18 posts tagged “comics”
There's not a whole lot to say about Spider-Man 3 that hasn't been said already, so I'll keep it brief: I liked it a lot, and haters be damned. That jazz dance? I could have done without, to be honest, and I don't think Bernard should ever have had actual important dialogue, but the film was a hearty blend of great action set pieces, soapy melodramatics, and goofy charm. In short, it plays like a comic book. And comic book fans don't like it. That bugs me.
Being the third film in the franchise, we honestly should have seen the backlash coming. It's the way these things go. When the first film comes out, the fans are set to hate it, concocting all manner of ways for it to go wrong. And when what comes out isn't horrible, we cheer. A sequel gets to cash in on the first's earned good will, but it also has to face raised expectations (remember, nobody believed the original would be worth watching when they plunked down their 8 bucks for it). In the face of all that, it just doesn't perform as well. Not because it's bad per se but because it wasn't the most amazing movie we've ever seen.
And here the decline starts. Fanboy hyperbole can be powerful in a slow, subtle way. Every single one of you who likes Return of the Jedi and stays quiet about it knows what I mean. We don't like the third film, not ever, because we've set too high a bar and been let down too hard. And by this point, we're making flow charts and running bible codes to determine what 'needs to happen' in the next installment. It's hardly ever like the finished product, though, and this just makes us, the jilted audience, bristle at the film itself for not accepting our genius. If you think that I'm wrong about this, talk to your friends about The Phantom Menace sometime - a genuinely mediocre film that is lambasted as a cinematic hate crime largely because Lucas's plot was not "OMG JEDI FITE CLOEN!!!!"
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes threequels are just bad. Like Scream 3, or Superman 3, or The Godfather 3. That just builds the mythology, so to speak. It prompts viewers to walk into good third films and nitpick them to death.
There's some transitory joy in the critique, but I'd rather enjoy a movie on its merits than damn it on its few obvious flaws. Let's avoid being callow for a second - just a second - and ask ourselves if Spider-Man 3 did what it was intended to. Other than make money. I'm pretty sure that it did, and that the negativity we're seeing towards it is a perfect storm of expectation and/or demand that affects every franchise that gets this far.
The book is about the best goddamned warrior planet Earth has ever known, and she happens to carry a mystical arsenal around just for the hell of it.
If a writer can’t make that interesting and fun, they really shouldn’t be writing superheroes.
There are layers upon layers of the character, and we’ll get to them all. But let’s just make it very clear that Diana is the premiere asskicker in the DCU, period. Batman and Superman have other things that make them special. Diana is the one who occasionally carries an axe if someone gives her lip.
This is actually in my first issue, but the quote is, “When a giant robot attacks Metropolis, send Superman. An alien attack? Get Green Lantern. When a car is hijacked by an escaped loony, turn on the bat signal, by all means. But if an ARMY shows up on your doorstep, that’s when you call in Wonder Woman.
The quote, which is awesome, is from Newsarama.
Gail Simone is basically (along with Brian K. Vaughan) the reason I still read 'mainstrem' comics. Her writing Wonder Woman is a quick way to guarantee that I'll pull the book for the first time ever. I've kept dabbling in the book throughout my life, from Jimenez to Rucka to Heinberg, and while they've each had their strengths, I never found myself getting excited over the book or the character. Reading that quote up there already makes me excited. Between Birds of Prey and All-New Atom, Simone writes hands-down the best four-color ass-kicking on the shelves today; Geoff Johns is a distant second.
You might presume that I'm biased here, because I start conversations off with "I shook Gail Simone's hand," or have put
* Met Gail Simone at a con this one time, and she totally spoke to me.
under 'Technical Skills' on my resume. It's all true (and I still haven't washed that hand) but I'm also 100% correct and justified in my excitement. Can I go to 110%? That might be too much, but I'll definitely go 107%.
