Central City Comics Blog: Comics Talk

Justice League #1

Marvel Comics was the leading publisher in Retail Dollar and Unit Market Shares based on total sales of comics, graphic novels and magazines to comic book specialty stores in 2011, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. Justice League #1 was the top seller for the year, with more than 230,000 copies sold to North American retailers across several printings. The top winners in sales DC the New 52, Marvels Mega series, and Image Comics “The Walking Dead”. Marvel, DC Comics and Image Comics all shared 81% of the market share according to Diamond Distributors. Below is a table of sales and market share for 2011. You can see how Marvel and DC dominated in comic sales.

Now you see why Comics Talk and other Comic based media discuss Marvel and DC so much just because of the popularity alone. These are bad times financially in history but people are making room for entertainment in comics. In the age of 3, 4, and 5 dollar comic books I am amazed by the sales. People are not bashful about spending money on comic entertainment. We are here to keep you up on the latest so stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

PUBLISHER MARKET SHARES

Based on Total Unit Sales of Products Invoiced in Calendar Year 2011

Hellboy: Fury #3

2011 has come and gone but not without some outstanding comic book publications. While DC Comics and Marvel were the top sellers there was some great work done in other publishing comic companies. Dark Horse Comics led with the death of Hellboy in Hellboy the Fury #3 while comic heroes tend not to ever die in the comic book world Mike Mignola really did it he killed his most well known character Hellboy. Very well written I am sure the series may still be available. Also at Dark Horse Jim Shooter revived some of the greatest Gold Key heroes with Doctor Solar – Man of the Atom, Turok – Son of Stone, Magnus – Robot Fighter, and Mighty Samson. Shooter did a good job of re-introducing these Silver Age characters to a new generation.

Star Trek 1 IDW

While at Dynamite Entertainment from the mind of the late Jack Kirby they re-introduced some of his wonderful characters like Captain Victory, Silver Star, and Dragonsbane with more to come from the comics series Kirby: Genesis. With many covers by Alex Ross you know the art looks good. Follow that with the comic book version of George R. R. Martin’s fantasy masterwork “A Game of Thrones”, Dynamite Entertainment left a creative mark on 2011. The up and coming IDW Publishing got the rights to publish the new timeline favorite from the movie 2009 Star Trek the continuing story of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. Also in a separate story IDW printed a crossover of Star Trek and the Legion of Superheros series still going into 2012, plus comics with Doctor Who, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and True Blood good stuff from IDW comic book publisher for 2011.

Fantastic Four 600

At Marvel we began the year as the tragic saga of “Three” came to an end in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR #587—and The Human Torch fell. Johnny Storm sacrificed himself so that his niece and nephew as well as his best friend, The Thing, could escape the Negative Zone. With this story came a series change that ended in two titles FF (Future Foundation) and again Fantastic Four adding Spider-Man in the absents of the Torch to make it Four again. These comic books ended the year with Johnny Storm coming back from the Negative Zone victorious and alive again. This story written by Jonathan Hickman may well be the best story trek of 2011 it involves Doctor Doom, the Inhumans, and just about everyone in the story line from the past 2 years.

Fear Itself 3

Marvel also began the year with a cross title Mega event call the “Chaos War” which evolved an entity called the Chaos King or  Amatsu-Mikabosh a Japanese God of evil, he is the embodiment of the chaos and nothingness that preceded creation, which wants to wipe out all existence and almost does. Hercules uses his new All Father status to remake the world at the sacrifice of his godhood making him mortal and launching a new series called Herc. Then not to be out done by the Gods of Mount Olympias writer Matt Fraction writes another world threatening event called “Fear Itself” involving Odin’s older brother the Serpent: God of Fear, who claims he is the rightful All Father not Odin. Very interesting story it introduces the Serpent’s the “Worthy” and Odin’s  the “Mighty” lead by Iron Man. It ends with much devastation to the earth and Thor finally killing the Serpent then taking nine steps and falling dead. Odin mourns his son’s death then takes his brothers body and leaves the realm of midgard and asgard to the All Mothers: Freyja, Gaea, and Idune, who rule in his stead.  Two major storylines that change many things in the Marvel universe.

