"Terminal," #1 Advance Review

The debut issue of "Terminal," arrives in comic shops in two days. Skybound (an imprint of Image), putting out this new series, was kind enough to send digital copies out for the purpose of review more than a month before the book was set to hit stands (with the request that all reviewers wait until the Monday before its release to share their thoughts). Written by Robert Kirkman and Joe Casey, those two names have a lot of skill and a number of hits under their belt. This first issue is illustrated by the also extremely talented Andy Kubert. That makes it interesting that I wasn't disappointed in this first issue, but perhaps one could say slightly underwhelmed with a hint of optimism?

"Terminal," features two secret groups fighting to seemingly either save or doom Earth. The people involved have powers, there are long-lost siblings, weird otherworldly beings, and other concepts you've seen in many other stories. Kubert's art is fantastic, but I found myself waiting the whole time I was reading for the story to really hook me in. Outside of a bit of a twist regarding who I thought would be the main character for the book, there wasn't much meat here. Still, "Invincible," didn't really get going with its reveal about Omni-Man until around the seventh issue and, "The Walking Dead," needed a chunk of issues before really picking up steam. This goes to say that I somewhat expect there is more to, "Terminal," than the first issue indicates. Kirkman is known for his slow-burn style with some stories and Casey is excellent as spinning a yarn full of twists and quirks as well (his, "Uncanny X-Men," run remains underrated and his, "Codeflesh," is a grim and surreal masterpiece). It wouldn't surprise me if, "Terminal," manages to, well, surprise me! For now, it has a good-but-not-great first issue and has me at least a bit curious where things could go next.

3 out of 5 Stars.

I Saw Jim Gaffigan Perform Yesterday and it Was a Hoot!

Samii and I saw Jim Gaffigan perform stand-up comedy yesterday as part of his, "Everything is Wonderful," tour. It was a fantastic show! Gaffigan discussed a variety of topics from some darker humor (a bit about selecting your menu options and filling out a survey for a last meal before an execution had Samii cracking up) to his usual relatable wit about other subjects--he observed when he sees someone running in an airport because they're late he legitmately thinks, "I hope they don't make it so they learn a lesson." I always enjoy comedy shows, and when you know the person performing is going to be hilarious, that's always great as opposed to going to an event where you know little about the act/acts. Jim Gaffigan has been doing comedy since the 90's and remains as engaging in his craft as ever. If you have a chance to see him anywhere else whilst he's touring, I'd encourage you to go!

The First Issue of, "Moonjiggle," is Spicy, Clever, and Hilarious

Space Between Entertainment is a smaller independent publisher I am familiar with, as I've followed the work of creator Pat Shand for years and he does a lot with them--which makes sense as he founded and owns the company! SBE recently released print and digital copies of a new series, "Moonjiggle." It is written by Dave Franchini with art by Bamburat. It is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek satire that heavily mocks concepts of censorship through sci-fi metaphors. A regime dedicated to eliminating concepts of pleasure and free love known as The Puritanus (a bit of clever wordplay with that name), is after a ragtag group made up of sexy (and often horny) space folk due to how they've got an artifact capable of directing the holder to a galaxy full of romance/pleasure/etc. It is a fun parody of old sci-fi that isn't outright pornographic (there are plenty of non-sexual moments and jokes) but has some panels that are definitely explicit. Don't let the action-packed or titillating moments overshadow the fact that this first issue is packed full of clever symbolism, however. One could easily use the lens of our present-day society and its views of sexuality in any form beyond what is heteronormative and, "Traditional/vanilla," as our current-day society has its own, "Puritanus," forces.

Bamburat's art is superb, whether providing readers with quite detailed examples of gentilia, fights breaking out, or spaceships rocketing to safety. "Moonjiggle," is the perfect blend of having a vintage, "Sexplotation," sci-fi vibe (gotta love a classic like, "Barbarella,") mixed with some sharp political satire. Should that sound like a good time, I'd highly recommend getting a copy in digital or physical form for yourself!

5 out of 5 Stars.

Next Weekend Has Two Cool Shows in the Region

Fun stuff happens in this bi-state area!

Much of next week and the weekend will have Comic-Con International/San Diego Comic-Con in the news. A lot of folks will be traveling there and enjoying what is (usually) the biggest comic/television/movie/pop-culture event of the year. However, if you're going to be around my neck of the woods, two cool comic events are happening on the 25th and then the 26th that I'd recommend checking out.

On July 25th, the awesome folks over at Bigfoot Comics and Collectibles will be doing the Airbase Treasure Chest Event. It'll have comics, coins, and all kinds of collectibles. The American Legion Mascoutah will be holding it as the above flyer illustrates. This is the first time it has been held, and it looks to be a lot of fun! I'm not sure I'll be able to make it out there due to some other family obligations, but I'd encourage anyone able to get over ot Mascoutah to head on over.

