Superheroes, like all things Disney, Dr. Seuss and “Star Wars,” are in America’s pop culture DNA. Images of Batman, Spider-Man and their muscle-bound peers inundate us on clothing, grocery store shelves and every manner of electronic screens.

My wife and I did a decent job of screening influences as our boys Evan (who is almost 7) and Sean (who is almost 5) have journeyed through stories, books, television and movies. We tried to shield them from commercials, violence and elements more interested in slapstick than education. But as the boys have begun their education, they have been exposed to a much wider pool of myths and entertainment properties than we have introduced at home.

As a voracious and enthusiastic consumer of pop culture, I am keenly aware of the benefits and drawbacks of entertainment and escapism. But I am sure I was nowhere near as critical and questioning at a young age as our sons are. I watched Superman fly, The Cat in the Hat clean up a house in 30 seconds, and 4,000 sharpshooting stormtroopers miss while shooting at Luke Skywalker from a distance of seven feet, all without deconstructing the mechanics of the story logic.

Evan, by contrast, seems to be carefully considering each scene of every story, examining it for holes and flaws like an appraiser studying what he expects to be a fake diamond.

Recently, I showed Evan two episodes of the 1970s “Super Friends” show, that silly but fun series in which DC Comics stars Supes, Bats, Wonder Woman and their pals battle the Legion of Doom, led by Lex Luthor, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd and Riddler.

Evan is far more familiar with the “The Super Hero Squad Show,” a Marvel Comics show in which The Avengers are depicted in friendly little kid versions. I have always been a DC guy, devouring Batman and Joker stories, but Evan seems far more interested in the Marvel worlds of Spider-Man, Hulk and Iron Man. I thought a few “Super Friends” episodes might draw him into the DC stories.

As we watched an episode in which the Legion of Doom used manufactured global warming to make the Earth open for a Venusian invasion, Evan asked a string of impatient questions, something he does not do when watching “The Super Hero Squad. Show”

We are spending a lot of time with Evan working on teamwork, teaching him the importance of doing his individual best while contributing to a larger cause. As we watched the Legion of Doom plot and scheme to take down the Super Friends, Evan made a few astute observations.

“Daddy, the bad guys are working together and being a team while the good guys are doing everything on their own and not together. Does that mean the bad guys deserve to win?”

“No,” I said. “The good guys are working together for the same cause, just in different parts of the world. The bad guys are weak and mean, so they need to team up to be evil. They’re like the New York Yankees.”

Evan watched a few more scenes, then said, “How come Wonder Woman is wearing a swimsuit to fight the bad guys?”

“That’s not a bathing suit,” I said, then hesitated, “That’s a, um, that’s a … well, it looks like a swimsuit, but it’s her uniform.”

“The girls in X-Men wear real uniforms, not swimsuits,” Evan said.

“Well, Wonder Woman is an Amazon from an island, so maybe it’s hot there all the time. Let’s just watch,” I said.

In the story, a scene showed Superman, Batman and Robin running for what seemed like miles in that slightly jerky, ’70s animation.

Evan watched, but said, “Why is Superman running forever when he can fly?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe he doesn’t want Batman and Robin to fall behind.”

“Can’t he carry them and fly?” Evan asked.

“He could, but isn’t it cooler to see the good guys rushing to action?” I said.

“Daddy, why does Superman need Batman?” Evan asked. “Superman is Superman and Batman doesn’t have any powers.”

“Batman is a detective and very smart,” I said. “He always helps, even without superpowers, which is what makes him cool.”

On screen, Flash’s enemy Captain Cold froze the Brooklyn Bridge with his freeze ray.

“Daddy,” Evan asked, “Is Captain Cold the same guy as Batman’s bad guy Mr. Freeze?”

“No,” I said. “They’re completely different bad guys.”

“How?” Evan asked. “They both use ice and freeze rays.”

I thought about it.

“I’m not that familiar with Captain Cold, but he’s not Mr. Freeze,” I said.

In the show, Mr. Freeze — I mean, Captain Cold — froze a New York building, intending to topple it and watch it smash into pieces. Flash used his super speed to run around the Brooklyn Bridge, taking its suspension cables to lasso the building so it would not fall over.

“See, that was cool,” I said.

“But if the bridge cables are wrapped around the building, what’s holding up the bridge?” Evan asked.

“He must have left some cables on it,” I said.

So, Evan will probably go back to watching The Avengers in “The Super Hero Squad Show,” as he chooses which myths and entertainments he favors. But “Super Friends” stuck with him, for later in the day, we had another conversation.

“Daddy, why are there no black Super Friends?” Evan asked.

“Well, that’s a good question,” I said. “When I was growing up, people who made TV shows and movies did not always include everybody in their shows. Today, we try to do a better job of remembering to be sensitive to include all people.”

Evan was quiet, then asked, “Is that why there were no gay Super Friends? Was Robin gay?”

“Why would you ask if Robin is gay?” I said.

“I don’t know,” Evan said.

“Evan,” I said, “It’s not intelligent to think that about someone just because of the clothes they wear or how they talk or act. It can be hurtful to someone to label them. You don’t want people to think things about you before they get to know you. And if someone is gay, you know that doesn’t ever mean we think less of them just for that.”

“I know, Daddy. Daddy, was Aquaman gay?”

“Yes.”

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Email him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Aquaman, Batman, Brooklyn Bridge, Captain Cold, Cat in the Hat, DC Comics, Disney, Dr. Seuss, Evan adn Sean, Gorilla Grodd, Hulk, Iron Man, Joker, Legion of Doom, Lex Luthor, Lighting The Fuse, Luke Skywalker, Marvel Comcics, Michael S. Miller, Mr. Freeze, New York Yankees, Sinestro, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Super Friends, Superman, The Avengers, The Flash, The Riddler, The Super Hero Squad Show, Wonder Woman, X-Men

This entry was posted on Friday, April 12th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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You may have heard that Robin died recently. That’s right; Batman’s sidekick, that “laughing daredevil,” the kid in the yellow cape and green boots — he kicked the bucket. But, don’t you believe it. You see, it’s a sham. Sort of.

