Spider-Donald and Daisy-Jane

Never before have two of my fandoms collided as massively as they did today. In case this is the first website you have seen today (ha, I wish) or you've been playing copious amounts of Batman: Arkham Asylum as I have, you haven't heard that the Walt Disney Company has bought Marvel Comics. I will give you a second to let that sink in...

Now before you run around like a chicken with its head cut off, yelling that Ragnarok has come and that we are all doomed, take a deep breath and let's think about this. Practically every message board, comics news site, and newspaper has been abuzz with this story and as of right now, there are a whole lot more questions than answers. How will this affect Marvel movies in the pipeline? What about Marvel Island at Universal Studios? Are the MAX and Icon comics lines going to disappear? I have even more questions just off the top of my head, but no one knows when all of them will be answered. Since that is the case, I think it is a smart idea to relax and think of the positives that will come from this. First, I think it will definitely help Marvel in terms of making new relationships with retailers. Disney could definitely throw some of the shelf space they have in stores to Marvel. Second (as I mentioned on the 11 O'Clock Comics boards where A LOT of people are discussing this topic), Disney is all about self-promotion and they do everything they can to make sure people know about their properties and products. Due to this, I would not be surprised if Marvel's presence at conventions and the like were to increase as well as ads and commercials for their products. Lastly, the biggest gain from Disney's purchase is the possibility of a Marvel/Pixar collaboration. Comic Book Resources reported that "When asked if there was potential for cross-polination between Marvel and Pixar, Disney said that Pixar’s John Lasseter has met with key Marvel creative executives recently and the group got 'pretty excited, very fast.' Disney will look at all opportunities and thinks there are some exciting products that could come from this sort of partnership." That is pretty awesome if you ask me.

All in all, I think us fanboys need to keep our heads on straight and wait to see how this will all play out, but personally, I think this is the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership.

Oh and one last thing. As for the title of this post, if they ever make a statue or something of Spider-Donald and Daisy-Jane, I will be the first person in line to buy one.

I told you before I was going to start breaking my own rules.

Everybody loves getting surprises. It's just human nature. But ya know what's better than getting one surprise? Getting TWO surprises in the same week like I did in the form of two comic books that I picked up this Wednesday. It was like Marvel and DC both said "let's put out an issue just for Mike." These books made my so giddy that I had to blog about them as soon as I could (and I bet I'll be the only person really talking about them). In a week with Blackest Night & War of Kings tie-ins, multiple Avengers titles, and of course, Wednesday Comics, my favorite books this week will probably be missed by a lot of people. Hell, I almost missed them too, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first of these awesome books was Wolverine: First Class #18. Like any good comic fan, I print out and bring my shopping list with me every Wednesday when I go to the comic shop. Since I've only read an issue here and there from the "First Class" books, I did not have Wolverine: First Class #18 on my list. Then, sitting on the new release shelf, was that hilarious Skottie Young cover with none other than my favorite character in all of comics: Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man. Not only that, but the issue was written by one of my favorite writers, Peter David, who currently writes X-Factor which also features Madrox. Someone was not doing their job because I should have known about this month's issue of Wolverine: First Class! Really, they could have put an ad in X-Factor for this issue. I'll bet you it would have helped sales. Of course, as soon as I realized what this issue was, I bought it, and as you can probably can tell, it did not disappoint. Basically, the story is Multiple Man (whose power is that he can make copies of himself called "dupes" in case you didn't know) is looking for a runaway dupe and comes to Xavier's school looking for help. A chase ensues with Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in tow with a couple existential crises happening in the meantime as they debate what makes someone a person. So you get action, comedy, philosophy, and some great art from Francis Portela with Madrox in his awesome classic costume. What more could you want? It was a great issue, and with all of the rumors floating around that Peter David's X-Factor might be canceled soon, I want to get as much Madrox as I can. (By the way, please go out and buy X-Factor. Try it out. You'll like it. It needs all the help it can get if the rumors are true.)

The second book was on my shopping list but the story was not at all what I was expecting. That book was Gotham City Sirens #3. Now this series has not been getting much buzz really, and I don't understand why. The story so far has been tight and full of great action and Guillem March's art can only be described as "crazy fantastic." Over the last couple years, I have grown to love Batman's lady rogues. Will Pfeifer's run on Catwoman has made me a devout fan of Selina Kyle, and who can't enjoy the team of Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn? Put all three in one title and I will definitely be purchasing it. Plus, look at that cover. How can you say no to that? It's like a movie poster for one of the good Bond movies. Now remember how I said this book was not what I was expecting. Well, I expected a book called Gotham City Sirens to have the Gotham City sirens in the book, but this issue concentrated on someone else entirely: my favorite of Batman's rouges, the Riddler! Just like my love of Jaime Madrox, I will buy any book with the Riddler, especially now that he has turned over a new leaf as a private investigator. Seeing Riddler solving crimes just like he would solve a riddle brings a new dynamic to the character, and writer Scott Lobdell shows us the genius that is going on in Riddler's mind as he mumbles the parts of each puzzle to himself, even the puzzle of a possible new Batman. Here's hoping that Riddler continues to be a major part of Gotham City Sirens as the series continues.

