Now I know what more is wrong with how Ray Palmer's been treated too

When I see that a reviewer for the Superman Homepage starts getting as ludicrous as Countdown to Final Crisis #18 sounds. So now, Ray is found, but what's implied about him is just as maddening as the mistreatment of his own wife:

Ray Palmer, has flashbacks of past events, pre and post Identity Crisis.

How he selfishly ran away when his friends needed him most and left a boy in his place. He wakes up next to his wife Jean. He's rebuilt the life he once had and ruined and recreated it without mistakes on Earth 51.

Where all other Earths had made mistakes in their own ways, apparently Earth 51 was absolute perfection - (hmm, where's Superman Prime then if that's the case???) and Ray Palmer couldn't give a damn about Sue Dibney or Ralph or his JLA team mates because he was in Utopia. - Damn us all too hell.

[...]

Ray is collecting wood for the fireplace when he spots the Challengers appear from the shadows. The jig is up... Ray comes clean. He had deliberately shrunk himself after Identity Crisis and when he became subatomic he met a mysterious mystic woman who revealed the events of 52. So he gained the power somehow to travel between worlds just like Superman Prime. He travelled around and it's hammered into our head again that Earth 51 is perfect.

He also found that Ray Palmer of Earth 51 had discovered the mysteries of the universe but while creating a stargate he was killed. Selfish pig Ray naturally decides he's out to assume this Earth's Atom and live his life while also stealing his work. He also manipulated people for his own gain and tricked Jean Loring into a relationship she was never meant to have on Earth 51.

Ray isn't perfect, as his character development during the 80s could tell you, but even if it turns out he's not exactly responsible for his own bizarre actions, this just sounds totally...stupid. He's depicted as selfish and to make matters worse, he doesn't even try to figure out if he and the League were ever being tricked and set up? That's not what I would call being a hero.

But that's still nothing compared to how the reviewer I'm focusing upon is really blowing it with what he thinks of Ray:

Much like Civil War and WWHulk made me despise Iron Man, Countdown and The All New Atom have successfully made me hate Ray Palmer and wish he'd never get another shot at a book of his own. As much as I wish Bob [the Monitor] will strike a blow it's likely his actually ready to teleport.

Ugh, having read this, I'm ready to send an e-mail to this nutcase to give him a piece of my mind! No wonder I'm glad I never fell for the All-New Atom. They said they would "honor" Ray Palmer's own legacy, but instead implied he'd done bad things and so far have yet to prove that it's all a ruse. Either way, this is just plain stupid and insulting to the intellect. But what should really matter here, I guess, is the reviewer's attitude: I assume he's some youngster who's too young to care about the great books of the yesteryear? I don't know, but I find his whole approach here truly appalling. And I guess that signals the biggest problem with this review: he acts as though Ray, Jean, Tony, et cetera were real people, and criticizes the characters rather than the way they're being written. Is it any wonder comic books are going to ruin?

The story as seen in Countdown sounds appalling (as does the part with Mary Marvel and Eclipso clashing), and even if there's an explanation waiting to be had, it still doesn't excuse how badly things were done to begin with. But what's really saddening is when a critic would rather critique the characters than the writing itself. And that's what needs to change.

I notice in the synopsis for the backup story that they haven't moved far away from establishing that Dr. Light is a rapist either. I guess that's why I find Geoff Johns writing a story spotlighting him in Teen Titans so hard to credit, especially when the next thing you know, Light is gloating about his crime in the pages of Green Arrow. Likewise, it's hard to credit even Dwayne McDuffie's recent story in Justice League of America, where Light is but one of the new Injustice Gang. He may not have been seen for almost 2 years, but when you see that they're sticking with it, you know that there's still an embarrassing stain at large. And yet, even if they did move away from it, the problem there too is that it would only enforce the sexism that permeats Identity Crisis. A serious problem that goes both ways.

And if Elongated Man never even went after Light during 52 to punish him for the attack on Sue, that's another big minus.

Update: some may have noticed that the multiverse is being featured more as a plot-device than a real storytelling idea, and doesn't really stand on its own in any creative way either. Judging by recent sales, it would come as no surprise to me if many readers lost interest by now in the multiverse making a "comeback". And who could blame them? The way it's being used now is so underwhelming, it's no wonder if there's less interest in it now.

Some DC fans may have lamented when the multiverse was abandoned during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Now, it would come as no surprise if they lamented the very weak way it's being used anew. It was always possible to create a new multiverse, and had it been done at least a decade ago, it's possible that then, they might've succeeded in making good use out of it. Now, one could say it's come at too late a time, especially under the current editorial staff.

Update 2: I did write to the reviewer. He says that I misinterpreted his positions, and that he disapproves of the character assassination that was inflicted. Well, if I have misunderstood anything, I apologize, though in all due honesty, it was pretty hard to tell if he really found what DC Comics has been doing so far objectionable.

Manga-style graphic novels

Here's an article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about a native of the city's Carnegie suburb who's been making an entrance into manga-style drawing and writing.

Marvel sales may be in decline

Considering what kind of disaster they're gearing down to, maybe this is encouraging news to see that Marvel readers are waking up. Here's the latest of The Beat's sales analyses, and while Amazing Spider-Man isn't actually on the list, because of the delay it went through, Sensational Spider-Man, now cancelled, is, and while the contributor who wrote this seems to have a bias showing, there's still what to consider if you can work your way around it. As told in the following:

In practice, the series [Sensational Spider-Man] really ended with issue #40 back in August. Issue #41 is a chapter of “One More Day”, which has been tacked on to the end of this series and FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN so that it can be presented as the final storyline of the current era, rather than the first storyline of the next one.

As you’d expect, it sells much better than the typical issue of SENSATIONAL, but that’s largely meaningless. To all intents and purposes, this is really issue #544B of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The real comparison is with the earlier chapters of “One More Day”, and with the sales on AMAZING.

To take “One More Day” first, part one sold 146,215 in its first month (and picked up some re-orders after). Part two sold 110,405. Now we’re down to 100,300, which is a 9.2% drop. So far, that’s not great, but it’s not bad either.

But what about AMAZING SPIDER-MAN more generally? Well, that’s not so good. Consider the standards that AMAZING has set over the last year. The “Back in Black” issues sold around 105K or so. Before that, the various CIVIL WAR tie-ins ranged from a minimum of 119K all the way up to to the dizzy heights of 156K. In that company, “One More Day” isn’t looking too good with its 100,300.

You might argue that it’s unfair to compare “One More Day” to a CIVIL WAR tie-in. I’d disagree with you. Given the level of hype, it should absolutely be selling in that range in order to be considered a success. But by any standards, it should surely be beating “Back in Black.” And it’s not. In fact, if this had appeared as an issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, then its sales of 100,300 would make it the lowest selling issue in the direct market since April 2006.

Of course, it goes without saying that most books would kill for sales of 100,300. Before AMAZING entered its year of stunts and crossovers, it was generally selling in the 90K range. “One More Day” is doing better than that. It’s certainly not a disaster. But relative to the level of hype and the expectations that Marvel must surely have had for this project, it’s clearly underperforming.

It’s also worth remembering that the slow pace of “One More Day” has reduced Marvel to one Spider-Man book a month, whereas by this point they were supposed to be shipping three editions of their unified flagship title. Again, you have to question whether the delay has been worth it for Marvel.

Better still, you have to wonder, why bother to delay it if they intended to go through with the collosal disaster of de-facto rebooting Spidey's world, which annulled Peter and Mary Jane's marriage? Maybe because they wanted to keep everyone hanging in suspense for virtually nothing.

But looking at some of the numbers, while there are some that sell above 100,000 copies, even those are slowly starting to get lower and lesser. New Avengers, for example, sold around 107,715 copies last. Almost none of the titles, save for World War Hulk, got as far as 150,000 copies. So are Marvel's sales going down, as the audience hopefully begins to realize that most of this stuff, crossovers included, is really just a waste of time?

