Final Order Cut-Off is the last day that shops can guarantee their orders for comics. After Final Order Cut-Off, or FOC, these books will only be available to retailers on Advance Reorder. And that is not guaranteed. So here are the highlights for Monday, 3/25/19’s FOC list.
DC
Batman #69 Mattina Cover – Nice looking dark image of Batman.
Nightwing #59 Putri Cover – Great looking cover on a series that I have grown to really like. Nightwing has been a really good read lately.
Teen Titans #29 Variant – Terminus Agenda story arch kicks off. Cannot wait.
Marvel
Amazing Spiderman #252 Facsimile – reprints black costume cover and story.
Tony Stark Iron Man #11 – Crazy awesome cover. Not sure what is going on but this cover makes me want to find out.
Uncanny X-Men #16 Putri Character Variant – Love the background on this. The combination of Wolves, centipedes, and skulls, would make a hell of a tattoo.
Marvel’s Annotated #3 Dell’Otto Variant – high cover price on a series not probably ordered heavily. This could fly under the radar. There is also a Virgin Alex Ross Cover of Silver Surfer that is awesome.
Image/Indy
Ghost Tree #1 – Seeking a refuge from an unhappy life- Brandt returns to his ancestral home in Japan to find a haunted tree and the departed souls that are drawn to it- including his Grandfather. Brandt attempts to heal some of history’s wounds but will he be able to find any measure of peace for himself when someone special from his past returns? From writer Bobby Curnow (Ward’s Valley- TMNT) and artist Simon Gane (They’re Not Like Us- Godzilla). A touching story about love- loss- and how the past never truly stays dead.
White Widow #2 – liked the first issue. It sold real well for me. 2nd issues tend to have smaller print runs so hoping to do well with these too.
Planet of the Nerds #1 – AHOY Wave Two continues! Three high school jocks in the 1980s are accidentally frozen by an experimental cryogenics device- only to be revived in the computer-driven- superhero movie-loving world of 2019- an era ruled by nerds!
Darchon #1 – New series from Absolute Comic Group (publisher of White Widow). Darchon Blaque guards the portal between light and darkness. When nightmares from the other side threaten our reality he is the last defense. The master of magic holds secrets that we can only begin to imagine. What will happen when they are revealed?
The Dell Otto Marvel’s Annotated cover is clearly an homage to silver surfer #1 (Epic). I like it.
My white widow #1 red foil has been sitting on eBay for two months….waiting for issue #2 to come out and generate interest again so I can move it.
I moved two of each copy of #1 within the first week. While they were hot I listed them. Also, I accept best offers so when they start to get stagnant it is something to consider.
My White Widow #2 order just got cancelled because they keep changing the ship date
Batman #67 ‘Mattina’ cover is actually a copy/trace job of an original Ben Oliver piece.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd3a41dAm_D/
He just can’t help himself can he. Ben Oliver is such a great artist. Wonder why DC doesn’t do something about it.
A lot of these covers are probably locked-in with payment/contracts 6 months or more (which why they go to print).
How awesome would it be if those were A and B covers to the same issue!
Evidence looks pretty damning. I actually thought Matts was lifting from Batman Damned #1 maybe…but these are much closer in resemblance.
There’s no maybe/resemblance- it is a 100% trace job by Mattina.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtALDRih067/
That’s a real stretch and that’s why no one has posted the images right next to each other. And Oliver’s drawing looks like he stole it straight from Jim Lee. People are being way too hard on Mattina. The man is making some awesome covers.
Stretch? Here you can see for yourself- everything lines up. He lifted the image it’s obvious.
Whatever you just posted isn’t a link. The images don’t match other than the pose and Jim Lee has hundreds of Batman drawings in that pose.
There are other examples of Mattina “stealing” from Oliver that look legit, but this one isn’t.
Mattina stealing art is very real. I don’t believe this to be the best example, but there are plenty of recent examples where Mattina has copy n pasted other artists work snd tried to pass it off as his own original work. Such a waste of talent.
Others seem to be real but there’s no actual evidence. This one seems to not be real at all. And like I said Oliver’s “original” drawing looks like Jim Lee did it and Oliver said on his Instagram that he uses photoshop. So how do we know that Oliver didn’t steal his from Jim Lee?
Answer is we don’t.
There is lots of evidence. In one instance, you can clearly see the original artists brush strokes im Mattinas work. He copy n pasted the image and as stated above, you can clears see the original artists brush strokes. Clearly. Also, if you take these images that Mattina is stealing and overlap them on the original, and there are several videos doing just that, that also clearly show he is stealing other artists work and copy n pasting said images. There is no proof that he is not stealing these images. Ben Oliver, and a few other artists, have also posted on IG their concerns about Mattina stealing their art. The evidence is there. No doubt about it.
