*A new pet peeve of mine involves multi-issue stories. And it’s not the fact that the story runs over multiple issues that bothers me. What bothers me is that they don’t always put the story ‘part number’ in easily accessible places. Why can’t they put the story part number on either the cover or on the first couple of pages? Would it be that difficult?

There are a lot of books out there that I only buy when an interesting story comes along. Case in point - Green Lantern. I’m not really a huge fan of the GL’s. So I don’t pay much attention to the stories. However, since there is a major arc coming with the return of Hal, well, I’d like to read those issues.

So I go to my local comic book store to pick up my normal run. And as I’m looking through the shelves I see the new issue of Green Lantern and I wonder if it’s the start of the Hal story. I know it’s supposed to start soon, but I don’t know exactly when. I pick up the issue, nothing on the cover, nothing on the first few pages. So I skim the first few pages and it in essence talks about ‘losing the ring’. And I think, “Ah, this is it!” Well I get home read through the book, get to the last page and it says ‘Part 6′. D’oh! I just wasted $2.25 on a title I didn’t really want.

So you’re probably saying “you can look up the issue number online”. And I’ll respond by saying that I shouldn’t have to. If DC wants me to pick up books for their major storylines, well they should make it easier on the consumer. Look, I work a full-time job, write two comic book columns, I’m working on research for various academic projects, I have a life, and we’re in the middle of football season. If I spend all of my time looking up issues online how am I going to get around to curing cancer and turning lead into gold?

Just put the part number on the cover and I’ll be a happy camper. She-Hulk can do that, Thanos did that, why can’t Green Lantern?

*Boy how’s that for a leadoff point into an Off the Cuff? Start you guys out with a nice little rant, and hope you stick around for the rest!

*Confession time: As I’ve said, I’m not a Green Lantern fan, but I did enjoy the ‘extra’ issue I bought. Good book, nice art, and an interesting story (or at least the last part of the story). So I guess I didn’t waste my $2.25 after all.

*I spoke about ‘Exponential Growth Problems’ in my last column. Well this seems to be more of an issue with Anime and Manga than American comics. I can’t think of any American-style books or shows that follow this same pattern. American-style seems to introduce villains that must be beaten using ingenuity, intelligence, and puzzle solving instead of relying predominantly on getting stronger.

*And since I’m ranting this week, I have to admit I’m a little tired of the ‘teenager with problems becomes superhero’ routine. I know this is a hallmark of comic books, but come on; can’t we get rid of the troubled teenagers for a while? I really like Monolith, but why is it a delinquent drug addict has to discover the power of the Monolith? And Firestorm, why does a kid whose father beats him have to become one of the coolest characters DC has to offer?

I know that it adds a new ‘dimension’ to the character. And that it introduces conflict into the story. But what’s wrong with the kid who does his homework and wins the spelling bee gaining some superpowers? Sure they may not have the personal drama pre-built into their lives, but they can still be interesting characters, look at Superman for instance.

*Some thoughts on Firestorm #6:
1. I was planning on dropping the series a few issues ago, but I decided to stick it out to see what happened to Ronnie Raymond. I’m glad I did because I think there are some interesting things that are going to happen with this character.
2. I like how the JLA is portrayed. Each member seems to be drawn a little ‘bigger’ than in some other books. I’d like to think this was done on purpose to show that Jason Rusch is in awe of these legends. But who knows.
3. They’ve introduced the idea of Jason becoming addicted to transforming into Firestorm. That has some interesting potential.
4. I miss Chriscross’s artwork. Not that there is anything wrong with the new artist, I just really liked his artwork.
5. The bottom line is that I still can’t make up my mind. I want to like this book, but I just can’t get into it. I think a lot of it has to do with Jason Rusch. He’s just not a likeable character in my opinion.

*Milton Bradley (the game company not the baseball player) has a very clever marketing plan in Firestorm #6. They are using a comic book story to sell a ‘board’ game. This is brilliant. My biggest problem with advertising in comic books is that it’s a distraction. The advertisements simply get in the way of what I’m trying to do (which is read the book). The ads also are trying to sell things that I don’t care about, and more importantly aren’t relevant to comic books. So I simply ignore them. Most don’t even catch my eye. In fact, other than Heroscape I couldn’t tell you what was advertised in Firestorm.

Now take a magazine like PC Gamer. 99.99% of the advertisements in that magazine are for computer games, computers, or computer parts. So what happens? I spend almost as much time looking at the advertisements as I do reading the article. The key is that the ads are relevant and interesting because the ads match the purpose of the magazine.

Let’s hope that more advertising like this shows up in comic books!

*As I was browsing the Comixtreme forums I ran across an article written by Ronée Garcia. Ironically it was about advertising in comics. Now I had already written my spiel about advertising before I saw it. But what’s ironic is that this isn’t the first time she and I have been talking about the same topic. In fact, my debut column for CX was along the lines of a column she had written after me, but published before my debut went online.

I guess it’s true what they say about great minds!