Christopher Butcher has the best take on the full-frontal Spider-Man in this week’s Spider-Man: Reign #1 issue. (I’m still waiting for the obligatory "Spider-Nuts" theme song parody.)

The big issue for Marvel isn’t the dangly bits shown in the picture. It’s the lack of quality control at the House of Ideas. How many errors has Marvel let slip this year? Whether it’s showing Spidey’s unmasking in Thunderbolts before Civil War, the inability to determine if it’s the Superpowers Registration Act or the Superheroes Registration Act, Tony Stark saying one thing in Civil War about the permanence of the prison in the Negative Zone and the complete opposite in Amazing Spider-Man, it’s obvious that the editors are slipping up. Heck, they’ve admitted that Astonishing X-Men fell off its schedule not because of the creators involved, but because of the editors!

Back in the 70s and 80s, Jim Shooter was known as the guy who got the trains to run on time at Marvel. I suspect Quesada still thinks fondly of the days when the company was on the verge of collapse, and he and then-President Bill Jemas were willing to try anything to keep the company running. But those days are over. Now, Marvel needs to get the trains running again.

Unlike those of you who make the weekly trek to your friendly neighborhood comics store each Wednesday, I get my comics once a month from MailOrderComics.com. Once a month, I get a box or two (or, um, three) full of graphic novels and comics, all wrapped lovingly in cardboard and styrofoam peanuts. I dive in, like a kid on Christmas morn, opening packages and going "ooh…ahhh" at all the cool books.
UPS has informed me that my shipment will arrive in two boxes this afternoon. The good news? Check out this list for this month:

• Absolute DC: The New Frontier HC
• Acme Novelty Library Vol 17 HC
• Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon Vol 6 HC
• Art Of Brian Bolland HC
• Avengers: Galactic Storm Vol 2 TP
• Back Issue #19
• Comics Journal #279
• Comics Journal Library Vol 7: Harvey Kurtzman TP
• Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy: Vol 1 HC
• Complete Popbot Collection TP
• DF George Perez Storyteller: First 30 Years HC
• Don’t Go Where I Cant Follow GN
• Essential Captain America Vol 3 TP
• Essential Man-Thing Vol 1 TP (oh, the obvious joke)
• Fantastic Four: First Family TP
• Fountain SC
• Fury Peacemaker TP
• Golden Plates Vol 1: Ltd. Ed. HC
• Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis The Menace 1955-1956 HC
• Hellblazer: Empathy Is The Enemy TP
• Iron Wok Jan GN #21
• Luba: Three Daughters TP
• Marvel Masterworks Mighty Thor Vol 5 New Ed. HC
• Marvel Westerns HC
• Noble Causes Vol. 6 Hidden Agendas TP
• Outlaw Nation TP
• Please Release #1
• Poison Elves: Lost Tales #8
• Popeye Vol 1: I Yam What I Yam HC
• Project Romantic SC
• PVP #29
• Ragmop TP
• Rex Libris #6
• Shadowland GN
• Showcase Presents The Unknown Soldier Vol 1 TP
• Soulsearchers #80
• Swamp Thing Vol. 9 Infernal Triangles TP
• Tales From The Clerks TP
• Video Collected Ed .TP
• Wizard Best Of Basic Training Advanced Techniques
• World War 3 Illustrated #37 Unnatural Disasters
• Y The Last Man Vol 8: Kimono Dragons TP

The bad news?

I have to carry 65 pounds of books with a bad back up a flight of stairs to my library.

Speaking of which, here’s another comic about back pain.

I’ve installed the Share This! plugin created by WordPress guru Alex King. If you like one of my posts, you can email it to someone, add it to your Google bookmarks, Digg it, and a whole bunch of other options.

For me, this blog isn’t supposed to be a monologue. It’s a conversation. I’m hoping that this encourages you to become a participant in this discussion about what’s good about comics. Enjoy! Leave feedback!

Tom Spurgeon caught this story today. I’ve been reading Fox Trot since I was an undergrad at the U of Delaware, and have always loved the geek-friendly strip. I’ll miss the daily strips, but every artist should know when it’s time to close up, and I wish Bill Amend well with his new projects.