The Robin that died in Batman, Incorporated No. 8 was the fourth Boy Wonder, or fifth technically, if you count the brief time that the Boy Wonder was a girl. Regardless, the deceased sidekick wasn’t the original Robin, Dick Grayson — it was in fact Batman’s son, Damian Wayne. Okay, that may need a bit of explaining. See, Dick grew up in the 1980s and took on the name “Nightwing” and since that time we’ve had a small parade of other kids take on the colorful mantle of Robin. The second of them, Jason Todd, proved so violently unpopular with readers that they voted through a 1-900 phone survey for DC Comics to kill him.

True story. Made national news.

So, after the third Robin, Tim Drake, and that girl, Stephanie Brown, along came Damian, created by uber-writer Grant Morrison more than six years ago now. The progeny of Bruce Wayne and Talia, daughter of one of Batman’s greatest enemies, Damian was grown in a test tube and deposited unceremoniously on Bruce’s doorstep. We were told that Morrison’s goal, from the beginning, was to wrap up the story with Damian’s death, and so he did. And, once again, Robin’s demise made national news.

How did this frankly weird fascination with killing Robins begin? One might look to a 1963 story called “Robin Dies at Dawn” for its odd origin. There had been other brushes with comic book death for the Dynamic Duo before that, of course, but that particular saga — a moody tale of Batman’s experiment with sensory deprivation — struck a sick chord with fans … including a young Grant Morrison. After that, a procession of stories and covers spotlighting a bruised, battered and at-death’s-door Boy Wonder has become something of a bizarre tradition among comic book cognoscenti.

In other words, don’t cry for Robin, Toledo — he was never supposed to be immortal. The Boy Wonder’s destined to die at dawn, again and again and again.

Tags: Batman, DC Comics, Jim Beard, Robin

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 12th, 2013 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Comics, Star.
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Batman has been the quintessential superhero for more than seven decades. Though the character has seen myriad changes throughout the years in the pages of the comics that gave him life, there have always been a few defining characteristics that help make the Dark Knight what he is. The death of his parents. The deep-seated need for justice. The use of intimidation and fear to combat crime.

One of the most important facets of the character is one of the most basic — Batman refuses to kill anyone. The character’s reasons lie within the senseless murder of his family and his belief that doing so would make him no better than the criminals he attempts to apprehend. Though certain versions of Gotham’s savior have found ways to tinker with much of Bat-lore, by and large, this pillar of his being has remained intact.

That doesn’t mean that writers have found the subject off limits, to be sure. There have been plenty of storylines over the Caped Crusader’s history that have tested his resolve on the subject of murder. The most recent occurred in the much-discussed “Death of the Family” storyline, featuring the return of Batman’s longtime nemesis The Joker. (Spoiler Alert.)

Upon his arrival in Batman No. 13, the Joker set in motion a series of events designed to turn Batman’s world upside down — but his attacks were far more psychological than physical. It became apparent that the villain’s focus was the extended “Bat-family” — the allies in costume that the Dark Knight loves and relies on. The end result, without giving much away, was a storyline that didn’t actually kill any member of Batman’s inner circle, but rather served as an attempt to plant seeds of mistrust and sever his connections to that circle forever.

One of Joker’s central arguments to Robin, Nightwing and the rest of Batman’s allies was the simple fact that, by virtue of his still being alive, it was clear that Batman cared more about Joker than any of them. After all, if he truly loved them, wouldn’t he kill Joker and spare them from any future pain he might cause? But he’ll simply catch him and lock him up, and you know he’ll just escape again. So why not end the cycle?

Batman isn’t the only hero to have such a moral quandary tossed his way in recent weeks. As the new Superior Spider-Man begins to try and find its direction, the subject of Spidey’s refusal to kill any of his foes has also come into focus. As Doctor Octopus begins to find his own path as a hero while wearing Spider-Man’s body, he has openly criticized his predecessor’s policy of letting certain villains live and vowed to not make the same mistake.

Testing the limits of what a hero is and isn’t willing to do is all part of good drama. And one of the things fiction can do is bring real-life values into focus by exploring their implications in a fantasy world. What the characters in these stories are doing, in some way, is exploring the idea of the death penalty, and asking what the implications of it are when a hero refuses to take a life.

There is a problem, though, and it lies in the nature of the universe these particular stories take place in. The fact is, we as readers already know that no death in comics is permanent.”

Hell, as of right now, Doc Ock’s days as Spidey are clearly numbered, as the supposedly “dead” Peter Parker is now haunting him as a specter, “Always”-style. It’s the nature of comics, or of any serial storytelling, that whatever “permanent” solution occurs today may be completely undone tomorrow.

So when a character like Joker taunts Batman with the idea of “Why don’t you just kill me and stop any pain I may cause in the future,” the real answer is, “Because you’re the Joker and no Batman creator in their right mind would try and kill you off — and even if they did, the next one would just resurrect you anyway.” So the question of why don’t these heroes kill is built on a bit of a logical fallacy, one that undermines the gravity of the questions it addresses.

I’m not saying that a media like comic books can never comment on social issues — like all the best fiction, comics can act as a mirror of the real world and make us think about the universe we live in.

But they need to pick and choose their battles. The real world is not at the whim of a storytelling format that demands a new adventure, a new crisis, every month.

And when it’s been shown time and again that death in comics is at best a temporary setback, how much gravity can the question of “Why doesn’t Batman kill” really have?

Tags: Batman, Jeff McGinnis

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Opinion.
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During her “Monster Ball” tour, Lady Gaga would take to the stage wearing her now-famous “Living Dress” — an ever-shifting cacophony of fabrics controlled remotely using motors and cables. The spectacle never failed to garner an epic reaction from her audiences. In one fan video, you can hear the voice of a spectator almost enraptured with excitement at the sight. “It’s amazing! It’s f****** amazing!”

Those words were music to the ears of Vinilla Burnham — Vin for short — the designer who worked feverishly for six weeks to finish the garment. “You can’t get better feedback than that!” Burnham said in an interview with Toledo Free Press Star.

Burnham will share her experiences working on projects like the Gaga dress, the Batsuit used in Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” and many, many more in a free presentation at 2 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle.

Titled “Touching the Stars: Costume Design from Covent Garden to Hollywood,” her talk will cover the wide variety of experiences the U.K. native has had in the entertainment industry.

