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….

Another week, more links, and another lyric. What is it from and which link or links does it relate to?

Your meme for the week.

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It seems April Fools day was this week. That made my job a bit harder. Thanks guys. I think Polite Scott’s was my favorite of the bunch.

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Plok and Erin are working on Heliumpunk.

More detail on Heliumpunk can be found here. Thanks Erin!

I also designed Erin’s new logo. What do you think of it?

Because the byproduct of nuclear fusion is helium, and right now helium is freakin’ expensive…but if helium was cheap, you could do all kinds of things with it, couldn’t you? God only knows what kind of cool-ass zeppelins we could cook up using 21st century materials…faster than ships! Cheaper than planes! The implications for air freight alone simply boggle the mind.

I could see a comic book universe based on that.

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Kevin has been busy this week, what with launching lawyerbear.org and all. He’s the bear that’s a lawyer in case you didn’t know.

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I enjoyed Facedown in the Gutters’ version of Civil War much better than Marvel’s.

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Digital Femme thinks someone needs to learn to draw Misty Knight’s hair.

Editor: Y’know, what? Misty Knight is just too damn fine. We need to ugly her up. Maybe give her an atrocious hairdo that makes no sense. We can’t have her wearing a hairstyle that countless black women in America are currently wearing right now. In fact, we won’t even give her a classic 70s Afro. Make up something completely ridiculous and impractical. Throw two completely different textures in there. Make it look like a hat.

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Viking Jimmy by Jeremy Haun. Jimmy Olsen doesn’t need to die. He needs his own comic published nowadays.

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This argument seems kind of silly to me. I dont’ run a white ethnic comic blog. I just run a comic blog. Half of the reason that people like the internet is the fact that you can’t tell what race, sex, nationality, etc. something is unless the writer either 1) clues you in using what he/she writes. 2) you research the person enough that you find out on your own. or 3) you come straight out and tell your readers. The internet seems like the one place where being able to ignore your race, nationality, or sex is easiest. What do you think?

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More theories at Those Wednesdays, this time for 52. Could DC’s Genesis crossover be involved?

The year was 1997 and DC decided to put out a weekly crossover that linked every power from Green Lantern to Speed Force to Kryptonian abilities to one thing: the Godwave. See upon the Second World’s destruction, which led to the New Gods, a wave was sent out that seeded the powers of Earth’s heroes and villains. Well now the wave was collapsing in upon itself and heading back to it’s origin point: the Source Wall. Darkseid was going to use the moment of its return to rewrite the universe in his own image. Sounds like pretty standard comic fair to me.

However, there is something interesting that occurred in the pages of Genesis that I did not know before picking up the mini-series on ebay. More people than just those who I talked about in my previous post have pierced the source wall. In fact, thirteen people set into the great unknown power to see if they could set things right.

Guess who those thirteen include? Yep. You guessed right. Most of the people from DC’s Countdown peek.

Also thanks to Those Wednesday’s I can’t look at Kalibak the same anymore.

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The Unbearable Awesomeness Of Being looks at comic book ages.

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The Roar of Comics wonders Who is Wonder Woman?

I understand her appeal as an icon, a symbol of women’s power. I understand the appeal of a wonder woman, a being who steps out of myths in the “real” world, bringing a era of gods and monsters with her.

But who IS Diana, clay golem, Amazon princess, ambassador for peace, warrior for Justice? What does she like? What does she fear? What amuses her? What angers her? Gods, I don’t even know her favorite cookie!

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The Howling Curmudgeons discuss border characters, characters that aren’t quite heroes.

To me the obvious example is the Punisher (who, IMHO, isn’t a superhero), but I think there are also other characters who are more marginal than you might think at first blush. Just as a ferinstance, there are characters like the original Guardsman (guy in the two-tone green armor — now I think there are a bunch of people in similar armor) or Stingray, who are more like guards or “break glass in case of team-up” characters who, even within the context of their fictional universe don’t actually seem to put in much effort to fit the criteria, other than having the costume and the powers (and maybe a thin secret identity).

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Mark Waid shows up in Sirspamdalot’s Why Comic Book Writers Oughta Mind Their Own Business. You have to look at the link, because I dont’ want to reproduce all the vitriol spewed forth in the thread.

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Dick Hates Your Blog collects all the interesting Greg Rucka quotes from around the web lately and recommends he go work at Marvel a bit.

Greg Rucka, if you’re reading this (which is entirely possible, since you seem like the type who compulsively Googles his own name), please sign an exclusive with Marvel, then start dishing the dirt, under a pseudonym or via Rich Johnston, if necessary. Thanks.

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Dave’s Long Box looks at Marshall Rogers’ ‘TEC.

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This isn’t really comic related, but it’s entertaining none the less. Bully recently went on an Excowsion to Seattle and blogs about it. Those pictures always crack me up.

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The Ignoble Death of Captain America. BLAM!

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Friday Night Fights Round 3

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I love 52 Pickup, not only do you get a recap of last week’s 52, but you also get an entertaining discussion about digital comics.

The analogous situation in this medium is where the big comics copyright holders are in something of a bind. I get the sense that they’re looking into potential initiatives, but the clock is ticking for people to get in the habit of buying old comics stories via something along the lines of iTunes. I also suspect that what the online market’s profit-drivers might be aren’t the Dark Knight-type perennials, but the long-tail oddities that can’t support print republication and distribution, old stories that get referred to in new ones (like the hail of references that 52 has provided), the “historical documents” of the fictional universe. And customers are going to want to be able to get everything they want in one place, as with iTunes. Call it the celestial longbox.

There’s just too many good points to quote. Go read.

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We’ll end this week’s Meanwhile getting to know a hero a little better. How about Beta Ray Bill?

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Did I miss anything of note? Let me know and I might link it here.

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