Short Hiatus

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't gotten an entry up in about a week but the past week has been pretty hectic and I've fallen behind with reading and some other things. I'll be back early next week and I'll get this blog back on track with two new entries including the next Character Spotlight focusing on Jenny Sparks. I'll be slightly active on the Wildstorm and Comic Forums this week but I will mainly be handling things off the internet for a few days.

So I will see you next week with some interesting new entries. Have a good week.

Creator Spotlight #3: Whilce Portacio

Whilce Portacio became a famous artist while working at Marvel Comics working on such titles as Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor and Punisher. His gig was originally inking titles but he climbed up the ladder and was later used for his abilities with pencils. Portacio was one of the founders of Image Comics but had to withdraw due to his sisters health. Even though he didn't have his own imprint, Portacio later came back and put out his new book called Wetworks through Jim Lee's Wildstorm imprint. At this point in time Portacio was considered a big star on the rise like the other Image founders but he also shared a problem that most of the other Image founders seemed to have. That problem was delays.

Portacio went into a diabetic coma in 2000 due to a failing pancreas. When he was able to wake up about a week later he had lost a lot of weight and couldn't do much of anything for about six months. I can't imagine how scary of a time this must have been for him but somehow he managed to get back to work quickly.

In 2006, Portacio returned to Wildstorm and Wetworks when he relaunched a volume 2 for the series but as with previous runs on titles, Portacio quickly fell behind with his work and ended up leaving his book pretty quickly. After only 15 issues the new volume of Wetworks got axed and the title is currently in limbo. The Wetworks crew showed up in Wildstorm: Armageddon and DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar but other than that the team has gotten little to no attention the past couple of years.

In 2008, it was announced that Whilce Portacio would be taking over pencil duties for Spawn. At this particular point in time it was announced that Image co-founder and creator of Spawn, Todd MacFarlane would be going back to Spawn as co-writer. Needless to say, this collaboration has caught attention and there has been quite a bit of buzz over Spawn ever since.

In additon to his work on Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Punisher, Wetworks, Spawn and numerous other titles, Portacio received a lot of positive attention for his work on DC Comics Batman: Confidential title. In fact, there's a pretty good podcast interview available that Whilce Portacio recently did with The Batman Universe Podcast. You can find it under the episode guide of Batman Universe Specials on iTunes for free. In the interview, Portacio mainly touched on his work with Batman: Confidential and his more recent work on Spawn.

Personally, I think Whilce Portacio is hands down an amazing talent who can ink and pencil just about anything but like the other Image founders, he has never been the best at meeting deadlines which is something big with me. In an industry where there's solicitations, advance solicitations and solicitations for the advance solicitations I think it's paramount to get your work out on time. I don't just blame this on artists and writers though, I also blame publishers because they have no business soliciting these titles until they are in the can. Fortunately, this seems to be a lesson that Wildstorm has learned in the past year or two after suffering from this problem for about 15 years.

If you're interested in learning more about Whilce Portacio check him out on comicbookdb.com. You can find his profile there as well as profiles for everybody elses that I talk about in this blog. Not only will you find information about the creators, you can also find a detailed chronological listing of all of Whilce's work on the website. I opted to talk about him in this spotlight as I plan on doing a Dane spotlight in the very near future after my Jenny Sparks spotlight. For my next set of reviews I also plan to review Wetworks vol. 2 and most likely DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar after that.

Wildstorm in May

Even with the Wildstorm proper books going from 4 titles a month down to 3 we still have a busy month coming up in May. Kicking off the week of May 6 we are getting The Authority #10, Prototype #2 (of 6), Astro City: Dark Age Book 3 #1 (of 4) and the precursor to the Sleeper series, Point Blank which is collected in a new trade paperback.

Unfortunately, the week of May 13 is a little light as it's a skip month for Gen13 (/cries) but at least we get Stormwatch PHD #21, Storming Paradise #5 (of 6) and Resident Evil #2 (of 6).

The following week (Week of 5/20) is packed as we get Ex Machina #42, Gears of War #7, the much anticipated Killapalooza #1 (of 6), Mysterius the Unfathomable #5 (of 6), World of Warcraft #19 and Heroes vol. 2 finally gets the trade paperback treatment for all those Heroes fans out there that can't or won't pony up for the hardcover edition.

