What I'm Buying - Week of Wed 24-September-2008

It was another Double Whammy this week, as I skipped the store last week. I should really stop doing that, because two weeks worth of comics is enough to give me a real injury while walking home from the store )

From Wed 17th:

• Action Comics #869
• All Star Superman #12
• Batman and the Outsiders #11
• The Brave And The Bold #17
• DC/Wildstorm: Dreamwar #6 of 6
• Dead Space #6 of 6
• Echo #6
• The Flash #244
• Ghost Rider #27
• Glamourpuss #3
• Godland #25
• Gravel #5
• Greatest Hits #1 of 6
• Guardians Of The Galaxy #5
• Hellblazer #247
• Punisher #62
• Scalped #21
• The Spirit #21
• Stormwatch: PhD #14
• Uncanny X-Men #502
• The Walking Dead #52
• War Heroes #2 of 6
• X-Factor #35

From Wed 24th:

• 2000 AD #1602
• Ambush Bug: Year None #3 of 6
• The Art of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (Sketch Hardcover)
• Back To Brooklyn #1 of 5
• Batman: Gotham After Midnight #5 of 12
• Blue Beetle #31
• Captain America #42
• Daredevil #111
• Fables #76: Around the Town
• Fantastic Four #560
• Hellboy: The Crooked Man #3 of 3
• I Kill Giants #3 of 7
• Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and The Death Queen of California
• Jack of Fables #26: Chapter Two: Priscilla
• The Legion of Super-Heroes #46
• M-Theory #1 of 3
• Madame Xanadu #4
• Marvel 1985 #5 of 6
• No Hero: Sketchbook
• Northlanders #10
• Nova #17
• Project Superpowers #6
• Reign In Hell #3 of 8
• Runaways #2
• Superman #680
• ubu bubu #3
• Wasteland #20: Apocalyptic City
• Wildcats #3
• X-Force #7
• X-Men: Legacy #216
• Youngblood #5

EyeCandy by Al Ewing and PJ Holden, a Review and Inside Look

You may remember that last month I did a sneak peek of the iPhone/iPod touch comic Murderdrome by Al Ewing and PJ Holden. Sadly, Murderdrome was rejected from Apple's Application store for not meeting their community standards.

Not deterred by this, the guys at Infurious Comics went back to the drawing board (pun not intended) and came up with a new idea. The new comic is called 'EyeCandy', and where Murderdrome was intended for a mostly adult audience, Eyecandy is aimed at a youth audience. Well, I should say really that it is aimed at parents, to be able to give something safe and fun for their kids to play with. I say this because I doubt many kids out there own their own iPhones, and because you need a credit card to buy something from the App store.

How you get the comic is by either going to the App store on your iPhone, and download the comic from there, or by downloading it from iTunes, and synching your iPhone/Touch with your computer. You will need to have an active Apple user account to be able to do this. For convenience this link will take you to the download site. The comic costs 99c, and should download pretty quickly.


As previously stated, it is aimed mostly at kids, but it works equally well for big kids, like me! The story is set in the American West, in the town of Dry Gulch. It is a humorous little adventure about the hapless 'Masked Marshall' and his inability to stop a bank being robbed. It is a great little tale with lots of laughs, and a little moral for the kids at the end. The bad guys end up hurting themselves, but no one gets killed or anything like that. The comic really reminds me of stories from British kids comics like The Beano, The Dandy, Topper etc. and a little of old Looney Tunes cartoons. The art is big and bold and very colorful. You will love it.

The best thing about it though, is that they have added all sorts of extras in to the comic, to make it a truly interactive experience. With a flick of your finger on the screen, you are able to go from the finished artwork, down to the inked art, then down to the pencils, which is really cool to see. Another extra is that you are able to pull up a colour pallete and paint your own colours onto the inked art, by picking a colour, and 'painting' on the screen with your finger. Another little extra is the cool horse toy add-on, which gives you a googly eyed picture of the horse from the story, which you can shake about to make its eyes move!

As this is a very visual and interactive experience, words don't really do it justice, so here is a video of me playing with it:

Here is PJ Holden demonstrating the comic:



A bunch of people playing with it in line at the Apple Store:



So, if you've got an iPod Touch or iPhone, get over to the App store and download it now. It's only 99c and is the most fun you will ever have with your thumb!

