Whenever I look too long at soliciations, I feel like I’m tearing a hole in the space-time continuum, but I’m really delighted by two products coming from Marvel in the spring.

The second volume of She-Hulk, Superhuman Law, collects issues 7-12 in a full-color TPB for a mere $14.99 in Apriil 2005. I was looking at the graphic novel sales for November 2004 at ICv2, and I was thrilled to see how well the first volume did in the Direct Market. She-Hulk Vol. 1: Single Green Female ranked 12th in estimated sales by Diamond to comic specialty stores. It’s completely anecdotal, but the guy who runs the shop I use says he can’t keep it on the shelves. This makes me very, very happy.

I’m even more pleased to see Marvel release a digest-sized collection of the first six issues of Inhumans in Culture Shock. This is the wonderful (and short-lived) Sean McKeever series featuring a group of young Inhumans taking part in an exchange program and enrolling at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It’s a terrific mix of fish-out-of-water comedy, interpersonal angst, horror, and action, beautifully rendered by Matthew Clark. It requires absolutely no prior knowledge of the Inhumans from their Marvel continuity, so don’t let that stop you from trying it. And it’s $7.99 for 144 full-color pages! It arrives March 9, 2005, and I think this is a Marvel title that would really sell well with the manga audience, much like Runaways.

Wow! 2005 is looking better already!

John Jakala offers up an overview 2004 at The Low Road and concludes with what’s essentially going to be my comic book resolution for 2005:

“Stop investing time and money in works you don’t enjoy or don’t expect to enjoy.”

Looking back on my buying habits in 2004, I really can’t justify some of my purchases. I mean, is there any reason to buy a Chuck Austen comic? Well, maybe the first one can be excused, but willingly repeating the experience? I didn’t think so. Given the volume of evidence to the contrary, should I keep expecting a different response to comics written by Geoff Johns, or does that fit too neatly under the definition of insanity? (Where is that pesky line between optimism and madness, now that I think about it?)

Nostalgia, misplaced more often than not, leads me to buy too many books because I liked the characters when I was 13. And, while this kind of cord-cutting won’t be easy for me (decades of entrenched behavior, and all that), I’m really going to make an effort to follow creators I like rather than characters. 2004 has offered ample evidence that blindly following franchise characters is a recipe for disappointment. 2005 promises more of the same (Countdown, House of M). Following creators at least lowers the level of risk.

So, despite my lack of interest in Spider-Man and the Human Torch, I’ll try Dan Slott’s mini starring the two. Superman doesn’t interest me in the slightest, but Gail Simone and Grant Morrison do. I’ll give Peter Milligans upcoming X-work a shot. And it isn’t as though my current buying list will be totally decimated: books like She-Hulk, Birds of Prey, Fallen Angel, Ex Machina, The Losers, Astonishing X-Men, Gotham Central, Manhunter, and some others will stay in place for 2005.

And, though I find its heft and layout painful, I’ll try and make better use of Previews. Of course, there’s always the blogosphere, which has already given me any number of great recommendations. Without it, I wouldn’t have picked up great books like Street Angel, Scott Pilgrim, Planetes, Hot Gimmick, Sgt. Frog, and others.

So, that’s the goal for the year ahead: fewer comics that I liked two decades ago, more comics that I might actually like now. And, yes, it is about time. Happy new year!

I love it when comics I enjoy just keep getting better. A pair of third volumes of favorite titles just made my day.

Girl Genius is pure pleasure with its combination of screwball comedy, off-kilter fantasy, and wonderful characters. In the third volume that came out this week, protagonist Agatha proves herself even more resourceful than I’d suspected in a series of exciting and hilarious sequences. Kaja and Phil Foglio have given her a winning combination of independence, compassion, and smarts. I don’t normally think in terms of “who’d be in the movie?”, but I’d love to see a good adaptation of this starring Kate Winslet or Rachel Weisz.

I’m dangerously close to giving up my curmudgeon status, as I got a little misty more than once during the third volume of Imadoki! This title is as touching as it is funny, which is saying something. Yu Watase introduces an intriguing new character and adds new dimensions to an existing one that further complicate the romantic angst. Now that Koki’s betrothed, Erika, has shaken off her stupor, she’s turning out to be a real spoiler. She’s strangely sympathetic, too, which puts determined optimist Tanpopo in an achingly uncomfortable position. All cliffhangers should be as good as the one that concludes this digest.

