New Comic-book Night - 2/19/13

It's been a couple of weeks since New Comic-book Night for me -- mostly because of the weather.  Once again it decided to snow last Wednesday, and this time a veritable blizzard visited my area.  Since comic-books are definitely not worth getting into an accident over, I waited until this week to pick up my haul. And since it had been a couple of weeks, plus many of my pull list titles come out during weeks 2-3 of the month, quite a haul it was indeed.

Among the list are two of the last three New 52 titles I still collect, and the only two I get in print form: Supergirl 28 and Batgirl 28 (the third, Wonder Woman, I get digitally, and I'm a couple of months behind on that).  Also in the mix was Thor, God of Thunder 19, my only Marvel comic.  Rounding out the list of seven were four titles from the smaller "independent" companies -- two regulars on my pull list from Image (Ghosted 7 and Alex + Ada 4), and one regular (Red Sonja 7) and one one-shot (Red Sonja Berserker) from Dynamite.

Issue Review: Supergirl 25

The Oracle watches as parts of the time-stream are being destroyed by H'el, while Superboy, Supergirl, and Superman try to prevent it.  In the distant past H'el attempts to stab Kara with the Kryptonite shard she used on him, but she breaks free.  Meanwhile, in the more recent past, Superman watches his mother tell his father that they are about to have a baby (him).  Superboy and Kara from before she became Supergirl fight against the Eradicator, who Superboy sends to Smallville through a space-time portal.  The H'el of two time periods merges, bringing Superboy and present-day Supergirl back together.  Then Supergirl launches a final attack to destroy H'el.

Issue Review: Supergirl 24

Inside the I'noxian collective, Kara's mind, no longer connected with her body, goes back to the time when she was a little girl.  But she knows that Cyborg Superman betrayed her, and she wants revenge.  As Zor-El, Kara's father and formerly Cyborg Superman, realizes what he has done, and finally remembers who he is, Brainiac attacks. Zor-El decides to go back to being Cyborg Superman, and to give Kara her body back.  However, Kara, enraged against what the I'naxians have done, breaks free on her own and starts tearing apart the planet.  A floating disk in the distance pulls Kara's body into it. Cyborg Superman is reconstituted and fights Brainiac.  Meanwhile, Kara, naked, awakens "nearby" surrounded by more floating disks. Delacore, the lead I'naxian, tells her to get away, and that her family wanted her to find happiness.  The I'naxian collective miniaturizes itself and escapes. Kara gets onto her space-bike and flees the scene, only to be stopped by the giant space oracle from several issues ago.

Issue Review: Batgirl 24

Barbara Gordon, wearing a ninja-suit disguise but not her Batgirl suit, holds her boyfriend Ricky, who is starting to bleed out as a result of a gunshot wound from Barbara's father.  The rest of the police tell the gang members to surrender, and most of them do, but Barbara refuses to be captured.  She smacks the cops around long enough to escape.  After she gets away, Detective McKenna finds her, but McKenna seems to know who she is (whether that means McKenna knows the masked girl is Babs or Batgirl is unclear, as is whether McKenna knows that Babs is Batgirl). McKenna tells Barbara that Knightfall is behind everything. After getting some much-needed sleep, Barbara goes to the hospital to see Ricky, and learns that he is in a coma. She finally decides to go see her father, but before she can get there, Knightfall's minions invade his house and capture him, preparing to kill him. When Barbara arrives and recognizes what's going on, she decides to become Batgirl one more time, to save her father.

Statue 6 - Supergirl - New 52 Covergirls series

Yesterday, my comic-book shop left a message for me.  The brand new Supergirl statue from the DC New 52 Covergirls series had come in, and they wanted to know if I was still interested, and if they should put it aside for me. As anyone who has read this blog could predict, I told them of course!  I hadn't planned to head over to the comic shop today, actually. Even though it is New Comic-book Night, only one book on my pull list was due out this week (Lazarus #4), and I figured it would cost me more in gas to drive there and back (now that I live 40 minutes from the shop) than the cover price of $2.99.  Since I had more issues due out next week, I figured to just wait and pick up Lazarus a week late.

However, knowing that the statue was there, I decided it was worth the trip.  This statue was announced about 5 months ago, and I've been dying to get it ever since.  It's only the second statue ever made of Supergirl in her "New 52" costume. And although that's not exactly my favorite version of her costume, given the display I am planning to make, with one shelf devoted to each of Supergirl's four major incarnations, I figured this would spruce up shelf #4 (the current one).  That's not to say I have all the figures I need yet.  So far, I only have one action figure for original Kara (the "Crisis" uniform, as people call it, with the head band and the red shoulder stripes), and one for Matrix Supergirl (it's not explicitly called that, but it is the proper costume for Peter David's version). I don't have any yet for the second Kara (the one with the bare midriff) -- that is my next assignment.  However, the other thing I like about this statue is that it's a full-sized one, not just a bust or waist-up figure.

My month without the New 52 continues

Back in late spring/early summer, +DC Comics announced "Villain Month" for September -- that instead of publishing their regular issues, they would publish one-shots showing the origins or back-stories of important villains in the New 52 DC Universe (aka. "the DCnU")..  These one-shots were set to have special "3D covers" (thought to me they look like clear plastic with stickers on them), and were clearly designed specifically as a marketing gimmick.  I began to balk at the idea, and then when I heard how DC was screwing over the retailers by playing games with the ordering system, I became so fed up with the whole thing that I swore off of DC's New 52 line of comics for the month.  I've discussed this at length elsewhere, so I won't go into further detail about my dislike for this "event" here.

But along with swearing off DC's mainstream comics for the month, I wanted to make sure that my own retailer in North Carolina was not harmed by my decision. None of this is the comic-shop's fault, and in fact they did everything they could to make all their customers happy with this Villain Month nonsense.  So to help out my retailer, and also to provide me with something to read as well as explore some non-DC options for buying comics, I decided that for me, instead of being "Villain Month," September would be "Independent Month." This month, I will be spending twice as much as I normally spend on DC's New 52 line, but instead of buying New 52 issues, I will buy product from the other companies out there, like Dark Horse, Image, and Dynamite.

