“So sad that it should come to this. We tried to warn you all but oh dear?”

Sorry, I couldn’t stop singing…where’s that title paragraph…here we go…

The comic blogosphere seems to grow larger every day and just like comics, sometimes it’s pretty easy to get a little lost. “Meanwhile …” will act as your map, pointing out what interesting discussions are happening out there while you’re reading Blog@Newsarama.

Have you been paying attention to the last couple of Meanwhile titles?

“I’m moving through some changes, I’ll never be the same.”

“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.”

and now “So long and thanks for all the fish.” I’ve left clues, but now it’s time to be frank.

I’m sad to say that I’m leaving Meanwhile. I know, I know. You’re saying, “Again?”. Yep, I’m leaving again, but this time I’m getting paid to do so. I’m leaving to help start a new site that’s set to pop up pretty soon. I’ll mainly be writing reviews, but I may have another column in me. I can’t let you know the name of the site yet, but I can give you a little hint. They also cover video games. Yeah, I know… that really narrows it down.

Anyway, on with the column. I’m sure JK will be by with some news about what’s going to happen to Meanwhile in the next few days.

Richard Elson of Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic is interviewed. Via Blimey! It’s another comic blog.

I love drawing and I get as much enjoyment and satisfaction from drawing a funny animal as I do a ‘serious’ illustration. I also believe that both methods of drawing are equally effective at conveying a story, and being able to relate to abstracted, or simplified, characters can, in my opinion, be an indication of intellectual maturity. Only relating to very realistic drawing styles seems to indicate a rather adolescent mind-set, to me.

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How To Make Love the Ben Grimm Way?

This will, of course, never be addressed in any actual issue of Fantastic Four, but even at our most optimistic, we have to assume that Ben’s entire body was transformed, and something happened to ‘lil Ben. If it didn’t disappear entirely (like his ears), it was presumably transformed into something incompatible with a human woman. Even if it’s essentially the same, it would be, er, rocky, right? He was on equal terms with Ms. Marvel (She-Thing) but, we’ve also seen him with Alicia for years and a physical relationship has been implied, especially recently in the movies and comics. Of course, she is a sculptress. Marvel probably isn’t ready to admit to having the world’s first eunuch super-hero, so maybe with the Thing’s increased media profile there’s been a deliberate move towards emphasizing that he’s all man, damn it.

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Larry Young is talking about his interview with AICN!

I had such a blast talking with Ambush Bug about everything that I had Mimi snap a picture of me for them to use that I swore I’d never have taken. People would always ask me when I would put on the suit, and I’d always answer that I’m the publisher, it’s silly, Stan Lee never dressed up as Spider-man, so it’s just not happening.

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The Joker and Chaos Theory

The Joker as a practitioner of Chaos Theory would completely confound the Detective who relies on following clues to solve crimes and looks for meaning in details. Villains like the Riddler who deliberately leave clues play to Batman’s strengths, but Batman’s attempt to impose order on an intentionally random series of crimes would necessarily fail if not drive him insane.

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The Good and Bad of Grant Morrison

Some people haven’t drank the Morrison Kool-Aid, and I guess that’s fine. Some common complaints I hear leveled against Morrison include the following:

He jumps around too much and doesn’t tell focused stories

He crams too much stuff into a story

I have no idea what the hell is going on most of the time

He’s still recycling his metatextual tricks from Animal Man
Skrull Kill Krew

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Atop The Fourth Wall reads some really bad comics. This time it’s Badrock.

And now as if he was channeling the spirit of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, Badrock happily retorts, “What-ever!” And now I get this really funny picture in my head of a seven foot tall grey superhero with muscles that make the Hulk look like Elijah Wood in terms of buffness in a blonde wig cocking his hips to the side while rolling his eyes. “I’ve had it up to my neck with freaks like you tellin’ me how you’re gonna mop this place up with my sorry butt before wringin’ me out to dry. I didn’t come here to hassle you, Girth– But if it’s a hassle you want– FINE. Just keep in mind, when I’m shashin’ that pin head of yours into the ground, that you’re doin’ it for free–!” Okay, I’ll admit, that’s a good line. I will say, however, that with the way Rob draws, Badrock shouldn’t exactly be proud of his own cranium-to-body ratio.

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Kevin Church Talks Hardcovers

Then there’s DC. DC does a couple things very, very well: they issue trade paperbacks that they generally keep in print, and their Absolute line, despite having a nonsensical title once you get past the very first item, The Absolute Authority, is the Cadillac Escalade of reprints. Luxurious, big, and expensive, books like Absolute New Frontier are for the comics fan that wants to show off that they’re willing to spend more than you on funnybooks2. However, when it comes to mid-priced hardcover collections, it’s pretty dire.

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Alternative Distribution

By making it less convenient (or impossible) for me to get publications through my preferred vendor, publishers gamble that I’ll seek them out elsewhere instead of shrugging and buying something else through the comic store. That’s a bet many of them are willing to — or have to — take. In most of these cases, the direct market doesn’t matter, because other venues provide a much bigger potential audience (or a bigger profit). The direct market, taken as a whole, doesn’t support these kinds of publications in many cases anyway.

If small publishers have to do their own audience-building, getting on comic store buy lists only when customers pre-order, why shouldn’t they take care of those customers directly, or through venues more convenient to them, or in stores with a lot more walk-in traffic with conversion potential?

A Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff Review

While I didn’t love every story in the anthology, I was surprised by all of them and found plenty to relate to — from Missy Kulik’s “Legos” about playing with Legos with her brothers to Yali Lin’s “Sigh …” about the all-too-often cluelessness of men. Even if I didn’t like a particular story, there isn’t one I would get rid of. They all fit nicely together.

It’s not just a great collection of comics by women, it’s just a great collection of comics (and while he may not be the best example of its universal appeal, I did have to tell my boyfriend repeatedly to stop reading it and give it back because I was reading it first).

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Suicide Squad Week Continues

Yes, comic book rock star Grant Morrison himself appears in the pages of Suicide Squad #58. Writer John Ostrander and Kim Yale slipped Morrison into the Squad line-up – and promptly kill him off – in what is either sly mockery or affectionate piss-taking, or both.

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Fabio and Gabriel have new digs. Check out the new site.

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The New Adventures of Hitler?

Working with artist Steve Yeowell and a team of colourists – of whom, more later – Morrison tells of a visit paid by Hitler in 1912 to his half-brother, Alois, in Liverpool. The half-brother is real; the visit, fictional, a conceit already used by Beryl Bainbridge in her novel Young Adolf.

Where Bainbridge wrote black comedy, Morrison and his confederates produce something more bizarre. Hitler is in England to find the Holy Grail – which he does, after a fashion, with the aid of John Bull and his incontinent pet bulldog. He believes that a trolleybus is trying to kill him. He hallucinates constantly – not just the image of John Bull, but late 20th century pop singers in his bedroom closet, and men wearing tiny chairs for shoes.

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Final Crisis and Grant Morrison

There appear to be two default options for comics blogging. One is to post a panel from a Silver Age comic out of context with hilarious results (“Batman said ‘I need Dick!’ – he’s so gay!”). The other is to wax lyrical about how great Morrison is. I didn’t want to fall into either of these cliches. (A third cliche of course is blogging about blogging, which I’m doing here).

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And that’s it for my stint at Blog@Newsarama. It was a blast. I love all the people here and their a great group of bloggers. Actually, I’ll go as far as to say that they’re the best bloggers in the business. I’m sad I have to leave, but opportunity knocks. Keep an eye out around the net for me. I’m sure I’ll see you soon. So long!

- Shane Bailey

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm and is filed under 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.