Tales From the Dollar Bin: X-Men #1 AKA That Time the X-Men Relaunched and Fought Vampires

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

X-Men #1...No, The Other One.

The whole X-Men line is heading towards a big relaunch in these coming months and that makes me think back on all the times it has happened before. I was checking the dollar bin at V-Stock and came across one such example--,"X-Men," #1 and #2 of the, "Curse of the Mutants," story-line. After all, the comic, "X-Men," has been relaunched a number of times and in mid-2010 it started-over yet again. They were still living by San Francisco on their own little island called Utopia but they'd bested Norman Osborn during his, "Dark Reign," that occurred after, "Secret Invasion," and everything seemed relatively peachy-keen. However, the X-Men can never be allowed to have happiness so vampires started attacking them, because why not? The first arc of the new, "X-Men," series featured Mutant-on-Vampire action (not in a dirty way like that sounds though) and Blade drops-in too because his whole thing is killing vampires. This story-line is most notable for how fan-favorite mutant Jubilee was turned into a vampire (that doesn't happen in the two debut issues I picked-up for a dollar, but I recall that occurred). That was eventually quietly done away with, but it was kind of wild at the time.

Vampire Jubilee was a thing for a bit.

This re-launch of the X-Men was designed with the intention of having them interact with the rest of the Marvel Universe a great deal so after the shenanigans with vampires there were some other plot-lines with folk like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four stopping by. Eventually this all led into that big, "Avengers VS X-Men," event that was honestly a bit of a mess and then Brian Michael Bendis (this is before his current gig at DC) re-launched the X-Men yet again in 2012 with his big story where the X-Men from the past are brought to present by Beast because time-travel never causes problems, right? You can't tell as this is text, but that last sentence was dripping with sarcasm.

I kinda read a bit of the time-displaced X-Men arc, but then the X-books in general fell to the wayside for me as Marvel tried as hard as it could to ignore mutants and instead make us care about the Inhumans (even going so far as to have Inhuman and Mutants fighting for unclear reasons beyond a magic cloud) before realizing nobody would ever care about the Inhumans beyond their role as supporting characters (a few individual characters who happen to be Inhumans and beloved like Ms. Marvel aside) and they were mostly killed-off in 2018.

The latest re-launch will be on stands soon!

Now we are at the latest re-launch of the X-Men however with Jonathan Hickman steering the ship and it looks really promising so far. I am actually very interested in comics related to the X-Men again and will be reading them with much enthusiasm. I don't know if these new X-Men comics will become popular and hard-to-find years from now like some of the older stories, or thought of as mostly unremarkable and easy to find for cheap. However, that uncertainty is one thing that always makes it fun to tell...a tale from the dollar bin!

I Flipped Through, "Secret Empire," and Only Like Two Things About It

I previously did a, "Tale From the Dollar Bin," discussing an issue of, "Secret Empire," and how terrible I thought it was. Curiosity had me wondering if reading a collection of the whole event might help change my mind even a little, so I checked a copy out from my awesome local library and proceeded to kind-of read it and kind-of aimlessly flip through the book when I found it too atrocious to pay my full attention. There are only two thing I think I like about, "Secret Empire." Let's discuss.

1. It has an utterly insane scene with Hank Pym/Ultron hosting a Thanksgiving-styled dinner to a bunch of trapped Avengers.
Some years ago there was that weird thing where Hank Pym and Ultron merged into a single person (it was called, "Rage of Ultron," and it is pretty forgettable) which then was mostly promptly forgotten about except for his popping-up now and then. In the 4th issue of, "Secret Empire," he entraps both the Nazified Steve Rogers and a bunch of Avengers fighting against him (a robotic Tony Stark who I think was still in a coma from, "Civil War II," and other folk) in a replica of the Avengers mansion and proceeds to cheerily serve them a Thanksgiving-esque dinner.

He proceeds to go on a variety of angry rants about feeling unappreciated before having sudden mood-swings and being happy again. It is just completely bonkers enough that in this terrible event full of awful decisions it is deliciously absurd and actually kinda works. I mean, we've already got a Nazi Captain America and a hologram Tony Stark who apparently is running off of a program that simulates him being drunk, so why not throw-in Pymtron (as the internet calls him) and just have shit get even more crazy? If, "Secret Empire," is a mess, at least this dinner is a delightful moment of embracing the sheer chaos.

2. Elements of it are drawn-upon in Ta-Nehisi Coates current stellar run on, "Captain America."
When Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote the newest re-launch of, "Captain America," he could have tried to completely ignore the mess that was, "Secret Empire," but instead he leaned-into certain aspects. Coates introduced us to an America that felt confused and betrayed by the idea that someone who looked just like Steve Rogers spouted hate. Coates played-up the fact that a lot of people would wonder if the Captain America who was supposedly back and beat the evil one was a good-guy. With that concept Coates has been doing a stellar job on the book creating a complex mystery full of conspiracy and deceit.

In a world where even the symbol of all that is supposedly good--Captain America--could be used for evil who can the people of America trust? Coates has dived deep into this concept and the way he has taken a God-awful event and seen the potential in it to create a masterful story is as impressive as it is wonderful to read. If we had to go through, "Secret Empire," to get to Coates run on, "Captain America," I guess it was worth it.

Tales from the Dollar Bin: Toxic Crusaders #2

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

This is an Odd One

Be forewarned that this starts out strange and gets weirder as we go along. There is of course the low-budget indie-film studio known as Troma and they make weird little gross-out comedy flicks. One of their most famous characters is the Toxic Avenger. Toxie, as he is sometimes known, is from New Jersey and fights crime in movies that had to be heavily edited to achieve an R-rating and which have all kinds of inappropriate, raunchy, tasteless humor...not for kids, right? Well, at one point Marvel made comics themed for the Toxic Avengers that were more youth-friendly. That's interesting, but in a further bizaare twist--I didn't even know about this one and I know a smidgen about Troma and Toxie--there was a 1990's cartoon aimed directly at kids called, "Toxic Crusaders."

