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Yes…in a brave experiment in Comic Shop social networking I have determined to Tweet Star Clipper through the ether.

You can check out the latest tweets by following StarClipper if you’re into this sort of thing… I’m not totally sure what I’ll write about, probably the exciting day-to-day operations of running a comic store. We’ll see how it goes. What would you want to hear about?

-b

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There’s a lot of ways to “spoil” a comic for readers, but most devotees don’t want major plot points revealed to them via toy advertisements. That is exactly what Diamond did this week. The distributor bloopered big time by revealing two of the Black Lanterns from DC’s highly anticipated event Green Lantern – Blackest Night. In their advance solicitation for the new Blackest Night toy line in there print catalog Previews and online listing at DiamondComics.com they revealed series 1 and 2 of the new DC Direct toys. Normally, the advance order form will black out major characters that have not been revealed in the comic, so as not to ruin the surprise for readers. The photo posted above is how it was supposed to look. Unfortunately, a non-blacked out ad made it to print, leaving many Green Lantern fans in an uproar. If you want to spoil it for yourself, here is a link to the exposed Blackest Night toy line. Without revealing the Black Lanterns, the other figures in the line include:

From Blackest Night series 1:
Alpha Lantern Boodikka
Red Lantern Atrocitus
Blue Lantern Saint Walker

From Blackest Night series 2:
Green Lantern John Stewart
Sinestro Corps. Yellow Lantern Kryb
Indigo Lantern (unrevealed character)

I’m not much of an action figure collector, but this line looks really cool. Since I’ve already ruined it for myself, I mine as well say now that I know who one of the Black Lanterns is, it is a really interesting choice of characters and has me even more excited for the series to begin this coming summer.

-Jon

>One of Jack Kirby’s most under appreciated, and misunderstood masterpieces was his ode to science and mythology, “the Eternals”. Of course, the king was always a much better artist than author which is evident with his sporadic, hyper-active plot which attempts to explain the epic magnitude of a story that involves gods, demons, and aliens. To explain the main points of the story would involve writing an essay, but I’ll give it a shot; Eons ago, a race of gigantic alien beings called Celestials came to Earth conducting experiments on the early ancestors of what would become human beings. Out of these experiments came three kinds of beings; Plain old human beings, malformed and malicious Deviants, and immortal beings endowed with abilities beyond that of ordinary humans. Every few million or so years, The Celestials would return to Earth to determine whether the balance of humanity sways closer to good, or evil under the influence of the Deviants, who enslave mankind. The Eternals and Deviants would over time be seen as gods and demons by humans making them subjects of cultural mythology. The main character Ikaris becomes Icarus, Makkari would become the god Mercury, known as Hermes in Greek myth and Osiris in Egyptian myth, Zuras would become Zeus, Ajak was seen as the plumed serpent god Quetzalcoatl of Incan myth.

Jack Kirby’s original series would only last 19 issues as sales wouldn’t allow it to survive very long. The Eternals would show up occasionally in Marvel stories over the years, even Sersi would become a member of the Avengers. The Celestials would reappear later in the series Earth X featuring rather prominently in the story, but in a alternate future scenario. It wasn’t until 2006 when Neil Gaiman would revive the Eternals and make them relevant again. The Eternals had been living for years under the illusion of mortality when Ikaris awakens to his true nature and begins reviving his fellow Eternals as the Deviants are back to their devious ways trying to revive and control a sleeping Celestial.

The current series picks up where Neil Gaiman left off. Makkari establishes an ongoing dialogue with the sleeping Celestial in an attempt to understand, well, the meaning of life as the Eternals are broken into two factions. One being led by Zuras, the other led by Druig who has established a dictatorship in the nation of Vorozheika and is in the process of making a grab to become the prime Eternal. The current series has been very enjoyable, but I’m afraid that since it doesn’t carry the weight of of other, more popular Marvel characters, it may be as short lived as the original series in the 70’s.

The saga of the Eternals is a bit heavy when trying to comprehend it. But lovers of mythology will find it’s mix of myth with super-hero sensibilities very satisfying.