Let's hope so.

I may as well take to commenting on what they say about Captain America's sales, which have been going back to what they were before:

Still dropping back towards normal levels after the post-death surge. Don’t be fooled by the November 2006 figure - that’s a CIVIL WAR tie-in. The series is still comfortably ahead of its pre-event sales, and there should be a spike around the corner for the introduction of the new Captain.

Frankly...I hope not. Though it may not be mentioned there, this too has been one several victims of bait-and-switch tactics, which, in fact, is what Spider-Man is now becoming victim of too, just like a couple of DC superheroes and series.

Oh, and what do they say about Avengers: The Initiative, which fell to 66,000 copies sold:

Okay, this is not good. INITIATIVE is shedding a regular 10% of its direct market readership month after month, and that’s an alarming rate of decline. Admittedly, the book started from an artificially high level, due in part to the dubious decision to promote it as an Avengers title. But even so, readers are deserting this book, and the decline shows no signs of levelling out. We’ve got a problem here.

Yep, and the blame can all be laid out at the feet of Brian Bendis and Joe Quesada. Because they both took to rendering the Earth's Mightiest Heroes unrecognizable, and believe me, if that's how it's going to be, they don't deserve an audience. With any luck, even those reading Bendis are beginning to wake up and realize just how pretentious he is.

On Fantastic Four, they say:

At first glance, this looks like good news. The book has been dropping badly over the last few months, but now it’s turned around.

But not so fast. This issue has a variant cover by Art Adams. A climb of only 1.2% suggests that the core audience is still dropping, and that the variant cover boost has simply cancelled it out this month. If so, you can expect the drops to resume in December, I’m afraid.

Still, it doesn’t really matter beyond the short term. With Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch taking over the book in 2008, a big sales boost is guaranteed.

Honestly, I really hope not here too. Civil War was truly awful, and that's where Spider-Man took off his mask. Anyone who pays money for Millar after what he lent his "talents" to is letting him get away with ruining one of comicdom's best superheroes.

And I think this is where I'll have to point out a most notable thing: when did Spidey de-facto die as a comic book? Back in late 1994, I'm afraid. The Clone Saga, as I think I'd mentioned before, was a crippling blow from which our favorite webslinger may never have recovered.

It's always debatable, but for now, I think it can be said that...Spider-Man died in late 1994, courtesy of those writers and editors who cooked up the Clone Saga.

Update: yesterday was Stan Lee's 85th birthday. It's a real shame that Joe Quesada pretty much ruined it, by wrecking a wonderful marriage that Stan had very much wanted to happen, and that many Spider-Fans warmly embraced as well.

I held out hope until the end, but it looks like Quesada has done it

The info gathered on this thread at CBR continued to grow, and as it did, I learned what I'm sure plenty of others already have: they erased the Spider-Marriage. The spoiler for how is as follows:

Ok I will be mr spolier but you might not believe it as it is SO bad. Pete wakes up alone in the bed to find MJ in that bathroom puking I guess (the art & story telling are so bad who can tell what is up). First 3 1/4s was pete & MJ talking over accepting the offer. They come off as so dumb with neither asking the ultimate question, what would May want which we all know she would want then to stay married. So then the devil appears, they say yes cuz... well theres no believable reason they would. Then as just a freebie the devil tosses in that he is gonna rub out the demasking of peter parker. MJ whispers something to the devil to get an easy way out if the writters need it later. Then after they agree the devil says what I predicted, hes rubbing out the child they would have had in the future,,, UGH, Then... poof! Pete wakes up alone, goes downstair to ol aunt may making wheat cakes then run off to a party for .. HARRY OSBORN!!!! Yes everything is totally as if the last 20 years hasnt happened (in fact last panel shows them making a toast & you can see petes web shooters peeking out just to say screw you payed to read is worthless now). It is so much worse than I expected it to be. They have just turned Amazing into the start of Ultimate Spider-man. Its the worst time ever in Amazing Spider-man history.

I wonder if this'll be reflected in any other Marvel books? The part with MJ vomiting sounds as forced as when Zatanna was made to do that in Identity Crisis.

If Harry is shown being back, that's just one more way in which the editors are insulting some of the most well written character demises in comics from past decades. There have been some deaths in the past couple years that were forced and bottom of the barrel, but this, just like the recent case of bringing back Mar-Vell of the Kree, is a case of ruining deaths that were done plausibly. And Spider-Man's own world had at least four character deaths that were well done in their time, that unfortunately, have pretty much all been undone.

When was the last time I bought brand new pamphlet issues of a comic book the month they went to press? Almost four years ago, and since then, with the rise of price and the fall of story quality, I've almost entirely been buying trades. But trades collecting older stories at that, many of them pre-2000. Very little in my TPB collection is stuff that was published post-2003, and as of now, I don't see anything like this travesty entering it.

As the writer there says, those who disapprove of what should have been seen coming should be avoiding Spider-Man books like the plague. But you know something? While it's certainly great that many see Peter and Mary's marriage as something to stand firm upon, I have to wonder - why didn't they react this way when Spidey took off his mask during Civil War more than a year ago? If there's any characters for whom a secret ID is the most plausible, and shouldn't have to change any more than for Superman and Batman, it's Spidey.

I suppose the phrase "better late than never" fits perfectly if anyone chooses wisely to cease having anything to do with Spidey now, but I still find it troubling that they didn't take the same protest stance earlier.

Besides not reading the Spidey books, they'll also have to cease buying a] just about all other Marvel books as well, because they too have been victims, b] action figures of Marvel superheroes, and c] boycott a lot of other licensed products based on their output as well, including computer games they make. For example: whether you think so or not, Steve Rogers has been pretty much a victim of similar mindsets at Marvel, and the undoing of Bucky's death rose from the same kind of mindset as well. It also brings to mind just what's wrong with how "fun" is being offered up these days: if you look at the case of how DC introduced a new Blue Beetle, Atom, and Firestorm, it's only being offered up after they've done something to ruin the previous protagonists. For Captain America, this is somewhat similar when you think about how Steve Rogers went down in defeat, and handcuffs.

Most important of all though: to fight to fix all that should be Spidey et cetera, that's why fans must campaign to have Joe Quesada replaced as EIC. Back in the mid 90s, when Bob Harras was EIC, he may have backed off of the steps taken with the Clone Saga, but he didn't resign then (and four years after aunt May's death, he undid that!). This time, that's what the campaign will need to be about: calling for Quesada's resignation. Because he's considerably worse than Harras, and as long as he's around, there many other things he can do wrong, not just to Spidey's world, but to many other Marvel characters as well.

More discussion on this thread at Spider-Man Crawl Space.

Update: I couldn't find the thread at Newsarama, but I read somewhere that incoming writer Dan Slott was trying to beg people there to give Spidey's book a chance. Frankly, I am quite tired of writers going and pleading poverty with the audience, because that doesn't help matters. However, it does signal a big problem with most of today's writers: they have no solid stands of their own, and are working more for the money than out of true love and devotion. Any comics writer or artist who comes here and starts begging for mercy should be denounced on the spot for going along with bad editorial edictions and implying that they're only in this profession for the money being paid. Which, I suspect, is all that Straczynski was interested in too, if he was willing to go along with it till the very end. Bleah.

Update 2: Newsarama's got a poll that shows that an overwhelming majority disapprove of this forced, instant retcon. Quesada's steps certainly seem to have united a lot of fans. And that's a good sign.

Update 3: Hot Air's readers have taken notice too.

Trackposted to: Adeline and Hazel, Celebrity Smack, Faultline USA, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, The Pink Flamingo, Pirates' Cove, Rosemary's Thoughts, Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl.

