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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

25 Comments

  1. Froborr
    June 5, 2014 @ 2:18 am

    Huh, nothing but Marvel. I'm surprised by that for some reason–would have expected something indy, and maybe whichever the one statutorily permitted not entirely terrible New 52 comic is this month.

    Reply

  2. Alex Antonijevic
    June 5, 2014 @ 3:57 am

    Not this week's comics, but I did pick up that recent Humble Bundle of Doctor Who comics and I've been making my way through them. Agent Provocateur was, as RTD might say, "Mental". Bit all over the place, still not quite sure what was going on and which characters were on what side and who was betraying whom.

    Reading The Forgotten right now, and yeah it's literally a Doctor Who museum with popular companions for each Doctor, and all the catchphrases and iconic stuff from those eras.

    Reply

  3. Andre Salles
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:15 am

    Yeah, I guess that surprises me too. If you like Rucka, I hope you're reading Lazarus. It's a superb piece of work.

    Reply

  4. Doctor Memory
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:43 am

    Fun thought for the day: Sony Pictures currently owns the rights to the Peter Parker Spider-Man, and is obviously intent on keeping their ownership option alive in perpetuity even if it means asking Roger Corman to make one.

    …but who owns the movie rights to Miles Morales? Could Marvel/Disney make their own spider-man movies as long as the words "Peter Parker" are never breathed? The cinematic "Marvel Universe" is more or less based on the Ultimate continuity anyway…

    (Oh god, they'd probably cast Jayden Smith as Miles, wouldn't they?)

    Reply

  5. Neo Tuxedo
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:51 am

    "If you've never read it… it's probably reasonable to hold out until Marvel releases an actually affordable collection."

    Amazon says that the relevant collection ("The Red King Syndrome") will drop October 28. ("A Dream of Flying" is already in stores, but I have a copy of the Eclipse edition, so I'm not in such a hurry to get the Marvel.)

    Also, I think Alan Moore should be credited as "The Original Writer" on other projects from which he's asked to have his name removed, but that's just my opinion.

    Reply

  6. elvwood
    June 5, 2014 @ 5:21 am

    Yeah, that was a fabulous bargain – less than 50p per book! I'd read quite a few already thanks to the local library, but it's good to have my own copies and to see some of the other ones, like Prisoners of Time, which is the thematic sequel to The Forgotten. The latest review on my own, erratic blog covers the first issue of that series, which I didn't even know existed until this came along.

    I'm rationing myself, so I've only read a couple of the books other than PoT so far.

    Reply

  7. Mike
    June 5, 2014 @ 8:55 am

    I've come to the conclusion of "meh" on all the Avengers titles since the recent Young Avengers ended. I think I just don't have any patience for the constant need for epic-scale stories.

    I'm also perplexed at how poorly these books work for casual people that may have seen the movie and are curious. (But maybe Marvel found that isn't a significant segment of readers?)

    I vote for more posts in this vein, when you can!

    Reply

  8. Elizabeth Sandifer
    June 5, 2014 @ 9:10 am

    Very much a quirk of the release schedule. Loads of indy stuff will crop up on other weeks, although I do have an admitted Marvel problem.

    Reply

  9. Daibhid C
    June 5, 2014 @ 11:05 am

    And one of them is modeled on Su Wukong, because God forbid anyone ever draw on another part of Chinese mythology.

    Or indeed, have a Chinese superhero team in which nobody is based on Chinese mythology.

    If the Avengers were created on the same principles as non-American superhero teams, Giant-Man would be called Paul Bunyan, the Beast would be Skunk Ape, and Scarlet Witch would be Salem. Their origins wouldn't be changed in any way, just as Sasquatch from Alpha Flight has much the same origin as Hulk, but has to be named after a Canadian cryptid, because he's Canadian.

    Reply

  10. Daibhid C
    June 5, 2014 @ 12:04 pm

    I think if I were Alan Moore I'd just want to be credited as The Original Writer in general, but that would probably defeat the purpose.

    The House to Astonish podcast had some fun with this (Episode 112: Marvel.EXE):

    Paul: I'm intrigued. Billed as "The Original Writer". As opposed to what? Wouldn't it be awesome if Alan Moore had said "You can reprint these on condition you have them completely redialogued by someone who has never read the original issues"? The Magic Roundabout approach.
    […]
    Al: I wonder how they're going to credit it? All the little Warrior credit boxes, just score through his name with a sharpie.
    Paul: And put "Stan Lee".
    Al: Don't give him ideas! The Bombastic Miracleman!
    […]
    Paul: Chuck Austen worked on Miracleman?
    Al: Chuck Austen drew…
    Paul: Oh, that's not so bad.
    Al: …drew some of Alan Moore's Miracleman as Chuck Beckam.
    Paul Maybe Alan Moore should have insisted it be credited to Chuck Austen. That would have been fun.
    Al: On the front cover, Chuck Austen's Miracleman! On the back cover, a picture of Alan Moore giving you the finger!

    Reply

  11. ferret
    June 5, 2014 @ 3:19 pm

    Dr Sandifer: Somewhat off-topic, but as these are reviewy I was wondering if you will be doing any more not-a-review-blog posts? Will you be doing reviews of any Big Finish audios and the Ecclestone/Tennant episodes of nuWho?

    Reply

  12. BerserkRL
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:12 pm

    it's really easy to like an African American/Latino Spider-Man who starts off his story in grade school

    DC's Blue Beetle is a Latino Spider-Man clone who starts off his story in grade school.

    Reply

  13. TG
    June 5, 2014 @ 7:04 pm

    I'm also (a little) surprised you're a Marvel guy. But that's cool– I am, too. Though the $3.99 price point has made me much less of a Marvel guy than I used to be.