Death of Spider-Man

Spider Island another major event centered around the New York City area. “Spider-Island” the storyline started in The Amazing Spider-Man and crossing over into other comic books published by Marvel Comics. It involve an infection that gave normal humans Spider Powers and eventually turned them into Spider creatures serving the Spider-Queen. It takes Mr Fantastic of the Fantastic Four and others of the Horizon Labs scientists to find a cure then a huge battle and inoculation of the public and the re introduction of Kaine as the clone of Peter Parker as a good guy cured from his previous problems. That is really an over simplification of a very complicated story. Another big story from Marvel.

On the Ultimate side of Marvel you have the Death of Spider-Man, the real death of Peter Parker. His heroic death brings on the introduction of a new Spider-Man, Miles Morales. A teenager of African American and Latino descent, he will have a lot of adjusting to do to fill the shoes of Peter Parker. So far the reviews have been very favorable of the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe.

Reign of Doomsday

Well if you are overwhelmed by the events of the comic world I save DC Comics last for a reason. They changed everything with an event called Flashpoint. But before we get to that DC brought back Doomsday to the Superman titles in the “Reign of Doomsday” series. The crossover involves Doomsday hunting down Steel, Superboy, Eradicator and Cyborg Superman, the four main characters introduced in the wake of the controversial The Death of Superman storyline in 1992. The storyline itself draws its title from “Reign of the Supermen”, the immediate follow-up to The Death of Superman. This run of comics will reintroduce Doomsday as you never thought to see him. It results in the introduction of a character called Doomslayer a very interesting story. This leads up to the giant sized Action Comics 900 and the end of the series which was started in 1938.

Meanwhile the events of Brightest Day follow the exploits of these heroes and villains as they attempt to learn the secret behind their salvation. At the end of “Blackest Night”, 12 heroes and villains were resurrected for a later to be reveled  purpose.  Brightest Day #7 revealed that the 12 resurrected must complete an individual assignment given to them by the White Lantern Entity. If they are successful, their life will be fully returned. It ended when Boston Brand found the new champion who will bear the white light of life and take the Entity’s place. (Revealed as Alec Holland, the new Swamp Thing as of Brightest Day #24)

Flashpoint #5

And that led into one of the biggest events in comic book history the series Flashpoint and the creation of the New 52 the remaking of the DC Universe. Flashpoint was a complete redirection in the DC Universe and change in history brought on by the Flash Barry Allen as he changed an event in his past that set every thing in a different direction an alternate universe. Everything changed with the only one who had knowledge in this time period of how things should be was Barry who no longer had the powers of speed. Without telling a synopsis of what happened Barry was the key in changing it back but in the process a mysterious “Lady in Red” helped him to bring a new universe into existence that resulted in DC’s Vertigo and WildStorm superhero groups brought into the main DCU continuity. You can read about that here in my blog. So this New DC 52 as the creators of DC began calling it was created with no connection to the previous history of events in the DCU. The writers and artist and producers at DC could go in any direction they wanted to. And they did with the retelling origins of all the icons of DC history. There was a new fresh look at the heroes that have been around for over 50 years.

Justice League #1

In September of 2011 52 titles started at number one again including Action Comics which had not been interrupted in over 900 issues. Grant Morrison was given the rewrite of Superman origin, Brian Azzarello took on Wonder Woman, Tony Daniel would write Detective Comics, Geoff Johns writer and art Jim Lee for Justice League #1, and there are many more changes which we highlighted in Comics talk during 2011. I think the most dramatic change was the top sales of comic books for the first time in a long time when from Marvel to DC Comics. Mostly because of new readers and old readers that just wanted to check it out. Also DC provided digital copies of comic books the same day of paper publication, this is a first in the industry.

Keep in mind there was a lot of other things that happened in comics but I can only highlight the major ones in this venue. So quite an extraordinary year in comic books, one that will go down in history I am sure. We are here for you to keep you informed on the media known as Comic Book Entertainment and Movie greats with a lot of other fun things mixed in. Stay tuned Comic faithful Fore more. Walt

Mark Ruffalo-inspired Incredible Hulk

There is a lot of information and curiosity about the Avenger movie on May 4, 2012. It stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, & directed by Joss Whedon from a screenplay by Joss Whedon. I wanted to talk about the Mark Ruffalo-inspired Incredible Hulk. Back in July of 2011 Kevin Feige president of Marvel Studios and producer of “The Avengers,” was interviewed By Geoff Boucher of the LA Times about the Hulk in the Avengers movie. Below is part of that interview it reveals a lot about Marvels attitude towards the Hulk in the movies.

