Pierre's Thoughts on Secret Wars II

I have mentioned before how John Byrne was the king of the mountain in the 80s?
Well if you need any proof... you need to look no further then the Secret Wars II Omnibus edition.

I just got the Secret Wars II Omnibus... and one thing I realised as a I was reading it was how it was a veritable time capsule of what Marvel was publishing in 1985 and 1986.

• You had the New Mutants by Sienkiewicz.
• Captain America by Mark Gruenwald.
• The X-men by Claremont/Romita JR/Al Williamson.
• Daredevil by Mazzucchelli.
• The Incredible Hulk by Mantlo/Mignola.
• The Avengers by John Buscema/Tom Palmer
• The Mighty Thor by Simonson.
• Amazing Spider-man... with the end of an era with the end (or close to the end) of Ron Frenz's work on the series.
• Cloak and Dagger by Mantlo/Leonardi.
• Heck even Power Pack by Brent Anderson and Scott Williams was pretty good.
  
  But most of all...

We had the one man orchestra....
John Byrne.
Not only was he the writer/artist of both the Fantastic Four and Alpha Flight at the time.... but he also did the covers for...
Captain America, Iron Man, Web of Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Avengers.... and of course... Secret Wars issue 1.
I will let you guess which version of the Omnibus I got. The Ed McGuiness one?? or the John Byrne one??

Byrne was really at the top of his game at the time. His work on FF and Alpha Flight was superb. And we even got a few special treats with him being inked on FF by Jerry Ordway, and legendary artist Joe Sinnott. And the tale Hero, from Fantastic Four 285 (where a kids hero worship of the Human Torch has unfortunate consequences) still brings a tear to my eye even now( what can I say... I’m a big softy).

Damn... reading those stories reminds me how good it felt to read comics back in the day.

I know that many people seem to see Secret Wars II as not a very good comic.... heck you should have seen the reactions when I ordered the Omnibus. Although the store had just made a $100 sale... the guys at the counter were telling me how I was nuts to get that book. [ NOTE FROM JIM: Only comic shop clerks seem to have the gall to do this.]

But I had a good time reading that book. It was an EPIC Saga at the time.

And now I got the whole tale.

Now I know where the New Mutants went after being teleported by the Beyonder.

Now I know the final fate of ThunderSword.

Now I know what paved the way for Peter David's work on the Hulk.

Now I know what happens to Algrim the Elf after the Beyonder healed him.

But most importantly... the main reason why I did buy this edition... since I already owned the original Secret Wars II comics and some of the tie-ins... what I only found out about not that long ago...
Was the complete first issue of Secret Wars II penciled by Sal Buscema.
I am a huge fan of Sal's work. And when I found out that there was a version of a never published Secret Wars II issue by Sal.... I just knew I HAD to get it.

Heck I even got the Omnibus of the first Secret Wars and was pleasantly surprised to see the pencils of the first issue by Mike Zeck. It was quite a treat.

But I must admit that I was a little disappointed when I first opened my Secret Wars II Omnibus. Because the Sal Buscema pages were.... tiny. They somehow fitted 4 of Sal's pages on a single page. But luckily... thanks to my scanner and my friend Photoshop... I was able to make a bigger version of them pages to be able to see Sal's work properly.

But with Sal's work... we also got a great sampling of most of what Marvel was publishing at the time.
So in the end....

Was it worth it???

To get a sample of some of Marvel's best runs in history?

To get a HUGE book containing no less then 45 comics?

To get some never seen Sal Buscema work?

I would definately say...
YES!!! So if you are and older fan who want to remember the "good old days"... or if you are a newer fan who wants a sample of what has been done before in an era long since past...
I would strongly suggest this book to you.

Until next time.

- Pierre

Monster Society Archive Cancelled

Last Firday, Bleeding Cool ran a story suggesting that DC had cancelled the Captain Marvel Vs The Monster Society Archive due to how some characters were portrayed in the comic:

...the original stories had quite a number of racially insensitive representations of minorities – the portrayals were of questionable taste at the time the stories were originally published, but when viewed with today’s mindset, they may be seen as outright inflamatory. ~Bleeding Cool

While no official word has come from DC on the matter, there was information in the following comments thread that confirmed this theory thanks to the guys at Marvel Masterworks, who had contacted DC on the story.

I don't think this should really come to a shock to anybody. When the archive was originally announced, I commented on several messageboards that I thought the choice of reprints was a little awkward for company like Time Warner who I know from personal experience spends quite a bit of time thinking of ways to best look progressive and culturally diverse.



