I’ll admit to being skeptical about AMC’s new series following the Walking Dead from the moment I first saw a preview for it. But I decided to give the first episode of Comic Book Men a try and really see what it was about, since it was a show that spoke to my interests. But after that first episode I was pretty certain that the show is not for me.
My first clue was when in the opening minutes of the show the cast bursts into giggles because Batman’s sidekick is named Dick. That certainly didn’t establish a maturity level that I was excited about watching. At that point I checked to see which episode of Criminal Minds was playing on another channel, and finding it to be one I had seen, resolved myself to finish the episode to come.
There were moments on the show that made me smile. I don’t remember what any of them were exactly, but they were likely just little snippets of conversation between the cast members that reminded me of sitting with my friends in college and having similar, although likely more ridiculous, conversations.
I read that the show would be sort of like Pawn Stars with comics, but I feel Comic Book Men really fell short in this regard. One of the things that always impresses me about Pawn Stars is just how knowledgeable Rick and company are about just about everything. They do call in experts from time to time, especially to verify the authenticity of items, but they have a huge foundation of knowledge to draw from and I never watch an episode without learning something. On Comic Book Men, I really only felt that the store owner, Walt, knew anything. When customers came into the store he dealt with the items they were trying to sell while the others just sort of stood around and made silly comments. I felt this distracted from the actual knowledge Walt might have.
The other problem with this model is that people bring things to Pawn Stars often because they don’t know what they are or what they could be worth. They are often things that would be difficult to find prices for without consulting an expert. On Comic Book Men, except for the Bob Kane autograph, it seemed like most of the items could be easily priced by consulting sites like eBay (at least for a ballpark figure). The sellers knew what the things were in most cases and that took away a bit from the fun of discovery. And I can’t help but think that most of them would get a better price on eBay than they would at the store, if only because the store isn’t going to give you retail price so that they can make some money.
I was also surprised by some of the comments they made about their customers. Its one thing to say something to your coworkers after a customer has left the store; it’s another to do so on camera. I have to wonder if they will still be able to get people on the show if it’s successful enough for more seasons. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the show. I can probably get just as much money on eBay without being harassed on television.
I’m sure that many people liked the show and thought it was funny, and it may simply be the case that I am not the target audience for this show. But even my fiancé, who is a fan of Kevin Smith’s movies, didn’t like the show. He had had enough and left the room before it was even half over. That put me at an even greater loss as to who the target audience really is.
Although now that I think about it, I may have an idea of whom the target audience is. I think that for Comic Book Men, the target audience is people who enjoy making fun of diehard fans of not only comic books but general geek culture. The cast are clearly diehard fans and so are the customers. The cast makes fun of the customers and of each other. Audience members can enjoy making fun of all parties involved.
That isn’t to say that the audience is made up of horrible people or anything. Although I don’t consider myself part of the target audience for the show I know I’ve been guilty of such enjoyment myself. It’s almost a defense mechanism. I think we all sometimes feel self conscious about our hobbies so it can be reassuring to see people who are “more out there” than we are. And of course, if we are not a part of a fandom we are often baffled by the enjoyment others get out of it.
I didn’t watch the second episode this past Sunday, so I won’t be able to comment on the show further than to say that I really didn’t like the first episode and have no desire to watch any more of it. If you like it, I hope that you enjoy it. I would have preferred a show that was a bit more mature and involved a less stereotypical look at comics and their fandom. And I accept that the show I want is not this show.
Showing posts with label Fan Ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fan Ramblings. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Top 10 List!
I like top 10 lists. They are easy to digest and compare your own picks with. They can say a lot while only saying a little. So I decided to write up a quick top 10 list of my own.
Below you will find my top 10 ongoing series. I picked them by looking at my pull list as though I had to drop all of my ongoing titles except for 10. If that were to happen, these are the books that would make the cut. The top few spots were hard to assign and in a few months they could easily shift around. But as of now, this is what I would pick.
Honorable Mention: Stuff of Legend – it can’t be on the list because it’s a series of miniseries and not an ongoing title. But I enjoy it so much that I felt it needed a mention and if I was dropping all of my books but 10 and a book had to be cut from this top ten list to keep this one I would probably make that sacrifice.
10. Batwoman – I admit it, this is a cheat. This book isn’t even out yet. But I have such high hopes for it that it still sneaks in at the number 10 spot on the list. When I actually have the book in my hands it could jump to an even higher spot, especially if the previous run in Detective Comics is any indication, but the new creative team has to prove themselves a little before that can happen.
9. Darkwing Duck – What can I say, I’m a sucker for nostalgia. The comic will never be as good as the cartoon (and the cartoon will probably never be as good as my memories of the cartoon) but it’s the only way I’m going to get new stories with these characters. And Darkwing, like Batman, has a great rogues gallery (and Batman doesn’t have a Negaduck!) and a fun family of relationships to explore.
8. Zatanna – I love magic. I always have. And really, who doesn’t love the very idea of magic? We all wish we could be magic, or at the very least, wish we could watch someone else being magic. This book is doing a nice job of treading into the magical side of the DCU that has been more or less ignored lately. Here our normal world and the magical world collide and it’s up to Zee to make sure that things don’t get too messy.
7. The Sixth Gun – I really like the weird west setting. Every time they give me another tidbit about the universe I am itching for more. The villains are scary and the heroes are maybe not so heroic. It’s a muddled environment without the clearest sense of who you can trust and who you should believe. And that helps to make it great. I saw someone describe this series as a western horror series but I don’t feel that really fits. It’s a western with fantasy elements (some of which, admittedly are scary). I look forward to seeing where this one will take me.
6. Batgirl – This book had so much to prove. It fought a hard battle to prove that it was a good book with an interesting character who deserved her place in the DCU. I have to say that I think the writer has a great sense of voice as the first year was full of Bat family guest stars and they were all portrayed believably. The stories have been great and the stakes have been high. This book doesn’t have to prove itself anymore, and now it can simply focus on being awesome.
5. Red Robin – Tim Drake is a great character. I HATED the idea of him being Red Robin, but the past year has really made it fit for the character. The book has a lot of great things going for it right now with some serious long term plotting going on. I hope the creative team can stick around for a long time to come because when Tim Drake is written well he is amazingly interesting and fun to read about.
4. iZombie – I figured I’d like this story because I like zombies, but this book is full of concepts that just really click with me. I love that one of the main characters is a were-terrier. When they sat down and laid out how vampires and ghosts and zombies and mummies exist in the world I really liked the explanation behind it all. With such iconic monsters it’s easy to just hand wave their existence as some sort of magic that doesn’t need explaining. But this book lays out easy to understand rules and shows a lot of forethought on the part of the writer. Also the art is fantastic. There are a lot of places this book can go and I look forward to being along for the ride.
3. Unwritten – This book continues to surprise me, and every surprise makes me excited to read the next volume. The characters are well developed and the threat they face is interesting and mysterious. And it has an adorable flying cat that I demand a plushie of immediately if not sooner. The pacing in this book is really solid and its one of the first things I read every month without fail.
2. Morning Glories – I’ve only read five issues so far, but the first one alone was enough to get me hooked and more than enough to earn the number 2 spot. This one could go down the list if it can’t keep up the insanely high standards it has set for itself, but it’s just starting out and with a long form mystery like this it’s an exciting time to be reading. The characters are fun and different and have great personalities that play off of each other in entertaining ways. The pacing of these issues has been fantastic with each issue ending in a way that makes me disappointed that there are no more pages that month and excited to see how things turn out as soon as the next volume is in my hands.
1. Tiny Titans – There is nothing better than this book. I feel like I gush about it all the time and if so it’s only because that’s how much I am enjoying this book. If they had an entire Tiny universe of books I would buy every single one of them and they would all probably be on this list. No matter what happens I know this comic will be fun. It will make me laugh. It will charm me with its whimsy. If I am feeling sad it makes me feel happy and if I’m already happy it makes me happier. Any book that can do that deserves the number 1 spot.
I’m honestly surprised by how many of these series are new (6 of the 10 haven’t even reached issue 10 yet, so in a way this list doubles as my best of 2010 list). I suppose the longer a series runs the more likely it is to lose readers for whatever reason. It doesn’t surprise me that half the books on here are independent titles. More DCU books would probably be on here if I could depend on the creative team sticking around for more than a year. But when I think about comics I want to read for a long time it’s too easy to assume that the writer I like will go away and be replaced by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. Or that some big DCU event is going to come along and change everything potentially derailing stories that have been building for a while.
I noticed that I didn't talk too much about what these different series were actually about, so I've included links where I could to other places on my blog where I gush about the series in question.
Share your top 10 list with me! If you could only read 10 ongoings what would they be? Do you have less than 10? Share that too!
Below you will find my top 10 ongoing series. I picked them by looking at my pull list as though I had to drop all of my ongoing titles except for 10. If that were to happen, these are the books that would make the cut. The top few spots were hard to assign and in a few months they could easily shift around. But as of now, this is what I would pick.
I’m honestly surprised by how many of these series are new (6 of the 10 haven’t even reached issue 10 yet, so in a way this list doubles as my best of 2010 list). I suppose the longer a series runs the more likely it is to lose readers for whatever reason. It doesn’t surprise me that half the books on here are independent titles. More DCU books would probably be on here if I could depend on the creative team sticking around for more than a year. But when I think about comics I want to read for a long time it’s too easy to assume that the writer I like will go away and be replaced by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. Or that some big DCU event is going to come along and change everything potentially derailing stories that have been building for a while.
I noticed that I didn't talk too much about what these different series were actually about, so I've included links where I could to other places on my blog where I gush about the series in question.
Share your top 10 list with me! If you could only read 10 ongoings what would they be? Do you have less than 10? Share that too!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Well, that didn’t last long…
So yeah…this one is going to ramble a little.
*Spoilers for JL: Cry for Justice and the recently released Starman/Congorilla one shot ahead*
Man, where to start. I admit it. I bought Justice League: Cry for Justice. The art was a major draw (although it ended up being pretty offensive in several places and then the artist couldn’t even finish it despite delays) and seemed to contain some characters that I cared about (like Batwoman, who ended up being like three panels of the thing). It ended up being pretty terrible. If you want to know just how terrible it was you should follow the link in the sidebar to Atop the Forth Wall and watch Linkara’s excellent review of it (parts one and two are up now and part three should be up next week).
But as bad as that was, I’m not going to dwell on it too much here. That isn’t what got my attention today. It is important that you know, in case you didn’t read it, that one of the major problems with the series was the insane amount of character death, most of them minor or supporting characters and many of them off panel. The death that got the most attention was probably that of Roy Harper’s (Red Arrow or Arsenal depending on when you are reading) daughter Lian. That one was like a punch in the gut to me, and felt amazingly unnecessary (especially considering poor Roy had just had one of his ARMS TORN OFF). But again, that isn’t what I’m here to rant about.
You may remember a little quote that was floating around after Blackest Night that “dead was dead” from now on. Now of course, we all rolled our eyes knowing that it certainly wouldn’t last. We all know how these things work. But the point was made that they probably wouldn’t be using character death/resurrection as a gimmick for at least a while. The “revolving door of death” in the DCU was apparently going to be closed.
Again, I knew that this wasn’t going to stick for too long. But I figured the editors would be keeping a tight leash on this particular idea and that when the first post Blackest Night resurrection happened that it would be a big deal and would have to have some strong writing to work around the “dead is dead” idea. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, I was wrong.
In the Starman/Congorilla one shot this month (which, for full disclosure, I have not read) the Tasmanian Devil was resurrected by having his remains thrown into a Lazarus pit. Let’s backtrack for a moment. Tas was killed off in the afore mentioned Cry for Justice and, to add insult to injury, his skin was MADE INTO A RUG so that we could all see just what a badass Prometheus was. That’s right. Not only was this character brutally murdered in a rather offhanded manner, but he was skinned and put on display. It was rather distasteful and got quite a reaction when it happened.
One of the reasons that it was a big deal (other than the outright grotesqueness of it)was that Tas, while a rather minor player in the DCU, is one of the few openly gay heroes. And when there are so few of them in the comic universe the loss of even one is felt strongly by fans who are gay and who support gay characters.
Now here’s the rub. Tas was killed in Cry for Justice and brought back in Starman/Congorilla. The writer for BOTH of these works was James Robinson. Wait, what? At first this seemed like it was perhaps some half baked apology for the wonton death of Cry for Justice. But upon reading an interview on Newsarama it seems as though Robinson claims this was “planned all along.” He had always planned for Tas to be brought back and to end up as the boyfriend of Starman (another of the established gay characters). Did I mention that Starman’s previous boyfriend was killed (off panel) in Cry for Justice too? So Robinson’s master plan was to kill the old boyfriend and then kill the soon-to-be-new boyfriend and then bring the new boyfriend back to conveniently take the place of the old (and apparently forgotten) boyfriend?
And now here is the other problem. The big solution to “dead is dead” is the Lazarus pits? Are you freaking serious? Why don’t we just go throw all the bodies of dead superheroes into the Lazarus pit and bring them back too? Why not Lian Harper and Ralph and Sue Digby and all of the other heroes that people miss? Because it’s a terrible idea, that’s why. It has been established many times that while the Lazarus pits are powerful, people have a tendency to come back wrong. Insane wrong usually. Batman decided against bringing Jason Todd back this way. Tim Drake had the opportunity to bring back his parents and best friends (who got better anyway…) and turned it down because he knew that it wouldn’t really be them and this it wasn’t natural. Heck, even when Dick Grayson threw Bruce’s not-body into the pit it was as a last resort that he knew was incredibly dangerous and could have massive side effects. It was a desperation move. But Tas doesn’t seem to have been effected at all. The Lazarus pits were established as a poor solution to death BECAUSE of how broken they are and how many questions are raised if people are brought back with them without consequences.