I joked a couple of months ago about a possible sequel for Civil War, but I'm pretty certain today that that's never going to come to pass. Why? Because Marvel refuses to stop printing the first one. Why? I don't know. There are people who double, nay, triple dip for all kinds of reasons, but I'm not one of them and I don't understand that mentality. Is there anybody who buys everything - all of the variant covers and director's cuts and whatever other hurtful marketing assaults that the House of Ideas perpetrates? If you're out there, tell me why. Please.
If you think I'm overreacting to the ongoing onslaught of an event that should have ended months ago, then you haven't seen this:
Fans will also be able to experience Civil War in a brand new way with each issue of Civil War Chronicles, which presents every issue of the Civil War event in chronological order, allowing readers to see the nuances of this epic tale in the order they occurred. Featuring two Civil War tales per issue, Chronicles will show you a new side of comic books’ biggest event of the decade.
Yes. Marvel has two big events going this summer. World War Hulk, and Civil War. Again. CWC is slated to be a 12 issue series including Civil War, Civil War: Frontline, and 'key tie-in issues'. Which of the 9,873 tie-in issues Marvel's calling 'key', I can't fathom.
Really, there's only two distinct possibilities I can think of for why this exists:
#1 - Marvel thinks its readers are idiots that can't figure out a pretty uncomplicated timeline of events.
OR
#2 - Everybody who went out and burned their copies of the miniseries is going to need a replacement to slide into their longboxes and never look at again.
Look for Civil War Classic in 2008, reprinting classic moments from Civil War #1-7 in black and white.
People talk a lot of trash about the concept of this new Thor series. Though the pitch is unchanged from the buzzes we heard right after Mike Oeming's perpetually badass Ragnarok arc, as a comic-book reading subculture, I think we've practically got a genetic predisposition to give Neil Gaiman the benefit of the doubt when it comes to silly ideas and not J. Michael Straczynski.
Why? Because Gaiman pulls silly ideas off.
Mark Millar was attached to the book, too, and with this persistent "Thor in the Midwest" idea, too. Back then, we liked Mark Millar. Back, back, before Civil War.
Straczynski, though, doesn't have the good will of the fans anymore. I love a lot of his work. But, well, "Sins Past." That arc put me between a rock and a hard place, because I'm a bit of an apologist when it comes to comics and I can justify a lot of things, but I also love the hell out of Gwen Stacy. So you can see my dilemma. My case against JMS also includes the last three or so issues of Rising Stars (the last good one is the one where Bright comes out of his coma), and that "Skin Deep" arc on Amazing Spidey.
At ComicCon, I went to JMS's Friday night panel, along with Bill and his wife, and Rich. He mostly talked about B5, but he did a good deal of talking about Thor, too. I also got a chance to talk to him face to face about the book the following day, and I'm here to tell you that I believe in this Thor book. I like the concepts, the way it tackles mythology and Americana at the same time. I love Olivier Coipel's pencils in general, and while I've seen a few pics of his Thor that seem off to me, I defy you to take issue with this:
When we walked out of that panel on Friday night, as we were walking the 80 billion or so blocks from the Javits Center to the diner where we ate, we talked about Thor, and one of the things that sold me on the book is explicitly the possibility of the Warriors Three getting into a barfight with a bunch of rednecks.
To crib from the master, you are now freaking out.
Did you know that 75% of children in America don't know where Canada is? That's a real figure, not some hyperbolic comment made up by a guy totally known for his hyperbolic comments. Trust me.
I think the problem is in the way kids are taught. What if Hercules, Prince of Power, was the one in front of the chalkboard?
Well, you'd probably know a lot about Sparta.
Hercules, I'm trying to get to Medieval Times, and I got all turned around in Sussex County. Where am I?
But that's not all Hercules has to offer our failing educational system. He's like Edward James Olmos, Joe Clark, and Mr. Holland all rolled into one musclebound, awesome package. AND HE WAS IN THE CHAMPIONS!
