Christopher Walken Turns 65

Christopher Walken turns 65 today. He's still going strong, and has been married to the same lucky lady since 1969. You are teh awesome, Mr. Walken. Hope you celebrate with some cham-pahn-yah.

Links:

A profile on some of his best (or worst) movie villain roles

Walken for President 2008

Weapon of Choice video

Christmas Letters To Christopher Walken

Walken Photoshopped

Walken Soundboard

Walken Striptease

Warren Ellis: If I Don't Own It, I'm Not Going To Spend My Life On It

" For those of you who harbour a wish to write comics, consider this today: you're either on this side of the line, with me and Brian K Vaughan and Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison and Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction... or you're not."

-- Warren Ellis on why he doesn't stick around long for the non-creator owned comics he works on

So I guess copyright/creator's rights issues is going to be a hot-button topic this week...

I can't begrudge Ellis leaving Thunderbolts. He had a really great run, and 12 issues is not too shabby.

Brubaker is on this list, though? Really? Hasn't he been on Captain America for like forever? What is his opinion on working on books he doesn't control the rights on?

Here is a list a Newsarama reader provided on the comments thread (I have no idea if this is accurate or not):

Warren Ellis:
Iron Man: Six issues
Thunderbolts: Twelve issues
Ultimate Fantastic Four: Twelve issues
Doom 2099: Fifteen issues
Ultimate Trilogy: Eighteen issues
Excalibur: Twenty one issues (back in 1994-1996)
Stormwatch: Twenty five issues (Back in 1996-1998)

BKV:
Ultimate X-Men: Twenty issues
Runaways: Forty two issues

Ed Brubaker:
Captain America: Thirty five issues and counting
Daredevil: Twenty five issues and counting
Criminal: A couple volumes and counting
Immortal Iron Fist: Fourteen issues and counting
Catwoman: Thirty seven issues
Sleeper: Twenty four issues
Uncanny X-Men: Twenty five issues and counting

Grant Morrison:
JLA: Forty one issues
Animal Man: Twenty six issues
Batman: Twenty issues and counting
New X-Men: Forty two issues
Doom Patrol: Forty four issues

Matt Fraction:
Immortal Iron Fist: Fourteen issues and counting
Punisher War Journal: Eighteen issues and counting

Garth Ennis:
Punisher: About 100 issues
Hitman: Sixty issues

But that said, why should Ellis have to write the title beyond the point he felt interested in it? Isn't it better he write 12 kick-ass issues than hack it out past that point just for an easy paycheck?

And that list leaves out stuff like Transmetropolitan, which Ellis had some sort of creator-owned deal on, and which he wrote for 60 issues.

Would the publishers offering a bigger slice of the rights/royalties pie make these comic writers more likely to stay longer?

What do you think?

Comic Creator Offers Up Work For "Remixing" Under Creative Commons

Hot on the heels of the Siegel Superman ruling and many Internet discussions on copyrights and public domain, comic creator Dan Goldman ("Shooting War") is offering up his online comic "KELLY" for remixing under Creative Commons:

"Applying open-source ideas to comics has always excited me… and my freakadelic “KELLY” has served as my current laboratory for pushing boundaries in all directions, so it felt natural for me to take this step with this particular project."

Under the licensing agreement, anybody can spread or "remix" Kelly -- as long as they credit the original work and don't make money off of it.

I applaud Goldman on his decision. As an artist utilizing mixed-media and "found" art (who likes to incorporate old comics in her work), this issue of "remixing" is one of particular interest to me. I may have to produce some "Kelly" pieces. :-)

Fans Bash Siegel Superman Ruling

It has never occurred to me that there might actually be comic fans who are against creator's rights. But, the reaction by a selection of fans on the Blog@Newsarama boards regarding the recent Superman copyright ruling educated me otherwise. Their basic opinions, to sum up:

1) The Siegels are "greedy"
2) It was Siegel & Schuster's own fault for losing the rights
3) Time Warner is being victimized
4) The Siegels are "stealing" Superman

Meanwhile, people on the Bendis board are floored at the Newsarama forum's reaction.

Here is a selection of the negativity against the Siegel ruling on the board in question:

"Why they sold the rights they shouldnt get anything."

"Siegle and Schuster signed away the rights. Its their own fault. I don’t think they should have any creative control over the franchise. They should have huge, huge, HUGE royalties, but not creative control. Its not theirs."

"They shouldnt even get royalties they gave up that when they signed over the rights."

"THEY SIGNED THE RIGHTS AWAY NOT WITH A GUN TO THEIR HEAD AND NOT ONCE BUT TWICE WHEN THEY SETTLED IN COURT IN 1948. ENOUGH ALREADY."

"Gimme a break. They were paid in 1938. They were paid off in 1968. Again in 1978. They kept taking the money and suing again, Time Warner will keep this tied up for decades and that’s good."

"As the end consumers.. we will be the ones paying for this. Keep this in mind next time comics prices rise, or your favorite book gets cancelled because it’s not selling well enough (less profit = less flexibility), or when they decide that making a Superman Movie or cartoon is not financially viable because of “licensing” fees."

"Total Crap! The families are just money hungry."

"I’m sorry, the ruling may be correct under the law, but in that case, it’s a bad law. The property should belong to the party that bought it, under the terms of the agreement between the buyer and the seller. The government has no business changing the law, as it did in 1976, to (among other things) take Superman away from its rightful owners. I sympathize with the Siegels, but this is just wrong."

"Yes, shame on us for calling shenanigans on the greed of people who did nothing to deserve it. Was the deal those two guys signed appropriate, given what Superman has become? Probably not, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. Punishing Time-Warner now for something that a former version of one of its many subsidiaries did decades ago is grossly immoral. The justice system you people have is hopelessly flawed if this is allowed to happen."

"Superman
Created by Siegel and Shuster
Raised by DC
Killed by the Siegels"

"In retrospect, DC (or National Comics) should have avoided giving its artists and writers any credit at all. Perhaps they should adopt a policy of total creative anonymity now, and consider all of its comics to be authored by the corporation."

"Seigels family was just on Foxs and say they don’t care about Superman or the Fans They want the Money because they don’t feel like working the rest of their life"

"i really don’t know what to say. to be honest i’m not happy because i’m worried that we might lose superman forever. i know. selfish. but can’t help it. that’s just the way im feeling at the moment."

Occasional Links: The Full-Bodied Muppet Edition

Comic Mix wonders if the Siegel Superman ruling will hurt comic creators in the end...


The new Jason Voorhees has been cast

Read a Golden Age "Senorita Rio" story drawn by classic Teen Titans artist Nick Cardy!


Plastic bag subway animals (trippy)

This one only for the most hard-core toy fans in the audience:
Hasbro store mistakes Iron Man figure's shoulder armor as cute hat


Michael Keaton Batman costume nets over $100,000 in auction

Who would win in a four-way grudge match between Keaton, Adam West, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney?

"Sweded" Dark Knight trailer:



Yahoo counts down the top ten mismatched movie couples



Classic Twilight Zone episode being greenlit for movie

The Transformers sequel is already being filmed? Really?

Super-cool Quentin Tarantino montage:



Check out this awesome optical illusion of The Thing

Leaked! The plot of the new Muppet Movie


How a full-bodied Muppet works

Is Dane Cook America's worst comedian? It's down to Dane, Robin Williams, Dave Coulier, and Jay Leno

Meanwhile, America asks Jay for his best "gay face."

Hayden Christensen Now Superman?!

Will Hayden Christensen play Superman in the new Justice League movie?

/film has the wild rumor (allegedly given away by Adam "The Flash" Brody at a bar).

I'm sorry, Christensen IS the new Keanu Reeves. He is a wooden-acting, pretty-faced sci-fi GOD, I tells you.

This one would be worth it just to see how many people bitch about it.

(still liked Attack of the Clones)

Final Crisis Or Secret Invasion: 3 Days Left To Vote!

Our highly unscientific poll here at OS has three days left to go, and almost 400 of you have cast your votes on the question:

What event are you looking forward to most: Final Crisis or Secret Invasion?

The rankings so far:

Final Crisis: 237 (62%)
Secret Invasion: 144 (37%)

So be sure to cast your vote at the poll to your right and make your voice heard!

Remember, the winner of this competition will win their very own contract with OS Studios, along with a very equitable royalties package including 10% on each action figure sold.* Then next month we do it all over again with another event! Event fatigue you say? I say thee "nay!"


*Fine Print:
1) "Marvel Boy" and the eight clones of "Marvel Boy" ineligible to vote, but will probably create multiple fake accounts and vote anyway.
2. For the more literal-minded readers in the audience, the "OS Studios" thing was a joke. I'd never split the profits on the action figures.
3) The "eight clones of Marvel Boy" thing was also a joke.
4) Those responsible for the "eight clones of Marvel Boy" thing have been sacked.
5) Those who sacked those responsible for the "eight clones of Marvel Boy" thing have also been sacked.

Comics Are Expensive: TRANSHUMAN #1 and PROOF #6

Comics Are Expensive is written by licensed Expertologist Chris Lamb. Don't try this at home, kids.

In hindsight, I should really learn to look at the next week’s shipping lists before declaring the subject matter of future columns. Not that this week’s books are bad, mind you, just that, by saying this installment would again be doing the all new books thing, I sorta cheated myself out of the chance to spend a few hundred words gushing about the new All Star Superman. Oh, sure, I can say over at my site (coughexpertologistcough) that’s it one of the most beautiful comics I’ve read in a good long while, capturing everything that makes the character great in all the shades of thoughtful poignancy and inspiring heroics you could want, but that’s hardly the same, y’know? Ah, well. There’s still plenty to talk about in the meantime, so best to get on with it.

But seriously, read All Star Superman #10. It’s just lovely.

TRANSHUMAN #1

Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Artist: Jim Ringuet

The most impressive thing about Jonathan Hickman is perhaps his apparent inability to sit still. Rather than resting on his laurels after appearing on the scene with last year’s successful Nightly News, he almost immediately dove into Pax Romana, a story involving time travel, the Roman Empire, and Vatican-inspired dickery with promises of more to come once this initial four-issue mini-series wraps up. New book Transhuman makes three, and already looks to explore themes similar to Hickman’s other work, namely the tendency of greed run rampant to ruin everything it touches.

And it’s here we come to something else to be impressed by: Hickman’s storytelling is already showing signs of maturing past his first work, with a presentation and approach more subtle and sophisticated than I’ve seen from him before. Nightly News was a good book, if slightly weighed down by a predictable ending and a need to attempt to shock in all ways possible rather than just the right ones. Transhuman, on the other hand, already has a calmer, more careful feel to it (despite still not being able to resist breaking character a bit, even if for one of the better jokes to be found here), one that allows information to be dolled out at just the right pace to keep you hooked. The idea of framing the book as a documentary of the events that shaped this future world is a great one, allowing the use of an approach to storytelling I don’t really remember seeing in comics before (though I’m sure it’s popped up somewhere else): the oral history.

Which brings us, rather handily, to what it’s all about. Transhuman is the story of the next great step in humanity’s evolution, the people who got us there, and what was in it for them. While just the first issue, all signs point to Hickman taking the road less traveled here, opting not to focus on the global effects of genetically engineered superpeople becoming common place, but the commercial ones. Right from the start it appears we did okay by the advent of genetic tomfoolery, though some dark secret no doubt lurks at the heart of it all: the average human lifespan is on the rise, it’s an age of renewed human ambition, etc. For all the sunshine and roses of the far-flung future, however, it appears the road there was somewhat smooth. We meet the founders of two companies racing to be the first to make the great leap forward (and claim the unspeakable fortune waiting on the other side) and get a taste for the animosity fueling their less-than-friendly competition. Early failures involving monkeys and a messy group of early human volunteers hint at the sort of disasters a marketing war over the fate of humanity itself is sure to create, and I’m looking forward to seeing what else might have gone wrong under the not exactly stable hands of the people we meet here.

Mostly, though, I’m just looking forward to more. Transhuman shows great promise, establishing a firm foundation by providing just enough information to hook you in and give a sense of where things might go while leaving the field wide open. All kinds of questions abound – what is the world like, now that we all have access to superpowers? Is genetic engineering the norm now, or did cybernetics win out? How far is the fight between Janice DeAugustino and ex-husband Dave Apple going to go, and how long before the line between personal and business is completely lost? Hickman and Ringuet have three more issues to lay out the answers, and while they may not all be what I want to hear, I can’t imagine they’ll disappoint.

BUY STATUS: Unless things take somehow take an unthinkable turn for the horrible next issue, I’m in for the whole mini-series. I should also get around to finally reading Pax Romana as well.

PROOF #6

Writer: Alex Grecian

Artist: Riley Rossmo

As a rule, there are worse ways to be introduced to a new comic than a first page splash of a family of dinosaurs peacefully grazing in a modern African jungle just moments before having their own “don’t go into the meadow” moment. The same applies to main characters – sure, anybody can do a book about the secret life and adventures of Bigfoot, but to put him in a button up shirt, tie, and sweater vest just says something about you as a creator. There’s class, and then there’s class, yeah?

That said, I can’t claim this particular issue blew me away. It is indeed the start of a new story arc, just as the front cover claims, and is clearly intended to serve as a jumping on point, but I’m going to need at least another issue or two to know for sure if this is just a furry riff on Hellboy or something more. The main characters don’t really do anything beyond hang out and talk about the last storyline’s adventure, none of which gives me a feel for who they are or where they’re coming from. The villain, Colonel Werner Dachshund, is rather interesting – I can’t remember the last time a bad guy’s master plan was to eat the hero, and I’m curious to see where that goes. All in all though, I’m left feeling like I would have enjoyed this more if I’d been reading since the beginning, which is not the sign of a good jumping on point.

Let’s be clear: Proof is not a bad book. There’s clear potential for this to be a lot of fun – the dialogue moves at a nice clip, always-fun internal team drama brews under the surface, and, as mentioned before, the main character is a nattily dressed Bigfoot. While this issue on its own might under whelm, there’s enough here for me to want to see what the story is capable of once its done setting up. If it can deliver on the promise of its ideas, then Proof could be something really special.

BUY STATUS: In for the next two issues, as is standard operating procedure, and expecting to enjoy myself more once things get rolling. Thanks for the recommendation cleverly disguised as adamant demands, Rich.

And that should do us. I had intended to cover Flight Explorer, the first attempt by beloved anthology series Flight at an all ages book in depth, but time and general not feeling great conspired against me. Suffice to say you’d be hard pressed to find a better use for ten dollars this week, particularly if you’re in need of a gift for any one interested in comics and old enough to have a pulse. As is apparently now custom, you can find this week’s other books at Expertologist. No idea what the plan is for next week’s column just yet, but if you’ve any recommendations then by all means mention them in the comments or drop a line to chrislamb@gmail.com. See you next time.

Girl Beaten To Death For Being A Goth

British teenager Sophie Lancaster was viciously beaten after trying to protect her boyfriend Robert from a gang of drunken teenagers. The couple's unconscious and bloody bodies were found lying side-by-side. Robert survived; Sophie didn't. Apparently, they were singled out for their Goth attire.

I read stories about violence and death every day, but this just got under my skin.

It's such a simple dynamic, isn't it? Angry, amoral thugs with no articulate way to express their desperation and frustration with the world find someone "different" to attack. The fact that she and her boyfriend embraced the Goth lifestyle is not even the most basic issue. In other places in the world there are Sophies who are physically attacked for being gay, of color, or even simply being a woman.

The worst part is, there is no real justice. The only real justice is if, decades into their life sentences, one of the boys responsible achieves a sufficient level of intelligence and empathy for human life that tortures their conscience. Even if if you gave them the death penalty, I don't see how justice is really served. If you don't have the reverence for human life to prevent yourself from smashing in the brains of a beautiful young woman like Sophie, you won't even understand why you're being executed.

But this dynamic has been around pretty much forever, hasn't it?

You know, back in the mid-to-late 1990s, the big "panic" was about "those anti-social Goths." Some parents were taught to spot the "warning signs" of their child becoming a Goth. Stories like Columbine, "the Vampire Clan," and others were held up as "proof" that the United States were under a "Goth Attack." Horrors!

But it was never really about "the Goths" (our cultural shorthand for a subculture that is far more complex and textured than the term describes). It was about disaffected teens, often from broken homes and low-income situations, who grow up amoral and sometimes with untreated mental disorders and substance abuse issues. I've seen a legion of these sorts of individuals go from childhood to a criminal adolescence to a horrible adulthood (if they make it that far).

A true "Goth" takes darkness and makes art out of it -- the art is in the way they dress, and can be in other creative endeavors they pursue like art or writing. Or they can celebrate and at the same time defuse the darkness in constructive outlets like movies, music, or roleplaying.

Sophie's attackers, on the other hand, lack that sort of transformative ability. They are raised to deny the darkness, and to believe they are "the normal ones" and the natural inheritors of the world. But though they deny the darkness, it is still very much there. Their darkness is raw, immediate, and ready to spring out at the first unlucky individual.

Anyway, this news story bummed me out. Probably bummed you out too. Sorry.

When I Hated Will Ferrell

Sean Kleefeld's post about his lack of love for Iron Man brought up the topic of "hating" certain superheroes.

I really cannot think of any superhero I "hate." But I did, at one time, hate Will Ferrell. And he's sort of a superhero.


I remember the distressed look on my friends' faces as I announced, during a discussion of Saturday Night Live, that I hated Will Ferrell. They looked at me as if I killed a puppy. A very cute, oversized, especially hairy puppy.


Why do we hate on certain figures? What drove me to use the word "hate" in conjunction with Will Ferrell?

Well, for starters, that damn cheerleading sketch. Not funny, never was funny, not even when David Duchovny was on it. And David Duchovny makes everything funny.


Also, I never quite cottoned to his character "Mustafa" from Austin Powers, though I have substantially more sympathy for his many trials and misfortunes now.


