The Four Color Media Monitor

Mark Evanier reports that Golden Age artist Sheldon Moldoff, whose works include both Flash and Green Lantern, died last Wednesday at age 91.

Labels: good artists

Reuters reports about a new comic from a company called SmarterComics called Financial Intelligence, that focuses on business.

Labels: indie publishers

It looks like the DCnU's version of Earth 2 is being reintroduced only so they can make it darker than what the original Earth 2 was like in the Silver/Bronze Age. This quote says:

“Who will Batman kill to save his own daughter?” asks EARTH 2 editor Pat McCallum. “Right out of the gate that should tell you we’re dealing with a different kind of Dark Knight here. More ruthless, dangerous…the costume is familiar and yeah, there is a Wayne under the mask, but we’re looking at a man desperate to save the only family he has left. EARTH 2 is about to become a very bad place to be a bad guy.”

It sounds more like they're trying to ape Marvel's own Ultimate line, even though unlike the since unraveled "experiment" Marvel launched in 2000, this is obviously meant to be part of the DCnU proper. The daughter they speak of is probably the Huntress, since they seem to have reverted back to the original take circa 1977. But knowing what kind of shock tactics could be behind this, that's one more reason why this is only likely to be a waste of time. An Earth 2 that's more about grisly darkness than true escapism is not what people read it for years ago.

Labels: Batman, dc comics

The American Family Association has come out against the Toys R Us chain's apparent sale of Archie's Kevin Keller comics in their stores. And I think I agree with them if anything, because it's not a good example and influence for children to depict homosexuality only positively with no negative arguments or takes allowed, nor any arguments on whether it's even a healthy practice.

This whole case has rather predictably enraged some of the leftist comics sites on the web, who again can't seem to decide if they want children to be a source of income for a falling industry or not. Yet something tells me that, were it an Islamic group targeting Toys R Us over this subject rather than a Christian group, they might remain silent. These are after all the same kind of leftists who'll promote homosexuality on the surface yet when gays and lesbians are attacked by jihadists, they fall silent and abandon them.

If Archie wants to sell a comic featuring a gay protagonist, that's one thing. But marketing it even within miles of being a role model for children and normalizing homosexuality is simply a poor example for a once decent comics publisher to set. They should not be selling the Kevin Keller comics within the framework of a toy business for children.

Labels: politics

The LA Times' Hero Complex section has a special guest post by veteran artist Neal Adams about how Spidey has such giant appeal, written for the 50th anniversary of the web-slinger.

Labels: marvel comics, Spider-Man

USA Today wrote about Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato's rendition of the Flash -mainly the Rogues - and it's really no different from what Geoff Johns started a decade ago, which was making them darker and grimier:

"The way we set it up with the New 52, rather than a reimagination if them, it's an evolution of them," says artist Francis Manapul, who co-writes the book with Brian Buccellato.

No. If they're making them darker and less humorous, then it's devolving, corrupting them, and making them far less appealing.

The creative team is not forgetting the Rogues' history before them, however. The past of Captain Cold is intact, Manapul says — he did use a freeze gun at one point, but there is a reason why he and his posse now have powers.

And that reason is simply that, when it comes to the older Rogues, they can't think of much else to do except give them built-in powers just to "prove" they can make them entertaining. Instead of replacing them with newer supervillains who've got built-in powers, this is the desperate step they're taking.

As far as personality goes, Cold is the same hard-nosed villain he always has been, "the everyman we can all relate to except it's more the thoughts we have when we've been continually pushed around and put at the bottom of the barrel," Manapul says. "He's going from a man who used to get beat down not only by the Flash but constantly feeling the pressure of getting beat down by 'the Man.'

"He's definitely a lot more dangerous than he was before," the artist adds, "but he still has the same ideologies that he had before — he still operates with a sense of honor he did before, but there's something different this time. There's something more personal at stake that's causing him to act a little bit out of the norm."

What's that mean, that he's had a legitimate job recently, even though they turned him into more of a fugitive again in recent years? And why do I doubt Cold will be that honorable now? I certainly do know that it was shameful how Geoff Johns implied the new Mirror Master was willing to stoop to sexual harassment, as happened in issue 201 back in 2003.

But the designs of the Rogues will be tweaked so that form follows function. Cold used to wear a hooded coat, which made sense — "He was a normal dude with a freeze gun, so he would get cold," Manapul says, laughing.

With him being a metahuman, though, a jacket seemed like a weird choice, but Cold's still rocking a hoodie because it's integral to his character.

"He's this guy who's been put down a lot, he never seems to do well with women, his score always seems to go down badly," Manapul explains. "There's a certain comfort to putting a hood on — like when you see kids put it on, there's a certain anonymity or a protective blanket. It says a lot about his personality with the way his clothing functions with his new powers."

