I’m probably not your typical comic convention goer. I rarely go to the panels and I don’t have much to say to the big name professionals. I figure that I can find more news online than I’ll ever get at a panel, and as for talking to the pros, well I really don’t have much to say. That is I don’t have much that I can say in 30 seconds and not sound like a jerk. I do like to talk to some of the independent creators as they are generally more able to take the time to have a conversation.

So if I don’t like panels and I don’t talk to the pros, what do I go to a con for? That’s easy. The dealers room.

I love looking at, or even better, buying old comics. There is nothing like the feeling of being surrounded by tens of thousands of pages of newsprint all covered in super hero goodness. That’s getting to be a bit of a problem though as I’ve been collecting comics for around 30 years. The simple fact is that I have most of the books that have come out since the early 1970s that I’m interested in – at least the ones from DC or Marvel. That leaves either pre-1970s books or independents.

As most comic collectors know, as soon as you get to books that came out before 1970 prices start to go up quickly. There are a few series for which I’m willing to pay those prices, but not too many. Currently those include the Legion’s run in Adventure Comics and the original Teen Titans. For other books from this era I can only afford reading copies. I refer to these as my A list and B list, in that order.

When I’ve spent as much as I’ve allocated, or run out of things to buy from those lists, I move down to my C and D lists. My C list generally consists of books from the last 10 years or so that I somehow missed or had to skip for financial reasons. My D list is stuff that I don’t even know that I want.

The San Diego Comic Con is my main convention every year. This is true mostly because I happen to live near San Diego. It’s big. It’s generally convenient, and up until the last couple of years, it’s had what I wanted. I say up until the last couple of years because somewhere in that time span it changed. Now, instead of being a comic book convention it’s transformed into a media convention.

I’m not really interested in a media convention. While the dealer’s room has grown ever bigger, the amount of space given to actual comics has decreased every year, and nearly every year I’ve over-heard at least one or two dealers saying that they won’t be back. This is why I’ve started to branch out to other cons.

Last summer I went up to the Alternate Press Expo (A.P.E) in San Francisco. Having never been there I was hoping to find a lot of the smaller publishers. I did, but they were smaller than I’d hoped. Fortunately S.F. is a fun city all by itself so the trip wasn’t completely wasted.

So we finally get back to what started this rather long post. Wizard World L.A. Maybe I was expecting too much. I was hoping for a good sized dealer’s room devoted to mostly comics, instead I found maybe 20 dealers, and that’s probably being generous. Frankly I saw more dealers at local weekend conventions in the 1990s. I was disappointed to say the least.

Still, I had spent and hour and a half on the road to get there, so I tried to make the best of it. A quick once through showed me I’d have to dig to find anything, so dig I did.

From my A list I found one book. Teen Titans #26 in VF+ to NM- condition. Oh well, I moved to my B list where I had a bit more luck. An early Captain America, a couple of Jimmy Olsens, a Lois Lane, and three World’s Finests. Not bad, not what I’d hoped for, but not terrible either. It was time to hit the dollar tables and lists C and D.

A Justice League Adventures, a Batman Strikes, The Phantom #1 from Moonstone, 17 issues of the Savage Dragon, 4 issues of Invincible, 7 Manhunters, a Wonder Woman and two issues of the current Captain America series. Now this was more like it. Somewhere in there I also hit the treasure trove, 27 issues of the Justice Machine, but I’ll get back to that in a moment.

I did run into the writer of Bizarre New World, Skipper Martin, and gave him a little crap. Regular readers of this column will remember that I rather liked his first mini-series and gave it a good review. As a reward for that he sent me a preview copy of his new one-shot. I gave that a good review as well. Really, it’s good, you should buy it. So why did I give him crap? He linked to my review and spelled my name wrong, not once, but TWICE! He was suitable embarrassed when I introduced myself. Nice guy. Buy his book!

I also ran into one of the creators of Necessary Evil, another under-appreciated book from Desperado, and the colorist known as Moose! who was selling prints of Gary Frank Green Lantern art. I picked up one that had Hal, John, Kyle, and Guy charging up. Nice stuff.

