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Assistant Editor's Comic Book Questions Thread

DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
edited March 2011 in Graphic Violence
This thread, I've decided to give the assistant editors a chance to shine! But those guys are crazy, so...take all answers with a grain of salt!

This is the thread where you ask all your general comic book questions that don't quite deserve their own thread. Stuff like "what was the first issue the black spider-man costume appeared in" and "why can't oracle walk" goes in here.

Also, this is not a chat thread. If you don't have a question or an answer, well, this isn't the thread for you.l

DJ Eebs on
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Posts

  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Can't Babs walk now though? Or is that series not over? Or was it a red herring?

    deadonthestreet on
  • DJ EebsDJ Eebs Moderator, Administrator admin
    edited June 2009
    All perfect questions for this thread! That I don't have answers to!

    DJ Eebs on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited June 2009
    :^: for obscure references, Geebs!

    Jacobkosh on
    rRwz9.gif
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Can't Babs walk now though? Or is that series not over? Or was it a red herring?

    We don't know the status of her legs, but throughout Oracle's mini she was talking about her legs and, when the mini ended, the Darkseid magic used to heal Calculator's daughter had worked on every part of her except for her legs.

    Robos A Go Go on
  • HenslerHensler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Alright, 2 questions:

    Okay, here's a question (that I asked right before the other question thread got locked): What the hell is up with Warren Ellis and Avatar comics? I'm a huge Ellis fan, and his Stormwatch runs got me interested in comics again when I'd gotten sick of Marvel/DC, and was really intrigued when I saw a whole shelf of "Warren Ellis' _________" Avatar books at my comic shop the other day. But most of the ones I read were just not up to his old quality levels, though Gravel was at least entertaining. What's the relationship between Avatar and Ellis and all these books they are publishing of his? I wasn't able to find much about their connection from either of their sites or Wikipedia.

    Second: Which issues did Daredevil wear the red-and-blue armored suit in, and did he ever return to it? Yeah, I know most people absolutely hated that storyline and suit, but I'm not most people, and I remember that was the first time I ever liked Daredevil.

    Hensler on
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Hensler wrote: »
    Alright, 2 questions:

    Okay, here's a question (that I asked right before the other question thread got locked): What the hell is up with Warren Ellis and Avatar comics? I'm a huge Ellis fan, and his Stormwatch runs got me interested in comics again when I'd gotten sick of Marvel/DC, and was really intrigued when I saw a whole shelf of "Warren Ellis' _________" Avatar books at my comic shop the other day. But most of the ones I read were just not up to his old quality levels, though Gravel was at least entertaining. What's the relationship between Avatar and Ellis and all these books they are publishing of his? I wasn't able to find much about their connection from either of their sites or Wikipedia.

    Second: Which issues did Daredevil wear the red-and-blue armored suit in, and did he ever return to it? Yeah, I know most people absolutely hated that storyline and suit, but I'm not most people, and I remember that was the first time I ever liked Daredevil.


    I will attempt to answer your second question. I know absolutely nothing about Ellis so I'll leave that to someone else.

    As for Daredevil, I believe you're referencing the "Tree of Knowledge" arc. It ran from issue 326-332.

    Here's an image of one of the covers. Is this the suit you were referencing?
    328-1.jpg
    332-1.jpg

    Lucascraft on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Regarding your second question:

    He never returned to it, and I always liked it as well. See, Chichester and McDaniel wanted to make Daredevil a bigger name in the Marvel U, so they did the Fall From Grace Arc to set that up and give a clean slate for people to jump on board. New identity (Jack Battlin), new armor, tougher villains (since at the time the Kingpin lost his empire). Elektra coming back to life, that was an editorial mandate if I remember correctly, to add a butt kicking scantily clad female character to match WildCATS' Zealot.

    Now, looking at the issues here to jog my memory the Daredevil issues from #319-332 and 336-342 those were good issues, and the Tree of Knowledge arc is something worthwhile to read now, as it dealt with the then newborn internet as a plot point. It's very heavy on the "hackerz" angle and has Hydra, Captain America AND Gambit in it. Like whoa, right?