Well gee, if he wasn't a big smash with women, it's probably because not many want to date a criminal. Certainly not one who could be increasingly dangerous.

And in some cases, such as with Gorilla Grodd, Manapul and Buccellato are changing everything about a Rogue. Part of the world-building they've been doing includes creating their vision of Gorilla City, with new ceremonies and an entire culture.

"When you see them, you're going to see a fully realized world in the way their society functions," Manapul says. "From the outside looking in, it's absolutely horrific but to them it seems like the only way to live."

I'm sure I won't want to know just how flavorless their culture's become, nor what ceremonies they're going to hold. As for Grodd, Johns already set the tone for a very disturbingly vicious, almost flesh-eating depiction when he was writer, in issues #192-194.

They're also looking at bringing in new Rogues and adding newer dimensions than before — there were no female Rogues in the past, for instance, Buccellato says — but still staying true to what makes a Rogue a Rogue.

Uh oh, I do believe I've found a definite mistake here. There was one female adversary: the Golden Glider, back in the Bronze Age. In later years, Christina Alexandrova would make another one. Very poor research and reference on their part.

Plus, there's also a love triangle brewing among Barry Allen, his girlfriend and fellow police scientist Patty Spivac, and reporter Iris West. Pre-New 52, Iris was married to Barry, but Buccellato says there's a dramatic turn coming in issue 7 and who'll eventually be at his side is currently up in the air. "We don't know who the last woman standing is going to be."

And if that's supposed to be a signal that a female protagonist is going to die, or at the very least be degraded, that's not something I'm interested in seeing either. We've had far too much of that in the past 2 decades.

Labels: dc comics, Flash, msm propaganda, violence

Alex Segura, who's writing the Occupy Riverdale story in Archie comics, gave an interview to CBR, and predictably, he remains superficial about the seriousness of the real life issue he's alluding to:

Robot 6: Can you give me an idea of the storyline?

Alex Segura: Sure! It all starts while Archie and Jughead are walking to school — they come across a protest at Perkins Park, lead by new student Andy Martinez. Andy and his fellow Occupy Riverdale protesters have set up shop in the park to decry the current financial system, similar to the current Occupy movements across the country and the world. You see a lot of the classic characters choosing sides and Archie’s kind of stuck in the middle. When your friends are divided, what side do you take? It’s relevant and important stuff, but told in a very Archie way.

Uh uh. That's not why or what OWS are protesting. They're attacking the stockbrokers and businessmen whom they accuse of "stealing" their money, this despite how they seem capable of affording iPhones and even rooms in hotels. And telling this in an Archie way only trivializes the seriousness of the darker issues taking place in the movement, which is exactly why such a political topic simply doesn't belong in Archie - it only gives an airbrushed picture of everything, as will surely be the case.

Robot 6: Have you consulted with any members of the Occupy movement in writing this story?

Alex Segura: I have a friend who actually started his own, small Occupy movement in his suburban town, so it was nice to pick his brain and get a sense of the issues and goals of the movement, around the time I was pitching for the assignment. I also consider myself a bit of a political junkie, so I keep tabs on a lot of what the Occupy movement puts out there. I’m by no means an expert, nor should this issue imply that. I’ve taken the general aspects of the movement and integrated them into Riverdale to create a fun, entertaining and—hopefully—informative Archie comic.

Robot 6: Have you visited Occupy Wall Street yourself?

Alex Segura: I’ve been down there, yeah, but I haven’t spent a significant amount of time talking to Occupy Wall Street, beyond keeping up with them through the news and their own channels, like Twitter and their newspaper.

Well then clearly, he hasn't done any research nor does he intend to, and their news rag isn't going to tell anything much. Reading this doesn't make me form a very high opinion of Segura at all.

Robot 6: Will this be in the regular Archie continuity, and if so, how familiar do you think the audience will be with the Occupy movement?

Alex Segura: Yup, this is a regular issue of Archie.

I don’t imagine everyone who picks it up will know the ins and outs of the Occupy movement, but you don’t have to. This issue isn’t preachy, not does it take sides. It brings characters we know and love face-to-face with something a lot of Americans and people around the world are facing or discussing, and we see how it affects them. At the end of the day, it’s an Archie comic, so all the things readers expect are there: humor, entertaining characters and Jughead being hungry. If you have no interest in politics but still want a fun Archie story, this serves that purpose as well.

But there's nothing fun about a movement that's already degenerated into cursing and inciting against police, and vandalism in Oakland and Portland. All of which will obviously not occur in the story, but that's just the problem - it only paints a dishonest picture and insults the intellect. And I don't buy for one second his claim the story isn't preachy, and if it's not willing to take a clear side, that only makes it worse by using moral equivalence as a cover. Segura is clearly quite lost in direction.

Labels: dreadful writers, politics