The Devil is in the Details

Along with collecting comics comes the joy (and heartbreak) of comic book speculating, and I suck at it.

I found two copies of Joker's Daughter #1 at my local comic book shop for retail price. I knew

God Dammit

nothing about the title except for a little article I read online about how high the price has gotten for it. Giddy with excitement I loudly cursed in excitement and snagged both of them.

Unfortunately I failed to realize that the ones that had value to them were 3D covers, of which I have none.

To add insult to injury I also snagged Marvel's Civil War #2 Variant cover with Spider-Man revealing himself to be Peter Parker on the cover. I failed to see that it was a second printing and pretty much worthless.

I am not a smart man.

Learn from my mistakes, the Devil is in the details.

So, what to pull?

I think that this is the biggest (and most fun) question that a new collector has to ask themselves is what to start pulling.

To “pull” a comic book roughly means to have a subscription. Your local comic book shop will pull an issue and set it aside for you to pick up at your leisure. This protects the patron if there is a sellout and guarantees that the patron will not miss an issue. Plus, depending on how your local comic book shop operates this greatly increases your chances at getting a variable cover. Some shops sprinkle in those more valuable covers randomly into the pulled issues.

The hard part of this arrangement is keeping your pull list from becoming bloated and overly expensive. Especially as a new collector, a part of me wants to subscribe to everything that looks interesting for me. However, I don’t throw too much money into this right from the get go and I don’t want to burn myself out on it. So it was time to get down to some serious decision making.

The first thing I decided to pull for sure was Batman: Black & White. Considering that issue 1 was the first comic that I have ever bought, it is a miniseries that is important for me to collect purely for sentimental reasons. However, since this miniseries is almost over I don’t feel the need to count it when deciding how much I am willing to spend on my pull. Since only issues 5 and 6 are remaining it will only cost me for a couple of months.

The second obvious pull for me was a Batman full Batman. I thought this was going to be simple but

Seriously, the cover art of
Batman: The Dark Knight #26 is sick

there are so many Batman series out right now. Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Dark Knight, Detective Comics, etc. For someone who was just getting into comics I had absolutely no idea what was going on in any of them, which makes it really uninviting for new readers. Originally I wasjust go with plain old Batman which is currently being written by Scott Snyder. But after browsing the web and seeing the cool things they are doing with the Dark Knight like the upcoming Silent issues I lost my willpower and added that too.

After I got my Batman fix taken care of the rest of my pull list was really up in the air. Ultimately I decided to go with Deadpool (Cause he is fucking Deadpool) Harley Quinn (mostly because it appealed to me to be able to start at number 1), The Punisher (the series that takes place in LA and starts in February), The Walking Dead, and Hellboy in Hell. The last two I added because I was familiar with them in other mediums and I wanted something a little different than a regular super hero story to keep things fresh.

Eh

Perhaps more interesting though are the series I didn’t pick up. I am a huge Spiderman fan but none of the current comics interested me. Scarlett Spider looks sick but unfortunately it just wrapped up. Superior Spiderman is an interesting concept and it could be a great story but I don’t want to start reading with Doc Ock as Spiderman. Then The Amazing Spiderman just seemed like its being going on forever and would be confusing to just jump into.

The other big series that are going on right now such as Forever Evil or The Avengers I passed on for much the same reason. I don't feel the need at this time to parse through a story with references and effects than span the entire universes. I just want some stories that can stand on their own.

At least for now...

Samurai Jack: # 1 - 3 Review

Pros: The art work is really good. Really conjures the world of the cartoon. This Samurai Jack is better than no Samurai Jack

Cons: Very Shallow. Too much is glossed over which makes it feel half-assed. Also, I'm 3 issues in, where is Aku?

Would I Recommend it?: No, at least not at full price. Even for big Samurai Jack fans I would wait to snag it in the bargain bin.

I absolutely loved the cartoon Samurai Jack by Genndy Tartakovsky when it aired on Cartoon Network. The artwork was interesting and really unique, the voice acting was amazing, and the storyline was epic and engaging. I always thought it was a shame that Cartoon Network pulled the plug after season and 4 and we never got to see Jack return to his own time to vanquish Aku.

