Thor Vs. Wonder Woman

I'm not much of a video game fan, but this is really cool.



What's surprising is that, if you watch through the whole thing, it becomes evident that whoever made those characters (sprites? I don't know the technical term) weren't just casual fans but huge mega-fans. I'm not sure why that should me surprise me so much, but it does.

Trinity Thoughts

Seeing as how I spent an obsessive amount of time mulling over the identity of Kurt Busiek's "Mystery Project", I feel the urge to comment on it now that it's finally been revealed.

I'm a bit wary. I'm not a fan of DC's Trinity concept, largely because its existence is due to reasons outside the stories. They're the Big Three in-story because they're the Big Three out-story, because they're the three characters who've made the most headway into John Q. Public's conscious. If Green Lantern and not Batman was known by every boy and his brother, then he'd be in the Big Three instead. Or, if Green Lantern was equally as well-known as Batman, they'd be not a Big Three but a Big Four. The decision to group Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman -- those three characters specifically -- into the Big Three wasn't made for artistic reasons (at least not entirely) but for meta ones. They weren't chosen for their specific qualities, their personalities and backstories and identities, but for their publishing histories. I can't help but approach an idea with such origins with skepticism.

I'm also not fond of referring to them by the term "trinity". It's too... portentous? Stuffy? As far as the title of the weekly goes, I definitely preferred some of the discarded titles Busiek mentioned in an interview: DC Superstars, DC Nation, etc.

Really, this book's whole concept doesn't appeal to me much, but I'll give it a try because of the creative team involved. On the main story, Busiek's on writing and Bagley's on pencils, and those are both pluses. On the back-up, Nicieza's co-writing with Busiek. Yes, that surely means "screen time" for Nightwing, a character I've always found bland. Still, I enjoyed the fruits of the two writers' collaboration on the Superman books, so this sounds good too. The two back-ups pencilers so far (and there might or might not be more) are Tom Derenick and Scott McDaniel... Okay, that gives me some pause. I'm not a fan of McDaniel's art (except for, oddly enough, his covers), and I googled Derenick, who I'm unfamiliar with, a while back. It was strange because some of what I found online I really liked and some I thought was just awful. Still, overall Trinity looks promising enough that I'll give it a try. At any rate, I can't imagine enjoying it less than the previous weeklies, both of which I dropped early on.

Here's hoping.

I Tell You What to Think about 2/27's Comics

Batman 674
Batman Dies at Dawn
--I'm undecided as to whether or not I should drop this title. On the one hand, it's clear by this point that Morrison's entire run is building to something, and I am interested in seeing what that something is. The clues are intriguing. On the other hand, the individual issues -- the individual stories -- taken on their own, are weak. It's all hints and portents about the final destination, but the actual journey towards it is ho-hum. The plots, once you strip away the clues toward the bigger picture that's still a long way from becoming clear, aren't all that interesting (This issue, Batman escapes from a psycho's torture chair), and there isn't much in the way of characterization. The Batman here's a computer progam: loss and obsession and little else.

The clues are intriguing, like I said, but so far it's all clues, clues, clues. There's headway towards answers but not enough. The air of mystery can only stay interesting for so long before it gets tired.

On another note, who in god's name is crazy enough to trust their well-being to a man named Dr. Hurt?

Fables 70
--My favorite issue in a while. King Ambrose's plot device magic got slightly tedious towards the end there.

This issue is basically a breather between arcs, and it shows one of my favorite things about this series: the lack of a status quo. Things are always moving, always changing. Boy Blue formally presents the farm Fables with Flycatcher's offer to move into Haven. While I don't know who'll accept and who won't, I do know that whatever the outcome, things will not stay the same. Interestingly enough, I find I'm not particularly attached to any of the characters in the title; I read mainly for the further adventures of Fabletown itself, Fabletown as an ever-evolving organism.

Niko Henrichon provides guest art for this issue, and s/he does a good job. Whoever picks the guest artists for this book, they have opinions that can be described as 90 degrees from my own. I always find the guest artists to be pretty good but not great. I'd say Henrichon's one of the stronger ones, and I really liked his/her beauty shots: the double-page animal gathering, the Farm establishing shot, etc. That's in large part due to the coloring, which, according to the credits, I can partially credit to Henrichon, too.

Still Free

I wasn't planning on buying Dark Horse's upcoming Firefly/Serenity comic (the second mini-series about those characters they'll have published). I agree with Joss Whedon's comment that the actors' performances were so integral that any story without them would suffer. Nevertheless, this is one beautiful cover.


