Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Monday, 29 August 2022
Thursday, 25 August 2022
Wednesday, 24 August 2022
DC Movies, Marvel Movies and let's not forget the comics!
While Marvel pushes on with its TV and movies you have to wonder just wtf Warner are doing? Affleck made a good Batman and if you have the biggest comic characters such as Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman and Aquaman not to mention "Shazam" just how is it the movie franchises are so bloody messed up?
Cyborg is a much more interesting character in the Doom Patrol TV series and the other TV heroes established a fan base so why are the actors who created that buzz and fan following actually playing the characters in the movies? The Flash -Ezra Miller is so scandal covered by now but he keeps studio support while Grant Gustin who plays Flash on the TV series is not just in an established TV series that had its own small scale Crisis on Infinite Earths but he has not tried to assault anyone, break into any properties or...well not done anything Miller has.
I seriously gave up on DC as a comic company when every year it did a reboot and each reboot has gotten worse. Oh, the "strong rumour" that Jim Lee is out and may be back at Marvel next year...CBO reported on this very same "inside strong source" report of Lee going three years ago and I mentioned then that I ran a similar story two years before.
These days the comics are not action and adventure stories made to draw in fans but more "We HAVE to tick the right virtue signalling boxes!" -Marvel has just given up and produces some dire comics by people who have no idea how to write BUT they tick those right virtue signalling boxes.
Until they introduced Harry ***** Styles as Eros to make an already tedious movie (The Eternals) even worse things were going fine. Normally I will watch a Marvel movie 2-3 times but I have placed The Eternals at the back of the shelf because I have no intention of watching it for a VERY long time.
One other problem with Marvel and DC themed movies is that they kill off good villains as though that's it "We have no idea how to use them again!" Andy Serkis is a perfect example of having a very good actor play a villain (Klaw) and then kill him off (in Black Panther) but do it off screen so he just turns up as a corpse -WTF???
Really, some arses need to be slapped but do you know what? Unimaginative people put in charge and who interfere in the movie side of things...they'll keep screwing up and collecting their pay cheques and won't give a toss what fans want. "Fans will see and buy what we tell them to!"
And the fans bend over and take it.
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/aquaman-2-shazam-2-release-dates-pushed-warner-bros-1234755287/
Warner Bros. is mixing up the DC release calendar once again.
After the “Aquaman” sequel was pushed back from December 16, 2022 to March 17, 2023, the DC installment is getting shifted once more to December 25, 2023. That’s the same release window as its initial December 2022 premiere date, following the 2018 holiday debut of the first film.
Now in the DC shuffle, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” will take over the vacant “Aquaman 2” premiere date, this time delayed until March 17, 2023, after being first announced to open on December 16 of this year (the original “Aquaman” sequel date).
In addition to the DC game of musical chairs, two HBO Max titles are now getting theatrical premieres: “House Party” is set for December 9, 2022, while “Evil Dead Rise” will open on April 21, 2023. Upcoming Warner Bros. titles also now include “The Nun 2,” as part of “The Conjuring” franchise, set for September 8, 2023, along with Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” being pushed to a TBD date in 2023 (its original release was set for April 21, 2023).
An untitled “Warner Bros.” event film is also slated for February 10, 2023, on Super Bowl weekend.
With “Batgirl” confirmed to be shelved indefinitely after originally being set for an HBO Max release and the future of the DCU hinging on “The Flash” despite lead star Ezra Miller’s multiple arrests and abuse allegations, it seems that the release calendar reflects the imbalance and push for a Kevin Feige-like leader to oversee all of DC.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav earlier clarified during the company’s second-quarter 2022 earnings call that axing “Batgirl” was part of a plan to “bring Warner back and produce great high-quality films” with a mission to “protect the DC brand.”
“We have some great DC films coming up: ‘Black Adam,’ ‘Shazam!,’ and ‘Flash.’ We’re working on all of those. We’ve seen them, and we think they’re terrific, and that we can make them even better,” Zaslav said.
Tuesday, 23 August 2022
Monday, 22 August 2022
Sunday, 21 August 2022
Black Tower Adventure -the series you CANNOT Miss! Seriously)
makes sense if you read it!).
