Hank Pym taking up Janet VanDyne's role doesn't sound right

With the Winsome Wasp terminated by Brian Bendis for now in Secret Invasion, what's happening next? Hank Pym is taking up her codename as Wasp in Mighty Avengers:

In this week's Secret Invasion: Requiem, readers found out that Hank Pym will be taking on a new name: Wasp.

In a new eight-page story by Dan Slott and Khoi Pham that accompanied reprints of two classic Marvel stories – Tales To Astonish #44 and Avengers #213 – Secret Invasion: Requiem shows that not only did Hank Pym adopt the name Wasp, but he also attempted to replicate her powers for himself. In a story that had him interacting with Jocasta, Hank made the change as he reviewed his relationship with Janet, deciding to do something that is rare in comic books – becoming a male character who takes on the legacy of a deceased female character.

Yes, it is pretty rare for a man to do that, but then, it's rare for it to take place following a female's death too. And something doesn't sound right about it here. Maybe it's just me, but this makes Hank sound nuts. And it doesn't get much better with the following:

While it was only eight pages, the story has gotten a lot of reaction. Many readers have commented not only on the name change, but the developing relationship between Jocasta and Hank. And as Slott told Newsarama earlier this month: "One of the messed up things about Hank is that he's going to be spending a lot of time with Jocasta. Most people forget that Jocasta's robot brain is based on Janet Van Dyne's brain patterns. And... let me creep you out... could this lead to a new relationship? Think about it. Jocasta's a cyber-reflection of Jan, a version of Hank's dead ex-wife, a version he could never hurt physically or emotionally. There's something very disturbing about that."

I agree, there's something very disturbing indeed. Just what is the whole point of furthering the damage done to Hank years ago when he suffered serious frustration and nervous breakdowns at work, which finally led to his and Jan's divorce after he'd smacked her at least twice? Now, it sounds like it's going to be made worse, that he's so far obsessed with Jan that, not only is he taking up her role and powers, he's developing a relationship with a robot whose mind patterns are based on Jan's as well, because he can't get along without her?

Sorry, but I don't think it adds anything to Hank, and only serves to further a lot of character damage done years ago, and to tear down the attempts to fix said damage later on. It's also telling of how some minor characters can be more vulnerable to serious misuse than major ones are.

So this is what Jocasta's being brought back for, and Jan being offed for - so that now, Hank can be in a mentally disturbed relationship with a robot instead of a living human or humanoid because her brain patterns are based on those of Jan's. All at the real Jan's expense. Simply ridiculous.

Maltz Museum's exhibition

An article on WKYC-TV about the comic exhibition currently being run by the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, Ohio, on the Golden Age of comics, from 1938-50.

Happy 86th birthday, Stan Lee

It's another year, and Stan Lee is still going strong at about 86 years old. The website of Finding Dulcinea writes a whole article about his career.

And the replacements for Geoff Johns on JSA are...

Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges, the former who wrote some of the worst Robin stories in recent years, the death-at-the-time of Stephanie Brown included. Maybe he's got some energy to spare in Fables, but on the more mainstream books he's written for DC, he's got none, and his recent writing efforts, DCU: Decisions to name but one, have sold very low, deservedly so.

So, I don't expect Justice Society to improve by much, if at all.

Update: speaking of Willingham, it seems he's contributed an item on the new Big Hollywood site, a venture of Andrew Breitbart, where he talks about "superhero decadence" and how it's ruined comic books. He even notes how he's a conservative. But as much as I'd like to appreciate that, I'm afraid it falls way short, because it doesn't go deep enough.

Also, if he's going to even work as a hired hand in writing a story that's degrading to women, as the War Games story was in 2004 when Stephanie Brown was killed, how am I for one supposed to truly appreciate his standings? Doesn't that clash with his conservative views? Let that serve as an example of how I'm not going to just throw my weight in and support him at all costs.

Also, lest we forget, it was wrong of Willingham to insult his audience, as he did a few years ago after Batman: War Crimes was released. That's conservative?

Update: some more embarrassing news about Willingham: while the Bat-story where he mistreated Leslie Thompkins has been nullified since 2008, Willingham hasn't done much on his part to make anyone appreciate him better. In 2010, if this item is correct, he made another ill-advised statement about fangirls. I figure that if Willingham has any particular problem, it's that he's a loose cannon, and doesn't know when manners and respectability can pay off. A real shame.