*Sigh* Even if this was “the plan all along” (which I do not buy at all) it is a terrible plan and some editor somewhere should have put a stop to it. And by it I mean the death in the first place. You want Tas and Starman to hook up? Groovy. You want to kill off Starman’s current boyfriend as a plot device before that? Well…okay, I mean we wish you wouldn’t but it’s not a complete deal breaker. You want to ignore the big status quo change that we have been pimping in the DCU not even a year after it was made so you can kill this character, among a sea of others, for shock value and then almost immediately bring him back? Sorry Mr. Robinson, we’ll have to see another draft of this; I’m afraid this just doesn’t work.
*Spoilers for JL: Cry for Justice and the recently released Starman/Congorilla one shot ahead*
Man, where to start. I admit it. I bought Justice League: Cry for Justice. The art was a major draw (although it ended up being pretty offensive in several places and then the artist couldn’t even finish it despite delays) and seemed to contain some characters that I cared about (like Batwoman, who ended up being like three panels of the thing). It ended up being pretty terrible. If you want to know just how terrible it was you should follow the link in the sidebar to Atop the Forth Wall and watch Linkara’s excellent review of it (parts one and two are up now and part three should be up next week).
But as bad as that was, I’m not going to dwell on it too much here. That isn’t what got my attention today. It is important that you know, in case you didn’t read it, that one of the major problems with the series was the insane amount of character death, most of them minor or supporting characters and many of them off panel. The death that got the most attention was probably that of Roy Harper’s (Red Arrow or Arsenal depending on when you are reading) daughter Lian. That one was like a punch in the gut to me, and felt amazingly unnecessary (especially considering poor Roy had just had one of his ARMS TORN OFF). But again, that isn’t what I’m here to rant about.
You may remember a little quote that was floating around after Blackest Night that “dead was dead” from now on. Now of course, we all rolled our eyes knowing that it certainly wouldn’t last. We all know how these things work. But the point was made that they probably wouldn’t be using character death/resurrection as a gimmick for at least a while. The “revolving door of death” in the DCU was apparently going to be closed.
Again, I knew that this wasn’t going to stick for too long. But I figured the editors would be keeping a tight leash on this particular idea and that when the first post Blackest Night resurrection happened that it would be a big deal and would have to have some strong writing to work around the “dead is dead” idea. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, I was wrong.
In the Starman/Congorilla one shot this month (which, for full disclosure, I have not read) the Tasmanian Devil was resurrected by having his remains thrown into a Lazarus pit. Let’s backtrack for a moment. Tas was killed off in the afore mentioned Cry for Justice and, to add insult to injury, his skin was MADE INTO A RUG so that we could all see just what a badass Prometheus was. That’s right. Not only was this character brutally murdered in a rather offhanded manner, but he was skinned and put on display. It was rather distasteful and got quite a reaction when it happened.
One of the reasons that it was a big deal (other than the outright grotesqueness of it)was that Tas, while a rather minor player in the DCU, is one of the few openly gay heroes. And when there are so few of them in the comic universe the loss of even one is felt strongly by fans who are gay and who support gay characters.
Now here’s the rub. Tas was killed in Cry for Justice and brought back in Starman/Congorilla. The writer for BOTH of these works was James Robinson. Wait, what? At first this seemed like it was perhaps some half baked apology for the wonton death of Cry for Justice. But upon reading an interview on Newsarama it seems as though Robinson claims this was “planned all along.” He had always planned for Tas to be brought back and to end up as the boyfriend of Starman (another of the established gay characters). Did I mention that Starman’s previous boyfriend was killed (off panel) in Cry for Justice too? So Robinson’s master plan was to kill the old boyfriend and then kill the soon-to-be-new boyfriend and then bring the new boyfriend back to conveniently take the place of the old (and apparently forgotten) boyfriend?
And now here is the other problem. The big solution to “dead is dead” is the Lazarus pits? Are you freaking serious? Why don’t we just go throw all the bodies of dead superheroes into the Lazarus pit and bring them back too? Why not Lian Harper and Ralph and Sue Digby and all of the other heroes that people miss? Because it’s a terrible idea, that’s why. It has been established many times that while the Lazarus pits are powerful, people have a tendency to come back wrong. Insane wrong usually. Batman decided against bringing Jason Todd back this way. Tim Drake had the opportunity to bring back his parents and best friends (who got better anyway…) and turned it down because he knew that it wouldn’t really be them and this it wasn’t natural. Heck, even when Dick Grayson threw Bruce’s not-body into the pit it was as a last resort that he knew was incredibly dangerous and could have massive side effects. It was a desperation move. But Tas doesn’t seem to have been effected at all. The Lazarus pits were established as a poor solution to death BECAUSE of how broken they are and how many questions are raised if people are brought back with them without consequences.
*Sigh* Even if this was “the plan all along” (which I do not buy at all) it is a terrible plan and some editor somewhere should have put a stop to it. And by it I mean the death in the first place. You want Tas and Starman to hook up? Groovy. You want to kill off Starman’s current boyfriend as a plot device before that? Well…okay, I mean we wish you wouldn’t but it’s not a complete deal breaker. You want to ignore the big status quo change that we have been pimping in the DCU not even a year after it was made so you can kill this character, among a sea of others, for shock value and then almost immediately bring him back? Sorry Mr. Robinson, we’ll have to see another draft of this; I’m afraid this just doesn’t work.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
On the cancellation of some Batbooks
I knew this was coming. I didn’t know for sure which titles would be cut, but it had been too long since DC had trimmed off some of their lower selling books. And since there are so many Bat family books out right now, I assumed that a few of them would be getting the axe. March will see the final issue of three of my current ongoing series. Let’s take a closer look at these titles, shall we?
Azreal
I was very close to dropping this book anyway, but the low sales clued me in that this one might not last and it seemed a pity to drop it an issue or two before it ended (since I was there for the beginning and all). This is a title that severely suffered from a change in writers. When Fabian Nicieza had the book I felt that it worked. It wasn’t astonishingly amazing or anything, but it did several very interesting things. I enjoyed the issue with Ragman where the two characters talked about the differences of their powers. It was interesting religious philosophy without being heavy handed. I was intrigued by the fact that the first issue showed the main character dead at some point in the mystery future. I thought it was an interesting gamble, and while I thought it could be a fake out of some kind, I admired the guts it took to set up a story that way.
Unfortunately, Nicieza left the book and was replaced by David Hine. And his take on having a religious hero went from uninteresting to downright offensive. I’m Catholic. The character of Michael Lane is also Catholic. He is “working for” the Order of Purity, a secret religious sect from the middle ages. Now I’m a big girl and can take digs at my religion in forms of media. Nothing said in a comic book or a movie is going to shake my faith. But you would think that the writer or editor might have taken a step back and said, “Hey, Catholicism is a widely practiced religion. Some of our readers might in fact be Catholic. Perhaps we shouldn’t have a splash page that depicts the Pope (who is very real) as a demonic monster. That might be going a bit far.” Azreal was “safe” when he was under the umbrella of the Order of Purity. You could have all sorts of crazy religious commentary things going on and it was okay because that religious sect didn’t actually exist. But suddenly we decided to tie a lot of real world religion into the book in a very unflattering way and it did not come out the better for it. I get that religious conspiracies are cool and hip, but even that felt stale and overused (oh wow, Lane might be the descendent of Jesus, because he didn’t really die and had kids, and this has never ever been thought of or done before, aren’t we edgy?).
I have no idea where Nicieza was planning on going with the book had he stayed on, but I have to assume it would have been better than what we got. As it stands, this book would have been far better off being canceled when Nicieza left instead of trying to squeeze whatever final blood they could get out of the title. I’ll see it through to the end in the hope that it finds a way to redeem itself, but I’m actually pretty glad this one is going away.
Batman Confidential
It really confuses me that this book lasted over 50 issues. DC NEVER promoted this book. I read a lot of interviews online, and even when people were bitching about not being able to read about Bruce Wayne as Batman no one EVER brought this book up. When they were giving the low down about who would be appearing in what Batbook, this title was never mentioned. It was like DC was trying to hide this book for some reason, and yet they kept publishing it.
This book began as a series of untold tales back from when Bruce Wayne had just started being Batman. His first encounter with the Joker, his first this, his first that. It was all very classic stuff. Easy to follow and far less complicated than most of the other books at the time. But then, somewhere along the line, this book seemed to lose its focus. It seemed like we weren’t dealing with a young Batman anymore. It seemed like we were dealing with whatever Batman the writer decided to write about. The stories were still all very “safe” but there didn’t seem to be any connection between the arcs. One arc we’re in Russia, the next we’re dealing with a ghost/fear monster thing, then we’re fighting vampires and werewolves. It really became the weird Batman miniseries book, except that instead of miniseries it was an ongoing with lots of disjointed arcs.
What really bums me out is that the book seemed to be getting back on track. There was a one shot issue that I felt was very good, and the current and final arc seemed to feel more like we were dealing with a young Bruce Wayne still finding his limits and his place. And it was good! And now that I’ve felt we were getting back to where we belonged the rug is pulled out and the book is canceled. Oh, well.
Batman: Streets of Gotham
This is the only cancelation that really surprised me. And apparently surprised the writer too since he mentioned in an interview that he was working on the next year’s worth of stories for the book. I love Paul Dini. Most of his work I have really enjoyed, and I always found Streets to be an interesting read. But I will admit that it didn’t have as clear of a place in the family of Batbooks as some of the others. You can kinda sum up the purpose of most of the other books in a sentence or so. And while I don’t think its necessarily a bad thing that this book didn't have that, I can see it being tough from a marketing point of view. And with so many other Batbooks out there I guess something had to give. Paul Dini is still an amazing writer and I’m sure they will find a place for any Batman stories he still wants to tell. It’s just always sad to hear that a writer had more stuff planned that they won’t get to put out for the readers.
With as many comics as I am getting I will admit that I’m slightly relived to have three less comics a month. I’m sure I’ll find something to replace them with soon enough. And none of them were my top tier favorite books, so all in all I can’t really complain all that much. But it does serve to remind me to try to help promote those books that I enjoy that have lower sales so that they do not end up cancelled too.
Azreal
I was very close to dropping this book anyway, but the low sales clued me in that this one might not last and it seemed a pity to drop it an issue or two before it ended (since I was there for the beginning and all). This is a title that severely suffered from a change in writers. When Fabian Nicieza had the book I felt that it worked. It wasn’t astonishingly amazing or anything, but it did several very interesting things. I enjoyed the issue with Ragman where the two characters talked about the differences of their powers. It was interesting religious philosophy without being heavy handed. I was intrigued by the fact that the first issue showed the main character dead at some point in the mystery future. I thought it was an interesting gamble, and while I thought it could be a fake out of some kind, I admired the guts it took to set up a story that way.
Unfortunately, Nicieza left the book and was replaced by David Hine. And his take on having a religious hero went from uninteresting to downright offensive. I’m Catholic. The character of Michael Lane is also Catholic. He is “working for” the Order of Purity, a secret religious sect from the middle ages. Now I’m a big girl and can take digs at my religion in forms of media. Nothing said in a comic book or a movie is going to shake my faith. But you would think that the writer or editor might have taken a step back and said, “Hey, Catholicism is a widely practiced religion. Some of our readers might in fact be Catholic. Perhaps we shouldn’t have a splash page that depicts the Pope (who is very real) as a demonic monster. That might be going a bit far.” Azreal was “safe” when he was under the umbrella of the Order of Purity. You could have all sorts of crazy religious commentary things going on and it was okay because that religious sect didn’t actually exist. But suddenly we decided to tie a lot of real world religion into the book in a very unflattering way and it did not come out the better for it. I get that religious conspiracies are cool and hip, but even that felt stale and overused (oh wow, Lane might be the descendent of Jesus, because he didn’t really die and had kids, and this has never ever been thought of or done before, aren’t we edgy?).
I have no idea where Nicieza was planning on going with the book had he stayed on, but I have to assume it would have been better than what we got. As it stands, this book would have been far better off being canceled when Nicieza left instead of trying to squeeze whatever final blood they could get out of the title. I’ll see it through to the end in the hope that it finds a way to redeem itself, but I’m actually pretty glad this one is going away.
Batman Confidential
It really confuses me that this book lasted over 50 issues. DC NEVER promoted this book. I read a lot of interviews online, and even when people were bitching about not being able to read about Bruce Wayne as Batman no one EVER brought this book up. When they were giving the low down about who would be appearing in what Batbook, this title was never mentioned. It was like DC was trying to hide this book for some reason, and yet they kept publishing it.
This book began as a series of untold tales back from when Bruce Wayne had just started being Batman. His first encounter with the Joker, his first this, his first that. It was all very classic stuff. Easy to follow and far less complicated than most of the other books at the time. But then, somewhere along the line, this book seemed to lose its focus. It seemed like we weren’t dealing with a young Batman anymore. It seemed like we were dealing with whatever Batman the writer decided to write about. The stories were still all very “safe” but there didn’t seem to be any connection between the arcs. One arc we’re in Russia, the next we’re dealing with a ghost/fear monster thing, then we’re fighting vampires and werewolves. It really became the weird Batman miniseries book, except that instead of miniseries it was an ongoing with lots of disjointed arcs.
What really bums me out is that the book seemed to be getting back on track. There was a one shot issue that I felt was very good, and the current and final arc seemed to feel more like we were dealing with a young Bruce Wayne still finding his limits and his place. And it was good! And now that I’ve felt we were getting back to where we belonged the rug is pulled out and the book is canceled. Oh, well.
Batman: Streets of Gotham
This is the only cancelation that really surprised me. And apparently surprised the writer too since he mentioned in an interview that he was working on the next year’s worth of stories for the book. I love Paul Dini. Most of his work I have really enjoyed, and I always found Streets to be an interesting read. But I will admit that it didn’t have as clear of a place in the family of Batbooks as some of the others. You can kinda sum up the purpose of most of the other books in a sentence or so. And while I don’t think its necessarily a bad thing that this book didn't have that, I can see it being tough from a marketing point of view. And with so many other Batbooks out there I guess something had to give. Paul Dini is still an amazing writer and I’m sure they will find a place for any Batman stories he still wants to tell. It’s just always sad to hear that a writer had more stuff planned that they won’t get to put out for the readers.