    Then Chichester and McDaniel were moved off the book, and DD became a bad book, part of the EDGE imprint. Matt fought a transgender villain (bodybuilding woman), had a breakdown (again) and was dressing up in the three different costumes he had up to that point until there was something with the Hand and everything got better after DD #350.

    The design is still pretty good today, maybe black and red instead of blue and red:

    dd_armor1.jpg


    Also, somewhat tying into your first question, Ellis wrote an issue of DD, #343. It was one of those reflective "what do I do when the darkness is around me" issues. Something for the Ellis completists out there.

    TexiKen on
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I think the suit colors were a bit inconsistent back then. They were still using the "old school" print methods and had a limited color palate. In the covers I linked above, the suit is Red and Grey. In Texiken's pic, its red and blue, but its the same suit.

    Its basically the same issue as to why sometimes characters with black hair have blue hair. Its a color palate issue from the old newsprint era.

    Lucascraft on
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Besides Enemy of the State, which I didn't like, and Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, which I did like, what are some good Wolverine solo stories?

    Robos A Go Go on
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Besides Enemy of the State, which I didn't like, and Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, which I did like, what are some good Wolverine solo stories?

    The one-shot that came out last year, titled "Firebreak" was pretty good.

    Lucascraft on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    The first issues of his first ongoing run were good. I didn't read all of them, but they have like 4 volumes of them in the Essential format and seemed to be good. Wolverine wasn't instant heal at that time. Buscema and Silvestri art too.

    TexiKen on
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I hadn't even heard of Firebreak. I'll see if there are any copies in my local shops.

    Were those Essential volumes written before Wolverine's origin had been established as well?

    Robos A Go Go on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Claremont wrote the first issues, and was still heavy into the Japanese angle of Wolverine's past.

    It was around the time Wolverine was crucified in Australia, if you've read those old Uncanny issues.

    TexiKen on
  • HenslerHensler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Besides Enemy of the State, which I didn't like, and Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, which I did like, what are some good Wolverine solo stories?

    The Marvel Knights Wolverine and Spider-Man was pretty good for a team-up book.

    Hensler on
  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Besides Enemy of the State, which I didn't like, and Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, which I did like, what are some good Wolverine solo stories?
    Old Man Logan is really pretty to look at, if nothing else.

    deadonthestreet on
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'm actually reading Old Man Logan as well, but forgot to mention it. I'll probably read Dark Wolverine too along with the recommendations.

    Robos A Go Go on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited June 2009
    About Ellis and Avatar, Avatar publishes stuff that Ellis wants to do with no restrictions on content and on financial terms that Ellis finds favorable, and in return they get a big-name writer to raise their visibility. That's honestly all there is to it. It's not like there are many publishers or markets where stories about centipedes crawling out of a vagina are not only expected but encouraged.

    Avatar also lets him experiment in other ways. Like a few years ago Ellis set up a miniseries there called Night Radio that was meant to give some writer friends of his more visibility and a leg up into the comics business but [strike]one or two[/strike] one of them never delivered their script and the thing didn't materialize.

    - corrected because I don't want to inadvertently slander anyone's good name

    Jacobkosh on
    rRwz9.gif
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    this is my favorite Wolverine story ever. 1 issue long.

    32-1.jpg

    Sentry on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    wrote:
    When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
    'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
  • BostonGanglerBostonGangler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I actually liked this guy:

    http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=9676

    Not sure if it'd be for everyone, but it's an interesting premise.

    BostonGangler on
  • HadjiQuestHadjiQuest Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think the suit colors were a bit inconsistent back then. They were still using the "old school" print methods and had a limited color palate. In the covers I linked above, the suit is Red and Grey. In Texiken's pic, its red and blue, but its the same suit.

    Its basically the same issue as to why sometimes characters with black hair have blue hair. Its a color palate issue from the old newsprint era.

    This has reminded me to ask something I've been wondering about for a long time.

    What, exactly, do they mean when comic journalists and others say "four color"?

    I've been looking back at golden age reprints of early Bats and Supes stories, and there are normally more than 5 colors per pannel. Is it mixed inks? What's the deal there?

