Green Lantern At Less Than 1/3 Cover Price

You'll find it for just that price (pops up automatically for me, but some may need the discount code of GREEN to be put in on the final checkout page).

I've been beating this drum for awhile, but the online deal site, Tanga.com, has had several DC relaunch titles for postal subscriptions at less than one-third the cover price.

Snail mail subscriptions are always cheaper, but never before have they regularly beaten even the discount that retailers get in buying the book through Diamond.

If you couple this with the returnability commitment that DC keeps expanding out for additional months, it might seem to indicate that the publishing strategy on the physical side is to increase circulation so that ad buys will be more attractive and/or increase the pool of potential digital subscribers.

Six or so DC titles offered up at a dangerously low price (not quite a loss, necessarily, given DC cutting out retail and distribution, but having to pay lower class mail rates) upping the circulation and putting them in direct contact with the customer in a way that retailers won't be as alerted to as Marvel's "free digital copy for every comic" idea seems like it is good for the reader and possibly the publisher, but not anyone in between.

Uh-Durrrrrrrr

(or why I hope the CGI is still being tweaked in a movie I'm otherwise fairly excited to see)

Green Lantern Trailer Hits Web

So...That's Green Lantern?

If you haven't seen the image of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern before, there it is on the right.

I don't love it. I don't even like it, really. But I don't hate it, either.

From what can be seen in the image, it seems to be solid green (other than the symbol) with texturing that is supposed to constantly reinforce to the viewer that it is an energy construct threaded together from hard light.

One of the most basic points of honest-to-goodness iconic super-hero costume design, IMO, is keeping it to 2-3 colors. The best (read: easiest to get right) combinations are generally some balanced mixture of black, white and another color. Most of the costumes that are busier than that or select colors that aren't as natural together succeeded because they were introduced in different/simpler times and have been ingrained into pop culture.

So, this outfit that seems to be just green, aside from the white in the symbol? Not so iconic or dynamic. A bit of a dud. Here's hoping they decide to tweak it a bit, since it is all CGI anyway.

Wow...CBR Mods Are Scary

I waded into the thread CBR had in its forums for their article about the Blackest Night #6 leak after I posted my blog that questioned whether the author of the article inadvertently revealed that he regularly reads scanned comic books downloaded via torrent.

The whole thread was nuked when, at last check, there was only a discussion about the following:

• how it was questionable that they banned the member who originally posted some of the leaked images from BN #6
• accusations that DC purposely leaked or put BN #6 in position to be linked to reap the coverage it would get
• general discussion of the potential sales benefits of illegal downloads (not my position)
• the future of street-dating for comic books
• my question regarding whether the writer reads illegal downloads regularly.

To clarify: they nuked all user-contributed posts to the thread and then closed it. As of right now, there is still proof that a thread existed, albeit one that was closed days after creation without a single post.

Nothing posted today seems to be cached. But pages one, two (including where a member indicates the "lower quality" comment was off the mark), three, four and five are largely cached. Won't last for long, but it is proof that they destroyed a whole thread on a controversial topic generated by their own article.

Blackest Night #6 Leaked

Update: From the comments in the thread on CBR about the article, it would appear less likely that the mention of the scan being "lower quality" was pulled from popular opinion of other readers of the illegally available comic book. Given that CBR banned a member who posted a few images from the book, it seems more and more likely that the comment may have been made to discourage others from seeking it out.

Original Post:

OK, we all knew that Blackest Night #6 would not successfully be embargoed when there are no proper checks and balances in place to keep it from getting out. There are no carrots and no sticks; any retailer who sells a few copies early to their best customers will likely be found out. Probably the only DM retailers that wind up following it are just the online variety (and even then, I don't think there are any that are STRICTLY online, so just the online segments of full service retailers).

But one of the things I found odd is the following in an article on CBR about the leak, specifically discussing the scanned book offered via torrents:

The scan itself was of lower quality than is typical of the pirated books, indicating that it was scanned, compiled and distributed in a bigger rush than usual.

The above quote was not placed in any context as being based on comments culled from the sites offering the torrent, but put forth as a statement of fact or judgment by the author of the column, Kiel Phegley.

If that statement is completely genuine, it suggests that a regular contributor to one of the top two sites covering comic books downloads and reads torrents on such a regular basis as to be able to compare and contrast scan qualities enough to make that assertion.

