Digital Comics...When & Why I Buy Them

I have to say, I really enjoy reading comics on my tablet.  With that said, I'm pretty choosey about what I purchase.  Not necessarily because of the content, I like reading a variety of books, but moreso because of cost.

I generally will not pay more than $1.99 for a single issue, and even then it has to be something I really want.  However, if I can get a digital book for $.99, then I'm willing to snag a bunch.  I know that debate rages about the price of digital books, and I don't pretend to know all of the costs involved with digital, but I do know what the value is to me.

If I shell out $3.99 for a physical comic book, I own something.  If I resell it I'm probably not going to make a profit, but I am probably able to get something for it.  I can't do that with a digital book.  What happens if the company I bought the digital book from goes under, and I suffer a data loss?  I'm now out that money, whereas with a physical book once I have it I have it, barring something like a basement flood or fire I'm not going to lose them; and even if I do, I have insurance on my physical books, you can't do that with digital.

That is why I will not spend $3.99 on a digital comic book that takes me 5 minutes to read.  However, there are times when I am willing to spend that much or more, and I wish that more of these collections existed.

While browsing around on the Comixology app on my tablet, I happened across an X-Men/Spider-Man digital pack for $5.99 that was over 150 pages, containing team-ups of Marvel's merry mutants and their friendly neighborhood arachnid from various comics over the years.  Now this is exactly the kind of initiative that can be done easily in the digital comics world. I mean, you made the money on the content the first time around, why not offer it in a bundle like this to entice readers to try out something they haven't read before?  In fact, this was created to promote a (then) upcoming crossover between the two teams, that's great marketing!

I would love to see more stuff like this...why not put Bloodties together in a digital pack for $5 as marketing for the upcoming Avengers vs X-Men?  Or in the lead up to the Galactus-Asgard snorefest war put out a bundle of cosmic Thor stories, such as his battles against the Celestials, Ego the Living Planet, etc.  Marvel has made their money already with these stories, so why not use them as gravy to marketing upcoming events?

Really my only beefs about the X-Men/Spider-Man bundle was one of the stories within ended on a cliffhanger and the resolution wasn't included.  My other beef was that I already owned 4 of the issues in the pack, and there was no way to read what issues were included before purchasing.  Fix that little mistake and I'd be very satisfied.

Feel free to steal this idea Marvel, DC, any comic company that wants my money!

Every Neighborhood Needs a Friendly Spider-Man

Not much time today to work on the blog, so I'll leave you with my son and one of his favourite toys (which is actually mine but I'm okay with him having it), the Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man.

Is He Worthy...in Pictures

Blogger was being a total dink yesterday and I could not get all of the images I assembled into the post without completely mangling the text, so here they are in all their glory!

If He Be Worthy

I'm fairly certain anyone reading this blog is familiar with the stipulations attached to wielding Mjolnir, but just to cover the bases here is how it works.

Fans love to debate exactly what constitutes "worthiness" of the hammer, and who can lift it.  The following is a post I made at the Thor Message Board on the subject, though I've had to adjust it a little after the events of Fear Itself. 

In general, I think we can all agree that to be worthy of Mjolnir you have to have a heroic nature. Self-sacrifice, honour, desire to help others, that is all a part of the package. Describes a lot of heroes though, doesn't it?

Spider-Man is certainly self-sacrificing, arguably even moreso than Thor. He lives by the adage "with great power comes great responsibility", and Mjolnir is obviously a great power. However, Spider-Man is more motivated by guilt than a purely altruistic nature, and I think that is what takes him out of the running to lift the hammer.

If there is one character around who I personally think would be worthy, it's Ben Grimm. Ben is a hero's hero, sacrificing his own happiness to turn back into the Thing when others need him. He has dedicated his life to helping others as a member of the Fantastic Four. His never-say-die attitude is legendary (eg. his battle with the Champion). So why isn't Ben worthy? Quite recently we saw him try to lift the hammer and fail. I think the reason is Ben's own self-loathing and insecurity about his appearance. He doesn't have the self-confidence/esteem needed to wield Mjolnir.