    HadjiQuest on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited June 2009
    HadjiQuest wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think the suit colors were a bit inconsistent back then. They were still using the "old school" print methods and had a limited color palate. In the covers I linked above, the suit is Red and Grey. In Texiken's pic, its red and blue, but its the same suit.

    Its basically the same issue as to why sometimes characters with black hair have blue hair. Its a color palate issue from the old newsprint era.

    This has reminded me to ask something I've been wondering about for a long time.

    What, exactly, do they mean when comic journalists and others say "four color"?

    I've been looking back at golden age reprints of early Bats and Supes stories, and there are normally more than 5 colors per pannel. Is it mixed inks? What's the deal there?

    It's called CMYK - that stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK. Those were, indeed, the four colors of inks used to make most comics (and most printed color art) back in the day. The way it works is you take photographs of the artwork using four different filters and make the printing plates based on those, so the ink is combined in certain ways at and varying strengths to create the colors you see on the final product. Like this (from the wiki article)
    800px-Barns_grand_tetons.jpg

    becomes these
    267px-CMYK_separation_%E2%80%93_no_black.jpg

    Jacobkosh on
    rRwz9.gif
  • HenslerHensler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Sentry wrote: »
    this is my favorite Wolverine story ever. 1 issue long.

    32-1.jpg

    Is that a Nazi shooting Wolverine?

    If so, that's going on my back issue list.

    As well as the Daredevil issues you guys mentioned for the "armored" suit - thanks guys, that was indeed the arc I was trying to remember.

    Hensler on
  • SentrySentry Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Indeed it is. The story itself is about Wolverine driving he commandant of a concentration camp insane.

    Sentry on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    wrote:
    When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
    'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
  • wwtMaskwwtMask Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Robos: the Get Mystique arc of Wolverine was pretty enjoyable. You might also try the new Wolverine: Weapon X ongoing, though it's slow in coming out so far.

    wwtMask on
    When he dies, I hope they write "Worst Affirmative Action Hire, EVER" on his grave. His corpse should be trolled.
    Twitter - @liberaltruths | Google+ - http://gplus.to/wwtMask | Occupy Tallahassee
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    jacobkosh wrote: »
    HadjiQuest wrote: »
    Lucascraft wrote: »
    I think the suit colors were a bit inconsistent back then. They were still using the "old school" print methods and had a limited color palate. In the covers I linked above, the suit is Red and Grey. In Texiken's pic, its red and blue, but its the same suit.

    Its basically the same issue as to why sometimes characters with black hair have blue hair. Its a color palate issue from the old newsprint era.

    This has reminded me to ask something I've been wondering about for a long time.

    What, exactly, do they mean when comic journalists and others say "four color"?

    I've been looking back at golden age reprints of early Bats and Supes stories, and there are normally more than 5 colors per pannel. Is it mixed inks? What's the deal there?

    It's called CMYK - that stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK. Those were, indeed, the four colors of inks used to make most comics (and most printed color art) back in the day. The way it works is you take photographs of the artwork using four different filters and make the printing plates based on those, so the ink is combined in certain ways at and varying strengths to create the colors you see on the final product. Like this (from the wiki article)

    I work at a printing press, and this is how we do it. Sadly, we don't print anything cool.

    Does anyone know what happened to No Hero? Did I miss it ending? I haven't had an issue in my box in several months.

    DouglasDanger on
  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Here's a question:

    Does anyone know the origin or history of the Annual issues of comics? I personally don't care for them. They throw off my numbering system of regular issues. It seems like an old and busted tradition from 40 years ago that just needs to be dropped. If they feel like they need to tell a bigger than normal story once per year, why not just pick an issue within the normal number system and make it bigger.

    Lucascraft on
  • CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Marvel and DC used to use annuals for their crossover events around twenty years ago.

    Crimsondude on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    It's weird that they were brought back, but I see why they did it. It's essentially a way to put a fill-in on the book without really being a fill-in.

    When Quesada first came on board as EiC, he wanted to get rid of annuals and just do 13 issues a year instead, and that made sense. But then late artists became the norm, so annuals came back to be that fill-in.