I might read it in a library or bookstore if the eventual TPB shows up in one of those places.

I Tell You What to Think about 2/20's Comics

The Brave and the Bold 10
Challengers of the Unknown (Is that the title of this issue? It seems to be the only thing that fits the bill.)
-- Weakest issue yet (though still very good)? Maybe. Dividing the issue into multiple team-up stories instead of mainly focusing on one was a lot of fun last issue, but I think it might have overstayed its welcome with this one. While the characterization in these shorter team-ups is strong, the action plots suffer from the limited page count, often ending up very simple affairs. They lack the creative twists and flairs of the issue-length stories.
I remember reading about how Alex Ross was disappointed when he began reading Spider-Man comics. All he knew about the character was from his Electric Company appearances, where he seemed some really cool guy, only for him to read the comic and discover that, behind the mask, he was perennial loser Peter Parker. Well, I kind of feel the same way about the Silent Knight after this comic. I didn't know Fact One about him beforehand, but he always seemed cool to me? I mean, he's a knight, and he never talks! How nifty is that? Now I find out that behind the mystique is... some stable boy with a bad haircut. Oh well.
Anyway, the Silent Knight/Superman story that makes up the first half of this issue is a lot of fun. It has a time-travelling Superman fighting an ice-breathing dragon as a favor for Merlin because he owes him one. That's the kind of story that makes the DC universe look every bit as wondrous and blessed with adventure as it actually is. It's the issue's second half, the Aquaman/Teen Titans team-up, that weakens it.
Waid and Perez seem to be going for an Aqua-world that's a world of bright-eyed, magical wonder, Atlantis à la Disney, but I don't think it quite works. It comes off mildly hokey, not awakening the inner child so much as provoking the inner too-cool-for-school teenager. Like I said earlier though, the characterization never suffers in this title, and this story was no exception.


Ex Machina 34
World's Finest
-- I was a little disappointed when I saw this issue's cover on the racks. Looking at the picture, it wasn't hard to figure out this would be another supporting character spotlight, the sort Vaughan does from time to time on this book and Y: The Last Man, and I haven't cared for those things much. To my mind, their information/page ratio is too low; the amount of further insight into the characters they're about isn't enough to warrant a full issue.
So I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this issue. For whatever reason, it doesn't suffer from the same problem as the other character spotlights. Maybe that's because, this time, there's a sort of plot running through the whole sequence: the course of Commissioner Angotti's marriage.
And the last page reveal was neat. There's something to be said for that. It jars somewhat with this title's usual sensibility, but for all that it was funny and appropriate.

The Truth About 2/13's Comics

Big Busiek week this time around...

Astro City Character Special: Beautie
Her Dark Plastic Roots
-- I loved this, as I loved every one of the character specials so far. (This one's the third; a lot of people online seem to be forgetting that the Supersonic one-shot was one of them.) For the most part, I prefer the Astro City issues that focus on the heroes because they tend to reveal more information about the history and details of the Astro City world. And that's a very precious commodity considering how slowly such information trickles out.
This issue puts the spotlight on Beautie, a robotic superhero built to look like a human-sized Beautie doll, which is basically the Astro City version of the Barbie doll. It's one half character study, portraying her constant feeling of being out-of-place, and one half quest story, as she tries to find out who built her and why. There are enough clues that the answer to her question wasn't very surprising, but the revelation leads to a very moving scene.
The issue does an amazing job of making us feel for Beautie, considering that her features are as stiff and emotionless as you'd expect a plastic doll's to be. Her mindset is at once both alien and relatable.
And on a nerdier note, it was really cool to see that this giant Barbie doll was such a powerhouse. Her electronic ears can hear people in Hawaii!

Superman 673
Insect Queen, Part 3
-- While Insect Queen might be Busiek's weakest arc on this title, this issue was the strongest of the three chapters, at the same general level as the previous arcs. I think this arc's main problem is the eponymous Queen herself. In terms of behavior and personality, she isn't much different from the dozens of other alien conquerors who've come before, and the alien insects concept isn't new, either. She certainly isn't on the level of the likes of Khyber, Subjekt-17, and Arion, all of whom provided something fresh to the title.
In this issue, Superman and Lana work both together and separately to defeat the Insect Queen, getting a chance to demonstrate their smarts. The object Superman uses to help him win pays off something set up in the beginning of the arc, in a way that, though predictable, was still highly entertaining. The final few pages provide a touching, characterization-focused coda.
It's kind of hard to get into a book you know the writer is leaving prematurely. It's like reading a novel knowing you won't get to see the final few chapters. Wherever Busiek was going with the Lana Lang: CEO subplot, for instance, he isn't going to reach there now. You read knowing some things won't get their proper pay-off.

