We got an email several months ago from a self-described “IMJ Fan”. Now mind you, this “fan” had never posted on Inveterate Media Junkies. He was just writing to tell us he really, really liked us… I mean, liked Jose.
Me? He couldn’t get past how negative I always was. How sour and dour. How I seemingly only existed to DENIGRATE comics and related items. I found no joy in life– so for his own self-preservation, it was time for him to move on… Before I, Ian MacMillan, sucked all the fun out of reading comics for him.
Apparently, at least to one guy-- I am the J. Jonah Jameson of Pop Culture Critics
When I read this, I must admit, I started laughing. Jose, on the other hand, went BALLISTIC— like Mount St Helen’s erupting. I kept saying stuff like, “Jose, he’s entitled to his opinion.” But Jose was having NONE of that. He started raising his voice (and you know Jose doesn’t yell), saying… Well, I can’t print what he was saying… (But I bet you have a pretty good idea.)
What’s truly funny: The guy’s still reading the site and still not commenting. So maybe Jose was right. Maybe he was just somebody trying to ruin my day because he was having a bad one. Maybe I went a little too far in describing my distaste for some hack one day… So much so, this guy (who shall remain nameless, sorry) felt personally besmirched himself.
Why do I bring this up, especially after so many months have passed? Well, really for only one reason. Over the next several weeks, you are going to see a lot more lines drawn through potential titles I would normally buy… And not because I HATE comics. I actually LOVE comics. I get equally enthused when I read a great one, as I get upset when I read a bad one. You can read more about my reasoning in Confessions of an Equal Opportunity Basher.
In truth, I’m just finally going to follow my good friend’s advice to do my best to Stop Buying Shit™… And when you’ve been buying as much shit as I have, it’s a lot harder than you might think.
When I saw The Strange Talent of Luther Strode GN on this week’s release list, I knew there would have to be something serious to knock it out of the Top Spot. Many of you have already read the text of the recent recent speech given by Image Publisher Eric Stephenson at the Diamond Retailer Summit in Chicago (link courtesy of our own A Comic Book Look’s Tom Devine in the latest IMJ Open Thread). If you haven’t, you should.
The speech goes beyond the usual pomp and self-congratulation these type of publisher remarks normally entail… Primarily because it is true.
Like it or not (and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t like it), Image Comics has gone from being a boutique publisher of several ego-driven artists popular in the 90s to a premiere publisher of quality, innovative comics in the 21st Century. And while Eric’s speech goes to great lengths to emphasize the latter, no one should begrudge him– and the company– its moment… Because again, it’s true.
Whether they knew those low-selling first issues of The Walking Dead were spearheading a sea-change in their publishing scheme doesn’t matter. In those early days of transformation, they were clearly grasping at straws and attempting to acclimate themselves to a new publishing paradigm… No longer driven by industry stars but by quality.
These days, Image makes publishing quality comic books look easy. While the Big Two flounder around, retreading previous events and renumbering their books in a desperate search for increasingly harder to find sales bumps… Image has achieved their current position much the same way Marvel and DC became the top two comic book publishers to begin with: Lots of hard work and lots of trial and error.
This is the long way of saying that hard work merged with quality is what The Strange Talent of Luther Strode represents. A quality publisher linking themselves to quality creators, turning out a quality product. Justin Jordan writes a compelling narrative and artist Tradd Moore draws the action perfectly– with a sense of realism and absurdity that is quite tantalizing in the extreme.
And extreme is the word for Luther Strode. Jose has likened the comic to a Spider-man for mature readers (read as “not fanboys”)… And the comic is just like that… If Spidey comics were filled with blood soaked scenes of massive gun shot wounds, various forms of dismemberment, disembowelment and brutal fight choreography. (Not counting a beheaded Hobglobin and various other acts of over the top violence in the flagship title Amazing Spider-man and other Marvel titles, of course.)
But then again, this is the 21st Century… And it only makes sense that if “heroes” are in the midst of savage battles, they’re going to come away with more than a bruised cheek and a small trickle of blood running from one nostril. If you’ve never had cause to hit someone (and I hope you never do), I can assure you it hurts— a lot. On both ends. The world is a bloody, brutal place (always has been) and all I can say is, thank goodness that somebody is able to portray this messed up society with a sense of style and wit… As opposed to the way pale, misguided challengers such as Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass does– by often devolving into a violence-filled, fanboy-pandering cartoon.
100 Bullets Book 2 HC
Avalon Chronicles Vol 1 HC
Avengers Vs X-men Its Coming
Batman Incorporated Deluxe HC Vol 1 – Runner Up Pick of the Week!
