Scarlet Spider #3
Writer: Chris Yost Art: Ryan Stegman [Pencils], Babinski & Von Grawbadger [Inks], Marte Gracia with Andres Mossa [Colors]
Chris Yost continues to explore Kaine Parker’s transformation in Houston from sometimes-villainous clone to costumed vigilante as part of his past comes back to haunt him.
After saving illegal immigrant Aracely from the Salamander, Kaine has taken it upon himself to keep her in hiding and protect her from deportation. As a result, he’s had to enlist the help of a Houston doctor and a bartender fluent in Spanish along the way.
In the meantime, he’s patrolled the streets at night, and Yost’s Scarlet Spider has proven to be what you’d get if you gave Spider-Man the badass attitude of Batman.
At one point this issue, he pops down from a building to grab a mugger in the act and swing across the city while holding the buy by the face. Eventually, he stops long enough to drop the thief from a building and catch him with webbing, causing the would-be mugger to wet himself in the process, before demanding that he leave the city lest Kaine should “break his bones in ways that will never heal” and “tear every piece of flesh from his body.” The art for this scene alone was fantastic, not just showing a large yellow spot on the mugger’s pants, but urine dripping down his shoes, as well.
As the story progresses, we find out that the doctor Kaine has been working with has been targeted by a member of the Assassin’s Guild (most likely by a man at the beginning of the issue who threatens his life after he fails to save the lives of his wife and daughter). During their battle, the assassin sees Kaine’s face (Kaine was once a member), which makes the doctor’s problem even more of a problem for Kaine.
This is yet another great issue to one of Marvel’s best new series. Yost has not only been doing a great job of fleshing out Kaine as a newly-reformed vigilante, but of fleshing out Houston as a character in these stories much in the same way New York is a character in Spider-Man stories. In this issue, for example, the vast difference in the number of skyscrapers is made light of when Kaine suddenly runs out of places to web-swing from. Even the art has a warmer feel, reflecting the book’s locale.
Digging into Kaine’s past for villains and building up a supporting cast is yet another way Yost is drawing parallels with Spider-Man without just making this book about a clone into a clone of an existing book.
If you haven’t given Scarlet Spider a look yet, there’s no better time than now–especially with second and third printings of the first two issues on the way.
Wolverine and the X-Men #7
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw [Pencils]; Walden Wong, Norman Lee, and Nick Bradshaw [Inks]; Justin Ponsor [Colorist]
With half the school’s faculty and several student inside of Kitty Pryde trying to fight off her Brood infestation, Broo (the school’s intellectual Broodling) is left to fend off the school’s mysterious invader alone while Wolverine and Quentin Quire are in outer space trying to scam an intergalactic casino to fund the Jean Grey School.
About that mysterious invader–we finally get an explanation as to who he is. As opposed to being an intergalactic “bounty killer,” it turns out his name is Professor Xanto Starblood and he’s an “extreme zoologist” and head of the Intergalactic Anthropology Department at the University of Rigel-13. (Oy, cosmic Marvel makes my head hurt.)
Anyhow, Starblood came to the school to kill Broo, who he sees as an evolutionary misstep from the rest of the Brood–a race of savage, blood-thirsty aliens.
Meanwhile, Wolverine and Quentin Quire fight off security at the casino and Quire figures out that his telepathic powers extend to him being able to form weapons from psychic energy, not unlike Psylocke. It’s a nice little addition to the character, who it seems is being fleshed out to the point that his antagonistic relationship with Wolverine is beginning to become not unlike the one that existed between Wolverine and Professor X.
Anyhow, all of the arc’s plot threads are tied up in this issue, with Broo overcoming his problem via a momentary display of animalistic rage and Wolverine and Quire escaping the casino–without their intergalactic winnings. I was wondering how space money would work on Earth, anyways, but Krakoa ends up having a convenient enough solution for the school’s money troubles in the end. He’s a living mass of Earth, after all.
It’s even hinted that the Bamfs (the little blue Nightcrawler-looking guys that have been running around the book) are actually some sort of gremlins, which explains something I’ve been wondering since the book launched late last year.
All in all, Jason Aaron delivers another solid issue that stays fun while piling on a ton of character development. Not only does he continue to evolve Quire’s character here, he also sets the stage for a Warbird-Iceman-Kitty Pryde love triangle (not to mention an awkward encounter the next time Iceman or Kitty run into Colossus).