Issue Review: Wonder Woman 23

Wonder Woman's team faces down the Firstborn in the middle of a ruined Westminster Abbey.  The Firstborn has an army of bipedal wolf-creatures fighting for him, so Ares summons an army of dead soldiers from ages past to battle on Wonder Woman's side.  As the battle progresses, each team member contributes.  Orion takes on the Firstborn in a knock-down drag-out fight, but loses. Wonder Woman takes off her wrist-bands, unleashing her full power, but is unable to defeat the Firstborn and ends up bruised on the ground.  Ares battles the Firstborn with martial arts skills, but loses as well. As the Firsborn prepares to kill Ares and take his powers as the god of war, Wonder Woman takes a spear and runs both of them through, killing Ares. This keeps the powers from the Firstborn and instead transfers them to Wonder Woman.  As the story concludes, the Firsborn lies on the ground defeated, but not dead, and Hades appears to take Ares to the underworld.

Statue 5: Batgirl - New 52 Covergirls series

Several months ago, I heard about DC's "New 52 Covergirls" line of statues, which includes two of my favorite heroines - Supergirl and Batgirl.  Both of these characters already had "DC Covergirls" statues in the past, featuring older "classic" costumes (I have reviewed the Supergirl version here).  Photos of the new Batgirl statue looked particularly good, with a flowing cape and having her in a great pose ready to throw a "batarang."

Today when I walked into the shop, I saw a box for this statue on one of the shelves -- it had just come in this week.  I was a bit surprised by this, as the DC website says the statue doesn't ship until end of September, but I was not going to argue the point.  I had no comics to pick up this week (I am not buying DC's "Villain Month" issues, and the Indy titles I currently pull at the shop aren't due out until later in the month), and was only at the shop to update my pull list (I added Ghosted and Miss Fury to it), so I decided to go ahead and pick up the statue today.

I have to say, when I took it out of the box, I was very impressed.  Whatever problems I may have with DC editorial and the content of their current New 52 line of comics, I have nothing but favorable comments to make in general about their statues, and in particular about this one.  This is a truly outstanding sculpt of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, with the flowing fiery red hair, the swirling cape, the cocked-and ready batarang, and the deadly serious expression on her face.  She looks every inch the heroine from the comics. The statue is highly detailed and holds up to the closest inspection. The colors are excellent and the proportions look good.

One of the very best features of this statue is the cape.  It flows very nicely and looks realistic.  The way it seems to flutter around her legs is perfect given the position of her body, and provides the illusion of real kineticism.

Overall, this is one really gorgeous statue, and if you like Batgirl at all, or heck if you just like really well-sculpted superhero collectible statues, this one is definitely worth a look.  This is a high quality collectible that will look lovely on the shelf for years to come.  I highly recommend it to anyone who likes items such as this.  Just beware the wallet -- this statue retails for $99.95 + tax.  But it's well worth it, in my opinion.

My score: 10/10

Issue Review: Justice League 23 (New 52)

As the story begins, the Alfred Pennyworth of Earth-3 narrates a summary not just in the Trinity War but events since the start of the Justice League series.  While the JL was battling Darkseid, Alfred-3 escaped his world through the weakened barriers, accompanied by Atom. And while the JL was occuppied fighting normal threats, Alfred-3 was working to bring his master to this earth from Earth-3.  The three JLs, however, are busy fighting over Pandora's box, thanks to the evil leaking out of it. They battle each other in a superhero verison of the old schoolyard game "kill the guy with the ball", until they finally stop as they realize that the box is affecting everyone else mentally but Superman is being affected physically.  Firestorm concludes that there is Kryptonite inside him, and Atom admits that she put it there, inside his brain -- because she is not with the JL, but secretly with the people of Earth-3.  Cyborg's robot parts betray him at this point, and tear themselves away from him to become "Grid," a walking virus.  In the confusion, Alfred-3 grabs the box, which he reveals is from Earth-3, the "birthplace of evil," and the box acts as a portal. He uses it to gate his allies, the "Crime Syndicate" (an evil anti-Justice League from Earth-3) to our world.  Thus the "Trinity War" (Trinity for "Earth 3") ends and the Forever Evil story begins.

New Comic-book night - 8/28

Well, I guess I am going to do another one of these after all.  I will be reviewing many individual issues in the next week, but I wanted to make a comment about my entire haul for the week and why it looks like it does.  This week, as the final week of August, not much new came out, but there were a couple of things I wanted to get my hands on from the previous couple of months, so I got myself down to the shop.  Also, I knew that issue 23 of Justice League was coming out, and that is (for the moment at least) on my pull list.  Below is a picture of the week's haul.

Two of the titles on the left are on my regular pull list (Thor and JL), but the others have not been on it.  I have reviewed the first two issues of Lazarus by Greg Rucka, which I just bought last week, and they were outstanding, so I was very pleased to find issue 3 on the stands already.  This comic is so good that it's already on my pull list (and I haven't even read issue 3 yet).

Issue Review: Worlds' Finest 15 (New 52)

Power Girl hurtles through DeSaad's boom tube in search of her friend Huntress.  She arrives in a bunker-like base, where she battles para-daemons and tries to beat Helena's location out of them. Meanwhile, DeSaad usess a lightning wand to try and extract fear and pain emotions from Helena, which seem to fuel his power.  He realizes Power Girl is in his base, and heads off to confront her, giving Huntress a chance to pick her locks and escape.  Huntress defeats a strong-man slave of DeSaad's and joins Power Girl in the fight against him. But DeSaad says he has extracted what he needs from Power Girl, and uses another boom tube to return them to England.  When they arrive, Power Girl says DeSaad has "screwed up" her powers -- her costume is torn and she is cut and bleeding (both of which should be impossible due to her Kryptonian physique).

Why I'm making September a DC-Free month

Some time ago, +DC Comics announced that this September, their annual "event" for their entire line would be something called "Villain Month."  In September, all 52 comics published by DC will be about the villains rather than about heroes.  So, for example, instead of Justice League being about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, it will be about their arch-nemesis, Darkseid.  Meanwhile, instead of Superman's comic being about him, it  will be about Bizarro.  DC is producing these comics with special "3D" covers.  Additionally, they will be using "decimal" numbering, so that instead of being issue #24 or what have you, we will get issue #23.1, 23.2, and so on.  Thus, issue 23 comes out for most of the original New 52 titles in August, and 24 in October, with the ones in between numbered as fractions.  And finally, not all titles will be published. Lower-tier characters like Batgirl won't be published at all, to make space for multiple versions of the top tier ones like Batman.

All of this adds up to one thing: this is a pure, 100% marketing campaign. It's a giant gimmick.  And as readers of this blog know, I hate gimmicks.  I had already told my comic shop not to put aside any DC titles in September that are normally on my pull list (fortunately, my awesome comic shop was really on the ball about it and has worked with their customers to make sure we are kept happy in the face of this marketing firestorm), figuring that I would "play it by ear."  But the more I hear about this obscene marketing ploy, the uglier it gets.  Now The Outhouse is reporting that DC is basically screwing the retailers over the 3D covers and the retailers are claiming that they're not even sure at this point how many copies of each title they are going to be saddled with.  And so at this point, I've decided that I just can't support DC whatsoever regarding this marketing ruse.