-Jim

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I know I just blogged about P. Bagge’s “History of Science” comic for “Discovery Magazine,” but the news that’s even more exciting is the upcoming release of his new book “Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me And Other Astute Observations.” Star Clipper just received the Fantagraphics spring/summer solicitation catalog and it was a pleasant surprise to see “Everybody is Stupid” set for June shipping. The book collects over a decade worth of cartoon reporting for Reason magazine, a leading libertarian publication. Though Bagge identifies himself as a libertarian, his cartoons are just as quick to question his own party-lines as they are to poke fun at traditional liberals and conservatives. The reason strips follows Bagge’s coverage of such hot button issues as the post-9/11 Bush administration, the Iraq war, gun control, and the war on drugs.

My favorite astute observation is from one enthusiastic interviewee who proclaims to Bagge “I say all illegal aliens should be aborted!” Bagge simply replies “Don’t you mean ‘deported?’”

His satirical take on a myriad of topics works both as a hysterical history lesson and a startling wake-up call about the confusing partisan politics of modern America seen through the eyes of an honest everyman.

-Jon

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The first issue of “Phonogram: The Singles Club” has a bit of a hit among the staff here at the Clipper. Well, Jon and I found it pretty enjoyable. I have to say that it was one of the more enjoyable single issues I’ve read in a while. The combination of Jamie McKelvie’s clean color art with a fun, self-contained story is enough to make a book stand out on the shelf. The issue’s great design, annotations, and b-side stories make it a single issue built to kill the competition. Apparently, that isn’t the case. Phonogram’s problems as a floppy in the direct market have left me overdue for my “Singles Club” fix. To feed my habit, I picked up a copy of Phonogram’s first trade “Rue Britannia.”

“”Pull Shapes,” “The Singles Club” first installment, is not my first encounter with “Phonogram.” It was just the issue that won me over. I read the first issue of “Rue Britannia” back when it first hit the comic racks back in 2006. While the miniseries had been receiving a ton of positive press, I didn’t get it. I had found almost everything about the first issue underwhelming from the story to the art and I hated the main character. Flash forward two and a half years, and my reception of the series is a lot better.

I found “Rue Britannia” to be a pleasurable read. While the trade didn’t blow my mind and I wasn’t driven to read through it at feverish pace, I really did like visiting the world of phonomancer (someone who uses music as magic) David Kohl. The story focuses on the mission Kohl is given by the Goddess to save Britannia, the goddess of Britpop. Even with this fantastic premise, the story stays unexpectedly grounded. It is as much of a tale about a person’s relationship to a memory of a certain time and place than it is about a magician’s quest to save a dying goddess. In general, the magic in Phonogram is subtle and seems to be just an extragerration of a person’s ability to get lost in a memory or ability to use an extensive music knowledge.

It is this lack of the grandiose that I found charming about the “Rue Britannia,” even when the characters aren’t being likable or the art isn’t as accomplished “The Singles Club.” In “Phonogram,” the characters get lost in the wonders of music and take it a little too seriously but they are never that far from the hipsters and music aficionados that inhabit the real world. It is through its connection to the world of music that “Phonogram” not only finds revelence to our world and an ability to provide insight as well.

-Nick

>Comic books are something that I love and at times revere. That being said, there are several things about them that can be absolutely ridiculous, especially in older comics from a day when publishers just didn’t take their product that seriously. One of my favorite internet time wasters is finding the ridiculous and sublime on some of my favorite websites that find these little gems and presents them to the world in all their…uh…glory.

One in particular that I find myself coming to often is superdickery.com, a website originally dedicated to what a jerk Superman can be but also shows the ridiculousness of items taken out of context and how bad some comics were back in the day. The sight is broken down into 9 seperate categories: 1.Examples of superdickery; Why Superman is a joke 2.Confounding covers; Covers in and out of context that will make you scratch your head 3.Frames and panels;Panels in and out of context that will make you say, “What!?!” 4. Everything’s better with monkey’s; because they just are. 5.Seduction of the innocent; Mostly featuring Robin in questionable situations, saying questionable things.6.Weird Science; Or not so well thought out plot solutions. 7.Suffering Sappho; Examples of Wonder Woman’s bondage fetish. 8.Propaganda Extravaganza; The innocent days of World War II when being offensive and insensitive were a-okay, and 9.Stupor Powers; Strange abilities that just should not be.