This isn't the first time we've seen a big company flip-flop on a project like this as in 2003, the Fox Movie Channel discontinued a planned Charlie Chan Festival, soon after beginning restoration for special cablecasting, after a special interest group protested.

Many of the commenters at Bleeding Cool were of the opinion that DC should have gone ahead with the archive, but perhaps run a disclaimer either in the form of a blurb on the cover or as an essay in the opening pages. Both of those have their merits and sound like a good solution to me, but I don't know that given the adverse attention the archive might bring to Time Warner's doorstep that such a project would be worth the risk. The archive series aren't exactly tearing up the sales charts...

May 2010 - ATOMIC KNIGHTS HC - 1,339
DCCL JLA BY GEORGE PEREZ HC VOL 2 - 1,424
CREEPER BY STEVE DITKO HC - 1,627
DCCL BATMAN A DEATH IN THE FAMILY HC - 1,854
DCCL FLASH OF TWO WORLDS HC - 1,395
DCCL LIFE AND DEATH OF FERRO LAD - 990
DCCL ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING HC - 1,476
DCCL BATMAN THE ANNUALS HC - 1,706
DCCL JLA BY GEORGE PEREZ HC VOL 1 - 2,163
DCCL SUPERMAN KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE - 2,107

Those numbers put the DCCL in the midrange of sales of graphic novels. Most likely, when the Captain Marvel archive was announced, DC was going by the initial sales of archives which we can see is higher (2100 for Kryptonite Nevermore and George Perez vol 1) but since then, the numbers have trended down. Not horribly bad, but not really worth going to bat for in a circumstance like this. (Thanks to ElectricPeterTork for tracking down the numbers here.)

Anyway, as a service to many of the posters on the Bleeding Cool message board who were asking about these comics, I present two issue from the series as todays Free Comics.



[ Captain Marvel Adventures 27 ]



[ Captain Marvel Adventures 33 ]

- Enjoy!

Digital Comics on the iPad | The Facts

Guess what?

I got an iPad for Fathers Day. No, no, no, not for my own dad (are you kidding?) I mean my wife/daughter went out and got me an iPad for my Fathers Day (early) gift! The first apps I put on it? I'll give you one guess....

All of the images today are iPad screen shots pulled down via email or my DropBox account. There are actually a lot of apps that will read comics, those you see above are only the highlights or "names" in the app store. The big 6 if you will.

So, the question now is: what kind of over all experience is there for comics on the iPad? Well that ultimately is everyone's personal decision (and will very based on app, comics, etc etc) but I can give you some facts & dispense with some myth's rumors....

GLARE: Myth
Now I'm sure that there are situations out there where you'll be able to produced some glare (maybe even some exceptional glare) but in general I've never had a problem with it and I've read comics in doors, out doors, morning, noon, and night. I've read comics created digitally as well as comics created for print and scanned. Glare has NEVER been a problem.

SIZE MATTERS: True
Not only is it true that size matters but the iPad is sized perfectly for comics. You can turn it "portrait" and read the entire page or "landscape" and read a third of it. With just a simply drag of your finger on the touch screen you can pull the comic book page up (or down) to read the next third.

COMIC ZEAL NOTE: "Soft Controls"
These are controls seemingly "embedded" in the image of the comic page that do not interfere with enjoying the comic....


BATTERY: All Day - True
The commercial is true, the battery does last all day (so far). I've spent hours reading comics and watching Youtube videos and only depleted the battery down to 34% at the lowest.

SYNC: Dead Simple
To get the comics you all ready own on to your iPad (with ComicZeal) all you need to do is drag them to the "sync" window in iTunes.

THE JOHN: Yes
Yes I've taken my iPad into the John were I've read comics (I have a 5 year old who bathes regularly). Still, it would work regardless of situation....

COMIC ZEAL NOTE: "Hard Controls"
If you tap (instead of slide) your finger on the iPad (inside ComicZeal) you'll pull up the tool bars...

DEFORMED TEXT: False
The text of a comic reads just like it would on the printed page. There is no distortion (other than what might be brought into ComicZeal gigo style - "Garbage In/Garbage Out").

COMIC ZEAL NOTE: "Intuitive Menu"
When you've reached the end of a comic book "file" inside ComicZeal the menu pops up ready to load the next file in that folder...

Maybe we'll get to see the 3 origin's of the RuneWraith on the iPad soon...

Have a great weekend,

Caine

The Downside to Digital

I have been mentioning how more and more...  how artwork on a production is produced digitally. But sadly... despite all the advantages.... there are various drawbacks to using new technologies.