Therefore, in September, I will not be buying any DC comic-books. Period.  Not one.

Is waiting for the trade paperback dangerous?

Back when I started collecting comic-books in 1976(ish), comic-books were only produced in monthly or bi-monthly serialized form.  If you missed an issue, your collection was going to have a gap in it.  There were few, if any, direct-market comic-book shops back then, so you could only buy your issues on the news stand.  And news stands did not hold back-issues -- unsold comics were returned to the publisher for credit (so that the news stand was not on the hook for items that didn't sell).  Back then, in other words, reading every issue in a comic-book series required you to buy every issue as it came out.  This was a significant challenge, and I don't think I had a single friend with a complete collection that lasted more than a handful of issues.  For example, I got interested in Rom: Spaceknight on issue #24.  I picked up #26 and #28 (but missed the odd issues for some reason), and then finally with #30 was devoted enough to the series that I picked up every single issue from #30 to #60 or so.  But although I wanted to read the earlier stories, back then, there was no good way of obtaining them.

By the 1980s, direct-market shops had started to appear in more locations, and it became possible to obtain some older back-issues.  I was able to buy a few of the Rom issues between #1 and #23 (though only about a third of them).  Still at this time, if one wanted to read every story in a series, one had to buy the individual issues.  Thus, the back-issues made this possible, as it had not been before the 1980s, but it was still extremely difficult.

Finally, by the 1990s, the comic-book companies started putting out bound, collected editions of older issues, either as paperbacks or (very rarely) hardcovers.   The most common way for them to do this is with the "trade paperback," or "TPB", which is a softcover collection.  The first trade paperback I ever remember buying was the Batman story, "A Death in the Family" (the original one, wherein Jason Todd was murdered by the Joker).  I had not been wise enough to pull the trigger on the individual issues, believing that the whole thing was just hype, but when I heard that the story was excellent, I bought the TPB.   This was typical of the trend in the 1990s, which was for the companies to collect significant or important storylines (such as the "Great Darkness Saga" from the Legion of Super-Heroes), or else storylines that had sold out in their regular print run, but which were still in demand by the readers ("A Death in the Family" being a good example).

Since the turn of the century, however, comic-book companies have started to put out far more TPBs.  They discovered that TPBs are quite popular with many readers, because the TPB provides the reader with a number of advantages.  First, TPBs usually collect a complete, self-contained storyline (aka. an "arc"), and can be read almost as a stand-alone.  There is no need to track down every issue in the story.  Second, TPBs often provide the reader with significant cost savings (a typical 6-issue arc at $3.99 a pop is $24, but most TPBs collecting six issues are priced at around $19.99). Third, TPBs because they have no value beyond the cover price (they are always reprints, and thus rarely worth anything to serious collectors), make it unnecessary to bother with the usual steps one must take to store and protect individual comics (mylar bags, backing boards, and the like).  And finally, with their square, stiff spines, TPBs can be stored on a bookshelf with no risk of them bending or warping, which saves tons of space over the typical "long boxes" in which individual issues are stored.

For all these reasons, the TPB format has become increasingly popular, and I am certainly a fan of it.  When a friend recommended the Sandman series, for example, it was already over, and each first-print back-issue was rare and valuable. Trying to buy the series as 75 individually priced comics would have cost a small fortune.  The TPBs, however, were readily available, and probably cost a tenth of what the individual back-issues would have cost me.  Thus, I quickly got on board the TPB bandwagon. Many readers feel the same way, and the comic companies have responded.  Most writers now seem to "write for the trades" -- meaning that, since TPBs normally collect 4-8 issues, averaging around 6, most story arcs are written to that length (again, averaging around 6 issues), so that as soon as the arc is done, it can be bound as a collection and sold to those who prefer the TPB format.

Reading through comments on the Google+ Comic-Book Community, I have noticed that many people now only buy TPBs.  They have to wait a bit to get the story, but they are willing to do that for the convenience of all the advantages listed above.

Today, I ask whether "waiting for the TPB" is dangerous, from the standpoint of a character or a series that you like to read.  How can it be dangerous? you ask.  My answer is that, in general, the comic-book companies seem to respond primarily to the sales of individual issues on the stands.  Although I'm sure they are gratified when people buy the TPB collection, the TPB is usually published 6 months after the storyline completes, and since most stories are 6 issues long, that means a TPB will be published a year after the first issue in the arc appeared.  That's a long time in the comic publishing world.

To see why waiting for the trade is dangerous, let's use the example of a current disaster series for DC (in terms of sales): Katana.  The series debuted in February, selling 27,000 print copies the first month.  By April, sales had dropped to 16,000, and by June it was limping along at 13,000.  We also know from recent history that +DC Comics tends to cancel comic-book series that sell less than 20,000 issues per month.  Now, maybe nobody likes Katana and that's why her sales are dropping. But let's imagine for a moment that the 13,000+ people who stopped buying it between issues 1 and 5, decided they liked it, but wanted to "wait for the trade."  The TPB of the first arc won't come out until January 2014 or so.  Meantime, Katana is in the "cancellation red zone" for months.  The risk here is that DC will see slumping sales and cancel the series in July or August, long before the TPB ever comes out.  Even if they put out a TPB of the first story arc in January (which they might not bother to do for a comic that doesn't sell well), and even if the TPB sells like gangbusters, by then, the series may already be canceled and it may be too late to do anything about it.

Don't think it can happen? It already has. Threshold is being canceled as of issue 8. Hawk and Dove was as well.  Justice League International lasted just 1 year.  All of these books were canceled before the first story arc could be collected into a TPB, published, and the sales figures for the TPB could be tallied.

This is why I believe that, if you truly like a comic-book enough to buy it regularly and keep reading it, it's very dangerous to "wait for the trades." I do understand the convenience, and when buying back-issues, I definitely prefer TPBs to individual issues in most cases -- for the lower cost, the lower maintenance, and the convenience.   But if you like a comic and you want it to keep being published, the sales that indicate your feelings won't be tallied until months after the issues are published, and you risk your favorite series being canceled.  The only way to be sure the companies know you are on board with their title is to buy it every month, as it comes out -- and better yet, put it on your pull list, so the store knows to order another copy of it.  Yes, it is less convenient than "waiting for the trade," but is the TPB worth risking the series being canceled?  To me, the answer is "no."