"Toxic Crusaders," was about Toxie and a bunch of misfit superheroes fighting pollution--like a weird, "Captain Planet," kind of vibe, I guess. The cartoon ran all of 13 episodes and was cancelled, but Marvel made a spin-off comic of it for a short while, which went eight issues and had some surprising talent involved. There was no set writer or artist so there were at times Steve Gerber contributing, or Ann Nocenti, and more. That's bizarre and fascinating to think some folk who went on to become big names (or who were already known to some degree in 1992 when the comic came out) did this random comic, of all things.

Great art and a funny meta-joke about the captions?
This comic rises above its source material for sure.

Let's be honest, all those old, "Toxic Avenger," movies are pretty shoddy. They have a certain, "Oh no they didn't!" kind of charm, but to say the movies are actually, "Good," is pushing it. Hearing that a big-budget reboot might happen with Toxie at another film studio sounds like it really misses the point of the old stuff, but more power to anyone attempting that. Still, I'm just frankly bewildered by this, "Toxic Crusaders," comic series having its level of quality. I found issue #2 whilst digging in the dollar bins (you never know what gold you'll find in them, after all), and it features the writing of Hilary Barta and Doug Rice with pencils by Joe Staton (yes, the Joe Staton)--again, it is shocking the talent these books got. It's a perfectly well-done read full of clever jokes and it looks great thanks to the artwork. It is just odd to see these strangely competent and professional comics that relate (however loosely) to a film property from a studio that prides itself on being tacky and amateurish.

It is a little strange to find something as odd as a spin-off comic from a cartoon that was itself a weird kid-friendly outgrowth from another property ( one which was extremely adult in nature), but it is outright inexplicable that such a comic series be as good as it was with such a degree of talent involved. I suppose it goes to show how you can find a shocking amount quality in any comic, even one that is a...tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From The Dollar Bin: Ted Naifeh's "Heroines," and the Gruesome Fate of Space Goat Productions

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Another Time I Was Wrong

This story has many elements and gets weirder as we go along, but bear with me--the basic idea is I was wrong about something yet again (it happens sometimes). Back in the Summer of 2017 I sang the praises of a publisher by the name of Space Goat Productions Inc. when they announced they were making a, "Retailer Advisory Board," which would allow comic retailer to speak with the publisher about how sales of the comics were going, their suggestions, etc. I thought it was a cool idea. In the Fall of 2017 it turned out the CEO of Space Goat--a guy named Shon Bury--was allegedly a horribly mean man who liked to sexually harass female employees, oh and a number of Space Goat Kickstarters that had been funded for two board games (one for, "Evil Dead 2," and the other for, "The Terminator,") had been horribly delayed. The company launched a Kickstarter to make a collection of the earlier issues of a comic they had published three issues of and include the issues that would've finished it. The book was, "Ted Naifeh's Heroines." I made a post about the Kickstarter which later failed, and in retrospect that maybe was for the best because odds are backers would've never received their rewards. Why? As I said, things get weirder.

The rest of 2017 wasn't kind to Space Goat as they quit releasing any solicited comics, and the start of 2018 heaped more money woes upon them because as the Summer of 2018 approached Space Goat tried to have people fund the company for promises of minimal rewards so that it could fulfill its promises to people who had already given it almost one million dollars on Kickstarter for board games they still hadn't created or sent-out. The idea was basically, "Hey, why not give us more money and we promise now we'll make good on our earlier promises?" It didn't go anywhere, and the company said it would explore other ideas. Then the Facebook and Twitter were abandoned a couple months ago and now promote random junk, the website quit existing and a warehouse that was holding a bunch of supplies for Space Goat is actually going to auction the stuff off because they quit paying their bills--that's right, Space Goat now is basically like one of those unpaid units on, "Storage Wars." Backers of the board games are furious, people are wondering what the Hell happened, and I just feel bad for Ted Naifeh as he honestly didn't do anything wrong besides partner with this shitty company for his decent comic I found the three published issues of in a dollar bin last week.

So, What Happened?

Ted Naifeh is a talented creator especially known for a comic he did with Oni Press, "Courtney Crumrin." From what I recall of press for the, "Heroines," comic when it was first announced, Ted had the idea for his comic focused on female superheroines putting-up with sexist male superheroes but knew Oni wouldn't publish it because as a sort of company rule they don't publish super-hero works. This isn't some kind of insult to super-hero books, Oni just figures they won't make money in the market with such a property, I imagine, and the closet they've come to something related to superheroes would be maybe that, "Vindicators," one-shot related to, "Rick and Morty," and that was more of a parody of superheroes than anything else. Anyways, Ted had a superhero idea, Oni was cool with him going somewhere else, and somehow he ended-up with Space Goat. How that occurred I do not know. I guess they offered him more money than another publisher who probably would've been happy to release the book like Image, but I can only wager guesses.

The first three issue of, "Ted Naifeh's Heroines," came out earlier in 2017, and when I saw them in the dollar bin last week at a store I was browsing I bought them and enjoyed them. They feature his stellar artwork and some pretty solid storytelling. The book is mainly about a young woman with superpowers who wants to join a mostly-male super-hero team and is belittled for it. She makes her own team of assorted powered women and they fight crime whilst uncovering a conspiracy about a rich businessman famous for funding lots of superheroes. It is entertaining stuff, although I was a little put-off by how he made a lesbian character super-masculine and super sexually-aggressive. To his credit, the character admits in the third issue it is a front she puts-up to avoid being hurt, saying if she acts like a tough masculine-jerk people can't pick on her for being gay for fear of her beating them up. I liked the three issues that came out in early 2017 and unless Naifeh can take the series somewhere else (I have no idea if the now-defunct Space Goat owns/owned any rights and if they are tied-up) that may be all we get. To his credit, Naifeh spoke-out against Bury's alleged behavior and said if the book didn't get Kickstarted he would take that as a sign there maybe wasn't a demand for it and would create other works instead, so clearly Naifeh is a class-act who got taken for a ride by Space Goat like much of us.