This brings me to Captain America. Cap certainly embodies everything discussed thus far, without the guilt or self-loathing to weigh him down. Confidence is certainly something he doesn't lack. Cap has lifted the hammer on two occassions now, and it is worth noting that both times he has not undergone a transformation into a Thor-like being.  My feeling here is that while Cap had need of the power, he has never intended to take it from Thor, rather he has borrowed it. 

This leads me to the conclusion that to lift Mjolnir, you must have need of it. Beta Ray Bill certainly had a need, as his world's champion against Surtur and his hordes. Superman managed to use it once, and that was when the entire DC and Marvel universes were at stake. When there was no longer a need, even though he was just trying to return it to Thor (in far less perilous circumstances than when Steve did the same), Superman could not lift it.

Which ultimately leads us to why isn't Superman worthy. Again, this comes down to need. Superman doesn't need the power of Thor, he is just as powerful on his own. He exemplifies many of the same characteristics as Thor, but since he has no need of the power of Thor, he cannot lift the hammer either.

And before anyone asks about Wonder Woman, as far as I know the only Marvel/DC crossover that is actually in continuity is JLA/Avengers. That being said, you could argue that Wonder Woman was fighting for her entire universe, and since she lost to Storm (due to fan voting) she obviously could have used the power boost.

All Ages Does Not Mean "For Kids Only"

One of the criticisms levied against the DC Heroes Reborn New 52 was that the content in some of the books is too adult (the biggest examples being Starfire in Red Hood & the Outlaws and Catwoman in her own mag), and not all-ages friendly.  The response from some readers was that comics aren't necessarily for kids.


Now, I certainly think there is a place for more adult story-telling in the comic book medium; I'm not going to give an 8 year old Batman: The Killing Joke or the Watchmen to read.  But I do feel that there is a distinctive difference between books suitable for all ages and those intended only for kids.

A good all ages story has elements that kids can enjoy, that adults can enjoy, and that everybody can enjoy.  If you want to look outside of comics, Pixar's movies are a perfect example.  The movies are marketed to kids, but adults enjoy them just as much or more.

Comic books, at least the mainstream Marvel and DC books, all used to be all ages!  Stan Lee made a point of not writing down to his readers, instead he did his very best to challenge the reader to keep up!  As a kid I always did well in subjects like language arts and spelling, and was told that I had a very large vocabulary.  I attribute that directly to my love of comics, because I was exposed to these big words and concepts that prose books aimed at my age level could give me. 

I look at my progression with Spider-Man as a good example of how stories can cater to all ages.  As a kid, I was drawn to Spider-Man.  He was brightly-coloured, funny, had awesome powers, and fought cool supervillains.  In Grade 3 I tried my hand at my own Spider-Man comic, which was painfully brutal (but my Mom saved all the same, I wonder if she still has it...); the story featured Spider-Man foiling Electro from robbing a bank. 

Here is the important part of that comic I tried to make; Peter Parker wasn't in it, it was all about Spider-Man.

As I grew older, I came to care about Peter Parker, the man behind the mask, more and more.  I'm at the point now that I'm far more interested in Peter than Spidey; when I came out of Spider-Man 2 in the theatre, I commented that the movie was so good I didn't even care if he ever put on the Spider-Man costume.  The life of Peter Parker was far more interesting.

Thus Spider-Man, for a very long time, was an all ages book.  Kids might focus on the cool powers while adults (who still appreciate the powers and the fights, don't get me wrong) catch more of the nuances of the plot.


It takes real skill to do a good all ages book.  The best example I can think of, in any medium, of all-ages writing is Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Waterson.  Kids love the strip, and adults love it just as much or more. 

It's easy to throw in some T&A and make verything dark and gritty to make a book "adult" and "edgy".  It's far harder to craft a story that everyone can enjoy, and it's a shame that more Marvel and DC titles aren't even making the attempt.

