Speak for yourself.
Three words-”Indigo Lantern Corps”!!! How does the man do it?!

A different point: I remember reading a quote in Famous Monsters of Filmland where David Cronenberg said that he felt horror films weren’t escapist at all–they’re confrontational and allow you to confront fears in a safe environment. I feel that especially superhero comics are also similarly confrontational and not really escapist entertainment at all. At least, I think the “best” ones are.

First of all, the unending snark is just Tucker’s style; it’s hardly a revelation that, holy shit, Tucker Stone is *snarky* about *stuff*! And he has, at least, cleared up the whole blue/love thing, which I figured was Matt Brady’s screwup while reading *his* panel report. So, you know, I guess some people made some mistakes.

Second of all, I think Tenzil Kem here is shooting overboard – I’m not saying superhero comics *can’t* ennoble the human condition (whatever the fuck that means), but they don’t all *have* to. I like Geoff Johns. He has writing tics that make other people, who I disagree with but still consider friends, dislike his work. We are still friends! It’s possible for two people to hold a differing view about someone’s work, without patronizing or condescending to the other, and without harboring any personal enmity against the writer in question. And I think people on the Internet could use to try this more.

Riiiiiight…. you don’t think that you might, perhaps, be missing the point here? No one is claiming the GL is EARTH’S BEST FICTION. It is not the pinnacle of human achievement. It is a monthly comic book about a man with a magical wishing ring and his wacky sci-fi adventures.

You expect too much of fiction in general and superhero comics in particular if you are reading them expecting to have the human condition enobled.

“DC’s gruesome line of violent rape comics.”
Please explain this comment. Is there a lot of rape in Blue Bettle? What about Superman? Batman, maybe?

The writer must have misplaced his ‘Color Wheel of Ham-Handed Geoff Johns Symbolism’

Jeoff Johns isn’t doing anything new or innovative. Sinestro Corps War was just a group of old GL villains teaming up but with the whole pathetic ‘Rainbow Corps’ idea shoehorned in to make it seem fresh.

From the Newsarama report on the DC Nation panel, written by your boss, Matt Brady:

“Johns said that despite what readers may think, the various emotions represented won’t be demonstrated by the Lanterns in the way they may be thinking. ‘Pete and I talked a lot about the ‘love’ corps [the Blue Lanterns],’ Johns said. ‘We asked ourselves if that would that be lame, and realized that love can be scary as well.’”

I haven’t read the six pages of comments on Matt’s story, but I assume you left a similar comment over there about your disappointment in the “seemingly trustworthy source” that is the main Newsarama site.

Tenzil, if you have a point could you please make it and stop with the passive-agressive crap?

“…who are still reading comics feel validated and kewl and wykkyd and definitively NOT arrested development cases.”

Pray tell us, oh wise, advanced reader of comics, who still posts on newsarama, what sophisticated, challenging epics of comic-booky goodness are you reading, that gives you such ability to look down your goddamn nose at other people like this?

You’re completely out of line. Besides the fact that I can back up exactly what Johns said from the panel–which didn’t involve the word “violet” at any time, only the word “blue”, the website that hosts the “seemingly trustworthy source” carries a report by Matt Brady that makes the exact same mistake that you’re claiming is made here.

While I’ll certainly acknowledge the likely possibility, if not outright fact, that the Violet Lanterns are Love and Blue is Hope, the DC Nation panel and the writer of the comic are to be blamed for neither making that clear, nor, upon listening to the recording I made of the goddamn thing just to figure out if i’d made a mistake, using the word “Violet” at any point in the entire 90 minutes.

They did, however, use the word “Blue” whenever they talked about the Love corps. Did I make a leap in judgment that they were using the word blue because it was the color of the lantern corps that had to do with love? Sure did. Because that was the color they mentioned right before Geoff Johns started making jokes about how a love corps might be considered lame.

So, did I accurately cover the upcoming color of the love corps? Apparently not. But I did accurately cover the DC Nation panel.

And don’t worry. If i’m going to critique a comic, i’ll sure as hell read it. Of course–that’s not what I was critiquing. See, I was at a panel. That’s why, you know–I wrote about the fucking panel.

I don’t doubt I’ll enjoy Blackest Night, since Johns is a grreat writer. But I think we’re reaching the point where the way he’s tying to tie all the GL characters together is too much. He’s re-jiggering origins needlessly. I really don’t see how making the origin of Hector Hammond directly connected to Abin Sur’s ship makes him any better a character. Black Hand was a self-reliant criminal who invented his own weapon; now he’s a necrophiliac who just found it. At first reading, doesn’t sound like an improvement

- from the article

PHEW! I was worried that these characters would represent or stand for values that are POSITIVE. I’m relieved to know they’ll be scary, just as all whimsical comic book superheroes must now be scary to be legitimate. I hope limbs are rendered and orifices are raped.

Right now at my retail store, Green Lantern sales are higher than they’ve EVER been (duly noted: our data only goes as far back as 2002). Now, complain as much as you want that the Rainbow Corps are ‘stupid’ ‘immature’ or even ‘kewl and wykkyd,’ but we haven’t seen a 100% increase in sales because the stories are ‘bad’ or because of any other qualitative difference. A lot of people REALLY like Johns’ run and the eventual build-up to the Corps War.

To me, this kind of argument amounts to a bunch of fanboy whining. If we told all of the same stories again and again, all of the characters we know and love would get stale. Revitalizing the industry requires the telling of new stories and the redirecting of familiar characters and ideas. Otherwise our current market will become/remain as pulp-schlock as its roots.

I think he’s pointing out how its funny that someone who named themselves after an old, obscure comic character (instead of using their real name) is so incredibly indignant about “arrested development cases.” It really is the pot calling the kettle black, but I guess people just did things differently back in your day.

An endless fountain of creativity! How does he come up with it?”

In this case, apparently from an old Batman and the Outsiders comic with an historical reference that no doubt went over his head.

(Mark Engblom, I hear that sometimes people who talk about comics on teh intarwebs use the names of characters they like as screen names. I wouldn’t expect you to understand the difference between that and drooling over, say, Green Lanterns dismembering bad guys, or Superboy dismembering good guys, in a comic starring characters who appear in children’s cartoons.)

But you can usually tell when the mocking is being done from a position of actually liking the thing you’re mocking (a playful, fun kind of humor) or if it’s something you actually don’t like, where the derision has more of a “serious” aspect to it. The difference between a roast and a pillory.

Having read that column, I didn’t get a real sense of “I’m just having fun here” from it. When I read these smarm-laden pieces, filled with far more snark and vitriol than wit, I always find myself wondering, “Exactly why are you still reading comics?”

AFAIC, there’s only so seriously you can/should take all this stuff before people start looking at you like you might just be ready to pick up a rifle. I got as angry as the next guy (OK, be fair, I got far angrier) when all of a sudden Greedo shot first, but all my statements about Lucas (not knowing enough about the story structure of his own creations to know when to leave them alone) were said with _love_.

I sense no love in Tucker Stone. Which may be why he finds a Corps based on it so ludicrous. Have we learned nothing from Huey Lewis?

Also, VIOLET is the love corps. Which you’ve all ready met, they’re called the Star Sapphires. The BLUE corps is powered by hope. Why this mistake keeps getting reported confuses me so.

An endless fountain of creativity! How does he come up with it?

Wow…you’ve cut us “arrested development” cases to the quick, Tenzil Kem.

By the way, isn’t “Tenzil Kem” the name of Matter-Eater Lad?

Kewl!