ClanDestine 1
-- I was trepidatious going into this book; I absolutely loved Alan Davis's original ClanDestine run, one of my favorite superhero titles of all time, and I feared that might make my expectations too high. After reading this, though, I can say that I was definitely not disappointed. This issue is more about re-introducing the title's concept and its characters and their relations than it is with plot movement. That isn't a problem at all, though, because the primary means of re-introduction is the Destine family's interactions, and that's endlessly fascinating. (I've been re-reading the original Davis run, and the pervasiveness of the character work is just amazing. Every time the family interacts, no matter what they're discussing, even when they're providing exposition, we gain new insight into their personalities and/or relationships.)
And then there's the Davis art: always amazing.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight 11
A Beautiful Sunset
-- It's strange. Each time I finish an issue, I like it, but I quickly forget everything that happened in it except the very broad strokes. That's a little problematic in a series like this one, subplot heavy and always building on itself. I don't know... The characterization is strong, the stories are good and taking things in new direction... The issues just aren't impressing themselves into my mind for whatever reason. Maybe I'm just burned out on Buffy?
(I won't be forgetting that fake-out on Twilight revealing his face, though. So Whedon, and so funny.)

Man, this set of pseudo-reviews makes me come off as easy to please...

Secret Origins of Superheroines

So like a million other people out there, I'm entering Shadowline's "Who Wants to Create a Superheroine" because, well, why not, right?

I've been checking into the contest's thread at Newsarama every once in a while, and this drew my interest. It's a post by Kristen Simons, the editor running the contest.

"I have seen a lot of synchronicity with the submissions. Lots of teenagers, single moms, and college students with the same kind of problems...how to handle their superpowers while juggling school, raising a kid, having a social life, etc. Lots of similar ways of gaining their powers, such as alien technology, a lab experiment that explodes, being in the general vicinity of another superhero who dies, and of course, inheriting it from super hero/villain parents. Lots of heaven/hell stories, as well as Greek/Roman mythology and alien invasions. TONS of ditzy socialites who have the alter ego of an intelligent super-heroine, or heroines who are famous."

This is interesting because many of these ideas are the same ones I found myself repeatedly going back to when I was trying to come up with something. That leads me to now wonder just why those ideas kept returning? What's behind the synchronicity?

Lots of teenagers, single moms, and college students - The teenagers and the college students are easy enough to explain. "Write what you know" is probably the most common piece of writing advice out there, after all. All of the contestants know what being a teenager is like, having been one themselves, and plenty of them have gone to college. Plus, if the character's older than usual college age, she's going to have a job. Unless it's one the contestant has held before, s/he won't "know" it.
I can't explain the single moms, though; that particular idea never entered my head.

with the same kind of problems...how to handle their superpowers while juggling school, raising a kid, having a social life, etc. - Well, this is kind of standard issue with superheroes these days, isn't it? To at least some extent? Spider-Man left a huge mark on the superhero sub-genre, and Buffy made it huger.

Lots of similar ways of gaining their powers, such as alien technology - Yeah, I did this one, too. Why? Clarke's Law, I guess. You can have alen technology do whatever you want. With human tech, you have to worry about that pesky "plausibility." (Well, not really; this is superheroes comics, but you get what I mean.) Also, perhaps more importantly, you have a ready explanation for why no one else has the technology.

a lab experiment that explodes - I didn't do this one. It seemed such a cliché. I guess others see it as a trope. It's an easy way to give a human superheroine powers, I guess.

being in the general vicinity of another superhero who dies - Okay, this being on the list really surprised me. I kept going back to it, but I assumed that was because I was such a huge ANIMORPHS fan as a kid. (The five original Animorphs were given their power by a dying alien.) Why's everyone else doing it? If I had to guess, it repeats for the same reason the next origin type does.

of course, inheriting it from super hero/villain parents - Yeah, I hit on this one a couple of times, too. I think a lot of the contestants, like me, aren't just interested in writing a superhero but in also writing a superhero world. They want to set their story in something like the DC or Marvel universes, rich in hidden species, alien races, other superheroes, and villains, worlds where there's a long history of these disparate elements meeting and clashing. However, many of these same contestants also want to start their superheroine's career from the beginning, from when she's still learning the ropes. Once you've set your mind to meeting both these desires, this particular origin is a natural. It gives your newbie a connection to the history of weirdness you've no doubt painstakingly worked out down to the tiny details.