The art here is a perfect match for the tone set by Aaron, as well, maintaining a cartoonish-but-realistic feel. I think I’ve said it before, but if another X-Men cartoon came along with this art style (and the type of writing on display here), I’d watch it in a heartbeat.
Zeb Wells and Clayton Crain’s Carnage U.S.A. begins to wind down this month as Spider-Man rallies Doverton’s survivors and Venom joins the fray.
Last issue, Captain America was able to break free of the Carnage symbiote’s control long enough to call for help from Venom (who is now a member of the Secret Avengers if you’re out of the loop). Of course, Venom shows up this issue right as the government task force powered by the de-amalgamated Hybrid symbiote is failing and Carnage is about to tear Spider-Man’s eyes out through his mask (while promising it will be “like your skull is givin’ birth!”).
Unfortunately, Spider-Man stops Venom from blowing Carnage’s head off, giving Carnage a moment to regain the upper hand (and control of Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and the Thing) before Tanis Nieves (AKA the most recent addition to Marvel’s long list of symbiote characters, Scorn) uses a bulldozer to push both Carnage and Venom into a…silo of some sort? Whatever it is, it causes the symbiotes to leave both men and run off, and leaves Venom’s host, Flash Thompson, in a compromising situation with mass murderer Cletus Kasady.
If my description of the plot sounds a bit chaotic, that’s because this issue moved along at breakneck speed. That’s not to say the writing suffered–it didn’t. Wells’ Carnage gets more and more maniacal with every issue he writes the character, and his Spider-Man stays well in-line with the “No One Dies” status quo Dan Slott has set for the character.
Most of the backgrounds remain relatively sparse, but that’s to be expected when each frame is painted by hand on a monthly title and features the amount of character detail that Crain includes here. It really works in his favor that this story is set in a small Midwest town because there isn’t really anything to see in a place like that, anyways.
I’m excited to see how this one wraps up (and hopefully get more of an explanation for that big silo thing).
Walking Dead continues to slowly burn towards its final episode this season with a couple of surprises and twists for fans of the show and of the source material. I will tell you that yes I liked this episode but there were a lot of things that disappointed me as well. I’ll get into the details of the review below after the picture jump. However you’ve been warned. After this picture spoilers aplenty…..SPOILERS ..0k
This episode starts off moving in the right direction. Rick speaking on Dales behalf at his funeral is inter-cut with scenes of Shane leading Darrel, Andrea, and T Dog around the Farm to clear walkers and let off some aggression. The scene works out well establishing that yes indeed Shane is still his aggressive self while Rick thinks otherwise. This issue focuses largely on Shane, which I enjoyed. However the writer’s choice to try to have the viewer sympathize with Shane would have been the right decision if they hadn’t completely pulled a 180 and had Shane ultimately flip his shit the next thirty minutes of the episode. I enjoyed the conversation between Shane and Carl, but felt that Lori’s conversation with Shane was a bit unrealistic. Thanking Shane now for saving her life months ago, and apologizing to him for putting him in this situation in the first place was completely off base given the fact Shane had tried to rape her last season, and continued to be a threat throughout this season. Ultimately I get that it was supposed to “push Shane over the edge ” but it caused the development of Shane and Lori to take a step back. The women on the show still continue to be written half as good as the male characters. Though they did throw a bone to T Dog and allow him to say a few lines this episode. Too bad “aww Hell NO!” was one of them..but I digress.
So Rick has decided to Let their hostage Randall go, but Shane disappointed with the decision uses his conversation with Carl to tell Rick to follow-up with his son. As Rick talks with Carl he gives him back the gun he gave to Shane and tells him that he’s tired and that the reality is he must protect himself going forward. While Rick is with Carl, Shane ends up freeing Randall and leading him into the woods. The scenes between Randall and Shane work very well. Your not sure what Shane’s angle is until he finally snaps his neck off camera and tries to create a scenario in his head to tell the rest of his group on the farm. Shane heads back to tell the group that Randall got away and is out in the woods somewhere. Rick tells Darrel and Glenn to split up and take Shane with him to search for Randall. Anyone who has read the comic books could start to play in their head what was coming next.