But, Back to Me Being Fooled

Clearly I was duped by Space Goat Productions Inc. when it came to thinking they were a good company. Shon Bury clearly is a sexual harasser with a mean-streak who also enjoys habitually lying, and as much as I would like to think they weren't trying to defraud people with their board game Kickstarters there are many red flags to consider when a company tries to raise money for a new game so as to basically use that money to also pay for the first, as I've read was apparently the idea. In order words, failure led to scamming. I was fooled, Ted Naifeh was taken advantage of, the many backers of the board games who will never see those products delivered were especially screwed-over and Shon Bury and his friends seem to have absconded with whatever money they could, leaving Space Goat Productions Inc. a rotting carcass. The whole story is tragic, leaves a lot of people ripped-off, and generally just makes me angry. In all of this a quite good comic by Ted Naifeh suffered as well, but I guess we can't expect too many happy endings when we're talking about a....tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From The Dollar Bin: Secret Empire #1

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Secret Empire #1 AKA One Huge Disaster of an Event

Oh God, this was even more of a mess than I had heard and imagined. You see, I didn't read, "Secret Empire," because when it was revealed that Captain America was somehow a Nazi/member of Hyrda all along thanks to some fiddling with the Cosmic Cube I thought that was absurd. Then, when I heard he was going to somehow be taking over America and putting it under Hydra's reign that just sounded stupid for something supposedly in the normal Marvel Continuity. Maybe as an alternate-world tale, but a fascist dictator taking over our nation via apparently tricking all the other heroes, then rounding-up anyone else with powers, and shutting-down any dissent in the Marvel Universe which is supposed to be like the world out our window? That's just idiotic--and don't make jokes about how its like Trump being in power, he's a terrible President but as far as I know he isn't a Nazi. Also, he surely isn't able to keep us under a strict and violent rule, he can't even keep news about him boinking porn stars out of the media.

I didn't read any of the lead-up so I was extra confused as, "Secret Empire #1," reads like the second or third chapter of a story, with Hydra-Cap in power and being all cliche and evil. I suppose part of the reason for that is there apparently was a #0 issue and other lead-in stories. God help me though, I can't imagine reading anything else related to this steaming pile of crap. I mean, even if the whole concept is wretched if writer Nick Spencer had at least told the story in an interesting way I could muddle through this. Instead its just a bland mish-mash of, "Some heroes are rebelling, Captain America is doing evil stuff, here are some quick references to other characters getting their own tie-in comics!"

Captain America is sad he has to kill his friend he betrayed.
Poor guy?

The most notable thing in this issue besides the general idiocy of a Nazi Captain America running our nation is that Las Vegas is apparently destroyed at the end by Hydra-Cap because the city has been known for aiding some of the rebels...so because a few hundreds of residents help rebels he kills millions mainly so the comic can make it clear--"This Captain America is so bad y'all!" Also, he murders longtime sidekick and friend Rick Jones but looks sad about it so we should apparently pity him even though he's become a Nazi/Hydra evil dictator--as if the comic can't fully commit to making Captain America completely laughable evil and tries to act like he still has a bit of humanity. He revealed he was a Nazi and has taken over America by force, I'm not going to go, "Awww, he's all sullen and wonders if maybe he's doing the wrong thing, poor Cap!"

I mean, it really just says something that such a recent event was in a dollar bin along with all the other issues that I passed on picking-up as I knew reading the first issue would be more than enough for me. The first issue of an event like, "Civil War," sells for above cover-price, and even if that Millar-scribed series had flaws, at least it was entertaining. This is just atrocious and I feel bad for anyone who picked, "Secret Empire," for full price as at a dollar I still feel like I threw away my money. It is such a waste of time I wish I could get the 15 minutes it took me to read it refunded so I can spend those moments on a better comic.

Fluoride and Chemtrails are seriously discussed as plots to keep people mind-controlled.
Also, note the quick mention of mutants as if it's saying, "Read their book for this event too!"

Marvel has since moved on from this and appear eager to bury any memory of, "Secret Empire," with the big news now being popular writer Ta-Nehisi Coates is going to be taking over writing a non-brainwashed Captain America  from Mark Waid (who had the thankless job of trying to rehab the character a bit after Nick Spencer ruined Cap) for what will most likely be a very-promoted run. That is something I would actually like to read, unlike this miserable...tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From The Dollar Bin: The Savage Dragon #1-#3

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Long-Running and Full of Fun

Let's take a trip down memory lane to the early 1990's and get ready for a mind-blowing fact. "The Savage Dragon," is a series that debuted back then and is still coming out with the exact same original creator--Erik Larsen--and has no relaunches or reboots having happened. It is one of the longest-running comics with the same creator at the helm since its inception with only other books like, "Cerberus," and a handful of others (mainly if if you don't count renumbering) beating it. That is incredibly impressive and when one looks at the newest issues of, " The Savage Dragon," you can see how Larsen has both grown as a storyteller and illustrator as well as observe he was pretty solid right at the start. 

Yes, these early issues have some immense cliche's such as our protagonist having amnesia (resolved later on in the series) and random plot elements will pop-up and change at a jarring pace, but when you compare the latest issues to these you can see Larsen already laying a foundation for what has turned into an epic story full of generations of families, an ever-growing cast of characters, and Larsen's delightfully fluid art-style.

Erik Larsen's art has always given me a bit of a Jack Kirby-vibe (in a good way).

