The Evolution of Comic Covers - Marvel Edition

Last week, commenter Kirk asked for a Marvel version of my analysis, so here it is. I took one of his suggested titles, The Amazing Spider-Man, but I decided to do it a little differently. Since Marvel hasn't been around as long as DC (regardless of the 75 years hype), I chose to start with Amazing Spider-Man #1 and then go with every 60th issue beyond that (61, 121, 181, etc) to give a nice 5 year span. Let's see what we can learn from this.

We start out, as I said, with Amazing Spider-Man #1. As was the style of the time, we have a picture representing one of the two stories in the book. The Comics Code stamp is easy to see, as are the price, issue number, and the fact that there are two stories in the book, the first of which deals with Marvel's highest selling book. Spidey has a speech balloon, but that probably should be a thought balloon. While the book's title isn't in the position it would take up later, is it is the same style we would come to know. Also note the little "MC" in a box, the only indication that this is a Marvel comic.

Five years later we have a more dynamic picture and the corner box has appeared. We have the title of the story on the front, but no speech balloons. The Comics Code stamp is slightly smaller than before and off on it's own, still. We also have "MCG" in it's own box, even though "Marvel Comics Group" is in the corner box.

Now in the 70's, we see the appearance of the "Marvel Comics Group" banner across the top of the cover. This links the corner box with the Comics Code Stamp, which looks to be the same size as five years earlier. We have a lot of text on this cover, both in Spidey's word balloons and Gerry Conway's description of what the consumer can find within. Note how the Spider-Man in the corner is not actually in the corner box, but just next to it on the cover. The image on the cover, though, isn't a scene in the story, just a representation of what's probably going on.

60 issues later and the banner/corner box set-up remains largely unchanged. The only exception here is that the corner Spider-Man is now in a separately colored box as part of it. Much less text here, just the story title, but the Amazing Spider-Man title is larger, now going over to the arm of the Spidey in the corner box. Not being familiar with this story, I'm not sure if what is shown here actually happens inside, but it looks like it could.

We're now in the 80's and, except for the image in the corner box, most is the standard stuff is unchanged. The series title seems to have shrunk back down to where it was, though. No text on this one, just John Romita, Jr's art letting you know what to expect. With the eyes floating over the Vulture, I'm going to say that this is a poster image and not a scene from inside.

This is certainly a poster image and not showing what's going on in the book. We do have some text telling us what to expect, if not the story title. We now see a corner box more like what evolved over at DC, where the issue number, price, date, publisher logo, and Comics Code stamp are all in one place, along with an image of the hero.

Ah, the 90's. While the art is heading the way that most Marvel did in that decade, the corner box is the same, other than the new Marvel logo. We now have the "Part One" box, indicating the larger story going on. This is also the first time we've seen some non-banner text above the series title. Again, I don't remember this story but I'm pretty sure that something like this image could have occurred inside the book.

Later in the 90's, the corner box has been paired down somewhat. The Comics Code stamp, now about half the size that it was, is off on the right side of the cover again. The image of Spider-Man has been replaced by his logo only. We're back to a poster style image, but we do have what appears to be the story title.

In the early 2000's the corner box, and the Comics Code stamp, is gone. We do now have the creator names added to the cover for the first time. The image seems to be something from the interior of the issue, but we have no text telling us what's going on.

Later in the decade and we have our first change to the series title, with the creator names above it. There is also a banner down the left-hand side with the story title and it seems to be coming from a modified corner box. The main part of the cover is a painted poster of Spidey "Back In Black", which has to be at least the 3rd time he's been in a version of that costume by this point.

Five years on and we certainly have a stunt poster image, since J. Scott Campbell did not do the interiors, but I'm pretty sure it boosted sales. We have the creator names for not only the main story but also for the back-up, but no indication of what's going on in either of them.

The last cover we're going to look at dates from 2011 and, in many ways, is a throw-back to much earlier. We still don't have a corner box and the creator names are there, but not only do we two descriptions of what's going on inside, but we also have word balloons! We haven't seen those since issue 121! We also have a scene that is representative of what's inside the pages and not a poster.