So back to the treasure trove. Justice Machine. I’ll try and post more about this later as it deserves a full review, but for now I’ll just say that this was a great little series, at least what I’ve read so far, and it was almost enough by itself to have made going to this con worthwhile.

So all in all while Wizard World L.A. didn’t live up to expectations, it wasn’t the world’s worst con either. I managed to pick up some good books and met a couple of cool people. I’ll keep an eye on it and maybe try it again in a few years.

Keith

Well the writer/creator, Skipper Martin, apparently liked what I had to say because last week he sent me a preview copy of his new one shot, Bizarre New World: Population Explosion. My one word review?

Wow!

Now please understand that while I’m quite happy that someone thought enough of my scribblings to send me something of theirs to review, those freebies won’t influence my opinion. If I thought the book was crap I wouldn’t review it. If it was just okay, I’d say so and try to give some constructive criticism. This book wasn’t crap. This book wasn’t just okay. This book was great! In all honesty this was one of the most fun and best written books I’ve read in quite awhile.

At the start of the first mini-series Paul was the only person who could fly, by the time it ended, the whole world was taking to the sky. This story picks up from there. I don’t want to give too much away, because you really should read it for yourself, so I’ll just say that:

- The characters are all very believable.

- The art is well done.

- Paul gets a costume, but it’s not what you think.

- Although he would probably deny that he is one, Paul acts very much like a hero is supposed to.

If you like super-hero comics, if you like fun comics, heck, if you just like good stories, go to your local comic book store now and tell them to get you a copy of this book. It was in the February issue of Previews so it should be on the stands in April.

Order it now.

You won’t be sorry.

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I first met Mr. Hamilton at the San Diego Comic Con where he had a small booth. He was both pleasant and passionate as he tried to sell me his labor of love. With a title like “Return of the Super Pimps” I had to give it a try. I picked up the first three issues and promptly forgot about them. Six months later, I found them on the bottom of my to be read pile. I wish I had found them sooner.

In one way I’m glad I waited. As it turned out, by the time I finished those three issues the fourth was just coming out. That meant I had one more issue to enjoy. It was the best of the bunch.

Super Pimps is as silly a book as you’d expect it to be from the title. It features practically every cliche you could think of from the black exploitation films of the 1970s, but it does so with a lot of heart.

The story goes that the man who would one day be the Super Pimp known as Blackbeard grew up in the Hood. As the descendant of the biblical Samson he found he had super powers. At first he took the easy way and turned to a life of crime, but he as he found others that had amazing abilities, they realized that they could become a force for good. Giving up crime, they became the Super Pimps.

The series actually takes place years later when the characters are coming out of retirement to defeat one of their old foes. I’d like to see them stick around so that I can see them fight such dastardly villains as Honkey Kong, The Mo-Foe, or One Bad Mutha.

All in all, Super Pimps is a fun book. If you don’t take your super-heroes too seriously, give it a try.

Return of the Super Pimps
Dial “C” For Comics
$2.99

The thing about comics, and super-hero comics in particular, is that they tell stories where the hero always wins. No matter the odds, no matter how fearsome the villains, no matter the consequences, the hero always, ALWAYS, beats the bad guys and saves the day. He does this not for money, not for fame, and not because it’s the easy thing to do. He does this because it’s the right thing to do.

Until now.

Until Amazing Spider-Man #545.

Until Joe Quesada, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, decided that today, Spider-Man was going to act completely out of character and make a deal with the Devil.

Why did he do this? What reason are we given for Peter going against everything he ever stood for and making a deal with the devil? It wasn’t to save the life of his Aunt who’s been on death’s door for years and was, in fact, dead long ago before being brought back by another poor editorial decision. No, Peter made the deal because he couldn’t live with himself because it was his fault that she was dying. It was his fault because he was stupid enough to unmask in Civil War and his Aunt was shot as a result.

As a 43 year old fan I could talk about how I’ve grown up with Peter Parker and how I’m against any story that tries to alter the character’s history both arbitrarily and through a deus ex machina.

If I was religious I could talk about how nothing good can come out of making a deal with the devil.

