The Four Color Media Monitor

Simply naive "opining" brought to you by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. First, here's what they say about Infinite Crisis:

What a year to be a comics reader.

It was like the two big comics companies, DC (publishers of Superman) and Marvel (publishers of Spider-Man), figured out exactly what fans wanted and gave it to them.

Yep, I'm sure they did, didn't they? Shyeah, right.

DC proved itself to be the biggest kid on the block with month after month of stories that led into "The Infinite Crisis," a story line so beautifully complex that it will take another year to play out.

Yep, I'm sure it will. Please, somebody pass me the dramamine.

The writers, led by Geoff Johns, looked at the human part of the superheroes, the man in Superman, and showed that they are just as susceptible to fear, love, hate, jealousy and every other human emotion. Batman devised a fail-safe anti-superpowers system that backfired, which ultimately led to Wonder Woman murdering a villain to save Superman's life.

By stooping to the level of the bad guys, the heroes caused the one thing to happen that they always feared -- the organizing of the villains into an army. Then the writers did something that many fans yearned for but never thought they would see: They brought back the original Superman. He's the one who started his career in 1938, aged, married Lois Lane and was last seen in 1986 flying off to the other end of the universe, never to be seen again.

Well, he's back, and he's not happy at what's happened while he was away.

Nor am I. I was having trouble connecting to the web properly, and seeing this does not make me feel any better than before. And there's a human part to all this? Gee, I must really be missing something here, eh? Ditto when it comes to their stooping to the level of the villains.

But now, putting that aside, here's what really makes me want to vomit:

Marvel, not to be outdone, changed reality by taking a third-rate character -- the Scarlet Witch -- and making her the shaper of worlds. The world that emerged when she was through is different and certainly more interesting.

I...beg...your...pardon? Clearly, the writer, Michael Sangiacomo, whom I figured would end up derailing in time, has no respect for a character who had some of the best writers to develop her even since she first began as a girl who'd been taken under the wing of a criminal during the time she and her twin brother were still troubled teens, just like the X-Men she initially clashed with, married the Vision in one of the best Beauty and the 'Bot stories, and learned more about practicing magical skills and combat as time went by. And a more interesting world it is, really? Please, do tell me about it.

It gets worse:

The impressive thing about Marvel's project is that the writers, led by former Clevelander Brian Bendis, built on what had gone before. All the clues were there, especially with the Scarlet Witch. How could we not have noticed that her powers seemed to change to be whatever they needed to be?

Wow, he sure knows how to confuse and blur things up, doesn't he? Scarlet's powers warp probabilities, not reality. Where exactly does he get off saying that they went upon what's come before?

What might have been sloppy writing two and three decades ago was turned into proof that there was a lot more to her powers than silly hex bolts. "Made you trip," whoopee.

But not as much as the writer of this horrid fluff, that's for sure. What's that you say? "Silly hex bolts?" Silly hex bolts my foot, Wanda's powers were a very inventive idea when Stan Lee created the adorable Wanda back in 1964, and they have the sheer nerve to defame her? Bleah.

After all, this was a woman who brought the original Human Torch back to life (the second or third time) and likewise Wonder Man, with just an errant thought. She also gave "birth" to two boys from her imagination. Is there anything she can't do?

Interesting. From the above, aside from the fact that Sangiacomo is trying to make it sound as if Wanda Maximoff had always been written off as a "third-rate" character, it also sounds as if he's insulting her by implying that he sides with the damage John Byrne did to her back circa 1990 as well! Wow, I can't believe it. Disgusting.

In fact, would it surprise anyone to learn that the Scarlet Witch was responsible for a lot of the inexplicable things that have gone on in the Marvel Universe?

GAH!!! He really believes that, doesn't he? Though I thought that in House of M, it was apparently because Quicksilver was manipulating her, but he neglects to mention any of that. What a shame.

It's been a long time since things were this good.

Sure, both companies still put out some junk, but that's best left ignored. Look at the great stuff.

Don't worry, I will, just not what's "reviewed" here. I just wish that CrossGen hadn't gone down the drain two years ago, and I hope that someday, they'll be revived under the book company that now owns the properties.

Now, if there's anything I need to do, it's to find some aspirin. I'm gonna need it.

Update: Precocious Curmudgeon has a post about Wanda that's worth reading, telling what made her work as a character.

Labels: marvel comics, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, women of marvel