I am not, of course, trying to tell anyone what to do.  If you prefer trades, that's fine.  But you should be aware of the risk you're taking with any series you truly enjoy... Because you may just be one person, but if everyone decides to "wait for the trade," not just you, then the sales may slump so badly the title gets canceled, even though thousands of people actually would buy it next year when the TPB comes out.  So... as with all things... caveat emptor.

New Comic-book Night - 6/19/13

Two items came out on my pull-list today, but only one that I collect in print - Supergirl 21.  The other (Wonder Woman 21), I get via ComiXology and I won't be putting an order in there until the weekend.  My camera and photography equipment are still buried in the pile of stuff that's heaped in my guest bedroom awaiting sorting and organization after my move, and it's only one comic, so once again I didn't take a picture.  I will briefly review Supergirl 21 below.

In the mean time, I got an e-mail from my comic-book shop regarding +DC Comics' "Villain Month" - a month-long interregnum in DC's entire line that will see the villains starring in the various super-books.  The general idea is that each arch-enemy or major villain who fights a given hero will be the star of that hero's book for one month  So, for example, instead of Superman starring in Action Comics, we get Bizzarro or Cyborg Superman or Lex Luthor.

However, this won't be a one-to-one correspondence. DC is still going to put out 52 titles in September during "Villain Month," but not every title will be published. To my knowledge, DC has not publicly admitted the reason for this, which is quite simple -- most of their "B-list" characters don't have an established arch-enemy or rogues' gallery in the New 52 (examples include Batgirl and Supergirl).  The A-listers, however, have many, many arch-foes (examples include Superman and Batman). Therefore, DC is giving the A-listers' series more issues in September in exchange for halting publication of many B-list titles for the month.  As a simple example, there will be four issues of Justice League in September, but none of Supergirl or Batgirl. Because these are not stories about the starring characters (at least, not directly), DC is copying Marvel's asinine "decimal point" numbering system -- JL 23 comes out in August, and 24 in October. So in September? We get JL 23.1, 23.2, 23.3, and 23.4.

Now that we understand what is going on during "Villain Month," I can return to the e-mail my comic shop sent me. Basically, their e-mail says that for the month of September, all DC comics on the pull list are suspended.  They are not, by default, pulling anything for anyone.  Presumably the reasons for this are two-fold.  First, if you "subscribe" (as they call the pull list) to get Justice League, you are technically subscribing to an issue per month.  They can't force you to take four issues in September just because DC decided to change the publication schedule. And second, there's no guarantee that people who signed up to read a monthly comic about Superman, by the Superman creative team, are going to want to buy an issue about Bizzarro, but a totally different creative team.

I was glad to receive this e-mail, because I had already been planning to go down there and ask them to not pull any of the "Villain Month" stuff for me.  But those guys know what they are doing, and they must realize a lot of people won't want to just buy their regular titles as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.  So I have no pull list in September for DC.  I will still, of course, be getting Thor, God of Thunder and Red Sonja, which are not DC titles and therefore are not affected by the pull list changes.

I'll have a lot more to say about "Villain Month" and DC's other events in an upcoming post later this month, but now, on to my mini-review of this month's Supergirl.

Supergirl 21 - Last month, we saw Kara attacked by her own Sanctuary. Supergirl teamed up with her Earth-2 alter-ego Power Girl (also confusingly named Kara) to destroy it.  Now we see her flying through space on a galactic bike, which she has apparently stolen from Dr. Veritas.  Apparently, Kara is still "sick" from Kryptonite poisoning, although other than the statement that this is true, there is no evidence of it in this issue.  Kara finds a planetoid of some sort (from the double-page spread I would guess it is asteroid-sized) that is being attacked by a giant robot. She defends the city and the people thank her. Meanwhile she is being observed by a mysterious guy named "Delacore" who is able to shape-shift. Ultimately Delacore tells her that the whole world is made of a special clay-like material that can change into many other things. To demonstrate, he shape-shifts into a hero of Kryptonian legend.  Kara asks if the whole place could re-create Krypton, and Delacore says it's not really possible. But then the creature behind all this appears -- Cyborg Superman -- and asks Kara if she is really willing to do "anything" to make her wish come true.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting issue.  The art style is rather different, since it is done by Diogenese Neves instead of Mahmud Asrar.  Although I'm not a huge fan of Asrar (his sloppy-looking style has never been one I care for), Neves isn't necessarily an improvement.  The art was OK, but I think Asrar is better with facial expressions.  The storyline of the actual issue was interesting.  However, certain elements of the Kara story are starting to wear thin. For example, the Kryptonite poisoning has been going on since issue 18 now, and it's really enough already.  Superman's been exposed to Kryptonite before, and usually gets better fairly quickly. I don't understand why this "poisoning"being drawn out so much -- Supergirl was not exposed to the green K for all that long.  Additionally, the whole "Kara trying to restore Krypton" thing is wearing even thinner.  Every time it seems like she has finally accepted the fate of her home-world, the writers change their minds hand have her engaged in a hair-brained scheme to bring it back.  I had hoped that at least one good thing to come out of the awful H'el story-line was that Kara would finally accept reality, but here she is again 3 issues later, trying to get a world of shapeshifters to pretend to be Kryptonians.  At some point, she needs to get some closure and start moving forward.

Because the overall story was good and the art was decent, I give this issue an 8/10.  I deducted 2 points for the 2 tired plot elements -- the writers really need to wrap these up and start moving Supergirl forward.

New Comic-book Night - 6/5

Last night was New Comic-book Night.  I only bought one comic, The Movement #2, so I didn't think it was worth posting a picture.  I am also a little short on time this week, because I closed escrow on a house at 2 PM this afternoon.  Hopefully soon I will have some more interesting pictures to share -- about where and how I am storing some of my comics (if I can work out what I am planning).  Thus, I did not bother buying any of the digital stuff that came out this week, and I didn't sample anything or buy any back-issues. Once I get going with my move, I will have more time for that.  In the mean time, I will give a mini-review of the one issue I did buy yesterday.

The Movement #2 - The only reason I started buying this series last month is because it's written by Gail Simone, who is my favorite current comic-book writer. On Batgirl, at least, Gail Simone is inimitable. She has become Barbara Gordon over the years, and writes her with a powerful empathy for the character.  I became so enamored of Simone's writing that I couldn't resist trying The Movement.  However, I found the first issue to be remarkably mediocre (honestly, that's being generous), with characters who I found it difficult to like, and a plot I had trouble following (or, to be honest, caring about).  I hoped that #2 would improve things, but sadly, it did not. So, why am I having such a hard time liking this series?  I think there are two problems.

