The Four Color Media Monitor

Business Week has another article about Stan the Man Lee, still going at age 87, and the company he's running today called Purveyors of Wonder.

Labels: good writers

This article in The Eastern Echo talks about comics having literary values.

It's just a pity that today's mainstream items don't deliver that. Once, they most certainly did. Today...not much.

USA Today reports that Marvel is announcing a new project called "The Heroic Age", likely another crossover, but what's also in question is just how sincere are they about making their heroes heroic again:

Marvel superheroes are leaving the dark side.

After seven years of grim and grimmer story lines, including a superhero "civil war" that pitted Iron Man against Spider-Man and the death of Captain America, Marvel Comics will usher in a more optimistic "Heroic Age" approach in May.

"Heroes will be heroes again," says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada. "They've gone through hell and they're back to being good guys — a throwback to the early days of the Marvel Universe, with more of a swashbuckling feel."

Unfortunately, there is reason to doubt they're really serious, because:

Quesada pushed a complete makeover for Spider-Man two years ago in a "Brand New Day" story line, which wiped out Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane and repositioned the hero as the teenage loner he was in the 1960s.

In the upcoming Avengers' story line, however, the changes will remain in continuity and will not be a "reboot" of the franchises involved.

The problems with Spider-Man now aren't just the wipeout of the Spider-Marriage, but that since this was done, Peter Parker has been portrayed largely as a slacker and a jerk. And if Spidey isn't depicted heroically, and even his action scenes are a cop-out, and Marvel continuity as a whole is in a shambles, how can we expect them to deliver convincingly?

Plus, who's behind this move in the writer's seat?

Likely to give the "Heroic Age" considerable fanboy cred will be the participation of writer Brian Michael Bendis, who was chief architect of the "disassembly" of the Marvel Universe in the first place. Most recently, he has overseen the "Dark Reign" story line where villain Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) has taken charge of the superhero community. That approach ends with the "Heroic Age."

Bendis has already done enough damage as it is, and sales for his run on the Avengers have finally - and deservedly - dropped. If he could do as awful a job as he did disassembling the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, why should we trust him to do any better putting them back together again? Why should we even trust Joe Quesada not to add his editorial mandate negatively to the mess?

If the same people who gave us something so awful are still minding the store, then this latest move can only be assumed as yet another publicity stunt. For all we know, the Avengers could be depicted just as badly as Peter Parker is now in Spider-Man, in terms of personality, and their adventures filled with either gratuitous violence, or just pathetic action. Plus, Bendis is the "master" of decompressed storytelling, and that too could easily bog things down.

That's why there's little reason to be optimistic about this latest news, any more than for DC's Brightest Day, which likely won't be.

Labels: Avengers, bad editors, dreadful writers, marvel comics, msm propaganda, Spider-Man

I found some solicitations for upcoming DC books, including the latest volume of the Flash, and not only is it tied in to their next crossover, it sounds rather familiar:

THE FLASH #1
On sale APRIL 14 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art, cover and 1:100 variant cover by FRANCIS MANAPUL
1:25 Variant cover by Tony Harris
A BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in! Get in on the ground floor of DC’s next epic in the making! The Flash races out of BLACKEST NIGHT and into his own monthly title as the all-new adventures of The Fastest Man Alive start with “Case One: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues!” Barry Allen runs back to his life in Central City, but when one of the Rogues turns up murdered under mysterious circumstances, it’s up to The Flash to not only solve this bizarre crime, but protect those that are still targeted by the elusive killer. Plus, don’t miss a peek into the future of the Flash universe in this special, extra-sized starting point issue!
This issue will ship with two covers.

So, at least one Rogue is terminated? Gee, and I thought Johns loved the Rogues! But that was before he made them less appealing and made it extremely difficult to find any humor in them. I wonder which one it is? Captain Cold? The Pied Piper? The Trickster? Oh wait, he already died in 52! Maybe it's the new one? And maybe this'll turn into a variation on Ten Little Indians? Who cares? Mark Waid did something almost like this more than a decade ago when he had the Rogues go to hell during Neron's reign of terror (I think it was called Hell to Pay?), and for all I know, he may have even been willing to leave them there. In recent years, they seem more intent on killing even once-beloved villains off in more "realistic" fashions, and that too is getting very old.

Aside from the yawn-inducing plot, the price for this is four dollars, and will have a variant cover, another sign of their bait-and-switch tactics in effect. Since this is likely to be more of the same from Johns, little different from his earlier run, that's one more reason why this would be best avoided.

Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, golden calf of death, violence

I read the news about Tom Brevoort getting a promotion to vice president, with Axel Alonso and Stephen Wacker winning prominent positions too. I'd like to think this is great, particularly if they're now in a higher position than Joe Quesada. But recalling that they did some pretty tasteless things this past decade, and still are...that's why the promotion doesn't really impress me at all. Certainly not if they continue to be contemptible of Marvel fans.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics

A short article on PR-USA about an upcoming manga/anime exhibition in Paris at Espace Champerret in February.