Predictably, this year and next just yields "darker, grittier" storytelling

The Penn. Express-Times fawns over both Marvel and DC's efforts, both current and upcoming, and at the same time tells that nothing new is to be expected:

With the end of "Secret Invasion," the villains of the Marvel Universe came out on top.

And that's exactly the problem. The heroes are forcibly not allowed to be triumphant, not because it makes sense but because the editors and writers dictate it artificially.

With the new status quo come a few new books, the first of which is "The Dark Avengers" by writer Brian Michael Bendis.

"The Dark Avengers" is Norman Osborn's new team of Avengers. While the identity of the team hasn't been officially released, the team will most likely be made up of the former Thunderbolts: Moonstone, Bullseye and Venom.

The rest of the team being filled out by Wolverine's son Dakon and Osborn himself as the Iron Patriot.

Iron Patriot is a cross between Iron Man and Captain America.

Other books to look for are the re-launch of "Black Panther" from writer Reginald Hudlin with a new female Panther, and "Warmachine" returns in a new ongoing series from writer Greg Pak.

Let's see, Norman's now the "goodie"? Is his new role as Iron Patriot supposed to be an indirect insult to both Shellhead and Cap? And more darkness around the corner? Is this ludicrious or what? I get the feeling the new take on War Machine won't be worth anticipating either. As for T'Challa being thrown out of his role as Black Panther for the sake of diversity, I spoke about that earlier, and don't expect much of the new direction they're taking there either.

"Batman RIP" may have temporarily killed off Bruce Wayne and left some fans confused. But it did leave a question as to who would step into the role as a new Batman.

And the only answer I can provide is - who cares?

In March fans will find out who the new Batman will be when "Battle for the Cowl #1" hits stores.

The miniseries features nearly every one who has been influenced by Batman in a fight to claim the title of Batman.

The series also will mark the first appearance of a new Azrael to the DC universe.

Also coming in 2009 is a spin off Justice League featuring Green Lantern and Green Arrow, leading a new team of darker, grittier heroes by writer James Robinson.

Joining Green Lantern and Green Arrow will be Batwoman, Captain Marvel, Congorilla, Supergirl and a new Starman.

A new Azrael and Starman? What was wrong with the old ones? The now cliched talk of darker and grittier heroes also doesn't sound encouraging. It certainly does tell that writer Robinson is beginning to falter.

David Michelinie will be interviewed on Delaware Radio on Monday

For anyone who's interested in the career of David Michelinie, who's famous for writing Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Avengers, he'll be interviewed by Hube of Colossus of Rhodey on Monday, December 29, at 10:30AM (eastern time US) on Delaware Talk Radio. Broadcasts can be picked up worldwide. Be sure to tune in then to listen to the interview!

Roger Stern turns against MJ

In his latest interview, Roger Stern says this:

NRAMA: [...] What aspects of Spider-Man have changed since your initial run, and what parts remain the same?

RS: Well, he's really been through the wringer, hasn't he? Fortunately for me, most of the weirder stuff -- going public with his secret identity, marrying the wrong girl -- has all been dealt with, so I don't have to.

Earlier, he just said he was against the marriage. Now, he's implying that Mary Jane is the wrong girl? It's all lip service to Joe Quesada, no doubt, but even if it weren't, he's still failing to recognize that if he's really got a problem with a character, he's got to blame the writers, not the characters. He almost hints in the following that he realizes that, but still screws up:

NRAMA: What are your thoughts on "Brand New Day" and how marriage affects the storytelling opportunities for Spider-Man? Obviously, the wedding had a bit of a rush from outside forces, but do you feel that Spider-Man could be married and still have interesting storylines?

RS: Could? Possibly. Should? Not so much. The thing is, Spider-Man is a mystery to his general public -- he could be anyone under that mask. No one would know about his marital status -- or even give it much thought, unless they were enemies looking to strike at him through loved ones. In those pre-“Brand-New-Day” stories, it wasn't really Spider-Man who was married, it was Peter Parker.

And Peter for the most part works best as a young, single guy. I would never say he should never marry. But he certainly should not be married to Mary Jane Watson. That's just crazy.

