tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post8343586767424567622..comments2024-01-14T11:45:23.991-05:00Comments on Occasional Superheroine: Occasional Reviews: Hulk #1, Nightwing #140, Teen Titans Lost AnnualUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-54556745234587613112008-01-14T21:19:00.000-05:002008-01-14T21:19:00.000-05:00Groovydaddy, Yes. To all of that, yes. Your post i...Groovydaddy, <BR/><BR/>Yes. To all of that, yes. Your post is exactly why I've come to hate mainstream comic books. Imagination and creativity is frowned upon so the same corporate icons can go through the same motions in an attempt to squeeze every last drop from the stone that is the comic reading audience.kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06649763676628428647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-21798619769985021382008-01-14T14:37:00.000-05:002008-01-14T14:37:00.000-05:00On the Lost Titans Annual:Have you read this yet? ...On the Lost Titans Annual:<BR/><BR/>Have you read this yet? If you haven't you should.<BR/>It's a retro-kitsch throwback that finds that original Titans squad saving John Kennedy from alien abductors. It was one of the best reads I've had in ages.<BR/>Why?<BR/>It didn't take itself too seriously. The characters were treated with respect, and that infectious Silver Age sense of fun prevailed. You could have easily pictured this book coming out of Julie Schwartz's idea factory. There's a great twist of a surprise ending, and I won't ruin it for you if you haven't read it yet. Suffice to say, I was a little misty-eyed when I got to the last page as I remembered how much I used to care about comics and why I cared about them so much.<BR/>Meanwhile, Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone wrapped up their 12-issue run on The Spirit by reintepreting one of Will Eisner's classic tales form the 1940s. Their run on the Spirit had the feeling and look of an old pulp adventure, and they breathed new life into a character that could have easily been moribund.<BR/>Bone's art struck the right balance between cartoony and realistic, making Denny Blake into a believable hero and his Midway City into a believable place. He drew women with the curves of Varga girls, but never allowed them to become the pin-up cheesecake offered up by the rest of the DCU.<BR/>Outside of JSA, this is one of the best books DC has going right now. And I'm confident that it's in good hands when Sergio Aragones takes over with #13.<BR/>In the meantime, Batman is fighting a newly, newly, newly, newly resurrected Ra's-al'-Ghul in the pages of the flagship Bat-book and the pages of Detective Comics, and I. Just. Don't. Care.<BR/>The art is substandard. The plot makes absolutely no sense. Why do I care tha Ra's is alive again? What role did he play in Batman's life other than to harrass and harrangue hime with those cheezy, "Detective ..." taunts again. Talia's an interesting character, but they had their moment and their time has passed.<BR/>Yep ... Batman has a kid and maybe there's an heir-apparent to the cowl running around the DCU. But he'll have to fight Nightwing and Robin to get it. Why do I care? I have no idea.<BR/>Paul Dini wrapped things up nicely in Detective, as Ra's was sent packing off to Arkham Asylum. But, c'mon ... do any of us expect him to stay there?<BR/>And there's the difference between the mainline DCU books and the fringy ones like the Spirit. Cooke gets the time to write stories that can stand by themselves as rip-roaring yarns even as they establish a new continuity for the character. Meanwhile, DC's flagship heroes are slaves to the editorial direction being handed down by DiDio and the rest of the braintrust. It's all in service to Ultimate/Final/No Effing Kidding/We're Serious This Time/Or We Are Until the Next Time We Need to Do a Reboot/Crisis. And I'm left not caring about characters I once felt passionately about.<BR/>Meanwhile, I have no idea how I'm going to break my 2-year-old daughter into the comics trade. She can recognize the Neal Adams-vintage Batman on the side of the 35-year-old drinking mug that I've handed down to her. But there's no way I'm reading her the next issue of Detective Comics. It'd scare her to death, assuming she could ever understand it. <BR/>I guess I'll have to start with something from the Johnny DC line, but I'm not sure I like it. The overly cartoony art annoys me. I still treasure the memories of reading 1970s vintage Batman comics with my Dad. But I could never do that with my daughter now. The books and the stories just aren't the same anymore.<BR/>And that brings me back to the new Titans annual. We need more stories like that. We need that seemngly vanished enthusiasm and innocence in our comic books. They're the kind of stories that lured me into comics, and they're the kind of stories that DC needs to tell more often if they want to lure in younger readers.<BR/>Remember, there's a reason they call them "heroes." It's something we're supposed to want to aspire to on our own.<BR/>I keep waiting for the comics I read now to inspire that same kind of longing in me.GroovyDaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15039679811633641522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-70800085919904777402008-01-12T21:54:00.000-05:002008-01-12T21:54:00.000-05:00I love Ed McGuinesses art, but not enough to pick ...I love Ed McGuinesses art, but not enough to pick up a mainstream superhero comic. Speaking of art, I've hated Morales art ever since the Valiant days. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, I *loved* the Titans' annual!! I looove Allred's art, so that was an easy purchase. The story was exactly the sort of genius storytelling we should be seeing in comic books. It was like the perfect story! I'll just make a broad, general statement.... All Silver Age comic book writers are better than all modern mainstream superhero writers. I wish there were more old scripts like that hanging around!kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06649763676628428647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25566450.post-65784467484017539802008-01-12T11:05:00.000-05:002008-01-12T11:05:00.000-05:00I read the red Hulk book & was yawn-city, which I ...I read the red Hulk book & was yawn-city, which I generally find to be my response to Loeb. Though I will admit that a Hulk with a Hulk-sized gun is a little bit awesome. Why was Doc being such a total choad, though?mordicaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05713766652793265867noreply@blogger.com