Lots of heaven/hell stories, as well as Greek/Roman mythology - It's easy enough to see why these appeal. Part of the work's done for you! Yes, the contestant still provides his or her own spin. Nonetheless. Characters from myth and religion come with pre-existing histories, personalities, abilities, etc. Tying your character to myth and religion provides a whole ready made world of plot fodder. Why Greco-Roman myth in particular? Probably just because it's the most well-known.

alien invasions - Dunno. I did this, but again, I chalked it up to the Animorphs influence. People understandably find E.T.s easier to swallow than human criminals who dress up funny and give themselves code-names, perhaps?

TONS of ditzy socialites who have the alter ego of an intelligent super-heroine - This one surprises me. The premise occurred to me, but I personally didn't find it appealing. Tons, she says? Really, what's the attraction?

or heroines who are famous. - Isn't this standard issue these days, too? How many superheroes aren't famous?

What's Omni-fi??

Kurt Busiek, from an interview before his SUPERMAN run began, listing some of the stuff that'd be showing up:
New villains. Returning villains. A new role for Lana Lang. Pericles Hazard. Camelot Falls. Outer space. Paragon. New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal. Friends from the past, menaces buried for decades, catalysts in the present from decades ago. Jimmy Olsen's Blues. Krypto. The problem of Smallville. The Science Police. The Galactic Golem. The strangest object in the universe. When he was a boy. A day that may or may not ever happen. Pete Ross's post-White House career. Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen. The bubble city of Metropolis. The Envoy. Maxima. Amalak. The secrets of Lexcorp. Subjekt-17. A shattered Earth. Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons. Brainiac. Khyber. Omni-fi. Superman's true home. Romance, action, mystery, suspense, science fiction, sorcery, and a pie in the face.

After the recent news, reading this list genuinely saddens me now. For every one of those things that's showed up, there's one that didn't get a chance to. So, so much cool stuff, now indefinitely off the pipeline.

For fun, I'm going to go through that list, item by item, to see how many have shown up:

A new role for Lana Lang- Yes, we've seen that.

Pericles Hazard- He was Perseus Hazard by the time he showed up. Yes.

Camelot Falls- Yes, and it was brill.

Outer space- Yes.

Paragon- No.

New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal- No, unfortunately. Sounds like it'd have been fun.

Friends from the past- Yeah, I guess Callie Llewellyn counts.

menaces buried for decades- Zod's sunstone ship. Yes.

catalysts in the present from decades ago- I'm not too sure what this means. But between all the decades-spanning happenings in "Camelot Falls" and "Up, Up, and Away", probably yes.

Jimmy Olsen's Blues- Wellll, we did see him pretty down in "Up, Up, and Away". Is that what this is? Maybe.

Krypto- Yes.

The problem of Smallville- No. Again, sounds fun.

The Science Police- Yes.

The Galactic Golem- No.

The strangest object in the universe- Maybe there were further plans for the Silver Twist? It had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in "The Third Kryptonian". No.

When he was a boy- No. Maybe this would have been in the scrapped Krypto story.

A day that may or may not ever happen- The future Arion foretold would count. Let's say yes.

Pete Ross's post-White House career- Mentioned, but not seen yet.

Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen- No and no. I wonder if the former ended up being replaced by the Young Gods.

The bubble city of Metropolis- Hmm, in Arion's future I think it was said Metropolis floated above Earth before disaster struck. Is that what this is? Maybe.

The Envoy- Nope.

Maxima- No.

Amalak- Yes.

The secrets of Lexcorp- Yeah, I guess we got some of that.

Subjekt-17- Yes.

A shattered Earth- Yes.

Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons- Aagh, this would have been so cool. Alas, no.

Brainiac- No.

Khyber- Yes.

Omni-fi- No.

Superman's true home- This might have been a reference to the final scene in "Up, Up, and Away", though I'm leaning towards no.

a pie in the face- Yes, in what was a great moment.