"The Savage Dragon," along with some other Image titles such as, "Spawn," are the O.G. books of Image back when it emerged in the 1990's as a creator response to the unfair conditions at work-for-hire companies. Image of course used to be more super-hero focused but in the decades since has grown into a publisher of a wide-range of quality titles. Now it is so big and successful you could argue the, "Big Two," of Marvel and DC really are the, "Big Three," with Image and its many smash-hits taking-up a big ol' chunk of the comic-market.

As, "The Savage Dragon," was one of the first books released when Image was a brand-new publisher it sold a ton of copies and therefore these debut issues are relatively easy to find in a dollar bin. Also, because it is  a super-hero comic from the 1990's it features big muscles and even bigger guns. Observe:

Reading these old issues of, "The Savage Dragon," is a delightful trip down memory lane for someone who first got into comic-books as a young man in the 1990's. The comic-book market of course eventually suffered a crash later on which many blame on a variety of factors (with Marvel and DC getting a ton more blame than Image, which thanks to its solid business planning survived that crash unlike many other then-smaller publishers), but through all the changes in the comic-book marketplace and the rest of the world, "The Savage Dragon," has kept coming-out at a rate that is occasionally sporadic and at other times very regular--regardless of how on-time or delayed it is however you can count on it eventually hitting the stands for your reading pleasure.

Erik Larsen's dedication to his comic over these many years is admirable, and the way he has altered and grown the comic with our changing times is just as impressive. It's a pleasant thing to think about--how Image and its focus on treating comic-book creators with respect resulted in so many great books coming out and continuing to be released. The continued success of, "The Savage Dragon," gives this edition of my spotlighting of dollar-bin books a rare happy ending among all the more tragic yarns, it would seem. Then again, you never know what to expect when reading...a tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From the Dollar Bin: Marvel Boy #3

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...
Not Long-Lived, But it Was a Magical Time

There was a relatively brief time Grant Morrison did some work for Marvel. It was short but wonderful, with his, "New X-Men," being a tour de force and in my opinion the best X-Men comics ever (which people take umbrage with when I state, but oh well). Morrison's X-Men was stellar and still has a lot of popularity to this day, with many folk remembering it fondly. Morrison actually did other things for Marvel too, however, creating a character who has been through quite the creative-wringer since his introduction by Morrison, Marvel Boy. It wasn't exactly a hit seeing as how I was able to find one of my favorite issues from the mini--the third--in the dollar bin.

Weird, Yet Good.

Grant Morrison's, "Marvel Boy," at first wasn't clearly taking place in the Marvel Universe--at least not the main, "616," one we all know. Some people said it was clearly hinting at being in the Ultimate Universe or its own place. Later on he was tied into the main MU, but we'll discuss that toward this piece's end. Anyways, the book was taking place in a world that was Marvel-influenced and featured a young man named Noh-Varr who was a Kree alien that had DNA meshed with that of cockroach and traveled through various dimensions with a science-team. At the start of the first issue they end up on Earth and almost everybody dies.

From this point Marvel Boy tries to find a way home whilst battling an assortment of odd folk. The third issue involves him fighting what was kind of like DC's anti-life equation when a sentient corporate virus known as Hexus begins trying to take over Earth through marketing and branding. It is a fun joke about capitalism and between lots of explosions Noh-Varr manages to defeat it the only way possible--he sends the details of its marketing strategies and secrets to all the other big competitors.

It is funny and the rest of the six-issue mini-series was great too. Then Noh-Varr was basically forgotten about before--deep breath--randomly popping-up in an, "Illuminati," mini-series, fighting the Young Avengers and Runaways during, "Civil War," kicking-around a bit during, "Secret Invasion," randomly joining the Dark Avengers under Norman Osborn, joining the normal Avengers with the new name of, "Protector," and having all of those comics not really do a good job portraying him at all. Thankfully, after all that he popped-up in, "Young Avengers," simply stating he felt he wasn't a good fit for the regular Avengers and that his weird name was a phase (so we could all forget about it). Now he's hanging-out with the Inhumans for some random reason and I'm not reading about him currently because, I mean, it's the Inhumans. Some of the characters he fought appeared in other books too, like Dr. Midas and the Exterminatirx/Oubliette being in that Marvel event everyone just kind-of forgot about, "Original Sin."

I quite liked Morrison's introduction of Marvel Boy, and loved how he was portrayed in, "Young Avengers," but most other appearances have been forgettable-to-bad. You can get the original series in trade paperback form at Things From Another World or if you want just individual issues eBay of course works great too. It shouldn't be too hard to get some issues of the book because while it was quirky and enjoyable, since that first appearance most writers (besides Kireon Gillen with, "Young Avengers,") have struggled to know what to do with the character. Therefore, Noh-Varrr is someone with a lot of potential that sadly has rarely been reached. So it goes when we share a...tale from the dollar bin!

Tales from the Dollar Bin: The Unfunnies #1 & #2

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

The One Thing Mark Millar is Embarrassed He Made

Mark Millar has written many comics that have made him a lot of money thanks to big sales, movie adaptations, and the like. He has released books in the past which overlook all his work and he seems to be proud of every single thing he's written, regardless of if it was good or horrible. He's just as pleased with the clever, "The Ultimates," as he is with trash like, "Nemesis," which featured a super-villain booby-trapping a woman's uterus so that she couldn't get an abortion--you see the fetus was from her brother's sperm she had been impregnated with when knocked-out against her will. Yeah. That said, there is one book Millar seems to refuse to acknowledge he ever made. What could be so twisted, so heinous, so terrible that even Mark Millar doesn't want to own-up to it? "The Unfunnies," of course!