Labels: Europe and Asia, manga and anime

The Titans Tower Monitor and a poster on Comic Bloc are worried that Roy Harper's young daughter, Lian, has been the next victim of DC editorial's death-listings for the DCU's cast members.

I don't know what the outcome of Cry for Justice will be, but it's still quite clear: no one should buy the next issue of Cry for Justice, not even if it were given away for free.

Labels: dc comics, golden calf of death, misogyny and racism, Titans

It's been announced that Birds of Prey is being revived, but unsurprisingly, there's strings attached:

Both titles [Justice League: Generation Lost is the other series they're talking about here] are part of the “Brightest Day” initiative and will carry the “Brightest Day” banner on their covers. Not much is known about “Brightest Day” thus far except that it follows out of the conclusion of the “Blackest Night” mega-arc unfolding through the DC Universe titles, and that it will supposedly be a turn away from the darker tones and themes that DC’s super-hero titles have had for the past several years.

So the problems here, on the one hand, are that it's part of a crossover, and on the other, that it's only supposedly veering away from darkness, which sounds like more dangling carrots. In any case, I'm afraid that if this is being done as part of their latest crossover (another is War of the Supermen), that's already a problem.

Since Black Canary is going back to the fold, this also signals they're breaking up Dinah's union with Green Arrow, and further signaling the bad news that may be in store with "The Fall of Green Arrow". If they want to seperate/divorce them, that's one thing, but if Ollie Queen is going to face disaster, I'm afraid that's simply poor thinking.

In that case, there's clearly nothing great in store here either.

Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics, women of dc

I'd already read the news about how Sony decided to nix Sam Raimi's proposals for a fourth Spider-Man movie. Not that the last one was great, but if this New York Daily News article is correct, and Sony/Marvel Studios are

officially squashing "Spider-Man 4" in favor of a gritty reboot that demotes Peter Parker back to high school.

Then I've got a bad feeling this is not going to go over well. If it's gritty, chances are that the word grim will apply as well, thus alluding to one of the most leading slangs in recent comicdom used for criticizing darkness run amok.

It's a shame, because it did have a very promising start when the first movie debuted 8 years ago. Now, political correctness is wrecking everything. This may not bode well for the movie franchise, though the momentum may have already been lost, and it's possible that, if a fourth movie is set to come with the different screenplay and performers, it won't win the same enthusiastic response Raimi's movie first got.

Update: this article from Film.Com feels the same way.

Labels: marvel comics, Spider-Man

An article in the Victoria Advocate about a comics exhibition at the Northern Illinois University's Art Museum beginning next week.

Labels: exhibitions, museums

But it doesn't take much to guess that this won't find the kind of success it did back in the Bronze Age when he took up the writing. And in the following IGN Comics article, he's quoted saying:

"It's such fun to be back in the future, blowing up planets, undoing Legion marriages, revealing unrevealed factoids, and starting improbable new relationships. If there's a better job in comics than writing the Legion, with its vast cast and creative opportunities, I've never held it."

Spoken sensationalistically as though that were a great thing. I guess he's going to take the same approach used in comics set in contemporary times and foist it on those set in the future now too. But even if he doesn't, this is unlikely to gain the following the Legion of Super-Heroes once had 2 decades ago, and after Levitz gave Dan DiDio the keys to the kingdom almost a decade ago, that's one more reason why many may no longer care.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics

This was really unexpected. When I turned to look at ICV2's latest sales charts, it turned out that Blackest Night #6 sold just 100,651 copies last month. This was quite a surprise, recalling that the previous issue must've sold around 140,000. And most miniseries approaching their last part usually don't fall that far, until now. The combined sales for comics and graphic novels was down 14 percent in December.

What it tells is that the audience is starting to get tired of all these crossovers that aren't leading nowhere, have no convincing character development, or don't allow for any. Well, let's hope that's the answer to this case.

A lot of the titles lower on the list sold below 50,000 and even if they got a "boost" because of Blackest Night, it's going to be very hard for publishers and reporters/analysts to justify how sales are going much longer.

Labels: sales

DC has announced their next superfluous crossover, Brightest Day, a followup to Blackest Night (via Speed Force). But if the following news about the Titans tells anything, not to mention what plans Geoff Johns has for Barry Allen, this won't be anything to look forward to. It's just more dangling the carrot in front of the audience, which doesn't help much if the same writers and editorial staff are behind even this.

Also, the interview Johns gave to IGN has the following:

IGN Comics: Dan and Alex hinted there are other titles involved in Brightest Day besides the main series. For instance, we know you're upcoming Flash series with Francis Manapul will carry the Brightest Day banner.

Johns: The whole concept behind Brightest Day is that it's an extension of the end result of Blackest Night and where Blackest Night will take the DC Universe. Out of Blackest Night you have the Brightest Day book, which is the anchor of the whole Brightest Day storyline and concept. But there are other books that will carry the Brightest Day banner that thematically and literally tie into what the Brightest Day story is really about. Books like The Flash, Justice League of America and Titans.

