The Four Color Media Monitor

An article in the Kentucky News-Enterprise about how some people in America have learned or are learning to draw in manga style.

Labels: manga and anime

News Australia Network presents a history article with fifty-five facts about superhero comics old and new, including how Iron Man/Tony Stark was inspired by Howard Hughes.

I'm certainly not pleased to see that he's got an interview included in the DVD of Green Lantern: First Flight, which isn't for children, if the following notes found in the reader reviews on Amazon tell anything. For example:

First off, I was surprised at how brutal some of the violence was for this cartoon. I know that these releases are not necessarily tailor-made for children, but this is no JLU episode. People are impaled, shot, torn through walls into the vacuum of space, and there is pretty much non-stop fighting through most of the 120 minutes. I don't have any problem with that, but it might not be to everyone's liking.

If it's influenced in any way by Geoff Johns, then certainly not. Another review says:

Others might raise an eyebrow to scenes of impalements, necks being snapped, and even of a ring's energy beam lethally punching thru a body.

If this happens quite a few times here, then I'm not sure if there's much to distinguish between this and what Geoff Johns has done to Hal Jordan's world. And another review says:

Credit Where Credit is Due: Much of the documentary material focuses on the current writers of the Green Lantern comics, Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi. And, so it should, as they have restored the Green Lantern mythos from a long run of mediocrity to renewed greatness.

BUT, there is virtually no mention of those who created said mythos in the first place!

Artist Neal Adams makes a cameo along the way, but there is not one word about editor Julius Schwartz, writer John Broome, and artist Gil Kane - who conceived the whole shebang early in the Silver Age of Comics! The Corps and its specific members, the Guardians, the Central Power Battery, the Yellow Impurity, the Planet Oa, Hal Jordan, and Sinestro - and The Oath.

ALL of it sprang from the minds, words, and pencils of these talented individuals - but you'd never know it by the focus presented here. Even writer Denny O'Neil, who (along with Adams) revolutionized the Green Lantern concept at the end of the Silver Age, is among the unmentioned. DC Superhero projects from WHV have usually been good - or at least adequate - on historical perspective of the source material. But, not here!

Wow, more like credit given where it isn't due! Why do Johns and Tomasi matter, but not the real past masters? It really does sound like political correctness got to this production. I'm sorry, but this just leaves me feeling even more depressed about the future of the Emerald Warriors.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Green Lantern, moonbat writers, violence

With the way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised. In this fluff-coated article in the Colorado Springs Gazette, they say:

Bruce Wayne — the original Batman — is coming back.

And that may not be a good thing.

“The return of Bruce Wayne is not necessarily something we should all be looking forward to,” writer Grant Morrison says. “In fact, it may be a deadly and disastrous event.”

I'm pretty sure it won't be very interesting, that's for sure. And judging from recent sales numbers, not many may be looking forward to it anyway.

The miniseries will follow Batman as he jumps through different periods in time — and different genres. So look for caveman, pirate and Western tales, among others, as Batman fights to survive.

“This optimum man, this fantastic specimen, what happens when he’s plunged back into the past without any of his equipment, without his suit, without even his memory?” Morrison asks.

Answer: it results in a mind-boggling story too silly for words.

What happens to that team after “The Return of Bruce Wayne” remains a secret, but Morrison assures that the status quo will be changing yet again.

“We obviously didn’t want to bring things back to exactly the same way that it had been before, so I’ve kind of come up with a take on it that I’m quite pleased with. We’re going to do a completely different take on the whole Batman concept.”

One that I'm sure won't be worth the price of admission. What could happen is: either Bruce Wayne won't return to his role as Batman, and go into semi-retirement like Steve Rogers as Capt. America (now that I think of it, his recent story is very similar, showing the problem both companies have of competing with each other's story ideas), or, the stories to follow will be just too dreadful to bother about. The latter possibility is certainly likely to happen.

Labels: Batman, dc comics, dreadful writers, msm propaganda

Here's an article in the Fast Forward Weekly about the Calgary Entertainment & Comic Expo, taking place this weekend.