The Most Disgusting Thing Ever

There is a new post coming this weekend, I assure you. Something happened thought that I have to talk about real quick.

I buy a lot of back issues at my local Half Price Books. It is a phenomenal store and I love searching through all the crazy stuff they have there (especially the comics of course). There is a very major downside though which made itself apparent to me while reading some of the comics I bought there yesterday evening. I wanted to get out of the house yesterday so I decided to drive over to HPB to see if they had anything interesting. To my delight, the comic boxes had a veritable smorgasbord of new comics from the last couple months. I found a great assortment of books that I wanted to read (but didn't want to pay cover for when they came out). I brought some of them to work with me today to read during my lunch. That is when I noticed something; the issues are filled with crumbs and oil stains from those crumbs! Really!? You are so gross that you don't brush off the food that doesn't make it into your maw while you're stuffing your face and reading your comics, and then you go and sell these books still full of crumbs to a used book store!? Ugh. The sad thing is that this has happened to me before and I totally forgot about it. So, whoever it is that sells bunchs of new comics to the Half Price Books in Niles, IL., you are disgusting.

(Oh and I want to make it perfectly clear that this is not a slight on Half Price Books. I love that place, but I will not buy newer issues of comics there anymore.)

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, I am back after moving, getting married, losing a $1,100 security deposit because my old landlord is a f'ing deadbeat, and having to change internet providers since Comcast wouldn't get up off there asses and fix all the problems we had with their service. It has been a really crazy time in my life and I haven't had a lot of time to read comics. This past weekend was the Chicago Comic-Con though so what better time to get back into the swing of this here blog, but it is going to be a little different than before. Let me explain.

I have come to the conclusion that I have kinda handcuffed myself with the theme of reading old comics. While I will continue to read and blog about all of the comics that fill my longboxes, I've made the decision that having a different kind of post every once in a while might spice things up. This is going to be one of those posts. I have a bunch of little thoughts that have been running through my mind as of late that I think are worth sharing.

You may know that Big Lots is a chain of stores that sells closeouts items. What you may not know is that Big Lots carries a very interesting assortment of DVD's for dirt cheap. I recently found Batman: The Animated Series Vol. 4 there for $3.00! Of course as soon as I got it, I started watching the whole volume from beginning to end. Watching the series this way made something very strange stand out to me: smoke bombs. Gotham City must have a store called "Smoke Bombs R Us" because everybody and their mother has smoke bombs of every size and shape and they're throwing those suckers all over the place. If I watched the episodes every week in the manner they were intended, then this plot device might not have seemed so overused, but when you watch all the episodes back to back, it is a smoke bomb party and everyone's invited. The best example of this is in the episode "Mean Seasons" where Batman fights a crazy past-her-prime model who goes around terrorizing people as the Calendar Girl. (The episode is a more kid-friendly version of Loeb and Sale's Long Halloween in case you were wondering.) Now this model dresses up for a Halloween themed attack and uses smoke bombs disguised as candy corn earrings in order to facilitate a quick getaway. How in the world does a washed up model get her hands on candy corn smoke bombs!? I need to know!

Smoke bombs aside, there is one other thing I want to talk about that I mentioned earlier. Now that the Chicago Comic-Con (or whatever Wizard is calling it these days) is over, I have very mixed feelings about this year's con. As soon as I walked in to the convention center on Preview Night, I knew that this was going to be a lot different than previous years. The most obvious difference was the lack of Marvel or DC booths and all that space taken up by autograph areas. It was really weird not seeing huge banners and posters from the Big 2 everywhere as I walked in. That is how it has been since I first started going to the con. I am just so torn about it. It is a sign of the times that this is not an important con anymore. Frankly, I got bored and left early every day. It just wasn't the same for me, and apparently it wasn't the same for a lot of people. It wasn't bad for everyone though. A lot of the artists that I talked to had a great time since more people were interested in Artist Alley this year and spent their money there. That is great to hear and I am really happy that people had a good time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself and found a lot of comics that have been on my wishlist for a long time (including one that was a total wild goose chase that I will recount in a post in the near future.) All in all, it was fun, but I will not be shelling out the money for a weekend pass. I will probably go on Sunday only next year so I can hunt for deals. Now I can get really excited for Windy City Comicon in a little over a month. If you haven't bought your tickets yet, GO NOW AND BUY THEM! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? And when you come, don't forget to come and say hi. I will be volunteering like last year so look for me in my new "Henchman" shirt.

Lastly, real quick, I wanted to mention a blog that I found and added to my links on the right. Go check out the Covered blog. It is amazing!