I Still Read Comic Books

Women in Comics Event at That's Entertainment!

2006-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00


UPCOMING EVENTS AT THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!              

[WOMEN IN COMICS EVENT - AUGUST 26th!]
 
August 26th from 1-4pm That's Entertainment in Worcester will be
holding our
first "Women of Comics and Illustration"
Come meet a group of the industries most talented female Comic Book
Artists and Illustrators for a session of Signing and Sketching!
Guests include:

BECKY CLOONAN
(DEMO, AMERICAN VIRGIN, EAST COAST RISING)
(Her art is incredible - Evan)
 Visit Becky's website at: http://estrigious.com/becky/

REBECCA GUAY
(MAGIC THE GATHERING, GODDESS)
(Her art is ALSO incredible - Evan)
 Visit Rebecca's website at http://www.rebeccaguay.com

JUNE BRIGMAN
(BRENDA STARR)
 http://www.comicspage.com/index.html

NICOLE TADGELL
(MANY GREAT CHILDREN'S BOOKS)
 http://nicoletadgell.com/

We will have more information about this event as it gets closer!
Check www.thatse.com for constant updates!

Spider-Girl Returns!

2006-07-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

Marvel is re-launching Spider-Girl, which was scheduled to end its run with issue #100 (that shipped this week), as the Amazing Spider-Girl. Before the new Amazing Spider-Girl series launches in October, Marvel plans to issue Amazing Spider-Girl #0, a 48-page special that recaps the 100-issue history of Mayday Parker, Spider-Man's daughter.

Created by Tom DeFalco, the Spider-Girl series, which was only a mediocre sales performer by Marvel standards (issue #93 sold just over 17K), was on the verge of cancellation numerous times; but the series has an enthusiastic and dedicated fan base, which has pulled the property back from the brink time and again.

Series creator DeFalco will write the new Amazing Spider-Girl series, which Ron Frenz will illustrate. Ed McGuinness will provide a variant cover for the first issue of the new series.

Article is from this link: http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/8969.html

What About the Female Superheroes? Conclusion

2006-07-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Listing Total From 1948-Mid 2006:

Mini-Series 38
Regular Series-16
Ongoing-2 (Ms. Marvel & She-Hulk)
Series Ending-1 (Spider-Girl)

Most Mini Series-Elektra with Six Different Mini Series

Longest Regular Series- Spider-Girl (Set to end at Issue #100)

Shortest Regular Series-Wild Thing (Wolverine's Daughter) with 5 issues

Highest Total Number of issues for a single character-She-Hulk
(With over 105 issues as of July 2006)

Total Number of Marvel Superhero Comics staring Female Characters in all: 670
(Includes current ongoing series from 2006)

In conclusion there are only 670 comics out of the +36,000 comics that has Marvel has printed over the years that star their female superhero characters.

What About the Female Superheroes? Part 3

2006-07-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering lately, just how many Marvel female superheroes and supervillains have had their own series over the years? So, I set forth and made my own listing after doing some research. Here is part two of the listing.

2004-Mid 2006

2004-Black Widow 1-6 3rd Mini Series
2004-Elektra The Hand 1-5 Mini Series
2004-Jubilee 1-6 Regular Series (Ended in 2005)
2004-Mary Jane 1-4 1st Mini Series
2004-Rogue 1-12 Regular Series (Ended in 2005)
2004-She-Hulk 1-12 3rd Regular Series (Ended in 2005)
2004-Ultimate Elektra 1-5 Mini Series

2005-Black Widow 1-6 4th Mini Series
2005-Mary Jane Homecoming 1-4 2nd Mini Series
2005-Ororo Before the Storm 1-4 2nd Mini Series
2005-She-Hulk 1-? 4th Ongoing Series 2005-?
2005-X-23 1-6 Mini Series
2005-X-Men Kitty Pryde Shadow and Flame 1-5 Mini Series
2005-X-Men Phoenix Endsong (Jean Grey) 1-5 Mini Series

2006 Ms. Marvel 1-? Ongoing 2nd Series 2006-?
2006-Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane 1-? Ongoing 2006-?
2006- Storm 1-5 3rd Mini Series

What About the Female Superheroes? Part 2

2006-07-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering lately, just how many Marvel female superheroes and supervillains have had their own series over the years? So, I set forth and made my own listing after doing some research. Here is part two of the listing.

1999-2003 Part Two

1999-Black Widow 1-3 1st Mini Series
1999-Spider-Woman III (Mattie) 1-18 Regular Series (Ended in 2000)
1999-Wild Thing (Wolverine's Daughter) 1-5 Regular Series (Ended in 2000)
1999-X-Men Phoenix (Rachel) 1-3 Mini Series

2000-Hellcat 1-3 Mini Series
2000-X-Men Magik 1-4 Mini Series

2001-Black Widow 1-3 2nd Mini Series
2001-Blink 1-4 Mini Series
2001-Elektra 1-35 2nd Regular Series (Ended in 2004)
2001-Rogue 1-4 2nd Mini Series

2002-Elektra Glimpse and Echo 1-4 Mini Series
2002-Mekanix 1-6 Mini Series
2002-Tigra 1-4 Mini Series

2003-Domino 1-4 2nd Mini Series
2003-Emma Frost 1-18 Regular Series (Ended in 2005)
2003-Mystique 1-24 Regular Series (Ended in 2005)
2003-X-Men Phoenix (Jena) 1-3 Mini Series

What about the female superheroes? Part 1

2006-07-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering lately, just how many Marvel female superheroes and supervillains have had their own series over the years? So, I set forth and made my own listing after doing some research. Here is part one of the listing.

