Falling Debris

This year's Comic Con has proven that the event is definitely not about comics.

A major change to Marvel is coming, relating to ol' green jeans, The Incredible Hulk. Last year, the title that brought us Planet Hulk and World War Hulk was shockingly renamed to "The Incredible Hercules", starring the mythical half-god instead of Hulk. Hulk took a leave of absense when Jeph Loeb (who has yet to get the hint that he should go back to DC) started the new determiner-less "Hulk" title, starring a red Hulk, now known as Rulk. Now that Rulk has been rampaging for a year and a half, it's time for a Christmas-themed showdown. Hulk and Rulk will be smacking down in an arc called World War Hulks. Yes, they're re-using the title. Not only do they copy the Hulk, they copy the title.

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Most people think that comic books are for kids. All comics are just super heroes in spandex that save the day and live happily ever after. That used to be true up until the 1960s, which makes me wonder how adults in their 30s and 40s still hold this to be true. In fact, mainstream comics haven't been for kids for a lot longer than that. Most of the industry has cycles of accommodating for younger readers, then maturing the same titles to match their readers. It certainly held true in the early '90s (unless I'm totally misinterpreting the child-friendly Spawn) and I more or less kept with comics until a year ago. Most mainstream comics are very "mature", not "adult" as you might infer. Sure, there are well-sculpted characters, over the top violence and language that isn't appropriate for schools, but extreme examples are usually labeled like music.

That said, there are plenty of comics available for kids. Major publishers liek Marvel and DC have realized that their revenue generating books are no longer for the kiddies and that if they want to get a new audience that will hopefully get into the more mature material, they gotta aim young. That's why they've actually create new sizes of books with more appropriate material that is perfect to get kids into reading and what we in the 'biz call "sequential art".

Marvel has what they call "Digest" sizes, which are smaller books, perfect for kids. Essentially, they're tiny versions of trade paperbacks, but they're unique material written for children.  DC has similar books pertaining to major characters and teen teams. As you can see with this example, the art isn't terrible, but it definitely doesn't have the sophistication of modern, mainstream comics. There aren't the more mature themes of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but they focus more on just fighting crime. The language is simplified, adapted for younger readers, meaning that these make great books to get kids to read since Goosebumps isn't what it used to be (in my day).

If you're a parent, I highly recommend taking a look at these at your local comic book store. Books are usually about $5-$10 a pop. I would definitely recommend Runaways from Marvel and The Batman from DC.

Let's try to imagine that all your favorite Marvel superheroes fight 1930s gangsters while solving crime as Bogart-like detectives. Now imagine something more boring. Can't. It hits rock bottom at Marvel Noir.

Marvel loves their alternate-reality meta-series crossovers. It's one thing when titles crossover in main continuity, but they've taken a selection of heroes and placed them in film comic noir. That means detective stories, femmes fatale and lots of shadows. Good thing our heroes normally hide in the shadows anyway. But do we really need a 1930s Luke Cage fighting crime in Harlem?

Included in the list are Daredevil, Luke Cage, Punisher, Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, all titled Noir to tie them together. There's not much interaction between them like a tie-in, it's just a theme that they were running with, an excuse if you will. In a time when corrupt government is in bed with "private business", it's only appropriate to analogize it with spandex. I guess spandex didn't exist in the '30s.

To summarize the premises, Spider-Man Noir starts with Ben Urich as The Spider, the boss of an underground group of journalists during the Great Depression. After a violent encounter with Peter Parker and his socialist aunt, an antique Maltese spider statue breaks open with spiders, giving Peter powers in very much the same way as he does normally. Donning a black suit (cough cough), trenchcoat and machine gun, Peter defeats Norman "Goblin" Osborn. Spoiler warning. Jim Howlett (Wolverine) is a detective who must solve a Japanese gang crime... you get the idea.

This series is completely unnecessary, targeted at only a small audience: the intersection of  those who really like noir, those who like comics and those with money to burn during an economic recession. Publication of the Marvel Noir series started in February 2009 and will continue until the end of the year. If you are truly interested in this, I suggest waiting for the trade, which will probably be in two or three volumes.

What is going on?! I'm losing all my comics to good people for cheap! This time it's Ultimate X-Men hardcover collection and a set of Marvel Omnibus books.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/vonanhalt