Phila. Daily News isn't being very nice to Tony Stark

Nor are they being very kind to his fans, if I'm reading the following article correctly:

Hero: Iron Man

Love Tony Stark or hate him — and there are plenty of fans who can't stand him these days — there can be little doubt that he and his red-and-gold armored alter-ego are more prominent in the Marvel Universe than ever before.

Name a big event in 2007 and he was involved in it. He fought Captain America before winning Civil War; he was the first hero to confront the Hulk on his return to Earth (and of course Stark was one of the Illuminati who voted to send the Hulk into space in the first place, which caused the whole thing).

The approach they're taking here to writing this article is awfully misleading. It's not that fans hate Tony Stark. Quite the opposite, they hate how he's being written. Is it really that hard to make clear?

And if the writer of this sugary piece thinks that superheroes, or even anti-heroes, fighting each other, is such a great thing, I'd say no. Because that's pretty much what things have come down to circa Civil War, where the heroes aren't fighting the villains anymore, but rather, each other. And the way it was done was so forced, that's why it wasn't great at all.

He even had a role to play in Spider-Man's "One More Day" storyline.

On that subject, I've just found some very maddening news about what the ending to that turkey may be like. If it turns out to be as awful as what a thread at CBR is saying might be, I'll certainly have something very cross to say (we can only hope it's just some ruse to get people talking, but who knows). But even if not, I'm still not encouraged to buy Spidey books anew, as by now, it only helps fuel Joe Quesada's career.

Name a big fight fans wanted to see and there was a great chance he would be one of the participants. Readers couldn't wait to see the Hulk unleash his fury on one of the primary architects of his betrayal and exile.

Likewise, when Thor returned, they were anxious to see what the Thunder God's reaction would be when he learned his longtime friend had cloned him and that clone had hunted down former allies and killed in his name. Better yet, both battles were worth the wait.

Wrong. Neither were, and the whole notion that Tony would make a clone of Thor who'd resort to vicious slaughter is disgusting, and even if Tony turns out to be a Skrull, that won't help matters, considering how this all took the place of well written stories.

Stark also had a significant role to play in the aftermath of Captain America's death, which many believe he is at least indirectly responsible for.

If that were so, how can they call Tony a hero if he really did things that were abominable?

...it is clear that 2007 was truly golden for Iron Man.

Judging from the examples of activity studied above, I don't think so.

I'm also not impressed with the writer's take on Ed Brubaker:

Brubaker's Death of Captain America issue ("Captain America" No. 25) was an instant classic and sold tons. Remarkably enough, he kept the book going forward without its title character and there was not any appreciable loss of quality.

"Captain America" became and stayed an absolutely-must-have book, joining Brubaker's book, "Daredevil" in that category.

His "Uncanny X-Men" was a notch below but still told memorable stories with cool moments. Even "Immortal Iron Fist" kicks butt.

Blah...blah...blah. And might I add, since he didn't, that the book has slowly been going back to what it was like before Steve's "death"?

These are not memorable moments, and I doubt most people will consider them such in the next 20-30 years. Rather, these are just some of the reasons why comics are slowly being defeated as an industry and a form of entertainment.

Exhibition on Jewish roots of superheroes

A short article from CBS4 in Miami about the Jewish Museum of Florida in Miami Beach holding an exhibition about the Jewish comics creators who came up with many legendary protagonists.

The possibility that Mary Jane would turn out to be a Skrull?

I looked at an argument on the forum of another website a short time ago, talking about how less certain they are that Quesada's editorial staff are going to back away from throwing out the Spider-Marriage.

You know what? Even I'm beginning to wonder that too, that they're going to go right ahead and do it, regardless of the reaction (a message boarder from Texas said that his local comic store manager was worried about what this could mean for what's to follow). But at the same time, I'm starting to wonder if they intend to trick one and all by revealing that Mary Jane turns out to be a Skrull. What led me to wonder this is that another commentor said it's possible that Peter Parker will be revealed as a Skrull. They didn't actually say MJ, but it led me to start contemplating that, and it all likely ties into the next crossover they have around the corner.

But does that mean that all should be forgiven if that's how it turns out? The answer is no. They've been pulling more than enough tasteless publicity stunts by now with their crossovers, which have almost entirely taken the place of tasteful storytelling, that I don't see any real reason why to continue putting money into Quesada's pocket, if anyone. Besides, he's been hammering people over the head ever since the start of his run as EIC about how he wants to get rid of the Spider-Marriage, and it's only helped drain much of the enjoyment out of a once-great book, just like Howard Mackie and JMS after him.

Even if they don't destroy Peter and Mary's marriage, that doesn't mean most people should keep on with it, if it ends up helping Quesada.

Providing more clarification for Jean Loring

I see that reprints of Super-Team Family #11-14 have been published as "Countdown Special" just recently. I think that's why I'm going to have to provide some more clues, as I've done my best so far to search for, of how she went "nuts" during 1977-78. From the Unofficial Homepage of the Atom, a little bit about that:

• Super-Team Family (V3) #11 (June-July) "The Other Side of Doomsday"
• Flash/Supergirl/Atom team-up. Jean Loring is kidnapped by T.O. Morrow.
• Super-Team Family (V3) #12 (August-September) "The Eternity Pursuit"
  Green Lantern/Hawkman/Atom team-up. The heroes pursue Jean as she is teleported across the galaxy.
• Super-Team Family (V3) #13 (October-November) "Ragnarok Night"
• Aquaman/Captain Comet/Atom team-up. SSOSV #10 crossover. Jean ends up back on Earth, but falls into the hands of the SSOSV.
• Secret Society of Super-Villians #10 (October) "Triumph and Treachery"
• The Atom pursues Jean, who has fallen into the hands of the SSOSV.
• Super-Team Family (V3) #14 (December 1977-January 1978) "The End of the Quest"
• Wonder Woman/Atom team-up. SSOSV #10 crossover. Jean is finally rescued.

If she went insane, which would be more like brainwashing-via-radiation as it was in late 1969, I'd have to figure that T.O Morrow*, that mad scientist who began as a thorn in the side of Flash and Green Lantern, and later caused trouble for the Justice Society on Earth-2 just as much as for the League on Earth-1, as well as the SSOSV, had what to do with that.

So again, is it really insanity we're talking about here, and not just serpentine brainwashing?

Update: Morrow used a bizarre living planet to carry out an attempted revenge on the Atom and Flash, during which Jean, if she suffered a nervous breakdown, received it courtesy of Morrow's planet-partner, which even tossed her into another dimensional world, that caused her further damage. Obviously not her fault then, right?

But the most important and best point to make here is that, this is exactly what neither Brad Meltzer nor Wizard magazine would be clear about - where they got the idea from, and it's apparent that Meltzer wrote that part of the miniseries "in name only". Meaning that, he based his whole notion of Jean being "crazy" solely on how she did happen to have a breakdown, but in a way that had nothing to do with the earlier depiction. That's how it lapses in logic.

* Let's not forget that he was also the one who first designed the Red Tornado, who then turned the tables on him when he became a Justice Society member and then a Justice League member!

Dan DiDio continues to be comedic

Certainly by now he is. In the following interview with Newsarama (via The Beat):

There is a plan. There always has been a plan. It has been altered, twisted, turned, but there is a direction, a focus, and a reason for the way things are playing out in the DC Universe. If something occurred over a particular time that seemed to concentrate a particular “flavor” – in this case, death, then that is a mistake on our part to oversell it in a short window. But there is a reason for everything, there is a purpose for the story, and it ultimately goes to a better, bigger story at the end of the day which I think people will react incredibly positively to. I hope, at least.