I've watched enough movies about schools to know that you need to give a rousing speech at some point. And if you doubt that Hercules has the acumen for that sort of thing, I don't even want to talk to you anymore.
Look:
I hope you're happy now.
Maybe if they'd had a video about dodging bullets on YouTube, this never would have happened.
Yours,
Comics
While I was pondering the stupidity of Civil War: Frontline #11, I kept asking myself if Captain America was supposed to stand for the ideals of the country and not its lowest common denominator.
That's not true, actually. I wasn't asking myself. I was shouting at Sally Floyd, and by proxy, at Paul Jenkins.
I may also have said something about Steve Rogers being the Captain America the Marvel U needs, not the one it deserves, but I'm wrong about that now, too. In his present state, Steve Rogers is very clearly the Cap that the Marvel U had coming to it.
I'm pretty sure we'll learn that this has been the big plan all along, that this was the problematic event that Joss Whedon flew in on his gleaming white pegasus to resolve. And from an editorial perspective, I have to tell you that it works. From a business perspective, it works even better. But as a reader, if this doesn't satisfy the bloodlust in you, then I can't say what will, except possibly a Sobek ongoing by Ennis and Robertson.
I am hoping this is the nadir. Let's start to crawl our way back up toward the light soon, guys.
I can't help it. I have a sickness.
As a guy who is totally working on this script, I exist in a millieu of like-minded creators. Some of them are canny enough to do things with their work once it's finished, but most of us, like me, have this big file full of stuff that gets constantly reworked, but never finished. Not that I sympathize, but I know why it takes Allan Heinberg seven years to write one issue of Wonder Woman.
Anyway, Hugh "Ghost Detectives" Stewart sent me something that he's been working on to look over for him, and I can't resist the urge to tell all five people who read this blog how great Girl Dangerous #1 is. It's unfinished, it doesn't have panel breakdowns, let alone art, but the rough script is a work of mad genius. And magic dinosaurs.
You're uncomfortable with me throwing the word genius around, I can tell. But this thing reads like Grant Morrison and Matt Fraction had a baby and that baby grew up to have severe ADHD.
As much as I love comics, it's been a long time (however many weeks since Nextwave #12) since I've smiled broadly while reading one. This accomplished that.
If/When this thing gets finished, expect me to whore the hell out of it. More than I'm doing right now.
International playboy and comics celebrity Chris Sims is circulating a meme, and that means that I am obligated to follow along like a little monkey:
Oh that Atom. Bein' small.
Because you know it's coming.
A lot of people are upset that Civil War kind of sucked - that it wasn't very civil, and that its events didn't really constitute a war. Civil War was kind of like when you break up with your girlfriend and you keep running into her and she makes unwarranted catty remarks about you behind your back and calls this new girl you're seeing a whore. Just like that, except Black Goliath died.
Quality aside, though, Civil War made boatloads of money for The House of Ideas, so it's going to probably stick around for awhile, and in a year or two, we'll get Civil War 2. I mean, they already announced the Annihilation sequel and that only made one boatload of money. So, to the unlucky for-hire writer tasked with delivering this superficially dystopian tale, I have some cautionary advice to offer:
1. Make sure that characters have reasons to behave the way they do. I mean, I'm a comic fan, so I know the dangerous allure of sitting around and saying, "hey, what if Green Lantern were a crossdresser?" but I know - and I hope you do, too - that wishing doesn't make Hal Jordan put on a dress for no reason. It also, despite that one issue of Exiles, does not make Tony Stark into Doctor Doom.
2. Dammit, it's a Thor robot! Stop calling it a clone. The only rationale for a clone of Thor being full of sparks, metal and circuits is that Thor, and by extension all Asgardians, were robots in the first place. Ultron, I wouldst 01000100101011101 with thee!