With as many comics as I am getting I will admit that I’m slightly relived to have three less comics a month. I’m sure I’ll find something to replace them with soon enough. And none of them were my top tier favorite books, so all in all I can’t really complain all that much. But it does serve to remind me to try to help promote those books that I enjoy that have lower sales so that they do not end up cancelled too.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Who’s an angry little rage cat? You are!
My favorite character to come out off all of the different colored Lantern Corps is the Red Lantern Dex-Starr. I mean look at him. He’s an adorable little blue kitty…who vomits blood and will rip your face off. But look at him. He wears his ring on his tail! He’ll probably cuddle you to death!
This is actually his second action figure. His first one was in the DC direct line and was packaged with Red Lantern Mera.
DC recently revealed Dex-Starr’s back story. Like many others I was surprised to learn that he’s from Earth. I assumed he was some sort of alien kitty cat (he is blue after all). Before he turned into rage cat, he was just a tiny kitty named Dexter. I won't spoil what turns this adorable little fluff ball into a ball of rage in case some people are interested in reading for themselves.
My favorite part of this whole thing is the origin story of how this character came to be. In a big group shot of the Red Lanterns artist Shane Davis snuck in a Red Lantern cat as a joke. It was small and off to one side (where normally group shots are done like class pictures with the short people in front and the tall ones behind them). But Geoff Johns saw it and loved the idea. The artist’s only request was that the cat be named Dexter, after his real life cat.
We’ve already been teased that there will be a Valentine’s Day special for Dex-Starr in which he may be getting a showdown with Krypto (although nothing appeared in the February solicitations ;_; ). Now if DC would just make a stuffed animal Dex-Starr I would be a very happy camper.
All great characters need exciting action figures. This was announced at New York Comic Con (here are the other figures in the series):
This is actually his second action figure. His first one was in the DC direct line and was packaged with Red Lantern Mera.
DC recently revealed Dex-Starr’s back story. Like many others I was surprised to learn that he’s from Earth. I assumed he was some sort of alien kitty cat (he is blue after all). Before he turned into rage cat, he was just a tiny kitty named Dexter. I won't spoil what turns this adorable little fluff ball into a ball of rage in case some people are interested in reading for themselves.
We’ve already been teased that there will be a Valentine’s Day special for Dex-Starr in which he may be getting a showdown with Krypto (although nothing appeared in the February solicitations ;_; ). Now if DC would just make a stuffed animal Dex-Starr I would be a very happy camper.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tower Prep Impressions
I recently partook of a story that involved a group of kids at some prestigious school. The kids find out that they can’t leave the school and the faculty is mysterious and claims to only want the students to fulfill their full potential or something and all the kids seem to be gifted or special in some way and there is clearly more to the school than meets the eye.
Amazingly all of the above can apply to either the amazing comic book series Morning Glories or to Cartoon Network’s new live action show Tower Prep. I watched the first episode of the show and figured I’d write up my impressions since its at least tangentially comic book related.
First of all I admit that I am very biased. I HATE the idea of a show like this being on Cartoon Network at all. Count me among those who remembers a time when Cartoon Network said they would only play cartoons “forever and ever and ever until the end of time,” and wishes the network would go back to that standard. Their live action attempts thus far have been pretty terrible, and I don’t see why they continue to sink time and money into these projects.
So when I saw that this show was going to be on Cartoon Network I was already against it. But the premise sounded interesting enough to win me over into checking it out (and the fact that Paul Dini created it helped a lot). And as much as I hate to admit it, it’s not a bad show. The first episode did its job introducing the main characters, the challenges they are facing, and the environment. It also introduced some mysteries to keep viewers coming back for more. The plot of the episode was pretty standard pilot fare and I can’t remember ever really being surprised by it.
The acting was passable, although I felt many of the characters had very flat personalities (a problem that could easily be resolved as the series continues I suppose), especially Ian’s bullying roommates. The show did a lot of telling us about what the main characters were like rather than showing us, and that’s a big no no from storytelling 101. Of our four main students I liked Suki the best. She also has the most interesting gift of those we have been introduced to and I already have some thoughts on how they will make use of it down the line.
I felt like this show was trying to give me a sort of Lost vibe, with a group of people stranded and up against something far bigger than themselves with only their wits to help them. But the problem is that this is a kid’s show. I don’t really feel the same stakes as I did with Lost. None of the main characters are going to get killed off and I can’t see the big reveal of what’s really going on being all too shocking. There certainly won’t be anything like the shocking ending of the first issue of Morning Glories (which had a similar pilot structure introducing kids, a school, and mystery). There wasn’t anything that made me feel like the stakes were high. Sure the kids want to leave the school, but why? Other than the fact that the “evil” adults are telling them that they can’t. I didn’t see any indication as to why they didn’t feel safe or what might happen to them if they don’t get away. They’ll have to go to classes I guess…the horror! I get that they are scared and being kept in the dark about details, but I didn’t feel real concern for the characters or even motivation to root for them because I didn’t have anything concrete to root for them against.
At the end of the program I was left feeling like, “Huh…well that was a show alright.” I don’t have a burning desire to see more or to get answers to the lingering questions. I’m not sorry I watched it and I suppose I could see myself watching some more of it if I’m really bored or happen to stumble upon it, but I’m not chomping at the bit for more Tower Prep.
If you like the premise of this show, do yourself a favor and pick up Morning Glories. Most of the things that are interesting about Tower Prep are in Morning Glories and for me are done much better. But if it sounds interesting, check it out. At worst you waste a little of your time, but you might find that you enjoy it.
UPDATE: Yeah I wrote this article after watching the first episode and now I think they are on like 6 or something. I’m not exactly a timely poster… But if you are interested a very nice interview with Paul Dini and a bunch of the writers can be found here.
Amazingly all of the above can apply to either the amazing comic book series Morning Glories or to Cartoon Network’s new live action show Tower Prep. I watched the first episode of the show and figured I’d write up my impressions since its at least tangentially comic book related.
First of all I admit that I am very biased. I HATE the idea of a show like this being on Cartoon Network at all. Count me among those who remembers a time when Cartoon Network said they would only play cartoons “forever and ever and ever until the end of time,” and wishes the network would go back to that standard. Their live action attempts thus far have been pretty terrible, and I don’t see why they continue to sink time and money into these projects.
So when I saw that this show was going to be on Cartoon Network I was already against it. But the premise sounded interesting enough to win me over into checking it out (and the fact that Paul Dini created it helped a lot). And as much as I hate to admit it, it’s not a bad show. The first episode did its job introducing the main characters, the challenges they are facing, and the environment. It also introduced some mysteries to keep viewers coming back for more. The plot of the episode was pretty standard pilot fare and I can’t remember ever really being surprised by it.
The acting was passable, although I felt many of the characters had very flat personalities (a problem that could easily be resolved as the series continues I suppose), especially Ian’s bullying roommates. The show did a lot of telling us about what the main characters were like rather than showing us, and that’s a big no no from storytelling 101. Of our four main students I liked Suki the best. She also has the most interesting gift of those we have been introduced to and I already have some thoughts on how they will make use of it down the line.
I felt like this show was trying to give me a sort of Lost vibe, with a group of people stranded and up against something far bigger than themselves with only their wits to help them. But the problem is that this is a kid’s show. I don’t really feel the same stakes as I did with Lost. None of the main characters are going to get killed off and I can’t see the big reveal of what’s really going on being all too shocking. There certainly won’t be anything like the shocking ending of the first issue of Morning Glories (which had a similar pilot structure introducing kids, a school, and mystery). There wasn’t anything that made me feel like the stakes were high. Sure the kids want to leave the school, but why? Other than the fact that the “evil” adults are telling them that they can’t. I didn’t see any indication as to why they didn’t feel safe or what might happen to them if they don’t get away. They’ll have to go to classes I guess…the horror! I get that they are scared and being kept in the dark about details, but I didn’t feel real concern for the characters or even motivation to root for them because I didn’t have anything concrete to root for them against.
At the end of the program I was left feeling like, “Huh…well that was a show alright.” I don’t have a burning desire to see more or to get answers to the lingering questions. I’m not sorry I watched it and I suppose I could see myself watching some more of it if I’m really bored or happen to stumble upon it, but I’m not chomping at the bit for more Tower Prep.
If you like the premise of this show, do yourself a favor and pick up Morning Glories. Most of the things that are interesting about Tower Prep are in Morning Glories and for me are done much better. But if it sounds interesting, check it out. At worst you waste a little of your time, but you might find that you enjoy it.
UPDATE: Yeah I wrote this article after watching the first episode and now I think they are on like 6 or something. I’m not exactly a timely poster… But if you are interested a very nice interview with Paul Dini and a bunch of the writers can be found here.
Monday, November 22, 2010
I now have opinions on Superman and Wonder Woman!
I finally got around to reading the previews of the J. Michael Straczynski arcs that appeared in the 700 and 600 issues and were released on the iPod for free. And now that I have actually read part of the story I feel that I can have an opinion!
We’ll start with Wonder Woman. I still don’t like the very idea of this story happening, but the prologue didn’t make me any more upset about it. I still think her branding bracelets are stupid, but the Oracle was a pretty cool character (not to be confused with the Barbara Gordon Oracle). I still don’t understand how this story fits in with the rest of the DCU and I’m to the point of assuming that it doesn’t. It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t make me want to run to the comic book shop and pick up the rest of the arc (and this has nothing to do with how far away the nearest comic shop is). It didn’t even really make me want to read the trade when it comes out. It was just kind of a forgettable story. I’ll admit that I’ve never been a huge Wonder Woman fan to begin with, but this story didn’t change that for me. All in all it was rather meh. And that’s actually an improvement for my opinion about the book.
Then there was Superman. Oh, god, that was painful. The whole set up of this story doesn’t make any sense and it proceeds to make less sense the more I think about it.
So the whole story is set in motion when a woman slaps Superman, insults him, and then bitches because he wasn’t around to CURE HER HUSBAND’S BRAIN CANCER. I really wish I was making that up or exaggerating somehow. She cries about how she tried so hard to contact him but he was off in space doing “something important.” And now she’ll never see her husband again because he wasn’t there.
First of all, I think it’s a terrible idea to even suggest that your superheroes can cure real life medical issues. If superheroes can make it all go away it cheapens the problem somewhat. This is why a lot of superheroes didn’t go to World War II, because they didn’t want to cheapen the sacrifice of the soldiers who were fighting and dying over there. This is also why Reed Richards must spend all of his time thwarting Dr. Doom and not, say, curing AIDS.
Secondly, the way she wanted Superman to cure this guy seems kinda strange to me. She wanted him to use his x-ray vision to find the tumor and then use his heat vision to basically laser scalpel it out. She claimed that the doctors said that it was “inoperable” but that it wouldn’t have been for him. You know, because Superman is so well known for his vast medical knowledge… Wait, what? That’s pretty precise use of the heat vision. And speaking of, his vision is HEAT not magic atomizing rays. Sure he can melt metal together and can cause a world of hurt to super villains, but I’m not sure that it’s a practical tool medically speaking. Even if he could somehow laser out the tumor, he would still have to get to the tumor, and “inoperable brain tumor” usually means that you simply can’t do that. Sure he could see the tumor, but his heat vision can’t destroy a tumor INSIDE the guy’s brain without cutting through the guy’s brain (which is something I think we generally like to avoid). So it would seem to me that this lady had insane expectations of Superman and that he wouldn’t have been able to help her even if he had been around. In which case it doesn’t really make sense for him to feel guilty about it.
But let’s assume I’m wrong about that (for shiggles). Let’s assume she’s a genius and has discovered a great medical use for Superman’s powers that no one has ever thought of before. And she can’t get a hold of Superman. How tragic! It’s not like there are any other heroes on Earth who have the exact same power set as Superman. It’s not like there is a family of Super characters who should be well known to anyone who lives in the DCU. Like a Supergirl. To be fair, she was on and off of New Krypton for a while, so maybe she wasn’t in Metropolis when the lady was looking for Superman (although I would have to assume that she only looked for like one day and then sat and cried about it), and Supergirl has gotten a bit of bad publicity lately, so maybe she didn’t want her. (WAIT A SECOND! One of the things Supergirl got slammed for in the media was assuring a boy that she would save him when he was dying of cancer. Clearly she couldn’t so this just adds further support to the idea that this could NOT be done.) There’s Superboy. To be fair with him, his heat vision is the last power he got to work and I’m not sure he has complete control over it yet, so maybe he’s not the best choice. Plus he’s hiding out in Smallville and might not have been easy to contact. But then there is Mon-El. And I don’t have to be fair here, because there is no reason why she couldn’t have contacted him. He was in Metropolis. He has all the powers of Superman. He probably wouldn’t have even been that difficult to get a hold of. And let’s not forget about Powergirl. She’s alternate universe Supergirl so she’s got all the powers. She also managed to be completely untouched by the New Krypton drama, so she would have been a great choice to approach about this problem.
And while we’re looking at other DCU heroes let’s not forget that the Justice League has at least two doctors that this lady could have gone to as well. Either Doc Midnight or Dr. Light probably would have been better choices than Superman since, you know, they have all that medical training and experience. And if Superman’s powers were the ONLY solution I’m sure they would have an easier time getting a hold of him (or any of those other characters I mentioned with the same powers) than anyone else on the planet.
I’m left with only one conclusion to make here. This woman didn’t really try all that hard to save her husband’s life. I didn’t even have to think very hard to come up with the list above, and giving it some more thought I could probably come up with a few more heroes who would have been just as good if not better than Superman in this situation (perhaps the Atom or Soranik Natu). So clearly she didn’t give it any amount of thought whatsoever. And now she is blaming Superman for something he probably couldn’t even have helped her with. Superman shouldn’t be sulking about this. He should be pissed that people are now expecting him to be Dr. Superman on top of all the other crap he’s going through (like dealing with the genocide of his people by the government).
