The Four Color Media Monitor

The UK Daily Record (via Robot 6) tells that Grant Morrison did a nod to Barack Obama in the last issue of Final Crisis:

Grant told the Record: "I wanted to do something special for the last part of this huge comic book series.

"As I was writing it, I heard Obama making a joke about being born on the planet Krypton and being sent to Earth by his father Jor-El to save the world.

"I thought it would be a fitting end to all the darkness in America recently.

"All the comics have been dealing with darkness recently and, having defeated evil, it's now time to celebrate."

I'm afraid darkness is still likely to prevail, economically too, so I don't see what the point is, and the nod to Obama was uncalled for. But now I see what was meant when it was said this series went through a rewrite towards the end. And I can guess what might've happened if John McCain had won: they would've depicted him as the president of an alternate earth who was evil and needed to be defeated, wouldn't they?

Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, politics

Mike Baron, another of the handful of conservatives working in the comics field, contributes an entry to Big Hollywood, a blog that's part of the Breitbart network, on some of his own experiences with the left.

A good point to make on when he said 3 years ago that we need a new Captain America: he obviously meant a better, bolder, more inspiring direction. If only the people in charge of Marvel were ones who'd agree to that.

Labels: good writers, politics

The Connexion writes about the Angoulême comic book and animation festival, now in its 36th year, that's beginning this week (via Robot 6).

Labels: conventions, Europe and Asia

On the Dixonverse forum, they pointed to a report FOX News did on questions of if, with Obama's election, this could lead to a black superhero breaking through in the mainstream:

Since their inception, there have been only a few black superheroes in comic books, and fewer still have achieved mainstream appeal.

But Obama's rise to the presidency now has many people in the business of creating and marketing heroes hoping that a black superhero will finally break into mainstream pop culture.

[...]

The first black superhero was Marvel's Black Panther, who showed up in a 1966 Fantastic Four story and has gained some popularity. Another Marvel character, Blade, earned big-market attention when Wesley Snipes personified him in a film version of the comic. Some characters have vacillated between races — both Spawn and Catwoman were black in certain iterations, white in others. And characters like Storm, Luke Cage, Static, and Bishop have enjoyed a certain level of celebrity, but not the kind that has netted others their own big-budget Hollywood films.

But with Obama establishing a new role model for blacks in America, traditional depictions of blacks in popular culture could get a makeover, said culture critic David Horowitz.

"I think having a black president will have a positive impact on black images in the popular culture and will move that culture away from some of its politically correct absurdities," he said.

The problem is that this seems to base its whole argument on image alone, not on personality or talent, or even what Obama is capable of bringing to the table.

Chuck Dixon, the first to reply on this thread, had this to say in response:

Ever notice that when the "dearth" of black superheroes is discussed Blade is never mentioned?

The fact that no black superhero has broken through to superstardom is a failure of creators. These folks really think that black superheroes have been held back by institutional rascism or a prejudiced public? And the nation has been mystically transformed by the election of BHO so now Black Goliath will find his proper place in the pantheon of superheroes?

Black superheroes, like most superheroes, are one-dimensional gimmicks at best. The exception is a Batman or Wolverine that rises above the clutter. There's no hit Hispanic superhero. With the exception of Wonder Woman there's no marquee super heroine either. And let's all try and forget every attempt to create a Native American superguy.

What's needed is not to "reach out to the African American audience." Aiming at a demographic that makes up 12% of the population is a non-starter. What's needed is a universally appealing character who happens to be black. Of course, comics' track record for doing this sort of thing sucks. Most great comic characters are created by sheer accident. Even when something ambitious like Orpheus is attempted there's resistance from bickering editors, shifting priorities and finally apathy.

These articles make me tired.

Me too, because they almost always fail to clearly address artistic quality, the most important factor to creating any heroes of ethnic backgrounds.

Another problem FOX completely misses is how DC and Marvel have swamped themselves so badly in stunts like company-wide crossovers today, and one-dimensional publicity gimmicks, to say nothing of considerable character destruction of their already existing hero cast, that there's certainly no chance that anyone would be able to find a black superhero/ine getting decent writing.

The FOX article also says this:

The Black Panther, another Marvel mainstay, will undergo a life-altering new storyline and will be featured in an animated series.