The show decides to handle the Rick and Shane’s confrontation differently. While Glenn and Darrel search and eventually find a zombified Randall, Shane continues to take Rick further away from the group in what he hopes is their final confrontation. Glenn and Darrel quickly take care of Walker Randall and are startled when they realize that Randall died because of a snapped neck and not a zombie bite. Confused about what that may mean, they head back to the Farm to tell the others. At this point the end of the episode starts building tension as Rick starts to figure out that Shane is leading him to an open field to murder him. The dialogue between Rick and Shane is great and shows that there continues to be a lot of animosity between these two people who were once best friends. It’s a bittersweet reality, and was acted out amazingly by both actors. Now this is where I have a bit of a problem with the episode. I understand that they want to throw things into the story to keep it “fresh” the people who have already the comics but having Rick be the one who ends Shane’s life seemed a bit out of place. I feel the decision was more due to the fact that they can’t actually show a child kill another person on AMC and so they had to rewrite a scene that would have had much more dramatic weight to it by letting Carl end Shane’s life to protect his father. Instead Carl walks up on his father as he is kneeling over Shane’s body scared and confused.
One of the most compelling aspects about the book and the show should be Rick’s relationship with his son. This season has done more to hurt that relationship then make it believable and so we are left with a bit of a cop-out at the end of the episode as Carl saves Rick from Shane who has risen from the Dead quickly and is coming towards Rick. Yes I get you still had him shoot Shane in the head but it falls flat. I do like that they are finally showing you that it doesn’t take a bite to turn you into a Zombie now. The rules have changed and it creates some good story opportunities for Season 3. Finally speaking of Story opportunities, will we ever find out what the man at The Disease Control Center whispered into Ricks ear? I mean it’s not that Lori was pregnant and it wasn’t that the dead could still be turned without getting bit …so what could it be. I hope that the final episode of this season has some answers and finds a way to not only get the characters that do survive off the farm, but also strikes a good balance with continuity of season 1 and the comic. AMC please don’t be afraid to veer back towards the story Robert Kirkman originally wrote, there’s a reason people love these characters so much.
At the end of last issue Alec Holland was left on the edge of death . Impaled and bleeding out Alec is suffering as The Parliament of Trees burns to the ground. Snyder decides to finally show his hand and writes an extremely powerful and strong argument for Alec becoming Swamp Thing even though he directly defied The Green . The Parliament tells Alec that they want him to watch them suffer and ultimately die after they have burnt to the ground. Snyder’s dialogue between Alec and the Parliament couldn’t be more perfect . Digging deeper into The Parliaments behavior and characterizing them almost as angry children who feel slighted. Alec tells the Parliament that they lack a conscience and that his sole purpose is to give balance to The Green. Finally The Parliament use Alec’s last container of restorative formula and Alec transforms into Swamp Thing.
I have to say that this is Yanick’s strongest work to date on the book. His panel breakdowns continue to amaze me . Using smeared blood in the scenes with the Rot and Foliage , Sunflowers and Vines to break up the panels with Alec and the Parliament . Pacing and facial expressions are spot on and seeing Alec slowly succumb to the green taking over his body and internal organs was chilling and exciting . Which brings me to the last few pages of this book . Swamp Thing is born again , this time with Alec in the driver’s seat proper. Snyder and Paquette show just how powerful Swamp Thing is now with a sequence of panels that start with a stretched out index finger and ends with a brutal display of power as vines spiral forth and impale the poor victims of the Rot who came to kill Alec in the beginning of this issue.
After putting Alec and his support cast through every kind of imaginable hell , Swamp Thing #7 manages to put an emphatic exclamation point on Alec Holland and his sacrifice to become Swamp Thing to save his love from the Rot. Its classic Movie monster magic in comic book form . The last page sets up a collision course with Swamp Thing and The Rot . Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette continue to move this book into uncharted territory for the character and we all of us get to sit back and reap the benefits.
Uncanny X-Men #8 Writer: Kieron Gillen Artist: Greg Land and Guru eFX
‘Tabula Rasa’ comes to a close on a very high note. Though this arc had a solid story, it was plagued with awkward pacing. The arc had a solid conclusion within the last issue. Here, we pick up the loose ends as Colossus delves deeper underground to find his sister, Magik, who has been captured by ‘mole’ natives. We also tie up Hope and Namors diplomatic expedition underwater; both of these story beats were introduced within issue 6, so you can see the pacing problem. Again, this arc does concludes on a high note, portraying some fantastic character development.
To get you up to pace, ‘Tabula Rasa’ is a rapidly developing ecosystem created by Archangel (possessed by Apocalypse), during ‘The Dark Angel Saga’ within the pages of Uncanny X-Force. This wildly advanced and growing ecosystem was left unchecked and Psylocke, whom inadvertently took part in the events leading up to the creation of ‘Tabula Rasa’, brings its existence to Cyclops and his Extinction team attention. Upon arrival, the X-Men discover a humanoid race, who revere Archangel their God… carnage ensues.
