tired characters and plots!) It’s fourteen issues of Spider-mediocrity for $40! ($39.99; ISBN: 9780785157595)
• Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato Ultimate Collection: Really: “ultimate.” The only thing ultimate about this collection is that it’s the final one. Of course, if you really like Mike Deodato or Warren Ellis, your opinion might vary, but I don’t think anyone is going to say this is their best work. ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785158493)
• Vampire Tales, v. 3: The solicit for this is all messed up. The information has nothing to do with vampires; instead, it’s the description for New Mutants Classic. Since I have a soft spot for Marvel’s older horror properties, I might reconsider once I have better details. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785156048)
• Wolverine / Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785141105)
• Wolverine: Wolverine Goes to Hell: See Namor: The First Mutant. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785147855)
• X-Men Legacy: Collision ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785146698)
• X-Men: Curse of the Mutants: Of course the X-Men fight vampires. Because once you lose your central metaphor for half a decade, it’s natural to flounder for a new direction. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785148470)
• X-Men: Curse of the Mutants: Mutants vs. Vampires: I’d only read this if Wolverine gutted Edward Cullen. Or vampire married him, either one. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785152293)
• X-Men: Prelude to Schism (hardcover): Watch as Wolverine travels to Avignon and declares himself the antipope. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785156895)

Dark Horse, IDW, and Image July 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Hey, Image’s solicits are on time this month! In honor of its timeliness, let’s get the show on the road:

Will buy:

Nothing this month. Sorry, independents! Might buy eventually:

• Chew, v. 4: Flambé: I’ve read v. 1, and I frequently consider picking the series back up. I haven’t done so yet, but with this price point, it’s only a matter of time. ($12.99; Image)
• Scud, the Disposable Assassin: The Whole Shebang!: This is a series I’ve heard about almost since it first came out in the mid-‘90s. With the whole series in one volume, I might have to give it a look. ($29.99; Image)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Green River Killer: A True Detective Story (hardcover): I am a sucker for true crime, and I’m familiar with the Green River Killer, having read Anne Rule’s Green River, Running Red. I might be interested enough to pick this up to get another perspective on the serial killer. ($24.99; Dark Horse)
• Parker: The Martini Edition (hardcover): Darwyn Cooke writing and drawing a noir adaptation is always worth a look. Not worth $75, but it is two of Cooke’s Parker tales in one volume. ($75, ISBN: 978-1-60010-980-5; IDW)

The Rest:

• Angel Omnibus, v. 2 ($24.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-968-3; IDW)
• Angel: The Covers (hardcover): No. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-969-0; IDW)
• Archie: Americana, v. 2: The ’50s (hardcover): The gradual evolution of Archie Comics’s art style continues; the jokes remain the same. ($24.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-945-4; IDW)
• Bomb Queen: Gang Bang: Tasteful, as Bomb Queen always is. ($14.99; Image)
• 'Breed, v. 2: The Book of Ecclesiastes ($17.99; Image)
• Chimichanga (hardcover): One of two Dark Horse collected editions this month. This one, written and drawn by The Goon’s Eric Powell, is about a bearded girl at a circus who trades for an egg that hatches the Chimichanga. Despite the rumors, the book is not going to be a free giveaway at Taco Bell. ($14.99; Dark Horse)
• Classic G.I. Joe, v. 12 ($24.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-972-0; IDW)
• Classic Next Men, v. 1: IDW started John Byrne’s new Next Men last month, and they reprinted the original #1 last ($24.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-971-3; IDW)
• Dave Stevens: The Complete Sketchbook Collection (hardcover): If you like your girls pretty but fictional, Stevens is the man for you. Or at least one of the men for you. ($50; ISBN: 978-1-61377-037-5; IDW)
• Death Valley ($17.99; ISBN: 978-1-60010-973-7; IDW)
• Doctor Who II, v. 1: The Ripper: I watch the Doctor Who TV series, but I have no interest in original comic book stories, no matter what the plot. When the TV show is generally outrageous anyway, what’s the incentive to read a story in a spin-off medium? ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-974-4; IDW)
• Edge of Doom ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-927-0; IDW)
• Elephantmen, v. 2: Fatal Diseases – Revised Edition: I have heard good things about this book, but this solicitation — full of pachyderm puns — makes it seem intolerable. ($24.99; Image)
• Fallen Angel: Return of the Son: Despite what you might think, this has nothing to do with the Whedon vampire Angel. ($17.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-975-1; IDW)
• From Bloom County to Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed ($20, ISBN: 978-1-61377-008-5; IDW)
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, v. 2 ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-941-6; IDW)
• Haunt: The Immortal Edition, v. 1 (hardcover; $34.99; Image)
• Infestation, v. 1: You can hire Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to write this, but it doesn’t make a zombie crossover involving Star Trek, G.I. Joe, and Ghostbusters any less silly. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-977-5; IDW)
• Iron Siege: Nazis and monsters — but I repeat myself — are two horrible tastes that do absolutely nothing for me when put together. ($17.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-979-9; IDW)
• Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows: Joe Hill, the writer of this series, is Stephen King’s son. I didn’t know that until last night. How could I not have know that? ($19.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-953-9; IDW)
• Marineman: A Matter of Life and Depth ($17.99; Image)
• Meta 4: The Complete Series (digest): The story is full of symbols, but the title goes for a cheap, text-speak pun. The contradiction is obvious. ($14.99; Image)
• Rip Kirby, v. 4 (hardcover): The final volume in IDW’s collection of a comic strip I’ve never heard of. Comic historians, this one’s for you. ($49.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-989-8; IDW)
• Spawn: New Beginnings: A new Spawn! I … I don’t care. And I’m sure my personal yawn is echoed by most comics fans. ($14.99; Image)
• Spinecrawler ($17.99, ISBN: 978-1-60010-987-4; IDW)
• Strange Girl Omnibus (hardcover; $59.99; Image)
• The Darkness Compendium, v. 2 (hardcover): There are people out there who will pay $100 for a Darkness collection. Well, I assume there are. I haven’t met them. ($99.99; Image)
• Transformers, v. 3 ($19.99; ISBN: 978-1-60010-981-2; IDW)
• Turf (hardcover): BBC presenter Jonathan Ross’s story of Prohibition-era gangsters, vampires, and aliens. Reports I have heard ranged from fun romp to confusing mishmash. ($39.99; Image)
• Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies ($18.99; Image)
• Walter Simonson’s Thor: Artist’s Edition (hardcover): I do not share the general enthusiasm for Simonson’s Thor, but for people who do, this might be a fascinating look at the run. Or it might be an overpriced coffee table book. Who knows? ($75, ISBN: 978-1-61377-038-2; IDW)
• Witchblade: Redemption, v. 3: It is 2011, and Witchblade is still being published. Hooray! ($19.99; Image)

