It seems that Guardians of the Galaxy is the new flagship
title of Marvel Comics…and the plan to do it paid off perfectly! Over the past
year, this rag-tag bunch of heroes has been popping up on your favorite Saturday
morning cartoons on Disney XD (although they air on Sunday) and now the
Guardians are the kings of the box office! Rocket Racoon, lovable Groot, and
the rest of the gang guest-starred throughout 2013-14 in episodes of Marvel
Universe Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Marvel Universe: Ultimate
Spider-man, and Marvel Universe: Hulk and the Agents of SMASH. All four of
these episodes were later reprinted as photo-comics and then combined in digest
form to co-incide with the release of the film.
A photo-comic is when
photographs are used in place of drawn or painted art to show the visual action
of a comic. The images might be computer enhanced to add color or photoshopped
effects. Then the standard word bubble is layered over the image if commucation
is expressed for the represented scene. I normally like photo-comics (or
picto-comics) but I’ve not been a fan of the Marvel Universe books because they
are essentially the entire episode that I’ve already seen on TV. I perfer DC’s
method which is when they publish a comic book for one of their cartoons, the
book’s premise and art is all-new! But I made an exception this time.
For some reason my DVR doesn’t like the Guardians and I
missed both the Avengers episode and the Agents of SMASH one too! So, I eagerly
checked this book out from my local library because I missed them on TV the
first go round. Plus, I’ve never read the first appearance of Rocket Raccoon,
which appeared in Incredible Hulk #271 and is reprinted at the end of this
book.
When I first went to the Orange County (NC) public library in
2001, I had just moved to the town a couple of days prior and I did like I also
do, go to section 271.94 in the non-fiction section. There I found 2 5-foot
long shelves of ‘comics.’ By that, I mean there was a Superman graphic novel, 3
Ultimate Spider-man volumes (none in order), something called Naurato, and a
bunch of Bloom County and Garfield books. I wasn’t as gaga in comics as I am
now, but I knew to be able to read more graphic novels for free I was going to
have to work with my librarians.
I checked out everything that had in that section over a
period of months. By that point, a librian noticed that I always checked out
the graphic novels and wanted to know what I liked and didn’t like in their
selection. I was able to work with her, suggested new titles, and doing some
field research of my own and find new stuff for other patrons. Sometimes, I’d
ever get first dibs on a special title that had newly arrived.
Now, 11-years later, the graphic novels have their own
section of 2 full 6-teired shelves, as well as a special shelf in the new
arrivals area. Not only that but there is now a graphic novel section for kids.
(Their used to be a teen section but it was merged with the adult graphic
novels.)
Libraries have really been getting into the action in the
past 5 years- thanks mostly to the popularity of the slew of TV shows and
movies about super heroes. I’ve been to several comic conventions across North
Carolina in which public libraries are hosting booths to let guests know that
they too have graphic novel sections. Manga is also becoming a blossoming
member of library shelves as well as DVDs starring Iron Man, Thor, and
Superman.
My library has a comic book club that meets weekly and I saw
a flyer that the Durham County main branch has 2 different graphic novel clubs
meeting on 2 separate days weekly as well! Also, there have been screenings of
Marvel movies at my library and branches in Durham and Chapel Hill.
I mention all of this because readers might not be aware of
much importance has been place on graphic novels and comics recently at the
local library. The library is a vital tool for me because I couldn’t afford to
read all of the comics I do on this blog without their help and assistance. So,
be sure to check your library to see if they have a graphic novel section. And
if they don’t or it’s paltry like mines was that first time I inspected it,
they see a librian. They’ll be glad to assist you. You might even get lucky
like I did and find and awesome one who likes graphic novels too and asks you
for wish lists! Hey, they might even get filled.
The books reprinted in this collection are: MARVEL
UNIVERSE AVENGERS EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES 18, MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE
SPIDER-MAN 22, MARVEL UNIVERSE HULK: AGENTS OF S.M.A.S.H. 4, INCREDIBLE HULK
(1968) 271
In the Avengers,
we’re introduced to a Michael Korvac, a man who may have been abducted by an
alien force and turned into a living bomb. The Guardians of the Galaxy are
summoned to the Avengers mansion where Korvac is recovering and all heck breaks
loose. Then in Ultimate Spider-man, Spidey learns that his teammate Nova is
more than just a goof-ball with cosmic powers when Rocket Raccoon summons him
to outer space to defeat the Korvac menace which has returned. Lastly, Hulk and
the Agents of SMASH team-up with Rocket to free the Guardians from the clutches
of the Collector before the entire solar system are destroyed by Kree and
Skrull forces. That awesome story was a Christmas story to boot! That means
thanks to my stupid DVR last year; I missed a super hero Christmas special!
GRRR!
Anyway, speaking
of holidays, next week I’ll dive in to the world of Halloween Comics. They’re
not just for kids and are down-right spooky. So, I’ll let you in one what is
family friendly and what should wait until you’re older.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 8 out of
10 stars.
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