So at least the following still haven't appeared: Paragon. New realms to conquer for a certain bald-headed master criminal. The problem of Smallville. The Galactic Golem. The strangest object in the universe. When he was a boy. Pete Ross's post-White House career. Time-traveling tourists and gorilla underclassmen. The Envoy. Maxima. Two new Metropolis-based heroes, for very different reasons. Braniac. Omni-fi.

I realize Busiek's run still has four issue to go (five counting the lost Krypto tale), but what are the chances they'll cover every single one of those? Like I said, saddening.

So That's Why He Was Crying in the Countdown Teaser

It's an oversized spectacular blowout action anniversary issue, as Kurt Busiek, gearing up for his insanely huge next project, brings his Superman run to a close!
So begins the solicitation for the April issue of SUPERMAN (issue 675).

Well, damn. Damn it. This is sad news for Superman readers of good taste everywhere. "Camelot Falls" was one of the best superhero stories I'd read in a long time. I was hoping that, now that the book has a quality regular artist again (Renato Guedes), it'd be returning to those levels of high entertainment, but apparently it's not to be. From reading Busiek's comments in interviews and on message boards, I get the impression he still had tons of stories idea, too. What a shame. I want to find out who/what Omni-fi and the Envoy are, dammit! Dare I hope it's a temporary leave, to give him time to finish whatever this upcoming Mystery Project is?

Speaking of which, what *is* the Mystery Project? The hot rumor is that it's DC's third weekly series, the one after COUNTDOWN. Supposedly, it will star Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and be drawn by Mark Bagley. Also supposedly, each issue will contain 14-16 pages of that story, filling out the rest of the issue with a Fabian Niceiza-written backup.

I'm trying to figure out how likely that is. I swear that the Mystery Project was described as an ongoing series at one point, early on. That doesn't disprove anything, though. The project could have changed since then, and it could still morph into an ongoing after the weekly is over.

In fact, we know that it's changed in some way since it was first announced; Busiek's said as much. He said it's gotten bigger and more complex, and turning into a weekly, even a finite one, could qualify as that. It was also held back to begin a year after originally planned. If it was tranformed into DC's third weekly series, then we have a perfect explanation for such a delay. (It also tells us it wasn't originally going to be a weekly series because there's no way anyone would have thought it was a good idea to run it alongside COUNTDOWN.)

I keep thinking back to how Busiek said he didn't think DC would go for the book but pitched it anyway just in case. What kind of book could that be? That leads me to believe it's very unconventional in some way. Now, a series about Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman doesn't sound particularly unconventional (it being a weekly doesn't factor in; whether or not it is one now, it wasn't one at that point), but there could be something unusual about the specific plot, like one where the three spend almost all the time in their civilian IDs, only more commercial than that.

Would Busiek have the time to write 14-16 pages a week? That's 56 pages per month minimum, or just over 2 1/2 issues. With him off SUPERMAN, he only has the sporadically-released ASTRO CITY and the Mystery Project on his plate (that we know of, at least). If he is doing the third weekly, he'd have enough time.

We actually know for a fact that Mark Bagley is attached to the Mystery Project as penciler. Would he have enough time? Now, he certainly can't draw two and one half issues a month. I don't know what the highest number of issues of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN he drew in one year was, but I know it was far under 30! Could he have gotten a huge headstart? In that linked interview from earlier this week, he says he's still finishing up Marvel work and has only finished a couple of pages of the Mystery Project, while Dan DiDio has said the third weekly begins in June. Would that be enough of a headstart? Impossible to say without knowledge of how long the third weekly is. It's possible, though.

Whoever's doing the third weekly, I feel sorry for them. Thanks to the negative reaction towards COUNTDOWN, there's already a lot of ill will towards its successor. No matter how good it is, people are going to be carping.

One More Daze

You can probably find a million reactions to One More Day on the Internet by now. If you're only to check one of them out, make it this one:



Make sure your speakers are on so you can hear the music. It's so much less without it.

What's great about this is there's something in it for everyone. If you hated One More Day, you can pump your fist and cheer him on. If you loved it or simply don't care, you can laugh at... well, really.

