Hickman’s is the only one I’ve done, and there’s been very little comics thus far. If seeing a behind the scenes of Hickman and friends developing a world that’ll eventually have a bunch of comics is appealing to you, go for it. Some neat content there. But, if you’re just explicitly looking to read new Hickman comics, you might wanna wait ‘til there’s a lot more momentum on that front before spending that money, lol.
When Andy Warhol said, “Art is what you can get away with,” I think this is what he meant. Absolutely ludicrous in the best way.
Crossover 11 was wild. Crossover 12 will be even more wild. I can only hope this leads to Spawn eventually showing up, or some or the Invincible characters.
Stephen Wacker Joins Jonathan Hickman's 3 Worlds, 3 Moons Substack Project This is a wild development. Stephen Wacker was a big part of Marvel for 15 years, editing a ton of Amazing Spider-Man comics (Brand New Day was largely him) and Fraction’s Hawkeye. I believe he was active in Kamala Khan Ms Marvel becoming a thing? His current role was heading up digital content. I’d kinda lost the thread on the 3W3M output, but Hickman and company sniping a major long time Marvel employee has me really intrigued and excited about their future. Maybe I will continue my subscription after the first year after all…
Yeah you see I’m interested in that stuff but not to the point where I want to add yet another €7 monthly subscription. Same with Tynion, King, and Zdarsky. I’m very interested in reading their stuff and anything around that but not to the point of actually subscribing yet. Maybe when it all matures a little I’ll hop in because first and foremost I want to read comics and €7 a month doesn’t really show much value. I also wish discovery and find-ability was better and clearer because holy hell it’s hard to find information about any of this stuff. Oh god, the 3W3M feed isn’t even sorted chronologically
I am still figuring this out but King's appears to be free and the paid subscription is only for the extra stuff? That's pretty cool. He's probably the only person I would subscribe to at this point, specifically because I don't like reading digital and I already spend roughly $40 a week on new issues.
Steve Orlando writing a 2099 story is pretty perfect, tbh. Also, we are now as removed from the debut of Spider-Man 2099 as we were from the debut of the original Spidey when 2099 had its debut, and I don’t know what to do with that knowledge.
Finished the first run of Silk. I loved it, maybe even more so than I did the first run of Spider Gwen. I do still wish her ethnicity played a larger role somehow, but I don't know how it would fit in with everything else going on
The Hero Initiative brings JLA/AVENGERS back to print - The Beat The Marvel/DC crossover by Kurt Busiek & George Pérez is getting reprinted for the first time since 2008. The Hero Initiative (the non-profit that provides financial support to comic creators in need) is publishing it in a $29.99, 7,000-copy print run softcover through Diamond in March, in honor of the terminally ill Pérez. Bummer that it took a great artist and great guy having terminal cancer to make it happen, but at the same time, awesome that the two corporations were willing to let the Hero Initiative do it. If you're able to, you should support a good organization while picking up probably the best showcase of George's brilliant superhero illustration work.
Damn I was curious if they ever crossed over like that, just assumed they didn't in any meaningful way. I'll definitely pick up. In theory it seems like a slam dunk.
Marvel and DC had sporatic crossovers over the years, usually in the form of standalone one-shots. The earliest one was one of my favorites, Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man in '76 by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru. Another good one was The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans in '82 by Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson, which had Darkseid as the villain. If you ever come across a used copy of one of those for a fair price, it's worth it imo, assuming you're a fan of superhero comics from that era. I think the only one besides JLA/Avengers that was longer than an oversized one-shot was some 90s one I never read that led to Amalgam Comics, that series of one-shots with various Marvel & DC franchises combined (some of which are better than you'd think they'd be). The last crossover was this JLA/Avengers one from 2003-2004, which is probably the last one that'll ever exist; I don't know how WB and Disney in the 2020s could ever come to an agreement on a new crossover when it was so difficult to get a lot of these old ones done, lol. But, at least the last one is the biggest and most bombastic one, and at least we're getting this new printing of it.
Yeah I'm so use to their modern day corporate structure that I can't even imagine them working together.
I own Marvel vs. DC, the aforementioned 90s crossover. It's enjoyable faff, with some fights being laughably one page for how much both houses hyped up the fan voting. To explain, the gimmick was that fans could vote on each two person bout and determine the winner. What we got, for example, was a Lobo vs. Wolverine fight that happened largely offscreen and Green Lantern and Silver Surfer charging at each other like a jousting match. Anyway, I liked the character Access that was made to tie both worlds together, cause he seemed always in a perpetual state of "what even is my life right now". Also, the Tim Drake and Jubilee romance was adorable.
Zines by kids, given away at a proper comic publisher’s storefront. This is such a cute, cool idea I’d love to steal.
Alex Ross just straight up deciding, a few decades after Kingdom Come and Marvels, to suddenly level up and make the coolest art of his career.
I freaked when I thought I spilled water all over Saga (it's happened before sadly...) Those are the most realistic looking waterdrops I have ever seen. It's wild.
My last Avatar preorder came! I now have all five of the omnibus set with the image on the spine, and it looks fucking sick. ...Oh, yeah, and the comic itself is good. Read it in one sitting. It's a nice Southern Water Tribe story. My favorites are probably The Search and Smoke and Shadow, though.