I get that the writer wanted something to make Superman take a step back and say, “Golly, have I lost touch with the people and the needs of my adoptive home?” But this was one of the worst ways he could have gone about it. I would have been more on board with this idea if the lady had hated him because a Kryptonian had killed her husband or if he had been hit by falling debris from New Krypton. Either of those things can at least loosely be blamed on Superman. It’s still a stretch, but a more believable one for a grieving person to make. But maybe he wanted to go for the whole “You weren’t here” angle more than the “It’s your fault” angle. Okay. Well, how about if her husband was killed in Metropolis by a super villain while Supes was away. Or even in something more “normal” like a car wreck or a fire. Since Metropolis is Superman’s city it is not too farfetched to see how a person could wonder if their loved one might have been saved if Superman had been planet side doing the things he normally does. Sure he can’t be everywhere, but those are places you would expect Superman to be on a normal day in the DCU. THAT would be something I think Superman could realistically be expected to feel guilty for. I admit that it still wouldn’t make a lot of sense in the story since it wouldn’t really explain why he is walking AWAY from Metropolis, and if he’s being blamed for something that didn’t happen in Metropolis the question arises about all of the other heroes in the DCU and why we’re not blaming them.
The last couple panels of the preview have a couple of kids who see Superman land in a park and start walking. They marvel at how he is walking at not flying (because I guess that’s never, ever happened before) and wonder where he is going and why. One boy comments, “Whatever it is, it must be important.” Bullshit! If it was important or dire in any way I assume he would be using super speed to get there. There is no reason to think that Superman moving at normal person speed is due to anything important at all. In fact, if I saw Superman strolling down the street I would have to assume that it was the slowest day ever and that there was absolutely nothing to command his attention at that moment.
There’s another thing that really bothers me. While Supes is strolling across the country his Super Hearing is going to be picking up all kinds of things, most notably people in danger or dying. But since Supes is set on staying grounded to “reconnect” he’s going to ignore all of those people in peril. Thanks Superman, but given the choice between you connecting with me and saving my life, I’ll take the later thank you. That’s kind of your job description. If you really want to “connect” try checking in on the people you save after the fact. Make sure they are okay and that their families are okay. Talk to them for a few minutes before you have to run off to the next disaster.
I’ve heard that Superman is going to be facing the “real problems” that Americans are dealing with right now. Why would I want to read a comic book that reminds me that the economy sucks and all of the other problems we are all dealing with? And worse, why would I want to read about Superman not being able to make it all better. I assume Superman isn’t going to sweep in and solve unemployment or some other crisis. So that means, as a reader I am left thinking, “Wow, even a superhero can’t fix our problems. We’re all doomed!” Maybe if he was working to help fix the problems (or even just raise awareness of them) as Clark Kent and making very small dents in the problem as a man and not as Superman I would feel better about things. I could say, “Wow, look at that. Superman can’t do it, but Clark Kent can. We can all be like Clark Kent and work hard to solve our own problems. I feel all hopeful now.” However this wanders dangerously close to PSA territory so there is that to consider as well. I understand that the desire was probably to tell a story that was “relevant” to readers. But the problem is that you are assuming that all of your readers have the same problems (and that you know what they are,) and you are likely seriously dating your story in the process. Not to mention alienating everyone who isn’t in America.
Also, why aren’t the super villains tearing Metropolis up right now? I know that a few are just hell bent on destroying Superman, so they would have no need to attack Metropolis when Supes is very publically not there. But there are a lot of criminals who have targeted Metropolis for other reasons in the past, and I just don’t get why the city would be perfectly safe without Superman for an extended period of time. This time he doesn’t even have Mon-El there as backup and even Supergirl is currently off world. If I lived in Metropolis I would be really pissed at Superman right about now.
This preview cemented my dislike for this premise and this story. I have no desire to pick it up in any form. I hope that it gets better than this and can provide a somewhat satisfying story for those who do chose to follow it, but I hope that it ends as soon as possible and that things can move on.
UPDATE: I just found out that JMS is off both titles and other writers will be finishing the stories with his outlines. I am now even happier that I didn’t get sucked in by the hype. I read an interview with JMS about the whole thing and it really pisses me off. He talks about how he thinks long form story telling is his weak point and how he had been considering leaving monthly comics for a while now. So why on earth did he sign up for two year long runs at all? You’d think if he was worried about the format he would have turned down the assignments or at least only accepted one of them so that he could really devote his time to overcoming his weaknesses and producing something great. I understand that things come up and plans change, but this whole thing rubs me the wrong way.
Apparently the reason he’s off the books is because DC wants to fast track the next Superman: Earth One graphic novel. So in my mind DC shares some of the blame in this situation for ignoring the fans who have committed to a story and focusing on the bottom line. I understand this is business, but I think we all like to think that the companies care just a little about the fans and its sort of a slap in the face when you are reminded that they don’t.
We’ll start with Wonder Woman. I still don’t like the very idea of this story happening, but the prologue didn’t make me any more upset about it. I still think her branding bracelets are stupid, but the Oracle was a pretty cool character (not to be confused with the Barbara Gordon Oracle). I still don’t understand how this story fits in with the rest of the DCU and I’m to the point of assuming that it doesn’t. It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t make me want to run to the comic book shop and pick up the rest of the arc (and this has nothing to do with how far away the nearest comic shop is). It didn’t even really make me want to read the trade when it comes out. It was just kind of a forgettable story. I’ll admit that I’ve never been a huge Wonder Woman fan to begin with, but this story didn’t change that for me. All in all it was rather meh. And that’s actually an improvement for my opinion about the book.
Then there was Superman. Oh, god, that was painful. The whole set up of this story doesn’t make any sense and it proceeds to make less sense the more I think about it.
So the whole story is set in motion when a woman slaps Superman, insults him, and then bitches because he wasn’t around to CURE HER HUSBAND’S BRAIN CANCER. I really wish I was making that up or exaggerating somehow. She cries about how she tried so hard to contact him but he was off in space doing “something important.” And now she’ll never see her husband again because he wasn’t there.
First of all, I think it’s a terrible idea to even suggest that your superheroes can cure real life medical issues. If superheroes can make it all go away it cheapens the problem somewhat. This is why a lot of superheroes didn’t go to World War II, because they didn’t want to cheapen the sacrifice of the soldiers who were fighting and dying over there. This is also why Reed Richards must spend all of his time thwarting Dr. Doom and not, say, curing AIDS.
Secondly, the way she wanted Superman to cure this guy seems kinda strange to me. She wanted him to use his x-ray vision to find the tumor and then use his heat vision to basically laser scalpel it out. She claimed that the doctors said that it was “inoperable” but that it wouldn’t have been for him. You know, because Superman is so well known for his vast medical knowledge… Wait, what? That’s pretty precise use of the heat vision. And speaking of, his vision is HEAT not magic atomizing rays. Sure he can melt metal together and can cause a world of hurt to super villains, but I’m not sure that it’s a practical tool medically speaking. Even if he could somehow laser out the tumor, he would still have to get to the tumor, and “inoperable brain tumor” usually means that you simply can’t do that. Sure he could see the tumor, but his heat vision can’t destroy a tumor INSIDE the guy’s brain without cutting through the guy’s brain (which is something I think we generally like to avoid). So it would seem to me that this lady had insane expectations of Superman and that he wouldn’t have been able to help her even if he had been around. In which case it doesn’t really make sense for him to feel guilty about it.
But let’s assume I’m wrong about that (for shiggles). Let’s assume she’s a genius and has discovered a great medical use for Superman’s powers that no one has ever thought of before. And she can’t get a hold of Superman. How tragic! It’s not like there are any other heroes on Earth who have the exact same power set as Superman. It’s not like there is a family of Super characters who should be well known to anyone who lives in the DCU. Like a Supergirl. To be fair, she was on and off of New Krypton for a while, so maybe she wasn’t in Metropolis when the lady was looking for Superman (although I would have to assume that she only looked for like one day and then sat and cried about it), and Supergirl has gotten a bit of bad publicity lately, so maybe she didn’t want her. (WAIT A SECOND! One of the things Supergirl got slammed for in the media was assuring a boy that she would save him when he was dying of cancer. Clearly she couldn’t so this just adds further support to the idea that this could NOT be done.) There’s Superboy. To be fair with him, his heat vision is the last power he got to work and I’m not sure he has complete control over it yet, so maybe he’s not the best choice. Plus he’s hiding out in Smallville and might not have been easy to contact. But then there is Mon-El. And I don’t have to be fair here, because there is no reason why she couldn’t have contacted him. He was in Metropolis. He has all the powers of Superman. He probably wouldn’t have even been that difficult to get a hold of. And let’s not forget about Powergirl. She’s alternate universe Supergirl so she’s got all the powers. She also managed to be completely untouched by the New Krypton drama, so she would have been a great choice to approach about this problem.
And while we’re looking at other DCU heroes let’s not forget that the Justice League has at least two doctors that this lady could have gone to as well. Either Doc Midnight or Dr. Light probably would have been better choices than Superman since, you know, they have all that medical training and experience. And if Superman’s powers were the ONLY solution I’m sure they would have an easier time getting a hold of him (or any of those other characters I mentioned with the same powers) than anyone else on the planet.
I’m left with only one conclusion to make here. This woman didn’t really try all that hard to save her husband’s life. I didn’t even have to think very hard to come up with the list above, and giving it some more thought I could probably come up with a few more heroes who would have been just as good if not better than Superman in this situation (perhaps the Atom or Soranik Natu). So clearly she didn’t give it any amount of thought whatsoever. And now she is blaming Superman for something he probably couldn’t even have helped her with. Superman shouldn’t be sulking about this. He should be pissed that people are now expecting him to be Dr. Superman on top of all the other crap he’s going through (like dealing with the genocide of his people by the government).
I get that the writer wanted something to make Superman take a step back and say, “Golly, have I lost touch with the people and the needs of my adoptive home?” But this was one of the worst ways he could have gone about it. I would have been more on board with this idea if the lady had hated him because a Kryptonian had killed her husband or if he had been hit by falling debris from New Krypton. Either of those things can at least loosely be blamed on Superman. It’s still a stretch, but a more believable one for a grieving person to make. But maybe he wanted to go for the whole “You weren’t here” angle more than the “It’s your fault” angle. Okay. Well, how about if her husband was killed in Metropolis by a super villain while Supes was away. Or even in something more “normal” like a car wreck or a fire. Since Metropolis is Superman’s city it is not too farfetched to see how a person could wonder if their loved one might have been saved if Superman had been planet side doing the things he normally does. Sure he can’t be everywhere, but those are places you would expect Superman to be on a normal day in the DCU. THAT would be something I think Superman could realistically be expected to feel guilty for. I admit that it still wouldn’t make a lot of sense in the story since it wouldn’t really explain why he is walking AWAY from Metropolis, and if he’s being blamed for something that didn’t happen in Metropolis the question arises about all of the other heroes in the DCU and why we’re not blaming them.
The last couple panels of the preview have a couple of kids who see Superman land in a park and start walking. They marvel at how he is walking at not flying (because I guess that’s never, ever happened before) and wonder where he is going and why. One boy comments, “Whatever it is, it must be important.” Bullshit! If it was important or dire in any way I assume he would be using super speed to get there. There is no reason to think that Superman moving at normal person speed is due to anything important at all. In fact, if I saw Superman strolling down the street I would have to assume that it was the slowest day ever and that there was absolutely nothing to command his attention at that moment.
There’s another thing that really bothers me. While Supes is strolling across the country his Super Hearing is going to be picking up all kinds of things, most notably people in danger or dying. But since Supes is set on staying grounded to “reconnect” he’s going to ignore all of those people in peril. Thanks Superman, but given the choice between you connecting with me and saving my life, I’ll take the later thank you. That’s kind of your job description. If you really want to “connect” try checking in on the people you save after the fact. Make sure they are okay and that their families are okay. Talk to them for a few minutes before you have to run off to the next disaster.
I’ve heard that Superman is going to be facing the “real problems” that Americans are dealing with right now. Why would I want to read a comic book that reminds me that the economy sucks and all of the other problems we are all dealing with? And worse, why would I want to read about Superman not being able to make it all better. I assume Superman isn’t going to sweep in and solve unemployment or some other crisis. So that means, as a reader I am left thinking, “Wow, even a superhero can’t fix our problems. We’re all doomed!” Maybe if he was working to help fix the problems (or even just raise awareness of them) as Clark Kent and making very small dents in the problem as a man and not as Superman I would feel better about things. I could say, “Wow, look at that. Superman can’t do it, but Clark Kent can. We can all be like Clark Kent and work hard to solve our own problems. I feel all hopeful now.” However this wanders dangerously close to PSA territory so there is that to consider as well. I understand that the desire was probably to tell a story that was “relevant” to readers. But the problem is that you are assuming that all of your readers have the same problems (and that you know what they are,) and you are likely seriously dating your story in the process. Not to mention alienating everyone who isn’t in America.
Also, why aren’t the super villains tearing Metropolis up right now? I know that a few are just hell bent on destroying Superman, so they would have no need to attack Metropolis when Supes is very publically not there. But there are a lot of criminals who have targeted Metropolis for other reasons in the past, and I just don’t get why the city would be perfectly safe without Superman for an extended period of time. This time he doesn’t even have Mon-El there as backup and even Supergirl is currently off world. If I lived in Metropolis I would be really pissed at Superman right about now.
This preview cemented my dislike for this premise and this story. I have no desire to pick it up in any form. I hope that it gets better than this and can provide a somewhat satisfying story for those who do chose to follow it, but I hope that it ends as soon as possible and that things can move on.
UPDATE: I just found out that JMS is off both titles and other writers will be finishing the stories with his outlines. I am now even happier that I didn’t get sucked in by the hype. I read an interview with JMS about the whole thing and it really pisses me off. He talks about how he thinks long form story telling is his weak point and how he had been considering leaving monthly comics for a while now. So why on earth did he sign up for two year long runs at all? You’d think if he was worried about the format he would have turned down the assignments or at least only accepted one of them so that he could really devote his time to overcoming his weaknesses and producing something great. I understand that things come up and plans change, but this whole thing rubs me the wrong way.
