The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #2 [Park Variant, Avatar Press]

The last of my covers from my store, and definitely one of my favourites. This, it seems to me, is Glory the superhero doing something righteous. I know it sounds silly, but given the pose, the speed-line-like background, the slightly out of it look on Glory's face, it's like she's welling up some all mighty punch to deliver to a demon that's about to eat the Earth, or something.

Y'know. Or something.

I really like Andy Park's covers. He's got one more variant that, glancing at the thumbnail, I'm not totally sold on, but I'll wait to see it for real before making any judgment.

This is the Andy Park variant of issue #2, published by Avatar Press. I know that my interpretation of the various themes I see in these covers very much elides the fact that all of the covers really have been of a scantily-clad woman conforming to the societal norms or expectations of feminine beauty. Please know that I know.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #2 [Haley Variant, Avatar Press]

I think this is my favourite variant thus far. Not gonna lie, this picture is hot. See what I did there?

When I talked about Matt Haley's earlier piece, I mentioned the darkness of the series. I'm not sure how the two characters would have come to understand one another, but this portrait to me is Glory and Gloria in sync. The character of Gloria returns in the Keatinge/Campbell reboot, and she's not unlike this picture - in attitude, at least.

This is the Matt Haley variant of issue #2, published by Avatar Press. As Haley captures the pensiveness of Glory in his #1 variant, here I think he captures her goddess-like cockiness. Just an overall great picture, I think.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #1 [Mychaels Variant, Avatar Press]

One last look for now at series artist Marat Mychaels. This is probably my favourite of his covers thus far. There's something intriguing about Glory's face in this picture. I wonder what it is she's about to attack?

And, yes, there's the giant boobs. I can't say that they're a major draw for me on the cover. It actually seems a bit lazy. What else from the series would have worked better than that big white space? Maybe Gloria's face?

This is the Marat Mychaels variant of issue #1 of the Avatar series. I don't have any of the Mychaels variants for issue #2, which is odd because I feel like these were the more common covers. I actually have no idea of the distribution numbers of these covers (which I feel like I've mentioned before).

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #0 [Martin Variant, Avatar Press]

Another of the sexy covers, I suppose, though this one is more in line with the Mychaels magazine covers than the more decidedly erotic of Martin's previous cover. Which, confusingly, was from a later issue. I have no idea why I didn't just do this in numerical order. Praise Chaos, I suppose.

This is the Matt Martin variant of issue #0 of the Avatar series. As I was writing this, I laid out the comics again, but arranged them this time numerically and then by preferred cover. I noticed what it was about the Finch and Churchill covers that makes them so different, and so much more reminiscent of the old costume: they draw the costume as a typical superhero bathing suit costume. But the Avatar artists draw it with a long, flowy loin cloth. As I noted back at the beginning of this series, Avatar Press know their audience.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #0 [Haley Variant, Avatar Press]

I really quite like the Haley covers of this series, though this one is perhaps my least favourite. Haley's covers seem to capture something of the pensiveness of the character, though this one is showing off a bit too much pensive butt to really mesh nicely with his other two covers. Well, sort of. There's butt, and then there's butt. You'll see what I mean when I post his next cover.

This is the Alex Haley variant of issue #0 of the Avatar series. I'll give Avatar some respect for the extra material in this edition of the zero issue. Awesome's is balanced out by some sketchbook material and a black and white preview of an upcoming issue of Supreme. In this edition, we have an illustrated history of Glory, one that, rather skillfully, manages to make sense of her convoluted continuity. I love seeing things like this, and they're actually indicative, to me, of the Alan Moore sensibility that was brought to the Awesome Universe. Rather than deny where the characters had come from, they instead made them tributes to the original heroes. There were some really amazing superhero stories coming from Awesome, and Moore, for a little while there.

The Faces of Glory - Glory Preview [Avatar Press]

As I go through the last of my already-owned covers, we'll go in numerical order, so to speak. With luck, by the time the last of these write-ups sees publication, I'll have found some more.

This is another Marat Mychaels cover, this time the non-limited version of the preview issue. Another take on Glory as warrior pretending to be model, I think. That's the feeling I get, anyway, from the two preview covers. Perhaps this is Glory posing for her Vogue shoot before the big comeback.

