Villains with Potential-Attuma

Three words: Conan under water.
That's it. There you go. Attuma is Conan, only under water. And wearing a funny hat.
Some basic background information is probably in order. Attuma hails from a tribe of barbaric Atlanteans, and believes himself to be the prophesied ruler of the Atlantean Empire. So far, that hasn't worked out for him, mainly due to the intervention of Namor and whoever Namor happens to be friends with at any given time. He was recently killed by the Sentry, but then brought back to life by Doctor Doom. Frankly, I'm inclined to ignore all of that.
Attuma is Conan.
Think about that.
Namor, for all his bare-chested brawling, is as civilized as any Roman emperor. He's the uneasy ruler of a decadent culture that's existed in a state of cultural stagnation for thousands of years. He's a monarch, with all the baggage that implies.
Attuma, however, is not. He's a warlord. His people are, by and large, underwater Visigoths. He rules through strength and cunning, and by managing to outwit his more ambitious generals. He's not a complete savage, but he lacks finesse. He does what he thinks is best for his people, and what he thinks is best is taking over Atlantis.
Eventually, the Roman Empire got tired of fighting the Goths, so they just hired them instead. Conan was a general for the Aquilonians before he killed their king and took the crown.
Namor is reverting to type these days. He's back in black, and having tea with Dr. Doom. He's taking his duties more seriously now. Atlantis-the city-is gone, but the culture, the people, remain. But their empire is tottering. It's foundations are gone, and there are enemies all around them. And that's where Attuma comes in.
Picture this: Atlantean delegates swim through an ill-lit undersea cavern, escorted by savage warriors clad in shark-hide and shell. Attuma sits before them, on a crude throne crafted from the jaws of some leviathan. He's expecting demands. Namor is big on demands. Big on threats. Instead, the delegates have a proposal. 'Now is the time for all true children of Atlantis to come together to rebuild the ancient glories...' Attuma's people, despite being regarded as savages, are still Atlantean. Still nominally part of the Empire, whether they admit it or not. Attuma knows this, and it irks him to no end, but there's only so much he can do, only so many times you can charge howling at the gates of Rome before the other chieftains won't follow you any more. Attuma is approaching that time. He knows which way the current is flowing, and he knows better than to swim against it.
He goes to Atlantis and kneels before the Pearl Throne and offers his sword to Namor (imagine Conan kneeling before Kull...). "Let me lead your armies, and Atlantis will once again rule the seas..." he says. And Namor thinks and broods, remembering all the times that Attuma came close to killing him, all the times that he almost conquered Atlantis and, after a brief hesitation, agrees. Better to have the savage in the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in. And so it goes. Attuma does his job well when Namor isn't around to interfere. Maybe even too well. He's growing in popularity with the plebes, becoming a hero-the hero that Namor used to be. He eschews politics in favor of plain speaking, and holds to views that some of the Atlantean nobility find much more agreeable than Namor's policy of isolation/toleration.
Think about the storytelling possibilities there. How does Attuma navigate the byzantine politics of the Atlantean court? Does he intend to betray Namor, or does Namor's growing distrust of Attuma's popularity with the Atlantean citizenry push the barbarian into a corner with no other option?
It gets the wheels turning anyway, hunh?

The Most Dangerous Ace

Danger Ace from Action Age Comics has a lot going for it. Beautiful art, great writing, and an interesting premise all make for a truly entertaining work that I, for one, would like to see more of. However, in all fairness, you shouldn't take my word for it. So, in an effort to get you to head over to the Action Age website and read this thrill-a-minute pulp-fest, I give you the greatest thing about this completely free online comic...

(click to monstersize)

...Zombie King Kong. Allow me to reiterate, just in case you didn't catch that. Zombie. King. Kong. Fighting a blimp full of mercenaries. If that ain't worth the price of admission (in this case, free), then I don't know what is...

Galacturday

Courtesy of the ever-stunning Art Adams. Click to embiggen.