GB:  Will we see anything substantially different in the visual realization of the Hulk?

KF: Well, I don’t know about substantially different. It will be as different as ”The Incredible Hulk” was from Ang Lee’s “Hulk” in terms of its look and design, but it is Hulk. The image we released on the last day of Comic-Con — which got a tremendous amount of attention and I was very pleased about — is a very good representation of what he’s going to look like. Hulk is Hulk. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel.

GB: How big will he be? That’s been a major variable through the years in the comics and the two films as well.

KF: He’ll be about the same size he was in “The Incredible Hulk” [which was about 9 feet tall] or maybe a little bit smaller. His muscles won’t be quite as cut. We figure he’s been the Hulk now for a few years and [his physique is changing]. He’s not as cut or as ripped as he was in “The Incredible Hulk.” The most important thing is that face. As you can already see in that concept painting, it is — more than any Hulk that’s ever been done in live action — a Hulk that let’s you see the actor in there. You will be able to see Ruffalo in there. That was a big revelation for us. It’s just a concept painting, but in that you can see the [influence of Marvel Comics pioneer and original Hulk artist Jack] Kirby, as people have already pointed out, but also, and equally important in this case, Ruffalo’s eyes and his cheek structure. It is him.

GB: That sounds like a very different philosophy than the approach you took on Louis Letterrier’s movie.

KF: It is. It was something we actively avoided before. Hulk was Hulk, he’s not any one actor and Hulk should look like Hulk. It was  like Iron Man’s armor, in a way, it wouldn’t change depending on the actor wearing it. But we’ve taken a different approach because Hulk is Banner and, frankly, we came to question our approach. Why are we not doing it this way?  So we did a few designs that put Ruffalo into it, and we immediately saw how much more you feel for the creature. When you keep that connection going between Banner and the Hulk and you have characters around him trying to reach Banner inside — “Bruce, calm down,” and all of that classic Hulk stuff — it means more if you see the same actor throughout. I think before it was something we thought might look silly. We were nervous about getting it good enough [via visual effects] to work. Frankly, it was the same way we were nervous early on about making Steve Rogers skinny for “Captain America.” Is this going to look disturbing? Is this going to look silly? In the end, we got that one right. We’re going to get this one right.    End of Interview Section.

The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), written by writer-editor Stan Lee, and penciller and co-plotter Jack Kirby, and inked by Paul Reinman, and the Hulk has gone through many changes in looks and mannerisms. The one thing that has remained constant has been the influence of Bruce Banner. They are essentially different manifestations of the same person like a person with multiple personality complex to the max.  Using CGI in movies can make that happen. Why wouldn’t the Hulk manifestation have similar futures. I guess they would. And if there is a person inside of a character like the Hulk then you could try to talk to him and calm him down so could appeal to the Hulk to help in a situation where you need his brute strength. You can see that the Hulk is more than “Hulk Smash” he is also Bruce Banner. Hulk may speak in a childlike manner, but he’s not a mindless brute.

In the new trailer it looks like the Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson approaches Bruce Banner to join the Avengers how they work out the control of the Hulk as a force for good we still don’t know but I am sure that is part of the early storyline. Bruce is seen later in the SHIELD headquarters with other members of the Avengers. Perhaps more will come out later about the role of the Hulk in the movie. So far the action scenes do not show the Hulk in trailer yet except for shot of Banner changing and the growl of the Hulk. Till then we will be on the outlook for news and comments on the Avenger movie. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

Full Size Look Hulk

The Hobbit: An Unexspected Journey

First official trailer has been revealed for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a prequel to the highly popular The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

The actors cast includes Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Barry Humphries, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Evangeline Lilly, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, and Aidan Turner, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee and Cate Blanchett.

December the 14th 2012 is when it hits the big screen. I know that is a long way off but I wanted to preview this for the readers. J.R.R. Toilken’s master piece is finally going to be produced with the same quality of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I am sure Peter Jackson will do a great job in bringing this wonderful story to the movies. We are always looking out for you stay tuned for more. Walt

Avengers Annual 1

Simon Williams (Wonder man) and his Revengers have attacked the New Avengers and left the Avengers Mansion in shambles and many Avengers hurt. This happened in New Avengers Annual #1. This is to be concluded in Avengers Annual #1. Iron Man notes that Simon is ‘leaking’ ionic energy, suggesting that his current mental condition may relate to his powers rather than being simply a matter of choice causing him to be very unreasonable and not in a stable mental state.