The biggest problem with The Movement is the characters. I just don't like any of them.  There is nothing sympathetic about them, nothing that makes me want to cheer for them.  They have annoying attitudes, frequently acting like jerks toward one another (and definitely acting like that toward people outside their clique).  They have strange powers that grate on me rather than intriguing me -- especially the rat boy whose big super-power is to summon an infestation of rats against his enemies. Wow, what a cool power. Then there's Burden, whose main superpower is to be possessed by a demon. I'm not sure if these are existing DC characters or made up for the series but either way, they do nothing for me in terms of powers or personality.

The second problem with this series, however, is that I despise the fundamental premise, which at its core is basically pro-anarchy.  Cops are bad -- down with cops. Government is bad -- down with government.  Everyone in authority is bad -- down with authority. Now, I'm as frustrated as the next guy at how inept and abusive our government can often be, especially lately, but that doesn't mean I think we should overthrow it.

Beyond the story/characterization issues in this series, there is the art, which I find sub-par (and again, that's being generous).  Combining sub-par art with characters I dislike and a philosophy I simply cannot embrace, I started to think it may already be time to end my dabbling with this new series.  However, it's Gail Simone, and she has earned some of my trust.  So, I will probably give it one more issue. But if she can't clean things up and make the book (and characters) more likable by the end of #3, I'm done.

My rating for issue 2: 6/10

Have DC and Marvel jumped the shark?

In 1977, a famous episode of the popular TV show Happy Days depicted Henry Winkler's character, "Fonzie," jumping over a shark in water skis.  For a series that had gotten its start depicting events most adults at the time would remember about their youth in the 1950s, this was a rather severe departure.  The stunt was viewed by the show's critics as a shameless attempt to "goose" the ratings, and many people mark that event as the "decline" of Happy Days.

Now, to be fair, Happy Days was a successful enough show that it ran for another seven seasons. But its ratings slowly declined year after year following this event, and many of the original fans felt that the show had lost something.  The shark-jumping episode is seen as an "inflection point" in the show, with higher quality, more "true to form" episodes before it, and increasingly hype-oriented, gimmicky shows following it.

Since that time, many TV shows have followed a similar pattern.  They start out with a certain thematic emphasis, and the show remains good or even improves each year for several seasons. But then, something happens. Maybe the writers run out of ideas. The episodes become flat, stale.  Perhaps people feel they have seen it all before. Ratings begin to decline, and that means the show is not making as much money (from advertisements).  The show's producers need to do something to get people to watch. So they start resorting to gimmickry in the hope that people will tune in to see this new change for the show.  Common changes to TV shows include events like having a new baby, or pretending (and not ironically) whole entire seasons have been "just a dream."

This descent into gimmickry in the desperate attempt to keep viewers tuning in has been named after that famous Happy Days episode.  Whenever a show starts churning out episodes with the express purpose of "getting people to watch," rather than just putting out quality stories, people say it has "jumped the shark."

What does this have to do with +DC Comics and +Marvel Entertainment? Well... everything.

Recently, for example, DC announced "Supervillain Month."  This will be a month where every single title in their line will star the hero's arch-enemy instead of the hero.  Additionally, each comic will sport a "3D effect" cover.  As I read the announcement for this "event," I could only shake my head. They're not even trying to cover up the fact that this is pure and utter gimmickry at this point.  This event is pure hype -- a bare-knuckled attempt to goose their badly slumping sales figures.  Rather than instructing writers to just write really great stories, DC is making its creative teams put out contrived one-shot stories whose only purpose is to sell comics.  This is the very essence of shark jumping.

And let us not pretend that Marvel is any better.  They have multiple "events" going on over there right now, including one that spans the mutant books, and the "Age of Ultron" crossover.  Books that are participating in Age of Ultron have an "AU" after their number (e.g., issue "14 AU") to try and induce readers to buy them for the "crossover content."  Here again, we have the companies attempting to attract readers using gimmicks, rather than just telling quality stories and figuring that quality will sell itself.

And let us not forget both companies' recent penchant for canceling and renumbering series back on issue 1 at the drop of a hat. Everyone knows issue 1 sells the best for any series, because thousands of people will pick up a first issue "just to try it." They may not buy any more, but #1 will get them to sample, and some will stay, and even if no one does, that first issue will make the companies a lot of money just because of its number.  This is yet another contrivance, designed to induce sales because of a numeral printed in the upper or lower corner of the cover, regardless of what is on the inside.

In the meantime, what is actually on the inside is, in many cases, unreadable sewage. Take the Superman Family's H'el on Earth crossover, for example.  Once again, the crossover is pure gimmickry.  The villain (H'el) is utterly contrived and given whatever powers they need him to have so that the entire Justice League plus Superboy and Supergirl can't defeat him.  The trajectory of stories in the Superman Family of books was utterly ignored by the writers.  The story-line was, in a word, awful.  DC seems to have figured that people will buy any issue with a gimmick in it -- again, this is what is meant by the term "jumping the shark."

What can be done about this? Well, that's hard to say. Although many TV shows have limped along for years after jumping the shark, I don't think I've ever known one to recover once the tailspin has begun.  Instead, typically, the show continues to spiral downward, getting worse and worse over time, until one can't bear to watch it any longer.  These shows tend to peter out, with ratings in the toilet during their final season, and everyone sighing with relief when the network finally pulls the plug.

The only other real option seems to be "going out on top." The cast and crew, writers and producers, realize that the show has run its course, that they are out of ideas, and they just stop.  The shows that do this tend not to last as long as the ones that jump the shark, but they also tend to be remembered as the greatest series in television. Examples include the Mary Tyler Moore show (which ended after 7 seasons), the Dick Van Dyke Show (which ended after 5 seasons and coincidentally co-starred Mary Tyler Moore), and Star Trek: The Next Generation (which ended after 7 seasons).  Each of these series produced some of their best work during the final season or two, and each was purposely ended while things were still good, explicitly because the creators did not want to have the show wither and die, to outlive its popularity.

And perhaps that's the real problem.  To keep publishing series long after they have outlived their popularity, there's really no option but to use gimmick after gimmick.  I would argue, however, that if the comics companies have been reduced to such contrivances, it's better to just put the series out of their misery, and let the creative teams replace them with something new, and different, and hopefully fresh and interesting.  I guess what I'm saying here is that I'd rather see them cancel Superman, than keep resorting to hype-oriented gimmicks to keep it afloat.

Either way, I think there isn't any argument about one thing: DC and Marvel have jumped the shark with nearly every series they currently publish.

