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A
funny thing happened on the way to the comic store.
I ran into an old friend who used to read comics. We talked for several
minutes about "the Good Old Days" and, naturally, the
conversation lead to comic books.
I freely admit to being a "super-hero" guy.
My earliest comics from childhood featured Spider-Man
and Superman. And
the ones I'll read as my kids are putting me in a nursing home
will probably also be super-heroes.
That's just me.
My friend, however, was different. He grew up with tastes in other genres. He regularly visited with Jonah Hex and the Rawhide Kid when
he wanted a Western fix. He
ventured into foxholes with Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury.
He thought Conan was the ultimate skull crusher and
(after the first Star Wars movie was released) got heavily into
science fiction.
The thing is, there was something for both of us (plus all those
"lame" girl romance comics and funny animal "junk".)
Then one day, the comics changed.
The audiences for genres besides super-heroes left. Or grew up.
Or died. Whatever.
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And
so, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we're left
with a whole lot of super-hero comics and not a lot
to offer someone like him. That is, until CrossGen
Comics started publishing almost two years ago.
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The origin of
this Tampa, Florida-based company
is very interesting.
It involves two cousins who were fans of comics
deciding to re-invent the wheel.
Using high production values, a bullpen-style work
environment and a strict shipping schedule, CrossGen has made
quite a splash.
As of this writing, CrossGen has NEVER missed a single shipping
date for a single comic book.
And, none of their titles include super-heroes.
CrossGen does Heroic Fiction. Sure, some of their characters have "powers and abilities
far beyond those..." But capes and masks are nowhere to be
found.
Getting back to my friend, I began telling him about their sword
and sorcery (my term) comics like Scion and Sojourn.
CrossGen does tales of magic and gods in Mystic and The
First. Sigil and
Negation are their sci-fi books.
Recent titles include Ruse, which is detective fiction
in Victorian England, and The Path, which is set in a land like
Feudal Japan. On the horizon are plans for a martial arts adventure (The
Way of the Rat) and a straight horror book (Route 666).
My friend truly seemed interested. I repeated the part about the reliable shipping and
explained CrossGen's unique publishing formats.
Their comics come out monthly ($2.95 each). They publish trade paperbacks (6 to 7 issues from one series
for under $20). And,
their new idea (which is borrowed from European and Japanese
anthology collections) called "Compendia."
These books contain more than 200 pages of comics from
various titles for the amazing price of $9.95.
Seven or eight comics worth of material for under ten
bucks.
I encourage anyone reading this to check out crossgen.com
for further information about the history of the "Little Comics
Company that Could"
along with further info about their comics, trades and
anthologies.
Finally, I saved Meridian for last.
Meridian is a comic about a teenage girl FOR teenage
girls (but guys like it, too) written by a woman.
It's unfortunate that I need to single something like
this out, but the truth is, most comics are created by guys FOR
guys. Meridian is
the comic you use to hook your girlfriend or wife.
Before long, she'll be reading some of your other
comics as well.
John Steib
Collector's Edge WEST Store Manager
All comments (c)2002 John Steib and may not be reproduced in
whole or in part, without written permission of the author.
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