So has anyone else seen this? It’s a magazine anthology reprinting recent (and some not so recent) Spider-man (and some not Spider-man) stories from various Marvel books. It seems aimed at kids, and it seems to be distributed through book stores. They seem to be on number 2, and there’s some fairly prominent advertising placement on the cover of the MarvelKids.com website.
Marketing wise, this seems like a really good idea; a clever way to break out of the direct market in a format that would be appealing for younger audiences (who are often more likely to be in book stores than comics stores) and for booksellers (Borders, at least, stocks a lot more magazines than comics.) It’s a little pricy (7 bucks) but there are a lot of stories included (5, all told) and a bunch of extras. It seems like a really good way to go.
Content wise, it was overall better than I expected. There was an old 80s Marvel Team-Up featuring the Thing and Sandman from the period just after Sandy and Hydroman merged. It was very low-key; Sandman was completely freaked out and just had a beer with the Thing and talked about how his life sucked. I’m kind of a sucker for super-hero comics that go out of their way to have nothing particularly super happen, I’ve go to admit.
Of the new stuff…there’s a story from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, which is I guess the all-ages title, where Peter’s very young (he looks about 13, though I think he’s supposed to be a little older than that.) It’s a reprise of the Lee/Ditko Sinister Six storyline, though I don’t think it quite holds up to the original — the art certainly isn’t as good, and Peter’s angst has been dialed way down — which makes the whole thing a lot less interesting. Also, I’ve got to say — why not just reprint the original story? They really are for kids; my son likes them, and I remember liking them a lot when I was 7 or 8. Putting everyone in modern clothes…I just don’t see the point, exactly.
In general, it’s amazing to me how frequently not only the characters in super-heroes are reused, but how whole plotlines keep getting recycled. This is, I think, how work-for-hire really benefits the big two. You might get paid for a reprint of your title, but you don’t necessarily get paid, or even acknowledged, when your storyline gets endlessly repeated (often in other media, re: Tim Sale’s comics and the Batman movies).
Ultimately, though, I wonder if this is self-defeating. A magazine like, for all ages, in books stores, seems like a perfect place to try out some new concepts with new creators — to try for a new hit, in other words. There are in fact new super-hero concepts that do very well — Ben 10, for example. But they don’t come out of DC and Marvel, and the reason is that DC and Marvel aren’t really trying. Maybe it doesn’t matter — maybe you can just glide on the characters you’ve got forever. But it seems like, you’ve got this brand, you’ve got all these creative people working for you…why not see if you can come up with something new, something that might open up new markets and/or be financially beneficial? But, hey, what do I know….
On the plus side again, there was a reprint of a Spider-Man/Fantastic Four story (Silver Age) that I really liked quite a bit. The author is Jeff Parker, who has a nice way with low-key character interactions and dialogue. I’m thinking of getting the series…what say you Bryan? Tucker? Worthwhile, or should I pass?
Sorry brah, my knowledge of Spidey and the Fantastic Four is pretty limited to what’s in the first few “Essential” volumes. Well, that and some of the weird shit they do now.
Afraid I don’t know much about Spider-Man Magazine, the Marvel Adventures line, or Jeff Parker, but I think if you go to the bookstore Manga section, you may find some Marvel Adventures digests. Maybe that is the better purchase.
Also, what Tim Sale work are you referring to?
There’s lots of outlets for all-ages merchandise from Marvel. The reprint the Marvel Adventures stuff in big hardcovers, in little manga books, in Spidey magazine, and, there’s always the “original” comics. Most of these stories are revisions/rewrites of early Lee/Kirby/Ditko comics and _sometimes_ those people even get a credit (I guess it has to be _really_ close). I think even the comics themselves sell fairly well, but it’s pretty obvious that the little manga books are the best buy (They’re less than 10 bucks for 5-6 stories, but they’ll hold up longer than a magazine format). They also library-bind single issues of these titles and are available in your local library (Non-fiction, number 741.5 has all the comics stuff (for the most part)). I get these for Katie to read from time to time…at no charge of course!
DC does a less good job…from what I can tell…but Billy Batson: Power of Shazam and Tiny Titans (for instance) are selling fairly well in the old “comic” format. I’m sure collections will be released…
If I were you, I’d track down the manga-sized books (likely in the kids(!) section of your Borders or Barnes and Noble, or bookshop of choice) for Siah (but they don’t reprint the older stuff). The Hulk one I read wasn’t bad (although, no doubt very derivative from Lee/Kirby)…
An all-ages book I enjoyed was Superman Adventures, based on Bruce Timm’s Superman Animated Series. It was hands down the best Superman series published by DC in the late 90’s with stories from Paul Dini, Mark Millar, Scott McCloud, and Ty Templeton. I think some of the best issues have been collected in both standard trade and manga digest format.
Bryan; Tim Sale’s stuff (like the Long Halloween) was a big influence on the movies, apparently. I don’t think he got either credit or money, though.
Thanks for the advice Eric; I think I will check out more of that Jeff Parker series; more intriguing since no one seems to know who he is….
Hey, Jeff Parker could be the single best Spider-Man writer in existence. I know the Ultimate series pretty well, but my knowledge of the regular guy extends about as far as knowing he still whines like a bitch after having sex with a super-model for–what, twenty years? That coupled with the fact that I seem to be the only person on earth who has the sixth sense of giving the character a try only when the issue features a sequence where he cries, usually in the rain. I don’t know if Petey weeps a lot, but I do know that I’ve only bought issues that read like deleted scenes from Magnolia.
Jeff Parker is a pretty good writer of fun superhero books, usually in the Marvel Adventures line. He did/does an Avengers series that is fun and goofy, with some good interactions between the modern version of the team (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, etc.). He also did a Spider-Man/Fantastic Four miniseries that was one of the last things Mike Wieringo illustrated, and the well-regarded Agents of Atlas miniseries, which is coming back as an ongoing series soon. Oh, and the X-Men First Class series, which is also supposed to be pretty decent. The thing with him is that he doesn’t wallow in the over-seriousness that seems to pervade so much of modern superhero stuff; he just tells fun stories with good action and characterizations, making use of the weird stuff that has accumulated over 40 or so years of Marvel’s history. I haven’t read much of his stuff lately, since I’ve almost completely given up on superhero comics, but if I was still following that stuff regularly, his book are the ones I would seek out.