(If any of you were wating with bated breath for my thrice-weekly linkblogging all morning, I sincerely apologize. You wouldn’t believe the number of orphans I was saving from burning buildings these last few hours).
“Etta Candy, Wonder Woman’s chubby sidekick, has a father named Hard, a mother named Sugar and a sister named Mint”: After reading through the new Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia, Matthew Brady offers a post entitled “Ten things I previously did not know about Wonder Woman.” No offense to the many fine creators who have worked on Wonder Woman comics over the years, but my own personal all-time favorite Wonder Woman reading experience was reading the 1976 Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Vol. 2: Wonder Woman by Michael L. Fleischer. All those zany Marston/Peter Golden Age stories are awesome in comics form, but they are even more awesome read in dry, encyclopedia-like summary. I haven’t read this newer version yet, but it sounds fairly awesome as well. I definitely think the Wonder Woman franchise could use an “It all really happened” take a la Grant Morrison’s Batman run…
“Whoa! An Avatar 3-Way!”: Matthew Brady also noticed a rather clumsy-looking instance of prudish editing of Peter Bagge’s recent Vertigo book, Other Lives. Note how rough that second panel looks compared to the first. That’s pretty lame, Vertigo. (Hey, I wonder what “Avatar 3-Way” will do for our hits? Welcome, perverts who saw James Cameron’s movie about tall, nearly nude deer-cat people who have interspecies tail-sex with everything!)
At the very least, Bully should be short-listed for running Marvel Comics….: It’s not just you Jubilee, I really hate him too.
Douglas Wolk on recent comics in the NYT: From Action Philosophers to Weathercraft.
It ain’t Grant Morrison being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer and a hologram in the Situation Room, unfortunately: CNN.com interviews Grant Morrison about the latest issue of Batman for an article entitled “Batman’s past, present, future collide.” Raise your hand if you’ve read Batman #700 yet—Okay, what’d you think? Most of the reactions I’ve heard so far have been disappointed ones, focusing on the rushed production and the extra $1-for-the-contents-of-a-slush-pile-of-unused-art gallery at the back. (I haven’t read it just yet myself, and am now wondering if I should).
“The show wasn’t simply there to entertain you, it was there to teach how three—four, I suppose, if you counted Outer Space—societies needed to work together to make their environment work, thrive and survive”: That’s Neil Kleid talking about the show Fraggle Rock in this feature story in the comics writer’s hometown paper. Klied is writing a story in an upcoming issue of Archaia’s new Fraggle Rock comic, and the Teaneck Suburbanite used the occasion of Kleid moving from more adult fare into an all-ages comic as a springboard for a story.
Speaking of Fraggles…: Here’s a short feature story from The Detroit News on the Kids Read Comics convention.
Wow, Marvel really does develop new series just to annoy DC!: When I first heard of the new Hawkeye and Mockingbird series from Marvel, I made a joke about its surface similarities to the since-canceled Green Arrow/Black Canary series (Super-archer and blond lady with a bird-themed name couple sharing a book and title). When I heard that Marvel was having Sean McKeever write a new teen super-team with Young Allies, I figured it was a good opportunity for fans to test just how much editorial interference McKeever dealt with during his Teen Titans run, since those comics were terrible but, from the outside looking in, all one can do is conjecture over whether McKeever had just suddenly stopped being good at writing comics or if behind-the-scenes factors were dragging him down. Anyway, Tom Brevoort himself explicitly compares Hawkeye and Mockingbird to a DC comic (Rise of Arsenal rather than Green Arrow/Black Canary…but still!) and says Young Allies is “like what you wanted Sean McKeever’s Teen Titans run to be!” Come on man, lay off the trash talk—some of us actually want to read a Johns and Fracton-written Green Lantern/Iron Man comic!
“The same, but Worse”: NYT film critic A.O. Scott writes about the prevalence of franchises—both successful ones and failed attempts at them—to celebrate the dawn of summer. Obviously superhero movies get quite a few mentions.
June 11th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Batman 700 would have been a pretty good story without the underwhelming extras and higher price, but not a great one. Morrison tries to find a middle ground between his All-Star Superman style and his regular Batman style, and doesn’t quite get there. But he’s at home with Silver Age ideas and with Batman as an iconic figure, so more of it works than doesn’t.