    I agree they aren't really necessary, especially on a book like Ultimate Spider-Man, Bagley could have drawn the annual stories just fine, without having Mark Brooks do them.

    TexiKen on
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    What's up with S.H.I.E.L.D.? Specifically: I was under the impression that S.H.I.E.L.D. was an international entity, although I'm not sure if they were beholden to different countries' laws in any unusual way. Remind me again, how did Tony Stark become the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Was he appointed there? If so, by whom? Who has the authority to install a new head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Was this the same person/group of people that made Osborn the head after Secret Invasion?

    Another question: remember how in New Avengers, one of the very first storylines was about S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were double agents? And then the storyline sort of disappeared as we focused more on civil War and Secret Invasion and so on? What's the latest on that? I seem to recall seeing some sort of an org-chart that shows the relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, but I don't remember: was S.H.I.E.L.D. depicted as part of HYDRA? If so, is that even possible? When was S.H.I.E.L.D. created, and when was HYDRA? Is it a big ol' retcon, or is there enough unwritten about the history of the two organizations to make this plausible?

    Lastly: has S.H.I.E.L.D. always been public knowledge, or were they at one point a more secretive agency?

    Delduwath on
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    The double agent SHIELD agents were actually Skrulls.

    Robos A Go Go on
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Oh, god, that's right. I completely forgot about that bit.

    Alright, well, most of my other questions still stand.

    Delduwath on
  • jeddy leejeddy lee Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    What is the general cost ocf comics to a store? I'm thinking of opening a hobby store in the future and this city has not a single location that sells comics, and could easily support it.

    jeddy lee on
    Backlog Challenge: 0%
    0/8

    PS2
    FF X replay

    PS3
    God of War 1&2 HD
    Rachet and Clank Future
    MGS 4
    Prince of Persia

    360
    Bayonetta
    Fable 3

    DS
    FF: 4 heroes of light
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Brian Hibbs is a successful retailer in San Francisco, and does a column called Tilting at Windmills.

    He goes over a lot of stuff about retailing, including the cost. He mentioned shipping costs in his most recent article about Cap #600, which might be of help to you.

    Purely anecdotal, but comic shops get a lot of boxes on Wednesday from Diamond. My LCS gets about 10-15 boxes of just comics and trades a week, not including toys and models.

    TexiKen on
  • jeddy leejeddy lee Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Yeah, I know the general run of the biz from working at a comic shop for 4 years, I just never did the ordering of comics, only the non-diamond stuff like cards and toys and stuff.

    jeddy lee on
    Backlog Challenge: 0%
    0/8

    PS2
    FF X replay

    PS3
    God of War 1&2 HD
    Rachet and Clank Future
    MGS 4
    Prince of Persia

    360
    Bayonetta
    Fable 3

    DS
    FF: 4 heroes of light
  • BostonGanglerBostonGangler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Delduwath wrote: »
    What's up with S.H.I.E.L.D.? Specifically: I was under the impression that S.H.I.E.L.D. was an international entity, although I'm not sure if they were beholden to different countries' laws in any unusual way. Remind me again, how did Tony Stark become the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Was he appointed there? If so, by whom? Who has the authority to install a new head of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Was this the same person/group of people that made Osborn the head after Secret Invasion?

    Another question: remember how in New Avengers, one of the very first storylines was about S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were double agents? And then the storyline sort of disappeared as we focused more on civil War and Secret Invasion and so on? What's the latest on that? I seem to recall seeing some sort of an org-chart that shows the relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, but I don't remember: was S.H.I.E.L.D. depicted as part of HYDRA? If so, is that even possible? When was S.H.I.E.L.D. created, and when was HYDRA? Is it a big ol' retcon, or is there enough unwritten about the history of the two organizations to make this plausible?

    Lastly: has S.H.I.E.L.D. always been public knowledge, or were they at one point a more secretive agency?

    I assume that the head of SHIELD is appointed by the U.S. President, for a couple of reasons:

    1) When Tony Stark, as head of SHIELD, wants to spy on Madame Hydra, he has to go as Tony Stark the civilian, on the grounds that he can't go there in his SHIELD capacity. Same with his inability to enter into Russian airspace acting in his capacity at SHIELD.