DC July 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Leaving out the “new editions” this month:

Will buy:

Once again, nothing this month. Sorry, DC! Might buy eventually:

• New Teen Titans: Games (hardcover): A new OGN by the classic New Teen Titans team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Color me intrigued. ($24.99)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Joe the Barbarian (hardcover): Is Joe an 11-year-old hallucinating diabetic, or is he a fantasy hero? With Grant Morrison, you never know. ($29.99)
• Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold: It’s fashionable — and correct — to dump on J. Michael Straczynski currently, but that doesn’t mean he can’t write. ($17.99)

Licensed:

• Deus Ex ($17.99)
• Resident Evil: I was going to say something about the irrelevancy of video-game comic books until I read the last line of the solicit: “Veteran mercenary Holiday Sugarman is sent to remote Grezbekistan; when his team is wiped out by G-Virus infected militiamen, he must face G-Prime – alone.” I cannot take Grezbekistan or “Holiday Sugarman” seriously as names, and it makes no sense to me that “Holiday” is a “he.” I mean: obviously, “Holiday” is a girl’s name. ($19.99)
• World of Warcraft, Book 4: Written by the Simonsons (and Mike Costa), the solicitation is full of that fantasy cliché: the name with the apostrophe in it. What does an apostrophe mean in the middle of Med’an and Cho’gall? For that matter, what does the double “a” in Meraad mean? Do I stretch out that last syllable? Muraaaaaaaaaad. ($14.99)
• World of Warcraft: Curse of the Worgen (hardcover): Oh no. The Worgen. Why are they cursed? What are they? I don’t play WoW, so this is not aimed at me, but I was curious as to what they were; they are exactly what I thought they would be: wolf men. ($22.99)

The Rest:

• 99 Days (hardcover) ($19.99)
• Batman: Impostors: The contents of this one are “collected from Detective Comics #867-891.” I was set to criticize DC for not telling us the actual contents of the 128-page book, but then I realized Detective is up to only #880 in July. Typo! I assume that should be #871? ($14.99)
• Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories: According to Amazon, the hardcover version of this Paul Dini / Bruce Timm Batman Adventure collection is out of print. These are highly regarded stories, so it’s a good thing DC put it back in print. ($17.99)
• Batman: Under the Red Hood: Oh, joy. The Red Hood. Can’t wait. ($29.99)
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!: Back in Black: Written by Art Baltazar, who does the Tiny Titans. Could be good. ($12.99)
• Brightest Day, v. 3 (hardcover): The final volume of the “spectacular” series. Yay! ($29.99)
• Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story ($19.99)
• Doom Patrol: Fire Away ($19.99)
• Fogtown: This is a noir comic set in 1950s San Francisco, with a an allegedly “deeply closeted” PI. It ends, according to the solicitation, with a “horrifying, gender-bending truth.” Vertigo! ($12.99)
• Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer (hardcover): “Learn why no one in the universe messes with Sinestro and lives to tell the tale!” Except that Hal Jordan messes with Sinestro all the time and has lived (except that time when he was dead, but Sinestro had nothing to do with the little yellow space bug). ($22.99)
• Justice League of America: Omega (hardcover; $24.99)
• Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth Omnibus, v. 1 (hardcover): It’s odd — the same sort of completist nostalgia I find normal in Marvel material I find baffling with DC. My prejudices showing, I suppose. In any event, it’s a Jack Kirby omnibus, which will drive up sales no matter how goofy I find the premise. ($49.99)
• Legion of Super-Heroes 2: Consequences (hardcover) ($24.99)
• Madame Xanadu, v. 4: Extra Sensory ($17.99)
• Supergirl: Bizarrogirl: Bizarro! I love you! ($19.99)
• Superman / Batman: Night and Day ($17.99)
• Superman: The Black Ring, v. 2 (hardcover): Another volume of Paul Cornell’s “Lex Luthor starring in Action Comics.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ($29.99)
• Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane Archives, v. 1 (hardcover): Ten issues for $60. Eh, no thanks; that price tag killed any curiosity I might have had. ($59.99)

Marvel July 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Will be picking up:

• Avengers Academy, v. 1: Permanent Record: This is more what I had in mind when I picked up Avengers: The Initiative (sans the stupid Initiative crap): a genuine team of superpowered youngsters, mentored by real Avengers. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785148906)
• Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis, v. 3: It’s titled “Alan Davis,” but the contents contain a significant portion of Scott Lobdell. Just so you know; I don’t want you caught off guard like you were with that “Taco Bell” and “beef” shocker. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785155430)

Might buy eventually:

• Avengers Academy, v. 2: Will We Use This in the Real World? (hardcover): Won’t know if I want this until I pick up the first volume; it would seem to me that you’d want to have the TPB out for a month or so before putting this out, since it would let readers realize they like the title and want to read the next volume when they see it on the shelves. At least this does come out one week after the TPB. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785144960)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic, Book 1: I think this renaming of the Clone Saga is a smart idea — at some volume number, people’s innate caution was going to get in the way of their curiosity and stop people from buying more volumes. Giving it a new name separates it from the increasing stink the Clone Saga generated as it went along. ($39.99; ISBN: 9780785155454)

Masterworks:

• Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Strange Tales, v. 5 (hardcover) ($64.99; ISBN: 9780785150169)
• Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk, v. 6 (hardcover) ($59.99; ISBN: 9780785150435)
• Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men, v. 3 ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785150701)

Already have or read:

• Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, v. 5: Other than the Death of Jean DeWolff, I remember the issues in this volume (#97-114) being a bit of a downswing for the title. Does have some of Peter David’s first comic work, though. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785118862)
• New Mutants Classic, v. 6: Contains the shocking issue where Larry Bodine is encouraged to commit suicide by Mary Worth. (I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether Mary Worth is doing the encouraging, or if “Mary Worth” is a method of committing suicide. If you decide the latter, please leave a comment telling me what that method involves.) ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785155447)
• New X-Men by Grant Morrison, Book 3: Rolling through one of Morrison’s most impressive mainstream successes. ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785155034)
• X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jim Lee Omnibus, v. 1: I can almost hear Marvel saying: Why can’t it the late ‘80s, when occasionally a comic book issue would sell hundreds of thousands of copies, the X-Men were on the top of the heap, and everything made sense? (Except for some of Claremont’s long-term plots, that is.) ($125; ISBN: 9780785158226)
• X-Men: X-Cutioner’s Song (hardcover): The first comic book issue I ever bought was part of this crossover — X-Men #14 — so I have an irrational fondness for X-Cutioner’s Song. Still, you couldn’t get me to pay $50 for a hardcover edition of the story. ($49.99; ISBN: 9780785156109)

Licensed books:

• Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned, Book 2: The Ingenue (hardcover): That’s a mouthful of a title. Actually, I think there’s more action in that title than there is in the book. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785146902)
• Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead (hardcover): Bring out your dead! Orson Scott Card wants to speak to them! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785135869) Oz: The Marvelous Land of Oz: I’ve been there. Not so “marvelous.” Tourist trap, really. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785140870)
• The Stand: No Man’s Land (hardcover): The Stand juggernaut rolls ever onward, whether or not you actually want it to. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785136248)

The Rest:

• Art of Marvel Studios (hardcover): This four-book collection actually contains last month’s Captain America: The Art of Captain America: The First Avenger plus the “art of” titles for three other movies: Thor and Iron Man 1 and 2. Unless you are interested in production artwork or are in that profession, I can’t see why you’d want to drop this much money on a collection like this. ($150; ISBN: 9780785153320)
• Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine (hardcover): It took almost a year to put out five issues of this miniseries, but they did manage to get the hardcover out only two months after the final issue came out. Good job! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785148906)
• Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, v. 1 ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785145042)
• Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, v. 2 (hardcover): This actually comes out a fortnight before v. 1. Well played, Marvel. And by “well played,” I mean the opposite. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785145042)
• Black Panther: The Man without Fear, v. 1: Urban Jungle: Will this be the relaunch of Black Panther that will finally bear fruit? (Hint: No.) ($16.99; ISBN: 9780785145233)
• Black Widow: Kiss or Kill ($12.99; ISBN: 9780785147015)
• Captain America: Hail Hydra: “Hail, HYDRA! Immortal HYDRA! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off a limb, and two more shall take its place! We serve none but the Master — as the world shall soon serve us! Hail HYDRA!” Sorry about that. I have no idea what this series is about, but I just wanted to type that in. I love it when a terrorist organization takes its mythology so seriously. ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785151272)
• Captain America: Red Glare (hardcover): I am a little frightened by the lack of Captain America titles this month, given that this is the month the movie actually comes out. Cap gets only three titles, and in one of those (X-Men / Steve Rogers: Escape from the Negative Zone), he doesn’t even get top billing. Oh, wait — there’s a fourth: Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, although that one doesn’t exactly sell the Captain America brand all that well. ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785158950)
• Casanova: Gula: Reprinting the first four issues second volume of Casanova. ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785148630)
• Daken / X-23: Collision (hardcover): Spawn of Wolverine, unite! ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785147077)
• Deadpool Pulp ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785148715)
• Deadpool, v. 6: I Rule, You Suck: Only two Deadpool titles as well … something’s wrong here. ($15.99; ISBN: 9780785151364)
• Fantastic Four: 1234 (hardcover): Do you remember this one and the furor it raised? Unless you’re a diehard Grant Morrison fan, I’m betting the answer is “No.” (I bet the answer is “No” an awful lot. That’s why I’m rich enough to pay the bills with reviewing trade paperbacks.) ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785158967)
• Hawkeye: Blindspot ($15.99; ISBN: 9780785156017)
• Incredible Hulks: Planet Savage ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785151593)
• Marvel Point One: This one should have “Miscellaneous: For Completists Only” stamped on the cover and the spine. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785156260)
• Millar & McNiven’s Nemesis: Oh, look who’s Mr. High and Mighty, has to have his name before the name of the book. Has Mark Millar really gotten to be that important? (I do appreciate that he’s included Steve McNiven in the title; it’s only right.) ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785148661)
• New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis, v. 1: More Bendis! That makes three Bendis-titled Avenger volumes this month alone! Oh, happy day! ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785148739)
• Onslaught Unleashed (hardcover): This book stars the Young Allies and Secret Avengers. Of course it’s named “Onslaught Unleashed.” ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785157762)
• Secret Avengers, v. 1: Mission to Mars ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785146001)
• Spider-Man / Fantastic Four ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785144236)
• Spider-Man: Am I an Avenger?: I think this volume will answer its own question just by the title alone. And that answer is “No.” ($29.99; ISBN: 9780785157496)
• Spider-Man: Big Time: Is it usual to have two Amazing Spider-Man TPBs come out in a month? I’m not sure … ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785146247)
• Spider-Man: Blue: A Loeb / Sale joint. You know if you want it or not. ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785110712)
• Spider-Man: Origin of the Species: Big Time reprints barely a month’s worth of comics, but Origin is a couple of months worth. Why not space these books out a little more? Is there some crunch coming in the months ahead? Is Marvel trying to catch up? ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785146223)
• Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier ($14.99; ISBN: 9780785148791)
• Thor: Black Galaxy Saga: And there’s only two Thor volumes this month. Weird. Spooky. Where will the next movie push come from? ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785150954)
• Thor: Spiral ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785150893)
• Thunderbolts: Violent Rejection ($15.99; ISBN: 9780785152217)
• Wolverine by Jason Aaron Omnibus, v. 1 (hardcover): I do love the idea of omnibuses, but is there a market for a Jesse Aaron Wolverine book? I think of omnibuses as vehicles for older material and for critically acclaimed runs, and I haven’t heard that much about Aaron’s run, really. ($99.99; ISBN: 9780785156390)
• Wolverine: The Best There Is: Contagion (hardcover) ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785144465)
• Wolverine: Wolverine vs. the X-Men (hardcover) ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785147862)
• X-Factor: Scar Tissue (hardcover): I get X-Factor in TPB, not hardcovers, but I always get X-Factor, so I have nothing to say about this one. ($24.99; ISBN: 9780785152835)
• X-Men / Steve Rogers: Escape from the Negative Zone (hardcover) ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785155607)
• X-Men Legacy: Aftermath (hardcover) ($19.99; ISBN: 9780785156352)

Dark Horse and IDW June 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Will be picking up: Nothing. Sorry, IDW and Dark Horse! It’s not your fault I have provincial tastes!

