moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (12/05/85)
A bit of news, extracted from the CBG:
John Byrne is turning over writing and art chores on "The Hulk"
with issue #320. I don't know if this was due to the impending
rumors of him leaving Marvel (in my opinion, unlikely; Byrne sells
comics, and Shooter wouldn't let him out the door unless he had
to).
Dreadstar moves to First Comics with #27, apparently amicably.
In passing, Vanth Dreadstar was featured in Epic #1, and has
always been one of the (most successful) mainstays of the Epic
line.
Whatever the rumors were (I never heard 'em), Western Publishing
will NOT be buying Marvel Comics. According to the CBG, a few
months ago it looked very likely.
Plans for Epic Comics next year include (finally) Steelgrip
Starkey, the return of Elektra, and a Groo Graphic novel called "The
Death of Groo". I can't wait for the latter....
Lastly, there's tons of comics reviews in the latest issue, and it
brings up about my only beef with Don Thompson, the main
reviewer (and co-editor) for the Comics Buyer's Guide: I hate it
when he tells his readers that it's foolish for them not to be
buying some title (in this case, Eclipse's Spirit reprints). When I
look at the number of titles Thompson reviews, it reminds me of
two things: 1) There's a hell of a lot of comics out there, and 2)
Thompson is a person in the comics field. Thusly, he has the time
to dedicate to reading many, many comics because it's his career.
Almost no one outside the comics industry (in fact, almost no one
inside the comics industry) has the time to read all the books
Thompson recommends. I suspect the majority don't have the
money to pay for all those comics -- heck, I'm reknowned for how
much I spend, but there's no way I could afford to buy all the
things on his "Thumbs-Up" list. A critic's job is to tell whether he
liked or disliked a title, and why, the idea being that people who
read the critic often will be pointed to comics they might not
otherwise read. The critic's job is NOT to tell you you're wrong for
reading/not reading a comic. I don't think there's a critic out
there, other than Jerry, whose opinion I agree with more often
than Don's. Still, it pays not to get too stuffy in this kind of a job
(something I need to remind myself of every so often...).
"Looks like this ain't our mummy. See?
Out-of-state plates."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
ARPA: fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPA
UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>mcewan@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU (12/09/85)
> John Byrne is turning over writing and art chores on "The Hulk" > with issue #320. I don't know if this was due to the impending > rumors of him leaving Marvel (in my opinion, unlikely; Byrne sells > comics, and Shooter wouldn't let him out the door unless he had > to). How could he stop him? Byrne is a free-lancer now. For some reason, I'm reminded of the "hero gets disgusted and decides to quit" plot that used to be featured in every third issue of Spider-Man and Daredevil. John Byrne quits Marvel in disgust, only to have a suicidal Marvel fan jump off a tall building and land at his feet, clutching a copy of Fantastic Four by Bill Mantlo and Herb Trimpe. Byrne wails "How could I have been so blind!!!!", jumps into a nearby phone booth, changes to Companyman, charges back to Marvel and announces "I'm going to write AND drawn Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, Alpha Flight, Captain America and G.I. Joe!!" All is right with the world. Scott McEwan {ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!mcewan "Listen! You smell something?"