Vinilla Burnham

“Covent Garden and Hollywood are poles apart, both as wonderful as each other,” Burnham said. “I was extremely fortunate to have such an enormous variety in my career, from ballet and opera to Monty Python, Jim Henson and the Muppets, Batman and Lady Gaga.

“I specialized in costume design which crossed over with creature effects, puppetry, animatronics and even CGI, so I will cover all these areas. It will be an overview with a lot of variety and even some inside information.”

If Burnham sounds enthusiastic about her visit, well, it comes naturally. Burnham is a naturally passionate individual, and sharing her experiences with others clearly brings her great joy.

“I love it. I love passing on my knowledge and I hope people are entertained as well as informed, and hopefully inspired.”

Burnham’s passion is informed by a lifetime within show business. Her parents were both actors, but the young Vin knew she never wanted to perform herself. Still, there was an inevitability to her involvement with theater. After a stint at art school, she got a job working with props at the Royal Opera House in London, before migrating to costumes for television and film.

Her parents’ experience as performers helps Burnham empathize with the actors she works with. “It is their character after all, so it is my job to work with them to find out what works best for their portrayal of the character. It is a curious and exciting process; whatever preconceived ideas I may have about how I think they should look changes completely on meeting them, and it is a voyage of discovery to find the perfect look.”

So when does Burnham know that they have hit upon the perfect design? She just … knows.

“It is usually the case that both the actor and myself know instantly when we have struck the right chord, and that we have got it right. It is never a case of my telling the actor what he/she is wearing, it is collaborative.

“Very rarely does an actor’s ego get in the way,” Burnham added. “Some feel more strongly than others and some want more input than others, but I have encountered one or two that were difficult, and they will remain nameless!”

Celebrity gossip columnists may be disappointed when Burnham refuses to surrender such juicy details, but for her it’s always about the work. Beyond her most famous pieces, Burnham expresses a great deal of joy for her designs on a 2006 production of “The Wind in the Willows” starring Matt Lucas and Bob Hoskins.

“I loved the book as a child, and it was colorful, animal characteristics, it was period and it was a comedy, all the ingredients I love. I was particularly pleased with Badger’s costume and I have brought it with me from England to show at my talks,” she said.

Burnham’s experience integrating her fanciful designs with physical and visual effects certainly gives her a leg up in an era where the process of creating fantastic sights on film is changing rapidly. She said she hasn’t found it hard to adapt, because “it is not about elaborate visual effects, it is about telling stories through characters.

“If effects are used for the sake of it, it will be meaningless, and audiences will not believe it. Having said that, I love to use visual effects,” she noted. “I am the first one to want to know of new technology and materials, but they must be used within a context of good ideas and good design, it must be totally relevant to the visual statement you are making or you are sunk.”

Burnham communicates such love and joy through her film work that it comes as a surprise to learn she’s taking a hiatus to launch a new project called “The Little Costume Shop Weddings.”

“I have been making quarter-scale ballet costumes for some while now for collectors, and it occurred to me one day, ‘Where do people put their wedding dresses after their weddings?’ Most people pack them away and never see them again, so I thought it would be a wonderfully romantic idea to offer people a quarter-scale replica of their wedding dress.”

But there will always be a fire within Burnham about her first love, one which she believes she will communicate to the Glass City on Jan. 20.

“I hope that Toledoans will find the talks interesting, informative and also entertaining,” she said. “I would like to tell them about some of the incredibly talented and creative people that inspired and educated me during my career that they perhaps would never otherwise come across, people whose work should live on. And how my English heritage amalgamated with your American heritage and resulted in some groundbreaking work, and bridged the gap across the ‘pond.’”

For information, visit toledomuseum.org.

Tags: Batman, Jeff McGinnis, Pop Goes the Culture, Tim Burton, Toledo Museum of Art, Vinilla Burnham

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 at 10:42 am and is filed under Film, Pop Goes the Culture, Star, Toledo Museum of Art.
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By Jim Beard

Toledo Free Press Star Staff Writer

star@toledofreepress.com

and Jeff McGinnis

Toledo Free Press Star Pop Culture Editor

PopGoesJeff@gmail.com

Just before the end of 2012, Marvel Comics released Amazing Spider-Man No. 700, the “final issue” of the long-running comic series. The finale turned out to be a surprising one, as Peter Parker died while his mind was trapped in the body of villain Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), while Doc Ock still lives within Parker’s mind and will now continue on as the new “Superior Spider-Man.” Comic book author and expert Jim Beard and Pop Goes the Culture writer Jeff McGinnis debate the pros and cons of the story.

Spider-Man and Doc Ock, illustration courtesy Marvel Comics.

Jim Beard: In comic books, death is not an ending. Death is a story. Peter Parker is not dead; there’s a story, we just don’t know what it is yet.

The point is not that he is dead, but how long he’ll be dead. Marvel is banking on the readers needing to know what happens next, and how long they can drag it out for without killing the story. I know writer Dan Slott and he’s a storyteller. He’s also an inveterate humorist, so there’s something here that he sees as very humorous.

Jeff McGinnis: The problem I have with that line of thought, though, is that by that standard we can’t critique any storyline except in hindsight. So, Spidey readers will have to wait months to see what happens, paying for each issue the whole time, and then decide if it was worth the journey? They can’t be critical now of a story twist that seems to undercut everything they love about a character?

The fact is, as of right now, the plot being told is that Peter Parker was killed and replaced by one of his most persistent villains. What about this story is supposed to keep the interest of audience members who love Parker as a character? Is the idea that “of course he’ll be back eventually” a lure to keep interest, or an excuse?

Beard: I accept that point, but the usual response to people flipping out about film trailers is “Go to see the film first!” Granted, you get a whole film in two hours and have to wait up to a year for a comic story … but, I digress.

Readers will look in on this story to see how brutal it will be. Marvel is selling it as a “superior” Spider-Man, i.e., one who shoots first and asks questions later, presumably. We went down this road in the 1990s with the Azrael version of Batman, and I think it was proven that no one really wanted a bone-breaking, murdering Dark Knight. We’ve been told that Doc Ock is having a “change of heart” going forward, but we also have the question of rape that’s already reared its ugly head in comic fandom circles — how far will Marvel take this? How far can they take it? The story will be how much Ock can change and how much of his villainous ways are set far too deeply in his DNA.

