A Puissant Liter of Mongoose Blood

Thor Vs. Wonder Woman

2008-03-03T00:51:00.003-08:00

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

2008-03-02T04:23:00.006-08:00

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

2008-02-29T00:55:00.008-08:00

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

2008-02-29T00:37:00.006-08:00

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

2008-02-26T19:56:00.010-08:00

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

2008-02-20T00:18:00.006-08:00

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

2008-01-22T22:34:00.000-08:00

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??

2008-01-22T02:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-20T16:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-12T21:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

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?

Hopping on the Bandwagon

2007-05-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'll ask the important question:

When's John Byrne buying his copy?

I mean, this one's a character he actually likes.

(Someday, somone's going to inform me that image is edited and not his real studio, thereby ruining it for me. Until then, I'll believe what I want.)

The Other Spider-Clones

2007-05-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've never been much of a Spider-Man fan. When I was a kid, I remember excitedly playing the Game Boy game and pouring through the random issue here and there, hungrily learning about his world, but I was just a kid then. At that age, if it involved superheroes, I automatically loved it, and Spider-Man was conveniently available, ubiquitous as he was and is.

Since then, however, my interest in the character has been outstripped by my interest in others. In a sense, it's waned. These days, I have no particular interest in the guy. Whatever interest I do have comes stems solely my love for superheroes in general.

And I think I've figured out why. And it's sorta ironic. In the comics, Spider-Man's plagued by unpopularity, but I think in the real world he's a victim of his popularity.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's idea of an everyman superhero who struggles with relateable problems was such a good one that it's been copied. And copied and copied and copied. These days, relateable superheroes who are like you and me are the norm, not the exception.

The problem is, that was Spider-Man's defining trait, his schtick. But it can't he his schtick if everyone else is doing it, too. And while all those characters who follow in his footsteps having something else going for them as well ("S/he's an everyman AND s/he has this or that gimmick..."), Spider-Man wasn't designed that way. He didn't need to be because at the time the relateability thing was unique. But now it's commonplace, making him just some generic superhero. Forget the Clone Saga, these imitators are the clones that really hurt the character.

Or at least that's my perspective, as someone who admittedly hasn't read too many Spider-Man comics.

Then again, I've heard people use the same argument for why Superman is uninteresting. Supposedly, having been the first superhero, he's just a superhero, while everyone else takes the superhero concept and adds something on top of it. Yet, I like Superman just fine. So who knows?

Flipping Through Superman 662

2007-05-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Oh god, this issue... wow! This comic's back to being my favorite current superhero title. It lost its spot during the small spate of issues between this one and the end of Book 1 of Camelot Falls, but it's back in full swing as of this Wednesday. (Those issues weren't bad by any means, just not up to the same standards as the rest of the current run.) And that's something that makes me happy because this title at the top of its game is very, very enjoyable indeed.

The cover for this issue is very fitting, as this is a "Superman contemplates" issue. In fact, there's only a little action or danger in it. Not that I'm complaining, though, because Busiek handles Superman's inner thoughts very well. The Man of Steel comes off as thoughtful and human.

And this is a dense read too, in a good way. While there's not a lot of forward movement on the plots, at least as defined by "stuff" and events happening to the characters, there's still a lot going on. Looking back, I'm surprised how short (in page count) many of the scenes were because so much story is packed in them.

1: I like how the first caption has a corner shaped like the S-shield, even if it was a little weird, given that not only is it not Superman's thoughts, Superman's nowhere in the scene. Who cares, though; it looked cool.

I think ALL STAR SUPERMAN did something similar on the first caption of its first issue (not that it uses many captions), but it wasn't as prettily designed.

2: Subjekt-17 is looking more white than when we last saw him. I wonder if it's just an art thing or if all his coloration was supposed to be bruising and other injuries from his years of being experimented on, injuries that he's now completely healed of.

I'm curious as to what direction this character is going in. When we last saw him, he wanted to kill humanity because of how much it hurt him; what will he want now?

In addition to updating us on Subjekt's status, this scene also dovetails with the rest of the issue. The way even these isolated Tibetans love Superman ties in with how, as Lois Lane brings up, he's so much a part of the life and culture of DC Earth.

3: I like Power Girl's costume better without the lateral seams.

As far as I can tell with the help of an online Kryptonese alphabet key, the writing on Superman's screens on this page and the next aren't actual words but just there to look cool. Maybe I'm wrong.

The Auctioneer's appraisers didn't have those crystals sticking out of them, did they? That's a nice touch, implying that Superman incorporated sunstone tech into it when he salvaged it so that his computers could remotely control it or whatever.

Interesting that it's just "The Weight of the World," not "Camelot Falls, Part X: The Weight of the World." Up, Up, and Away and Back in Action prefaced the individual issue titles with the arc names.

I suppose this way suits this storyline better. "Camelot Falls" isn't an arc in the same way those stories were. It's not so much the A-plot but the B-plot in the background while Superman is dealing with various A-plots. Regular serial storytelling rather than the more specific arc storytelling.

4: I like that Krypto has a regular doggie bowl, and it even has his name on it in English. Not Kryptonese but English. Even here at the alien Fortress, he carries Clark Kent inside him.

5: I wonder if this Prankster panel was written as a reference to the Prankster spotlight issue, or if this was written first and the Prankster story shaped to include this scene.

6 & 7: When I saw this, I thought for a moment that we were about to get more story taking place in the future Arion showed. The prospect excited me; it was an interesting future.

9: "Dice-K blanks Monarchs 4-0." Ah, a sports reference, something that would leave me helpless but for the grace of Google. Wikipedia tells me he's a Red Sox pitcher. I still don't know what "blanks" means, of course, though I can guess from context.

It was mentioned in an issue of "Up, Up, and Away" that the Metropolis Monarchs are terrible, too.

11: I like Superman's acknowledgment of Jimmy's unwavering support of him. I like small depth-adding details like that.

12: Zatanna's wardrobe choice here is just awkward. I mean, she has a guest over. I think it's from the whole SEVEN SOLDIERS mega-miniseries.

I notice that her hair is solid black rather than the black with grey/blue highlights that Pacheco normally uses for black hair. Did Ryan Sook draw it that way in SEVEN SOLDIERS: ZATANNA?

13: Hey, it's the ARROWMSMITH font! Or something close to it. In Zatanna's backwards spell. In that mini-series (also by Busiek and Pacheco), a similar balloon and lettering was used when spells were verbally cast.

According to Zatanna's 52 bio, Arion is her ancestor. It's a little odd that she doesn't bring that up. Then again, when a man's that old, who isn't his descendant?

15: I'm not clear on whether Sirocco stopped the bullets with that wind-wall thing of his or if he literally caught them à la the Flash.

17: Most people who've heard the phrase "Al-Dabaran" probably know it as the star by that name. What's less well-known is that it's also the name of a seasonal wind that blows through Iraq. Sirocco's usage was probably more of a reference to the second.

18: I liked how Sirocco had a spiel for his fabricated origin all worked out, fancy phrasing and all. "An ifrit of air and might." C'mon Sirocco, people don't just make up phrases like that off the top of their head in the middle of a sentence!

Also, his fake origin is cool enough that part of me wishes it were true.

20: I notice that it's not just Superman's cape that's drifting freely in the water, his hair is as well. Nice touch.

I really like scenes like this, where a superhero's just casually being super. There's a real sense of wonder about that kind of juxtaposition.

Why wouldn't he take a walk at the bottom of the ocean, after all? Shades of SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY.

21: I wonder if the lines Lois is reading are from an actual Three Nitwits story. I know they were scientific inventors in some of their stories.

I think this scene squarely places this issue after the Last Son arc in ACTION COMICS. I'm not reading that book, but I flipped through the newest issue of the arc and think there was a scene where Superman learns Chris's origin. He knows that Chris is from the Zone here, so this takes place after that. And since multiple Zone criminals are loose on Earth by the end of that issue, and they clearly aren't so here...

Oh, and I guess the Jupiter reference means Chris still has his powers. Or does it? Would a Kryptonian kid need naps? It's not impossible.

One of these days, I'll muster the ambition to figure out how to perform the lofty, awe-inspiring task of making a text cut so that these long entries won't hog the screen.

New Earth, New Continuity. Old Confusions, Old Delusions

2007-04-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

I couldn't read when the Crisis on Infinite Earths happened. In fact, I'm not sure I had even been born yet. All my knowledge of its aftermath, how continuity was uprooted and finally settled back into place, is indirect.

But what I hear is that it was a complete mess. It was confusing and nobody could make sense of what's what. Today, people are saying the same mistakes are being made with DC's newest version of continuity, the whole New Earth thing.

Well, I am directly witnessing how DC's handling a new continuity this time. And you know what I've concluded? If the continuity changes growing out of the first Crisis were handled the same way as the ones from the newer one are, it's not DC who's made their continuity confusing. It's the fans who make major continuity changes confusing. Them and their weird inability to let go of the old continuity and treat the new one as a separate entity. If the changes were handled the same way, because it's possible there are key differences. Given that the complaints about both Crises seem to be of a similar nature though, I have my doubts.

I keep hearing people making non-sensical complaints that Superman's history is now "confusing." Comparison are made to Donna Troy and Hawkman. What are they talking about? I'm sorry, but there's a difference between confusing and unknown. Not knowing New Earth Superman's history except in the broad strokes makes his history (partly) unknown. I fail to see how it makes it confusing. What is there to confuse it with?

Did New Earth Superman know a Supergirl who was protoplasmic organism? Who cares? Well, no, I can understand why someone would care. It affects much of the character's history, and as fans we're interested in that sort of stuff. Someone who's as much of a trivia hound as myself can't cast stones over that. But not knowing how Superman first met Metallo isn't confusing by any definition of the word.

In fact, the moment information like that is confusing, the writing's failed. Because a new reader won't know if Superman ever met a protoplasmic Supergirl. Will s/he even know a protoplasmic Supergirl once existed? And if a book can't attract new readers, then it might as well give up.

This is hardly rocket scientist. We were all new fans once. Having no idea about the characters' histories didn't keep us from becoming fans sans new. We enjoy newly-created characters despite not knowing their histories at first. "Look, the first issue of that new Astro City book is about some guy named Samaratin. Wait, what? It stars in media res, in the middle of his crimefighting career? Is this Busiek guy crazy? How can we enjoy his story if we don't know his history?"

And we also enjoy works like ALL STAR SUPERMAN, where we don't have any specifics on Superman's past. Did that Man of Steel ever fight Bizarro in the past? We didn't know until the latest issue, where there was a mention of past bouts. Until then, zilch information. And no one minded.

Wait, I have no idea what this Superman's first encounter with Mongul was like! How am I expected to enjoy this story that has nothing to do with Mongul?

This is so obvious that I suspect it's not any real "confusion" that's bothering the people complaining. They're not confused, they're unhappy that the previous continuity no longer applies. (And as a trivia-hound, I completely understand that.) But they understand that's not a criticism with any objective weight. It's just a matter of taste, so they twist it, whether conciously or un-, into something about "confusion."

I think there is a place for genuine complaints about confusion, such as when two books offer contradictory New Earth backstory for a character. But the complaints I keep seeing aren't of that color; the main issue is that the backstory's simply as yet unrevealed.

So now I wonder if Hawkman's continuity post-Crisis continuity ever really was that confusing. Or were the fans simply unwilling to separate it from the old one?

Note 1: The image, from the first issue of the Busiek/Pacheco Superman run, I got from www.newsarama.com.

Note 2: If Blogger allowed repeating a tag within one entry, this one would deserve two.

Not An Entry

2007-04-15T02:55:00.000-07:00

Me so glad so many people on Internet use bizarro-speak to review oldest All Star Superman. Doing so am so original and creative. Small number people will think to do so.

The image is from DC's website, at www.dccomics.com.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, WOW!

2007-04-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I somehow got to thinking about the Japanese Spider-Man live action show I heard about some years back. Which got me to thinking that I've never seen so much as a clip of it before. Well, I thought, aren't curious oddities like this the lifeblood of YouTube?

Sure enough:

The face of the actor who plays Spider-Man actually looks a lot like how I'd picture the face of Peter Parker if he were Japanese. Something about the eyebrows, maybe? Or at least the similarity's there when he's wearing his motorcyclist's helmet. When it's off (as can be seen in other clips from the show on YouTube), not so much.

Also:

That's apparently an interview with Stan Lee from the DVD collection of the show.

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I have to wonder what parts are him being honest and what parts are him being diplomatic.

I especially like his reaction when the off-screen lady tells him, in reaction to his question about what the tiny rocket was, "That's the Spider-Man's car." Look at his face as he takes it in.

John Byrne once related an amusing anecdote about the show on one of the incarnations of his infamous message board. He was visiting the Marvel offices at the same time as some of the Japanese folks behind the show. They showed him either an image or clip of their stuntman in the Spider-Man costume climbing the side of a really tall building. It wasn't a cinematic trick; the stuntman was really climbing.

Not noticing anything along the lines of safety nets or a bungee cord, Byrne asked one of the Japanese men, "What happens if the stuntman falls?" The man looked at him as if he were an idiot and replied, "Then he dies."

Wright-Sized Pull List, 3-28 & 4-4

2007-04-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Updates will be scarce for a while as I work on getting my life back in order.
***
Batman 664
Three Ghosts of Batman
-- Probably my favorite issue of Morrison's BATMAN run yet. I didn't enjoy the Batman and Son arc much -- the inter-family dynamics never surpassed the two-dimensional, it felt to me -- but this was really fun. It's nothing breathtakingly innovative or anything, just a very well-written, strong superhero story. There's nothing at all bad about "just" being that, though.

This felt like Morrison giving his ALL-STAR SUPERMAN treatment to Batman. There was that sense of the story telling us, "This is what I, Grant Morrison, see as Batman being all about," the sense of him checklisting -- and I'm not attaching any criticism to that word -- through the elements that he sees as being definitive Batman.

Even the art seemed better somehow. I've never been much of a fan of either Kubert brother, but this issue clicked for me. That shot of Batman against the neon ads oozed presence.

I'm a little worried about the whole serial-killer-dressed-as-Batman plot. There's the danger of going down the road of cliché there, what with the hero who uncovers serial killings that are being covered up because the killer has pals in high places. No, who I am I kidding? I'm not really worried. After getting so much enjoyment out of this issue, I'm in far too optimistic a mood for that.

One thing..why is the title of this issue what it is? There's the musclehead disguised as Batman, one, and the actual Batman, two... Who's number three?

Fables 59
Burning Questions
-- Argh, my question wasn't picked! Blast it, how can I sleep at night until I know what Beauty's reaction was to finding out Beast had gained control over his transformations!

I'm surprised this issue was enjoyable as it was. I've never associated Willingham's writing with rip-roaring humor. There are amusing jokes throughout FABLES, but I can't recall anything "ha-ha" funny. And the same goes for the stories here really, but it still works. It's a charming "day-in-the-life" affair, giving us some rare glimpses of the normal activities of the characters when they're, for once, not busy keeping their heads above the water. It's not something we see too much of, which is what makes it such a treat.

And the formerly-giant pigs were absolutely adorable.

Gargoyles 3
Clan-Building, Chapter 3: Invitation Only
-- With this issue, we get our first genuinely new story. It's good stuff. It's nice to see Weisman is taking advantage of the comic book medium (e.g. the first page being a splash of the invitation) instead of simply writing TV-episodes-divided-into-panels.

We see a lot of story stands here, not just an A plot and B plot, but all the way to an E plot or something. I'm fan of that sort of diversity, so I enjoyed it.

One of the things I like about the show is that one had no idea what would happen next. Anything and everything was up for grabs, nothing could be taken for granted. From what we see in this issue, it looks like the comic is continuing in that fine tradition.

What does Thailog want? Why does Demona want that crystal? How will the dinner party go? What's Mr. Hacker's real agenda? Who knows! I have no idea, and isn't that great.

Buffy Season Eight 2
The Long Way Home, Part Two
-- As I thought, now that the first issue's set-up is out of the way, the quality spikes up, here in Issue 2.

Given that Andrew never seemed to be more than a well-intentioned-but-ineffective twit on the show, I'm finding it a little bizarre that they'd make him a slayer instructor. What exactly qualifies him for such a task? It did make for a pretty funny scene, though.

I like that, like the show, despite being called BUFFY, this comic is halfway to having a true ensemble cast. We got nice moments with various main characters this issue. The spread focus keeps things fresh.

And the thrill of seeing Whedon telling Buffy stories without the constraint of a SFX budget hasn't died out.

Jack of Fables 9
Jack of Hearts, Part Three: Luck Be a Lady
-- At this point, I'm most interested in what's going on with Mr. Revise and the Pages. The hints about their past and their current goals definitely upped my curiosity and, consequently, my interest. Was that a map of some sort of Homelands counterpart to America? Hmmm.