Might pick up eventually:

• Dungeons & Dragons, v. 1: Shadowplague (hardcover): Comic adaptations of D&D are generally, well, crap. (Sorry, DC and everyone who worked on their ‘90s D&D comics!) Still, the idea of fantasy comics is a worthwhile one, as the various Conan comics point out and CrossGen noticed. So I might manage to pick this one up eventually and see if it’s a good story or if it’s awkwardly adapted game mechanics and traditions. ($24.99, 9781600109225; IDW)

Might pick up if the price is right:

• Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Oddities and the Ghastly Fiend of London, v. 2 ($15.99; Dark Horse)
• Next Men, v. 1 (hardcover): This is the new series rather than a reprint of the series in the ‘90s. For those of us who didn’t read the original, IDW is also reprinting Next Men, v. 1, #1 for $1 under their 100 Penny Press banner. ($21.99, 9781600109249; IDW)

Competing 1940s Archie collections!:

• Archie Archives, v. 2 (hardcover) ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• Archie: Americana, v. 1: The '40s (hardcover): Which to choose? The IDW book is a compilation of two “Best of the Forties” books, according to the solicitations, and the Dark Horse book reprints material in chronological order. For the casual Archie enthusiast — and you know who you are; yes, you, sir, in the back of the Nebraska — Americana is probably the best idea, but the hard-core Archie fan (the ones who like their malteds double strong) will look forward to the Archives. ($24.99; 9781600109317; IDW)

Manga:

• Drifters, v. 1 ($$12.99; Dark Horse)
• Eden: It’s an Endless World!, v. 13 ($12.99; Dark Horse)
• Gantz, v. 18 ($12.99; Dark Horse)
• Oh My Goddess!, v. 39 ($10.99; Dark Horse)

The Rest:

• 30 Days of Night Prestige Edition: For those who want prestige in their horror comics. ($50, 9781600109560; IDW)
• Angel, v. 3: The Wolf, the Ram, and the Heart ($24.99, 9781600109447; IDW)
• B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth, v. 1: New World: Tough to go wrong with Guy Davis art — I mean, if you can’t have Mignola, Davis would be in my top three choices — but for some reason I resist the BPRD books. Perhaps I’m recalling gradually getting sucked into auxiliary X-titles in ‘90s and transferring the dislike to all spinoff titles. ($19.99; Dark Horse)
• Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery Archives, v. 6 (hardcover) ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• Caniff ($49.99, 9781600109201; IDW)
• Danger Girl Campbell Sketchbook (hardcover): There are people out there that still want this? Really? When did the last Danger Girl come out? (*checks notes*) OK, a mini in 2007, but J. Scott Campbell hasn’t drawn the book since a one-shot in 2004, and he hasn’t worked on more than Danger Girl issue in a year since last century. And why isn’t this coming out from Wildstorm / DC or Image, which are the companies that published Danger Girl in the first place? ($19.99; 9781600109218; IDW)
• Deadworld Classics, v. 2 ($24.99, 9781600109256; IDW)
• Flash Gordon Comic Book Archives, v. 4 (hardcover) ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• G.I. Joe: Cobra, v. 4: Death of Cobra Commander ($17.99, 9781600109881; IDW)
• Jericho: Season Three: Somewhere there is a Venn diagram that shows the overlap between Jericho fans and comic book readers, and I suspect that overlap is pretty tiny. ($19.99, 9781600109393; IDW)
• Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert: I realize IDW is making a John Byrne push this month, but this is the best Byrne property it could find? ($17.99, 9781600109232; IDW)
• Little Lulu, v. 28: The Prize Winner and Other Stories: Twenty-eight volumes of Little Lulu? Huh. ($14.99; Dark Horse)
• Locke & Key, v. 4: Keys to the Kingdom (hardcover) ($24.99, 9781600108860; IDW)
• Something Monstrous! ($17.99, 9781600109287; IDW)
• Space Family Robinson Archives, v. 1 (hardcover): Collecting issues from Gold Key Comics … of an idea more famously adapted as Lost in Space. I ask this sarcastically sometimes, but I truly wonder who the audience for this collection is: comics historians? Nostalgic 40- or 50-somethings? Is this a lost gem that I just don’t know about? ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• Star Wars Omnibus: A Long Time Ago..., v. 4: I’m not interested in this, but I have to admit, $25 for eighteen full-color issues is an excellent deal, even when you take the non-standard size into account. ($24.99; Dark Horse)
• Star Wars: Knight Errant—Aflame ($17.99; Dark Horse)
• Suicide Forest: Not to be confused with IDW’s Suicide Girls series. This sounds more like an American attempt at J-horror. ($17.99, 9781600109478; IDW)
• Transformers Classics, v. 1 ($24.99, 9781600109355; IDW)
• Transformers Prime, v. 3 ($7.99, 9781600109607; IDW)
• Transformers: The Complete All Hail Megatron (hardcover) ($75, 9781600109553; IDW)

DC June 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Will be picking up: Nothing. Sorry, DC!