Labels: conventions

I guess they've decided they no longer want to be children's/teen's comics anymore. Then again, now that I recall, Archie did wish to marry Veronica last year. And there we have it, Archie Comics adds themselves to the list of those who're going for snooze-inducing political correctness.

April 2011 update: can you believe this? They're going beyond the pale and launching a series starring their new gay character, as though anyone really cares or would buy it. Absolutely shameless.

This topic on Newsarama's blog talks about how DC is trying to put more emphasis on periodicals. First, I'm afraid the idea it'll actually work at this point is very slim now with prices rising. And I doubt they'll actually try to write stories that aren't as long as six issues so that they can be published in trades more easily. But maybe most important here is that DC is not even pretending to court new readers:

Even at a time when mainstream retailers are accounting for an increasing amount of revenue (those guys don’t stock many floppies, by the way) and the New York Times is finally recognizing graphic novels with their own bestseller list, they want to convince everyone that there’s “something special” about holding that 32-page floppy in your hand. But the phrase “shifting the focus back to periodicals,” along with the phrases “The Return of Barry Allen” and “Fear of a Black Firestorm” suggest to me a company which has ceased trying to court new, young customers and has resigned itself to the conclusion that their target demographic is Geoff Johns and James Robinson: white, immersed in pop culture, young in the corporate sense but quickly aging in the biological and decades behind what’s new and cool when it comes to their personal tastes. These are the guys who still resent John Byrne’s Man of Steel as a slap in the face to the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity of their youth.

This is hardly a surprise; the promotions of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee fairly cemented in my mind the idea that the company was not interested in exploring editorial, creative or distribution directions into which they weren’t already fairly entrenched. They’re going to continue pimping the same five creators until their hands fall off or enough of their stories fail to sell that the whole company has to be radically reconfigured—a move that will be much harder to pull off now that they’ve installed a pair of co-publishers, one of whom is an ideologue (Johns—it honestly seems to me that Lee is just trying to help the company, and/or in it for the paycheck).

Johns is no ideologue. He's just a delusional writer who thinks he's actually paying tribute to the much more wonderful adventures of his childhood, when really, he's only embarrassing and insulting them. Nor is he moving forward convincingly, if he undoes Barry Allen's death when it didn't need to be and then sullies his background.

Maybe if DC's book publishing division were bought out by another business that actually cared, it would be possible to reconfigure them more easily. But alas, there's no telling if anyone who could afford it would be willing to do just that.

DC's disinterest in making itself appealing to newcomers is another reason why they're fading, and their failure to make themselves more family-friendly, if not kid-friendly, will also make it exceedingly difficult.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers

USA Today reports that IDW, who now hold the rights to publishing the GI Joe comics, are going to relaunch the series continuity Larry Hama first wrote for Marvel, possibly from where it left off in 1994, surprisingly enough.

Labels: good writers, indie publishers

I've noticed, and some others probably have too, that sometimes the comment numbers don't display properly on the newest topics, or a few of the comments themselves only turn up on the "backstage" pages. It's probably nothing too serious to worry about, and with a few tests like adding more topics or more comments, they seem to be fixed so they display properly, but still, it's a shame it seems to be happening. I'll probably see if I can ask at Blogger's tech support if they have any idea how to overcome the problem.

At the Chicago ComiCon's Batman panel (via Titans Tower Monitor), they give further signals that the Batman franchise could become more distant and unrecognizable than it already is:

Addressing Dick Grayson’s role in a (hypothetical?) post-Batman role, Daniel said he sees Grayson as “the only B-list character who has a legitimate chance to move up,” and noted that he will have grown a lot through his time as Batman. He hinted Grayson might not return to his role as Nightwing but strike a new path.

And who's going to take his place as Nightwing? Jason Todd, whose own return was meaningless? If this does happen, it'll be very sad. Already, Tim Drake's been taken out of his own role as Robin to become Red Robin, while Damien's needlessly taken his place.