From looking at these covers, it seems that Marvel was on a steady progression with regard to design. That was probably due to the "house style" being part of the entire comic production and not only in the character designs. It started to loosen up towards the more recent years, but even into the late 90's it was a pretty consistent style across the whole line.

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A Tale of Two Sourcebooks

As someone who loves superhero comic books and role-playing games, it's inevitable that I would get into superhero role-playing games. I've played a lot, but the main one I have focused on is the Marvel game put out by TSR. Among the many supplementary materials that TSR made was the "Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe", which contained many of the comic characters that you could use in your games. Here's the entry on Captain America:

This gives you game stats for Cap and his equipment as well as a set of role-playing notes for either the GM or someone who wants to play him and a history for the character. Much of the non-gaming information was taken from the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" entry, seen here (taken from this entry on the "oHOTmu or Not" page from the Fire & Water Network):

Now let's compare this to the Distinguished Competition, the DC role-playing game from Mayfair, which was produced around the same time. Here's the entry for Firestorm (as seen in this post from the "Firestorm Fan" blog):

One thing that I notice right off is the lack of a character picture, so a GM can't hold the entry up and say, "You see this guy coming towards you." There's also no history written down here, but there are role-playing notes and stats. This is by design, as this entry was meant to accompany the Who's Who entry that DC proper put out. Here's what that looks like, from the same blog post:

You can see how the layout matches up great with the Mayfair supplement and is very easy to go from one to the other. The Mayfair way also allows for more information to be put in that relates strictly to the game while letting the Who's Who entry cover everything else.

All that being said, I prefer the TSR/Marvel way of doing things, and that's for one reason. I don't want to have to buy two products. I didn't buy the OHOTMU issues because 1) I had a bunch of comics to refer to, and 2) I had everything I needed in the GHOTMU entries. I also didn't have any issues of Who's Who, also because I had the comics. When I later got some of the Mayfair supplements, I was severely disappointed. Some of these characters I didn't know, so I didn't know their histories or even what some of them looked like. Even some of the ones that I knew had updated looks, such as Firestorm, so I was picturing the wrong thing when reading.

The bottom line here, I think, is simplicity. It's much easier for the user to get one thing, even at the sacrifice of some details, than to have to buy two items and hope you get everything you need.

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The Voice of Superheroes

This past Monday we lost another giant of comics, Stan Lee, co-creator of many of the world's favorite superheroes. To me, though, Stan will always be the voice that I heard while watching my favorite characters on Saturday mornings. Here are a couple examples:





Stan's is the default voice I hear as the narrator whenever I read a comic, whether it's Marvel or DC. He was a great talent that I'm sorry to say I never got to meet. If there's any justice in the universe, Stan is now reunited with his beloved Joan, who died last year, and with Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko, to create even more masterpieces. Excelsior!

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The Universal Table Explained

The Universal Table - Root of the FASERIP system

Adam Worth and I have recently started another podcasting endeavor, this time it's a live role-playing podcast were we play the original Marvel Superheroes FASERIP game. It's called Class 1000: A Marvel Super Heroes Live RPG, or The Class 1000 Podcast for short.

For those of you that have never played in the system, but want to follow along, I thought that I should explain the Universal Table (pictured above) and just how it gets used. You see, every Ability and Power in the game is assigned, pretty much randomly, one of the levels you see on the chart. They range, starting anyway, from Poor (4) to Monstrous (75). When you want to do something in the game, you find the rank on the table, roll percentile dice (giving a result from 1-100), and see what the color result it. Here's a quick example:

A hero wants to punch an opponent. The hero has a Remarkable (30) rank in Fighting and it attempting a "Blunt Attack", since he's just using his fists. Let's look at the possibilities.

• A Blue result is a Critical Fail. Not only does he miss with the punch, but now he's so out of position that his enemy has an easier time hitting him, or even just getting away.

• A White result just means that the punch misses.

• A Green result is a straight up hit. The hero does his Strength rank in damage, unless he was pulling his punch, to the enemy.

• A Yellow result means that the enemy was hit but he also might be Slammed for additional damage or effects.

• A Red result, the highest possible, was a hit that might also result in a Stun effect.