Might pick up eventually:

• Showcase Presents: The Trial of the Flash: I won’t say that DC is more adventuresome with their choices of Showcases than Marvel is with Essentials — really, how do you choose between Bat Lash / The War that Time Forgot and Killraven / Godzilla? — but I can’t see Marvel doing anything like this: jumping ahead in a character’s history to present an extended storyline. I understand it ties in with the May crossover storyline in the DC books, which involves Zoom changing the DC universe, but I have a fondness and curiosity for this story … the first Flash I ever read (and one of the first comics I ever read) was Flash #274, which teased the death of Iris Allen, and I’m curious to see what happens when Flash gets his chance at revenge. ($19.99)

Might pick up if the price is right:

• The Steve Ditko Omnibus, v. 1 Starring Shade the Changing Man (hardcover): I’m a big Ditko fan, but I’m not sure I’m that big of a Ditko fan, if you catch my drift. ($59.99)
• Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave: Well, I was slightly amused by the first Welcome to Tranquility volume; I might try the second. ($17.99)

Already got one (earlier collection or original comics):

• Fables Deluxe Edition, v. 3 (hardcover) ($29.99)
• Gotham Central, v. 2: Jokers and Madmen: Hey! This time they’re reprinting all the stories! Find out what happened in #16-8 that DC didn’t want us to know about when they released Gotham Central, v. 3: Unresolved Targets in 2006. Also, it’s a twelve-issue trade for an affordable price; the creative team is top-notch, and there’s no reason not to buy this series. ($19.99)

Blackest Night:

• Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps, v. 1 ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps, v. 2 ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Green Lantern ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps ($19.99)
• Blackest Night: Seven Blackest Night books in one month! That’s $140 retail; supposing a 40 percent discount, that’s still a bill of $86. If you’re planning to buy all of these books in May, you fill me with both wonder and dismay. ($19.99)

The Rest:

• The Absolute Sandman, Book Five (hardcover): Bits and bobs of Sandman after the series’s end. ($99.99)
• DC Universe: Legacies ($34.99)
• Firestorm: The Nuclear Man: I’ll admit to some curiosity about this, but the chances of me buying a TPB that features Bronze Age backups from Flash is slim. Also: too much of a possibility this will be like Essential Nova. ($17.99)
• Gotham City Sirens: Strange Fruit (hardcover) ($22.99)
• Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, v. 1 (hardcover) ($22.99)
• Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations ($19.99)
• Jack of Fables, v. 9: The End ($17.99)
• Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse (hardcover) ($49.99)
• The New Teen Titans Omnibus, v. 1 (hardcover): DC catches omnibus fever, and I have to say this is a more worthy choice than Atlantis Attacks, Acts of Vengeance, or Evolutionary War. On the other hand, seventeen issues for $75 is insane. Sometimes, I’d like to have it explained to me how DC prices its collections; although I like to think a dartboard and a blindfold are involved, I have a feeling payments to creators has a great deal to do with it the vast differences. Still, there are five more issues in this omnibus than in this month’s Gotham Central, v. 2 and the omnibus goes for $55 more. Yes, New Teen Titans is a more revered title, but that, a hard cover, and five more issues are not worth $55. ($75)
• Northlanders, v. 5: Metal ($17.99)
• Outsiders: The Great Divide ($14.99)
• Return to Perdition (hardcover): Max Allan Collins returns to Perdition, updating the setting to the ‘70s and a new generation. DC helpfully reprints two volumes of the previous stories. ($19.99)
• Revolver ($19.99)
• Road to Perdition ($14.99)
• Road to Perdition 2: On the Road ($14.99)
• The Secret Society of Super-Villains (hardcover): And this has more issues than the New Teen Titans Omnibus and a hard cover and goes for $35 less. Of course, I have no idea what the story is with this collection; the solicitation just mentions that there are supervillains (including Sinestro, Grodd, and Captain Cold) starring in this story. Hardly a compelling reason to buy it. ($39.99)
• Superman: Grounded, v. 1 (hardcover): The train wreck begins (and ends) here! ($22.99)
• X-Files / 30 Days of Night: Wait, did this slip through a wormhole from 2002? ($17.99)

Marvel June 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Will be picking up:

• X-Factor, v. 11: Happenings in Vegas ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785146551): The “No More Mutant” crap has really driven this title in weird ways, in directions I am not really fond of. Still, I keep reading the trades. Perhaps the re-emergence of mutants will get this book back on a track I am happier with; perhaps not.

Might pick up eventually:

• Mystique by Sean McKeever Ultimate Collection ($24.99, 9780785155218): Another “Ultimate Collection” for Mystique, this time by Sean McKeever, another very good writer. It’s odd that this series is forgotten, despite work from Brian K. Vaughn and McKeever; if it weren’t for the X-Men: First Class movie coming out, who knows how long it would have taken to get these stories back in print?

Might pick up if the price is right:

• Captain Britain, v. 2: Siege of Camelot (hardcover) ($39.99, 9780785156765): Two $40 Captain Britain hardcover collections in as many months? Perhaps Marvel is loading its audience with more Captain Britain than it can bear.
• Fantastic Four: The Overthrow of Doom (hardcover) ($29.99, 9780785156055): Classic Fantastic Four, and by “classic,” I mean Bronze Age stuff that not many people remember. Still, I am fond of the story that follows this one — the team’s capture by the Skrulls and execution by accelerated aging — so perhaps I’ll pick this one up. On one hand, this collection has four writers for nine issues; on the other hand, it has art by George Perez and Keith Pollard, and I’m fond of all four of the writers (Len Wein, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, and Bill Mantlo).

Already got one (earlier collection or original comics):

• Essential Spider-Man, v. 10 ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785157472): I have all the Amazing Spider-Man I want from this point forward, which is a little sad; I’d like to reward Marvel for getting into an outstanding part of Spider-Man’s history. I’d also like to give kudos to Marvel for getting their first Essential series to volume 10.
• Essential X-Factor, v. 1 ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785118862): Solid but not exciting stuff — except for the Mutant Massacre, of course.
• Essential X-Factor, v. 2 ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785120995): Not exciting stuff, unless you really like Warren as Death.
• New X-Men by Grant Morrison, Book 2 ($14.99, 9780785155188): Excellent stories; you should read it.
• Runaways, v. 5: Escape to New York (digest) ($9.99, ISBN: 9780785157397): Reissuing two Runaways digests. How curious … I figured once the digests were gone, they’d be gone for good.
• Runaways, v. 6: Parental Guidance Digest (digest) ($9.99, ISBN: 9780785157458): Deceptive cover.