The other night my son was crying in the car, so after awhile I pulled out my tablet to read him a story.  Unfortunately I discovered the storybooks I thought I'd downloaded needed an Internet connection, so I got the idea to read him a comic.  I had downloaded some free comics from Marvel and DC's Comixology pages, and I figured I could just adapt the story to the pictures as we went; he's only 7 months old, he's not going to know the difference!

I chose "Billy Batson & The Power of Shazam", and let me say, I enjoyed the story more than my son did!  Reading about a kid with the power of Superman, and how he uses it, was a wonderously fun adventure.  The little touches like Billy transforming into Captain Marvel and then putting on civilian clothes to go to Parent Teacher interviews as his own father, that's exactly what a kid would do if they had the power to do so!  I think the rest of the series is only $.99 an issue for the remaining 5 so I am going to be picking this up next time I am on Wifi.

All ages does not mean just for kids, there are lots of great stories out there without blood, guts, and women in thongs.

What Makes a Good Superhero Movie?

Due to the close release dates of Thor and Captain America the two movies get compared a lot, unsurprisingly so.  After seeing Captain America, one of the guys at my local comic shop asked my opinion on the two, and I said without hesitation that Captain America was better.  He said that he had heard conflicting sides on that debate, but he put a lot of stock in my opinion because I am a big fan of both characters (as almost all of the books in my pull box are Captain America or Thor related).

To clarify, I thought Thor was great.  I may have dreamed of seeing a Thor movie in my lifetime, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever see a good Thor movie, let alone a great one.  But I still think Captain America was better.  Why?

The character development in the opening act was so good I didn't care if there was any action at all.

Now of course I wanted to see Captain America's mighty shield standing up for freedom, but there is a man behind that shield and he is a great man indeed.  Before being exposed to the Vita-Rays and taking the Super Soldier Serum, Steve Rogers was a sickly, small man.  He had a list of illnesses pages long, but he still tried to enlist in the army 5 times, coming back after every rejection.  Why?  Because he doesn't like bullies.

I am far more interested in this man, who does everything he can to join the army, not for glory, but because he wants to help.  This man, who threw himself on what everyone thought was a live grenade to save a group of soldiers who had shown him nothing but contempt.  This is a guy I want to see more of.

Often I spend superhero origin stories just waiting for the hero to emerge, but when the story is told as well as this one, I don't care if he ever picks up that shield.  I felt the same way about the second Spider-Man film; I was so invested in the story of Peter Parker I didn't really care if he starting shooting his webs.  The first Iron Man also did a good job on focusing on Tony Stark more than Iron Man.

The Dark Knight is interesting because it is obviously one of the most successful superhero movies ever made, but I was far more engaged by the Joker than I was by Batman.  I didn't care at all about Bruce Wayne or Batman, I wanted to learn more about what made the Joker tick.  And really, Bruce/Batman came in a distant third because the fall of Harvey Dent was equally as captivating.  I almost wish they were not making a third film in this franchise because I doubt it can top the Dark Knight.

What is funny about this is that Stan Lee was doing this in the comics years and years ago; he took cardboard cutouts with different superpowers and gave them personalities, made them real people.  It's a wonder that so many superhero films can't seem to grasp that.

Aunt May vs Ma Kent

I saw this yesterday and had to share it, it's hilarious!  Ty Templeton does some hilarious stuff, and this is no exception.  Thanks to Battle Wizard over at the Comic Battle Board for sharing!

Where Has My Marvel Universe Gone?

I've been reading comics for about 20 years, which is kind of scary when I think about it since I started reading them when I was 8 years old.  I got my start with Marvel, and while I spent some time collecting a lot of DC and read books from other publishers as well, I have always read Marvel books during those 20 years. 

I hardly recognize the Marvel Universe anymore.

I am finding it harder and harder to stick with the characters that I have loved for all these years. 