McGinnis: Therein lies the dilemma. This is not an antihero in the mold of Marvel mainstays The Punisher or Wolverine. This is an honest-to-God supervillain who is suddenly taking on the mantle of Spider-Man — and doing so by killing off Peter Parker, one of the most beloved protagonists in all of comics. How will the mainstream public accept this? Let’s be honest — Doc Ock just isn’t interesting enough as a character in and of himself to carry a series, let alone one where he is wearing Peter Parker’s identity.

As you mentioned, the question of what this means for the people in Parker’s life is also a huge question, with the “r-word” getting tossed about for when/if he and Mary Jane get together. It brings up a lot of interesting (and potentially damaging) issues that Marvel will have to deal with. The question is, will the story being told be worth the trouble?

Beard: Slott has a pretty good track record and he loves and knows the characters enough to deliver something worthwhile. I give him the benefit of the doubt here and trust that he can ramp up the story and keep the whole thing from devolving into the typical Marvel “event” megillah: big idea, good startup, middling middle and letdown ending.

As far as Otto Octavius, it’s obvious that Marvel is at loose ends with what was once one of its biggest supervillains and a mainstay of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. He’s a character you either ditch or go for broke with. Does the public remember him from “Spider-Man 2?” I don’t know, but regular comic readers may think he’s still a joke and for that reason alone they may take a look. That’s what Marvel needs, for people to at least take a look and buy a few issues.

McGinnis: But how many will look in? How many mainstream fans will get pulled in by the idea of a supposedly permanent mind-swap, centered around yet another comic death? How many times during the past 20 years have major characters been snuffed as a gimmick to draw fans in, with ever-diminishing results? No one can take death seriously as a storytelling device in comics anymore.

It all comes back to the story. If the tale being told really captured people’s imaginations, the backlash wouldn’t be quite so intense. This feels less like a genuinely interesting development in the Spidey saga and more like a gimmick to sell another “event” — one that could seriously undermine the nature of the Spider-Man universe.

Beard: Here’s how this will go: Marvel will get a temporary bump in sales, for however long, be able to say that Spider-Man is part of their current NOW! promotion and then bring back the real Peter Parker in triumph somewhere down the road. Which will give them another bump in sales and another news story that will break through to the general public. That’s not pessimism on my part; that’s a modern comic book truism. And if the story is good, some fans will look back, maybe even several years from now, and say, “But y’know, it was a pretty good story.” Unlike, say, the Clone Saga.

Any backlash will be minor in the grand scheme of things. An unknowing person will be able to look in while this is going on and see the Spidey costume they’re familiar with, the powers and the face and name of Peter Parker. Marvel might be considered relatively smart and safe this time around.

Tags: Batman, Comic books, Dan Slott, Jeff McGinnis, Jim Beard, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 at 10:33 am and is filed under Comics, Pop Goes the Culture, Star.
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Once the only female writer at DC Comics, fan-favorite and often outspoken scribe Gail Simone has reportedly been summarily fired from her gig on Batgirl — by email. While it’s not unusual for creators to be removed from titles, the nature of this pink slip and the decided lack of female writers in mainstream comics make this a real head-scratcher. Add to it the fact that Batgirl had received critical acclaim and was actually a good seller and you have a mystery worthy of the Dominoed Daredoll herself.

DC rebooted its entire line of titles more than a year ago as “The New 52” and with it came a resurrection of sorts of the original Barbara Gordon incarnation of Batgirl. Shot in the spine by the Joker and subsequently confined to a wheelchair in 1988’s Batman: The Killing Joke, Barbara became a different sort of hero as Oracle, and won the hearts of readers as a true example of a handicapped warrior.

Simone was given the job of pulling Babs out of the wheelchair in 2011, fearlessly and in the face of potential outcry from Oracle fans. But, that said, she pulled off a miracle; Batgirl was up on her feet again and embraced anew as a costumed heroine with vim and vigor. And the sales backed that up.

So, why the firing? No one involved is talking, or at least not much. Simone has expressed sadness over the sacking, but also feelings of fortune over the collaborations she’s shared at DC — a company she no longer works for in any capacity. DC also hasn’t been forthcoming, but that’s not much of a surprise as companies rarely discuss internal workings in public. Fellow writers have come out since the firing to commiserate with Simone and express their own disdain for DC’s tactics, but, in the end, it’s a done deal. Whatever the reasons, Batgirl will receive a new writer and, most likely, a new direction … again.

For Simone, this might be a launch pad to even bigger things. With creator-owned projects in the works, she can perhaps put the work-for-hire world behind her for good. One thing’s for sure: She takes a healthy group of fans with her as she departs DC, a good thing to have when striking out into the wilderness of independent comics.

Tags: Batgirl, Batman, DC Comics, Gail Simone, The Joker

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 11:46 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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It’s a funny world. Audiences happily buy tickets to see “Marvel’s The Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” and later shell out even more dough for the DVDs and Blu-rays and related video games. They thrill to the news of a “S.H.I.E.L.D.” TV series, a Wonder Woman film, and sequels to “Thor,” “Captain America” and even “Ant-Man.” License holders rake in profits in the billions of dollars worldwide — while at the same time the source material, the lowly comic book, continues on its downward spiral into obscurity and obsolescence.

Think about that. The three Christopher Nolan-Christian Bale Batman films have garnered billions of dollars in worldwide ticket sales, yet an issue of the Dark Knight’s signature title, Batman, sells a tiny fraction of those numbers. According to www.comichron.com, a website that tracks comic book sales, 2011’s Batman No. 1, a relaunch of the classic series, sold 218,000 copies, then dropped to 133,800 by issue No. 4. The dichotomy between the films and their “parent” is staggering, especially when one considers that without the latter, the former couldn’t exist. The reasons behind this are many and varied and much of it has to do with society’s ever-evolving use of technology.

Jim Collins is owner of JC’s Comic Stop in Toledo.

Industry veteran and longtime writer/editor Mark Waid, who has written for Superman, Justice League, Spider-Man, Archie and many more, said that very same emerging technology may be the comic book’s savior.