Masterworks:

• Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics, v. 6 (hardcover) ($59.99, ISBN: 9780785142041): I’m sure the target audience will be very happy with this one, but I think the rest of us are wondering why anyone would pick this up.
• Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man, v. 7 (hardcover) ($54.99, ISBN: 9780785150442)
• Marvel Masterworks: the Mighty Thor, v. 3 ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785150664)

The Rest:

• Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned, Book 1 — The Charmer ($16.99, ISBN: 9780785146896): Someone is buying these. I want to know who, so I can personally avoid them.
• Ant-Man & Wasp: Small World ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785155676)
• Avengers vs. Pet Avengers ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785151852)
• Avengers: Assault on Olympus (hardcover) ($29.99, 9780785155348)
• Black Widow: The Name of the Rose ($16.99, ISBN: 9780785147008)
• Captain America by Dan Jurgens, v. 1 ($29.99, 9780785155171): Hey, does anyone here have a movie coming out during the summer … oh, yes, Captain America. Carry on with your six collections …
• Captain America: Fighting Avenger ($14.99, 9780785151982)
• Captain America: First Vengeance ($978078515725-0, 14.99)
• Captain America: No Escape ($15.99, 9780785145134)
• Captain America: Red Menace Ultimate Collection ($19.99, 9780785156178)
• Captain America: The Art of Captain America, the First Avenger (hardcover) ($49.99, 9780785155096): … including a shameless picture book, giving fans an “insider’s look” into the making of the movie. Justifiable if the movie is very good overall or visually; robbery if the movie is mediocre.
• Daredevil: Reborn (hardcover) $19.99, ISBN: 9780785151326)
• Daredevil: Yellow ($19.99, ISBN: 97807851-09693): The first of the two colorful Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale collections, produced when Marvel wanted to catch a bit of that Long Halloween / Dark Victory heat for themselves …
• Dark Tower Omnibus (hardcover) ($150.00, ISBN: 9780785155416): The solicitation says this collection has 296 pages, but that can’t be right; there are 30 issues here. Still, $150 for 600 pages seems a bit steep. How big of a kickback is King getting for this?
• Dark Tower Omnibus — Companion (hardcover) (no price or ISBN)
• Dark Tower: The Gunslinger — The Little Sisters of Eluria (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785149316)
• Deadpool Classic, v. 5 ($29.99, ISBN: 9780785155195): Four Deadpool books again! Still no movie! This really drives home how much Deadpool Marvel is churning out these days.
• Deadpool Team-Up, v. 2: Special Relationship ($15.99, ISBN: 9780785147121)
• Deadpool, v. 7: Space Oddity (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785151388)
• Deadpool: Dead Head Redemption ($15.99, ISBN: 9780785156499)
• Evolutionary War Omnibus ($74.99, 9780785155478): The Evolutionary War. Really. This storyline, which was an ‘80s summer annual crossover, isn’t reviled; it’s never mentioned. By anyone. On the Internet, where everything is discussed at some point or another.
• Fantastic Four by Waid & Wieringo: Ultimate Collection, Book 1 ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785156550)
• Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (hardcover) ($34.99, 9780785156079)
• Generation Hope: The Future’s a Four Letter Word ($14.99, 9780785147190)
• Halo: Blood Line ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785140504)
• Hulk: Gray ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785113461): … and it was right about here that it became obvious that the Loeb / Sale magic wasn’t going to happen at the House of Ideas.
• Impossible Man ($34.99, 9780785155201): Intriguing choice, but grab-bag collections rarely motivate me enough to pick them up.
• Marvel Adventures Avengers: Captain America Digest ($9.99, 9780785145622)
• Marvel Adventures Avengers: Hulk Digest ($9.99, ISBN: 9780785155836)
• Marvel Universe vs. the Punisher ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785145950)
• Nyx: Wannabe ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785157403)
• One Month to Live ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785149040)
• Osborn: Evil Incarcerated ($16.99, ISBN: 9780785151753)
• Secret Avengers, v. 2: Eyes of the Dragon (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785146018)
• Secret Warriors, v. 5: Night (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785148029)
• She-Hulks: Hunt for the Intelligencia ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785150008)
• Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga ($39.99, ISBN: 9780785155232): Marvel loves reprinting these issues to prove that the second Clone Saga wasn’t a stupid idea — stupid execution, perhaps, but there was a good reason for it. This collection includes a few Spectacular Spider-Man issues from the ‘80s that wrapped up some loose ends / made things more complicated under the guise of correcting plot flaws.
• Thor: Blood & Thunder ($34.99, 9780785150947): The post-movie hangover includes only three collections. I don’t remember much good being said about Blood & Thunder, but it’s certainly a Thor story …
• Thor: Gods on Earth ($29.99, 9780785150886)
• Thor: Thunderstrike ($24.99, 9780785156383): … as is this one, as Tom DeFalco’s pet Thor gets booted to the curb.
• Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Prelude (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785158165): That title has a lot of words that don’t add up to much. Like most of Bendis’s writing. Zing!
• Ultimate Six (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 9780785157465)
• Uncanny X-Force: Deathlok Nation (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 9780785148562)
• Uncanny X-Men: Quarantine ($16.99, 9780785152255)
• Wolverine and Jubilee: Curse of the Mutants (hardcover) ($19.99, 9780785157755): Vampire Jubilee. I just wanted to warn you. I haven’t read it, but I suspect it’s just about as good an idea as “Vampire Jubilee” sounds.
• X-Force: Sex & Violence ($14.99, ISBN: 9780785144342)
• X-Men: Age of X (hardcover) ($29.99, 9780785152897)
• X-Men: Great Power (hardcover) ($24.99, 9780785148487)
• X-Men: Second Coming ($24.99, 9780785155218)
• X-Men: Second Coming: Revelations ($19.99, 9780785157069)
• X-Men: To Serve and Protect ($14.99, 9780785152286)

Dark Horse, IDW, and Image May 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Must have:

• Usagi Yojimbo, v. 25: Fox Hunt: Always up for the next Usagi book, although it feels like the collected editions are slipping further and further behind the comics. This collects #110-6, but the series will be almost two years ahead of that by the time this comes out in July. ($16.99; Dark Horse)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Barks’ Bear Book: On the same month as DC issues an obscure Jack Kirby collection, IDW releases a collection of Carl Barks’s obscure backups featuring Barney Bear and Benny Burro. The names aren’t promising, but it is Barks. ($34.99, ISBN: 9781600109294; IDW)
• Scary Godmother Comic Book Stories: Haven’t read any of Jill Thompson’s Scary Godmother stories; is this a good place to start? ($24.99; Dark Horse)

Might check out of a library:

• Archie’s Joke Book, v. 1: A Celebration of Bob Montana: I don’t know why they’re celebrating Bob Montana, but I am mildly intrigued. ($29.99, ISBN: 9781600109584; IDW)
• Blackjacked and Pistol-Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer: Contains a few selected stories and evidently some interesting trivia about the book itself. Could be some fascinating reading. Could be a letdown. You never know. ($19.99; Dark Horse)

Manga:

• Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Lost Adventures: Good to see the M. Night Shyamalan movie hasn’t sunk the series completely. ($14.99; Dark Horse)
• Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Book 2 ($19.99; Dark Horse)
• Magic Knight Rayearth Omnibus Edition ($19.99; Dark Horse)

The Rest:

• 30 Days of Night Collector’s Set ($39.99, ISBN: 9781600109652; IDW)
• Angel Omnibus ($24.99; Dark Horse)
• Angel Yearbook ($7.99, ISBN: 9781600109614; IDW)
• The Art of Amanda Conner ($24.99, ISBN: 9781600109508; IDW)
• The Art of Doug Sneyd ($39.99; Dark Horse)
• Bomb Queen, v. 6: Time Bomb ($16.99; Image)
• Choker, v. 1 ($16.99; Image)
• Creepy Archives, v. 10 ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• Creepy Comics, v. 1 ($19.99; Dark Horse)
• Dethklok: I wouldn’t be surprised if this were as good as the TV show itself, since it has stories written by the series’ creator and animation director. Also, it just feels like the kind of TV series that would translate well to the page. ($19.99; Dark Horse)
• Devil's Concubine ($19.99, ISBN: 9781600109485; IDW)
• Doctor Macabre ($17.99, ISBN: 9781600109157; IDW)
• George R.R. Martin's Doorways: Really? George R.R. Martin has reached this level of popularity? ($21.99, ISBN: 9781600109164; IDW)
• Guarding the Globe, v. 1: For those of you needing a Kirkman fix this month. ($16.99; Image)
• Gutwrencher ($19.99, ISBN: 9781600109362; IDW)
• Hellboy Library Edition, v. 4 ($49.99; Dark Horse)
• Kull, v. 2: The Hate Witch ($15.99; Dark Horse)
• Li’l Abner, v. 3 ($49.99, ISBN: 9781600109379; IDW)
• Pilot Season, v. 4: 2010 ($19.99; Image)
• The ’Breed Collection, v. 1: The Book of Genesis ($17.99; Image)
• Transformers: Foundation (17.99, ISBN: 9781600109188; IDW)
• Transformers: Rising Storm ($17.99, ISBN: 9781600109195; IDW)
• Transformers: The IDW Collection, v. 4 (49.99, ISBN: 9781600109386; IDW)
• Wormwood, v. 3 Deviant Edition ($24.99, ISBN: 9781600109263; IDW)

DC May 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Some interesting books from DC, although the list seems a little short this month, as DC seems to have spent their time on getting Green Lantern maquettes, busts, and prop replicas to the teeming masses. But no Green Lantern TPBs. There’s a limit to their crass consumerism!

Most likely to buy:

• Showcase Presents Doc Savage: I’m a sucker for a good Showcase (or Essential, but there are no Essentials solicitied for May), and this is an intriguing one. Doc Savage’s corporate ownership means that not only was the Man of Bronze’s adventures published by both Marvel and DC but that neither company has been able to put the stories back into print. As with Rom the Space Knight, Doc Savage’s guest appearances have been left out Marvel’s Essentials (such as Essential Marvel Two-in-One, v. 1). Obviously, Doc Savage’s status changed with Conde Nast’s decision to let DC pay for the rights to create a new series; this gives readers a rare chance to see some of the character’s Bronze Age adventures. On the other hand, this is a little steep for a Showcase; $20 for 448 black and white pages isn’t the best deal ever. ($19.99)

Might eventually buy:

• Batman: Knight and Squire: Offbeat and Silver Age in a good way, from what I’ve heard. ($14.99)
• Tales of Batman: Gene Colan, v. 1: I’m always up for Bronze Age Batman, and Gene Colan seems such a natural fit for the Batman. I’m just not sure I want to spend $40 (minus Amazon / other bookseller discount) on it. (hardcover) ($39.99)

Might buy if the price is right:

• Aquaman: Death of a Prince: A Bronze Age Aquaman reprint? What in the name of Crom … ? It’s a delightfully weird choice, but what are they smoking in the reprint department? ($29.99)
• The Jack Kirby Omnibus, v. 1 Starring Green Arrow (hardcover): Cynical attempt to cash in on King Kirby’s name or a chance for Kirby fans to glimpse a rarely seen part of Kirby’s pre-Marvel work? Why can’t it be both? ($49.99)

Already read that one:

• Batwoman: Elegy: By and large, I liked it. ($17.99)
• Stuck Rubber Baby: There are a certain number of a certain type of story you have to have read to be able to convince certain people you’re not just a superhero fanboy. (I would recommend not hanging out with those people, but sometimes we don’t have that luxury.) This is one of those stories, I regret to inform you. ($17.99)

The Rest:

• Absolute Identity Crisis (hardcover): Seven issues of crap for $100. Sweet Robo Zoroaster, that’s a bold attempt at robbery. ($99.99)
• Arkham Asylum: Madness ($14.99)
• Batman: Bruce Wayne: The Road Home (hardcover): If you’re waiting for the trade paperback, it will be another year before you find out what happens when Bruce Wayne comes marching home again. ($24.99)
• Batman: Red Hood: The Lost Days ($14.99)
• Batman: The Streets of Gotham: The House of Hush (hardcover): I’m willing to bet Hush does something crazy and quotes Aristotle. (Not necessarily in that order.) Am I right? ($22.99)
• Cowboys (hardcover) ($19.99)
• Green Arrow: Into the Woods (hardcover) ($22.99)
• Justice League: Cry for Justice: If you don’t want your horrible stories in hardback form, here’s one in paperback. Because someone demanded it! (We must find them and hurt them.) ($19.99)
• Justice (hardcover) ($39.99)
• Power Girl: Bomb Squad ($14.99)
• Red Robin: Hit List ($17.99)
• Superman Chronicles, v. 9: If you’ve been following this far, you don’t need me to say anything about it. ($17.99)
• Superman: New Krypton, v. 4 ($17.99)
• Sweet Tooth, v. 3: Animal Armies ($14.99)
• The Twilight Experiment ($17.99)

