Or - “How Can A Crossover Take LONGER Than The Event Itself?”

Y’know, I’ve been reading Heroes For Hire since the beginning, but for some reason the ‘World War Hulk’ crossover seems to have been going on since before the dawn of time. Certainly that comes partially from the fact that the Savage Land arc started way back in #9 and led directly into this crossover, and partially because they’re really trying to ratchet up the tension on this storyline. I don’t know that it’s NOT working, but it’s certainly got enough rough edges that part of me is asking “Are we THERE yet?” Events are coming to a head, and I hope that the payoff is worth the journey…

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Man, I’m falling behind - too much to do, too little time. But fear not dear readers, I bring you Marvel Sneak Peeks for the weekend!

In this installment AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL 13, FANTASTIC FOUR 550, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN 24, GHOST RIDER 16, HEROES FOR HIRE 14, MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK 4, NEW AVENGERS 35, and NEW WARRIORS 5.

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Or - “The Cover That Launched A Thousand Blogs…”

The irony of the entire Hentai Controversy is that Heroes for Hire probably needed the press. The adventures of Jean Grey’s ex-roommate, her samurai sidekick, two Spider-Man villains, (one of whom talks to bugs) a new mysterious-tough-girl-in-spandex, and perhaps the greatest character of Marvel’s Bronze Age aren’t exactly burning up the charts, sales-wise. Indeed, orders at the store (Gatekeeper Hobbies, Huntoon & Gage, Topeka! Ask us about our chock-full 3 For A Dollar Bin!) have more than tripled due to the World War Hulk crossover, and there’s a pretty good chance that most of those readers aren’t coming back afterwards. Here’s hoping, though… In any case, our H4H friends are in quite the pickle, without even Tenzil Kem to help get them out.

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Marvel Comics has sent Major Spoilers a sneak peek at titles arriving in stores next week. In Part 1, take a look at AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL 12, DAREDEVIL 100 , FANTASTIC FIVE 5, GHOST RIDER 15, HEROES FOR HIRE 13, MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK 3, MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK 3, MOON KNIGHT 12, NEW AVENGERS 34, and NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS 3.

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Or - “What Civil War Did For Ms. Marvel, World War Hulk Has Done For H4H…”

And by that I mean it’s brought character development to a complete halt, thrust the likable characters into a situation which doesn’t really do them any favors, and so far hasn’t really made a whit of difference on the overall conflict. But I’m not entirely bitter, as I suspect that the WWH sales bump is going to keep Heroes For Hire on the stands longer, and hopefully give us a chance to get back to the stories that brought me here. Either way, Misty Knight and her amazing friends are in WAY over their heads, and even the newly empowered Humbug may not be enough to push the scales back in their favor.

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Another haul this week as Marvel released sneak peeks for issues arriving in stores July 25, 2007. 19 issues are coming your way, so instead of having one massive sneak peek fest, we’re once again breaking the Marvel Sneak Peek of the Week into two parts.

Part 1 features Amazing Spider-Man #542, Black Panther #29, Cable/Deadpool #43, Fantastic Five #2, Heroes for Hire #12, and several World War Hulk tie-in issues.

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Or - “A Case Where Even I Recognize That A Crossover Can’t Hurt…”

I’ve been reading Heroes For Hire on the appeal of the former Deadly Hands of Kung Fu castmembers Shang-Chi and the Daughters of the Dragon, and very much enjoying it’s retro feel. It’s a book that’s out-of-step with the rest of the Marvel Universe, adventuring in a more classic mode with actual supervillains and an old-school vibe. In spite of that (or, more likely, BECAUSE of that) the sales haven’t been as impressive as I would have hoped. This week, for the first time ever, H4H has sold out at the store (Gatekeeper Hobbies, Huntoon & Gage, Topeka! Ask us about the Harbinger Hardcover!) due entirely to a World War Hulk crossover and I couldn’t be happier… The question is, how many of the new buyers will stay?

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Marvel Comics sent us a promo image for Heroes for Hire #15 with the following tag information:

World War Hulk has arrived…and The Heroes For Hire will be no more.

Some will die.

Some will live.

The only thing certain is that the future just got a lot DEADLIER!

Take the jump to see the full image!

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Or - “Wanna See The Last Thing A Slow Dinosaur Sees?”

The Savage Land is a harsh mistress. With the team separated, conflict in the air, everybody acting strangely, Colleen dipped in monkey pheromones, and more sexual tension than you could reasonably shake a stick at, things are not looking up for our favorite group of adventurers in tight pants. Big doings in the offing for the H4H, but we can at least be comforted by the lack of rapacious alien appendages…

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I was going to post something last week about the “revolt” many are having over the Mary Jane Statue designed by Adam Hughes. Newsarama has a really good interview with Mr. Hughes, and since it’s been a week, the Internet has something else to pick on.