Nothing is done haphazardly or done just to be gratuitous. The volume has been turned up for a reason. The panic that’s starting to permeate throughout the DCU is there for a reason. We are building to something called Final Crisis. There are spikes in the story as it moves forward, with endings and beginnings as we continue along. We tell periodical stories with continuing, larger stories interwoven throughout. Some of the characters live, some of them die, some return from the dead. The instantaneous reaction by some fans these days is amazing. A character dies, say, with Oliver Queen on his wedding night. The volume of the outrage over the “death” was just amazing – no one wanted to see how the story played out, or if they did, they were hopelessly outshouted by those who, for some reason saw that scene as the end of the story. As it’s clear now, it wasn’t the end of the story by any means. It’s almost as if a contingent of readers these days have lost the desire to speculate, to guess, to wonder about how a sudden intense scene, or even a death will play out.

For those people…may I introduce you to our trade paperback selection? As I said, I’m in the business of periodicals. We’re selling dramatic storytelling told in episodic fashion. The idea that people come back to try it again and see what happening is key to that.

How much more laughter will this pretentious editor continue to provide? And just because they'll publish something in trades doesn't mean anyone should pay for it, if it means a waste of hard-earned money. Curiously enough though, is he admitting that quite a few people have lost interest in whatever they're doing? Well, if there's a reason why the volume's been revved up in the DCU, then there's a reason why people are covering their ears too: what they're doing is pointless, and DiDio's refusal to admit that they've done more than a few things wrong, which could be too long to list here, is one of the problems. Unless he's willing to take responsibility and admit that they've been doing morally questionable and otherwise inappropriate actions, it's unlikely that anyone's going to come back, or that they'll even care to read Final Crisis.

They're certainly going to have to do a lot during Final Crisis though, if they want anyone to be convinced that they're trying to correct every mistake made, right down to the very last one. That's for sure.

Will Pfeiffer screws up

In this interview on The Comics Reporter, writer Will Pfeiffer adds himself to the list of writers who have no respect or understanding for the feelings of the audience:

SPURGEON: Now that you have a little bit of space between you and the series, what do you think the basis was for so many people to have a negative reaction to Amazons Attack!?

PFEIFER: Was there a negative reaction? [laughter]

I think at its most basic, people have an idea about whatever superhero or character they love and have their ideal version of that character somewhere in their head. When you go against that version, some people are going to react very strongly. Amazons Attack! is right there in the title. They kill that guy and his kid on the very first page. People were really upset about that. But it was supposed to be shocking. It was supposed to be upsetting. It wasn't supposed to be a triumphant moment for the Amazons. People who have been reading Wonder Woman for however long they've been reading Wonder Woman -- and some of them have been reading for a long time -- they didn't like the fact that the Amazons were attacking and were evil. They also didn't like the fact that in Amazons Attack! that there wasn't enough Wonder Woman, and that Wonder Woman wasn't driving the plot along. The reason for that is that there's another book called Wonder Woman [Spurgeon laughs] where all that was happening.

They didn't like that the Amazons were depicted out-of-character, that's what! Or that the story itself was like an absurdist attack on the Dubya administration, only this time the reasons were far more meaningless. Nor did they like the fact that this only added to the accusations made in the past few years that comics have gone on a sexist spree.

Unfortunately, Pfeiffer, who seems to be interested in little more than the money that'll flow into his cash box for writing that mess, is not willing to stress those facts.

And I guess Spurgeon can also earn a few demerits for chuckling over something that's really no laughing matter.

Graphic novel sales picking up with all ages

The Contra Costa Times says that sales on graphic novels, which I often tend to call trade paperbacks depending on how they're put together, are drawing more than just the teen to 20-something crowd. And yet, one can only wonder if they're jumping the gun over if comics sales are improving:

The graphic novel -- whose secret identity is a lengthy comic book -- has grown up.

I have to question that starting sentence though: have they? Because they seem to confuse readership with storytelling quality.

The appeal of graphic novels now stretches well beyond these books' traditional market of teenagers and twentysomething males.

The popularity has surfaced in movie theaters. Films such as "X-Men," "30 Days of Night," "Sin City" and "The 300" all had their origins in graphic novels, regular comic books or both.

As a result, video games and other hot gifts will have to make room under the Christmas tree for these complex comic books.

"They are not just for kids, they are for all ages," said Mike Cresser, owner of Crush Comics in Castro Valley. "They are for males and females. A graphic novel is something that attracts all readers. Just because it's a comic book or based on a comic doesn't reduce its appeal."

Recent sales trends back up suggestions that graphic novels are more popular than they were a few years ago, according to data released by ICv2, a Madison, Wis.-based company that tracks popular culture.

Graphic novels in 2006 generated $330 million in sales in the United States and Canada. That was up 12 percent from $295 million in graphic novel sales in 2005.

Sales of periodical comic books -- the kind that usually ship once a month and include familiar titles such as "Uncanny X-Men," "Batman," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Witchblade" -- totaled $310 million in 2006, up 15 percent from 2005.

"Do we see more women and more girls getting into comics? Yes, more so than we ever have," said Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. "Graphic novels and other comics are driving a lot of fans of all ages into comics shops to get the next dose of their favorite characters."

Are they? Again, this is something to question, since, when I last looked at the latest sales charts for comics themselves, they seldom seem to rise above 150 or 200,000 copies sold. How great is that compared to what they sold years before?

I think a more fairer analysis would be if sales for graphic novels themselves are improving, which the article may not make clear, but pamphlet sales are not.

"Comics have historically been a disparaged art form," said Gene Yang, a Fremont resident who draws and writes graphic novels. "People did not look on comics very highly. They were seen as a disposable medium. But over the last three or four years, comics have really picked up."

And still again, this avoids the bigger, deeper picture, about whether or not the audience will appreciate what today's offerings are like, and whether they're done tastefully or tastelessly. As usual, that's the problem I find with articles like these, when they don't ask just what are any of today's offerings like, from both major and small companies.

Update: as if to prove the point that the claim of better sales may be exaggerated, DC head Paul Levitz tells Newsarama the following (via The Beat):

NRAMA: As you said, DC is seeing good penetration into the bookstore market, but obviously, there’s still room for growth, which you said in regards to the distribution deal DC has signed with Random House. So what’s the next outlet? What’s the next frontier to move into? Is it a big push for mass merchandise retail, or other ways to get them in front of more eyes?

PL: Let’s be serious about what we’ve accomplished and what we haven’t accomplished. Nobody knows exactly the size of the present audience for graphic novels as a category. My suspicion is that there are probably more people reading graphic novels today than there are reading periodical comics. I think that has probably crossed in the last year or two years. That still means that maybe we’re reaching, as an industry, half a percent or one percent of the American population. I think we’ve got a pretty good challenge just increasing that.

When you look at the demographics, behavioral information of the people that are reading comics on a regular basis, comic shops are a good place to sell them, bookstores are a good place to sell them, online is a good place to sell them. I’m not sure that we match that wonderfully to the mass merchandiser. I think you can create comics that can do very well in a mass merchant’s environment, but I’m not sure that the bulk of what we publish as an industry fits that definition.

Levitz is certainly more honest than the Contra Costa Times does when he notes that only a small percentage of the population is likely to be reading, well, anything these days. I think what the newspaper is doing is writing some kind of a "feel-good" approach, to try and encourage people to read more comics as well, but without providing any serious insight into what's good or bad about today's storytelling, the most important part to making things work. And when no serious insight is provided, no serious sales are garunteed either.

Anime documentary

An article from Orlando's Metromix website about a new documentary program on Japanese animation ("Anime: Drawing a Revolution") and its influence on the American side as well.

College newspapers are becoming dreadful

The Daily Nebraskan, a college paper, lists top 10 comics(!) for 2007 and shows why even university newspapers are in serious need of improvement:

1. Captain America, Issue 25
Few comics have garnered the mainstream media attention like this issue, and with good reason: it contained the death of Steve Rogers, Captain America.

This is what even college papers consider newsworthy?

6. The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, Issue 13
Poor Bart Allen. He never had a chance - after a disastrous first story arch, the gears were set in motion to kill off the new scarlet speedster. What is different about this death is that the villains realize they have the wrong guy, but they kill him anyway.