The month will wrap up on May 27 as we kick the week off with Wildcats #11, Fringe #5 (of 6), Resistance #6 (of 6), Starcraft #1 (if this doesn't sell a bazillion issues in Korea I don't know what will!) and World of Warcraft: Ashbringer is coming out in a hardcover collection.

Although I don't plan to get it, I don't see how Starcraft #1 can't be a big hit. There's so much anticipation behind the new game that unless it's just an absolute dreadful book it's bound to be successful. My thoughts with these solicitions is we continue to have way too many six issue mini series out there and probably one or two more licensed properties than I would like. I wouldn't mind all the licensed properties if they were more in proportion with the Wildstorm proper books.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I totally get that Wildstorm counts on these licensed property books to pay the bills but I maintain the point that we need at least one more ongoing book for Wildstorm proper to follow. After the switch to bi-monthly for Gen13 and Stormwatch I'm sticking to my guns now more than ever. We need at least one title a week to follow World's End and right now we're only getting three. Not only do I feel that we need another title for the sake of story but I also think a brand new book could launched properly with quality creator talent could honestly spark sales for the other World's End titles.

Due to the recession and less than stellar sales numbers, if it's too big of a commitment or maybe if the creator talent isn't there to stick on a new book there needs to be either an Anthology book or one-shots coming out regularly. Have a new one-shot come out every two to three months focusing on a character or set of characters currently being left out of the big picture. We have plenty of heroes out in limbo that could use a 22 page story for 2.99. Let's say you do six of these one-shots and then you can collect them in one nice pretty trade paperback. The same could hold true for an Anthology book except you send it straight to trade. The principle is the same it's just you tell shorter stories (but more of them) with more creators.

With Planetary ending, Ex Machina starting to close up shop and two titles (Gen13 and Stormwatch) needing a major bump in sales I really don't see the harm in trying a couple one-shots or an Anthology book. Sometimes less is more and this is one of those times and I appreciate the editorial group out in La Jolla not throwing fifty new random titles at us every week (my wallet appreciates this as well) but there needs to be something to spark excitement in the community and a chance to try and grab some new sales.

With the recent Gen13 and Stormwatch editorial changes I'd like to think that was a step in the right direction and we shall see what the cards hold for the future. What are your thoughts on what you would like to see to help grow sales for the Wildstorm proper books? Have any comments on the new editorial change for Stormwatch and Gen13? Will the shift help sell more books? And finally, will the upcoming World's End trade paperbacks be enough to bring in some fresh blood to make this thing a success?

Creator Spotlight #2: Gail Simone

Since I just finished up my reviews for Welcome to Tranquility it made sense to me to do my next creator spotlight on the writer of the Tranquility series, Gail Simone.

Gail got her foot in the door early on by working for Bongo Comics working on The Simpsons. She hit the mainstream when she went to Marvel Comics and wrote issues of Deadpool but didn't stay at Marvel for very long as she reportedly had issues getting along with her editor.

Being in the mainstream and not wanting to work with Marvel anymore the logical choice was to make the move to DC Comics. Gail hit the jackpot with DC when she took over the Birds of Prey book and had a very long and critically acclaimed run before diving into other books for DC, including Action Comics, Villains United, Wonder Woman and eventually the spin off of Villains United, Secret Six.

Not only did Gail work on DC titles but she also dove into Wildstorm's Gen13 and created the series Welcome to Tranquility. To date, Welcome to Tranquility has had 13 issues published, 12 of which were written by Gail with the 13th was written by Christos Gage as part of Armageddon.

Today Gail Simone stays busy writing the Wonder Woman and Secret Six ongoing books but she is also making her return to the Tranquility book later in 2009 with a new six issue limited series.

I haven't reviewed Gail's Gen13 run yet in this blog but if you are curious about her work on Welcome to Tranquility I've reviewed the entire series in previous entries. In the future I hope to review her work on Gen13 after reviewing Gen13 vol. 1 (the 5 issue limited series and issue #0). Speaking of old books, I'm thinking about starting a series of blog entries titled "Blast From the Past" where I focus on old 90's Wildstorm books such as Wetworks vol. 1, WildC.A.T.S vol. 1 and maybe even some limited series such as Zealot or Team 7. If there's any interest for "Blast From the Past" entries please leave a comment and I'll try and cover what you're interested in.

