Broken Frontier

Hello, everyone! This is William Gatevackes, back with a look at the comics arriving in stores tomorrow, May 31, 2006.

Superman/Batman #26 is the second comic book written of Sam Loeb, the son of comics pro Jeph Loeb. The aspiring writer, whose first work was Dark Horse’s Tales of the Vampire, was trying to make a name for himself in the world of comics, which is hard for any 17 year-old no matter who your father is. He was pursuing his dream of becoming a comic book writer.

Unfortunately, his dream was never truly fulfilled as Sam succumbed to his three-year battle with cancer in June of 2005. What was once another step to Sam’s gaining a career in the comic medium became instead a way for all those comic professionals whose lives he touched to pay tribute to him. And the list of said professionals is a veritable who’s who of the hottest creators working in comics today.

Take a look at the writers fleshing out Sam Loeb’s plot: Allan Heinberg, Joss Whedon, Joe Kelly, Brad Meltzer, Mark Verheiden, Brian K. Vaughan, Geoff Johns, Joe Casey, Paul Levitz, and, finally, his father Jeph. If this line-up pales to anything, it might to the group of artists on the issue: John Cassaday, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ian Churchill, Ed McGuinness, Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee, Tim Sale, Arthur Adams, Joyce Chin, Mike Kunkel, Duncan Rouleau, Carlos Pacheco, Michael Turner and Pat Lee.

All the creators agreed to donate their fees and any royalties to The Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund, which gives money to one graduating senior from the North Hollywood High Gifted Magnet Program (which Sam Loeb attended) for any expenses related to college.

If you do not have Superman/Batman on your pull list, you better pick this issue up. It is a special tribute to a young man whose legacy will help a lot of students in the years to come.

Speaking of pull lists, next up is The Thing #7. This issue is the second-to-last of the series, against the best efforts of writer Dan Slott. Thing #1 sold a promising 30,200 copies, landing itself at number 67 on the Diamond top 100, but the book had an uphill battle in front of it after that. It was the fifth Fantastic Four book on the market (counting the Marvel Knight, Marvel Adventures and Ultimate versions of the FF) and came out right as House of M and Infinite Crisis were beginning.

By March, sales on the title dipped to 20,300 and the book had fallen out of the top 100, landing at 121. Slott knew that something had to be done. With the Marvel publicity engines geared up for Civil War, he knew that there would be no advertising love thrown to The Thing.

So, the writer came up with a contest called “Pull My Thing and Win a Prize”, offering autographed trade paperbacks and a page of original art from the book by artist Andrea DiVito to the person who did the best job convincing people to add the comic to their pull lists (which explains the name of the contest. Get your minds out of the gutter.)

The next issue’s sales jumped by 300 copies, but that still wasn’t enough. While the contest worked, slightly, editor Tom Brevoort recently announced that the title will end with issue #8.

The failure of this comic shines a spotlight on the difficulties titles have finding an audience. Smaller, b-list books like The Thing are all but ignored when it comes to promotion. Marvel and DC prefer to put their advertising weight behind the big events like Civil War, One Year Later and the like. One might question the logic in doing this, since sales on these types of books are usually good to start off with. But if I were to guess, it’s easier to get new readers on something that has a large audience already than it is to manufacture an audience for a non-event book.

Also, The Thing was the perfect example of a wait-for-the-trade book. The stories were going to be good, but any major or permanent changes to the character would be made in the flagship Fantastic Four title. This means there was no pressing need to get the book; it wasn’t a must-have.

While you can’t fault people for waiting until a title is released in trade—you get the same amount of story for less money than if you bought each issue—it doesn’t do much for the comic’s bottom line. You got the impression that Slott was trying to survive long enough to reach August, when the trade collection of the books first six issue’s is due to be released. If sales on the trade are extraordinarily good, Marvel’s Editor-in Chief Joe Quesada recently said in an interview, The Thing will return as a regular series again. But that is a mighty big if.

I feel sad that the efforts of Dan Slott were in vain. It was almost like watching someone try to save a loved one who is dying and fail. Perhaps after the trade comes out and if sales are brisk enough, The Thing will be brought back to life.

Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #1 is another in what is becoming a weekly occurrence, a spin-off from Infinite Crisis. The series tells the tale of the Spectre, who went rogue in the Day of Vengeance mini-series and was once again bonded to a human host, Gotham City Detective Crispus Allen, in Infinite Crisis.

This series is an example of the intricate planning that went into the whole Infinite Crisis event. From Hal Jordan separating from the Spectre in Green Lantern: Rebirth to the Spectre going crazy in Day of Vengeance, to Crispus Allen being murdered (by James Corrigan, not coincidentally the name of the Spectre’s original human host) in Gotham Central, to Allen and the Spectre being united, the serious events have all come together like pieces of a well-constructed puzzle.

The Spectre has always been one of my favorite characters, and I look forward to what writer Will Pfeifer will bring to him. However, his new look will take a little while for me to get used to. There is something seriously wrong with a Spectre sporting a goatee.

Punisher: The Tyger is the latest in a series of one-shots to feature Frank Castle. Over the last couple of years, Marvel has published several one-shots each year in addition to the regular Punisher series. What sets The Tyger apart from the rest? Simple: it is drawn by John Severin.

Growing up, I was always more of a Cracked fan than a Mad fan. There was only one reason for this: the artwork of John Severin. I fell in love with his art the moment I saw it. He was gifted at doing the various movie and television parodies that were a feature of the magazine, doing spot-on drawings of the famous actors while letting his own style show through.

Later on, I learned that he started in comic books back in the late 1940s drawing for Atlas and Prize. He made a name for himself at EC Comics (even working on Mad while he was there) and Marvel, doing war and western comics. He has been pretty much retired for the last several years, but he did get some notoriety for drawing the controversial Rawhide Kid series in 2003.

If you want to see great artwork done by a comic legend, pick up Punisher: The Tyger. You’ll be glad you did.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #30 marks the start of the last arc of the Mark Millar and Greg Land run on the title. The arc is entitled “Frightful” and brings their run full-circle as the zombie version of the FF presumably becomes the Ultimate version of the Frightful Four.

I will be sorry to see the team go. Over the past year, they have created a zombie Marvel Universe which was spun off into the successful Marvel Zombies series, introduced the Ultimate versions of Prince Namor, Super Skrull, and now, the Frightful Four. All the while, they crafted entertaining stories. I’m sure this last arc will be no different.

Finally, if you are looking for a change of pace from the everyday superhero comic and if you are a fan of the better Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris movies, then Cobb: Off the Leash #1 from IDW might be just the book for you.

The three issue mini-series tells the tale of Cobb, a former Secret Service agent in need of direction in his life. A new job puts him on a collision course with a Russian arms dealer out to protect his business.

The book is in a genre not often seen in comics but it once was very popular in film—the macho action genre. This style featured heroes that were tough, villains who were despicable, and women who were gorgeous. Whether this will go over with the comic readers is unknown, but it is a way of telling a story that has a big fan base. If you are one of these fans, then pick up Cobb: Off the Leash tomorrow… 

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William Gatevackes is a writer living in Mamaroneck, NY, where he lives with his lovely wife Jennifer, the only woman who considers him a macho action hero. He writes the periodic comic review at PopMatters.