Then theres the fun of Worst Cover Ever Where there is an extensive catalogue of badly composed covers as well as just plain bad comic merchandise along with scathing critiques of why they are so bad.

And then finally there’s one of my favorite and most deserving subjects of ridicule, Rob Liefeld. Bad anatomy, poorly drawn feet, fingers, oversized guns, overuse of cross-hatching, bad shadowing, awful writing, Rob is the total package and someone out there has noticed: 40 Worst Rob Liefeld drawings.

If anyone has any recomendations on other sites of comic book ridiculousness, please let me know.

-Jim

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Fantagraphics will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo this May with the 1,200 page black and white Usagi Yojimbo – Special Edition. The rabbit ronin was created in 1984 by Stan Sakai as a suppoting character for a different comic, but Usagi quickly became his most iconic character. During the first 10 years of Usagi Yojimbo the series was published by Fantagraphics, and this two-volume hardcover slipcase edition will collect the original seven Usagi books. Included will be classic story-lines such as “Samurai” and “The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy”, as well as 50 issue full-color cover gallery, two stories co-staring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a feature-length, career-spanning interview with creator Sakai collected from The Comics Journal.

My first memory is of Usagi Yojimbo was his appearance in the TMNT cartoon from the early 90s. This youtube video really jogged my memory, and thankfully it comes complete with German subtitles:

I even had the Usagi Yojimbo toy from the TMNT line, but never knew until I was a teenager that his character was from one of the most acclaimed all ages comics of all time. I’m excited to pick up this awesome Special Edition because the regular editions always seem to be going in and out of print. For more on Usagi Yojimbo check out Stan Sakai’s webstie.

-Jon

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I don’t remember when it started but it has become a ritual for me to reread the “Scott Pilgrim” series whenever a new volume is going to be released. With volume 5, “Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe,” scheduled for direct market release on February 4th; it seemed like perfect time to take another look at the series. With as coooold as its been here in St. Louis, what else am I going to do besides curl up on the couch and read a book? I assigned myself the regiment of a volume a night. I could say that it took steadfast dedication but I finished the task last night; however, these books are so fun to read that I almost finished ahead of schedule.

Amazingly, “Scott Pilgrim” is a series that I enjoy even more with each read through. I’m not sure what it is about this wackiness that I love so much (beyond Kim Pine, that is). It might be the books combination of charts, lame come-backs, nerd humor, charming cartooning, and imagination. The comic really throws most of what I love about comics and blends it into a fantastic, manga–sized volume. There is also the fact that “Scott Pilgrim” is one of the few books that captures what it is like to be in your twenties these days, something that so few books do with equal success.

My personal tastes and demographic aside, “Scott Pilgrim” is a book that has been well received by comic readers of all ages, and is decidedly one of the indie comic hits of this decade. With a movie scheduled to go before cameras this spring, it is more than likely this series is only going to get bigger. While it’s easy to get wrapped up in things like the new casting announcements for the film, rereading the graphic novels are a good reminder that they are rad enough on their own.

-Nick

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(Spoiler Alert) Grant Morrison ruined his lackluster Final Crisis before it even really started. After the mostly overlooked death of the Martian Manhunter, Final Crisis #2 finds Superman eulogizing J’onn J’onzz in what will perhaps be Morrison’s greatest misstep, “We’ll all miss him, and pray for his resurrection.” This breaking of the fourth wall is an absolute faux pas in comics. Modern comic readers have come to accept that character deaths and subsequent resurrection are commonplace, but Morrison should know we don’t want to be hit over the head with continuity fickleness. The series already gave us the resurrection of the long-dead Barry Allen Flash, and by Final Crisis #6, the cliff-hanger “death” of Bruce Wayne Batman left audiences less than shocked. In fact, Batman’s demise was so unnoticed that major news media reported extensively on the second-rate Spider-Man/Barack Obama backup story this week with barely a mention of the “death” of DC’s biggest character.

