Broken Frontier

Hello, everyone! My name is William Gatevackes. Welcome to Guiding Lines where each week we let you know about some of the comics being released. Today, we cover the books hitting stores tomorrow, May 3, 2006.

It’s finally here! The big Marvel crossover of 2006 officially begins with Civil War #1. Yes, after months of endless hype, the series that will redefine the Marvel Universe as we know it arrives.

In months leading up to this day, we have been bombarded with publicity and plot hints incessantly. And through all these, I noticed a trend. Let’s find out if you can see it too.

Civil War begins with the New Warriors, a team with a cult following who have appeared in three series—the most recent of which just completed, becoming sacrificial lambs whose destruction becomes a major plot point in the story.

Then I thought of New Avengers #16. In that issue, Alpha Flight, a team with a cult following that has appeared in three series—the most recent of which completed not too long ago, becomes sacrificial lambs whose destruction becomes a major plot point in the story.

Civil War also puts Captain America and Iron Man on opposite sides in the struggle when Cap takes issue with Iron Man’s actions. A lot of fighting will most likely ensue. This reminded me of the “Armor Wars” storyline which ran in the first volume of Iron Man’s series, from issue #225 to #232. This arc also featured Captain America and Iron Man on opposite sides in the struggle when Cap takes issue with Iron Man’s actions. A lot of fighting did ensue.

And the main plot point, the United States government deciding to pass a superhero registration act, bears comparison to a similar act in the Watchmen series and the Mutant Registration act that appeared in the X-Men comics of the ‘80s. The very same idea was also used as a plot point in 1989’s Fantastic Four Volume 1, #334-336, which was a tie-in to the “Acts of Vengeance” crossover.

Do you see the trend? Are you like me in thinking that certain elements of the Civil War event seem slightly less than original?

You might say that originality in comics has been missing for a long time. After all, every appearance of every character is simply just a continuation of the one before. And you might also say similarities happen in comic books all the time. The aforementioned “Acts of Vengeance” crossover contained qualities which mirrored DC’s Legends series which appeared a few years before it. You would be right, but this doesn’t take away from the fact that writers and artists should strive to create something new instead of rehashing the old.

I’m sure Mark Millar will change the themes mentioned above so as to make them his own. As a matter of fact, the registration aspect differs from the one in the FF arc in one important way—Reed Richards supports it in Civil War but fought against it back in 1989 (I just hope Millar takes the effort to reconcile the two). And his leveling of the New Warriors is presented differently than Brian Michael Bendis’ felling of Alpha Flight. But on the surface, using such similar plot points reeks of laziness.

The fact that so much of the Civil War series seems like what has come before makes me hesitant to pick it up. I mean, if these story threads are treated as continuations of what was established in Marvel’s history, I would have less of a problem with it. Infinite Crisis borrows a lot from Crisis on Infinite Earths, but that series is essentially a sequel to the latter. The recurring themes in Civil War seem to be just things that worked in the past being employed again with no respect given to continuity. That gives the impression that the crossover will be a rote, pre-fab, “nothing you haven’t seen before” event. And that isn’t all that interesting to me…

Archie and Friends #100 arrives tomorrow, a landmark issue. This news may cause many readers to whom the characters are a fond memory from their childhood to ask “are they still publishing Archie comics?”

The answer to that is yes. Archie Comics publishes eight regular -ized comics and eight digest-sized comics featuring the Riverdale gang. But, flying in the face of conventional comic book marketing, they sell them primarily through the newsstand, not the direct market. Ask yourself this, when was the last time you saw a new Archie comic at your local comic shop? Okay, now ask yourself when was the last time you saw an Archie comic in a newsstand, supermarket, or drugstore?  I bet you saw it in the latter more recently than the former.

Back in the early days of comic books, all of them were sold through newsstands and the like. But in the ‘80s and ‘90s, more and more comic shops started springing up across the country. Marvel and DC soon realized the money to be made selling their wares directly to their fans (hence the term “direct market”). This tactic was so lucrative that the companies all but abandoned the newsstands.