We’re losing Fox Trot and Narbonic this month! Bleh. Of course, Narbonic’s ending for the best possible reason: the story’s over, rather than creator burnout or economic hardship. I’m convinced that Shaenon Garrity is one of the brightest bulbs in the Lite Brite world of webcomics, and I look forward to her next project.

It turns out that my back condition is degenerative disc disease. I go for an MRI soon to determine the extent of the injury. Bleh.

(Thanks to Glyph Jockey for the Nancy cartoon. Click through for the whole joke. Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing it out.)

I’ve been battling back pain for a while now, and my doctor over the weekend now suspects I have a herniated disc. It’s hitting the nerves on the right side on my right leg, so walking any distance more than a few feet is mighty painful. I should be getting an MRI to confirm the diagnosis in the next two weeks. Bleh.

At least comics aren’t heavy!

The list is here.

I’m not arguing the inclusion of the graphic novel Fun Home to the list. I’ve always been a fan of Alison Bechdel’s work, and while I haven’t gotten to this book yet, I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about it. It’s in my to-read pile, which at this point is almost as tall as the house.

But…one graphic novel out of a hundred? This has been the year of the literary graphic novel. Having only one graphic novel named a "notable" book smacks of tokenism. Where’s Jessica Abel’s La Perdida? Eddie Campbell’s Fate of the Artist? Mom’s Cancer (quite possibly my favorite graphic novel of the year)? Gilbert Hernandez’s Sloth? Heck, Alan Moore’s Lost Girls may not have well-reviewed, but it certainly was notable for the taboos it broke.

Note that I’m only mentioning new material, not reprinted material. But there are books on the NYT list that would be considered representations of older material. Ginsberg’s poems, Joyce Carroll Oates’s short stories, and others made the list. If those books are worthy of inclusion, why not, say, Absolute Sandman or Kings in Disguise or Castle Waiting or a Complete Peanuts or Dennis the Menace collection?

Some will say that the inclusion of Fun House indicates that comics are finally being accepted as an artistic medium. I say one out of a hundred shows how large the gap really is.

Cockrum was the artist behind the X-Men revamping in the 70s, turning a moribund title into the blockbuster franchise it is today. He created Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, the Starjammers, and the Imperial Guard, among others. He suffered from diabetes, and passed away Saturday at the age of 63.

This is really an awful story in some regards. Until three years ago, Cockrum was broke despite his contributions to what at one time was the biggest franchise in comics. He received no royalties for his work despite frequent reprintings of the X-Men comics. When Clifford Meth of Silver Bullet Comics started publicizing Cockrum’s plight, Marvel did come to a settlement with Cockrum that at least gave him the chance to move to a warmer climate in South Carolina. He spent his last years talking with fans on the Internet, never sounding bitter, glad for whatever attention his fans gave him.

I always thought of Cockrum as the eternal teenager. His designs were always so youthful and energetic, it seemed that he had tapped into some sort of Fountain of Youth for his art. It’s jarring and upsetting to hear of his passing.

Clifford Meth writes about Cockrum’s last days, and I think it’s the best tribute on the net I’ve seen. If you’ve never read any of Cockrum’s work, the best place to see his work is in the Uncanny X-Men Omnibus published last year by Marvel. It’s pricey, but it’s the best reprinting of his work I’ve ever seen, and for the size of the book, it’s a real bargain.

Heaven’s getting a heck of an artist today.

ITEM! Looks like Amazon restored the old-school Gold Box this morning. And there’s even Tezuka’s Phoenix: Dawn in there for me. I just purchased the amazing Buddha books from Vertical, and this might be another series I break down and get.

ITEM! But then again, it looks like Buy.com has brought back the Google Checkout deal one more time! For those not familiar with this program, you can get $10 off every $30 order (not including pre-orders). Since Buy’s prices tend to be lower than Amazon’s on books, this is a great way to get some graphic novels.

ITEM! For those who want to buy some of the exclusive Marvel books at Barnes & Noble, PayPal will be running a rebate promotion starting on Thanksgiving. You have to sign up here. Not sure of exactly how much you can get back, but every item purchased gets free shipping (in the US and Canada).

ITEM! Mile High Comics is running a progressive discount program on a significant portion of their collection here. Starting today, the books are 60% off; on Friday, the discount increases to 65% off; and on Monday, the discount reaches 70% off. The catch is that if you wait for the higher discount, the book might sell out. I believe any order over $40 in the US gets free shipping.