What they don't mention here is Marvel's intention of replacing T'Challa in the comics with a female protagonist while possibly killing off the prince of Wakanda, which I've perceived as a case of a black protagonist being subject to ridiculous PC-diversity. If that's the case, they certainly aren't doing much to prove they're trying to promote a guy who's one of the smartest scientists in the MCU.

That aside, superheroes and the genre aren't the only place where black protagonists need advancement. There's also supporting casts, and even the adventure genre, in and of itself. Surely the argument presented on FOX isn't a bit too limited then?

Labels: politics

An article in the Daily Pennsylvanian about a comics collection being contributed to the Van Pelt Special Collections Library and their exhibition there.

Labels: libraries

In another sign of how comics too are being affected by the economic recession, Diamond has begun to let some staff go. Even DC, as one of Time Warner's properties, has been affected: they're laying off a few workers there, including, interestingly enough, Bob Schreck.

Even MAD magazine has been affected to the point that they're going quarterly. That's actually not too surprising to me, knowing that when MAD first began, they were usually published 6-8 times a year, and it was only in the past decade or so that they went full time monthly. But now, it looks like they're going back to a schedule even less than that, because of how their sales must've dropped over the years.

Labels: dc comics

Not content with replacing Capt. America, Black Panther and She-Hulk, Marvel's editorial has now decided to make Carol Danvers their next target for death, and replacement by Moonstone, the onetime Thunderbolts member. The Examiner, which writes about this, is being pretty sugarcoated about it, and says:

In these days of big, company-wide events like "Secret Invasion," "Dark Reign" and "Final Crisis," no one is safe. Marvel killed off Captain America in 2007 and DC just offed Batman. Now that the majors are running out of major characters to kill, I guess they're moving over to minor ones.

Uh, didn't they already do that with minor characters, if what began in Identity Crisis and later in Infinite Crisis is any indication (and even Avengers: Disassembled)?

The strategy actually appears to be working. What generally happens is that the compaines kill off a beloved and established character, and then put a younger one in their stead.

In what way is it working? Artistically, financially, or both? I'm not sure it's working so well now. And the only time it really worked was when Wally West took up his uncle's role as the Flash, because that was done respectfully enough. It didn't work well with Kyle Rayner taking over for Hal Jordan as Green Lantern because they didn't give Hal a respectable send off. What's more, when you kill off/replace as frequently as they've been doing now, it has less impact, if at all, and looks more like the cynical attempt to stir publicity stunts that it is. Nor is it very shocking. Rather, it's just insulting.

Over at "Captain America," it's now James "Bucky" Barnes. a former Cap sidekick, who now wears the Star Spangled costume - not to mention a gun! One can argue that Capt. America has never been so interesting.

Gimme a break. The gun actually makes the concept less imaginative.

My theory is this: These characters have more often than not been around since the 50s or 60s (in some cases, the 30s). There's little one can do with them that hasn't been done before. Put a kid who needs a little seasoning in their place, however, and you get someone who makes mistakes, still needs to learn the ropes...someone who is just like us, one might argue - and a little more interesting than crusty old Batman, Captain America, or even Ms. Marvel.

Wow, what a defeatist that writer is! Not only does he criticize the characters instead of the writers, he even insults their very creation by calling them crusty and old, and ignores that Moonstone, Carol's designated replacement, isn't exactly a kid anymore either. Nor does he even suggest what new or inspiring ideas could be done with them, the biggest hole in the argument.

My prediction? Ms. Marvel will get more attention when she's about to die than she ever did in the many years in which she has been alive.

Maybe not. The book was mired in crossovers when it first began, and I certainly won't buy it now when it's being put under an editorial mandate that's even worse. But if it actually does get mainstream press attention, it's disgusting that only when a character dies should there be given any attention at all. The press should be ashamed if that's the only time they're going to take notice.

That aside, I don't see Moonstone's usurping Ms. Marvel's role garnering much success, and it certainly doesn't deserve any if this is how they're going to go about their business.

Labels: Avengers, golden calf of death, marvel comics, msm propaganda, women of marvel

The Los Angeles Times talks about how sales are declining, and how there are even some layoffs at a few smaller companies (and even sugarcoatedly mentions that foolish Spidey/Obama stunt). Among the things they tell here are:

...even after a year stuffed with blockbuster films based on comic books, growth in all sectors is stalling.

There are no statistics available for comic books sold to customers. But the number sold to merchants is dropping. For February through November of 2008, the amount of top comic books sold to shops was lower than the same period in 2007, according to online research group Comics Chronicles.