This is what Spider-Man
should have done.

I refused to buy the Spider-Man titles (other than the very rare mini-series, such as Spider-Man/Human Torch) after the resurrection of Aunt May, as Amazing Spider-Man #400 is one of the best "death of" stories ever.  I was at the point where I was willing to forgive and come back when the reveal of Gwen Stacey and Norman Osborn's twins came about.  That drove me futher away then the Aunt May thing did, and since then the added atrocity of (poorly) magic-ing away Peter and Mary Jane's marrage came to pass.  It's too bad, because Spider-Island sounded like a pretty fun concept, but since I now feel I've outgrown the character I haven't picked it up, nor will I return to the Spider-titles.

I no longer recognize the Avengers.  Ever since Avengers Disassembled I haven't recognize the team.  To me, the Avengers are the go-to team when the world is in danger, and around the time I dropped New Avengers (approximately #35), I really felt that the then-current line-up would have no real chance against a Skrull Invasion or the Masters of Evil.  That line-up mostly remains in place today, and I cannot stand the writing of Brian Michael Bendis on the Avengers to even entertain picking up the current adjectiveless Avengers title.  From what I've seen on-line it's still not "my" Avengers anyway.

Thor has undergone some really great character development over the past few years under J Michael Stracynski and Kieron Gillen.  Then Matt Fraction took the reins and I no longer even recognize the character.  Under JMS Thor was quicker to think and slower to act, he had a grandeur to him that made you feel he truly was a god.  He no longer spoke in Shakespearean tones but still had a tone of voice that conveyed he was something special.  When Fraction took over, that was all thrown out the window in favour of a brute who smashes first and thinks later, if at all.  He is a petulant man-child who is angry at his resurrected father (despite the two making peace under JMS), who recently died as prophecized (even though JMS made a large point of the breaking of the Ragnarok-cycle signalling a fresh start for the Asgardians).  If not for the hammer I don't know if I'd recognize him.

Continuity is ignored, a lot.  I'm not talking about contradicting a story from 20 years ago, I'm talking about contradicting a story that came out 2 months prior.  As mentioned with Thor, it looked like Matt Fraction didn't even glance at the issues put out by JMS or even Gillen before he got started.  Characters are free to be on multiple superteams across the country at the same time.  Wolverine has long has the superpower to be in every book put out in a month, but to have him be a regular member of the X-Men, Avengers, and X-Force is a bit much, especially when the X-Men were living in San Fransisco while the Avengers are based in New York!  Spider-Man is having solo exploits, running around with the Avengers, and is a member of the Future Foundation!  Considering how often Marvel has their books crossover with each other, this is pretty hard to swallow.

I remember when a character crossing over to another book was special.  It didn't happen every issue because the books had sub-plots, character development, and a main plot of it's own to move forward.  Now it seems almost every book has to be tied-in to whatever Event-of the-Month is happening, and it really derails the other books from doing anything of note.  The best books from Marvel, I feel, are the ones that can hide in their little niche corner away from the main events to tell the stories they want to tell.  Daredevil, up until Shadowland, was a great example of a brilliant book that pretty much got left alone.

There is a splash page in Secret Invasion that has always stuck with me.  In it, a ship full of Skrulls disguised as "classic" Marvel heroes is squaring off against the then-current Avengers, and honestly, I found it very hard to not root for the Skrulls since they looked a lot more like heroes I know and love.

I just cut out The Mighty Thor and Secret Avengers from my pull list, and I'm not sure how long my other Marvel titles are going to last.  As a Marvelite for 20 years, that makes me really sad.

Kids and Comics

I have a 5 month old son, and I love him to pieces.  When we found out my wife was pregnant I had dreams of designing the Spider-Man bedroom of my dreams if we were to have a boy.  It turns out that everyone I know would outfit it for me since Griffin has already gotten a ton of Spider-Man stuff already.