Sigismund Benfriggisund!
that appeared in the new talent comic Preview was The Phoenix Team and that story has been much requested over the years as the team, and the Soviet Red Star Squadron, stumble into The Evil of the Salamander and his master plan.
oblivious to the mystery and action that continues in Return Of The Gods:Twilight Of The Super Heroes. In a more, uh, “fun” vein, we learn why using reptilean DNA to replace human limbs might not be a good idea in Out On A Limb! Of course, when dealing with criminal gangs the Crimson Cowl packs a punchline.
Saturday, 20 August 2022
New Face Book Page To Promo Your Comics, Graphic Novels and Comic Albums
It's free and if you want you can send books for CBO review.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/513782512148796
individual issues would be a good idea in a thriving comics market
Someone suggested that to sell more copies of The Green Skies it might be an idea to split up the books into 32pp issues -make it a series.
I have dealt with this question before -last time it was suggested about Return of the Gods but I will explain again.
Firstly, at the moment Return, Cross Earths and the three volume Green Skies will cost you a bare minimum for each (something I intend to change soon as they make me no money and obviously a higher cost will). There are 360pp in Return which is 11+ issues at 32pp. Cross Earths is around 140pp so almost 5 issues with a little padding. The Green Skies would come to 12.5 x 32pp comics. So 29-30 issues.
At the minimum print cost available that means such a lengthy series would cost around £232 (U.S. just make that $232). At the moment buying each volume would cost you £62/$62. It means you would be paying £170/$170 more. That defeats my whole purpose of a fair read at a fair price.
We also know that readers very rarely stick with long term comics. So a fair price, good quality printing and 5 books (Return and Cross Earths could be read as self contained stories without reading the following three volumes.
Also, I would have to edit and get covers for all of the books and then go through the trauma of having to upload the interiors and covers separately at my print on demand company and THEN give the books the lowest cover price o try to get people to buy (which I am no longer doing). I had thought the fact that the books (all of the ones on the store front) are low print runs might have added a bit of collectability but....
So individual issues would be a good idea in a thriving comics market -but there is no thriving market.
Friday, 19 August 2022
Three Recent Acquisitions: UK Golden and Silver ages
Three very (very) cheap acquisitions; two UK Golden Age and one Silver Age. The first is Knockout volume 1 from the Amalgamated Press (aka IPC, aka Fleetway, aka Maxwell Pergamon Publishing aka...you get the point?).
These are on poor quality paper and have the 8pp standard at that time due to paper shortages thanks to World War II. Nice to see some old style strips and do not be conned -these are not "super rare" and fetching high prices.
Knockout no. 455 15th November 1947
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Knockout No. 459 13th December 1947
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Outer Space Album 1959 printed in the Netherlands (as at that point there was still paper rationing in the UK) and published by G.T. Ltd, London. Been a few years since I published a Captain Future story reprint. These albums are out there and the only ones that might command a high price are the ones in near pristine condition. I'd try looking for the Holy Grail if I were you as you are far more likely to find that!
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The Final (?) Word on Acetategate"
I don't want to give too much time to "Acetategate" -or which ever spelling you prefer. Comics is a crooked business from top to bottom.
However, Abovetopsecret.com has managed to put everything in order and tells the whole story and if it does not show you that your comics do not need grading and sticking in a plastic slab then nothing ever will. It also explains why the cover was considered insulting.
Thursday, 18 August 2022
Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Avengers #59 (2022)
THE LEGEND OF RENO PHOENIX AND THE STARBRAND KID!
The Avengers' journey through time brings them to the Old West, where they cross paths with a couple of History's Mightiest Heroes, whose six-guns are loaded with the greatest powers of the heavens. But is that enough to force a showdown with the forces of Mephisto? Or will the Avengers be lost in time forever?Marvel, Brevoort AND DC and the fans
In yesterday's post Marvel Don't Care About Comic Shops or Customers there are points that need to be made.
"Tom Brevoort does not visit comic shops" now here we could to a plus and minus argument. Firstly, Brevoort is the lousiest editor that has existed at any comic company. I have known a few who really could not tie up their own shoe laces and some who out of their total stupidity have angered me to the point that I wanted to leave the meeting quickly.