Marvel May 2011 solicitations (collected editions)

Will be picking up:

• Spider-Girl, v. 1: Family Values: I’m just interested enough at the early reviews / hype to look at a repurposed, no-powers female hero that’s supposed to be “realistic.” Also to see if something can be salvaged from Araña. ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4694-0)

Might pick up eventually:

• Captain Britain, v. 1: Birth of a Legend (hardcover): This is an odd choice, unless there’s some push behind Chris Claremont or Captain Britain this month that I’m unaware of. Still, it should be interesting — Claremont work from around the time he started writing X-Men (although to be fair, it’s around the time he was writing Iron Fist). ($39.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5728-1)
• Mystique by Brian K. Vaughan Ultimate Collection: Good value for the money, and Vaughan usually doesn’t let me down. Although “Ultimate Collection” may be laying it on a bit thick.

Might pick up if the price is right:

• Rocket Raccoon: Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant (hardcover): Always nice to see Bill Mantlo stuff being collected, but his attempt to take a Beatles pun and make it into a viable character doesn’t appeal much to me. ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5527-0)
• Young Marvelman Classic, v. 1 (hardcover): Let me be frank: I’m only picking this one up if the price falls to a few dollars. I don’t have any interest in Young Marvelman, although the sheer oddity of Marvel reprinting the adventures of a character invented to complete the rip off of another character who a court found was a copyright infringement makes me both confused and happy. ($34.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5504-1)

Already got one (earlier collection or original comics):

• Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie & Todd McFarlane Omnibus (hardcover) ($99.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5729-8)
• Emma Frost Ultimate Collection: Good news for those who dislike the digest size that the series was originally reprinted in. ($34.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5510-2)
• New X-Men by Grant Morrison Book 1 ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5503-4)
• Powers, v. 1: Who Killed Retro Girl? (hardcover): Hasn’t this already come out in hardcover? I would have sworn … and Bendis swears in this one as well. ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5671-0)
• Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives: Not one I would have thought would get reprinted — a miniseries that promised to resolve all and only ended up raising more questions (and received a lukewarm response) and three issues from a time when the Spider-Man books were winding down, waiting for Howard Mackie to be their savior. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5512-6)
• X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude ($29.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5508-9)
• X-Men: Fallen Angels (hardcover): You’re scraping the bottom of the X-barrel when your reprint program decides to turn to Fallen Angels. Not that it was unenjoyable — it had its moments — but it’s a third-tier ancillary miniseries from the X-books’ boom time. Also: should technically be New Mutants: Fallen Angels or even X-Force or X-Factor; I don’t think any of the Fallen Angels have ever been X-Men. ($29.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5530-0)
• X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda (hardcover): It took this long to get X-Tinction Agenda into hardback? That’s absurd. Not sure it’s worth $50 for thirteen issues, though. ($49.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5531-7)

Masterworks:

• Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Venus, v. 1 (hardcover) ($59.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5018-3)
• Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, v. 2 ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5050-3)
• Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil, v. 6 (hardcover) ($54.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5020-6)

The Rest:

• 5 Ronin (hardcover): Wolverine, Psylocke, Punisher, Hulk, and Deadpool as 17th century Japanese ronin. I completely missed this series when it came out, and that’s probably for the best. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5632-1).
• Avengers: We Are the Avengers: And I am bored. ($16.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5154-8)
• Captain America & The Korvac Saga ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5160-9)
• Captain America: Allies & Enemies ($16.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5502-7)
• Captain America: Man out of Time (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5128-9)
• Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5097-8)
• Chaos War: Incredible Hulks ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5157-9)
• Chaos War: X-Men ($15.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5315-3)
• Deadpool Corps, v. 2: You Say You Want a Revolution (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4826-5)
• Deadpool Max: Nutjob (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4850-0)
• Deadpool Team-Up, v. 3: BFFs (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5139-5)
• Deadpool: Wade Wilson’s War: Four collections for Deadpool? That’s almost as many as Captain America and Thor are each getting. And Deadpool isn’t getting a movie (yet). ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4713-8)
• Death of Dracula: Reprinting one issue that set up that X-Men vs. vampires thing, plus seven issues from
• Tomb of Dracula tacked on at the end. Yes, that seems right. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5616-1)
• Invincible Iron Man, v. 7: My Monsters (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4836-4)
• Iron Man: War of the Iron Men ($16.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4730-5)
• Marvel Adventures Thor/Spider-Man Digest ($9.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5651-2)
• The Marvels Project: Birth of the Super Heroes ($29.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4061-0)
• Mighty Avengers: Dark Reign (hardcover) ($44.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5669-7)
• Namor, the First Mutant, v. 2: Namor Goes to Hell ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5176-0)
• Origins of Marvel Comics ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5615-4)
• Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant: Electric! Dick! ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4043-6)
• Punisher: In the Blood ($16.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5181-4)
• Punishermax: Bullseye (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4755-8)
• Spider-Man: Matters of Life and Death (hardcover): Alistair Smythe, the Marvel Comics sensation whose return everyone had been clamoring for! ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5102-9)
• Spider-Man: The Extremist ($15.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5670-3)
• Super Hero Squad: A Squad for All Seasons ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5217-0)
• Taskmaster: Unthinkable ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5260-6)
• Thor: Lord of Asgard (New Printing) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5087-9)
• Thor: The Trials of Loki (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5165-4)
• Thor: The World Eaters (hardcover) ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4838-8)
• Thor: Wolves of the North ($12.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5614-7)
• Thunderstrike: Youth in Revolt ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5271-2)
• Trouble by Mark Millar (hardcover): This was roundly lambasted when it came out, and I’m sure time has not helped matters. Sexually promiscuous Aunt May is no one’s idea of a good time, no matter how good she might have looked at the time. ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5086-2)
• Ultimate Comics Captain America (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5194-4)
• Ultimate Comics Doomsday (hardcover): Followed by Ultimates Comics Bane? ($39.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4776-3)
• Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, v. 2: Chameleons ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-4100-6)
• Ultimate War (hardcover) ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5737-3)
• X-Men: First Class — Class Portraits ($14.99, ISBN: 978-0-7851-5559-1)