The Man in the Iron Mask, or, the McCauley Doombot Hypothesis

If Doctor Doom didn't exist, it would be necessary to create him.
I'm mangling a paraphrase of a paraphrase there, but you get the point, right?
A friend of mine once argued that since every appearance of Doctor Doom, to date, could be argued away as being an appearance by a Doombot, depending on whether the reader liked it or not (who says John Byrne doesn't have good ideas occasionally?), then, ipso facto, all Doctor Doom appearances have been Doombot appearances. He then compounded his heresy by saying that Doom did not, in fact, exist, but was instead a series of advanced androids created by a future Reed Richards, then sent back, Terminator-like, in time to create a machine colony for themselves, i.e. Latveria, from which to periodically launch attacks on the Fantastic Four in order to justify the team's existence. Hence the repeated failure of Doom's plans.
I argued vociferously against this, of course. The facts are plain, to my mind. While sentient constructs a-plenty exist in the Marvel Universe, Doom isn't one of them. His flaws alone bear that out. While Doombots do indeed exist, their AI is based on an all-too human template-that of Victor von Doom. How else can you account for their arrogance, their overweening pride, or nobility of spirit?
Well of course there WAS a von Doom, my compatriot replied. But, he died in the accident that supposedly scarred his face. In actuality, my friend continued, future-Reed Richards stole the DNA and brain-patterns of his deceased college rival and used them to construct a nemesis with an elaborate back-story in order to prevent the eventual persecution of his genetically damaged family. With Doom around, the Fantastic Four have a purpose. And, even better, the world has someone to be afraid of. Originally, Namor fulfilled that purpose, but once he married Sue Storm he quieted down immensely. Thus, Doom's continuing manipulation of the Sub-Mariner.
Hold on, I said. So your thought is that future-Reed sent the self-replicating Doombots back to unite the world through fear, provide a reason for the Fantastic Four to exist, AND to ensure that past-Reed got the girl of his dreams by screwing around with Namor's head on a regular basis?
As he nodded sagely, I took the opportunity to attempt to refute his arguments by bouncing a salt shaker off of his head. He replied with a napkin dispenser to my frontal lobe and we fell to intense scholarly discourse on the nature of heroism and sentient constructs in the Marvel Universe.
However, we never got the chance to finish our debate. Moments after I made an appeal to his spiritual side by squirting ketchup packets into his sinuses, we were asked to leave Burger King and never come back.
Such is the peril of academia.

I Have a Confession to Make...

I enjoyed the universally-panned Acts of Vengeance crossover so much as a kid that I went back later and began collecting every single tie-in. I'm still collecting them, actually. I can't stop myself. I simply must have them. Every. Single. One. Those issues with Daredevil fighting Ultron with a tree branch? Got those. The Punisher fighting a bunch of Doombots? Yep. Got that too. Cosmic-powered Spiderman? Oh hell yes.
I mean really...Doctor Doom, the Red Skull, the Mandarin, the Wizard, Magneto and the Kingpin all in the same room, snarking at each other for three straight months of around a dozen titles?
That's comic-book gold, that is.

Mark's Remarks

If there was ever a god of comic-book continuity, then his avatar was Mark Gruenwald. Prior to his untimely death in 1996, Gruenwald was pretty much the 'keeper of the lore' for Marvel, keeping track of even the tiniest details of the Marvel shared-continuity universe (and sharing them with us in the Official Handbooks to the Marvel Universe). And, thanks to a pal o' mine, I've just discovered the unabashed comic-book joy that is 'Mark's Remarks'...Gruenwald's monthly column, running from 1986 to 1994.

Go, read, bask, enjoy.

