So, we’ve talked about what’s going on with DC and what’s new with everyone else who isn’t Marvel.

Now, on to the main event.  But first: An editorial.

I know Marvel scored big with its movie announcements, promises of Winter Soldier, Falcon, and more Thanos (and, remarkably, still no talk of Avengers 2).  But on the comic book front, their panels were underwhelming and underinformative.  And why, with all these movies, do they never mention comic books?  Why is there no kid-holding-a-comic in a Marvel movie?  Why no advertising their print line in a little during-the-credits bump?  I actually though Jonah Hex—a terrible movie by any standard—did one thing right: In the opening credits, his origin was told using panels from the comic book.

Here’s my fear: Marvel’s A-List talent either goes to the screen where the money is (see: Brian Michael Bendis, Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, others) or decides to go indie (see: Ed Brubaker, Paolo Rivera, Matt Fraction), and Marvel starts giving away its comics like pamphlets used to promote movies.  Kinda like what Mark Millar is basically doing, writing 5-issue comic storyboards for films.

Marvel: Remember who made you (and, frankly, who keeps making you—without comic fans and bloggers, you’re toast).  Invest, promote, and produce the best comic books.  Like you always have, frankly.

I guess I’m just nervous.

Hit the break to find out what’s news for Marvel’s properties…
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By the time I write this article, it may already be out of date.  But I’m not a reporter.  I’m a re-reporter, gossip monger, and opinionator.  About comic books.

And this here column is what I think about the planned Marvel not-reboot/not-relaunch/wave of new #1s coming in October through February.

Marvel never follows DC.  Except when they do.  Both Avengers and X-Men will shake up significantly after the Avengers vs X-Men event…But calling it a reboot isn’t really accuate.  It’s more like a bunch of #1 issues in current continuity.  They’re moving paper to make paper, yo’.

If you ask me, it’s too many shakeups.  We don’t need gimmicks to make comics exciting.  The best Marvel books of the past decade haven’t been brief events that change every couple years, they’ve had longevity: Garth Ennis’ 80-or-so Punisher issues; Bendis and Maleev’s long run on Daredevil (followed by Ed Brubaker’s); Peter David’s X-Factor; Dan Slott’s She Hulk; Brubaker’s Captain America; the rotating “One More Day” crew on Amazing Spider-Man; Bendis’ New Avengers work…It’s not so much “event fatigue” as “why should I care?”  I know in a couple years (or less) they’ll just change it all again. On the other hand, so what?  As long as some good stories and good creative teams are delivered, that’s all that matters.

And, smartly, the Marvel Now! titles will launch over the space of 5 months, giving some of the new #1s the chance to breathe and bask in their increased sales (#1 issues always see a sales spike, even if they’re replacing a book with the same exact title).  Every paper purchase will come with a free digital copy—I wonder if that will impact trade paperback sales?

Right now, much of what will happen is rumor…But that won’t stop me from writing about it.

Hit the break to read about what they’re doing to your Marvel in the coming months…..

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If you like Cap, hit the break. If you don’t, don’t.

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They have totally changed the opening to the Walking Dead.

Now, hit the break for lots more foolishness, including the latest on the “real” Batman movie, the status of the Deadpool flick, Green Arrow’s TV show, new Garth Ennis work, and the latest on The Walking Dead.
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IGN published a top 100 comic book heroes that made me crazy, both in its predictability (Hey! Superman and Bats are #s 1 and 2!), overinclusiveness (every single Robin except Damian Wayne (who is the most interesting one by far), as well as Superboy and Supergirl?  Really?) and its attempts to be esoteric without providing sufficient justification (Groo makes the list, but they don’t really say what makes him so essential; James Gordon makes the list, but Aunt May and Uncle Ben don’t–nor does Jarvis; and Nova makes the list, but nobody really gives a shit about Nova).  Maybe it was the list’s sketchy criteria for placement: “Picked by their cultural impact, character development, social relevance, general cool factor, and importance of storylines, these are the best of the best.

It made me so nuts, I made my own list.  Yes, there’s a lot of overlap.  But mine is better.  Because I said so.

Note: If you’re just looking for a list without supporting arguments, you can jump to the last page of this post.  But you can’t tell me I was wrong to put Thor at #33 unless you go and read why.  So, read every page and then tell me why I’m full of $#!+.

Enjoy!

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The lead story has to be the October 2011 sales figures, which still show success vis a vis DC’s new 52. It’s safe to say that the new 52, and the new 52 alone, is responsible for America spending 12% more on comic books than they did last October. Comic-book unit orders are also up—by over 32% from last year. That’s tremendous. They’re also up from the first month of the new 52, but I assume that’s because so many DC #1s sold out in September and were reprinted in October. What does 32% mean? It means a million more comic books were sold. DC’s market share was 42%–a new record for the world’s number two comic book publisher. They haven’t hit that number since December 1999, when Grant Morrison’s JLA came out. In comparison, all indie publishers combined got only 28% of the market.