The only way the writers were able to keep that marriage going on the printed page for as long as they did was by changing who Pete and MJ were, by turning them into different people. And a lot of talented writers worked on Spider-Man during that period, doing their best, but that marriage never quite worked for to me. It was like hearing about two old friends who'd run off and made this terrible mistake.

I even wrote a few stories about Pete and Mary Jane as a married couple – Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives and an Amazing Spider-Man Annual among them -- and the one part of those stories that made me uncomfortable was the marriage. It just felt wrong.

This whole interview feels wrong, and contradictory. If he doesn't think MJ is right for Peter, why doesn't he try just what he mentioned, and change her characterization to something he thinks more satisfying? I guess I can sense the strain in his argument, and how hard it is to hide that he's really just trying to please Quesada for the sake of getting back in the writing saddle again. As much as I respect Stern for a lot of his past work, this rates a D minus.

Secret Invasion #8: Brian Bendis trods on the Wasp

Oh, I'm sure he didn't actually kill Janet VanDyne. After all, Marvel's strategy for avoiding a real backlash seems to be that as long as they only subject their cast of characters to a fate worse than death, they'll be able to get away with plenty. But for now, that's what the finale to the time-wasting Secret Invasion seems to advertise, that Janet has perished, all for the sake of motivating other heroes to fight back.

Regardless of whether she's dead or alive, a Skrull or a human, the steps taken here have no point, are insulting, and are no better than when Bendis beat up on Scarlet Witch 4 years ago.

Predictably, this crossover was just a lead in to yet another - Dark Reign. I won't be wasting my time on that either, and now that I think of it, if Jan's been slighted even without being killed, no need to provide any readership to Mighty Avengers.

And Tony Stark is still depicted badly.

It looks like Scarlet Witch has resurfaced

In the previews for Mighty Avengers #21, it looks like Scarlet Witch has returned, hopefully exonerated of Brian Bendis's horrific writing in Avengers: Disassembled.

It's too bad that this is taking place at a time when Joe Quesada is still EIC for Marvel, which makes me doubt this will be much of an improvement.

I do notice though, that Jocasta, the girl robot created by Ultron to be his mechanical bride in 1978, may be back as well, years after she'd been sent to the scrap heap in the mid-80s. I wish I could appreciate that more than I do, but because the same people running the store for 8 years now are behind this, I'm uncertain this will be as great as I'd like for it to be.

One more thing: assuming that Marvel really is clearing Scarlet Witch of any wrongdoing, that could prove for now Sequential Tart's estimation from 3 years ago that Avengers: Disassembled would be another of those poorly crafted "events" that would be undone and forgotten as quickly as various others to come down the pike over the years. On the other hand, as they said here:

"DC's editorial department has announced that Identity Crisis will set the tone for the upcoming year of the DC Universe. This makes me extremely uneasy. I do not mind three-dimensional heroes. I do mind superheroes becoming so 'dark' that they no longer qualify as heroes and instead belong over in the WildStorm universe with The Authority.

That's exactly the problem with DC, that unlike Marvel, they're more startlingly adamant about going along with something that doesn't serve them well. So far, there is no sign that DC has any intention of reversing the damage done in Identity Crisis, and with DiDio still in charge, that's another reason why I have doubts that any convincing improvements will be made as a whole.

Baltimore's Super Art Fight

The Washington Post writes a short article about a contest being held in Baltimore between indie comics artists, called Super Art Fight, now in its third year.

Superman's significance reduced by Kandorian entry to Metropolis

The Colorado Springs Gazette, in writing recently about Batman and Superman's going missing soon, provided a clue why the Man of Steel will be leaving Earth:

Big changes are also coming in 2009 to another of DC's big guns, Superman.

Superman will be leaving Earth for space. DiDio, again, isn't saying why, but says it ties into a story line that has recently unfolded in the Superman family of books that has seen the sudden appearance of 100,000 Kryptonians on Earth who had been living in the bottle city of Kandor.

In other words, Kal-El's significance in being the only Kryptonian son on Earth (and Supergirl, the only Kryptonian daughter) will be reduced drastically by uncorking the bottle and filling up Metropolis and the rest of Earth with more descendants of Krypton. That's the mistake they're making here, and I don't think sending the Man of Tomorrow off into space improves upon that. Mainly because, if there's that many Kryptonians/Kandorians around, surely some of them could also go in search of new galaxies to defend? Their whole presence on Earth practically reduces the significance of many other heroes less powerful than themselves too.