However, comic books have recently found their audiences dwindling and Marvel and DC keep trying to come up with new ways to increase readership. Perhaps they should look to an old way, because if Archie Comics can publish 16 comics on a regular basis (and at least two titles featuring Sonic the Hedgehog) by going almost exclusively through the newsstands, why can’t Marvel or DC help their bottom line by doing the same?

Archie and Friends #100 is also interesting for another reason. The issue features an appearance by Australian rock duo, The Veronicas. This was the same group that was sued by the company in August of last year for copyright infringement. Apparently, the suit was settled when both entities agree to cross-promote each other’s product. See, aren’t things better when we’re all get along?

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #8 features a brand-new storyline which ties into the past—and future—of the character. One hopes that with this arc, the creators find their voice and start creating memorable tales for the character.

When Peter David and Mike Wieringo were announced as the creative team for the series, my hopes were high. I had loved a lot of their previous work and the two working on Spider-Man seemed like a natural fit. But to be honest, I have found the issues of this series to date a little lacking.

To be fair, the creators were hampered by having to focus the title’s first four issues to “The Other”, a crossover amongst all the Spider-Man books. As a matter of fact, Peter David only wrote two of these issues because of the event. This made it hard for the series to find a unique voice.

The three issues that followed featured stories that seemed like placeholders until the next crossover arrived. A one-shot about a blogger obsessed with Spidey and a two-issue arc about a Mexican wrestler were pale in comparison to other stories in Spider-Man’s history.

It appears that the title received an exemption from being drafted into the Civil War. Now it seems like David and Wieringo have the freedom to settle into the title. I’m sure that given a few issues to work with without being beholden to the “event du jour”,  the team can turn the book into one of the best on the market.

Another Spidey title, Spider-Man Unlimited #15, hits the stands tomorrow. And since this title has officially been cancelled, this may well be the last issue of the series.

Spider-Man Unlimited, along with the also-cancelled X-Men Unlimited, was an experiment by Marvel to expose readers to writers and artists who have made a bit of a name for themselves in the independent ranks. Creators such as Robert Kirkman, Christos Gage, Adi Granov and Matt Fraction worked on these titles. They have used their exposure here to get other work with Marvel and DC.

But it appears that readers prefer known creators to work on their favorite characters, because they didn’t buy Spider-Man Unlimited. Number 14 sold 20,200 copies, but that was only because fan-favorite artist David Finch worked on that issue. The previous three issues sold from 15,700 to 13, 800 each. And that was a progressive decrease from issue to issue.

It’s hard to expose unknown, up-and-coming creators to the mainstream market if the readers are unwilling to take a chance on them. Marvel is rumored to be creating a new showcase title that will feature established creators with ones who have not worked at Marvel, or even in comics, before. Let’s see if this experiment is any more successful than Spider-Man Unlimitedwas.

Hard Time: Season Two #6 is the second to last issue of this series. This title was one of the few survivors of DC’s “Focus” line, making it seem like it might actually be the little comic book that could. It was written by comic veteran Steve Gerber and started off with a bang—its main character was arrested while pulling a Columbine-like shooting spree at his high school.  The series then went on to tell the main character’s struggle dealing with newfound super-powers as he begins his life behind bars.

The concept was unusual. And while DC even cancelled and restarted it with another number one (as part of the whole “Season” concept, which was also applied on Ed Brubaker’s hit series Sleeper) in an effort to increase sales, the story failed to catch on with readers.

It is hard to predict what ideas will catch on with comic buyers. Where will the next Preacher, Powers or 100 Bullets come from? Until there is an easy answer for that, comic companies will continue to experiment, hoping that unique titles such as Hard Time will find an audience.

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William Gatevackes is a writer living in Mamaroneck, NY and, next to Guiding Lines, also writes the periodic comic review at PopMatters. He is a rather unusual concept in and of himself. He has picked up at least one fan, his wife, Jennifer.