Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Some Random Thoughts (Mar. 25 2009)

  • Read the first issues BOOM's The Incredibles and The Muppet Show earlier this week and enjoyed both. The Incredibles suffers from the lack of voices since I think they really brought a lot to the characters in the film (come on, you need Holly Hunter and Sam Jackson!), but, otherwise, it's a cute little book. I never really watched The Muppet Show... at all, so the book didn't connect with me as it will almost surely connect with fans of the show. Really liked the art, though. Roger Langridge draws an awesome Kermit.

  • With a couple of Marvel titles I reviewed for CBR getting second printings, I've joined the "Marvel cherry-picked my review for a pull quote" club finally. For Dark Avengers #3, they took part of an early paragraph in my review that's used accurarely and part of a sentence from the end that's not quite as accurate: "This is Bendis at his best... a must read each month." I actually said: "If future issues continue the dark, psychological interplay between these deranged characters, then Dark Avengers will be a must read each month." For Secret Warriors #2, they didn't really alter it much to get "One of Marvel’s best books." They've yet to take a negative review and make it seem like I loved the book yet. (Okay, this random thought is me just doing the lamest sort of bragging there is...)

  • Has there been an explanation yet for the "Iron Fist is cancelled!--Oh wait, it's not!" business from Monday? After Marvel tried it with Captain Britain and MI:13, is it the new policy when trying to get fans all worked up and maybe increase sales on low-selling books?

  • I will be buying Wednesday Comics.

  • A while back, Brian Cronin had a post up at Comics Should be Good that I'm too lazy to link-hunt for about comic creators taking shots at one another in comics. Cronin argued that the practice has no place in comics. I'm going to disagree, if only because I love "Back in the USSR," which is, let's face it, a pot-shot song. The Beatles and the Beach Boys had a nice friendly rivalry going at the time, so the Beatles took it up a notch and did a song in the Beach Boys' style, but about America's big enemy at the time. It's a good song and wasn't really meant to be insulting to the Beach Boys, just a friendly jab. Now, comics are narrative and potshots can really detract from the narrative value, but, to me, that's just pointing out the difference between good and bad potshots: good ones don't detract, while bad ones do. To me, that's the only real rule: if it works, then it's okay; if it doesn't work, then it's not okay. As well, where do you draw the line? Is Brian Azzarello's use of the writers of 52 in Doctor 13: Architecture and Mortality wrong? Does the maliciousness of the potshot count? Does it come down to which side you're more sympathetic to? Hard questions to answer.

  • Before anyone asks: no, I won't be reading or reviewing Flash: Rebirth or that Black Lantern story that's coming up. Not my thing and the only reason for me doing either would be to piss people off--and I don't go out of my way to do that. Most of the time. I'm really not a fan of bringing back Barry Allen (or Hal Jordan really), so that bias taints things. As for the Black Lanterns... I find the whole spectrum of Corps kind of silly/stupid.

  • The current storyline involving Chris Jericho and Hall of Famers on Monday Night Raw is a story I really wish DC would do in JSA: a young, very skilled guy calling out the old-timers as has-beens and glory hounds. Jericho is the heel, obviously, but it's also very hard to disagree with anything he says. But, my problems with the amount of active senior citizen superheroes in the DCU are nothing new.

  • The first issue of the new Seaguy series comes out next week. However, in a hypothetical universe, would you have rather Morrison gotten to complete the Seaguy trilogy or the Marvel Boy trilogy, assuming only one could happen? As much as I dig Seaguy, I'd probably pick Marvel Boy.

  • A while back, I remebered a story I came up with once called "Fear and Loathing in Metropolis." Clark Kent and... I can't remember if it was John Henry Irons, Ron Troupe, or J'onn off in search of Truth, Justice and the American Way. It would have been godawful. And, yet, still strangely compelling.