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All-New Marvel Handbook Hardcover Finally, is the first thing that comes to mind.

In February of 2008, Marvel will release the first volume (of 12) collecting all of the entries from the 2004-2007 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Details are still sparse and I’m only going on what the advanced solicitation copy says.

The most exciting and comprehensive Marvel handbook is finally here! Beginning a twelve-volume guide to the Marvel Universe with more than 100 huge entries in each tome! This issue – from 1602 to Blackwulf! Spotlighting people (Angel, Annihilus, Ant-Man, Apocalypse, Arachne, Ares, Aurora, Banshee, Baron Zemo, Beast, Beta Ray Bill, Bishop, Black Bolt, Black Knight, Black Panther, Black Widow), places (Atlantis), teams (AIM, Acolytes, Agents of Atlas, Alpha Flight, Avengers), species (Badoon), alternate realities (2020, 2099, the Age of Apocalypse) and more!

The big question I have for this hardcover collection is…does it contain the other “guide books” that use the Marvel Handbook format, but were not branded as such.

For example, will it include the Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook (April 2007),  Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic (May 2007),  The Mighty Avengers: Most Wanted Files (June 2007), World War Hulk: Gamma Files (August 2007), Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons, & Various Monstrosities and the X-Men: Messiah Complex – Mutant Files (December 2007). I would surely hope so. Some of those (Spider-Man and Mighty Avengers) look exactly like an All New OHotMU book, except for the logo.

With the mention of “places (Atlantis)” in the solicitation text, I’m hopeful that the hardcover will also include the data from the late 2007-2008 Marvel Atlas releases.

Best of all, the entries will be in alphabetical order. Since the original releases in 2004 started with spotlights on teams and characters (Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man), the entries for those books were in alphabetical order for those issues only. It wasn’t until the 2006 update that an entire 12-issue run was alphabetized. Still, many characters and information from the 2004 and 2005 one-shots were omitted from the 2007 release.

All of this means  many collectors and readers will likely be buying this content again, but it will be well worth it. Collectors and readers that like the Marvel Handbook will be lining up to buy these versions.

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Starmen

Created in 1994 by James Robinson and Tony Harris, the Jack Knight version of the Starman character appeared in 80 plus issues of a self titled series and also served as a member of the Justice Society of America.

From Wikipedia:

Jack is the son of Ted Knight, who, as Starman, was a Golden Age super-hero. Although Jack was fascinated by his father’s heroic life as a child, he became more and more rebellious as he grew older. By the time he reached adulthood, Jack was disdainful of his father’s past. Jack’s older brother David was the one who takes over his father’s mantle, while Jack often regards the superhero role with open disdain.

I think it was the father/son/brother relation that made the book so powerful for me. Never before had I seen such a relation or exploration in a book (or a comic). Robinson used the format to explore generations of one family and the legacy of the hero Starman that was attached to their name.

Several of the trades of the book have long been out of print, so it’s great news that DC Comics finally announced nice hardcover editions will be released starting in 2008.

STARMAN, the acclaimed DC Universe series created by writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris, will be collected for the first time in hardcover, on high-quality paper, in THE STARMAN OMNIBUS, a series of six volumes beginning in May.

This series will feature new covers by Harris, and will measure 6.75” x 10.25”. Collecting the entire STARMAN series, plus the STARMAN ANNUALS, SECRET FILES, 80-PAGE GIANT, THE SHADE miniseries and much more, these volumes include stories illustrated by Harris, Peter Snejbjerg, Chris Sprouse, J.H. Williams III, Phil Jimenez, Gene Ha, Guy Davis, Teddy Kristiansen, Lee Weeks and many others, as well as several stories co-written by David Goyer.

Scheduled to reach stores in May, THE STARMAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC is a 448 page title collecting STARMAN #0 and 1-16, with a cover price of $49.99 U.S.

Amazon already has Starman: The Complete Saga HC, Vol. 1 up for pre-order at a steal for only $31. That should make for a nice edition to any bookshelf.

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Hulk_Red Herc Skaar

The Incredible Hulk has always been a favorite of mine. I remember watching the live show with Bill Bixby when I was a kid. The 1980’s animated series that aired with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was also pretty cool. My parents even got me a subscription (one of many) to the comic for a few years. It was around issue 300 and Dr. Strange had exiled the Hulk to the “Crossroads.” It was a mystic realm where the Hulk could finally be at peace, but of course that didn’t last.

Continue reading

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In a somewhat surprising move, Marvel Comics has released a digital comics subscription service. For only $59.88 a year ($4.99 a month) or $9.99 monthly, you have immediate access to 2,700 comics. Marvel has 250 issues available for free. Rather than focus on current and popular books, the free selections offer a wide range of Marvel history. You’ll see plenty of early issues of the Avengers, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man, as well as samples of their younger books like Runaways and the Marvel Adventures series.

The paid selection of 2,700 titles looks even better. Again, the Avengers are featured heavily, but they also have hard to find titles like the Christopher Priest run on Black Panther, the 1950 Marvel Boy,  and Tales of Suspense. The initial selection is quite smart, with lots of complete mini-series runs, Manga versions of the Marvel heroes and books targeted toward younger readers (the Franklin Richard series, Power Pack) and teens (NYX, New Mutants, X-23, Jubilee). There’s even a nice selection of vintage titles (Marvel Team-Up, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider) for the older fans as well.

DigitalAvengers51

The online, Flash based reader was pleasantly surprising and fun to use. Not only can you choose from single and two-page options, the reader offers a Smart Panel feature that works quite well. Clicking the page/panel of the issue zooms in on half or third of the page and allows a good, close reading view. The issues, panels and pages all load quickly and seamlessly, which is a good thing. The reading experience is what hold many back from reading online or on the computer, but Marvel’s Flash reader makes the experience an  easy and pleasant one.

Using the Firefox User Agent Switcher, I impersonated an iPhone and the site continued to work well. If you’ve got an iPhone, browse the site and try to read one of the free comics and post a comment. Phone browsing and reading is the one unique feature that could cause the service to explode in popularity.

For this to be a success, Marvel needs to constantly add books. That 2,700 needs to double by the end of the year and continue at that pace. They’ve stated that only books older than 6 months will appear on the site. That’s not a bad decision, as it allows them to maintain regular sales and hopefully entice new readers with the digital version. I would release the new digital books every Wednesday, just like regular comics. Get the new readers used to reading new books on that day and you’ve got a better chance of getting them in the local shops to pick up the printed books.

Performance at the moment is spotty (at least on my end). Response times were slow and I experienced a few MySQL connection issues when browsing the free selection. It’s most likely due to the new launch and things should speed up and clear up in a week or so.

Marvel’s new digital comics subscription service is one I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on.

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Mark Bagley Draws the JLA and Avengers

According to Newsarama, in 2008, longtime Marvel Comics artist Mark Bagley will make a switch to DC Comics after over 20 years at Marvel.

Bagley just recently finished an unheard of (in this age) run of 111 issues on Ultimate Spider-Man (with writer Brian Bendis). Newsarama (and DC) did not name the project that Bagley will be working on, I’d love to see him on Teen Titans.

With his track record and speed, he’d be a great candidate for any book. He’s one of the few artists in the industry that can still produce a book (or more) in one month. Maybe he’ll be involved with DC’s third weekly series that will likely follow Countdown to Final Crisis and the 7 issue limited series Final Crisis, by Grant Morrison. Whatever the project, I’ll definitely check it out.