This is the Marat Mychaels regular cover for the Glory Preview from Avatar. Though I'm not a huge fan of his art, it was very exciting to see this issue come out - I'd have loved to see at least the end of the story, but what we get is worth it regardless.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #2 [Finch Variant, Avatar Press]

Another cover that really hearkens back to the 90s for me. It really does have to be Finch's artwork, and the formative effect it had on comics at the time. But that's not all I should be talking about with this picture. There's a reason David Finch is considered one of the top illustrators of that era, and it's because he makes a character move. Have a look at the first couple of issues of New Avengers v.1. The sense of motion, of giant bodies in small spaces, of bodies flying through the air (both of and not of their own volition). The same, I think is true of this picture. Where Glory is coming from, and where she's landing, we don't know, but we definitely know that she's moving between places.

This might seem like a small thing, but there's plenty of artists out there who draw figures as if they're frozen in place, and the human body never is.

This is the David Finch variant of issue #2 of the Avatar series. I really do think Finch manages to mesh the two costumes, original and current, really nicely here.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #1 [Wraparound Variant, Avatar Press]

I hope you'll forgive my attempt at stitching this picture. I'm not great at it yet. And, to be fair, the tech I'm using isn't the best either.

A bit more of the Mychaels work today. He's definitely got the sexy warrior vibe going in his pieces, less about the corporeal than Martin, but not quite the warrior that we see in Haley (wait until you see his issue #2 variant. Probably my favourite).

This is the wraparound variant of issue #1 of the Avatar Press series, art by Marat Mychaels. We'll see a bit more of Mychaels' art, and that villainess, and her utterly ridiculous cleavage, later on. I don't really understand this cover. Is the horned lady watching Glory getting angry at her readership? That seems weird.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #0 [Park Variant, Avatar Press]

Andy Park's Glory is the most superheroic of the bunch. This is a very important facet of the character, a remembrance of Wonder Woman from whence she sprang. I like this interpretation of the character - there's something of that Supermanesque nobility to her demeanour.

This is the Andy Park variant of issue #1 of Avatar's series. It apparently comes in a platinum foil edition, which I have to admit would look kind of cool. Fingers crossed.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #1 [Finch Variant, Avatar Press]

This must have been a bit of a coup for Avatar, wrangling a big name like Mr. Finch to do a couple of covers. And they're really very nice. This is a bit of a weird picture, though. It's certainly Glory post-battle. We see damage to her boot, and the cape looks a bit ragged. But she's also certainly got a bit of a come-hither look on her face. Not what one would expect post-battle, but then I've never been a mythic female superhero, so I don't really know.

This is the Finch variant of issue #1 of the Avatar series. I think Finch's pictures are actually the ones that most capture the spirit of the original Glory, rather than this reimagining. There's something of the 90s to them for me, though that may simply be that I associate Finch's style with the 90s. Y'know, in that he was instrumental in creating that style in the first place ;P

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #2 [Martin Variant, Avatar Press]

Thus far we've seen quite a bit of cheesecake, with the exception of the Haley #1 and the Linsner from last time.

But there's more. Come on. You knew that there was going to be more, right?

As I noted last time, there are artists who focus on a particular aspect of the character. I'd love to know whether this was purposeful or not. Matt Martin's covers, those I have, err far more on the erotic side of the character.

It would be easy to write this off as fan service, but it's also important to remember that Moore's project in this character, and Promethea afterward, was an examination of various aspects of femininity. We can debate another time the relative success or failure of that project. So I choose to read these portraits more as paeans to the erotic nature of the body, definitely an aspect of Glory's mythic presence.

This is the Matt Martin variant of issue #2 of the Avatar series. Something Promethea deals with is the shame that is erroneously associated with the erotic in Western society. It's a very strange thing to me to be ashamed of our ability to feel pleasure. So in a naively optimistic way, I like to think this is simply another facet of the character. But, of course, it wouldn't look quite so sexist if there were some sexy men covers in comics.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #1 [Linsner Variant, Avatar Press]

Finally got around to scanning all of these, so back to it. I will say, in the interim I have been looking in local stores for the errant covers. No luck yet, but I have a couple of places I want to check out soon.

Joseph Michael Linsner is very well known for drawing a very specific female form. He's very, very good at it. This Glory cover is no exception.

This is the Linsner variant of Avatar's first issue. I think, of the covers I have, Linsner's pushes Glory the furthest toward the realms the retooled character would chart in Promethea. There's something of a tarot card to this cover. I've noticed that each of the artists has a particular aspect of the character that they privilege. Mychaels errs more toward the fantasy warrior, closest I think to the original incarnation of the character. Park's covers (none posted yet) are definitely the most superheroic, Glory at her most Wonder Woman. Linsner gives us the metaphoric aspect of the goddess.