Earlier, the same paper said the following:

Superman will no longer be the last son of Krypton. But don't expect him to become another face in the crowd. The whole purpose of the story, Johns says, is to explore Superman as a character.

"If anything, it's going to make him more distinctive. He's Superman, and it's not because he can fly, it's not just because he's from Krypton."

The problem is that they're exploring Superman not on Earth, but in space, and in a development that doesn't even sound done in the best of interests for the Man of Steel. And how is it distinctive when you fill the earth with more of his kind, when what makes him distinctive and unique is that he's the last man of his race living among a population that doesn't have powers like his?

Another one of DC's unwise steps in motion.

Revolutionary war comic

An article in Albany's This Week newspaper about Westerville resident Lora Innes' adventure comic called The Dreamer, which deals with history like the Revolutionary War, first published as a webcomic a year ago.

How comics can teach science

Wired magazine reports about a new non-fiction graphic novel being published called The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA, which is intended to teach about human migratory patterns, cloning and stem cells in comic format.

Why so many recent comics have become padded

Dan DiDio explains why Batman RIP has a crummy ending (via Comiks Debris):

...because we live in the world of collected editions, we needed a conclusion in the Batman series, so that we could collect it properly within Batman, without having to bring in segments of Final Crisis to complete the story.

And that's also why so much storytelling in past years has felt so bloated, dragging along, and contrived. Because they're forcing them to be written only for the sake of trades. Whatever happened to self-contained storytelling? If only they'd pay attention to how short-story novels were written, but they don't do that anymore.

As for Batman RIP, it's supposed to end in Final Crisis #6, which makes it the umpteenth bait-and-switch moneymaking trick DC has pulled recently.

Latest crudeness from Winick

Judd Winick continues to alienate in Titans issue #8:
GAH!

But I guess we can't be too surprised he's still got a job with them. When they alienate and drive away a whole bunch of other writers with more sense, that's all they have left.

As for who the attempted assassin was in DCU: Decisions, it was Jericho. It's a real shame Joe Wilson had to be brought back from the dead 4 years ago, to be depicted now as a villain. I think his talking in Teen Titans for possibly the first time since he debuted in 1984 was one of the weakest things about the current volume.

Gene Colan wins Sparky Award

Animation World Network reports that veteran artist Gene Colan has won the 2008 Sparky Award at the Cartoon Art Museum.

Geoff Johns departs from the Justice Society

After almost a decade of writing JSA, he's now leaving it.

I wonder how long it'll be before that series too falls into double-decay? Teen Titans certainly did after he left, and Flash didn't do any better, recalling the disastrous relaunch with Bart Allen that ended with Bart's death at the hands of the Rogues in the stupidest way possible. Even Hawkman/Hawkgirl lost ground after he left that too. Some of the books he wrote were losing ground even while he still on them (Flash really fell apart at the end of his run), but it's after he left that they really took a blow from neglection, as TT now shows.

Even Busiek is now disappointing

Kurt Busiek chimed in on a lenghty thread on CBR, and has added himself to the list of knee-jerkers opposing the Spider-Marriage. First, he said:

I actually wrote the married Peter numerous times -- two issues of SPECTACULAR, three of WEB, a few stories in the back of SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED, some WHAT IFs...

But you can count me among the people who thought it was a mistake to have him get married.

Then later, he says:

I've discussed this before, and I expect it's all Google-able, so I'm not sure how much point there is in going into it again. People will trot out the same arguments on both sides, and nothing new will really be said.

I already see people dismissing writer's arguments against the idea as "resistance to change," as if all change was good and all preservation was bad. But pouring sugar in your gas tank is change, too. Not good change, but change.

My basic argument against the idea is that it breaks the Spider-Man concept without replacing it with something that's as good or better than what was there before. Every series has a core idea, an engine that makes it go, and if you mess with that engine, you have to make sure you're improving it, rather than pouring sugar into the gas tank in the name of change.

At heart, to pick an example, the Fantastic Four is a family of explorers. If you ditch Sue and Johnny, and recast the book as Ben and Reed, college buddies, with new teammates Iron Man and Spider-Man, it's not a family of explorers any more. You broke the idea, and didn't replace it with anything else. It's just a bunch of superheroes, and not distinctive.