Today it’s the “scandal” over the Heroes for Hire cover that many are decrying as Tentacle Porn. Why is everyone picking on Marvel right now? How come there wasn’t the same “outrage” over the Witchblade Manga covers from months ago, when I first pointed it out?

Both Heroes for Hire and Witchblade Manga have Teenager+ ratings. Yet there wasn’t a blip out of anyone about Witchblade. No one can play the misogyny card on this one either as the artist for the Heroes cover is actually Sana Takeda - a woman. I think both of the covers are a bit weird for my taste, but I really don’t have a problem with either of them.  So my only conclusion is May is Pick on Marvel Month, and nobody told me.

Take the jump to see the two covers in question, and post your thoughts on the covers and the controversy. Just remember, keep it civil.

Oh, and for those of you who might get in trouble at work for viewing such things, you have been warned. If you are the sensitive type, you have also been warned (and you know who you are).

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Or - “Even Among All This Eye-Candy, It’s Still All About Shang-Chi. KYAIIIII!!”

Happy Free Comic Book Day! While you’re at your friendly local comic shop, (Possibly even Gatekeeper Hobbies, Huntoon & Gage, Topeka! Ask ‘em about our Wonder Woman Volume 1 back issues!) don’t forget to engage in one of the great pleasures of comic book collecting: rifling the back issues for something you want. Comic collecting is all about the thrill of the hunt, searching down the appearances of a certain character, creator, or team, whether you want a full run of Lee/Kirby ‘Fantastic Four,’ the first appearance of Wolverine, or just issue #14 of Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu. That last one is one of MY grails (being the rare and collectible tribute to Bruce Lee issue), one of the few missing spaces in my Shang-Chi collection. Shang’s role in THIS book so far has been mostly as a supporting character and straight man, but new writer Zeb Wells has brought a different sensibility to H4H, and with it, a spotlight on the man who makes the thing sell (at least to me), the son of Fu Manchu.

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Or - “Requiem For An Orka…”

Okay, I have to admit it: I’m irritated at Brad Meltzer. Stay with me here, it’ll all make sense eventually. In Justice League of America #8, it is revealed that Superman ranked Karate Kid as a 15th level fighter, and Batman as a level 12, yet Batman subsequently defeated KK in combat with a kick in the nards and a snide remark about enjoying proving Superman wrong. Digressing from my digression, let me mention that in the wrestling industry, there’s a concept called “putting over” an opponent: to wit, you make sure that your opponent looks good, that their attacks look lethal, and that they get a solid win that the crowd is behind. Karate Kid needed to be put over in that issue, and I don’t think it happened. Batman got precisely nothing out of winning a fight against Karate Kid, whereas Val (who, essentially, has been out of the spotlight since 1985) desperately needed credibility to show exactly what he and his Legion are about. Why do I bring this up here? Because, for all it’s flaws, this issue takes an older character who’s been out of the spotlight and shows us what he’s all about in a rather spectacular fashion…

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Or - “How To Get A Head In The World…”

No, Wait, How ‘Bout “He Shoulda Quit While He Was A Head.”

Wait! Let’s Try “That’s Not What I Meant When I Asked For…” Oh, Nevermind.

I’ve been wavering for a couple of months about Heroes For Hire, whether or not I’m going to continue reading it, and I’ve decided that I’m keeping it on my hold list, for one of my simplest reasons: I sincerely believe that Marvel will end the title before too much longer. Certainly I’m not saying that Heroes is a bad comic book, it isn’t, but it’s good in a scattershot way, and there isn’t a clear focus as to what the book is ABOUT. It’s pseudo-superheroes, not exactly a team book, and the plots have a tendency to meander (enough so that when I read Civil War: Battle Damage Report, I didn’t remember some of the things that were said to have happened in this title). The ostensible focus of the characters is on Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, but with approximately ten regular characters, Heroes For Hire is sort of like Legion of Superheroes with cleavage. Let me show ya what I mean…

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Or - “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got, Blah Blah Blah…”

The Heroes for Hire have, so far, been very much on a rocket bus, with the first couple of issues racing through a Civil War tie-in (with Misty and Colleen taking a stand against Iron Man, and NOT getting beaten within an inch of their lives in the middle of a street, proving that if you want to get anything past Tony Stark, it’s best to have mammaries), then a second arc of high speed mayhem featuring Ricadonna, several supervillains who should be dead (a recurring them for this book), and overtones of Skrull Kill Krew.  This issue features the same writing team with completely different art, and the effect is…  not what I expected…

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Or - “How To Say Nothing With Style…”

It’s always nice when a book is well drawn. After all, when you boil it down, the comics industry is based on a strong foundation of purty pictures and lying to your employees . Lately, in fact, companies have been willing to risk their sales for good art, betting that Steve McNiven’s art (or Jim Lee’s or Jim Cheung’s or whomever) is worth waiting a month or ten past the original shipping date. Billy Tucci’s art on Heroes for Hire has been routinely stellar, but five issues in, I’m starting to raise the question: Is there anything else going on here?

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