Issue Two should be out next month with a completely different story, new characters, and a new interactive toy. It will also have artwork from John McCrea, who is one of my favourite artists (not that PJ isn't also!). I also have the inside scoop that the guys are taking another swipe at getting Murderdrome accepted by Apple. They have resubmitted it with a self-imposed 17+ rating attached to it. So far it hasn't been rejected, where last time it only took Apple a couple of days to spit it out, so let's keep our fingers crossed!

2008 Havey Award Winner Results

The ceremonies were held tonight (Saturday 27th September 2008) in Baltimore, as part of the Baltimore Comic-Con. The Master of Ceremonies for the awards dinner and presentation once again was the wonderful and hilarious Kyle Baker.

Here are this year's winners:

Best Writer

Brian K. Vaughan | Y: The Last Man | DC Comics

Best Artist

Frank Quitely | All Star Superman | DC Comics

Best Cartoonist

Darwyn Cooke | The Spirit | DC Comics

Best Letterer

Chris Eliopoulos | Daredevil | Marvel Comics

Best Inker

Kevin Nowlan | Witchblade | Dynamite Entertainment

Best Colorist

Laura Martin | Thor | Marvel Comics

Best Anthology

Popgun Volume 1 | Edited by Joe Keatinge | Image Comics

Best Cover Artist

Mike Mignola | Hellboy | Dark Horse Comics

Best New Talent

Vasilis Lolos | Last Call | Oni Press

Best New Series

The Umbrella Academy | Dark Horse Comics

Best Continuing or Limited Series

All Star Superman | DC Comics

Best Syndicated Strip or Panel

Doonsbury | Garry Trudeau

Best Graphic Album, Previously Published

Captain America Omnibus | Marvel Comics

Best Single Issue or Story

All Star Superman #8 | DC Comics

Best American Edition of Foreign Material

Eduardo Risso’s Tales of Terror | Dynamite Entertainment

Best Online Comics Work

Perry Bible Fellowship | Nicholas Gurewitch

Special Award for Excellence in Presentation

EC Archives | Edited by Russ Cochran | Gemstone

Best Graphic Album, Original

Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together | Oni Press

Best Domestic Reprint Project

The Complete Peanuts | Fantagraphics Books

Special Award for Humor in Comics

Perry Bible Fellowship | Nicholas Gurewitch

Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation

Reading Comics: How Graphic Albums Work and What They Mean | Douglas Wolk

The Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement

AwardNick Cardy | Presented by Todd Dezago

Weekly Shipping list for Wed 24 September 2021

This is a general shipping list as sent out by Diamond Distribution to all stores in North America. Availability in your area may vary, so please check with your local comic store.

All data was provided courtesy of Chris Nolan and his Comic Books Beta Facebook application. Please hover over each title for information on the release:


[Ed note: If you are viewing this by email or with a reader, you will may not be able to see the above list, because it is compiled by JavaScript. Please click the link to the original post to see the full shipping list]

Advance Comic Book Review - Nexus #101 Ashcan

I received this Ashcan of Nexus #101 from Steve Rude a few weeks back, just after I moved house. I only just got around to reading it, so I thought it might be interesting to do an advance review for the site. So, without Further ado:

Up for Review - Nexus #101: Space Opera Act Three




Nexus was created by writer Mike Baron and penciler Steve Rude in 1981. The series is a combination of the superhero and science fiction genres, set 500 years in the future. The series was published for many years, with both critical and commercial success. However, in the latter years, Baron and Rude had problems publishing the book, and eventually the the was series discontinued due to low sales. Steve Rude announced plans on his message board January 2006 to self-publish a new Nexus comic series. The first issue of the new series, numbered Nexus #99 was published in July 2007. Several months later issue #100 was published. A entry in the FAQ on Rude's web site says that #101 and #102 will not be scheduled for publication until both are finished. #101 is finished, and Rude is now working on #102.

This New series departs from the original direction of the series. The original concept was that the lead character, Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, received his powers as Nexus from an alien entity called the Merk. As payment, the Merk required Nexus to seek out and kill a certain quantity of human mass murderers per "cycle". When the Merk selected a target, Nexus would receive strong headaches and maddeningly anguished dreams of his target's victims until he did his duty. Horatio was reluctant to act as the Merk's tool, but continued seeking out mass murderers to maintain his power and his sanity so that be could defend his homeworld, a lunar refuge of Ylum.