OK, so what happens on a Stun or a Slam? Well, the enemy rolls on the table as well, but this time he rolls his Endurance and sees what color he comes up with. Let's look at the Slam results first.

• A Blue result is still a Critical Fail. This guy gets Grand Slammed and has to roll on the Stun table.

• A White result means that he is Grand Slammed, which is what you would see from a Sal Buscema drawing with one of the characters flying away from the hit.

• A Green result means that he was knocked back one Area (the unit of distance measurement for the Marvel system).

• A Yellow result means that the enemy was only staggered. No additional damage, but he gets a minus on his next action.

• A Red result means that he resisted the Slam entirely.

Now onto the Stun possibilities.

• A Blue result means that the enemy is knocked out for anywhere between 10 to 100 rounds, which is a LONG time for encounters.

• A White result means that he is only knocked out for 1 to 10 rounds.

• A Green result means that he was knocked out for a single round only.

• A Yellow or a Red result means that he resisted the Stun entirely.

That's the basic idea of what's involved in making the rolls for this game. I hope it clears up any possible problems you might have listening to the show. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the Facebook Group we have, so the other listeners can get in on the conversation.

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Make sure to check out the public poll over on the Patreon Page. Open until September 30th!

Why Quasar?

One question that I get whenever I tell anyone that one of my favorite comic book characters is Quasar (after "Who's Quasar?") is "Why?" Well, here's my in depth answer to something that's pretty simple.

First of all, I discovered Quasar when his own series came out in 1989, which means that I was 13. This is when my tastes were solidifying, so what I was into then is what pretty much set my tastes for the rest of my life. That means that Superman, Batman, Quasar, Captain America, Thor, etc were all destined to be among my favorites. It also helped that my buddy Adam Worth was also reading about Wendell Vaughn, so we could talk about what was going on.

The major reason that Quasar has stuck with me, though, is that he's "us." Wendell is a geek and a superhero groupie. He wasn't able to be a field agent for SHIELD because he didn't have that "killed instinct" that most of us also lack. Whenever he's around Captain America he becomes flustered and either trips over his words or just falls into "Yes, sir" or "No, sir".

Something else that I like about the character, but I also admit can get a bit grating, is his self doubt. This is a guy who just fell into the job of being "Protector of the Universe." He's not fearless, doesn't have invulnerability, and isn't a master strategist. No, he's just Wendell. He's doing the best job he can, but he often wonders if he can do better or if he's made the wrong decision. Which one of us hasn't had doubts like that?

Adam and I make fun of some of the business stuff, or other "adult" things, on the podcast, but we genuinely love the character. More than any other character in DC or Marvel, Quasar is the one that is most like the reader, and that means a lot.

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Disney's Buyout of Fox is Perfectly Timed

As I'm sure we all know by now, the deal where Disney has bought the asserts of 21st Century Fox has been approved. That means that Marvel properties like The Fantastic Four and The X-Men now have their movie rights back with Marvel Studios. This could not have come at a better time. As I've stated before, all of reality will be altered when those heroes who remain after Infinity War will try to bring back everyone. This allows for the perfect opportunity to bring these characters into the MCU proper.

Just imagine, if you would, a scenario like I suggested way back when. The original Avengers, as well as the heroes like Rocket Raccoon who are still around, defeat Thanos. Adam Warlock or Nebula gets a hold of the Infinity Gauntlet and tries to set things right, but something happens and reality and time are warped. We get any new actors for roles like Iron Man and Captain America, but we also see Wolverine* (played by someone other than Hugh Jackman) and The Thing (hopefully in pants) in the crowd. No explanation is given, they're just there.

Now we have a new starting point where anything can happen, because not all of the history up to this point had to have happened. This kind of soft reboot will allow for Hank Pym to have invented Ultron, or the Fantastic Four to have existed in the 1960's, or even Captain America fighting along side Namor & the original Human Torch as The Invaders during World War II. This gives them an "out" to modify what they need to, but not have to completely scrap what has come before.

* This is assuming that the X-Men will be integrated with the MCU, which I would rather they didn't do since I think Mutants (and anti-mutant hysteria) work much better on their own.