July 26th will mark the latest Spector Club show. This one is always a fantastic event to find cool comics, and it is continuing to be held at its spacious and very nice new location, the American-Czech Center at 4690 Lansdowne. If you're able to attend both shows or even just one of these, you're sure to have quite a fun time next weekend. It illustrates how you don't have to go all the way to San Diego in July to find some stellar comic shows--even though it might be fun to go out there someday if I can get anyone to cover my travel and lodging expenses to do a write-up!

I Appreciate Joe Casey Discussing Some Companies Generally Paying Less Royalties Than They Should

Marvel seems to do this thing where if you create a character under their work-for-hire system and they use it in a movie/show, they'll give you a check...but are very careful about it. They aren't giving you a royalty; it is $5,000 and an invite to the premiere of the thing with your character...as long as you signed some contracts too, where they're protected from you suing for more money or speaking out about things too much in a critical manner. I mean, Ed Brubaker got more money for filming a cameo in, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," than what he made on the character being in the flicks (yes, yes, there is some argument about how he took an established character such as Bucky and did Winter Soldier, I know). Joe Casey has done quite well with a number of projects and didn't feel like he needed to sign any paperwork for Marvel using America Chavez in, "Doctor Strange and Multiverse of Madness," or now for William Metzger (being played by Tramell Tillman) in, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day." Metzger was created by Casey and Steve Rude back in the 1999-ish mini-series, "X-Men: Children of the Atom." He just feels that if a character is being used a good deal in a production, perhaps the millions being spent (and made) can have a decent check go to the person who actually invented this (hopefully) profitable property.

Casey isn't outright enraged at Marvel; he still works with them on occasion. Still, Casey feels, "For me, it’s not about money. It’s not even about the respect. I would never expect to be respected by a corporation...If I’m in a position where I can afford not to take their insult of an offer, and be able to talk about it, maybe the next guy — where that kind of money could change their life — would get a fair shot of receiving that money.” An honorable sentiment from a creator who can turn down a smaller check and talk about thanks to other successful projects (he and Joe Kelly did well with, "Ben 10," for sure, to name one thing). It goes to show that when you're doing work-for-hire in the comic industry, you could make something insanely popular and barely see much extra scratch for it. At least if something creator-owned fails to strike a chord in the market, you still have ownership.

Film Friday: "Digger," Looks Intriguingly Unhinged

I've written plenty of times about how I don't much care for Tom Cruise as a person whenever I've read about how he's quite unpleasant, egocentric, and so forth. That said, I will never deny that the man can act. That is quite on display in the trailer for the upcoming dark comedy, "Digger." Cruise plays an elderly and deranged oil tycoon whose company's actions put the safety of our planet at risk, so he's got to save us all from the problem he created. Give the trailer a view:

Cruise is the main attraction, but the supporting cast is nothing to ignore either, with John Goodman as the President of America looking to be a hoot as well. "Digger,' hits theaters October 2nd. Between this, "Street Fighter," and, "Clayface," there are three movies I want to see in theaters that month!

Marvel's Comic Division to Relocate to California; Steve Wacker to be New EIC

A big chunk of, "Marvel," as we know it, is currently in California. The movie stuff (Marvel Studios), the owner of the company (Disney), and so forth. Marvel Comics has been in New York City (in some form before it was even Marvel as well) for over 100 years. Just as DC found itself consolidated in California, Marvel plans to relocate everyone in NYC to Burbank over the next year (whoever is willing and won't otherwise quit), having it all switched over by July 2027. It makes sense from certain financial and logistical standpoints, but it definitely marks the end of a long and storied era. Marvel had some shakeups earlier this year, and it was clear something was going to be shifting at Marvel. We're now seeing the first big changes.

In addition to the relocation, Steve Wacker will be returning to Marvel, having worked there in various capacities before, now serving as the new Editor in Chief. He'll be replacing CB Cebulski, who has served in the position since late 2017. Cebulski will be moving into a position as Marvel's new Asia Originals Editor--a job located in Tokyo with an emphasis on manga and other projects with Marvel characters. I haven't seen anyone particularly mad or happy about Cebulski leaving, outside of those who remember the, "Akira Yoshida," controversy. It seems he did a solid job as EIC and will be relatively missed, although Wacker has a lot of fans pumped for him to take over at Marvel--with some who have long memories warning to just keep him away from social media (I wrote about that PR mess in 2012). It is going to be an interesting next 12 months for Marvel between this for the comic division, "Avengers: Doomsday," having a lot riding on it for the cinematic aspect, and so forth!

Okay, so Lettuce is Giving Everyone Uncontrollable Diarrhea?