Ugh, you can see that something is terribly wrong with the people who put that mess together when they start sensationalizing that too, and show just why maybe they're in serious need of counseling.

It's bad enough when most major newspapers sensationalize death, but it's worse when student officials start doing it too. And then we'll be wondering where any student emerging from college starts getting ideas of what would make a great story if they script comics.

Comic art classes

USA Today has an AP article about special classes now being expanded/started in colleges for comics artwork.

I notice they also allude to one of the biggest problems facing comics today:

Even traditional superheroes gradually have shown a darker, more personal side appealing to older readers. Many of those series have been collected into more colorful book formats and marketed as graphic novels.

But the young haven't lost interest.

Good if the younger generation hasn't lost interest, but if the big two keep on with their misperception about older readers literally wanting only darkness, and striving only to please them, then the younger generation could very easily lose interest in Marvel and DC.

Brubaker is writing a series connected with the Truth miniseries

I just don't like this, considering how race-baiting The Truth: Red, Black and White was to begin with. Ed Brubaker went and spoke with Newsarama about a Young Avengers miniseries he's writing that'll focus on Patriot, the grandson of the main character who appeared in the abominable 2003 miniseries that tore down on Captain America's origins and was filled with stereotypical artwork:

Each of the issues and characters will be handled by a different creative team, with Captain America writer Ed Brubaker and artist Paco Medina tackling Elijah Bradley, the grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America from Truth. The story catches up with Patriot after the death of Captain America, and sees the young hero searching for the Winter Soldier in the hopes of finding some guidance.

A pity that Brubaker is going out of his way to waste time on such a badly written premise. And I think I'm getting more than a little disturbed by what he says in the following:

NRAMA: We really can’t get into Elijah without touching upon Truth, the story of the “black Captain America.” It was one of the most controversial Cap stories in years – well, prior issue #25 – but in your Cap-view, is Truth consistent with how you see the larger story of Captain America within the Marvel Universe and in Cap’s history?

EB: I don't know. I'm a little conflicted about it, personally, because some of the timing of it was off, which is a nerdy complaint, I know. But I certainly have no problem with the basic idea behind the storyline, and I like Eli and his grandfather as characters. I think now that Eli has become a more prominent character in the current Marvel U, that helps make it integral to the history, actually. But, the idea that the Super Soldier Serum was tested on black soldiers first seems fairly honest with the times it was set in, even if it is controversial. Bad things were done in our history, and in the history of a lot of nations. Hell, bad things are being done right now all over the world, that we don't even want to know about, really.

Man, am I getting mad now, at how he seems to literally buy into the leftist propaganda that was used to market that awful 2003 mini. From what I researched, I cannot find anything to link the Syphilis virus study that took place in the 1930s with what the Truth miniseries claims supposedly happened during WW2. It's true that there was platoon segragation, which was humiliating and sad, but apart from that, I cannot find anything to indicate that there was literal exploitation of soldiers at the time, when a major emergency was taking place. Which leads me to point out one of the biggest problems with the Truth that Brubaker is ignoring here: that it was trying to discredit the United States for some of the good things it did, and to make it seem as though the US was what, exploiting minority groups as tools? I don't even want to think about it.

Brubaker's response here is very weak and self-conscious, and no matter how he writes this planned miniseries, he's not doing a favor for the Marvel universe and Captain America in private if he's going to go along and script something that involves a basic smear tactic. This certainly doesn't encourage me to read most of his work.

The stereotypical artwork that plagued that 2003 abomination was one of the biggest offenses about the book, and that Brubaker has nothing to say about that is what really bugs me.

They can weather a bad story...but for how long?

The New York Sun (via Newsarama blog) writes about how DC botched it with Wonder Woman during the past year. They're a paper far better than the NY Times, but even so, I'm still sad that they won't go in deeper about what a monstrosity Amazons Attack was, for example, or how Dan DiDio has made a lot of people angry with his astounding editorial edictions. For starters, they say:

But the Heinberg relaunch rapidly went off the scheduling rails, and by 2007 he'd only delivered four issues. Ms. Picoult's five issues hemorrhaged readers faster than "Jonah Hex," DC's lone cowboy title, and "Amazons Attack," a miniseries commissioned to fill a hole in the book's publishing schedule caused by Mr. Heinberg's delays, was reviled by fans who decried it as an abomination. No movie. Declining readership. Angry fans.

First, why don't they just delve in deeper, and explain how Amazons Attack has been construed as character assassination, and as sexist? A long-running problem with the press, that they won't make an effort to gather clearer info as to why. Second, this is new to me: was Amazons Attack really done as a special filler? I think that's where they got it wrong. Picoult was assigned to fill the hole, and the fifth issue Heinberg wrote came out as part of an annual (a recently revived concept, I notice, after 6 years of dropping them).

And then, DiDio is quoted saying:

"These characters are not made of porcelain," Dan Didio, the executive editor of DC Comics, said. "They're made of diamond. They can weather a bad story."

But for how long? And just how long can they weather bad sales? And did DiDio ever stop to think about how he, as DC's chief editor, hasn't been able to weather a bad reputation for long?

Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman are the only characters to be continuously published by DC Comics since the company's inception in 1944, and all have achieved a pop culture recognition that transcends their creator and stretches far beyond the nerd-o-sphere. "I tell people I work for DC Comics and they scratch their heads," Mr. Didio said. "I tell them I work for the company that publishes Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and they get excited."

I wonder just how excited they'd get if they knew just what he allowed to happen when Identity Crisis and the Batman War Games crossover were put out almost 4 years ago? I certainly wouldn't.

What do two people who've been at the writer's helm have to say about this:

"I think that's because of the lack of exposure," Ms. [Gail] Simone, the series' ongoing writer, said, acknowledging the catch-22 facing Wonder Woman. "She hasn't had a major motion picture. She's only had the one TV series, not several of them like Superman has."

Mr. Rucka offered another explanation.

"All along, there's been a feeling that they have to bring in more readers, they have to increase sales," he said. "What they haven't done is portray her consistently. They relaunch the series, they bring back her secret identity, they take it away, they bring it back, they make two Wonder Women, then three, then none, then one. At the end of the day, it's that inconsistency that hurts her the most."

I think I'm inclined to side with Rucka here. They all but tossed out some of WW's cast that George Perez, Greg Potter and Len Wein set up during the Iron Age, and certainly haven't made things better by writing that Cassie Sandsmark's mother fled to Greece to hide from the authorities who're targeting Amazon sympathisers, post Amazons Attack (one reason why that Wonder Girl miniseries has bombed in sales, I figure). I'm guessing that Rucka is probably sorry over being dropped as a writer for WW two years ago, and another reason why he's stopping his exclusive contract.

But there's also the problem of that either they don't try to promote WW's solo book, let alone a disastrous miniseries connected to it, or the MSM is not interested, unless it involves the kind of horrors that Identity Crisis had.

As for Simone, I'm sorry, but she used too easy an answer. Lack of major movies? In all due honesty, if they start relying on movies to market everything, they'll only spoil everything in the end, recalling how, when the 1976-79 TV show was first made, DC deliberately edicted that the series take place during WW2 on the Earth-2 plane. There may have been some good items to come out of that, but there was also a repugnant script penned by Martin Pasko and Alan Brennart in 1977 set in Egypt (to be discussed on a later occasion). No, it is the lack of true consistency that matters, ditto the lack of press coverage that's interested. Of course, Simone was the one who put down the Silver Age Atom as being "very much of its time", as if story plots involving bank robbers and gangsters are simply outmoded. And I can't say she - and they - are really honoring Ray Palmer's actions, history and fun sense, if they go along with his defamation. I came to realize some time ago that it doesn't pay to roll over for most writers and artists, and I'm decidedly not going to let Simone off the hook here either.

In fact...

