Direct Current 2.0

Week of September 9th, 2013

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Marriage oh my!

By Jim Durdan

Item 1: A few weeks ago IDM release the latest version of the classic T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic (Hereafter called Thunder Agents). IF you are not familiar with this wonderful title then you really need to find either the archive editions that DC published or check the back issue bins of your local comic shop.

The premise of the team is that they all have unique powers given to them by a piece of technology that they were. Be it super strength, the ability to fly, read minds and a few other powers. The down side is that every time they use the power they run the risk of killing themselves, because the tech in question is deadly over time. In one case the technology granted it’s user super speed, but at the cost of rapidly aging the wearer.

The creators of Thunder Agents read like a who’s who of comicdoms elite.  They were created by Wally Wood and Len Brown. Over the years people like Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, George Perez, Jerry Ordway and a host of others have been part of the creative team that has make Thunder Agents one of the most overlooked classics of the silver and bronze age.

Originally Thunder Agents came from a small publisher, Tower Comics in the sixties and was a more or less hit or miss proposition. Months would go by without an issue being published.  Eventually Tower would fold, and Thunder would, over the next 4 decades be published by a half a dozen companies, some maintaining the style and tone of the original comics, others only using the Characters as little more than chess pieces to tell a rather uninteresting story with an agenda (Solsons Productions rant on the Reagan era is something to read if you ever want to know how to NOT do a Thunder Agents book). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.H.U.N.D.E.R._Agents

Eventually the property found its way to DC. Two miniseries were produced in 2010 and 2011. In general the feel of the series stayed true to the original Thunder Agents, but the tone of amazement and joy found in the original series were gone. I think in time DC might have been able to reinvent the team in a way that felt fresh without ignoring all that had gone before. Unfortunately we will never know. Retail sales just were not there, and DC either opted not to pursue a continuing licensing agreement or just cut its loses and released the license. Either way the latest version of the Agents is now at IDW and it’s a mixed bag at best.

Continue reading Direct Currents 2.0 Week of September 9th 2013 →

Direct Current 2.0

Week of August 18, 2013

Something not so funny happened on the way to reading my comics.

By Jim Durdan

His is an opinion piece, and as such it is MY opinion, not Sean’s, not Jim’s, mine. Some of you are going to read this and probably not be happy with me, others are going to read and say who cares. Hopefully one of you will read this and say, your right.  If the hobby we are passionate about is to grow and survive deep into this century and the next, we NEED to re-evaluate why young readers aren’t attracted to comics. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Captain America, The Hulk and a whole encyclopedia of others are the modern equivalent to the tales of Homer; they are our Iliad and Beowulf.  If people 100 years from now still care about them as we do today, we need to make sure that others that come after us love them as we do. Right now that is doubtful………….

When I was a kid nothing would irk me as much as my Dad calling my comics, funny books. I was never sure if he was deriding my interest in them, or if he really called them funny books. It was only later in life, that I realized that when my dad was a young child, there were no “comic” books as we know them today, (Dad was born in 1917), but that era’s equivalent to our comics was indeed funny books. They were magazines that simply reprinted the “funny” pages of newspapers, therefore funny books. I am sure there are those today who cringe when we call them Comic Books, the new, stylish term is Graphic Novel.  But be they “Funny Books”. “Comic Books” or “Graphic Novels” they are a unique American art form that has survived for almost 100 years. However, unless things begin to change, at least somewhat, the longevity of Comics as a story telling form has to be in question.

In the mid to late 30’s the modern comic was born, featuring new materiel, which lead to the rise of the modern superhero books.  But somewhere since then, something has gone wrong, very wrong.  Comics of yore clear cut, with no grey. Right always won, and we always knew who was right. There was never a question as to if Superman or Batman were wrong. It just wasn’t going to happen.

Continue reading Direct Current 2.0 Week of August 18th, 2013 →

Direct Current 2.0

Week of August 10, 2013

Where the author comes back from the missing and talks about a Fox.

By Jim Durdan

So something funny happened on the way to the creation of this column, I got a new job. Sometimes things are just meant to happen and this was one of those times. I was called in for an interview on a Monday, and by 5 PM on that Tuesday I had a new job in an industry I have worked in and loved. I am currently an assistant director at a large publishing company that specializes in trade publications, indeed I am now working on the largest trade publication of its kind in the US.

Because of my suddenly found and renewed career I found myself with way too much to do this week and not enough time to do it. So, unfortunately, the column was pushed back till this weekend.  In the future Direct Currents 2.0 will be moving from a Tuesday publication date to a Saturday/Sunday date. This will also allow me to take a look at what was published during the week and comment on it. So, that you for the patience, and a huge thank you to Sean and Jim for understating about the lateness of the project.  Saluda to all of you!

One of the reasons I wanted to do a weekly gig involving DC Comics was that on occasion I wanted to take a look back at the past and help “flesh out” some of the creative genius that has gone before the modern era.  But, and this was very important to me, I didn’t want to do the usual articles that pop up all the time talking about Siegel and Shuster or Bob Kane, or Jack “The King” Kirby, I wanted to take a look at some of the creative forces that have so shaped the modern era, but have, by and large, been forgotten by modern fans.  This article is the first of those that will look back and throw a spotlight and forgotten genius.

Continue reading DC Currents 2.0 Week of August 10th, 2013 →

Direct Current 2.0

By Jim Durdan

Week of July 24, 2013

Psst, Hey you, Want a copy of Action Comics #1 cheap!

In the last 10 years the world of Comic Book publishing has forever been changed by the advent of the Digital Comic Book. Within the last few years same day availability has sparked renewed interest in our beloved hobby.  According to the publisher in 2012 digital sales accounted for $75 million dollars of DC sales, a 200% increase. That is an incredible jump, and certainly bodes well for the future of DC (http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/07/dc-digital-comics-sales-2012/) . But it does raise an interesting question. What about the back issue market? Sure I can get a copy of Catwoman #22 in digital format, but what happens if I want to get a copy of Catwoman’s first appearance in in Batman #1 from Spring 1940? In a search of the DC app it doesn’t appear.  Neither does it appear on Comixology.  I could go out and buy it; a near mint book is only worth $120,000. But I don’t have that much open on my debit card.

Batman #1 is only one example out of thousands of comic books that don’t have a digital presence. Both DC and Marvel have a huge catalog of back issues that do not exist is digital form.  Marvel has made a modest start with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, but it contains a small fraction of the publishers back catalog. DC has done far less.

If digital comics are to continue to grow at a healthy rate I submit that publishers have to begin to address the great digital divide that is the back issue marketplace. Many comic book readers are collectors, they have long boxes full of comics. For those who have switched over to the Brave New World of digital comics they are now in a situation where they have all of their new issues on their Ipad, Android or Laptop, and all their old issues in paper (to be called floppies for the rest of the column.)  It’s like having some of you favorite movies on VHS tape and some on Blu-Ray.  Indeed that is a very apt analogy. The movie industry realized that for people to adopt the new technologies of DVD or Blu Ray they had to reissue classic films in the new formats.  It worked and people adopted these technologies. There was one other thing that the movie studios did, the lowered the price on these classics to basically the cost of burning and printing the disc and the disc sleeves. Continue reading Direct Current 2.0 →