I once sat in a Marvel UK editor's office and he looked at some artwork I had and told me: "Yes. This shows everything is there" so I asked what he meant and was told: "Artists don't draw the anatomy" which I thought meant they were bad at drawing the human figure but he continued. "The human body has a skeleton and there are muscles on top of that so when they draw someone that should all be there. Yeah, I will admit that confused me a bit and made no sense but I casually remarked (to be polite) "Yes. A few might do well studying Leonard's anatomy drawings" I was being a bit sarcastic (I'm told that I can be a tad sarcastic at times) but the casual response of "He's vastly over rated I wouldn't even say he was a good artist". We are talking about Leonardo de Vinci - who painted the Mona Lisa amongst others. amateur obviously.
I was showed a wooden cabinet full of drawers and told he gets lots of poor art submissions from "all over the place" and he even showed me some of the art work when he opened one of the drawers to prove his point. There was some absolutely gorgeous artwork. Well laid out and looking at some of it made me want to retire there and then (1990s). One artist I noted the name of Carlos Pacheco. Amateur apparently.
This...man..this...moron then looked at some of my work and muttered "I prefer the six panel layout or the panels arrangement suggested by Marvel (he showed me a photocopy on his wall from How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way) at the same time bad-mouthing two regular artists I knew were (supposedly) his pals. Johnny Asshead needed putting in his place so I told him that I saw what he meant and then looked at the pages in front of us (the How To page he had taken off the wall) and I said I was unsure of the margin space and spaces between panels. For 10 minutes by his office clock he used a ruler to measure the spaces from the edge of the paper to the panel line then the space4s between all the panels and gave me his opinion.
Now, he was looking at an A4 photocopy and NOT an actual pre-print size sheet. He had no idea.
He then told me all of the comics he had been in charge of and how each had failed due to "the idiots buying comics". The man was not willing to admit that he was incapable of editing a comic and (so I was told) the poor scripts and artwork was to blame for the failures. I am no longer commenting and the (alleged) incident of me holding a Marvel UK editor out of an open window or whether it was this moron. Unfortunately, he was pals with the editor-in-chief at Marvel UK so his job was safe.
I could recount several such incidents from the UK and it is one reason why these people even screwed up during the black and white comics explosion. I also used to have phone conversations with editors in the United States and during one I pointed out that a proposed title needed something to pull in readers and I was told: "We are not talking people with much brain -they are reading comics!" Yes, and I was writing and putting together comics that he was supposed to be editing.
Another editor, during a 0300hrs phone call (it was later in the U.S.) was referring to fans buying a book and I suggested adding a certain twist to the story that ought to get the readers thinking a story was going one direction until the twist was presented. "Look" he said and sounded bored to boot, "the readers are a bunch of live at home in momma's basement masturbating to porn -they don't have that kind of brain power" and that ended that conversation.
I once wrote an "adult" comic series which was reprinted as a trade paperback several times and has had millions of readers. Anyone who is a regular will know the series and I am not promoting it for illegal downloaders. However, Larry Pike, who had edited Wally Woods Cannon comic told me that my book was well thought out and written and had a solid story which made it extremely rare in that genre. Here is the thing; if you write a comic then someone is going to be spending money to buy the comic and as a writer you owe it to that person to produce something that is not what the editor called "Just a wank rag for meatheads". That is at the basic level. The artist should also be thinking this and the editor should be thinking the same. Is the book delivering escapism, fun and adventure and making it worth the $/£ that the fan is spending.
People say that I over-stress the importance of whether a book I publish is worth the money the buyer is shelling out. That is my job. I used to sell a lot of small press comics/mags that way because if I just wanted to publish for myself I would have and none would have been for sale. But if I was going to sell then I was not going to just say "sod it" and put out any rubbish I could.
If you publish a book then you want people to buy it and that means having to talk to people who do buy and if they do not want to talk you play around until you coax them into talking. This is why Marvel Comics beat DC hands down for decades. Stan Lee realised the importance of the person buying the comic and entertaining them so that they would come back for more. He spoke to fans and attended cons and went out of his way to listen to what was being said. That is why Marvel and Disney clung on to him because one personal appearance or meet and greet with Stan was better than any video promo.