Greg Rucka two years ago, along with Geoff Johns and Allen Heinberg, wrote some items that allegedly tried to improve upon the hideous errors made in Identity Crisis, such as the lack of a female viewpoint (a Superman story from the former, and JLA's "Crisis of Conscience" from the latter two). Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and that it seemed almost deliberately arranged - different writers other than Meltzer may have been assigned to deal with the story holes - doesn't make IC any better, but shows just why it was bad to begin with.

No matter how talented Rucka is, and a few years ago he wrote some items that were quite good, WW among them, that he too went along with the editorial decisions made then only undermines his own position too.

Update: I think Rucka co-wrote Countdown to Infinite Crisis too, a "special" whose whole premise seemed to be showing Ted Kord dying without even fighting seriously. That's another demerit to his record.

Flash #233: something just doesn't seem right about this

I looked at a synopsis for Flash #233, and I wonder if Mark Waid is succumbing to PC-ness, by injecting something like realism where it doesn't belong:

The story is wrapped quickly, but then the JLA pose an intervention with Flash and Linda. They are concerned that they drag their kids into dangerous situations. It's an interesting twist on today's world telling people how to parent.

During the confrontation Flash erupts, especially at Batman, at the JLA's questioning his love for his kids. It's a good exchange and we watch Wally explain how his kids are aging rapidly with no end in sight. They could be dead within a couple of years at their current rate. It's really not that surprising because they did age 10 years or so in one, so I would think most people would have seen this coming.

The JLA buy into the reasoning that Flash will let his kids fight crime because they might not be alive much longer anyway and they leave the Flash family in peace. One of the kids was eavesdropping which can only damage his psych down the road. Although, he looked cool in his Robin t-shirt.

Forget the t-shirt, what I'm wondering is, for example:

Why exactly should a couple of superheroes who've long taken teen protagonists under their wing, training them to deal with situations as dangerous as anything they could, be concerned that the Crimson Comet is doing the same? It sounds to me like a forced injection of the possibly recent, negative view of having teen heroes in a fictional world, just another reason why comic books are suffering such a loss in story value. Does that mean that Waid may have even lost faith in his own teenaged creation, Bart Allen, suggesting another reason why we haven't heard any expression of disappointment over Bart's offing?

Does that mean that DC didn't have much faith in the Flash and his wife having children to begin with?

And the idea that the Flash would train his children to be superdoers because they may not have much longer to live is also insulting to the intellect. For one thing, they should, if anything, be analyzing their health to see if it's possible to ensure that they won't end up dying young. For another, if they really do care about Flash's kids, they wouldn't approve of his training them out of what sounds like a view that they're expendable.

Maybe that's why sales have been sinking for this as well?

Comic creators in midwest

The Columbia Missourian has an article about comic book writers living and working in the midwestern US. The thing is, it's about Marvel contributors, but not ones that I'm particularly fond of, such as editor Axel Alonso. And then, there's what one of the writers says about Matt Fraction:

“We’ve all sort of entered the business on our own terms,” Moore said. “I was doing (and still do) creator-owned work. Matt Fraction did his own thing. And Fraction’s books for Marvel don’t read like Marvel books; they read like indie books almost. Jason Aaron’s entrance was two Vertigo books that he created, “Scalped” and “The Other Side,” and now he’s doing ‘Wolverine’ and some other things. But they have a distinct, separate sensibility from mainstream comics.

That could actually be a problem, most certainly the way Fraction wrote the new Punisher volume during Civil War is; exactly what's not mentioned here. If Fraction's work doesn't read like Marvel, I'd say that's bad news.

A list of recent bait-and-switch tactics

I've noticed that DC, and to some extent, Marvel, have been pulling quite a few bait-and-switch tactics as a way of selling new titles. Here now is a list of whatever I can think of that's got bait-and-switch connection written all over it, to consider:

• Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, 2003. Written by Judd Winick, who really is one of the most awful writers ever to be employed by a major company, this used 2 poorly and hastily written deaths as a lead-in to the new volume of Teen Titans and the previous volume of the Outsiders. Even if one of the deaths was reversed, I can't see why it was done in the first place, and certainly not why launching 2 new series had to be done that way.
• Identity Crisis. Yes, you could say that this too served as bait-and-switch, leading into some more politically correct ideas, such as:
• Several of the miniseries that followed during 2005, including The OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, and also:
  
• Countdown to Infinite Crisis and Infinite Crisis. The former was again ludicrously built on death, and character assassination, the former being Ted Kord, and the latter being Max Lord. And this served as a lead-in to:
• The new Firestorm.
• The All-New Atom.
  
• The new Blue Beetle.
• And even the weekly 52 series, which served to introduce some otherwise pedestrian ideas and characters.
  
• Tony Bedard being announced as a writer on Supergirl, but not as clearly announced was that he was only a temp writer for 3 issues.
• The Black Canary/Green Arrow Wedding Special, which purportedly was going to tie the knot between these two longtime super-lovers, and instead scuttled everything as a duke-out with the new Injustice League took place instead.
• Judd Winick's Titans East Special, which kills off several characters as a lead-in to the latest volume of the Titans that he's writing. That's how a new ongoing series is promoted? But what really destroys credibility for Winick's dreck is that Cyborg would ever think to recruit Power Boy if he was really an employee of Darkseid who'd antagonised Supergirl.
  

Even Marvel may have a few of those, which could include:

• Avengers: Disassembled.
• House of M.

There may be a couple other items, but this should do for now. Some people do not seem to realize that at least three of the items I mentioned, ongoing series at that, are things that spun off from bait-and-switch tactics that, on those grounds, really don't deserve an audience no matter how well they're written. I hope that they'll reconsider if they understand the possibilities.

While we're on the subject, I recalled that almost two decades ago, while the Batman franchise was being pretty well written at the time the 1989 movie came out, it was told that some of the moviegoers who'd been encouraged to check out the Batbooks following their visit to the movie later felt like victims of bait-and-switch. Whether or not this is so, who would've thought that DC would take an even more genuine approach to this kind of tactic than the moviemakers did?

Eilis Flynn's Sonika

Every once in a while, I get a press release by e-mail, the latest being on a new publication by a former DC Comics staff member, Elizabeth (Eilis) Flynn, who's written a new comic-related e-book called Sonika. I may as well publish the press release over here:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUPER-HEROES MOVE TO E-BOOKS (BUT THE COSTUMES ARE STILL SKIN-TIGHT)

Former DC Scripter’s “Introducing Sonika” To Be Published As A Cerridwen Press E-Book on December 13

( Seattle , WA – December 6, 2007) Fans of super-heroes -- whether in comic books, graphic novels, television, movies, or the Internet – will get a chance to meet a new super-heroine — Sonika, who can convert sound into solid form — in a new medium —E-Books — on December 13, 2007.

They’ll learn something else, too — that even super-heroes fall in love.

Sonika is actually 28-year-old Sonya Penn, a Gen Y gal working hard as a physical therapist in order to pay off the enormous medical bills that remained after her parents’ deaths. Like so many of her generation, her career has left her no time for romance. But unlike so many others like her, the medical bills she’s working hard to pay off were incurred when her super-hero parents were killed by their arch-nemesis, Gentleman Geoffrey.

Sonya could hardly know that when she met her newest client, he would not only turn out to be John Arlen, the heir to an engineering fortune, but that he, too, was injured by a super-villain.

In order to keep the brilliant scientist from getting himself killed in his misguided quest for revenge, Sonya travels down two paths she never expected to — she’s becoming the super-heroine she swore she’d never become... and she’s falling in love.

About E-Books

Introducing Sonika is available as an E-Book from Cerridwen Press for $6.49 at www.CerridwenPress.com. It is available for desktop and laptop computers through MS Reader or Adobe Acrobat; for handheld computers through Mobipocket plugin; and for E-Book readers Franklin E-Bookman, HiE-Book, and Rocket E-Book. Cerridwen Press recommends purchasing the HTML version of its titles for these e-readers. Cerridwen Press sells instantaneous downloads 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Its E-Book delivery system is 100% automated, meaning orders are filled as soon as they are paid for.