New Comic-book Night - 5/29/13

It's that time of the week again - and although it's the "5th Wednesday," which often is an extra week that doesn't ship one's typical pull list items, two items that are on my "potential pull list" came out this week.  By "potential pull list," I mean that I am doing what my comic-shop owner calls "sampling." I have not committed to these titles, but have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.  This means either (1) it is simply too early to tell whether the series is good enough to get into long term (this is always true before I've read at least 3 issues, but lasted for 12 full issues with Superman recently), or (2) the series had been too mediocre to be sure I will like it long-term (but is either good enough to keep going on a month-by-month basis, or else something else is compelling me to keep giving it a chance).  The two titles that fell into these categories were +DC Comics'  Justice League of America, which just came out with #4 this month, and thus was "too early to tell," and +Marvel Entertainment's Captain America, which I started collecting because Cap is my favorite Marvel character, but which has been too strange and just plain too poorly written for me to put it on the pull list yet.

Along with these titles, I grabbed another issue of the third Supergirl series -- this was the second of two "New Krypton" crossovers for this series.  These issues appear in the 4-volume TPB Superman: New Krypton, but I have no interest in that story arc, and am only getting the Supergirl issues for completeness.  It was cheaper to just buy the two S-girl issues than to try and get the TPBs, especially since my comic shop doesn't have them (so now I'd have to pay for shipping on top of the TPB cost).

I haven't read Supergirl yet, but I have read JLA and Cap, and I've made a final "pull list decision" about one of them.

Justice League of America #4 - This series has been decent for four months, but also is slightly worrisome because it has been slowly backsliding.  I rated the first issue a 9/10, issues 2-3 8/10, and I only give this one a 7/10.  The art has deteriorated slightly, and the story is becoming tiresome.  The ending, which is supposed to be a cliffhanger, is ridiculous, because it seemingly depicts the death of a major character. This would have perhaps been suspenseful or dramatic, if not for the niggling little detail that the character depicted as dying has a series of his or her own, which is still ongoing.  Obviously this character cannot actually be dead or dying. So why am I supposed to be in suspense about this? The only question I have is how the character can look this "dead" but not actually be.  Also, again in terms of the art, the action sequences are really lame. There is no sense of kineticism or motion in the action panels. They all look like the characters paused in mid-action to pose for the camera.  Also, people's bodies are in very strange, ungainly positions.  So, this comic is staying on the "potential pull list." It hasn't been good enough, long enough, for me to commit to it.

Captain America NOW! #7 - This Marvel NOW! run of Captain America is perhaps the most disappointing series I have ever read in my life.  Captain America is the greatest superhero in the Marvel Universe.  He is one of the greatest superheroes in any universe.  He has always been one of the "weakest" in terms of power level, but that has never stopped him.  And for many years I was a huge fan of his comic, when the late, great Mark Gruenwald was writing it.  This series, however, is nothing like that wonderful run. It is without a significant supporting cast.  The plot is convoluted and strange.  Captain America is brutal and violent, and acts more like Wolverine than like Steve Rogers   His "12 year old" adopted son looks and acts like he's seven.  And the kid is so annoying that threats to him do not affect me, because I would honestly kind of prefer if this kid just died. I'd like it even better if they just retconned this whole psychedelic plot that reads like writer Rick Remender has been smoking some pretty intense hallucinogens before sitting down at his word processor.  I won't even mention the vomit-inducing art of John Romita, Jr., who has been such a horrible penciller for so many decades I cannot understand how the man still gets hired.  I rate this issue 3/10, and that's being generous.

And so with that issue, I have given up on Captain America.  Sorry, Cap. I tried. I really did.  I thought I could stick with it through this story arc and see where Remender is going. I gave it seven issues. But there's no end in sight for this thing, and I am not going to keep giving Marvel Comics money for a story that is so bad I wouldn't line a cat's litter box with it.  Perhaps the most bewildering thing is all the people writing in to say how much they love it.  I can only shake my head.  I can't imagine anyone liking this garbage. But as for me, at least, I'm definitely done.

The Supergirl Homepage

Earlier this year, I began listening to the Kara Zor-El podcast, which is run by +Danny Saab and Andrew Pinkham.  I really enjoyed their podcasts.  They both love the Supergirl character, and had been doing reviews of her current book, which is part of DC's New 52.  After each podcast, I wrote them a long e-mail to follow-up with their on-air conversation.  I held forth on many of the issues I have discussed here on this blog, including the lack of respect DC Editorial has had for Supergirl ever since her death in 1985, and my disdain for the H'el on Earth crossover (which Danny and Andrew share).  And I reminded them of a few similarities between what has been going on now, and what has been done with Supergirl in the past (such as comparing the air-headed crush Matrix Supergirl had on Lex Luthor, to the similarly vacant-headed love the current Kara had toward H'el).

Danny and Andrew read these e-mails on their subsequent podcasts (which was fun) and discussed them. Apparently they liked what they read, because a couple of weeks ago, they made some changes to their website about Kara, and they asked me to be part of it, along with several of their other listeners.  They changed the Kara Zor-El home page to The Supergirl Homepage, so that they could collect in one place all things related to Supergirl (since, to be perfectly accurate, Matrix Supergirl has no place on a website devoted specifically to Kara Zor-El).  They asked me to be one of their contributing authors, and of course, loving Supergirl the way I do, I could not possibly have refused.

My role on the website will be as a reviewer for comic-books involving Supergirl.  They gave me a choice of which comics I wanted to work on, and I opted for The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl.  I will readily admit that the creative team that worked on this book is not my favorite (that distinction goes to Peter David, Gary Frank, and Cam Smith, who worked on the 1996 Matrix-based Supergirl series). However, this version of Supergirl (the original) is my favorite, and so I wanted to work on something related to her.  Therefore, beginning this Friday, I will be writing a weekly review article for the Supergirl Homepage about the 23 issues of The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl (one issue a week).

In addition to that, since I seem to be the only person on the new staff who has access to all of them, I will be reviewing the Supergirl mini-series from 1994, and also her two appearances in Showcase 95 (issues 1 and 2).  The very first of these reviews can be seen here, and I will be adding more as the week progresses.

In the mean time, I am joined by a team of very dedicated fans of Supergirl, including Danny Saab, Andrew Pinkham, Valerie Cotrill, and Stephen Vaughan.  Each of us has taken custody of a particular time period in the Girl of Steel's history, and reviews will be added almost daily to the website.  Soon it will be a vast repository of knowledge pertaining to the greatest super-heroine of all time.