Eons ago... artists that would work from home would use Fed-ex to ship their artwork to the studio.  But now... with the "magic" of the internet... they can simply drop their work in the studio's FTP from the comfort of their home..... assuming that everything works fine.

But sometimes.... when the storyboard artist tries to send a storyboard that is finished.... somehow.... half the pages can get corrupted sometimes. So that means for the artist a trip to the studio to bring the whole board thanks to something as simple as a USB key.... or to scan the board straight at the studio.

A little tool as simple as a USB key is something that you must always carry with you. I always have mine in my pocket... and I cannot count all the times that that little tool got me out of a jam.
Love my USB key.

Why do half the pages get corrupted sometimes?? Not being an expert... I am not sure.... my technical skills don't go that far. But to make me feel better.... even our technical director does not seem to know. Since his technical expertise is lightyears ahead of mine... I feel much better. ;)

But it seem to be something that has to do with some internet connections being too slow that after a given ammount of time.... before the page is finished uploading to the FTP... the FTP stops the upload and starts to upload the next page even if the previous page is not finished uploading. So you end up wih part if not most of the page missing/corrupted. It happens.

Another problem that we often run into is how some programs are incompatible with each other. How not only Photoshop is somewhat incompatible with SketchBook Pro.... but also how Adobe Acrobat 5 is not compatible with Adobe Acrobat 8 Professionnal.

The problem we noticed between Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro is that if we make a drawing on multiple layers with one program.... the other program will not read the layers.... or it will flatten the artwork. So when we need to work on layers for some reason..... everyone needs to use the same program.

My assistant was hoping to be able to work in Photoshop... but I had to be a cruel taskmaster and force him to work in Sketchbook Pro. ;)
Mouahahhahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for Adobe Acrobat... if someone adds notes to a PDF document for some reason with Acrobat 8.... somehow Acrobat 5 can no longer open the document. or it can open the PDF.... but not the page with the note added on it.

So when you try to send some PDF ducument to your artists that work from home... and the artist can't read half the files... it becomes a big headache to try to get everyone to be able to read the references they need to do their work.
But the MOST important thing that you need with new technologies is.....POWER!!!

It doesn't need to be the Power Cosmic.... but power nonetheless. ;)

Sadly.... something like a power faillure can pretty much paralyse a whole production. And even when the power is restored.... it can still srew up the production if the server was messed up by the power faillure somehow.

So a power faillure can mess up your schedule and eat up a few days of your time... time which you usually have barely enough of to begin with. :(

With a power faillure... at first... some figure they could work from home..... until they realise.... no power to get the files they need from their computer. Whether they need artwork... references... heck even the scripts are in the computer.

And even once the power is back.... if your work in on the server.... and the server was messed up thanks to the power faillure... it means even more time wasted waiting for the server to be back online.

In short... new technologies can help us do our job.

But when things go wrong... it can go VERY wrong. It can pretty much crippple a production and stop it dead in it's tracks until the matter is resolved. Even when the matter is resolve.... it will mean a lot of sleepless nights in the coming days to try to catch up. Because although you could not work for a few days.... the deadline is still the same.

So you must make up for lost time and either work much faster..... or give up a couple of nights of sleep for a while.  ;)

Until next time.

Is a new Aqualad really a good idea?

Over at Newsarama, it was announced that a September issue of Brightest Day would introduce readers to a new Aqualad (as the original Aqualad, who was going by the name of Tempest, was killed in Blackest Night. Or something like that.) This news has been met with a wide range of fan reactions, namely because of the fact that this version of Aqualad is a minority character, which runs counter to the trend Chris Sims at Comics Alliance noted which is that DC seems to be currently reverting minority versions of DC heroes to their Silver Age legacy versions.



This character is supposedly linked to a new Young Justice cartoon coming soon.


There is some resemblance, but the trading of dreadlocks for a blonde crew cut and blue eyes bothers me on some level, but let's not get into that right now.

The big question posters at messageboards are asking is this:

Why is DC introducing a new Aqualad when they just got finished killing a perfectly good new Atom? Won't he just be killed later when they decide to return the original Aqualad - like Jason Rusch Firestorm?

I think people are forgetting that DC has to serve two masters. One is old school fanboys who want to read about the true Green Lantern and the true Flash (and by that, they mean Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, not Alan Scott or Jay Garrick, which just goes to show their bias...)

The other master is the media arm of Time Warner, which doesn't necessarily feel comfortable peddling a cartoon with an all-white cast.