I could talk about how incredibly short-sighted it is for an editor, or a corporation to undo a long standing marriage and forcibly restrict the growth of a character in some misguided attempt to make him more accessible to a younger audience. A younger audience who has largely never known the character to be unmarried.

I could talk about all of that and more, but I won’t.

Instead I’ll simply say that I don’t like this story.

The Peter Parker I’ve grown up with would never, Never, NEVER sell out to the devil. Period.

I’ll be amazed if this storyline isn’t undone within the next six months.

I waited more than 10 years for Hal Jordan to be vindicated. I don’t think I’ll have to wait that long for Spider-Man.

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The issue starts off with a younger Batman than we usually see. Its been 42 weeks since he began wearing the costume and he’s reflecting on what he’s accomplished. With a nod to Batman Begins, he reveals that the crime rate in Gotham has dropped to the point that he finally feels that what he’s doing is having an effect. This feeling is amplified when he takes down a major drug supplier.

Of course it can’t last.

Bruce goes out to celebrate his recent victory by visiting a museum. Here we get an all too infrequent look at the human side of Bruce Wayne. He meets a rather pleasant woman and makes a date with her. Later, while he’s on patrol, he even cracks a smile.

This is a very human Batman. A Batman that we haven’t really seen much in the last few years, what with Gotham being nearly destroyed, a Robin dieing and another one returning from the grave during yet another Crisis. This is a Batman that hasn’t felt all of that pain yet. A Batman that is still learning. He has much to learn.

We cut to a crime scene. Someone’s broken into a diamond store and killed the employees using highly skilled methods. The odd thing is that they didn’t take anything. The victims are normal people with no ties to crime. Batman can’t figure it out.

While Batman is failing to turn up any leads, the story cuts to a bar where we meet “Jack”. Jack isn’t happy with his life. He reluctantly allows a waitress to drag out his story. It seems that Jack is very very good at his job, but he gets no satisfaction from it. He recently started a job and just walked away without finishing it because it was too easy. He’s thinking that he should just quit. The waitress convinces him to give it one more try.

The citizens of Gotham will never forgive this waitress. While she meant well, and in other circumstances would have been doing exactly the right thing, this time she has unintentionally helped to start the career of the worst nightmare Gotham will ever have.

Jack tries one more job. It’s a bank holdup and it’s going too well for him. Like everything else it’s just too easy. He trips the alarm and enjoys himself momentarily when the police show up and start a gun battle. The enjoyment doesn’t last however, and he’s about to give up, to let himself be shot, when in comes the Batman.

We leave Jack as he watches Batman put a hurt on his gang. He thinks our caped crusader looks ridiculous, but there is a gleam in Jack’s eye and we know that he has found what he wants out of life.

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This is a story that we haven’t really seen before in this depth. It is the origin of that demented maniac, the Joker. If the rest of the story is as well done as this first issue, it could well become the definitive origin.

So far I’m liking this a lot. In fact I like it so much that I think that this is how the next Batman movie should be handled. We should see sides of the character that comic fans have long enjoyed, but movie fans have not seen. Batman the detective. Batman the fallible. Batman the human.

I look forward to seeing how this plays out in the next few issues.

I don’t usually post spoiler alerts, but I will this time. Do NOT read beyond the break if you’re a DC fanboy like I am and you haven’t yet read this issue! I’m not kidding!

Sinestro is loose and he’s out to change the universe. For the first time Geoff Johns takes us inside the renegade Green Lantern’s head. He doesn’t see himself as a villain. He thinks he’s bringing order to the universe. A chilling oath gives us much insight:

In Blackest Day

In Brightest Night

Beware your fears made into light

Let those who try to stop what’s right

Burn like my power

Sinestro’s Might!

To accomplish his goal Sinestro recruits a little help. He’s already killed the Weaponeers of Quard, now he goes after, and gets, Kyle Rainer – who he turns into Parallax. If that wasn’t enough, after a devastating attack on OA, his Sinestro Corps frees and returns with the Cyborg Superman and the Earth-Prime Superboy. Yeah, the pre-crisis power level Superboy who can move planets with his pinkie!