The main problem with this is that it wasn't done for plausible reasons, and more as publicity stunt tactics. For Tim Drake, I think the change of secret ID has been particularly for naught.

And this is why sales of the Batbooks have been on the decline.

Labels: Batman, conventions, dc comics, Titans

In this sugary item from the Colorado Springs Gazette, we're told that, while Tony Stark may have survived erasing his own memories during Dark Reign, his business did not:

For one thing, “we will be spotlighting a brand-new armor,” Macchio said. And with Stark Industries kaput, Stark is moving forward with a new initiative, titled Stark Resilient.

Does this mean he's got to start again from scratch? I'm not impressed, considering he lost it via the trouble the writers forced him into in Dark Reign, which was definitely a time-waster.

Labels: crossoverloading, Iron Man, marvel comics, msm propaganda

When J. Michael Straczynski takes over Wonder Woman's title in the next months, it looks like Green Arrow's going to have company in the list of heroes who've had their homes and cities destroyed:

"Our story puts Diana, alone, against almost impossible odds in a situation that begins with the destruction of Paradise Island and nearly everything she holds dear. Pursued, hunted, with the events that led to this a mystery, and her future uncertain, Diana must go into the depths of her soul, and the darkest places in the world, to try and rescue the people, and the world, she cares for. Something, or someone, has flipped a switch so that the world she lives in is not the world that was...and she's the only hope of restoring that world."

And this may not even be first time the wreckage of Themyscira has happened, so I really don't see the point of this either. And coming so soon after Cry for Justice and the devastation of Star City, that's why it only sounds all the more tasteless. Some "Brightest Day" this is turning out to be.

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, women of dc, Wonder Woman

ICV2 published its latest sales chart results for last month, and Teen Titans has gone down to 25,700 copies.

Do we see a cancellation of this botched series coming soon?

Also, Spider-Man sales have dropped, to 53,000 copies.

Labels: dc comics, marvel comics, sales, Spider-Man, Titans

Brad Meltzer, the awful so-called novelist who penned Identity Crisis 6 years ago, has surfaced again 3 years after DC had the gall to employ him for writing the Justice League, this time writing an issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, which have continued for a long time even after the TV series was canceled. Comic Book Resources has given it a suitably negative review that tells at least a few disturbing things:

Yes, this is the sex issue. Elegantly titled, "Them F#©%ing (Plus the True History of the Universe)." Yes, that is the actual title. The F-Pound-Copyright-Percent-ing is how it's written. And we get exactly what the title promises, I suppose, including the true history of the universe as imagined by Brad Meltzer through, one would assume, some serious input from Joss Whedon. [...]

So, yes, Angel and Buffy have crazy wild sex and smash into mountains and travel through time (or into another dimension, maybe?) and meanwhile, Giles recounts how this kind of super-sex is so frightening that one time a bunch of Watchers sat around a big table and killed themselves just because the idea of it was unbearable to them. [...]

Because if this issue teaches us anything, it's that while sex may be a whole lot of fun, it's bad for the universe. That's why we have vampires. To remind us of exactly that.

Oh, does this sound stupid! First, they have the gall to use the F-bomb as a vulgar slang for having sex, and, they even make sex (and romance) look and sound as though it's bad for the human race and the rest of the universe. I guess reproduction is also bad, right?

Joss Whedon, if memory serves, wrote an introduction for the trade version of Identity Crisis, which puts his respect for women in doubt, and could explain why Meltzer is now getting to write this series. I think this is something well worth avoiding.

On a related note, this blogger says:

I've read some people on the internet claim that (current story arc writer) Brad Meltzer's work reads like fan fiction. And I never really felt that way before, but it's pretty tough to deny about this particular issue. Half the book is devoted to Buffy and Angel doing it! Come on!

Yeah, come on, this sounds more like softcore porn than a serious story. And you got that right, Meltzer's work is very much like fanfiction. BAD fanfiction at that.