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Reversing The Snap

I'm going to assume that everyone reading this has either already seen Avengers: Infinity War, or has heard what the ending it. If you haven't, please skip this post until later.

Still with me? Good.

I've been hearing a lot of talk on the social medias about the "Snap Heard 'Round The Universe" and how those killed in the movie before that "obviously can't be brought back". I'm sorry, but that's not obvious at all. Let's get a run down on the Infinity Stones, shall we?

Space Stone - Admittedly, being able to have instant access to any point in the universe isn't going to help us here.

Mind Stone - As with the Space Stone, this one is probably not going to help in this situation.

Soul Stone - Most people agree that Gamora's soul got sucked into the Soul Stone, so getting her back would be easy. It might be possible that everyone from The Snap is also in there, but that's not the problem we're addressing here.

Power Stone - Now we're getting somewhere. You see, the Power Stone has the ability to supercharge the other stones, making them more effective.

Time Stone - This one allows the user complete control over time, which means that someone could go backwards in time and change events to prevent

Reality Stone - Let's ruminate on the name here. Reality Stone. What's it's power? It can RESHAPE REALITY! The Reality Stone, backed by the Power Stone, can do ANYTHING, even bringing people back from the dead. Or, as in the comics, hit a universe sized RESET BUTTON!

So don't tell me that it's "obvious" that those not killed by the snap can't come back. The wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet can, literally, to ANYTHING. Once Adam Warlock get's his hands on it, everyone's coming back. They may not be the same as they were (changing actors, etc), but they will be back. There's no doubt about it in my mind, so ...

For more on the Infinity Gems and the original Infinity Gauntlet mini-series, check out the latest episode of The Quantum Cast.

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Avengers Viewing Order

Before we went to see Avengers: Infinity War my dad said that he had no desire to see it, because he didn't want to watch 20 movies in order to understand the plot. That got me to thinking, just what movies would you HAVE to watch in order to know what's going on? I think I have an answer, and I'd like to get some feedback on it.

I would argue that everything you need to know is contained in the Captain America and Avengers movies.

In The First Avenger, we get a baseline for the "Infinity Stones" with the Cosmic Cube/Space Stone. We also get the relationship between Cap and Bucky, which plays into so much of the later films. Not to mention a great performance by Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull. The other Phase One films were terrific, but this one lays a lot of the groundwork.

The Avengers got the team together, showed the interactions between the members, and gave a good introduction to all the characters. It also gives us the Mind Stone, not that we knew it, and Thanos at the end. Knowing the Avengers is necessary to getting what's going on in Infinity War.

Going on to The Winter Soldier, we get more of Cap's life and it brings Bucky back into the fold. We also get the stakes going up with the reveal of who is controlling SHIELD, and the introduction of Crossbones & The Falcon.

Age of Ultron gives us the real start of the rift between Cap and Iron man, and lays the ground work for both Civil War and Infinity War. The original Avengers break up and we get the new team, lead by Cap, which goes right into Civil War.

Civil War is where it all goes to hell. The Avengers are caught up in a major incident, which prompts the UN to pass a resolution on Superhero Registration. Cap and Iron Man are on opposite sides of the issue, leading to the existing, and one new, heroes choosing sides. That leads us right into the events of Infinity War, where everyone is scattered and have to come together to fight against Thanos.

The other movies are nice and give you a lot of information, but these 5 are the ones that I think you NEED to watch in order to understand what's going in in the latest release. Of course, I could be wrong. What do YOU think is absolutely necessary to see before Infinity War?

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Cartoon TV Themes 2

I was under the weather at the beginning of the week, so I didn't have time to write up a post. So enjoy these cartoon themes that might just be coming to a podcast episode at some point.



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Here's The Thing...

OK, puns aside, work has been really busy recently, so I haven't had a chance to write up anything. We'll see what happens next week.


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Thor: Ragnarok

We finally saw Thor: Ragnarok and I liked the movie, overall. I like the humor in it, the use of Led Zeppelin (both times), and the action. What I don't like, however, is how they messed with the cosmology of the Norse Gods. Let me enumerate my issues, and I'll stick with the Marvel Comics version rather than get into the Lore.

