PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #88
07 February 1999
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
VEXT #2
...is decidedly different. Well, it seems normal and all until the last
few pages which change storytelling style completely. That's when you get
your final twist to explain what happened on the first few pages of the
story and all is normal again. Sort of. Keith Giffen makes this an
interesting book. Lots of fun and silly stuff, with some clean and
easy-to-understand Mike McKone/Mark McKenna artwork. It's appropriately
entitled "Road Rage" and ranks right up there with the similarly-themed
LOBO issue from last year.
PLANETARY #1
...is Warren Ellis' latest contribution to comic-dom and it's a great
start. Ellis has said he's done with heroes in spandex, and although he
skirts the line a little bit, this is a great, well-thought out comic
book. There are no strings attached. No back-story you have to know going
in. Practically no WildStorm universe chronology to weigh it down. You
can pick this one up cold, folks. And I think it's worth it. Ellis
writes a wonderful piece of science-fiction with this comic book. There's
no reason it couldn't enjoy similar success to TRANSMETROPOLITAN in that
regard. And, of course, John Cassaday's artwork is easy to look at. I
just hope he can keep up the work on a monthly grind.
BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #11
...is a Riddler story. I'm not even sure we've seen this Riddler in the
animated series yet. He's much creepier looking than the original Timm
design, but his character and personlity is still there 100%.
Ty Templeton is doing a great job on this title lately and it's a shame
it's coming to an end. (His tenure is, not the book's.) He's not afraid
to do different things with the book, like having Harley explore her
reformed criminal status more deeply, as the Riddler is doing in this
issue. It isn't the simplistic story about how the villain is never going
to get better. There's a certain amount of hope with this story. Well
worth a read.
SAVAGE DRAGON #57
...is the best Dragon issue since the trilogy comprised of issues #47-49.
Erik Larsen depicts drama in here like no other comics creator. It just
all falls together that well. It's not a book for a first-time Dragon
reader, but if you've been around since the beginning, this is a terrific
issue. Alas, it raises even more questions than it answers, but that just
makes the wait for the next issue all the more interminable.
WHITHER MARVEL?
There are times I wonder why Marvel still exists. DC just announced
another 6 or 8 creators signing exclusive contracts with them. Joe Kelly
has made an announcement that he's out of his Marvel exclusivity agreement
and is preparing to work on something large for the competition,
presumably DC. Marvel can't make money off of an X-book (namely
Dead-Pool) and ends up losing one of their most gifted creators.
Editorial bull loses them creators left and right, from Kelly to Steven
Seagle to (going back a bit) Chris Claremont. John Byrne is left to pick
up the pieces from Marvel's first year of existance since not much good
has come since then. After he's done with SPIDER-MAN: YEAR ONE he'll move
on to X-MEN: YEAR ONE or whatever they're calling it. About the only
people who feel any sense of loyalty to Marvel anymore is the Kubert
family. Andy and Adam are Marvel loyalists, despite starting out at DC.
For goodness' sake, even STAN LEE is forming his own company! (It's still
unclear if he was fired, or if he just decided to get out while the going
was good or if he's still a Marvel employee.)
Marvel has no financial base. Their status changes everyday. Last I
heard the action figure division was running the comic books, which can
only serve to improve the editorial quality of the books, right? I think
they've sold off the trading card division now, but that division might
just come back to take over the company next week. Who knows?
And what good is their licensing division? Well, you have Iron Man
Altoids ads.
But let's not forget where the big money is: Movies. Yup, Fantastic
Four was made and shelved for a new F4 project which is supposedly being
made but right now seems shelved. Spider-Man's movie rights are in a more
precarious limbo than even Marvel itself's. The Punisher is a cable
staple, I suppose, and the two Captain America movies are the examples by
which the Academy does NOT award makeup Oscars.
Their market share has dropped. Once the dominant company, Marvel is a
weak second to DC.
About the only thing Marvel is good at is generating headlines. And those
are dubious to begin with. Most of the headlines have to do with all the
screwed-up situations they find themselves in. A creative team flees the
X books, because no matter how amazingly good the money is in those books,
it's not worth the editorial hassles and interferences. Another creative
team is sent in to fix the mess made by the previous one. (Read:
Spider-Man.) The big name creator is leaving one of their books, so
Marvel has decided to just cancel the book. (Mark Waid and CAPTAIN
AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY) The heart and soul of the organization is
forming his own company. (Stan Lee)
But I'm starting to repeat myself and a lot of this is just old hat at
this point. You get the point.
WHITHER CBG?
Didja notice how all the comics these days are running the Wizard Award
ballots and not the Comics Buyer's Guide ballots? IIRC, CBG has decided
to only give out ballots to its subscriber base in an effort to prevent
electioneering. Fine. But if this doesn't prove Wizard's strangehold on
this market, what does? It is the paper of record these days and not CBG,
which is a much more timely periodical.
My, how the times have changed.
-Augie
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