The Faces of Glory - Alan Moore's Glory #0 [Mychaels Variant, Avatar Press]

Another Marat Mychaels cover (he is, after all, the artist on the series), this time covering the Avatar reprint of the Awesome Entertainment zero issue. There's also an extra section chronicling the various incarnations of Glory, and placing them into some kind of chronological sequence. This is a rare thing to see from a superhero comic, though the Extreme/Maximum/Awesome characters did seem to have much more stable continuities.

The Faces of Glory - Glory Preview, September 2001 [Temple Variant, Avatar Press]

Avatar really are masters of the variant cover. I guess it pays to know your audience, and theirs seems to be a strange mixture of horror and cheesecake art fans. People who are a little darker than Chaos! Comics fans, perhaps. Sorry, that was pretty referential.

I'm often torn about Marat Mychaels. His work is good, but it doesn't flow right for me. Whenever I encounter something like this, where I can see that it's good but it doesn't do the thing for me that good art usually does, I think of a Philosophy of Aesthetics course I took in my undergrad. The central question we wrestled with is how one can define, or quantify, beauty. It's a lovely line of thinking, and I really enjoyed the course.

This is one of the two covers for this Avatar Press preview. According to the cover it was limited to 1500 copies, though without knowing how many of the regular edition were printed, that means nothing to me. 1500 was a large enough number that it wasn't distributed with a certificate of authenticity.

Moving forward I'll be randomly posting one of the covers. And the hunt begins this weekend at the Purple Gorilla!

The Faces of Glory - A Microcollection

I was chatting yesterday with a local comic store employee, and he told me of some of his fears that we are heading in the industry for another speculator bust, like the one in the mid-90s. For those who may not be familiar with this particular chapter in comics' history, I'm actually not the best person to ask about it. I had all but abandoned comics during this period, only coming back to them in the later 90s, with Morrison's JLA and the Vertigo books.

What I can tell you is that it was a result of publishers taking advantage of comics becoming a speculator property. Special editions, alternate covers, special poly-bagged issues, all fueled by the idea that, for some reason, these more rare covers would somehow be desirable collectibles in the future, guaranteeing the investor a lifetime of riches.

It, of course, didn't work, the companies poured money into these enhanced and signed editions, and then they stopped being worth anything at all. I'm starting to think, as I read through a bit of that era, it's very much because people realized that regardless of how pretty the cover looked, the comic inside was still pretty crap. I'm sure it somehow connected to Marvel's near-bankruptcy in the early 2000s, and it certainly influenced the rethinking of comics in the early new Millennium. Well, that, and webcomics. But don't take my word for it - I'm sure there's a much more comprehensive account of the crash somewhere else. Maybe shoot me a link if you find a good one!

I recently purged my comic collection of a fair number of items, most of them alternate covers that I had of individual issues. When I had my comic store, we would get lists of sale items, and as this was just after the crash of the industry (and September 11 - can I pick times to open a business or what?), a lot of them were left over alternate covers and special editions that no one wanted anymore. Lots of them were from Avatar Press, but also some from the bigger publishers.

There was, however, one set of books I was loathe to part with.

Alan Moore's Glory is the unfinished series amongst unfinished series for me. While it's widely recognized that much of what Moore had planned for Glory played out in the Promethea series, I really loved his Awesome Universe, and I think there's enough difference between the characters that it would have been something special. Moore's Glory consists of 5 issues, 3 of which contain identical content. Originally published by Rob Liefeld's Aweseome Entertainment, the zero issue introduced us to a new paradigm for Glory, now forced to share a body, Captain Marvel/Rick Jones-style, with a young schizophrenic woman named Gloria. This issue establishes Glory's place in the increasingly complex Awesome Universe, and sets us up for "Glory and the Gate of Tears."

Which. Never. Arrived.

A few years pass, Awesome Entertainment fizzles, taking some masterful superhero stories with it (Supreme, Youngblood). And then Avatar Press publishes its Glory Preview, a black and white preview of the forthcoming chapter 1 of "The Gate of Tears." There was much rejoicing ;P And then they reprint the zero issue. And then, over a year or so, they put out 2 issues of the main series. And then nothing. Glory is over, or this version of her is, anyway. It was nice to see a nod to this era in the recent Glory series, but Moore's version is done.

Bringing these two threads together, I thought that, if I'm going to partake in a part of the hobby that I don't necessarily think is good, but is intrinsically a part of the hobby, it might as well be with a comic that I think is really great.