Furthermore, while he was ostensibly the co-star of the SNL movie Superstar, it was the oft-ignored Harland Williams who really deserved more credit in that film. If it wasn't for Ferrell, Harland Williams might have been America's top bumbling funnyman. Things like that just keep me up at night.

What turned the tide for me on Will Ferrell? His depiction of the loveable manchild in the movie Elf. With Elf, I realized that only bad people hated Will Ferrell. Ferrell was indeed this generation's Dick Van Dyke, or even Tom Poston.


After that, thanks to comedy classics like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and that ice-skating film with Napoleon Dynamite, I became officially converted to the Cult of Will. I felt ashamed of the hate I once expressed for Ferrell, and that anonymous Wordpress blog I used to write called "Why I Hate Will Ferrell" where I obsessively focused on his body hair and close-set eyes. I took that blog down right away; if I could have burned it, I would have. St. Paul in Damascus much?

So that is how I stopped hating and learned to love Will Ferrell.

Now I hate John C. Reilly, because he is a punk-ass.

The Many Faces Of Alfred Pennyworth

More casting news for that fabled Justice League movie we've been hearing so much about:
Heroes' Stephen Tobolowsky as Alfred. Which brings me to fond memories of Alfred Pennyworths past and present...

The first Alfred was a rotund, clean-shaven dude:
But when the Batman movie serial came out in the 1940s, DC editors wanted Alfred to resemble William Austin, the actor who portrayed him (Eric Wilton, an actor even more obscure than Austin, also played the butler in the serials):


And so, in one of the early cases of comic books being changed to have "synergy" with the movies, Alfred looked like this:


Fast-forward to the 1960s, when Alan Napier was hired to play the faithful butler:


He, to my mind, is really one of the best Alfreds. I liked the friendship he built with Batgirl, back when she was first introduced and Batman was sort of being a jerk about it.

British actor Michael Gough had a long career before playing Alfred in all four of the "first" series of Batman movies, but most people remember him for playing Alfred:
Gough made a good, dependable Alfred -- and certainly, as the films took that sharp right turn after "Batman Forever," he was sort of the "glue" that held everything together. Also of note is that in this continuity, Batgirl is his niece.

There is the Batman The Animated Series Alfred (voiced by Clive Revill and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.):
Ian Abercrombie played Alfred in the short-lived Birds Of Prey series. Why did they need an Alfred for this show, anyway? I guess it is the whole continuity with the Huntress being Batman's daughter, but...how old did that make Alfred???



Michael Caine's Alfred was sort of like Alfred 2.0 -- far more active and independent. You got the feeling with Caine's Alfred that he could sort of kick ass if needed.


Alastair Duncan then stepped into Alfred's shoes in The Batman:

Here's to you, Alfred Pennyworth: you might not be as flashy as Batman, that's true. But nobody ever called you "Goddamn Alfred." And there is something to be said for that.

Do Spoilers Spoil A Comic?

Here is the basic question:

Do spoilers spoil a comic for you?

My thoughts:

If it is a book I was on the fence about buying, it very much "spoils" things -- as far as me being motivated to buy it.

Sometimes, the only attraction certain books have for me is the "big reveal."

Case in point: Countdown. Despite some of its flaws, Countdown has contained some important -- or at least shocking -- events in the DCU. If I had no way but to call my friends to find out the spoilers, I might have just bought it every week. Just to see what crazy s**t popped up next.

But, if you have scans and full spoilers posted online by 12:00 on a Wednesday -- where is my motivation? All the "good parts" have been posted for me to read - literally, panel-by-panel. And if I'm really adventurous, I can track down the full illegal scan of the book, along with a good portion of everything else that came out that day.

But with comics with a proven track record, having the "big reveal" spoiled for me is annoying, but I can still enjoy the book. So I doubt Captain America readers will drop the book after finding out a key Cap spoiler.

Anyway, this is why I think keeping these things under wraps is so important to comic companies. I think they lose a lot of "casual reader" business when their books are extensively spoiled. It is, in a sense, their "business secrets" being given away.

While speculating about the spoilers for the event-of-the-month can be enjoyable -- I read regularly Lying In the Gutters, and think Rich presents these things in a fun way -- when it comes to direct play-by-play spoiling of a company's key book, I kind of take exception. What was sort of fun speculation starts to seem like hostility.

I am looking at things from the inside-out perspective of working within the industry. If the sales of the company's biggest books get hit because of extensive spoilage, and the overall financial performance of the publisher suffers, these are the people who suffer:

• The writer
• The artists
• The editorial staff
• The production staff
• Everybody else on staff

To a jaded "fan" who resents not being inside that "clique" anyway, this is hardly a reason for concern. Indeed, the ruining of a company's event might be (and often is) justified as "payback" for not listening to the fan or fans (or including them in the perceived "clique").

(and the retailers suffer too, don't they?)

The Internet makes it extremely easy to disseminate leaked information. How do publishers deal with this inevitability, then?

For that, I turn to the example of Hulu.com.

The people who post TV and movie clips (as well as the entire program) on sites like YouTube are considered, in a way, minor folk heroes. Though they add very little of their own ideas to the table (the exception being video "mashups"), they are "branded" to the product in some way. Some include personal logos before the clips or features.

But Hulu takes that notoriety away. It also provides free movies and clips. Even clips you can embed on your blog -- just like YouTube. NBC/Universal took control of their product. The South Park creators are doing the same thing -- offering every episode for free on their website.

The comic publishers need to similarly take control of their intellectual property and "spoilers."

Why should Marvel let other sites benefit through increased traffic over their own spoilers?

They should be hosting these spoilers on their own sites -- and at least control the flow of publicity and collect the ad revenues.

They should create a "spoiler day" before the books come out, driving traffic to their official sites. Or integrate spoilers into some sort of mystery or contest. The key is to give fans what they want and will get anyway, but at the same time having some degree of profit and control of the situation -- as opposed to having none.

But also, it is important for any comic to not heavily depend on the "reveals" and shocking material in order to get readers. The story should be able to stand on its own even if spoiled.

Finally, there is the question of genuinely wanting to enjoy your comic and let the story unfold on its own.

To be honest, I used to always turn to the last page of the comics I read first. But, then someone told me why that was a shitty way to approach things, and I stopped. Because the real person I was cheating was myself.

Any Star Wars Haters In The Audience?

As I was looking at these "Star Wars Zombies" pics at /Film, the following question popped into my mind: does anybody here "hate" Star Wars? Or merely dislike the franchise?

I cool with Star Wars but I wouldn't consider myself a "fangirl" about it. Apparently, "Return of the Jedi" was not the Citizen Kane-like masterpiece I remembered it being when I was 8

How Not To Succeed In The Comics Business With Lots Of Trying

When you're a freelancer, or a potential freelancer, the wait to hear back about a project can be frustrating.

In the case of "O," this apparently resulted in a nasty text message to Michael Davis.

In the Comic Mix article "The Story Of O," Davis elaborates on both the situation and the etiquette involved in dealing with publishers while you are waiting for feedback/movement on a project.

Davis's mantra? Don't burn bridges.

My own mantra on the subject is, assume the project might or might not happen, and just live within that. This might not be the most positive way to think, but I am pretty skeptical about any project I'm working on will come to pass until I sign a contract or see something in print. In the meantime, I work at my job. I see no need to be bitter or impatient about it.

Admittedly, my years in comic book editorial might have jaded me on this point. I've seen a lot of pitches become books, and a lot of them shot down. I've seen projects that get "fast-tracked," and projects that languish for YEARS.

Since "Goodbye To Comics," I have been involved in many pitches, projects, manuscripts, plans, etc. This is not bragging. As you can see, I have no printed work yet -- just this blog and one article in a magazine. I was picked up by a major literary agency within weeks of "GTC." But, despite working on a manuscript adapting the blog, and numerous drafts, in the end it was not meant to be. It might be meant to be some other time. However, I don't feel my time with my agent was wasted. I learned a lot about writing, and about the entertainment industry.

That's the way it works -- you might get something, you might get nothing, you might get something later, or you might have to wait a good long time.

Getting angry, feeling entitled, all this shit -- it's pointless. Because I've seen too many people driven figuratively or literally insane by this desire to write/draw mainstream comics. It's as if even if they reach that level, things will mysteriously be "okay" for them.

Getting your first comic gig does not put you on easy street. If you are prone to negativity, you will find a whole new bunch of things to bitch about. And you will still have to prove yourself, issue-by-issue. You don't just cinch your first fill-in and suddenly become Bendis. Bendis didn't even suddenly become Bendis.

Now, in the comments section of the Comic Mix piece, Elayne makes a good point -- what about a freelancer waiting for a "green light" on a project that is plagued with delays. Well, if you are an artist, and your editor wants you to "wait" for a project, wants to "reserve" you, and it's taking forever -- that's an entirely different matter. That's a matter of putting food on the table, and Elayne is right on that point.

But the nature of developing projects, of submitting pitches, it's very ephemeral.

And if somebody truly wants to get their creative works out there, and the mainstream is not receptive, there are so many options these days. Webcomics, e-books, blogs, podcasts, videos, etc. Try an independent route. Learn the skills of self-promotion. You might get just a small group of fans, or become the next Perry Bible Fellowship.

There is no reason to curse somebody.

Tales of The Bad Comic Shop: The King Of The Silver Age

Here is a story about Alvin, who collected rare silver age DCs and wanted to break into comics.

I hung out with Alvin when I was a teenager. He was at least ten years older than me, but I guess mentally we related to each other.

Alvin compulsively collected silver age DC comics. Oh sure, he had his eye on the jewels of any silver age collection -- first appearance of the JLA, first appearance of The Flash. But, he was not a snob about it. He dutifully filled out long, dogeared runs on Doom Patrol and Adventure Comics. When he upgraded, he gave me the doubles. It was awesome.

Alvin would walk in to the Bad Comic Shop in which I worked with an air of an entrepreneur. He always made my boss go up on the ladder to take down the expensive comics from the case. Alvin would then pick this Green Lantern or that Adventure Comics and say, "here's 5 bucks -- put it on the side for me." This pile of comics, reserved for Alvin with a stack of $1 and $5 bills paperclipped to them, began to grow.

"Alvin, when you're gonna pay for these books?" my boss would ask every time my friend came in.

"Just hold them for me! I've got money coming in soon!"

Like many of my adult friends and associates at that time, I had no idea what Alvin actually did for a living. I just knew that Alvin's biggest goal was to become a professional comic book writer.

Alvin knew people in Comics. He told me stories of being friends with X, Y, and Z -- names that, if I told you, would be quite familiar to all of you. Alvin apparently worked these contacts hard, until one day an editor gave him a small assignment.

But, that was the only assignment he ever got.

In the meantime, he always had his job as an assistant on a political campaign. One night he asked me to out driving with him so I could help him rip down the opponent's posters. When I refused, he said that this was the way all campaigns were run, behind the scenes. That there was nothing personal in ripping down the posters; and, besides, the opponent was a bad person anyway.

When I refused to assist him in this endeavor, he took it really personally. We had a fight, and I never spoke to him again. It was probably for the best; a week before, I had found out that he told his mother we were "steady," when we weren't even dating. Never mind that I was 17 and he was staring down the barrel of 30. His mom was ecstatic at the news, by the way.

The years passed, and I lost touch with him. Eventually, I started work in the comic book industry. Nearly eleven years after the last time I saw Alvin, a mutual acquaintance mentioned that he had spoken to him. Alvin told him that he knew all about my job in comics.

Further, Alvin said that the reason he never got a job in the industry again was because of me; because I "bad-mouthed" him in the biz.

Mind you, I had barely thought about Alvin in years, much less talked about him to others. He was simply not on my radar.

And yet I was apparently on Alvin's radar. And he believed that the reason he was not a big name in comics was because of me. It was my fault.

It was not his fault -- perhaps a defect in character, or not a good enough writer, or simply not at the right place at the right time.

It was because -- he imagined -- I set out on a campaign to ruin him in comics.

And this was not the last time I heard this story from people who knew Alvin; Alvin was happy to tell it to anybody that would listen; at the video store counter, at a party. In fact, he apparently tells this story to this very day -- 18 years since the last time I saw him.

For some reason, whenever I think of Alvin, I always think of this:

In a comic shop that was not the Bad Comic shop, in this very very old comic shop that I think is still around, there might be this old brown paper bag with a selection of 1970s Marvels in it. Attached to the bag with a paperclip are the three dollars I put down, with the promise that I would be back to redeem the books. I went with Alvin to that shop, and he convinced me to put down the money.

I'm sure it's a long shot, but if I went into that ancient comic book store today, I swear to God that bag of old comics would still be there. Seething.

Image from Satan's Laundromat

Jay Leno Asks For Ryan Phillippe's "Gay Face"

Regular OS reader Sammy pointed out this recent Jay Leno segment where he's giving Ryan Phillippe a hard time for having played a gay teenager. Oh, of course, it is all in fun, right?

Whitless.com has the transcript, as well as the video:

JAY: Can you give me like -- say that camera is your gay lover -- number two --

PHILLIPPE: Wait a second. Wait a second.

JAY: Can you give me your gayest look? Say that -- say that camera is Billy Bob -- Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming.

Jeff at Whitless comments:

"So naturally you homed in on how WEIRD and HILARIOUS it was that he played a GAY PERSON -- while Phillippe reasonably tried to shift the conversation to the larger issue of how weird it was to be on a soap opera. But you couldn't be stopped! You went for the comedy gold!"

I'm not saying Leno is a monster for telling this "joke." But, he just wasn't that funny. Some may cry "this is the PC police!" and all that, and assert their right to laugh at his routine. Of course, anybody has the right to laugh at whatever. But the routine is built around the premise that gayness is a punchline in-and-of-itself. And these jokes are told with the implicit understanding that the audience "gets" that punchline, shares those cultural cues.

For another exploration of when pop-culture makes these often offensive assumptions, read Adrian Tomine's "The Donger And Me" webcomic on NPR. It's a good companion piece to the Whitless.com piece, I think, focusing on how the author of each confronted the offending celebrity.

The Kids' Comic Con 2008

Here is an awesome convention
that you can take the whole family to:

click for bigger image

When: March 29, 2008
Where: Bronx Community College in NY
Admission: FREE for children 17 and under
$5 for all others

KIDS' COMIC CON 2008 will feature:

1) professional artists and publishers from the field of kids comics!

2) a huge variety of kids' comics' exhibitions, workshops, panels, and signings, aimed at kids, parents, and educators.

All in one day, March 29, 2008, from 10 AM to 6 PM!

The guest list includes editors from Archie, DC, and Marvel plus comic creators like Jamal Igle, Kyle Baker, Chris Giarrusso, Raina Telgemeier, Joe Staton, and plenty more.

And remember, admission for the kids is FREE!

The KCC is created/co-produced by comic writer Alex Simmons.

What Comics Are You Buying This Week?

As my budget is being tweaked and reevaluated (not to mention the apparent spike in food prices), I have to be choosy with what I purchase.

So once again I'm putting the question to the readers:

What comics are you buying this week?

What comics would you recommend?

Further -- if you had to suggest one comic coming out this week to a person who is new to comics, what would it be?

*for your convenience, here is a list of what's shipping*

"God Save Stan Lee" T-shirt available at the comic shop Secret Headquarters, found via Kitsune Noir)

Less Work For Comic Book Writers?

With the announcement that Hugh Jackman is developing a comic for Virgin Comics, a question I remember being discussed 6 years ago in the DC editorial offices has raised its head again. At the time, we were asked to start brainstorming TV & movie writers and developers we could ask to write and create comics for us. This was a new way of thinking back then (relatively speaking), while today it's pretty commonplace at every major mainstream comics publisher.

A year after that, I remember talking to a freelancer about the situation. He felt that this practice crowded the traditional comic writer out, and made jobs harder to come by.

With directors, screenwriters, novelists, and actors being enlisted in increasing numbers to script and create comics, has the amount of gigs at the major companies for traditional comic book writers really been reduced?

Not that I am at all criticizing the decision made by comic companies to turn to this route. Well-known names like Jodi Picoult, Joss Whedon, and Hugh Jackman are going to be an asset to these publishers. If we are concerned about reaching out past the niche "superhero" crowd and attracting the "masses," this is certainly one way (though not the only way) to do it.

But, the amount of really good comic writing gigs (by which I mean, ones that actually pay a steady paycheck) has been relatively small to begin with. Perhaps this really does reduce an already-small playing field.

There is a similar situation in another area, voice-work for animation. With the advent of big-name stars voicing animated movies and TV shows, traditional voice actors have found that they have less jobs (for a discussion on this in their own words, watch the extra features on the DVD Comic Book: The Movie).

To be fair, comic book writer Marc Guggenheim is working with Jackman on the Virgin Comics project. But again: Guggenheim also does work for TV. Perhaps the key is for comic book writers to diversify their skill set so they are working in multiple media anyway.

Pink Supergirl

You know, I saw this in some costume shop ad I clicked on Google and was like "what the hell?"

"Pink" Supergirl?

This is officially licensed material, here.

From the ad:

"Little Kara Zor-El, who has only known Krypton her whole life, is now on the Planet Earth. She's here to fight evil and to save the innocent along side her cousin, Superman. Includes a hot pink dress with attached cape, silver belt, and hot pink boot tops with silver trim."

When did Kara ever wear this outfit?

...

PINK SUPERGIRL?!

Well, anyway, it matches really well with the heart-shaped desert plates:

Occasional Links: The Kool Penguin Edition

Did the advertising mascot for Kool cigarettes inspire Bob Kane to create The Penguin? Bat-Blog has the answer.


Speaking of which, a group of angry clowns protest Harvey Dent's run for district attorney -- was it a viral marketing campaign? Or real angry clowns?


It's a couple of days after the holiday, but here's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed marshmallow bunny diorama
Your new Star Wars toys are available in Muppet or Disney versions (what was that thing about George Lucas being protective of his original creative vision again? did that include Gonzo as Darth Vader? did I miss something?)


