Comix and match

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was delightful!

If you’re interested in playing catch-up with the wacky world of comics, Dirk Deppey has it all, as usual. He truly is the Instapundit of the comicsphere.

It bears repeating: Grant Morrison gives good interview. This would also seem to be the apotheosis of the recent trend of comics creators having some fun at the expense of the inane questions they’re occasionally asked.

Bill Sherman lays the smack down on Marvel’s Trouble, the Mark Millar-scripted launch title for the ill-fated Epic imprint (indeed, the only Epic title to reach its intended conclusion, it would seem). Two little points: 1) Continuity-wise, this would work in the Ultimate universe, where Captain America’s sidekick Bucky did indeed survive WWII; 2) Characterization-wise, this kinda sorta might work in the Ultimate universe, where Aunt May is a lot more “on” than her regular-continuity counterpart. Of course, she still looks way to old for the Trouble-established timeline to make any sense. Then again, the Kingpin is way too old for the timeline established in his recent solo title; the argument in both cases was that a good story warrants screwing with established character points if necessary. To which I say, well, yeah–so when are we going to see those good stories, anyway?

Alan David Doane has the answer to the question of whether comics cost too much: The really good ones sure don’t. Actually, this tends to be the answer to every binary qualitative comics question. “Do comics suck?” “Do superhero comics suck?” “Do altcomix suck?” “Does manga suck?” “Do comics retailers suck?” “Is it a waste of time/money to read/buy comics?” The answer is always “not the good ones!” (The exception to this rule is “Do pamphlets suck?”–the answer there is always yes.) Mick Martin is the latest person to state that winnowing down your purchases to stuff that’s actually quite good does wonders for clearing up a lot of these questions. (I’ve got to disagree with him about Bruce Jones’s Hulk run, though; aside from the obviously grafted-in Absorbing Man storyline (notice how he didn’t include a single mention of any of his usual cast of conspirators?) it’s been riveting.)

A separate question related to the cost issue might be “is it wrong to seek out discounted copies of good comics, if they’re available, potentially at the expense of a good retailer near you?” Well, there you have to weigh the pros (saving money) vs. the cons (stiffing a worthwhile shop in favor of, say, Amazon.com, or one of those manga/anime stores). I’ve got to conclude that retailers are fighting a losing battle if they’re trying to convince purchasers as a class to make decisions that adversely affect their wallets. You’d have to be a hell of a good comics shop to convince someone that despite the fact that they can get the exact same material elsewhere for less money, they should go to you for, like, the ambiance or whatnot. Still, this can be done–Instapundit calls it “the comfy chair revolution” (registration required, so just use “laexaminer” as both user ID and password). It’s just going to require a lot more effort (and cash) on the part of retailers who probably can’t afford it.

No trade paperback of The Filth? Or any of the Vertigo Pop books? How does that make sense? Then again, DC usually takes forever to collect things that aren’t Hush, so hope springs eternal.

Finally, Franklin Harris comes up with more anecdotal evidence that–say it with me now–manga is the future. Rich Johnston pitches in as well. But hey, if we keep repeating “it’s just a trend” to ourselves (or perhaps “kids don’t buy comics anymore–they’re only buying video games”), maybe it’ll all go away….