And why aren't there any? As I suspect, because those who could probably provide them are ashamed at how low sales are compared to what most books, music CDs and videotapes sell. Either way, this is another of various articles I've read from a mainstream paper that gives no clear sales figures, if that's what they mean.

...Hollywood might be able to inject some magic back into the market, several retailers said.

Last year, hit films like "The Dark Knight" helped attract casual readers. When the trailer for the movie adaptation of "Watchmen" debuted in July, DC Comics had to print 900,000 more copies of the graphic novel. Store managers are hoping the boost continues with upcoming movies like "Wolverine."

Otherwise,the sales skid could continue.

Trades are one thing, but pamphlets are now becoming another. And if prices are going up to 4 dollars, especially at Marvel, I don't think casual readers are going to be in such a hurry to buy those, when the price is halfway to what the movies themselves cost, which is almost ten dollars nowadays.

The future of pamphlets is not bright.

Labels: sales

Another sad sign of how comics are facing extinction if they don't adapt to better conditions, Diamond, which has been virtually the only distributor for comics for a decade and a half, has announced it'll be increasing its benchmark for what products it'll carry by a thousand dollars. This'll affect small independant publishers for starters, then major ones are likely to suffer next. What this tell is that the time has come to move to something along the lines of Original Graphic Novels (OGN), or even something similar to the "prestige format" books that were being put out for at least two decades, and to move to regular book distribution companies if that's what they'll need to survive, or find new life.

This is also the result of the economy suffering, of course.

Labels: sales

Comics Should Be Good tells that, while J. Michael Straczynski was the writer of Amazing Spider-Man's 9-11 "tribute", one of the most embarrassingly bad side-stories concocted by Marvel several years ago, John Romita Jr. was the one who thought up the scene of Dr. Doom crying over the disaster. I did hear several years ago that JRjr had claimed credit for that dreadful idea, but assumed at the time that he was trying to take heat away from Straczynski. But now, apparently, it turns out that JRjr was behind it. But that doesn't mean that either one is absolved of irresponsibility. Quite the opposite, I'm disappointed with both writer and artist alike for depicting some of Marvel's leading villains out of character in situations where they don't even belong.

And if the following tells anything...

Romita had, in the past, already noted that Stracynski HAD mostly left the choice of which villains to feature on the page up to him (except that Doctor Doom was specified by Stracynski as having to be there).

...it's that Stracynski is still guilty on his part of writing Doom into the script to begin with. So even if Doom weren't depicted crying, it'd still be inappropriate and implausible, considering that Doom's already put innocent lives at risk in the past whenever he attacked the Fantastic Four (for example, that time in the mid-80s when he destroyed the original Baxter Building). Why exactly would anyone sensible want a demonic man who's likely to return to his old ways coming within even miles of Ground Zero?

If they needed to depict anyone crying, it should've been the good guys and girls of the MCU. It would make a lot more sense if Betty Brant and Ben Urich were the ones crying at Ground Zero rather than one of the biggest tyrants in the MCU.

Labels: marvel comics, politics, Spider-Man

The Connecticut Post writes an interview with veteran artist and inker Frank McLaughlin, who's also worked on a lot of comic strip drawing, who's now 73 years old and lives in Stratford.

Labels: good artists

The Northwest Indiana Times writes about the comic book convention taking place this week in Portage. And, someone even makes the following observation worth considering about the Spidey/Obama issue:

He also said comics like the new Barack Obama/Spiderman may be worth a lot now, but could go down in value.

"You shouldn't buy comic books just to invest in them," Morton said.

Of course not. The entertainment value should come first and foremost. And that Spidey/Obama short story in issue #583 is unlikely to last long in value. Especially if it's kept bagged and boarded. I won't be surprised if some copies start turning up on Ebay in just a few months.

Labels: conventions, marvel comics, politics

The Penn. Express-Times fawns over Final Crisis, taking the usual this-is-oh-so-great approach:

It took one of the greatest and most powerful of DC's villains to kill the dark knight.

Darkseid.

Come on, we all know DC can't and won't keep Bruce Wayne dead forever.

Writer Grant Morrison's epic comic book event started slow, but in the last two issues it has really come together to be a worth the hype.

Sure it has. Not when it trumps real, stand-alone storytelling, I don't think.

