Broken Frontier

Hello! William Gatevackes here, welcoming you to another edition of Guiding Lines. Without any further ado, here’s what the first week of February has to offer.

DC is releasing Gotham Central #40 tomorrow, the final issue of the series. The series was one of the most inventive and well written comics on the shelves today.

Gotham Central took a look at Gotham City through the eyes of the police detectives that protected its streets. The stories revolved around how the cops dealt with working in a city with costumed crooks around every corner, where they played second fiddle to a man dressed like a bat. The characters were richly defined, and the writing resembled “Law & Order” in quality and construction.

While Gotham Central was a success with the critics, it wasn’t one with the buying public. Sales were low throughout the life of the series. The title didn’t even break the Diamond Top 100 in September or October, which would have been the death knell for any other series. Still, Gotham Central wasn’t cancelled because of low sales, but rather due to a decision made by co-creator Greg Rucka.

In an interview with Newsarama, Rucka stated that he told DC he wanted to end the series, letting it go out with dignity instead of having it string along.  If not for Rucka’s request, DC might have continued publishing Gotham Central. In these days, when companies cannot afford to keep publishing low-selling titles, DC should be commended for the support it gave the series over the years.

It’s a shame, though, that a comic of such a high quality couldn’t find a bigger audience. Perhaps it was hurt by the lack of superhero appearances. It certainly wasn’t due to the quality of the art and writing, both of which were top notch. But regardless, I will be more than just a little sad not seeing Gotham Central on my comic order each month.

Gotham Central was an experiment in providing non-superhero stories to the public, part of an even bigger effort to expand the comic book fan base. Marvel continues the experiment this week with the start of a month-long event. Yes, in honor of the holiday of candy hearts and roses, Marvel is bringing romance back to comic books.

Romance comics played a big part in the lean years of the 1950s, when superheroes fell out of favor. When superhero comics came back into fashion, the romance genre began a slow slide into obscurity. Now, in an effort to reach what might be an untapped audience, Marvel is giving these books another chance.

Much like the event several months back that revolved around Marvel’s monster characters from the ‘50s, the company brings us “I ♥ Marvel”, four books featuring tales of romance focusing on your favorite Marvel characters. The line begins with My Mutant Heart, being released tomorrow, and continues with a new title each week of the month.

Giving potential readers a look at a type of book not usually seen in comics is a good idea, but probably not one that will get many new converts. Romance comics seem to be aimed at a female audience, one that is in short supply in comic stores. Outside of a few exceptions, the clientele in these shops are mostly male. Unless Marvel is trying to reach the girlfriends, sisters and wives of comic fans, this particular experiment might not bring many new readers into the medium.

And for those of you thinking that a romance comic might not be a bad gift for their significant others on Valentine’s Day, think again. Trust me on this one. Unless the books are part of a larger gift, the 14th will be a very long and awkward day for you if you go this route.

For those of you who might be intrigued by the idea of romance comics but are looking for a different take on them, Marvel is also publishing Marvel Romance Redux: But He Said He Loved Me #1 tomorrow.  This book takes classic romance comics from the past and provides new dialogue for them, changing them in what one hopes is a hilarious way. One of the authors, John Lustig, has been doing much of the same for years in his strip Last Kiss, and Keith Giffen, another writer on the book, did something similar to an old war book a few months ago. If these examples are any indication, He Said He Loved Me should be pretty funny.

Speaking of trying something new, Marvel also comes out with Underworld #1 tomorrow. This book is firmly entrenched in the crime genre, as it deals with a career criminal who was recently released and has to deal with a New York underworld that has changed drastically.

Marvel seems to be pulling ahead of DC in the race to see who can push the envelope most with inventive concepts and story types. While I did mention above that the romance books might not attract that big of an audience, it is something different. Old concepts are given a new lease on life and fresh, new ideas are being put into practice. The willingness to go outside of the typical superhero fare, no matter what the reason for it may be, makes it a great time to be a comic fan.   

Moonstone Publishing offers up a Buckaroo Banzai Preview tomorrow. For fifty cents, you can get a taste of the new Buckaroo Banzai series the company will be publishing.

Comics based on television series and movies can be a dicey prospect. For every Star Wars and Star Trek, you have a Logan’s Run or Battlestar Galactica; for every Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you have a Quantum Leap. The properties that do the best as comic books are the ones that have a cult following behind them.

Buckaroo Banzai has developed somewhat of a cult following since its release in 1984. Numerous websites are devoted to the movie, and its fans are many. But does it have the loyal and driven fanbase of Star Trek or Star Wars? And if it does, will this fanbase support a comic book released 22 years after the original movie? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Finally, coming tomorrow is DC’s Rann/Thanagar War Infinite Crisis Special. If this special is anything like the Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special that was released a few weeks ago, fans that read the original Rann/Thanagar War mini-series will have to pick this issue up to see how the story ends.

There was an implied understanding that all the pre-Infinite Crisis mini-series would find their resolution in their original runs. But now, DC is making us buy one-shot specials to find out the ending to the original story.

Infinite Crisis is jam packed with plots of its own. It takes its cues from the preceding limited series, but does not have room to clear up the plot lines contained in them.  So fans are forced to buy yet another issue to find out how that part of the story ends. The scope of Infinite Crisis is admirable, for it touches almost every book published by DC. But it’s not fair to readers already buying most of the crossover issues to have to add another to the list.

Well, that’s all for this week. Tune in next week to see what February 8th will bring us. Until then, this is William Gatevackes wishing you a good night, and good luck.