Here there be spoilers.

First of all, we have Hela. While I think Cate Blanchett did an absolutely outstanding job, I have a real problem with her parentage. Hela is the daughter of Loki, and the byplay between the two is really good, in the comics. Here, though, she's the unknown older sister of Thor. Sorry, but that doesn't work. She can still be the villain of the piece, but get her father right. In fact, it would make it even better if Thor kept suspecting Loki of betraying him to his daughter rather than just from being a schemer.

Secondly, Ragnarok is often referred to as the Twilight of the Gods, because most of the Norse Gods are to be killed in that. Surtur, however, is supposed to set all of creation on fire after bathing his sword in the eternal flame. I'll forgive the changing from sword to crown, but releasing him just to burn Asgard? Nope. He'd keep going and burn EVERYTHING!

Third, Thor's exclamations. Why the heck is the God of Thunder saying, "Oh my god"? What, "Odin's Beard" isn't good enough for you? And just which "god" is his, anyway? If not Odin, then Bor? Maybe Buri? That just threw me right out of the movie.

Finally, Odin's death is to be at the hands (jaws) of the Fenris Wolf. The wolf and Odin are in the same movie, and Odin dies, but the wolf doesn't kill him? Nope. Sorry. Odin just spreading himself on the wind like Apollo (yes, that's a Star Trek reference) is just way too simple. It's a MacGuffin, pure and simple, to get the villain out and about. They could have released Hela because Odin wasn't in Asgard to re-up some spell to keep her in Hel. Then she comes to Earth, with Fenris (who is her brother, BTW), and the wolf chows down on Odin. Much more poignant, in my opinion.

So, I don't dislike the movie, but there's just too much that they got wrong, even just from the comics, for me to say it's great. Maybe I'll like it better on a re-watch, but right now it's strictly middle of the road.

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Stealth Crossovers

Notice something about these two pictures? Yes, the art style isn't the same, but they look like the same character, don't they? The one on the left is Frederick Foswell, obviously from Spider-Man comics, and he appeared in the early run on Amazing. The one on the right is Sam Foswell from the 90's Superman books.

I love when stuff like this happens in comics. To those in the know, it's a great nod to the competition's characters. To the casual reader, it's just another character. This happens more often then the average reader might think, too. If you know where to look, primarily in crowd scenes, you'll be able to see the other company's characters.

For more on Sam Foswell, listen to the From Crisis to Crisis episodes covering the early 90's. For more on Fredrick Foswell, check out Amazing Spider-Man Classics.

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MCU Reset Switch

There's been a lot of talk about the actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe aging out of their parts, or just coming to the end of their contracts. Well, with Avengers: Infinity War coming up, I think that Marvel Studios has a great "out" for that. You see, the Infinity Gauntlet, which is what Thanos puts all the Infinity Gems into, is a reality warping device. That means that there can be wide-sweeping changes with this as the only explanation.

Here's how I see it happening. We have the boss fight of The Avengers (and probably everyone else) against Thanos at the end of the movie. During this, a lot of "Infinity Energy" is being thrown around. There's a bright flash as the villain is defeated and our heroes are all knocked down. As they get up, they are the new actors for the roles. This way you can have Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Evans, etc retire from the roles, bring in younger/new actors, and you don't have to do a complete universe reset.

This way everyone will acknowledge, "Yes, that's Tony Stark," and it won't be an issue. As a side benefit, you can change some continuity stuff that might not work for future films. This can be explained away as a side effect of the <insert location name> Incident without any trouble.

I assume that Marvel Studios and Disney will be around with my consultant fee any time now.

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A Tales of Two Howards

Those of you familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe know that we've seen two versions of Howard Stark (father of Tony) between the Iron Man & Captain America movies, as well as Agent Carter & Ant Man. These two men seem to be completely different, and not just due to having grown older. As we can see in Agent Carter, even knowing that the world can be at stake doesn't make him change very much.