Read Jeff Lemire's 5-page western The Horseless Rider for free on his blog


The new Friday The 13th remake will star Jared Padalecki from the TV show Supernatural...and the new Tintin will be this fellow:


In other news, they are actually remaking Friday the 13th. And that kid's a little creepy.


Destructoid gives suggestions on how to revitalize the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise:

"Sonic's over the hill. He's clapped out, worn out and ready to be thrown out. As someone who adored the speedy woodland creature as a child, it's horrible to have to say that, but it's true. He was introduced as the cool and sassy alternative to a reserved and "boring" Mario, but looking at the two characters today, it's easy to see which is going strong and which has aged very, very badly."

If Sonic the Hedgehog is over the hill, I must be ancient. I played games on the original Atari system. I remember taking that original Atari system out of the box and smelling its just-out-of-the-box fresh smell.



Apparently if you stare at the center of this picture for 30 seconds, you will shit bricks. Let me know how that goes.



Somebody actually edited together all the creepy scenes from the infamous child molestation episode of Diff'rent Strokes. I'm sure the producers had good intentions with this episode, but it was one of those television watching experiences as a child that freaked me the hell out, introducing me to concepts like middle-aged men doing photo shoots of little boys on safari with their shirts off. Biggest creepiness of all -- the way the laugh track or studio audience chuckles during inappropriate moments. Oh, Arnold is about to get involved in a child porn ring -- that's freakin' hilarious.

Now, if I remember correctly, there was a separate episode where this photographer tried to rape the sister after tying Arnold up with duct tape. Wow. You can see how by the time The Cosby Show and Family Ties came on, we were fairly starving for something a little less...dramatic.

Though there was always that episode where Tom Hanks played Alex's alcoholic uncle. Alright, enough reminiscing!

The Skrulls Have Invaded The Marvel Offices!

I'm posting this press release I just got from Marvel verbatim.

The Skrulls Have Invaded The Marvel Offices!

For the past year, fans have looked at their favorite Marvel Characters and been forced to asked, “Who Do You Trust?” But now, on the eve of Secret Invasion #1 (of 8)’s hotly-anticipated April 2^nd release, disturbing new evidence has been revealed—the Marvel offices have been infiltrated by Skrulls!

Uncovered at http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.2939, Marvel’s intrepid reporters will expose a different Skrull agent each day…and it just may be one of your favorite writers, artists or editors at Marvel!

Tune in each day for more shocking Skrull revelations at http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.2939! And don’t miss the red-hot Secret Invasion #1, from the superstar creative team of award-winning scribe Brian Michael Bendis (New Avengers, Mighty Avengers) and acclaimed artist Leinil Yu (New Avengers)!

Better Than Anything I Could Have Written On The Subject

"The desire to create a community in something as inappropriate in a comic book store (or to judge such a place on the expectations of community) and the desire to create one on-line where the shared values and relevant items of discourse depend on superhero comic book ephemera -- these desires have to be related, and neither one is likely to be healthy for anyone involved, be they outraged, hurt, disappointed or legitimized by the outcome...

It has to be possible to read, buy and talk about comics without investing every human transaction of that type with the drama and import of one's core self-worth. If nothing else, it bleeds attention away from things like systemic reform and advocacy according to higher, more ethical standards by cuffing almost every issue about the head and shoulders until it turns into one more referendum on "what happened to me."

--Tom Spurgeon

The Last Supper, Comic Book Style

I came across this Countdown panel from this post with Last Supper homages:


I suppose the inference is, that Batman is gonna die?

Among other things, this places Wonder Woman in the "Magdelene" position on the table, and Green Lantern as Judas.

Meanwhile, Foot2Mouth dissects this Countdown teaser image in terms of Last Supper imagery:



Also awesome:


Getting a big kick out of this post:

Bat-Graffiti

I found this scrawled on a mailbox in the West Village in NYC:



"Bruce Wayne is Batman"

Occasional Links: The Bare Bejeesuz Edition

Who Framed Roger Rabbit reminiscing, anyone? (This film's like 20 years old, right? Oh, crap!)

You know you've run out of good linkbait when you list the ten lamest dinosaur names.

Lego Plastic Man



More official Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull photos (featuring he-who-I-am-not-allowed-to-name)

I didn't know Paul Azaceta (Grounded, Potter's Field) is doing the art on Daredevil...the stuff looks nice!

I'm digging this Righting Wrongs Dream Team t-shirt.


Check out the "real" Homer Simpson...and the "real" Mario.

Comic Mix contemplates Wonder Woman with "Cheeseburger in Paradise"

Scans Daily revisits "What If Conan Walked The Earth Today?"

Racialicious questions the imagery of this Vogue cover with LeBron James


Is this clip of the flying Enterprise from the new Star Trek movie? Or is it a damned fake?

Hulu.com provides legit Family Guy clips for your blog:

The "Bad" Comic Shop

Here is one of those "Last Exit To Brooklyn" type true stories about comic book culture from my youth. I was reading an excellent article about "bad" comic shops Alan David Doane wrote for the upcoming Comics Journal #289, and it brought me back through time...

I've already discussed on this blog what a crap hole-in-the-wall sort of comic shop I frequented and worked in when I was a teen. It was badly-lit and crowded with junk. My boss's idea of redecorating and covering all the dirt was to hand us a couple of boxes of Topps and Fleer bubblegum stickers and plaster the entire store with them, top-to-bottom. I'm serious. We covered the floors and walls with Charlie's Angels, Star Wars, and baseball stickers.

My boss hated children coming into his store. They bent the comics. He said that the kids would bend the comics and "make the comics cry." The kids were a nuisance and distracting.

My boss barely broke even on his store. Semi-retired, it was clear the store was just one big hobby for him, and not a real business. Half the people that frequented the shop were not even comic collectors. The store had a knack for just attracting the most dysfunctional elements of the entire neighborhood. Drunks, drug addicts, perverts. It was the first time I met heroin addicts; they would come into the store, sweaty, desperate (but very polite, mind you), looking to trade old toys and magazines for quick cash.

One of the store's regulars was a man I'll call Leonardo. Leo dressed in army fatigues, had a long red beard, and wore one those civil war type hats.

Leo was a commando. He was a "real cool dude." He said he knew how to kill somebody with a well-placed jab to a certain thin sharp bone.

Leo wasn' t really homeless; he had family. But he seemed homeless. He wasn't really unemployed; he did odd jobs, like driving live goats via his van to the neighboring meat markets and restaurants. Me and a friend took a ride in his van with him once. There were goat ghosts everywhere.

Leo liked to pick on a mentally-challenged woman who used to occasionally drop by the store. He liked to make fun of her, imitate her walk. He made fun of her when he saw her in the neighborhood, too.

I'll call the woman Ellie. Ellie was middle-aged and "slow," but very industrious. She, like Leo, did odd jobs, collected deposit cans, delivered newspapers. She walked the streets with this very purposeful but slightly mechanical gait.

Leo kept picking on Ellie, calling her "ugly," baiting her, calling her "stupid". Then one day, Leo didn't show up at the store at his usual time. And later, we found out that he was in critical condition in the hospital.

It turned out that Ellie's brother, a rather big fellow, beat the shit out of Leo. The details varied depending on who told it. Some say Ellie's brother did it alone, some say he did it with a group. The big story was that Leo was allegedly sodomized with some sort of long implement. Again, the details varied. Some said it was with a tennis racket, some say it was a baseball bat. I think the most commonly told tale involved a long rubber hose. This part might be apocryphal; but it was a big hit at the store.

But what was not debated was that Leo's head was bashed in. It was described as when you have a deflated football that somebody stepped on. That was how his skull looked like.

There was both shock and a sick sense of excitement in the shop over hearing news of Leo's predicament. That was the ambivalent nature of the social environment at the shop.

Eventually, that ambivalence turned on me, and my days with the shop had come to a close. Before I left the store for the final time, I told my ex-boss that a year from now, the place wouldn't even be there. According to his closeminded ethnic shorthand, he took that to mean a threat from me; I was Italian, after all. Maybe I "knew people."

But that wasn't it at all. It was just a matter of simple economics. My boss:

1. Hated children
2. Provided a shabby, disorganized store
3. Had poor, almost non-existent business sense
4. Encouraged an unhealthy environment full of hatred, gossip, and dysfunctional behavior.

Sure enough, within a year, the store was gone. Leo survived, but had some brain damage.

Ellie, who is probably in her 60s, still walks with a great sense of purposefulness up and down the streets of the neighborhood. I'm not sure of what she does, but she does an awful lot of it and seems content.

And me? Well, after I left that store, I swore I would never get dragged down in that sort of environment again. I entered college, swore off superhero comics, and only read the independents I purchased at Forbidden Planet. I would trek all the way to Manhattan just to buy my comics, avoiding my neighborhood and the surrounding ones entirely.

Anything that could take my mind off those grinning, leering patrons of the old store, hunched over the long boxes and scratched glass cases, unable to hide their amusement at the fact that their "friend" Leo the commando was in the hospital. They loved the drama. That's why I think they came by the store every day. Not for the comics; not even the comic book collectors for the comics. There were better stores in the area. Better lit, better stocked, cleaner. But they wanted the drama. And it was inevitable, given how they conducted themselves, that drama was to happen. It was a closed circuit that fed off itself.

image from Satan's Laundromat

The Marvel Boy Saga

Apparently, the "reign of terror" perpetrated by the blogger known only as "Marvel Boy" has come to an end, as his second blog has been deleted (though he might always start another account somewhere else). To those who don't know, Marvel Boy was seemingly a mole within Marvel -- the assumption being either an intern or assistant -- who gave away the spoilers to Marvel's books, falsely incriminated his fellow co-workers, and pretty much acted like a cocky jackass.

At the very beginning, I did consider the possibility that "Marvel Boy" might have been a viral marketing campaign on the company's part. I didn't consider this because I doubted their integrity, but because with the advent of viral promotional attempts like Lonelygirl 15 and the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare, such marketing techniques that blur the line between fact and fiction have come in vogue.

However, after reading and analyzing this individual's LiveJournal entries, I ruled out Marvel's involvement. But, I also wondered if there might be a little more to the "Marvel Boy Saga" than met the eye.

Whatever the case, when a Marvel editor's name got dragged into this by "Marvel Boy," I got really pissed off -- because the editor in question is a really nice guy with a family who has always been very generous to fans. It was another case of the Internet f**king with an individual's personal life, and for what?

It's not a joke. And, despite Marvel Boy's rather melodramatic prose, it's not a comic book either.

It's real life.

I was going to use a bunch of Marvel Boy quotes in my original post on the subject. With the LiveJournal now deleted, you can read these:

"...here I can say whatever I want and I will, until the day they catch me (which, the way things look here, will be a LOOOOOONG time if ever). It’s easy to cover tracks, anyone with half a brain and an internet connection can do this without anyone really getting to them. It’s so simple it’s almost pathetic!"

***

"Looks like the game is getting serious now! Not only did I get a shout out in the senior editor meeting today but now the lawyers are involved and they can’t even figure out who I am. Seriously? Is this even legal if it’s addressed to “Mr. Conners?" Like I’d use my REAL NAME?!?!"

***

"Everybody has plans!! well, I'm right here and I know my plan is better because I care! I care a lot. that's why I am working here for next to nothing, because I CARE A LOT!!"

***

"Ever see Blade Runner? ...I was reminded of that movie just now because at the end the bad guy gives a speech about all the things he's seen. And I have seen a few things here at the office today."

***

"Wow, looks like I got famous real fast. Seems like people think either I'm not real or if I am, easy to track down. You're wrong on both. I am very real but I'm not dumb either. I've been around for a while and not been caught yet, and don't plan on it. You want proof? Wait for it."

***

"I wish I was going to Wizard World. But nooooo, I'm here, photocopying and cataloging and helping make sure THE ESSENTIAL SERIES YOU FORGOT EVER EXISTED gets on shelves by the crucial June street date that some marketing genius or another has decided will guarantee maximum sales. The glow of the photocopier is much better than Los Angeles, any day of the week."

***

"Someone entertain me, damnit!"

***

"Because the snark, i have found, is completely disengenuous. Its a lie. I'm not completely sure any of them know that's what they are doing. Most seem to think they are the perveyors of truth. That they are saving the medium with thier snark and piss. They don't seem to see their inner child screaming at them to actually contribure something of value to this medium that has brought them so much joy.

And, yes, I am aware that not all bloggers have the same mental malady. so my question to you is: what about the ones that piss on something that makes them happy just to piss on it?? What is that mental illness called?

I'm asking because I might have it. "

***

"The only we are me and the voices in my head, but they are mine."

Comics Are Expensive: INCREDIBLE HERCULES #115, FEAR AGENT #19, THE BOY WHO MADE SILENCE #1

"Comics Are Expensive" is by Chris Lamb, licensed Expertologist. Don't try this at home.

Ah, the smell of new comics. As promised (or at least, as suggested might happen), this week saw me grab up a number of new titles I’ve never read before in the interest of seeing what else is out there beyond the tried and true mainstays I pick up each month. Lucky for me, it turned out pretty well – while not everything tried knocked my socks off, I wasn’t disappointed by anything I bought, and now have a couple of new series to start following and a few others to investigate further. It was such a success, in fact, that I think I’ll try it again next week. Pushing my luck? Probably, but then, what else is it for?

THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES #115

Writers: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente

Artist: Khoi Pham

In my defense, I had no way of knowing this was going to be good. World War Hulk had just ended, remember, bringing its overall fun story to a sort of okay conclusion, and the stuff coming next didn’t exactly look promising: a red Hulk by Jeph Loeb of all people in on title, and the continuing adventures of Hercules and Amadeus Cho, boy genius. Hercules was an unknown quality to me – the sum total of my knowledge of the character could be summed up as “Thor with less clothes, no hammer, and Greek. Also, kind of dim.” All in all, I think I can be forgiven for not realizing that him taking over the Hulk’s book while he spends the time from now till the inevitable movie-triggered reset to status quo being unreadable would turn out to be a good thing.

And it is. Despite not having read the last however many issues since the torch passing, the story is remarkably easy to jump into – Cho is continuing his personal vendetta against S.H.I.E.L.D. with Herc in tow, currently following a plan straight out of nu-Battlestar that sees the entire fleet of Helicarriers knocked out of commission (completely with a lovely visual hat-tip in the form of the Behemoth’s design). Of course, it’s going anything but smoothly, with our heroes getting into an argument over how far is too far just as the Avenger Ares and a battery of anti-being-dicked-with missiles courtesy of a very pissed off espionage organization show up on their doorstep. This rather naturally culminates in a fantastic fight scene befitting two immortal guys, with lots of hitting, explosions, and a whole bag of WWH’s glorious sound effects dropped in for good measure. I’m sure there are more practical ways of stopping incoming missiles, but I can’t think of any nearly as fun.

Now don’t get the wrong idea - Incredible Hercules isn’t all hitting, all the time. After a good long while of Cho’s obsession with hurting S.H.I.E.L.D. for their treatment of the Hulk, his time with Herc seems to be paying off in the form of him actually growing up and learning to let go. It’s a nice reminder that, for all his smarts and adventures of late, he’s still a child, an orphan who’s greatest role model is an uncontrollable monster and who’s only friends are a Greek god with an unpleasant past and a wounded coyote puppy. As moments go, it’s a nice bit of balance to the massive fight scene that precedes it, creating a solid and fulfilling read that hits each mark it tries for with room to spare.

It also makes for another reminder of what a weird place the Marvel Universe is to hang out in these days. On one hand, you have books like this and Iron Fist and Nova, great titles taking characters nobody’s really thought about in a while and making them shine. On the other, you have editorially-mandated retcons and a constant stream of massive events threatening to “change everything” just as everything was getting good. A character smoking is such a horror that it can never be shown in a book, but Faustian marriage annulments are not only okay but something to be excited over.

And of course, you have ideas that shouldn’t work, like a big, sorta dumb guy who means well and a smart kid wandering around and getting into trouble becoming must reads while former sure-things like The Ultimates are turned into the comics equivalent of a thalidomide baby. That House of Ideas has felt pretty schizophrenic for the last few years, appearing from the outside as if they’re trying to please everyone – including their own inner fanboys – at once. It’s led to a lot of unfortunate decisions across the board, and caused me to question more than a few times why I bother keeping up with them at all. Of course, every time I start asking, that same process seems to produce an unexpected gem like Incredible Hercules to remind me.

BUY STATUS: Yeah, okay, I’m in. I can only assume the oncoming war mentioned at the end has to do with the Skrulls, and while I can’t help but feel I’m going to get my heart broken, I’ll at least be there for it to happen.

FEAR AGENT #19

Writer: Rick Remender Artist: Jerome Opeña

Well, this was different. The inevitable danger of picking up a handful of new books based on word-of-mouth, an interesting cover, or random whim was leaping into the middle of a series with no idea of what was happening. Fear Agent is very much that series, and this, the third issue in its third story arc, manages to confuse and entertain in equal measures. What do I know? People are in SPACE. They are having ADVENTURES. There are also BAD GUYS. Oh, and something about the Earth probably being destroyed in an intergalactic war against little ball things riding around in person-sized suits and the crazy lady who appears to lead them. Easy enough to follow, right?

There’s not a lot of apparent main character guy Heath Huston this issue – we see him at the start, getting insulted by some aliens riding rather awesome flying fish monsters, and then he pops up again at the end for a heroic rescue. Elsewhere, Mara, who I’m guessing is at least one of Heath’s love interest, is stranded on a dead planet with the last survivors of her scouting party, a guy named Scott and a walking cliché who dies just as I was about to propose a moratorium on Latino characters exclaiming “Santa Maria!” or “Madre Dios!” whenever they’re surprised. Creepy imagery abounds as certain parts of the planet prove to be less dead than originally thought, with art that swings between genuinely lovely and early-90’s Image levels of ink splatters and scratchiness. It’s a fun ride, if suffering from a bit of disjointed writing and art from time to time, and manages to make the decisions made by the characters have an impact on me despite not knowing who they are or where they’re coming from.