ITEM! Tales of Wonder is still running their obscenely cheap Black Friday sale. I bought a copy of Jamie Delano’s 2020 Visions for $3.09, which is insane for a book with Frank Quitely work (even if it is black and white). There’s some great bargains in there, including the Sandman 10th Anniversary statue for under $50.

ITEM! Mailordercomics.com just unveiled their specials for the November catalog cycle. Best deals include Civil War: The Return and Silent War #1 at 75% off, and over 900 comics and graphic novels at 40% off. I’ve used Mailordercomics as my primary comics supplier for years, and I highly recommend them. They back up their prices with great customer service and perfect packing. You can’t go wrong.

ITEM! My good friend Glenn apparently didn’t get the memo that November is "Let’s All Stop Writing Our Blogs For A While" month, and sent me an email asking for updates.

Of course, it’s my own fault. I’ve spent the last week building a new desk. Part of the problem of buying and loving oversized comics is that you need a big reading surface for them. I read everything at my desk, and my current desk, a fiberboard construction I’ve had since the late 90s, just isn’t big enough. It had no open "real estate" to place anything but a small manga book, making reading a challenge. One night two weeks ago, I broached the topic of getting a new desk to my wife, and she agreed with me. Rather than wait for her to change her mind, I rushed out and got a much bigger desk at Staples.

This desk is, as the Swedish would say, Yuge. Therein lies the problem- I live in the upper floor of a two-family home. The package weighed too much to be carried up the stairs, so I did what I normally do in these situations. I opened the package in the car, and made a few trips up and down the stairs bringing up pieces of the desk each time. This worked until I got to the final piece, the desktop itself. I failed to adjust for its size and awkwardness, and pulled a few rib and back muscles in the process. Ouch! I also had some problems with the actual assembly of the desk; I had to contact the manufacturer to replace parts that were damaged when one of the two desk hutches tumbled over in mid-construction.

I finished the desk last night. Tonight, I have to move everything off the old desk, move it out of the space, clean up the area, and then move the new desk in. I’ll take photos and share. Woot!

ITEM! Amazon.com has betrayed me this morning. I feel a loss.

Amazon’s Gold Box program used to heavily rely upon the favorites list generated by your browsing and purchase history on the site. This meant that if I spent time cultivating my favorites on Amazon, ranking books I liked highly and ones I didn’t poorly, I ran a good chance of getting a book I wanted at a lower-than-normal price. Each day was like pulling a slot machine- ten items would be presented at random, each carrying a larger discount than normal. Sometimes it would be wonky (apparently, it thinks I have a thing for out-of-stock purses. No wallets, just purses. Scary.), but you could get some great deals on occasion.

Apparently, that day has come to an end. Now, everyone gets the same item in their Gold Box. I’m heartbroken; Amazon now knows everything about my book preferences, but refuses to reward me for that information. The item for sale today is a Coleman 54-quart cooler. It’s a brisk autumn in New Jersey; I don’t think I’m really in the market for such an item.

It’s my own fault, really. I’ve been abusing Buy.com’s Google Checkout promotion that ended yesterday. I was getting $10 off every $30 I spent. It was a weird deal, because you couldn’t get the deal if you were logged in to your own account. Instead, you logged out of your Buy.com account, shopped anonymously on the site, and then checked out using Google. I was getting a discount without providing Buy with the critical information about myself that it really wants.

Last night, I tried making one last purchase, since the plan was expiring. But Google Checkout seemed to crash, and I couldn’t purchase that last Krazy Kat book needed to complete my collection. Of course, I can purchase it at Amazon for a low price, and they’ll ship it two-day for free (I was granted a free month of Amazon Prime, their promotional shipping discount program). But I won’t get a super-low price like I would have gotten at Buy/Google.

I feel like I’ve been dumped. Today, neither site truly "wants" me. Buy.com isn’t offering me $10 off $30 anymore, while Amazon will no longer reward me for all those times I spent whispering in its ear about my love for Essentials and Masterworks. I’ve been jilted by two lovers, it appears.

Good thing Tales of Wonder has a big sale going on…