It's interesting how Revise actually treasts Melissa with something other than mild contempt. Looks like the dynamics over at Golden Boughs aren't as simple as they first appeared.

The parts of the issue about Jack are good, too. Fun. I've said in the past that I think Jack's narration captions are somewhat overdone, but I didn't feel that way this time. For whatever reason, this time around they felt just right.

Still not a big fan of Gary, though. While the way Tony Akins draws the character's "friends" makes for terrific visuals, Gary himself doesn't interest me much. In fact, I'm kind of hoping he won't be a permanent sidekick; his abilities are helping Jack out a whole lot, while I want to see more of Jack worming his way out of nasty situations via his base cunning instead.

Superman 661
Dangerous Lady
-- There seemed to be a disconnect between this issue's art and writing in a way I can't quite put down. The body language and facial expressions of the characters weren't... specific enough? Does that make an ounce of sense?

The real highlight here is the interactions between Lois, Clark/Superman, and Diana/Wonder Woman. There's something very... convincing about it all.

I can't say the story's villain did a great deal for me. I don't find myself eager for her comeback, at least. Still, she serves her purpose well enough, and it's not like she was designed to be someone with staying power instead of a one-timer (or at least I don't think she was).

Also, the way her defeat was illustrated was lacking, in my opinion. The art for those panels conveyed very little in the way of energy or drama.

Overall, this was a decent issue, though below the standards of the rest of Busiek's run so far. (In fairness, this issue was co-plotted.)

A Modnar Noitseuq!

2007-03-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

When Zatanna speaks backwards, is the backwards phrase pronounced the way it's spelled or pronounced like the original phrase in reverse? For example, when she says, "Nialliv nrut otni a ekans!", would the e in "ekans" be pronounced or would it be silent because "snake"'s e is silent?

Possibility B seems more logical (yeah, yeah, "It's magic"), but A is more interesting, at least to my mind.

Nif

Roberts-Sized Pull List, 3-21

2007-03-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

I'm on spring break right now. If my behavior during winter break is any indication, under normal cirumstances I'd be too busy doing other things to update this blog (which I can do anywhere, including back at the university, after all). However, as it happens, I sprained my ankle yesterday, on the *very first day I returned*. So it looks like I'll be working the typing skills after all.

I only made one purchase at the comic shop last week.
***
The Brave and the Bold 2
The Lords of Luck, Chapter Two: Ventura
-- I came to a realization when I finished reading this: This might just be my new favorite superhero comic. That might be a bit premature only two issues in, but I don't think so. Even though we're in the middle of a multi-issue arc, each issue has been of a fairly self-contained nature, so I think we have a pretty good grasp of what the typical issue will be like already. (Though Waid and Perez could decide to arrange any future arc in an entirely different way, I suppose. I don't know.)

And what is the typical issue like? It's 22 pages of everything one could ask for in a good superhero comic: Imagination brimming on every page (...the Hounds of Chaos!...), clever banter that almost sparkles, artwork so vivid and striking that it comes to life whether you want it to or not. Perez seems especially well-suited for this title because his style is one that can successfully pull off a wide range of settings, from the mundane and gritty to -- well, to something as fantastical as a busy, extraterrestrial Vegas-writ-large.

Okay, so the characterization might not be the deepest. Not all books need it to be, though. And given how plot-focused this series is, it's quite impressive that Waid managed to get in as much of it as he did.

Now, some random observations about this issue in particular:

-I like that the Venturans come in more than one color. Humans do, after all. In fiction, unless an alien race looks exactly like humanity (e.g. Kryptonians), all its members tend to be of only one skin color. When Supergirl's carrying Green Lantern between the spires of Ventura, there's one panel that depicts a *blue* Venturan in the foreground. Actually, this could very well simply be a coloring error. Regardless of the cause, though, what's there is there. It was a nice detail.

-When Green Lantern mentioned Ventura's policy against "chrononauts," did anyone else think the story was leading to the authorities trying to arrest Supergirl for her time with the 31st century-located Legion of Superheroes?

-Perez went to town on his design of Ventura. That's one amazing skyscape. You'd think a place that's Vegas-writ-large would look tacky and gaudy (much like the actual Vegas), and maybe in real life, this sort of scenery would be. On the comic page, though, at Perez's hands, it's amazing.

-The background of the cover seems to contain pictures of characters who'll be showing up in future issues. There's Lobo, Adam Strange, the Venturan who's wielding the haruspex, Blue Beetle, and Batman. In the lower right, cut off by the page edge, we also see Mister Miracle (ah, but which one?). Who are the remaining two images, though? One of them seems to have an antenna sticking up from the right side of his head. At first, I thought it might be the cyborg member of the Fatal Five, but I checked and he doesn't seem to have any such design feature. And the thick arm in the lower left of the cover? Looks familiar, but I can't place it with certainty...

-In the time between reading that the balding guy with frizzy hair was someone on a mission and not just some schmuck and reading that he was a Rannian, my mind went to, "Someone from the 5th dimension?" The hair, it was his hair.

-This is my first real exposure to the new Blue Beetle. Not that there's a lot to go on this issue, but he seems pretty interesting here. And that armor and those wings sure look pretty and striking. I'm getting a Peter Parker-esque vibe from him.

-Hey, are those two Tamaranians in the luxury suite? Would their inclusion constitute... continuity porn? *rimshot*

-The woman who briefly appears in the pages of the Book of Destiny before it gets re-written, should we know who she is? Why else would George Perez draw her looking human when no one else on Ventura does (save the Rannian)... unless she's a pre-existing character?

-I like how despite Green Lantern and Supergirl having power of the pretty much unlimited variety, the plot has them using their brains to try to solve their problems.

O'Grady-Sized Pull List, 3-14

2007-03-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

My "pull list" entries always get more hits than my others. This is probably due to people performing Google searches for thoughtful, well-written, educated reviews of their favorite comics and, not finding any, accidentally stumbling here instead.

So, I will plug here my earlier entry about the fan theory about how the Superman appearing in comics for the past fourteen years is a clone. More people finding out about it can only be for the good.
***
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight 1
The Long Way Home, Part One
--I was a bit confused as to the official name of this comic. The letters column says "Buffy: The Long Way Home #2 on sale April 4th," which would indicate it's called BUFFY: THE LONG WAY HOME. The cover points in the same direction. However, all the press and fan buzz I've read labels it "Buffy Season Eight" or some such. And the indicia is on their side. So...?

I was trepidatious going into this because of who some of the writers for upcoming arcs will be. I was a little worried that my worry about the future would keep me from really getting into even the current Whedon-written arc.

My fears were put the rest, though, because I definitely enjoyed this issue. Not to the same extent I enjoyed my favorite episodes of the TV show perhaps, but things are just starting to get cooking here, so some leeway can be given.

Some people are saying it's too slow-paced and Whedon is writing in a way suited for TV but not comics, but I'm not sure about that. Right now, it could go either way really. But I don't think devoting one issue to setting up the current status quo and new threat is particularly outside the norm. Nor should it be. Whedon's first issue of FRAY was similarly uneventful, but by the end that mini-series certainly didn't feel ill-suited for monthly comic format.

All that said, this probably would read better in the trade, yes. But that and reading well in monthly installment format aren't mutually exclusive.

The bottom line is this: I enjoyed it, despite the uncertainty about the title's future that was on my mind.

It's certainly interesting to see Whedon's vision of BUFFY freed from the constraints of budget or the technological limits of sfx.

Fables 58
Big Scary Monsters! Part Two of Fathers and Sons
--I feel sad for Mr. North. I thought this arc would conclude in a family reconciliation, but I guess that's not in the cards. I understand why Snow and Bigby would be disgusted, but I still sympathize with the guy; I keep flashing back to those pleading eyes last issue when he asked Mistral if his son had said anything about him. He clearly wanted to patch things up badly, even if he was too proud to admit it. Instead, all he's accomplished is to turn Snow against him, too.

What can I say, I'm hoping reconciliation's still down the line and that Willingham only delayed it so that it will be that much more meaningful when it comes about.

I like that we're starting to see the cubs come into their own distinct personalities. I have trouble visually distinguishing them when they're in wolf form because some of the colors are rather similar, but that's unavoidable, I think. What's the alternative, green and purple wolves?

All in all, another solid issue.

Superman 660
The Art of the Prank
--Simply splendid. With this issue, the Prankster comes into his own, and a unique niche is carved for him within the Superman mythos. Possibly within the DC Universe as a whole, as well.

(One thing I'm unclear on: Does he actually invent his own technology or come by it through other means? He's a former kids' television show host, so it's a little odd if he's also a scientific genius. Then again, it's not impossible, especially in the context of a superhero story... )

The unconventional way this issue begins really works, really pulls the reader in while simultaneously fitting the Prankster's personality.

Busiek once again puts to use his skill at showing what makes a character tick and how s/he approaches life without being too explicit, unnatural, or obvious about it.

I do have two minor quibbles:

One, at one point the Prankster calls "Nitro G" "Harris," but his real name is something else.

Two,"Nitro G" has superpowers without any explanation where they came from. This is actually a small pet peeve I have with superhero comics in general these days. Lots and lots of them do this sort of thing. For example, I think there was an issue of BIRDS OF PREY a while back that had the heroes infilitrating a prison where, hey, one of the guards just happens to have super-strength.

It's not that there's no explanation that irks me so much as that superpowers is being treated as something commonplace and ordinary. (Edited to add: At this point, I seem to go from commenting on the latest SUPERMAN to launching into a screed that uses the latest SUPERMAN as an excuse to do so. Make no mistake, there's no real review past this point.) I'd rather that not be the case because a large part of the appeal of superheroes for me is that they take place in a world so much like our own. It's the juxtaposition of extraordinary people in such a mundane, ordinary world that does it for me. It's *our* world, with super-happenings thrown on top of it all. A world where an ordinary guy showing up with the power to generate nitroglycerin is so unextraordinary that it doesn't warrant the Prankster even asking, "How did you just do that?" is too far removed from our world, at least for me.

From what little of I've read of Silver Age comics, this wasn't the case in them. Unless it was a book like X-MEN where superpowers around every other corner was part of the premise, there was always an explanation for why the newest villain could fly. It might have been a perfunctory explanation but an explanation nonetheless.

That's the approach I'd prefer. Even if the explanation is as unremarkable as being hit by the Gene Bomb, I'd prefer it to no explanation at all.

But, aagh, I'm going on about something that probably belongs more in a separate entry. Like I said, many, many other comics do the same thing, so I can't be too hard about it. My long-windedness on the topic (all too similar to a rant, I fear) is responding to the trend in general, not the instance of it in this one story.

Image pulled from www.comics.org. What *would* I do without them?

This Is the Story of Superman's Clone...

2007-03-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

In the mood for secrets and intrigue?

Here's someone's theory about how the Superman that fans have been reading about for the past 14 years is a clone:

"The theory starts with the modern re-telling of the "Sand Superman" story written and drawn by Walt Simonson. Walt's story was originally meant to be a Superman Annual back in 1989; but the work was shelved due to an editorial decision to focus on the "event annuals" or some such. However, Walt's story was a linch pin in a larger Superman story; and the foundation for that greater story was still set up in the regular Superman titles even though Walt's Annual was not published.

"In 1993, Walt's "Sand Superman" story was finally published as a Superman Special to be released one week before Superman #75 (The Death of Superman). Why such timing? Why release the story as a Special that was severely under-ordered (only around 10,000 ever published)? It was the "Vengeance of Bane" strategy; garner attention and fan recognition by under-publicizing and under-printing the key-stone story to the next big event. Of course, this background is getting a bit ahead of things; let's just examine the story for a second.

"The Walt Simonson "Sand Superman" story was set in 1989 even when published as the "Superman Special" in 1993. The timeline is clear because "fat" Luthor is still walking around with his black-gloved hand; Lois and Clark were not yet dating as shown by their dialogue; etc. The story? Lex Luthor attempts to create artificial kryptonite with disastrous results. Superman arrives on the scene only to be caught in a massive explosion in the artificial kryptonite lab. Superman is thrown a great distance and lands in a sand bank leaving a clear impression of his body in the sand. Superman leaves the sand bank, and the impression in the sand begins to rise and glow. A sand being of some kind has been created as a result of the explosive artifical kryptonite detonation.

"As the story continues, the sand being begins to stalk Superman. With each encounter, the sand being leeches away one of Superman's powers; and with each power leeched, the sand being begins to look more and more like Superman. At first, the colors on the sand creature's costume are very faint; but with each power gained, the colors become darker and more in focus.

"By the end of the story, a powerless Superman has lured the Sand Superman to the Fortress of Solitude. In one last desperate bid, Superman lunges at the Sand Superman and the direct contact causes a massive explosion that collapses the Fortress on them both. The fate of the two Supermen is left in question.

"At the end of the story, Superman flies up to Luthor's office. Luthor asks which Superman this is; and Superman explains that he defeated the sand creature. In a strange bit of wording, Superman reveals that he defeated the sand creature by finally understanding what the creature sought. Superman explains that the sand creature was not trying to take Superman's place; the sand creature was trying to *become* Superman. Superman tells Luthor that this realization is what defeated the sand creature; Superman just gave the creature what it wanted and Superman re-gained his powers as a result. Superman flies away from Luthor with no further explanations; and we're all left to scratch our heads a little.

"However, it becomes interesting when you notice the 1989 time frame and re-read the Superman comics from that period. In one story, Superman falls ill and gains a strange "sandy" appearance; but Superman suddenly rises to his feet and returns to normal when kryptonite is brought into the room to weaken Superman's skin for surgery. The reasoning is chalked up to some kind of "virus" Superman had that the kryptonite killed. The doctors are puzzled by it; no further explanations given.

"In the cross-over story "Time and Time Again", Superman is caught in a massive explosion caused by the temporal equipment of the Linear Men. Superman in turn *absorbs* the temporal power due to the explosion; Superman's costume turns jet black as a result of absorbing this power. Superman finishes out the adventure by traveling from time period to time period by using explosions as a catalyst.

"In another story, Superman faces Blaze and Satanus in hell. Blaze uses a magic axe as a sure way to kill Superman; the axe inexplicably breaks on Superman's chest (his body now seemingly invulnerable to even magic). Superman offers no explanation; he just quips that the axe must not have been as magic as Blaze thought.

"Stories continue where Superman seems to get a power boost after an explosion where his enemies weaken at the same time; Superman is able to fight kryptonite menaces such as Conduit without losing his powers or facing any apparent ill effect (beyond psychological); and then there is John Henry Irons who would become Steel.

"During the original Doomsday story, Superman is desperately trying to stop the engine of destruction as it marches toward Metropolis. Part of that battle occurs under-ground when a gas main is ruptured causing a *massive* explosion with Superman at ground zero. The same explosion shakes the construction sight where John Henry Irons works, and John Henry begins to fall to his death after losing his balance. Superman bursts from the explosive cloud to save John Henry's life; and the panel depicting the rescue shows a strange artistic effect surrounding the arms of Superman and John Henry as they connect.

"During a QVC special at the start of "Reign of the Supermen" (the follow-up to Doomsday and the introduction of Steel), Walt and Louise Simonson specifically showed the above panel to the camera. Walt explained to the host that the effect around the arms was intentional and would be very, very important in future stories; yet we never saw anything else about it. The only thing we saw was a brief glimpse of something strange in John Henry's early appearances. During a gang shooting, John Henry actually chases down a speeding car and rips the roof from the car. It was almost like John Henry had "Superman-like" powers out of nowhere; powers that could have been transferred after an explosion.

"At the end of "Reign of the Supermen", the true Superman returns in his black and silver suit. The true, resurrected Superman is powerless despite being in sun-light; but that is corrected by the end of the story. What happens? The true Superman is blasted with pure kryptonite with the Eradicator acting as a body shield; and Superman regains his powers because of that one act. It was as if the Eradicator had transferred his powers...or as if Superman absorbed them. When Green Lantern arrives on the scene, his ring tells him that massive amounts of kryptonite radiation are present; Lantern even encases the other heroes in a protective bubble to keep the radiation out. What's Superman doing in that room? Superman is flying around enjoying his returned powers; he never notices that the room has kryptonite radiation in it. No explanation ever given.

"At this point, the reveal of the Sand Superman seemed to be racing toward its day as the follow-up to "Reign of the Supermen"; a story so massive and so long in the planning that it would have fans digging through the past five years of back issues to find the clues that had been there all along. So what shelved the story? Marvel Comics.

"It is hard to say how Marvel learned of DC's Superman plans; I often wonder if my unprinted letter to Wizard Magazine outling the above may have been used to tip Marvel off. However, Marvel (as in most cases) wanted to beat DC to the punch; and the Spider-man Clone Saga was half-baked overnight to be rushed to the printers. With the Clone Saga in full swing (and fan reaction very mixed), the Sand Superman reveal was shelved...but not killed.

