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Spider-Man: Reign is getting a sequel from Marvel and Kaare Andrews, bringing back one of their most controversial storylines. Plus, Jerry Siegel’s page rate puts modern rates to shame, and Heavy Metal is dead.
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Episode Transcript:
Spider-Man’s most controversial storyline returns.
The death of Heavy Metal?
Jerry Siegel’s page rate, revealed!
This is Comic Book Club News for August 9, 2023.
Marvel Reveals Sequel To Spider-Man: Reign:
Our top story, Marvel heads back to the dark future of Spider-Man: Reign with a sequel to the controversial 2006-2007 miniseries. Written by Kaare Andrews with art by Andrews and Jose Villarrubia, the sequel was first teased on Monday, August 7. The reveal officially came at the end of today’s new issue of The Amazing Spider-Man.
The original four-issue miniseries focused on a broken, beaten, older Peter Parker called back into action one more time. In the mini, he battled classic villains in a broken, police-state version of New York City. The miniseries garnered positive reviews for Andrews and Villarrubia’s art. The story’s clear nods to Frank Miller’s classic Batman story The Dark Knight Returns were seen less favorably by fans as a carbon copy, rather than an homage.
However, the miniseries is best remembered for two scenes that pushed the envelope as far as Spider-Man was concerned. The first was a panel of a dejected, older Peter Parker sitting fully nude on his bed. Marvel censored this panel for the trade collection of the series. The second was the reveal that Mary Jane died because of radioactive exposure to sexual contact with Peter’s… Uh… Fluids.
However, it’s clear that both Marvel and Andrews aren’t afraid to return to Reign, as the final page of the oversized Amazing Spider-Man #31 teases that, quote: “The most notorious Spider-Man story ever told… Returns!”
In the five-page preview, readers see the return of a monstrous, Baron Harkonnen-esque Kingpin, who was in a chemical coma in the first series. He’s ready to make his move on the city — but Spider-Man, along with a ghostly Mary Jane — looks ready to stop him.
There were no further details about the series released at the time of this recording. But if Spider-Man Reign 2 is as good of a sequel as Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it will certainly be a comic book that is released in stores.
Heavy Metal Is Dead:
The reports of Heavy Metal’s death have been greatly under-exaggerated, according to a new story from The Beat. In the report, which breaks down the full history of the classic comics magazine, The Beat posits that while there has been no confirmation of the end of Heavy Metal, it is unlikely to return to stands any time soon, if ever.
First published in 1977, Heavy Metal was a collection of dark sci-fi and fantasy stories in the European style and has featured numerous name creators over the years. Both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and comic book writer Grant Morrison have tried their hands at resuscitating the magazine.
After various fits and starts, the title was poised to return. Instead, it was shut down once again in December 2022 due to a lack of payments to artists and vendors. Publisher What/Not officially canceled a second volume of Heavy Metal Magazine in July.
Now, according to speculation by The Beat, they believe that Heavy Metal isn’t mostly dead, it’s entirely dead. Writer RM Rhodes posits that we may never get an official statement on the end of Heavy Metal from the magazine itself. The publisher’s social media channels went dark, and have stayed dark from February of this year on.
It’s a quiet end for a comic book staple named after the loudest music possible.
Jerry Siegel’s Page Rate Revealed… From 1946:
Following up on yesterday’s story, Bleeding Cool is continuing its dive through Comic Connect’s auction with a look at a letter between Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, and what would soon be known as DC Comics.
In the letter dated September 1946, the publisher tells Siegel they want full rights to Superboy, and Lois Lane: Girl Reporter. The two titles were ghost-written under Siegel’s name while he was off fighting in World War II. Siegel, naturally, objected to this.
But there’s another part of the letter that might be more interesting to current comic book creators. In the letter, DC quotes a page rate to Siegel starting at $25 per page for a print run of 250,000 copies to 300,000 copies. Siegel objected, demanding a base page rate – meaning the amount he would be paid per page he wrote of the comic – of $50, which DC had originally set for a print run above 500,000.
Contrast that with the available data for current comic book compensation. As of 2017, according to Creator Resource, DC’s highest page rate was $125, while the lowest was $75. The top-selling DC comic book of 2017 was Dark Nights Metal #1, with an estimated print run of 278,276. Converting from $25 in 1946 to today, with inflation Scott Snyder – who wrote Dark Nights Metal – would have gotten $331.46 per page, at Jerry Siegel’s quoted rates. That’s several hundred dollars more than what he most likely actually got paid. In case it isn’t clear, the page rates have not gotten better over 70-plus years.
Needless to say, if Jerry Siegel had traveled forward in time and heard about this, he’d probably be furious. Also confused about all the time travel.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And my page rate for doing this show is extremely low.
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