3. Don't resort to cloning. Howard Mackie learned this the hard way, and you shouldn't repeat his mistakes. The only place to go from a robot clone of Thor is a group of robot Thor clones, and I am pretty sure that a gang of robots with god DNA is something Grant Morrison comes up with every morning during breakfast and then says, "No, that won't work no matter how hard I try." No, not even if they're called The T.H.O.R.* Corps.
4. Recruiting serial killers and sociopaths to arrest costumed heroes is not only too extravagant as a metaphor, it's also pretty retarded.
5. Try killing a white hero that's been in a book sometime in the past five years. Or, if we're to trust the Distinguished Competition, you can substitute a C-list hero's wife for added controversy. But, really, Marvel's only got like three black heroes, so don't kill off two of them during your event.
6. Think tactically. If you're Captain America, and you're going to teleport a bunch of superpowered individuals somewhere where they can duke it out to the death, don't go to a heavily populated urban center. Jersey was right there, Cap. Go to the Pine Barrens, or Paterson.
7. Learn diplomacy. If a teammate voices some reservations about the current system for doing things, it's better to hear him out and discuss your differences over lunch and a cocktail, not just order a bunch of goons to fire assault rifles at him.
You might be wondering, "Jeff, what in Civil War was good?" Well, I like the part where Captain America surfs on a fighter jet. And the part where Hercules beats the shit out of clone Thor with his own clone hammer. And the part where the Invisible Woman basically flips clone Thor the bird. That stuff with Spider-Man was alright, too, but we all know it'll get retconned eventually. The moral here is to embrace senseless violence and nearly completely disregard the vagaries of your story. Have Wolverine and Snake Eyes fight, with no explanation of what he's doing in the Marvel Universe, and have SuperPro rescue a more established hero from certain doom. Do something big and ridiculous at the end - have Loki show up, or have Magneto try to drop Rhode Island on everyone. As in character as I might think it is, ending on "Yep, yep, let's pack it in, guys. They got us good," is what we in the industry call anticlimactic.
*Tressed, Hammer-Operating Robots, naturally.
JOY: Shaking Gail Simone's hand - implying that I touched Gail Simone - made my weekend. That the same hand also touched Brian K. Vaughan is unthinkable. Maybe I'll be bestowed with some measure of their mad, mad genius now.
SURREALISM: Traveling to a comic book convention in the company of a film critic and a comic book journalist, and being a video game journalist myself, my friends and I were like a bizarre three wise men. Which makes me myrrh, I think, so let's abandon that conceit entirely. If I had the spare batteries and the foresight required to fish the thing out of my suitcase, I'd have probably left my voice recorder on for the whole weekend, just for conversations like:
"Picture this: Thomas Kincade, Painter of Light, becomes a Green Lantern."
"No. Bob Ross."
"Oh, I like that. 'Why so sad, Sinestro? I'm just gonna ring you a happy little river, and ring in some happy trees!'"
GUILT: EDIT - David Mack has clarified for me that he is not married, and correctly pointed out that Mike passed my sketchbook to him. I have nothing against David Mack - I'm just not very familiar with his work outside of Daredevil - and I hope my comments didn't convey that I wasn't grateful to him, because I was. Hence the 'guilt' heading. So, my faux pas basically has made me now feel double guilty. I'm going to start reading Kabuki today, I think. So, sorry, David Mack. I like your Daredevil comics, and have not once complained about Echo being an Avenger.
STUPEFICATION: Ethan Van Sciver - and I'm a big fan of his DC work - doing PLASTIC MAN? AS A CRIME BOOK? I don't know if I like it or hate it. If I like it, though, I like it a lot. The real 'Boomer is a Cylon' moment for me, though, had to be this nuggest of conversation:
Jeff: Who's writing it?
Ethan Van Sciver: I don't know. Probably me. Or Mark Waid. But maybe me.
J: Really?
E: Really.
COMEDY GOLD: Overheard at the DC booth:
Fan: I'd like you to draw an angry Batman.
Karl Kerschl: Well, Batman's always angry.
Further back in the line: His parents are dead!
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