Apparently the reason he’s off the books is because DC wants to fast track the next Superman: Earth One graphic novel. So in my mind DC shares some of the blame in this situation for ignoring the fans who have committed to a story and focusing on the bottom line. I understand this is business, but I think we all like to think that the companies care just a little about the fans and its sort of a slap in the face when you are reminded that they don’t.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Comics on my iPod
I downloaded the comixology app for my iPod touch right after DC added their app. I’m honestly not all that interested in buying comics to read on my tiny screen. But I don’t have to since many companies offer free comics! Also I was interested in seeing how reading comics on my iPod worked and if it was an enjoyable experience.
Of course, to get the stupid app to work I had to have a wireless internet connection. And those do not exist in Japan. For as crazy future robotic as Japan is known for being, it’s silly that I can’t find an internet hotspot to save my life. I ended up waiting until I went home during summer vacation and then I downloaded a bunch of free comics to be enjoyed at a later date. And that date ended up being MUCH later than I thought it would be.
The past few weekends we had some long car trips and I was in a comic reading mood. I didn’t want to haul a stack of comics in the car. Also the trips were mostly at night where I wouldn’t have much light to read by. I grabbed my iPod and threw it in the car with my DS. After my fiancé and I decided to listen to music on his iPod I was fiddling with mine and remembered that I had comics there. And now that I’ve given an entirely too long back story about how I ended up reading comics on my iPod I’ll get to the meat of the matter.
I really like the portability of having comics on my iPod. I was able to read a bunch of comics on the go without having to drag anything else along. I like that I can easily preview some series that I would not otherwise bother to look at because I can download them easily onto my iPod and read them when I feel like it. I like that I can whip my iPod out at any point in a conversation and say, “You haven’t read The Walking Dead? Well I have the first issue right here.”
For anyone who isn’t familiar with the device, when you read comics on the iPod the comics come programmed in a set way to help you view them on your small screen. You don’t look at the whole page at once (although I wish that there was an option to be able to do so, since things like panel lay out are interesting to me). You read one panel at a time and swipe the screen to advance to the next panel. You can adjust your iPod at any time to be viewed horizontally or vertically so the panels fit the screen better. When you have large splash pages the app usually starts you in on a close up of the word boxes and then after the swipe it will zoom out so that you can take in the full picture.
All in all it isn’t a bad system. I actually think that it holds the suspense a little better than reading a printed comic. For example, I was reading the first issue of Chew (which I was amazingly impressed by) and there was a panel that was super shocking and came out of nowhere. I think if I had been reading the book itself my eye might have been draw to it too soon and the effect would not have been as shocking. But since I can’t easily look ahead my eyes don’t wander. However, in the same comics was a huge two page spread that I could not zoom in on at all. I was really frustrated because there was a lot of detail to that page that I was missing. I feel that the impact of that page was lost to me. (I’ve heard people mention before about how the two page spread may very well be an early casualty of the rise of digital comics since you just can’t appreciate them the same way, even on an iPad.)
This format works great for some comics, like the strip formatted Night Owls and ones with very traditional panel structures. Artists who took more liberty with layout felt a bit more forced on my little screen. There were a few comics that, while reading, I was clearly aware that I was reading something that was not intended to be read in this format. They still found a way to make it readable, but sometimes it was a clunky experience.
All in all, I’m very pleased with the app and hope to be able to download more comics in the future. I’m still not really on board with paying for pixels, but I’m happy to sample free comics and glad to share some of my favorites with others. I do recommend trying it out if you have an iPod touch or an iPhone and haven’t already. The app is free after all, and there are enough free comics to make it worth the download.
Also, I'll probably be reviewing some of the things I'm reading from the free downloads, so keep an eye out for that. If you download it and have any thoughts on the app or the comics you read please share in the comments!
Of course, to get the stupid app to work I had to have a wireless internet connection. And those do not exist in Japan. For as crazy future robotic as Japan is known for being, it’s silly that I can’t find an internet hotspot to save my life. I ended up waiting until I went home during summer vacation and then I downloaded a bunch of free comics to be enjoyed at a later date. And that date ended up being MUCH later than I thought it would be.
The past few weekends we had some long car trips and I was in a comic reading mood. I didn’t want to haul a stack of comics in the car. Also the trips were mostly at night where I wouldn’t have much light to read by. I grabbed my iPod and threw it in the car with my DS. After my fiancé and I decided to listen to music on his iPod I was fiddling with mine and remembered that I had comics there. And now that I’ve given an entirely too long back story about how I ended up reading comics on my iPod I’ll get to the meat of the matter.
I really like the portability of having comics on my iPod. I was able to read a bunch of comics on the go without having to drag anything else along. I like that I can easily preview some series that I would not otherwise bother to look at because I can download them easily onto my iPod and read them when I feel like it. I like that I can whip my iPod out at any point in a conversation and say, “You haven’t read The Walking Dead? Well I have the first issue right here.”
 |
| See, I have it right here. |
For anyone who isn’t familiar with the device, when you read comics on the iPod the comics come programmed in a set way to help you view them on your small screen. You don’t look at the whole page at once (although I wish that there was an option to be able to do so, since things like panel lay out are interesting to me). You read one panel at a time and swipe the screen to advance to the next panel. You can adjust your iPod at any time to be viewed horizontally or vertically so the panels fit the screen better. When you have large splash pages the app usually starts you in on a close up of the word boxes and then after the swipe it will zoom out so that you can take in the full picture.
All in all it isn’t a bad system. I actually think that it holds the suspense a little better than reading a printed comic. For example, I was reading the first issue of Chew (which I was amazingly impressed by) and there was a panel that was super shocking and came out of nowhere. I think if I had been reading the book itself my eye might have been draw to it too soon and the effect would not have been as shocking. But since I can’t easily look ahead my eyes don’t wander. However, in the same comics was a huge two page spread that I could not zoom in on at all. I was really frustrated because there was a lot of detail to that page that I was missing. I feel that the impact of that page was lost to me. (I’ve heard people mention before about how the two page spread may very well be an early casualty of the rise of digital comics since you just can’t appreciate them the same way, even on an iPad.)
This format works great for some comics, like the strip formatted Night Owls and ones with very traditional panel structures. Artists who took more liberty with layout felt a bit more forced on my little screen. There were a few comics that, while reading, I was clearly aware that I was reading something that was not intended to be read in this format. They still found a way to make it readable, but sometimes it was a clunky experience.
All in all, I’m very pleased with the app and hope to be able to download more comics in the future. I’m still not really on board with paying for pixels, but I’m happy to sample free comics and glad to share some of my favorites with others. I do recommend trying it out if you have an iPod touch or an iPhone and haven’t already. The app is free after all, and there are enough free comics to make it worth the download.
Also, I'll probably be reviewing some of the things I'm reading from the free downloads, so keep an eye out for that. If you download it and have any thoughts on the app or the comics you read please share in the comments!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Friends, Romans, Vampyres, lend me your ears
I was browsing the January solicitations and I just really needed to share this:
Blood runs in the streets of Rome as mortal and vampyre clash. Resurrected by the blood of the Dracul, Caesar’s ultimate ambition is finally at hand. Valens is pitted against his former master as he, Brutus and Caesar meet in a 3-way battle for the future of Rome in this epic conclusion to the story of the birth of Draculus Caesar.That’s the solicit for the sixth and final issue of a miniseries called Ides of Blood. I certainly got a kick out of it and I hope all of you did too.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Why would you do this?
This is a random entry I’ll admit (and a tad bit late to be topical...). But I was looking at the Bat Family one shots for Bruce Wayne the Road Home which came out in October and something just bothers me.
Check out the covers. They are pretty amazing and I like how they all link together and like even more that the only one I’m not getting is on the end so it won’t mess up the flow (and since that is the book I constantly wonder why they even still group it with the Bat books, I wonder if this was done on purpose).
But if you look at the order you are supposed to read the issues in, then things get difficult. According to a recent interview with Fabian Nicieza, who coordinated the event, the proper reading order is Batman and Robin, Red Robin, Outsiders, Batgirl, Catwoman, Gordon, Oracle, Ra’s al Ghul.
That’s a completely different order! Parts are the same, yes, but the simple fact is that they will not read in the order that the covers connect in. This just seems like a strange choice. Did they not have the order set when they asked the cover artist to make these covers? Did the order change at some point? Or was there just a mix up of some kind?
I know it’s a little thing, but I can’t be the only one who doesn’t visit my comic shop every single week. I’ll get all these books together in a week or so. If I hadn’t read this article then I would have just tried to read them in cover order and would have gotten pretty confused when I tried to read the last chapter fourth. I’m hoping that they will make the reading order clear in the comics themselves. It still just really seems like an odd choice to me.
They are awfully pretty covers though, so I’ll let this one slide.
Check out the covers. They are pretty amazing and I like how they all link together and like even more that the only one I’m not getting is on the end so it won’t mess up the flow (and since that is the book I constantly wonder why they even still group it with the Bat books, I wonder if this was done on purpose).
But if you look at the order you are supposed to read the issues in, then things get difficult. According to a recent interview with Fabian Nicieza, who coordinated the event, the proper reading order is Batman and Robin, Red Robin, Outsiders, Batgirl, Catwoman, Gordon, Oracle, Ra’s al Ghul.
That’s a completely different order! Parts are the same, yes, but the simple fact is that they will not read in the order that the covers connect in. This just seems like a strange choice. Did they not have the order set when they asked the cover artist to make these covers? Did the order change at some point? Or was there just a mix up of some kind?
I know it’s a little thing, but I can’t be the only one who doesn’t visit my comic shop every single week. I’ll get all these books together in a week or so. If I hadn’t read this article then I would have just tried to read them in cover order and would have gotten pretty confused when I tried to read the last chapter fourth. I’m hoping that they will make the reading order clear in the comics themselves. It still just really seems like an odd choice to me.
They are awfully pretty covers though, so I’ll let this one slide.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Vote for the Legion Leader!
There is an election underway right now that the outcome of which will change the future. I’m not talking about the one all the news stations are covering. That’s for someone else (and probably someone still living in the US) to talk about. I’m talking about the vote for the new leader of the Legion of Superheroes.
In an exciting move DC is having the readers chose who the new leader will be. This is an old tradition that they are bringing back and I’m excited to see the outcome. Readers and fans can go online here and cast their vote for one of the 25 active legion members. The election will last three weeks and end November 10th.
I’ve never read Legion before this new series, but I’m really excited by this whole thing. Letting the readers chose is risky as they could really throw the writer a curve ball. Paul Levitz probably doesn’t have 25 separate results figured out for this event. I’m sure he has a few things in mind for certain characters, but he has no idea who it will be so he can’t devote a lot of time to it. It’s a ballsy move, saying “tell me what you want, my readers, and I will oblige, even if it’s a character I hate (and there is at least one character on the list that Levitz has voiced dislike of in the past…)!” If we do get one of the more out-of-left-field choices it will be really fun to see how he creatively accepts our challenge. I feel more invested in the story now, especially if the character I vote for ends up winning.
If you follow the title I urge you to go and vote based on your own personal preferences. But, if you don’t have a strong preference, or you don’t read the book but would like to vote anyway so that you play a part in shaping the fate of a comic book (it’s cool, I’d be voting even if I wasn’t reading the title) allow me to try to sway your vote in a few of my favorite directions. Here are my top five potential candidates, and I’d be happy with any of them leading the team.
I see Cos as sort of the Legion’s Scott Summers in that he’s very easily associated with the role of leader. I honestly didn’t know before this election happened that there had been many leaders of the Legion. I thought Cosmic Boy was always the leader. That shows how much I know, but also shows how naturally the character falls into that role. He certainly has experience and would probably serve the team adequately.
This pick isn’t very fun of course, because the whole point of having elections is to create change. And the members have been kind of dumping on Cos’s leadership abilities in the recent issues in order to drum up tension for the election. Also, he recently revealed that one of the reasons he’s always been the “leader” type was so that his best friends Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl could be happy together as they pursued their relationship. And so Cos hasn’t really had that much in the way of romance. The point of rotating leadership is so that all of the miserable responsibility isn’t left to oppress one person for too long. So maybe it’s time for Cos to take a step back and try to do something for himself for a change. I’d be fine with him continuing as the leader, but I wonder if the character would be better served by passing the torch for a while.
4. The gut pick: Mon-El
Character in a nutshell: spent years in the phantom zone to emerge and become a hero of the 21st century, then sent back into the phantom zone for 1000 years until the Legion could cure his lead poisoning. Has all the powers of Superman but is weakened by lead and not Kryptonite.
I realize that I don’t so much have strong reasons to want Mon-El as leader; I just have this gut feeling that he would be a good person to have in the role. Mon-El has been through a lot. Pretty much everyone this guy has ever known or loved is dead (since he’s from our time), except for his Legion family. Not only has he done his share of heroic things, but he’s also had to endure three periods of entrapment in the Phantom Zone, the longest of which lasted for 1000 years of being intangible and lonely. The Legion always seems to need a Superman representative, and Mon-El can fill those big shoes. His role so far in the ongoing has been to exposit about the break up with his long time girlfriend (for which no reason was given), break apart some rocks, and then to go on a fetch quest to retrieve Polar Boy. I’d like to see him more, and being the leader would make that possible.
3. The popular pick: Phantom Girl
Character in a nutshell: longtime member with powers of intangibility.
Several other blogs are throwing their support behind Phantom Girl, and for some very good reasons. She has never been leader, despite her long membership on the team, so many feel that it is her turn. She’s a strong character, and has recently been sort of a confidant/advisor to a number of characters who have been seeking her out for help with their problems. This is a good leadership trait. Also, it would be nice to have a female leader (and surprisingly she's the only one on my list).
She is one of the most deserving members of the chance to be leader. She’s got a lot of support behind her, and I’ll be pleased if she ends up winning (even though she’s only my #3 pick).
