In one of the oddest announcements to come out of FanExpo last weekend, DC Comics has announced that the time-traveling hero Booster Gold will be tweaked somewhat.
A member of the new Justice League International, Booster Gold will be revealed to be a Canadian citizen, representing his true native land. Whether he’s still from the future remains unclear.
It's actually more of a reset. David Finch's infamous JL1 variant cover, which was also used as one of the covers for the Program Guide at Fan Expo Canada last weekend..
Tonight at midnight in some select stores and tomorrow morning everywhere else, DC Comics will be getting a lot of attention. Why? It’s the end of one era and the begging of a new direction.
1) Flashpoint #5 “changes everything” as the DCU goes through what can only be compared to a “Star Trek-like” readjustment of it’s entire superhero line of comic books. I liken it to the recent Star Trek movie (the one directed by J.J. Abrams) in that a central DC hero (looking to foil his arch-enemy) has gone back in time and changed events that have caused the present to change dramatically resulting in the warped Flashpoint world where Superman is a lab rat and Batman is Thomas Wayne. Flashpoint is also similar to Back to the Future II in that events in the past have changed the present, sort of like the alternate 1985 on BTTF II. Well, in the process of fixing the timeline, things change again — and the new timeline will be similar but with a lot of subtle differences which of course will be evident in…
2) Justice League #1 by the powerhouse dynamic duo of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, which starts off with a six part story that looks at the formation of the Justice League some nebulous “five years ago”.
Justice League #1 debuts with a variant cover by David Finch, and there will also be a bagged version that includes a code for a digital copy of the comic. Customers will also be able to purchase the comic online as it is the first of the new “day and date” digital publishing plan that DC has adopted.
Needless to say, curiousity levels will be high. Since the story broke DC has been playing up and playing down the changes so much that the existing customer base is as put off by it as they are intrigued, but both groups will want to know the hows, whats and whys of the changes before making a final call on this massive change.
At FanExpo this past weekend I had a chance to talk to some of the folks at DC and they are very excited but equally nervous as this is a bold step for the company, and it’s one they won’t know the results of for sure until the third issues of the “new 52″ are out and retailers report on whether the influx of interest in the new #1′s has encouraged anyone to stick around long enough to sample the second and third issues.
I also spoke with many retailers over the weekend, and they are both excited at the interest their customers are showing in the relaunch, but equally concerned about the longevity of their customer’s interest. On top of that, most seem either negative or indifferent towards the digital releases.
Either way, there’s no debate about the importance of this event to both retailers, the publisher and the one element rarely mentioned — the distributor. If DC successfully alienates their existing readers and fails to attract new ones this will end up being a spectacular failure of “New Universe” proportions and could result in a hasty “quick fix” event to restore things to the way they were and it could potentially. If it is successful retailers will see an influx of new and old faces into their stores looking for comics again. Let’s hope that is the case!
In 1991, North Toronto’s Paradise Comics opened as a little cubbyhole on the east side of Yonge Street north of Lawrence. Under the direction of original owner Chris Friesen the store became a popular location for back issue collectors. As the business grew, the store relocated across the street to it’s current location. In 1994 Friesen sold the store to his room-mate at the time and decided to move into comic book restoration full time and has gone on to become the restoration expert for CGC.
New owner Peter Dixon subsequently continued down the same path established by Friesen, and the store has grown slowly over the subsequent 17 years. Dixon and manager Doug Simpson are both Overstreet price guide advisors. The store and some customers/associates were also involved in producing local comic conventions, eventually offloading them to Wizard in 2009 who continue them under the “Toronto Comic Con” brand name as part of their Wizard World family of conventions. The store continues to be the host for some local signings.
Over the last five or more years Paradise has expanded it’s graphic novel selection and the main floor of the store is lined with bookshelves full of trades and hardcovers. The basement is filled from floor to ceiling with long boxes of back issues, a selection of the size and scope that most retailers are currently abandoning.
Starting next week Paradise is celebrating their anniversary, here’s the blurb:
On Wednesday September 7th 2011 Paradise Comics will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. Over the course of the next year, we’ll be hosting a series of events to thank our friends, customers, and colleagues for all their support. The party will begin on September 7th between 3-8pm. Please join us for cake, door prizes and maybe even the chance to meet a few special guests. Please keep checking out our site www.paradisecomics.com throughout the next 12 months for many more special sales and events and we hope to make our next 20 years as fun as the first 20.
Well, we somehow managed to survive another year of the Comic Book Expo at FanExpo. I’ll be taking some time to process everything that happened over the 4 (LONG) days of the event before making any final decisions and comments about it, but it is nice to know that the majority of reports are positive in tone.
Huge thanks to the two best assistants a guy could ask for: Allison Covey and Andrew Walsh. Great job!
One thing I don’t need to reflect on is that the Comic Book Expo’s “How To” Workshops rocked! Thanks to the fine folks at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop – particularly the irreplaceable Walter Dickinson. The mods were great: Keiren Smith, Paul Truster, Robert Pincombe, Jason Shayer, Ron Kasman, Brent Chittenden and Kathleen Gallagher. A lot of them were standing room only (especially Anthony Del Col‘s talk on Friday afternoon). Huge thanks to Ty Templeton for doing a new record of 3!
Sketching Duels continued to be a big hit at FanExpo. Thanks to all of the artists who participated and big props to our team of refs: ‘Fearless Fred’ Kennedy, Brian Deemer from Comic Geek Speak, Andrew Walsh and Shelley Smarz! Highest attended: Tony Moore / Bill Sienkiewicz (standing room) and the one that got the best positive feedback was the Women of Comics one with Jill Thompson, Agnes Garbowska (representing Canada), Sara Richard and Katie Cook!
For once I had a little time to walk around and buy a few things. My FanExpo pick-ups include: One Soul by Ray Fawkes, Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan McLeod, Three Thieves Book Two: The Sign of the Black Rock by Scott Chantler, plus sketchbooks and mini-comics by Tony Moore, Nimit Malavia and Mike Del Mundo, prints by J. Bone and Salgood Sam and original art from Steve Mannion, Geof Isherwood, Michael Cho, Ron Salas and Kalman Andrasofszky.
Announced this weekend, appropriately enough at Fan Expo Canada — Marvel Comics has decided to turn the 8-issue Alpha Flight mini-series into an ongoing series with the same creative team of Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Canada’s own DALE EAGLESHAM.
According to related news, Canadian superteam Alpha Flight will find out they are part of a commonwealth of superheroes…. this is not unlike the fact that most Canadians don’t really remember the fact that Canada itself is still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations (formerly known as the British Commonwealth) that includes the UK, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa and 48 other countries around the world.
McClelland & Stewart senior editor Anita Chong has acquired world rights to The Spectral Engine, a graphic novel by Ray Fawkes. The book is a retelling of Canada’s most famous ghost stories, linked by themes of migration, dislocation, nation-building, and the casualties of history. The book will be published October 2013.