America has been facing a large number of cyclosporiasis cases. It is a parasite that makes someone really sick to the point they have explosive, watery, unstoppable diarrhea. Not a fun time, in other words. People have been hospitalized due to how sick they've gotten, and enough Taco Bell restaurants have been liked to cases that in various locations they have stopped putting certain vegetables in their meals--and that's a restaurant generally associated with blowing up the toilet! It seems the culprit may be lettuce and other salad greens that were contaminated. Basically, if you needed an excuse to pass on the salad and instead dig into a bag of potato chips, here you go.

In all seriousness, the fact that our current government has massively cut funding to the CDC, and parasite monitoring as well makes it less-than-surprising that it has taken a bit of time for anyone to get much of a lead on this. Everyone likes to say certain government programs/initiatives/whatever are pointless and we should save money by getting rid of them. Then, lo and behold, something that certain people said was a waste of cash turns into a huge issue (hello there, screwworm). Public health is like an escalator, in some ways. You don't particularly take note of it when everything is working as intended. Then, somebody decides not to worry as much about maintenance, the escalator breaks, and we all become very aware of it being an issue as we trek up the stairs that should be carrying us up. Things may only get worse, I worry, as the results of things that, "Aren't important," getting cut continue to become apparent.

Television Tuesday: The Upcoming, "Crystal Lake," Show Has a Teaser

The series, "Crystal Lake," was announced a number of years ago when the rights to, "Friday the 13th," and the (generally) main character, Jason Vorhees, were in a bit of a legal limbo. Then, it was in a sort of development Hell as the showrunner/s kept changing and such. However, everything eventually got figured out and we're getting all eight episodes of, "Crystal Lake," this October 15th. The last, "Official," flick with, "Friday the 13th," branding was a weak remake/reboot back in 2009, but this prequel show is prepped to take us to the 1970s, and it seems other, "Vintage," horror is ready to come back ("Nightmare on Elm Street," has a new flick planned, we'll see when it is set, though). Everything old is new again, and we're going to meet Linda Cardellini's take on Pamela Vorhees soon! Anyone who has watched the first movie knows that Jason is hardly in it as he is instead talked about fondly by his mother (Pamela) as a young boy who drowned when counselors weren't paying attention...before it is revealed she's murdering folks. Hence, a prequel show all about the town and its camp set a year after Jason died, and Pamela has not yet developed a taste for killing, maybe, does sound like a fun mix of horror and thriller genres. An official teaser dropped, and it doesn't show much, but there is enough to pique my interest:

I mean, Cardellini is a fantastic actress, I've got Peacock (where it'll be streaming), and I'm a fan of the franchise. Hence, yeah, I'll watch it. Hell, it doesn't even have to be great, considering that this franchise has some real stinkers of entries, I'll settle for decent/good. We'll see what we get come October 15th.

DC Has Warned Retailers Not to Price Their Exclusive Variants Too High

Retailer-exclusive variants have been around for some time. A store buys the rights to make their own variant for a (potentially) popular comic, pays an artist to create some cool artwork, and then seel a number of copies--often one that has the text/"Trade Dress," and one with just the artwork/a "Virgin," cover. It's a thing that has exploded lately with, "Absolute Batman," however. Some stores release quite limited variants with pretty high prices compared to the, "Cover price," of a comic if it were a standard, "A," cover. Something that's normally $4.99 gets sold with the variant cover for $50-$100, depending on the material (cardstock, foil) and any signatures or such--with remarques/little drawings on the cover causing prices to sometimes get astronomical! Apparently, DC has concerns about being associated with any accusations of, "Price-gouging," on these Absolute Batman titles as they're beginning to warn retailers they should only, "Upcharge," a certain amount higher for any retailer variants (around 5 times for unsigned and 10 times for signed and such). In other words, if the cover price on a carstock variant comic is $4.99, they should only ask $25-ish for the comic. A foil that's priced at $8 shouldn't generally exceed $40, and so forth.

I see this from various angles, as do others. I mean, if you don't want to spend too much on a special variant cover...don't buy it. You can always buy the standard, "A," cover of a comic and completely disregard special store variants, even if they've got snazzy artwork. I also know stores need to pay the artists who make the cool covers a, hopefully, good paycheck. Then again, is manufactured scarcity with ultra-limited and high-priced covers going to be healthy for the comic-book market, or will this be something that contributes to a potential new bubble reminiscent of the 90's? DC's Absolute comics have been fantastic for the comic-book industry in terms of great stories for readers, steady/solid sales for stores, and just getting more folks excited about comic-books in general. It makes sense retailers want to capitalize on this any way they can to not just survive, but hopefully thrive in a field that can be like a rollercoaster in terms of successes and failures. I understand that, but I also don't think milking the fans who are the lifeblood of this industry for every dollar they have is wise. I suppose we will see how retailers react to what DC said and if it stands firm, offers some leeway, or how this all develops.