"A few years later, the big DC event "Final Night" hit stands as our sun was eaten thus leaving the earth to freeze to death. During this small time without sunlight, Superman even lost his powers completely; but Superman's powers did not return when the sun came back. Why? Well, what happens to a car battery that's drained...you need to jump start it. Brainiac 5 tries using intense yellow sunlight as the logical thing to jump start the Man of Steel; the sunlight has absolutely no effect. Superman needs some other source of power to jump start him.

"Superman's quest to regain his powers led to a battle with an alien electrical being in the arctic; the electrical being was killed in a massive explosion with Superman present. Superman miraculously survived the explosion without having his powers back. Shortly afterward, Superman began having powers again...electrical powers. The same electrical powers the alien had before the explosion.

"Superman's traditional powers eventually return through some kind of magic hoo-doo at the end of the Millenium Giants story; and things rock on again as normal. Then comes DC One Million. In DC One Million, Grant Morrison presents a future in which Superman wanders the universe for a number of centuries. Superman returns to earth having absorbed over a dozen new powers...his costume now darkened...sound familiar?

"The fact is that DC has never killed the hidden Sand Superman angle; clues continue to be planted. Even in the wake of Infinite Crisis, we had the exact same situation as "Final Night". Superman has "the sun knocked out of him" and loses his powers for a year due to lack of something to jump start him. Yellow sun-light is tried; yellow sun-light has no effect. It is not clear what catalyst gave Superman back his powers One Year Later; but Luthor was collecting a massive amount of kryptonite in the city...

"So there you have it; food for thought. I see the Sand Superman as needing two catalysts. Explosions (such as what created the Sand Superman) ignite the power absorption process; Kryptonite (a key ingredient in the Sand Superman) amps up the power held inside the Sand Superman creature (much like feeding a spark into a flame). All of the clues still fit even today; and DC could split the Sand Superman story wide open any time they want.

"But where is the real Superman who hasn't been seen since 1989? His body is where we last saw it...perfectly preserved in the frozen remains of Superman's original Fortress of Solitude. The interesting thing is to remember the timing, though. The Superman frozen in the arctic was from before Lois and Clark began dating. The true Superman never married Lois Lane...only the Sand Superman did."

I of course do not believe this person's theory for a second. Still, it's fun to think about in the same way a conspiracy theory is. "What if..." And the idea that Superman all this time has been some freakish sand abomination does has an appealing creepiness to it, doesn't it?

And hey! Speaking of freakish abominations.... Worst school librarian ever:

"As an elementary librarian in a public school, I would not choose to spend my limited funds on Goosebumps. The kids do love them. I have read them and find them uninteresting, not at all engaging. When I took this job in the fall, there were a total of 6 copies of Goosebumps in the inventory. They are always checked out and I keep hoping that they will be lost. One has been...hooray! I will not replace them, nor do I intend to buy more."

Laura Manthey. Kindly go and find another job.

Assuming they haven't already fired you.

Image taken from www.comics.org.

Escape from the Negative Zone

2007-03-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been trying to avoid being too negative here in my entries. After all, the reason I tried to curtail my web-surfing in the first place is because there was just so much negativity online. It was around every electronic corner, it felt like. And I'm not just talking on comics-related websites. I'm talking about everywhere.

I wanted to avoid being too negative, but it turns out that's easier said than done. There have been numerous occasions recently where I thought of something that I wanted to put down in an entry, only to quickly realize that it was just another instance of me complaining about something comic-related. And I don't want my blog to go down that road because what's the point of retreating from negativity if I'm just going to dwell on it myself? Really, that this is happening just shows that I ran screaming from it all too late. It's infected me.

So, yeah, I'm trying to focus more on the positive, but it's hard. I find it difficult to express what I enjoy and why I enjoy it at anything beyond the shallowest level. I have this (perhaps irrational) fear that looking too deeply into the subject will end up diminishing my enjoyment. You can never again be awed by the Great and Powerful Oz once you've seen the man behind the curtain, you know?

Bottom line: It's much easier to be negative, which is probably why it happens so much more.

That's why I'm happy to list here in this entry two comic-related items that made me quite happy. Hopefully, this entry will function like a glass of water to wipe my palate clean.

Oh, I'm sorry. That's far too much preamble for an entry in which I'm doing little more than mentioning two news items, one of which is pretty old by this point. Sorry.

Item One:
From an interview with Kurt Busiek in which he mentions some of his plans for SUPERMAN:

"So I'd say there are long-term plans there, yeah. As for sharing them, well, I like to surprise people. So I'll just say that there are plans for Third Kryptonians, bottle cities, Perseus Hazard and Squad K, the Young Gods of Supertown, the Insect Queen, the Beast From Krypton, the Origin of Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang saving LexCorp from bankruptcy, Superman at the World Series, the Batman/Chris Kent team, the asteroid belt, Lois's cousin, Krypto's new master and lots more. "

All right!

You know you're enjoying a title when even something as plain as the phrase "the asteroid belt" gets you excited and your imagination firing. I'm loving the current SUPERMAN so much that Busiek could have said/written, "Superman punches someone," and I'd still have gotten hopped up.

I really shouldn't be reading stuff like this given how much of a spoiler-phobe I am, but oh well...

Item Two:
Alan Davis is currently working on a CLANDESTINE mini-series, one that will be the first of a series of mini-series.

For me, CLANDESTINE is just one one those series. I can read it over again and over again... and over again. When I begin reading my well-worn trade, I have to eventually force myself away from the pages because if I don't, I won't stop till I finish the last page.

My first encounter with these was wonderful characters was a copy of the TPB in a bookstore. First, I was casually flipping through it; soon, I'd moved to reading in earnest; and by the time I got home, I was in trouble with my parents for staying out so late.

I'm too lazy to find the Newsarama article that announced its return, but I can provide a link to a pencil preview page from Tom Brevoort's blog. I'd put up the image directly, but Marvel's site doesn't enable that, the sly foxes.

Kudos to Marvel for going forward with this series. Given that Davis is on exclusive contract, you'd think they'd want him working on "name" projects while they have the chance. Maybe they realize how much potential the series has? Not an unlikely possibility, given its quality.

Dane-Sized Pull List, 3-7

2007-03-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't been updating as much as I'd like. I'll have to fix that.

I left the comic shop with two purchases cette semaine.
***
Fantastic Four: The End 6
-- A disappointing finale for the latest of Marvel's THE END series. There were a number of things that felt off here --
a. Galactus's sudden arrival to save the day. Technically, it's not a deus ex machina because it was foreshadowed, but it's dangerously close to one.
b. Reed's odd insistence that time travel can't change the past. Obviously, the very premise of the THE END books points to a less-than-strict adherence to past continuity. Still, a change this big bugs me in a way I can't pin down. (Edited to add: On second thought, maybe it's not that big a change; there had to be some reason they never used time travel to save the day, right?)
c. For a THE END story, there's not much of a sense of finality to this tale.

I'm not sure how much water that last criticism holds. Obviously, mistaken expectations can have a negative effect on one's enjoyment of a story, but how much of the blame for mistaken expectations falls in a writer's lap?

I don't regret buying this because it's page after page of beautiful Alan Davis art. I do regret that the writing wasn't by the same Davis who gave us KILLRAVEN, JLA: THE NAIL, not to mention every single CLANDESTINE story the man ever put out. Those three works were enough to solidify his place as one of my favorite mainstream writers, despite how little of his oeuvre I've read. Unfortunately, this six-parter wasn't up to their admittedly high standards.

I will say that the Dragon Man being a member of the future Avengers was cool, though.

Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil 2
Mary Takes The Cake!
-- I said in my comments for the first issue that I found it disappointing. Well, now this is more like it.

Things start out a bit slow, with a couple of scenes that aren't particularly bad but not especially good either, simply... there. However, from the moment the alligator men stage their reptilian revolution onwards, it's nothing but grade-A entertainment, with a deft balance between humor and drama.

I prefer my plotlines to be more complex (and no, by this I do not mean more adult or darker) than what we have here, but it's still a delightful read.

And the new Talky Tawny, née Tawky? Rocks. (And face it, in its own way, this is as radical a revamp as anything Judd Winnick is doing over in TRIALS OF SHAZAM.) I'm a bit of a sucker for talking, intelligent animals who -- and here's the important part -- still look like completely normal animals.

Now that I think about it, Waid and Perez should do a Krypto/Smith's Talky team-up in a BRAVE AND THE BOLD issue. It'd be neat to see how Perez handles an entire issue where the two protags are both four-legged animals. Oh wait, my mistake; it was Alan Moore's Radar, the Hound Supreme, who talked and thought.

DeMara-Sized Pull List, 2-21 & 2-28

2007-03-04T02:52:00.000-08:00

Well, midterms are over (four in a single week, grumblemumble), which means I can get back to updating this blog instead of doing something useful with my life.
***
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 49
Gate of Shadows, Part Two: Dreams of the Fisherman
--And the last issue of Busiek's Aquaman turns out to be my favorite one. Does that count as some sort of irony? I'm not sure.

I have to say, this is the first story I've read in my life that features a demonic, talking manta ray. Really cool. I already like the new Fisherman more than what little I've read of Aquaman's regular foes, Black Manta and Ocean Master.

The Fisherman's dream flashbacks were really well executed. There's a slight chaotic quality to it all that fits wonderfully given his/its confusion, and the narration is well-written. Even the lettering's tops here.

The Brave and the Bold 1
The Lords of Luck, Chapter One: Roulette
--The alien's weapon is called a *haruspex*? As in the kind of fortune teller who sees the future in animal entrails? I wonder if that's a clue or simply Mark Waid having a little fun. The name does fit in a way, I suppose.

I remember reading an old Waid interwiew in which he mentioned that one of the most useful writing tricks for him was to, when out of material, take two disparate characters and get them interacting with one another. If so, no wonder this comic was so enjoyable. The man must have had lots of experience at this sort of thing. The Batman/Green Lantern back-and-forth was candy to my mental ear.

Oh, wow, that last sentence is gibberish. Anyway...

And make no mistake, this story was indeed "so enjoyable." Between a Waid at the top of his game, and Perez, who is never *not* at the top of his game no matter what he works on, this was a must-buy.

I suspect Roulette's actually in cahoots with the Venturans.

Kamandi Archives, Volume 2
--Ha, I wish. This is what I would have bought if I wasn't broke. I've bought a large number of KAMANDI issues from the back issue bins and it's great wild, unpredictable fun. Better than Jack Kirby's Fourth World stuff, I say.

Alas, alas, alas.

Superman 659
Angel
--Well, I guess they can't all be home runs. Of all the issues of SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS Kurt Busiek has written or co-written so far, this is the weakest. That's not nearly as damning as it sounds, though, because Busiek's Superman had until now been consistently excellent. This issue is merely good instead of the series's usual great.

When it came to this story, my own biases betrayed me. When I saw Barbara Johnson's devoutness, I assumed we readers were supposed to think of her as some trouble-causing nutso psycho. It wasn't until towards the end did I realize that, wait a sec, she's meant to be a positive portrayal.

Jack of Fables 8
Jack of Hearts, Part Two: Heaven or Las Vegas
--I think this book is really hitting its stride.

I still think Jack's narrations are overdone and that, if they were cut by 50%, his personality would shine through just as well without becoming just slightly tedious. Well, "shine" might not be the best word, given that it's Jack we're dealing with, but you know what I mean.

Agh, I don't want to come off too negative. This was a good read, possibly the best in the series so far. Everything in this series has this sort of quirky edge to it that you can't help but enjoy.

The sequence of the car explosion and its aftermath, including the twist at the very end, was great. Very well-done on both the writing and art front. For a moment, we get convinced that Jack actually has a heart, and then -- ha! Oh man, that smile -- that smile! The thing of it is, I wouldn't have thought him capable of even this little amount of grief, so the events still managed to make him more sympathetic in my eyes, even if only ever so slightly.

Runaways 24
Live Fast, The End
--Yet more confirmation for me that Vaughan's writing reads better in trade paperback collection format. This issue simply feels like it'd have been a lot more enjoyable if read shortly after the previous issue rather than a month afterwards.

Actually, has this series been managing to come out monthly? I haven't been keeping track of that sort of thing, but it feels longer in-between issues for whatever reason.

The issue suffers from a bit of finale-itis, where the loose ends wrap themselves up in quick, neat manner that comes off a little forced. But again, that might be an effect of the single issue format. Or it might not; I'm not sure.

Still fun, though. And Alphona's art is great as always.

The Eagle, the Bat, the Thunder, the Dreamer: Marvelous Edition

2007-02-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

A hilarious banner currently adorning the top of the comicboards.com's Avengers Message Board can be found here.

It's the work of a poster named Hellion.

***

On a completely separate note, I've become addicted to scans_daily. This is really not good.

Fandom Is Fandom Is Fandom

2007-02-19T23:27:00.000-08:00

I mentioned some time back that I'm enrolled in a small two-unit class about the children's book series ANIMORPHS (and I have no idea how the facilitators managed to get such a course approved, but they are my new favorite people for it). Well, the class sort of reignited my passion for the series, a passion had settled into dormancy over the years, so I checked out the Animorphs Livejournal community. (Bear with me, this is tangentially related to superhero comics.)

Why, oh why, did I do that? What do I find there but the exact sort of obsessed fan behavior as in comics fandom? Why am I even surprised? I've been around the Internet enough to know this sort of behavior makes its home wherever there are a large number of devoted fans. I should have known.

Who was it who first attached the phrase "inflated sense of self-entitlement" to fandoms. Whoever did was spot on. And I'm finding it among the crazier Fandalites* too, as I see comment after comment decrying ANIMORPHS author K.A. Applegate for *gasp* passing the series over to other writers.

Gah, obsessed crazies are all the same, no matter where you go.

*I invented this term for Animorphs fans just for this entry. Anyone who read the series will get the reference. I was proud of myself for all of five seconds before I realized it doesn't sound all that good. It just rings odd to my ears.

The Non-Fan's Perspective: WONDER WOMAN

2007-02-19T01:43:00.000-08:00

I've decided that the term "non-fan" is clunky and I don't like it. But I can't think of any ready alternatives. I've heard "civilian" tossed about here and there, but that sounds vaguely creepy, like I'm part of some weird comic fan militia. And it doesn't help that it seems to be a pet word of John Byrne's. So "non-fan" it stays, I guess.

Well, anyway, for the week under discussion in this installment of The Non-Fan's Perspective, the class read WONDER WOMAN: GODS AND MONSTERS.

Conversation that occurred in the minutes before class:
SOME GUY: Are there any Political Science majors in this class who are going to completely tear into this book?
SOME OTHER GUY: Actually, I'd think if anyone would have issues with this book, it would be Classics majors.

Ah, good times, good times.

Surprisingly, the overall reaction to this TPB was positive; the class liked it for the most part. I'd have thought Greg Potter and Len Wein's wordiness would be hard to get into for non-fans.

I was also surprised when a few people opined that the gorgeous George Perez art was only mediocre (as one person put it, "eh") but, as I quickly realized, I shouldn't have been. I remember that when I first encountered his style (in his run on Avengers with Kurt Busiek), it left me lukewarm, too. Yeah, it was detailed, but so what, I thought. That didn't automatically make it good.

These days, I see that the level of detail is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the merits of Perez art go, even if it's the trait the fans harp on the most.

These days, I love it. But for whatever reason, I didn't when I first saw it. I guess it's just one of those styles.

The first several students to criticize GODS AND MONSTERS (all men) all prefaced their comments with something along the lines of, "I like Wonder Woman, but..." This was odd, as similar disclaimers where nowhere to be seen when the class discussed other characters. One of the facilitators totally called it when he said to the class, "No one's going to think you're some horrible misogynist just because you don't preface your comment with that." After that, it stopped.

The facilitators asked the Classics majors in the room for their opinion of the portrayal of Greek myth in the book. But it turns out either there weren't any or, if there were, they chose to remain silent.

However, a bunch of students who were not Classics majors chose this point to object to the portrayal of Herakles. They didn't like how unheroic he was here, how he was a villain of the piece.

What the heck. Who would have thought Hercules had so many fans among American college students. Is this the work of Kevin Sorbo or something?

The facilitators said that they had originally wanted to include more trade paperbacks starring woman superheroes in the course (GODS AND MONSTERS was the only one), but they found that most of them starred reformed or borderline supervillains. They felt there was a disturbing message buried underneath that, an implication that a woman needs a man to "set her straight," so they didn't include add of those characters to the reading list.

Is this true? I was going to, at this point in the entry, pull up both DC and Marvel's shipping lists for this month (and make no mistake, the course basically did limit its purview to the Big Two) to look for this trend. But it's getting late, so I'll edit it into this entry tomorrow. Or go through it in a separate entry.