Although this means I will be doing a lot more "review" writing, it will not have any impact on this blog site.  I will continue to post my thoughts on current and past comic-books here as always.   In between times, if you want to read some good articles about comic-books, and in particular if you're interested in learning more about Supergirl, swing by the Supergirl Homepage and check out what they've got going on over there.

The importance of a supporting cast

 Most great works of fiction include a vibrant and memorable cast of characters who play a supporting role to the protagonist or the antagonist.  If you think back to the greatest novels and movies of all time, you will almost certainly find yourself thinking about some characters who were not the stars -- not the main characters -- but who nevertheless had an important role to play in the story.  In fact, some of the supporting characters end up being quite memorable.  Here are a few examples:

• In the Star Wars movies, the two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, play an endearing and important supporting role in all six films.
• The Harry Potter series includes a vast array of popular and lovable supporting characters, including the Weasley children (Fred, George, and Ginny), Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Professor McGonagall, Dobby, and perhaps most memorable of all, Professor Snape.
• Supporting characters play pivotal roles in the Lord of the Rings, including Treebeard, who causes the destruction of Isengard and the downfall of Saruman, and Eowyn, who slays the Witch King of Angmar.

Supporting characters serve a number of roles in any story, but one of the most important is to hold a mirror, or perhaps I should say a magnifying glass, up to the main character.  By this, I mean that we learn a great deal about our main character through the interactions he or she has with the supporting cast. Often, we learn far more from these interactions than we do from the protagonist's conflict with the villain of the piece.  For example, we see Harry Potter's kindness exhibited in his treatment of Dobby (in contrast to how most other wizards treat house-elves).  Clearly, the supporting cast is of critical importance to most fictional stories, and good writers know this and make sure to provide good supporting characters.  

Historically, comic-book writers have known this and have taken great pains to flesh out and develop the supporting cast for each super-hero.  Indeed, many of these supporting characters have become as integral to the heroes as their powers are.  What would a Superman story be, for instance, without Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen?  And can anyone really imagine Batman without also thinking of his butler, Alfred?  And what Iron Man story would be complete without Pepper Potts?

That's why I've been so surprised, since returning to the comics world last December, at how many comic-book series have few, if any, supporting characters, and at how under-developed the supporting cast is, if it even exists at all.  For example, as good as Thor, God of Thunder is, we have seen eight issues now, and there are only three real characters in the story -- all of them Thor.  Captain America has been trapped in a dimension where he and his adoptive "son" are basically alone (for 12 years and 6 issues) against the entire world, leaving him with just the child as a supporting character.  And in 21 issues of Supergirl, there has not yet been one recurring supporting character.

The lack of a good supporting cast is, in my view, a critical flaw in these series.  Supporting characters add so much to a super-hero story that I can't believe writers would make the monumental error of leaving them out.  These characters add depth and soul to a story, and give extra dramatic weight to the decisions the hero has to make.  Supporting characters give the hero someone concrete, someone we know and love, to defend. We care about Lois Lane; we like her; and we want Superman to save her.  Superman's actions thus carry more weight than they would if he is just battling to save an abstraction ("the earth" or "Metropolis" or "innocent people").

Nowhere is the harm that can be done by lack of a good supporting cast more evident than in the current Supergirl series.  As I said above, it has been 21 issues (1-20 plus #0), or almost two years, and in all that time, the writers have not seen fit to include a single supporting character.  Oh, there have been guest stars, including the entire Justice League, Superboy, and the future Silver Banshee. But none of these characters can be considered part of Supergirl's supporting cast.  Instead, the Supergirl series has been all-Kara, all the time.

And as much as I love Kara, having the series be just about her has harmed it in a very serious way.  We have gotten far less insight into the character of Kara Zor-El than we would have if there were some supporting characters with whom she could interact.  We only see what Kara is like under pressure, in combat, trying to just stay alive against powerful enemies.  And although that can reveal some elements of character, the finer revelations of personality and disposition come in the quieter scenes. And the really important choices happen when people both the reader and the heroine care about are involved. So far, we have none of that in this new Supergirl series.

Contrast this dearth of supporting characters in the New 52 Supergirl with the supporting cast of the third Supergirl series, penned by Peter David in the 1990s.  

Peter David's Supergirl had an extremely strong supporting cast that included Linda/Supergirl's best friend, medical resident Maddie Hayes, Leesburg reporter Cutter Sharpe, Linda's boyfriend Dick Malverne, Linda's parents Fred and Sylvia Danvers, Wally the "God-boy," and horse-like hero Comet.  Except for Comet, all these characters appear in the very first few issues of David's Supergirl run, and they are seen frequently.  They interact with Supergirl and with each other, and serve multiple purposes in the story. 

First, the supporting cast adds some comic relief.  In particular, Cutter and Maddie engage in a frequently hilarious relationship that will leave the reader smiling. Second, they help Peter David raise the level of suspense, because they give him side stories to which he can cut, interrupting the main action of the book. Thus, he can get Supergirl into a suspenseful mini-cliffhanger within an issue, and then cut to Cutter and Maddie having a lovers' quarrel, making you want to turn the pages and see what happens back in the Supergirl storyline.  Third, they add weight to the choices Supergirl has to make.  It's not just "the people of Leesburg" who are endangered, but Linda/Supergirl's mother and father who are threatened.

Because David makes good use of supporting characters, he can also tell emotionally and intellectually deep stories.  For example, issue 23 tells the story of a white supremacist who is scheduled to speak at Leesburg University.  The minority students protest this speech, and try to get the university to shut it down.  Maddie Hayes, who is African American, is part of this group. On the other side are those who believe in freedom of speech no matter how hateful the words may be, and this side includes Maddie's boyfriend, Cutter, who as a reporter holds the First Amendment sacred.  Linda/Supergirl is friends with both of these characters, and ends up caught in the middle. The inclusion of supporting characters in the debate transforms Supergirl's choice from an academic question of free speech, into an emotionally charged dilemma where she has to choose between two of her best friends.  This story is compelling and powerful because of the involvement of the supporting characters. Without them, it would have had no teeth. 

This is one example of why supporting characters are critically important to any story, but there are many others that could be invoked from the comic-book series of the past.  Supporting characters make the story better; they make it more impactful; and they raise the emotional ante.  Without them, all those things are lost, and we end up with a comic-book that is just about super-fights.  And without the emotional jolt provided by including supporting characters, even the super-fights become rather empty.

I've been back to reading comics for six months now, and I've read a fair few since my return (I'd estimate over 200).  Throughout this time, I've felt that something is missing from today's comics.  I've been struggling to figure out exactly what.  I suspect a lot of things are to blame, but probably the biggest one is the lack of a solid supporting cast for many of the series on the market today.  They can still have good stories and can still be interesting, but the emotional impact will always be lower without a supporting cast.  And it also becomes harder to relate to a super-hero, if there aren't any normal people around him or her with whom we can identify.

