We're Back, Apparently

So recently the newsletter took an extended and unannounced break, which is, uh.... not what the newsletter should do. The newsletter is for being in your inbox telling you what I'm up to and especially what comics are out today so you know to go to your comic shop and grab 'em. And this week, there's a fresh new #1 that I really want you all to pick up - so if I don't pick myself up and get back on the Ghost Train now, when will it ever happen? So... let's do it. Let's do a newsletter. If we can do one now, maybe the next one will be easier.

Deep breaths. We can do this!

WHAT'S OUT TODAY?

All-New Venom #1, that's what!

Just looking at that little scamp is lifting my spirits already. This series is definitely designed as a breath of fresh air of sorts, a way to move a lot of the chaotic cosmic craziness we got into over the past three years on Venom off to the side for a while, to a place where we can dip into it later as we need to. From a place of quite heady complexity, we're going somewhere simple, breezy and fun... but not that simple, because this is a Whodunnit. Or rather, a Whoisit, a type of mystery that cape comics are well-suited to tell, what with all the masks. And Venom - a living costume - is a natural for this kind of lark.

So we have the same Venom you've been reading for the past several years, but underneath the symbiote is a new host who's never been in the suit before... and that's a secret we're not going to give up without a fight. There are four suspects - four classic Marvel characters with a lot of history between them - and as the months go by, we're going to be eliminating them from the running one by one until only the true host is left. The question is, can you guess which way we're going before we go there?

Tonally, it's a little different from how Venom's been in the past - it's a very close cousin to a Spider-Man story, but with that darker edge bubbling underneath the thrills and spills. After all, Venom - for all that the symbiote might try to mimic his first published host - is no Spidey. With the effervescent Carlos Gómez on art, and the great Frank D'Armata supplying color, I'm confident readers will get a big kick out of this one.

MARVEL COMICS PANEL BY PANEL

(The story thus far: Through misadventure, I discovered that on the inside front cover of MARVEL COMICS #1 were five single-panel gags grouped together under the banner of NOWI'LLTELLONE. These panels are the earliest panels in Marvel Comics, and we can't analyze Marvel Comics one panel at a time without getting into them. Also, for the purposes of analysis, it's 1939 and you are a child who was until recently in posession of ten cents. NOW READ ON.)

As jokes go, this certainly has the basic shape of one. But we're not here for laughs - which is fortunate - we're here for cold analysis of the second panel ever to exist in Marvel Comics! And right away we can see that this is a universe of incredibly lax safety standards. The sand output is directly underneath the controls for the sand machine! You can't read the dial - presumably "SAND OUTPUT" - without being buried alive in the sand, or perhaps transformed by it into some manner of "sand man"! How many such accidents are happening every month in this terrifying world, and how many fantastic and incredible beings are birthed as a result? Already, you've ceased to question your decision to invest your shiny dime in this new periodical - the action will evidently come thick and fast, much like the sand.

But there's more, for the second panel of NOWI'LLTELLONE has much to teach us. This new universe of Marvels is also a universe of continuity. The story depends on being caught up on the deep history and lore of the characters - for example, Corncob Pipe Guy on the left at one point had hair, and he was working in the sand factory back then, too. The sand got in his hair! But wait - isn't this the first issue? How can there have been a ten years previous? It seems time in this universe is strangely compressed - a "Marvel Time" if you will. We're learning so much!

Finally, we know that this is a universe built on change. Ten years ago, this man was weak, burdened by hair. Now he is strong - almost superhuman - in his incredible lack of hair to get in the way of the sand. Presumably it now flies directly into his bulging eyes, a significant evolution. Is it possible that the heroes of this world will learn and grow as time passes? There's simply no way to tell, it's 1939 and we are a dimeless child, so all we can say is "good luck with that one".

First NOWI'LLTELLONE taught us the basic ethos of Marvel, now it teaches us the narrative physics of the universe. What can it possibly teach us next?

OH CRAP, DEADLINES

And with that, it's past time to get back to work. Love and strength to all those who need it - now especially - and I'll play us out with "Where Are Your Kids Tonight?" by CMAT feat. John Grant.