Bent Corner

All the various comic book news sites on the Internet are all a flutter over the fact that John Nee, DC Comics Senior Vice President of Business Development turned in his resignation. A week ago.

Who the heck is John Nee?

I’m sure he is a nice guy with lots of talent and ability, but I honestly have never heard of him. I don’t even know what exactly someone in charge of Business Development actually does. I would be hard pressed to name you the person in charge of Business Development over at Marvel Comics.

I think the only reason this is being treated like news is because there were multiple rumors floating about that said there was going to be a major shake up over at DC Comics. Some were speculating that Dan Didio, Executive Editor at DC Comics, was going to get the ax.

Instead of Dido getting fired, we find out that Nee turned in his resignation. In fact, today he was supposedly over at the DC Comics offices doing whatever he does.

Link

Tags: Dan Didio, DC Comics, John Nee, Marvel Comics

The first issue came out August 22 and the second issue came out three months later on November 21. If the rest of the miniseries followed the same 3-month release pattern, the third issue should have come out in February.

It didn’t.

Marvel Comics has a real problem with following through with releasing subsequent issues in some miniseries comics. How many years has it been since issue #2 came out for Ultimate Hulk Versus Wolverine?

What’s so hard about releasing the third issue of a series? When they are releasing the first issue, they have to know they have nothing after the second issue. How does this kind of stuff happen?

I liked this series. At least I think so. It’s been so long, I don’t really remember. This is just another reason why people wait for the trades.

Tags: HALO, HALO: Uprising, Marvel Comics, Ultimate Hulk Versus Wolverine

I haven’t been keeping up with the events in the Marvel Universe, but I wanted to read the Secret Invasion event that kicked off this week. Luckily for people like me, Marvel released a special trade paperback that collected key comics that chronicled events leading up to the Skrull invasion. The first story was from FANTASTIC FOUR #2. It was originally published in 1962 and features the very first appearance of the evil Skrulls.

Wow, I forgot how utterly kooky comic books were back in the early 60’s. I think I actually got deuce chills while trying to read that first story featuring the Skrulls. In the above image, we see a Skrull masquerading as Reed Richards plunging the city of New York into complete darkness by literally flipping switches. I don’t know why the workman can’t just turn the power back on.

I flip switches on and off all day long. It’s easy.

Tags: Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics, Secret Invasion, Skrulls

A list of the top 20 selling graphic novels sold by book retailers in the United States shows something that is beyond dispute - manga is popular and superhero comics are not. It’s not even close.

If I worked over at Marvel or DC, I would be worried. In fact, I would be very worried. Out of the top 20 graphic novels sold in books stores, only two (2) come from Marvel and DC.

The one lone book from Marvel is an adaption from a Laurell K. Hamilton Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel. The characters don’t belong to Marvel. Both the author and the series has an existing fan base that automatically resulted in sales with readers that may have never read a graphic novel before.

The lone DC book was the acclaimed Alan Moore’s Watchmen. It was first published in 1986 and is considered by almost everyone to be the greatest graphic novel ever written.

Eighteen of the top 20 graphic novels sold in book stores did not come from either Marvel or DC. How can both companies just continue to ignore that? If I was in charge of either Marvel or DC, I would mimic the manga model. I find it remarkable that they don’t.

Tags: Comic Books, DC Comics, Manga, Marvel Comics

I read on the Internets that marvel_b0y — the low level Marvel Comics staffer and anonymous whistle blower type blogger — is no more. His account on LiveJournal is history.

They killed marvel_b0y. The bastards.

First they killed Black Goliath. Then they killed Captain America. Now they’ve killed marvel_b0y.

Who’s next?

I enjoyed reading his posts about what goes on in the bowels of Marvel Comics. Not only were they interesting, it was obvious the muckety mucks at Marvel were not too happy with his posts. Marvel lawyers sent marvel_b0y a cease and desist letter on letterhead decorated with goofy looking Marvel superheroes. If the goal of a cease and desist letter is to intimidate, I’m not sure including the likeness of Iron Man or Captain America is a good idea. Iron Man has become a dick and Captain America is dead.

My hope is that marvel_b0y will return. Normally when Marvel Comics kills someone off, it doesn’t last very long.

Tags: Blogging, Comic Books, Comics Blogosphere, Marvel Comics, marvel_b0y

Why do the members of the newly formed X-Force team have red eyes? Do they all have nasty eye infections that even mutant healing factor can’t scratch a dent in? I’ve read the first two books in the new X-Force series and I’ve enjoyed them. I just don’t understand the red eyes. None of the team members have red eyes in any of the other books they appear in.

I didn’t see any ads for Visine, so it’s not another example of crass Marvel Comics product placement.

