Las Vegas festival is Batman-themed

The Las Vegas Review Journal spoke about their local specialty convention, whose latest setup, wouldn't you know it, takes the predictable modern route of using a superhero whose foremost theme is the dark, and a miniseries whose characterization for its star became almost entirely mandatory over the following decade or so:

It was a blockbuster that lived up to its title in more ways than one.

In 1986, DC Comics published Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” which hit the industry with a Batman-worthy ka-pow!

At the time, Batman was seen as so passe that his future was in jeopardy, as Stephen King wrote in the foreword to the 400th issue of the comic, in which he acknowledged that he once feared that the superhero would become a “character who had simply slipped away into the quiet hall of obscurity.”

“The Dark Knight Returns,” which King called “probably the finest piece of comic art ever to be published in a popular edition,” changed all that and then some. Not only was it a huge hit with the comic book crowd, but it was carried — and sold well — in actual bookstores.

“‘The Dark Night Returns’ made Batman an iconic, relevant figure again,” says Joe Keatinge, writer and editor-in-chief of “Comics! The Magazine.” “Breathed new life into it.”

Really! What they're saying, in other words, is that, no matter how dark and jarringly violent the stories of the 1970s were when Denny O'Neil and Steve Englehart were leading writers, it didn't help the Masked Manhunter's fortunes in the long run, if at all. Only Miller succeeded in boosting fortunes for the series. This is just plain insulting to the intellect, because, although this article does reference at least 2 more items of note, it doesn't mention any other artists and writers like Chuck Dixon. If he wasn't a guest at this convention because of his conservative credentials, that can be telling something too.

That title, along with successive hits such as “Batman: Killing Joke” and “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” proved to be game changers, ushering in a new era in which comics and graphic novels were increasingly — and legitimately — seen as literature, reaching a whole new audience.

It's so annoying how select writers and titles are cited as the reason the medium supposedly gained wider recognition, mainly because these kind of news reports are curiously omissive of brighter angles like Superman's. As for the Killing Joke special, I wonder why we're not told the plot or premise? It involved Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, being crippled by the Joker, and perhaps the most disturbing part of production is that, as told by Daily Grindhouse, both Dick Giordano and Len Wein as editors said "go ahead and cripple the b****" to Alan Moore before he began writing it. It's chilling to think, what if they used the C-slur to describe Babs? And then, while Killing Joke may not have originally been intended as canon, they pretty much made it so soon after, recalling a 1990 issue of Suicide Squad was probably the first place where Babs could be seen in her new wheelchair-bound role. It may have led to a great role in Birds of Prey 8 years later. But the way the editors in charge went about it was disgusting, and you can't blame anybody who may believe that's why the door should be left open for Babs to return to a walking role in the years after. It's just a shame that, by the time it occurred in the late 2000s, it was far too late, and was ruined along with plenty of other items by crossovers like Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis.

One of the hosts of the festival is Joe Keatinge, said to be an artist/writer who's worked at Marvel and Image, and he said:

Keatinge will also present a talk on “The Comic Roots of Batman,” in which he’ll trace the evolution of the character from his noir-inspired origins into a brooding Hollywood antihero.

A scene lifer who’s written for Marvel Comics and Image Comics, worked as co-editor of “Popgun” and more, Keatinge has seen firsthand how the comic world has grown in recent decades.

“The industry has caught up with the potential of the art form,” he says. “In practical terms, what we’ve seen since the early 2000s and late ’90s is a major push of comics in schools and in libraries. And so specific titles like Raina Telgemeier’s ‘Smile,’ Jeff Smith’s ‘Bone,’ Dav Pilkey’s ‘Dog Man,’ and ‘Captain Underpants’ built a generation that was used to comics.

“They had exposure to comics at the places that they were being educated,” he continues. “And then grew up and they started going to Barnes & Noble with Mom and Dad, they saw manga, and it had a variety of stories that were much more mature than the ones they were reading. Now, all those people are in their 20s and they can go to comic book stores and seek out the work that’s there.” “I think we’re in for a very interesting five to 10 years in comics,” he predicts. “I really feel like we’re just at the beginning of an era of what I hope will be expansion.”

Oh, I'm sure of that. But what about the Big Two? How well are they going to fare with the way things are going? Even Batman's lost its luster long ago, and they won't admit it. They won't even get into how the 2004 War Games event, and subsequent War Crimes, were some of the worst storylines the Masked Manhunter and cast were put through. And if sales figures matter, I found this item on the site of a writer named R.S Martin, who says the following about DKR:

DC Comics saw its fortunes turn around. Writer-artist Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight, a four-issue limited series in an upscale format--the $2.95 cover price for an issue was almost four times the industry's 75¢ standard--became the sensation of the field. The sales of the series are unknown, although the individual issues are believed to have sold over 300,000 copies each. The end of the spring saw the debut of Watchmen, a 12-issue series by scriptwriter Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, that is believed to have had average per-issue sales of over 200,000. The summer saw the long-awaited revamp of Superman, by writer-artist John Byrne, in the six-issue limited series The Man of Steel. The average sales of each issue is believed to have been in the mid-to-high hundred-thousands.

If this is correct, is that something to truly marvel at? Sorry, but no matter the merit, the answer is "no". So why are we being lectured that DKR, and also Watchmen, were such a big deal? It's plain stupid to tell all this without citing any sales figures or doing hard research.

As for where the industry goes in the coming decade, that remains to be seen. When it comes to independent comics, there can be potential if serious talent is involved. But assuming DC/Marvel are still around then, how will they fare under the same expectations? That's exactly why they don't belong under a conglomerate anymore, and if Skydance Corp, as the new owner of Warner Brothers, has no intention of overseeing improvements and jettisoning the worst DC turned out in the past quarter century, I'm not sure why we have to expect anything good to come from the purchase this year.

Since we're on the subject of conventions/festivals, here's also a report from the Daily Bruin about the LA comicon, where some attendants brought up the worries about AI's influence:

A major concern for Callibur, she added, is the use of artificial intelligence within the comic industry. She said the community generally is worried about AI but also recognizes that AI cannot replicate what it does. Concept designer Gary Montalbano said he noticed people really appreciate human-made work.

“Artwork, writing – what you’re doing is communicating to another human how you’re feeling,” Montalbano said. “It (AI) is just a prediction. … it’s the rise of mediocrity.”

Yes, but it's vital to consider that comicdom fell into artistic mediocrity and worse over 2 decades ago. The same paper also noted how Hollywood movies continue to be too much focus at the convention, and that's why these festivals could be considered outmoded at this point if they won't scale back their focus and make sure the original topics aren't obscured for the sake of too much Hollywood.

Speaking of which, I'm tired of all this constant focus on Batman at the expense of heroes like Superman, and that's something that has to change too. It doesn't mean I'm not a fan of Batman. Quite the opposite. But I still find it utterly appalling how darkness is made into such a big deal, especially if the same advocates aren't interested in emphasizing challenging issues despite all suggestions to the contrary.