Up and Atom

X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

I just finished reading all ten chapters of the X-Men crossover story "Battle of the Atom."  It was a nod to Chris Claremont and John Byrne's "Days of Future Past" storyline that ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 and #142 in 1981, just in time to give some more attention to the upcoming 2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past film.  There's a lot of time-traveling in "Battle of the Atom."  The original five teenage X-Men have already come from the past into present day (the concept for the All-New X-Men comic), and now the X-Men from the future travel back to present day in an effort to send them back to their original time period.  Got all that?  At one point, there are three different Icemen and three different Beasts.  What this has to do with atoms is anyone's guess.  But it's a pretty cool title (and logo) nonetheless.

Marvel did a good job of labeling each chapter in the story so readers wouldn't have to figure out what order to read the comics in.  The downside was that if you didn't currently read all of the X-titles, you were pretty much forced to buy all of them to fully understand what's going on.  There was little to no distinction with the characters from book to book.  For example, if you currently only read Wolverine and the X-Men, you didn't get a story featuring the title's regular characters.  You got the next chapter of the "Battle of the Atom" storyline, most likely featuring the original five teenage X-Men and/or their future counterparts.  Bookending the storyline was a two-issue X-Men: Battle of the Atom limited series.

X-Men #5

The most confusing aspect was figuring out which title you were reading at any given moment.  All of the X-titles use the same font for their logos, and they all had the same yellow border.  There was little to distinguish them from one another.  It was especially confusing when it came to the regular monthly simply titled X-Men comic vs. the limited series X-Men: Battle of the Atom comic.  (See images above and to the right.  One is the regular X-Men title and the other is the limited series, but they both have "X-Men" and "Battle of the Atom" on their covers.  Splitting up the words doesn't really make it less confusing.) 

Like most of Marvel's major "events" of late, nothing really dramatic or drastic occurs at the conclusion of "Battle of the Atom."  Some may disagree, but to me it's nothing when compared to crossover events like Marvel's Secret Wars in 1984 that gave us Spider-Man's new black costume or the She-Hulk replacing long-time Fantastic Four member The Thing while he stays on Battleworld in his own monthly series.  Or even when compared to House of M when the Scarlet Witch declared "No More Mutants."  And it's certainly nothing like DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths or Flashpoint that changed things "forever" in the DC Universe.  

Uncanny X-Men #139

Was it good, though?  Sure. It was actually much better than the X-Men crossover stories over the past several years (e.g., "Nation X," "Necrosha," "Second Coming," or "Age of X," just to name a few).   It would just be nice that when an X-Men or Avengers crossover arc is said and done, everyone goes back to ONE team/book.  Wolverine does not need to appear in every X-book.  Iron Man and Thor don't need to appear in every Avengers title. Mr. Fantastic shouldn't be both an Avenger and a member of the Fantastic Four.  There.  I said it.  I couldn't even tell you who's on what team because everyone just appears everywhere in the Marvel Universe.  I don't know when they even have time to poop.  It would make me more excited about purchasing a certain comic if I knew particular characters were going to appear in there every month.  For example, where can I read about Kitty Pryde?  Who knows?  Uncanny X-Men?  X-Men?  All-New X-Men?  Wolverine and the X-Men?  The answer would be:  YES. And NO. It just depends.  When we do see glimpses of her, is it anything like her character development in the 1980s in the ONE X-title of the day, Uncanny X-Men?  NO.  She's just another (intangible) warm body.  I really miss good storytelling and character development/interaction.   Some may think that Scott Summers and Jean Grey are the Ross and Rachel of the X-Men world.  To me, it will always be Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin.  He'll always be her lobster.  

Judging Books by their Covers

I've been looking through my comics collection from when I was a kid and young adult.  Over about a 15-year span, I amassed a huge collection of comics and kept them neatly organized in boxes.  All of my weekly allowance went toward comics, not to mention my entire paycheck when I worked part-time at a comic book store for a year.  Plus there was Christmas and birthday money.  These sometimes went toward older comics at comic book conventions.  

There are literally 30 long comic boxes full of individually bagged comics from that period of my life.  That's thousands of comics!  I've been going through them so I can sell them on eBay, cataloging them and taking photographs of individual comics and/or sets of comics.  It's been quite a monumental task to say the least.  But that's actually been the easy part.  The most time-consuming part has been rating their condition, reviewing their value, writing eBay descriptions for each one, and coming up with a fair price. 

While I've been doing this, I've glanced at the photos I've taken, remembering the stand-out issues.  Their covers really meant something to me at the time, and they still hold a special place in my memories.  There are so many classic covers that remind me of a different time, and are so meaningful or works of art that they give me pause.  They may not be considered "classic" in the traditional sense, such as Fantastic Four #1 from 1961 or Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 from 1985, but to me they're classic because I had/have a special affinity for them.  

