David Mack, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, and Brian Azzarello are basically my five favorite comics creators.
Newsarama’s got previews up featuring three out of the five, and that ain’t half-bad.
Batman 666 and All-Star Batman 6 with a handful of pages a piece. Looking good. When’s the last time Barbara Gordon was this adorable? I think it’s the freckles, maybe. She actually looks like a gangly teenager.
I’m feeling really tired and haven’t quite had the energy to blog the past few days! Never fear. Instead of an actual post, I’ll give you that most pernicious of blog posts– a random image!
Dr. Doom appears to have won the day. The Human Torch is blinded and trapped with the Mole Man. Namor has made off (and perhaps even made out) with Sue. Benjamin J Grimm is MIA and of no help. Reed Richards? He’s hiding in his tower, cowering before the might that is Doom.
What does the world’s greatest mind do in this situation? He puts on his thinking cap.
This is one of the best scenes I’ve seen in a Fantastic Four comic, and is actually what got me to finally try the franchise after avoiding it since childhood. Grant Morrison and Jae Lee’s Fantastic Four: 1 2 3 4 is what a movie critic would call a tour de force, with an excellent merging of writing and art. This was my introduction to post-X-Factor Jae Lee, and it was a revelation that prompted me to purchase the Inhumans maxiseries he did with Paul Jenkins.
Jae Lee draws a sick Namor, and Grant Morrison writes a quality Fantastic Four.
I’m thinking some things over in my head, and I think I might try something new with the blog over the next few days, posting-wise. I’ve got some good comics to review, at any rate.
I’ve been thinking about a few things and you cool cats get to reap the benefits.
Damsel in distress/lost family stories. They form the basis of characters like Punisher, and are common in Spider-Man, Batman, and Daredevil stories. They’re part of a “You Touched My Stuff” trend that’s understandably bothersome. They tend to reduce the damsels, or families, to things that are possessed by the hero– my wife, my son, my family.
All that is true, but I’m having trouble letting go of them. It’s an easy story, but one that never fails to get me. It’s a suspense builder. It’s an easy way to get that “Oh, snap!” reaction. It gets that because it’s an easy pop. Of course the hero is going to fight harder when his family is in danger, who wouldn’t?
I’m not all about them, don’t get me wrong. But, if a story comes up featuring a character I know and a writer I enjoy, I’m much more likely to give it a chance than I would if it was some no-name character.
There were two that have gone down in comics relatively recently that come to mind. Punisher: Man of Stone featured something like a damsel in distress, and Daredevil’s most recent arc features a traditional one. I’m going to spoil both of them, mind you, but they’ve been out for a while so I guess that’s okay.
I kind of wish I could put my resolution right here, above the fold, but it kind of flows better if it’s at the end. Read it if you’re interested in seeing where I’m going, hey?
Read the rest of this entry �
From Newsarama:
Marvel recorded 48.42% of the Unit Market Share, nearly 20 percentage points above DC’s 28.57%. Both the size of the “spread” between publishers and DC’s percentage of share are perhaps both historic figures in the Diamond/single distributor era.
From a Dollar standpoint, Marvel’s 43.62% to DC’s 27.07% is comparable to May’s figures.
That’s Marvel up twenty percentage points in market share. This is not even remotely a good thing for DC, obviously. Five books in the top twenty? Countdown shedding a couple grand worth of readers a week? Not cool.
I hate on DC a lot, but it’s out of love, believe me. Or maybe like. Anyway– I want them to do better, because they’ve got a sick cast of characters. I love Charlie Huston, but what is Moon Knight, an eternal B-lister, doing selling more than Detective Comics, Wonder Woman, and Superman? What’s DC doing wrong?
DC can do a lot of right. Here’s one you might not of heard of. Son of Vulcan, a miniseries by Scott Beatty and Keron Grant. It’s a legacy book, or at least pretends to be one, so that’s DC’s niche right there. It’s got a kid hero, an older kid hero (who is in a retirement home), and a very colorful and entertaining cast. It’s the kind of world-building that DC just doesn’t do any more.