Anyway, the facilitators then brought up the Women in Refrigerators website, explaining the whole thing. None of the fans in the class tried to refute it, though one guy argued the portrayal of women in comics was getting much better, citing Wildstorm and Image as groups he felt were particular trailblazers in this area. His examples of specific titles? Fathom and Gen13. And possibly one other I'm forgetting. Anyhoo...

Oddly enough, the facilitators had no idea Gail Simone was a comicbook writer. ("I think she's a journalist," one of them said.) This is especially odd when you consider that they almost certainly found out about Women in Refrigerators from the Internet, and even the most cursory of web searches would turn up the fact that Simone writes comics. In fact, I just typed "gail simone" (*without* the quote marks) into Google. The first result is a Wikipedia entry, and right below it are the words, "Gail Simone is an American writer of comic books..."

Like I said, weird.

The discussion about the portrayal of women in comics drifted to one about racial minorities in comics. Again, nobody tried to refute.

Urban Dictionary: Do Not Want

2007-02-18T01:48:00.001-08:00

So a while back, I found myself looking up superhero names on www.urbandictionary.com. All I have to say is, dear god, what is wrong with some people? Anyone who snickers at Wikipedia should go look there to see just how much of a mess an information source anyone can edit can be.

Take their definitions for "superman" for example. Here's the first listed:

The world's most recognizable superhero.
"It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Superman!"

The stuff in italics is their example of usage in a sentence.
As you can see, things start out ordinary enough, but don't be fooled. What follows is only some of what we'll find if we make the unarguably foolish decision to read further. Be warned, those who don't find the language offensive will still assuredly find the content to be so.

When you fuckin' have a hard on after you wake up in the morning because you gotta pee and the only way you can relieve yourself without pissing all over the bathroom is to put both hands on the wall in front of you and then lift your right or left leg so that you penis can point straight down into the toilet bowl...and release
I accidentaly knocked your toothbrush over with my leg when I superman-ed this morning.

A major dick. That's really all there is to say about it.
If I was Superman I'd go to the scene of a major tragedy and just stand about not helping anyone for the fun of it.

a massively overpowered loser who is invincible and is able to easily escape the pull of a blackhole yet gets his ass handed to him by a person with no superpowers. wtf dc?
superman, right after stopping a giant meteor in midspace, just got knocked out by one punch from some random thug. goku would kick that thugs ass.

When a female is on top of a male during sex, and the male thrusts up and down at an extreme speed. During a Superman the female usually does not move whatsoever.
That Superman I gave you really tired me out Sally.

If urbandictionary.com is to be believed, there are half a dozen different sex moves all called "superman." To get an idea of just how awful it all is, this is the *least* disturbing one.

The worlds greatest Superhero. No as relevant nowadays as he used to be, but will be forever remembered and will probably be to future generations what Greek gods are to us today. His S symbol is more known than the peace symbol worldwide. Embodies the concept of the Superhero, and apart from Batman and Spiderman has no competition in terms of public admiration. Has much in common with Jesus Christ, i.e- sent from a far away heavenly place by his father to aid and save humanity. Died and was resurrected. Sells millions in merchandise a year and hundreds of thousands of comic books. Outdated somewhat today, but forever will be remembered and esteemed as the first god of the comic medium.
"Superman is the first true superhero..."

Just a little overboard, y'know?

greatest hero ever, and can kick thors ass
superman is cool

superman is a game that kewl people play in high school in which you are not allowed to say anything that begins with an S. if you do, you are allowed to get hit as many times as possible until you say "superman". then the hitting stops.
"Superman" Is Actually A Pretty Fun Game To Play!

The worlds cheapest superhero, Anyone could make him up.
Superman never gets his ass kicked, o i crave a kryptonite bullet!

a character in DC comics who people think is cool, but in all reality it a total fag.
superman is the gayest thing since gay came to Gay Town

So. Yeah. Here's "batman":

1. Normal ordinary man, originally the best super hero with no super powers, but can still fight crime and beat supervillians with just his fist and gadgets (i.e. shark repellant, suction boots etc.)
If a normal guy joined the justice league, Batman says, "He can't join, he doesn't have any super powers!!" Then superman would say to him, "Doesn't he Batman? Doesn't He? No Super Powers??"

Batman is quite possibly the greatest superhero ever created.
Batman is a great superhero because he has no lame superpowers like Superman or Spider-Man. Instead Batman is just a rich guy in a cool costume.

When somebody enters or exits near you without you knowing they were their like how batman exits in the comic
-Holy sh*t, you just pulled a batman.-Where did he go? he always does a batman

Hardass comic book character created by Bob Kane.... Who is unfortunatley riddiculed on www.urbandictionary.com with moronic definitions.
Your innuendo isn't even funny.

batman : verb = to get someone in a first person shooter, like halo or counterstrike, by quickly yet carefully landing on top or next to them FROM UP ABOVE (like batman would) and killing them in one shot/kill , or a maximum of two seconds. It has to be done quickly, becuase batman gets kids like that.
"I just batmaned the $*#! out of that guy with my energy sword, AND HE DIDN'T EVEN SEE IT COMING!!!!"

The ultimate superhero, one that manipulates his enemies' fear and uses stealth and intimidation and intellect to succeed, and does not need butthole Superman powers to survive.
A few reasons why Batman is better than Superman:- Does not need dorky glasses to conceal his identity- Does not need to struggle with women (i.e. Lois Lane) to gain their affections- Heir to a powerful conglomerate- Raised in a mediocre city called Gotham and not by corny farm folk in Smallville

In contrast to Superman, there are only two sex moves named after him.

"wonder woman":

verb transitive, to dress up like Linda Carter in the famed wonder woman television series sporting a golden lariat and tie ones partner up forcing him to tell the truth and having sex with him.noun, the act of dressing up like Linda Carter in teh famed wonder woman televisino series sporting a golden lariat and tieing ones partner up forcing him to tell the truth and having sex with him.
Hey Gladice, I wonder womaned jimmy last night.
No way Sylvia, why? I thought you didn't like jimmy.
Some lady paid me 500 bucks.
Is that the going rate for the wonder woman these days.

I'd go on, but at this point I find I've reached my fill of idiocy. I can't take anymore.

urban dictionary:
Purportedly an online dictionary of slang, in actuality a pig pen for thoroughly unpleasant children in adult bodies where these jackasses can give play to their misogyny and homophobia.

Farr-Sized Pull List, 2-14

2007-02-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

One of these days, I'll actually update this blog in the *middle* of a week again.

Only one comicbook purchase this week.
***
Batman 663
The Clown at Midnight

Well, you have to give Morrison points for effort, at least.

Unfortunately, this attempt at a story off the beaten track completely fizzles out towards the end when the new Joker is unveiled. Meet the new Joker... same as the old Joker? The story builds and builds to this point, only for it to turn out to be much ado about nothing. If Morrison does have ideas about how the new version of the Joker differs from the old, they're not made evident in this issue. And they really need to be for it to be effective. As things are, it's rather anticlimactic, really. What, he's *more* psychotic now? That's like making water more wet.

I see that some folks online are wondering whether this new version of the Joker will stick around or be reverted to the status quo. Well, how will they be able to tell the difference? Outside of his relationship to Harley Quinn, that is.

That said, there's plenty to recommend here if you get past the anti-climax. Morrison's prose is quite evocative, and he turns many a pretty phrase. His use of simile and metaphor is... well, it's utterly bizarre, really. But whether intentional or not, it fits the world it's describing. It lends Gotham a touch of the outlandish and surreal that feels right at home in a world where a man dressed in a bat costume engages in life-and-death struggles with costumed, larger-than-life criminals.

In general, I found the writing much better when it was setting mood or describing setting than when it was actually moving forward plot.

The Van Fleet art is, unfortunately, not my cup of tea at all. People and objects have the same overly smooth, stiff quality that I can't stand in online Poser fanart. The art on the first few pages was quite good, though.

Also, at some points the pictures don't seem to match the text. For instance, the Joker is described as removing the gauze surrounding his head with a scissor, but the art depicts him using a scalpel. And later, where Batman dives at him, we see glass trailing the Dark Knight, as if he leapt through a window. But the text indicates they were standing the same room. So where did the glass come from? Admittedly, these are minor points, though.

The Non-Fan's Perspective: THE HULK

2007-02-11T23:46:00.000-08:00

This time, it's all about Week I've-lost-count of the Superheroes in Comics course, for which we read THE INCREDIBLE HULK: RETURN OF THE MONSTER.

When the facilitators gave a brief, streamlined run-through of the Hulk's publishing history, they understandably tried to keep things simple by entirely avoiding the topic of his multiple incarnations. Then, they raised the floor for questions, at which point the following scene occured:

Man raises hand
FACILITATOR: "This better not be a question about the other Hulks."
RAISED HAND: "It's not."
FACILITATOR: "Okay."
RAISED HAND: "What's the story behind the grey Hulk?"
FACILITATOR: "I just told you not to ask that!!"

And in case any of you are the type who can't stand a story incomplete, the questioner, if I recall correctly, responded with, "I didn't know he was one of the other Hulks!" Interpret that as you will.

Opinions about this trade were amibivalent and mild, decidedly an overall "Eh."

There was some discussion about whether Bruce Banner's efforts to escape capture by the military are heroic or moral, given that there's the danger of a Hulk rampage as long as he's free. All of the arguments in the character's defense were offered somewhat uncomfortably, and there was significant support behind the idea that no, he in fact is not acting morally.

I couldn't find much in the way to justify his behavior myself, which surprised me because I've never considered Banner's behavior to be unethical before. This led me to wondering why that was, why I've been rooting for the poor, pressed-on guy all this time... and it came to me: In the past, the Hulk never killed any innocent people. Well, he never did that in this one TPB either, but the facilitators had mentioned how later trades firmly painted the red on his hands.

And that changes everything.

Which lights the way to my opinion that the Hulk as a character simply doesn't work if he's killed anyone of the non-villain variety. Once he's done that, the reader can't root for Bruce Banner anymore, not if he stays on the run, consequently knowlingly putting lives at risk. When the tanks edge in and surround the Hulk, something's wrong if it's the tanks the reader is championing. But enough; I don't want to side-track. The title of this entry's The Non-Fan's Perspective, not APLOMB's Perspective.

There were a lot of laughs when the facilitators mentioned that the Doc Samson character, like his Biblical namesake, wields strength dependant on his hair length. This reaction, too, surprised me. Is it really much sillier than the rest of the wacky science found in superhero comics? Apparently... yes?

Oh, and it'll come as a surprise to no one, I'm sure, that most of the students did not know of the existence of any version of the Hulk beyond the simple-minded, green one. This even went for, surprisingly enough, one young man who could recite chapter and verse for all the Marvel books that contain X somewhere in their title. I mentioned him far back in my first entry of this series. This guy knew in his heart the *Summers* *family* *tree*. One time, someone asked him whether the character Havok ever had his own series, and I heard firsthand as he went into a thorough answer involving the words "leader of X-Factor" and "Mutant X" and god knows what else. I don't keep track too much of Marvel's mutant fiefdom, but he sounded like he knew the stuff but good. Hunh.

And... fin. The next entry will be up sooner or later, and I proclaim its topic WONDER WOMAN: GODS AND MORTALS.

He Used to Only Leap

2007-02-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Out from the depthless mists of time -- part of an old message by Peter David on the Newsarama boards:

"And if Spider-Man had had a stinger come out of his wrist back in the 1960s but no spider-sense, and "The Other" introduced an uncanny ESP ability warning him of danger, you would be leading the howl of protests as to how stupid that was while no one would be saying boo these days about the stinger. And you know it, so don't waste anyone's time saying otherwise."

That last line is so true. I swear, if everyone in online superhero comics fandom had to read this message before posting, half of its activity would dry up. And good riddance.

Lang-Sized Pull List, 2-7

2007-02-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Anyone reading this entry should keep in mind that I was studying for an exam very late into the night the day before I read this week's purchases. As a result, I read the following comics when I was in a state of severe drowsiness. Why did I do that?

The following pseudo-reviews come with the disclaimer that, the state I was in, a comic could have contained the secret to world peace and everlasting happiness and I would have still thought, "Meh." These pseudo-reviews are probably overly critical.
***
Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil 1
Chapter 1: Yroob Szh Z Hvxivg!
-- The art... the art in this is just great. Even with eyelids half-closed, I was cognizant of that. It's charming, pretty, expressive. It's great. That goes for Jeff Smith's linework and Steve Hamaker's colors both.

Unfortunately, the plot isn't the artwork's equal. It's not awful or anything. In fact, it's pretty good. But only *pretty* good. There's just something lacking; I can't really explain.

I mean... the story's called "The Monster Society of Evil," so I guess I expected to see monsters. Instead, this issue is dominated by a re-telling of Captain Marvel's origin. That isn't necessarily bad, but I just feel there's something... perfunctory about the execution. It covered the bases but not with enough flair to make me go, "Wow." There's a lot of charm in this book, but it radiates from the art much more than the plot.

Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two 2
The Out-of-Towners
-- Wow, this was a meaty read. A lot happens in this issue, a lot gets thrown into the mix. By the last page, there's quite the number of threads being juggled. Good stuff.

While the reveal about the Pyramid (P.Y.R.A.M.I.D.?) rep is on the predictable side, I can't really mind because it adds an interesting complication to the Williams's lives, one I'm eager to see play out in whichever manner it will. How will they choose to respond?

And the two-page spread of dossiers: just plain cool. Twins somehow born to separate mothers... I just love bizarre stuff like that. The attention to detail is part of what makes this series so enjoyable (and, I suppose, part of how Busiek makes even the most outlandish of events feel genuine). It's also one of the most infuriating (in a good way) things about ASTRO CITY, because the nature of the series makes it so that such information gets doled out very slowly. We know all this backstory and history is out there somewhere, but we can't get at it; we can only get snatches here and there. Not that I'm complaining; I'd rather get stories than info for the sake of info. But this is why I'm crossing my fingers that the remaining character specials will focus on super-people we already know about rather than new folks.

The Apollo Eleven are a great visual. Not only is this Ross cover something I can't take my eyes off, Brent Anderson does a great job with them inside as well. They're so... otherworldly.

Fantastic Four: The End 5
-- This limited series could have used more issues, in my opinion. It's starting to feel rushed. Threats get established, but are than hastily resolved in a rather perfunctory (there's that word again) manner.

The series overall is a fun, engaging romp, but this issue felt lacking.

Still, there were some nice character moments , and it's Alan Davis on pencils, so it looks gorgeous.

Detective Comics 828
Sharkbite
-- For a moment there, I was seriously wondering if Dini was going to have Batman pull out the bat-shark-repellant (guaranteed to be the most effective at repelling bat-sharks, you betcha) as an in-joke.

Yet another solid issue by Dini and Kramer that keeps the pages turning. I'm really liking the Riddler as a law-abiding detective. His interactions with Batman have a lot of snap to them.

Curiosity's Colors

2007-02-10T01:17:00.000-08:00

Here's something weird.

IGN.com's put up an interview with Mark Waid. Go there and ye shall find six never-before-seen pages from the upcoming premiere ish of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD. Now read them. Within their panels, the fact that Green Lantern's no longer vulnerable to yellow is mentioned not once but twice. Heck, it seems to be a marginally important plot point.

So why does he keep attacking the yellow monster by using his ring to hurl bat-memorabilia at it, by attacking it indirectly, like he'd do if the vulnerability was still extant?

Were there some last minute changes to the script?

An even better question, why am I writing about something so trivial? Mmm.

That said, those pages are looking like good stuff. I know I'll be making the purchase.

Also, I provide the following note in a sad bid to increade my fan-cred: I was originally going to name this entry "I Am Curious (about Yellow)." But I realized the famed Lois Lane story was actually called "I Am Curious (Black)." I was confusing it with "I Am Curious (Yellow)," the film its title was a riff on.

Choi-Sized Pull List; 1-17, 1-24, & 1-31

2007-02-04T23:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since the last run-through, so there's some catching up to do.
***
Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 48
Gate of Shadow, Part One
Here Be Monsters
-- I know next to nothing about the Fisherman, but the revamped version looks to be entertaining. I can't say I'm a fan of the character yet -- we haven't actually seen him do much yet -- but I'm intrigued and want to find out more.

The flashback scenes, which take place on land, were my favorite parts. Unfortunately, that this would be so serves to remind me of the fact that most high fantasy simply isn't my speed. Which is why, no matter what the Busiek mystery-project turns out be, I'm nearly certain I'll enjoy it more than his AQUAMAN. Unless it's, I-don't-know, Warlord or something. Oh, please no.

Still, this might have been my favorite issue yet. Now that the "Arthur accepting his role as Aquaman" stage is past, I'm finding the next one, "Arthur learning how to be Aquaman," more enjoyable. I'd be excited at the possibilities if I didn't know there's only more issue before Williams takes over the book, bringing with him a (possible) drastic sea change.