However, if you were to lose Ben, and have Johnny marry Crystal and Franklin grow up and develop useful super powers, well, it may not be to everyone's taste, but you've preserved the idea -- it's a change that still lets the book be about family. It's a change that could work because it builds on the core idea rather than breaking it.

Spider-Man, is at heart, about responsibility -- specifically, about a young guy who is torn between two conflicting areas of responsibility, between his responsibilities as a hero and his responsibilities to family/social life/school/work. Essentially, the conflict between private life and civic responsibility, made worse by the fact that his civic responsibility is a secret to his private life, a concept that accentuates the dilemma, makes it stronger.

But having him get married weakens that dilemma, because there's two ways to handle it -- either his wife knows his secret, in which case he's got a partner, a helper, ameliorating the dilemma and making life easier, because she can understand, she can be supportive, she can make excuses for him to smooth over other problems. Or she doesn't know, in which case he's unacceptably dishonest -- it's okay to hide the truth from frail, sickly Aunt May for health reasons, because responsibility to Aunt May was a pre-existing condition. But asking someone to marry you while lying to them about what your life consists of is morally indefensible.

So it either makes his life easier, which hurts the series concept, or it makes him a shitheel, which hurts the series concept. Or you can have his wife know the secret and be demanding rather than supportive, but that's insane -- it makes her into a heartless bitch, demanding that he value making it to dinner on time over saving lives.

It doesn't work, thematically. Reed Richards can get married, because that's change that strengthens the series concept. The Flash can get married because it doesn't strengthen or weaken the series concept -- "torn between the horns of a dilemma" is not part of the Flash idea. But a married Spider-Man is a Spider-Man with less of a dilemma to deal with, and that weakens the series.

Even though he's got several other friends and close acquaintences whom he has to keep his secret ID from as well? Even though there's plenty of other cast members who could come along, provided there's a writer and editor interested in making these things happen, who could cause him more dilemmas too? Sorry, I don't buy, and the idea that Mary Jane would be a heartless bitch is insulting. Might I point out that she too could have challenges in helping him to keep his secret ID concealed, which can and does provide being married with some storytelling potential, and that makes his whole argument even weaker?

Is that resistance to change? Sure, in the sense that being opposed to having James Bond retire from MI6 and become a florist is resistance to change, or being opposed to John McClane having a happy family life, or to Harry Dresden learning to use technology, is resistance to change.

If you're going to change an ongoing series premise, you need to do it in a way that (a) serves the core concept well, either by strengthening it or at least by not weakening it, or (b) replaces the core concept with another one that works at least as well.

I don't think a married Spider-Man does either of those things. It's a fine idea for what-ifs or such, but I think that in an ongoing, open-ended adventure series it weaken the Spider-Man core idea and doesn't have corresponding benefits.

I'm wondering if he even has any idea what the core idea of Spidey is now. Maybe he doesn't. Spidey has had some family concepts included over the years, and that's what being married is all about too. I'm sorry, but Busiek just misses everything.

I guess we can't expect much else from him though. 4 years ago, I recall finding on the DC Comics boards that he upheld Identity Crisis. Clearly, he's a lockstepper with the editors, if anything.

Marvel just closes their ears to us

On Marvel's Spider-Blog, they post the following absurdity:

Change is tough, as I’ve learned in abundance this year. So for the segment of readership that still isn’t entirely on board with this new status quo, we hear you. We’ve had you in mind from the beginning, and we’re trying to make the kind of stories that will satisfy your curiosity. We’re simply taking the time and effort to get the stories right. Be thankful for what you don’t know, it makes discovering it all the more exciting.

Really, they "hear" us? Ha ha ha. Nope, they don't even want to hear our objections to their atrocious retcon of the Spider-Marriage, and it doesn't look like they're even trying to get the stories "right". And if it ain't right, it ain't exciting either.

Choked by her own lasso

In Teen Titans #64, we got to see it for starters on the cover.
Now, in Teen Titans #65, we get to see it taking place right within the pages of the book.
And with that, Teen Titans lurches sharply from being a book that was alternately mediocre and unpleasant to one that's obnoxious, vulgar, and downright pointless.

Last time I looked, it had fallen below 40,000 in sales. It's cancelation can't come fast enough, but if and when it does, I figure it'll be a great mercy.

DiDio continues to blabber

Dan DiDio gives another of his tired interviews to the LA Times' Hero Complex blog, the second of one he's been giving them:

GB: Tell me about the state of the union, so to speak, when it comes to the top-tier DC characters.

