A Tribute to Trimpe

“Comic Book reading is a solitary activity best shared with others.” – Matthew G. Mann, Sr. (date unknown)

I came up with that statement some time ago to illustrate the truism that the collective relational experience between readers, whether through a blog, podcast, e-mail, or simply chatting at your Local Comic Shop (LCS) is as much a part of the hobby as reading the comic itself and collecting it to be appreciated another day. This idea especially applies when there is a bond between a fan and a comic book creator. That bond is initially established when you first fall in love with an individual’s work and start to follow them as one of your favorites.  Regardless of whether you’re a child or an adult, a connection of some sort is made between you, because every creator puts a bit of themselves into their craft. 

And if you ever get to meet that person one day (and they’re not a jerk), it just enriches the whole experience even more.  Better still is if you develop a person to person relationship with them, rather than just a fan to creator one.  Best of all is if you are blessed to become friends. Now certainly the term “friends”, like “love”, has many layers and degrees, so please do not presume that I am embellishing on any of the friendships I claim to have with any comic book professionals.  I’m just happy for the ones I have no matter the degree.  That’s why when one of them ends abruptly…

You see, my friend, the legendary artist of Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk, Godzilla, and G.I.Joe to name a few, Herb Trimpe, passed away unexpectedly two weeks ago on 2015 April 14.  I just found out yesterday while perusing the www.marvelmasterworks.com website and saw their bulletin about IDW's upcoming Herb Trimpe's Incredible Hulk Artist Edition HC. I'm still reeling from the news. It's been much more on my mind than the protests in Baltimore City that sent me home from work this morning.

I wanted to pay tribute to Herb by recounting my friendship with him, which began in 2007, consisted of only subsequent annual in-person meetings at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and a few e-mails in-between. 

2012 Baltimore Comic-Con

Recent Reads from Wed Apr 10

I’m only about half-way through my stack of books this week, but I really liked a lot of the ones I've read so far.   So below the jump break you’ll see some comments on six Marvel NOW titles (plus three bonus titles).  I don’t know why these capsule “reviews” get about 50% less page views than my single-issue ones, but sometimes I just don’t have the energy to think about a book too deeply.  It’s been an extra tiring week catching up on work and handling new children pick-up responsibilities, now that my wife has started to work again (part-time) outside the home.  She returned to her SAME employer as a civil engineer (EIT)…16 YEARS later!  Yeah, I know it’s pretty remarkable and we certainly Praise God for this opportunity.  Still it is an adjustment, but I would like to publicly thank her for sacrificially devoting full-time to caring for our six children for so long!!!

In alphabetical order … There could be “SPOILERS!”

Superior Spider-Man #004 – A Review

Well, my emergency post was very much needed last week as we were without internet for most of the day last Friday during the carpet install for our new and improved study.  I finally got around to populating the bookshelves with all sorts of goodies this past Monday – the Captain America tribute shelf is very cool.  When all the work is done, maybe I’ll share some pics (Sorry, no Dagwood couch).  The glass desk is amazing and this is the first opportunity to test it out for blogging.  I like the window seat, but my arms aren’t quite in the proper “position”.

Superior Spider-Man #004

Writer:  Dan Slott

Penciler:  Giuseppe Camuncoli

Inker:  John Dell

Color Art: Edgar Delgado

Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99 (including “FREE” digital copy which I sold on eBay for $2.25)

It’s ironic that my LCS cited issue #004 of Superior Spider-Man as one of the standouts for the week, ranking it behind #002, which I gave an A+.  I wouldn’t go that far (and you can see my ranking at the end), but I did enjoy it a lot and the book left me very interested in what would come next. SPOILERS Follow.

If I get ambitious, I just might squeeze some comments on another book or two down below the break.  It was a really good week for comics and I still have four titles left to read.

Superior Spider-Man #003 – A Review

I was all set to shatter the glass and pull out an emergency post this week as I’m really swamped with earning my PDHs for license renewal and our house is in a shambles trying to find places for numerous bookshelves and other things (like a new record player!) that we bought this week. But then I read Superior Spider-Man #003 last night and I just had to write about it again! SPOILERS Follow.