I’m not doubting that Mattina has probably been guilty before, but I don’t see it this time. You definitely can’t see any brush strokes on this one. The lines don’t match at all. Maybe Mattina stole it but he didn’t steal it from the Oliver drawing that mybodystory posted.
I agree. As I stated above, I do not think this piece is a good example of what Mattina has been caught doing before.
Also, I bet if I took the time to look i could find a Jim Lee drawing that looks just like that Oliver one.
It didn’t take me very long. The Oliver drawing looks nearly identical to Jim Lee’s famous batman drawing from hush when he’s in the batcave with catwoman and alfred.
Hopefully this link works: http://royalebrooklyn.com/batman-jim-lee-wallpaper/new-batman-jim-lee-wallpaper-batman-dc-ics-jim-lee-wallpaper-high-quality/
http://www.comicplanetculture.com/jim-lee-to-give-away-50-sketches-at-san-diego-comic-con/
That’s another link to same photo of what Oliver probably used as the base for his drawing.
Well, perhaps we start another convo about Olivers work. But as far as Mattina is concerned, he is definitely stealing other artists work and using it as his own.
Mattina is a far superior artist than Lee or Oliver. Who cares if he is “stealing”.
I do. I no longer respect, or buy, Mattinas art. Who wants to support an unoriginal thief? Its a slap in the face to all artists and creators, imo.
The idea of originality in art, especially in commercial art like comics, is ridiculous. Pop Art did mock at it already 60 years ago.
I 100% disagree with you, Barb. Please expand on your sentiments about comic artists not being able to be original while doing their trade. There are several examples of just the opposite. The one that immediately comes to my mind is Todd McFarlane. When he first drew Spider-Man, it was done in a way that had never been seen before. It was an original style. He changed the game and took it up a few notches. His Spidey was a very original design, that when viewed today, it is still instantly recognizable as Todds work. No one had drawn Spidey in that original style before, and no one has matched it since.
Then you would like Mattina, he is very recognizable. Maybe Lee and Oliver too, but they do not have the same artistic diversity, especially not the painterly approach.
That is an asinine statement. What does McFarlanes original Spidey have to do w/ liking Mattina? There is zero connection there.
Mattina is a bush league hack who wastes his talent and is stealing from his peers.
I admire your enthusiasm, the topic was Mattina / Oliver / Lee. As for the Todd, some artists are not copied because nobody cares.
Lol. Tell that to Capullo or Stegman. Lmao. I am unsure as to why you are having such a hard time following this convo. Yes, the topic was Mattinas hack work, but that lead, quite simplistically, to McFarlane (as an example of original comic art). Counter my points all you want, i enjoy it, but please, try to follow and stay focused.
Here hopefully this links of the overlay of the two images-
Why does the image for the cover of Tony Stark Iron Man #11 not match anything shown at Diamond or Previewsworld for that issue?
Who the worst copier? The original copier, or those who copy him/her?
I think Ben Kenobi had a similar saying, ‘who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows the fool?’.
Yes, that was the quote I based my comment off of (or lifted it from!). Glad you made the connection!
Hiya Anthony and gang. Just found out that there’s a Immortal Hulk #16 2nd print 1:25 ratio variant that can be preordered. Do you know when the FOC is for this particular book??
Never heard of a 2nd print (or anything not 1st print really) getting a ratio variant. So I dunno if this is real or a real hoax.
Yup. Got the announcement for it earlier. I have the first print on order. But the second print is going to be crazy rare potentially.
It is 100% real.
I think there’s going to be a flood of 2nd prints no one wants because everyone is Ordering 25 copies to get the perceived ultra rare 2nd print incentive. These 2nd print regular covers are all going to end up in dollar bins in a few months…
Probably, I’m not messing with any of the Immortal Hulk variants myself, even the prior issues, sticking with the Ross 1st print covers.
Tony Stark Iron Man #11 Update, Diamond and Previewsworld have changed their images on display now to match the one here so whatever that War of the Reams armor is, apparently stores will only know about it after FOC unless they happened to check today and increased their orders. War of the Realms starts next week so it’s probably something tied into that storyline.
April 1st for FOC on the Immortal Hulk 25 qty Second Printing. Already sold my 1st Printing Presale for $125. Seen higher numbers than that on E-Bay.
(NOTE: You may order 1 variant for every 25 copies you purchase of Immortal Hulk #16 2nd printing cover.) Basically you have to buy 25 copies of the 2nd printing of the standard cover to order 1 copy of the 2nd printing of the 25 qty variant.
Yup.
I had plans to post this up in a bit but went ahead and did it anyway.