Feeling scared yet? You will when you find out that’s he’s delivering this army to the Anti-Monitor!

I’m sure all of this makes little sense to anyone who is only a casual fan of the DC Universe, but to those of us that live and breath this stuff, this is big. This group has enough power to actually defeat the Green Lantern Corps and the rest of the heroes of DC all put together.

If this story maintains even half of this intensity, it should be a doosey! I feel like a kid again.

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Issue 17 is the first of the three part “Invisible Children” storyline. Fact blends with fiction here as Mike Bullock tries to both bring awareness of the thousands of children in Northern Uganda who have been abducted, beaten, and forced to kill or be killed, and at the same time tell an interesting story. I hope he succeeds with the former, he’s certainly done so with the latter.

I’m only vaguely aware of the history of the Phantom, I saw the movie from a couple of years ago but that’s about it, but he seems to be kind of a jungle version of the Batman. To be fair, the Phantom came first. This story presents him as a very scary adversary who pops up out of nowhere to terrorize those that would commit evil.

The writing is nothing short of excellent and the art by Silvestre Szilagyi is well done. My only suggestion to the colorist would be to not be afraid to go darker. Some of the scenes seemed to me to be a little brightly lit for night time in the jungle.

Ignoring the message, this was a very good comic. But don’t ignore the message. If you can help, buy the B cover and Moonstone will donate a portion of the proceeds to help these very real “Invisible Children”. If you want to do even more check out http://www.invisiblechildren.com.

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The book is written in an early Marvel style with lots of action. While it would have been nice to have read the first three issues, I didn’t feel lost. Joe Martino, the writer, does a nice job of bringing late comers like me up to date without stopping the action. Not an easy task when he’s also introducing at least a half-a-dozen characters. It was a fun read.

The cover by Paul Ryan and Ian Sokoliwski is great. The interior art shows good layout and storytelling, but otherwise seems a bit amateurish. The costume for the main character is wonderful. I just wish they had chosen more colorful tones than gray and black.

Published by Arcana and JGM Comics, this four issue mini is worth a look.

Published by Dynamite Entertainment, this long delayed graphic novel, it was originally scheduled for last year, has been worth the wait. It picks up directly from the earlier Cosmic Guard mini-series and continues the story of Ray Torres, a young orphan who is chosen to be the latest Comic Guardian.

This book is better than the mini-series in many ways. First, the art is better. At times the mini-series seemed rushed to me. I felt like Starlin was trying too hard to draw in a manga style. While there is some of that here, it feels like he’s come to terms with it and made it work for him. It also doesn’t hurt that more of the story takes place in a sci-fi environment where Starlin seems more comfortable.

The story is not overly complicated, but it is fun. Ray Torres goes through a lot here and I can feel his pain, especially in the last chapter when he finally meets his birth mother for the first time.

I hope that this is just the beginning of a series of books featuring these characters as I quite enjoyed both them, and the format of this book. 144 pages is enough to give the reader a satisfying chuck that justifies the book’s $19.99 price tag.

Published by Ape Entertainment, Bizarre New World is a three issue miniseries based on the premise, what would happen if an ordinary guy, in an ordinary world, suddenly gained the power to fly? Issue one was marvelous. Both funny and fun, without being silly. Issue two is not quite as good, but it is still very good.

Skipper Martin does an excellent job with the writing. He has a knack for creating believable, humorous, dialog, while at the same time taking his world and his characters seriously. Initially I feared that this would be yet another parody of super-heroes, but it’s not. Instead it’s fun.

The only part of this second issue that I thought was perhaps a little dry was when he has his main character ask a bunch of engineers to try and come up with an explanation for how a human could fly. The explanations were fun, but the scene goes on for three pages when two would have been enough. This is really a minor quibble though for what was a very enjoyable issue.

Often in small press books the art is lacking. That is not the case here. Christopher Provencher does an excellent job on the pencils as does Wes Dzioba on the coloring and lettering.

There is also a second story in this issue written and drawn by Tone Rodriquez which is nothing short of charming.

If you like slice of life stories with a twist, you should definitely give this book a try.