And there’s the real question: Do I want to know who these people are? Y’know, I think I do. Remender says in the letters page (which wears thin pretty quick) that Fear Agents is structured like an HBO series – the sort of thing you can’t really jump into the middle of a season and know what’s happening. And I can appreciate that. There’s enough big dumb ideas and mad science here to make me want to know how it all started, so I imagine I’ll pick up the first trade rather than venturing further into unknown territory with the next two issues to see how I feel about the book as a whole. If nothing else, maybe they’ll explain why everybody’s space suits have spurs on them.

BUY STATUS: Hunting down the first trade in the next week or so, and then I’ll let you know.

THE BOY WHO MADE SILENCE #1Writer & Artist: Joshua Hagler

Now this is an odd one: according to the internet, this book originally appeared as the first issue of a twelve-part series in 2007 after creator Joshua Hagler won the Xeric Grant in 2006. So what’s it doing back on the stands here in far-flung 2008, appearing again in single issues rather than a nice trade? I suppose it doesn’t really matter – whatever the reason, it’s another chance for Hagler’s work to get some attention, and I have a lovely first issue of a potentially interesting series to read.

Before getting into the comic’s actual content, it’s worth noting the ad in the back for a gallery show made up of work related to the series. Hagler’s roots as a serious artist (thanks again, internet!) are readily apparent, and it lends his work here a rare beauty in comics – there are any number of panels and full pages from this first issue I would gladly having hanging on my or anybody else’s wall. There’s real power to his art, with scenes capturing not only the isolation main character Nestor’s sudden deafness has foisted upon him but the similar effect it’s having on his mother as the challenges ahead begin to down on her. There’s more to comics than still images, of course, and luckily Hagler comes through again, linking scenes together with an eye for storytelling that shows a lot of promise. The quotes on the back from David Mack and Sam Keith couldn’t be more apt – throw in a Dave McKean and a think you’d have the hat trick of artistic influences nailed. For all their fingerprints, however, you rarely feel as if anything you’re seeing is less than unique.

And the story? There’s not a lot to say right now – this first issue opens with Nestor in the hospital, having been pulled out of the river by a little girl named Esme after accidentally falling in. The story here deals with him waking up to spending the rest of his life deaf, his hearing lost in the accident, and the first steps he takes at becoming reacquainted with the world around him. It’s a thoughtful, sad series of pages, though not completely without hope – while faced with a tremendous amount of growing up that needs to happen very quickly, Nestor seems able to accept and for the most part roll with what has happened to him. It’s around here that the weirdness kicks in – while robbing him of his hearing and ability to speak properly, whatever happened to him in the river left him with something else instead, something that seems to stop the people around them in their tracks and cause them to see the world the way he’s learning to. Which, y’know, is pretty handy.

It’s hard to say where things will go from here, but the groundwork is in place for things to move in a number of interesting directions. As long as Hagler continues to prove he can write as well as he paints, I’m willing to stick around to see what happens next.

BUY STATUS: I could most likely track down back issues from the last time this series graced the stands, but I’d rather watch it play out fresh. Hopefully the next two issues can keep up the level of quality established here.

And so ends the first test flight of the Great New Comics Experiment. I can easily see this becoming a regular thing, as I’m always looking for some outside force to drag me away from my comfort zones. If you have any such potential forces to recommend, leave a note in the comments or drop a line to chrislamb@gmail.com. If you find yourself just dying to know what else I picked up this week, I’ve included the rest as quick paragraph reviews at my personal site Expertologist. They should be up a few minutes after this goes live.

Snake Eyes From The GI Joe Movie Pics

Okay, now I can enjoy my holiday. (from /film)

(I realize this film has the potential to be another "Street Fighter," but these pics just look sweet)

(Ray Park, by the way)

I Don't Have Time To Cry

I had one prominent blogger write a pretty nasty note to me yesterday, and the gist of it was that I was told to "cry."

Now, this is stuff people do when they're 16, sending these little crappy messages to people.

Do you know how I spent my day yesterday?

1. Answering a ton of e-mails

2. Talking with my friends and family

3. Trying to hunt down a magazine that has an article on me

4. Scoring a major (MAJOR!) sponsorship for Friends of Lulu

5. Attending two meetings

6. Working on an online PR campaign for a major company and a major museum

7. Finishing off the mentorship Lulu had with a talented teen who wants to break into drawing comics

8. Squeezing in a few blog posts in the middle of all this

As you can see, my time to cry is at a minimum.

Actually, I feel really accomplished and good about myself.

Further, with the first day of Spring and the start of the holidays, I'm at my favorite time of the year.

Spring and the Easter holiday is all about life sprouting from death. Renewal.

Something happened yesterday that I felt was truly a miracle.

It is something that will help women in comics.

So I'm going to enjoy my holiday.

Absolutely Crazy X-Files Movie Rumor

There is apparently this crazy rumor swirling about the upcoming X-Files movie sequel that at the end, you find out Mulder and Scully are the same person.

This rumor sounds insane, but so insane that it...


...it actually makes you think, dude, you know?

(no, actually it is just insane)

The big confirmed news about the upcoming film is that "Mulder and Scully kiss"!

Ooh, wow!

Didn't they have sex in the TV show? Isn't that how they got that kid?


Now they're back to heavy petting? Is this 1997?

Val Reviews Flash #238!

Based on the title's troubled history for the last year or so, I was predisposed not to like Tom Peyer's new Flash run (starting with #238). But, the writer has a winning, down-to-earth style that made reading the title a joy and not a slog-through-for-the-review sort of deal.

The basic idea of Peyer's Flash is that it's tough for a superhero to make a decent living, especially when the hero in question has kids. Flash #238 starts with the family's cable being turned off, and it only gets better from there. At one point, the Flash is quoted, as he is fighting crime, that it is stressful having a job that you don't get paid for (I can sometime relate to this). Then he is bashed by a Keith Olbermann-type newscaster for saying the remark.

Peyer is the type of writer who asks the question, "how would this work in the real world?" He pulls off the answer to this question in a way that doesn't feel cliche.

My only problem with the issue was the super-kids. I would be inclined to request they be used to clog up that hole Superboy punched in time -- but then is it me saying that "kids/family don't make good comics?" How close is that to "marriage is boring in comics?"

Full disclosure, I worked with Tom many moons ago on Magnus Robot Fighter for Acclaim. At the time, Mike McKone had left and we had a horrible string of fill-in artists. I swear to God, we had one issue where we gave each page to a different inker and they all had to do it overnight. But Peyer's writing was good.

That said, Peyer has been more of a "cult" writer whose work is loved by a loyal group of fans but doesn't seem to bring in blockbuster numbers. Case in point, Hourman, which is fondly remembered by many people but was canceled after like 25 issues. However, I find this new arc on Flash very readable and new-reader friendly, with great art by Freddie Williams III, so I hope it is given a shot.

Fangirl Thursdays

I finally removed When Fangirls Attack off my feed and blogroll. I have nothing against people who visit it, and I think if you find it useful or entertaining you should continue to do so. I've been at the receiving end of pretty inexplicably nasty and bitter comments by one half of that team for some time now, and I see no reason to continue to support them. I used to justify keeping them on the blogroll, long past the time when I visited the site on a regular basis, out of the feeling like "well, they're doing this great service for women in comics, and well heck that makes it all okay." But, I think the fact of them being female and writing (or rather, linking to) female topics is not enough for me, based on some sense of "gender unity," to overlook their pettiness.

Perhaps it's my support of their occasional critic Dirk Deppey that soured them; to which I say that, despite the fact that Dirk has disagreed with some of my opinions (and has even been quite snarky with me on occasion), he has never addressed me with the sort of personal attacks that I have experienced from Ragnell at WFA. With Dirk, it's just commentary and different points of view. With Ragnell, there seems to be this bitter and bitchy edge that has finally made me decide to keep WFA at arm's length.

I stopped reading WFA a while ago, around the time I discovered Journalista existed. Between Journalista, JK Parkin's & Kevin Melrose's work on Blog@Newsarama, Tom Spurgeon's news round-ups, and the occasional Beat update, I'm pretty set for my comics news for the day. (though just to clarify, I do read a variety of blogs for commentary & reviews. I also read Comic Mix, but more for the columns).

***************

As for Kevin Church's bizarre and adamant objections to, of all things, a post on search engine optimization (as if two posts on that subject cannot exist at the same time or teh internets blow up), I am content to believe this is his version of an Andy Kaufman routine, and leave it at that.

****************

The Spoiler Train:

RE: Last page of Captain America #36 --D'oh! D'oh! D'oh! D'oh! Do'h! D'oh D'oh! D'oh!
However, since it's Ed Brubaker, I'm sure he has some twist on the whole thing that will exceed expectations and make it worthwhile.

RE: Last page of Avengers: The Initiative #10 --I know at least one really happy camper who jazzed off that reveal :-)
Now, can we have this New Old New Warriors team go up against that New New Warriors team and clean house?

************

You know who wins from having Bendis on both Avengers books? Dan Slott.

I know so many readers who don't follow the Bendis Avengers but will read The Initiative.

I know a bunch of readers who don't even follow Marvel's superhero comics but follow The Initiative.

************

The upcoming Speed Racer movie is either going to be really really awesome or extremely sucky. It's tricky, because on one hand it's the Wachowski Brothers, so there is that expectation. On the other hand, it seems, by viewing the trailer, rather high-concept -- and high-concept, I have found, either goes really really awesome or really really terrible. Whereas sheer mediocrity, as in the case with the Scooby Doo or Garfield film outings, will almost guarantee you a two-picture deal.

Also saw the Hulk movie trailer. Loved everything up to that gloppy Abomination. The big fight scene between Hulk & Abomination at the end of the trailer looked kinda cartoony. I've heard they still have F/X to put into the final film, so maybe it will look better. If not, it's all sort of resting on Edward Norton's shoulders. I'm sorry, every time I see him in the trailer talking about how he has this other personality, I think Fight Club. A YouTube video mash-up between the two seems inevitable.

****************

This flyer for a Christian church, found on Scans Daily, takes a page from comix (and Frank Miller?), I believe...
You know, I remember when we got that cover for "Dark Knight 2" in the office. Somebody remarked that it was like Frank Miller plunked his hand down on the bristol board, traced it, and picked up his check. Some of us were pretty disappointed; and as you can imagine, that was only the beginning. (though the stack of concept drawings he did at the beginning were really nice)

Spider-Man Vs. Daredevil: Who Is The Better Hero?

Okay, the argument goes like this (this is not my argument, this is just a theme I have picked up listening to other arguments).

Daredevil is a bigger hero than Spider-Man because Matt Murdock worked hard to overcome his handicap and become not only a successful crimefighter but a lawyer, while Peter Parker has no disability, received his powers "like a gift," and initially used them to be a selfish jerk.

Also, Peter complains a lot about his lot in life, whereas Matt is more stoic.

What do you think? Do you agree? Even if you agree or disagree, which character do you like better?

(basically, this is sort of a variation on the old "Superman Vs. Batman" thing, self-made powers vs. instantaneous/inborn powers)

Online Marketing For The Comic Book Industry Part One: Search Engine Optimization

The following is probably not as exciting as a Skrull turning into a cow, but for comic industry people -- from the biggest companies to the self-publisher -- the advice I am going to give you is invaluable.

In my job I deal with two aspects of marketing online:

1) Search Engine Optimization: maximizing your site's traffic from search engines

2) Social Media: blogs, social networks, forums, Twitter, etc. (very "word of mouth"-oriented)

An understanding of both is absolutely necessary for competing in today's comic market.

And yet, I see definite deficiencies in these areas across the board in the comic industry, the exception being many webcomics who are particularly savvy in the social media department.

That said, let's take a look first at Search Engine Optimization, and why it is so important for your company or website.

If I type "comic books" in Google, the first result I get is the site Comic Book Resources. I get Comic Book Resources before I get the Wikipedia entry for comics -- that's really good. Comic Book Resources is what we call "optimized" for the keyword phrase "comic books."

How did the site get so optimized for "comic books?" A combination of factors, including their name, their content, the frequency of referring keywords, the age of the site, how many people link to the site, techniques built into the site to help improve their search engine rankings, and paid search help via Google.

Now, if I type in "comic book" singular in Google, Comic Book Resources still comes up as #2, this time behind Wikipedia. And, most importantly for the site, if I type in "comic book news," CBR comes in at #1. That means whenever some dude or lady who just wants to get some news on comics types the phrase into Google, the search engine will first direct him or her to CBR. That might not at first seem like something huge. But it translates in a tremendous amount of extra traffic for the site, which translates in more notoriety and more revenue from ads.

Just to cause trouble, let's see where the other comic news sites fall under the Google search rankings for "comic book news" (these are all on the first page) --

#1 Comic Book Resources
#2 Comic Book Resources again, for a different page
#3 Newsarama
#4 Comic Book News
#5 Comics Continuum

In tenth place is The Pulse. Comic Mix is on page two of the search results.

Where is Wizard?

I could not find Wizard Online within ten pages of Google search results for the keyword phrase "comic book news." (at least of the search made as of the date of this post)

That is horrible.

Wizard's site is not optimized for the phrase "comic book news," even though that is a big part of the service they are offering readers.

Neither does Wizard come up in the first ten pages of results for the term "comic books."

In fact, the only keyword phrase Wizard seems to do well in is "comic book magazine," in which it ranks #1. But that is not enough. It should be doing well on the other keywords as well, and it's not.

I would argue that a person is more likely to type in "comic book news" than "comic book magazine."

Now, to cause even more trouble, let's see how the big comic book companies rank on certain keyword searches on Google:

"Comic Book"
Marvel is 4th place on the first page
DC is 9th place in the second page
Archie Comics is 7th place on the seventh page
Top Shelf is 3rd place on the eighth page

That's all the major comic companies that come up after ten pages of search. That's not good.

And it's not good that DC is not more optimized for something as basic as "comic book."

Or how about the term "graphic novel?" DC comes up on page three of search results for that. That's also unacceptable, considering what a big piece of the pie graphic novels are for DC, and their big budget.

Now, surely DC's own website would come up #1 in search results for "Superman," right?

Nope. The Superman Homepage, a fan site, comes up in 1st place. DC itself comes up in 9th place.

Another key phrase would be "comics for girls." Girl-Wonder.org comes in #1 for that. But DC's Minx line doesn't come up, after ten pages of search...

...and neither does Friends of Lulu (grumblegrumblegrumble).

The point is, people are turning to the Internet for information about comics more than ever before. Especially returning or new readers. They are not going to slog through ten pages to get to your site or comic. They will probably choose something on the first page (unless they are looking for something very very specific, in which case you still need to be optimized for that).

In Part Two, I will explain how Social Media can be used to market your comic or company.

Okay, back to Skrulls turning into cows.

For more information on how Search Engine Optimization could work for your company's site, email here.

And remember kids: using Flash is pretty for your site -- but it will kill your search engine rankings!

"Nothing-But-Business Tearing Down Of The Marvel Universe"

Comedian Patton Oswalt on his good buddy Brian Michael Bendis' Secret Invasion (found via Blog@Newsarama)

Brian’s already let me read the first three issues of SECRET INVASION, which is Marvel Comics’ big summer dust-up.

After COUNTDOWN and CIVIL WAR, I was going to take a break from these big summer crossover thingies. But this SECRET INVASION…holy sh**.

This is not a big, disposable, multi-issue donnybrook. This is a blitzkrieg from page one. Bendis basically worked out a remorseless, nothing-but-business tearing down of the Marvel Universe. And it’s clear the story has been set up…for…years. And the deaths are treated so off-handedly, with no appeal or remorse — and this is three issues in.

So far, each issue has also ended with a sh**-your-pants, ’Wait, what in the F***?!” moment…after, of course, about three or four what-the-f*** moments tossed off during the course of each story.

This confirms what I suspected about Secret Invasion, that it would be a bit of a scorched-earth ass-kicker that would truly shake up the Marvel Universe. Of course, having not read the book myself, this sort of confirms nothing. And then there is the issue of reader "event fatigue."

But good sound-bytes, this.

Val Talks To Bob Almond About The Inkwell Awards

The unsung heroes of the comics industry -- the inkers -- finally have their own awards.

The Inkwell Awards is the brainchild of inker and columnist Bob Almond, and I had a chance to speak to him about how they began, how you can vote in them, and the sometimes underappreciated role of inkers in the industry.

OS: What made you come up with the idea for the Inkwell Awards?
BA: I started noticing a diminishing recognition of ink artists in general about five years ago, when they were dropped from some of the solicitation credits in Previews. There were other dropped credits that concerned me -- on the covers of trade paperbacks, on other types of reprinted comic art, etc. And later when I was writing my column 'Ink Blots' for Sketch Magazine, an effort I began to bring more info to the public about the craft of inking, I had an idea for a column topic -- what if there were comic awards just for appreciating the work of the misunderstood inkers?

OS: Why do you think inkers have received this lack of recognition in the comics industry?
BA: I think the problem with inkers is that they are, in a sense, a comic industry-created by-product. They were created to fill a quantity-based need in the medium -- to give the penciller more time to draw. Everyone knows who a penciller or a writer is. But take a person off the street and ask them what an inker does -- a lot of them don't know. And if they had to take a guess, they might think an inker is a "tracer," or someone who just fills in blacks. And of course it's more than that. Unfortunately, the "inker" title is a bit hazy to the layperson since they don't have a reference or precedent to draw upon like with the other job titles.

