Or not?

Looks like there is more All Ages material down the road? At least according to Marvel’s Director of Sales who would know stuff like that!

Well, that’s news to me. But good news! It’s great to know there’s more All Ages content in the works and that it ought to be coming sooner rather than later. Whatever it may be.

Buy Captain America: The Fighting Avenger in the meantime anyway! It’s a fun story and Gurihiru knocked it out of the park on every single page.


Captain America: The Fighting Avenger

Remember all that talk about Captain America from a while back? Well, they finally solicited it!

Captain America: The Fighting Avenger #1 will be available April 13, 2011. It’s 48 pages and it will cost $3.99. So, it’s like a regular Marvel comic but twice as large zing. Pre-order it locally or online. Though, come to think of it, the issue may not be available for pre-order online just yet. I’ll keep ya posted.

Anyway! You may recall that this was intended to be an on-going series. It was downgraded to a four issue mini-series and then two issues — you get both of ’em in this one-shot. Captain America: The Fighting Avenger will be one of the last “all ages” issues of anything Marvel will produce for quite a while. Because they “aren’t profitable.”

One way to prove them wrong, is to make it profitable. Order it! In droves!

This ain’t your standard Captain America. It’s a story of his very earliest days back in World War 2. He’s inexperienced and unproven. He’s unsure of himself. He screws up. But there’s still that essential “Cap”-ness at his core you can see shining through. And there’s art by Super Amazing Gurihiru.

There will be two versions of the issue. They’re identical except for the cover. The first, by Gurihiru, looks like this.


clicky for big

ORDER CODE FEB110540

The second, by Barry “Also Super Amazing” Kitson, looks like this.


clicky for big

ORDER CODE FEB110541

Now, it’s disappointing to have a series cancelled. Even more so when it’s cancelled before it’s given a fair shake. But that’s freelance and I’m cool with it. Life goes on.

What I mourn here is the largest comics publisher in America giving up on fun and accessible comics.

I invite you guys and gals to help me make a stand. You made the industry take notice of a fun and accessible comic once. Will you do it again?


Almost funny

Unsurprising developments in the Heavy Ink thing.

Hope he has sense enough to cooperate.


Heavy Ink

A little piece of comics news you may have missed this weekend.

In the wake of the assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords, Travis Corcoran posted some reprehensible thoughts on his personal blog: “1 down, 534 to go.”

In fairness, he provides an “explanation” for these comments right here. If you don’t have the time or inclination to read a very long and very desperate attempt to justify some incredibly childish ideas, here’s a summary: It is his very sincere belief that the fact he has to pay taxes is so evil that the murder of any politician (or their staff!) who is in some way a part of that taxation system is not merely justified, but to be applauded.*

Of course, Representative Giffords did not die, but at the time of Mr. Corcoran’s initial posting it was reported that she was dead. In any case, wow, what an asshole!

What does this have to do with you? Potentially quite a lot!

See, Mr. Corcoran runs Heavy Ink, an online comic book retailer that I have personally vouched for from its earliest days. Many of you used this service based on my endorsement.

For their first year or more, every time a new issue or trade paperback collection of Atomic Robo came out, it set new records for their sales. More copies of Atomic Robo were sold through Heavy Ink than any other online retailer, possibly more than all the others combined. Additionally, Heavy Ink was one of the oldest and most reliable advertisers within the pages of Atomic Robo. Hell, my parents use Heavy Ink.

But not any more. We are cutting all ties.

Your dollars were a huge part of what helped Heavy Ink climb out of the early months all small business endure and that statistically few survive. Now, I’m not calling for a boycott. But I am putting the facts out there so you can make an informed decision about where your dollars go and whom they support.

You can purchase comics from a number of online retailers that are not run by amoral monsters who think murder is a just form of political expression. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a great comic shop in your town, visit them! It’s an investment in your community and you get to be entertained while doing it.

*It has been pointed out that my summation of Mr. Corcoran’s defense is inaccurate. This is true insofar as my summation is based on the content of a number of Mr. Corcoran’s posts, comments, and replies and not merely the material linked.

Fun fact: He is a self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist. “Anarco-” short for I don’t want to pay taxes. “Capitalist” short for if only I didn’t have to pay among the lowest taxation rates in the First World I would totally be the millionaire I deserve to be.

I may be paraphrasing for comedic effect at this point.

Anyway, a more accurate summation of the linked material would have been, “a really half-hearted but wordy defense,” etc.

My apologies.


What the–UPDATES?!

That’s right. New Warbot in Accounting went up earlier this week and now we’ve got the latest page of How I Killed Your Master.

It’s been a while, so you might want to go back a bit. Or, if they don’t mind paying you to read webcomics, even further back.

That ain’t all.

Matt had a big ol’ drawathon earlier in the week. The theme was Girls Of Gaming (If They Weren’t Completely Cheesecaked Out). Characters chosen via a Twitter contest ruled by Matt’s mercurial whims.

Did he succeed? You be the judge!