There is no doubt that the hero will be brought back, but his death will still be felt across the DC universe for months to come.

But not by the readership. Whether or not Bruce comes back, I can't bring myself to care anymore, because this is all they're interested in now, in deaths for the sake of publicity. That's why his "defeat" at the hands of Darkseid doesn't make an impact on me either.

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

Grant Morrison resorts to shock tactic dialect in this recent interview with the terrible Wizard monthly:

WIZARD: So, Grant. Bruce Wayne? What's up with that?
MORRISON: Yeah. He looks pretty rough on the last page there. [Laughs]

What's it like going down in history as the man who killed Batman?
MORRISON: It's great! At last! I feel like John Wilkes Booth. It's fantastic.

These British writers are getting way out of hand with how they give an interview. So too is Wizard.

And it's terrible that he seems to think making a reputation on "killing" a character is something great.

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

There's going to be a comic strip exhibition at the Louvre in Paris (via Newsarama blog). It looks like this is the first time a museum as prominent as them is running a show like this.

Labels: Europe and Asia, museums

US News & World Report provides some info on Stan Lee's extra career as a businessman and entrepreneur.

Labels: marvel comics

760 WJR radio in Detroit, Michigan ran an interview with the proprietor of Green Brain Comics in Dearborn who told how Spider-Man went through editorial mandates a year ago that have wrecked sales of the book, and how the Obama short-story in the current issue seems to be an attempt to bolster sales of a crippled item nobody's interested in now (Hat tip: Colossus of Rhodey).

And indeed, that's what I was thinking too, that this was just the umpteenth attempt by Joe Quesada to find some way to salvage what he's got left by resorting to cheap stunts. The funny thing is, if the comments on this post on The Beat tell anything, Marvel didn't notify about this in advance to retailers so that they could order more than they had (the retailer interviewed said he didn't have much more than 2 copies available, and there were only a dozen people who came round to his store just for that), and while now, they're going round to 2nd-3rd printings, they still may not be able to cash in on this as well as they'd like to. I do hope not, as they've done nothing to deserve it. But as the picture here shows, some people in NYC have actually gone out of their way, in the freezing cold of January, to try and buy a copy of this overblown item. Really, what's the use?

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, politics

As if the the Spider-Man issue featuring the president-elect were not enough, as if even the Savage Dragon's inclusion weren't enough, now, it turns out that even Rob Liefeld, one of the most truly awful artists in the past 2 decades, has decided to feature Barack Obama in an issue of Youngblood's latest series. I wonder what'll be worse, the artwork, or the story, or both?

Labels: dreadful artists, moonbat writers, politics

An article in the International Herald Tribune about a special exhibition on Schroeder's music at the Charles M. Schultz museum in Santa Rosa, and how scholars of the classic Peanuts strip are finding messages in the cartoon's scores, which were drawn from the work of Beethoven. (Via Hot Air Headlines)

Labels: comic strips, museums

In this article from USA Today, they say sales thrived last year:

The comic-book industry, helped by the enormous success of films such as "The Dark Knight," showed continued growth in the burgeoning graphic novel category, according to an exclusive look at top sellers.

Total sales remained "strong" and the graphic-novel category grew by 5 percent, says Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comics Distributors, which services more than 4,000 comic-book stores nationwide.

"We remain optimistic about the comic-book industry heading into 2009," he says.
Sales figures show:

Marvel Comics’ "Secret Invasion No. 1" was the best-selling comic book of 2008. The eight-issue miniseries about the takeover of superheroes by shape-shifting Skrulls took the first six spots. Only "Uncanny X-Men No. 500" (No. 7) and DC Comics’ "Final Crisis No. 1" (No. 9) also cracked the top 10. Diamond did not release actual sales figures, but best-selling comic books (priced at $2.99 or $3.99) normally sell more than 100,000 copies.

No actual figures? Then what good is it to say they were doing well? And 100,000 isn't exactly something to crow over anymore. Business as usual, I'd say. The increasing price, which they do show there, is not likely to help much either. But the real disappointment is when no questions are asked just how good is any of the material and if it's worth buying.

But it does suggest where comics may be headed next, and that's the paperback format, the part of this report I can certainly believe makes sense. If that happens, I think the good part there would be that it'd be harder for company-wide crossovers to take place.

Update: ComicBook.Com confirms that 2008, in contrast to what USA Today claims, was not such a great year (via Robot 6).