Scratch that– Blue Beetle, written by the excellent John Rogers (who also wrote the best movie of the summer featuring Robots in Disguise), does this kind of thing and it’s one of the greatest books DC has. That isn’t damning with faint praise, either– Blue Beetle is excellent. In fact, SoV is kind of a proto-Beetle in a lot of ways.
Son of Vulcan. Balls nasty. Six issues. Great comedy. World building. It’s what DC needs more of. Don’t believe me? Here’s a few pages. I want to talk more about the series later on, but I’m still pretty wiped after E3. I’d love to see more of this series, but I don’t think it fits in with NEW EARTH and COUNTDOWN TO EXILES OF NEW EARTH and KILL CHARACTERS IN LIMBO FOR CHEAP THRILLS, you know?
Me, I’m just waiting for Death of the Z-List DC Characters You’ve Never Heard Of mega-crossover.
Enjoy.
from issue five
Let’s be honest here.
I would pay DC money if they let me write an Injustice Gangstas miniseries. Even a one-shot.
So, guess who just got back from a special sneak preview of the Iron Man game coming from SEGA :quagmire:
It was a short preview, and not hands-on, but it looks pretty dope. We saw the 360 rev, which looked really good to be so early. We saw a Siberian stage, with IM versus Russian mercs… Russian mercs run by AIM. Rhodey and Jarvis assist him over a radio.
We saw a couple good scenes. Iron Man can catch missiles and redirect them, turning the enemy against itself. It was an unfinished build, but there was a pretty good sense of speed, and the stage was huge. It’s structured so that you can complete objectives in a mission in the order that feels most comfortable to you, which is kind of cool. Infantry and that kind of thing are really no threat, but heavy armor? Yes, that will rock you but good.
One last thing before I dip– I asked the dev specifically about armors. He said that they’re going to rep the movie first and foremost, but that they’re going to pull on 40 years of Marvel continuity and give us some hot unlockables. War Machine armor is a no-brainer. It’d be kinda cool to see some Hulkbuster armor (renamed, of course) or something from Adam Warren’s Hypervelocity.
One more one last thing– I know one of the dev guys, and he’s local to SF :whatup:
Blogfriend Cheryl Lynn was interviewed by Sequential Tart.
ST: Who gets it right, both in comics and other media? (And why is this important?)
CLE: I look at the work of someone like Khari Evans and I truly believe that he is an artist who loves drawing women. Not just women of one particular type, but beautiful women period. All races. All ethnicities. All body types. He depicts women with a variety of features and he gets those features right. And it’s important to get those features right because a girl shouldn’t have to pick up a comic and be made to feel that she is less than another person simply because she has kinky hair, or dark skin, or no crease in her eyelids. She shouldn’t be told that characters that share her features aren’t worthy of being drawn correctly. That wears away at a person’s self-esteem. It makes for an unpleasant reading experience.
Go check it out.
JIM STARLIN: FERRYMAN OF THE NEW GODS – NEWSARAMA
I’m just going to cherry pick a few quotes for you guys, okay? Bolds for emphasis.
JS: Dan’s the boss. Myself, I sort of think of this project as putting an ending to Jack’s New Gods’ saga. Since Kirby’s initial run on the characters others have presented them with mixed results. Looking back I’d say at least half of the past New Gods series have done more harm than good. So for me, Death of the New Gods is half honoring Jack Kirby, half mercy killing.
JS: Didn’t realize that was a Mother Box until hearing your question. You know they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. As for the Black Racer clue—well, the Racer was easily my least favorite of the New Gods. So no one should be surprised to learn he doesn’t last long in Death of the New Gods. Never could figure out what Kirby was thinking when he created this one. He should have been gotten rid of a long time ago. Then again, that’s just my opinion.
JS: Big plans for the Source. You’ll never guest whose father he turns out to be. No, seriously: everything you think you know about the Source is wrong. This is the part that the really fanatical Kirby fans are simply going to hate.
NRAMA: Got it. Finally, then, will this project lead to a re-iteration of the New Gods in the foreseeable future? Or do you think it is time to close the final chapter on an old idea and try a new concept?
JS: DC owns the rights to the character’s names. There’s some great names there. What do you think?