If that statement just isn't in its proper context (it WAS, in fact, made based on the opinions of others, not the author), then it runs the risk of people drawing the incorrect conclusion that Phegley is a connoisseur of scanned comics.

The third less likely option is that the statement is being made regardless of the real quality of the scan, only being there to serve as a slight attempt to dissuade readers from seeking it out.

I'd be curious to know which, if any, is true.

Justice League: Cry For Justice

I was kind of hesitant to talk about this issue, because I bagged on James Robinson pretty hard at the start of his run on the Superman titles. He has since gone on to do much better work.

Justice League: Cry For Justice is not that better work. Reading Jamie Trecker's similar feelings about the issue encouraged me to express my thoughts about it.

This first issue is so formulaic and mechanical. I have a feeling it may have been written before Robinson got his comic book legs back under him. With the painted art and how long ago this project was announced, Robinson may have written this before he had shaken all the dust and cobwebs off.

The way he starts introducing the team's characters would fit better in an 80s book, not just an ongoing series as some have noted. It's, dare I say, hack. I mean, to have all of the characters come around to saying something about justice is just really bad paint-by-numbers stuff. The concept of being proactive (as this Justice League was billed as being when the project was announced) and wanting to focus on meeting out punishment on the criminals and villais of the world doesn't have to be summed up as JUSTICE! by everyone. It feels a bit lazy to do that...and a little too "on the nose" for the book.

The dialogue is really rough, too. I think, to some extent, James forced himself into this situation with some bad choices. He to quickly differentiate the members of this new league being more EXTREME! than the members they were ditching. Green Lantern's tirade seems to, continuity-wise, come from no where. I'm referring to his level of anger with his teammates. It, also, stems from a false premise. That he brings up finding Libra and his gang for what they did to J'Onn does NOT ring true as something that the rest of the league would be against.

It, also, is not "being proactive". In fact, none of the setups show heroes taking the initiative. They're ALL responding to somewhat fresh crimes. This is, of course, not something that makes the story bad. It is a neutral element by itself. But when compared to what the series was advertised to be and how we're to believe the main team wouldn't support going after these people, it stands out in a negative way.

All the heroes seem to be demonstrating is that they're going to be like a 90s "extreme" team. In fact, you might as well have named this Extreme Justice II: Electric Boogaloo. It would make more sense than "Justice League", when you have the leader of the team ridiculing the "League" and "Society" part of team names.

Look, I'm not saying this is how Robinson is going to write the whole mini. I do have some concerns, like others, that the pacing here is off for a seven issue mini. Two issues out of a seven to just introduce the team? Ugh. But if the meat of the story was written or updated after James Robinson got back into the swing of things, I'm virtually certain that the rest of the series will be much better.

These first issues might read better when they're part of a trade, but it won't improve the tactics Robinson has chosen to use. Hopefully, there will be something to demonstrate a believable reason as to why the same bad guys everyone else is going after would want to slaughter Congorilla's tribe...and that it won't just mimic what Gail Simone did with Catman for the Villains United mini.

The artwork is neither great or terrible to me. It is more than servicable to the story. Aside from maybe one panel of Superman, there's no point during the reading where I sit up and take notice. So...all you get about it is the preceding three sentences.

If I wasn't starved for some kind of Justice League story allowed to breathe better than they've let McDuffie or hadn't seen improvement from Robinson on other titles, this issue would NOT lead me to purchase the next. In all honesty, I still might not buy the next issue, but just wait for the trade. If the second issue is like the first, I can just see myself not enjoying it and then looking at $8 paid for misery, all in an act of faith that #3-#7 will be much better.

DC Comics: Blackest Night In August

I've been slacking on the blog, lately. I can't really blame it on work getting in the way, because I've done more blogging with a much more hectic schedule. Regardless, I'm planning on making this a daily thing again starting now.

With that out of the way, I'm...at work. Waiting for the project to get under way, I figured I'd compose an entry via e-mail. Stupid internet filters keeping me from Blogger. Images will follow the text entry and be corrected to go with each proper entry later this evening.

In August, DC is dominated by Blackest Night. This brings no complaints from me, as I've been looking forward to it for a long time. As we're discussing solicitations, you don't want to read further if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Nothing outside of what is in the solicitations will be stated.