“In the past, I’ve not found [the gap between the films and the books] unusual in the least because so few of the people who actually see these films have had easy access to one of the 1,800 or so places in the U.S. that comics are sold,” he said. “But with the digital revolution so firmly under way and digital comics sales doubling every few months, I have higher hopes for the future for audiences to visit the world of comics when all they have to do is open their Web browser or their mobile device.”

Ethan Van Sciver, one of the most popular modern comic book artists (Green Lantern, Superman/Batman, New X-Men and The Flash: Rebirth), said the superhero concept itself is a potential problem for comic books. He noted the “chastisement” the industry gave itself in the 1990s for producing almost nothing but books featuring costumed crimebusters. After that, a movement to make comics more diverse seemed to say that “your Average Joe just didn’t like super-heroes,” though that may have been proven false by the success in recent years of superhero films.

“As it turns out, the evidence shows that almost everyone loves superheroes,” Van Sciver said. “They just lack the gene that lets them connect with them through panel-by-panel visual storytelling. It takes a special kind of person to understand the language of comic books, and to immerse themselves into that world.

“I don’t think the time will come when the success of the movies will lead to a real boost in comic sales long-term, but what I do believe is that the movies will be the new catalyst for the next generation of comic book readers. I found comic books because the Christopher Reeve ‘Superman’ films had a big impression on me as a child, and I already loved to draw and to read. Comic book fans will always be a small minority, a fraction of the public at large. But they will always be there.”

The history of translating film success to comic book sales has been a roller coaster since Batman enjoyed a boost from his infamous 1966-68 TV series.

From 1965 to 1966, Batman sales nearly doubled, from 454,000 to 899,000. But by the end of the decade, his wings were once again clipped to a measly 355,000. Conversely, a decade later the Man of Steel saw little surge in his sales power after “Superman: The Movie” hit theaters. He was selling just 235,000 copies on average in 1977 – by 1979 Superman had creeped up to 246,000. Today, the Avengers comic sells around 67,000 units, despite its spinoff film becoming the third-highest grossing movie in history.

Again, why the disparity? Though comics still carry the stigma of being “kiddie” fare, in truth they haven’t really been for kids since the late 1960s and early 1970s. The average person on the street might be surprised by the barriers that have been struck down in the past four decades, allowing for themes, situations and language that would have been swiftly censored in the golden age of the 1940s and ’50s. Back then, a comic book was aimed at children and sold on the average of a million copies each issue — and had little competition for its entertainment value. Today, why bother with unmoving, static images on paper when you can see a film, watch a TV show or play the latest video game?

Toledo’s comic shop owners and managers tend to agree with the industry creators. Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics calls the medium a “niche market designed to appeal to a smaller demographic group,” not to a mass audience.

“Their true value lies in the strength of their core concepts,” he said. “Once these concepts have been shown to be appealing to their niche market, it is easy for creators in other mediums to see how they can be expanded to a larger audience. And while all of these different mediums often have elements in common, they are also different enough that their presentation brings out different strengths in assorted concepts. A comic book is not a movie which is not a TV show, but a strong idea like Superman can be adapted to work well in any of these mediums.

“Serialized fiction can be a hard sell for regular book vendors and it is even more difficult in regards to the monthly publishing schedule of most comics,” Katschke said. “Comics will always remain a niche market, albeit one that will always exist if for no other reason than to continue feeding other mediums with entertaining characters and concepts.”

“I find it sad that those films make that kind of money and the comics industry sees so little reward,” said Jim Collins, owner of JC’s Comic Stop. “There’s nothing to drive them to want to read the comics. Warner/DC tried with “Green Lantern” by inserting a plug for its books, but it was at the very end of the film. It was throwing us [comic retailers] a bone, so they could say ‘we tried.’ I have seen crossover sales from “The Walking Dead,” but I believe it’s because they push its graphic novel source. I’m glad for the sales, but it really ticks me off saying ‘graphic novel,’ because it came from a comic book. It’s like they’re afraid to use that name.”

The current comic industry’s output has perhaps never been more diverse but the strange lack of true advertising to a potentially wider audience only lends even more shame to the story of its growing impotence. It’s a well that filmmakers continue to plumb for ideas, though little of their success bounces back to the source.

Tags: Batman, Comic books, Ed Katschke, Green Lantern, JC's Comic Stop, Jim Beard, Jim Collins, Mark Waid, Monarch Cards & Comics, Superman, Walking Dead

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Comics, Featured, Star.
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Jim Beard has given voice to some of pop culture’s most heroic creations.

He’s put words into the mouth of the Man of Steel. He’s given dialogue to the galaxy’s most skilled Jedi Master. And he’s even given the Ghostbusters the words to stand up for their country in a patriotic battle against the supernatural.

But the talented local writer has changed his focus from The Justice League of America to The White House in a new story pitting one of America’s most controversial leaders against a force more evil than any re-election scandal.

Jim Beard. Toledo Free Press Photo By Joseph Herr.

“The Thing Under the House: A Tale of Dick Nixon and the Swingers of the Unknown” is one of five stories in “Presidential Pulp,” a pulp novel released June 21.

The book reinvents the lives of presidents James K. Polk, Ulysses S. Grant, Richard Nixon and Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, thrusting them into various action-adventure tales set in their respective time periods.

In Beard’s story, President Nixon teams with a group of four trained operatives to stop what he calls “supernatural menaces.” Taking place at the height of Nixon’s presidency, Beard said it was important to include elements of truth with the fiction and satire of the story.

“It was the idea of taking real-life presidents and turning them into action heroes,” Beard said. “Nixon is an iconic figure of the 1970s. My childhood, in one way or another, was dominated by Richard Nixon. I remember watching him on TV and my dad would call him ‘Tricky Dick.’ He was just an iconic figure, so I didn’t have any second thoughts about who I would choose.”

All four of the story’s supporting characters are, like President Nixon, iconic pop-culture figures of that time period, each with a code name reflective of their real identity: Lizard, Voodoo, Pearl and King.

The 2012 volume of “Presidential Pulp” is the first in what is planned to be a yearly tradition from Pulp Empire, with each subsequent installment to be released around Presidents Day. For future volumes of “Presidential Pulp,” Beard plans to extend his Nixon story into a true pulp trilogy.

From panels to paperbacks

Before the gritty, fast-paced world of pulp fiction seeped its way into his brain, Beard discovered his love for the colored panels and action bubbles of comic books at a young age, thanks mostly to his father, an avid comic collector.