Have a Bit of That Simonson Thing

Death Knocks for Death Adder

Last time, Death Adder, along with his companions in the Serpent Squad, joined Sidewinder's Serpent Society. Now, the Serpent Society is one of those interesting concepts that got brewed up in the Eighties at Marvel and then was forgotten about as soon as writers took a back seat to artists in the early Nineties. Or maybe that's my bias showing. Moving on.
The Serpent Society is, as I said, an interesting concept. It's basically Villains Incorporated. Benefits packages, legal representation, secretaries, medical/exercise/living facilities (the Serpent Citadel), transportation (Serpent Saucers, Serpent Subs, Serpent SUVs-seriously.), the whole ball of wax. There were even on-site staff to cater to the group's every whim (Serpent butlers, Serpent gym-trainers, etc.). The idea was that the Society would hire out the services of its members to individuals like the Kingpin, or Doctor Doom, or groups such as AIM or HYDRA. Basically, costumed enforcers for hire. And, oddly for a super-villain, Sidewinder was an effective boss. He gave a good pretense of caring about his employees' needs, always got them out of jail (usually ten minutes or so after Captain America put them in there), and paid them well.
...
Despite this, it is absolutely no surprise that they eventually turn on him like a pack of rabid dogs. But, and this is important, not until after Death Adder dies.

Death Adder is interesting for one big reason, which I do not expect to see in future issues of The Punisher. Not because the writer lacks the ability, but because of deconstructed story-telling. See, back in my day (wheeze, getoffmylawn, wheeze), characters in comics got thought-balloons to go with their speech-balloons. Even animals had them. Everybody had them.
Except Death Adder, who had neither variety of balloon.
The writers of Captain America used though balloons to get across the fact that the Society, despite being quite professional by costumed villain standards, were still villains and were quite happy to backstab each other on a regular basis. Except for Death Adder. No thought-balloons. Thus, readers were forced to use Death Adder's interactions with other characters for a read on his personality. And, by and large, his interactions were surprisingly good.
He was unflaggingly loyal to the original members of the Serpent Squad (Anaconda and Black Mamba), he was the go-to guy for Sidewinder (most of the Society's plum assignments wound up on Death Adder's to-do pile), and he worked well with the other members of the group, especially Cottonmouth and Bushmaster (both of whom he rescued from MODOK). Then, of course, there was Princess Python.
In Captain America issue 309, Death Adder recruited Princess Python for the Serpent Society. How, you may ask? A business card. It apparently used a lot of big words and was beautifully signed, and marks one of only two times that Death Adder's college education in the fields of chemical and aeronautic engineering are mentioned.
Also, apparently, a minor in English Lit.
Four issues later, during the whole MODOK affair, Princess Python flaked out on the Society and it was up to Death Adder to ransom her off to her former allies, the Circus of Crime, or, failing that, kill her. During the transport, the Scourge of the Underworld decided to take advantage of the situation...

The Scourge shot down Death Adder's Serpent Saucer, leaving him stranded in the South Bronx. After the crash-landing, Death Adder pulled Princess Python from the wreckage and hid her from the approaching authorities (unbound, mind, implying that she was free to escape later).
Think about that. He was supposed to kill her. Didn't. Made sure she wouldn't get caught. Despite the fact she almost got him and several others killed by MODOK.

Then, he bounds off, hails a taxi and, rather than paying the taxi-driver, he resorts to his usual 'silently threatening' routine to get a ride to the Serpent Citadel...

Whereupon the taxi-driver, who was actually the Scourge, shot him with an explosive bullet, putting an end to a promising career. Two, really, as he kills the villain Blue Streak about four pages later, when the villain tries to hitch a ride...

For the next issue, the Serpent Society hunts frantically for the missing Death Adder. Sidewinder finds him in the city morgue, and reclaims his corpus for the Society. He returns to the Serpent Citadel in a scene straight out of Crisis on Infinite Earths...

Look at the concern on their faces in the panel below. The sheer horror. Especially the other Serpent Squad members. "Poor Roland..." I wonder what was going on between them, hmm? Maybe nothing. But what if...
Anyway, the worried faces could simply be due to individuals who thought they were invincible facing their own mortality for the first time. Or, maybe, it's akin to the X-Men seeing Wolverine get taken down, or the Avengers seeing Thor or Iron-Man take a dive...