The “extras,” however, are what you say they are. Two of them are clearly covers for Streets of Gotham, and I wonder just how long that Tim Sale work has been in the drawer, since he’s still Marvel-exclusive. The four pages about the Batcave are funky, but why bother, given that Dick and Damien don’t even live there now?
On another note, I was really to sneer at AO Scott dissing sequels, but that was a very smart and balanced article that shows he really does get at least some of the appeal behind the never-ending story. Personally, I used to hate most sequels, but find that with certain franchises, I really cannot wait for the next one – Batman, Hellboy, Pirates – even though I should know better.
June 11th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
>Come on man, lay off the trash talk—some of us actually want to read a Johns and Fracton-written Green Lantern/Iron Man comic!
Not me, I wish Fraction would never ever write again.
June 11th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
^And I wish Johns would never write again, so we’re coming out even, I suppose.
June 11th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
I am a fan of Johns, but more so in the early years. I guess if you still like DC, you probably like Geoff to some degree.
Fraction? The Marvel comics I’ve read by him aren’t terrible, but they keep coming up short, like he has the ideas in place but not the execution. Or has almost but not quite the right take on his characters. I would say that this was true even in Five Fists of Science, which is at least more fun than most comics. About his run on Iron Man, I’d say he gets Tony right but without a Robert Downey to generate charm for the man in the iron suit, the lead is a smug, arrogant bore.
June 11th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
it was a decent story. the nightwing bats and robin section was extremely fun and well done. i can’t knock grant for wanting to try new things.
but shouldn’t we be celebrating comic coverage on CNN. especially talking to a writer about a non-crossover related thing. i’d like to creators interviewed more on mainstream site.
June 11th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Rashad, I’ve long since tired of the “hey, look…NORMAL people are giving attention to stuff we like” excitement for mainstream coverage. But then I’ve, also, given up on the “we have to keep buying shitty versions of properties we like so they’ll stick around long enough that maybe something good will be done with them” fanboy philosophy, too, so maybe I’m out of touch.
June 11th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
well i just want comics and not just comic movies to get more exposure. the industry still needs to expand beyond its die-hard market. and one way to do this is for the general public to start accepting comics. i’m not saying this one interview changes things but i’m glad they interviewed a creator about a comic. and not just another promotion piece for a film. (although i am glad there are so many comic movies these days)
it just gives me hope that maybe at some point in the future comic creators will get treatment similar to other folks who work in the entertainment biz. i’d love to see mark millar or bryan lee o’omalley interviewed on TV.
June 11th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
@Kevin Huxford, You have to appreciate that CNN article, though, for not being the stereotypical comic book story. On top of that, it does a nice job of laying out what Morrison has done with Batman and where the book is at now without sounding ridiculous or patronizing.
Mainstream press on comics isn’t all that exciting, but well done mainstream press on comic is.
June 12th, 2010 at 7:54 am
“(I haven’t read it just yet myself, and am now wondering if I should).”
no, don’t do that!! it might add actual perspective to what you write!
what a tool.
June 12th, 2010 at 8:35 am
^He needs persepctive to link to a CNN article? I also don’t understand what can be gained by calling him a tool. Or what that really means. Is he some kind of screwdriver? Maybe a wrench. Yeah, I’ll say Caleb is a wrench.
Grow up, SvenJ.
June 13th, 2010 at 6:17 am
ok, Narrow, i’ll stick to more realistic comments like “And I wish Johns would never write again, so we’re coming out even, I suppose.”
maybe “tool” was too euphemistic for someone like you, Narrow. i’ll try this.
you are an idiot.
there, get that one?
Tool…
June 13th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Ah, you see, my retort was an obvious reply to his, an opposite, if you will. Calling me an idiot and Caleb a tool is name calling and the mark of one less educated whose only responses are school yard taunts.
I thank you for the lesson and reminder that I have in fact grown up past thirteen.
Good day, young man.
June 13th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
SvenJ:
It’s pretty sad when you act less mature than someone who’s named themselves “NarrowUrethra.” If that doesn’t cause you to feel embarrassed for yourself, I’m not sure what would.