OS: How was the Inkwell awards put together?
BA: Well, in the beginning the project was a lot smaller in scale than what it eventually became. My editor at Sketch, Bill Nichols, convinced me to seek out more input from my peers. Before long I brought together fan-favorite ink artist Tim Townsend, who has become in a way our ambassador, to bridge the gap between the veteran inkers and the younger generation, Jimmy Tournas, the moderator of the Yahoo Inkwell mailing list, fellow inker, and our site designer, and our resident writer/columnist Daniel Best to make us all sound good, to help out along with Bill. Once the committee was organized we brain stormed and three weeks later everything fell into place and became a reality.

OS: I see that Adam Hughes & DC Editor Mike Marts are on the Inkwell Awards committee. How did they get involved?
BA: I knew Mike Marts from Marvel & Acclaim; he was one of my editors on Black Panther. We contacted Adam through Tim. As committee members they oversee things we're doing, and have roles like being the tiebreaker on a vote. But, just them being there alone adds so much to the message and process.

OS: What is the awards schedule like?
BA: The call for write-in ballots starts April 1st and it runs about two months ending May 30th. Subsequently, tabulation of the votes will begin and we hope to have the results about a month later.

OS: Tell me about the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame award.
BA: We named this award after Joe with his blessing, and we have 5 nominees, including him: Tom Palmer, Wally Wood, Dick Giordano, and Al Williamson.

OS: Who can vote in the Inkwell Awards?
BA: Both the public and the professional community, though some of the categories might be a little more "shop"-centric than others. But you can vote for only one category or all of them. And if anybody needs help with the voting, there will be links on on our site to online databases where you can find an inker by story or issue.

OS: What will the winners receive?
BA: There will be trophies in the shape of a brush head with the winners' names engraved on it -- 10 awards in all.

OS: Just to talk shop for a moment, what do you have to answer people who say that with the advent of digital inking, actual inking itself might be a dying art form.
BA: I think people who think that really don't have an appreciation for what a good inker brings to the table in a comic. I think without that quality inker, you are really missing the power, the pizzazz, of the inking linework. Certainly, the 'digital inking' option is there, usually as a cost-cutting measure, but the term is a misnomer. In digital inking you're really just using Photoshop to make the pencils stand out more. Of course, there is an actual technique of using the computer to actually "ink" on screen, but that is not what most people refer to when they say "digital inking." And this option is rarely used. The role of the traditional ink artist has somewhat diminished but I don't feel that it's dying. Hopefully our efforts can help keep that role alive.

OS: Does the Inkwell Awards accept donations?
BA: Yes, we have a Paypal button for donating, and also we sell ad space on the site to raise revenue to assist in covering our expenses. But, any money we raise above the costs of the site and awards we are giving to the Heroes Initiative. We believe that giving back to the community further exemplifies our goal.

Thanks, Bob!

I'm Profiled In Geek Monthly Magazine!

You know, I tend not to believe things like this will actually come to fruition even when I'm in the middle of preparing it...

But heck, here it is --

I'm profiled in the April issue of Geek Monthly! The one with Jon Favreau on the cover! And I think there are pictures!

Haven't seen the issue yet, but I'm told it has just hit stands. Don't forget to pick up a copy of this historic collector's item issue featuring yours truly.

My sincerest thanks to regular Occasional Superheroine reader Brian Rubin for considering me interesting enough to write an article on. This is really awesome.

I really never thought something like this would ever happen to me.

Occasional Thoughts: Deja Vu All Over Again

X-Force is #1 on the sales charts, Larry Stroman is on X-Factor, we have another Invasion!, and Valiant's restarted.

Deja vu, anyone?

Then again, I always felt that everything in comics eventually comes around again. It's just part of that "it's a small world after all" thing.

I loved the art on the new "X-Force," but spiritually I find it the sibling of the Liefeld orginal. It's all about fight!fight!fight!fight!cool!cool!cool!cool!

We can criticize certain comics, but look at the numbers.

The best-selling DC comic is All-Star Batman and Robin. We can laugh at it all we want, but the fact is that many many comic book fans are buying this comic, and most probably a lot of people who do not classify themselves as fans. The top selling comics, I have to believe, attract readers outside of the fandom.


Why All-Star Batman and Robin is a top-selling book:
a) It's a Batman book not tied up in continuity
b) Jim Lee has name cachet
c) Frank Miller has name cachet beyond comics

Again, we can criticize books like ASBAR and JLA, but they are bringing in the cash for DC.

Which brings me to DC's newly-announced 2nd JLA book, Justice League.

Two Justice Leagues sort of apes Marvel's new Avengers -- but then again, DC did this successfully (at least for a while) in the late 80s.


There was also the attempt to extend the JLA franchise with Justice League Elite, which I think failed because its desire to be so very "different" from the regular book, with a lack of iconic characters outside of Green Arrow and Flash. The issues that became another JLA spin-off book, JLA Classified, were originally assigned as arcs for the regular title.

I think having James Robinson pen this new JLA book is interesting, given his work on Starman, but it is hardly a slam-dunk. Starman was an awesome book but came out some time ago. The question becomes: can he bring that magic to Justice League, and will the mass market who have propelled ASBAR and JLA to such heights cotton to his direction on the title?

As for the inciting incident that helps form this new team:

"That event? A murder. Unsurprisingly, neither DiDio not Robinson are saying who will be taking the upcoming dirt nap, only that it’s tied to Final Crisis, and that the League’s response causes a schism."

Which brings us to another deja vu moment:


Meanwhile, the Marvel/Stephen King cash cow continues with an adaptation of The Stand. Remember how Marvel used to adapt all that Clive Barker stuff and it really didn't seem to make much of a splash What happened? With books like Dark Tower, Anita Blake, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and World of Warcraft, licensed material seems to have made a strong comeback.

So will DC's new Chuck book suck or not?
I know there has been some snark about how some retailers are selling the Buffy issue where she has lesbian sex as "come and get your Buffy lesbian sex comic right here, yeah!"


Back when Northstar "came out" in the early 90s, retailers, at least in Brooklyn, did the same thing. "Teh gay book, it might be worth money some day, come buy it!" You know, except Northstar didn't have any gay sex in that book, because gay male characters aren't allowed to have that in comics (only hot women).

Finally, I love the way some male comic readers freak out at the faintest suspicion of penis on their covers:
I say: more penis on DC's covers! More penis!


See, this all leads back to why we don't have more comics where male characters wake up in bed with each other after having sex.

And that's all I got.

Poll: What Event Are You Looking Forward To More? Final Crisis or Secret Invasion?

It's a simple and straightforward question, and I'm presenting it without personal commentary. I'm even listing them alphabetically. The poll is to the right and will be up for about two weeks.

Start voting, people!

And if you really cannot stand either, come up with a write-in event and post it here.

Vixen/JLA: The "Halle Berry Defense"

Classic Vixen

So the latest s**t to hit the fan is the recent "whitewashing" of JLA character Vixen:

Vixen "Light" in latest JLA

"It is not just a coloring error. This does not fucking happen with the same frequency (if ever) to Luke Cage and Shang Chi as it happens to Storm and Jubilee. Skin colors are lightened. Features are changed. Why? I would really like to know why. But every time a person stands up and asks why, she's shouted right down. She's ignored. You're seeing things that aren't there. Let's talk about something else. Right?"

So what is it, folks?

Is it a case of an artist who draws everything in a cookie-cutter style?

Is it a case of institutionalized racism?

Is it wrong to have a light-skinned black woman in a comic?

What about Cheryl's point that many comic book artists are not schooled in how to draw variations in race and ethnicity? Is such a hope a pipe dream in the case of an artist like Ed Benes, who draws all his women -- young or old, black or white, the same? Shouldn't we consider ourselves lucky not to have the tits and ass completely shoved in our faces in those books, let alone getting ethnicity correct?

Now, historically in pop-culture, there has been, to my observation, a "whitewashing" of certain characters.

I remember going through the "artist bibles" and licensing art for the Hunchback of Notre Dame animated movie when I used to edit Disney books in the mid 1990s. The consistency of the skin color for Esmeralda became an issue somewhere in the mix of all that. Her skin was noticeably lighter in the licensing art & toys than in the film. When we colored her skin in the comics to match the brown of the provided film stills, we were told to lighten it to match the licensing bible.


Now, for a slight change of pace let's take something like the cover to Fantastic Four #555, which depicts an evacuation scene with a cast of hundreds:


Not a tremendous amount of people of color on this cover.

But now that I say this, the mine-field starts.

One commenter would say: "Why should there be any people of color on that cover? That's racist of you to think that every crowd scene should have African-Americans on it. Maybe they are in a place where there are no African-Americans. Stop tokenizing everything."

That's the sort of argument being leveled against critics of the Vixen art in JLA -- that they themselves are racist against Halle Berry, or something like that. Step into this seething mix of comments if you dare.



I enjoy the Halle Berry defense, because it seems to be positioned in such a way as to attempt to discredit Cheryl's valid contention that many comic artists typically don't "do" diversity well. It's the old "answer charges of racism/sexism by turning the tables on the accuser and calling them a racist/sexist" bit. "If you think it's racist, it's because you are a racist." "The problem is you." "There is no racism/sexism."

It would seem that one motivating factor in the "you are racist/sexist/homophobic if you see racism, sexism, or homophobia in popular culture" would be to shut people up and scare them from voicing their opinions in the future.

And that's exactly the idea. Ditto for writing about sexism, ditto for writing about homophobia. If the pop culture critic can doubt their own instincts and think it's better not to write anymore on the topic as to avoid accusations, the dialog stops. You have to admit, it is a brilliant tactic to shut people up.

Cheryl:

"In conclusion, sometimes admitting that there is a problem can help to alleviate the bad feelings concerning the problem. Telling the person shedding light on the problem that he or she is making things up and then circling the wagons? Not helpful."

That said, there are some people online who just use these arguments and tactics simply to extend flame wars and fight because they feel ornery. You know it and I know it, enough on that.

Of course, I have to admit that the first thing that offended me regarding the art in question was not Vixen but this:


Yes, more half-naked Wonder Woman butt. They should have just titled the story "ASS."

But I know, mentioning the sexism makes me a sexist, right?

"There is no problem."

"There is no spoon."

(in other news, congratulations on Halle's new baby. Considering she is 41 and it's her first child, that's quite an inspiration.)


Here are some helpful resources regarding the application of critical thinking to the study of pop-culture. I now include these links at the bottom of every pop-culture article I write:
Pop-culture studies: a definition
bell hooks on critical thinking (video, some scenes NSFW)
Resources for studying gender in popular culture
Resources for studying race and ethnicity in popular cuture
Racialicious -- a blog about the intersection of race and popular culture

Val's Marathon Of Comic Reviews, Part One

I have this little Ikea table-thingie that I keep all my to-be-reviewed comics in.

Checked out the sucker the other day and was like HOLY S**T! I totally let that back up.

So I'm going to do a marathon of reviews to clean it out. Here is the first off several.


Marvel Zombies 2 #5
A surprisingly disappointing finale that seemed really rushed. An ending that made me want to go, in the words of Zombie Hulk, "Rahhhhhhhhhh!!!" Actually, I can't find where Zombie Hulk actually said that. But if he read this issue that's what he would probably say.





Project Superpowers #1
There is a lot for me to like in this book -- awesome character designs, an absolutely gorgeous color palette, and some intriguing ideas with the "Dynamite Family" concept. However, the plot for this issue inexplicably unravels 1/2 way through, and by the time Black Terror finally makes his appearance, I'm sort of lost.



Papercutter #4
The best story in this anthology by Tugboat Press is the moving "Graveyard" by Sarah Oleksyk, about a young woman's doomed romance with a drug addict. The art is organic and adept at capturing nuances of emotion through facial expression, body language, or even the physical environment. John Porcellino's "Snowstorm" is more of a quiet mood piece, and Vanessa Davis's "Night Moves" aptly captures the sweaty beauty of the bar scene.


Avengers Classic #9
This issue re-tells the first appearance of Wonder Man from Avengers #9 -- and apparently he was a bit of a jackass. The new backup story by Macon Blair and Juan Doe attempts to fill in a gap the original tale left; it felt, probably by virtue of nothing more than its intended purpose, a little like fan-fiction. But artist Doe's art is a stand-out and quite original, with a distinctively animated feel.


The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury #295
We are introduced to the world of Miranda Mercury in media res, as it were; the young space adventurer is at the top of her game. While on one hand this works because it cuts out the oft-cliche and hokey "origin sequence" many first issues have, it also puts the book at a disadvantage because we don't have enough structure built for us to share in the obvious admiration everyone else has for Ms. Mercury. Still, the book is well-intentioned and has a nice, stream-lined style courtesy of Lee Ferguson.


Robin #171
Chris Batista's art is clean, pretty, and Silver Age-sharp, but Chuck Dixon's writing is starting to seem tired; I feel like I've traveled this road before. On the other hand, if I was to judge this as a comic purely written for teens, it's not bad. But, it's just not doing it for this thirtysomething.





The Incredible Hercules #114
More gorgeous art and fast-paced and funny narrative keeps my interest up in this series. I like the flashbacks to The Champions days, and that baby coyote or whatever looked so cute in that one scene (though unfortunately he or she might be dead in it). The "Dark Cho" foreshadowing is cool -- but I think his friendship with Hercules is an essential part of the comic, so I wouldn't want it to be any more than temporarily interrupted.



The Hulk #2
Please tell Jeph Loeb that comics are not TV. The sudden heart-stopping reveals when a character pops out of nowhere works in TV but not in a comic, and they were way too overused in this issue. Still, some intriguing hints are thrown in as to the identity of Red Hulk. Liked issue #1 better.

Of Skrulls, Reptiles, Shape-Shifters, and Xenophobia

After reading a copy of the free SECRET INVASION SAGA comic, something occurred to me in regards to the possible inspiration for Marvel's latest event.

In hardcore conspiracy theorist circles, one of the most prevailing and popular theories is that of the "Reptilians."

In brief, the theory goes that there are reptile-like "shape-shifters" who have infiltrated our society. The origin of these green shape-shifters depends on who's telling the tale. Some say that they are fairly recent visitors from another planet, others claim that they are indigenous to Earth and evolved from dinosaurs parallel to human development. But a key part of most of these theories circles around the creatures' ability to take the form of other humans.

Reptilian

Skrull

According to popular conspiracy theorist/new age dude David Icke, the Skrulls -- er, I mean Reptilians -- have committed their deception at the highest levels of government and high society. From the Wikipedia entry on Icke:

"In 1999, he published The Biggest Secret, in which he wrote that the Illuminati are a race of reptilian humanoids known as the Babylonian Brotherhood, and that many prominent figures are reptilian, including George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Kris Kristofferson, and Boxcar Willie.^"

The idea of the "Illuminati" is another quite popular both with Icke and conspiracy circles in general. It is also the name of the comic that more or less "officially" kicked off the SECRET INVASION event with the revelation that Black Bolt was secretly a Skrull.

It would seem that the Reptilian theory is quite similar to the crux of the SECRET INVASION plot -- that green shape-shifters from another planet have taken the guise of prominent world figures and plan to take humanity over from within.


Now, the Skrulls, as far as I know, were invented in the early 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They predated the Reptilian theory by several decades. It might even be possible that the champions of the theory have simply been influenced by the comics of their youth but don't consciously remember it.


On the other hand -- or the same hand, just at a different angle -- the archetype of both the green invader from another planet and the shape-shifter have been with us for some time. In the end, unless you are a talented folklorist, it might be impossible to tease out where these ideas all started.

None of this is to say that Brian Michael Bendis ripped SECRET INVASION off of a popular conspiracy theory (though if he did, it would be nothing to be ashamed about -- Grant Morrison has been doing the very same thing for years). There are dozens of places Bendis might have gotten his inspiration from -- Battlestar Galactica, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, They Live, V, etc, etc, etc.


But, as with every major pop-culture phenomenon, I like to get a good sense of its possible influences and "contemporaries."

And if the more hardcore elements of the "reptilian agenda" theorists end up pointing at SECRET INVASION as some sort of "corroboration" for their tales -- as some have done concerning other science-fiction -- I would hardly be surprised.

Personally, I think these theories of evil shape-shifters from other world who secretly infiltrate society is a way for humanity to explore their own issues regarding xenophobia -- the fear of the foreign and unknown.


I believe SECRET INVASION also touches upon these issues of xenophobia. Skrulls are "evil," alien, foreign; they have a different skin color, different clothing, a different culture. They seem almost irrationally hostile, hostile without a good reason -- the perfect enemy for us to band together and fight. And seeing our most beloved and familiar characters as these alien invaders is shocking -- that was the whole point of Greg Horn's series of promos for SECRET INVASION.


The Skrulls could be anywhere, as "sleeper agents," across the country. It will be up to the heroes to root out the Skrullian influence in their midst; and in the process, many of their mistakes and sins might be explained away by "Skrull interference." After a couple of painful years filled with "Civil Wars" and "World War Hulks," things finally might get back to normal when the heroes make amends and team up to fight this common foe.

I am looking forward to SECRET INVASION, but my hope is that Bendis finds some sort of ironic twist in what might otherwise be the standard Cold War-era paranoia story. He's a smart writer; he could do it if he wanted to.

References for further reading:

On Cold War paranoia in pop-culture:
Science Fiction Films and American Society In The Fifties

On Conspiracy Theories:
The Ten Most Popular Conspiracy Theories
Crank Dot Net's Reptilian Links

Don't understand the concept of thinking critically about pop-culture?
I now include these links at the end of any pop-culture study I write:
Pop-culture studies: a definition
bell hooks on critical thinking (video, some scenes NSFW)
Resources for studying gender in popular culture
Resources for studying race and ethnicity in popular cuture
Racialicious -- a blog about the intersection of race and popular culture

Comics Are Expensive: COMIC BOOK COMICS #1 and MAINTENANCE #9

Comics Are Expensive is written by noted Expertologist Chris Lamb.