"The Unfunnies," was published by Avatar Press from 2004-2007, but don't let all those years fool you, it was simply a four-issue series that was plagued with delays due to Millar taking his time turning in scripts. As with many things written by him there is actually a really good idea buried within but his practice of trying to build a story around it can struggle a lot. Basically we have a happy-go-lucky cartoon world of cute comic adventures where the characters talk to the reader about the assorted adorable shenanigans they get up to. The thing is though, something seems to have begun corrupting this world in a disgusting fashion. Characters are getting foul mouths, violence and sex-crimes suddenly are happening everywhere, and nobody knows what the deal is. Plus, while all this happens the adorable cartoon imagery by illustrator Anthony Williams gives it all a weird happy-go-lucky vibe whilst characters discuss murdering their children or a housewife whose husband has gone to jail for child molestation turns to sex-work so that she and her kids aren't kicked-out of their housing. Oh, and this whole comic with all its despicable elements is played for laughs.

Clearly, this four issue series of which I was able to buy two issues from the dollar bin is incredibly weird with its mixture of the horrible and humorous. The idea of an outside influence from reality manifesting within a comic-book world is a concept we've seen mined before (Grant Morrison is famous for doing it with, "Animal Man,") but this book raises the query of what would happen if something dark and evil came into an otherwise pleasant comic-world. It's revealed early-on how a dead man named simply, "Troy," was summoned into this place through some help from the gullible residents and Troy was a murderer, rapist, and otherwise not someone you want in a Universe where the worst crimes were generally snatching pies from windowsills. It's a clever concept--pure evil invading a world of pure good, but then as I already said Millar is great with the ideas and not so much with the execution.

"The Unfunnies," reads pretty haphazardly. It clearly is trying to be a book that offends and grosses-out readers but in doing so ends-up being not so much offensive as tacky. There is a difference between shocking and just making us shake our head when you're nasty. If you just do disgusting stuff to be able to say, "Look how horrible I am, aren't you mad?" without actually wanting to make a statement it comes off as hollow. Millar isn't making an especially pointed statement when he has his cartoon characters talk about child pornography or yell insults at one another, he's just being dirty in the hopes we'll clutch our pearls and say, "Why I never!" The problem is that when Lenny Bruce swore and told raunchy jokes he was doing it to prove a point and fighting against people telling him to be quiet, Millar doesn't have anyone trying to stop him or have anything to say besides, "I'm being naughty!" It's a shame, because as I said, there are some smart ideas buried in his attempts to enrage people with cute animals spouting scatological insults.

Mark Millar to this day seems to refuse to acknowledge he ever made, "The Unfunnies." He doesn't list it on his websites as something he did whilst having anything else he's ever written shown with gusto. To my knowledge he didn't do any other work with Anthony Williams and there could be a variety of reasons for that--however, as I understand it this book got horribly delayed due to Williams having to wait forever to receive scripts, so perhaps a better way of putting this is Williams never worked with Millar again, possibly for personal reasons (and it seems Williams doesn't list having ever done the book either on his bio). Why both creators refuse to discuss this comic is open to interpretation. Are they embarrassed by the content--e.g. Millar actually thinks there was one time he went too far? Did a bad working relationship make them want to forget ever doing the book? Is it something else? I don't know, and we may never know, but at least in looking at the first two issues of this series we got another...tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From the Dollar Bin: Worldwatch #1

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Chuck Austen? Hoo Boy...

I haven't done a, "Tale from the Dollar Bin," in some time, so I was thinking if I were going to present one it had to be something especially noteworthy in its dollar-ness. I've talked about books that were so popular they are now worthless, but what about a comic so unpopular that some folk wouldn't even take it for free? What kind of comic would that be though? Perhaps a book with a writer so unpopular that it got to a point where even seeing his name on a cover made people want to stay far away? A writer who started out pretty well but burned out so astonishingly horrifically that the way his career ended would look worse than a 10-car pile-up on the freeway where every vehicle was a packed clown-car? I mean, who could possibly be that reviled that people...oh wait, yeah, Chuck Austen.

I've actually written about a comic from Chuck Austen before as a Dollar Bin yarn that was a God-awful sequel to an actually decent other series he did. Austen is someone who showed some skill and talent, but basically blew any goodwill he had built-up during a run on ,"X-Men," that could at best be described as, "An utter catastrophe," if we are being polite--if we're just being honest, "Goddamn fucking mess," works better. Austen came onto the X-Men book after Grant Morrison's incredible run (and wrote some, "Uncanny X-Men stuff," too that sucked), which is a change in quality equivalent to going to the house of someone who for months was giving you incredible and passionate love-making(X-Men under Morrison) and then suddenly one day you show-up at their house and they just start punching you repeatedly in the face while screaming, "This is what you like, right? X-Men stories where Nightcrawler is somehow revealed to be a demon-spawn, two X-men have sex in the sky in front of another character's mother, and other stories get shit-on repeatedly? Right? Tell me if you like this!"

Remember that time Austen tried to ruin Nightcrawler?

Clearly I have strong opinions on Chuck Austen's less-than-good work, and I'm actually someone who goes much easier on the guy and feels some of his stuff was good! Other people just like to label him as, "The Absolute Worst," and go on with their day, but the truth is far more complicated, because it always is. Austen is sometimes the absolute worst (his time on, "X-Men,"), but there are occasions he actually shows promise, talent, and otherwise is actually kinda good. His attempt at making-fun of super-heroes and the super-hero industry, "Worldwatch," is...sigh, well, it is not one of those times.

Satire is Hard

Everyone is so terrible.

Being satirical is a skill that is difficult to master. If you are trying to make fun of something by making a parody-version of it you walk a fine-line between being too obvious in your mockery or being so deadpan you just are another copy of the very thing you were trying to take the piss out of. "Worldwatch," was a comic with the kinda-clever idea that it was a graphic-novel adaptation of a super-heroine's tell-all book about her time on the team, "Worldwatch," a U.N sanctioned team of heroes presented to the public as great good guys, but who were actually terrible people--shocking, I know (yes, I'm being sarcastic)!