About Eilis Flynn

Introducing Sonika is Eilis Flynn’s third book for Cerridwen Press (following The Sleeper Awakes and Festival of Stars). She began her career as a writer of super-heroes during her college years at the University of Washington , writing as Elizabeth M. Smith. On Saturdays, she would meet her doctoral-candidate brother for breakfast and sleepily plot stories later sold to DC Comics for its line of Superman stories. She has also written “30-Day Guarantee,” an online graphic novella, for MyRomanceStory.com. Eilis was recently featured in a Seattle Weekly article about romance writers of color (while her surname is Irish, her ancestry is Japanese).

Readers are encouraged to sign up for Eilis Flynn’s monthly newsletter at www.EilisFlynn.com, or write to her at EilisFlynn@aol.com.

News organizations may request a higher-resolution image of the cover by e-mail to EilisFlynn@aol.com

Strangely enough, the name of the villain, Gentleman Geoffrey, reminds me of one of the villains from the New Gods, who called himself G. Gordon Godfrey during Darkseid's attempt to take over Earth in 1987.

CBC almost confirms why the big two pull stunts, but not quite

The CBC network talks about the red-colored Hulk storyline, written by Jeph Loeb, whom I'm beginning to realize is fairly overrated, and they say that:

Comic publishers often introduce major storyline twists to attract mainstream media interest. DC Comics killed off Superman in 1993, only to have him make his eventual return.

Yes, but what they don't make clear here is that most of these things get in the way of anything really positive, and how it leads to a lot of watering down. And what they should make clearer is how many of these "twists" of recent involve pointless replacings of leading stars with minority group members, tarnishings of heroes, and deaths.

Death rarely permanent in comics

Earlier this year, Marvel killed off Captain America and has yet to resurrect him, but fans say death is rarely permanent in comic books. Both storylines received considerable media coverage, with Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada appearing on The Colbert Report in March to present host Stephen Colbert with Captain America's shield.

But what they don't mention here is that they consider death an alternative to more challenging storylines like combatting terrorism, or even the resurgence of communism, if Vladimir Putin's creeping tyranny is any indication. In fact, the CBC, like various other mainstream news sources, doesn't seem to give an opinion on these things, which is exactly the resulting problem: how do we know whether it's good or bad if nobody is willing to opine for starters when they bring this up?

It's these rather trivial "twists" that seem to come as interesting to the mainstream press, not when a challenging story like what I suggested above is published, if ever.

Radio Singapore interview with Kurt Busiek

Radio Singapore International interviewed Kurt Busiek, who was in Singapore to attend the Writer's Festival.

Having found this, it reminds me of an important question that could sure use an answer: what does Busiek think of Marvel for tearing down a considerable amount of work he did to help revitalize many of Marvel's best superheroes, among other characters, when he was working for them during the late 1990s to early 2000s? Come to think of it, what does he think of DC for tearing down a considerable amount of good things about their own superheroes that he isn't working on, but which could still rub off on what he's doing in some way or other? I've found it quite troubling at times that little to no pros are willing to step forward and argue about how current editorial staffs at both companies are wrecking much of what their superhero worlds were built on when they first began, including heroism.

Still not enough

A few weeks ago, Dan DiDio gave the following interview to Newsarama where he said in relation to Countdown:

With #26, we did a number of things. The biggest of course, was on the surface – we changed the title of the series. We’re six months out from Final Crisis, which is an important place to be. Six months out is roughly where we started the four miniseries that led into Infinite Crisis, so that became a real line in the sand for that story, and that’s the same thing that we’re doing here.

The other thing that we did with that issue was that we started to say, “Let every book be itself.” Let every story have its own pace. If someone feels, correctly or incorrectly, that their “experience” has been revealed in Countdown or revealed in say, Sinestro Corps War, that’s reflected in another series…I’m willing to make that sacrifice because at the end of the day, I’m confident that Countdown is better because Superman Prime appears at the moment he does, or more importantly, the Superman Prime storyline plays out in the way it does in Sinestro Corps War, and we don’t alter one story or the other.

From this, we could assume that with Countdown having taken a pounding in sales, that he's suggesting that they're willing to finally stop bearhugging almost everything and anything to their infinite crossovers. Also, as I've learned, they won't be going ahead with their absurd plan to make Batman into a New God.

But does that mean that everything's fine again yet? Nope.

What have they done to repair the damage done since Identity Crisis, including the tarnishing of the Justice League, of Jean Loring and Ray Palmer, and even the embarrassment of turning Dr. Light into a rapist? We could even add to that the tarnishing of Captain Boomerang, and the rest of the Rogues at the end of the brief third volume of the Flash when they kicked Bart Allen to death.

Plus, how about reversing the fate of Ralph and Sue Dibny, Hector and Lyta Hall, Jenny-Lynn Hayden (Jade), Jack Drake, Bart Allen, and Ted Kord as well? And there's plenty more that could be added to the list too, I'm sure.

If these problems are not addressed, then I see little reason for anyone to take notice of what DiDio is saying now.

In fact, while we're on the subject, let's not forget to give mention to Superboy. This was not mentioned 2 years ago, but just recently, it turned out that the reason why Connor Kent was killed off had to do with legal wrangling over who owns the copyright, the Siegals or Warner/DC. This has also been the reason why the name "Superboy" has been almost entirely omitted from any mention given to Connor, the teen Super-family member introduced in 1993, who had his own solo book for several years.

While I respect the Siegals stake in the franchise, I can't help but wonder if DiDio saw fit to terminate the new Boy of Steel because it would be easier than being tied up in litigation. Surely DC and Warner could have provided the Siegals with the funds they seek in order to obtain the full rights and get the problem out of the way? I don't know what the best answer to this is, but now we have the real answer to why Superboy was killed off.

Straczynski disagrees, but goes along with it anyway

The Newsarama Blog finds all sorts of more maddening possibilities about what might happen at the end of "One More Day" in Amazing Spider-Man, including what seems like Peter Parker is literally making a faustian deal with Mephisto that could save Aunt May but erase his marriage with Mary Jane Watson, the "problem" that so bothers Joe Quesada, who continues to suggest that he cannot realize how MJ is but a fictional character, and if there's something about her that bothers him, it's not her fault.

J. Michael Straczynski wrote on his website the following:

I’ll be honest: there was a point where I made the decision, and told Joe, that I was going to take my name off the last two issues of the OMD arc. Eventually Joe talked me out of that decision because at the end of the day, I don’t want to sabotage Joe or Marvel, and I have a lot of respect for both of those. As an executive producer as well as a writer, I’ve sometimes had to insist that my writers make changes that they did not want to make, often loudly so. They were sure I was wrong. Mostly I was right. Sometimes I was wrong. But whoever sits in the editor’s chair, or the executive producer’s chair, wears the pointy hat of authority, and as Dave Sim once noted, you can’t argue with a pointy hat.

So at the end of the day, all one can do is try to do the best one can with the notes one is given, and try to execute them in a professional way…because who knows, the other guy may be right. The only thing I *can* tell you, with absolute certainty, is that what Joe does with Spidey and all the rest of the Marvel characters, he does out of a genuine love of the character. He’s not looking to sabotage anything, he’s not looking to piss off the fans, he genuinely believes in the rightness of his views not out of a sense of “I’m the boss” but because he loves these characters and the Marvel universe.

And right or wrong, you have to respect that.

Oh, do we? I'd say otherwise, that the common fan has every right to protest what he/she feels is wrong with the steps they may or may not be taking. And I think the following might be one of the best things to say:

Even if they don't try to destroy the Spider-Marriage, and as plenty could agree, there's every chance they won't because they know that fans could stand up and vote with their wallets against such a move, that they kept irritating and hammering us ad nauseum with this whole stupid, stupid, STUPID question of will-they-or-won't-they, for more than five years by now, THAT is but one way in which they did wrong, and not just to the audience, but to their properties as well.