This series takes the focus off of the crime and punishment storyline of past issues, and focuses on the lives of the people surrounded Nexus, and events on the planet Ylum. Nexus' wife recently gave birth to a child, and many anti-Nexus groups are out to kill the child by any means necessary. Nexus finds himself torn between protecting his own family, and keeping peace on Ylum. Ylum was designed as a self-governed refuge for anyone seeking to escape oppression. Originally, anyone was accepted on Ylum, no matter what their species, religion etc. However, this has now generated much friction on the world, as religious groups have begun to clash, namely, the preachy and self-righteous Elvonics. The worshipers of Elvon have made it their duty to destroy worshipers of other religions. Nexus has tried to calm events without directly stepping in to take control, as he never wanted to be a planetary ruler. This approach had been working, but just delaying the inevitable, and at the end of issue #100, the Elvons clashed with Nexus, and the security forces of Ylum.



This issue starts out with the conclusion of that battle, and the events that follow in its aftermath. The United Planets of the "Web" are not pleased with what they see as Nexus' aggressive actions. the Elvonics are a major power force throughout the Universe, and while many planets would like to be rid of them, the council of the web are very much in their pocket. Nexus is called before the council to defend his actions on Ylum, and is incredibly unapologetic. A decision that he may come to regret, as a large invasion force is dispatched to neutralize Ylum. This issue also clears up the return of the character, Kreed, from the end of issue #100, and sees the return of the fan favorite character, Dave.

There is huge amount going on here, It really lives up to its name as a "space opera". It has everything from politics, to religion, to family values in there. Everything is deftly handled by Nexus co-creator Mike Baron, and never gets jumbled or confused. I would say that anyone could pick up the Space Opera storyline and read it, without knowing much of the back story of Nexus. The back story would only enrich an already solid piece of work.

The artwork presented in this ashcan is not the final art. It is inked but uncolored, and presented in a smaller format than a regular comic. Even so, the art contained within is some of Steve Rude's finest, and I cannot wait to see the final product. It is amazing!

This issue is not scheduled to be released until Rude has the final artwork completed on both #101 and #102, in order to avoid the scheduling issues that plagued #99 and #10o. I would suggest that people who have not read the first two issues of the arc to use this gap to hunt down those two issues and read them, as they are both wonderful pieces of work. Or, the lazier people out there might want to wait till all 4 issues are published in trade form next year. Anyway, whatever you do, this is MUST READ material.

Grade: 10 out of 10

Denny O'Neil is Writing a Two-Part Batman Story

Original article

From CBR:

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was first elected President of the United States, Han Solo was dunked in a carbon-freezing chamber, and America discovered who shot J.R.

It was also the last time living comics legend Denny O’Neil wrote an issue of DC Comics' “Batman” or “Detective Comics.” That all changes in December, as O’Neil will write a two-part story entitled “Last Days of Gotham” in the two main Bat-books as an epilogue to Grant Morrison’s best-selling “R.I.P.” storyline.

The 69-year-old O’Neil told CBR News it’s great to be going back to Gotham City. “It’s nice to revisit, however briefly, characters who were so much a part of my life for so long,” said O’Neil, who was associated with the Batverse as either a writer or editor or group editor for much of the seventies, eighties and well into the nineties, and is widely credited with returning Batman to his Dark Knight roots.

Not wanting to spoil too much about what goes on in his long-awaited return to Gotham, O’Neil only teased the story, saying, “It’s more about the city and Batman’s relationship to it than anything else.”

O’Neil’s last work on the two main Bat-books as a writer was in 1980, when he penned “Batman” #320 and a five-issue arc on “Detective Comics” from #487-491. The writer said while Batman hasn’t changed a whole lot since 1980, he certainly has “evolved” over the years. “He’s evolved a lot, which may explain why he’s still as popular as he is,” explained O’Neil. “But though different creative folk interpret him in different ways, he’s still the guy who is forever symbolically avenging family murder. Subtract that and you don’ have Batman, you have a costume.”