Roy Thomas understood all of this. Jim Shooter understood all of this. Tom Brevoort has difficulty understanding the toilet paper wrapper. A book has a bad writer or poor quality artist (does not matter as long as they are gay, trans or black trans or fit into one of the other boxes that these morons tick) or no real continuity let alone editing and "the fans are a buncha morons!" Pick any Avengers comic from the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s and you have a good solid story with characterisation and action. A great read. 1990s things go wrong (and I've been reading The Avengers since the mid 1960s so I am not simply flapping my sitting cushions). It was a team book and that is what drew in readers but these days if the Avengers actually appear in the title it is as cameos while the main purpose seems to be to promote TV series and movies of the MCU and NOT the characters of the Marvel Comic Universe.
Brevoort and others do not like fans. Do not like the comics just the prestige of the job title and more importantly the pay cheque. Why do any work when the people in the Disney corporation do not check? Take the money until you crash that 747 into the ground. DC I just totally gave up on as their idea of creativity is constant rebooting (because it made money in the 1980s with Crisis on Infinite Earths). Why pay creators who know their jobs, such as Chris Claremont to not write for anyone else? Biggest "WTF are you utter morons??!!" in the comic business. People ask why creators such as John Byrne will not go back to Marvel and I think it is obvious.
So Brevoort is not the only editor to take this attitude. It has moved away from the professionals who know their jobs a show respect to the fan base (it actually took DC a while to realise why so many were Marvel fans).
The bottom line is that if you cannot get people to buy your books then you have no business and no business means no money to pay you. If Brevoort was a real working editor then he would have no time to visit comic shops (or choose the next silly hat to wear). That an editor does not visit a comic shop regularly is not a good argument.
Brevoort does not edit comics so he has no excuse...but his own cowardice means that person-to-person he could not face criticism to his face. Easier on social media because he can type away without consequence and block anyone who asks an awkward question.
The comics business has always had shady dealers and second, third and even fifth account books. Editors started becoming far more shady once the fans got into those jobs; artwork going missing, under paying creators and a lot more. However, even those ex-editors who have rebooted their history to become "comic legends" knew that they had to produce comics that sold and had buyers coming back each week.
Back in the 1980s I met people at the Westminster Comic Marts who were over from Canada, the United States and even someone from Australia and they had heard that Martin Lock, publisher of then Harrier Comics was at these marts. I pointed him out on occasion and one thing I later heard was that these people talked with Lock and Lock with them and even though they had not intended to -they bought more comics off him.
It is a case of respect the reader. Produce a good comic.
Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Sunday, 14 August 2022
MORE Acetategate Shenanigans from Black Flag Comics and CGC
Saturday, 13 August 2022
Why Are Genuine Comic Fans SCARED To Even Comment?
Let me make one thing very clear. Before the current CBO blog there was a Freeservers, Yahoo 360 and other platforms CBO. The absolute one rule that I had was that there would be absolutely no arguing or any other form of negativity aimed at anyone commenting. CBO is a safe blog and it caters for a universal audience as we get not just youngsters but people from other parts of the world (this is a world wide blog after all) where the legal systems are far less liberal than the UK or United States.
Comics are meant to be fun and entertainment. To take people away from the concerns of the real world. Comics are an escapist medium.
CBO avoids politics as much as it can and it does not take sides in any conflict. There are comic and toy collectors around the world and collecting (not hustling to sell at inflated prices) brings them joy. And why not?
There are several times when persons have attempted to start an internet flame war -insulting and misquoting me to try to get me to respond and thus boost their readership. My response is always the same:
Life is too short and we want to enjoy ourselves and our hobbies, right? So if you see something like a mega post -JLA, Avengers, Frankenstein or what ever then making a comment even if only "Enjoyed that" is welcome. It shows people do enjoy the posts and that encourages me to think about doing more.
If you commented "I am not that keen on the new style Daredevil and prefer the Bronze Age version" then there is no problem. You will certainly not get this reaction