Blackest Night: Superman #1

The Shane Davis cover is a striking image and a bit unexpected for me. Jonathan Kent isn't THIS Superman's dad, so I wouldn't necessarily expect that would be a target of his. The interiors are going to be by Eddy Barrows, which isn't everyone's favorite choice, but I think he'll exceed expectations. For all the grief I've given James Robinson for his writing since returning, I've been converted to a believer again. The World of Krypton stuff is reading very nicely. I'll give him a mulligan on that Atlas arc from this point on and try not to bring it up again.

Blackest Night: Titans #1

While I'm not thrilled with the proliferation of tie-in mini-series for this event, JT Krul has supposedly been consulting Geoff Johns on this (meaning it may avoid being a completely unnecessary riff) and has shown a lot of enthusiasm in his interviews. I would have to say I'm more concerned about Ed Benes on the book. His habit of posing characters for excessive T&A shots can be very distracting. I'm hoping he'll avoid doing that with a Black Lantern Terra.

Blackest Night: Batman #1

This mini screams of cash-in more than the other two, despite it being Peter Tomasi handling the scripts. I've been very impressed by his past work and he's obviously deep into the Blackest Night plans, having handled the run-up on the Green Lantern Corps series. But Deadman, "cries of the dead rising" and Black Lantern Flying Graysons, while possibly making for a good story, don't seem like they'll handle an intregal plot point for the event or move it forward in any noticeable way. I've yet to encounter any Adrian Saef artwork that I'm aware of, so that's a completely unknown quantity. I'd like to assume that putting him on a Blackest Night AND Batman book means he's a great talent...but I've been burned by that sort of thinking before. I'll still pick this up on the strength of Tomasi's previous work.

Blackest Night #2

Yeah...vague solicitation. Almost no point in having one: it has nothing to sell the issue in it and, honestly, doesn't need to anyway. At this time, retailers are aware this is going to be something big and their existing customers have already communicated in some way what their level of interest is in the book. The only thing that would necessitate a solicitation would be to express that some Spider-Man unmasking or Captain America catching a bullet with his chest level stuff is going to happen. Maybe if this was Marvel, it would have just read "Nuff Said!" and been done with it.

Green Lantern #45

While the idea of seeing the non-green factions go at each other (rather than this being driven completely by the Guardians' gang) piques my interest, zombie Sinestro Corps cannon fodder doesn't. I'm not complaining, because we've certainly known that not every Black Lantern was going to be a marquee character. Just saying it does nothing to amp my excitement to see the issue. Then again, with Geoff Johns & Doug Mahnke on it...I didn't really need to be amped further. The John Stewart/Katma Tui bit is worth looking forward to, assuming they can give it the space it needs to be effective.

Green Lantern Corps #39

In what may seem contradictory, I am excited by the idea of Green Lanterns being revived in Black to go at their former colleagues. The reason is this: we know and care about many of the living Lanterns and even a few of the dead ones. There's not nearly as much emotional weight to a fallen Sinestro Corps member fighting against a live one, since we don't know them or their relationships nearly as well. I know some of them have been given personalities as Mongul was establishing his control of the group, but that's still far from where we stand with the GLC and its diseased members. I think Tomasi and Gleason tend to do "all hell breaking loose" pretty well, on top of that.

Is This Hollywood's Green Lantern?

Bradley Cooper is rumored to be a strong candidate to play Green Lantern in the upcoming (Marc Guggenheim scripted) Green Lantern movie.

I think it would be great casting. The guy is charismatic. I can honestly see him able to pull off all the facets of Hal we'd need to see in a movie with mainstream appeal.

As If It Needed To Get Better...

Doug Mahnke added to the event of 2009, Blackest Night? You already had me. Now I need a Blackest Night bib to catch the drool.

Come to think of it, though, part of me wishes they put Mahnke on something else that could use the added attention. Of course, if they did, I might have just complained that they didn't put a big enough name on the book in his place. From finishing up Final Crisis to the heart of Blackest Night, maybe Mahnke is finally going to get treated

Blackest Night #1 Final Cover

God help me, I almost titled this "Final Night".

Museum Quality, Eh?

Looks a little bit rough, to me. Of course, I think they may have limited their audience a bit by including the woodland creature green lantern.

