Two Cents: Lightning Round

We're heading down to Virginia for the holidays and I'm planning to post a bunch of TPB reviews throughout next week -- in between catching up on sleep and movies -- including Stagger Lee; American Born Chinese; Opening Lines, Pinky Probes, and L-Bombs, and a few others. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the holiday giveaway I mentioned a few weeks back; I just haven't had the time to pick and pull the comics in question. Stay tuned and have a great holiday!

TWO CENTS

*** Archie's Redesign: Not feeling it at all, but then, I'm not the target audience. Considering the emphasis Archie puts on the familiarity of its characters being a selling point in mass-market outlets like Wal-Mart, though, I'm rather surprised by the decision.

*** Minx: Kudos to DC for continuing to diversify their output with another new imprint, and more importantly, for dedicating significant marketing resources to give it a fighting chance. Could there be more women contributors in the initial launch? Sure, but there could be a million legitimate reasons there aren't that have nothing to do with sexism or stupidity, and considering Karen Berger's editorial track record, I'm willing to take a rain check on the reflexive, self-righteous anger. I also have no problem with the name. Minx doesn't evoke "slut" in my mind; more like precocious self-confidence.

*** Too Many Ads in Comics: Marvel notices money sitting on the table right in front of them and grabs it? Well, duh! Actually, this merits a post of its own, but if you want an idea of where I'll be going with this, check out Marvel's media kit. I will say that the idea that they should subsidize retailers' increased shipping costs because of the additional weight is pretty silly, as is thinking they should lower cover prices because of the additional revenue coming from the ads.

*** Parker's Peter: Such a non-issue, really, but it's rather sad that in some areas of the country it could cause retailers a problem. As for the story itself, while a definite Dark Knight knockoff, it's not necessarily a bad one. I was intrigued enough to check out the second issue.

*** Civil War's Multiple Delays: Who cares? And why was anyone surprised? Sure, retailers got the shaft on this one, but at the same time... eggs, basket, old saying? If your business can be so dramatically affected by one publisher, no matter how big, you need to rethink your business plan.