It made me realize that a lot of comic book covers today don't "grab" me.  There's nothing unique or special about most of them.  I couldn't tell you much about the contents under the cover, and I couldn't tell you, "Oh, that's issue #213."  Mainly because the cover doesn't tell me anything or strike an emotional cord with me, but also sometimes because DC and Marvel restart their comics every other year, never allowing them to even get into triple digits anymore.  (Wink wink, DC New 52 and Marvel NOW!)

Take for example these two Uncanny X-Men comics.  One is from 1980, the other from today (2013).  The one on the left tells me that Kitty Pryde joins the X-men -- yay!  It makes me want to read it right away.  The one on the right tells me...nothing.   It gives me a generic team action pose.  If I didn't already read the poorly illustrated comic on a monthly basis, what incentive would I have to pick up this comic if I saw it on a shelf next to other comics? 

As a side note, comparing these two issues: it irks me that Marvel is putting the comic titles and numbers at the bottom of their comics now (or is it NOW!)?.  Don't they realize how hard that makes it for comic book shops and customers to find comics on a shelf when the pertinent information is tucked behind other stacked comics?  Or for collectors when the comics are safely stored away in comic boxes?  You actually have to lift up the comics all the way to see what the titles and numbers are, instead of quickly glancing the shelves or flipping through a box.  It's really poor marketing, and for a company now owned by Disney who's known for their brand and retail marketing, it's pretty shameful. 

Much like the fashion industry magazines, DC Comics has taken over September as their month to do something spectacular.  It all started with the New 52 in September 2011, continued with Zero Month in September 2012, and just recently DC Comics took another stab at a Villains Month for September 2013.  The New 52 was a new concept, but Zero Month was a rehash of a comic marketing stunt that DC pulled in 1994 in conjunction with their Zero Hour crossover event.  Villains Month, too, is a rehash of a marketing stunt, but only dating back to 2009 when they did their (lame) Faces of Evil event.  When I first learned of the latest attempt at Villains Month, I thought, "Oy vey," and I'm not even Jewish.

Instead of visiting a local comic book store, I order my comics online now, about three months in advance.  They arrive once monthly in a well-packaged box, complete with bags and boards.  All that's left to do is read them...and I can manage that!  

In June 2013, I saw the DC Comics listing for September and thought, "Are you freakin' kidding me?"  Every issue was listed at $3.99.  What a joke!  I wasn't even aware of any special 3-D covers at the time.  Or maybe they never mentioned it either.  Or maybe I just thought it was another stupid stunt like hologram issues in the 1990s.  I remembered back to Faces of Evil in 2009 and thought (in the words of our former [cough!] inspirational [cough, cough!] leader), "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."  Although I didn't buy ALL of the issues, I did manage to purchase a great majority of them, increasing my monthly expenditure by 50%.  

Like a monthly menstrual cycle, my box of September comics arrived via UPS yesterday as scheduled.  In it were all of the DC Comics with lenticular 3-D covers.  (Did anyone even know what lenticular meant before these comics created such a buzz?  Chalk one up for DC for expanding America's vocabulary.)  

I usually file the comics away alphabetically in a box to read before moving them into their regular comic boxes.  (Hello, OCD!)  It took me much longer to do last night than usual because I was in awe at how beautiful the covers were.  They're all so colorful and so full of...life.  This was truly a great marketing stunt, and -- I hate to admit it -- worth the $3.99 each (these .gifs shown don't even do them justice).  I even felt disappointed that I didn't preorder ALL 3-D issues, and I don't even read on a regular basis such comics as Green Lantern, Flash, or Swamp Thing.  I just wanted to look at ALL of them.  This was the first time in a long time that a comic book cover truly caught my eye.  They may not go down in history as "classic" covers, but they're damn nice to look at.  Shame on DC for not printing enough so every fan who wanted one could get one, though.  

Now, I can't review them for their content yet, because I haven't read any of them yet (I'm afraid I'll destroy their beauty!).  For now, I'm judging these books by their covers. 

Green Lantern: Overexposed!

Green Arrow #12

How much is too much?  All of DC's comics -- and I do literally mean ALL -- are coming out this summer with Green Lantern movie marketing bands slapped on their covers.  Nice idea to promote the movie; poor execution.  It's very distracting and takes away from the beautiful covers.  Take a look at Green Arrow #12.  Is it Green Lantern, Brightest Day, or Green Arrow?  With so many marketing banners, the image keeps getting pushed down more and more.  In fact, Swamp Thing's head has to take up some of Green Arrow's title just to fit on the page. 

Is there really a comic book reader/buyer/fan out there that doesn't already know that the Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds is coming out this month?  Or that this summer is a fantastic summer for superhero movies with the likes of Iron Man 2, Captain America, Green Lantern, and X-Men First Class? 

Perhaps DC should focus their marketing on non-comic reading folks.  Comic book fans are already going to go see the movies.  It's the rest of the folks that may or may not.