The Four Color Media Monitor

The AP Wire is paying lip service to DC Comics over their newest money-swindler and Age of Apocalypse ripoff, Flashpoint. And they tell that:

Many of the superheroes will be unlike what most people know of them, including Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, the latter now apparently the ruler of not Themiscyra, but Europe! Batman? He’s running a casino. Aquaman has sunk an entire continent.

In other words, Aquaman is this close to being turned into a villain himself, is he? Even if not, this is just too far to go.

Johns, DC’s chief creative officer and architect of the recent "Blackest Night" epic that gave new energy to Green Lantern, called "Flashpoint" unlike anything he’s done.

"Sometimes I do small series, like ’Adventure Comics’ with Superboy, and sometimes I do things like ’Blackest Night,’" he said in an interview. "And this, for me, is a perfect amalgamation of both in that it has a real heart to it and an emotional story at its core."

"Flashpoint," Johns said, "has a real heart to it and an emotional story at the core. It’s really about Flash and Batman and that relationship, but with a backdrop that is really strong for a Flash story and encompasses the whole DC Universe."

The telling that this involves Flash and Batman's relations actually signals what's likely to be the biggest thing wrong with this crossover: it veers far too much to the dark side.

And why is Johns saying this is unlike anything else he's done? He was involved in crossovers ever since 2001, when Our Worlds at War went to press. And try as he may, he's certainly not convincing me this has any heart to it, seeing what the bulk of his past work has been like. (I wonder why that line about hearts and cores was repeated twice? Is he that desperate?)

"Why is The Flash more compelling than all these other heroes you’re bombarded with and why does he deserve to be up there among the greats?" Johns said. "That’s my goal with the book."

Yeah right. His goal is merely to try and convince people based on name recognition alone that this is great. To say something like, "hey everybody, this is the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen! Isn't he great? Isn't he?" Turning him into a deity is no way to pay respect to a character.

Update: USA Today is also paying sugarcoated lip service to DC's wrecking crew, and tells the following:

For DC, an event series such as Flashpoint is important for the company both financially and creatively.

"Naturally, everything we're trying to do is to sell as many comics as possible because that's the business we're in," DiDio says. "Creatively what it does is it gives us a chance to freshen the pot and think of something. We're telling continuous fiction, so it's important for us to continue moving on in that fashion."

Very funny. Even if they refrain from jacking the prices up to 4 dollars, trying to get people to buy only so many books they may find a waste is no way to run a business. Even now, fewer people are buying, and they're not being creative or continuous, since they ruined their continuity for more than a decade now.

Labels: crossoverloading, dc comics, dreadful writers, Flash, msm propaganda