O’Neil confesses he hasn’t been following Grant Morrison’s “Batman” run too closely, but tends to enjoy what the superstar writer brings to his work. “I’m not familiar enough with ['R.I.P.'] to have an informed opinion, but Grant’s work is generally excellent,” said O’Neil.

Asked who he thought should replace Bruce Wayne as Batman if Morrison actually does pull the plug on the 69-year-old character -- “born,” coincidentally, the same month and year as O’Neil -- the Shazam Award-winner quipped, “How about Batmite?” before adding, “But seriously folks, I guess most readers would vote for Dick and who am I to argue?”

It should be noted that Dick Grayson — the first Robin, who has protected Gotham and other cities as Nightwing since 1984 — is the main character of O’Neil’s two-parter.

Arguably, Dennis O’Neil’s most lasting legacy to the Batman mythos was the creation of Ra’s al Ghul, who made his debut in “Batman” #232 in 1971. The supervillain was introduced to mainstream audiences in 2005 as the main villain of Christopher Nolan’s film, “Batman Begins.” O’Neil wrote the novelization for both “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” and he loves what Nolan has done with the Caped Crusader on the big screen. “Both [films] were terrific and I’m glad to be associated with them,” said O’Neil, who also co-created Azrael, a character that helped Marvel Comics Editor in Chief shoot to superstardom as an illustrator. “Nolan is creating his own version of the mythos and it’s as valid as any that preceded it by any criteria, and more valid in terms of his own art form.”

While he said he has no idea if he will be writing any more Bat-books in the future, O’Neil is definitely keeping busy in his “retirement.” “I just finished an essay for an anthology, and pretty soon I’ll have a shot at a piece of my old Superman stuff to be published in a collection,” said O’Neil. “And I also have a comic job for a small publisher I don’t think I can talk about.”

O’Neil’s two-issue arc, featuring art by rising star Guillem March, is scheduled to appear in “Detective Comics” #851 on December 3 and “Batman“#684 on December 24.

I have to tell you, I am pretty excited about this. O'Neil's run on Batman was one of my favourites. Right up there with Alan Grant's. Anyway, I have to go back to work. Thanks to CBR for the news!

I Sucks!

Yep, it is official, I am a DOUCHE!

Last week I proclaimed that I would bring the site back, did a few bits and pieces, then.... pretty much did nothing. I have an excuse though, I started my new job on Monday. I think the toll of buying a house, moving, having a big biking accident, and starting a new job must have really taken a toll on me. Either that, or I had some sort of bug. Basically, I would cycle home, nap for a few hours, eat dinner, then go to bed. I was sleeping for hours a day, but never feeling rested. Hopefully that is over with now, and I can get on with stuff.

Today I spent some time writing out interview questions for something that will be appearing on the site soon. The questions are now sent off, and I am waiting for a response. So, expect the interviews to appear in the next week or so. I am currently flicking through Previews to see what new stuff is coming out in November. At first glance, it doesn't look like there is much. When I have compiled it, I'll update the site with a list of what I think is worth checking out.

Right, I'm off to read some comics and head to bed. Sat in front of me is Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1. I haven't seen any of the new TV series, I just bought it on the strength of the creative team involved, let's hope it is good!

Shipping List for Wednesday September 17th

Hi guys, I'm blogging from my iPhone, which seems to be insanely difficult. If you see two shipping lists, don't worry, the previous contains code that makes it contain that current week's shipping list, and I'm giving it a link on the top menu. I'll still issue the regular weekly one though, so there is an archive if you want to look back. Right, better go, as this iphone's battery life is cack!

Current Week's Shipping List

Trawling the Internets - Issue #4

Well, I don't have a heck of a lot to post about this week. It has been a relatively slow week in the comic book industry, apart from Frank Miller's douchbaggery that is. Also, I only got back into doing this on Wednesday, so I might have missed a few interesting things, because I didn't have my eyes peeled.

Let's start out with a few bits of Alan Moore related news:

• Leah Moore and John Reppion discovered a box of signed copies of AARGH in Alan Moore's basement. So,they put them up for sale on their blog. I ordered one pretty damn quickly, and the rest sold out within hours. This was due in part to the assistance of Rich Johnston, who pimped the sale out around various forums and social networking website. Can't wait to get my copy!