Black Mamba is practically in tears, isn't she? Hands on head, tearing at her hair. Anaconda as well. Everyone else is in shock, but for those two? This is personal.

Bushmaster and Cottonmouth are, fittingly, eager to dish out some payback as well...mercenary style. Which they do, with all speed. Sidewinder orders the Society to drop all other tasks and concentrate on finding the killer. Bushmaster busts up some AIM operatives, while Cottonmouth chows down on the Kingpin's men in the course of their investigations. And where do Anaconda and Black Mamba go?
They visit Death Adder's parents. Seriously. It's a throwaway panel, but it's telling. His mother is huddled, weeping in her husband's arms. His head is bowed, face just moments from shattering completely under his terrible grief. It's implied later in the dialogue between Anaconda and Black Mamba that he had a good relationship with his parents even after being turned into a scaly killing machine.
So, to sum up, loyal friend, professional, no discernible angst, gets along well with co-workers (especially of the feminine persuasion), good relationship with parents and two teammates in particular. Doesn't hold grudges.
No wonder they killed him. He was a horrible super-villain.

Death Adder: Social Climber

Where were we? Ah yes. The Serpent Squad (Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Death Adder) had just gotten their heads handed to them by Iron Man. Escaping, mainly thanks to Death Adder's heretofore unseen ability to toss drunken hostages out of windows, the trio decides that it's high time to pay Sidewinder back for getting them trapped on the ocean floor back in Marvel Two in One # 64. This mostly involves them breaking into his apartment, swiping his beer, and waiting for him to come home so they can beat him up in an issue of Captain America.

At this point, it's pretty evident that it's friendship holding these three together. It's an odd friendship to be sure (one's a call-girl, one's a wrestler, and one's a creepy cyborg with acid for blood-together, they commit CRIMES!), but it's there. By this point, Death Adder has pulled the Squad's collective fat out of the fire at least three times. Re-reading these issues of Captain America, I get the impression that by this point, he's the calm one in the group. Death Adder is, in short, the Velma.* He cares about the ladies enough that he's intent on keeping them out of trouble, but beyond that, he could give two figs about what's going on.

Sidewinder shows up and narrowly avoids a beating by bringing up health insurance. Confused, the ladies allow him to spin his spiel about a union of snake-themed villains. Death Adder, still trying to figure out how to drink despite not having a mouth, misses all of this.

Later, there's a buffet.
Notice where Death Adder is sitting? On Sidewinder's right. It's an indication of the importance Death Adder will come to hold in the Serpent Society, I think. Either that, or it's a completely random choice on the artist's part. However, considering that Mark Gruenwald created Death Adder (and the Serpent Squad), and this marks the start of Gruenwald's run on Captain America, I prefer to think it's deliberate. Death Adder takes on the role of hatchet-man in the Society, much as he was in the Serpent Squad. Nowhere is that better exemplified than in Captain America, issue # 313.

Death Adder's claim to fame is a big (headed) one: He killed MODOK. Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing. It's the first assignment the Serpent Society undertakes, and despite a few-ah-disarming moments:



-Business gets handled. (Yes, I know Death Adder isn't in these scenes. I simply find MODOK hilarious, and never more so than when he's hurtling around out of control, tiny arms waving wildly.) The Society members ambush MODOK and send him running for safety:

Such as it is. Oh, MODOK. You never fail to make me laugh. Anyway, since I was unable to find an image, long story short, Death Adder and Cottonmouth eat MODOK.
Yes, they eat him. No, I don't know how Death Adder manages to take a bite, WITH NO MOUTH. I believe I've pointed this out before. I will continue to point it out. People must be told. After making mincemeat of MODOK, the Society turns its sights on Captain America.