    2) Norman Osborn is shown reporting to President Obama shortly after being appointed

    3) Thor argues that Asgard is outside of SHIELD/SHRA jurisdiction, because it is not in America, but rather *above* America (now, it could be that Tony was simply not inclined to challenge this, since Thor beat him senseless prior to this, and vowed to show him the difference between a god and a man in a tin suit...)

    The more that I think about this, the more that it does seem like it's been portrayed somewhat inconsistently, but especially from Civil War onward, it's been made to seem like an American organization. My knowledge of comics doesn't go nearly as far back as that of many people here, though, so others should be able to clarify that much better than I can.

    The big reveal that
    SHIELD was secretly part of HYDRA the whole time
    came in one of the first issues of Secret Warriors. Hard to say where that's going to go.

    Tony Stark was appointed as Director of SHIELD directly after the Civil War, presumably by the president (was it the president that he made the promise to that he would hunt down Captain America?). Considering that, as Director of SHIELD, his job was largely to hunt down unregistered heroes (by American law), that does further indicate that SHIELD is an American organization.

    BostonGangler on
  • Robos A Go GoRobos A Go Go Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Maria Hill was appointed by the UN, though. If you wanted to fill in the gap, I suppose you could say that sometime between Secret War and Civil War the UN withdrew its support of SHIELD or Hill somehow turned the organization into a strictly US organization.

    Robos A Go Go on
  • BostonGanglerBostonGangler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Maria Hill was appointed by the UN, though. If you wanted to fill in the gap, I suppose you could say that sometime between Secret War and Civil War the UN withdrew its support of SHIELD or Hill somehow turned the organization into a strictly US organization.

    True, and it was Hill who requested that Tony take over SHIELD.

    BostonGangler on
  • FaynorFaynor Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I think that SHIELD was still loosely based in the UN, but the US supplied the majority (50%+? I can't quite remember) of it's personnel and funding. This is the reasoning behind the US being able to "shut down" SHIELD, because it wouldn't have had the manpower or money to keep going without Uncle Sam.

    Faynor on
    do you wanna see me eat a hotdog
  • CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Pretty much. Like I've said every time this comes up, it's like how the President of the United States gets to appoint the president of the World Bank even though it's an international organization. Part of it is general deference to the U.S.'s role, but it's also biggest the U.S. has the most resources invested in the organization. But it was still international until it was dissolved by Bush (who also appointed Osborne, and he and Obama get into that in Thunderbolts #128 or 9 IIRC) because the US pulling out of SHIELD is like the U.S. pulling out of NATO, which was basically the concept under which SHIELD was originally created back in the day.

    Its jurisdiction is basically the same as any other international organization. They were explained to be so omnipresent and active in Civil War because the U.S. government invited SHIELD in to supplement their own lack of resources (I can't recall who exactly began this line, but the implication was because of Iraq and Jesus... That's beside the point). In the last pre-SI arc Tony is preparing to send back some SHIELD agents who were killed and they were shown with their own countries' flags draped over the coffins. There were at least three different countries.

    Anyway, two things:
    1) SHIELD is a plot device. Because it's been so present as a matter of plot, it's gotten more exposure. But like the SHRA no one before Hickman (Well, in the last 30 years) seems to have really sat down and thought about it before they used SHIELD. But basically it can or can't do whatever plot demands of it.
    2) There are literally like a dozen similar organizations in the 616 universe to SHIELD. So outside of the U.S. where HAMMER reigns supreme there are either other entities for SHIELD agents to have gone, the Howling Commandos PMC Dugan formed, and the WCA Mockingbird formed with other former SHIELD agents who'd been captured by the Skrulls.

    Also the reveal that SHIELD was formed by HYDRA was on the last page of Secret Warriors #1. There was an interview with Hickman about it from one of this weekend's cons. But I skimmed it and didn't really care because fuck that book.

    Crimsondude on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Question: That Global Reaction Agency that is in Mighty Avengers, was that around before Slott brought it up to have the Avengers join that group (and skirt Osborn's control)? Because I never heard of them before that issue.

    TexiKen on
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