jools&jim

Same here...

Of course not. My impression, and that's all it is, is that this particular customer--after viewing a modern superhero blockbuster--was looking for more contemporary material with the same vibe and feel as the movie. I could be wrong. Why would he need to understand it at all? He clearly knew nothing about comic books other than that Marvel publishes them, and that they had something to do with a movie he liked. The only other "universe" he was likely familiar with is the one we all learned about in our astronomy classes...

Not suggesting anything. The guy in the store wanted "Marvel Cinematic Universe" comic books in general; and, in particular, a non-existent comic book that was adapted into the film. He wasn't looking for a movie adaptation -- he was looking for the source from which the movie itself was adapted, in the same way that a fan of the Harry Potter movies might want to seek out the original novels. I think we are all so deep into this stuff as fans that it's difficult for us to understand that this guy--clearly not a comic-book person--was making a perfectly reasonable assumption. I'm not 100% sure what he meant by "Marvel Cinematic Universe" comics in more general terms, but I'm pretty sure he was NOT after reprints of stuff from the '90s...

Now that I think about it, wasn't Thanos on the side of the good guys in the Infinity War comics? Talk about a "huh?" moment for a newbie looking to read something that's in tune with the movies...

I think it actually did go that way in the end (what I wrote out was just the beginning of the conversation). As I was leaving the clerk was showing him the display of Thanos-related trades. But...that's still not what he specifically asked for. I know nothing about moderns. Does Marvel have a separate MCU line of comics, which reference and expand/explore the continuity of the films?

Exactly! That was what was so remarkable about it. And so what do we do with this potential new reader? We point him in the direction of expensive trade collections of stuff that was published before he was born. I'm sure he'll thrill to the machinations of Dr. Doom and Kang the Conqueror in "Infinity War", give a big ol' to the Magus, and be elevated to new aesthetic heights by the luminously serviceable artwork of...Ron Lim.

I dunno. Pushing stuff that came out in the early '90s still seems to me like a p!ss poor way for Marvel to support a gazillion-dollar modern mega-blockbuster at the LCS level. Like I said, '90s storylines--produced for '90s comic book fans during the heyday of "crossover" mania--will very likely feel dated, confusing, and/or irrelevant to a modern 20-something fan of the movies…

A few days ago, I was in a comic book store, and overheard the following conversation between a friendly and deeply knowledgeable clerk, and a customer who appeared to be in his mid/late 20s. ======================================================== CLERK: Can I help you find something? CUSTOMER: Uh…yes. I'm interested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe comics, especially the Infinity War comic book. CLERK: Okay. Do you mean that you liked the movie and want to read more about the characters? I mean, their origins and history and such? CUSTOMER: I guess. What I really want is the Infinity War comic book…the one that the movie was based on. CLERK: Well…that doesn't really exist. There was a Marvel series called "Infinity War" that came out a long time ago, but it's not the same story as what you saw in the film. The MCU uses familiar characters from the comics to tell more-or-less original stories unique to the movies. The situations and storylines are inspired by lots of different comic books published by Marvel over the past 80 years or so, but aren't really strict adaptations of any one comic book or series in particular. CUSTOMER: Oh…uh, okay. Thanks. ======================================================== The poor guy seem bewildered. And I can't blame him. He clearly wasn't a long-time collector or reader of comics at all. He simply liked the movies, and made what for him was an entirely reasonable assumption: namely, that comic book movies would naturally be adapted from pre-existing comic books, in the same way that movies like "The Lord of the Rings", etc., are adapted from pre-existing novels. So while it's encouraging that a superhero movie actually motivated someone to seek out comic books, it would be nice if Marvel had something more to offer these people than trade collections of comics published 25-40+ years ago, most of which will no doubt seem very dated, confusing, and/or irrelevant to a modern 20-something movie fan…

I think people have already been movie-speculating on these for years now...

Those early '70s issues of Iron Man are almost uniformly terrible. From what I've read, it's pretty clear that Starlin--a newcomer to Marvel at the time who was still establishing himself--was given the green-light to do some interior work on that title precisely because it was such a relatively low-seller...

Another similarity: the first appearances of Darkseid and Thanos were both shoe-horned into existing--and thoroughly lackluster--titles (Jimmy Olsen and Iron Man), and neither character is featured on the cover.

Third party sales of any kind are trouble waiting to happen in my book. I hope you get it sorted asap...

A shot of good booze is also more expensive in Manhattan than it is in Baltimore. All depends on how much you want/need it in the moment I guess... ...

Not long, ago, I remember reading somewhere that in current Marvel continuity, Mentor of Titan (father to Thanos) had been retconned into an Eternal, and that Thanos is half-Eternal/half-Deviant. Is any of that reflected in the MCU version of Thanos?

I wonder if Starlin (and possibly Roy Thomas) are willing to cut a similarly "fairly fair deal" with the Kirby estate...

I'd never heard of the Gaiman run -- thanks! Here's a summary of it I found on Amazon: I could easily see a film being adapted from this sort of treatment. From the original Kirby stuff, as much as I love it? Not so much...

What's at least a little bit amusing to me about all of this is that Kirby's work for Marvel during the '70s was, shall we say, not particularly "well received" by many fans at the time...which is one reason why these books have been 50-cent box fodder for decades.

All yours, thanks!!!!

Price reduced to $125 shipped and insured (US only). If it doesn't sell here at this price, I may consign it to MCS, or possibly re-list it at a later date as part of a larger lot of BA books. Thanks, as always, for looking!

Here is my application for membership -- I've been a huge fan of this series (as I am with all things '70s Kirby!) since the day it came out:

A piece of original artwork by Jack Kirby from his time at Marvel in the mid/late '70s...

Price reduced to $140 shipped and insured (US only)...