Local author Jim Beard wrote “The Thing Under the House: A Tale of Dick Nixon and the Swingers of the Unknown," one of five stories in “Presidential Pulp,” a pulp novel released June 21.

“There were always comic books lying around the house,” he said. “My dad was really into comics and we still had some back from his day lying around. And he would also buy comics for my older siblings, so I always had some lying around that I could pick up and read.”

Celebrating his 40th year as a comic book collector, Beard remembers the first comic book he ever called his own, DC’s Super-Spectacular #14, a 100-page Batman reprint his father purchased for him in 1972.

This comic would lead to the Dark Knight becoming his favorite fictional character of all time.

“It was all reprints. DC used to have these 100-page Super Spectaculars and you usually got one new story and the rest of the book was reprints,” he said. “They give you reprints that stretch through the character’s entire history, so you might have gotten something from the late ’30s, early ’40s and the ’50s and the ’60s, and then a brand new story in the ’70s. And, because of that, I got an appreciation for the history of comics.”

Beard’s appreciation for comic books eventually led to him pursuing a career in the industry. In 2002, he sold his first story to DC Comics. Since then, he has written for DC, Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing for some of the most iconic heroes in the world, including Luke Skywalker and Superman. His projects include: “Ghostbusters: Con-Volution!,” “Star Wars Tales,” “JLA/JSA Secret Files” and “Hawkman Secret Files.”

The Marvel method

A few years ago, Beard took his love of comic book writing to a new level, becoming a writer for the Marvel Comics website, contributing weekly articles focusing on the company’s history, as well as what’s new with the brand. Aside from interviewing Marvel hotshots like creator Stan Lee on a weekly basis, he said he is currently providing regular content on a certain wall-crawler’s anniversary.

“I’ve been writing more and more historical articles. This year is the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, so we’ve been focusing on the character’s history,” he said. “Just next year, Iron Man will be celebrating its 50th anniversary, so I’ll be talking about the character’s history in order, year-by-year for each week, for 50 weeks.”

Beard is also a pop culture and comic book writer for Toledo Free Press Star, as well as his own comic-themed blog, “The Beard.”

“It’s kind of funny. What was originally a hobby has turned into sort of a career for me,” he said. “I feel like I’ve really kind of found my calling. I’ve really found that writing fulfills something in me. It’s something about taking the words in the English language and using them as building blocks, laying them out in different ways and then stepping back and seeing what you’ve created. There’s just something about the way you can line up words and create something more.”

It was through this revelation that Beard discovered his love for pulp fiction, a plot-driven form of fiction that rose to popularity in the early to mid-1900s with American crime and detective stories like “The Shadow,” “Doc Savage” and “Flash Gordon.”

“[Pulp fiction] is a style more than anything. It’s a style of writing that can be adapted to almost any subject matter,” Beard said. “Pulp style is a stripped down, sometimes no-nonsense approach to storytelling that really accentuates the story. It’s like a machine gun burst of storytelling. … Characters don’t generally stop and pause and contemplate the meaning of life. They’re too busy being shot at or shooting at somebody. I think I’ve found some affinity for that and I feel I’ve stumbled into something I can do well.”

To the Batcave, Becky!

From 1966-68, ABC brought one of DC Comics’ most popular characters to the small screen, creating an instant cult classic out of Gotham City’s sworn protector.

With legendary talent like Adam West, Cesar Romero, Julie Newmar and Burgess Meredith, the “Batman” television series followed The Caped Crusader and his boy wonder, Robin, on weekly, half-hour-long journeys as they fought against dastardly supervillains like Catwoman, The Penguin and “The Clown Prince of Crime” himself, The Joker.

Just shy of three seasons on the air, the show was canceled. Since its departure, the series has often been on the receiving end of poor reviews due to its “campy” representation of The Dark Knight.

Jim Beard. Toledo Free Press Photo By Joseph Herr

To Beard, though, the show was a misunderstood gem that represented Batman as the character he was originally intended to be.

In an effort to further explore the series and the culture surrounding his favorite comic book character, Beard teamed with various Batman experts around the country to put together a collection of essays dedicated to the classic series. In 2010, Beard released the book “Gotham City 14 Miles” through Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.

“To me, it’s a big misconception, My whole inspiration was to get people to start talking about it again and to stop thinking it’s a joke,” he said.

“People can’t say it’s not Batman and Robin because it’s all there. They have the mask, the ears, the cape, the utility belt — everything. Those are the things that make Batman Batman. As long as he’s still the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne who fights crime, it’s the same thing. That’s kind of what I wanted to show people.”

Beard’s wife, Becky, also wrote an essay for the book. Her chapter, titled “Aunt Harriet’s Film Decency League,” discussed the numerous guest cast members who appeared on the show throughout its three-year run.

“It was a great deal of fun for me to contribute to ‘Gotham City 14 Miles,’” Becky said. “I wanted to educate readers about the caliber of these old-time performers, early stars from every field of show business. One of the best things about Batman was that it introduced these greats to a whole new generation of fans.”

Peter Sanderson, comic book historian and superhero scholar, was another participant in the project. His essay, “The 1960s Batman TV Series from Comics to Screen,” compared the series to the Batman comics that were being produced at that time.

“A number of episodes from the show’s first season were adapted from stories in the comics,” Sanderson said. “As a baby boomer, I greatly appreciate Jim’s admiration for and understanding of the great superhero comics of the 1960s, the ‘Silver Age’ of comics. Also, the 1960s Batman show has long been controversial among comic fans since it was, to a large degree, a comedy that made fun of the superhero genre. I applaud Jim for spearheading a critical re-evaluation of the show through his book, his personal appearances discussing his book and his online writing. We now have so many serious treatments of Batman, including the new film ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ that there is room for a lighthearted treatment of Batman as an alternative.”

‘A little dream come true’

Continuing his dominance of all things comic books, Beard joins fellow Toledo Free Press staffers Jeff McGinnis, James A. Molnar and Editor In Chief Michael S. Miller on a weekly arts radio program called “Eye on your Weekend.” The show, which airs every Friday at 6 p.m. on 1370 WSPD, features a pop culture round-table discussing local and national entertainment news, from movies and music to comic books and upcoming concerts.