The results are, of course, predictable. Needless to say, Death Adder is the only one who even comes close to getting the better of Cap-

Not that you could tell from that image. In retrospect, I could have chosen a better one, yes. This becomes the status quo for several issues of Captain America-the Society pulls something, Cap tries to stop them. Death Adder is invariably the one who goes toe-to-toe with the good Captain, usually to his detriment .
Then, of course, came Scourge...

* Which makes Black Mamba the Daphne and Anaconda the Fred. Sidewinder is the Harlem Globetrotters.

Suddenly, Savagely

So, when last we left the plucky trio of Death Adder, Anaconda and Black Mamba, they had been buried under a ton of silt and left to stew on the ocean's floor. But, we all know that you can't keep a good villain down right?
Right. Hence, The Invincible Iron Man, issue # 160.

'Suddenly, Savagely, the Serpent Squad' sounds like a soap opera doesn't it? a soap opera with snakes. Anyway, our happy go-lucky trio manages to free themselves from the depths of the ocean, and they go on to get a job with an unnamed benefactor, who wants them to steal a certain gee-gaw from the Long Island Zoo...

Can't get good help these days, can you? On a separate, but equally viable note, cloaks? Really? Wearing all concealing cloaks is how you're trying to escape notice? Who wears purple all concealing robes these days? Besides the Pope, I mean. And, to top it off, you head to the wrong place and then divest yourselves of those cloaks beneath the all-seeing gaze of a number of security cameras.

Oh good. The cloaks didn't work out like you'd hoped, so instead, to escape notice, you're going to go out of your way to free zoo animals. And, what's more, you're going to send a man named Death Adder to free said animals. A man who looks, moves, and possibly smells like one of the most deadly species of snake on the planet, to free a bunch of cage-crazy zoo animals so you can continue your search for whatever it is you were looking for. You can tell by Death Adder's raised eyebrow (I guess that's an eyebrow) in the above panel that he's having similar thoughts...

Speaking of thoughts, here's an in-depth insight into Death Adder's thought processes with added commentary: 'Of course they're going to attack us. We smell like snakes and, possibly due to our time under water, fish. You two haven't really thought this through, have you? I mean, purple cloaks? Who thought that was a good idea?And, really, Anaconda? We can only hope that one of the dozen endangered species we freed is going to physically assault us? 'Cause it's not gonna be you who fights a Siberian tiger or some shit, is it? Is it-'

'-No. No it is not. See? See what you made me do? There's only like seventeen mountain gorillas left in the world and I just decapitated one of them. But do you care? Noooo. Just because I have a speech impediment and a tail with spikes, you think I'm cool with a little monkey massacre. I'm not into bush-meat, Anaconda. I'm not Mario and that was not Donkey Kong. I have FEELINGS!'

'Lumbering? Who's lumbering? I was looking for a restroom to wash the gorilla-grue off of my claws. These things rust something wicked. Look at it. All over my claws. Blood on my hands, man, blood on my hands. It just looked at me, y'know, like we were soul-brothers. Y'know, in that second before I ripped its head off. Like we were one. Man and ape, linked by, like, the force of the all-enveloping Mother Earth Spirit, y'know? Oh god, I need a-'

'-a drink! God almighty, I have no mouth but I must drink! What's in this flask? Is that rum? I smell rum.'

Seriously though, this issue spotlights one of the things I love about the character of Death Adder. Throughout this issue, it's Death Adder who moves the story along...he frees the animals (then kills some of them), finds what the Squad is searching for (then kills the guy guarding it), spots Iron Man (and tries to kill him), and thinks to take hostages (whom he then tries to kill). He's a very proactive sort of villain. Also, it's pretty evident that Anaconda and Black Mamba rely on him to do most of the heavy lifting. Indeed, Death Adder is no stranger to being the villainous equivalent of the 'go-to-guy', as we'll see tomorrow...

Serpents in the Sea

DEATH ADDER WEEK continues as we take a peek at the second half of his first appearance. Last post, the new Serpent Squad had shown up, kicked the ever-living stuffing out of poor Stingray and were in the process of threatening the Thing. And/or staring at sea turtles.