2. The symbolic pick: Chameleon Boy
Character in a nutshell: Shape shifter who is the son of the Legion financier RJ Brande
There are a number of good reasons for Cham to be the leader. He’s the son of the man who is pretty much solely responsible for the Legion existing. His father died not too long ago, so it would be a great time for him to step up and take a leadership role to carry on his father’s vision for the future. He just got back from a secret mission to the past to save the bottled cities from Brainiac’s ship and essentially reseed the galaxy with them. This is not just a big deal because it saved many lives, but because many of the worlds they essentially restarted are the home worlds of Legion members a thousand years down the line. Cham even got to release the bottled city from his own planet, essentially restarting his own world. This is no small accomplishment and the Legion owes him a great deal of thanks for this. What better way to reward his efforts than making him their leader?
He’s also a giant middle finger to the xenophobic governments that plague the Legion right now. It would sort of be like saying, yes, here’s our leader. He’s not human. He has orange skin and everything. Deal with it. Cham’s race (the Durlans) are pretty much un-trusted everywhere because honestly, how are you going to trust people who can literally be anyone? But the Legion members do trust Cham and this would be a really nice way to show it. Plus we already know that there is going to be a Durlan assassin group working against the Legion, so I think it could create some interesting story drama.
1. The most interesting pick: Gates
Character in a nutshell: An insectoid alien from the Legion of Earth-247 (the reboot legion) who decided to stay with the Legion of New Earth as they have a shortage of non-humanoid members. Creates teleportation gates.
Gates would be a really fun pick for a lot of reasons. First, he’s a non-humanoid alien and, like Cham, having him as leader would send quite the message in the book’s current climate of xenophobia. It would also probably lead to a very different outlook on things. Gates didn’t want to be in the Legion in the first place. He thought they were a fascist military group but his planet had elected him as their representative and he was forced to join. He grew to tolerate his humanoid teammates and even formed some close friendships…however; he’s left that all behind. You see, Gates isn’t from the same universe as the current Legion. He stayed behind after the Legion of Three Worlds event during Final Crisis.
In an exciting move DC is having the readers chose who the new leader will be. This is an old tradition that they are bringing back and I’m excited to see the outcome. Readers and fans can go online here and cast their vote for one of the 25 active legion members. The election will last three weeks and end November 10th.
I’ve never read Legion before this new series, but I’m really excited by this whole thing. Letting the readers chose is risky as they could really throw the writer a curve ball. Paul Levitz probably doesn’t have 25 separate results figured out for this event. I’m sure he has a few things in mind for certain characters, but he has no idea who it will be so he can’t devote a lot of time to it. It’s a ballsy move, saying “tell me what you want, my readers, and I will oblige, even if it’s a character I hate (and there is at least one character on the list that Levitz has voiced dislike of in the past…)!” If we do get one of the more out-of-left-field choices it will be really fun to see how he creatively accepts our challenge. I feel more invested in the story now, especially if the character I vote for ends up winning.
If you follow the title I urge you to go and vote based on your own personal preferences. But, if you don’t have a strong preference, or you don’t read the book but would like to vote anyway so that you play a part in shaping the fate of a comic book (it’s cool, I’d be voting even if I wasn’t reading the title) allow me to try to sway your vote in a few of my favorite directions. Here are my top five potential candidates, and I’d be happy with any of them leading the team.
5. The “safe” pick: Cosmic Boy
Character in a nutshell: One of the founding members of the Legion and the first leader. Has magnetic powers.
This pick isn’t very fun of course, because the whole point of having elections is to create change. And the members have been kind of dumping on Cos’s leadership abilities in the recent issues in order to drum up tension for the election. Also, he recently revealed that one of the reasons he’s always been the “leader” type was so that his best friends Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl could be happy together as they pursued their relationship. And so Cos hasn’t really had that much in the way of romance. The point of rotating leadership is so that all of the miserable responsibility isn’t left to oppress one person for too long. So maybe it’s time for Cos to take a step back and try to do something for himself for a change. I’d be fine with him continuing as the leader, but I wonder if the character would be better served by passing the torch for a while.
4. The gut pick: Mon-El
Character in a nutshell: spent years in the phantom zone to emerge and become a hero of the 21st century, then sent back into the phantom zone for 1000 years until the Legion could cure his lead poisoning. Has all the powers of Superman but is weakened by lead and not Kryptonite.
I realize that I don’t so much have strong reasons to want Mon-El as leader; I just have this gut feeling that he would be a good person to have in the role. Mon-El has been through a lot. Pretty much everyone this guy has ever known or loved is dead (since he’s from our time), except for his Legion family. Not only has he done his share of heroic things, but he’s also had to endure three periods of entrapment in the Phantom Zone, the longest of which lasted for 1000 years of being intangible and lonely. The Legion always seems to need a Superman representative, and Mon-El can fill those big shoes. His role so far in the ongoing has been to exposit about the break up with his long time girlfriend (for which no reason was given), break apart some rocks, and then to go on a fetch quest to retrieve Polar Boy. I’d like to see him more, and being the leader would make that possible.
3. The popular pick: Phantom Girl
Character in a nutshell: longtime member with powers of intangibility.
Several other blogs are throwing their support behind Phantom Girl, and for some very good reasons. She has never been leader, despite her long membership on the team, so many feel that it is her turn. She’s a strong character, and has recently been sort of a confidant/advisor to a number of characters who have been seeking her out for help with their problems. This is a good leadership trait. Also, it would be nice to have a female leader (and surprisingly she's the only one on my list).
She is one of the most deserving members of the chance to be leader. She’s got a lot of support behind her, and I’ll be pleased if she ends up winning (even though she’s only my #3 pick).
2. The symbolic pick: Chameleon Boy
Character in a nutshell: Shape shifter who is the son of the Legion financier RJ Brande
He’s also a giant middle finger to the xenophobic governments that plague the Legion right now. It would sort of be like saying, yes, here’s our leader. He’s not human. He has orange skin and everything. Deal with it. Cham’s race (the Durlans) are pretty much un-trusted everywhere because honestly, how are you going to trust people who can literally be anyone? But the Legion members do trust Cham and this would be a really nice way to show it. Plus we already know that there is going to be a Durlan assassin group working against the Legion, so I think it could create some interesting story drama.
1. The most interesting pick: Gates
Character in a nutshell: An insectoid alien from the Legion of Earth-247 (the reboot legion) who decided to stay with the Legion of New Earth as they have a shortage of non-humanoid members. Creates teleportation gates.
Gates would be a really fun pick for a lot of reasons. First, he’s a non-humanoid alien and, like Cham, having him as leader would send quite the message in the book’s current climate of xenophobia. It would also probably lead to a very different outlook on things. Gates didn’t want to be in the Legion in the first place. He thought they were a fascist military group but his planet had elected him as their representative and he was forced to join. He grew to tolerate his humanoid teammates and even formed some close friendships…however; he’s left that all behind. You see, Gates isn’t from the same universe as the current Legion. He stayed behind after the Legion of Three Worlds event during Final Crisis.
I’ll admit that his being chosen doesn’t really make a ton of sense in story. The characters have known him for maybe a few months tops (and in story they are the ones voting, not us). They seem to already be making quick use of his abilities, but does that really mean that they trust him? He’s only been in about 2 issues of the new run and his contribution to those has been giving snarky remarks about how he has to do all the work. But I, for one, love his snarky remarks and would love to see how the writer handles the challenge of having him as a leader. I want to see more of him and I think voting for him here is the best way to send that message. And who knows, maybe being from a different universe entirely would give him a unique unbiased outlook on some things.
Plus, just look at him. He’s the coolest looking Legionnaire on the ballot!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
DC Price Cuts – The Good and the Bad
This past weekend DC announced that come January (almost) all of their $3.99 books would drop back to $2.99. They cite concerns of fans and retailers as the driving force behind the decision. We’re all no doubt cheering for the lower prices and most of us are hoping other companies follow suit. Marvel had hinted at some kind of similar price drop, but it seems unclear exactly what that will entail. But they say that you can’t get something for nothing and this is a true case of that. There’s always a catch and this case is no different.
When I first heard the announcement, I assumed that it pertained to the $3.99 titles that were only 22 story pages such as Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, Batman Inc., and Batman: Dark Knight. These were the books that were the biggest rip offs and certainly seemed in need of a price reduction. These books are included in the line wide price drop, but so are books like Detective Comics, Action Comics, and Teen Titans which had all included back up features increasing the story page count to 30.
I was actually okay with paying more money for more content. I thought the backups were a neat idea and gave exposure to some underused characters. They weren’t all brilliant, but it was an interesting idea and I enjoyed reading them. All of these stories will simply be gone in January. It ticks me off a little because it seems as though the writers were not consulted on this matter, or even warned that it was coming. A day before the announcement I read an interview about Detective Comics and the backup was included in the discussion as normal. I’d have been happier if the backup stories were given a chance to end and then, once the run was finished, the books dropped their page count and price. We’ve been assured that these stories will finish in one shots or miniseries, but since the stories were coming out 8 pages at a time it may take a while for fans to see the rest of it.
A close read of the press release about this matter shows that not only will the price on these books drop; the page count will too. We’re going from 22 pages of story to 20. Now this almost seems like a fair trade, 2 more pages of ads for a dollar less in price, until you realize that this change is LINE WIDE. Yes, that means that every book, including the majority of DC’s books that were $2.99 for 22 story pages, will drop to 20 pages. And further confounding news, books in the Vertigo line will be affected as well.
So while there are a number of books that we will now be getting a “better” deal on, chances are there are many books that you buy that will be losing content. So you’ll be paying the same price for less. And while the price drop on those few titles is great, this part of the announcement it not good news.
Some people have said that the loss of only 2 pages won’t really matter. If anything it will force writers to condense their storytelling and possibly eliminate 2 page spreads (which are already losing appeal due to the rise of digital readers). But we must also remember that the majority of these writers and artists are freelancers and are paid by the page. Now, company wide, everyone will be paid less per month. It may not seem like a huge loss, but 2 pages a month is 24 pages a year. That’s basically an entire month’s pay check that these creators and their families will no longer have. And an entire month’s worth of story that we will never see.
I was initially thrilled by this news and was happy to see DC taking the initiative and recognizing that in the current economy the dollar can only stretch so far. But the longer I look at the situation the more it seems like they wanted to cut content, so they needed something to distract us. If that was the intent it certainly seems to have worked. People aren’t talking about the whole picture as much as I feel they should be. And I’m worried that a lot of people might not even notice…
EDIT: Okay, I just heard a semi-convincing argument for the page cut and wanted to give it some face time here. In a video interview with Dan Didio and Jim Lee they point out that with 2 less pages a month books that are plagued by delays may be able to come out on time and they may be able to fix some of their scheduling problems (see October Batman books). Creative teams who are faster could still be getting that month's worth of pay by producing 13 books in the span of a year (if they produce at the same rate they end up with 2 extra pages a month). I hadn't considered that there is no rule saying you can't be ahead of schedule and that being ahead of schedule is good news for everyone. So that is one point in their favor I suppose, though I still think it warrants more discussion.
I'm also wondering what they will do with things that were already in development like the new Batwoman ongoing slated for February. JH Williams knows he has to get his art done ahead of time to stay on schedule, so how far ahead was he when they made this decision? Will he have to go back and eliminate some pages now? And there have to be at least a few other creative teams who have been working ahead. I wonder how all of this will affect them.
When I first heard the announcement, I assumed that it pertained to the $3.99 titles that were only 22 story pages such as Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, Batman Inc., and Batman: Dark Knight. These were the books that were the biggest rip offs and certainly seemed in need of a price reduction. These books are included in the line wide price drop, but so are books like Detective Comics, Action Comics, and Teen Titans which had all included back up features increasing the story page count to 30.
I was actually okay with paying more money for more content. I thought the backups were a neat idea and gave exposure to some underused characters. They weren’t all brilliant, but it was an interesting idea and I enjoyed reading them. All of these stories will simply be gone in January. It ticks me off a little because it seems as though the writers were not consulted on this matter, or even warned that it was coming. A day before the announcement I read an interview about Detective Comics and the backup was included in the discussion as normal. I’d have been happier if the backup stories were given a chance to end and then, once the run was finished, the books dropped their page count and price. We’ve been assured that these stories will finish in one shots or miniseries, but since the stories were coming out 8 pages at a time it may take a while for fans to see the rest of it.
A close read of the press release about this matter shows that not only will the price on these books drop; the page count will too. We’re going from 22 pages of story to 20. Now this almost seems like a fair trade, 2 more pages of ads for a dollar less in price, until you realize that this change is LINE WIDE. Yes, that means that every book, including the majority of DC’s books that were $2.99 for 22 story pages, will drop to 20 pages. And further confounding news, books in the Vertigo line will be affected as well.
So while there are a number of books that we will now be getting a “better” deal on, chances are there are many books that you buy that will be losing content. So you’ll be paying the same price for less. And while the price drop on those few titles is great, this part of the announcement it not good news.
Some people have said that the loss of only 2 pages won’t really matter. If anything it will force writers to condense their storytelling and possibly eliminate 2 page spreads (which are already losing appeal due to the rise of digital readers). But we must also remember that the majority of these writers and artists are freelancers and are paid by the page. Now, company wide, everyone will be paid less per month. It may not seem like a huge loss, but 2 pages a month is 24 pages a year. That’s basically an entire month’s pay check that these creators and their families will no longer have. And an entire month’s worth of story that we will never see.
I was initially thrilled by this news and was happy to see DC taking the initiative and recognizing that in the current economy the dollar can only stretch so far. But the longer I look at the situation the more it seems like they wanted to cut content, so they needed something to distract us. If that was the intent it certainly seems to have worked. People aren’t talking about the whole picture as much as I feel they should be. And I’m worried that a lot of people might not even notice…
EDIT: Okay, I just heard a semi-convincing argument for the page cut and wanted to give it some face time here. In a video interview with Dan Didio and Jim Lee they point out that with 2 less pages a month books that are plagued by delays may be able to come out on time and they may be able to fix some of their scheduling problems (see October Batman books). Creative teams who are faster could still be getting that month's worth of pay by producing 13 books in the span of a year (if they produce at the same rate they end up with 2 extra pages a month). I hadn't considered that there is no rule saying you can't be ahead of schedule and that being ahead of schedule is good news for everyone. So that is one point in their favor I suppose, though I still think it warrants more discussion.