Austen essentially wanted to make a comic that poked at stuff like, "Stormwatch," or, "The Authority," who were themselves darker and edgy analogues of other comic-heroes. Austen did this by giving us a comic that is basically characters like, "The Authority," behaving terribly like folk in, "The Boys," with an attempt to do the political satire of, "The Ultimates," but failing miserably at it. This shit is a mess, in other words.

The closest the comic comes to making a statement, with boobs included.

All the heroes in, "Worldwatch," are terrible people with it clear an attempt is being made to write them as, "Edgy," but again, Satire is hard. We have a sexist and super-religious male, an Amazonian-type lady who is a real hard-ass, a young and naive speedster-lady, an older male hero whose ex-wife is on the team and basically just slightly different-versions of heroes that already exist, and everyone is a huge jerk. For real, everyone in this comic yells at each other, hits on one another in vain, or has sex with one another because, um, just because, I guess. All the female characters in the book seem to be in a constant state of undress, which is fine to me as someone who appreciates the naked female form as much as anyone else, but the comic's attempt to act like it is making some capital-S, "Statement!" about the sexualization of women in comics is just stupid. Oh, and we throw in a bit about racism that seems to go nowhere besides, "I'm a white lady and my parents hated black men, but you are a sexy black man so I want to have sex with you," as well as a shocking reveal that one of the heroes is hanging out with an enemy!

Austen clearly wanted to make some deep statement about how our fictional heroes we look up to would in fact be terrible people in reality, that heroes are a fascistic power-fantasy, how women in comics are treated as little more than sexual objects, and basically wanted to thumb his nose at the industry and fans that mistreated him (in his mind) so poorly. The thing is, he just made a really bad comic that is the epitome of everything he might be trying to mock. Austen perhaps wanted to show us how in his mind super-heroes were an adolescent power-fantasy...but he just made a comic that reads as if it was written by a violence and sex-obsessed 13-year-old who believes throwing a bunch of, "Fucks," into dialogue is mature. As I keep saying, satire is hard.

A Truncated Treatise

I'm attracted to you, so I can't be racist, right?

I only read the first issue of, "Worldwatch," and it apparently was supposed to be a seven-issue mini-series. It only went for three before ending prematurely due to lack of sales/sheer disinterest, with the publisher, "Wild and Wooly Press," never making anything else as far as I know. This is a treatise that ended-up quite truncated considering it didn't even reach a half-way point in regards to Austen telling his story. Other people out there recognize what Austen was attempting to do with, "Worldwatch," and also observe he kinda struggled to make it clear he was making fun of these sorts of comics, not just trafficking in them. They don't usually give awards for, "Trying really hard," however, so regardless of what Austen intended, we're left with this schlock.

One thing that is especially tragic here is that the pencils by Tom Derenick and inks by Norm Rapmund are quite good, this is some solid art! The problem is, this good art is accompanied by some God-awful writing. Chuck Austen was trying to say something deep and clever about the comic industry and its fans who he felt had treated him so poorly, but only ended-up basically continuing to prove his critics right. It's sad, but we unfortunately don't get too many happy stories when we share a...tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From the Dollar Bin--Secret Wars: E is for Extinction #1-#4

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...
One of Many Unique Series (if That Statement Makes Sense)

Marvel's event, "Secret Wars," brought with it many unique series. I know that almost sounds like an oxymoron, but the paradox did occur that many books came out with most being surprisingly odd and interesting. Be it Law-and-Order-styled, "Thors," comic, or the dollar-bin title I'm going to discuss today, a slew of strange and intriguing comics were released to tie-in with, "Secret Wars," that varied in how much they actually related to the event or just were a fascinating surreal read. Stores also ordered  way too much of the, "Secret Wars," comics so I was able to find all four issues of the mini-series, "E is for Extinction," in the same dollar bin.

"E is for Extinction," draws its name from one of the story-arcs that occurred during Grant Morrison's amazing, seminal, and just plain spectacular run on, "New X-Men." In this run he introduced all sorts of characters who were positioned as being the next generation of X-Men, gave us surprising twists such as mutants becoming more of a common minority as opposed to feared and hated freaks, a genocidal and outdated Magneto who learns the idea of him is more powerful than his actual self, and otherwise completely re-vamped and changed the concept of X-Men in the Marvel Universe.

Such a good number of issues came from Morrison and his artistic collaborators.

So, of course once he was done Marvel basically undid all of his efforts through events that lowered the mutant population, altered major twists (he killed Magneto and Marvel said, "Nevermind,") and otherwise ignored all that Morrison did besides keeping Cyclops and Emma as a couple, and using the wild plot-point about Charles Xavier having a twin sister as a story aspect Joss Whedon picked-up and ran with for his also-great stuff on, "Astonishing X-Men," that I remember fondly despite its many delays. Still, even if Marvel shuffled almost all the characters Morrison introduced to the side, spat on his story ideas, and ignored everything awesome, it still was a stellar run of stories, kicked-off of course by his, "E is For Extinction."

Here We Are

So here we are now, in a, "Secret Wars," influenced Universe that draws immensely from Morrison's time on the comic, taking some plot-points to the conclusion he hinted at (the former X-Men are now old and useless in this new world) while changing some others in fascinating ways (Xorn had been a fake mutant created by Magneto in Morrison's comics, here he is real, and characters such as Sublime show up). The young mutants that Morrison introduced to us are now indeed the X-Men, with everyone from Beak, to Quentin Quire (thank God Jason Aaron brought Quentin back for some X-Men works as he is a good character, I forgot to mention that aspect of Morrison's run eventually sticking around), Martha the floating brain, and everyone else popping-up. Heck, they even got Ramon Villalobos to provide Frank Quitely-like art (Morrison had Frank Quitely often on his run) and Chris Burnham to write (who can also draw and his own art-style is a bit like Quitely's too).