Other One More Day-related items I feel like talking about:

Very successful (and talented, in my opinion) sci-fi/fantasy writer George R. R. Martin has weighed in on the story.
"Retconning sucks. Leave the goddamned continuity ALONE, for chrissakes. What happened, happened. Take an old character in a new direction, fine, cool, but don't go back and mess around with the character's past. It's a breach of trust with your audience, as I see it. The DC universe has never really recovered from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, despite all the Crises that have followed, and I think the Marvel universe, and Spidey in particular, will be a long time recovering from this decision. So that's my two cents. In a nutshell: boo, hiss, shame on you, Marvel. If I had a rotten tomato, I would throw it."
What I find fascinating about his comments is that this is the first time I've seen a professional writer, in any medium, come down so strongly in support of continuity (not that it's a topic that comes up much, admittedly). Even those who talk about it favorably and consider it important will also stress that you shouldn't let it become a straitjacket or feel compelled to adhere *too* closely. Martin, though, describes it as practically sancrosact, something whose integrity is essential to good storytelling. "What happened, happened." I can't recall any other writer ever expressing this opinion, comic book writers included. Not a single one. Mark Gruenwald might have, but that's a guess based solely on his reputation as continuity's champion.

The following was written by a fairly popular writer back in January of last year, lloonngg before anyone knew what would happen in One More Day:
"I've kind of been wondering if that's their ultimate solution to the
Spider-marriage -- deliberately break so many concepts that when the
Big Reset comes, people welcome it, and if the marriage is dissolved
along the way, it'll be seen as a side effect rather than as the true
purpose.
"I have no insider knowledge on any of this, but I've used a similar
principle from time to time..."
Given where this comment was made, I won't mention who the author is. While the place on the web s/he wrote it is perfectly accessable to everyone, there's no reason to believe s/he expected it to be seen by comics fandom at large. (Not that it will be just because it's quoted here. It's just that you never know who'll accidentally stumbles in through some search word or other.) S/he most likely wouldn't care if comic fandom at large did see it, but just in case...
At first, I wondered if what this comment guesses at came true... in which case Marvel failed miserably. However, on second thought, it's probably not the case. My understanding is Joe Quesada has been pretty public about his preference for a single Spider-Man, which he wouldn't have been if he was going for this sort of misdirection.

Good writers can write stories about a gay Spider-Man

Like I've said before, I'm not a Spider-Man fan. I have no opinion on whether or not he should be married. That said, every time I peak in on the Internet debates, the dishonest arguments the "married Spidey" side repeatedly spout are enough to make me want to start cheering on the single Spider-Man side.

"Good writers can write good stories about a married Spider-Man." Any time this debate rears its head, some variation of that sentence gets trotted out, accompanied by some examples of good married Spider-Man stories. Good writers can do that? No, really? Do these people honestly not see how this line of reasoning proves absolutely nothing? Considering how long Spider-Man's been around, there's probably been some good Spider-Man stories in which he didn't have his powers. There's probably been some good Spider-Man stories where he didn't fight any supervillains. By the Spider-marriage proponents' logic, these stories prove he should be powerless and not fight supervillains in most of his comics, right? *Any* kind of story can be good if the writing's good enough. To prove Spider-Man should be married, it isn't enough to prove good stories can still be told. You have to prove that status quo provides a better springboard for good stories than the other status quo. And yeah, some pro-Spider-marriage people do make arguments for that, but there are plenty who don't bother. It's as if they see the marriage as the default state and the onus is on others to prove it's unworkable. Small wonder so many on the pro side mention that they first became fans when he was already married, then.

Also, people on the single Spider-Man side are just trying to live out their fantasies of being a swingin' bachelo? Oh, c'mon! Right, because there's no way being married to this


could be a fantasy, huh? Or, for the fans who are into men, being married to this?

Really, it doesn't reflect well on your position if you have to resort to attacking the people on the other side rather than their arguments. That's something the single Spider-Man proponents have done a much better job of avoiding, I've noticed. They're much less likely to make personal attacks.

Also: "One More Day". I'm hoping that'll get this site more hits.

Thoughts on January 9's Comics

Superman 672
Insect Queen, Part 2
Gossamer Wings
--Peter Vale's art pales in comparison to Pacheco's, but it's an improvement on Leonardi's. He does a pretty good job with the insectoids and hive architecture, but his people have this very generic quality. I remember Kurt Busiek once saying on Usenet that Tony Stark without facial hair looks very generic, more like the third person from the left in a crowd scene than the main character. Well, most of Vale's character have that problem; they look like that third person from the left. This really stood out to me in the scene where Lana meets the three LexCorp technicians. They've been given different styles and colors of hair, and one's got a beard, but still... there's this genericness. Yeah, they're very minor characters who only have a few line, but surely that's all the more reason they should look distinctive. At least if Lana Lang looks like she belongs in a crowd scene, she's still the Lana Lang, you know?