Because of the anger in Wonder Man he put together the Revengers, a team of super-powered people to stop the Avengers because he believes they do more harm than good, blaming the Avengers for Ultron’s existence, the damage caused by the Scarlet Witch and the Hulk, the Civil War, and Osborn’s Dark Avengers. His team subsequently defeats the New Avengers in a quick attack on the mansion before he resolves to attack Avengers Tower.

The story in Avengers Annual starts with Steve Rogers addressing Simon and the Revengers about the attack on the Avengers and it looks like they are getting ready for more action against the main team of Avengers. Good story with 2 powerful teams ready to battle. Good Marvel stuff. On sale January the 4th I recommend this one for my readers. We are looking out for good stuff for you, stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

CLICK ON IMAGES TO GET FULL PAGE:

New Avengers Annual 1

Avengers Annual 1 pg 2

Avengers Annual 1 pg3

Batman Infographic Art Click to See Full Size

Benjamin Andrew Moore impresses us greatly with this remarkably thorough chart which tracks every major revision of Batman’s costume, starting from its first appearance in 1939 and all the way through 2012′s Batman: Earth One drawn by and Gary Frank. See the full-size image Click image above.  This is brought to us thanks to ComicsAlliance.com. It shows all the versions on Batman costumes in history of the character since Bob Kane  in 1939.

Batman is an classic hero who has survived over the years and actually gained in popularity for many years. It is great to look back of the many looks of Batman over the years. I had no idea there was that many changes but the proof is in this Infographic. We will always be on the  look for the most interesting information about the comic world. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

D23 Expo 2011

The cast of the mega Marvel movie storms this year’s D23 Expo and IGN is there to chat with them about the highly-anticipated adaptation. The official description of the movie is: The S.H.I.E.L.D. agency brings together a team of superhumans to help save the Earth from annihilation by extraterrestrial invaders. You put that together with the interviews by IGN at D23 Expo and you get a picture of what the synopsis will be especially Tom Hiddleston who reveals that Loki (his Role) plays a major role in the movie and Robert Downey Jr. who plays Iron Man and Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor tell us that the first part of the movie deals with some inter dimensional problem that Thor has and IGN introduce Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Scarlett Johansson (the Black Widow) as SHIELD agents.

The most anticipated movie of the Year to this point will be directed by Joss Whedon and the US showing will be on May the 4th 2012 at all your local theaters. The build up to this movie from all the recent movies before has Marvel fans clamoring for more information and we will be there when it happens, stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

Avengers 2012

International Avengers Video Shows New Scenes but unless you speak the language of the offizieller zweiter Trailer – deutsch turn the sound down and watch. More of Banner and Loki and more check it out we will be here with more when it happens. Compare it with the US Trailer release and you will see Here. Forget that found one in English from  IGN, Stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

Dark Knight Rises

Warner Bros. has officially released the long-anticipated first extended look at director Christopher Nolan’s final installment in his three-part Batman epic. I have been slow to comment about the new Batman movie because there has been very little information released about the story until now but the trailer reveals more mystery than answers about the the last of the Nolan trilogy.

The trailer begins in a football stadium then goes to Alfred (Michael Caine) who relates how he has failed to protect Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale).  Bane (Tom Hardy) coordinating some kind of plot at the stadium that results in one of the most dramatic scenes in movies as the football field sinks into the ground from a controlled explosion just as a Gotham player runs the ball in for a touchdown. Also there is the introduction of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), who dances with Bruce Wayne at a party, masked as a cat. “There’s a storm coming, Mister Wayne,” she says. “You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

“When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die,” says Bane to Batman then the trailer flashes to explosions, a flying Batmobile. Looks like the movie will have a ton of action but what it all means to the Batman and Bruce Wayne and all the supporting cast still remains to be seen. The trailer did what was intended to give enough information to create a real thirst for the movie. This is one movie that I will be in line to see. Stay tuned movie and comic faithful for more. Walt

Hulk Season One

Dr Strange Season One

Ant Man Season One

MARVEL Season One:  It is no secret that the sales of graphic novels has done very well. With the DC success producing with 5 out of the top 10 titles graphic novels and trade paperbacks sold at Diamond and other media outlets, Marvel has a long way to go to catch up. So they have announced a series of graphic novels about the origins of their top comic characters and superhero groups. In the same way of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One and J. Michael Straczynski’s: Superman: Earth One they will produce graphic novels for new readers to help their sales in that area.