Superior Spider-Man #003

Writer:  Dan Slott

Artist:   Ryan Stegman

Color Art: Edgar Delgado

Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99 (including “FREE” digital copy)

Look!  Up in the sky! Is it a bird -- a plane?  No … (dramatic pause) … it’s the SPIDER-SIGNAL!  Seriously.   That cover image wasn’t just thematic.  We get to see an actual spider-signal light up the sky and it was AWESOME GREAT!

Superior Spider-Man #002 – A Review

It’s Groundhog’s Day and I had a special Covers post all queued up for you today to celebrate the holiday and to mark the beginning of my fourth year with Comics And.  Well, you may see it next week or next year, but I could not let a week go by without talking about this book.  It was AWESOME and it’s bound to cause a number of people (Shawn) some indigestion as they eat their unkind words toward the Superior Spider-Man storyline.  As always, there will be SPOILERS!

Superior Spider-Man #002

Writer:  Dan Slott

Artist:   Ryan Stegman

Color Art: Edgar Delgado

Letterer: VC’s Chris Eliopoulos

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99 (including “FREE” digital copy)

Trying to Figure Out the Marvel NOW! Reading Chronology

I don’t think I’ve purchased this many current Marvel titles in decades!  And since the NOW jumping on point, I can definitely sense the broader coherent universe.  Of course I realize that Marvel has been having their books tie into events for years now, but the neat thing is that there is no real big event (yet) as the glue – just a lot of titles that read really well by themselves but are obviously connected together.  But how exactly or more appropriately when?  It certainly has nothing to do with the shipping schedule! So come along with me on my journey down the logic train as I try to fit (everything I’ve read) together in sequence.  It will be an abridged study (not all books and I’m not touching all of those future Hickman-ish preview images) and some of my conclusions could be way off base, but I think it’ll be fun – mainly because one of the major determining factors I’ll be basing my assumptions on are appearance changes.

From the Archives: Amazing Spider-Man #600 -- A Review

This was originally posted on the Cosmic Comix website back in the summer of 2009.

I found my old review of ASM #600, which I referenced in this morning's post.  Enjoy!

My thoughts on Amazing Spider-Man #700, Avenging Spider-Man #15.1, and Dying Wish, etc.

It’s been a week, but in case I need to quote River Song, “Spoilers!”

It’s New Year’s Day (for me) and while I should be sleeping in on my last day of vacation before returning tomorrow to the early morning work schedule and reduced amount of sleep, I just couldn’t for some reason.  So after beginning my yearly trek through the Bible, I reread Dying Wish (Amazing Spider-Man #698, 699, (like two pages of 699.1), 700, and Avenging Spider-Man #15.1) in one sitting.  And you know what?  I’m really enjoying this storyline.

I also just finished reading #688 and 690 thru 697 in the last few days.  What happened to #689?  Yeah, that’s what I would like to know!  I can clearly (98.7%) remember buying that issue and NOT reading it, hence my dropping the title from my pull list right afterwards.  But now I can’t find it around the house (it doesn’t help that my comic room is in a shambles since Comic-Con – I sometimes move at a continental drift pace organizing things).  I only picked up the intervening issues at my store’s 40% off year-end sale (with hopes to sell some short runs on eBay).  I’m reconsidering such a sale now, partly due to the buzz around the recent changes and the fact that I liked a lot of those issues.

Marvel Preview for April

Greg: Well its summer crossover season AND there's an Avengers movie coming out. So I hope you like the Avengers, Lee, because you're about to get more than your daily recommended dose of them.
Lee: And I cannot tell you how excited I am about it.  Wheeee.  See?  That's me being excited.