The writing also suffers in comparison to Camelot Falls, one of the best superhero yarns I'd read in a long time. In that arc, there was this sense that there was this whole world out there, filled with unusual and extraordinary things and happenings. At first, we got Intergang, in cahoots with a mysterious not-Darkseid benefactor, as well as the introduction of the Science Police and the subplot of their secret agenda, and then we moved on to Subjekt-17, which segued into Arion and his warning, which brought with it an entire kickin' two-part alternate reality tale, and then the Arion plot moved forward parallel to Subjekt's, and along the way we get the Prankster better than ever and Squad K and, oh god, the New Gods, and more, and all of it weaving in and out of Superman's life and occasionally intersecting... It formed an amazing whole. It was a world every bit as rainbow and energetic as Superman's should be. I realize that, as a ten-parter, it could fit much, much more into it than the current three-part story. Still, the Insect Queen arc, in comparison, is just so... basic. It's A-plot of alien villain wanting to subjugate Earth and B-plot of something going on with a supporting character, and nothing else. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing... there's nothing especially right with it, either. Does that make sense?

I did enjoy this issue's story. The Insect Queen and her minions are interesting, and both cliffhangers have me eager to see what happens next. I guess it's not so much the story that's my problem, as the way it's being carried along such a worn path. I hope the delays the book's been suffering haven't made Busiek gunshy about the kind of intricate plot-juggling he did in Camelot Falls.

Buffy Season Eight 10
Anywhere but Here
-- Maybe I'm finally getting used to seeing the Buffy characters in a different medium, maybe the writing's gotten genuinely better, but for whatever reason this was the first issue that felt as on form as the series at its best. In the previous issues, it felt more like someone was writing a good Buffy imitation than like someone was writing good Buffy, like the writing was imitating Whedon's style and consequently not as effective because this person who wasn't Whedon wasn't writing from his own gut but Joss Whedon's. And I felt this way about all the issues, including Whedon's own.

Well, all of that -- I felt none of it here. Good dialogue, good jokes, neat ideas, and some very interesting revelations about our heroes. Season Eight finally feels like its going somewhere truly worth going, not merely continuing Buffy for the sake of its continuance. Before this issue, the story of these characters was continuing. Now it's progressing as well.

The artist for this issue, Cliff Richardson, was apparently a longtime penciller for Dark Horse's previous Buffy series. In retrospect, that's not too surprising because he just nailed the character likenesses here.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Block Dossier
-- I've finally managed to work through the beat prose section (which actually gets significantly easier to decipher after the first two chapters), so now I can write this.

Make no mistake, this book is "continuity porn." Much more ambitious and expansive than most works under that label but still continuity porn. Only where the point of of a Marvel comic called that would be to reference and draw connections to other Marvel comics, here the purpose is to reference and connect all of fiction, from all media and all genres. And it does a deft job of that, admittedly. Still, I read stories to get *stories*. Volume One of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, that had a story, one that made numerous references and connections along the way. This, in contrast, is a list of references and connections that happens to tell a story along the way, and whatt story there is seems more designed to make the maximum number of references possible than to be good and enjoyable in its own right.

It's an odd book in that I would never recommend purchasing it to anyone (save someone who really loves both the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and sourcebooks, in which case this is made for you) but would recommend reading at least once. Moore and O'Neill take dips into various styles of prose and storytelling throughout the book, and that's interesting to see even if those sections never cohere into much of a plot.

Thoughts on 12-28's Comics

Well, I've finally Made It. This blog got its first pervert hit a few days back; someone found their way here by Googling for "wonder woman the superhero and a normal person having sex comic" (without the quotation marks). An auspicious day to be sure.

This site doesn't turn up until the second page of search results, so this person must have been searching rather dilligently.

***

The Brave and the Bold 9
Changing Times
-- Waid and Perez diverge a bit from the usual format and deliver three short team-up stories instead of the usual one. This book, with its focus on "What happens next?" plot progression and sci-fi/fantasy flash (not a perjorative!), all within the framework of only one issue per team-up, is pretty light on character drama under even normal circumstances. Here, that's even more the case, as we get three even-shorter-than-usual stories.