Getting back to Gail's work I have to say I haven't read everything she's put out to date. What I have read includes her entire run on Birds of Prey and Welcome to Tranquility. My girlfriend has her complete runs for Villains United, Secret Six, Wonder Woman and All New Atom. Outside of Wildstorm, I'm really looking forward to reading her Wonder Woman stuff as I've heard she's really saved that book and hopefully the sales will pick up in the future to help spark interest in a second Wonder Woman title. What I have read from her has been overall excellent (I gave her Tranquility issues very good reviews) and I can't wait to see her get back to Tranquility later this year.

Review: Welcome to Tranquility Part Four of Four

Today I'm wrapping up my four part review by reviewing Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon which is a one-shot issue written by Christos Gage, with art by Horatio Domingues and Neil Googe. Carrie Strachan took care of colors and Travis Lanham gave us some pretty great letters if you ask me.

Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon is part of a series of one-shots that lead up to the events that take place in Wildstorm Revelations and Number of the Beast. The story opens up with a Maximum Man enjoying having his powers back. Unfortuantely, Maximum Man takes his fun a little too far and starts sleeping around with many of the local women that can be found in Tranquility, with the problem being many of them aren't single which is upsetting the local men.

Maximum Man is approached by Sheriff Lindo who basically tells Maxi-Man to cool it and stay away from the married women and as the Sheriff is leaving Void shows up. After her brief introduction, Void takes Maxi-Man into the future where everything outside of town has been mostly destroyed. Before Void gets the chance to explain much of anything, Maximum Man is attached by a group of superpowered beings calling themselves the "Supreme Soviets." Maxi-Man gets some help from the people of Tranquility fighting off the Soviet team.

Once the fight has finished, Sheriff Lindo from the future finds out Maxi-Man is from the past as the Maxi-Man of the future is resting in the town hospital recovering his powers that have been drained from constant fighting Sheriff Lindo tries to explain what she knows about the post Armageddon world but it seems she doesn't really know a whole lot about what happened except for the fact that it wasn't caused by a weapon of mass destruction but superhumans themselves. Lindo also explains that Salabal was able to cast a protective shield over the town protecting it and keeping intruders out but after two weeks she collapsed from exhaustion. After regaining her energy Salabal went to work on a new spell that would take the town into an alternate reality. While Salabal works on the spell it's up to the town and it's heroes to buy her time and keep everyone safe until the spell is ready.

Once finished explaining her story, Lindo recruits Maxi-Man from the past to help protect the town while Maxi-Man from the future rests from a group of robots being led by a giant robot going by the name of Black Panzer. To help back up Maxi-Man we see Sweet Sally and some of his team with Captain Cobra and Mongoose Man fight off the bad guys.

After the robot bad guys are defeated it's announced that Salabal's spell is finished and that the town would soon be moved to an alternate reality and that nobody would ever remember the town of Tranquility existed except for the actual inhabitants of the town. Before being taken to the alternate reality, Void shows up again and quickly takes Maxi-Man back to where they started in the present. Once they arrive back in the present Maxi-Man immediately loses his power and goes back to his old regular form and quickly forgets what happened.

Christos Gage did a great job in keeping Gail Simone's work intact while building on what's already been established. It was also great to see Neil Googe do some of the art in this story but his style is very different from what Horatio Domingues does. Personally I think Googe is much better suited for Tranquility. That said, Horatio Domingues still did an exceptional job.

This had to be a tricky story to tell as there's a heck of a lot of information to pack into a single issue. It really reminded me of the old comic book days where you could really tell a full action-packed story in a single issue, which is definitely something comic book creators don't do enough of anymore. Not everything has to be a five or six issue story arc dragged out. I get that they are catering to the waiting for the trade crowd but I don't see any reason why you can't collect five or six one-shots in a trade, either.

Getting back on track with this particular book, the story was great and the art was solid but it's very hard to live up to the source material and I think this book didn't quite cut it, especially when it comes to the art as Neil Googe only penciled a few pages in this issue. Some panels looked a little rushed and I feel like the story as a whole could have been slightly more polished. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best) I give this story an 8. I was really close to giving it only a 7 or 7.5 but the story was just so interesting with how the town could survive and I loved all the character cameos so I had to give it a higher score. I also appreciate that Christos Gage didn't bombard us with backup stories and tried to keep the story tightly knit.

