Heydi-hey, comic book heads…sorry it took me an extra week to come atcha with this edition of…

…but with all the speculation and questions that followed the big, honkin’ breaking news of Disney’s intent to buy Marvel Comics, I think I needed a little time to wait and see what I actually felt like discussing. And then DC had an announcement of their own, and for a second there, it was like “oh, for the love of…”

It sure looks like the Big Two are all set to become even bigger, and I’m not sure if I’m okay with that. Well, I can’t really say anything about DC, because they got all big time before I cared to read up on that kind of news. (If anything, I hope there’s room in their “restructuring” agenda to quit jerking around with the Milestone imprint. Just sayin’.) So in all honesty, their announcement doesn’t affect my perception of their comics as much as the Disney/Marvel move does.

I mean, I just don’t get it…Disney wants to compete in a demographic that they feel they’re lagging behind in, so they…buy a major comic book publisher? That seem a little like overkill to anybody else? In a time when we’re being hammered repeatedly with the notion that we are living in harsh economic times, doesn’t this seem a little like the kind of money-driven excess that we should be done with in this day and age? Why wasn’t a licensing deal enough? It just doesn’t make sense to me; it’s like having a problem with loiterers on your property, so you call in an airstrike. Was that really necessary? Really?

It smacks of Vince McMahon buying World Championship Wrestling. Or when the New York Yankees decided that they wanted a new stadium. I just fail to see the necessity, and in the case of the previous two, I found myself disappointed with professional wrestling and Yankees baseball as a result, and consequentially, not as interested in either as I used to be. I’d rather that didn’t happen with my mainstream superhero comics, or the desire to write for Marvel that I’ve had for fifteen years now. And just thinking of the deal happening is already affecting how I feel about the Marvel product. Doesn’t mean I’m suddenly boycotting all Marvel comics - It’s not CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN’s fault that this deal went into motion smack-dab in the middle of their story – but I’m just sayin’, here…

But as this article regarding Jack Kirby’s next of kin points out, there is still much to do before the Disney/Marvel deal is finalized: “As the [New York] Times reports points out, Disney’s acquisition of Marvel is far from a done deal and must still be approved by Marvel shareholders. Wall Street is apparently already speculating that due to a complicated array of various rights agreements, shareholders may worry that Disney will face difficulty immediately exploiting Marvel’s most valuable intellectual property. ” I guess I can always keep my fingers crossed that this deal could potentially fall through in the end - if only so it can stop messing with my head.

So there you have it. I wrestled with it for two weeks, and I gotta come clean: I don’t like that Disney wants to buy Marvel Comics, I don’t want it to happen, and for what one comic fan’s opinion is worth, I hope it ultimately doesn’t happen. I just don’t think I want more Marvel characters on my TV that badly. Maybe I’ll get over this stance, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Okay, now that I’ve cleared away that bit of mental blockage, I think I can get to talking about topics related to actual comic book content!

Seeing this image on NEWSARAMA.com recently…

…I gotta say kind of intrigued me. I don’t know if it intrigued me enough to buy it, but it has my attention in that good, “Ooh, I wonder what’s going on over here!” sort of way that comics so rarely do for me nowadays. In fact, it kind of reminded me of this:

I mean, I didn’t think I’d buy into this incarnation of Avengers after getting an all-star lineup featuring Marvel’s Big Three, but I went with it anyway, and I wasn’t sorry. I really gotta give DC credit on this one; I haven’t been reading JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA since it’s previous incarnation as JLA. And this image certainly has got me wondering…

For those of you who are well versed in matters pertaining to a certain editorially kidnapped wall-crawler, the “big” five-part  follow-up to THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN* #600 probably had more strangers in it than just the red-headed variety. The story, speaking only for myself of course is so beneath mention – mischaracterization is rampant on top of that underlying current of revulsion that NO GOOD REASON continues to represent – so what I think I’m going to do here and perhaps in future columns whenever I feel like discussing Spider-Man related news, is focus instead on the memory of the real Peter & Mary Jane, and keep that alive; at least til they find their own way back home, so to speak…

Yeah…if I have to pick a kitchen make-out scene, this’ll do just fine.

Special thanks to fellow Delta “rzerox21xx” for showing me another way to cope…

And as you already know, I can’t say enough about ATOMIC ROBO, so I’m not gonna even try this time. So from ATOMIC ROBO & THE SHADOW FROM BEYOND TIME #5 (of 5), I present the following pages. Just enjoy, damn you.

I love this comic book so much. I wish Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener and company more success than they can stand. That’s about all I can say at this point. This comic book rules all things, and you should really, really be reading it.

The latest COMIC CRITICS raises a pretty interesting point, don’t you think?

"Vigilante career advancement" - Sept. 16, 2009

Okay, granted I don’t think Bucky-Cap technically is the leader of that specific branch of Avengers…and Lady Bullseye wasn’t technically the leader of the Hand, but was vying for the position herself…and Matt’s takeover of the Hand was executed a billion times better than when he declared himself the new Kingpin…but YOU get the idea, just laugh already!

And now, we come to our next CHI-TOWN SHOUT OUT, which goes out to George Adamczyk!

George was a tall, lanky Chicago native that I ran into in Artist’s Alley, who’s a big fan of THE FAR SIDE and has a little comic strip he’s working on called SCAPEGOATMAN, which is based on the adventures of the fabled Wrigley Field Billy Goat. He’s also the man I have to thank for my 2010 calendar…

I like little things like these, that add a touch of the fantastic or the mystical to spice up the mundanity of our everyday lives. And the thought of some funky magical creatures being responsible of our modern day annoyances and foibles just amused me to no end.

It’s a great little idea and I hope George is able to see it take off. Something like this would be great not just on a calendar, but dare I say a coffee mug or a refrigerator magnet? Why not – I’d buy it…

When I left off with him at the end of the day he mentioned plans to be at the Baltimore ComiCon, which sadly I’m going to miss out on due to other responsibilities at home. But if you’re planning on being there, by all means look for him and buy a calendar off of him – he more than deserves it!

Aaaaand with that we are done with today’s edition – til next time comic book heads, I am Greg Manuel, and I’m just sayin’, is all…

Tags: Atomic Robo & The Shadow From Beyond Time #5, Chi-Town Shout Outs, comiccritics.com, Commentary, DC Entertainment, Disney/Marvel, George Adamczyk, Greg Manuel, I'm Just Sayin'..., JLA, Justice League of America, Spider-Man, Spider-Man: NO GOOD REASON