Free Comic Book Day started with a bang at Jim Hanley’s Universe in New York City last night – or was it a howl?  Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Marvel Zombies, The Walking Dead) was on hand to launch his new book The Astounding Wolf-Man.  The signing is the first of a series of five appearances across the country this weekend to promote the new book.  “If giving the book away for free doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” said Kirkman.

Kirkman described his new book as “An action-packed superhero romp.” The crowd that packed the aisles of Jim Hanley’s Universe were certainly eager to pick up the premier issue.  Now that he has a book on zombies and a book on werewolves Kirkman said, “I think I’d like to do mummies.”

With comic book properties especially hot right now Invincible has been optioned by Paramount.  “I’m working on a draft of the screenplay right now.  There’s no casting yet.  No director either,” said Kirkman.  For those with more of a zombie jones Kirkman said, ”There’s interest in a The Walking Dead movie.  My agent is listening to offers all the time.  We’re waiting for the right one to come along.”

We asked him why he thought zombies were so hot these days.  “People like zombie comics when they’re afraid.  The last surge in popularity of zombie comics was at the height of the Cold War.  Now the war on terror has the same atmosphere.  The media is full of fear,” said Kirkman.

As for what’s next, “The Walking Dead and Invincible are both going strong towards issue 50, that’s pretty exciting.  Marvel Zombies 2 is also about to get going,” said Kirkman.

This is the week that DC’s 52 came to a close. The company’s first attempt at a weekly comic since Action Comics Weekly more than 15 years ago, unless you count Mike Carlin’s interconnecting but freestanding Superman series. It was, by most accounts, a commercial and critical success. 52 re-defined what comics can do, as narrative and as pop culture events.

When I was a kid, a comic event was a much smaller achievement. I started reading comics when I was five (for those of you keeping track at home, that was 1958). My parents would go to the train station on Sunday mornings to pick up the just-delivered New York Times, and I’d get to buy a comic. One comic. Because it had to last all week, I wanted the one with the most story. Eventually, after lots of trial and error, I decided that DC was the best for me.

It’s not that I didn’t sample Marvel. I did. But the book I tried had a story that was continued next month. When I looked for the next issue thirty pulse-pounding days later, it wasn’t there. Newsstand distribution was like that. I was happier getting a DC book, with two – sometimes even three – complete stories in each issue.

(Kids today, they have it easy. They can buy multi-part stories in trade paperback collections. In my day, we had to walk to the convenience store, picking up deposit bottles so we could afford to buy comics that might not even make it to the racks. In the snow! With no shoes!)

This is not to say we didn’t enjoy events. I remember in 1961, when there was a “novel-length” (that meant it took up a whole issue) story, “The Death of Superman,” that made me cry when Krypto said goodbye. There were Wonder Woman stories where she used a Paradise Island computer to imagine what it would be like to have adventures with herself as a baby (Wonder Tot) and a teenager (Wonder Girl). Basically, just being allowed to get a comic was enough of an event.

In those days it was assumed that most kids would read comics for a couple of years in grade school, then discover the opposite sex and go one to other amusements. There was no reason to worry about continuity, because no one expected the readers to stick around long enough to notice. (more…)