So we get a new Aqualad, who may or may not be the son of Black Manta, which to me is sort of cool idea.

Except - why Aqualad?

I would have rather seen a new character for the Young Justice show as I have a problem with Aqua-anybody on super-team shows. Such charaters are either relegated to monitor duty when the adventure involves doing stuff on land, or when the crisis is in the sea, the rest of the team fits in awkwardly. So to me, this introduction of a *new* character feels like a wasted opportunity.


IMO, the best use of Aquaman is when he was used in the 50's - as a guide to a world of amazing adventures where faux science fiction and fanciful magic are used to tell light hearted stories meant to do nothing more than tickle our minds with wonderous notions.

People always claim Aquaman is hard to make interesting, but I really think that's just laziness. If you think of Flash Gordon and how he was a gateway to stories on Mongo, then I think you see how Aquaman could be better used. Writers get wrapped up in the enviromental politics angle with Aquaman, like that's all they have to bring to the table to make the story good. Having that be the be all end all of your story is just boring.
You know what's not boring?

Aquaman swimming through a dying mans bloodstream!

I'd argue that in a sense, telling amazing adventure stories is what all comics used to do but somewhere along the way, we got so wrapped up in superpowered slugfests, that the genre seems to have eaten itself. (Isn't that rush of wonderous discovery part of what makes the Lee/Kirby run on Fantastic Four so cool - all the neat places and characters they introduce you too? And how often did Neil Gaiman's Sandman have to zap people with power rays to keep you entertained?)

What's sad, is that a previous switcharoo with John Stewart worked so well. With him as Green Lantern on the Justice League cartoon, millions of kids got to see an A-list hero of color with an honest to god Bronze Age legacy behind him. I remember Chaquita Davis, the project manager at a software company I worked for, telling me how her boys were so excited to see a black superhero on the Justice League cartoon.

For them, and other kids I imagine, that was who Green Lantern had always been. As PC Replacements go (as some people call such things), it was the most painless AND successful I've ever seen. The sort of success that DC could have parlayed into using the character movies.

And now, with the Green Lantern movie coming up, I'm not sure they will be as excited to see their Green Lantern has been replaced.

Anyway, enjoy todays undersea themed Golden Comics: Blue Circle Comics featuring Maureen Marine!

Maureen was the victim of a Nazi U-boat attack. After her father's fishing boat sunk, she drowns, but Maureen was revived by Father Neptune. He gave her the ability to breathe underwater and also made her queen of Atlantis. Maureen Marine protected her new home from the likes of Nazis and the Miromen. ~Public Domain Superheroes

Issue one actually has her first appearance and origin, but I think the great cover on issue three demands top billing. :)


[ Blue Circle Comics 03 ]


[ Blue Circle Comics 01 ]

Enjoy!

FBU Reviews: Parallaxium

When Mark Bernal contacted us recently and asked us to review his recently published graphic story: Parallaxium. A digital download available now, we at the FBU were delighted help him out.


In Mark's own words:
"Parallaxium is a "first person" graphic story wherein the reader experiences the story through the eyes and mind of the main character. The main character is a research volunteer who's strange visions during testing, entangle the character between this universe and a bizarre medieval-like universe."

Parallaxium Research, the study of the space between parallel universes. With that statement the reader is off and running thrust mind first into a roller coaster ride of an adventure unlike anything you've ever experienced in a 32 page graphic format.

The preview we were sent consisted of 19 amazing page following an unwilling research assistance protagonist who's taken deeper and deeper into the Parallaxium that seem to flow through the assistant in such a way that he/she really can only classify them as dreams even though they are so much more.


A bit like Alice down the rabbit hole, the researcher is pummeled with "vision" after "vision" as he/she races deeper inter his/her own psyche in order to come up with the understanding to put what he/she's experiencing together and process it.

Parallaxium is filled with rich light over dark graphics that are filled with amazing locals and characters that are seemingly based, at least in part, on gods, myths, and monsters of all types. Each spun into a unique story element.

We wish Mark Bernal great success with Parallaxium and hope to see more of it very soon. If you liked what you've seen/read so far you should check 'em out - they're priced to move!

Have a great weekend,

Caine

The Villains of Ross Andru

A few weeks ago, Pierre posted an tribute to Ross Andru which caused a bit of back and forth comments between regular commenter RKB and Pierre wherein the called into question that all the villains created during that time were bad. As RKB put it while discussing a particularly good story featuring the Grizzly...

