I mentioned earlier that due to scheduling conflicts Shane won’t be doing a Meanwhile … today, which means you’re stuck with me as a “guest columnist.” Shane usually starts off the column with an intro paragraph, so let’s keep things legal:

There have been so many shocks and surprises and the internet just can’t be broken anymore. It’s become tougher, like when you tear a phone book into pieces and eventually it just won’t rip anymore. How do you tell who’s who and what’s what in this new world out there? Don’t worry. I’m here to comfort and guide. Welcome to the world outside B@N. Welcome to Meanwhile….

For the past few weeks Shane has been interviewing bloggers and running other special features in the “new and improved” Meanwhile. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to do anything that clever, so you’ll have to settle for some “old school” Meanwhile linkage. So let’s get to it …

I don’t need your Civil War

We’ve had plenty of discussion recently right here on Blog@ about the end of Civil War. And plenty of bloggers have weighed in as well, including Chris Sims, who said, “This has got to be the biggest pile of nothing that I have ever read.” It gets worse for CW from there:

To its credit, the artwork is fantastic. Steve McNiven’s a great talent, and with Morry Hollowell’s coloring, this has been an absolutely beautiful book from start to finish, even if he did forget that the Vision’s a kid these days. The script, however, fails on every conceivable level. The biggest problem, of course, is that after all these months, with a year’s worth of delays and promises that it’s only late because while the ending was awesome, they wanted to rewrite it to be super-awesome, it ends in the most poorly-written and anticlimactic resolution of Mark Millar’s entire career.

Ron Hogan has similar thoughts, mentioning a few comics that came out that same Wednesday that did manage to “bring it,” so to speak:

… the payoff could have been handled so much better, with stuff, you know, actually happening. Heck, on the very same day this comic was released, Marvel put out the fourth issue of Punisher War Journal (in which the ultraviolent vigilante is fighting his way through Marvel’s supervillain roster), and Matt Fraction pulled together a story that was filled with rich characterization, subtle humor, and a solid narrative. Likewise, the writing team behind DC Comics’ 52 crafted an awe-inspiring resolution to one of that series’ main storylines that managed to surprise even the readers who saw quite a few of its plot twists coming… Not that any of this matters, of course, because the sales figures on Civil War #7 will be high enough to keep Marvel happy, and they’ve already moved on to the next big thing anyway.

Matthias Wivel at metabunker, meanwhile, wasn’t satisfied either, but gives the creators credit for trying:

Contrary to large parts of the comics intelligentsia who dismiss it by default, and the masochistic fans who dis it but keep coming back for more, I do not want to dump unreservedly on Marvel’s Civil War. Sure, it is easy to make fun of, what with its ineptly handled attempts at political allegory and its amateurish lack of coherence as a story. But, flipside, it actually started out as a rather ambitious effort at creating an intelligent superhero story that did not just preserve the status quo, but actually moved something. This did not really work, but I still think the people behind deserve some credit for trying.

So I know what you’re saying … “OK, JK, you’ve highlighted the negative. But what about the positive, man? Where’s the balance?” Point taken, hypothetical readers who might actually be reading this. For a positive review, let’s hear from Dorian’s younger brother Andy:

But as good and as deep as that is it doesnt really compare to all the kick ass fights that are in this book as well. Politics and stuff are all good but thats not why real fans read comics we want to see kick ass fight and explosions and stuff and this book gave us all taht ahnd more that we wanted.

Waitaminute … does Dorian really have a brother?

And our last stop on the Civil War portion of our tour … congrats to our own Carla Hewitt, who took third place in Spencer Carnage’s Get Your Civil War On contest:

I still love you though, New York

Tired of the New York Comic-Con? Then maybe you’re suffering from convention hangover, like Dean Haspiel:

Let’s face it, Comicons are exhausting and as the form becomes more popular and conventions add hours and expand their space, the more compromised our wealth of stamina becomes. No matter how mentally prepared and physically fit, humans weren’t meant to endure such acutely qualified intensity. Your mind shuts down into safe mode and everything becomes a whirlwind of desensitizing data. Suffice it to say, whiskey ain’t got nuthin’ on Comicons. The high is paramount but the hangover is brutal.

If you’re looking for the hair of the dog that bit you, there are lots of reports out there from folks like Joanna Estep, Chris Butcher, Bill D., Robert George, Tim Leong, the Daily Crosshatch, Laura Hudson, Heidi McDonald and Tom Spurgeon. Pros like Paul Dini, Neil Kleid and C.B. Cebulski have blogged about NYCC or, at least, on the news that was announced. Even the blogs for Wired, Entertainment Weekly and USA Today were on hand (that last one reveals the fate of Oni Press’s My Name is Earl comic, which was announced last year and is apparently dead now).

So who’s ready for WonderCon?

I’m back in black

In talking about the Black Panel at the New York Comic-Con this past weekend, hermanos at 4th letter wonders why there aren’t more comic bloggers who are black:

The comics blogosphere is a big and varied place. There are very large fanboy, feminist contingent, and gay portions to it. But, where are the black voices?

There are a few very good black boards out there. I’m fond of Dwayne McDuffie’s forum, and I was recommended Hero Talk by a guy at the con, too. I picked up UVC’s inaugural issue at NYCC, and I like The Musuem of Black Superheroes, too. Those are message boards, though. They’re incestuous by nature, though that isn’t always a bad thing.

There are even a gang of quality bloggers. I recently discovered Cheryl Lynn a few weeks ago, and think that Bahlactus is great. So is Glyphs, though its RSS feed has never, ever worked right for me. It’s just that there has to be more. Who else is there? Where is everybody?

What is it good for?

DMZ creator Brian Wood shares on his LiveJournal a letter he received from a soldier in Iraq:

First off let me say that I patiently await the shipments of DMZ that i occasionally get, and have passed them around to the guys in my unit. They received it quite well and often ask me if you get any of your subject matter and insight from those of us who are currently over here or have been deployed before… A lot of your ideas and threads in DMZ are dead on the money as far as plot and political agenda.

Someone should send him Demo #7.

I’m not crazy ’cause I take the right pills every day

Upon hearing the news that Bendis and Maleev are doing an ongoing Halo series for Marvel, Kevin Church imagines what might be if other video games were turned into comics. Casey and Wood on Pac-Man is probably something I would buy.

Quick hits

Occasional Superheroine takes lessons from George W. Bush on “How To Achieve Female Empowerment In The Comic Book Industry.”

Are floppies dead?

Happy anniversary, Neilalien!

Loren feels the same way about the return of Captain Carrot as I do.

Sleestak reviews Ghost Rider. Which reminds me that I’ll have the winners of the Blog@ Ghost Rider contest up tomorrow, I promise!

Among other activities in Snark Free Corner, Brian Cronin asks what Marvel characters would make up your basketball team. I pick Galactus and … well, whoever. But definitely Galactus.

Michael at Legion Omnicom asks who you want to see on Legion now that Waid and Kitson are leaving.

That’s it, I quit, I don’t give a …

Alright, I’m spent; like I said, Shane will return next week, probably with something better. In the meantime, if you want to read more blogs, you can always go here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Features, Meanwhile.... You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.