… make it Heidi MacDonald’s year-end wrap-up at The Beat.

Then, if you still have some time, stop by Comic World News for the latest Flipped.

But, if you only read one today, I’d go with Heidi’s.

The stack was kind of small this week, so I thought I’d do a quick run-down. There be tons and tons of spoilers, so be warned.

Adam Strange 4 is a bit of a breather issue, with Adam making his escape from the Thanagarians only to run smack into the Omega Men, a group of freedom fighters from the Vega System (and the 1980s). They’ve been hanging around where Rann used to be, following up on a premonition from one of their companions. The book has a likable script from Andy Diggle, lovely and varied art from Pascal Ferry, and enough developments to pass the content test. I can’t say I’m too enthusiastic about the “end of the universe” portents, because I’ve been enjoying the focused scale of the story thus far. Still, this is one of my favorite DC titles and easily one of the best mini-series in ages.

It’s too early to make any sweeping judgments based on Legion of Super-Heroes 1, but I must admit to being a bit uneasy about this. There isn’t much variety to the voices of the characters yet, and they seem too jaded. The themes turn in on themselves: the young heroes want to buck the existing system, but is this out of altruism or generic rebellion? They relish their civil disobedience, and they’re keenly aware of the usefulness of media exposure. Writer Mark Waid has given them an awfully slick set-up, which is potentially interesting, but there might be pitfalls in it. While there does seem to be an underlying core of sincerity and optimism in the cast, which hopefully will emerge more fully, I can’t say I’m game for another tinny, self-aware super-hero comic that’s ultimately about super-hero comics. Art by Barry Kitson is polished and clean, with nouveau-retro costume designs smack in the middle of Curt Swan and Keith Giffen. There seem to have been some fairly major production problems on a couple of pages, with word balloons drifting around. (Edited to note that I’m not very observant, and this was an intentional visual effect to demonstrate the advanced communication technology.) And the title typeset is really dull.

Supreme Power 14 makes the unsurprising revelation that the U.S. government isn’t just utterly amoral, it’s really, really sloppy. It’s a predictable turn of events, but it provides some decent fodder for future stories. Hyperion, Nighthawk, and Blur make a total botch of their take-down of the super-powered serial killer, which leads to philosophical disagreements and varying degrees of regret. SP often features some interesting, sophisticated ideas and surprising plot twists, but it moves very slowly between bumps of activity. It’s also happily convinced of how cool it is, which can be grating. This is one of the livelier outings in its run, but there’s something unsatisfying about this title.

Teen Titans 19 is something of a rarity for me, the conclusion of an arc (“Titans Tomorrow”) that seems to come about an issue too soon. After a thorough introduction of the Titans West (the grim ones) in the earlier chapters, writer Geoff Johns speeds through the introduction of their more heroic counterparts in Titans East. It’s disappointing, as I’m more interested in finding out how they’ve stayed positive than in wallowing in how their rivals lost their way. Beyond introducing the group, Johns also tasks himself with getting the present-day Titans back where they belong and dropping an enormous number of hints as to what might be coming down the road. As a result, it feels too rushed and crowded. It also leaves the Titans with a specific future they must consciously avoid, which is a specific plot device I wish comic writers would avoid.

Lastly, we have What If Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? Or What If Brian Bendis Wrote Fan Fiction? Okay, it’s not that bad, but it is rather unsettling to see Jessica Jones, one of Bendis’s most rounded, interesting creations, get the full-on Mary Sue treatment. Instead of telling Earth’s Mightiest to blow after escaping from Purple Man’s clutches, Jessica takes the team’s and SHIELD’s offer to become a liaison between the two. Naturally, she thrives, is embraced by all, reluctantly acts as a de facto Avenger, and manages to figure out bitch crazy before the Scarlet Witch can do any serious damage. Oh, and she wins the heart of the whitest man in America. Even by hypothetical story standards, there’s some strained logic here. But seeing art by Michael Gaydos is always a treat.

Deadlines are looming for two blogger contests.

If you want a shot at winning Mike Sterling’s Swamp Thing giveaway, you have until Friday, Dec. 31.