The entire four issues really read as one big love-letter to Morrison with its usage and alteration of concepts he brought us over a decade ago that still feel fresh today. Because these things continue to have a new vibe, that makes this comic seem just as much ahead of its time as Morrison's stuff and like a reverse time capsule from an alternate universe--"Hey, this is what comics are like where the X-Men did get older and stories evolved in the way Morrison plotted."

Magneto is revealed to be evil, but that's only the start of problems.

The plot  itself involves the younger X-Men coming into conflict with the newer ones, as a Magneto who seems to have reformed himself after the death of Charles Xavier of course turns out to not be that innocent, but in the greater scheme of things is actually a lesser threat than many of the villains who emerge. There is some discussion of the, "God," Doctor Doom and the alternate worlds play a role, but one really would not have to read, "Secret Wars," to be able to enjoy this--I would say that it actually is more important to be familiar with  Morrison's, "New X-Men," to get maximum enjoyment out of the references and allusions than anything else.

A Bit of a Shame How Things Worked Out

Reading this comic from the dollar bin is a tad bittersweet as it shows all the better ways things could have worked out. Marvel absolutely flooded the market with some good, "Secret Wars," comics but there were so, so many, and some stores ordered too much that they can be bought incredibly cheaply. Grant Morrison's X-Men comics were amazing but Marvel chose to undo nearly every single thing he contributed. A comic series like this shows the directions Marvel could have gone with their works but chose not to--and many people may have ignored a mini-series this great as there just was too much in the way of, "Secret Wars," books that seemed to matter little in regards to the main storyline.

From reading a comic such as this and considering the history it draws from--as well as the possible future, one can wonder what could have been to the same degree as what could be. "E is For Extinction," deserved more respect from Marvel the first time the comics used that title, and a fascinating blend of homage, remix, and original ideas such as the, "E is for Extinction," we got in 2015 as a part of, "Secret Wars," deserved more respect from readers as opposed to being just another of the surprisingly solid tie-in comics that suffered due to the sheer amount of books and the horrendous delays the main comic faced. It is sad, but in all honesty you can generally expect a mixture of joy and sorrow when it comes to telling....a tale from the dollar bin!

Tales From The Dollar Bin: Storm Dogs #6

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Science Fiction Fun

I would say I'm a fan of David Hine. From his highly enjoyable work for Marvel on titles such as "District X" and "Silent War" to fascinatingly bizarre stuff such as, "The Bulletproof Coffin." I was rooting through a dollar bin on Free Comic Book Day this year and stumbled across "Storm Dogs" #6, at which point I realized that I didn't think I ever actually read it. I recalled reviewing the fifth issue back in 2013, but said to myself, "Can I recall how this ended?" It occurred to me that I could not, and that perhaps I had missed the final issue those couple years ago. Therefore, I picked up "Storm Dogs" #6 for a hundred pennies (and a bit of tax). The problem is, I enjoyed it.

Yes, I did just say my enjoyment of the comic was a problem. Why? Well, it ends with a huge cliffhanger about a native alien race becoming hostile to humans, a bunch of corporate intrigue kicking in (some business-folk would like to take-over the planet), and some very key characters seeming to die. It's wild, exciting...and to this day I have heard nary a peep about a Volume 2 since this Bleeding Cool Article in May...of 2014.

You can buy your own digital copies of "Storm Dogs" from Image, go buy the trade of volume 1, or could have the good luck to stumble upon it in single issues as I did with this final one. I would recommend you do so as it really is a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a human. It touches on the idea of having less control of our body in a future where technology easily connects us with the senses of others, and it covers how the so-called march of progress and industrialization can at times hurt people native to certain areas.

It of course needs to be discussed how amazing Doug Braithwaite's artwork is. Extremely moody and dark, the flashes of brightness in scenes of action or sudden violence both alarms a reader while delighting their eyes. I would say more, but it is hard to keep finding synonyms for, "excellent."

The final page says we can expect a "Storm Dogs: Volume 2" but as far as I can tell that isn't coming anytime soon. I tweeted David Hine while writing this article and if I hear back will be sure to share what he tells me. As it stands now, however, "Storm Dogs" is a really good series, one that I'm glad to have been able to finish reading the first (and possibly final) volume of in this....tale from the dollar bin!

UPDATE:
David Hine got back to me and told me that Volume 2 should hopefully be announced soon!

Tales From the Dollar Bin--Lightning Round of Four comics!

There are comics which are worth incredible sums of money, but so many of the most interesting, tragic, or just downright weird can be found for a simple dollar or less in a  store's "dollar bin". There, comics that never gained much popularity can be found alongside those that sold so much as for a copy to be worthless. "Tales From the Dollar Bin" aims to explore these comics, be they a single issue or an entire run of a series. From the great to the miserable, some of the best treasures and worst nightmares can be found in those infamous boxes. Let's have a "tale" now...

Shorter Tales
Usually I'll just have one tale in a post for you, my beloved readers. However, today I find myself with some dollar-bin items that perhaps don't warrant an entire post, but should still be discussed. Therefore, think of these tales as if they were, "short stories," I suppose. Although, I should mention there is a bit of an over-arching theme to all of these selections that I'll discuss at the end.

Ultimate Avengers 2 #4

A bit after Mark Millar finished his mostly-liked run on "Ultimates," and the long-delayed, "Ultimates 2", Marvel still wanted to make some money from him writing comics relating to those characters in the Ultimate Universe. Therefore, they had him do an ongoing series that was strangely split into some mini-series under the name, "Ultimate Avengers," with this issue of course reflecting the 2nd mini/arc. Whereas the initial "Ultimates" comics he did with Bryan Hitch had the best and worst of Millar's tendencies, this was just the latter AKA it was awful.