Last week when I was making my very first comic book run I was pleasantly surprised to see an old childhood friend on the cover of a IDW comic book. Though I haven't heard anything about it, I happily grabbed issues 1 through 3 between handfuls of Batman and Before Watchmen comics. Unfortunately, the surprise of finding Samurai Jack in comic form was much more satisfying then actually reading the comic.

The Samurai Jack comic series is written by Jim Zuab and illustrated by Andy Suriano and picks up right where the canceled cartoon left off. The first story arch as Jack chasing magical strands of time which he hopes to put together into a rope in order to finally travel back to his proper time to defeat the demon Aku.

The greatest thing about this comic by far is the art work. Though the cartoon was canceled years ago

visually this comic hasn't skipped a beat. The artwork actually looks like stills from the cartoon which makes me very happy.

However, everything else about the comic has been lacking. The plot of the comic is good in theory, and is a good fit for the Samurai Jack mythos, but the execution has been poor so far. Rather than telling a cohesive story that leaves a sense of epicness the comics seem more like a highlight reel- jumping from place to place so fast that you can't get a feel for any of the characters, even Jack seems horribly underdeveloped. This really disappointed me because the cartoon did such a great job with characters.

Floppies are by nature short. In fact that is probably the biggest draw back of comic books. Rather than working within the confines of the medium the creative team seems to be fighting it. Instead of feeding the story in bits that fit within their limitations, the creative team tries to cram so much into just a few pages. This destroys any depth the story might have and makes it hard to feel attached to the plight of Samurai Jack.

 If they stretched out the storytelling for more than 5 issues I believe the team could put forth a comic worthy of carrying on the Samurai Jack brand. As is stands now the comic isn't very interesting outside of the artwork. The bit of nostalgia I felt when I opened issue 1 was nice, but I don't think I will be purchasing any more issues – At least not until it hits the bargain bins.  

Introduction

When I was a child, I wanted to be Batman. Though I can safely say I was not the only child with this fantasy, I can say I took it further than most. I was Batman for Halloween when I was 4 years. Over the next year my mother struggled to get me to remove the cowl and cape long enough for her to clean it and I could often be seen walking around my rural town with my grandmother dressed as the Dark Knight. Unfortunately the suite couldn't grow with me and despite my protests the raggedy old costume was thrown away.

While I could no longer perch on top of my grandmother's air conditioning unit scouring the neighborhood for crime in full costume, my love of batman remained. I collected massive amounts of batman action figures, religiously watched the animated series, and made it to the theater for every movie release. Though Batman was my first love I became obsessed with many other superheros. I was huge into Spiderman, X-Men, and even into the short lived Silver Surfer cartoon. Yet despite capturing my attention (and my allowance) I never purchased one comic.

Batman Black & White #1
The First Comic Book I ever purchased

 

At this age the reason was mostly due to location. I grew up in a rural town in Southern Idaho that lacked the population to support a comic shop. My family did all of its shopping at a Wal-Mart the next 

town over which had Archie as a comic option and not much else.By the time I was old enough to drive myself I was still really into multiple superheros, but I was into boobs more. While nerdier pursuits can be rough on any youth, in towns such as mine it was complete social suicide. So I read about superheroes online and played the video games when I could, but I still never collected a single comic. 

College changed everything. I was finally in a community large enough to not only support a comic book shop, but have large swaths of people with the same interests as myself. I could finally be comfortable being the nerd that I am. Unfortunately, I was poorer than poor and didn't really have the scratch to spend on the latest batman adventure. I was able to get my hands on a few trades though and through Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Batman: The Long Halloween, and the like I truly fell in love with the medium.

I have been out of University for a year now and am finally in a position where collecting is viable. I'm drowning in student loans but I have a well paying job, my girlfriend is super sweet and supportive (not to mention tired of me staring longingly at the comics rack every time she drags me to Hastings), and with fantasy football over for another year I need something to occupy my time.

 I know very little about comic books and am a little overwhelmed by it all. I hope to use this platform as a method of processing the information I am being bombarded with and maybe help others along the way. Not to mention the occasional review/musing/nerdgasm. I hope you enjoy it!