DD: When you look at it, really, we have what we deem to be five key franchises. You have Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash...

GB: Just five? Dan, somewhere, right now, Aquaman is crying saltwater tears...

DD: [Holds up some artwork on his desk] Look, I'm doing an Aquaman story right now! This is for the Christmas special. I'm actually writing it myself, which is kind of fun. But with the five key franchises you could argue what order they fall in because you see how Green Lantern is growing in leaps and bounds right now. And for me, it was essential to get Green Lantern and Flash to be in premiere status again, to be up there in the echelon of characters where people can't wait to see and read the next story. We can look at the second tier past that, with the Aquamans and the Atoms and the Hawkmans, but the reality is those five characters can support not only their own book but series as well. When you have characters that important, you want to put as much energy into them and, more importantly, the strongest talent possible to keep them up where they belong.

But they're not putting much energy and talent into them, I don't think. And if the talent involved was ever strong, they're losing their edge now as they go along in lockstep with how DiDio wants to do things. GL, last time I looked, was doing far less well in sales, and whether they really want to put Flash in premiere status again, they don't seem to want to do that with Wally West. So, they're apparently resurrecting Barry Allen, the only hero whose death during Crisis on Infinite Earths was done decently enough.

GB: Tell me a character you would like to see revived or rejuvenated.

DD: Well we're constantly tinkering.

You don't say.

Here's the thing I try to explain properly but somehow it always gets misinterpreted: Our characters are made of steel, not porcelain. They were here before us and they will be here after us. They will survive well past our lifetimes because of what they are, how they were created and the way they are maintained.

He does not mention: their characters may be made of steel, but their recent writing efforts are what's made of porcelain. Very fragile porcelain too, I might add. Their heroes may be here for many more years, but if they don't maintain their core values correctly, there's no telling if they'll survive as well as he claims.

GB: These characters have the attention of Hollywood in an unprecedented way. How does that affect what you do, if at all?

DD: My background before coming to DC Comics was all television. I did 20 years in TV. My first inclination was to look at the TV stuff and see what was going on but the publisher, Paul Levitz, was very clear that he wanted me to concentrate on just the publishing. That's what I embrace and that's what I solely focus on.

And what's wrong with that here? He does it based more on a perspective from where he originally came from - TV. Violent television too, I must sadly assume.

But this does signal something that can't be overlooked: Levitz may have to shoulder some of the blame for hiring an editor as terrible as DiDio's turned out to be. For that, he should be looked upon in disgrace and shame. A man who once led a decent career as one of DC's leading writers and editors, possibly since he was 17 years old, a notable writer for the Legion of Super-Heroes, and now that he's ascended to publisher, he ruins everything by suggesting that he's got no understanding of how to hire people with common sense.

GB: There was a time in comics when the most exciting writers seemed to be moving away from DC and Marvel. That's not the case anymore, clearly.

DD: During the 1980s there was a completely different market, naturally. The one thing [the upstart companies] did was drive original creator-owned product, which was wonderful for the marketplace because it broadened the spectrum of the material out there. Everybody was bringing their unique visions to their own properties. It energized things. The problem is that the thing that a lot of people love about comics -- and the thing that a lot of people identify with in comics -- are the tried-and-true characters that both DC and Marvel present. This is what comics are, day in and day out. Among the creators, so many people come back to comics and they want to write the characters they grew up on. Someone like a Brad Meltzer comes in to comics because he grew up on comics. He doesn't have to be a comic book writer, he's choosing it because of those characters.

Once again, he's made a mistake in bringing up people like that, not because they aren't comic book writers, but because they have no idea what makes for decent, plausible storytelling. "Grew up on comics"? Sure.

These interviews people like DiDio give are just getting more laughable and weak every day.

Someone left a comment on the interview that answers everything perfectly:

I've cancelled all my Batman and Superman titles (including JLA). Thanks "Dido". Now I can spend more on Marvel comics.

If only I could say the same, but alas, they're not doing any better.

Comic Book Carnival Twenty-Seven

Welcome to the December 4, 2008 edition of the comic book carnival. Here's what we have for this month.

Keira presents Review: Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog posted at Love Romance Passion.

