Comics On A Budget: Week One

When I first started this site, three years ago, my goal was to be solely comics-oriented, by spotlighting certain books and characters I have enjoyed throughout the years. I like to think I have some credibility as a critic and commentator. For one, this is my twenty-fifth year reading comics. I helped manage one of the finer direct retail shops, Ralph’s Comic Corner, located in Ventura, CA, for about two years and was taught how to grade books by the Ralph of Ralph’s Comic Corner. I trust his eyes more than any kind of “official grading house”. Companies that slab and grade are, in my opinion, notoriously wrong and often give grades that entail disclaimers. For example, I once saw a slabbed book that touted a “Near Mint” grade that had a popped staple in the spine. That is not near mint. Most importantly, I am a big proponent of reading comics and not buying for investment. They are meant to be read and enjoyed, not signed and sold. True, I do have a few books signed by the creators, but those are for my collection and they will never be sold. Besides, signing a comic means pen or Sharpie on the cover and that lowers the grade. Signed comics are definitely a specialty market and the prices are arbitrary and subjective. If you want to collect something for monetary gain, try baseball cards. Those bring you more money.

I stopped writing The Treehouse for a few reasons, mostly due to the limitations of time and inspiration. There were already sites out there doing what I was trying to accomplish with The Treehouse with better opinions or a larger fanbase. It was disheartening. So I stopped. Ever since, my brain has been taunting me. I love writing and needed some sort of creative outlet. With my ever-present notepad in hand, I started examining my favorite sites to visit and taking notes, listing pros and cons, and came up with a formula for what I wanted The Treehouse to be. First, limited pictures: hotlinking seems to be a problem with most sites, so if I did not have pictures, I would not have a problem. I experimented with this in my first post back and I did find some linking to them. That is why I credited Destructoid and used their pictures. They provided the code to use them, so I did. Next, I wanted more of a long-form style of writing, not a bullet-point style. I am much more comfortable if I can start at one point, usually loosely connected to my main topic but not necessarily so, and am allowed to write whatever my brain leads to. Stream-of-consciousness writing has always been my favorite style. So, I set a word count goal and have to hit it before I finish with the current piece. The Treehouse is more about writing exercise than current events. Lastly, there would be no boundaries. This includes my personal life, any opinions I have, and topics. With this one, I have to thank one of my co-conspirators in the Associated Comics and Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA and Outlying Environs, Tom, and his fantastic site, You Know What I Like? He will talk about anything and I found that to be inspirational. In fact, that ultimately is what led me to coming back.

Here we are coming back full-circle. In making my notes for what I wanted to cover on here, I really wanted to bring back my old “How To Enjoy Comics For Under $20” column, but having a money cap seemed too limiting. Remember, there were to be no boundaries this time around. My reading tastes have evolved somewhat, but I am not made of money. Some weeks, I spend more than that, although I am less willing to stick out a slow period on a book. The chopping block comes out more often these days. So here we are with a new format that I call “Comics On A Budget”. On Wednesdays, I will post reviews of what I got that week. This leaves room for me to try to stick close to a budget and tell you my opinion on what makes a comic enjoyable, hopefully tempting you to check out a new title or two. Let’s go through my pull list for Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

• 52 #52 (final issue)- When I was younger, Action Comics experimented with a weekly format, with it focusing not just on perennial star of the book, Superman, but including stories on secondary characters like Black Canary. It ultimately did not sell very well and went back to a monthly format and all-Superman stories. 52 succeeds where Action Comics Weekly failed by having a year-long storyline or four and a finite issue count. By having A-list writers focusing on second-tier characters, we get to see what really makes DC work as a company: its depth. There is such a rich history at DC that characters like Rip Hunter and Booster Gold can have good stories given a proper writer and direction. This particular issue wrapped everything up quite nicely. I especially enjoyed the labeling of the different properties DC has bought over the years with Earth designations, like giving the Fawcett universe the title of “Earth-5”. This is one series that I am hoping will be collected and gives me hope for the next weekly experiment, Countdown.

• Astonishing X-Men #21- Planetary is one of my all-time favorite titles and one big reason is John Cassaday’s art. His style is very clean and dynamic. So, when Marvel announced that he would be handling art chores on Joss Whedon’s take on the X-Men, I followed like the dutiful sheep that I am. His art is just as good as it was on Planetary, but he gets less chance to draw Mothra carcasses. If I have one complaint about this book, it would be the writing. Not that it is bad, mind you. At times, the stories seem a bit meandering or unfocused. This is one of only two X-titles I read anymore, with Uncanny X-Men being the other one. I am a slave to Chris Bachalo’s art. I enjoy both titles very much, but if the stories don’t pick up soon, even with good art, I’ll be dropping these to make room for the Batman titles I recently dropped.

• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #4- Stephen King has long been someone I have enjoyed. Admittedly, I have not read anything recent, but growing up, I read almost everything he had out. My favorite stories he wrote were the Dark Tower series. The story of Roland of Gilead and his pursuit of the Man In Black, but so much more than that, incorporating a seemingly post-apocalyptic Old West and knights and sorcery and time travel, all wrapped around the mythology of most of King’s work. Truly epic writing, consisting of seven books. The comic adaption actually starts during book four, Wizard And Glass, in which Roland relays the start of his gunslinging career. Marvel is doing a fine job with this. Jae Lee and Richard Isanove’s art is beautiful, with Robin Furth’s writing and Peter David’s spot-on dialogue shining through, albeit at a slightly slow pace. Each issue has a text piece coda that gives more back-story to their world, either describing how the gunslingers came to be or the various locations. This series is highly recommended.

• Green Lantern #19 (current series) - I never would have thought I would become a Hal Jordan fan. The various GL books that have been published over the years have never really been my cup of tea. Plus, the debacle that is the “Kyle/Hal” debate among opinionated comics fans really turned me off to both sides of the argument. The return of Hal did pique my interest, though. I was curious how DC would handle trying to keep both sides happy with bringing back Hal but not discrediting Kyle’s contribution. Personally, I think they have done a bang-up job with Hal, but have dropped the ball with Kyle. Ion, the new book with Kyle as the star, is boring and the art is not the best. The core Green Lantern book, on the other hand, has been exceptional. Geoff Johns has long been one of my favorite writers and, although the amount of books he writes troubles me occasionally, he seems to do a fine job overall. Daniel Acuna’s art fits GL’s style and gives off a larger-than-life feel. The current Star Sapphire storyline is big and fun, and Hal’s trademark wit causes the story to breeze along. GL is one of the five books I look forward to the most every month.

• Hellboy: Darkness Calls #1 – The Hellboy universe is something I came to considerably late. Lately, for some reason, though, it has fascinated me. I love Mike Mignola’s art style and his writing is solidly quirky. As a result, this new storyline confused me. Duncan Fegredo’s art works quite well with Hellboy, but I think I need to pick up some older stories to make some sense of this. I would recommend this if you have a decent grasp on Hellboy, but if you do, you probably already bought this.

• Jonah Hex #19 – Ah yes. I cannot endorse this book enough. The biggest shocker is that there is not a Vertigo tag at the top of this book. It is a full-fledged DC core universe title. Self-contained issues of the brutal adventures of the titular character. Next to Fables, this is the one book every month that I look forward to the most. A no-nonsense look at DC’s Old West through the eyes of Jonah Hex, former Confederate soldier turned bounty hunter who lives by his own moral code. His most distinguishing characteristic is a severe facial scar on the right side of his face. The best part about this title is that anyone can jump on with any issue and understand the story, as there have been very few multiple issue storyarcs. I endorse this title with full voice. If interested, there is a collection of the first few stories available for cheap.

• Justice Society of America #5 (current series) – First off, this title is not really new reader friendly. The JSA has been around for over sixty years and has all the DC continuity depth that comes with that. Having said that, that is precisely why I love this book. Also written by Geoff Johns, with art chores by Fernando Pasarin, JSA #5 is part two of a crossover with the new incarnation of the Justice League of America title. The coolest part of this particular issue is the return of Dr. Destiny and the references to the Dreaming from Neil Gaiman’s mighty Sandman series. Dr. Destiny’s storyline in Sandman is one of the more brutal and integral issues, catapulting him from silly JLA villain to a sadistic, insane killer. If you are well-versed in DC history, give JSA a whirl.

• Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #3 – The first Marvel Zombies series is one I regret not getting on the first go-round, especially after getting into this series. The Evil Dead film series is one I have committed to memory. Crossing over main character, Ash, with Marvel heroes and turning them into Deadites is just silly fun. Sometimes, that is all I require from a comic. Silly fun that I recommend if you like witnessing a zombie Hawkeye eat brains.

• Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #3 – I have been waiting for this series for two years. Writer/ artist Jeff Smith is one creator I will literally read anything by. In fact, at the beginning of this column, I discussed having very few signed books. Those include hardcover collections of his seminal book, Bone, which Mr. Smith was very kind to sign and include a sketch of one of his characters on the inside cover of each book. I got those not for selling, but because I respect his work. Shazam! is his first major non-creator owned work and it is a doozy. Light-hearted all-ages fare that hearkens back to main character Captain Marvel’s early days, updating his origin story while holding on to the spirit of his past. Great stuff and worth picking up if you can get past the $5.99 price point.

• Superman #662 – The Superman books are cyclical for me. I’ll read all the various Superman books for a while, then burn out and hold off. This is the middle of my “enjoying Superman” period and, luckily, the books have been good. The storyline in the core Superman book has been interesting, with the main character dealing with something he does not understand, magic, all the while searching for a rumored third Kryptonian. Standard superhero fare, but sometimes that is all I want.

Incidentally, my wife has a blog entitled The Feminine Miss Geek. All things nerd from an intelligent female perspective. It’s good stuff and tell her I sent ya.