expatNERD

Author: Marv

  • 05 – Tariffs

    05 – Tariffs

    The big news last week originated from the political side of things when the Trump Administration announced tariffs of 25% against Canada and Mexico. This affects the comic book industry because a lot of the printers that print comic books are based in Canada. Many have speculated, and rightly, that this would lead to an increase in the price of comic books and probably harm the industry.

    So needless to see, Curt took this as a sign to make some moves and wheel and deal and Franka captured it beautifully.

    Sadly (only for Curt), the Trump Administration postponed the decision for thirty days, allowing room for cooler heads to prevail and I do hope that the tariffs will not happen at all.

    I suppose if you are a student of economics and have interest in relations that are international, you would know that tariffs are never a good idea. I think I saw that in a movie once.

    This is not the first time that a huge conflict between Canada and the United States transpired. It also happened in 2015, albeit in comic book form. Brian K. Vaughn and Steve Skroce released a mini-series via Image Comics titled We Stand on Guard, depicting the United States invading Canada. And due to the current political atmosphere, sales of the book have been skyrocketing.

    Let’s just hope this stays in comic book form.

  • The Power of the Atom

    I must admit, I am still trying to figure out what these Thursday posts will be. But I think it might be wise to mention some current comics that have struck both my and those of my customers’ interest.

    This week, my sights are set on DC Comics and I would like to highlight two series that do have something in common.

    The first is Justice League: The Atom Project. I was a huge fan of Captain Atom in the 80’s by Cary Bates with a big chunk of that drawn by Pat Broderick and truth be told we have not seen much of the big guy as of late. So coming out of the events of Absolute Power, with a bunch of powers being transferred to different characters and others being quite different, I had my eye on this one. It basically brings all three atoms together: Ray Palmer, Ryan Choi and of course Nathaniel Adam. It has beautiful art by Mike Perkins with writing conceived by John Ridley and Ryan Parrott. My DC gang really likes it so far and the only fault I can attribute to it is that it has been announced as a limited series. I do hope it continues to have some legs.

    The second is Action Comics. If you are not in the know, Mark Waid and Clayton Henry did a wonderful twelve parter when the series went weekly for twelve weeks. It was riveting and if you are a fan of Superman do not sleep on those back issues. Plus, it had a Supergirl backup, continuing what Tom King and Bilquis Evely laid down but this time from Mariko Tamaki and Skylar Patridge. That thing moved.

    So needless to say, with Action going back to monthly status, John Ridley and Inaki Miranda have some shoes to fill. And there you have the commonality between my two picks: John Ridley. I am very happy to see him again. He had a great run at DC, writing a lot of the Batman books and also the Other History of the DC Universe, a very thought provoking book that I can heartily recommend to pick up. He was absent for a bit, and dipped his toe here and there on some short stories, but now it seems he’s revving up his presence on the DC line once again. Thus, if you are hesitant on any of the two above titles, don’t be, because you and your money are in good hands with John Ridley.