Supergirl, in particular, has been struggling to find her way in this New 52.  Her character still has not really been established yet (except that we know she has a very hot temper and can fly into super-powered rages at pretty much the drop of a hat).  We know so little about her as a person -- as a human being.  We know far less about her in 21 issues than we knew about the Linda Danvers character in the first nine-issue story arc of Peter David's run.  And why?  I submit the main reason is that the New 52 Supergirl hasn't had any supporting characters with whom she can interact. So we only see her temper, because we only see the "action" -- the fight scenes.

This over-dependence on action is not making comic-books better. It's making them worse -- because it's hamstringing the writer's ability to provide depth and complexity to the stories, and it's removing the traditional primary source of emotion and humanity -- the supporting cast.  If DC and Marvel know what's good for them, they'll bring back supporting characters in a big way -- and ASAP.

So they CAN still make comics like they used to...

The last time I seriously collected a comic-book put out by +Marvel Entertainment was way back in 1991, when they were still called "Marvel Comics."  I had slowly given up on my Marvel comics, and switched one by one to DC.  The last hold-out, in 1991, was Captain America.  After I stopped buying that title, for 22 years, I did not touch a Marvel comic-book.

Then, a few months ago, having loved the Avengers movie, and just gotten back into collecting comics, I tried Avengers Assemble. It was terrible, and after four issues I gave up.  A couple of weeks ago, having heard good things about some of the Marvel NOW! titles, and having gotten rather fed up with most of the sewage being passed off as "comic-books" by +DC Comics, I decided I would go ahead and try Marvel again.  I started with Captain America #1-6, about which I'm ambivalent. The story is odd, and the choice of having Cap age 12 years between issues 2 and 3 is going to be trouble in the long run.  I usually know after 6 issues whether I want to put a comic on my pull list or not, but I'm still reserving judgment on Captain America.  I'm leaning toward not putting it on, and it's going to have to get dramatically better by the end of this first story-line to prevent that.

I thought that might be the end of a very brief, probably misguided, attempt at re-acquainting myself with the Marvel Universe.  Two attempted series, one a dud, the other highly questionable. I decided to give Marvel one more try, this time with the Marvel NOW! version of Thor -- Thor, God of Thunder.  I'd heard good things about it from several people, and I've always liked Thor.  The comic shop had all 8 issues still out on the "current" shelves, so I didn't have to pay inflated "back issue" prices for it.  Picked it up on Wednesday, and started reading it... and could not stop. Within 24 hours I had devoured all 8 issues.  What a gem this title is.

By any metric of measurement, Thor, God of Thunder is sequential story-telling at its best.  The story-line is broad and sweeping, yet still delves deeply into character.  The dialogue rings true -- a difficult task with the normally stilted, old-fashioned speech patterns of Thor.  The art, although stylized, is exceptionally good and appropriate to the story-line -- moody, but with a surrealist quality to it.  The panels look almost like oil paintings rather than pencil-and-ink drawings.  As I say, just these characteristics alone would make Thor, God of Thunder a good read.

However, what struck me the most as I was reading these eight first issues of Thor, God of Thunder was just how much this sweeping, epic story-line reminds me of another great Thor story-line -- the one by Walt Simonson back in the 1980s.  Like Simonson before him, Aaron has delved deeply into the mythology of the Marvel Universe, creating new elements to it that feel like they have been there forever, while simultaneously drawing on older material that has been around since Marvel's inception.  Beyond this, the series has remained, at least for the first eight books, almost completely independent of the Marvel Universe (other than a brief cameo by Iron Man, you wouldn't even know this title shares that universe).  It can be read completely on its own.

One really important feature that reminds me of the old days, however, is not the story nor the art, but rather, the fact that this series (and apparently all Marvel titles) still has a letter column!  For regular readers of this blog, you know that I have complained vociferously about the lack of a lettercol in current DC titles.  Well, Marvel still prints letters in the back of their comics (well, e-mails... but it's the same thing), and they answer the letters as well.  How refreshing it's been to read those letters.  And how connected it makes me feel to the other comic-book fans -- much more so than the so-called "social media" do.  I'm not sure why that is, but it does.  In each issue there's a letter by someone like me, who hasn't been reading comics, or Marvel, for years (or maybe ever), and decided, for one reason or another, to pick up Thor, God of Thunder and give it a try.

What I love about the lettercols is that they allow writer Jason Aaron to respond directly to readers, and tell us what is on his mind.  He explains what he is thinking, hints at what he is planning.  And best of all, in issue 5, when a reader complained briefly about the Iron Man cameo and said he doesn't want a bunch of guest-stars and crossovers in this title, Aaron responded as follows:

That shared universe is one of the hallmarks of the House of Ideas. But I also want Thor to be a series you can continue to read and enjoy even if you're not following the overall thread of the Marvel U, though at the same time feeling big enough to be relevant to that universe as a whole. In other words, I wanna do big, epic Thor stories that anyone can enjoy.

This is what comics used to be like.  The shared universe was a backdrop, years ago, not an excuse to try and force people to buy every title in the line.

Another thing that seems readily apparent from both the way the story unfolds and the answers Aaron gives in the lettercol, is that, on Thor, God of Thunder, the writer is in control of the plot. Although I'm sure the editor has a say in the book's direction, there is no doubt who is in charge here.  Marvel seems willing to let Aaron, and presumably its other writers, do what they're supposed to -- write stories.

Between the sweeping, high-quality story, solid artwork, lettercols in every issue, and the writer's ability to control the story-line, I really felt, reading these eight first issues of Thor, God of Thunder, as if I'd gone back in time 25 years, to the days when comics were truly great, and high quality was the rule in both major comics companies, rather than the exception it's become today.  Since coming back to comics, with a few rare exceptions (Red Sonja, Batgirl), I had been wondering if they could even make comics like they used to.  Here, we have the answer... yes, they still can.  Thor, God of Thunder, is one such book.

Now, don't get me wrong.  The actual specific story is not like one would have read in the 1980s... it would have been far too violent and bloody, and the old Comics Code Authority would never have allowed it.  However, although the plot is modern and far more adult than the stories in those days, it is executed like they did back in the day -- executed the way the greats like Simonson, Perez, Wolfman, Mantlo, and Levitz used to do it all those years ago.

Kudos to the creative team.  Thor, God of Thunder is the first Marvel comic to officially make it onto my long-term pull list in 22 years.