You know someone’s a great writer when even their quotes in newspaper articles are a pleasure to read: The Los Angeles Times profiles Neil Gaiman, the work he’s still most famous for and his Hollywood experiences thus far.
Africa’s 2008 in just ten political cartoons: Well, an abbreviated version anyway. That continent’s a pretty big place, after all.
Two great tastes that kick-ass together: Gahan Wilson illustrates the poems of Edgar Allan Poe for Papercutz’s Classics Illustrated.
What he said: Tim O’Neil of When Will The Hurting Stop tackles some recent comics, laying into Ultimatum and the “Batman R.I.P.” tie-ins:
Right now, as good as some may argue individual titles to be, the company itself is pushing the DC Universe as the major selling point for DC Universe comic books. The DC Universe is a disjointed, uneven mess, and if they can’t even make up their minds that Detective Comics and Robin occur on the same planet, why should any potential customer believe them when they say that it’s all “counting” towards something?
I’ll second that.
My favorite headline of the week: “At 70, Superman has changed through the years”
This is the first time I’ve seen X-Force on a best-of list: Carlton Hargro of Creative Loafing offers his top five comics from 2008, and they’re all superhero comics from either DC or Marvel. In Hargro’s defense, no one in Bottomless Belly Button ever cut loose and chopped deserving bad guys into tiny pieces.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I agree with Tim O’Neil’s assessment of the Bat Books. The last issue of Robin had significant change in the status quo after an explosion. But with all the oddities in the Bat books and previews that seem to contradict it, it’s difficult to get excited.
Instead of wondering how it will impact the future of Robin and Tim and all of the supporting character relationships, I’m wondering: Will it all be magically fixed somehow at the end of the next issue? Is it even really happening, or will it be the victim of selective retcon come March?
It’s a shame really. Nicieza’s Robin, Tomasi’s Nightwing, and especially Dini’s Detective have been magnificent. Now it all ends and we’re left with Battle for the Cowl, which I’m terrified will reduce these deep and developed characters to Loeb style slugfests and preaching.
January 1st, 2009 at 4:21 am
Hey, in X-Force’s defense, it’s by far the most entertaining of the post-Messiah Complex X-Titles and definitely more interesting than a lot of other gore-for-gore’s sake comics like Rage of the Red Lanterns (sorry, the continuity wank space opera started pushing it with the yellow lanterns. An entire spectrum is just goddamn ridiculous).
I mean, Bottomless Belly Button is still one of my favorite things I’ve read all year, but when it comes to pure mind-numbing action and entertainment, Kyle and Yost have found a formula that few other writers in monthly comics have been able to match.
January 1st, 2009 at 6:49 am
Yeah, I only paid attention to Batman after reading a few reviews about Robin and Nightwing and decided to skip them.
The MU may not be perfect, but at least I don’t have to backflip through hoops in order to connect one title to another.