It's all good, though. This book continues to be an absolute blast, telling the kind of balls-to-the-wall imaginative stories that only superhero fiction can tell. Waid has a talent for taking what would normally be a pretty straightforward, boilerplate story and peppering it with clever dialogue, a few funny jokes, and a few unconventional twists that alter the journey if not the destination; thereby turning it into something more. Perez's art has a similar strength, and what would come off as a generic genre staple (e.g. mummies) is captured so perfectly that it becomes fresh and wondrous all over again. And given the page limitations, it's impressive that Waid manages to pack in as much characterization as he does.

The Metal Men and Dial H for Hero: What I said about Waid taking what should be a boilerplate story and turning it into something more? That definitely applies to this one. We have the clichéd "We loved you the way you were; you didn't have to change" plot that's probably appeared in dozens of Saturday morning cartoons, but Waid sprinkles in bits like the cesium line (which even someone as scientifically ignorant as me has been waiting for someone to point out to Mercury), and the final product's just a delight.

Blackhawk and the Boy Commandos: Before reading this story, I didn't care much for the Blackhawks and knew next to nothing about the Boy Commandos, and I can't say my interest in either has increased. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this quite a bit, and both groups were fun here.

Did anyone else think that one page where Brooklyn escapes was likely either a case of miscommunication between writer and penciller or of post-art script alteration? According to the word balloons, Brooklyn jammed the Orb's staff in to create a diversion, but looking only at the art, it certainly looks like he just ran away and it was the mummy who jammed the staff in to catch him! If it was a last minute change, maybe someone realized that in the earlier version the mummies have technically still won because they still have the Orb... and that *was* their goal.

The Atom and Hawkman: Out of all three, this pairing feels most like it could have supported a full issue-length story. Right from page one, with the Atom's jealousy over Carter Hall being both an intellectual and incredibly buff, you get the feeling there's a lot that could be explored in these two's interactions. Throw in Hawkman's former close association with Ray Palmer on top of it all, and there's definitely story potential here.

It's a fun story. Waid excellently utilizes the Atom's narration style from his own book, and we get a decent sense of who both these people are. That said, it makes no sense that the bio-belt and the Nth metal would screw each other up when the same thing never happened when Ray was wearing it (and given Hawkman's total surprise, I think it's safe to say it was indeed a new experience).

Batman 672
Space Medicine
-- I didn't used to understand why Grant Morrison has a reputation for confusing stories. I haven't read what I understand to be his trippier works, but people have called his mainstream superhero work confusing, too, and that I didn't get. No longer.

This issue is, quite frankly, incomprehensible. I dare anyone to make sense out of the last several pages. Everything's perfectly straightforward up until the false Batman shoots Gordon, at which point things turn lopsided.

*However*, I'm pretty sure confusion's the point and we're not supposed to understand those final pages yet. In any case, I want to read the next issue to find out just what the heck is going on, so the issue did it's job.

As for all those pages preceding the gunshot... I really liked the introductory sequence, which is delightfully cryptic. The Bruce Wayne-Jezebel Jet subplot, on the other hand, isn't working for me, and its scene this issue highlighted why. Bruce is explaining to Alfred how deeply smitten he is, listing the reasons why, and you realize almost everything he says is new information to the reader. The relationship is being developed almost entirely off-panel, which makes it hard to care about it or her.

The Flash 235
The Wild Wests, Part 5: Headlong
and
The Fast Life, Part 3 of 4
-- Waid's pilot run had a slow start, but it quickly improved, so that by now I'm in for the long haul... or I would be if he wasn't leaving in one issue. The Flash family setup he's created definitely has running legs, I think (ouch).

The way being a parent has affected Wally is... well, I can't say realistic because I haven't met many new parents, but it's certainly engaging. Waid's never been afraid to make his characters jerks from time to time, when it's logical, and I appreciate that. And given all the emphasis in so many other superhero comics on how death and pain are a superhero's constant companion, I found Wally's agreement to stop protecting his children so much very refreshing.

As for the back-up story, it's a hoot and a half. The jokes in these back-ups deviate a bit from Waid's usual style, which can probably be chalked to co-writer John Rogers. Waid's humor tends to derive from the situations the characters find themselves in or from put-downs by arrogant geniuses. The jokes here are more about word play and odd turns of phrase. Or I'm talking out of my ass; that's a possibility, too. The twist at story's end was neat.

Given that Waid's leaving so soon, I guess it's unlikely we'll see the scene where the Batman costume comes springing out of the Flash's ring. Nuts, because that might have been my favorite part of the entire All-Flash issue. Dare I hope the planned story gets moved to The Brave and the Bold?