The show premiered Sept. 7 and Beard said the weekly gathering stemmed from a mutual desire to “continue the fun” from their occasional appearances on Miller’s own radio show.

“When Michael had us on his show, we had a great time and, at the end, we all said, ‘Man, we wish we could do this regularly,’” Beard said. “Then you could see the wheels start to turn in Michael’s mind and he said, ‘Let me see what I can do.’ Within a couple of weeks, he said, ‘We’re going to do this.’”

While the show offers various windows into the pop culture universe, Beard said he gets his own special segment to discuss his first love.

“I get to regularly talk about comic books. How great is that? How many radio shows do that?” he said. “We’ve done three so far and I love talking to those guys and I hope it shows. I hope we can do this for a long time.”

Breaking Spirits

“Presidential Pulp” was not Beard’s first brush with the paranormal. Published through Airship 27 Productions on May 16, “Sgt. Janus, Spirit Breaker” is an original pulp novel following Sgt. Roman Janus, a former military veteran-turned ghost hunter who spends his life helping those haunted by unwanted spirits.

“It’s like if Sherlock Holmes investigated ghosts,” Beard said. “I wanted to bring a little more modern feel to it. Eight stories, eight people, all clients of Sgt. Janus who are vexed by spirits, and he helps them break their connection to those spirits.”

While diving into many different points of view was an interesting experience that made Beard “feel like God,” he found a challenge in providing unique voices and personalities for eight characters.

“The points of view are a challenge,” he said. “I’m not a fan of first-person, but, as a writer, I’ve found the value in it. Three of the eight narrators are female and I had to put myself in a different mindset to write for those characters, not just in a different time period, but for a different gender.”

Since he is neither female nor an English citizen of the 1920s, dialogue for some of Sgt. Janus’ clients posed quite a challenge. To ensure his writing was as correct as it was entertaining, he turned to his wife, an avid lover of world history.

“She’s a history buff, so I can read her dialogue of a female narrator and ask, ‘Would a woman of 1920 say something like that?’ and she’ll know,” he said.

‘Black Bat’

In addition to his more experimental pulp projects, Beard is featured in another anthology released through Airship 27 in August. “Black Bat Mystery Volume 2” follows the adventures of classic pulp hero Black Bat on various new quests to stop the forces of evil. Beard’s tale, which he called the “most traditional pulp story” he’s written, follows the masked protagonist on an adventure in 1930s Upstate New York in a fictional town terrorized by mysterious foreign airplanes.

“He’s a classic pulp character,” he said. “He’s a public domain character who was in the magazines in the ’30s and ’40s and Airship 27 had a lot of success publishing new stories on him in Volume 1 (of ‘Black Bat Mystery’). He was so successful people wanted more.”

Beard said there was some controversy upon the Black Bat’s arrival into publication because the character made his debut around the same time as another masked mammal of the night who also wore a black mask and cape.

“He came out at the exact same time as Batman and, at one point, those two companies had to put their heads together because they didn’t quite like each other,” Beard said. “But they agreed they weren’t infringing on each other and that they could both stay in publication.”

Not only did Black Bat come close to colliding with the Dark Knight, but he also served as inspiration for a classic Marvel Comics character.

“Black Bat is blind and his alter ego is a blind lawyer,” he said. “So, he served as inspiration for the Daredevil character because he is also a blind lawyer.”

Man of ‘Action’

Beard’s love for the adaptive style of pulp fiction has not stopped at the White House. He recently released his reimagining of another classic pop culture character, Captain Action, a short-lived 1960s toy.

In the character’s first full-length novel, “super-spy and master of disguise” Miles Drake, aka Captain Action, faces off against evil in the “Riddle of the Glowing Men.” In the story, a group of foreign assassins are sent to murder Captain Action. After they are defeated, their evil lives as a glowing green radiation given off by their lifeless bodies.

“It’s a full pulp novel set in 1960s, the same time as the toy,” Beard said. “It won’t just be something within the pulp community; we believe it is actually going to be bigger than that. It will appeal to Captain Action fans, classic toy fans, comic book fans and pulp fans, anybody who loves a really good action-adventure thriller. It’s half Doc Savage, half James Bond thriller. It was really fun to write.”

Created by Ideal Toy Company in the 1960s, Captain Action was a direct response to Hasbro’s G.I. Joe action figure, but with the unique option to transform him into many different heroes.

“Their idea was that you had Captain Action, but you bought costume sets to change him into other comic book characters. It was incredible because [Ideal] got the license from several different entities to use several different characters. Not only did they have Superman, Batman and Aquaman of DC, but also Spider-Man and Captain America of Marvel. They also had popular newspaper comic strip characters like The Phantom, Steve Canyon, Buck Rogers and Green Hornet. It was a really incredible toy but it only lasted a couple of years.”

The complete license for the Captain Action character was purchased a couple of years ago by Joe Ahearn and Ed Catto, the men who approached Beard about the novel. Since the purchase, the two have worked to produce new Captain Action products, including comic books and a reimagining of the classic action figure, complete with a well-timed assembly of other outfits.

“Just this year, they finally were able to reissue the actual action figure,” Beard said. “It’s a redesigned character, with the same basic costume. They even went out and got a Marvel license again. So, not only will they have Spider-Man and Captain America, but now they’ll have Thor, Loki, Iron Man and the Red Skull.”

The new book, published through Airship 27, made its official debut at Pulpfest 2012 in Columbus in August.

Beard signed copies of the book at the event and will also be appearing at the New York City Comic Convention on Oct. 13. As of Sept. 24, the book sits at No. 1 on the New Pulp Best Seller List, the first Airship 27 book to do so.

Coming off yet another big project, Beard looks to the future in hopes that Captain Action, Black Bat and his other works may bring the pulp style to a wider audience.

“Maybe my Captain Action novel is a way to help pulp grow. It’s an experiment,” he said. “Could it possibly bring in people not already aware of new pulp community? Maybe. I don’t know. Hopefully it’ll expand the readership. I’m very excited to be in the middle of it.”