You have even less time to take a shot at BeaucoupKevin’s Julius contest. It ends Thursday, Dec. 30.

Hurry! Click! Win!

At Sequential Tart, Barb Lien-Cooper tears a strip out of the idea that women who read manga don’t count as comics fans:

“You can put labels on female manga fans and say ‘they’re not real comic book fans’ because they often only read manga as opposed to mainstream superhero comics. Manga is only legitimate if it acts as a ‘gateway’ drug to American comics. I’ve heard this argument a lot lately.”

In fact, a big chunk of the new articles at SQ are manga-related, with a look at complaints from purists, a contemplation of hair color, and a glowing review of Pet Shop of Horrors.

The New York Times has an article on manga’s female audience (free registration required), and it’s not half bad. Some bits stand out:

1. I think Trina Robbins is being a bit generous when she says, “The girls (in manga) are cute, they’re never insulting, and they never have big breasts.” There are plenty of titles where that’s true, but the term “fan service” wasn’t coined out of thin air. Heck, one of the titles listed in the latest Previews actually listed “fan service” as a marketing point. Perhaps it was a quote specifically about shojo that got truncated or improperly contextualized.
2. I’ll be interested to see the line of titles selected by Penguin Group USA for its manga launch this spring. (Here’s the press release from Penguin’s partner in the effort, Digital Manga, Inc.)
3. I’m very happy to see Imadoki! name-checked as an example of good shojo.
4. Because schadenfreude is my drug, I can’t help but picture a rictus smile on the face of Marvel’s Dan Buckley as he talks about how happy he is that girls are gobbling up manga. (And I note that the two Marvel digest experiments cited in the article, Emma Frost and Mary Jane, have gotten the axe.) “Girls love comics! Just not ours.”
5. Apparently, Swan did for ballet what Hikaru No Go has done for go.
6. Schadenfreude, part 2, courtesy of DC VP John Nee: “”I think the most appealing thing for DC with manga is that it’s been decades since comics have been a meaningful medium for females.” All credit to DC for its very promising CMX line, but was DC just an innocent bystander as comics were alienating female readers?

All in all, it’s an interesting read. It sure beats the hell out of another “comics aren’t just for kids” piece.

I don’t know why, but I had the idea that I’d walk into the comic shop this week to find nothing but rhetorical questions nobody really asked. But after a more careful examination of the week’s New Comic Book Releases List, I see plenty of fun stuff.

DC launches the latest version of Legion of Super Heroes by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. The fourth issue of the wonderful Adam Strange mini arrives, too. The good people at Airship Entertainment offer the third volume of Girl Genius, which is happy news.

If I bought collectibles, I would certainly be tempted by the Zatanna Animated Statue, just because the listing makes me giggle. It makes me picture a small Zatanna statue cheerfully wandering around my house. And, since it’s the animated version, I know she wouldn’t magically lobotomize the cats every time they chewed on a plant. (Look at a picture of the statue, I’m reminded a bit more of Lady Heather from CSI than Z. What will the Mister Miracle statue look like now that Z has swiped the bondage motif?)

And, while it’s not new, the shopkeep let me know that he’d finally managed to restock early volumes of Maison Ikkoku, a charming romantic comedy. After getting Johanna Draper Carlson to try Alice 19th, I felt I should try something from her list of manga favorites. (It isn’t like that’s a chore; I’ve liked every title she’s recommended.)

Isabel Dalhousie on whiskey afficianados:

“They were people, she imagined, who did not disapprove of their fellow man, unlike those who patrolled mores today; these people were tolerant, just as gourmets, by and large, tended to have tolerant, expansive outlooks. It was the obsessive dieters who were unhappy and anxious.”

This is a sample of the wonderful prose that fills Alexander McCall Smith’s The Sunday Philosophy Club. It’s technically a mystery in the sense that someone has died and Isabel, the protagonist, wants to find out why. But it’s much more concerned with Isabel’s musings on larger issues.

She’s the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, a woman of independent means and a tendency to meddle living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She’s also a complete delight, much like Smith’s other sleuth, Precious Romatswe, Botswana’s first lady private investigator. Smith’s books and characters manage to be thought-provoking and comforting as a grilled cheese sandwich at the same time.

And… um… I really like them. No, not much of a point other than that. Carry on.