So what caused this? Well, as with most things, I have my theory. I think that Howard didn't really change until 1964, when he attended/presented at the New York World's Fair. While there he met another innovator, Walt Disney. The two struck up a fast friendship and Walt told Howard about many (but not all) of his plans for the future. This changed Howard's view on the world.

Even though he was a founding member of SHIELD, Howard had never thought about the future being a bright possibility. He, and most of SHIELD, were more concerned with keeping the present safe. Meeting Walt changed that and Howard started thinking about what was to come. When Walt died in 1966, it hit Howard hard, and he then devoted his life to bringing about the Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow. This lead directly to the 1974 Stark Expo, as seen in Iron Man 2.

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Why The Quantum Bands Are Better

Image courtesy of Hero Machine

Those of you that know me are aware that one of my favorite comic book characters is Quasar, Marvel's Protector of the Universe. Quasar has often been compared to Green Lantern in that he has jewelry that makes whatever he can think of. That's part of it, but not the whole story. I'm here to tell you why, in the grand scheme of things, the Quantum Bands are superior to Green Lantern's Power Ring.*

Let's look at them side by side. **

Allows User to fly?                                                                         Yes                                                               Yes

Allows User to Survive in Space?                                                   Yes                                                               Yes

Allows User to Warp Jump?                                                            Yes                                                               Yes

Gives User Superhuman Strength?                                                  Yes                                                               Yes

Protection of User (via Force Field, etc)?                                        Yes                                                              Yes

Allows User to Phase through Walls?                                             No                                                                Yes

Can it Render the User Invisible?                                                    No                                                               Yes

Can Create "Solid Light" Objects?                                                  Yes                                                               Yes

Do Constructs Require Concentration?                                            Yes                                                              Yes

What happens when Concentration Stops?                 It remains until the user dissolves it                         It goes away

Needs to be recharged?                                            No (Connected to The Quantum Zone)                    Yes (every 24 hours)

Can Absorb/Control Energy?                                      Yes (after analysis of the energy)                      Absorb but not Control

Allows User to Travel through Time?                                               No                                                               Yes

Can Scan the Electro-Magnetic Spectrum?                                       Yes                                                               Yes

Acts as a Galactic Encyclopedia?                                        Yes (via Eon or Epoch)                                             Yes

Can Act as a Universal Translator?                                                   Yes                                                               Yes

Can be Programmed for Various Situations?                                     Yes                                                               Yes

Weaknesses?                                                                                    Magic                                                   The Color Yellow
                                                                                             Extradimensional Energy                                 Red Power Rings
                                                                                                    Kinetic Energy                                  Mental Instability of User
                                                                                                    Psionic Energy                                    Vibrational Interference

I think that it's pretty clear that in everything that matters, the Quantum Bands are the better weapon. No, you can't time travel with them (but, as Barry Allen has proven, you shouldn't anyway) or phase through walls, but they're good against all the colors of the rainbow. Plus in a straight-up fight, the Quantum Energy is Yellow, which means the GL ring can't do anything against it.

* Part of this topic was discussed on the most recent episode of The Quantum Cast.

** Information provided by The Quantum Zone and the DC Wikia
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Blank Backgrounds

The Incredible Hulk #289

I might be showing my age, but I remember a time when there were several panels in comics that had "blank" backgrounds (see above). I have no problem with something like this, where the characters are in a battle. I think it adds more focus to the action and keeps the page from getting over-detailed.

That's not to say that doing away with backgrounds, or just drawing the most basic of backgrounds, is an okay thing to do in most cases. I like to see Kirby Tech as much as the next guy, but I think I prefer this kind of simplified approach when it comes to fight scenes. Unless, of course, the background plays a part. Such as the Hulk picking up a big piece of the aforementioned tech to smash down on the Abomination. That kind of thing always trumps on style.


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Pryde of the X-Men

Inspired by a recent episode of The Coffee & Comics Podcast, and because I have had a really busy week, here's the 80's version of the X-Men.



Why this line-up, you ask? Well, because that's who the X-Men were in the comics in the mid to late 80's. This wasn't just something they threw together, it was the line-up from the comics.

And, yes, that's Michael Bell (aka Duke from GI Joe) as Cyclops.