• Someone on ebay was selling the Complete Bojeffries Saga. An Alan Moore item I don't have. I have a few of the Warrior Magazines it was in, but not the collected edition. Did I buy it? Nope, I forgot when the auction closed, and missed it! Damn!. If anyone out there has one they can sell, or knows when I can get one that isn't stupidly expensive, please let me know.

• I spotted another Alan Moore related ebay sale this week. It disturbed me greatly, it's a Rorschach Spandex fetish mask:

My favourite thing is that it says "Mask pictured is the mask you will receive". So. let me get this straight. I'm paying $50 for a used sex mask?????? Gross! Erm, did I say "I'm paying"...erm... moving on!

In other news:

• Would you like some really stupid looking Superman or Batman sneakers? No, neither would I. At first I thought they were for kids, but at $110 a pair anyone who gets these for their kids would need their heads looking at!

• Simon Spurrier is writing a new novel. He wrote a nice long post all about the process, which was extremely interesting. What was more interesting though is that some joker came onto his blog and asked if he would write a review of their product, the Peloop. The Peloop is a male enhancement device, they asked Simon to try one and endorse it, or GET A FRIEND to try it, and report on it. I just had to respond.

Cover Previews

Cover to Umbrella Academy: Dallas #2 by Gabriel Bá:

Cover to Absolution #1 by Juan Jose Ryp:

Covers to Welcome to Hoxford #4 by Ben Templesmith:

Webcomics Updated This Week:

• Freak Angels Episode #27
• Edgar Allen Poo episode #88 - The latest page of Dwight's Harvey nominated classic.
• Imaginary Boys - Cool new fantasy comic on Zuda. Created by Yamatai, Last updated on September 12th
• High Moon - by David Gallaher, Steve Ellis, and Scott O Brown. High moon is Western Period horror comic. Yes, that is just as cool as it sounds!!!! Last Updated on September 9th.
• Melody - by Iilias Kyriazis. Last Updated September 11th.
• Bayou - A gorgeous dark fantasy/horror tale by Jeremy Love and Patrick Morgan. Updated September 10th.
• The Black Cherry Bombshells - Really odd tale about Ultra-violent girl gangs and zombies. By John Zito & Anthony Trovarello. Last Updated September 10th.
• Street Agents - Dean Haspiel's Zuda hosted Street comic. Last updated September 12th
  
• Celadore - by Caanan Grall. A new Fantasy comedy comic. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

If you come across anything interesting while browsing the net, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know. It would make my Sunday evenings a lot more relaxed :)

What I'm Buying - Week of Wed 10-September-2008

Well, it's a double whammy this week! I skipped the store last week, so I had two weeks worth of comics to pick up. I hate doing this, because there were also a bunch of high priced 2000 A.D. progs and a Judge Dredd Megazine in there, so the bill soared to $190. Ouch!

Here's the pile:


Also, I had a special surprise in my box this week. Bill, one of the store managers down at Curious Comics, went to the Diamond retailer summit down in Vegas last week. Knowing how much I loved Ben Templesmith, he picked me up a retailer summit exclusive copy of Welcome to Hoxford #1, and got it signed by Ben, and personalized to me. How cool is that?!


OK, On with the list:

From Last Week:

• 2000 AD #1597
• 2000 AD #1598
• 2000 AD #1599
• 2000 AD #1600
• Army@Love: The Art of War #2 of 6
• The Authority #2
• The Boys #22
• Dark Tower: Treachery #1 of 6
• Detective Comics #848
• The End League #4
• Fables #75
• Green Lantern #34
• Hellblazer Presents: Chas: The Knowledge #3 of 5
• House of Mystery #5
• The Invincible Iron Man #5
• Judge Dredd Megazine #275
• Manhunter #34
• Punisher War Journal #23
• Savage Tales #9
• Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #2 of 5
• The Stand: Captain Trips #1 of 5
• Tor #5 of 6
• X-Men: Manifest Destiny #1 of 4
• X-Men Origins: Beast

From This Week:

• 100 Bullets #95
• Batman Confidential #21
• Booster Gold #12
• B.P.R.D.: The Warning #3 of 5
• Criminal 2 #5
• Criminal Macabre: Cell Block 666 #1 of 4
• Dead She Said #3
• Doctor Who Classics #10
• Epilogue #1
• Ex Machina #38
• Final Crisis: Revelations #2 of 5
• Gen13 #22
• The Goon #28
• I Kill Giants #2 of 7
• Invincible #52
• Simon Dark #12
• Welcome to Hoxford #2
• Young Liars #7

Christ, I hope next week is a small one!