Why No One Should Read Previews If They Want Surprises In Their Stories...

Another month, another set of spoilers that DC inadvertently lays on their readers...

THE FLASH: REBIRTH #1
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and covers by Ethan Van Sciver

Through the decades, many heroes have taken the mantle of The Flash, but they all ride the lightning that crackles in the wake of the greatest hero the DC Universe has ever known, the man who sacrificed himself to save the Multiverse: Barry Allen!

Following the events of FINAL CRISIS, Barry has beaten death and returned to a fast-paced world that a man out of time wouldn’t recognize. Or is it a world that is only just now catching up? All the running he’s done before was just a warmup for the high-speed race that he and every other Flash must now run, because even though one speedster might have beaten death, another has just turned up dead! From Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, the visionaries responsible for the blockbuster GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH and THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR, comes the start of an explosive and jaw-dropping epic that will reintroduce to the modern age the hero who single-handedly birthed the Silver Age of comics! DC history will be made, and the Flash legacy will be redefined!

Funny, the are advance soliciting a trade paperback focusing on a speedster character. Not a particular property that seemed to be hot previously. Not one that there is a lot of clamoring for that I'm aware of. Click this link if you want to see who I think it is.


Blackest Night:

DC Direct is proud to produce action figures for the event of the summer – the beginning of the highly anticipated “Blackest Night” storyline!

Included in this series are Earth-2 Superman, the first member of the lifeless, emotionless, Black Lanterns to be revealed; Boodikka, the veteran corpsman who was among the first to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps’ own policing unit, the Alpha Lanterns; Saint Walker, the first member of the Blue Lantern Corps, which champions hope in the universe; and Atrocitus, Abin Sur’s killer and the first to utilize the power of blood and rage to become a member of the Red Lantern Corps, which is out to destroy both the Sinestro and Green Lantern Corps!

Is it just me or do they seem to spoil Geoff's developments a lot lately?

Note: since the comments aren't viewable in the RSS feed or on the front page, I feel that it is fair for anyone leaving a comment to respond directly without further spoiler warning. If you click to the comments section because you were willing to spoil yourself on one, but not the other, you do so at your own risk.

Wonder If This Will Appear In Blackest Night...

From the Rock of Ages arc in JLA #12

Ultimate Comics Walk-Up Sales For Nov 12th, 2008

From Lee Newman of Ultimate Comics, the list of top-selling books at one of their locations in North Carolina for what was released on 11/12/08. Pull lists are not included, as this is meant to capture what is being bought off the shelf.

1. Amazing Spider-Man #577
2. The Stand: Captain Trips #3
3. Batman: Cacophony #1
4. Action Comics #871
5. Nightwing #150
6. Wolverine #69
7. Detective Comics #850
8. BPRD: The Warning #5
9. Green Lantern Corps #30
10. Dark Tower: Treachery #3

Commentary:

It was a light week and rain on Friday and Saturday hurt our sales a bit. The new store is on one of those "main street" type strips next to Duke Campus. It is not a mall or a shopping center with a major draw so the weather can have adverse effects on foot traffic into the store. That is what happens when a large group of your clientele is vehicleless and the rest thinks it will be too hard to park... although when the weather is bad Ninth St suddenly becomes an easy place to park.

1. Stupid Spider-Man all over the place. As mentioned in the comments last week, yes the creative team does play a part in this, but natural attrition has not happened since New Ways to Die ended. Seems like a lot of the One More Day haters may have just liked what the end result was after all.

3. Little disappointing. The art is hurting this one big time, I am hearing a lot of gripes in the stores.

4. New Krypton is a success!!! Action is in the top ten.

3. Yeah, that's what happens when you're so desperate to make a splash that you let Kevin Smith have his neighborhood pal (Walt Flanagan) draw the mini-series. Saw that coming from the moment the project was announced. I'm not trying to dump on Flanagan completely, but if he's not close friends with Smith, he doesn't get a gig with DC Comics, let alone a crack at one of the "trinity". It is not a good sign for the health of a publisher and the quality of their product when they're flailing blindly to try to get back in the win column.

4. I'd be interested to see if the New Krypton tide really lifts all boats. Action Comics is the easy sell, with Johns & Frank. Robinson's first arc on Superman was shaky and Sterling Gates is still largely an unknown quantity on Supergirl.