That's a nice dynamic cover there. Especially the bit where Death Adder looks like he's opening up Triton of the Inhumans from stem to stern . As the cover advertises, it's also the second part of the ongoing Serpent Crown affair, but I'll get to that another time. Anyway, the Serpent Sub pops up and out come our hearty crew of snake-themed mercenaries, including a certain slinky gent with a back fin, a spiked tail and little need to monologue. Luckily, Sidewinder more than makes up for it throughout the issue. Sidewinder is the Hamlet of super-villainy. Lots of speeches, most of them about how he's going to kill somebody.
Long story short, there's a kerfluffle, and Sidewinder sends Death Adder to take the wind out of the Thing's sails. Which our boy does in the most direct manner possible:

"The slightest scratch, and Stingray dies in agony." First off, let me say that I love Sidewinder's business-like tone there. No exclamation point. 'You move, he dies.' But it wouldn't work without Death Adder sitting there, Stingray on his lap, claws poised. Again, his design is just so perfectly creepy, y'know? Look at him. No mouth, no face to speak of, nothing human there, really. Except, there is.

The way the art team for this issue works, showing off Death Adder's movements is just superb. His entire personality is conveyed through his movements, which is difficult in a visual medium. There's a point where the Thing muses on just how creepy Death Adder is, and how lethal, and you can really see what he's talking about. The other Serpent Squad members look and act relatively human...but Death Adder is just something else entirely. Something unpleasant.



Or is he? several times during the battle with the Thing and Triton, Death Adder displays concern for both Black Mamba and Anaconda, both of whom call him 'Roland', rather than 'Death Adder'. He leaps to their aid when the good guys get the upper hand (as opposed to fleeing like Sidewinder), and fights the Thing, Triton and a newly recovered Stingray to a standstill before the Thing gets in a lucky shot and knocks him spinning. In fact, throughout the issue you get a very strong idea that Anaconda, Black Mamba and Death Adder are, in fact, friends, rather than just partners. Something that gets touched on later.

It's an interesting dichotomy. Contrast his fiendish appearance with what seems to be a complex interpersonal relationship with his teammates, and you've got something more interesting than the run of the mill villain.
Tomorrow, Death Adder fights a gorilla!

Snakes in the Water

Really, it's appropriate that we're doing DEATH ADDER WEEK here on IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME. After all, it was in an issue of the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing's own mag, Marvel-Two-In-One, that our scaly friend first appeared. Marvel Two in One # 64, to be exact.


As the cover promises, the Thing does his team-up shtick with Stingray this issue, as they investigate mysterious goings on at an oil derrick owned by the Roxxon corporation, which any old school Marvel zombie could tell you is bound to be up to shenanigans of some kind or t'other. In this case, they're looking for a mysterious macguffin called the Serpent Crown, which does indeed indicate shenanigans. Startlingly serpentine shenanigans, almost certainly. But the majority of the issue is bashful Benjy buddying it up with Walter Newell, the sea-going Stingray, including such hilarity as this moment, wherein Ben catches a lift:


When they arrive at the oil rig, the Thing immediately gets into a fight with a crew of Roxxon roughnecks and proceeds to beat three kinds of fool out of the poor fellows, while Stingray investigates the ocean floor, only to become the victim of a deadly ambush, which sends him hurtling up out of the water to land unconscious at the Thing's feet. But the real moment of snake-y goodness comes on the final page, when the Serpent Squad shows up, looking to confiscate the Serpent Crown for Roxxon:


Death Adder gets points for creepy just standing there. He hasn't even done anything yet, except stand there and kind of stare off into the middle distance. Look at him. All relaxed and crap. Not even looking up at the Thing like his partners. Instead, he's fixated on that sea turtle he saw as they were surfacing in their-God help me-Serpent Sub (you think I'm kidding). He's thinking, "Sea Turtles. Mighty titans of Neptune's realm. I wish I was a sea turtle. Death Turtle. Turtle sounds better than Adder. Adder sounds too much like ass. Death Ass. I could be Death Turtle. We could all be Turtles. Turtles are so cool. So much cooler than stupid snakes. Everybody hates snakes." He has completely tuned out the imminent super-powered violence a-brewin', and is instead contemplating the frolicking sea turtle, seeing in it's gentle (but powerful) movements the Zen-like peace so long denied him.
...
Either that, or he's pulling a side-eye on Black Mamba and sadly contemplating his own freakish anatomy. "Telescoping claws? Check. Fin? Check. Tail? Check. Genitals? Of course not. Goddamn Roxxon."
Seriously though, look at him. Look at that design. He doesn't look remotely human, does he? Or, in all honesty, much like a snake. He doesn't look like anything native to the planet, which, I feel, is part of his appeal. He's a freak. A deadly, silent freak. A deadly, silent, terrifying freak. But we'll explore that more tomorrow...

Monster Plus Rises From His Moon-Grave!

MONSTER PLUS has arrived. The adventures of a werewolf-Frankenstein-vampire-zombie-mummy with the brain of a college professor. In the future. Fighting ninja-witches. Plus a-well, why spoil all of the high concept cramming? Go read it for yourself.

He's Back, the Man Behind the Mask...

So In a recent issue of the new Punisher series by Rick Remender, we saw this bit of bad mojo:


...Which sees the return of a number of deceased super-villains, including this guy here:

...Death Adder...perhaps the single most awesome character to sport membership in the Serpent Society. Death Adder, who went out like this:

...in the back of a goddamn taxi cab. Have I mentioned that Scourge annoys me? No. Well he/she/they do, and that right there is why. But I'm over it now. Why? Because:


...he's back, baby! Roland 'Bad Mama-Jama' Burroughs is back and the Death Adder is again on the prowl, looking to take some scalps! And to show my support for the return of one of my favorite all around bad guys (who the Punisher will most likely kill again), I declare next week to be-wait for it-DEATH ADDER WEEK!

The Bad of the Good

So, the question of the day is, 'why do the critically acclaimed comics, the darlings of comics bloggers and fans the intersphere over, get canceled'? That's the subject of Timothy Callahan's newest When Words Collide article over at CBR. Go read it, then come back here.
...
Done? Good.
So why do you think the 'good' comics get lower sales when compared to 'bad' comics? Is it a matter of sales? That seems to be the reason, anyway. Low sales equal an ax descending on Chicken Little's head. But why the low sales? Why does something like Paul Cornell's Captain Britain and MI:13, which was shooting some high concept shittake directly into reader's eyeballs every month, get canceled, while Wolverine gets a fourth spin-off series? Or is it five now? I lose count.
The question stands.
Personally, I think it has a lot to do with marketing and expectation. Justice League of America, which, according to its own writer was 'not quite good', is a title with name brand recognition. It's got pop culture cachet out the yinyang, and has had it since the Sixties. People who don't read comics, have never read a comic, will never read a comic, know what the Justice League is. Like Superman or Batman or Spider-Man or-God help us-Wolverine, it's familiar. People may not know what it's about, but they know what it is. And if they find themselves, for whatever reason, needing to buy a comic, they buy the one that looks familiar. Thus, a 'bad' comic sells.
Take a look at what sells well for a particular company...it's usually marketed heavily, whether what's being marketed is the material itself, or, in some cases, the creator(s). It's also usually familiar. It's a brand name-X-Men, Avengers, Wolverine, etc-that's been plastered across the public consciousness. People are more likely to drop a buck on something they recognize than not.
What's sad is that, with few exceptions, 'good' comics get very little marketing push. They might get an upswing in sales from internet rowdies and word of IM, but, for the most part, those who aren't online 24/7 won't hear word boo about them.
But that's my opinion...what do you think?