Labels: msm propaganda, sales

The Penn. Express-Times fawns over Marvel's Dark Reign. It may have just begun, but really, it's been going on for more than a couple years now, with possibly no end in sight. Most terrible is seeing how Tony Stark has been humiliated and disgraced by Quesada and company. And one of the most ridiculous things going on now is Norman Osborn's decidedly implausible ascension to high-ranking status in the MCU:

In the final battle with the Skrulls, the entire world watched as Iron Man left the fight and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, saved everyone by killing the Skrull Queen.

In the aftermath of the invasion, Iron Man has been fired and Osborn was hired to replace him.

Now one of Marvel's greatest villains is in control of the Avengers, the Fifty States Initiative and H.A.M.M.E.R.

H.A.M.M.E.R. is the replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D., which was disbanded for its failure to defend the planet from the Skrulls.

Sounds pretty lame, and again, we have a case here of defeat for the sake of defeat. As for Osborn, this is just too much - he may be a formidable foe for Spider-Man, but he is far from being the kind of villain who works well as an adversary for major teams like the Avengers. But that's Quesada's mandate, where they see themselves as superior to their audience, and not having to explain anything.

While Osborn doesn't have total control of the Marvel universe, his "Dark Reign" can be found in the following books:

'Invincible Iron Man'

Nobody's fall has been greater than Tony Stark's.

He's been removed from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers; his multimillion-dollar Avengers Tower has been confiscated by the government and he's seen as a failure by the people.

Now he's become a fugitive and public enemy No. 1 after he stole the only computer files that contained the identities of the registered superheroes.

This character assasination being inflicted on Tony is getting truly disgusting by now.

'New Avengers'

The day after the fight with the Skrulls, the New Avengers meet in their new headquarters with their newest member, the new Captain America.

Soon they are off to find and rescue the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Their daughter was kidnapped by a Skrull posing as Avengers' butler, Jarvis.

After exhausting every lead they can, a desperate and exhausted Cage goes to the last man who can help, Osborn.

In exchange for helping find his daughter, Cage joins Osborn's team.

So Luke Cage is being forced to sell out to evil too? This too is perfectly dreadful. And if Bucky Barnes, as the new Capt. America, is now being added to the mess as well, I think that's where everything involving him is likely to go further downhill.

One thing is for certain: it's going absolutely nowhere, and those who buy the wheel hub miniseries or any of its connecting spokes are only going to be spending a whole lot of money on nothing. And with prices now skyrocketing to 4 dollars, I think that's one more reason why the time has come for crossovers to end.

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

I wasn't sure at first just what side Marvel's leftists would take, but now, it looks like any questions about their support for the president-elect have been answered:

On Jan. 14, Marvel Comics is releasing a special issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama depicted on the cover. Inside are five pages of the two teaming up and even a fist-bump between Spidey and the new president.

"It was a natural after we learned the new president is a Spider-Man fan," says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada about reports that Obama once collected Spider-Man comics. "We thought, 'Fantastic! We have a comic-book geek in the White House.'"

Honestly, I think all those claims about Obama being a comic book devotee are greatly exaggerated; from what I read in past news item, it sounded as though he just collects them for their percieved monetary value. As for that fist-bump, don't get me started on how ludicrous it really is.

In the story by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata, Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama's swearing-in. At one point, Spider-Man says he mistook Vice President-elect Joe Biden for the Vulture (a vintage Spider-Man villain).

Oh please, this is so dumb, including whatever jokes they're trying to make involving Biden.

"We do our best to be completely non-partisan and treat presidents with respect," Quesada says.

Suuuurrrrre they do. Garth Ennis certainly didn't do that when he wrote the Punisher several years ago.

"This is not so much a pro-Obama statement but a tip of the hat to having a Spider-Man fan in the White House."

Oh, do tell us all about it, Quesada. I wonder what conservatives the Chameleon is intended to serve as a metaphor for here? Back in the day, the Chameleon was usually depicted as a commie agent. Now, I won't be surprised if they've completely changed that.

They end the article with the following question:

Would McCain have gotten a special issue had he won?

Says Quesada: "If McCain was a Spider-Man fan, I'm sure he would."

I'm afraid I've got my doubts about that.

Here's USA Today's special gallery page, featuring a few panels from the issue. The artwork is terrible, particularly in the third sample, which is disturbing.