But would I want him to read a current Spider-Man comic book?  I'm not so sure.

Now I should actually say right off the bat that I am not reading the Spider-Man books these days, for reasons that I will explore in another post in the future.  So let's just switch this to modern comic books in general.

As the comic book audience has aged over the years, so has the content.  Back in the day it was unheard of to use a swear word in a comic; "hades" was substituted for "hell", "blast" for "damn", and so on.  There was violence, sure, but it wasn't gory or over the top.  The books were smart and never talked down to the reader, but the content was appropriate for all readers.

Nowadays we have books like New Avengers #35, which features a savage beating of the superheroine Tigra by the Hood, a character I'm fairly happy to know nothing about or have an interest in.  I understand that violence is part of comics, I love a good comic fight as much as the next guy, but I don't want nor need to see violence on this scale depicted.  I certainly do not want my son reading this at the age of 8, the same age that I was reading Stan and Steve's run on Amazing Spider-Man in the reprint Spider-Man Classics line.

The line between good and evil is very blurred in comics these days.  I feel that I have a pretty strong moral center, and I feel that a big part of that is from reading about heroes who do the right thing simply because it's the right thing to do, like Captain America, Superman, and Thor.  Now Superman is throwing people off of buildings, Captain America is the new Nick Fury, and Thor is running around telling people to shut up and calling them a pain in the ass.

I appreciate that Marvel and DC have been putting books out aimed at kids, and that's good, but there was a time when comics were suitable for all ages, with something for the kids and something for the adults.  Some of the best movies are like that, and I miss the days when comics could do the same.

As it is, when it's time to introduce my son to comics, I've got a stack of beat up Spider-Man Classics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko waiting for him.

How Superheroes Are Supposed to Act

This is one of my favourite fake comic covers ever!  For more awesome comic mash-ups like this one, check out http://amalgamage.blogspot.com/.

Movie Costumes & Weird Textures

I'm not sure what the reasoning is, but Hollywood is tending to add weird textures to superhero costumes.  I don't know why and I certainly don't know how, but it just strikes me as unnecessary.  Case in point, check out the new Superman costume from the upcoming reboot.


Aquaman's tailor is branching out.


 The first thing I noticed when I first saw this costume was the scaly texture to it.  Give it a click and look at full size, it looks like Superman is doing his best fish impression.

I actually like other elements of the costume, such as the prominence of the S-Shield, but the texture really bugs me.  Plus the S curl in the hair is missing; negative cool points for that.



Spider-Cleats activate!

 Here is a promotional image that just came out recently (the website that published it first put that stamp on it) of the costume for the Amazing Spider-Man reboot. 

I hate this costume.  The only reason they changed the classic look, in my speculation, is to differentiate this film from the Sam Raimi trilogy.  This is why studios should have to wait awhile before rebooting a franchise, but Sony can't wait that long or they lose the movie rights so I guess we're stuck.  This costume just screams "I'm different just to be different!"

Two things jumped out at me about this image when I first laid eyes upon it.  The first was that it looks like Bounty paper towels (the Quicker Picker UpperTM) is sponsoring this outfit, since the suit has a kind of quilted texture to it.  I also noticed that Spidey must not have made it onto his high school soccer team since his cleats don't extend to his heel (Aunt May must not have been able to afford a whole shoe).  The sad things is I actually hope that really is the case and those aren't suction cups on the bottom of his feet...

So far Marvel Studios has done the best job adapting their characters costumes to the big screen.  Thor looked spot on, Captain America was pretty good, and Iron Man was absolutely perfect.  And I guess the Hulk's pants were alright too, kind of hard to screw that up.  While I normally hate when characters are put in full leather suits (hello X-Men), that is pretty much the standard operating procedure for the Black Widow and she looked picture perfect in her debut in Iron Man 2.  I want the characters to have more than a passing resemblance to their four colour inspirations, so I hope other studios get on the Marvel costuming train.



It's a fake but it's awesome.