Heroes and Villains

Hero of the Week: Lou Ferrigno for becoming an LA County reserve sheriff’s deputy. According to Ferrigno, “My father was a police officer with the New York Police Department; I've always had a high respect for officers.” I think that makes him the first “hero” in the short history of this column to truly deserve the title.

Villain: DC for a second lame Free Comic Book Day offering. DC's initial offering was yet another reprint of Justice League Unlimited #1. It wasn't very exciting considering that it's already been widely distributed to non-Direct Market customers in toys packages. It was an especially bland offering considering that Marvel's putting out a brand-spankin'-new X-Men/Runaways crossover for the event. In what seems like last-minute scrambling, DC's rush-solicited a FCBD edition of Superman/Batman #1. It does have the benefit of possibly being new to super-hero fans who don't usually go into comics shops, but it's still a reprint of an old, widely distributed comic – certainly in the Direct Market, but I've also seen Superman/Batman on the spinner-racks at Barnes & Noble.

Hero: The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for making its archives available to researchers. A copy of every book or comic that’s been nominated for or won an Eisner award since 1992 has been donated to the James Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University. Who wouldn’t love to spend a couple of weeks there?

Villain: Marvel for “killing off” Alpha Flight. The Canadian super-team bit the big one in the latest issue of New Avengers. Apparently the story has a happy ending and the team is only “dead” in the sense that any super-hero ever dies (i.e. temporarily), because Marvel has big plans for them soon, but I could’ve done without the scare.

Hero: Grant Morrison for a fun Batman. Morrison describes his take on the Dark Knight in his upcoming Batman run as the “Neal Adams, hairy-chested, love-god.” Add in some “ninja/man-bats” and a plot that sounds like a sequel to Mike Barr’s Son of the Demon and you’ve got a recipe for Must Read Batman.

Villain: Ben Raab for leaving The Phantom. I’m stretching for a villain here because I love what Raab’s done with The Phantom during his short run on the Moonstone title. He’s going to be missed.