More on the subject at Hot Air.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, Spider-Man

Labels: Carnival entries

Linda Park West, wife of the Flash, may have been spared that fate a few weeks ago. Whether or not Lois will meet it, however, it's good to be on the alert. In this article published in the Nashua Telegraph that talks about the Man of Steel's history and upcoming storylines, they tell that:

In the enormous summer crossover "Final Crisis," his wife, Lois Lane, lies at death's door, Pa Kent has died (again) and Darkseid of Apokolips has conquered the globe.

Is that going to be why Superman leaves Earth for space soon? As for Jonathan Kent's death, while that was done surprisingly less offensively than some of the other deaths of recent, I think it came much too late to have a real impact; all those tasteless deaths make it hard to appreciate.

Super-writer Geoff Johns told Newsarama.com that he's taking the Man of Steel to "an emotional crossroads."

If Superman leaves Earth because he can't cope with Lois' death, which won't be welcome with me, that'll be making him seem like a defeatist. In fact, DC made an almost similar mistake with Green Lantern back in 1967 after Hal Jordan left Coast City for a while because he couldn't bear living there after losing his chance to win the hand in marriage of Carol Ferris, which ended up costing the series a lot of readership.

Super-editor Matt Idelson says "the Super-mythos will be shaken to its core again and again" in the next year.

And there will be new members of the extended Super-family with the familiar names Nightwing, Flamebird and Superwoman.

Too many shakes can spoil the broth, methinks. This is another clue to how DC is regressing backwards, and may even be willing to take the codenames away from Dick Grayson and Bette Kane.

But change has always been a constant for a character who has remained a vital American icon for 70 years. For Superman, and for us, it's just another exciting chapter in the never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.

I'm sad to say, but it's not very exciting anymore. Not when there's a serious editorial mandate lurking around the corner.

And again on Lois: if she is killed, it shouldn't be accepted any more than Marvel's destruction of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and a similar boycott of the Superman titles would be recommended too.

Labels: dc comics, golden calf of death, msm propaganda, Superman, women of dc

The Anderson Independent-Mail of South Carolina writes about the recent Sports & Comic Book Show in the city, where they also trade items that can be worth hundreds of dollars. But whenever I hear what sounds like they're interested in the hobby for the dollar signs, that bothers me, since I've come to believe that entertainment value should be first and foremost.

It was impressive though to read that customers brought their children:

“Anderson has a great, loyal customer base for comics and trading cards,” Thompson said. Thompson, a comic book enthusiast whose first exposure to the glossy and colorful paper books was through his older sister who collected “funny” comic books and passed them down to him, said watching parents bring their children into his store, and the local show, is encouraging.

“Parents brought their kids in (to the show Saturday), and were really getting involved with helping them interact with the dealers and learning about the different comic books,” Thompson said. “We see a lot of the same thing in the store, with parents bringing their kids helping them build their own collections.”

Well, that's nice to see that children came, and if their parents encouraged them to try out comics as well, but I get the feeling that it won't persuade DC and Marvel to start making their mainstream/flagship titles suitable for the younger audience again soon.

Labels: conventions

If reviews such as this one and this one and this one and this one are any indication, the Milestone cast's entry into the DCU has not been winning the audience over, nor has it been very well written. I figured as much. It's funny how they put in titles like "Be Careful what you Wish for" for the story here.

In their own line and world, the Milestone cast may have had significance, but in the DCU they become too much, and it makes them redundant. Same could surely go for a couple of heroes once published by Archie that may be making their debut in the new Brave & Bold series soon. Another problem here is that unlike some standalone crossover publications of yore (Green Lantern vs Aliens, JLA vs Predator, and Superman co-starring Gen13), where the plot and script were unconnected to the main DC universe, here, they're shoehorning an entire cast of foreign characters into the DCU proper, and in a very pedestrian way at that.

Plus, when DC integrated the Capt. Marvel family and 3 Charlton heroes into their lines, those were just a handful. Now, it seems like almost an entire busload is being shoehorned in, and not very interestingly at that.

Maybe that's why Dwayne McDuffie told Newsarama a few weeks ago:

“[...] But someone from Milestone will always keep a hand in, making sure DC does right by our guys. For the foreseeable future, that's going to be me. That said, if things somehow go horribly wrong, there's a backdoor built into the story that would allow us to pull them out cleanly without damaging either property. I don't think we'll ever need to, but it's there.”