Well if Blackest Night determines the direction, and not Brightest Day, then I guess there's not much new here, is there?

IGN Comics: How did you arrive at the cast of characters in Blackest Night, particularly those you chose to give rings? Because they are rather unexpected choices, especially Mera. When and how did you decide these certain characters would play such a prominent role?

Johns: As I started planning out the story and as the scenes came up, after Hawkman and Hawkgirl died and the Atom tries to contact them, it made sense to me that the Atom would get more involved and become the figurehead for compassion. Because he still feels for Jean Loring despite everything she did. He still feels for Ralph and Sue. He's devastated by everything that's happened.

Um, is this supposed to tell us that he's going to fix this grevious error, or is he still going along in complete lockstep with DiDio? I'm afraid the latter is the answer.

On top of all that, there's the serious mistake of making this all a crossover between tons of different titles/series, and with sales declining thanks to the crossovers, that's just not how to handle things.

Labels: Atom, crossoverloading, dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, Titans, women of dc

The New York Times Magazine has taken its turn in fluffing up the news for Johns, and among the things they tell here:

“I like taking the characters that aren’t necessarily Superman and Batman – though they’re great, too – and propel them into the mainstream,” says Geoff Johns of his work for DC Comics.

Given how his work is far from new-reader-friendly, that's certainly saying something.

Johns seems to have a golden touch with heroes in need of new life (sometimes literally) or just some TLC.

A pity they don't mention how over-the-top he can often be with violent content and shock tactics. Nor do they mention how he co-wrote Countdown to Infinite Crisis (with Greg Rucka and Judd Winick), which killed off Blue Beetle Ted Kord instead of giving the character what they claim Johns is good at.

Is Johns on a quest to be king of all media? No. It’s really about a hunger to explore and expand the heroes’ mythology, no matter what the medium. “These characters are going to be around long after we’re gone,” he says. And that’s not a bad thing. “The heroes are inspiring; they make the right choice. This is something that people will always need.”

But what about the writers and editors? Alas, they don't always make the right choices, and that's what's ruining DC and Marvel comics today.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, golden calf of death, msm propaganda

Looking around the Spider-Man Crawl Space forum, I found some info telling that, even if Siege is just 4 issues long, it still looks like it's off to a bad start, because:

The Dark Avengers attack Asgard and Cap (Steve Rogers) watches it on TV.

Instead of jumping into action? And if that isn't bad enough, there may be 2 more Avengers dying in the next part. I think that's another reason why this is going to be another waste of time from the brainless buffoons now running Marvel.

This suggests that Bendis could write things just as slow even if he were writing a story within just one issue!

Labels: crossoverloading, dreadful writers, marvel comics

Labels: Carnival entries

An article in the Irish Times about how the works of the Bard are getting their own translations into manga books.

Labels: manga and anime

On Comic Bloc (via Titans Tower Monitor), Geoff Johns has been trying to apologize to the audience for the insulting trick DC played upon them by dropping Wally West as the main star of the Flash. He may not be as bad as some of the writers who've worked for Marvel, like Marc Guggenheim, but it's still not excusable. After all, isn't he himself accountable for bringing back Barry Allen at Wally's expense?

That's something those readers DC still has left have to consider: if Johns wanted to bring back Barry, that's one thing. But it shouldn't have been at Wally's expense by removing him as the main star and focus of the book. Johns still has to be held responsible for lending himself to a most awkwardly handled move that's unlikely to be any different from his earlier run, what with the nasty undercurrent of violent content that grew increasingly noticeable, and he may have even made a serious mistake by giving both him and wife Linda children so soon, since it's gotten almost nowhere, and only ran them into a corner. Why should we have to forgive him so easily any more than Dan Slott after what he did with Spider-Man?

So again, Johns may have better manners than some of Marvel's writers of recent, but that still doesn't mean he should be let off the hook. And if the upcoming series loses audience, as is quite likely, he'll have done much to ask for it.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, violence

Through the Spider-Man Crawl Space, I found some pictures of the puzzle-cover that Marvel's been presenting where they show Mary-Jane in a wedding dress and Peter Parker reaching out to her, and we're led to wonder if Joe Quesada is finally apologizing for the damage he caused.

But here's my estimation: either this is going to be a big trick, or, even if it is a reversal of One More Day, it'll still be so insultingly dumb, it still won't be worth it. After all, they have made things so unbearable it's exceedingly hard to read anything in Marvel's output while Joe Quesada is still around. That's why, now that I think of it, even if he does allow the marriage to return, which I still doubt with reason, it'll still be a bad idea to put money into his pockets.

For now, I'm going to assume this is just another bait-and-switch trick of Quesada's, and nobody should be fooled by it.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, Spider-Man

CBS4 in Miami writes some reviews of two notable manga books of the late 1980s, Ghost in the Shell and Akira.

Labels: manga and anime