Hey, guys. I am the New York Jets rookie fourth string quarterback, Greg McElroy.
Friday means many things to many people. For some, it is when you go back to your locker room and clean out your stuff, probably blowing off reporters and/or making obscene gestures at them because you’re a bunch of stupid, selfish jerks. For others, it’s a day to point fingers at everybody else because you’re a bunch of stupid, selfish jerks. And yet others might go out and do a guest spot on a radio station that you thought was sufficiently out of the media spotlight — I mean seriously, who listens to Birmingham radio? — to rip your (former?) team and just about everyone on it even though you spent all season on the sidelines because you’re a stu– oh, wait. Nevermind.
At iFanboy, Friday means it’s letter column time.
You write. They answer. Very simple.
As always, if you want to have your e-mail read on the any of iFanboy’s shows or answered here, in the letter’s column keep them coming to contact@ifanboy.com
Reading Mike Romo’s recent article (where he mentions preferring Paul Pope’s 100% in single issue format) I wondered what other comic works were more successful in single issue format. I also recall you guys talking about Brian K. Vaughan being one of the best writers of single issues, particularly with Y: The Last Man. So I guess my question is: Which comic book titles and/or creators do you prefer in the single issue format and/or which stories have worked the best in this way?
Also, If I may sneak in a little bonus question, as you guys like to do: Why is the date of publication in a single issue usually printed as a month or so later than when the issue actually comes out? i. e. You buy it in November but it says it’s a December issue.
Adam from London, England, UK
It turns out that I’m not actually much of a trade guy. When I get caught up on a book in trades, I almost always switch to issues. This is in terms of long running series. I’ve done so with Fables, Scalped, The Walking Dead, Invincible, and others. I like to get them monthly, and don’t really want to have 15 volumes of trades on my shelf, because I’m probably never going to read them again.
Y: The Last Man was wonderful in issues, as you mentioned. It’s Brian K. Vaughan’s special talent that, in a world of trade writers, he does (did) (will do) issues better than almost anyone from his generation. Mini-series? I can take those either way. The thing is, while I appreciate a good collection, I read almost everything in issues. If I say I’m going to trade wait for something, that’s really just an excuse to not buy it now. Serialized fiction is one of my favorite things in any medium, and I love comics in issues. Also, I feel like it gives me the freedom to get on and off the ride any time I want. All that being said, I think Robert Kirkman has it down to a science in his books, and I have every Ultimate Spider-Man issue that’s been printed in the last ten years or so. Vertigo issues that are part of 50, 60, or 100 issue runs read great both ways, but I’m glad to be reading Scalped month to month. It’s something unique to the comics experience. If people want to read it the other way, that’s cool too.
As for your other question, this is a holdover from the newsstand days to get them to keep the items on the shelves longer, so people wouldn’t ignore the books for having old dates. Magazines still do this today, and comics never stopped. Also, and this doesn’t apply to comics today, which are non-returnable, the date used to indicate when the publications could be returned for full or partial refund. Basically, it’s like nipples on men.
Josh Flanagan
I wasn’t a big fan of the last Punisher movie, but after listening to the “How Did This Get Made?” podcast episode 20 where the director explains herself, I may revisit the movie myself. Here’s the challenge, listen to the podcast (it’s free) and tell me what you think, err… or on the Pick of the Week Podcast.
GB
No.
And here’s why.
Punisher: War Zone exists, like my first childhood crush, in a state of perpetual perfection in my head and in my heart. It is encased in my memory amber — always perfect, never changing. It remains the singular worst experience that I’ve ever had at a movie theater, and I used to live in Queens. It is also still the single most fun Special Edition Podcast that we’ve ever recorded. They are both benchmarks for other movies and other podcasts to aspire. Why would I muck with that?
I don’t want to ever see that movie again; I want it to live on in my memory. And whenever I need to think about it, all I need to do is conjure up that sepia toned night when the audience of invited guests turned on Punisher: War Zone at that screening in midtown Manhattan. I don’t need to hear the director talk about the movie. I don’t want to hear justifications or excuses. I don’t even need to hear her say that she thinks that it is indeed as awful as I do. I just need to think about the guy who was sitting next to me and Josh who fell asleep and, when he woke up and saw what was happening on screen, shook his head in disbelief and went back to sleep.
Where’s that guy’s podcast?
Conor Kilpatrick
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Punisher War Zone is one of the best comic book movies, i still don’t understand why you guys hated it so much.