AvX: Vs #1 (Of 6)
Cover By Adam Kubert
Variant Cover By Stuart Immonen
Amazing Spider-Man 50Th Anniversary Variant By Tba
• The Premier Tie-In To Avengers Vs. X-Men!
• All-Out Action Featuring Cover To Cover Battles, Each Issue Expanding On Fights From The Main Avx Book In Ways You Can’t Imagine!
• This Issue: Iron Man Vs. Magneto And Thing Vs. Namor!
32 Pgs./ $3.99
AVENGERS Vs. X-MEN #1 (Of 12)
Brian Michael Bendis (W) • John Romita Jr. (A)
Cover By Jim Cheung
Variant Covers By Ryan Stegman & John Romita Jr.
Blank Variant Also Available
• It’s No Longer Coming—It’s Here!
• Does The Return Of The Phoenix To Earth Signal The Rebirth Of The Mutant Species? That’s What The X-Men Believe!
• Unfortunately, The Avengers Are Convinced That Its Coming Will Mean The End Of All Life On Earth!
• The Stage Is Set For The Ultimate Marvel Showdown In This Oversized First Issue!
40 Pgs./ $3.99
Greg: Nerds loooove watching heroes fight each other. This was cool before it happened, y'know, ALL the time. There are plenty of logical reasons for these groups to fight, so it shouldn't be as pained as the conflict behind Civil War, but the format of this worries me. Rotating creative teams are very tricky, even when there's stellar talent involved. And a WHOLE YEAR is a long time to keep this shizz up. Meanwhile AvX, title devoted entirely to fights, might be the dumbest thing I've ever seen. But hey, if they really let their artists go crazy maybe we'll get some pretty pictures.
Lee: Marvel has never had any trouble with pretty pictures so I agree this will be fun to look at.  But, the last big event, Fear Itself, really was a mess.  It was fun watching it go wildly off the tracks but that was about it.  I am concerned that this will be more of the same.  It has potential to be good, but I'm not convinced.

Amazing Spider-Man # 678 --A Review

Amazing Spider-Man #678

“I Killed Tomorrow” – Part 1 of 2: Schrödinger’s Catastrophe
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99

Being the second issue in the fiftieth year of the chronicles of Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man.

I know. That was a weird introductory sentence, even for me. But you know what? This was a GREAT issue. And it felt momentous too, but not because it was the beginning of the next big story arc – it’s only a two-part story. Rather it was exceptional simply because it was so baggage free and accessible.

DC and Marvel’s Crossover Craftiness

Forget the Big Events, the Crossover has returned! And in the past three weeks, both DC and Marvel have presented us with two excellent examples of how to do them well.

This is just eye-candy, folks. I'm not talking about the stories pictured above this time...

Scarlet Spider #1

So a year ago, I didn't think that Marvel would be publishing a book made up of the detritus of the Spider-Clone saga. Let alone that I would enjoy it so much.

Best of the Year

The best book of 2011 has to be Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, and Marcos Martin's Daredevil.

X-Force 18 - A Review

In the early 1980s, Chris Claremont and John Byrne wrote and drew the Dark Pheonix Saga, one of the best super hero stories ever made. It was an epic story where worlds literally lived and died. While it was amazing and still holds up today, it had a significant downside in that people kept trying to replicate its success. The problem with this wasn’t solely that subsequent creative teams weren’t up to the task, it was that the X-Men are not a team that lends themselves to epic stories. As a metaphor for civil rights, X-Men stories typically work better as character studies and real world parallels, not universe spanning epics that involve the destruction of planets. Still, creative team after creative team has tried epic, cosmic stories and more often than not, they fail completely.

Finally, though, we have an exception.

Marvel Preview Review For January Part 2 of 2

Finishing up an intellectually stunted conversation about Marvel's latest solicitations.

DEADPOOL MAX 2 #4

Dave Lapham (W) Kyle Baker (A/C)
• Deadpool’s got a price on his head. And Agent X is about to cash in!
• Featuring the triumphant return of Crazy Inez, Deadpool’s sane-again, insane-again girlfriend!
32 PGS./ $3.99
Lee: OMG! This is just like my house except instead of a dude it’s my wife and instead of bullets it’s all sorts of bitchy words and instead of a newspaper it’s a comic book… but other than that it’s the EXACT SAME THING!
Greg:  Ummm...

More below the break...

