Apparently an issue of Action Comics #1 sold for $1 million this week. In the course of just over seventy year this issue went from selling for 10 cents to $1 million (cue the Dr. Evil voice here.) Action Comics #1 contains Superman’s first appearance and is regarded as one of the most important and rarest comic books in existence. It boggles the mind that a comic book can sell for such an amazing amount but it also again displays superheroes’ cultural importance in American society. Here’s a link to an AP story about the sale.
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Vault of Midnight- Ann Arbor, MI
One of my favorite comic book shops in the world is Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor, MI. I earned my Ph.D at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI and would often make the trek to Ann Arbor to check out Vault of Midnight. The shop is a two story wonder that carries so many good comics and toys that I could spend hours looking at their selection and wishing that I had unlimited funds. I own two cool Vault of Midnight t-shirts that I still wear proudly, even though I live in Honolulu now. The store is great and if you are ever in Ann Arbor you should check it out. I’m posting some pictures and a video from Vault of Midnight’s website. Unfortunately, I’ve never taken any myself and I’m too far from Michigan to remedy that oversight.
What you should be reading- Power Girl
If you are a comic book fan you should be reading the new Power Girl series byJimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Amanda Conner. The series provides comic book fun that is rarely seen in today’s slick overly serious comic books. Power Girl reminds me of reading comic books in the mid and late 1980s when it was still ok to create stories just because they were fun. Many comic books writers and artists today are so worried about creating important works that they forget to have fun. Power Girl had wonderful stories and beautiful art that remind me how comic books used to be. I would encourage everyone to check it out because it is a great read. Here’s a sample from issue #9.
Gecko Books & Comics- Honolulu, HI
My job requires me to travel a lot and I try to go to at least one comic shop in every city I visit. Last year alone, I went to comic book stores in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Michigan, and Seattle. I thought I would start taking some pictures and chronicle the cool comic stores that I get to see. Each comic book shop has its own unique feel and I hope everyone enjoys checking them out. I’m starting with my local comic book store, Gecko Books & Comics at 1151 12th Avenue, Honolulu, HI. Ted Mays, who owns and operates Gecko, possesses a vast knowledge of comic books and popular culture and always seems ready to talk about a number of geek topics. During a recent visit, Ted and I discussed Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Warren Ellis, Kevin Smith, and writers and artists that are constantly late with their work. Gecko is a great comic book store and it is always a pleasure to go inside. Ted has a great selection and I always wind up buying more than I intended to. If you are ever in Honolulu check it out. I don’t think you will be disappointed. Here’s a link to an article about the shop. And here are some pictures of the store itself.
Too Graphic
Comic books have become popular lately among television and movie creators. Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, and Sin City have propelled many comic book characters into the popular imagination. Although it is wonderful to have comic book characters recognized and appreciated by a wider audience, this also often leads to over simplification. As people begin to learn more about comic book superheroes, they also begin to create shorthand labels that the new viewer accepts as fact. To label something is to pigeon-hole its existence and to deny it room to grow, expand, or change. This happened in the 1960s when the Batman television show briefly kicked off a national fad. Twice a week the television series featured notable Hollywood stars, new action sequences, and campy fun. This became annoying for many comic book fans when people who didn’t read comic books continued to use the Batman television show to define superheroes for decades. Although the fun campy Batman of the 1960s is a part of superhero lore it is only a part. Superheroes are so much more than that but many people did not know this. I remember reading a Time Magazine article in 1986 entitled, “Bang! Pow! Zap! Heroes are Back!” Twenty years after the Batman television series ended, a major American news source writer referred to it in a story about changing comic books. Although the story references Batman: The Knight Returns, the author seems to care little that superheroes are more than campy 1960s fun. For over 20 years, to many people the idea of comic books meant campy dialogue, over the top action scenes, and silly stories.