Batman No Mans Land Vol 2 (New Print) – Been there… It was fun
Bizarre Thrills Paragon Publications Story
Black Panther Kingpin Of Wakanda
Brody’s Ghost Book 3
Charmed Vol 3
Courtney Crumrin Special Edition Vol 1 HC
Daredevil Season One HC
Doc Savage Double Novel Vol 57
Dollhouse Epitaphs Vol 1
Essential Avengers Vol 8
Genetiks Vol 1 HC
Giants Beware
Goldfish HC – Buy this and you’ll discover something worse than Bendis’ writing…
Hitman Vol 6 For Tomorrow
Hybrid
I Vampire
Infinite Horizon
Judge Anderson Psi Files Vol 2
Kingdom Call of the Wild
Kitchen Sink Press First 25 Years
Legion of Super Heroes When Evil Calls
MMW Captain America Vol 6 HC
New Mutants Unfinished Business Vol 4 – Own the Hardcover
Night & Fog
Oz Treasury Edition
Pete and Miriam
Punisher Max Frank – Own the Hardcover
Punishermax Homeless HC
Severed HC
Shadow Double Novel Vol 59
Showcase Presents The Losers Vol 1
Smuggling Spirits HC
Spider-Man Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book 04
Stan Lee Stripperella
Stan Lee Traveler Vol 3
Strange Talent Of Luther Strode – HOT Pick of the Week!
Subculture Webstrips Vol 2 Die Harder
Tales From Neverland
Teen Titans Prime Of Life
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimate Collection Vol 2 HC
Terminator Robocop Kill Human
Tintin Young Reader Edition Crab & Golden Claw
Tintin Young Reader Edition Shooting Star
Untold Tales of Spider-man Omnibus HC – This Week’s POS*!
Vampirella Masters Series Vol 7
X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga (New Print)
X-Men Legacy Lost Legions – Own the Hardcover
Z Time
MANGA
Arisa Vol 7
Blood Alone Vol 6
Blue Exorcist Vol 7
Case Closed Vol 42
Cross Game Vol 7 – Manga Pick of the Week!
Devil and Her Love Song Vol 2
Itsuwaribito Vol 5
Kekkaishi Vol 31 – Buying the Omnibus editions
Magic Knight Rayearth Omnibus Vol 2
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys Vol 20
Nura Rise of the Yokai Clan Vol 8
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Vol 14
Sengoku Basara Samurai Legends Vol 1
Toradora Vol 4
I am full blown sucker. I suck suck suck. I gravitate toward Deluxe Hardcover Editions like many flock to Blu Ray 3 disc sets with lots of “extras”– even though they are rarely worth the price.
Guess there’s no surprise that I like this book then. Since I own the original comics, I didn’t need to buy it… But my going back to being a “trade waiter” sort of called out for the purchase. Otherwise, there would be a gaping hole in my Hardcover and Graphic Novels were this book would normally go.
I can barely keep my Hardcover and Trade collection straight as it is. So if I ever went back to reread the recent Bat books… I would need to write a Post-It note reminding myself I’d have to go find these particular issues of Batman Incorporated buried in a long box somewhere. I know… Such a hardship, right?
I am such a sucker.
At least the book is “out there” in a great Grant Morrison way. For every sketchy scene (like Bruce Wayne admitting he is funding Batman’s activities)… There are things like an Octopus being housed in a tank in what looks like a normal, everyday skyscraper.
God, I am such a sucker.
This is another one of those crazy picks that is NOT based solely on content– but more on packaging.
To quickly put my criticisms into perspective, the Untold Tales of Spider-man is a $99.99 Omnibus that is mostly filled with comics that originally cost 99 CENTS. But unlike many of the Omnibi out on the market, most of these books are not that ancient… They were published between 1995 and 1997… And intentionally priced cheaper as Marvel attempted to lure new readers who were turned off by the then standard comic cover prices that fell between $1.50 and $1.95. Ah, those were the days, huh? Now comics seem like they’re trying to keep up with the cost of a gallon of gas.
The Untold issues were mostly written by Kurt Busiek (Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco and others also contributed). And to be blunt, the stories were usually merely decent– while the art (mostly by Pat Oliffe, with some sometimes tasty Ron Frenz pencils and others thrown in), just above serviceable. Some good books. Some mediocre. What’s weird (or not so weird if you’re used to the often seemingly weird choices made by Marvel Editorial): The similarly themed contents of Amazing Spider-man Annual #37 (published in 2010!) were also included… With the newer material faring no better than the older stuff.
All that said, my main gripe isn’t with the material– I balk at the current price of said material. The 26 issues of Untold Tales of Spider-man were, as noted, 99 cents each. Again to be blunt: Few, if any, are highly sought-after back issue collectibles. Most of these comics can be found in 25 Cent (and under boxes) at many comic shops… Yet Marvel would have you pay $99.99 for the opportunity to suffer a hernia while reading them in collected form.
I have noted my weird aversion to most Omnibi before. They’re unwieldly– and often far too heavy to read in any position. In short, they seem (at least to me) to be akin to large, heavy paper-filled doorstops. So, if I am going to buy a collection like this– it has to be something I either have an extremely strong connection to or contains cool rare material I cannot get anyway else (without paying exorbitant prices for the back issues). This book contains neither.
Nice, functional doorstops routinely sell at most hardware stores for $3.99 or less.
Just sayin’. ;)