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Thunderstrike

As you all know, I'm a Thor guy. I came onto the character with Walt Simonson, but I stayed for quite awhile. One of the periods that I was there for was the Tom DeFalco/Ron Frenz run, which introduced the character of Eric Masterson.

Masterson was to become the new "Donald Blake" in that he was an alter ego for Thor, but his time it was due to Thor and Masterson being merged in order to save Masterson's life. This led to some really great stories, and eventually Masterson took over the role of Thor when the original was banished.

Once Thor came back, and the two were separated again, Odin gave Masterson a cane of his own. This transformed into the enchanted mace named Thunderstrike, and gave Masterson some measure of Thor's power. That was something I was all about. This wasn't someone else usurping Thor's place, but an ally that could be called upon to help out the Thunder God, or the occasional Protector of the Universe.

It was also, quite frankly, wish fulfillment. No one could be Don Blake, since that was a creation of Odin. Someone could, however, prove themselves worthy of an enchanted weapon of their own. Much like Billy Batson saying "Shazam!" and being changed into Captain Marvel, Thunderstrike showed that anyone could obtain fabulous power, if they showed that they could wield it.

In addition to the solid writing, by Mr. DeFalco, was the great art by Mr. Frenz. Again, as you all know, I like comic art that is clean and doesn't go all wonky with the anatomy. Ron Frenz has that in spades. He, like John Romita, Sr., John & Sal Buscema, John Byrne, George Pérez, and José Luis García-López (pbhn), has a great sense of figure and storytelling. Plus, his characters all look like they're in the middle of doing something rather than standing around posing. Not to mention his wonderful facial expressions, which give you a glimpse of what the character is thinking. It's just great stuff.

At one point I had the entire run of Thunderstrike but, sadly, that went as part of the Great College Comics Purge. Unfortunately it looks like the series hasn't been collected, so I might just have to hunt down some issues.

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Starting a New Collection

A few months ago, I decided that if I want to collect something other that Quasar appearances, then I could do worse than get every issue that was cover dated for the month that I was born. That would be December 1975, for those keeping score. I haven't started on this yet, but if I come across any in my travels I might just start out.

What kind of odd comic collections to you have? I know Scott Gardner has his Disney Parks collections (parks appearing in comic issues and issues featured in WDW itself), but does anyone else have something like that?

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Organizing Comics

One of my "hodgepodge" boxes

Not so recently, Alan and Emily Middleton went through how they organize their comic book collection on an episode of Shortbox Showcase. That seems to have touched off quite a bit of responses from their listeners on how each individual does it. Well, this is yet another bandwagon that I'm going to jump on, though I may have still a different take.

You see, I don't have a lot of comics any more. In fact, I only have three long boxes and three short boxes. That's it. Most "new" comics that I read now are digital, which means that I don't need to store or organize them. I don't have a lot of boxes, but I figured that I would go through a couple and show you how they're put together.

I tend to go by character, which makes it easier to find things, and then by chronology. Let's take one of my short boxes for example. This one is for Quasar. It contains his series as well as other appearances that I have for him, going from oldest to newest. That means that issues of Avengers that happen between issues of his series are placed in between those issues in the order.

Next we have a Superman long box. This is all Post-Crisis stuff, starting from Man of Steel #1 and moving forward. Many of the issues that I had were damaged in a flood caused by a little storm called Sandy, and had to be trashed. What I have left is placed in order of story, so you have Adventures, Action, & Superman all mixed in. The Triangle Numbering made it easier, but I went and did that to the rest of the titles as well. I also have any "Year One" or similar type issues placed in chronological order as to when they take place. There's even an issue of Wonder Woman in there, which sets up her Action Comics appearance. As this long box isn't full of Superman, I also have related titles, like Superman/Batman in the back.

I do have some boxes that are a mix of things (see the Batman Beyond/Batman/Nightwing/Titans/Outsiders/Aquaman box above). One long box has PvP, Liberty Meadows, Strangers in Paradise (Michelle's), and Concrete, among other things, in it. They needed to go somewhere, so that's where they ended up.

I think that about covers it, and I would like to apologize to the librarians in the audience for making their heads explode.

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