There might be a gasleak in your home. You should crack a window.
Soon, the Academy will recognize Dominic West’s masterful performance. Alas, today is not that day…
I loved it too! You have to have the right mindset. Some friends said “You have to see this movie, it’s so awesomely bad” so they brought it over, we watched it and my mine was blown. It’s amazing and I was laughing beginning to end! Now I take it places to show people and it brings much joy.
Regardless of what it was intended to be, that what it is to me and I love it.
Punisher War Zone is a fantastic movie. Not a great movie by any means, but an absolute blast to watch.
I don’t understand the hate for Punisher War Zone. The Punisher bazooked a traceur jumping rooftops for crying out loud.
in the beginning, when he was upside down hanging from the chandelier and spinning in a circle shooting people, thats when i decided i hated it. i mean com’on. if you like it becuz it’s a big ball of cheeze, that’s one thing. but, i can not take it seriouly. the other 2 punisher films, not so bad.
I also heard alot of hate for the first one myself which i really enjoyed. The second one on the other hand i hated
I might also add the fact that they got the dude who played Mcnulty on the wire to play jigsaw was the single worse casting ever. That character was horribly written and he was horrible as him
ya sitara that upside down chandelier thing killed it for me too….
and the guy from the wire seemed like he thought he was in dick tracy or something. It was disapointing to me also cause Titus pullo from Rome kicks soo much ass too..
Curious to see that a typical exaggerated action piece was where the line was drawn, and not Dominic West doing a serious interpretation of Andrew Dice Clay.
I absolutely HATE single issues. Waiting a month to find out what happens next in a story doesn’t have much appeal to me and I tend to not jump off a series once I’ve started with it. That’s why I mostly left single issues behind after the New 52 hit, though I do buy the occasional issue digitally. Still, my January order through DCBS is my largest yet, just because of all the great trades hitting in April and May.
as far as the Punisher War Zone movie…yes it was awful. although i would argue that Catwoman was worse. Your podcast on PWZ made me lol…”with apologies to….” was one of your most memorable skits.
The “how did this get made” podcast is hilarious and you should be listening to it anyhow. The episode in question was not so much about excuses or justifications, but it was a great insight into how big budget movie disasters like this happen. I found it fascinating because the Punisher should be a no brainer slam dunk of a hit…but they keep screwing it up.
when a director tells a studio “i don’t know anything about comics, i don’t read them, i don’t know who this character is, i don’t want to direct this movie….but if i must can i just retell one of the great comic stories? No we can’t do that? ” its probably a bad idea to hire/force her to do the movie…but then again i’m not movie executive.
I listened to that How Did This Get Made podcast and it was interesting to hear the War Zone director’s point of view. It didn’t change my view of the movie too much, however.
A friend of mine went to see it and he was the only person in the theater except for some other guy and his kids (both were around the ages of 8-10). He said that he was so worried for the kids that he almost offered to pay for tickets for them to leave and see ANY other movie.
That’s just bad parenting.
Similar tale: when I saw Kill Bill 1 a dude had his 2 daughters, maybe 5ish and 7ish, in there with him.
I was at a 9:00 PM showing of Watchmen and I saw a couple come in with their small children. As soon as they walked in I knew this was going to be a bad one.
And lo…there was much covering of eyes and ears.
I was uncomfortable watching the Hangover II after a couple sat down behind me with their 6 year old kid….
Turns out, I’m a really good parent.
so far…
When parents bring kids to movies like that, it sometimes almost ruins the experience
@Spoons…. kids at a Watchmen showing? I felt uncomfortable watching it in my house!!
I wonder how they explained the scene where Rorshac kills the child murderer and sees the dogs fighting over her remains. nice
“… Then last week I seen this Schwarzenegger movie where he’s shootin’ all sorts of motherfuckers with an uzi. I see these three little kids up in the third row, screamin’ ‘GO!’ with their seventeen-year-old uncle. I’m like ‘Guidance? Ain’t they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence?'”
Sorry. I thought it applied quite nicely.
War Zone sucks.
@jesse and also the giant glowing silver cock
Jets suck! GO COWBOYS
…oh wait…
:’-(
Wanna know how bad the Cowboys suck? They got whupped by my Eagles this season. THIS season!
wait………Cruz just burned the Dallas secondary again!!