Here’s the top 10 for comic book sales, October 2011:

10. Superman #2.
9. Fear itself #7.
8. Wolverine and the X-Men #1.
7. Hulk #1.
6. Detective Comics #2.
5. Flash #2.
4. Green Lantern #2.
3. Action #2.
2. Batman #2.
1. Justice League #2.

Rounding out the top 25 were second issues of the other Bat-family books, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Teen Titans, Justice League International, and only three other Marvel titles: Fear Itself: Fearless #1; Amazing Spider-Man #671, and the last issue of Uncanny X-Men. So only six Marvel titles cracked the top 25, in a month where one of its bestselling titles ended and we saw a #1 with the word “X-Men” in it. Amazing.

Things didn’t fare much better for Marvel on the trade front, with only one book, Ultimate Spider-Man: The Death of Spider-Man, managing to crack the top 10 (and coming in at #10, no less). DC had 5 books in the top 10, several of them hardcovers, including Flashpoint. Walking Dead got two trades in the top 10 and worth mentioning is that Alan Moore’s horrendously shocking, disgusting, horrifying and brilliant Neonomicon trade paperback came in at #9 for Avatar Press. You should all go buy it, unless you’re easily offended.
Now for the rest of the news, hit the break.

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At the break, you can read my thoughts about the best of the new 52 and what I think of Starfire’s boobs.  But the headline has to be the new Avengers trailer, and related news…

First off, the trailer is awesome.  Why is it awesome?  Cap uses a gun!  Avengers Tower!  Updated costumes (except, strangely, for Iron Man)!  We get to see Loki versus the U.S. Army, and of course they’re ineffective, so Nick Fury and Agent Coulson summon the team.  The trailer then shows a fairly traditional “assemble” scene, with each of the heroes getting ready to answer the call, but then we flash ahead to Loki in custody.  At least the heroes don’t all fight each other.  (But Cap and Thor do, later in the trailer.)  It makes me wonder how much screentime the heroes will actually share…But it’s extremely geek-out cool anyway.  Next, we see Fury addressing the team.  They’re getting ready for something; presumably, either Loki escaped or the rumors of a Skrull invasion were true and we get to see a little sub-story.  I certainly hope there’s more than one major battle.  No, I don’t hope it.  I expect it.  The trailer closes with the inevitable Hulk transformation, which looks pretty good as CGI.  I wonder if there will be only one Hulk appearance?  Frankly, one is probably enough.  With so many interesting characters in the film, I don’t think you need more than one big Hulk scene.

Of course, there’s already controversy with several folks alleging that the preview used existing footage from Iron Man.  Michael Bay recently recycled a sequence from his godawful “The Island” picture in his somewhat less godawful Tranformers 3, so movie nerds are on the watch for this stuff.  I’m not all that worried—I wouldn’t expect Whedon to have a lot of completed FX shots available for a trailer for a movie that isn’t set to come out for over 6 months.  It’s frankly too soon for a trailer, but in these days of instant rewards, I guess the studios feel like they have to keep the hype going.  It’s kind of like holding a primary for a national election in January—too soon, and leaves too much time for doubt and negativity to damage the actual release date.

Bleeding Cool has a side-by-side comparison, if you’re curious.

Watch the trailer here:

Meanwhile, Hasbro previewed the toy tie-ins at NYCC, showing both 3- and 6-inch action figures of the main characters.  You can find pix of all of them on the internet; Hawkeye has the most remarkable resemblance to the actor (Jeremy Renner), but of course he looks nothing like the actual comic character he’s based on.  Black Widow, unfortunately, looks like a cheap sex doll.  In the actual film trailer she looks completely different: Like an expensive sex doll.  Iron Man is the coolest—but he’s got the circular unibeam, while the trailer shows the more modern one.

Now, hit the break for more comic news.

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I had so much to gab about—I’m such a cape-yenta—that I split the news column this week into one about movies/TV and one about print.  This is the print one.  The other one came yesterday.  So unless you like reading (i.e., are over the age of 30), you probably don’t want to …

Hit the break for news about The Walking Dead; Captain America joining Alpha Flight; the end of Batman, Inc.; the return of the Human Torch; and two new Avengers teams!

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Glad you asked.  Or, to be exact, glad I asked me on your behalf.

Hit the break for the latest news and my views.  Drop a comment and argue with me while you’re here.

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