This is telling something. No matter how long they intend to use them, it's clear that McDuffie is holding the copyright to his creations, and if it doesn't work out, they'll depart, the good part being that it's unlikely they'll be killed or anything upon making their exit. Most likely they'll just leave while saying, "we're heading back to our own universe now, so long!" Which, I'll be honest, would be a good thing, as we could definitely do without more senseless violence.

However, despite what McDuffie said, they've already damaged one property. For several years now.

I predict Milestone's coming into the DCU will be little more than a simple footnote.

Labels: dc comics

It looks like even King Features, which publishes and distributes the newspaper comic strip of Spider-Man, has been forced to delete the marriage.

This shouldn't be too surprising. Marvel owns the copyright, so they can do this. I know that the strip's circulation has dropped considerably in the past decade, and while it's assumed that Stan Lee still writes it, my guess is that he may not officially be the writer anymore (Brenda Starr and Rex Morgan MD have had a few different writers, and I'd think the same holds true for Spider-Man's strip), though he probably does serve as story supervisor. But as one of the posters on this thread says, Stan certainly doesn't own his creations or Marvel today, which explains why he'd be obligated to reboot everything.

So now, unless writing in to King Features to complain about this could yield some results, fans of the Spider-Marriage won't be able to find any relief in the newspaper strip either.

Labels: comic strips, marvel comics, Spider-Man

The Titans Tower Monitor provides a recent DC Nation column of Dan DiDio's, where he talks about why they're bringing back Barry Allen as the Flash:

From the time I started working at DC, I had a plan --no, scratch that, a desire to bring back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. To me, they were the definitive Green Lantern and Flash, and they helped bring forth a generation of heroes. More important, they were the base from which all the other ring-bearers and speedsters would come. Nothing against Kyle or Wally, but you can't know who they are without knowing who Hal and Barry are first.

In bringing Hal back, I found a "partner in crime" in Geoff Johns (remember that name; it is important later). Geoff was an even bigger Hal fan than I was and had the same desire to bring him back. Following that desire, we formulated a plan, and following the plan came GREEN LANTERN:REBIRTH. The success of Rebirth exceeded even our wildest expectations, so with Hal and better than ever, we turned our attention to Barry.

He fails to make any distinction between why in Hal's case, bringing him back was because he'd been tarnished in Zero Hour (not that they've really done better since then), whereas in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry was given a decent sendoff, so it's not like he ever needed to be brought back. In any case, they've already lost me by killing off Impulse. And, he fails to realize that, if the audience needs to know who Barry is, all they have to do is read the older material.

All DiDio's doing is showing that things are not planned well, not even in advance. And here's a challenging question: if he wants to bring back Barry, then why doesn't he do the same with Tula, the original Aquagirl? Tula was never that big a presence in the DCU outside of Aquaman's series from the late 60s-early 70s, but she did have a few interesting moments, most certainly her teaming up with the New Teen Titans for their showdown with the H.I.V.E in 1984. Yet unlike Barry, Tula, who died from inhaling waters infected with toxic poison in the Crisis, is virtually forgotten today, and DiDio's bunch does not seem interested in resurrecting her. If Barry can come back, shouldn't Aquagirl be able to as well?

It's ludicrous how only select characters are seen fit for resurrecting.

Labels: bad editors, dc comics

After replacing Steve Rogers with Bucky Barnes as Capt. America, and T'Challa with a female protagonist as Black Panther, their next replacement seems to be Jennifer Walters with the daughter of Thundra as She-Hulk. (According to this Newsarama interview, her name has yet to be revealed.)

Thundra is a warrior woman from a future timeline when Earth is called Femizonia, who first appeared in Fantastic Four #129 back in 1972. However, the man she was usually hooked on just so happened to be Ben Grimm, the Thing. When she ever started becoming interested in the Hulk, I have no idea. But all these replacements are starting to get out of hand. First, they toss out Steve Rogers. Then, it's T'Challa. Now, it's Jennifer Walters. This shows that their whole idea of forming "legacies" not unlike DC is starting to get way out of hand. Clearly, they don't have much faith in the real She-Hulk either. I wonder if this new volume will be humorless, hence the "savage" adjective?

"Do not make her angry"? What about fans of Jennifer Walters?

Labels: Hulk, marvel comics, women of marvel