Labels: dreadful writers, misogyny and racism

So Rucka has decided to depart from DC, after a decade of writing for them. No matter. He was just as overrated as some of their other recent contributors, and took part in their crossover problems without any opposition. It may just as well be what DC is asking for, with their recent track record.

If he's smart, he really will stick to independent productions now, and not "move over" to Marvel, as some writers seem to do when they "finish" at one company or another.

Labels: dc comics

The Examiner reports that Denver will be holding its Comic Fest Convention on April 16 for at least two days.

Labels: conventions

An article in the Asahi Shimbun about the increasing number of universities in Japan that are providing courses for manga art and writing.

Labels: Europe and Asia, manga and anime

I read another WonderCon article about James Robinson and his plans for the Justice League, and it tells that:

The writer revealed more behind the scenes information about "Cry For Justice," explaining that originally, DC wanted to get rid of most of their fictional cities (not Metropolis or Gotham obviously). He disagreed with the idea and didn’t do it, feeling the fictional cities of the DC Universe should be embraced; they make the fictional world more unique.

Eddie Berganza chimed in that a place like Star City is just a generic Seattle, it’s not unique like Metropolis or Opal City. The same can be said for Hub City, the Question’s hometown. It was decided in the end that if they were making a big push to make Green Arrow a character to watch, then they should do the same for Star City.

And we thought it was bad enough that they originally wanted to kill off Dick Grayson along with Bludhaven's population almost 5 years ago! Does this mean they wanted to do away with Keystone/Central, Ivy Town, and Midway City as well? This shows just how little respect they really have for their properties, if all they can think about is killing things off instead of serious character development, or even seriously righting the wrongs they've pulled over the past decade. And then Berganza has the gall to insult Star/Hub City and imply it's worthless.

And if Robinson could resist associating himself with a proposal to destroy many more fictional cities in the DCU, why couldn't he do the same with Star City, Roy Harper's arm, and Lian Harper's life?

Robinson then announces his lineup for Justice League, which removes the main cast almost entirely, and replaces them with:

The new lineup, he revealed, will be Dick Grayson as Batman, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Jade, Mikaal Tomas as Starman, Congorilla and Jessie Quick. The membership will remain the same for at least the next two years worth of stories.

Unfortunately, after Robinson's participation in Cry for Justice, I don't think it matters who the central cast of Leaguers are. As I said before, his current work should be avoided in protest. This lineup is actually telling of how the League is clearly being broken up out of their bickering and opposition to Green Arrow's meting out justice against Prometheus for destroying Star City, and not because they want to give some new protagonists a chance.

Robinson slyly revealed that there is one character from "Cry For Justice" that everyone assumes is dead, but is actually alive. Mikaal and Congorilla discover this and go off in search of the person. "It is not Lian!" the writer shared.

And that's why we don't need to waste any more time and money on whatever he's doing. "Slyly" my foot. All he's done is show why DC management is becoming a huge train wreck.

Labels: bad editors, conventions, dc comics, dreadful writers, golden calf of death, Justice League of America, violence

An article from the AFP about the latest festival of Polymanga, Switzerland's own manga and anime convention.

Labels: Europe and Asia, manga and anime

At the 2010 Wondercon (via Speed Force), Geoff Johns gave some answers that sound very much like what Joe Quesada was saying early in his own editorial career, when he argued that "dead is dead", while at the same time both he and James Robinson made themselves sound like a joke (the text comes from a live-blog videotaping Newsarama made):

“The first arc is called ‘The Dastardly Death of the Rogues,’” Johns says, “(Barry Allen) will be investigating a murder mystery that’s not what you think.”

Was Blackest Night meant to be a commentary on the nature of death in comics? “Characters get killed all the time in comics,” Johns said. “We wanted to do away with that tool for a while—when a character dies, they’re dead. Try to give death a meaning in the DC Universe again.”

Will Tim Drake be mad about the Digger Harkness Captain Boomerang being back? “If the guy who killed your dad came back, and your dad didn’t, you’d probably be angry,” Johns said.