This column didn’t turn out exactly as intended. The original plan was to use this week’s piece to go over all the books I’m currently reading with a Draconian eye, switching to trades on some and dropping others entirely in the name of cutting out the chaff. With all the new things I’ve started reading since starting this column (thanks everybody for the recommendations), I was afraid my reading list might soon be straining the limits of my thirty-dollars-a-week comics budget, leaving little to no room for trying out new titles to talk about each week. I could see this column getting repetitive in a hurry as I strained my already limited reserves of clever in search of new ways to say “remember what happened last issue? Yeah, still happening.” A terrifying prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Fortunately, a few quick calculations revealed I was nowhere near the budgetary red line (funny how math works, huh?). Oh, sure, the occasional big week here or there might push it a bit, but for the most part I’ve got all kinds of room to play with. While some titles are still getting the boot to trades-only (farewell, Angel - your story’s interesting and all, but spending four bucks a month for the dubious pleasure of picking it out of that mud you call art just isn’t worth it any more), I should be able to keep up with the ones I want to follow monthly and try out new books without breaking a sweat.

The current plan (depending on the looks of the shipping list) is to spend next week’s column talking about all new books – or at least, books that are new to me. Any suggestions of things to keep an eye out for would be much appreciated. In the meantime, this week’s column is a bit on the thin side, as the only money I had for comics (or much of anything else) was twenty bucks in store credit at Cosmic Comics. Despite not getting everything I intended (Tiny Titans and Thunderbolts were both left behind for next time), I think I managed to do all right.

Onwards, shall we?

COMIC BOOK COMICS #1

Writer: Fred Van Lente

Artist: Ryan Dunlavey

So what comes next after running rampant through the big names of philosophy? What do you turn your talents to next in order to satisfy a steadily growing audience clamoring for a comic exploring new territory beyond escapism or illustrating somebody’s diary? If you’re Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey of Action Philosophers fame, you look to comics themselves for inspiration – specifically, the rich history of the medium from the first appearance of the Yellow Kid onwards. And you do it with the same accessible humor and love of the material as last time, just for good measure.

Of course, there’s more to Comic Book Comics than just applying a tried and true formula to a new topic. Where Action Philosophers often jumped all over history within a single issue, linking its subjects through such diverse threads as schools of though, countries of origin, or the chance to make an easy joke, Comic Book Comics takes a linear approach to history, taking great care to lay out the players and events shaping those early days and the links tying everything together.

It’s fascinating stuff, taking time out of its journey to explain the importance of things like Outcault’s tremendous storytelling innovation and the effects of the cartoon wars that marked the birth of animation between the Fleisher brothers and Walt Disney and the effect they had on a bunch of young guys named Siegel, Shuster, and Krutzberg (or as he’d later be known, Kirby). No matter how much you know or have heard about the birth of comics, odds are Van Lente and Dunlavey have found room for some fact in here you’ve never heard before.

For all the information being thrown your way, the book never feels too crowded or rushed. The creative team have refined the conservancy of space from Action Philosophers into a science here, establishing a steady pace from the get-go and keeping it throughout without the feeling that anything has slipped through the cracks. Best of all, it never feels like a lecture – the complex and interwoven narrative that is the history of comics comes across with all the casual ease of talking with friends over drinks (only Van Lente and Dunlavey are probably smarter and funnier than most of your friends, so hey, double win).

This is exactly the sort of thing comics need – an easy to grasp, fun to read history of the medium that flouts its achievements while explaining where they came from in the first place. It’s such a painfully obvious idea that I can’t believe nobody’s tried it sooner; but then, I can’t really think of anybody in comics who gets the same thrill out of both the subject matter and the chance to share it with others. That clear sense of joy from the creative team combined with the potential to be one of the more important books since Understanding Comics makes it a good book; the way it reminds me why I love comics so much in the first place makes it a great one.

BUY STATUS: $3.95 would ordinarily be a bit steep for a single issue, but the amount of content here makes it well worth the price of admission. Despite already knowing how it all turns out, I can’t wait to see where the story goes next.

MAINTENANCE #9

Writer: Jim Massey

Artist: Robbi Rodriguez

Okay, look: I can’t really explain the talking shark. Or the zombie cat. Or the caveman scientist. What I can tell you is that they’ve all come along with Doug and Manny, two maintenance workers for the world’s leading supplier of evil mad science-y stuff, Terrormax Inc., on a secret mission to save receptionist Mendy from an evil alien trying to build his dream girl out of bits and pieces taken from other girls. Does that help any? No? Huh. Well, you can’t say I didn’t try.

This issue of Maintenance is the third part of a story arc that probably/maybe wraps up next issue, and as such is a horrible jumping on point. With that in mind, you could do worse than to hunt down at least issues #7 and #8 to get a better appreciation for what’s going on. Better yet, you could grab the last few issues and the first trade (titled “It’s a Dirty Job...” and out now), which should catch you up on just about everything. The adventurous among you could even throw caution to the wind and dive in right here, trusting that Maintenance is consistently one of the funniest comics around.

This particular storyline is actually promising for a series as whole in that, while earlier issues were mostly one-off adventures involving the horrors of working clean-up for a bunch of mad scientists with nearly limitless resources and a lot of time (and other things) to kill, it’s proof that Doug and Manny are strong enough characters things both rolling and funny over longer narratives. Not that the talking shark doesn’t help, of course.

A large part of that is down to Massey and Rodriguez being genuinely good at milking each and every situation for every ounce of humor lying within. For example, this issue’s running gag with the invisible spaceship parked in an apparent high traffic area is just great, as is the constant bickering amongst the would-be rescuers and improvised action music for when they finally spring into action.

It’s an easy appeal found in every issue so far – no matter what the current plot happening around them is, so much of the fun comes from listening to the characters talk and watching them bounce off each other that they could do quite literally anything and it would still be worth showing up for each month. Comparing it to impov comedy doesn’t feel quite right, this being a comic and all, but that’s the closest I can get to nailing down the feel of any given issue – Massey isn’t just filling the characters mouths with words to spit out and calling it a day, he’s giving them the pace to riff off each other and anything else that stumbles in to their line of sight.

If there’s a problem with the book, it’s the lack of easy access I mentioned from the start. While less of a bother earlier in the series, when each issue was usually a story unto itself, the lack of any sort of recap page or exposition can cheat you out of a lot of the good stuff if it’s your first time with the guys. Doug and Manny are great characters, funny in their own right while still able to sever as straight men to the insanity of their every day lives, and they deserve a proper introduction to the new readers they more than deserve.

BUY STATUS: Maintenance continues to get better with each issue, and I can’t imagine bailing out now. If nothing else, I might miss it when zombie cat finally makes his move.

And that’s it for this week, except to say that both Fantastic Four #555 and Atomic Robo #6 were loads of big fun that I’m very much looking forward to see more of. Recommendations are, as always, appreciated via the comments thread or email to chrislamb@gmail.com. See you next time for a bunch of brand new things to talk about.

Fangirl Fridays: Comic Books As The Goony Guest and "Reality Comics"

I went to this (non-comics) business function yesterday, and it was like this gorgeous place filled with all these high-powered people and I was like: how did I get here? I think I did okay, but I always feel a little like a goon at these things. I arrived late for the reception because I was finishing off at my job, and by the time I got my refreshments they were blinking the lights and closing the doors because we were supposed to see a presentation. And I did a totally Homer Simpson move, I was trying to drink as much wine and eat as much grape leaves and cheese crisps as possible before they closed the reception hall. OMG. I mean, I actually had a silent Homer groan in my head. You know the one.

After the event I went off to walk ten blocks in my high heels to the comics shop. The shoes were not comfortable; I think I felt my left pinkie toenail fall off. And I went to the comic shop and thought:

"Well, what a clash in worlds this evening! How can I reconcile these worlds -- the (non-comics) business world and the comic world? Maybe I have to choose. Maybe they are not compatible."

But, I think that is a load of crap.

There is no reason for comics, as a branch of the entertainment media, to be the "goony" guest at the high-class business reception, chomping down cheese cubes and feeling insecure. Indeed, in certain sectors it is not that goony guest.

But, I still see a gap to be overcome in the industry in order to fully integrate it in the pantheon of other "high-powered" entertainment media.

Some of that has to do with a degree of lack of competitive edge in certain sectors. New TV shows that do poorly -- unless they have that "cult" quality to it and the network wants to protect it -- usually get canceled pretty fast. They don't linger painfully for a year or more as they bleed viewers with every month. TV schedules are lean. (unfortunately, this leanness includes a whole bunch of reality shows I think are crap, but...).

Which makes me go off on a tangent --

"Reality Comics" -- what do you think?

It's a genre of comics that would be like a reality show. You get regular people to draw 'em. And then you film the whole drama. Or you get D-list celebrities to draw 'em. Jeff Conway. Chyna. Salt or Pepa.

See, this is why I should be in the driver's seat in the comics industry. All these awesome ideas I have.

Anyway, my toenail didn't fall off. But my feet hurt. And now I gotta put the shoes back on.

Nobody takes my "reality comics" idea without paying me, you hear? Intellectual property.

:-D

Val Reviews SULLENGREY: CEMETERY THINGS

Boasting artwork resembling the lovechild of Tim Burton & Ted McKeever, the Ape Entertainment trade paperback SULLENGREY: CEMETERY THINGS would look at home on a bookshelf filled with many of Vertigo's earlier offerings. It's a bittersweet love story/Zombie Hollolcaust told by writer Jocelyn Gajeway and artist Drew Rausch in a frenetic Jhonen Vasquez style that fairly drips from the page with human effluence.

The plot: Intrepid amateur reporter Salem seeks to unravel the mystery behind a spooky little town and an enigmatic fellow named Grey, the bottom half of whose face is covered by a scarf in a manner reminiscent of the 1928 silent horror film The Man Who Laughs. Grey is haunted by the memory of his beloved/feared fellow mental institution roommate Halo, a young woman with a penchant for chainsaws and ultraviolence.


SULLENGREY is an unique work that definitely deserves more attention. Drew Rausch has created an elaborate self-contained gothic-cum-screwball universe that is so rife with eyeball-twitching detail that it looks like it must have been a motherf**king epic effort to draw. Jocelyn Gajeway's writing is filled both with a darkly comic sense of timing and a talented facility for horror.


SULLENGREY: CEMETERY THINGS collects the first four issues of the original Sullengrey limited series plus contains bonus materials like a never-before-published story, an interview with the creators, and artist sketches. Its $19.95 in full color and you could purchase it at your better-stocked local comic shops or just be lazy and just get it here.

PS: Some of the consistent spelling mistakes in this book are unforgivable, but you can still enjoy it. I was pointed out the wrong one, but I am assured they are there.

Should Comic Industry People Be So Open To Fans?

This is an open question. I'm not saying they should or should not be.

I AM concerned, however. Comics, thank God, has not had anything tragic happen in this regard (that I know of).

But there has been harassment, stalking incidents, death threats, etc. After the whole One More Day thing I truly feared for certain people's lives. I looked at the response online, thought of them at comic cons with no protection, and worried. And I don't see it as a totally unreasonable fear.

One of the places where freelancers "let their hair down" and really communicate with the fans are on message boards. But it also makes them occasionally vulnerable.

Spider-Man writer Marc Guggenheim, in a discussion at the Newsarama boards, got targeted by one user and had his job potentially effected when the user tried to get him in trouble with a writer's union.

So do you think the risks are worth it? And in large public settings, like major comic cons, should there be some sort of protection for certain creators and company heads?

I think to close the door on the unique and historic openness between fans and the industry would be terrible. At the same time, I think there should be better moderation on boards where these industry people participate, so things never get to what Guggenheim had to deal with.

But I ABSOLUTELY believe certain high-profile comic people should have security at cons, if they do not already have it. It is a must. If you want to call me an alarmist -- that is absolutely fine. But have that protection in place anyway. I am already thinking of my security options, and I'm relatively nobody.

Post-script: Most fans are pretty respectful. There are some fans who are simply nasty. And there are a few who I would be concerned about. Some preventative measures now in terms of con security and moderated boards can go a long way. That said, there is no way to 100% protect a person. But if the industry does not take action on this now, and God forbid something does happen, the rift that is going to form between fans and creators is going to be huge -- and that sort of rift will hurt this industry. I am convinced that without that historical communication between fan and creator, sales would go down.

Thoughts On DC's Latest Sales Numbers

These are the sales numbers for DC Comics in January. Please read all the standard provisos and explanations that go with such stuff.

Here is my analysis:

The top regular DCU books seem to be JLA, Superman, Action Comics, Teen Titans, Batman, Detective Comics, Green Lantern, and, when it ships, JSA.

So far, so good. These are all "top tier" DC titles and if they start to suck, the whole house of cards falls. That said, they probably should be going more toe-to-toe sales-wise with Marvel's top tier.

Declining sales for Grant Morrison's Batman is only a problem if it is a harbinger of a degree of reader apathy for his work as a whole -- or rather, for his "mainstream" in-continuity work. There just seems to be more excitement when he is allowed to completely create the world -- a la All-Star Superman, not bound by continuity.

Now, the Superman titles seem rather solid, and that's a good thing. And Teen Titans and Green Lantern, though too are experiencing a little bit of a decline in sales, seems to have built a nice niche for themselves in the upper end of the sales spectrum.

On to the bad news.

"With Justice League of America, DC Comics only had one book selling above 70,000 units in January. As a consequence, the publisher’s average periodical sales saw a steep drop, falling to around 27,000, their lowest level since January 2005. Similarly, average sales of the company’s DC Universe line, which makes up the bulk of their releases, dropped to around 33,000, also the lowest they’ve been in three years."

Lowest-Selling Regular DCU Titles: (with rank on Top 100 list)
The All-New Atom: 144
Infinity Inc: 142
Blue Beetle: 137 -- regular writer is leaving
JSA Classified: 124 -- supposed to be canceled, but a new issue has been solicited
Checkmate: 122 -- regular writer has left
JLA Classified: 113/109 -- canceled as of issue #54
Catwoman: 106
Superman Confidential: 102
Birds of Prey: 93
Robin: 73

Notable Sales Declines:
Green Arrow/Black Canary
Supergirl
The Flash
Wonder Woman
Green Lantern Corps

Something isn't working. I'm not being mean or unfair about it. I'm saying something is not working. I don't even know how the majority of these are referred to as "mainstream" comics. Does "mainstream" = superhero comics?

Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a mainstream comic. Dark Horse is a mainstream publisher. It is not an "indy" publisher. It is a full-fledged mainstream publisher, because it is putting out in big numbers a comic that a broad base of people want to read.

Blue Beetle is an "indy" comic. Catwoman is an "indy" comic. And that's not a bad thing. But the definitions have changed. Maybe, if the definition changes, that actually helps books like Blue Beetle, because instead of comparing its numbers to "mainstream" sales and acting accordingly, its publisher can maximize on its "indy" potential.

Now, a book like Green Arrow is the victim of bad writing decisions. Despite the beautiful art, the writing absolutely killed this book.

And books like Supergirl and The Flash have been wounded by all the creative changes that have happened to it over the last year or so. The lack of stability.

And everything was wounded by not wrapping up the whole "Crisis" thing after 52 and ending this whole multiverse drama on a high note and moving on.

And now a lot is resting on the shoulders on Final Crisis. And the problem is that there shouldn't even *be* a Final Crisis at this point. Final Crisis should have happened where Countdown started.

That said, Final Crisis might be great. Who knows?

If I had to make some decisions on it, I'd do the following:

Cancel:
Atom
Infinity Inc
All the Classifieds
Checkmate
Catwoman
Birds of Prey (sorry)
Supergirl
Green Arrow/Black Canary
The Flash (sorry)

Radically rethink and relaunch:
Birds of Prey
Supergirl
Catwoman
The Flash
Green Arrow (you can keep the art)

Books that should be consistently in the top 20 or higher:
Action Comics
Superman
Batman
Detective Comics
Superman/Batman
JLA
JSA
Teen Titans

Books that should be consistently in the top 30 or higher:
Robin
Nightwing
Green Lantern titles
Wonder Woman
The Flash
Green Arrow
Teen Titans spin-offs

Books that should never dip under the top 50:
Legion of the Superheroes
Supergirl
Birds of Prey

Books that might have "indy" status conferred to them and thus protected:
Blue Beetle
Catwoman

Book that will probably manage to slip under the radar for a long time to come:
Booster Gold

Don't bring back unless you have a damned good plan:
Aquaman

Conflict Of Interest In Comics Media

I really don't know if I'm part of "comics media" per se -- or, really, part of "comics journalism" proper. I sort of see the blog as more of a personal opinion thing. But yeah, it is some sort of "media."

As time goes on -- and as my (re)involvement in the comic book book industry grows -- I find it harder and harder to be as bold in my opinions as I used to be. Some of it is because, "well, you're the president of Friends of Lulu, you can't say THAT, you have to be non-divisive." Some of it will be cases where I might hate aspects of a comic, but am friends with a person connected with the comic in some fashion. Some of it may be, "well, they never pissed in my iced tea, I'm giving them a break." And so on and so on, some reasons perhaps not as unselfish as the acts of Gandhi, but none so cynical as those pro-penis enlargement blog posts with the words "sponsored by Acme Penis Enlargement Company" below it.

This situation, in my view, affects large swathes of the comics media -- but really affects a great deal of people in the world in general who rely on social networks. Sure, John the Baptist was the lone voice howling in the wilderness -- but he lived in the wilderness and wore animal skins. Of course, the Olsen Twins wear animal skins as well, but it's not quite the same thing.

Also, John the Baptist got his head cut off, which sucks.

The paradox is that I think today's society -- especially those who are glued to the Internet -- are so tired of spin that they actually crave ANYONE and ANYTHING that sounds authentic and real.

And the irony is that the more successful one is at being "real," and getting an audience, and getting attention -- the more likely things will get watered down, because that social network grows, and the conflicts of interest start.