Hube presents Who should be "Iron Man 2's" villain? posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Hube presents What to do when a comics news mag gets it wrong?? posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Hube presents Speaking of War Machine ... posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Hube presents I'm with Steve Newton at this point ... posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Comic Book Scientist presents Six Armed Spiderman Is Genetically Possible posted at Comic Book Science.

Kneon presents Music of the Spheres | a fantasy webcomic posted at Music of the Spheres | a fantasy webcomic, saying, "Marvel Comics writer Ben Avery starts a new fantasy webcomic with Disney comics alum Kneon Transitt."

Heather Johnson presents 100 Must-See Art Blogs (of Every Form) posted at Art Career.

Hube presents Top 25 Comic Battles posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Hube presents Comics films update posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.

Ambox presents BLACK CAT Manga Series Information posted at BoxAnimeManga :: The Source of "Japanese Anime Series" and "Japanese Manga series"..

Tony Huynh presents Pimps at Sea err I mean Age of Booty & Gen 13 Cosplay posted at LimitlessUnits.com.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
the comic book carnival
using our
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Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
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It sounds like the Masked Manhunter's past life is going to be made silly again

From what this article on Scripps-Howard News Service is saying, it sounds like Grant Morrison is making Batman's past life ridiculous from a contemporary perspective:

What will happen next is important for the character, but just as important is what has come before. The past is prologue, as they say, and Morrison considers every Caped Crusader story going back to 1939 true in its own way:

"'Batman R.I.P.' incorporates the sum total of the experiences that made (Batman) the character we're familiar with today. Of course, he's had too many adventures to reasonably fit into one man's life, but many of them have covered the same ground and can be considered en masse.

"I divided various decades into the years of a roughly 35-ish Batman's life and found that the whole story considered as a 70-year-long publishing 'arc' has all the highs and lows of someone's real life story, with appropriate emotional markers along the way. The whole obsessive backstory with the three Robins is amazing to consider just on its own.

"Seen this way, Batman's entire life becomes a crazed plunge downwards into increasingly more difficult, bleaker scenarios. He's really had a hell of a time and most of that within the last 20 years. There are so many different strands to follow when you take the approach that it all happened."

"All" meaning every story, no matter how goofy, weird or laughable. Morrison has incorporated absurd science-fiction Bat-stories from the '50s, ridiculous Bat-spinoffs like Batwoman and Bat-Mite, even a throwaway bit about a temporary police commissioner from 1947 ("Detective" No. 121).

If this is how things turn out, they'll be doing to Batman what Marvel did to Kang the Conqueror when, in 1986, during an adventure the Avengers had in Limbo, Immortus tricked Kang into grabbing hold of a sphere containing the past memories of all the other Kangs from alternate timelines he'd sought to get rid of (which can be read about in the Kang: Time and Time Again trade, which I own), which sent him nuts, at least for awhile. The only difference is that if DC, and Morrison, do as this suggests, it'll be too silly for words, and downright pointless. Even if it all turns out to be just hallucinations.

During the 70s, DC had wanted to make Batman more plausible and serious. Now, as with many other heroes in their stable, they're doing the exact opposite.

Most significant, though, are the many stories of Batman's brain on drugs. Morrison continues:

"In 'Batman' Nos. 682-683, for instance, you'll see some interesting theories about Batman's regular and repetitive contact with chemicals of various kinds -- poisons, hallucinogens, sedatives and stimulants -- which has been a recurring feature of his adventures since the very first published exploit, 'The Case of the Chemical Syndicate' (in 'Detective' No. 27, 1939). That's an aspect of the overall mythos I didn't think had been examined a great deal, so I staked the territory for myself and used it to help build and deepen Batman's character, and to explain certain anomalies in plots or behavior."

Are they saying Batman, with all his riches and intellect, doesn't have what it takes to research and brew up counterchemicals, among other medicines, that can protect him from negative effects of these various poisons? There's something not right about this.

And at the end, we'll see why Bruce Wayne is Batman -- just as he stops being Batman.

And what's that meant to imply? That Bruce Wayne is...crazy? Sorry, but by now, if that's what they're insinuating, it'll only add insult to injury.

Plain Dealer reviews "Boys of Steel"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer writes a book review of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, a pictorial bio of Siegal and Shuster.

Increase of graphic novels in libraries

An article in the Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune of Canada about how graphic novels are becoming more common in public libraries.