Marvel's "15 Love"

I was rather halfheartedly scrolling through Diamond's  preview of upcoming Marvel books a week or so ago when I literally - and by "literally" I mean I actually did it - did a double take, passing up then quickly returning to the solicitation for the title "15 Love" by Andi Watson and Tommy Ohtsuka.

The reason I was so surprised to see this title was because I vaguely remembered it from, oh, eight years ago or so, back when Marvel was putting together their ill-fated Epic line.  At the time this title seemed a bit out of place, for obvious reasons, and years later it seems no less odd at a company like Marvel.  I can only wonder why exactly the folks at the big M decided to publish this story after letting it sit for nearly a decade.

Part of me wants to commend Marvel for putting out such a different book like this (even if they did let it collect dust for years and years).  After reading Scott McCloud's trio of books on the potential of comics, it's easy to see that a book like "15 Love" can fill in a niche - sports comics - that doesn't exist in the Unites States and might draw readers outside of your traditional super hero follower.  On the other hand, I just can't - CAN'T - shake the feeling I had when I originally heard of this title in, what, 2003?  That this would be one of the worst books ever published, or at least something that Marvel might not know how to handle.  Agh!  This looks awful.  I guess it's just not marketed to someone like me, and that's okay (maybe it's the underwear shot in the picture above).  Here's the solicit info:

This July, get ready to say game, set, match for 15 Love #1 (of 3) – a never before seen, giant-size story from acclaimed writer Andi Watson (Skeleton Key, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and artist Tommy Ohtsuka! Mill Collins is about to learn that life is anything but a piece of cake when the length of your high school career depends on the strength of your serve! But when Mill’s slipping grades threaten to steal away her scholarship from the exclusive Wayde Tennis Academy, she’ll have to look for help from the most unlikely coach to climb her way back up the bracket and into the record books!

This, on the other hand, looks like something I ABSOLUTELY want to read, and I'm trying to order a copy through my local comic shop right now.  Seriously, this looks great:

You'll notice that both are sports comics and both, interestingly enough, have titles that start with numbers.  But I think I'd rather get punched than read "15 Love".  Two sides of the same coin, I guess.

The haul, 2010

Merry...a couple days after Christmas!  Last year, I bragged about mentioned some of the cool comic related swag I got.  This year, I figured, what the heck.  If it's cool, I'll take a picture.  And here we are.  Check out those comics!  I finally completed the Understanding Comics set and got the complete Xenozoic Tales collection I've been waiting to have made!  The Ballad of Halo Jones was a last-minute addition - and flipping through it, it's astounding how similar Ian Gibson's art is to Duane Redhead's on Teddy and the Yeti.  No, I'm not comparing myself to Alan Moore in any fashion.

I first found out about the Venture Bros. action figures at the New York Comic Con.  I now have three of the six initial releases: the mighty Monarch and the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Henchmen figures!

Please ignore the boxes in the background of this picture.  There's bound to be something of a mess at Christmas.  Marvel instead at the full size, authentic Steelers helmet!  Perhaps I will get it signed, or perhaps I will wear it every day and run in to people full force, oblivious to social conventions of politeness or even laws that dictate what does and does not constitute physical assault.

The item on top of the helmet box is a bit of a cop out, as I bought it for someone else instead of having it bought for me.  But I'm proud of myself with this one, so please indulge me.  My wife and I are big fans of the short-lived show Wonderfalls, and the purposely deformed wax lion replica is a promotional piece from that show.

I got other great stuff - Weird Al trading cards, the newest volume of Futurama on DVD, Sea Monkeys - Sea Monkeys!! - and, despite my materialistic showing, spent some good time with family and friends, which is more important in any case.  But man!  I got some awesome stuff.

Birthday swag

The past few weeks have been, in a word, busy.  It's midterm time at school, my brother-in-law got married, I sent Teddy and the Yeti #3 off to the printer (forgot to mention that, huh?), filmed another episode of Franks and Beans, and what's my reward for all of this?  Apparently lots and lots of comic book related presents, courtesy family and friends.  Oh, and it was my birthday, too.

Among the awesome things I got are those pictured above.  My buddy Larry got me a Marvels hardcover, a Fantastic Four plug &; play video game and (as a gag, I assure you), the first issue of the Madballs comic series from Marvel's Star Comics imprint.  They've started to reissue Madballs since their heyday in the 1980s and, as I had a bunch of the originals, I plan on getting some of the new ones.  But I haven't yet.  But I will.  Maybe.

I also managed to snag the next book in Scott McCloud's instructional series, Reinventing Comics, and a Time Capsule backup for the Mac.  Now I can actually save my progress and not kill myself if the computer ever crashes and I lose all of my comic book work for the last three years!

My wife got me Funko's Thing bobblehead, which is AWESOME, a "Weird Al is my homeboy" shirt (which has nothing to do with comics but I'm showing it anyway), and a yeti keychain that you can see below:

The key ring comes off to make it like an action figure.  I'm not sure which way I'll use it yet.  Finally, Batman: Year 100 came in the mail on Saturday, which rounded out quite the haul for me on my...uh...19th birthday.  Right.

Oh, and I got an ice cream cake that had "Beast Wars" written on it.  Dairy Queen was pretty confused about that one.

The haul.

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas.  Getting stuff isn't the reason for the holiday, but it's ultimately what everyone asks you at one point or the other, and why yes, I did quite well for myself in that department, thanks for asking.

Some of the comic book related items I was lucky enough to get this year:
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
- Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (I'm ashamed that I've never read this before)
- Saga of the Swamp Thing volume 2 (HEY-OOOOO!)
- Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classics collection
- a kick-butt Thing painting from my buddy Mike

The giant Bender head isn't necessarily comic book related, as it's more of a television show, but they DO have a Futurama comic, so what the heck.  Futurama: The Complete Collection 1999-2009 DVD set is awesome.  And I HAVE the individual DVD sets already...which is ridiculous.  But I'm enjoying it just the same.

And here's a list of things that didn't make the list because they have nothing to do with comics but I'm telling you because they are great:
- Wonderfalls on DVD
- an Elroy Face (part of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirate world champion team) autographed baseball
- a few Weird Al things - "Weird Al" Yankovic: Live DVD, the Jurassic Park single CD, and a Like a Surgeon picture disc 45.

So, yeah...I did alright.  I'd be interested in hearing what other people got, so go ahead and make me feel jealous, if you can.