Comics I read this week

Here's the round-up on this week's books.

Neat Moments #1: "It made me feel overpaid."

I've drifted away from comics in the past couple of years. Not, I hasten to add, because I think I've outgrown them, or because modern comics suck, but--primarily--for financial reasons. I can get a paperback for the same price as two or three comics, and the paperback will entertain me longer and better than those comics. I still buy the occasional trade and individual issues of things like Northlanders and Suburban Glamour, but I probably spent $20, total, on individual Marvel and DC issues last year.

And yet my love for superhero comics hasn't really gone anywhere, and I still remember any number of stories, story arcs, and creator runs with great fondness. So I thought I'd write about some of my favorite moments from them--or, rather, some of my favorite Neat Moments.

Comics I read the past two weeks

I got a lot of stuff the last two weeks, so I'm not going to go too in depth on most of these books

Get well soon, Gene!

It's making the rounds on the internet that Gene Colan's health is not well. His liver is failing, and like so many freelance artists, he has no health coverage. Clifford Meth is organizing a fundraiser auction to help Gene and his family -- see here for details (and be sure to read the other posts Meth has made in the last day or so about Gene).

Here's hoping that the situation is not as bad as it may seem and that Gene can make a recovery.

Sunday Song Lyric

You've no doubt heard by now about Cyclone Nargis, the storm that devastated Burma (also known as Myanmar) last week. Tens of thousands -- perhaps over a hundred thousand -- people are believed to have been killed by the storm. The dire situation is only being compounded by the country's ruling military dictatorship, which has been reticent to let foreign aid workers into the country for fear that exposing their people to foreigners will lead the citizens of Burma to agitate for political change. It's downright tragic -- a natural disaster compunded by a manmade one. If you can, consider donating to a charity that is aiding the people of Burma -- for example Oxfam or UNICEF.

A Great Joker Story

Stacked Deck, the deluxe edition of The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told, makes reference to a 3-part Doug Moench Joker story (with Don Newton and Gene Colan) that ran in Batman #365-366 and Detective Comics #532. At least one of them is a key issue, apparently, since it features the first Jason Todd in costume as Robin.

Has it ever been reprinted?

For that matter, has the Doug Moench run been reprinted in general? Seems like a good candidate for a Showcase volume.

The Reprint of the Best One-Panel Monster Ever

Via Jim Roeg, note that DC Universe Special: Justice League of America, which is out now-ish, reprints JLA #111, featuring the one and only appearance of the fearsome octosaur.

Curmudgeons Con on Saturday

We had a bit of a delay in confirming that we'd have a quorum for Saturday's Curmudgeons Con, but all our red tape has been cut and our registration forms have been filled out, so we're good to go. If you don't know the drill, you can find out here, here, here, or in any of more than a dozen other posts going back a year or more. And you may not believe us, because we have to keep up a certain curmudgeonly demeanor to justify the title of this page, but anybody within the greater Chicagoland area on Saturday is welcome to join us. (Actually, you're welcome to join us even if you're not in Chicago and its environs on Saturday, but it'll be more of a hassle for you to get here.) Come one, come all.

CSBG's Got the Runs

Via a commenter over at Making Light, the results of Comics Should Be Good!'s Top Comic Book Runs survey.

Any commentary I'd make on the list is sufficiently obvious that I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader.

I will merely say that anything on this list that is not currently in print should be. There are at best a handful of titles which aren't evergreen here.

Welcome to the World

The Curmudgeons are pleased to welcome Henry Ian Nevins (6 lb 12, 20 in) to our Jess's family--

...Hope you survive the experience!

Hey. He said it first.

Congratulations to Jess and his no-doubt exhausted and radiant wife!

Sunday Song Lyric

Due to circumstances I won't bore you with, this week's lyric is being posted a day late. "Comics I Read This Week" is also forthcoming, although I may just combine last week's haul with this week's and do a two-week round up on Friday.

In any event, earlier this week, I mentioned the fact that as a young comics reader, I missed the boat on some real classics. As I noted, I was unimpressed with the Simonson issue of Thor I picked up, and wound up not reading the series until about a decade after it was published. Likewise with Frank Miller's Daredevil. Bottom line, I had questionable taste as a kid (still do, but that's a whole 'nother story).

Spider-Man 3

I watched Spider-Man 3 last night, and it wasn't nearly as bad as people said. Sure, the ending was a mess, and I am now completely over any illusion that Kirsten Dunst is either cute or charismatic, and Marko got completely shoehorned into the Uncle Ben story, but both the premise and the structure were really quite solid. A bit on the nose in places, perhaps, e.g. Harry's remarks in the hospital, but I am also on the other side of several decades' worth of internalizing how stories work and so I may be sensitive to that sort of thing.

Thomas Hayden Church was superbly cast as Flint Marko. Nailed the look, and had the chops to carry the emotional weight.

Let me amplify that: The movie series has, in fact, nailed the look of the source material better than any other movie series. And, in fact, watching the movie made me realize that the movies have solved a problem that the comics have always had: How does Spidey swing around? In particular, where's the necessary altitude coming from?

The answer: The webs are sproingy. Spidey nails the top of a building and the webline pulls him up to a point he can start swinging from. (This works even better if we make the assumption that the webs are sproingy for only a second or two while they're drying and shrink to a fixed length thereafter.)

I will also note that movie Spidey is amazingly more resistant to damage than comics Spidey. Comics Spidey would be smashed into pulpy bits if he took a dozen sledgehammer blows from a giant Sandman while strapped to a steel girder.

The degree to which New Yorkers cheer for their heroes feels real, and seems to be a major change in the city since September 11. Before then, we'd never have seen the idealistic and hopeful NYC crowd scenes we saw in SM 2 and 3; New Yorkers were at least perceived as cynical and hostile, especially to those held up for admiration.

Iron Man Opens Big

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Iron Man gets $104M domestic, $97M foreign, which blows away studio projections and makes it the second biggest non-sequel 3-day opening (after Spider-Man).

Marvel self-financed. Paramount is just picking up a cut for distribution.

Meanwhile, the JLA movie is dead at Warner Bros. That's the peril of being co-owned with a studio; you can't shop a project around. DC's movie future may depend on The Dark Knight, because if it doesn't score, say, an $80M first weekend, Warner may simply decide not to make any more superhero comic movies.

What Did You Get?

Hey, it's Free Comic Book Day! Who's been out to their comic book store? (I haven't yet, because, obviously, I'm still online posting.) Which free titles are worth picking up?

Iron Man No Pun No Allusion Article Title

Iron Man is a very well done, very entertaining superhero film.

My discussion doesn't really reveal anything I'd call a spoiler, but probably it's better if you've seen the movie.

Sid & Ernie

Via Mark Evanier, an article about Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón's renascent career.

I've been a Colón fan for quite a while; my favorite work of his was certainly Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld. Jacobson, I'm not so familiar with; I'm not a Marvel guy, and it's been a long, long time since I read any Richie Rich.

But I'm still amused and very pleased that these two distinguished gentlemen have found and are enjoying their twilight careers.

And the market can only benefit from having more non-fiction comics.