Quesada loves the characters? If he really did, he wouldn't have kept tearing down upon their marriage non-stop, year after year, hour after hour, and he also wouldn't have offed Captain America, not even temporarily. There were all sorts of story possibilities they had at their disposal, including but not limited to tasteful nods to nostalgia that could've applied quite nicely and independently to each and every character/franchise, but instead they chose to put them through the crossover wringer in a mishmash of politicized storylines that did little more than to attack political policies they don't agree with, draining much of the fun out of all their products.

If Quesada really loved what he's in charge of, he would not have

• editorially edicted anything related to the Spider-Marriage, and allowed for JMS to tarnish Gwen Stacy, and by extension Mary Jane (in "Sins Past").
• put Captain America in a swamp full of stories that apologized for terrorism, tore down and tarnished the Sentinel of Liberty's origins (The Truth: Red, White and Black), forced him to say "corporate shills", and later kill him off.
• allowed Jean Grey to be killed off.
  
• allowed Brian Bendis to beat up on the Scarlet Witch, and even to embarrass Hank Pym some more.
  
• let the Avengers be rendered unrecognizable, confusing them with Heroes for Hire and the Defenders.
• allowed Brian Bendis to write a story where a villain kicks Tigra around in an awful Avengers issue with awful art.
• and many other things that I can't recall now, which is probably a good thing.

The above and whatever other examples of badness can be brought up are just some of the things that show how Quesada is far from loving or caring about any of the Marvel universe, and no matter what the outcome of One More Day will be, he does not love Mary Jane even then. And the Sins Past fiasco can prove that JMS doesn't love the Spider-world any more than Quesada does. His whole current argument, when looked upon in the light of what he did in 2004 with Gwen Stacy, becomes hypocritical.

Plus, if JMS really did care about Spider-Man, surely he would've been out the door at Marvel months ago? Why would he even have begun there at all? All he'd done is to imply that what interests him is money, which I figure is what he got into this for in the first place, plus the fact that Marvel saw his own personal audience as a sales draw. His whole blathery message just crashes to earth with a deafening thud.

But even the audience may not be free of blame. JMS's run was practically stale even when he began, yet while I'm sure that some of JMS's audience from Hollywood may have lent to the sales, even the hardcore comics audience are still at fault for legitimizing JMS in the past couple years, probably even more so. I looked at the most recent of The Beat blog's sales charts for Marvel, and what's this I find here? At least 150,000 copies were last sold? What's wrong with these people?

Thanks to them too, the central comics audience, that's why this pretentious TV producer has been able to keep going at it all these years, while some completionist lemmings who buy every single thing Spidey out of habit just kept on buying because they couldn't live without their teddy bear. Even if they drop Spidey now, upon discovery that Mary Jane will be done wrong, which IS possible, and it'd be foolish to think it couldn't happen, that does not excuse how tons of so-called fans continued to buy "out of habit" as they call it, which enabled the insults-upon-injury to get this far for over 5 years.

My point? I think it's time that some people stop buying some Marvel products to send a message to Joe Quesada that we don't want him as EIC of the House of Ideas anymore. As long as he's in charge, all these fan-baitings will just go on and on. Why must we keep letting him feel he can get away with it? He preceded even Dan DiDio as an annoyance to the audience, and there's really no difference between either of them, except perhaps, for one thing: the Marvel audience continues to be less responsible than the DC audience. Shouldn't this begin to change already?

Quesada should be sent a message that fans have had enough, and depending on the product for starters, that's probably where people should stop buying if it encouraged Quesada to go on this.

Comic Book Carnival Number Fifteen

Welcome to the December 5, 2007 edition of the comic book carnival, the fifteenth so far. Here's the submissions for this month.

Dan-O presents Funny Quick Pic: What Apple?s Jobs and Microsoft?s Gates are REALLY thinking posted at Danogo.com - Discover. Inspiring . Media, saying, "Inspired by reading 'The Apple Way: 12 Management Lessons from the World’s Most Innovative Company'. A comic strip about what Steve Jobs from Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft were secretly thinking about each other during their appearance at the D: All Things Digital Conference. Also includes a review of the book."

Comic Books Revisited presents Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #66 (Story Two, Part 5, FINALE): JIMMY OLSEN'S LAST STAND! posted at Comic Books Revisited.

KCLau presents The ‘Never-be-Stolen’ Handbag posted at ComicTan, saying, "This handbag has voice and finger print recognition lock. It was made of super strong leather that can block bullet. There is also a GPS built in that connects to police station.

But its weight is 30kg. NO wonder snatch thieves avoid it."

Michael Sherrin presents 50 most influential moments in comic book history | Prodigeek posted at Prodigeek, saying, "Looking at the moments that have helped shape the comic book industry."

Steve Lafler presents Nina Funnies #2 posted at Cute as a Button but Tiger Tough, saying, "Steve Lafler is the creator of such graphic novels as Bughouse, Baja Scalawag and 40 Hour Man."

JL Sattelite presents Justice League of America #25 - Feb. 1964 posted at justice league of america.

Maria Fernandez presents Learn a foreign language - blog: Quino posted at Learn a foreign language - blog, saying, "An introduction to Quino, one of the greatest cartoonists in the Spanish speaking world."

Dreamstation presents Spiderman: Friend or Foe Review posted at DreamStation.cc.

Dan-O presents Mega Online Comic Manual: Create, Share and Profit from Webcomics posted at Danogo.com - Discover. Inspiring . Media, saying, "How to make money and have fun creating webcomics and publishing them on the Web."

Thomas presents Kurt Busiek @Singapore Writers Festival (02/12/07) posted at Anonymous_X, saying, "About Kurt Busiek giving a talk "To be continued..." in Singapore Writers Festival on 02 Dec 2007"

Anthony Fernandez presents Happy Socks posted at Why This Comic.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
the comic book carnival
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

the comic book carnival, blog carnival.

Coffee table books may be even more expensive than regular hardcovers

As much as I wish I could appreciate the production of Marvel Omnibus publications, the price given here is very expensive:

Two years ago, David Gabriel, a senior vice president at Marvel Comics, publisher of Spider-Man and the X-Men, was sitting in the company’s Fifth Avenue offices with a few colleagues trying to come up with a product tie-in for the Fantastic Four film to be released that summer - “something to get the extreme collector excited,” he said.

The result was “The Fantastic Four Omnibus, Volume 1,” which would seem to be the opposite of a disposable comic book costing a few dollars or less. The oversize coffee table-style 848-page book reprinted the first 30 issues of the original Fantastic Four, the comic created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961. The book, which weighs 5.4 pounds, would retail for $99.99.

There may have been people who bought it, but for me, the price is scary. I'd learned a couple years ago that the difference between paperbacks and hardcovers is that the former usually just costs up to $30, which is okay for me, while the latter can be more than $50, which is quite a lot, more than I can gather up the courage to buy. An Omnibus collection's price at $100 is really whopping, and much more than I'll ever be up to getting, sadly.

Soon, DC may not have sales going above 100,000

If the current sales analysis offered at The Beat blog is any indication, DC Comics are slowly losing any titles selling above 100,000 copies. The last one to truly come that close is Justice League of America, with Justice Society coming close at 99,000 copies. This does however confirm something I've been pondering at times, that the only reason why Justice League sold as well as it did by today's standards is because the pretentious Brad Meltzer has an audience that's willing to shell out money for something that, to most others, was pretty dull. Another thing it suggests? That these people clearly weren't interested in becoming comic addicts.

Point to make: this is exactly why the companies have to start changing their approach, as writers who only seem to be favored for their ability to draw in crowds from another medium they're already working in are not the way to go. Ditto those who pull tasteless acts and then try only so hard to prove that they're not what we consider them to be as a result.