As noted before, Kieron Gillen filled these pages with shocking character moments; further exploring Peter Rasputins transformation into the Juggernaut. Hope and Namors adventure underwater was humorous and downright nasty, revealing Namors fishy fetishes. This allowed penciler, Greg Land, to draw a jaw dropping image of Namor locking lips on a undwater squid queen! Just what I was hoping for when I cracked this baby open.
Greg Land produced solid pencils throughout; with woman well endowed, as always, yet he kept a proportionate female frame. One terrifying image comes to mind of Colossus giving into the demon Cyttorak, himself being disfigured and looming over his sister, Magik. This was a great scene, as Magik motivates Colossus to remember who he is and that the demon is only a part of that. Magik having her own personal demons to have overcome, this turned out to be a powerful scene.
Overall, this arc has a strong backbone of a story, but is oddly paced which made the overall arc feel stale. But again, this concluding issue was great. The closing scene is one I’ve been dreadeding to come and see the light of day, the first crack in Magneto’s ‘hero’ charade (unless you’ve been reading Magneto:Not a Hero mini). This larger than life team is revealing a lot of chaotic elements where I can’t imagine the statue quo surviving the upcoming event of ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’. But it’ll be a hell of a last song!
Story: 8 Art: 8
Personal Recommendations for the week:
Swamp Thing #7 – This series has been gold! The return of Swamp Thing!
Age of Apocalypse #1 – Surprised me, considering the state of affairs the universe was left in Uncanny X-Force.
Avengers: The children’s Crusade – Just give the Young Avengers back their own book already!!!!
Venom #14 Writer: Rick Remender [Venom “Circle of Three”: Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, and Rob Williams] Art: Tony Moore and Val Staples [Color Art]
Remember the slew of multi-issue stories back in the ’90s like “Maximum Carnage” and “Planet of the Symbiotes” that made good plots for video games, but were somewhat tiring as comics?
“Circle of Four” has kind of played out like that.
Don’t get me wrong, it has moments where it’s fun. Unfortunately, it suffers from too much of the ’90s ridiculousness that turned me away from comics for a few years when I was a kid.
Basically, over the course of Venom #13.1 through #13.4 and this week’s #14, Blackheart unleashed Hell upon Earth following a scheme that involved the Toxin symbiote (which was never really mentioned again after part one in Venom #13, but I think it became irrelevant to Blackheart’s plan at some point). Venom, Red Hulk, X-23, and the new Ghost Rider just happened to be in Las Vegas at the same time, and were thus forced into an unlikely team-up. They had to face their antitheses after looking in Blackheart’s magic mirror, and ultimately arrived at a scenario where the Red Hulk ended up becoming host to both the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom symbiote.
That’s right… There was actually a Ghost Red Hulk Venom Rider involved in this story. On the ridiculousness scale, it’s up there with Carnage devouring millions of Earth-invading symbiotes and turning into the giant Mega-Carnage from “Planet of the Symbiotes.” On a side note, if the Venom symbiote is extremely susceptible to heat, how does it survive in Hell, let alone bond to a host possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance?
Look, I don’t mean to make this storyline sound terrible. It’s fun in certain aspects. It has the same appeal as a B-movie, making it kind of like the Planet Terror of Venom stories. The ’90s left a bad taste in my mouth when I was a kid (Damn you, “Maximum Carnage” and “Clone Saga!”), so maybe I’m just bitter. I will say that the Tony Moore art in this issue made it a little more palatable.
Maybe it would have been better for me if instead of doing four “Point One” issues for Venom between #13 and #14, they did three of those issues as “Point One” books for Hulk, X-23, and Ghost Rider. It would at least have made the difference between the three writers’ styles easier to compensate for, as I’ve become somewhat accustomed to Rick Remender on this book.
Anyhow, that’s all beside the point. If you like your stories way over-the-top in the B-movie sense, definitely check this out. Especially if you loved the ’90s and “Maximum Carnage.” This would have been a great plot for an arcade game starring Venom, X-23, Red Hulk, and Ghost Rider.
STORY: 6.5/10
ART: 8/10
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Wolverine #302
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Billy Tan & Jason Keith [Chapters 13, 15, 16], Steve Sanders & Sotocolor [Chapters 14, 16]
Normally, if you told me that a writer was going to end their run on a book with a story that touches on everything that happened during said run, I’d tell you that story would probably suck. Jason Aaron, however, is not most writers.