1948-1998: Part One

1948-Sun Girl 1-3 Mini Series

1972-Cat 1-4 Mini Series

1977-Ms. Marvel 1-23 Regular Series (Ended in 1979)

1978-Spider-Woman I (Jessica) 1-50 Regular Series (Ended in 1983)

1980-Savage She-Hulk 1-25 Regular Series (Ended in 1982)

1981-Dazzler 1-42 Regular Series (Ended in 1985)

1983-Magik 1-4 Mini Series

1984-Elektra Saga 1-4 Mini Series

1986-Elektra Assassin 1-8 Mini Series

1989-Sensational She Hulk 1-60 2nd Regular Series (Ended in 1994)

1992-Silver Sable and the Wild Pack 1-35 Regular Series (Ended in 1995)

1993-Spider-Woman II (Julia) 1-4 Mini Series
1993-Wildthing (Nikki) 1-7 Regular Series (Marvel UK) (Ended in 1993)

1994-Black Cat 1-4 Mini Series
1994-Scarlet Witch 1-4 Mini Series

1995-Elektra Root of Evil 1-4 Mini Series
1995-Rogue 1-4 1st Mini Series
1995-Typhoid 1-4 Mini Series

1996-Elektra 1-19 1st Regular Series (Ended in 1998)
1996-Storm 1-4 1st Mini Series
1996-Ultragirl 1-3 Mini Series

1997-Domino 1-3 1st Mini Series
1997-Kitty Pryde, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D 1-3 Mini Series

1998-Spider-Girl 0-? Ongoing 1998-?

Outfits Comparsion

2006-07-08T04:40:00.000-07:00

Horrible Outfits for Phoenix (Jena) and the White Queen (Emma Frost) in 2003.

Improved Outfits for Phoenix (Rachel) and the White Queen (Emma Frost) in 2006.

The downfall of comic books

2006-07-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

The most compelling serial in American comic books right now is the industry's attempt to save itself from its ongoing crash and burn. The villains are the overgrown fanboys who've poisoned the industry by pandering to their own nostalgia.

In the '80s, a big hit in the comics world meant monthly sales of 500,000 copies. A series that sold less than 100,000 was due to be eaten by Galactus. These days, only two titles (Uncanny X-Men and X-Men) regularly beat the 100-grand mark. The sales cutoff point for canceling a series is between 12,000 and 35,000.

Back in the '80s, though, the big companies, flush with unearned sales success, began selling comics through specialty stores rather than through magazine distributors that accepted returns and served newsstands. By the end of the decade, they were marketing themselves to older speculators rather than younger readers, with tricks like multiple covers and issues that came in sealed bags along with ridiculous publicity gimmicks — (anybody remember the death of Superman?)

And it worked for a while: For the first time in 40 years, there were print runs of more than a million copies. When Marvel Comics had its IPO, you almost believed a dubious business enterprise could fly.

There weren't more readers coming in; they were just buying multiple copies of everything. Sometime around 1992, even the dumber speculators realized that if there were maybe a million comic collectors in America and 10 million copies of X-Men #1 to go around, they weren't going to get rich on their stashes no matter how carefully they double-bagged them, which is why you can now find most of the "collectible" comics from 10 years ago selling for 50 cents, negotiable, on pretty much any street corner.

Meanwhile, the big-name artists who fueled the speculator boom realized that work-made-for-hire agreements (which forced them to forfeit all rights to their work) were a mug's game. They took a cue from United Artists and started their own company, Image, which instantly splintered into vanity factions and factory-style hack work that was even worse than what they'd left behind. They also realized that they, too, could make a lot more from licensing action figures and videogames.

The problem is that the industry is run by people who actually care about nothing other than whether the Hulk or the Thing is stronger: They're overgrown, myopic fanboys, who have no interest in selling comics to anyone but other fanboys.

What's left of the American comics business, then, is almost entirely a superhero nostalgia act, tugging up its sagging Underoos and trying to suck its gut in. Imagine if the only shows on TV were Westerns because network executives liked them and insisted that nobody would watch if they programmed anything else, and you'll get the idea. Anything that sells is run into the ground (There are roughly a dozen Superman-related titles per month now.)

Every time the business comes up with some huge event to spark interest — rebooting the moribund Spider-Man franchise into something even duller: X-Men crossovers that a physicist couldn't keep track of — it's fans check their watches and start edging toward the door.

The Article in it's full entirely can be read at this link:

http://www.suck.com/daily/99/07/26/

Guess who's Back?

2006-07-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Julia Carpenter ( Spider-Woman II) returns in Ms. Marvel #7!

Intro Post

2006-07-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

This is my very first blog. Here I will discuss comic books of the past and present.