It features Mark Millar--a man who  I feel isn't racist but has some troubling issues with writing people of color--giving us a genius black scientist who gains hulk-like strength and uses it to become....a super-powered drug-dealer. A drug-dealer that only works with the U.S. Government so his family he abandoned doesn't learn he is still alive. His name? Tyrone Cash. Also, this issue involves a previous-issue reveal of how the Vice-President of the Ultimate Universe (whom I thought was the same as in the real world, but I guess not) is part of a satanic group that we then witness gives him ghost-rider styled powers.

Cash is kind of like Luke Cage if he were a bad guy and the epitome of every black stereotype.

Whereas with the earlier "Ultimates" comics Millar was maybe giving us some cheeky commentary about U.S. exceptionalism, here he just goes all-in on the absurdity. "Let's have a racially offensive character be a part of a team that fights a demonic Vice-President," is an idea you think would only appear in a parody comic. Yet this was all too real...and all too stupid.

Tempest #1

Big City Comics is a publisher that as near as I can tell is basically dead. The website lists "future" convention stops that are outdated by years. There hasn't been a new title from them since a comic provocatively called "Whore" about a man who does questionable jobs for money. Although, on their Facebook page, every month or so they post something as if to give that slight hint of life, with claims of things being worked on. It's sad this publisher burned out so horribly, as when they first began some kind of interesting monthly titles were coming out from them that then suddenly ended--never to be completed. They had a revival of the "Ant" character that later was mired in controversy due to its creator's actions, an  Avengers-like team called, "Omega One," and some other decent stuff, like this "Tempest" comic.

Basically Tempest was about a prosecutor-by-day (shades of the lawyer-hero Daredevil here) who was also a vampire and had to feed at least once a month to stay alive, so he only would kill people he thought were guilty. It was a mostly unremarkable comic besides in one issue where the hero (Gabriel Tempest) meets a vampire Ben Franklin, that was funny. Perhaps the fact that "Tempest" was just another okay book with passable art is one reason Big City Comics ended up failing. If you just put out, "Meh," comics you probably aren't going to last that long.

The Authority: Worlds End #1

Ah yes, this is one of the comics from the last-ditch attempt by DC to make their Wildstorm Universe relevant and interesting by going and blowing everything up. Seriously, they ended the world in a mini-series titled "Mark of the Beast" that was actually pretty fun and led-up to by other comics. After that, everything got relaunched and when DC could tell this new effort just wasn't working they folded Wildstorm into the main DC Universe after "Flashpoint" created the New 52 Universe.

Still, it is interesting to think back to when Wildstorm was that little imprint-that-could created by Jim Lee for Image, then bought by DC and treated as its own unique Universe that created some admittedly stellar comics. Before long of course it then petered out, ending a weak shadow of what it once had been. So, it sounds like a sports metaphor for that athlete who is amazing in college (the first publisher, Image), signs a contract with a pro-team, and then despite once being impressive can't deliver despite various attempts at different teams (e.g. big events such as this last one that destroyed the world). Yup, Wildstorm basically is a slightly more successful Tim Tebow.

Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #2

Despite it not really being an event-comic so much as a general "event" that many comics tied into, I kind of liked when "Dark Reign" happened. At the end of the otherwise dull "Secret Invasion" Norman Osborn becomes a hero and then proceeds to persecute super-heroes and otherwise be a huge jerk. It eventually culminated in the truly awful "Siege" event, but before that we got some good stories in a variety of ongoing comics, and via some mini-series, of which "Lethal Legion" was one.

Basically a team of baddies were able to abduct Norman Osborn, but got caught, and now are in prison at "The Raft", which is a facility for super-powered offenders. It is thought someone betrayed the team, and at the end of the first issue we see one member of this group was surprisingly enough Wonder Man himself, Simon Williams. In this issue it is explained how when he spoke out against Norman Osborn people mocked him, making it so that when his long-time evil brother came over one night with an idea, it sounded appealing.

Thinking himself like Captain America when would recruit current and former villains (after all, even Hawkeye used to be a criminal), Simon and his brother (villain name, "Grim Reaper,") get some villains, and kidnap Norman Osborn, as we see in some recollections of what happened. Of course, as they are now all in prison something clearly went wrong. The next and final issue reveals Reaper himself--the one who had the idea for the team--was actually behind it all, but I enjoy this issue because we see Wonder Man in a way he normally isn't seen, angry and doubtful.

A bit later once "Dark Reign" ended Williams would be written as a raving lunatic who hates the Avengers but actually makes some valid points about why they are bad in two "Annuals," before then taking some time off and coming back eager to be an Avenger again, apparently. Still, this mini-series--and this issue in particular--showed me one reason I enjoy reading about Wonder Man. Namely, despite all his power he is deep down only human, and prone to trusting those he shouldn't (his brother) or overestimating how much good he is capable of doing.

The recent "Uncanny Avengers" run that had Simon Williams on the team touched on this just a little bit, but this barely-remembered mini-series from an event a majority of folk disliked actually showed me the side of Wonder Man I find most fascinating. Funny how that works out.

The Point of All This
I told you that despite all being very different comics I did have an overall theme I was thinking of with each title I've discussed here today. I'll now tell you how I was thinking that all of these titles grew out of other much bigger things and did not achieve as much success as what came before or was the main event, but were at least interesting (with some even being good too)! "Ultimate Avengers" and the "World's End" comics failed to do the big bucks the titles before them did, and "Lethal Legion" was a barely-read mini-series in a large event, but still quite good.

Oh, and "Tempest?" That is an example of a comic from a publisher that grew out of the optimism in the mid-2000's that having a comic book was just the first step to millions of dollars of success (remember when everyone thought making your movie idea a comic-book first was a good business strategy?). Of course, the economy tanked in 2008 and it became clear that just because something came from a comic book that didn't mean it was going to succeed (Unless it was from Marvel, which interestingly enough began making absurd money thanks to "Iron Man" and its 2008 release).

My point then, is that for every big thing, little things can grow out of it, some succeeding more than others, but in this case all being lesser-known...tales from the dollar bin!