But there's one more thing. There are, including the ones I have, 42 different covers over these 5 issues. 42 fucking different covers! So I've decided I'm going to try to track them all down. Over the next little while I'll post scans of the ones I do have, in a nice big format for anyone who wants the art, and I'll perhaps have something to say about the cover. I'm not sure if I'll read every single one of these for my 40 Years project. Though it would give me the opportunity to revisit the story for many, many years.

I'll offer a couple of covers now, and then we'll drop into a biweekly schedule. That seems to be the one that works best for me these days. And I'll only be uploading pictures of my own copies. It would be easy to download them all, but it's also about the hunt for them.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1190: Bloodfire/Hellina #1, August 1995

A bit of nudity (for no reason) on today's cover.
Well, there is a reason. We'll talk about that.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1105: Top Cow Convention Preview: European Edition, 2000

One of the cool things about my collection is that it's liberally seeded with what are commonly known as "premium" comics. These will be low print run special editions of other series offered for sale to the public through specialty services. Dynamic Forces, the purveyor of today's short comic, is one of the most successful that I know of. Each special edition is accompanied by a lovely certificate stating the print run and this particular issue's individual number.

I've only ordered from DF once or twice, and it was generally to get special comics that actually contained new story material from series I was following. I always thought it was a bit of a scam to withhold story from those who couldn't afford the premium, but I got sucked in anyway. But I think most of their business comes from selling variant covers of pre-existing comics. For instance, today's Top Cow sampler comes in two different covers - one where the characters are in vertical strips and one where they're more horizontally aligned. The interiors are literally the same. It's just the covers that are different. Variants like this are part of the hobby of collecting that I never really did get. I like having a choice of regularly-priced covers (Marvel are killing it with this practice these days), but I never really understood paying a premium for a cardstock or holofoil cover. As I've noted before, I gave up comics basically through the speculator boom of the late 80s and early 90s. I often wonder if I'd have been sucked into it had I still been a collector.

As for today's comic, it's some rough previews of three series. I'll admit, with my new respect for Top Cow's properties and their aesthetic, I was somewhat intrigued by all three. I kind of wonder why this particular preview was a premium comic. Perhaps it's simply that it's a European preview, different somehow from the North American one? But I have two copies of it, one with each cover, so I'm sure I'll pontificate about its premium-ness at least one more time during this project.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1103: Dreams of Darkchylde "Chrome" Edition, 2001

I have no idea what this comic was about. Not a clue. I was only vaguely aware of the Darkchylde comics from their appearance in Previews when I had my store. They looked to me like another "Bad Girl" style book, in the Lady Death vein. So in order to perhaps entice those who were into that particular genre of comic, I ordered a special edition of one of the issues. What I've actually started finding is that many of these premium comics are now worth about as much as their regular editions. Ah, well. It makes an interesting piece to read for a blog.

In my assessment, I was kind of right - the art is definitely erring on the Chaos! Comics side of things. But the plot reads like an actual transcript of a dream. I know it's right there in the title, but I wasn't expecting literal dream writing. It's obviously serving some kind of prophetic purpose in the greater series, but there are some genuine moments of dream, where something bizarre is accepted simply as fact. I'm fascinated by these kinds of narrative. Rick Veitch's Rare Bit Fiends and its ilk are fascinating looks at our subconscious lives. I wonder if any of the dialogue or situation in this issue actually came from dreams?

So it's kind of mediocre (very much in line with the guiding aesthetic of the time, and not my favourite thing comics has ever done), but also kind of amazing. Which is not bad at all.

To be continued.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1080: Saffire #2, 2000

You know me. I'm a sucker for mythology rearing its venerable head in comics. So the mention of Odysseus and Medusa in this comic got my pulse racing a bit, but only a bit. This is the second issue of the series (though there is literally no indicia anywhere in the comic - I can only tell because the certificate tells me it's #2), so I have no idea what the set up is or anything. As far as I can tell, ancient Greek gods and heroes are fighting one another in modern times. Not a particularly original idea, but one that is always fruitful. I will say that, though the art was a little run-of-the-mill for my tastes, Mr. Broome's take on the Kraken is pretty great.

I'll admit to some curiosity about this story. There's something quite kinetic about the pace of the story, and I'd like to see how it began and how it ended. Though I think it likely it'll be one of those situations where I'll grab the other issues if they turn up, and if they're nicely priced.

To be continued.