Let’s hear it for G-Man!

Yesterday (or was it Wednesday?) I acquired my copy of issue #3 of G-Man: The Cape Crisis, and I want to say that it is still consistently the best comic on the market today. It is fun, entertaining, not predictable, and easily accessible to a younger audience while not insulting the intelligence of older readers.

What more could you ask for in a comic?

I mean, seriously? the art is wonderful the story is exciting, and I’m enjoying the heck out of this comic. It really is one of only a couple of comics that I eagerly await each month.

In this episode, we have Great Man selfishly selling pieces of the magic cloth that give Great Man and G-Man their powers (thus disrupting the power source), while G-Man and his friends are working with the Wizard, Glendolf, attempting to recover the pieces before there is a magical power inversion which could cause untold harm to both boys as well as to the many people who were tapping into the mystical power.

There is even a chilling cliff-hanger at the conclusion of this issue, which just goes to show how you can have a thrilling story without going all “gritty” on the readership.

As with previous issues, Chris has some of his cartoonist buddies pen a couple of back-up stories to help round out the issue. Oh yeah, there is also a cameo with Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon (G-Man ran as a back-up feature in Savage Dragon for several issues).

If you haven’t yet picked up G-Man, then you need to do so. If your shop doesn’t carry the comic, you need to tell them to do so, seriously. You’ll be glad you did.

Free comics and other stuff worth reading.

So, I’m working my way through some of the Free comics I picked up on FCBD and I got to The Green Lantern comic (In Blackest Night) which I’ve already discussed. There have been some others, but what I want to talk about now is The Savage Dragon #148.

Now, I don’t normally read Savage Dragon, and this issue was very cool, in that it gave a four-page recap of the first 147 issues which was quite interesting. I have to say, after reading Spider-man for some 45 years, I honestly think that more things have happened to Savage Dragon in 148 issues than have happened to Spidey in close to 600 (of just him main title).

Still, I have some observations of what is going on in this book. I understand the need for action, but in every single panel, everyone seems to be moving, jumping, and swinging through the city frantically on the lookout for the bad guys. I truly understand the need for action, but it was a bit disconcerting that everything was constantly posed. I liked the introduction of the Golden Age Daredevil, although I wonder how Eric Larson was able to acquire the rights.

Plus all the actions and motivations seemed to lie on the surface of the characters. I honestly don’t feel that I got below the introduction phase of the characters. I’m not saying that I didn’t like it, I’m saying that the issue looked like a retro-fitted Golden Age tale drawn by Jack Kirby himself.

This is why I love FCBD, because I get to see stuff that I wouldn’t ordinarillary read. More as I get to them.

On another front, I also picked up some back issues of Amazing Spider-Man that I’ve been missing. Now, I’m missing only three of issues of Vol. #1 (all in the high 400s), and 17 from the second volume (all below #34). I’m throwing a party when I finally close the gap!

A horse of a different color

Well, the Spider-Man/Obama comicbook is out now,and, well, I didn’t get one.

That’s right. I didn’t get on. You see, one of the comic shops at which I usually shop, was supposed to get 40 or 50 of them, and put most of them out at cover price, only they were (apparently) shorted by their distributor. To be sure, they will be getting copies of the second printing in next Wednesday (there is already a third printing, I understand). The second printing is supposed to have a yellow cover (rather than the blue of the first printing — no word on what the third printing will look like).

The cover you see here is the “Standard” cover. It is the version that I purchased, because, well, I am not about to pay exorbitant price-gouging prices for a brand-new comic, I don’t care who is on the cover. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ll pick up a copy of the second printing next week, because, well, it is kind of a cool thing to own, but only at cover price.

On the day of issue, neither of the two shops near me, nor the guy I purchase my books from has the Obama cover. a shop three towns away was selling them for $40.00, and my brother picked one up two towns further out for $15.00 (he’s thinking of selling it, and I’ll replace it with a 2nd printing edition).

Personally, I don’t see this comic holding its value over the long haul. I mean it will be like this for three, maybe six months, but a year into Obama’s term, or after he is no longer in office (eight or 10 years from now) it simply will not exponentially increase in value.

Near as I can determine (through my own inquiries, and by chatting with other collectors), the folks scrambling to buy this issue at any cost are — by-and-large — not comicbook collectors. They are (first and foremost) speculators, Democrats who voted for Obama, and, well, African Americans. I can’t help but to think that anyone who is buying this comic with the intention of selling it in a few years and putting their children through collage are going to be seriously disappointed.

Interestingly enough, I recently learned that this is not the first time that Obama’s visage has appeared on the cover of a comic (and, no, I’m not counting the pair of comics that came out before the election). Two companies published comics staring him and Senator McClain. One comic was a flip book (one side Obama and the other McCain) while the other company (IDW) produced individual comics for each candidate.

No, I'm talking about Obama appearing on the cover of Savage Dragon #137. In fact, the way I hear it, Obama has become something of a regular in Savage Dragon. I really don’t follow that title, so I was totally unaware of this, but still, I find it hard to believe that Erik Larsen put Obama on the cover and I, as both a Democrat and funnybook fan missed the announcement entirely.

To me, that simply smacks of bad marketing.

Anyway That’s what I have today (truthfully, I have more, but I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow, now I’m going to bed). In the mean time, go back and look at the Spidey cover again, as it is this cover that will be the topic of our next conversation.