5. Nightwing "goes out" with a bang.

6. Is this still the Millar/McNiven run? I really meant to pick their run up, but missed the 3rd issue, I think, and never went back. I'll probably snag the trade.

Your thoughts? And, as always, if any retailer wants to be added to the column, leave a comment or drop me a line.

Ultimate Comics Walk-Up Sales For Oct 29th, 2008

From Lee Newman of Ultimate Comics, the list of top-selling books at one of their locations in North Carolina for what was released on 10/29/08. Pull lists are not included, as this is meant to capture what is being bought off the shelf.

1. Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns

2. Presidential Material: Barack Obama

3. Avengers: The Intitiative #18

4. Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1

5. Ultimate Captain America Annual #1

6. Spike: After the Fall #4

7. Hellboy: In the Chapel of Moloch

8. Spawn #185

9. Amazing Spider-Man #575

10. Thor #11

Commentary:

Despite online grumblings about Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes and its price, the fact that we were short shipped had more to do with this book not being on the list then the price point. The few folks who did get ahold of it seemed to have good things to say about it, in store. Online is another matter altogether.

1. Johns is the MAN!!!! We knew this would sell well and despite it being short shipped it still brought people in the door. That is a book with huge potential. Why it doesn't translate into sales I haven't figured out, but with the hardcover of Secret Origins hitting the shelves early next month, maybe the book will get the boost the fans and almost certainly DC wants.

2. We weakened and did one last reorder. I, also, pulled them off the shelves from two of my other stores. (Wednesday saw a run on the Ross Obama Tee)

3. Skrull Kill Crew seemas to be full of win this time around.

4. People really liked One Brand More Day... it probably helped that this story pretty much came out of the Secret Invasion tie in series.

5. Kevin may be right, people may want to see this universe end, we'll know for sure next week.

6. This book like Amory Wars and Umbrella Academy seemed to pick up the further it got along until at the end you had people coming in to buy the whole thing in one fatal swoop. I don't know if there is a disconnect with reaching the fans in a timely matter like the Who Wants to Be a Superhero book a couple years ago or if they just don't like the monthly thing (which I don't see reflected in Buffy or Angel).

7 & 8. Put the original creators on their books and people will check them out. The key now is to retain that interest.

9. Hmmm. Amazing Spider-Man has dropped another slot in the top ten. I'd be curious to know if it is because more of the walk-up purchasers have added it to their pull (thus not counted here) or sales are returning to normal after the New Ways To Die arc.

5. I'll be just as shocked as anyone if I wind up being right about something. ;)

4. Wait wait wait...what? They named the annual story "One More Day"? I don't know whether to call it ballsy or retarded.

2. Barack Obama: helping the economy before even in office. I wore my Ross OBAMA shirt to the polls...before being reminded I couldn't wear a shirt seen as campaigning into the polling place. Had to turn it inside out before going in the building.

1. FINAL CRISIS on the cover and being a key part of the set-up to BLACKEST NIGHT? Yeah...that's a recipe for success cooked up by Geoff.

Note to Retailers: If anyone out there would like to provide similar information regarding sales at their store, I'd love to have it (with or without commentary). A link to your store's online presence will be included in any installment that uses your data. More data = more gooder.

Worst Kept Secret: James Robinson on JLA

Really. I imagine they will announce it this weekend, but all the evidence points to that. Unless they only plan on having him do a Green Arrow/Green Lantern book.

But let's remember a few things:

1. Geoff brought Robinson back in.
2. Geoff wanted to have a writer he loved working with partnered with him on the Superman titles.
3. Geoff, I believe, expressed wanting to make the JLA/JSA crossover stories a semi-regular thing.

Mind you, the two working out some sort of Green Arrow/Green Lantern Hard Traveling Heroes thing could work, but it would seem to be more than the properties can support. Has to be Robinson on JLA after McDuffie's run ends.

I'm sure it will be great, but McDuffie has certainly gotten screwed over (albeit with a regular check) in the last year, becoming just a place holder for JLA and Fantastic Four.

Edit: D'Oh...while it wouldn't render my guess completely incorrect, THE SILVER AGE has been floated as something he might do. That would make a helluva lot of sense.