Fables 57
A Man's Home Is his Castle, Part One of Father and Son
-- Six monsters. Versus six cubs who we find out in this issue can change *into* monsters... Oh my, is... is this heading where it looks to be?

While the art here is stiff in places, Allred delivers what is still possibly the best fill-in art this series has had. Which makes the fact that I missed Buckingham's art more than usual odd. I think it's because this issue is particularly suited for his talents, what with the wolves loping about doing wolfish things and the emotionally-charged character interaction. Both of which Buckingham depicts especially well.

One of FABLES's greatest strengths is the way plots flow seamlessly one into the next. I don't feel the presence of the author's hand moving the pieces into position for the next arc. Obviously, it's there -- just as it is in pretty much all fiction -- but Willingham is good at obscuring it. One event leads to the next in a way that comes off as inevitable and natural. The new arrangement between Fabletown and Mr. North is a good example of that. *Of course* Fabletown'd want zephyrs to spy on Hansel and company, the reader finds himself/herself saying.

Jack of Fables 7
Jack of Hearts, Part One
Viva Las Vegas
-- It's the the little that make this for me: the background scenes containing the Pathetic Fallacy's mannequin girlfriend and her everchanging wardrobe, the napkin dispenser sticking up its hands, the roulette ball's expressive expressions, stuff like that. Hunh, come to think of it, all those bits involve the Pathetic Fallacy. Weird, as I don't like the character himself that much. He's actually *too*... er, pathetic. It's a little overdone, for me at least.

A problem with this series for me is that I can't stop comparing it to its parent title. And it suffers for it. If I could treat it as its own entity, I might be able to enjoy it more.

Ex Machina 26
Power Down, Chapter One
-- I've reached a conviction that this series reads better in trade paperbacks. I haven't quite put my finger on why yet, though.

It's nice to see what looks to be significant progress regarding the mystery of the object that gave Mitchell his powers. It's been quite a long time since we've had serious movement on that front, or at least it feels like it.

The Sorcerer and the Invincible

2007-02-04T00:56:00.000-08:00

Before venturing onward, you should all be warned that this entry is particularly pointless. But in my defense, that's nothing new in my acre of the woods.
***
Wow, I had no idea Sargon the Sorcerer

and Ibis the Invincible

are two different people.

In all seriousness, all this time I've been thinking they're the same character.

Image of Sargon pulled (out from its rather bizarre context) from Who's Whose in the DC Universe, image of Ibis from Wikipedia.

The Non-Fan's Perspective: Miscellaneous

2007-02-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

I'm titling this entry of The Non-Fan's Perspective "Miscellaneous" because it covers Spider-Man, the (Ultimate) Fantastic Four, and the JLA, but none of them to the extent that referencing them in the title wouldn't be misleading.

As I explained in the previous entry in this awkward excuse for a series, this installment covers not one but two classes of the course. For the first, we read SPIDER-MAN: THE DEATH OF GWEN STACY. For the second, each student had his/her choice between ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR: THE FANTASTIC (say that three times fast) and JLA: TOWER OF BABEL. I'm covering both classes in this one entry because, from my subjective point of view, the Spider-Man trade didn't generate enough interesting comments from the other students to warrant its own chapter.

The student response to that one can be boiled down to "I didn't like it, but I respect it," whatever that's supposed to mean. I also learned that lots of casual fans don't read the credits, as there was some confusion over whether Stan Lee or Gerry Conway wrote the issues collected within. ("Both," that is the answer.) Darn it all, am I the only person who has a borderline OCD need to read the credits box whenever it shows up? Seriously, even when I *know* a trade paperback has the same writer and artist throughout, I still can't help but skim through those cursed rectangles *every* *time* they shows up. And it's as annoying as it sounds! Aaah...

There were a couple of people who made remarks along the lines that, by all rights, they *should* have found Peter Parker whiny and "emo," but they didn't, for reasons they couldn't pinpoint.

Also, there was some back-and-forth over whether or not Spider-Man should be held responsible for Gwen Stacy's death after one of the facilitators brought up the neck-snap theory/fact. Interesting that even the non-fans were making statements about how he couldn't just let her fall because "that's not what a superhero does."

According to the facilitators, a bunch of the students who picked the FANTASTIC FOUR trade wrote in their reading responses that they were confused by the discrepancies between it and the Fantastic Four movie -- namely the differences in the origins. I, however, am personally convinced most of them were feigning said confusion just to give themselves something to fill up their mandatory reading responses with.

I find it hard to swallow that *any* American could be so unfamiliar with the concept of adaptations taking liberties with the source material. Heck, even when I was in grade school, I remember discussing with a friend the differences between, of all things, "cartoon Swamp Thing" and "live action Swamp Thing." (At the time I didn't have the slightest inkling he was a comic book character. Heh.)

I didn't read the FANTASTIC FOUR trade, so if there was any further discussion of its contents, I don't recall it.

As for the JLA book... After reading it, a number of the students were left with the impression that Batman was some sort of League leader or something, with the others as his underlings. Hee. I can see how reading TOWER OF BABEL in a vacuum could lead to that line of thought.

Honestly, there really wasn't much discussion of either trade because a goodly portion of the class that week was spent on an activity where we made up superhero teams out of pre-existing characters. "Democratic education," good people: the education that is anything but.

We were divided into groups for the activity, each one concocting its own super-team. I don't remember most of the results, but one particularly amusing creation was the team formed to bake a giant pie to sate Galactus's hunger and consequently spare the Earth. The members were the Human Torch (to bake), the Flash (to gather ingredients), Aunt May (for her culinary talent), and one or two other individuals I'm no doubt forgetting.

Aah, I suppose you had to be there.

A Knife into the Heart of the Comics Blogosphere

2007-02-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I came upon an... interesting new blog today. If you input http://dickhatesyourblog.blogspot.com to your address bar, you'll arrive at a comics weblog with -- unsurprisingly -- the delightful title Dick Hates Your Blog.

Blogger Dick describes his e-journal thusly:
"If 95% of all comics suck, the same is true of blogs about comics. Or traditional websites or message boards or podcasts or what have you. It's shocking how bad they are, really. On one extreme, you have smug middlebrow hipsters whose idea of criticism is to berate the reader for buying Civil War instead of Mouse Guard (or Scott Pilgrim, or Street Angel, or whatever happens to be this year's darling). On the other are the myopic slaves to continuity, who judge the quality of a book solely by how closely it adheres to the characterizations, styles, and tropes of their youth. And then there are the humor blogs, their lifeblood scanned images of poorly-drawn comics with hints of homoeroticism. Batman is totally gay! Vince Coletta sucked!
...
"I will document and ridicule this cacophany of the grotesque, fighting the blogosphere with its own weapon. I have no dog in this fight--I read the most ludicrous of superhero comics, the most portentous of art comix, the most disposable of manga, the most arcane of comic strips, and everything else I can get my hands on. I love it and hate it all equally. And, like comics blogs, I think 95% of it is crap."

I'm kind of torn about how I feel about his intended theme. On the one hand, it seems mean to rip into people for what they're doing for fun. Who cares if Blog X is badly written or if its jokes are weak; it's not like blogging's a job for us, you know? On the other hand, I do often find myself fed up with online fandom, its narrowmindedness, its irrationality. An undeniable part of me is rubbing its hands in anticipation of seeing this guy savagely rip into all o' that.

It's a shame APLOMB isn't more widely-read because that reduces its chances of coming into guy's crosshairs to pretty much nil. I'd seriously get a thrill if this site were to become one of his victims.

He lists so many different species of terrible comics blog in his zero entry! I must know which one APLOMB would fall under!

Of Scholarship and Sequential Art

2007-01-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

In case any of you are curious, here are the comic book-related courses available in my college's "democratic education" program this semester:

The Physics of Superheroes
"Everything you need to know about physics can be learned from comic books. The purpose of this course is to examine and understand superhero abilities through the application of elementary physics principles. This is your opportunity to learn physics the fun way. Please visit the course website for more information."

*Accurate* science in superhero comics? Where's the fun in that?

While I have no interest in enrolling in this course, I might sit in on one or two classes just to see what it's all about.

Superheroes and real-world physics. Huh.

Batman as American Mythology
"This class studies Batman as a form of legitimate literature. We will study Batman through 3 perspectives: history of Batman, psychology of Batman, and Batman’s place in America’s mythological canon.

"You don’t have to be a Batman guru (nor do you have to be familiar with him at all!), so whether you’ve memorized every issue or have only seen three episodes of “Batman Beyond,” you’re all eligible. Any necessary readings will be assigned (for a DISCOUNT at Comic Relief!!!!!!!!!), and necessary movies/episodes will be shown in class.

"At least once a week, we will show an episode or movie in class.

"PS. This is the final semester this course will be offered with any of the original, founding facilitators."

This course spends over 50% of its total classtime watching Batman cartoons/movies. They spend more time doing so than not. If you're someone living in the local area, feel a burst of pride at knowing this is your tax dollars at work.

Don't get me wrong, the facilitators for this class are cool folks. It's not like there aren't other democratic education courses just as lax. The fault is with the democratic education program and its low standards.

Comic Book, Manga, and Graphic Novel Techniques
"Every week will deal with a different aspect of the comic book-making process.

"We will go over basic concepts in the history of comics, script writing, basic drawing skills, panel continuity, character design, penciling, inking, lettering, cover art, and other stuff too.

"The final project is to MAKE your own 12-page comic book. There will be short 1-page assignments throughout the semester. These will be intermittent and painless, we promise.

"Class meets once a week, for 90 minutes. The first half hour will be lecture/discussion, with the rest of the time opening up for working on your comic and getting peer input. The idea is to create a friendly environment where aspiring comic book writers/artists can share their cool ideas with each other and bring an idea to fruition.

"Also, this class has optional readings that will be made available at Comic Relief for a discount price."

Superman as American Mythology
"Created in 1938, Superman has grown from a simple comic book character to become one of the greatest pop culture icons in the world.

"This DeCal will explore the characters 68 year history with special emphasis being paid to the characters development, the political and social movements that influenced the character and the philosophy behind the Man of Steel.

"Class will meet on Monday and Wednesday, and every Wednesday will include a media presentation.

"This class is great for the Superman novice as well as the comics afficienado. Readings will include Superman comics by Siegel & Shuster, John Byrne, Jeph Loeb, Brian Azzarello, as well as the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon."

I don't know how you can consider yourself a proper Superman class when you don't include Busiek and Immonen's SUPERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY on the reading list.

Bookworlds: Neil Gaiman's The Sandman
"Enter the Dreaming. If you know what that means, want to find out, or just want to earn 2 units reading some of the best fantasy graphic novels ever written, come join us in BookWorlds: The Sandman. This semester we will explore the world of Neil Gaiman’s award-winning series. Originally released in 80 issues from 1988 to 1996, The Sandman chronicles the stories of Morpheus, the personification of Dream and one of the Endless."

Why in Murphy's name is this course listed under Integrative Biology?

I might sit in on one or two classes of this one, too.
***
And this has nothing to do with superhero comics...

Bookworlds: Animorphs: The Ethics of War
"The epic book series has finally come to Cal! We’ll discuss the series; how it portrays warfare, ethics, and heroes; and think about the books’ place in literature. There will be character studies, moral debates, and a guest lecture or two. Relive childhood memories or read the series for the first time, all are welcomed. Join us as we discuss and honor one of the greatest book series of all time!"

...but there's no way I'm not taking this class. I *loved* the series when I was growing up. No, scratch that. I still love it.

The Men of Tomorrow Will Not Fear to Cry

2007-01-26T19:21:00.001-08:00

Act One: DC releases a new teaser image. Act Two: Fans complain about Superman crying in it, saying he does it too much.

Which brought to my mind the following comments on Comic Book Resources' message boards by Marty Pasko. He was remarking on how Superman has been modified over the years to fit the times.

'Another good example is the "emo wuss" Superman that seems to be a product primarily of the '70s. (Certainly the one Elliot Maggin, Cary Bates and I had to write was a product of its time and would probably be ridiculed today by the testosterone-and-steroid crowd as a "super-metrosexual.") Of course that take on the character would be distasteful to some readers who came up during or after the "Reagan Revolution" and America's turn to the right. In that period, many children, particularly males, not only were raised with values that actively repudiated the '70s ideal of the sensitive man, but were given the message that America had been weak and wimpy and, to fix that, macho assholism had to come back into vogue with a vengeance -- hence the rise of the punch-first-and-think-later action star typified by Schwarzenegger and his ilk. (The Reagan Administration also helpfully provided fake wars like Granada so that America could "kick ass" again and feel better about the size of its fatumbwebwe.)'

Interesting interpretation given the current fan criticism, no?

***

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, if anyone's going to have a heightened ability to sympathize, shouldn't it be Superman? He's *supposed* to be one of the most compassionate, caring individuals around. That's part of the concept, right?

Someone's going to have to explain to me what in the world is remotely wrong with crying when there's been a terrible tragedy and people have died? How do tears in such a situation diminish a person, fictional or real, in *any* way? There should be absolutely nothing shameful or weak about it. *Nothing*. It doesn't show that a person is less brave or less tough or whatever. It shows you have a heart.

Eugh, save me from a world where people should shut out their emotions and basic humanity just to prove to others that they can. I prefer my heroes above that outmoded brand of idiocy, thankyouverymuch.

From Superego, Super-Ego

2007-01-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

We all know superheroes are an ethically superior bunch. But has there ever been one who's insufferably arrogant because s/he's aware of that superiority? I don't mean people like the Silver Surfer who are always contemplating the evils of Man. Those characters tend to be outsiders to regular society, and it's their opinion of humanity that's low, not their opinion of themselves that's high.

I mean someone who has the thought "Wow, I'm so compassionate and self-sacrificing. Yeah, I'm so awesome" running through their head. And I mean someone who thinks that because s/he genuinely is that compassionate and self-sacrificing a person, not because they're indulging some delusion of greatness.

That'd be a kind of neat idea for a character, in my opinion.

Catching Spoils in My (World Wide) Web

2007-01-25T22:59:00.000-08:00

Yes! I'm the third biggest comic geek on the Internet!

Well, to be technical, it's more like I'm the third geekiest among people who visit the Comic Should Be Good blog. Well, to be even more technical, it's more like I'm the third geekiest among people who visit there *and* took the time to enter this specific contest. Which, including me, is apparently a group numbering thirteen people... Ah, I'm still feeling disturbingly proud.

Also... from the linked entry: "He was cruising along until #23-26"... And here I always thought of "Yiding" as a gender-neutral name.

The e-mail informing me of my third place finish began, "I regret to inform you that you didn't win the contest. However, you are nerd enough to finish in third place!" Didn't win?? I'm getting a free graphic novel (the third place prize). I'd certainly call that a win! (Especially since, with my current financial status, I can't afford to ever try out anything new, not when there's so high a chance I won't like it. These days, I pretty much stick to works that are either by writers I trust or about characters I already like. Same with novels [of the non-graphic variety] really, but at least for that itch, I can use libraries.)

I feel I should express my gratitude in their comments section, but that'd be kind of awkward because I've never commented at their blog before. It'd almost look like I'm showing up just to brag off about getting third place. Or something. It'd be weird. I'll give my thanks in my e-mail response, I think.

P.S. I've never heard of Juan Ferreyra, but good lord, his art resembles Barry Kitson's. I'd have sworn it was the latter's work.

Number of the Bat-Beast

2007-01-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

After Morrison's first arc on BATMAN, I'd decided to drop the book. It just wasn't doing it for me. However, I just read online the following from a recent Wizard interview he gave. (Morrison, not Batman.) It's a S P O I L E R (though not beyond what you'd typically find in solicits), so I've put it in white font.

“Issue #666 [in the summer],” he laughs, “is Damian grown up as Batman of the future fighting the Anti-Christ.”

And all of a sudden, I think I might be back in.

The Non-Fan's Perspective: DAREDEVIL

2007-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

This entry of The Non-Fan's Perspective is going to be fairly short, as are future installments most likely. I'm finding that I can't remember as many noteworthy incidents from the later classes as I can for the earlier ones. Whether this is because my own interest waned over time as the freshness of it all faded so that I paid less attention, or simply because there weren't as many interesting comments later in the semester, I can't decide. Whatever the cause, the effect exists.

Anyway, for Week Five we read Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN. Most of the students thought that out of all the TPBs we'd read up to that point, it was the best one yet. I strongly agreed. Frankly, I'm surprised Miller had it in him to write this. I mean, there are actually moments of genuine heart-touching human warmth in this book. How did that happen, yeah?

