Eternals by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr (Marvel Comics)

The Eternals were Marvel’s equivalent of DC’s New Gods. In fact, both were creations of Jack Kirby. Unlike the New Gods however, the Eternals were pretty much put aside after two series, except for Sersi, who had further adventures. Who better to revive the Eternals than Gaiman, a specialist in pantheon mythologies.

Originally a six issue miniseries, a seventh issue was added. This is a Gaiman comic, so don’t expect breakneck speed in plotting. The story moves quite slowly, but suitable considering Gaiman’s style. The characters and settings are first introduced in the beginning, and a mystery is presented: what happened to the Eternals? Gaiman chose character development and slow unfolding plots over action and quick pacing. Instead of big fights, we get near mystic complex sciences. The seventh issue is worthy, as it ties up all the loose plots.

The biggest issue I have with the series is that it crosses over with Marvel’s Civil War event. When Iron Man enters the picture, the mystic/dreamy feeling (which I get from the comic) of the series is interrupted. The very end is disappointing. It ends with “The beginning”, a sign that someone else besides Gaiman will handle the Eternals from then on.

Overall a very good series, if one can tolerate the punctuations of Civil War. The plots may move slowly, but at seven issues, the pace is appropriate.

Popgun edited by Mark Andrew Smith and Joe Keatinge (Image Comics)

First it was Flight, now comes Popgun. And what difference is there between the two. The editors of both books do not set any themes for their anthologies. This is nontheless that Image Comics is becoming very money-minded about its products.

With the success of Flight, it only made commercial sense to produce another theme-free anthology, the difference of which is the editors and their taste in comics. What I dislike about such anthologies is their serial comics. These anthologies are not published monthly or weekly, but rather annually (or to be more accurate with Popgun, eight months between each volume).

Readers have to wait for a long time just to follow up where the serial last ended. The done-in-one volume comics are more satisfying to read, but still not as engaging as reading a full 23-paged floppy.

Popgun is recommended for those who like comic anthologies such as Flight, or those who have never read such comics and want to give it a try. Anyone who prefers superb narration over unique artwork should stick to graphic novels instead.

The Terror of Comic Fanboys or Why this blog is different

The comic fanboy is important to the comics industry. Without them comics would not thrive. In Singapore, fanboys are crucial to the survival of many comic book stores. These creatures buy many comics, have brains that archive canon, and get orgasms from comic related news.

New Avengers movie? Orgasm!. Spiderman 4 movie? Orgasm! Next Batman movie? Aaaaahhhh! Hank Pym may not be in the Avengers movie? Turn off!

I started this blog as a way to promote comics, not just DC or Marvel comics. Comics in general, be it Franco-Belgium (Clifton, Asterix), Japanese (manga) or......everything and anything I can get my hands on.

It comes to my notice that in Singapore, interest in comics is mostly pretentious in nature. Most comic reader just want heroes. How many of them have heard of Joann Sfar? He is big in France. May be it is because Marvel and DC have done so good a job at promoting their properties worldwide, that it is hard for other comics to gain notice.

Anyways, you know where this blog is heading. I'm not going to give you any orgasms. You have to masturbate yourself if you want one. I'm just going to do what I like; READ COMICS.

Comic serials on Wednesdays

DC's Wednesday Comics has been over hyped. Yes, there is a lot of great work in there by talented comic creators. But besides that, should the comic really be hyped for its weekly, Sunday strip format?

The Sunday comic strip format is nothing new to newspapers. Comic strips are usually given small, rectangular spaces in the newspapers, allowing space for several strips to be featured. These strips did not allow for much story development, and thus the comic strip serial was born. Even so, the amount of space each strip had was insufficient. And so, on Sundays, where comics are given more space in newspapers, the Sunday format was born.

Comic strips on Sundays could fill up one entire page, like Prince Valiant. Large "strips" were also published in magazines. In Britain, there is the Eagle and AD 2000, two very popular comic magazines. The former's most famous feature was Dan Dare, while the latter, still being published today, featured Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and many others.

The Sunday strip was born out of a neccessity for more development in stories, given the limited space newspapers could afford. From this point of view, DC's choice to make a weekly comic of serials is simply a marketing ploy. Although the serial strips do have some artistic quality to them, nevertheless, I do feel that for DC to publish such a work, it can only have nostalgic and romantic value. It is simply not practical to create such stories if a company has enough money to create so many floppies.

Wednesday Comics is a successful project for DC, one that uses an old format that was meant to overcome limitations imposed by newspaper publishers. Yet, it has managed to gain readers interest and attention, to see their favourite heroes in a format rarely seen in modern newspapers. I would let you know that there were Superman and Batman comic strips in daily and Sunday formats in the past. Wednesday Comics is not completely original.

All-ages = Kids ?

There may seem to be a misunderstanding that all-ages comics are meant for kids only. It may be so with DC comics, considering the Johnny DC imprint and comics such as Tiny Titans.

Take a look at Marvel comics. When they say "all-ages", I do believe they really mean it. Let's consider the Marvel Adventures imprint. These comics have adult superheroes, and they do face threats. Even though elements such as violence and sex are toned down, they can be enjoyed by adults. Take Marvel Adventures Avengers #9 for example. The comic is one big joke regarding M.O.D.O.C (Yes, it is Conquer, not Kill), or rather, several MODOCs. MODOK is one of Marvel's funny looking villains, and this trait is utilized to create a fun comic, which fans can enjoy.

The Marvel Adventurs imprint is also truly all-ages simply because anyone can pick up any of the titles, at any issue and have an enjoyable read. There is no need for any reader to be knowledgeable of Marvel canon. That is what "all-ages" should be about. Comics that can be enjoyed by just about everyone. No canon crap, no age limits and no hardcore fan boy attitude. That's the way it should be. Not just for the kids.