DC Announced a Bunch of Cool Comic-Book Stuff Today! As for Marvel...

DC announced all kinds of things today at Comic-Con International/San Diego Comic-Con, with a lot of it involving their comic-books. The comic line of DC is on fire right now compared to a struggling Marvel, so I was curious what might be coming down the pipeline from the company. We've got a new Static (Shock) series on the way, and Vixen is getting an ongoing solo book as well, with DC challenging, "...the long-standing stigma that 'Black comics don’t sell,'" with two fan-favorites. Plus, Michael Walsh writing and drawing Jonah Hex as a horror-filled Western sounds like it'll be rad. Speaking of horror, James Harren doing a book on Etrigan The Demon, has my attention. One big crowd-pleaser was the announcement of, "Batman of Two Worlds," which will have Matt Fraction's Batman of the standard DC going through a parallel story with the Batman from the Absolute Universe that Scott Snyder will be writing (I have no idea if they'll meet and chat/fight, but we'll see). It'll feature, "Two stories, one crime." It'll come out on Saturday, September 19th, for Batman Day. This all looks quite exciting!

We get a new, "Venom," #1 every few years or so.

As for Marvel and their comic announcements as of today, um, well...let's see here. Eddie Brock is going to be Venom again after other people have been wearing the suit--Mary Jane most recently, because why not? Also, the evil/"Infernal," Hulk is going to have a bunch of one-shot fights with various heroes. Plus, Deadpool and the Punisher are going to have a crossover, as they do every now and again. Uhhhh, plus Mary Jane is getting another ongoing comic with J. Scott Campbell doing a cover for it, as he always seems to enjoy drawing her. Look, I was a huge Marvel fan for years, and some of my favorite stuff came out from them 2000-2015 or so, but this is all pretty uninspiring. I'm sorry; don't shoot the messenger. Let's just hope that, "Avengers: Doomsday," is a hit and injects some form of life into one division of the company because the Marvel Universe of comics is a bit dull. We're getting an, "Indiana Jones," comic in a different continuity than the superheroes and the, "Marvel Midnight," stuff looks a little interesting, but the Main/616 Universe has a handful of writers doing stories I like and little else popping off. Unless you're chomping at the bit for the Punisher to randomly join the Avengers or Iron Man to be in trouble with the law for the umpteenth time, shit's bleak. Again, let's just be cautiously optimistic about, "Avengers: Doomsday," and see how that (in December) and the Spidey movie coming out (in a week or two) go. As it stands, DC is bringing a lot more fire this year to the show while Marvel seems to be mostly hints of a spark and a lot of fumes.

The Hot Comics Revue 18--These Comics May One Per Store, But There is No Limit to My Love

We've got two comics getting a lot of attention these past couple of weeks, with them both being surprise, "One-Per-Store," variant covers that retailers get with minimal warning from distributors. A surprise bonus comic is always fun and the fact these covers are (ostensibly) limited to one per store means they are limited in quantity--a bit like ratio variants. When a comic store gets these limited issues some will just throw them out on the salesfloor for regular cover price and some shops will mark the price up due to the rarity (again, a bit like ratio variants). There are one-per-store covers that barely get noticed and then there are ones that get a lot of heat. These past couple of weeks two titles have caught the attention of collectors/speculators/etc. Let's discuss...

The Power Fantasy #1

I recently discussed how this was a really fun first issue. Apparently, there are two versions of the A cover, which is fascinating, but there was also a one-per-store cover (it is by the series' artist, Caspar Wijngaar)  that basically nobody anticipated or realized was limited to one-per-store at first. Once that became apparent this thing started selling quite well, with copies going for $90-$110 with ease. The success of this one-per-store variant probably can be attributed to how this is the debut of the series an it has been getting good buzz.

Transformers #11

The, "Energon Universe," has been pretty popular over at Skybound (an imprint of Image), with one entity in that Universe being, "Transformers." For the 11th issue, a one-per-store cover appeared by James Harren. On this cover he homages his popular series, 'Ultramega," which is due to return from a hiatus soon, I recall. Between people who love the work of Harren and those who adore the Transformers, it has lit a fire under this book with it going online for anywhere from $75 up to $120. As this and, "The Power Fantasy," above go to show, sometimes a limited cover really gets folks excited!