For instance, I really idolized Dennis Miller in my teens. I liked the way he thumbed his nose at society. I thought he was a radical (of course, I was 17, so maybe my education as to radicals in modern society was rather limited). Then he sort of became a conservative. Then he co-hosted Monday Night Football. Now he's a game show host. What. The. F**k?

Now, the problem with the comic book community in regards to this topic is that it is damned tiny. So sometimes it feels that trying to write something halfway controversial about anything without stepping on anyone's toes is like attempting to breakdance in a small antique shop filled with old china.

Of course, don't pity me. Pity Newsarama, Wizard, et al. Pity the reviewers at Entertainment Weekly faced with doing a write-up on some horrendous bomb for Warner Bros.

On second thought, do pity me -- that donut I got at the Farmer's Market this morning just gave me the runs.

Where I suggest you can *really* find that raw, cutting style of reviews and commentary is in one of the many of the excellent blogs out there untainted with personal involvement with the industry. Go to Journalista and Dirk will point 'em out to ya.

And, just for the record, though I mentioned the comics media, and particularly Newsarama & Wizard, in this post, I mean no ill-will or criticism to any. I mean, Newsarama is the comics industry's #1 source for daily comic book news, previews, reviews and commentary, and is home to the largest comic book reader message board community on the Internet, with discussions ranging from Marvel Comics' X-Men and DC Comics' Superman to manga and the smallest indy publishers. And Wizard Magazine is the #1 men’s pop-culture magazine, providing comics and entertainment fans with everything they need to know about comic books, movies, TV, video games, DVDs and more. Full-color graphics, in-depth interviews, behind-the-scenes features and a fun, light-hearted tone combine to provide the ultimate experience for Wizard's passionate community of fans.

Ok, I'm going to tempt fate and eat that other Farmer's Market donut now. Wish me luck.

Dave Stevens, Creator Of The Rocketeer, Passes Away

What a rotten year 2008 has been for the comics community...

Dave Stevens passed away, I just found out about it now. Heidi at The Beat has the details.

I was in meetings all day, and this was the first comic news I read. What terrible news.

Among his other many accomplishments was being the artist/creator for The Rocketeer.

Makes me want to dig the movie out.

Yep, Moderated Posts Are The Fate Of This Blog Too

It happens with a lot of blogs...especially, strangely, a number of blogs run by women.

After a rash over a period of months of being pelted by "overly relentless and negative commenters who occasionally cross the line," the owner of the blog decides to either

a) Take away comments completely

or

b) Moderate the comments.

At some point, comments might be unmoderated again, but right now this is what suits me. I sacrifice my ever-dwindling free time to write this blog. I get little-to-no compensation for it. To have the comments section resemble the decorum on the Newsarama forums on a bad day both disgusts and discourages me. At least Newsarama can ban or force out users -- and apparently, they do.

Actually, most social networking/media sites have some form of moderation. I used to think my blog would be immune to the need for it, but I was wrong.

And I do think some of it boils down to some men being set off by a woman with strong opinions. I think the very fact of it -- regardless of content -- really pisses some people off, on a primal level. Maybe that's a controversial thing to say, and maybe you don't agree with it. But that's what I feel in my heart is part of the problem.

I still like the majority of male comic fans, and hold no ill will towards them. But there is a small awful obsessive angry subset of them that really drain all joy out of discourse about comics.

What I post here: things about comics that interests me and illustrates my passion for the medium. It should be a fun process. If you feel the same way, come participate.

Invisible Woman Is A Skrull? And Secret Invasion Musings

Man, if this stuff actually comes to pass...

I mean, can you imagine?

Again, I have several important questions:

1. What timeframe are we talking about for these Skrull replacements? Are we talking like post-Kirby, pre-Secret Wars? Or just some s**t that happened five years ago? Because the impact this is going to have on the Marvel Universe (to say nothing of the Merry Marvel Marching Society) is going to be contingent on what length of time we're talking about.

2. Could there be some of the replacements walking around at the same time as the originals, just at different places? (This could answer the age-old question of how Wolverine could be in so many damned books at the same time)

3. Are the originals still alive? What state are they in? Will they feel as if in a time warp like Captain America? Are we going to get a lot of those battles where two versions of the same character are beating each other senseless?

The last question brings up another interesting point:

In the DCU situation, various versions of the same character more often than not end up joining the same club and sipping tea together (Fanboy Superman Prime an exception).

But in this Marvel event, the reasons for the extra versions of the character in question are sinister and confrontational.

If we try to see Secret Invasion -- if it lives up to its hype -- as Marvel's "Crisis"-level event, it is one that can potentially deal with the sorts of inconsistencies in characterization and continuity that plagues older characters by classifying them as "fake" history in a way due to the Skrull infestation. Then the younger, more "pristine" versions of these characters can reemerge.

If this indeed happens, then I do consider Secret Invasion to be Marvel's "Crisis."

And frankly, if it does not happen, I would be rather disappointed.

Occasional Thoughts

Thoughts. I do have them.

On my vacation from my blog I sought corporate sponsors for Friends of Lulu's annual Lulu Awards. This is not much different than selling Girl Scout cookies, except there are no cookies, and if you fail, the really bad Christmas tree with the three branches is going to be in the pageant.

Do not want:

Do want:

The biggest DC news to come out of MegaCon, as far as I'm concerned, is that there was an audience member in the DCU Countdown To Crisis Panel dressed like Jay Garrick. You get rid of the Speed Force, this fellow's coming after you with that metal salad bowl on his head.Just in case you thought the furor over Spider-Man's OMD/BND has settled...well...

No.


I was particularly impressed by the poster who said he posted to religious websites about "One More Day" even though he was an atheist. Love of Mary Jane apparently trumps religious persuasion. Now that's something we can all get behind. It's like buying the world a Coke.


Lisa Fortuner provides guidelines for writers of international characters, courtesy of "The Mainstream Comics Industry":

"However, the Mainstream Comics Industry advises against researching another culture and creating a well-rounded original character based on actual facts, because this could result in your readers thinking of foreign nations as places with a rich history and culture populated by a variety of individual thinkers who are worthy of respect as human beings. This leads to the audience raising their standards and refusing to pay for books that don’t adhere to that standard. "

But Lisa, if you just think of those characters as Legacy Heroes, and give them a chance instead of tearing them down because of supposed inaccuracies and "uninspired characterization" (my God, as if there really is such a thing), maybe they can blossom.

(runs)

Which reminds me...

Remember Faith from JLA?


What the hell happened to her?

See, when I worked on JLA, Faith was created to "kill two birds with one stone" by virtue of her Latin-American heritage. So you got a Woman (big W, trademarked) and an International Character.

Ask Morrison if he's going to use Faith in Final Crisis. Maybe she can be in one of those epic George Perez-like crowd scenes that get turned into a poster with a numbered identification index. She could be right behind Fire's shoulder. Boy, that Fire, I'll tell ya -- she's one hot Brazilian. Get it?


You know, I was really cool with the Yellow Lanterns. To me, that made all sorts of sense.

But now there are Red Lanterns...


So according to this Newsarama article, the Red Lanterns spew "their red energy of hate."

And the first of these Lanterns is named, appropriately, "Atrocitus." George Lucas School Of Naming. Atrocitus used to hang out with Evilicus in middle school.

I don't get it, weren't the Yellow Lanterns supposed to be the bad guys? And the really important question -- the action figures, are they coming out soon?

Where Geoff Johns gets his writing inspiration:


Video: "Asian Christopher Walken"



Bonus points if you understand the meaning behind the "Miss Saigon" T-shirt he's wearing.

It fascinates me that Asian stereotypes are still acceptable in entertainment. I dunno, is Fu Manchu offensive?


Another thing that seems still acceptable in entertainment is homophobia. I just caught the movie Wild Hogs on cable the other day -- you know, sat through as much as I could of that dreck. The movie was obsessed with jokes about homosexuality. I mean, one after another. All of them of the "being thought gay is the absolute most humiliating thing ever!" variety.


"Oh, no, we're all naked in the watering hole and now there are boys swimming in it! Don't get too close to my naked body! And look, now the naked gay cop that's been stalking us is going to jump in the watering hole too! What a freak! WE aren't freaks like that. We are real guys."

In the scene, John Travolta's character plays the most homophobic guy of the bunch.


Well, that's all I've got. Back to the grind.

Comics Are Expensive: ATOMIC ROBO #4-5, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #12, PS238 #29, CASANOVA #12

Welcome to another installment of Comics Are Expensive, written by noted Expertologist Chris Lamb!

A very busy week this time around, leading to a much longer column than I’d originally intended. Also, a confession: I went over my spending limit of $30 this week after finding the second and third trades (also known as the Good Ones) of Joe Casey and Sean Phillips’ Wildcats runs for $3.99 a pop. Shameful, I know, but the only time I’ve ever remotely cared about Wildcats is with Casey at the helm, and it was just too good to pass it up. Forgive me?

Potential spoilers ahead, despite me actually making an effort to beat around a number of bushes this week. Proceed with caution.

ATOMIC ROBO #4 & 5
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artist: Scott Wegener

So it turns out yes, Virginia, there is an Atomic Robo. Apparently the reason it was so hard to track down had less to do with the book’s mythical nature and more with everybody in the New York area snapping up the issues as soon as they hit the stand. Due the kindness of strangers I’ve now read all five issues, but as #4 and 5 were I could track down and buy (and are still available in super limited quantities at Midtown Comics at 7th Ave. and 40th St. – thanks for the tip, Rich!) for myself, that’s what I’m talking about this week. Going a buck and change over my self-imposed spending limit is one thing, but I’m not yet ready to violate the sanctity of the faulty premise this column is built upon by talking up things I haven’t actually swapped money for. Fickle convictions are still convictions, after all, just with better hours.

With so many aspects of this book that could be talked about, why not start at the beginning? The first thing to strike me about Atomic Robo is its self-contained nature – while #4 is the second part of a two-issue story and #5 looks to be kicking off another, each can be enjoyed as it’s own thing without any prior knowledge. Everything you need to know is right there on the inside cover of each issue – Atomic Robo was built by Tesla in the 20’s and went on to become a robot science adventurer who had many great and strange robot science adventures over the next few decades. Now he and a bunch of fellow (human) science adventurers have become sort of the Ghostbusters to the world, putting down the weird and horrific where ever it may lurk for fun and occasional profit. In issue #4 it’s rogue pyramids, in issue #5 it’s hordes of Nazi cyborgs and a brain that would very much like you to behold the end of Atomic Robo. I read #4 without any clue of what had come before, and it worked just fine. Science heroes are fighting a sort of pyramid tank thing. What’s to explain?

Peppered through the series are flashback to previous adventures, such as Robo going to Mars for a bit of landscaping and wearing questionable outfits in the seventies and eighties. They’re a great device, used to fill in plot details and character points in much the same way Lost does, only without the creeping dread that sooner or later you’re going to have to sit through a Kate episode. Their appearance here creates one of my favorite storytelling tricks in science fiction-y type works – pulling the reader into a world already formed with the promise to explain along the way. Sure, I want to know about Robo’s early years with Tesla and dealing with that jerk Edison, but in the meantime there are Nazi-bots and mummies to fight, so maybe it’s best to just roll with your surreal settings for the time being. Personally, I’m more than happy to be patient.

I could go on, (and on, and on, and still further on), but it’s better for you to find out on your own. Atomic Robo is one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had from comics in years, a seamless blend of hilarious moments and tense action scenes with great art capable of accommodating both without breaking a sweat. There’s absolutely no reason everybody shouldn’t be reading this, provided every other jerk out there hasn’t snatched up all the issues.

BUY STATUS: Now that I know where to find the damn things, I’ll happily keep reading. A trade should be along after this first series wraps with issue #6 for anybody else late to the party, and should be considered required reading any one interested in robots, science, adventures, or joy. Many thanks to all who recommended it.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #12

Writer: Drew Goddard
Artist: Georges Jeanty

So I guess it’s safe to say the big event happening in issue #12 had nothing to do with Oz maybe showing up again, huh? If you haven’t read the newest installment of Buffy’s ink and paper season 8 and were wondering what that sound was last Wednesday, it just might have been the sound of thousands of Buffy crying out at once as they all hit page four. Whether out of delight or horror is not for me to tell, though some say that on quiet nights, when the moon is full, you can hear the click-clacking of a keyboard echo across the hills and know that another fanfic born out of this issue has just reached its dread end.

As character moments go, however, I think it works. Drew Goddard (writer of several episodes for both Buffy and Angel’s last seasons, as well that Cloverfield movie and a producer on Lost) takes over the book with this issue, kicking off new arc “Wolves at the Gate” with more than a few bangs. While the first of these is sure to generate the most talk, with cries ranging all over the spectrum between “great” and “worst thing ever”, it’s the immediate aftermath that stuck the landing for me – a quiet moment interrupted by first Xander and then pretty much all the rest of the main and supporting cast, escalating into a hilarious car crash of awkward at the same moment the newest threat to Buffy and her slayer army shows up? That’ll do nicely, thanks.

And it’s all down to Goddard being really, really good at this. As much as I like Whedon’s work, his comics writing has always lagged behind his television and movie work – there’s something about the pacing in comics he can’t seem to get down, and it sucks a lot of the rhythmic quality out of his dialogue that’s so key to it working. Goddard doesn’t seem to have such a problem, crafting conversations that feel immediately more true to the characters and their nature (the Buffy stuff is funny in the sort of comedy of errors stuff all her relationships seem to open with; the Xander and Renee things is genuinely sweet) than nearly anything else we’ve seen since the series started. I’ve yet to flat-out dislike an issue, and I really liked Brian K. Vaughn’s Faith arc a few months ago, but this is the first time I’ve so completely enjoyed the book that I was compelled to go back and read it again. It finally reads like not just a continuance of the show, but of the show’s better moments.

And last but not least, there are vampires. It feels like ages since the titular bad guys were any sort of real threat, but these guys seem to have what it takes: storming the castle in force, stealing Buffy’s favorite toy, and exhibiting some new but strangely familiar powers. It’s a nice return to form for characters that were reduced to little more than cannon fodder over the years, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes. Love it, hate it, or meh it, Buffy #12 is the best Whedon’s pride and joy has been in a long time.

BUY STATUS: I was strongly considering moving to trades on this one, but I’ll stick around for the duration of Goddard’s arc. Then we’ll see.

PS238 #29

Writer & Artist: Aaron Williams

The word you want here is “charming”. From one end to the other, from socks that play music and light up to “Jinx. You owe me a coke”, PS238 is just completely, utterly charming. Remember a few weeks ago, when I said I’d be all over a book like Tiny Titans if there were more to it than super cute art? I strongly suspect this is what I was talking about, only before I actually knew it existed – the adventures of kids with powers and the special school built to hold them, complete with all the adventures and infrequent super villain shenanigans implied. I’m brilliant that way, sometimes.

The world of PS238 - or at least as much of it as I can see here – feels built from the ground up to answer one simple question : how great would having superpowers be? Every scene is a playground waiting to happen, providing plenty of opportunities for the rather great Flea to change into his costume or shadowy corners for bad guys to come flying out of. It’s the sort of world one might create after years of reading comics where crowds cheer on Superman when he’s fighting the bad guy and school kids wave at Spider-man as he goes by – a place where heroes are not just oddities flying overhead but an embraced part of the culture. Powers are just something people have, whether they’re cops or schoolteachers or casino owners with visible crystal skulls. And I really, really like that. It’s the sort of mood DC usually excel at when they’re not in the middle of Crisising and that Marvel seem to be actively throwing away with both hands in favor of a world where everybody hates and mistrusts everybody else. Williams has created a place where amazing things happen on a pretty regular basis, and the people living there seem to feel they’re better for it.

(I could be wrong, of course. It could be that just Las Vegas, the setting for this month’s issue, is this awesome, and everywhere else sees the kids fighting to protect a world that hates and fears them. I doubt it, though – when the cop talking to Ms. Kyle mentions a team up they had back their respective hero days and flies off, all without a speech about “doing more good with a badge instead of a mask” or some such heavy-handed nonsense, I knew this was a world with its act together)

At first glance the book may appear to risk being too cute for its own good, but there’s always a joke, a subtle reference, or a more adult overtone lurking around the corner to keep things aimed squarely at readers of every age. Whether it’s Julie’s feelings of inadequacy as a hero, Polly Mer’s blowing bubbles without gum or explaining where her name comes from, or something simple like ending the book with a letters page, there’s truly something here for everyone. Don’t think Disney; this is Pixar, with the same quality approach to storytelling and unique, memorable characters. If you have kids, this is a book for them. If you don’t, it’s just as likely to be for you. Just charming, really.

BUY STATUS: I have no idea what’s going on with the current storyline, but I don’t think that’ll be much of a stumbling block. I’m in, and there’s several people I need to mail copies to or at least get this on their radar. Thanks very much, Patrick, for pointing it out.

CASANOVA #12

Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Fabio Moon

For a book with a riddled with more plot twists and turns than I’d care to count and a title character who’s been missing for the last five issues or so, Casanova is pretty damn unbeatable. If there’s a triumph of the “slimline” format of sixteen pages of comics plus backmatter for $1.99, it’s certainly this – while Ellis’ Fell, with its tales of a crumbling detective in city-as-suicide victim are great little stories, Fraction’s super spy with a heart of rot and spiders trying to make good revels in its format, filling every inch of its reduced page count with enough style and sex appeal to set my brain a-buzzing till the next one arrives. Most importantly, it never feels like just sixteen pages – paired with the masterful art of Gabriel Ba, the storytelling her does funny things to well-established ideas like space and time, bending both around its little finger in the name of one last perfectly thrown pose or chance to sweep you off your feet.