I *do* like some of Miller's other works, but none of them contain the sort of powerful, inspirational moments that dot this story. When Ben Urich says out loud, "Matt Murdock"... Man. Honestly, I wish Miller would write more in this vein instead of repeatedly mining the "mean people being mean to other mean people because it's a mean world" framework he loves so much. (Not that I don't enjoy some of his stories of that type either; I'd just like more diversity is all.)

One guy asked whether Spider-Man or Daredevil was first published, stating that clearly one must have "ripped off" the other. His reasoning was this Daredevil story featured the Daily Bugle in a prominent role, the Kingpin, and a villain discovering the hero's identity, all elements that can also be found in Spider-Man stories. Heh.

Apparently, despite how much my fellow students generally liked BORN AGAIN, there *were* numerous complaints about Captain America's sudden appearance in the final chapter. Well, maybe "complaint"'s too strong a word, but it definitely brought about head-scratching. Not being as familiar with how Marvel actualizes its shared universe, the surprise appearance in the last act of a character who was previously not so much as even mentioned and having that character play a pretty vital role... well, it seemed odd to them. And it kind of is, isn't it? Heck, I'm sure some of them didn't know that Marvel's character lived in a shared universe in the first place.

The next TPB we read was SPIDER-MAN: THE DEATH OF GWEN STACY. However, there was almost nothing that happened during that week's class that I feel like writing about, so I'll lump it with the TPB we read after *that*, which was either JLA: TOWER OF BABEL or whatever the first ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR trade was called. (Each student only had to read one and got to choose which.)

It Begins Anew

2007-01-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

I have no idea if I had any even semi-regular visitors at some point (Magic 8-Ball says, "No."), but if I did, they've probably been driven off by now by my hiatus.

It was unplanned, but the previous four weeks or so were the break period between semesters, and I'd headed back home to SoCal. There, I found myself wanting to do the things I can only do there, before I had to head north again. The Internet, I can play with anywhere, after all. So the frequency of entries began tapering off until... Well, back now.

Anyway, if I hadn't been on hiatus, I would have mentioned this next item earlier: Messing around with Technorati a while back, I discovered that someone's actually put up this place in his blog-list! Clearly, he made some mistake but regardless... Thank you thank you thank you, Dave Schwartz of Washington, DC! Don't know if he'll ever see this message, but if he does, thank you, Dave Schwartz.

I don't maintain a blog-list myself because I spend too much time online as it is. Having links teasing me to click on 'em every time I pop by here isn't going to be any help on that score, so I eschew. One good deed deserves another though, so I'll be putting up a link to Mr. Schwartz's blog once I'm done with this entry.

Also, this way, if he ever does read this, he'll never take down his link to here because it'd cause tremendous guilt. Perfect!

Van Dyne-Sized Pull List, 12-28 & 1-4

2007-01-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

With both SUPERMAN and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN having come out, this must have been a happy week for the Supermaniacs out there.

BATMAN came out this week (or at least it did for me due to the West Coast shipment delay), the latest chapter in the Grotesk storyline, and while I do plan on buying it, I haven't done so yet. I was already purchasing four separate comics this week (again, West Coast delays), and I just couldn't bear to also pay for a fifth. Yeah, I know that since I'll be buying it later, it'll be the exact same amount of money in the long run. But somehow it *feels* like I'm spending less.
***
All-Star Superman 6
Funeral in Smallville
-- In the past, I enjoyed the adjectiveless SUPERMAN more than the ALL-STAR SUPERMAN of the same month (when there was an ALL-STAR issue that month, that is), but this was the first time it was the other way around. This is not because the former was less good than usual but rather because the latter was just especially good this time around.

This issue feeds both the heart and the imagination, telling the touching tale of how Pa Kent shaped his son's life against a backdrop of chronal entity-beasts and Supermen (Supermen or Supermans?) of other centuries.

As a colorful team of time-travelling heroes inspired by the example of Superman that the Man of Tomorrow himself joins, the Superman Squad seems to fill the role that previously belonged to the Legion of Superheroes. I'd say they work that role better than the Legion actually. Or at least they do in stories about Superman. Obviously, between the two, the Legion better suited to star in their own series, since a superhero team in which everyone's a variation of one another would be problematic... though that could be kind of interesting in it's own way, too.

Fantastic Four: The End 4
For a THE END story, this really doesn't feel much like one. So far, it comes off as a normal Fantastic Four story, only with the setting slid decades forward into the future. There's nothing about it that makes it feel like a conclusion or ending to their saga.

That's not to say it's not enjoyable, which it is. I really like that I have honestly no idea where this is heading anymore. Just when you think you have a handle on the shape of the plot, Davis throws in another villain-shaped monkey wrench (e.g. the Mole Man -- Me: "What's he doing there?!", Annihilus -- Me: "And now *he* claims to be responsible??")

My only complaint is that we're halfway through and we still haven't seen much of the Fantastic Four interacting as a group. There's some Johnny and Ben stuff now that they've been together since last issue, but other than that... A lot of the power of the F4's concept and characterization comes from their group interaction, so its absence deprives the story of a certain something.

Jack of Fables 6
Jack Frost, Part 1
-- I got bored with the first arc fairly quickly, but I didn't care much for FABLES's first arc either, so I decided to keep buying in case there'd be a turnaround like there was for the parent title. Well, after reading this issue, I think I made the right decision. This was a quirky, enjoyable romp, reminding me of the Jack solo stories in FABLES.

The interruptions in the style of public service broadcasts -- hilarious.

Still, I have to say that I thought there was some truth in Revise's complaint that this story didn't need two full issues. I felt this chapter, at least, didn't warrant a full 22 pages. Jack's seduction of Lumi, apart from how he ousts Waldemar, is fairly by-the-numbers. Enjoyable? Yes. But also too much on the predictable side to support so much story focus in my opinion. How else does the tricky rogue wins the naive queen's heart than with proclamations of feigned love?

That last page transformation, on the other hand -- it doesn't look like *next issue* will have the problem of being predictable. I didn't see this coming at all, and I'm eager too see how Jack'll no doubt royally screw *this* up.

Each previous issue had a description of the plot by Jack under the issue title, as well as a next issue blurb narrated in his words. I'm glad those were dropped for this two-parter because they were becoming tedious. Hopefully, they'll appear only in moderation in the future. I have no problem with them whatsoever when they're done in third-person omniscient; however, when it's Jack of the Tales doing the talking, they're fun at first but after a while...

I'm still concerned that Jack's a personality that'll become tedious in the spotlight month in and month out, the way his next issue blurbs quickly became tedious. I wasn't fed up with him this issue though, and hopefully Willingham and Sturges will be able to make it stay that way.

On the visual front, I thought the art was too... shrill, given the fanciful setting of the story.

SUPERMAN 658
The Last Tomorrow
-- "This issue feeds both the heart and the imagination." I said that about this month's issue of ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, but it applies here, too. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than the page where the Parasite dies. We have the tragedy of that, a man brought down by a love not even truly his, and Lois's multi-layered reaction, and then we transition to... protoplasmic golems and alien Automaton Bloodhounds. And more, it fits; they don't clash, one does not undermine the other. Busiek's ability to go from raw emotional realism to a sense of wonder, one flowing natural-like into the other, is as present here as in the best ASTRO CITY issues.

I wonder how many people thought what Arion was leading up to was an insistence that Superman needed to be willing to kill when the situation demands it? It certainly seemed that way at a couple of points, huh?

DETECTIVE COMICS 827
-- Ah, I'll get to it later. It's reached dinnertime now.

The Non-Fan's Perspective: GREEN LANTERN

2006-12-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

And welcome to Entry Three. It's occurred to me that it'd be more accurate to call these entries "The Fan's Perspective on the Casual Fan and Non-Fan's Perspective," but that fatigues the tongue a tad. Oh well. For the week currently under discussion, the class read GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD DAWN.

As I walked into the classroom, some of my fellow students who also arrived early were chatting about the Green Lantern mythos with the facilitators. And what one guy said confused me. He was explaining some background but all the information was completely off. I was wondering just what on Earth was going on until I realized it: He was conflating Katma Tui and Jade into one character and thought they were the same person. Then it all made sense.

Thinking about, I suppose they do *kind of* look similar if you take each from the period she were wearing the standard Green Lantern Corps uniform. I mean, they both have dark hair and inhumanly-hued skin, so if one were to forget what the colors were and only remember that they're unusual ones... Okay, no matter what angle I look at it from, it's still a pretty strange mix-up.

Well, moving onto classtime proper... Wow, they *really* didn't like this one. So, to recaputilate: The Non-Fan's Opinion -- THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN - Eh, BATMAN: YEAR ONE - Yay, EMERALD DAWN - Nay. According to the facilitators, the student response to EMERALD DAWN was predominantly negative, something reflected in the class discussion. What's funny was the nature of the criticism. A number of people expressed their distaste towards the "politics" of the Green Lantern concept; they detected an unhealthy ideology inside. They found the character of Hal Jordan and the GLC concept as a whole as very "American," in the bad sense of the word. There were comments about about moral relativism and how the Guardians of the Universe have no right to enforce their values onto other cultures. Certainly an amusing discussion to watch, have to say.

Heck, one guy even talked about how he saw the color green as a metaphor. As he put it, the Guardians are trying to spread morality, but it's only their culture's morality, a filtered light (one color) instead of white (all colors). Personally, I find that a pretentious interpretation, but at the same time a small part of me finds it neat.

A secondary target of criticism was the absurdity of, well, *all* the story's science. A bunch of students just found it too much, really. I suppose the Green Lantern concept does require a sizeable scooping of suspension of disbelief, doesn't it, even by superhero standards? And oh yes, you can bet the phrase "weakness to the color yellow" was uttered. Personally, I always liked that bit; it works really well in terms of visuals.

The following week's trade paperback was DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN.

Inside the DetrActor's Studio

2006-12-29T00:24:00.000-08:00

The above image was posted on John Byrne's official forum a short time ago. It's been making the usual Internet rounds that amusing messages on the J.B.B.S. make.

Here's what raises my eyebrow:

Wha--? That looks an awfully lot like the star of that Image title APHRODITE IX, I thought. A little Googling later, and whadayaknow:

This is weird. At first glance, APHRODITE IX would seem to be the type of book that goest totally against all Byrne's tastes and biases in comics. And after looking over its Wikiprofile so that I'd actually, you know, know something about it, I'll say there was nothing there to change my mind. (I also learned that I've been getting APHRODITE IX and CODENAME: KNOCKOUT mixed up all this time. Odd.) John Byrne can't possibly be a fan of this series. He really can't.

(And it's neither here nor there, but how does that statue exist in the first place? The series lasted -- What does Wikipedia say? -- four issues. Is its fan base extremely devoted or something?)

I considered the possibility that he had some connection to the short-lived book on a professional level, unlikely as that is given his 24-hour tantrum towards Image Comics. Nothing's turning up on web searches, though.

So why does he own the darn thing? What reason could he; John Byrne, writer-artist of Big Barda being brainwashed into filming pornography and She-Hulk jumping rope naked; have for putting in his home this:

What gives?

Statue images pulled from forceonetoys.com and www.diamondcomics.com.

Alan Davism, Part One

2006-12-27T22:33:00.000-08:00

Not a typo but rather another one of my oh-so-clever plays on words.

I found myself poking around Alan Davis's official website and, man alive, I've just become an even bigger fan of his work!

Why? The answer to that question lies in the answer to the next: What's wrong with the following picture, available at his site?

Absolutely nothing, that's what. Yet Davis still went to the trouble of redrawing and retracing it onto a new board because he wasn't satisfied with the results. And it's not the only example of him doing so on his website. This man takes the time to redo perfectly acceptable images to make them even better.

And that's Reason One why Alan Davis rocks: "Good enough" apparently *isn't* good enough for him.
***
And while I'm on the subject of his webpage, I'll take the opportunity to encourage going for a visit. Not only does it contain other examples of pages with which he wasn't satisfied, it has all sorts of other neat little bits of graphite beauty as well. Make sure you stop by only when you have lots of free time; you just might find it difficult to tear away.

Superheroes, the Sub-Genre of Disemboweled Earths

2006-12-27T02:17:00.000-08:00

In my experience, most people these days -- or at least those in my age bracket -- don't look down on people who read comics, superhero or otherwise.

Whether or not they look down on the comics themselves is another matter.

Ever try to picture in your mind just how non-fans perceive superhero comics to be, what goes through their head when they see an issue of THE FLASH on a tabletop? I imagine it's something similar to what goes through my head when I take a look at this:

And they wouldn't be entirely wrong either, I suppose.

Image's a Wikipicture.

Extra: Silver Age Lives On in Birdcage Lining

2006-12-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

*This* is what I should have named my blog.

This entry's technically not superhero-related, true, but come on!

...And now I'm thinking it'd be an interesting experiment for a writer to do a superhero series that uses tabloid headlines as the bases for every story. It'd be something to see, don't you think?

The Non-Fan's Perspective: BATMAN

2006-12-23T02:19:00.000-08:00

May I present Entry Two of "The Non-Fan's Perspective." I've begun making use of Blogger's label system, so now we can click on the "non-fan's perspective" tag/label to access the previous entries.

Last entry was about Week 2: Superman. This one covers Week 3: Batman. I'll be doing the entries in chronological order, or at least I will until I start forgetting what order we read the assigned TPBs in.

The Batman trade the facilitators chose was YEAR ONE. I'd already read it a couple of years back, so I didn't bother re-reading for the course. From what I remember of it, it was quite good, with some impressive, impactful wording inside the narration boxes, but it also dragged somewhat towards the end. Maybe that had more to do with the mood I was in, though.

Anyway, opinions about the David Mazzucchelli artwork were very mixed among the class. Some thought it was terrific. That came as no surprise. Others absolutely hated it. That did come as a surprise. Yeah, I don't get it, either.

Paralleling the previous week, the class discussion wandered to whether Bruce Wayne or Batman is the real identity. I can't say it's a topic that holds much interest for me; it seems to be little more than an issue of semantics. Various students brought up the same few points that come up whenever this question hits Internet fandom.

One student, seemingly familiar with the Batman movies, asked whether it was the Joker or Ra's Al Ghul who was Batman's arch-nemesis. The facilitators responded that it really depends on who you ask, but I'm not sure I agree with that. Surely, it's the Joker?

Heh, if Ra's Al Ghul really was as prominent as the Joker, I'd probably be able to enjoy Batman stories a lot more. A centuries-old eco-terrorist who runs a group called the League of Assassins? That guy's just plain cool.

Another student asked the much more *interesting* question, "So I hear Batman knows how to use magic?" Still not sure what that was about.

Also discussed was whether or not Batman's a superhero. I have to say, this surprised me. I would have thought this was a question only fans would ever discuss, a topic restricted to people who can no longer see the forest for the trees. I mean... it's Batman. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, y'know? In my opinion a person claiming Batman's not a superhero is focused too much on the small details and not enough on the big picture, which is behavior in the domain of fans. I was really surprised that non-fans could see the cape, the skin-tight costume, the secret identity, the costume, the crimefighting, etc. without the word "superhero" immediately stamping itself into the brain.

That's that. The next TPB we read was GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD DAWN. And I'll be keeping to the intended roughly weekly schedule now.

From Mongoose Blood to Mutancy, A Retcon

2006-12-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

Wanting to know more about the character this blog gets its name from, I hopped over to Wikipedia to take a look-see at the Whizzer's entry. (Despite my knock at the site some days back, I find it quite useful, and in the final analysis I'm glad it exists. )

Apparently, Marvel retconned the Whizzer's origin at some point? Wow, what? Behold:
The Whizzer's origin is considered particularly improbable even by comic book standards (i.e. receiving a transfusion of animal blood is far more likely to be fatal than beneficial), and later writers revealed via retcon that the mongoose blood had simply acted as a catalyst to his already mutant physiology, which also presumably allowed him to survive the transfusion in the first place.

That's... a lot less fun, really. It's relatively more realistic but it also has a bit too much of a generic quality. It doesn't fire up the imagination the way the original origin does. Assuming the entry's accurate, of course.

Oh, well. Despite APLOMB's etymological origin, I'm not much of a fan of Bob Frank, so it doesn't really bother me.

The Cosmos-Shaking Conundrum of Stan Lee's Un-Secret IDENTITY!!!

2006-12-22T01:26:00.000-08:00

No, the title of this entry is not referring to the fact that Stan Lee wears a toupee and is in actuality bald. I believe that's true, anyway. I read it on a website so it has to be, right?

What this entry is about is the re-broadcast on Bravo of that new game show Identity this evening, a re-broadcast I happened to catch. Who did I see on the screen? Why, it was none other than the effusive Stan Lee.

It's funny. Shortly after I first saw a commercial about the show and found out about it, I found myself wondering if they'd get Stan Lee to appear as one of the identity-obscured guests. After all, he'd appeared on To Tell the Truth before (the most recent version), and given everything I'd seen of him, it sounded like something he'd be up for.