Thesis: Sometimes, it’s okay to let old characters lie in limbo. You don’t have to use them, and you don’t have to break them to make them more serious or mature.
Proof: Post-IdC DC Comics
Thesis: Grant Morrison and Walt Simonson are the only people who should ever touch Kirby’s New Gods.
Proof: Countdown-era DC Comics
Thesis: Black Racer is awesome.
Proof: JLA: Rock of Ages
Here, let me end on one more quote. Dan Didio at Comic Bloc.
DD: Yeah, we are in a position right now where we have a direction in what we are trying to do for the DCU and we have an overarching story that we’re trying to tell. I’d say about 75% of the concepts that are being created are editorially driven. And realistically, at that point, we are trying to figure out bringing in the best people for the job.
Editorially-driven comics aren’t bad. Truth: Red White Black was pitched by Axel Alonso. But, when you’re up as high as 75%, you’ve got a problem.
This is Countdown-era DC. Welcome to the FUN PLACE.
In slightly better news, Martha Washington drops this week (hoorah) and I bought like three pairs of shoes yesterday.
hermanos is off covering that E3 thing for that magazine he does, so that leaves me to hold up the fort. It’s all right because I have quite the treat. Regular readers know that I’ve been talking about the pro wrestling federation CHIKARA to the point of annoyance in the last few months. And with good reason!
Moving to the next step of fandom, I’ve secured an interview with “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush himself. Quackenbush, nicknamed “The Master of a Thousand Holds” (though to be fair, I’m sure he’s probably sorta kinda good at eight or nine more), is a 16-year veteran of the ring and is the man who co-founded CHIKARA back in 2002. He’s a wrestler, a trainer to wrestling hopefuls, occasional commentator, writer, and possibly the next surprise identity of Ronin. He’s also one of the best performers I’ve ever had the honor of watching wrestle.
Not to mention that he’s a major comic fan. So this is, you know, still on-topic for the site.
————
I know what CHIKARA is and you certainly know what CHIKARA is, but let’s play it safe and say that whoever’s reading this doesn’t know. Can you give us a little description of what it’s about and what sets it apart from all the rest?
– CHIKARA is a group of pro-wrestlers/luchadores/ninjas/ would-be-super-heroes that get together and enact the age-old struggle of “good vs. evil” within the context of a wrestling universe that permits elements of science-fiction and fantasy beyond what is currently considered “acceptable” or “mainstream” by wrestling fans at large. I hope, when the final word on CHIKARA is written, that our effect on the wrestling performance genre will be akin to the effect Monty Python had on British comedy, or Jack Kirby had on comics.
I’m heading from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in around 45 minutes for E3! This means that blogging on my part might be kind of sparse, but that’s cool. I’ll have to make it up on the back end.
I started up a library for the books I’ve got here in the Bay. This isn’t the whole collection, mind, I still got around 13 boxes of books left in GA. I’m getting them shipped here soon. You can scope it out at this link right here. Books.app for OS X is nice, highly recommended. I’ll update it as I go along. Only around 65 books thus far. Multiply that by, say, nine or ten, and you’ve got a pretty good estimate of how many books and how little self control I have.
Anyway!
I’m up out this piece! I’ll get up whatever I can, but no promises! If I see some cool comics games (I’ve already played Hellboy and one other, I think), I’ll drop a line here. My only plan is to see some hot games and pick up some Starburys for me and my little brother. Those kicks are pretty nice to be on the cheap.
If you’re in the LA area, drop me an email. It’s off to the right side there, on the sidebar. We can hook up and you can tell me I got bad taste in comics.
There once was a comic called Edited Crisis 04. It skewered Infinite Crisis 04 and was pretty freaking hilarious.
The #sa-comics crew got together to do another one, this time based off Sinestro Corps… when we realized that it was really nowhere near as badly written as Infinite Crisis 04. We did a get a few pages in, though, so you get to reap the rewards.
:whatup: to Edgeandchristian, Pookie_Bear, indigi, d00gz, and everyone else who helped.
One more, unrelated to Sinestro Corps but wholly related to this.
