Here is the latest installment of a weekly reader interactive segment on the blog, where I answer reader-submitted e-mails to bcronin@comicbookresources.com (and also post other e-mails that I receive).
Enjoy!
Reader Travis asked a question I get fairly often - am I the same Brian Cronin who occasionally has drawings in the New York Times?
Sadly, the answer is no.
Well, not sadly. Only sadly in the sense that I feel as though I am disappointing people when I tell them that no, that's not me!
That Brian does seem to be a very nice artist, though!
I may need to go by my middle initial someday (it's J, which stands for Danger)!
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Reader Perry asks:
Is there any hope for the trade-waiters like me out there in the case of the mega cross-overs Secret Invasion and Final Crisis? I intentionally waited and avoided reading anything about both series so I could treat myself to a mega Amazon trade purchase and sit down on vacation to read - trouble is, I can't figure out what to buy (at any price) to get a complete story and the bulk of the important tie-ins. I looked through lists of collected editions at my favorite online sites, boards (even a fan site that specializes in collected editions) and I just can't cure my ignorance - anyone willing to volunteer a collection list (including forthcoming editions - I know some things are just not out yet)?
Luckily, Perry, both crossovers were written so you can follow them FAIRLY easily just by their collected edition. Well, except for Final Crisis, but that's an interesting case because we still don't know what the collected edition will include. If it includes everything Morrison wrote, then you're fine. If it DOESN'T, well, you'll need everything Morrison wrote (not necessarily Final Crisis: Submit, but Final Crisis: Submit will definitely help).
Secret Invasion is easier - the trade (which already is out! Nicely done, Marvel! Then again, if you could rush it out this fast, you'd think they'd have it out BEFORE Christmas, no?) basically collects the meat of the story. Not exactly a ton of plot takes place in the comic. It's only about a couple of days of time, right? So for strictly following the plot of the comic, Secret Invasion is fine, although you may want to get SI: Fantastic Four (as there is a plot point in the beginning of Secret Invasion that is ANSWERED at the end of Secret Invasion, but the SI: Fantastic Four mini-series explains it) and SI: Thunderbolts (which also gives fuller detail on a plot point). Now, if you're going beyond just the standard plot of Secret Invasion, then you do "need" to read all the trades written by Bendis, as he uses Mighty and New Avengers to fill in back story (where and when each Skrull replaced the character they replaced plus a look at some new characters introduced for Secret Invasion).
SI: Thor was a lot of fun, but it was not necessary.
The rest of the mini-series were not necessary.
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Reader Ariel S. has clearly gone insane, as he is actually REQUESTING that you good readers critique his comic strip.
Here it is (be forewarned, it's a long one!):
He chose that one he says:
because it's the latest I've done, but also because it's kind of universal. Most of the time my humour is too "argentine", even those which are speechless. If you'd like to check them out, however, I invite you to my deviantArt page: http://aksolut.deviantart.com
So get critiquing!
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Meryl from the 92nd Street Y wrote in about the Marc Tyler Nobleman talk I wrote about the other week!
Here's a link to the description of the event!
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Reader John asks a tough question that I was hoping you folks might know:
For some years now, I've been searching for a comic I remember from my childhood. It was in the early 70s, summer (likely ~ August) - probably 1972 or 1973.
It was comic of the type of Where Monsters Dwell, Weird Wonder Tales, Tales of Suspense, etc. It was almost certainly a reprint of a late 50s/early 60s story.
A remember a story about an advanced civilization, in which a character is talking about mass production of cyborgs. That's what I remember about this story - a panel showwing mass produced, faceless green cyborgs.
The cyborgs looked quite like the Mad Thinker's Android from Fantastic Four ~70-71. Therefore, I think it quite likely that the story I remember was drawn by Jack Kirby, since Kirby liked to recycle images and concepts from his earlier science fiction anthology type stories to his later superhero comic works.
If you ever come across something which sounds like it may be the issue I'm thinking of, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know. Like I said, I've been searching for this, and I ordered some comics that I though was it (based on publication date, etc.), but they were not the right ones.
I got nuthin' - how about you folks?
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I believe that's about it for this week!
Good e-mails, folks! Send more e-mails!
If you do, be sure to send me an e-mail to bcronin@comicbookresources.com with the subject heading "Mailbag" if you want to be included in next week's mailbag!