On Double Standards and the Use of Expletives in Comic Books

If you have not heard of the controversy surrounding DCs recall of All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #10 (ASB&R;). Please go and read the post I wrote about it yesterday. I'll wait........................................................... Read it? Good. Let's move along.

In the comment section of the post we had some discussion as to the appropriateness of Miller's use of swear words in this scene. I also discussed this with several people on Twitter. There is no denying that Miller went too far here. The language was not appropriate for the scene, especially in a comic that does not contain any sort of warning label. I don't want to get into issues of censorship here, because that is really another issue entirely. I know the words were supposed to be censored out, but why was Frank Miller putting those words in the dialogue in the first place? Everyone who has read this comic can agree that from it's inception it has been going for a "mature" (perhaps not mentally) audience. However, while this doesn't tout the much ignored "Approved by the CCA" label, neither does it have any indication that it is for mature readers.

DC should really make their minds up on the audience they are going for. In this series we have seen Batman calling Robin "some kind of retard", drawings of half naked women that verge on porn, and regular DC characters like Wonder Woman acting completely psychotic, and using extreme violence. There is no arguing that there is an audience for this style of story, and there is some debate as to whether Frank Miller is parodying the style of writing he helped to create. It would just be nice if they distinguished this properly from other titles in their line. It is labeled as part of the "All-Star" line, but what does that mean to a kid, or parent, looking for a Batman comic to read? In fact "All-Star" even sounds like it is aimed at children. Compare this to All-Star Superman, which is a different style of comic entirely. You could happily give that to a kid, though I think it might give them a head-ache :) This is really irresponsible on DC's part. There is nothing to stop a store selling this to a child, most retailers would know not to, but the new weekend employee might not. Then they will likely have to call in the Comic Book Legal Defense guys to stop them from being sued.

Take a look at The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. This comic uses extremely foul language, and sexual imagery, but they warn you about it on the cover. You expect it in that title. DC's Wildstorm imprint even dropped that title last year for those very reasons, even though it had a warning on it. DC were worried that people would confuse Ennis' DC pastiches with the proprietary characters, and they didn't want that book to be associate with characters like Superman and Batman. Then In ASB&R; you have Batman committing child abuse, Wonder Woman threatening to "Hunt down Batman, kill him like a rabid dog, cut his head off, and plant it on a spike for the authorities to see". It's a bit of a double standard really. Frank Miller has huge star power, so they just seem to give him carte blanche, whereas Ennis, who wasn't even using proprietary characters, gets dumped on his ass!

Something else that struck me as odd is that no real fuss was made when Mark Millar used the exact same language in issue #3 of Kick-Ass. On the final page of the issue he has an eight year old girl say the "C word". Again, this comic carries a warning label about its content, but it has been hinted in LITG that this comic will have ties with Millar's current Marvel work. This includes titles like Marvel 1985, Fantastic Four, and Wolverine.

Hmm, I've really lost where I was going with this :)

I guess I am saying, we don't have to censor comics, but let's be sensible, and keep the potential audience in mind. Use language that is appropriate to the scene, don't go using swear words just for the shock effect, you just come across as an immature douche bag!

***Explicit content beyond***

I'd like to mention that I have no real problem with the word 'Cunt'. I'm also not saying that only a bad writer would use it. Even Shakespeare used to use it. In Twelfth Night the Malvolio examines a love letter written, so he’s been told, by his lady. He examines the handwriting and exclaims:

By my life, this is my lady’s hand these be her very C’s, her U’s and her T’s and thus makes she her great P’s. It is, in contempt of question, her hand.

When Performed, of course, “and her T’s” comes out “N her T’s,” thus spelling out CUNT—and it is with her cunt that Malvolio’s lady makes her great P’s.