G-men OWNed the Cowboys this season. Hope they keep it up in Atlanta
Single issues…i like them in theory, but i’ve found them more difficult to follow the larger story. I dunno if its my A.D.D. or a bad memory but i have a hard time following a story with 3-4 weeks in between episodes. I tend to gather singles and then read a few in one sitting…or just read the trade. My best comics reading experiences and the stories that i’ve loved the most have come from reading them in large chunks. Now that i’ve gone digital its easier to do stuff like that…buy an entire story arc in one go. I’m trying to shed the wednesday purchase mentality, but it’ll take a while. Plus its tougher to talk about the stories on sites like this.
you should listen to that podcast anyways, not to hear justifications and excuses, but because it’s just an awesome podcast! that episode is a really interesting one though, the director gives an insightful view on certain areas of hollywood and she also seems kinda cool! it really is a great podcast, recently they did a special edition one on superman 3, which i highly recommend!
I was really interested to hear the director talk about how the studio (or maybe it was her management) played the gender card. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to do it and they sold it to her as a chance for a woman to direct an action movie and maybe change some stereotypes. She said that she went from being an Oscar-nominated director to not getting any job offers in a snap.
The thing about single issues, month to month, for me, is that it gives the story a sense of immediacy that I don’t get from trades. It’s like the story is unfolding before you in real time in a sense. That anticipation for the next issue is great. Having said that, though, if I pick up something that I was behind on, either in trades or just single back issues, I tend to mainline it pretty quickly. I just did that with Scalped because I couldn’t put it down. But now I’m eagerly awaiting the next issue. As a matter of fact, while I was ingesting the back issues, I actually slowed down on purpose because I didn’t want it to end so quickly.
Punisher War Zone is insane and that is fine.
I had a similar audience turning against the movie experience two times. Once during The Da Vinci Code where people just couldn’t wait for it to end and some left and some just started loudly talking to strangers about how terrible it was, and once during Superman Returns which was astonishing. People started laughing when things were supposed to be dramatic, groaning during “tense” moments and actively mocking Superman’s bad parenting. It was magical to see strangers bond over hating a film.
That happened to me twice in theaters that I can remember. Once was during Event Horizon, where a dude just started yelling at the screen, and no one cared.
The other time was A.I. when I started laughing, and it made other people laugh. Then it was all over, and everyone was in it together for this awful plodding movie.
Regarding A.I. did that movie ever end?
It will never end. It will continue within us all.
The most active crowd movies i’ve even been to was Snakes on a Plane, and Star Trek First Contact. A drunk guy kept going “ASSIMILATE ME!!!!” as they were having projection issues.
Kubrick would have ended AI when the kid jumped off the building.
At the end of the first end of A.I., crowd groaned in unison. By the 12th ending, they were throwing things at the screen.
Oh, and OF COURSE this also happened during the end of Return Of The King. People were digging it, but during the 4th ending the pee fatigue kicked in and people were standing in the aisles head turned towards the screen waiting for the credits so they could sprint first to the bathrooms.
The contrary happened during ROCKY BALBOA. When GONNA FLY NOW kicked in people threw their popcorn into the air, screamed and started high-fiving each other. It’s still my best theater experience. I’m in Panama, Central America btw…
I used Crystal Skull as a platform for my own personal one man improv show (George Costanza/Mystery Science Theater style) and it actually worked. The only way I could get through it was to let everyone know it was ok to laugh until we could all get outta there together and forget the whole thing.
I frequently relisten to yous guyses Punisher: War Zone podcast. Makes me laugh so damn hard, and I haven’t even seen it.
Haven’t seen this movie. Is it worse than Ghost Rider?
Yes.
No Marvel movie is worse than Ghost Rider. (I think.)
And Punisher isn’t bad, it’s just dumb.
Which movie had Nick Cage? There’s your answer as to which was worse.
not so sure about that. any move with nick cage is defacto better than any without nick cage. i think that’s just axiomatic.
Right on mark. right on.
Sweet, thanks for answering my question Josh. I actually switched from trades to monthly issues with scalped as well around issue 19 or so. It was just too good to wait and I’ve loved reading it that way. I didn’t read walking dead till the compendium collection but I couldn’t tell you where the issue breaks are, which I guess is a testament to Robert Kirkman’s craftsmanship.
Ten years ago, I might have gone with the “so bad it’s good” thing, but now I have no patience for that kind of crap. Nothing anyone ever says will convince me that PWZ wasn’t the worst movie I ever saw in the theater.