Huh. I just realized, this is the third entry in the short time since APLOMB was erected that has to do with predicting the future. Just the tiniest bit weird, that. Okay, aside over.

I happened to tune into the show some minutes into it, when a few of the guests had already been Identified. As I saw an avuncular, elderly man in one of the back rows, my thoughts went something along the lines of "Wait a minute, is that... no, it couldn't be... hey, it is. Cool."

The Identity that the constestant had to attach to Lee was "the creator of Spider-Man," which she was able to do based on his age. She pointed out that Spider-Man was pretty darn old, to which Penn Surname-Unknown-To-Me (the host) jokingly replied, "I believe Peter Parker is 26-years-old." I remember wondering if the people who only know Spider-Man from the movies, one of the various cartoons, or even the Ultimate titles thought, "Hey, that ain't right..."

When "The Man" revealed himself, he told her, "My spider-sense tells me you're right."

I wondered if there'd actually been a lot of buzz about Lee's appearance on comic fan Internet circles and I'd simply managed to miss it all, so I did a Blogger search. What I found was nice. Nice in that it's always nice to be reassured that it's not just the diehard, obsessed comic fans who can be awfully crazy.

Ahem:
WTF is with NBC's limited-time gameshow, Identity? Tonight's moronic Rachel Ray lookalike had to be spoonfed clues as to who Stan Lee was ( I haven't read a comic book in my life and I could still pick him out on sight)...

That's from one blogger, someone who apparently thinks not being able to recognize Stan Lee is reason enough to label a person idiotic.

Of course, those who are obsessed fans, never ones to disappoint, also provided their reliable brand of craziness:
As someone young enough to not respect Lee for anything more than a creative mind (yeah, his writing was crap. Creative crap, but crap), I don’t know why I felt such an overwhelming sense of shame and revulsion at seeing this legend propped up before a small studio audience as some pretty bimbo named Nikki tried to figure out whether he was the creator of Spider-Man.
***
While I do feel somewhat sorry for Lee, even more I feel aggravated with him. Yes, the spotlight is a hard thing to let go of, but those who revere Stan Lee and have revered him for many, many years are comic book fans. He needs to realize that those loyal readers are who trained a spotlight on him, and if he wants to keep in their minds, he can do so through comic-book related projects.

By keeping on with these other appearances, he’s only making a fool of himself, and making comics appear foolish to non-readers.

No, what makes comics appear foolish to non-readers are the fans so uptight that Stan Lee having some fun and appearing on a harmless game show drives them into a fit. You know, the same fans who think Lee is betraying them -- betraying, I say!-- if he does something in the public eye that's not comic book-related?

And this blogger insults the contestant's intelligence, too. What's with that?

So in conclusion, now that I sort of predicted Stan Lee's appearance on the show, no doubt you're all sorry that you doubted my deduction of the Mystery Project's identity. Not really, of course. I'll repeat that I don't even believe my deduction.

Cray-Sized Pull List, 12-20

2006-12-21T03:07:00.000-08:00

I've decided to add a "Will I re-read it anytime soon" part to all of my so-called reviews. It's pretty self-explanatory, neh? (Reference to one of this week's comics for the self-win.) Just another tweak as I figure out what format best appeals to me. As usual, here there be SPOILERS:

Batman 660
Grotesk, Part 2
-- I somehow didn't see this on the stands last week, so I bought it during this one.

Wow, Johnny Karaoke's really cool, not to mention a lot of fun. And, of course, it's always nice to see more Asian characters around.

This was a decent issue, but I found the way it ended pretty strange, very abrupt. The final page/panel (it was a splash, so they're one and the same) isn't really a proper ending. I know it's part two of a four-part story, but individual chapters of a multi-parter usually still have a structure to them; even when the ending's a cliffhanger, it's still some kind of chapter conclusion. What we had here was... just a scene that happens; it *felt* like something that'd have more pages following it.

My guess as to the killer's identity: It's the sister, Amina Franklin. She, and not her brother, is the person behind Grotesk.

-- Will I re-read it anytime soon: No.

Fables 56
Jiminy Christmas
-- It took me a while to get into Fables, but I'm glad I stuck with it because I'm now really liking it month in and month out. This issue was simply delightful, from the surprising gag at the start to the warm character interaction at the end.

Those readers who are bereft of souls will no doubt complain about how Santa delivering presents to mundies makes no sense because the Fables are legally required to keep their existence strictly secret. But, well... they have no souls.

It's interesting how, with 1001 Nights of Snowfall (one *great* book) having been released, references to its stories snowballed in this ish. I wonder if Willingham will continue referencing it to such an extent in future issues.

-- Will I re-read it anytime soon: No.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 47
Crown of Thorns, Part II: Coral Song
-- Reading this title gives me a strange feeling. I can't fully immerse myself in the story because I know a new writer's taking over in just a few more issues, before Busiek'll be able to bring everything to its conclusion. Every time we see a new development in the larger story or the beginning of a new subplot, I can't get too excited over the question, "Where's this headed?" because I know the answer might end up being, "Not where it was originally intended," or even, "Nowhere." I have no idea how many of the seeds Busiek sowed Williams will pick up, but even for those he does, there'll be the knowledge that we're not seeing the original vision those seeds were planted for. Heck, I'm not even sure I'll be sticking with Williams's run; I haven't read enough of his work to guess how much I'll like his writing.

This issue works as much as an example of the above as any. Here we have some nice seed-sowing, with the appearance of the coral-haired girl, the introduction of Reef's End, and the "thornéd crown" prophecy. It's a nice setup job for future issues, but since that setup *might* end up being for naught...

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with completely stand-alone stories that have no impact on the future. That's why I dislike it when people use the pejorative term "filler," as if there's something bad about a story that doesn't contribute to some grand arc. However, in this particular story's case, a large part of its appeal *comes* from what it sets up for later. What it sets up might come to fruition, true; even if Williams chooses to not follow up, Busiek still has two issues left. Still, knowing of the *possibility* that it won't affects me.

Because of all this, I couldn't really get into this issue, couldn't commit myself to the reading experience. Not with these nagging thoughts in the back of my head.

-- Will I re-read it anytime soon: No.

Wonder Woman Is Not a Femizonian

2006-12-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

She merely plays one on the Kirby-dot-specked TVs of uninformed fans.

I'm breezing around at Wikipedia and what do I spy? This is from their entry for Marvel's Thundra. Scroll to the bottom and you see...

Marvel's answer to Wonder Woman?

There are a few interesting similarities between Thundra and DC's Wonder Woman:

Both women are highly skilled in the art of physical combat
Both come from advanced societies where women rule (Femizonia and Paradise Island respectively)
Both wear metal bracelets
Both wear tiaras
Both carry lariat-like accessories (Wonder Woman's golden lasso, Thundra's chain)
Both place high value on the virtues of 'sisterhood'
Both women generally consider men to be inferior, but have had relationships with men they felt were 'worthy' of them (Superman, Trevor Barnes, Ben Grimm)

Bold emphasis mine. All linked text theirs.

And once again Wikipedia demonstrates the unfaltering reliability of an information source any joe or jane with Internet access can modify!

Why Write DC: The Super-Writers

2006-12-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Over at Superman fansite theages.superman.ws, they've put up an interview with Elliot S! Maggin and Cary Bates from The Amazing World of DC Comics 2, from 1974.

There are some interesting (I use that word too much, don't I?) comments about That Other Comic Book Company:

MAGGIN: I really don't think Marvel is competing with National. They're not working for the same market. I work for National because I'm not interested in writing for college students what should be read by kids. I think the only reason anyone over fifteen should enjoy reading a comic is a kind of whimsical one - because it would have made him happy when he was a kid, not because it boggles his mind now. It should take more than twenty well-illustrated pages to stretch the perceptions of someone that age or older.
***
MAGGIN: Letter columns, ad campaigns, promotional gimmicks, even fan magazines National puts out, they're not as SILLY as at Marvel. They take themselves much more seriously at National for some ridiculous reason that's beyond me. Where Marvel will call their magazine FOOM, spend six months trying to get people interested in what FOOM means, and it turns out to be "Friends of Ol' Marvel", with "old" spelled "o-l-apostrophe"... National will put out a magazine called THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS. It's an uninteresting name. FOOM is, too, but at least FOOM is dumb and silly, and everyone will say, "FOOM - what a stupid name." Nobody will think twice about a name like THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS, it seems to me.

BATES: This is the difference between National and Marvel. Marvel's readers are older, so they look at the books as more "camp," to be made fun of. National has younger readers who take the books much more seriously. If National wrote dialogue that tried to be campy, I'd be offended.

INTERVIEWER: DC TRIED THAT DURING THE BATMAN TV ERA. IT SEEMED VERY FALSE FOR OUR CHARACTERS.
***
BATES: If they're good stories, they should hold up as stories and still be fun, whereas Marvel's are just fun, fun, twenty pages of fun. There's no story - just action. There's nothing there.

MAGGIN: I take it that in your midwestern neo-puritan parlance, "fun" is roughly synonymous with "peurile." If that's the case, I agree.

Wow, of all the different arguments in the tiresome Marvel versus DC debate I've heard over the years, I've never encountered these ones before.

I don't think I agree with them, for that matter, but all the same, it's an interesting (there's that word again) insight into how two of the major Superman writers of the period approached writing.

Pym-Sized Pull List, 12-13

2006-12-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

I think I'm going to drop making the spoiler text semi-invisible. Aside from the fact that something like that is pointless when my reviews have an audience of one (namely myself), it feels like an unnecessary hassle. I figure, if someone wants to read my comments -- God only knows why -- merely providing a spoiler warning should suffice, so... SPOILERS ahead. Bought three comics this week.

Fantastic Four: The End 3
--I'm not sure why I'm not liking this mini-series more. I loved Alan Davis's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE NAIL Elseworld, and this has all the ingredients of that. They're both out-of-continuity stories with a overarcing mystery, one whose direction I can't begin to guess but at the same time keeps moving forward. Yet at the same time, this mini-series is different enough not to feel unoriginal.

Maybe it's because the DC Universe was a lot fresher and newer to me when I read THE NAIL than the Marvel-verse is to me now, so the sense of discovery is dampened. Maybe it's because I built my expectations too high due to just how much I liked THE NAIL, to the point where *anything* was bound to disappoint. Maybe this type of mystery tale reads better in trade format, where you can see how everything's cohering into the big picture in one go. Heck, maybe it even has to do with the absence of Pat Prentice's lettering. Davis's work just doesn't look the same without it, darnitall, though I realize that has more to do with how used to it I am than any flaws in FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END's letterer, Dave Lanphear.

All that said, I did enjoy this issue, just as I did the previous two. Something doesn't have to be up to THE NAIL's quality to be good. Plus, the art, as ever, is *gorgeous*.

Ex Machina 25
Standalone
--A single-issue story devoted to flashbacks of a supporting character's life is something Vaughan's done a couple of times over in Y: The Last Man. I could never really get into that series, though, and eventually dropped it. When I saw that he was doing the same kind of one-shot here, I became excited to see what my reaction would be to the approach being used on characters I was actually interested in.

In the end, I have to say that yes, it was enjoyable, but it's not up to par with a regular issue of EX MACHINA. This kind of thing is a fine example of showing rather than telling, letting us see what's shaped Bradbury into who he is without spelling it out for us. It's a little drawn out, though; regardless of whether the information was shown or told, it didn't feel like there was enough information there to take up a whole issue. As a result, some parts of the flashbacks came off as filler, contributing to the portrait of Bradbury in too tiny a way to be worth the pages used. Maybe this kind of story isn't suited for the standard 22-pages but instead suits a shorter format? I don't know.

Gargoyles 2
Clan Building, Chapter 2: The Journey
--From what I can remember of the episode this issue (and the previous) was adapted from, Greg Weisman was very, very faithful. Understandable, since he wrote the original episode. Unfortunately, it's a plot that works better on the screen than in the comics medium. Goliath jumping around from rooftop to rooftop, evading the helicopter and its guns that are hot on his heels, that's something that works better when the audience can see movement. Here, it winds up being a tad monotonous. Then again, maybe that feeling had more to do with the fact that, having seen the original episode, I already knew where everything was headed.

I supposed this issue was as enjoyable as could be expected given that I'd already seen the (near) exact story. Next issue, when we move on to *new* stories, should be when thing really start firing up; I'm quite looking forward to it.

"I Love to Behold You, but I Couldn't Hold You," He Lamented to the Lady in Lime

2006-12-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting gem from the letters page ("She-Mail") of The Sensational She-Hulk 39. I've copied the text letter-for-letter right down to the spelling errors (which could just as easily have been the creative team's fault as this... fan's).

Ms. Hulk,
When I say “Hubba Hubba,” please don’t take it wrong! Oh sure…there’s Mary Jane, and Moira, but sweetheart, Jen, ain’t no one holds a candle to you. You’re a pleasure to admire, a wit and a charmer. I love to behold you, but I couldn’t hold you, you’re just too much woman for me.
Your issuse are always exhilirating, the action and the humor, occasionally even the depth. (Some sneaks in, once in a while. Don’t tell John.) It’s nice to have such a competent female protagonist is the world. Keep up the really great work.

James W. Simmons
Westland, MI

Aside from the immediate wrongness of the letter's, well, everything... Moira MacTaggert?! That's something of an odd choice, isn't it? *Moira MacTaggert*?

There was no response to this letter.

I really like looking through the letter columns of older comics. They're like buried treasure chests and time capsules. From what I've seen of them so far, the She-Hulk letter columns are especially good for finding bizarre gems like this.

Moira MacTaggert. Man.

Quel Est le Projet Mystérieux?

2006-12-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

So I've been giving some thought to what Kurt Busiek's upcoming "Mystery Project" might be, the one he left Aquaman for. What really intrigues me is his statement that he thought it "had the potential to benefit DC, the fans and the comics marketplace in general." I suppose every new title DC puts out is going to benefit DC, but those other two groups as well? What could that be about?

Here's what else we know:
1. It's an ongoing. 2. It's longer than the standard 22-page monthly. 3. It'll have "opportunities for the oceanscape and the Aqua-cast to get in on the action...”

Now, if you'll indulge me, let me put on my amateur sleuth hat...

I think it's safe to say that whatever he's doing isn't going be the next mega-crossover epic because, well, how could those possibly benefit the market in general? Besides, that conflicts with Fact 1.

It also sounds like it can't *just* be a new title for an old character, not unless there's some special twist involved. Again, a new Booster Gold or Zatanna series (to pick two examples off the top of my head) doesn't exactly warrant being called potentially beneficial to the marketplace in general. Also, why would it warrant more than the standard page count?

Fact 3 pretty much guarantees it'll be set in the DC Universe, and extending the same reasoning, we can rule out something like, say, a space opera-type deal. I mean, I suppose it's *possible* to get the Aqua-world involved in an Adam Strange title, but to go so far as to say there are "opportunities"? Similarly, we can rule out a gritty, street-level Batman-type or stories set in the distant past or future.

Still, the idea that it has the potential to help the marketplace in general is the most puzzling part. What sort of book could possibly meet that criterion? The first thing that comes to mind is properties from other media, stuff that allows for crossover audiences, but then it wouldn't be set in the DC Universe, right?

My guess? It's an anthology title, a "Tales of the DC Universe" sort of thing, perhaps with a twist or unifying theme. Think about it. It certainly satisfies Fact 3. It wouldn't be a far-fetched idea to give an anthology a rotating art team, which would explain how they expect a longer-than-usual title to come out on time in this day and age of artists who can't handle regular 22-pagers on a monthly schedule. The lack of success with anthologies in the past would explain why Busiek thought the Powers That Be would turn it down. Busiek's knowledge of continuity would suit a title like this. Its nature would make it resemble the Justice League Unlimited TV show, giving it the potential to bring in a crossover audience. It all fits... maybe?

Honestly, I'd be surprised if I turned out right, but at the same time I think there's at least a small possibility I am, if that makes any sense. And if I am, remember, you heard it here first, folks!

And yeah, I know what I actually wrote in the title is "Mysterious Project." I don't know how to write "mystery project." The result of four years' worth of public high school French classes, ladies and gentlemen!

An Age of Silver Carved in Iron

2006-12-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

Remember the abomination that was Superman in the late '80's and '90s? It was the period that gave us ridiculous stunts like:

1) The death of Superman.

2) Superman's new energy powers.

3) Superman-Red and Superman-Blue.

and 4) Superman, killer.

Honestly, I've never read the Superman comics of the so-called "Iron Age" beyond a handful of scattered issues, so I have no opinion of their quality. For all I know, they really do contain writing of the poorest order. But the people who're constantly criticizing it need to come up with better arguments. Take the blue energy Superman for example. The traditionalists sneer about how DC had the gall to alter the power set of one of the most iconic, well-known characters in fiction, an argument that only holds water *if the change was meant to be permanent*! But, well, it wasn't -- so it doesn't.