This story definitely has me thirsting for more and I can't wait for the new Tranquility series to start up later this year with Gail Simone back! The only downside is Neil Googe won't be doing the pencils again as he has kept himself busy working with Christos Gage on Wildcats (I guess it's not really a downside though since Googe is working on a different Wildstorm book, the guy can't be everywhere doing everything for everybody at once! Artists are people, too...I think!)

In The News: Grant Morrison, Planetary #27 and More!

Let's get the big news out of the way first. Warren Ellis has said on Twitter that Planetary #27 is in the can. Needless to say, this was LOOOOONG overdue but Wildstorm kept their word from New York Comic Con this year by saying it would be finished sometime in 2009. Let's hope we see this final issue solicited for July in the coming weeks! This announcement has gotten a lot of buzz on the internet the past 48 hours or so.

I can't comment on the quality of Planetary as I have been putting off reading it until the series is complete. Once this issue comes out and the trade is solicited I will definitely be picking up the old books and pre-ordering the new trade. I'm sure with all the buzz behind this I won't be the only guy or girl looking at picking these issues up in the form of trade paperbacks.

Also recently announced, Keith Giffen is going to pick up where Grant Morrison left off with The Authority. Grant Morrison did the first two issues before hitting a brick wall and after about two years of waiting Wildstorm has decided to move on and hand the story over to Giffen who is going to finish what's to be a 12 issue run. For more information check out the interview with Keith Giffen over at Newsarama (Link: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030924-Giffen-Authority.html).

The thought of Giffen finishing this story doesn't excite me very much at the moment but at least the story will be finished. I would rather it finally get done rather than sit out there for two more years waiting for Grant Morrison to put it off some more. It's also hard to get excited about a title before an artist is even announced for it. As important as writing is in todays world of comics, you still can't produce a great book without great art so let's hope the creative team will be solid and timely for this one.

While we're on the subject of Grant Morrison's books, it's also been announced that Grant Morrison and Jim Lee are getting the band back together and finally sitting down to work on their Wildcats run. Rather than solicit individual issues over a period of time it's looking like Morrison and Lee will be completing their story as a graphic novel. Personally, this news has me very excited. I love the idea of being able to sit down and read this straight through without having to worry about any future delays.

I've been very excited about the fact that Wildstorm has learned not to solicit projects anymore without them being finished. I don't mind waiting for a title I just get annoyed when it's solicited and in my mind and then of course it ends up not showing up on time.

While on the topic of solicitations and upcoming books I want to stress how important pre-orders are for comics. Be it individual issues, hardcover collections or trade paperbacks the best way to support the publisher with new titles is to pre-order things you know you're going to buy. Not only are pre-orders great for the publisher but they are great for us as fans and customers for a couple different reasons. First, it ensures you'll get your copy. You don't have to drive to two or three different local comic shops to find a missing trade or issue or prowl the internet to see what's in stock. Pre-orders are also great because a perk of pre-ordering through many stores or websites includes a pretty fat discount. Online stores such as Heavy Ink, DCBS/InStockTrades and Comic Collector Live often offer amazing discounts. Heavy Ink is typically 20% off while DCBS/InStockTrades is around 40% off. Many local comic shops also offer 10-20% off for pre-orders and pull list customers.

The last thing I want to bring up today is the trade paperbacks coming out for the World's End titles this upcoming summer and fall. Wildcats and The Authority are up first with Stormwatch and Gen13 following close behind. Please, if you haven't been buying and reading Stormwatch or Gen13, consider pre-ordering the trades. These are two titles that need a serious boost in sales. If you buy the single issues, maybe consider buying a trade or two for a friend or co-worker that enjoys comics but isn't necessarily reading anything from Wildstorm. It's hard to imagine a Wildstorm universe without Gen13 or Stormwatch around so please at least consider these books for yourself or someone else when the time comes to order these. I'm currently planning to get the Stormwatch trade as it's the only title I'm not getting in single issues and possibly getting the Wildcats trade for my girlfriends niece as a Christmas present (she's starting to get pretty into comics). Even if you won't buy any of these books or if you can't afford them spread the word to friends and fellow comic readers please. Word of mouth is a powerful thing in the comics industry.