It’s not even so bad it’s good. It’s two steps past that.
Thank you for reminding me how awful that movie is and how great your podcast on it was. Also thank you very much for shining some light on Greg McElroy, giving this New England fan yet another thing to laugh at the Jets about.
And I agree, the serial storytelling found in issues is one of the best things about comics.
that Punisher War Zone is definitely one of the high water marks for iFanboy. It’s still one of the funniest things you guys have ever recorded. You should be proud of that guys.
I hope that we get another god awful comic book movie this summer if only to relive the magic of that podcast!
Ghost Rider 2 is coming…
Fire pee!
Punisher wasnt good, but I still think jonah hex was the worst comic movie ever! I cant stand that movie, things happened just because lol.
It was definitely close.
Hex to me is far worse then PWZ….I really don’t understand how you could make a bad HEX movie. I didn’t hate PWZ that much because it was just funny with over the top violence but damn the director had a hard on for neon. Best Punisher movie is the 1989 classic with Dolph IMO
I knew the Warzone podcast would be one of the best ones ever when it opened with Conor (at least I think it was Conor) saying: “So, is this the worst movie of 2008 or is it the worst movie ever?”
On a sad note, I think that Ray Stevenson was a great casting choice and could have made a very good Frank Castle in a different situation. I maintain the same with Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex.
Ray Stevenson hasn’t been given a hint of a good script since he played Titus Pullo, where he was so f’n good.
@Josh True and sad. I really don’t understand Hollywood.
During Van Helsing when the Dracula babies hatched I remarked pretty loudly that they “must have fed them after midnight” and I got a pretty good reaction out of most of my fellow moviegoers. Yeah, we were pretty much all on the same side there.
While I definitely thought it was not a good movie, I think waiting 2 years and hearing how terrible it was kind of softened the impact when I saw PWZ. And I have basically had the same experience with nearly every “bad” comic book movie like Green Lantern and Ghost Rider. Seeing such a film both not in theaters and after already knowing it is bad doesn’t make the films better, but I think they do make the experiences better
It’s funny that the Punisher War Zone movie was so bad that it’s makes the 1989 Punisher movie look good.
Because it’s not like I’m trying to say that Dolph Lundgren gave a performance akin to a mush mouthed depressing drunk, it’s that…oh wait, that’s exactly what I’m trying to say.
Well that was a gross, narrow-minded ending to the column in the name of humor and nostalgia.
I’ll go find an enjoyable discussion elsewhere on the site and say something nice over there.
I can never watch Punisher War Zone, because after listening to the Special Edition Podcast on it, the movie that was actually made could ever live up to the horribleness of the movie that is in my imagination.
i hope that punisher is better in single episodes than a whole movie. pwz is not the worst superhero movie that i’ve seen in the theater. batman and robin makes me want to punch anyone that makes a joke about something being cold. pwz is pretty terrible, though.
Being from Alabama, I listen to Birmingham radio. People are just mad that McElroy told the truth about the Jets and their terrible attitude problem. Maybe now the Jets will fade back into obscurity and we won’t have to hear about how they’re a contender every year. Seeing as how they always choke.
It would be easier to defend pirating than convincing the fellas that War Zone is a good film. (BTW, I like it)
Thank You! because if this article me and my friends are going to watch PWZ tonight and do a good amount of drinking. I’m hoping this might make the move better then the first and only time I saw it.
i wanted to watch this so bad (The Punisher: War Zone) but now I’m having second thoughts.
Chew is a book that is fantastic in single issues each and every time. It’s probably the one book that I always feel I get a pretty complete, entertaining story each single issue.
Wow, lotta comments….anyway we all know the Punisher movies are terrible but did like the Ray Stevenson as the choice for ol’ Frankencastle. I had little expectations plot wise and found myself laughing as if I was watching a National Lampoon’s comedy(especially the rocket launcher shot to the acrobat thieves)lol, and when Newman/Gizmo(don’t feel like doing my homework but you guys know who I’m referring to) pops up and the guy behind me says “hello Jerry” in that creepy Newman voice it was officially a joke to be there. I guess 3’s not always a charm and while I like specific elements from the last two Punisher movies, that’s just not good enough. The $ is there, hire a good writer to do a good screenplay or leave Frank in the funny pages, but we know they probably won’t. Also if there’s one ultimate peeve for me in film, its lousy fake Brooklyn accents.
Also, I need to check out Scalped, great covers and have heard all good feedback.