Final Crisis is plagued with plot devices that readers know won’t have a lasting effect on the DC Universe. Martian Manhunter and Batman both die, but they will inevitably come back. The DC multiverse is threatened to be reshape! Big deal! What DC crisis doesn’t threaten to reshape the multiverse? These types of shortcomings are often overlooked in comic storytelling if the main plot is strong enough to distract from the medium’s flaws, but Morrison’s disjointed narrative and artist JG Jones and Carlos Pacheco’s confusing layouts leave Final Crisis little to work with. A story where “evil” undoubtable wins should have readers more engaged and excited about what is going to happen to their favorite spandex-wearing heroes.

I was not a big fan of Secret Invasion either, but the greatest disagreement Nick and I have ever had is on which of the two event series of 08 was better. Unlike Final Crisis, where you need an extensive knowledge of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, Secret Invasion is pretty straight forward to read. For all of Secret Invasion’s faults, (the biggest being that for all the Skrulls efforts, they ultimately only accomplished kidnapping Luke Cage’s baby…you’ve got to be kidding me!) it’s plot is easy to follow and engaging. Little green shape-shifting men secretly infiltrate earth and plan a world-spanning invasion that the super-heroes almost can’t stop. I know that in the end Marvel’s mightiest heroes aren’t going to lose, but I’m intrigued to read how they are going to manage the outcome this time. Writer Brian Micheal Bendis included just about everyone in the Marvel U. and artist Leinil Francis Yu rendered an overabundance of exciting splash pages. No wonder Secret Invasion sold better.

For me, if Marvel and DC are going to continue big crossover events, they need to do a much better job of satisfying the needs of their readers by providing meaningful and interesting storylines. I wasn’t impressed by either of the big events of 2008, but with other anticipated crisis, like Blackest Night, looming in the DC, Final Crisis seemed defeated before it even concluded.

-Jon

>This past Wednesday, “Amazing Spider-Man” #583 hit the racks and was met with very high demand. Why, I wonder? Are people that interested in Peter Parker’s relationship with DB reporter and long time supporting character Betty Brant? I’ll grant that Betty is, well, a total betty but I’m still baffled at the number of calls we got from people wanting this particular issue. Is it because the issue is narrated from Betty’s point of view?… Wait… Whats that you say?… Barack Whosiwhasit? …Ooooohhhh!

We had a line that went around the corner before we opened, and once we did open the door, we were sold out in an hour. People who don’t normally read comics couldn’t wait to get their hands on a guaranteed collector’s item such as this. I guess this Obama guy must be popular. That being said, I had to read it (Of course I didn’t get to the store until 3 PM, so I happily settled for the regular cover featuring Peter Parker layin’ down some game on Betty and a friend) While I enjoyed the primary story, the backup story featuring Obama reeked of “gimmicky” and to top it off, I don’t even think that the artist portrayed Obama accurately. He looked more like a square jawed super-hero in a suit. And the story can be summed up in one word: ‘ugh!’

So the Chameleon (literally) crashes the inauguration in a limousine posing as the president-elect. Strangely enough, the secret service is temporarily fooled by the obvious impostor who is acting noticeably jerkier than what we’ve become accustomed to with Obama. Only Spidey’s quick thinking and a quiz on the president’s background manages to thwart the Chameleons plot by exposing his inadequate knowledge about basketball. (“Where are we going to find a basketball diamond around here!”) Normally the Chameleon is a guy who does his homework on who he’s impersonating and is much less hasty in executing his diabolical schemes. Perhaps it was a Chameleon impostor impersonating the Chameleon impersonating Barack Obama.

I don’t think there has been this much media attention to a single issue comic like this since the “Death of Superman” that attracted the interest of people who don’t normally read comic books. This comic can be added to the new pantheon of gimmick merchandise like commemorative plates, coins, and t-shirts usually reserved for the QVC/ mall kiosk crowd. Nonetheless, I know Marvel released this all in good fun, and only a household name like Spider-Man could accomplish what it has. I doubt that a character like, oh lets say, Patsy Walker: Hellcat co-staring with the new president would have the same effect.

-Jim