Tags: Marvel Comics, Mutant Healing Factor, Product Placement, Red Eyes, Visine

The NY Daily News reported today that Bucky Barnes, the one time teenage Nazi killing sidekick of Captain America is taking on the persona of Captain America in this week’s issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA. From today’s NY Daily News:

Fans were devastated when Steve Rogers - a 1941 creation of artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby - was gunned down on the steps of a courthouse last March. It was the industry’s biggest shocker since Superman temporarily went up, up and away to the great Fortress of Solitude in the sky in 1992.

Fans were devastated? That’s news to me. I remember people being pissed off that they had to read about it in the newspaper before they could get a chance to read it in the actual comic. For as long as Joe Quesada is the Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics, that’s just the way it will be. He is addicted to seeing his name in the newspaper. Joe Quesada just can’t keep a secret.

If Joe Quesada had his way, you would have found out that Darth Vader was Luke’s father a week before the The Empire Strikes Back came out in theaters.

The newspaper article not only tells us that Bucky will be the new Captain America, it says that Buck will be carrying a firearm. I almost wonder if this is paid product placement from the NRA. At least he won’t be all juiced up like the first Captain America. Steve Rogers was a scrawny kid before a took a shortcut to physical strength by turning to the needle.

Tags: Bucky Barnes, Captain America, Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics, The Empire Strikes Back

What’s sure to enrage female comic book fans, Tiffany Fallon is on the cover of Playboy magazine sans clothing with her body painted to look like Wonder Woman. The costume is a little off, but it’s certainly a Wonder Woman costume. What does that say about me when I look at a photo of a nude woman and I notice that her red boots are a little off because they don’t have the gold trim normally seen on Wonder Woman’s boots?

Part of me is somewhat surprised that Playboy magazine is still in circulation. Not only because it’s a magazine and magazines are a lot less prevalent in the age of the Internet, but because it is a magazine dedicated to showing pretty females in the buff. I would have thought the Internet would have replaced the need of a magazine such as Playboy. Maybe Playboy is for men that like to look at naked woman, but don’t know how to find porn on the Internet.

In other words, really dumb men. Not being able to find pictures of nude women on the Internet is a lot like not being able to find water at the ocean.

I have to admit that this doesn’t bother me all that much. I’m not a fan of the sexualization of comic book characters, but I guess that’s when it’s done by the actual comic book publishers. For instance, when Marvel Comics authorized that ridiculous Mary Jane Watson statue. The one where she is doing the laundry. For some reason, this doesn’t bug me too much.

It wouldn’t bother me either if Superman or Batman received the same treatment. In fact, I would think it was pretty funny.

I’m not even sure if DC Comics or their parent company, Warner Brothers, authorized Playboy to do this or if it fell into the territory of fair use. It’s not an exact copy of the Wonder Woman costume, but she is referred to as Wonder Woman on the bottom left of the cover.

Tags: DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Playboy, Superman, Tiffany Fallon, Wonder Woman

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Art: CHRIS WESTON
Colored By: CHRIS CHUCKRY
Lettered By: COMICRAFT
32 PAGES, $2.99

Golden Age heroes fighting for America during World War Two are captured in Germany by Nazis and put into Nazi deep freeze. The Nazis then get their ass kicked by the Russians. Nobody knows about these American heroes that have been placed into Nazi deep freeze. They remain in their state of Nazi deep freeze until 2008 when they are found by construction workers.

Evidently if there was one thing Nazis knew in 1945 was how to put superheroes into deep freeze. When they are frozen, they stay frozen.

This is when it gets a little kooky. For some reason, the U.S. Army is somehow able to take possession of the superheroes. Why exactly is beyond me. A general who had just recently watched the movie “The Untouchables” gets an idea. He quotes the “Sean Connery character” who says, “If you want to avoid getting a bad apple, don’t take it from the barrel. You take it from the tree.” He believes that these still Nazi deep frozen superheroes are the tree. They come from a time when the United States is beyond question the good guy and because of this will do anything the government tells them to do.

Maybe Kooky is too strong a word.

The heroes are then taken back to the United States where they are led to believe it’s still 1945. The belief is that the shock of finding out that it’s 2008 would just be too much for these superheroes to bare. Then again, if the idea is to get superheroes who are patriotic and believe everything their government tells them, maybe it’s not a good idea to start out lying to them.

Tags: Chris Chickry, Chris Weston, J. Michael Straczynski, Marvel Comics, Nazis, Sean Connery, World War Two

From the Marvel.com forums:

This is a private forum, which you sign up and are allowed to post on if you can follow the guidelines, which by signing up you agree to do so and by posting on these forums you agree to do so.

Also, for those that want to claim “free speech”… there is absolutely no free speech in the world. The lives of people are given to defend countries across the world and give each country its way of life. So please, no standing on a soapbox claiming “free speech”.

No free speech in the world? What a repugnant thing to say. I understand there may not be any free speech over at Marvel.com, but that doesn’t mean the same is true everywhere else. If you have an opinion and you want to express it, you need to get a blog. Seriously, this is why forums are the worst place to try to get your point of view across.

Tags: Forums, Freedom of Speech, Marvel Comics