It seems that comic books and their cousins graphic novels now have a new meaning to some people. Many of the creators and actors of the new Starz television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, describe the show as a television graphic novel. This point was repeated so often that it was obviously important to someone that the public link the new series with comic books/ graphic novels. This makes sense because comic books/ graphic novels have a certain amount of appeal and popularity at the moment. What it is interesting about the series is what the creators think it means to be a “graphic novel.” I was curious so I watched the first episode of the show on Netflix. My one sentence review is that the show has a lot of graphic and very little novel. The show focuses on violence and sex and the creators seemingly enjoy showing slow motion blood splatter, gruesome battle scenes, and full frontal nudity. I enjoy sex and violence as much as the next guy (made more than some) but here the sex and nudity seemed gratuitous and the violence and gore forced. The plot of Spartacus is plodding and the story seems contrived. It was almost as if the show was created by a 14 year old boy who enjoyed grossing the audiences, showing more blood, and getting to see more people naked. I now understand what Spartacus‘s creators mean by graphic novel though, Frank Miller’s 300. The show is a blatant rip off of the Miller comic book turned movie with more slow motion violence and extra sex to add to the spectacle. The combination doesn’t work at all and once again someone had pigeon holed the idea of comic books. Let’s hope this definition doesn’t take hold among the public at large. Comic books are too diverse and exceptional to be limited by such a label. Let’s also hope that no one had equated Spartacus with graphic novels. There are enough bad television shows out there and we don’t need some one to blame this one on the comic book community.
The Real Captain America and the Tea Party Movement
The internet has been a buzz recently with reports concerning Captain America #602. In the issue Captain America and Falcon attempt to infiltrate a group of anti-tax protesters and ultimately take down a military group known as the Watchers. In the comic book, one of the protesters is shown holding a sign that reads, “Tea Bag the Libs Before They Tea Bag You” that linked the fictional protesters to the conservative Tea Party movement. A conservative columnist took offense at the notion that Captain American would fight against Tea Party protesters and claimed that the comic book character’s actions went against the superhero’s historical roots. A Yahoo! News report quoted Tea Party Nation founder, Judson Phillips as stating, ”When I was a child in the ’60s Captain America was my favorite superhero. It’s really sad to see what has traditionally been a pro-America figure being used to advance a political agenda.” Tea Party officials and other conservatives also expressed offense that the Tea Party movement was portrayed as only including white members. Within a few hours Captain America writer Ed Brubaker and Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada both apologized for the sign linking the fictitious protestors to the Tea Party, claimed that this was not the original intent, and promised to remove the sign in future printings.
I most definitely do have opinions about the politics involved in this story but I want to keep this a politically neutral zone (at least on my part. Feel free to comment about anything that you want.) I would like to make two points about the controversy. First, can anyone really ever deny the power of popular culture and comic books? Captain America has become an American symbol so powerful that supporters of every side of an issue wish to claim him. Conservatives, liberals, and every political viewpoint in between believe they have the right to use the nation’s symbols and mythologies. Although Lincoln served as a Republican he had now became a nationalistic symbol who can be employed by any American in order to prove an argument. The Revolutionary War may have originally been a struggle against a supposed tyrannical king but now it is a Rorschach test for political, social, and cultural ideology. Captain America also has moved into this realm of symbolic importance. Although he began as “only” a comic book character he now is a national symbol and an important part of our national identity and mythology. He’s so important that when a national movement believed that he was rallying against them they protested and called foul. Imagine that, a fictitious character upsetting and influencing a real life organization. We sometimes forget the power of ideas, words, symbols, and myths.
Secondly, because Captain America has become a part of American symbolism and mythology he suffers the fate as other converted American symbols, his actual past no longer matters, just the cultural perception of who he is. Abraham Lincoln was a complex person with a multitude of virtues and flaws. He left a lifetime of letters, speeches, and other writings. Most Americans now remember him as Honest Abe who freed the slaves. It doesn’t matter to most people what else he was or how complex he life really was, most people want Lincoln to fit their image of the world. Although Captain America is a fictional character, he suffers some of the same problems. Several of the Tea Party organizers stated that Captain America used to stand for “true American” values like theirs. Do they know that Cap fought for liberal causes in the 1960s? Became so disenfranchised with the U.S. federal government in the 1970s that he gave up his superhero identity for awhile and walked the U.S. as a costumed crime fighter named Nomad? That Captain America fought Ronald Reagan when the President was transformed into a giant lizard? All of these stories would surely offend today’s Tea Party protesters but they are a documents part of Captain America’s past. (Most of these documents are sealed in plastic bags with acid-free boards and in very good condition.) Each side ignores the stories they don’t want to think about and instead concentrates on what they want Captain America to be. The symbol is far more powerful than the reality. Even when the reality is a comic book character in a red, white, and blue costume.
Here are the links to several articles about Captain America #602.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100211/ts_ynews/ynews_ts1129
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/09/tea-party-reference-captain-america-removed/