    And I have to second Andre– I'm glad Rucka is picking up Marvel work, but Lazarus is damn fantastic. People need to be reading that.

    Reply

  14. TG
    June 5, 2014 @ 7:10 pm

    And that was a good series, while it lasted. (The original, Pre-N52.) I was very pleased to see that the Jaime Reyes BB made the cut for the Brave and the Bold cartoon.

    Reply

  15. Elizabeth Sandifer
    June 5, 2014 @ 8:03 pm

    I was a Marvel guy in my childhood comics reading. Dropped out somewhere during some X-Men crossover called, I believe, The Phalanx Covenant, but I honestly could be making that up.

    Got back into comics in college, where I quickly found that Bill Jemas-era Marvel was not to my taste, whereas, as I discovered in the year or two after college, DC in the leadup to Infinite Crisis was quite good. Spent several years as a DC fan with minimal Marvel pulls.

    Somewhere around The Heroic Age/Brightest Day the pendulum swung back towards Marvel, and after the New 52 I ended up in a position of not reading any DC books save for Wonder Woman, and even that I don't think I'll keep past Azarello's run.

    Reply

  16. elvwood
    June 6, 2014 @ 12:05 am

    I was mostly a Marvelite, especially X-Men, though I always loved the Legion of Superheroes for its lighthearted OTT qualities. I became a big fan in the 70s, stayed with US comics all through the 80s and most of the 90s (gradually switching allegiance more to DC with the Swamp Thing/Sandman/Vertigo period), then tailed off towards the end of that decade. LSH was the final comic I kept on buying after I'd pretty much stopped reading them, mostly for nostalgia (I'd been reading them whenever I could find them since Superboy #200) – it was when they tried to make it grim 'n' gritty (for the second time) with Legion Lost that I finally stopped buying completely, around the turn of the Millennium. So I guess I'm a 20th Century Comic Boy.

    Reply

  17. Daibhid C
    June 6, 2014 @ 1:49 am

    I was always more of a DC guy. Although I'm currently going through a system of "Am I buying this comic out of habit or because I'm actually enjoying it? Is it, in fact, actively horrible?" I haven't dropped as many as I expected because of this, although Scott Lobdell managed the almost impossible task of getting me to reconsider if I wanted to read Superman.

    I do read Marvel stuff, but it's mostly the Marvel UK reprints. Yes, it means I'm over a year behind (let's talk about AvX!), but three-and-a-bit issues for £3.50! Except X-Factor and SHIELD (if they ever start publishing that again) because Marvel UK are never going to reprint those. Anything else they don't reprint that I think looks interesting, I'll get the trade.

    Reply

  18. Heath
    June 6, 2014 @ 5:32 am

    If you are not already, you should be reading Saga. B.K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples have created a crazy world. The latest issue has a truly jaw-dropping first page.

    Just a recommendation. Glad you posted this!

    Reply

  19. John Seavey
    June 6, 2014 @ 10:22 am

    Um…is it wrong of me to absolutely love the idea of Paul Bunyan, Skunk Ape and Salem fighting crime? Joined maybe by Luke Cage as John Henry, Captain America as Uncle Sam (yes, I know, DC actually did that…)

    Reply

  20. John Seavey
    June 6, 2014 @ 10:25 am

    Almost certainly they have the rights to the name "Spider-Man". So even if Marvel did still hold the rights to Miles Morales (which is pretty unlikely, to be blunt, because there are probably clauses about "associated characters and concepts" that spell these things out, because they're both big entertainment companies with professional lawyers, but I understand that you're doing this as a thought experiment) they would have to not only never mention Peter Parker, but call Miles Morales something other than Spider-Man and call the movie something other than Spider-Man.

    Boring answer, I know, but it's how these things work.

    Reply

  21. John Seavey
    June 6, 2014 @ 10:26 am

    I applaud this idea, if nothing else because it will mean that hopefully we get your thoughts on the new Ms. Marvel.

    Reply

  22. Neo Tuxedo
    June 6, 2014 @ 10:58 am

    As luck would have it, I had similar thoughts after Dr. M's comment, but didn't commit the Will points to an intention to post them. Depending on how the licensing was arranged, they might be able to use the Scarlet Spider name and costume for an MCU Miles, but if they can't actually use the "Spider-Man" name in the title, they're not likely to let him carry an entire movie. (Although, who knows? As a street-level character, he could show up in the "Secret Defenders" meta-series.)

    Reply

  23. Allyn Gibson
    June 6, 2014 @ 5:28 pm

    I harbor doubts there will be affordable Miracleman collections. A DREAM OF FLYING only has 112 pages of story. At cover price, it works out to roughly 27 cents per page. If Marvel wanted a perennial bookstore seller like WATCHMEN, the strategy of overpriced and very thin books won't accomplish it.

    Reply

  24. Neo Tuxedo
    June 6, 2014 @ 5:51 pm

    Affordable, like up, is a relative concept. The lowest asking price for the Eclipse edition of The Red King Syndrome on eBay is US$6.00; the next lowest is 39.99. The Marvel edition has an SRP of 34.99; Amazon are knocking that down to 26.59, BAMM.com and B&N.com to 26.90.

    "If Marvel wanted a perennial bookstore seller like WATCHMEN, the strategy of overpriced and very thin books won't accomplish it."

    This, I have to admit, nails it.

    Reply

  25. Elizabeth Sandifer
    June 6, 2014 @ 8:31 pm

    My assumption is that cheaper editions will in time follow. I'd guess that by the time they have new Neil Gaiman material to publish, catching up will be affordable.

    Then again, God only knows what the financials on this look like. After the Watchmen contract, the details behind Miracleman at Marvel are some of the legal terms I'd most like to see leak in comics history.

    Reply

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