With a good enough story no villain has to be crappy. :)

There is no doubt that the Lee/Ditko run created most of Spider-man's A list villains. However, just like Flash's Rogues, the original Sinister Six get overused again (most recently, in the Gauntlet storyline), while many of the Andru Era villains get completely ignored, There are a few notable exceptions, who'll I'll mention in a the end of this post, but let's look at the list of forgotten villains.


The Gibbon - Seemingly born a mutant with an apelike build and agility, The Gibbon later joined a circus where he excelled as an acrobat. His powers were later enhanced by a potion given to him by Kraven the Hunter to "Unleash the Beast within".


The Grizzly - Maxwell Markham was a professional wrestler whose brutal tactics caused J. Jonah Jameson to write a scathing editorial calling for an investigation by the wrestling commission. As a consequence of the hearings, his license was revoked. Later, he obtained a suit that augmented his strength from the Jackal.


The Kangaroo - As a boy growing up in Australia Frank Oliver used to spend his vacations studying Kangaroos. He would live with the Kangaroos, going where they went and eating what they ate. Then he became a boxer but was banned after seriously injuring another.


Cyclone - He was a N.A.T.O engineer who created the Cyclone a weapon of war, and was told that N.A.T.O didn't need the weaponary because it was purchased solely from America.Not long after N.A.T.O fired him and from his device he created a costume and became a criminal.


Mindworm was a superhuman mutant with limited telephatic powers who was briefly a minor enemy of Spider-Man. He had an oversized cranium and was naturally extremely intelligent. Eventually, Mindworm attempted to reform but his problems were too difficult for him to control and he allowed himself to be killed by common street thugs to end his great suffering.


Mirage was a Holographic technician who always wanted to become a costumed criminal. First appearance involved him and his gang robbing weddings including that of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds where he was defeated by Spider-Man.


The Disruptor was a charismatic politician with ties to the underworld and possibly a criminal past. With the help of the Man-Monster, a creature created by Dr. Thaxton, he tried to get elected as Mayor of New York. He was defeated in that bid by Spider-Man and was killed when the Man-Monster took revenge on him.


The Smasher - I've got nothing on this guy. Anyone care to help me out and clue me in as to who this guy was?


Rocket Racer aka Robert Farrell was originally a criminal. He snatched a courier's bulging briefcase. Spider-Man couldn't stop him because he was moving too fast on his rocket powered skateboard. However, a car pulled out in front of him suddenly and Spider-Man was able to defeat him and leave him with the police.
And here is one of my favorites from this era...


Will O The Wisp - Jackson Arvad was the chief scientist for electromagnetic research at the Brand Corporation. During a laboratory mishap, a gravitic energy surge shattered the "magno-chamber" in whose vicinity Arvad was working. The accident plunged Arvad's body directly into the magno-chamber's self-sustained electromagnetic field, and the residual high frequency field weakened the electromagnetic attractions between the molecules of Arvad's body This caused the molecules of Arvad's body to gradually disperse. Arvad soon discovered, however, that he possesses a certain degree of mental control over the dispersion of his body's molecules. Unfortunately, every time he relaxed control over his molecular cohesion, it was more difficult for him to resume a solid state.

Here are the villains from this era that have managed to move off the D list.


The Jackal - Prof. Miles Warren was once a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University. At some point, he studied genetics under the tutelage of the High Evolutionary, but was expelled from the Evolutionary's headquarters when he proved to be unstable. He received further training and equipment from Maelstrom. Warren fell in love with one of his students, Gwen Stacy, who was the girlfriend of Peter Parker. After Gwen was killed by the original Green Goblin, Warren turned his attention towards methods of cloning, inspired by the creation of a full-grown frog to attempt to clone humans. When he killed his lab partner Anthony Serba (who had discovered the truth) Warren became completely insane, developing the personality of the Jackal as he tried to convince himself that someone else had killed his assistant, rather than he himself.


Man-Wolf - John Jameson, son of newspaper mogul J. Jonah Jameson, was one of the youngest applicants to ever be accepted into NASA's astronaut program. During his first mission, in which he orbited Earth, Jameson's capsule developed a faulty guidance module which caused the craft to spin out of control. The fledgling adventurer, Spider-Man, who had just begun his career weeks earlier, managed to rescue Jameson by getting a replacement guidance module to the plummeting capsule. This incident, which Jameson's father construed as a publicity stunt to upstage his son's accomplishment, provoked the one of elder Jameson's first editorial denouncements of Spider-Man.

And of course, this guy...



Do I really need to remind who this guy is? ;)

Have a great day!

- Jim