ASBaR #10 Recalled. Frank Miller Drops the 'C Bomb', and the Internet Explodes! [Updated]

What on Earth! I came into work this morning, turned the computer on, and it seems that the Twitterverse and the interwebs were roaring with the flames of controversy. It seems that DC have issued a general recall on all issues of All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #10. DC issued no statement as to why this was, but sources are saying that it was due to a printing error. Printing error eh? Well, it's lucky we have those people who hits the store first thing on a Wednesday, and of course, those store that just ignored the recall. A few of these people have scanned images in of the mis-printed pages. Let's see what all the fuss is about:




Close ups:






OK then. I can see why DC might want to recall that. I wouldn't be offended by that myself, but I can see how other people would. People on several sites and forums are losing their heads that DC would ever let this happen, with many offended that DC would ever allow language like this in a book that they see as being aimed at children. Obviously these people have never actually read an issue of ASBaR, as they would realize that children are clearly not the intended audience. Still, it has to be assumed that it will inevitably end up in the hands of a child somewhere.

In some places this is kicking off a debate about censorship, on Twitter in particular. I don't know if I would say it was censorship. Blacking out the words to begin with is censorship, even using #$%&^# in place of foul language is censorship, and comics have been doing that for years. Doing a recall is just DCs way of trying to cover their ass from being sued by tonnes of angry parents. But It's really like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

I find it hard to believe that this could pass though the net like this. Why weren't those words blacked out properly? It would seem that the pages were printed first, then blacked out after the initial printing. This would have to be the case, as the words are imprinted on the paper. Surely it would have just been a lot easier if the letterer took a sharpie and marked through it; or if it was done digitally, it could easily have been blacked out on the computer. Actually, why did the letterer put those words on the page in the first place? Surely he would have read the script, gotten to the words, and just placed a black bar in place of them. In fact, you'd think that editorial would have removed this from the script when Miller sent it in for approval. Nope, what happened is that they printed all of these pages uncensored, then went back and printed the black bars over them. There is no other way for this to happen if you think about it.

This all sounds very fishy to me. There are too many reasons why this shouldn't have happened, and indeed, how if could not have happened by accident. This might get me flamed a bit, but what the fuck! What if DC just let this happen? Yeah, the recall will cost them a lot of money, but how many retailers do you think are really going to send back all their copies? There is no doubt that this has spread around like wildfire, it is featured on sites all over the net, and will have people piling into stores just to get a look at it. While they are there they might even pick up the first ASBaR trade, oh and "I'll get a few other DC comics while I'm here". Could this be a very ballsy and very drastic marketing strategy? God knows that DC could use the sales spike, even the buzz around The Dark Knight didn't do much for their sales for the last month. Who knows? I'm just saying, that no press is bad press!

[Update]

Ian Sharman, Co-Founder, Managing Editor, Writer, Inker, Colourist, Letterer, and Pre-Press for Orang Utan Comics has just contacted me with some interesting information as to how this error could have occurred. He has a lot of experience with printing, and said:

Oh, I see what's happened...the lettering is a mix of CMYK to make it look properly black, but the strike out is just black. Hence the cyan, magenta and yellow ink has gone down on top of the black bar and left the word legible. It's something that would only show up when the book has been printed. PDF proofs or inkjets wouldn't show it.

I asked whether DC would have seen a final printing mock up before the full print was initiated, as my wife was a magazine writer and editor, until recently, and they always did this. He said:

Unfortunately people rely on soft proofs and inkjets so much these days no-one bothers to check what comes off the press.

So there you have it, I can see that when you have so many hundreds of comics and trades going to press every month, doing a check of what comes off the press would be rather unmanageable. Still, with the content contained here you would think that special attention would be paid to it, but mistakes happen I guess!

Hypergeek is back from the dead!

No, that doesn't mean that I am now a member of the recently risen undead. I am definitely not a... well, we, I mean they, like to call it the Z word. Anyway, I'm definitely not one of them, and have never, and will never crave the delicious flavour of human flesh, or the exquisite textures of the Human brain..... mmmm, brain. What? No, that is not the stench of Formaldehyde you can smell, I am definitely NOT preserving my body with embalming fluid! Who said I was? Good grief!

No, the Website is back from the dead, or if you prefer, it has arisen like a Phoenix from the ashes, reborn anew to live again!