I'm also wondering what they will do with things that were already in development like the new Batwoman ongoing slated for February. JH Williams knows he has to get his art done ahead of time to stay on schedule, so how far ahead was he when they made this decision? Will he have to go back and eliminate some pages now? And there have to be at least a few other creative teams who have been working ahead. I wonder how all of this will affect them.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
DC has a new Editor in Chief
The announcement has come that DC has a new Editor in Chief, one Bob Harras, the former editor in charge of collected editions and former Editor in Chief of Marvel back in the late 90s. I was surprised by the announcement as I figured that the Co-Publisher team of Dido and Lee were pretty much covering those kinds of things. I expected this kind of announcement to come sooner and when it did not, I assumed that it wasn’t coming at all. But with the massive restructuring going on I guess this was the point at which they finally decided it was needed. And it kind of adds a fresh start feel to the whole thing. I mean now he won’t be blamed for any of the inevitable firings to come (since that was already in motion before he was named). I really wish that I had a long winded opinion on the subject, that I was familiar, at all, with this man’s previous work and reputation, but honestly I know nothing about this man.
I browsed some user comments on the announcement on Newsarama and Comic Book Resources and it seems to be pretty evenly divided between those who are optimistic and those who are gloom and doom about the matter. From the comments I’ve read it seems like this man, like pretty much anyone ever, has made some really good choices and also some really poor ones. He has impressed people and pissed off people. He didn’t have perfect run while at Marvel, but he did so some good things that people remember. He also did some bad ones that have stuck with people.
And no matter what he did at Marvel, I have a hard time judging a man on his actions over 10 years ago. Sure he seems to have made some really bad choices on some things, but the hope is that he learned from those things and many other things in his many years of experience since then. And he certainly seems to have a lot of experience in comics. The comic world is a very different place than it was back then. The customers are different and the economy is different. Yes, if he runs DC now just like he ran Marvel back then things are going to suck, but mostly because they are two very different times and it will require different things to be successful. And since he has been working in comics this whole time it is silly to assume that he hasn’t noticed the changes along with the rest of us.
I know that there are several good points about his time in the collected division, but honestly, I don’t know what that position is in charge of and I don’t have the knowledge to really evaluate that. It still seems like sort of a weird promotion, as, if they were going to promote an editor, it seems like they would have gone with one working on current titles and not collections. But perhaps my thinking there is wrong. This man worked with all the imprints of DC in that job. Now he is not only editor in chief of the DCU, but will also be responsible for Vertigo and Mad Magazine. Perhaps a single group editor would not have had a firm view on the scope of the company. Also, like his past or not, he does have experience in the position, and that should count for something.
The biggest positive opinion I have is that I am glad that the promotion was from within. I’m very happy that someone under another Warner Brothers department was not shuffled into the mix. Then we would all really have something to complain about. This man has worked in comics for a very long time and, to me at least, that makes him a lot better than many other people they could have moved into this position.
I really feel like I should be telling you all how excited I was for the future of DC with this decision or expounding upon what a poor choice it was. But I can do neither. I suppose we’ll all just have to wait and see how this turns out. There will likely be things that people love and people hate. There will probably be things he is rightly blamed for and things he will be blamed for unnecessarily. He’s stepping into a tough job where he will never be able to please everyone and I can only wish him the best of luck. And of course, I selfishly hope that I am one of the ones he does manage to please.
I browsed some user comments on the announcement on Newsarama and Comic Book Resources and it seems to be pretty evenly divided between those who are optimistic and those who are gloom and doom about the matter. From the comments I’ve read it seems like this man, like pretty much anyone ever, has made some really good choices and also some really poor ones. He has impressed people and pissed off people. He didn’t have perfect run while at Marvel, but he did so some good things that people remember. He also did some bad ones that have stuck with people.
And no matter what he did at Marvel, I have a hard time judging a man on his actions over 10 years ago. Sure he seems to have made some really bad choices on some things, but the hope is that he learned from those things and many other things in his many years of experience since then. And he certainly seems to have a lot of experience in comics. The comic world is a very different place than it was back then. The customers are different and the economy is different. Yes, if he runs DC now just like he ran Marvel back then things are going to suck, but mostly because they are two very different times and it will require different things to be successful. And since he has been working in comics this whole time it is silly to assume that he hasn’t noticed the changes along with the rest of us.
I know that there are several good points about his time in the collected division, but honestly, I don’t know what that position is in charge of and I don’t have the knowledge to really evaluate that. It still seems like sort of a weird promotion, as, if they were going to promote an editor, it seems like they would have gone with one working on current titles and not collections. But perhaps my thinking there is wrong. This man worked with all the imprints of DC in that job. Now he is not only editor in chief of the DCU, but will also be responsible for Vertigo and Mad Magazine. Perhaps a single group editor would not have had a firm view on the scope of the company. Also, like his past or not, he does have experience in the position, and that should count for something.
The biggest positive opinion I have is that I am glad that the promotion was from within. I’m very happy that someone under another Warner Brothers department was not shuffled into the mix. Then we would all really have something to complain about. This man has worked in comics for a very long time and, to me at least, that makes him a lot better than many other people they could have moved into this position.
I really feel like I should be telling you all how excited I was for the future of DC with this decision or expounding upon what a poor choice it was. But I can do neither. I suppose we’ll all just have to wait and see how this turns out. There will likely be things that people love and people hate. There will probably be things he is rightly blamed for and things he will be blamed for unnecessarily. He’s stepping into a tough job where he will never be able to please everyone and I can only wish him the best of luck. And of course, I selfishly hope that I am one of the ones he does manage to please.
Monday, September 27, 2010
“Wait, they are ending an entire universe?”
That was my fiancé’s reaction when I told him that the Wildstorm imprint of DC comics was closing. It’s always sad to see things like this close, mostly because it will mean a lot of good people will be out of jobs.
I don’t read any of the Wildstorm universe titles (and never have), so I don’t feel personally wronged by any of this. The only thing I’m reading from Wildstorm come the December closing is Victorian Undead II, which is a self contained miniseries. I have to assume that it will continue as is, just with a new logo on it (EDIT: Finally found an interview that mentioned it specifically and it will continue with a new logo as I thought).
But I do feel for fans of this universe. It’s going away for “awhile” before these characters show up again under the DC logo. It’s still unclear as to if they will keep their own universe or if they will be folded in to the DCU. I’m really hoping for the former as fans of the Milestone and Red Circle characters seem to have been disappointed with those characters’s absorption into the DCU (and I really can’t blame them). And really (from my point of view at least), with their own universe storytelling is much easier. I think it would benefit the books and the characters to exist on their own. Of course a mandatory miniseries down the line will be required to cross over the two universes for whatever reason, but I think for the most part it will be better for everyone if they can keep to themselves. I honestly don’t think this is likely and assume they will just be added to the already overcrowded DCU, but I will remain hopefully that someone will see the light on this matter.
I will admit that before this announcement I didn’t really have a clear view of Wildstorm’s place. DC was the superhero place and Vertigo was the place for more mature comics and things that had nothing to do with superheroes. Wildstorm had all the licensed comics, but also its own universe and then some series that weren’t related to that universe. I couldn’t really get a hold on the thread that tied the line together that really said, “This title is a Wildstorm book.” With this closure it seems as though perhaps I wasn’t the only one. I don’t want to say that Wildstorm was doomed or anything, but I do feel like we’ve seen it decline in the past few years and as sad as the announcement was it wasn’t completely surprising.
I’ve seen some people fearing for the continuation of Vertigo after the cancelation of EVERY other DC imprint. But I have to disagree. Vertigo pulls a lot of weight at DC, especially in trade sales. Series like Fables and Sandman sell a lot of books so Vertigo has become pretty well known and brand recognition counts for something. It also makes a lot of sense to keep Vertigo around to have a place for creator owned properties outside the superhero genre. From the looks of things it appears that the focus will now be that DC = superheroes and Vertigo = everything else. If DC is dividing things the way I think they are going to then it would be really stupid to get rid of Vertigo. People who are looking for more “mature” comics in terms of content and subject matter know to go to Vertigo. If you suddenly grouped everything under the DC banner then people wouldn’t know where to look for things and thus you could lose sales. Some might argue that the darker more mature subject matter is creeping into our “fun” superhero comics and I would agree. But there is still a difference between a book that sometimes has dark plots and a mature book that revolves around dark plots. Most of the latter are to be found over at Vertigo. I personally feel like the Vertigo books have a sort of flavor to them that makes them distinct from the DC books. And this is what I feel Wildstorm was lacking.
It will be interesting to see how many of the Wildstorm books that were not in the Wildstorm universe find a home at Vertigo. Now that I think about it, the Wildstorm universe might be better served by continuing under the Vertigo imprint. This isn’t going to happen, but it would keep them separate from the DCU and would allow them to maintain their own universe and stories. It certainly is a situation I will be watching as it unfolds.
I don’t read any of the Wildstorm universe titles (and never have), so I don’t feel personally wronged by any of this. The only thing I’m reading from Wildstorm come the December closing is Victorian Undead II, which is a self contained miniseries. I have to assume that it will continue as is, just with a new logo on it (EDIT: Finally found an interview that mentioned it specifically and it will continue with a new logo as I thought).
But I do feel for fans of this universe. It’s going away for “awhile” before these characters show up again under the DC logo. It’s still unclear as to if they will keep their own universe or if they will be folded in to the DCU. I’m really hoping for the former as fans of the Milestone and Red Circle characters seem to have been disappointed with those characters’s absorption into the DCU (and I really can’t blame them). And really (from my point of view at least), with their own universe storytelling is much easier. I think it would benefit the books and the characters to exist on their own. Of course a mandatory miniseries down the line will be required to cross over the two universes for whatever reason, but I think for the most part it will be better for everyone if they can keep to themselves. I honestly don’t think this is likely and assume they will just be added to the already overcrowded DCU, but I will remain hopefully that someone will see the light on this matter.
I will admit that before this announcement I didn’t really have a clear view of Wildstorm’s place. DC was the superhero place and Vertigo was the place for more mature comics and things that had nothing to do with superheroes. Wildstorm had all the licensed comics, but also its own universe and then some series that weren’t related to that universe. I couldn’t really get a hold on the thread that tied the line together that really said, “This title is a Wildstorm book.” With this closure it seems as though perhaps I wasn’t the only one. I don’t want to say that Wildstorm was doomed or anything, but I do feel like we’ve seen it decline in the past few years and as sad as the announcement was it wasn’t completely surprising.
I’ve seen some people fearing for the continuation of Vertigo after the cancelation of EVERY other DC imprint. But I have to disagree. Vertigo pulls a lot of weight at DC, especially in trade sales. Series like Fables and Sandman sell a lot of books so Vertigo has become pretty well known and brand recognition counts for something. It also makes a lot of sense to keep Vertigo around to have a place for creator owned properties outside the superhero genre. From the looks of things it appears that the focus will now be that DC = superheroes and Vertigo = everything else. If DC is dividing things the way I think they are going to then it would be really stupid to get rid of Vertigo. People who are looking for more “mature” comics in terms of content and subject matter know to go to Vertigo. If you suddenly grouped everything under the DC banner then people wouldn’t know where to look for things and thus you could lose sales. Some might argue that the darker more mature subject matter is creeping into our “fun” superhero comics and I would agree. But there is still a difference between a book that sometimes has dark plots and a mature book that revolves around dark plots. Most of the latter are to be found over at Vertigo. I personally feel like the Vertigo books have a sort of flavor to them that makes them distinct from the DC books. And this is what I feel Wildstorm was lacking.
It will be interesting to see how many of the Wildstorm books that were not in the Wildstorm universe find a home at Vertigo. Now that I think about it, the Wildstorm universe might be better served by continuing under the Vertigo imprint. This isn’t going to happen, but it would keep them separate from the DCU and would allow them to maintain their own universe and stories. It certainly is a situation I will be watching as it unfolds.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Fan Ramblings – Are two Bats better than one?
*What follows may contain spoilers for Batman if you are not caught up*
DC recently set to rest a lot of the speculation floating around by revealing that once Bruce Wayne returns Dick Grayson will not be stepping down and we will in fact have 2 Batmen in the DC Universe. Dick Grayson will be Batman in Batman, Batman and Robin, and Detective Comics. Bruce Wayne will take the lead in Batman Inc., The Dark Knight, and (the almost always forgotten by anyone talking about the Batbooks) Batman Confidential. Dick Grayson will remain the protector of Gotham City while Bruce takes a more global approach.
I wrote before about the massive number of books in the Bat Family, and mentioned at the time that I didn’t actually want Bruce Wayne back because I wanted more of Dick as Batman. Well, it seems as though DC has helped to settle my trepidation about that. And honestly, it does solve some of the editorial problems I foresaw as well. I think it will be easier to handle two separate Batmen than the same one in every book.
When I first heard that Bruce Wayne was making his completely expected return so soon I immediately thought, oh god, Dick better not just give up the cowl the second Bruce walks in saying ‘Well that was fun.’ If this past year had been nothing but stories with Dick Grayson bumbling around in his father’s clothes, never really fitting in as the Batman role and not really ever getting things right, then I might buy that kind of a reaction. I would also have been royally pissed off and this blog would be filled with a LOT more rage. But that’s not what happened. It is true that Dick Grayson never wanted to be Batman, and at first he felt awkward in the role (and seemingly ever writer working on the Batbooks got his shot at milking that idea). But he grew into it and made it his own.