Tags: Airship 27, Batman, Black Bat, Captain Action, Comics, DC Comics, Eye on Your Weekend, Iron Man, Jim Beard, Marvel, Presidential Pulp, pulp fiction, Sgt. Janus, Spider-Man

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Comics, Featured, Pop Culture.
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In these times of strife and uncertainty, we are often told it is becoming more and more important for people to hold onto and defend their core personal values. Because, after all, nothing signals a mature mind more than fear of change.

One of the most common boogeymen for those who stand in defense of “tradition” is the media. They find threats to their way of life in most every corner of pop culture. And not just the ones with overt messages, like how some movies instill a desire to be kind toward people who are different from you.

No, many corners of pop culture have messages that are far more insidious than that — messages buried so deep that not only is it possible the creators never intended them, but they are so obtuse that only the truly dedicated (and possibly insane) could ever find them.

Rush Limbaugh, for example, recently made headlines (well, okay, made a few snarky posts on Twitter) by claiming there was clearly a connection between the name of Batman villain Bane and the now-infamous Bain corporation formerly headed by Mitt Romney. Now, superficially, this might seem like a ridiculous claim for a commentator to make, even on some conspiracy-obsessed blog — let alone saying it to a national audience.

But that’s just what the Vast Political Conspiracy™ wants you to think. In fact, upon closer inspection, I have discovered that this summer’s slate of movies is just full — full, I tells ya — of such hidden messages. And the truth must be told!

Take the wildly popular superhero epic “The Avengers.” It has a villain named Loki — a god. Now, are we really supposed to believe that in an era where atheism is rising to near epidemic levels in our youth, it was sheer coincidence that a major blockbuster cast a GOD as its lead bad guy? This is clearly designed to push young people further away from religion!

Not only that, but one of the most popular heroes of the “Avengers” group is the Hulk. A big, green out-of-control mammoth who runs wild throughout the city. It doesn’t take any imagination to see the metaphor here — he clearly represents the Green Party, running roughshod throughout the election and distracting from the real issues faced by heroes like Captain America and that proud capitalist icon, Iron Man!

Then there’s this “Magic Mike,” a movie about male strippers. Trying to corrupt audiences with a view of Channing Tatum’s taut, perfect abs is disgusting enough, but then you find there’s a character named “Big D*** Richie.” I mean, come on, people, do I have to draw you a diagram? This name is obviously biased against our nation’s wealthy! I mean, “Richie” — clearly meant to signify the rich — and he’s a “Big D***?” It’s RIGHT THERE, people! And you can’t tell me that the name is just a coincidence, they knew when they started production that the Occupy Wall Street movement would be engendering discontent toward America’s job creators. How did they know? They JUST KNEW.

It’s not just the movies aimed at adults that are afflicted by such travesties. Political agendas are inexorably woven throughout films aimed at our youth, as well. And I’m not just talking about the obvious, like how something like “Ice Age” is so clearly a slap in the face of creationism.

No, there are far more insidious messages. Like in “Brave.” The lead heroine/troublemaker is named “Merida.” If you squint and tilt your head a little bit, it reads eerily similar to “Miranda,” the rights read by police officers to suspects. Are we really supposed to take it as sheer coincidence that such a plainly rebellious figure was named in this way? She’s designed to encourage young viewers to disrespect police authority! It’s so clear!

And this “Madagascar” series. Oh, sure, it seems harmless enough. Buncha cute zoo animals. Aww. How sweet. But look at that title. Just LOOK at it. “Madagascar.” If you add just one letter and separate that into words, it becomes “Mad At Gas Car.” This is plainly — PLAINLY — propaganda against the internal combustion engine, designed to push the next generation away from oil and toward hybrids!

Oh sure, “paranoid,” you say. “Grasping at straws,” you say. “Making connections that were never, ever intended so I can rile up my audience,” you say. I know it’s real. And I won’t stop yelling about it just because little factors like “reality” or “common sense” get in my way. Now, off to see “Total Recall,” which I’m sure — sure — has something to do with Ralph Nader.

Tags: Batman, brave, Channing Tatum, Ice Age, Iron Man, Jeff McGinnis, Madagascar, Magic Mike, Mitt Romney, Occupy Wall Street, Pop Goes the Culture, Rush Limbaugh, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hulk

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 at 11:40 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Pop Goes the Culture.
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Some days, you just can’t buy a Batman comic. “Out of respect for the victims and families in Aurora,” DC Comics made an official request to all comic retailers to postpone the sale of  Batman Incorporated No. 3 for one month, citing “content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events.” Comic books shops across the nation had already received the issue in question, making the industry giant’s concerns more a request than an edict; presumably, no sanctions will be imposed on any retailer that sells the book before the new on-sale date of Aug. 22.

“While I am as horrified as the next person by the event in Colorado last week, I have to confess that I see little connection between James Holmes’ killing spree and the Batman franchise, movie or comics,” said Ed Katschke of Monarch Cards & Comics. “This issue of Batman Incorporated has absolutely nothing within its pages that refers directly or indirectly to any sort of civilian massacre. This leads me to suspect that DC is either oversensitive to the point of being ridiculous or cynically trying to raise public interest in its comics through an empty gesture. Rather than offer up a fictional character as a sacrificial goat to this tragedy, I suggest we lay the blame squarely at the feet of its perpetrator.”

Jim Collins of JC’s Comic Stop concurs.

“I saw no reason to delay the book,” he said. “In fact, we have ours out for sale. They said it was out of respect for the victims, but if Warner/DC wanted to do something out of respect for the victims, how about not having ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ shown for the rest of that weekend or delay it for a month? Oh, that’s right, they would have lost hundreds of millions at the box office, so make the comic shop the ones you punish with a comic that sells, what, 60,000 copies? Having us not put the comic out is meaningless. I’ve had no one inquire about the comic and, by the way, it’s far less violent than the recent issue of Batman: The Dark Knight that has children kidnapped and tortured.”

With the shooter’s alleged claim to be a certain famous Bat-villain, one wonders what that might mean for an upcoming high-profile Joker story in October’s Batman No. 13. Time will tell just how sensitive the venerable company truly is — or how lucrative its native homicidal maniac can be.

Tags: Aurora Colorado, Batman, Comic books, DC Comics, James Holmes, JC's Comic Stop, Jim Beard, Monarch Cards and Comics

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 at 10:50 am and is filed under Comics, Star.
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