Looking At Some Solicits

Marvel and DC have their solicitations up for July, and I'm just going to make a few comments. Sound good? Fantastic, glad to have you on board.

- I see Mark Bagley's moving to a 4-issue stint on Batman after Trinity. Good for him; a nice high-profile book, and one that's had a few difficulties with artists meeting deadlines from time to time*.

- So this Wednesday Comics project. I understand that the pages are considerably larger than your standard American comic, so it's not 16 pages in the sense those Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes things were 16 pages. Still, I have to think that $4 price tag is going to be a stumbling point for some people. I guess it ultimately depends on how many of the creative teams or characters you're interested in, and whether that's sufficient to justify the cost.

- I'm guessing Moon Knight is canceled, seeing as it hasn't been listed in the solicits for June or July? I can't say I'm surprised; the last time I looked, its sales were about where She-Hulk's were when they announced it was being canceled, so I kind of figured it's days were growing short. I know Moon Knight has a loyal (if small) fanbase, so I wonder whether there simply aren't enough fans, or if it was something else that dropped the sales so low. I know there were considerable delays during the Huston/Finch initial year on the book, so maybe fans grew tired of waiting, or were turned off by the violence (there was an awful lot of that if I remember), or it just didn't tie in with enough Big Events.

- And I'm guessing Immortal Iron Fist is joining it on the block, since it's also missing in action, though there's an Immortal Weapons mini-series, so I guess that's five more months of martial arts goodness.

- So many solicitations for Norman Osborn being up to no good, and they all set my teeth on edge. Norman's reached that Superboy-Prime territory for me, where I don't care what gets rid of him, I just want him gone. But no, everywhere you turn, there he is, pulling another fast one. Hey, the X-Men are disobeying me, well I'll make my own X-Team! With blackjack and hookers**! Then I'll have them fight my Avengers team, so the X-Men look bad! And I'll put the Hood in charge of the Initiative, just because! It's to the point I want Gyrich to step in and put a stop to all this nonsense, with the power of bureaucratic red tape.

- I see there's going to be another War of Kings-related mini, the two-issue Warriors. Sadly, it does not appear to have anything to do with the New Warriors, or Guy Gardner's bar***. I can't figure why they changed the pattern they had going with their cosmic events. With Annihilation, there was the Prologue, then the 4 four-issue mini-series focusing on specific characters, then Annihilation proper. Conquest was basically the same, but sub a 4-issue arc in Nova for a mini-series. But with War of Kings, they start with a 4-part Kingbreaker mini, release what was essentially the prologue**** while Kingbreaker's in progress, start up a 2-part Darkhawk mini as well, then start War of Kings before Kingbreaker or Darkhawk have finished, immediately start Ascension, and now Warriors. Plus various issues of Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy (and apparently a Mighty Avengers issue?). I don't know that it doesn't work as a way of arranging an event, but I though the other way worked pretty well, so I'm not sure why the shift. I'm guessing it allows them to focus on specific character's reactions to things happening in the main mini, without devoting time in said main mini to the reaction.

- I'm very pleased to see Marvel putting out trades of their '90s stuff. I placed an order for that Spider-Man 2099 trade that came out this week, and now I see New Warriors Classic Volume 1? I have a pretty set-in-stone rule about not buying things twice, and I worked diligently to collect the entire Nicieza/Bagley run (and succeeded), but that is tempting. Decisions, decisions. 'Course, there's also that Essential Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man Volume 4. Hmm, so many choices, not nearly enough money. Never enough money.

* Though I guess that applies to many books at both Marvel and DC, so I shouldn't really single out Batman. But it's fun to pick on Batman, or his book.

** Actually, forget the X-Team and the blackjack.

*** I don't know what Guy's bar would be doing in the Marvel Universe, but heck, they keep talking like this war will make the universe implode, so let's say the implosion somehow sucks Warriors into Knowhere. That would be fun.

**** That'd be Secret Invasion: War of Kings.