Official Press Release

Marvel: Season One, a line of all-new graphic novels, just got bigger as Marvel is pleased to add three titles to the highly anticipated line-up with Ant-Man: Season One, Hulk: Season One & Doctor Strange: Season One! These all-new complete stories offer fans a chance to immerse themselves in the Marvel Universe like never before. Journey into the unknown with Ant-Man, learn about the mystic arts with Doctor Strange and find out how Hulk balances humanity and monstrosity as each of these graphic novels offer new revelations for long-time fans and give new readers a fresh introduction to the character. With modern retellings of the world’s greatest super heroes seminal origins by some of the most critically acclaimed creators in the business, no fan can miss this! Each of these graphic novels also include a code to download each book for free, via the Marvel Comics app, making them must haves for every fan.

Also Amazon has announced pre-order of  Fantastic Four: Season One by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa , David Marquez (Feb 7, 2012) and X-Men: Season One by Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie (Mar 13, 2012), Spider-Man: Season One by Cullen Bunn and Neil Edwards (May 8, 2012), and Daredevil: Season One by Antony Johnston and Wellington Alves (Apr 10, 2012) . In the next year they want to be more aggressive in producing graphic novels. Marvel will focus on the origin stories of Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and the X-Men to reintroduce these top titles to new and old readers.

Amazon has them listed between $15 and $17. You put this with the production of the long awaited Straczynski written “The Twelve” trade paperback series starting in January, and you see Marvel has realized that the comic readers are changing. Readers want more of a bang for their buck. The graphic novel or trade is a great way to get a lot of reading for less money and it is not some Mega-Series that you must buy many comics to tell the whole story at $3 to $5 a comic plus variants and special pre and post series comics which can get very expensive. I think readers know what is good and will buy accordingly but many are cutting back on titles they read so the competition is heavy for the comic book dollar.

There is always an appreciation for quality in the art and writing of comic books and that is why we have this Blog to comment on the industry and the direction it is going and we like the move to the original graphic novel and will follow it closely to keep you informed. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

Spider-Man Season One

X-Men Season One

Daredevil Season One

Comics Talk on Face Book

Central City Comics Blog: Comics Talk now has its own page on Facebook after 5 years on the web and 3 years as a blog we now have our own Comics Talk Blog Facebook Page. If Facebook and Comics and Movies are your bag then visit us there. Every thing we can think of that is important to you will be posted. Just go there and click the like button and comment on comics and movies that you will find.

Enjoy the entertainment and information and be informed. We welcome your comments on both the Media Blog, Face Book and Twitter, we made it to the 21st century in technology Wow. Stay tuned for more great stuff personal interviews and exclusive goodies right here on Comics Talk on the web: Blog, Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned comic faithful for more. Walt

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has always been the smartest man in the room…well not any more. There is a new criminal mastermind at large-Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)-and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

This movie is directed in a way that shows the thinking patterns of Sherlock Holmes a brilliant mind that considers all contingencies,  until now. Professor Moriarty wonderfully played by Jared Harris really puts to test his deductive abilities. Moriarty always seems to be a step ahead of Holmes. I mean Sherlock Holmes for there is another Holmes in the movie his brother Mycroft Holmes played by Stephen Fry who plays a key role in the course of the movie.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace plays Madam Simza Heron a gipsy fortune teller who’s brother also plays a key role in the movie. Madam Simza becomes Holmes reluctant guide across Europe chasing down the evil plots of Moriarty. The trek reveals an international plot to start a Major war with Moriarty benefiting in power and wealth. The key objective of our comrades is to stay alive a hard thing to do against Moriarty and his cohorts.

And of course there is Dr. John Watson who is superbly played by Jude Law. After the attack against his new wife now Mary Watson played by Kelly Reilly Dr. Watson joins Holmes in what he says is his last case with the detective.  The inter reaction between these two is both comic relief and entertaining. They complement each other and Watson makes Holmes a better detective.  A movie I am sure I will have to watch again to get all the action and dialog between these two.

Considering the story and acting plus the  Direction of Guy Ritchie this is probably a better movie than the first, truly an enjoyable movie experience.  Out of 5 stars I give it 4. Definitely on my recommend list for watching.  See you at the movies and stay tuned movie faithful for more. Walt