During his run on Wolverine: Weapon X and the relaunched Wolverine, Aaron has put Wolverine up against armies of adamantium men and Dethloks, had him brainwashed by a psychotic psychiatrist named Dr. Rot, sent him to Hell, and had him seek revenge against Mystique and those who sent him there (inadvertently killing five children he never knew he had). He touches on at least four of those things in this issue.
In an attempt to save the new Silver Samurai from the ninjas of the Hand, Wolverine and his ninja ex-girlfriend, Yukio, storm the cave that serves as their hideout. Unbeknownst to them, Wolverine’s adopted daughter, Amiko, followed them, as well. The three are subjected to a mind control toxin that leads Wolverine to believe he is back in Hell and that his dead children are killing him. There’s a brief mention of Dr. Rot in a flashback sequence with Rachel Grey training Wolverine to protect himself from mental attacks, and it’s also revealed that Mystique was recently resurrected by the Hand and wants revenge. Of course, it wouldn’t be Wolverine if she wasn’t shooting Logan’s unconscious body with a submachine gun as that portion of the plot is explained.
As the issue winds down, Mystique uses her powers to get a video that will probably bite Logan in the ass when he’s stateside again and the new Silver Samurai shows who’s side he’s really on.
Once again, there are two art teams on this issue, but it’s something I barely even thought about as I was reading. The two teams work in a similar enough style that it’s just not too noticeable unless you’re picking at details.
With one more issue to tie all of these threads together, I’m interested in seeing how Aaron closes out his run and leaves the book ready for the next writer to pick up.
STORY: 9/10
ART: 8/10
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Amazing Spider-Man #681
Writers: Dan Slott & Chris Yost
Art: Giuseppe Camuncoli [Pencils], Klaus Janson [Inks], and Frank D’Armata [Colors]
Orbiting Earth in the Horizon Labs Apogee I space station, Spider-Man and the Human Torch have big problems. The space station has been compromised by Octobots, which have turned its crew–with the exception of Col. John Jameson (son of Jonah and former Man-Wolf)–into “space zombies” that Doc Ock can control from the ground.
Oh, and they’re running out of oxygen, making the Human Torch’s powers virtually unusable lest they should all suffocate in the infinite vacuum of space. No big deal, right?
Dan Slott and Chris Yost conclude the “Ends of the Earth” prelude they began last week in Amazing Spider-Man #680 by hitting all the same points that made that issue great.
More of Jonah yelling at people in a blind fury because he’s still reeling over the death of his wife and might now lose his son? Check.
Enough back-and-forth between Spider-Man and Torch to fill the International Space Station? Got it.
Obligatory “…and now, you will die!” super villain speech from Doc Ock? There’s one of those here, too.
Simply put, this story has everything that made the classic books classic without feeling too self-referential and, as I mentioned last week, that’s really kind of been par for the course with the Slott run of Amazing Spider-Man. The Human Torch team-up is timely, given that the first person a guy’s probably gonna go on an adventure with when he comes “back from the dead” is his best friend, and the idea-so-crazy-it-could-only-work-in-a-comic-book resolution is fun.
What I question more than that is how Torch could “flame on” while carrying Spider-Man and John Jameson without burning them, or why people would be preparing for a manned mission to Mars in a world where the Fantastic Four regularly go to other galaxies. Is Reed Richards really that bad about sharing his toys with others?
All jokes aside, I’m really excited to see where Slott goes with “Ends of the Earth,” which starts next issue. Ever since Marla Jameson was killed on Spider-Man’s watch, Spidey has had this whole “No one dies!” schtick, and how that carries over to Doc Ock’s current condition will be interesting to see play out.
If only we could get an interview with the guy so he could tell us himself…
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a child of the 80s, Being born in 1981, I was brought up waking up Saturday mornings to a great cartoon block featuring two of my favorite properties of all time, the Transformers and G.I.Joe. Sure there were others, but those were what were in my wheelhouse.
So later when I was at the mall with my mom, we went into the bookstore and I found the now extinct spinner rack. And to my wonder, were these books on it called comics. And low and behold, one of which was based on one of those very cartoons. It was G.I.Joe issue #124 featuring Firefly. I immediately was hooked and collected that book for the remaining three years until it ended with issue #155. But that very issue is what I owe my comic love to today.
