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.

The gal who would be queen

As reported earlier, today was the day when Marvel Comics published a special edition of Amazing Spider-Man #583 which co-stared the (soon to be sworn in) President (elect) Barack Obama. Well, as already revealed the villain of the piece was to be the Chameleon, a long-standing Spider-Man villain.

I am revealing here fro the first time that was a bit of disinformation from Marvel, and through my investigative powers (and Photoshop) I was able to determine the actual villain:



Yeah, I thought it was pretty funny too.

Don’t over think the ordinary

In medicine, it is called “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.”

In political parlance it is rendered...“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck”

What it means is that (as a rule) things tend to be what they seem to be. So don’t go exotic (or over think them).

My son sent me this clip today,and I wanted to share it with all of you.

And then, of course, there is this!

Now I have seen (and read) everything!

Speaking for the first time about the project, guitar lord The Edge has revealed: “It is happening. We’ve written a lot of the songs at this point.

“It’s in a pretty good state, and I hope it’ll open this year. We’re not sure where in the world, but most likely it will be in New York.”

You can read the rest In The Sun

Having said that, you all know that I’ll be first in line when it opens.

Spidey, meet Mr. President (elect)

Yep, you read that right, Spidey is going to meet Barack Obama. According to USA Today:

On Jan. 14, Marvel Comics is releasing a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama depicted on the cover. Inside are five pages of the two teaming up and even a fist-bump between Spidey and the new president.

Yep, Not since Superman met President Kennedy have I been this excited (well, no not really, but you get the point). If you want to see a couple of panels of the comic you can do that now, but the comic itself won’t be out until January 14. That is if you can find it.

The issue, selling for $3.99 at comic-book specialty shops (find one at comicshoplocator.com), is expected to be an instant sellout, especially because the Obama cover, by Phil Jimenez, is limited to half the run.

"This issue will have a lot of heat and go for premium prices. I already have people calling about it," says Alan Giroux, owner of All About Books and Comics in Phoenix. "I expect this will be on the collectors' market for $20 by the first day.

I’ll let you know if I manage to score a copy.

There go the Holidays

Yes, the holidays are over, but I wanted to show off the way-cool Spidey/Santa hat that my buddy Chris got me for Christmas:



And then there is the long shot...



Thanks again Chris, and Happy (Spidey) New Year to all

Happy Belkis Year!

I’m officially declaring this the year of Belkis, as you all know she graces not only the cover, but each and every page of the NovaStar Studios Fantasy Illustrated Calendar. The (unfortunately slightly pixelated) image to the left is the first image of Belkis that greets you at the opening of the new year. It was drawn by by good buddy (and fellow CAGer) Keith Murphey.

If you still haven't purchased a calendar for 2009 (and even if you did), then you should hurry on over to James Rodriguez’s web page and snag yourself one of these beautiful calendars. For all of you who are too cheap to buy one who haven bought one as of yet, I’ll be posting the facing page for the rest of the year. I hope you all enjoy looking at Belkis as much as do I.