If Mort Weisinger's stable of creators had done a story about Superman becoming a crackling energy being and having to adjust to new powers, all those same fans would be remembering it fondly, holding it up as an example of the days when comics didn't take themselves so seriously and knew how to be wild and fun. If you want to criticize the arc's execution, fine, that's a separate issue, but don't go pretending the Man of Tomorrow exchanging powers isn't a plot straight out of the Silver Age.

The bottom line is, if you're explanation for why you dislike the Superman comics of the "Iron Age" consists of oh-so-clever witticisms along the lines of, "The Super-mullet, 'nuff said!" then no one's going to take you seriously. Because here we all thought it was characterization and creative, well-constructed plots that determined a story's quality, when it turns out that no, it's actually all about the cut of the star's hair. I don't like the long haircut either, but I'm not going be using it as evidence that a run stank, much less as evidence of "all that's wrong with the modern Superman."

Maybe the Post-Crisis Superman-Red, Superman Blue storyline really was terrible; I have no way of knowing. But if your criticism is directed at the premise itself, the very idea of a story where the Man of Steel is split in two -- and I've seen fan complainst along that exact line numerous times -- you leave me wondering just what you think a Superman story is supposed to be.

***

Images were found at www.comics.org, superman.ws, and www.aardsy.com. What is the proper netiquette for yanking pictures anyway?

The Non-Fan's Perspective: SUPERMAN

2006-12-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

And off we go... Entry One in my recollections of the reactions of the students in the "Superheroes in Comics" class I took last semester. I'll do one entry for each week of the class, I think. We read one TPB each week, so that also means one TPB each entry. And remember, most of the class was made up of either casual fans or folks who weren't fans at all. I explained the thing here.

The facilitators made our first assignment the "The Death of Superman." Why, I have no idea.

It was actually the first (and only time) I read it. I'd never picked it up earlier because the plot didn't sound all that interesting. Superman and some monstrous heavy punching each other back and forth? Okay, but where's the hook? And now that I've read it? Well, on the one hand, I found it as tedious and boring as I thought I would, but on the other, I had to read it all in one sitting (so I could turn in my response paper on time), and that couldn't have helped matters. This is the type of arc definitely *not* suited for the trade paperback treatment. Maybe if I read it as it was intended to be... who knows? Also, it wasn't *quite* as single-stranded as I'd been lead to believe, what with that little kid, the other teenage kid, and all that other stuff surrounding the slugfest.

As for everyone else's responses, I was surprised by how warm the reactions were. They weren't particularly taken by it, but they by no means hated it, either. The reaction was a neutral "thumbs-sideways" one. If anything, I'd have thought non-fans would dislike it even more.

In the course of the class discussion, the whole "Is Clark Kent or Superman the real person?" question came up, as well as the Kill Bill scene that seems to be inevitably referenced each time this thing rears its head these days. What's interesting is that everyone thought of Clark Kent as the mild-mannered milquetoast of Pre-Crisis days, not as the bolder John Byrne version. This despite everyone in the room being born in the mid-80s. This is something I noticed in my own history with the character. I was born in '85, the Superman I was exposed to -- in the comics, in the Lois & Clark TV show -- was the Post-Crisis one, but I never noticed this guy I was seeing wasn't cowardly, wasn't a clutz! The idea of the timid Clark was just so ingrained in my mind that I filled in those traits myself. It wasn't until I read an article somewhere about the changes Crisis made to Superman that I realized, "Oh yeah, he *hasn't* been acting like that." (I'm ashamed to admit it might have been in Wizard, but in my defense I was a little kid.)

Seeing that others shared my misperception, I wonder if Byrne's leading-man-Clark was simply doomed to failure. Clark Kent, milquetoast, is simply so much embedded in Americana that people will see him that way no matter what, especially when he's still wearing glasses and a tie. He looks the part, so it is any wonder if people think he plays it, as well?

Also interesting: Even though everyone had the Pre-Crisis Clark in mind, some in the class still thought Clark was the real personality, not the Metropolis Marvel.

When the facilitators discussed the Justice League's (made up of Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Bloodwynd, and Guy Gardner) role in this story, they actually called them "the fake Justice Leauge" and said we'd be reading about the "real Justice League" later in the semester, by which they meant Waid's Tower of Babel arc. Whoa, what? I reiterate that these guys were born in the mid-80s. I didn't realize fans of my generation bought into that sort of rigid hierarchy. I mean, less-popular characters were already filling up the roster by the time we were *born*.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, one non-fan asked about the lack of villains with alter egos. It's something I hadn't really thought about, but it's true, isn't it? Obviously, most super-villains *can't* have secret IDs because the authorities know who they really are, but that's only writer's fiat, right? Why aren't there more archaeologist-by-day, thief-by-night types? There are non-costumed crime bosses along these lines like the Kingpin, but where are the cape-sporting, masked types who keep day jobs?

And now for something that has nothing to do with the Action Ace: I'm watching a re-broadcast of the PBS Celtic Woman concert as I type this, and I have to say... they should never show audience reaction shots for something like this. Each time they do, it's just so... I can't describe it... it's just too much. I'm putting this here because, well, I'm all alone in my home right now so where else am I going to communicate it?

Nostraplombus, Am I

2006-12-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

Here are my predictions for Marvel's Civil War, and possibly some of their other stuff:

1. The world's first mutant will have an important role when all is said and done.
2. J. Buchanan Barnes will be switching to a Capt. America costume.
3. The Hulk's coming back to Midgard, and he'll have brought something *very* special with him.

How do I know all this? Because the Painted Doll said so!

While a bunch of places on the Web have commented on the predictions this modern Delphi-dweller made on a blog, predictions that are turning out to be true, I'm surprised no one's pointed out the *other* predictions this four-color forecaster made on the Comic Book Resources forums. If (s)he's done it once, (s)he can probably do it twice, right?

Hmmm, the Painted Doll. Wasn't that also the psychopath from Alan Moore's Promethea?

Covert Agent Ravage 2099

2006-12-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Stan Lee really liked (sort of) Marvel's Transformers comics, apparently. Here's a quote from its writer, Bob Budiansky:

I'll end it with a story about my favorite fan letter. I had written "Decepticon Graffitti." I think that was issue #23. I was pretty happy with the way that story turned out. Soon after it was printed, Don Daley, my editor, calls me into his office to show me a fan letter raving about that story -- from Stan Lee! You can't get much higher praise than that!

Whuda thunk it?

Quote's from an interview at something called Altered State Magazine.

Palmer-Sized Pull List, 12-7

2006-12-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

Yeah, the previous entry? Witness the workings of an overworked college student's mind in the middle of self-destructing, as it makes a desperate bid to relieve tension.

Anyway, here's my review for the comics I bought Wednesday. In this case, "comic" singular, as that's all I purchased. Spoilers ahead, natch.

Batman 826: Slayride
Writer: Paul Dini, Penciller: Don Kramer
--Another engaging stand-alone by Dini. So far, the only one I haven't cared for is the Poison Ivy tale. This one's a bit different in that it's *absolutely* stand-alone. In the previous issues, there's always been at least a small mention of something from earlier in the run, like the Riddler's ad running on TV.
Overall, the stand-alone structure is proving to be enjoyable, but at the same time, I don't feel a pressing desire to purchase the next issue each month. The stories are fun but don't feel weighty. I prefer stuff with more characterization, characterization that digs further in. And I'll never get the popularity of the Joker, I think.
Kramer's artwork is pretty good, but his Dick Grayson looked too much like Bruce here. Heck, I thought that's who he was at first.
Keep in mind that I don't love the animated series the way most do. I thought it was decent, but I don't see myself going out of the way to watch episodes again.

Also, another historical moment in APLOMB's history. I received my first "visitor who found his/her way here through bizarre searchwords." Someone was looking for: flash superhero superman dc comics -rom -memory -game -psp -actionscript -video -flex. That's getting pretty specific. Huh.

Attention, Australians and Irishmen!

2006-12-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

Australians and people in the Republic of Ireland, please visit this blog! As of today, of the handful of people who've found their way to APLOMB since its inception, there's been one from the U.K., one from Canada, one from New Zealand, and a small few from the U.S. If you guys click your way here, I'll have the complete set, one of each. So stop on by!

...Hey, my first entry that has absolutely nothing to do with comics. It's an epochal moment.

It's the little things...

2006-12-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

DC's official website has available for download podcasts of a number of the company's panels at San Diego Comic-Con '06. Among them is a "Spotlight on Kurt Busiek," in which, about a quarter of the way in, some guy decides to give the writer guff about the Batman/Captain America fight from JLA/Avengers.

While discussing that scene and his thoughts behind it, Mr. Busiek asks the audience, "World's greatest detective, world's greatest fighting machine: Who wins the fight?" If you listen *real* carefully, amidst the shouts on Capt. America's side, you can here one woman's voice in the background saying, "The detective." Writing this out, I'm realizing it by all rights shouldn't be all that amusing, but to me, it somehow simply is.

I was in the audience for this panel (at what was my first -- and possibly last -- con), and after hearing this recording, two things disappoint me about it:
1. It doesn't properly convey the outright, seething hate on the part of the guy who asked the Batman/Captain America question. That guy was *really* mad, in more ways than one.
2. It didn't capture all audience members beginning to shout "Next question!" and "Get a life!" when said guy wouldn't let go of the topic. 'Twas a thing of beauty.

One madman aside, it was a fun panel/podcast, even if I was unable to get the audience mike passed my way to ask my question.

Tim Kring's HEROES Reminds Me of Jeff Smith's BONE

2006-12-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

A number of people are saying that they weren't sold on HEROES at first, but that they saw enough potential in it to stick around. Then, as more episodes were shown, they came around and now like it quite a bit.

Well, it's the other way around for me. I liked the pilot, really liked it, but since then, my interest's tapered. In the earlier weeks, watching the disparate cast come to grips with their abilities, each reacting in his/her own way, responding to their mundane lives turning extraordinary -- that was captivating. People have said that it's a clichéd premise, and I agree that it certainly *feels* like one. I can't actually think of too many stories featuring that particular plot, though. Also, unlike pretty much *everyone* else, I liked *all* the strands, all the characters. But now that they've had time to adjust and the plot's shifted to their efforts to save the world -- I don't know, there's the feel of a stock sci-fi thriller.

I do still enjoy the show enough to watch. I'm just not on the edge of my seat about it like I was in the first several weeks.

That's my reaction to a lot of fiction actually. I love at first but only at first. I think it's because in the beginning, you don't know exactly what the plot is, what kind of tale it'll turn out to be. You see all the possible paths and the sight of all the interesting ones buzz in your brain. That's where a lot of the enjoyment comes from: "Ooh, this is what it's shaping up to be! Or that!" Amidst that excitement, you don't notice the un-interesting paths that the plot could just as easily go down. And why should you, when you're having so much fun?

That's how I was with BONE. I love the early chapters where the comedy and wacky hi-jinks are a lot more prevalent. The more the story shifted into a high fantasy epic, the less interested I became. That sort of fantasy story, set in a made-up land resembling our past -- I simply have no interest in it. I can only recall a handful of works along those lines I've enjoyed, George R. R. Martin's being chief among them. (Everyone talks about his A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, but his short fantasy stories are as good if not better, dammit!) Other flavors of fantasy like urban fantasy or magical realism, I do like, though.

Anyway, as I came to realize BONE was actually *that* kind of story, my interest lessened. I was sufficiently uninterested in the world-building that I couldn't keep it straight. Ghost circles, the dreaming, all that stuff. And because I couldn't keep it straight, I just ended up confused when it was elaborated on, and the confusion just made me even more uninterested. It was something of a vicious cycle, really.

Still, enough people have raved about BONE that I'll probably give it a second try some day. Maybe I was just in a bad mood.

And I *am* looking forward to Smith's SHAZAM. He did have a great way with humor when he chose to express it, and this will be a genre I'm more predisposed towards. Plus, hey, magnificient art.

No Character to Be Out- Of

2006-12-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

One of the most common complaints we fans utter is, "Character X is acting out character," but honestly... most characters in superhero comics don't have enough depth for *any* behavior, barring the most extreme examples (The Silver Surfer loves to torture cute, little squirrels!), to be considered out-of-character. You can't be out-of-character if there's no character there to be out of. Considering how often people I know in the *real world* behave in ways I wouldn't have expected, I have no idea why some fans have such rigorous, inflexible standards for how their favorites would act. Actually, I do have an idea why, but that's for another entry.

I think this lack of depth stems from how a lot of us start liking these characters when we're kids/young teens and our standards for characterization are, well, a lot lower. Think back to your favorite superhero when you were a kid and chances are, you liked him/her because of the powers or snazzy costume. By the time we're older and our standards have hardened, we're already hooked. There are so many flat characters because it's a market where flat characters can flourish.

Now that I think about it, it'd be interesting if someone conducted a poll to see what the correlation is between when a person got into the hobby and who his/her favorite characters are.

Hmmm, looking back at what I wrote, maybe a better name for this blog would be Belaboring the Obvious. Heh.

The Non-Fan's Perspective

2006-12-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

Last year, I enrolled in a "Superheroes in Comics" class at the college I'm attending. It was part of the college's "democratic education" program, the same program that's delivered to the world such illustrious courses as "Introduction to the Rubik's Cube," "The Simpsons and Philosophy," and "Elvish." These courses are taught by "facilitators," (i.e. fellow students) though each has its own faculty sponsor, and yes, they are worth actual units that count towards graduation. The class was populated by a nice mixture of both fans and non-fans.

Anyway, I was really surprised by what my fellow fans in the class knew and didn't know. My main exposure to other fans had been online, where we tend to know about characters all across the board. Well, there's segregation along company lines, with DC fans who know little about Marvel and vise versa. Still, if you bump into a Flash fan on the web, chances are he'll at least have general knowledge of the other DC Universe characters, if not of the more minute details.

Not the case with my classmates, though. They'd mention the most obscure bit of trivia one moment and then demonstrate unawareness of a much more common fact the next. For example, there was one guy who could recite chapter and verse of the minutiae of X-Men continuity, able to fully explain the Summers family tree... and he asked one day, "Did the Hulk used to have intelligence?" There was one woman who knew who Dr. Fate was and even mentioned his propensity for ankh-shaped energy effects, and she asked if the Golden Age Green Lantern wears a helmet. Some people who held Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Waid in high regard had no idea Gail Simone worked in comics (though they knew her name from the Women in Refrigerators site, interestingly enough). So on and so forth.

Make no mistake, I'm not criticizing these people for having obsession unequal to mine, not shouting "false fan" or anything like that. (That should go without saying, but I've seen folks in online fandom cop just that attitude.) But I am genuinely slightly boggled as to how these people come about. How does someone get to the point where he knows about the Wally Wood/Power Girl breast size urban legend, yet not know that the JLA's archer is named Green Arrow? (That's a real example!) You'd think anyone as immersed in fandom circles to know the former would have at some point learned the latter, right? This species of fans isn't all that common in the circles of Internet fandom, yet it was the only kind I met in the class. Is this the true face of the fans of superhero comics? Is it a more accurate representation of the majority readership than what we see on message boards and the comics blogalaxy?

In the coming weeks, I'll probably be intermittently writing about the class's reactions to the TPBs we were assigned. It was fun to see things from their fresh eyes, or at least it was for this long-time reader who long ago lost the ability to see the forest for the trees.

First up, when I get around to it: "The Death of Superman." One of the facilitators, upon assigning it to us, actually said, "It's a classic." Yeah. I couldn't tell if he was being ironic or not.

Inaugural Post

2006-12-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hello, Internet. This is the inaugural entry of APLOMB. Off the top of my head, I can only recall ever reading one first entry of a blog before, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put here, or if there's some customary introductory procedure or what.

I've been a fan of superheroes since at least as far back as when I saw the pilot episode of the 90's X-Men cartoon, and possibly even before that. This blog will contain whatever random ruminations on superhero comics I feel like putting to words, as well as whatever else I feel like writing about. It's name comes from the origin of Marvel's Whizzer, who obtained super-speed from an emergency transfusion of mongoose blood. If you didn't already figure that out, then this blog might just not be for you. Lots of fans cite the Whizzer's backstory as the nadir of ridiculous superpower origins, but when I first read about it as a kid, I didn't see anything wrong with it. This says one of two things:

1. It's actually no more silly than most superhero origins, and fans only think it's ridiculous because they learn about an obscure guy like the Whizzer at an older age than when they meet folks like the Hulk or Spider-Man.
2. I was a very, very stupid kid.

I'm not sure which of the two is the case.

Well, that's it for introductions. I'm not very computer-savvy, so I'm still learning my way around this whole blog template thing. More to come later today, I think.