Here’s an example. In issue 13 of Batman and Robin Dick is riding in the Batmobile with Commissioner Gordon. Now Gordon isn’t stupid and is well aware that this is a different Batman. He points out that Dick calls him Commissioner Gordon while the “other Batman” had always called him Jim. Dick just smiles and tells him that he’ll keep calling him Commissioner Gordon if that's okay. And then Gordon makes the comment that most of the cops in Gotham LIKE HIS WAY OF DOING THE BATMAN THING BETTER. No, I’m not saying that this means that Dick is better than Bruce and that we have no reason to have Bruce around or anything silly like that. But what I do feel it shows is that Dick is doing a damn fine job as Batman, and that he should be aware of this fact. He can’t play the “No one believes I’m really Batman card” anymore. He is Batman. He is a different Batman than Bruce was, but he is a good one nonetheless. After a comment like that (from one of the most respected men in all of the Batman books) it would make absolutely zero sense to me for Dick to just throw off the cowl without a second thought.
Also, it wouldn’t make sense for Bruce Wayne to come back and not recognize what a freaking awesome job Dick has done, not just with being Batman, but with helping to shape Damian as a person. Little shit that he still is, Damian is loyal to Dick. He is Dick Grayson’s Robin. They have a good thing going there. And Bruce isn’t so single minded as to not be able to see that. Come on, Bruce is a strategist. He should be able to look at the situation and say, “hey things are going pretty well. I’ve still got a job to do, but I can focus my attentions elsewhere now that the kids are holding down the fort in Gotham.”
I personally do not feel that Dick Grayson going back to being Nightwing would be a demotion. Dick proved himself a hero outside of the shadow of the bat. That identity is still his, and I’m sure that somewhere down the line that’s what things will return to. I just don’t want it to happen yet. I want Dick to really think about what being Batman means to him. Yes, we ALL know he initially didn’t want to do it. And Bruce didn’t want him to do it. But in true heroic fashion, Dick saw a need and filled it despite his personal feelings. And now, it will change from being an obligation to being a choice. And I think that it makes sense for Dick now to WANT to keep doing what he is doing. He’s found a rhythm and he’s made the cowl his own.
I’m optimistic about things to come. We get more Dick Grayson Batman and people who only wanted to read about Bruce in the cowl have their books too. Things are new and different and it will be nice to see these ideas explored. And this outcome makes far more sense to me than a lot of others would. I know fans are divided on this new idea, and what new idea doesn’t divide the fan base these days? I have no ill will toward anyone who hates the idea of two Batmen. I don’t think I’m right and they are wrong. I simply hope that we can agree to disagree and keep an open mind until we actually see the stories in action. Then we can all react with praise or rage as required.
I wrote before about the massive number of books in the Bat Family, and mentioned at the time that I didn’t actually want Bruce Wayne back because I wanted more of Dick as Batman. Well, it seems as though DC has helped to settle my trepidation about that. And honestly, it does solve some of the editorial problems I foresaw as well. I think it will be easier to handle two separate Batmen than the same one in every book.
When I first heard that Bruce Wayne was making his completely expected return so soon I immediately thought, oh god, Dick better not just give up the cowl the second Bruce walks in saying ‘Well that was fun.’ If this past year had been nothing but stories with Dick Grayson bumbling around in his father’s clothes, never really fitting in as the Batman role and not really ever getting things right, then I might buy that kind of a reaction. I would also have been royally pissed off and this blog would be filled with a LOT more rage. But that’s not what happened. It is true that Dick Grayson never wanted to be Batman, and at first he felt awkward in the role (and seemingly ever writer working on the Batbooks got his shot at milking that idea). But he grew into it and made it his own.
Here’s an example. In issue 13 of Batman and Robin Dick is riding in the Batmobile with Commissioner Gordon. Now Gordon isn’t stupid and is well aware that this is a different Batman. He points out that Dick calls him Commissioner Gordon while the “other Batman” had always called him Jim. Dick just smiles and tells him that he’ll keep calling him Commissioner Gordon if that's okay. And then Gordon makes the comment that most of the cops in Gotham LIKE HIS WAY OF DOING THE BATMAN THING BETTER. No, I’m not saying that this means that Dick is better than Bruce and that we have no reason to have Bruce around or anything silly like that. But what I do feel it shows is that Dick is doing a damn fine job as Batman, and that he should be aware of this fact. He can’t play the “No one believes I’m really Batman card” anymore. He is Batman. He is a different Batman than Bruce was, but he is a good one nonetheless. After a comment like that (from one of the most respected men in all of the Batman books) it would make absolutely zero sense to me for Dick to just throw off the cowl without a second thought.
Also, it wouldn’t make sense for Bruce Wayne to come back and not recognize what a freaking awesome job Dick has done, not just with being Batman, but with helping to shape Damian as a person. Little shit that he still is, Damian is loyal to Dick. He is Dick Grayson’s Robin. They have a good thing going there. And Bruce isn’t so single minded as to not be able to see that. Come on, Bruce is a strategist. He should be able to look at the situation and say, “hey things are going pretty well. I’ve still got a job to do, but I can focus my attentions elsewhere now that the kids are holding down the fort in Gotham.”
I personally do not feel that Dick Grayson going back to being Nightwing would be a demotion. Dick proved himself a hero outside of the shadow of the bat. That identity is still his, and I’m sure that somewhere down the line that’s what things will return to. I just don’t want it to happen yet. I want Dick to really think about what being Batman means to him. Yes, we ALL know he initially didn’t want to do it. And Bruce didn’t want him to do it. But in true heroic fashion, Dick saw a need and filled it despite his personal feelings. And now, it will change from being an obligation to being a choice. And I think that it makes sense for Dick now to WANT to keep doing what he is doing. He’s found a rhythm and he’s made the cowl his own.
I’m optimistic about things to come. We get more Dick Grayson Batman and people who only wanted to read about Bruce in the cowl have their books too. Things are new and different and it will be nice to see these ideas explored. And this outcome makes far more sense to me than a lot of others would. I know fans are divided on this new idea, and what new idea doesn’t divide the fan base these days? I have no ill will toward anyone who hates the idea of two Batmen. I don’t think I’m right and they are wrong. I simply hope that we can agree to disagree and keep an open mind until we actually see the stories in action. Then we can all react with praise or rage as required.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Fan Ramblings – Sherlock Holmes Comics
When I was very young I wanted to be a detective when I grew up. I made my own detective kit and routinely went around my house trying to solve mysteries like “The Caper of the Missing Coffee Cup.” I suppose that it is no surprise that my favorite superhero is known as the world’s greatest detective. I have always loved a good mystery and gravitate toward characters who are great detectives both in comics and out (such as House, Psych, Monk, Detective Conan, the Great Mouse Detective, Rescue Rangers, and Phillip Marlow).
Since the Sherlock Holmes movie recently our classic detective has been getting a lot of press. With the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle safely within the public domain there are many different takes on the character available. Some are very traditional, while others seem to be ideas taken directly from a fanfiction forum somewhere.
Recently, a lot of Holmes related comics have appeared and I just can’t help but be tempted by them, even by the really gimmicky ones. I know some of them are just attempts to cash in on Holmes’ current popularity, but I just can’t help but think, “But what if it’s good?” So now, I’ll share with you, some of Holmes’ more recent comic adventures.
Sherlock Holmes (Dynamite Entertainment)
By far the most traditional Holmes story of those listed here, you will gain a lot from this story if you are a Holmes fan. Many familiar characters make an appearance, like Inspector LeStrade and Holmes’ brother Mycroft. In this story Holmes is the only suspect in a locked room murder. It wasn’t the most amazing Holmes’ story I have ever read, although the mystery was complex enough to keep me interested for five issues. All in all though, it never shook off the fanfiction feeling for me. Worth a read, but not necessarily worth buying unless you are a Holmes fan.
Sherlock Ninja (Antarctic Press)
I really wanted this one to be decent. It includes two of my favorite things: Sherlock Holmes and ninjas! Unfortunately this was not the greatest match made in heaven. I was disappointed to find that the art was black and white. Black and white art can be done well (like in Walking Dead) but here it simply made everything muddled. Nothing really stood out. And the fight scenes were terrible. I couldn’t figure out what was going on half of the time. And when you have what should be cool ninja fights, that is a big problem. Overall this was a single issue that was pretty forgettable. I don’t regret buying it, as it amused me slightly, but it’s not one that I would really recommend anyone pick up, unless they just want to say that they own something called Sherlock Ninja. And yet if an issue #2 shows up I would probably buy it anyway just to see where they go with it...
Victorian Undead (Wildstorm)
In another I-can’t-believe-they-are-really-doing-this premise, this series is all about Sherlock Holmes vs. zombies! Like Sherlock Ninja above, I was suckered in by the pairing of two of my favorite things. And for what it was, I feel it was well handled. Sherlock Holmes DID get called in on his fair share of strange and unbelievable cases in his time, so this isn’t as out there as it could be. I think I would have liked this story a tad better if it had just been Holmes and company dealing with a zombie invasion. But things are, of course, more complicated than that, and it turns out that the zombies are being led by *SPOILER ALERT* Holmes deceased arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. It wasn’t really a surprise, and unfortunately I didn’t feel like it added a lot to the zombie story. In fact, once that was reveled I felt that the zombies took a back seat to Moriarty zombie in importance. The story changed from Holmes vs. zombies to Holmes vs. Moriarty who happens this time to be a zombie. I wanted to read about Holmes fighting something completely out of his element, and it kinda fell short in that regard. But all in all it wasn’t a bad read and had enough Holmes character cameos to keep me happy. Apparently the series did well enough to spawn an October one shot with Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a second miniseries starting in November with Holmes vs. Dracula! I’m hoping that this time the series can focus on the undead half of the equation a little more.
Muppet Sherlock Holmes (Boom!)
This title isn’t out yet, but based on the preview images I’ve seen I have high hopes for it. It’s a Muppet parody with Gonzo as Holmes and Fonzy as Dr. Watson. Kermit will make an appearance as Inspector LeStrade and by the end there will probably be more Muppets than you can shake a magnifying glass at. Unlike the other items on this list, this miniseries is retelling four classic Holmes stories; The Speckled Band, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red Headed League, and The Musgrove Ritual. The content has been tweaked of course to stay within the atmosphere of the Muppets and to condense the story down to 24 pages, and while each issue/case is a separate story, there will be threads that tie the whole series together. As this is a parody, I have high hopes that it will take what it needs from the source material, but also never take itself too seriously. If you have kids who like to play detective or like the Muppets this might be a good series to pick up for them!
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| "Where could the cup be?" |
Recently, a lot of Holmes related comics have appeared and I just can’t help but be tempted by them, even by the really gimmicky ones. I know some of them are just attempts to cash in on Holmes’ current popularity, but I just can’t help but think, “But what if it’s good?” So now, I’ll share with you, some of Holmes’ more recent comic adventures.
By far the most traditional Holmes story of those listed here, you will gain a lot from this story if you are a Holmes fan. Many familiar characters make an appearance, like Inspector LeStrade and Holmes’ brother Mycroft. In this story Holmes is the only suspect in a locked room murder. It wasn’t the most amazing Holmes’ story I have ever read, although the mystery was complex enough to keep me interested for five issues. All in all though, it never shook off the fanfiction feeling for me. Worth a read, but not necessarily worth buying unless you are a Holmes fan.
I really wanted this one to be decent. It includes two of my favorite things: Sherlock Holmes and ninjas! Unfortunately this was not the greatest match made in heaven. I was disappointed to find that the art was black and white. Black and white art can be done well (like in Walking Dead) but here it simply made everything muddled. Nothing really stood out. And the fight scenes were terrible. I couldn’t figure out what was going on half of the time. And when you have what should be cool ninja fights, that is a big problem. Overall this was a single issue that was pretty forgettable. I don’t regret buying it, as it amused me slightly, but it’s not one that I would really recommend anyone pick up, unless they just want to say that they own something called Sherlock Ninja. And yet if an issue #2 shows up I would probably buy it anyway just to see where they go with it...
In another I-can’t-believe-they-are-really-doing-this premise, this series is all about Sherlock Holmes vs. zombies! Like Sherlock Ninja above, I was suckered in by the pairing of two of my favorite things. And for what it was, I feel it was well handled. Sherlock Holmes DID get called in on his fair share of strange and unbelievable cases in his time, so this isn’t as out there as it could be. I think I would have liked this story a tad better if it had just been Holmes and company dealing with a zombie invasion. But things are, of course, more complicated than that, and it turns out that the zombies are being led by *SPOILER ALERT* Holmes deceased arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. It wasn’t really a surprise, and unfortunately I didn’t feel like it added a lot to the zombie story. In fact, once that was reveled I felt that the zombies took a back seat to Moriarty zombie in importance. The story changed from Holmes vs. zombies to Holmes vs. Moriarty who happens this time to be a zombie. I wanted to read about Holmes fighting something completely out of his element, and it kinda fell short in that regard. But all in all it wasn’t a bad read and had enough Holmes character cameos to keep me happy. Apparently the series did well enough to spawn an October one shot with Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a second miniseries starting in November with Holmes vs. Dracula! I’m hoping that this time the series can focus on the undead half of the equation a little more.
This title isn’t out yet, but based on the preview images I’ve seen I have high hopes for it. It’s a Muppet parody with Gonzo as Holmes and Fonzy as Dr. Watson. Kermit will make an appearance as Inspector LeStrade and by the end there will probably be more Muppets than you can shake a magnifying glass at. Unlike the other items on this list, this miniseries is retelling four classic Holmes stories; The Speckled Band, A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red Headed League, and The Musgrove Ritual. The content has been tweaked of course to stay within the atmosphere of the Muppets and to condense the story down to 24 pages, and while each issue/case is a separate story, there will be threads that tie the whole series together. As this is a parody, I have high hopes that it will take what it needs from the source material, but also never take itself too seriously. If you have kids who like to play detective or like the Muppets this might be a good series to pick up for them!
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| If they make a Lego Sherlock Holmes game I am SO there! |
Whatever may befall our favorite detective I'm sure I'll be along for the ride. How about the rest of you? Any insane story ideas you would like to see in future comics? Do you have a favorite character that you are driven to pick things up for, even when you know some of its going to be crap?
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