Never Thought I Would Intentionally Buy a Gimmick Cover Again

Back during the 90's speculator boom I remember being in awe of the gimmick covers that would grace various comic books on the stands. Either the gimmick cover would sell out or I lacked the money to buy it. Since comic books were then seen as a hot-ticket investment, the general consensus was that surely the gimmick covers would be valuable collector's items like vintage comics!


Flash forward today in a post-speculator market, I could probably collect most gimmick covers for little more than what a modern comic books sells for. Heck, some are probably less!


So I am not particularly fond of gimmick covers as a result. I don't order them or cruise comic book shops looking for them.


Not saying I don't buy them of course. When DC released gimmick variants for its Villains Month during the midway point of the New 52, I bought the gimmick variant when it was pulled for me as well as any purchased copies of any I saw off the rack. Difference between 90's me and the New 52 me was that I bought the cover because I thought it looked pretty. Okay, 90's me thought gimmick covers were pretty too. Just financial instrument pretty. Selling the New 52 Villain gimmick variants never entered my mind. Which is why I didn't mind buying the normal covers too.


With that in mind, I am surprised that I am intentionally ordering, or at the very least buy, the lenticular covers for upcoming "The Button" story arc playing out in both Batman and Flash's 21st and 22nd Rebirth issue.


Okay, to be fair, I love the cover art shown. Seeing both Batman and Flash holding the Comedian's (yes, the character from The Watchmen) bloody smiley face button is simply awesome. My inner geek is excited. Gotta have it. Suppose it also helps that I have no clue what the normal cover looks like nor any of the variants. The one variant I did see struck me as ho-hum. Plus, if I am going to get the pamphlet in lieu of the trade I might as well as purchase the one with the shiny cover.


If there's any consolation to my gimmick cover-hatred, it's that I am not considering the lenticular covers as collectibles. Just something to satisfy my geekdom. Besides, if any cover will be a hot collectible, the international cover will probably be it as I don't imagine too many U.S. shops ordering it. Then again 90's me was awfully certain too...


Anyway,
Happy Reading

Riverdale Won Me Over and Powerless is Okay

Caught the first couple episodes of Riverdale (Chapter One: The Rivers Edge and Chapter Two: A Touch of Evil) as well as the premiere of Powerless (Wayne or Loss). Not going to provide any spoilers just some quick thoughts.


Riverdale - Recall dreading hearing about some of the changes as well as the format (classic CW drama-isms). Then I mellowed out when I heard it would be more like Twin Peaks. Having seen the first couple episodes, I'd say it's a cross between shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210 (had to thrown that it in since Luke Perry is in the show. Kind of weird seeing him as the "responsible, sage adult") and Twin Peaks with a dash of Mark Waid's revamp thrown in. The show is faithful to the Archie characters while presenting them as realistic and modern as possible. Now, the show is much darker than the Waid revamp; but it's not quite Twin Peaks dark. While Riverdale is quirky, the locale and characters are small town quirky and not full-on David Lynch, Twin Peaks quirky. The murder mystery should be interesting. So far I've got four suspects although one is probably a red herring (pardon the pun). Overall, after two episodes, I've been made a fan.


Powerless - Love the opening credit sequence. Probably the closest we'll ever get to four-color, full of optimism, DC Universe on any screen. Think I heard Adam West's voice... While the superhero and super-villain scenes came across as incredibly corny, in part by the CGI, four-color super-heroics is rather corny on screen. Kind of why the Marvel heroes look the way they do. Speaking Marvel, or Marvel's Agents of SHIELD to be precise, remember the anticipation of the appearance of the big guns? Recall your disappointment when they didn't show? Other than the credit sequence, they're probably not going to appear. What is going to appear is nods, one-liners, quick references,  and D-or lower characters. So that DC hero or villain that you can't imagine ever appearing in the movies or Arrowverse? This might be the place. As for characters/actors, I liked Tudyk's and Hudgens acting. If anything, both carried the show (as by design probably). I'm probably going to continue to watch Powerless for Tudyk, the occasional nod to DC lore, and it's a nice lead in to Riverdale.


Till next time.