However, the current comics market is drastically different. Sales figures are down across the board. But there seems to be a noticeable difference in licensed properties. IDW is the current holder of both the G.I.Joe and Transformers licenses, along with many others as seen through their Infestation lineup. They hold Ghostbusters, Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, True Blood, Dr Who, and 30 Days of Night. But for sake of discussion, I’ll try to concentrate on the above two.
Unfortunately Marvel ended their run on the book in 1994 and sales figures are near impossible to find. However, over a decade ago, another company bought G.I.Joe rights from Hasbro. Devil’s Due published the second volume beginning in September 2001. Issue one debuted at #13 on the Diamond sales charts with 67,179. The first arc was done in bi-monthly format and issue 4 was the highest ranked issue of the run in March 2002 at #7 with 78,344. In the same month, the next closest licensed property was Star Wars. And those two books were ranked 91 and 95. Now, it is widely agreed upon that Star Wars is one of the most popular properties of all time. So to come in 84 spots above one of the greatest fixtures of pop culture is quite an impressive feat. But outside of licensing, G.I.Joe also beat titles that comics are known for. Superman, Batman, JLA, Avengers, Spider-Man, Hulk, and Fantastic Four all came in below G.I.Joe.
The popularity of G.I.Joe sparked the licensed property comics insurgence. Transformers, Voltron, Masters of the Universe, and Thundercats were all grabbed up and put in monthly books. Out of these, Transformers was the most sought after and was bought by Dreamwave. In April 2002, Transformers Generation 1 #1 came in at the top spot with 128,202 copies. The next highest ranked comic that month was New X-Men with 16,000 less.
Both Transformers and G.I.Joe remained strong for months. G.I.Joe was retained by Devil’s Due for 2 volumes totaling 80 issues and multiple spin off series. Transformers unfortunately met its end after 2 mini-series and a short-lived ongoing. The final issue of Transformers Generation 1 was ranked 74th in the top 100 and sold just under 30,000 copies. When Devil’s Due ended G.I.Joe America’s Elite, they were ranked at 117 and only 19,685 copies sold.
After Dreamwave closed up shop and Devil’s Due lost the G.I.Joe property, IDW bought them both. The initial G.I.Joe relaunch generated a sales boost. Issue #0 which previewed the new series ranked at spot 65 and 40,927 issues make it to the public. Transformers Infiltration began the IDW run on that title and had a strong showing. The first issue ranked at spot 30 and sold 45,453 copies. G.I.Joe definitely had a stronger impact but both had very similar numbers.
Transformers had 3 min-series and a maxi-series before moving to an ongoing title lasting 31 issues. By the end, the ongoing had dropped down to 173rd and sold a meager 10,348 copies. When G.I.Joe finished its first volume, it was one spot better at 172 on the charts but only had 10,102 issues make it to consumers.
However, IDW has retained both licenses and relaunched both titles. The main G.I.Joe book came out and had a slight bump. It sold 12,353 copies and went up to 136th according to Diamond. Also, out of G.I.Joe came a Snake-Eyes solo ongoing title. This came out a month later and sold 12,197 copies and took spot 131. Transformers took a different route and split the series evenly into two books, More Than Meets the Eye (MTMTE) and Robots in Disguise (RID). RID jumped the Transformers above 150 at 144 and sold 12,234 copies while MTMTE did slightly better and went into spot 121 and sold more than 3,000 more copies with 15,340.
As is plainly seen, both properties have dropped dramatically over the last decade plus. The current sales tactic seems to be that where one title generated a good following, it now takes two titles to even acquire half those numbers. But the question is “why?”. There are a few possibilities. It could be anything from the creative team to the general decline of comic sales. Or, have these two properties outlived their attachment to comic buying adults? With everything out there, has the nostalgia factor worn off?
I don’t have the answers. But over the decade, I have bought, dropped, and bought these titles again and again. My reasoning was the stories being told just didn’t appeal to me. And what brings me back is the hope of something new and different. I tried the IDW relaunch of G.I.Joe and not only dropped that, but also dropped the sister title “Cobra” because of the story tie-in to the other two books I did not want. I desperately wanted my nostalgia factor make it easier to enjoy the book but could not. I also have put both Transformers titles on my pull list after dropping those after the first three mini-series from IDW turned me off. And after 2 issues, keeping with them seems like a real possibility
But what will other fans of these titles think? The question if they have some staying power or fade away like has been the case time and again is on my mind and probably Hasbro as well.
Chris Yost continues to explore Kaine Parker’s transformation in Houston from sometimes-villainous clone to costumed vigilante as part of his past comes back to haunt him.