Speaking of story, where are we this month? If last arc “Luxuria” was about Casanova Quinn finding himself in a parallel universe with the chance to make up for a least a few of his many, many bad decisions, “Gula” is the story of his sister Zephyr giving into (or maybe just embracing) the demons she can’t quite escape. Either way, issue #12 sees her life-long private war against her father Cornelius becoming very public as she and boyfriend Kubark Benday attack the moon base of E.M.P.I.R.E. (the secret intelligence organization run by daddy, don’t ya know) with devastating effect. It’s an issue full of tremendous moments, abandoning the careful dance of #11 in favor of the sort of unbridled destruction not yet seen in the series. Which is not to say the book’s excellent sense of pacing is gone, oh no – the perfect rhythm ticking behind the scenes is still here, still filling in character moments around and throughout the action scenes in subtle, often tragic ways. One particular scene with Ruby and Katio stands up as an example of so much of what works so well in this series, managing to be as sweet, shocking, and goddamn tragic as anything Fraction has produced to date. The jerk.

If there’s a message to Casanova’s madness, it’s that even super spies have to deal with the responsibility of their actions when they eventually come calling. For all the coolness of a world full of bandaged arch-villains, flying casinos and multi-armed girlfriends from the future, the horror of what the sort of lives the main characters lead and the effect it has on those caught up in their wake is never far out of reach. While Moon’s artwork turns Zephyr into exactly the sort of curvaceous, heartless assassin she no doubt sees herself as, he also perfectly captures the weight she caries around on top of it all, the awareness of how precious little of herself she can still call human. As cool as she and Benday look together in their best action figure outfits, everything about their relationship reeks of bad sex and worse decisions, of reaching out for somebody else if only to drag them down as well. Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be space cowboys, ‘cos there’s only one way it can end.

There’s still no clues to be found that might help unravel the greatest mystery of all – When is Casanova Quinn? But that’s okay, really; seeing Cass’ world burn in his absence is nearly as much fun as watching him tear it down himself.

BUY STATUS: This much awesome for two dollars is not to be missed, but for those of you in need of playing a little catch-up, the paperback version of the first trade collecting issues #1-7 for a mere twelve dollars. While it lacks the awesome back matter of the singles, it’s well worth the price of admission.

As you may have noticed, I’ve reached the inevitable point with this thing where the books I pick up are starting to loop. I think (but can’t guarantee) that next week’s installment is going to be a hard look at everything I’m currently reading – between the comics I’ve been exposed since starting this thing and the ones I was already grabbing on a monthly basis, there isn’t a lot of room left for the new blood my hobbled attention span requires on a daily basis. In the meantime, while I try to decide what to keep reading in singles and what can wait for the trades, recommendations are always appreciated in the comments thread or via email to chrislamb@gmail.com. See you next week.

The Best Of Occasional Superheroine: The Biggest Controversies

Also known as:Here is a list of the top controversial posts on my blog. Actually, I've used no grading system to come up with which are most controversial; I suppose you could use number of comments as a way to determine that.

No, here are just the posts that just come to mind. Cuz I'm lazy.

But what I find interesting about these posts and the responses to them, is that in some cases there are participants who so singlemindedly pursue the comment thread that follows that I really have to question if they truly cared about the topic at hand, or were they really angry about something else. I mean, having some people who disagree with your position is normal. But I'm talking about a select few persons who wouldn't let an argument go, or who were exceptionally and inappropriately nasty.

In some cases, I don't think it's about the topic at all, but that fact that a woman has strong opinions. "Defeating" the woman's argument symbolically feels as if one has asserted one's masculine power. This is a point I have discussed with some other female bloggers. These are the debates that get most nasty, and most off-topic.

In some cases, gender really has nothing to do with it, but the commenter is just treating the blog's comment section as they would the peanut gallery at Newsarama or the Howard Stern Show. I suppose to a certain extent that sort of trolling gives a bit of texture to a forum, a bit of spice. Things really don't get nasty -- they just get juvenile. Depending on the skill of the troll, it might even be a little fun.

I suppose the strangest and saddest cases are when women get into nasty flame wars with each other. In the case of my blog, it has been either because I'm not "feminist" enough, or "too feminist" (as in the case of The Killing Joke). These debates don't go on as long as in the other cases, but the comments can contain extremely nasty stuff. It's too early in the morning to even attempt to psychoanalyze it.

But, in the end, despite all the drama, I'm proud of my work on my blog and the posts that inspired such heated debate. The irritable bowel syndrome was completely worth it.

Sexy, Not Sexist -- A matter of taste

Black Snake Moan: A Sensitive Portrayal Of Sexual Abuse -- Apparently, I wasn't allowed to have an opinion here because I was just a stupid wimmins

Mary Jane Statue Fight Now On The Level Of Civil Rights Movement -- I gets teh slammed

Dirk Deppey Vs. The Mary Jane Brigade -- more slamming all around, slam party

Ugly Fat Girls, A Retraction -- I think I get teh slammed again for defending teh Misty Lee


Countdown's Jump The Shark Moment -- The first of many appearances of Countdown on teh countdown. I'm Casey Kasem

She's Satan's Daughter: She's Supposed To Be Bad -- Is this cover gratuitous?

Sinestro Corps Required Reading List -- The Green Lantern Fan Brigade come out of the woodwork on this one

Barbara The Potty-Mouth -- More Frank Miller "realism"

The "Final" Crisis? -- "Really? Sure you wouldn't want to squeeze in one more year-long weekly series?" Well actually...

Archie Sez: "Downloading Is Evil" -- "It's my right to have all teh comic book for teh free! This is America!"

Black Adam: Tall, Dark, and Evil -- Stereotype based on xenophobic fears that have spanned pop-culture since the days of Dracula? Or...awesome?

Supergirl: Fat -- The fans lament loss of Nicole Richie Supergirl, point out "cankles"

You Bought The Killing Joke For Only A Dollar? -- In which I'm told I'm an ingrate not to rejoice in such a bargain

"There Is Another Hellmouth In Cleveland" -- I quit my campaign against sexism. I think it lasted about two weeks.

Oh You Like Woman? Here's Cookie! -- On accepting the crumbs

Batman's Kryptonite = Homophobia -- It is 8/21/07 and still no Batwoman series

Katie Holmes As Wonder Woman? -- Tomkat is teh sux

Gwen Stacy: Whore Or Not? -- The Newsarama folks have an elegant debate

Weddingus Interruptus -- More of my disgust on one of the dumbest "events" of all time

Why I Hate The Kyle Rayner Crab Mask -- Apparently, this was a faux pas

Converting People To The Religion Of Crime Through The Lesson Of Lust -- No, not pandering to Lipstick Lesbian-loving male readers AT ALL

The Goddamn Batman's Guide To Being A Better Lover -- Miller! Genius!

It's Funny Because He's Teh Gay: Get It? -- From The Jack Tripper school of homosexual comedy

The Case For Reboots -- I'm stickin' to teh theory

From Taboo To Mainstream -- Have the old taboos in comics been washed away over time?

Thoughts About New Avengers And Tigra -- The Tigra s**tstorm

"Men In Refrigerators" -- Optimus Prime: Dead. Molested. Twisted Into A Ceiling Fan And Left To Fend For Himself.

Why I Don't Take Witchblade Seriously -- Butt-webbing certainly a factor


The Happiness Never Ends For The Green Arrow Family -- Of course we all know what happened to Connor, but still pound-for-pound the b**ching is a great value

Comic Snobs! -- Real Comics Versus Real Comix

Be The Change You Want To Be In The World -- With a special appearance by Tamora Pierce!

DC's Arena: "Fan-Fiction At It's Finest" -- Fan-Fiction at Real Fiction page rates!

Jason Todd New Batman? -- A s**tstorm and clusterf**k the likes as you will never see again (at least until Final Crisis)

Occasional Reviews: "Titans East Special" -- How did this one get to 53 comments, again?

Down With Marriage -- Mentioning the word "God" apparently is a no-no in polite conversation

New York Anime Festival: This is Youth Culture

Is Jennifer Love Hewitt Fat? -- This needed 22 comments

Reboots Vs. Generational Succession -- Sometimes it's time to just hang up the tights

"Thank You For Buying Countdown"

Spider-Man: Gay Metaphor? -- Or is it just the red-and-blue lycra?

Jackpot And A Brand New Butt

Tiffany Fallon's Scarlet Letter -- Playboy models apparently aren't good enough to play Amazons

Batman #673: Requiem For Stephanie Brown? -- Or just Bruce's drug-induced fever-dream?

Where Is DC's Matt Fraction? -- Huh?

The Best of Occasional Superheroine: That's Entertainment!

Continuing my look back at over 1000 posts on the blog...



Secret Identities and Alter Egos -- An assortment of film clips exploring the theme of alter egos

Britney Spears In: A World Gone Mad! -- This was back when she was merely playful

Anna Nicole Smith: The Annotated Biography -- Reading (and writing) between the lines

Why Superman Not Telling A Lie Had Such An Impact On Me -- Sometimes movies need good role models

Bad Buffy Fan-Fiction: The Ultimate Shame! -- I take a look at some of my old Angel fan fic

Why Is John Cusack Always In The Rain? -- And why is Nick Cage in a bear suit?

I Want My Spider-Man TV! -- Including "I'm A Marvel and I'm A DC"

"Get Ready To Fly, B**ch!" -- On Tarantino's Death Proof and Lonely Guy Manifestos

The Mid-Life Crisis Of Marilyn Manson -- I remember when he was just a spry lad

Jessica Alba Wants To Be Taken Seriously As An Actress -- Not doing skimpy GQ photo shoots cradling a teddy bear might be good start

PopCult Legends #1: Superman III Robot Scene -- Yipes

PopCult Legends #2: Howard the Duck Sex -- Double Yipes

PopCult Legends #3: Smurf Disease -- Triple Yipes

Only Anorexics Can Attend Nicole Richie's Party -- Because eating disorders are teh funny

The Sound of 10,000 Fanboy's Heads Exploding -- A room full of Leias in slavery

Katie You Ignorant Slut -- Katie Couric gets no love from Dan Rather

"Let Them Watch Basic Cable" -- The eerie parallels between Paris Hilton and Marie Antoinette

Marvel Legends Presents: Jesus -- More articulation than that stupid Kevin Smith figure

Jodi Sweetin Will Have her Revenge -- The former Full House star is an ICON!

The Transformers Movie Sucks? -- My posters say, "Nay!"

The Chris Benoit "Ruthless Aggression" Action Figure -- Brought to you by Nostradamus

What Annoying B-List Celebrity Are You? -- I get David Hasselhoff

Superman On That Hoe -- An explanation for all those who are not with it

The Green Hornet: "Knocked Up" -- I was happier when Kevin Smith was on the short list for this project

Better Than Action Figures -- The "Real Doll" phenomenon

Love Gun: Official KISS Slash Fan Fiction?! -- Hoax, but intriguing nonetheless

A Mediation On Teh Boobage -- The mystery of Hermione's breast reduction

Naked "Nevermind" Baby 17 And Working At L.A. Juice Bar -- Just another reminder that I'm elderly

Popeye: Real Man -- Screenshots of old Popeye cartoon, starring Olive as castrating fill-in-the-blank

Which Monkee Are You? -- Peter Tork; I always fancied myself as Nesmith, personally but I think I'm too damn naive

Superbad: A Chick Flick If Chicks Were Dudes And Not Chicks -- McLovin

Old Mego Superheroes Ad -- "Starring that great BLACK superhero"

Ridley Scott Sez The Sci-Fi Genre Is Dead -- Pretty big words, tough guy


Katie Holmes To Play Wonder Woman? -- Who knew there were so many Katie haters in th' house?

Keeanu Is Klaatu -- Is it a stretch for him to play a wooden, emotionless alien?

Ou Est Mas Sexier? -- Hayden or Gillian?

Onion "Abducted Girl" Parody -- Funny or offensive?

Tarantino On "Heroes": "I've Never Seen The F**king Show" -- He's too cool for school, that one

Fat? -- Britney

Creepy Comix -- The one where Mickey almost shot himself and other classix

Has Family Guy Jumped The Shark? -- Brian is Chewbacca, that's hilarious

The Marcia-Jan Affair -- An affair that wasn't

Obligatory OJ -- Something to get out of my system, bear with me

Smallville Premiere Liveblogging -- It kind of ruins the viewing experience for me, but I do it for the fans

Gun Marketers Say: Pink Is For Girls -- You could sell crates of hand-grenades to wimmens if only you make them pink

The Truth About Sea Monkeys -- More slaying of childhood sacred cows


The Secret Rape In The Harry Potter Books? -- But she was asking for it, and it's minotaurs anyway

Now It Can Be Told: The Dark Truth Of Charlie Brown -- The dark underbelly of the yellow shirt

Catwoman Cosplay Video -- Something for your MySpace page

William Shatner: "I Don't Do Cameos!" -- He's a little bit of a dick but I like him

Top 6(66) Scream Queens -- They're mad and they have telekinetic scrotum-ripping abilities

GI Joe No Longer "Real American Hero?" -- Everybody hates America, I get it, I get it


Jack Nicholson On "Dark Knight": "I'm Furious!" -- I'll bet he's feeling bad now

Did Family Guy Go Too Far This Episode? -- Matricide: it's all in good fun

"It's Like Spike Lee Directing Captain America" -- Because then The Falcon would have too many lines and we can't have that no way

Watchmen Babies -- Baby Inkblot throws a dead dog through the window with his itty bitty widdle hans

Italian Spiderman -- I try to watch this every few days to cleanse my palette

Is Jennifer Love Hewitt Fat? -- I get keywords typed in for this every day

Top Ten X-Mas Angsty Moments -- Because holiday entertainment should be depressing

Heath Ledger, Brandon Lee, and Thoughts On The Panic of '94 -- No, no eerie coincidence at all, that's just crazy talk

Top Ten Werewolf Movies -- Yeah, I know I just ran this, but this way it's more publicity for High Moon

The Best of Occasional Superheroine: Misogyny A Go-Go

Starting my week-long look back at over 1000 posts...

That's What They Always Say -- Phantom Lady gets impaled

Barely Legal Is Barely Tolerable -- The Supergirl Saga, Part One

Supergirl Redux -- The Supergirl Saga, Part Two

A Great Way To Catch An Upper Respiratory Infection -- A cheap shot, but what the hell

Caption This Panel -- Starring "Switchblade Supergirl"

It Will Never Change -- That classic Power Girl cover we all love

Supergirl Love Doll/Catwoman B**ch Doll -- Something for everyone

Fun With Keyword Searches -- You'll marvel at how much Google Analytics can depress you

Misogyny R Us -- Toys for the wimmins-haters

What's Wrong With This Statue? -- And so the Mary Jane saga begins

Rape As A Comedic Device -- When knock-knock jokes no longer do it for you

Wonder Woman Is Angry At Men (Can You Tell?) -- It's from "ASBAR," so basically another cheap shot

Will OS Manage To Explain This Cover Away? -- And so the Heroes For Hentai saga begins

The Manstream Awards -- What misogyny in comics has driven members of my gender to

Zombie Slave Leia -- The unholy marriage of two geek icons

Blood Diamonds? -- I question the effort to beat the Mary Jane dead horse (or is that zombie horse?)

Bad Girl -- The Seduction of Mary Marvel and why Jerry Ordway wasn't thrilled

Giant Hoohah Eats Flash Alive -- Deadly monsters that look like labias never get old

She Has A Suction Cup On Her Ass -- But it's ok, Judd Winick is sensitive


Familiarity Breeds Excuses -- How sometimes we willfully overlook misogyny when it's a fandom we care about

Supergirl, Power Girl, Girl Wonder: Want To Make It 3-for-3? -- Prophetic?

Tamora Pierce Vs. Gor -- Protesting the "Dune" of the sci-fi slave-wimmens literary genre

Never Catch A Jigsaw With Your Crotch -- I stand by that advice

Meditation On Teh Boobage -- Smallville's Supergirl starts another clusterf**k

The Presentation Of The Slave Leias -- "Jesus wept"

Oh No Are Ze Boobies Ok?! -- I wouldn't take the cheap shots if they didn't keep handing them to me

Fat Supergirl -- Size 6 need not apply

Baby Doll Or Blow-Up Doll? -- Misogyny in the fashion doll set

Strange Sad Creature -- The Punisher story that made me bang my head against my desk

Boobs-To-Killings Ratio -- Wizard asks Rob Zombie the important questions


Schoolgirl Witchblade -- The Egyptians made the pyramids and we created this

What Happened When She Got Attacked In Her Bed -- Completely not a rape metaphor
Tigra, Poor Tigra -- And so the Tigra saga begins

It Makes Total Sense About The Wonder Woman Movie -- "Women Don't Sell Movies"

Red Sonja: WTF?????? -- Sonja hates men -- SEE?

Finally, A Video Game Just For Women -- Because we are all vapid, materialistic, men-obsessed drunkards

One Collector's Plea: More Sexy Female Action Figures -- When fapping off to Maxim is not enough

Teeth: A Feminist Horror Film? -- "Bad boys will not GET OFF easy" (get it?)

Holy Hot Flash, Batman! -- How the mainstream media apparently views the topic of women in comics

Catwoman #78 Cover Idea Meeting -- This s**t never gets old

Leave Tigra Alone!!!!! -- Palette cleanser

The Best Of Occasional Superheroine

Hi All,

Just a reminder --

I will be on blog-vacation this week. Barring a comics news story of monumental importance, I will not even be touching my Blogger account for the next week.

That said, I have a series of retrospective posts (link dumps with snarky garnish, actually), that will be posted. So here is the schedule:

Monday: "Misogyny A Go-Go" -- a collection of my posts on misogyny in comics

Wednesday: "That's Entertainment" -- a collection of my posts on movies, TV, and pop-culture

Thursday: "My Most Controversial Posts" -- ripping the band-aid off and looking at the biggest debates that have raged on this blog

Friday: "Comics Are Expensive" -- comic reviews with Chris Lamb

By March 10, blogging will be back to normal

See you! :-)

One-Sentence Review: KICK-ASS and CRIMINAL 2

KICK ASS does not; CRIMINAL Steals My Heart.