Spoiler space.
Enjoy happier times at the Kent farm as shown at right.
Clark may want something stronger to drink after this past week’s plot.
Though really what I’m holding back, it would not take a Brainiac to have seen it coming.
Follow me to after the jump.
Where we can talk in private or something like that.
It’s worth it, really.
I hear that new Knight Rider show really sucks. Hope that was not a big spoiler for anyone.
Seriously though, who among us reading the blog did not know Pa Kent was dead? But still that and SPX made for some fun quotes this week.
Pa Kent
“As I explained earlier today, I don’t follow superhero comics closely enough to know when and when not to publish links to articles in big-name magazines that obviously got their information directly from the publisher.”
- Tom Spurgeon, a lucky bastard who is fortunate enough never to have to type the term “spoiler space”… and who announced Pa Kent’s death in the damn funny headline “Jonathan Kent Dies: Superman’s Father, Last Person On Earth Known As Pa” (and annoying some of his readership). But honestly, Tom’s headline was how I found out about the plot twist. And I’ve not had to seek grief counseling, so far at least.
“Guess they should have let Pa Kent drink that beer on the last cover, eh? He’ll never get a chance at another one…”
- Snell
“The death of Pa Kent matters, and I know Geoff Johns didn’t kill off the character for frivolous reasons.”
- Timothy Callahan
“The countdown to the inevitable sexual assault on Ma Kent begins… now.”
- Dirk Deppey
SPX
“Bill Kartalopolous puts hella more thought into his panels than your average mid-level Big Two editor at a Wizard World show does — he’s also the master of using follow-ups to stick with fruitful lines of discussion — but I could stand for things to be a little more free-wheeling, particularly given that this generation of art-comics creators and aficionados is not exactly known for their outsize personalities.”
- Sean T. Collins appreciating to a certain extent the quality of Kartalopolous’ SPX panels
“It was during this third session that I discovered I am not sophisticated. Seriously, there is only so much you can say about how he pioneered the line.”
- Rachel Arnold Sager on attending an SPX session about Hergé
“What was amazing wandering around were the number of self-published people with bound trade paperbacks to sell. It’s a good indicator of where I think the comic market is headed.”
- Ed Sizemore
“I did my best to snag a particular demographic walking around: the comics fan who generally cannot help but look at a pair of white comics long-boxes perched on a corner table.”
- Frank Santoro
“And yeah, it did feel busier. While I was originally a bit sour on the move to just the weekend, I gotta admit it was nice to have the Saturday get busy all of a sudden.”
- Chris Pitzer
“Don’t make a minicomic with a giant oval on the front which you MUST draw on for each copy. This slowed me down like crazy, as I had to stop and sketch on every single one. Not to mention that, sans sketch, it’s a pretty dull cover, which means that people aren’t really likely to pick the book up and discover the more interesting interior. Plus if you sell some to a store, you have to draw on ALL of them, which is also hard.”
- Dustin Harbin with a good piece of advice
“I think Hope [Larson] and I felt a little jaded going in to SPX this year, but after a couple hours on the floor, the energy there made us remember why we started doing these things in the first place.”
- Bryan Lee O’Malley
October 13th, 2008 at 9:32 am
What does it say about the death of Pa Kent that I have felt no urge to fill my wife in about it, the way I did pretty much every major and minor event that was newsworthy in the past five years?
OK, I will admit that what I’ve read of the Johns run on Action has left me sort of cold, even though I like most of Geoff’s output. (Cat Grant, Skank is especially off-putting to me and undermines a formerly strong female character as much as making her Luthor’s press secretary did.)
But it’s reached the point that any comic books deaths other than those of the heroes themselves feel calculated and meaningless. Never mind that this is a character that’s died in countless other continuities before. Never mind that killing someone’s aging father doesn’t even seem risky (though it would be a a huge breakthrough if Marvel ever let Aunt May die).
October 13th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I’m not a religious person, Simon, but Amen brother! Marvel finally letting Aunt May die, and I mean die for good, would be the greatest breakthrough in comics history.
October 13th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Oh, and I forgot to add that you’re right about Cat Grant. Total skank.
I enjoyed the Brainiac arc — and I’ve generally liked Johns on Action (though I’m still mad that DC hasn’t even tried to explain the Chris Kent continuity debacle) — but I don’t like the trend in the Superman books to A.) bring back old characters that weren’t missed (Cat, Steve Lombard, etc.), and B.) being more like the Donner movies by drawing Supes more like Christopher Reeve, making Clark act more clumsy and nerdy, and doing the crystalline Fortress.
I think I’ll keep an eye on the New Krypton arc at my LCS and then wait for the trade if I like it enough. I don’t feel like having to buy three different monthly books, and possibly end up not liking the arc.