Marvel Preview Review For January Part 1 of 2

Lee:  I hate to do this but I have to give Greg some credit.  He's right.  There isn't any point complaining about some of Marvel's more insane policies.  It isn't the fault of the writers and artists they are saddled with insipid business decisions.  So, the only thing left is to make fun of unintentionally funny covers.  But, beyond that there really are some good books out there which I am excited about.  But first... stupidity!

Greg:  Yaaaay! GREG IS ALWAYS RIGHT! YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #677
Mark Waid (W) • Emma Rios (A)
Cover By Humberto Ramos
Variant Cover By Lee Bermejo
• Spider-Man and Daredevil team up – Part One!
• When Black Cat is arrested, Matt Murdock is the only lawyer who will touch her (her case… we mean).
• The next great love triangle of the Marvel Universe begins!
32 PGS./ $3.99
Lee: Look at Daredevil’s face, either one of two things just happened: (a) some super bad guy showed up and is threatening to destroy the Slums of not the universe and DD is really pissed off or (b) while confronting ordinary muggers, Spidey went for juvenile humor and farted. Since Waid is writing happy DD, I’m thinking that DD is saying “Dude, really? Did you just fart????
Greg:  Who cares!? Daredevil has been AMAZING. Its probably the best comic being published this year, period, full stop. I'm totally down for this.

More below the break...

So what’s wrong with Marvel?

When Disney bought Marvel there was a prevailing feeling of slight dread in the fandom community. Is the man going to overpower our comics? Are we going to get corporate direction on how our comics are put together? Sure we all knew from Warner Brothers owning DC that large corporations weren’t the end of the world, but still, Disney owning Wolverine?

Six Guns #1 - A Review

One of the things that makes mainstream superhero comics so attractive to their readers is the concept of a shared universe. We like the idea that a kid with spider powers can exist in the same world as a spirit of vengeance who drives around on a flaming Harley, and when done correctly, it can be fun to see how they all work together.

Six Guns is an example of the kind of book that takes advantage of that kind of shared universe.

Amazing Spider-Man #673: Spider-Island Epilogue – A Review (and Rant)

Finishing well is better than starting well and it can even help all the problems along the way to be forgotten or at least they become less important. (It reminds me of Ezekiel 18:21-23.) Spider-Island had both its strong points and it’s weak points, but for the most part it ended well. This good vibe started toward the end of last issue, where Peter saves the city using millions of tiny Octobots to cure everyone from their monstrously mutated spider forms (a VERY weak point). Our friend Shawn expounded on this in his review for our local comic shop and I agree with him that this positive turnaround can be attributed primarily to one person: Mary Jane.

Marvel Previews for December

Lee: Somehow this month totally got away from us so Marvel is reduced to one day. I’ll leave it up to Greg to say nice things. I’m making fun of covers and stupid plot points. Yahooo! We’re back to normal.
Greg: Glad to see we're holding ourselves up to the high standards to which our readers have become accustomed.

FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS #4 and #5 (of 12)
Written by Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction and Christopher Yost
Penciled by Mark Bagley and Paul Pelletier
Cover by Arthur Adams
Guest-starring the Thing and the FF, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Thunderbolts and more!
The Serpent’s hammers could be the most dangerous artifacts in the world – vfm knows this all too well as she lays siege to the impenetrable headquarters of the FF…where the Thing stands guard over his own hammer of power! Meanwhile Sin and Crossbones pursue the weapons of mass destruction, from the depths of the seas to claim one from the undersea vault of the Sub-Mariner…to the shores of the island prison called the Raft to confront the Thunderbolts!
32 PGS. (each)/ $2.99 (each) NOT FINAL COVER
Lee: yeah, yeah, yeah it’s not the final cover but that doesn’t mean we can’t make fun of it. I used to date a girl who could fit a beer can under her boobs. Yes, it was awesome. But, I never had a girlfriend who could use her boobs to hold up a shotgun. Granted this girl has the slightly unpleasant ripped off face thing going… but she can hold a shotgun without her hands… creepy face… no hands… this would be a lot easier if I knew how well she could aim the gun.
Greg: Now you know, kids. And knowing is half the battle.