OK seriously, it has been about 2 or 3 weeks since I last posted on here, which is not too long in real life terms, but such a period of inactivity on the internet can lead to the swift death of a blog. I checked stat tracker earlier today, and it seems that without posting, my number of unique users has been about 100 hits a day. That's not a huge amount of hits for a big site, but I think it is pretty respectable for a completely inactive, fledgling comic blog. I intend to sift through the usage stats from while I was away to see what features people liked best, and maybe that will help me to improve the content. A preliminary glance shows that I got a huge amount of hits for my post about the new Watchmen merchandise. In fact, I'm the top hit on Google for "crappy watchmen merchandise", and I seem to be the #7 hit for "watchmen merchandise", which is hilarious! DC will probably have me on some sort of black list now. Strangely the #6 hit for "watchmen merchandise" is a youtube video of Spaceballs: The Movie. WTF?! May the Schwartz be with you!

So, why have I left the blog to rot for all this time? I've just had a massively busy month. As you may know, my Wife and I just purchased a new apartment, which we moved in to on August 29th. Since then we have been unpacking, cleaning, buying furniture etc. etc. Before that it was all packing, cleaning the old slum flat, finalizing payments with the lawyer, and all the crap that goes with a house purchase. In addition to the move, my wife started a new job last week, and I handed in my notice for my current job. That's right folks, we moved house, and we both changed jobs in the space of two and a half weeks. As you will most likely understand, this raised the stress levels to monstrous proportions. On top of that, I have been cycling 40 miles a day, to commute to work. So I have just been tired all the time.

With all this stress, and very little time on my hands, I thought that rather than just making a half-arsed attempt to keep this going, I should just give the blog a rest, and come back to it when I felt I had something decent to post about. I intended to bring the blog back to life on Monday, but while cycling home I was going down the hill that leads to our apartment building, not 10 meters away from my turning, and I put my brakes on way too hard while traveling at 50km/h, which had inevitable consequences. My body collided with the road, and it took a lot more damage than the tarmac did. So, I've been in a lot of pain for the last few days, and have only today regained the ability to move my left arm fully. I also have a nasty gash on my nose where my cycling glasses smashed into it, which I just know is going to leave a big scar. Oh well, chicks dig scars! Or so I am told :)

So, I will be phasing Hypergeek back in, slowly but surely. The regular features that you all know and love will see a return, and I plan to add a few more bits and pieces. I say slow, because I haven't really been keeping up on the comic world for the last couple of weeks, and have only read about 10 comics in that time. I also have a lead on something special for the site, but I'll wait and see what happens with that before I clue you in :)

So, long story short, Hypergeek is back, I am less stressed because I no longer live in the ghetto, and with my new job being so much closer to home, I'm going to have much more time to read comics, write, play music, draw etc. This should result in more good stuff for the blog, I hope.

My parents want some pictures of the new apartment at some point, so I'll do a shoot this weekend, which will end up on flickr. But for now, I'll let you have a glimpse of Hypergeek central, coming at you from the new EdCave!

Hypergeek Central



After I moved all my long boxes were falling to pieces, so I thought what the hell! I Called staples, and ordered this beast. The grey one holds about 2000 or so comics. The little black one cost me $3 at a garage sale, this grey one was about 10 times that much.

I still have to keep all my magazine size stuff in boxes though, as I didn't have room in there for those. So, the closet in this room is still packed to the brim with old 2000 A.D. progs, and Conan comics.



The comics you can see in this picture are all in the "Too be read" pile. Yes, I have a lot of reading to catch up on!



Every study needs a massive picture of Alan Moore! I need to get this framed soon.

Weekly Shipping list for Wed 10 September 2021

What, What, What?! A post? On Hypergeek? I thought it was dead?

Nope, I've just been superbusy!

When will we see a proper post from Edward "Hypergeek" Kaye????

Soon my child, soon. In fact, I intend to do a proper update this evening, when I get back from work. I will explain my lengthy absence then.

Does he feel like a dick from having one of those corpse blogs that float around on the web, like the flotsam and jetsam of good intentions?

Erm... I guess! You're scaring me now, go away... on to the shipping list:

This is a general shipping list as sent out by Diamond Distribution to all stores in North America. Availability in your area may vary, so please check with your local comic store.

All data was provided courtesy of Chris Nolan and his Comic Books Beta Facebook application. Please hover over each title for information on the release:


[Ed note: If you are viewing this by email or with a reader, you will may not be able to see the above list, because it is compiled by JavaScript. Please click the link to the original post to see the full shipping list]