Robinson: “Can I just say that there are characters that I wish came back that didn’t, but Ted Kord died a true hero’s death,” saying that bringing him back might diminish that.

Uh oh, I do believe I found a boo-boo there. Ted Kord, rather than try to stop the out-of-character Max Lord and company from gunning him down, sought help instead from other heroes who turned out to be too busy to help him, and didn't even put up any kind of fight when finally confronted by Lord. Just what exactly would be diminished then? Now I know Robinson has really lost it.

And Johns is really making a fool out of himself, after he not only brought back Barry Allen, whose death in 1985 actually meant something (and even characterized him absurdly as though he were a pagan deity), but also soiled his background and childhood with a forced retcon where the Reverse-Flash changes his history.

I don't like what Johns and Robinson are doing here, because it doesn't fix that fact that these recent deaths were poorly written and in bad taste, and I won't be surprised if they impose the same kind of editorial mandates that were practically lifted to suit their own wishes. And that only signals that more badness is bound to come under them.

Labels: bad editors, Batman, dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, golden calf of death, moonbat writers, violence

The Cleveland Plain Dealer writes about the planned return of Marvelman, a variation on Capt. Marvel/Shazam who appeared in the 1950s:

Marvel Comics heralds the return of Marvelman/Miracleman from obscurity with a tribute book in June drawn by numerous artists, including Marvel's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada.

It's a miracle.

With Quesada as one of the contributors? Are they kidding? I think it's garunteed by now that nobody will be particularly enthusiastic about seeing his artwork.

There's no word on when Marvel will republish the amazing (and impossible to find) 1980s Miracleman series (1985-93) by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman that have been out of print for more than a decade. Trade paperbacks of the groundbreaking Eclipse Comics' 24-issue series sell for more than $100 each, if you can find them.

Marvel will make a fortune once it releases the trades, so what is it waiting for?

There's also no word when Marvel will relaunch Miracleman himself -- something decades of fans have clamored for -- but it has been held up by years of legal wrangling. Part of that wrangling involved Eclipse renaming Marvelman "Miracleman" when it debuted in the United States in 1985 after Marvel claimed the name infringed upon their company's name.

Do they mean as an ongoing series? In this era, I'm not sure it'd be assured a long shelf life, and with the way Quesada and company have run the House of Ideas into the ground, I'm not sure there's many left now who'll be eager to see a relaunch. On the other hand, maybe Moore and Gaiman should sue to take control of the older material and have it published elsewhere, which would probably be for the best.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, msm propaganda

Looking to the Stars posts some pics showing that, while a couple of bad deaths in recent years were thankfully reversed...some others were not.

The Weekly Crisis has a little list of those who were brought back. But who was left out? From some extra info I gathered elsewhere, Ralph and Sue Dibny, for example. So too in fact were Jean Loring, Aqualad, and even Kendra Saunders. Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, even Lilith Clay, Ted Kord, Vic Sage and Tim Drake's father are not amongst the resurrected?

I'm sorry, but this does not do much to prove they're willing to offer a Brightest Day. What it does tell is that they're still adamant about leaving Identity Crisis' damage in place (and if the real Capt. Boomerang is back, how do we know he won't still be depicted as out-of-character as he was in that monstrosity?), and even that of Countdown to Infinite Crisis. Cry for Justice already signaled this won't be exactly what they claim, and if Jack Drake is still dead, that's one more reason to doubt.

Message to DC: I'm sorry, but there's still quite a bit of improvement to be made.

I'll say in fairness that it's surprising they'd bring back Hank Hall, one of the earliest victims of DC's publicity stunts. But what if he ends up being characterized poorly nevertheless?

Update: on the other hand, I don't get the point of resurrecting Boston Brand(!). Doesn't that defeat the whole point of why Deadman was created in the first place?

Update 2: The Titans Tower Monitor sums it correctly: wish we could see Garth, Lilith and Kole again!

Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics, golden calf of death