In next week’s column I’ll make sure to include some tributes to the Michael Turner. But for now, I need to share a thought. Upon reading of Turner’s passing, something struck me. Turner’s battle with cancer was something we read about periodically over the years. But to the best of my knowledge, I don’t believe any news outlet knew how close he was to losing this personal battle this week. One has to respect a person’s privacy, let me be quick to clarify. But considering how Gene Colan has credited his fans’ support for how much better he’s feeling these days, I wish this past week had been spent sharing kind words about Turner while he was still alive. Instead for the past week or so, folks (myself included) have been speculating if a DC executive was about to get fired. I wish it had not taken the death of someone to give me the perspective that I was clearly lacking.

“So really, there was a long period where no one wanted to print my work at all. When Drawn & Quarterly asked me, I was overjoyed, because I love making books, and I really wanted to do What it Is, and I was happy someone cared about my work enough to want to print it. And I’ve always loved the Drawn & Quarterly books, they are so beautifully done. It happened that I was half way done with What It Is when D&Q contacted me. I had just decided to do the book anyway, not knowing if it would ever be published and in a way not caring anymore. I just wanted to give the thing form.”
- Lynda Berry admitting that she endured a period where no publisher was interested in printing her work. I question an industry where Barry went without a publisher for any period of time.

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No DC executives were harmed in the collecting of this week’s quotes. As tempting as it might be to have some DiDio-related quotes, it seems his name has been negatively bandied about in recent weeks even more than Bill Jemas at his worst. So I have opted out of the DiDio news cycle for this week’s column.

“For the best American edition of foreign material category, the judges looked over a year that saw the publication of Tekkonkinkreet, Mushishi, Osamu Tezuka’s MW, To Terra, Tokyo Is My Garden, and significant chunks of Emma, Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, and After School Nightmare, not to mention NBM’s beautiful edition of Run, Bong-gu Run, and opted for the manga version Romeo and Juliet, which is pretty good but not exactly original, and the hideously drawn Witchblade, which is based on an American comic. You get the feeling that the judges felt grudgingly obligated to pick some of that manga stuff so they just threw a dart at a stack of old Previews.”
- Brigid Alverson, trying to make heads or tails of the thought process behind the 2008 Harvey nominations

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I hope when I’m in my 80s I will not be expected to remember if I once wrote a letter to Fredric Wertham’s wife. I considered including the Feldstein/Beaty civil clarifications from this past week, but opted to spare folks on those Library of Congress-related gems. This week represents two weeks’ worth of quotes, as I held off until the comments option was readily available to folks. Part of me fought the urge to do a rundown of “What the–?” reactions to the unique beta Newsarama launch that we’ve all enjoyed to date, but there’s no need to revisit that fun again. But that’s enough blathering about what did not make the cut, let’s get on to what did.

“If 52 taught us anything, it’s that the weekly schedule can create enormous energy, as the audience gets excited about developments that they can see growing and building every single week, and if Countdown taught us anything to be wary of, it’s that the momentum has to stay high. With us, we don’t have that set-up of different story threads continuing long-term. We have one core story arc, and the sub-stories that make it up can start, develop, explode and wrap up in a shorter space, letting us go on to the next thing.”
- Kurt Busiek, offering a compare/contrast of lessons learned with the pacing of DC’s recent weekly efforts

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So this week I found this really great opportunity with Tokyopop, all I have to do is… what’s that? Read the fine print, you say? Oh never mind. Seriously though, look anywhere else in blogland for opinions on the latest Tokyopop fallout/spin, as I only briefly touch upon the subject here. And I mainly did that because Waid drops an f-bomb modifying a noun. If you’re looking to appear in Quote, Unquote either drop an f-bomb in a fun way or inject the term fluffer in the discussion, and you’re almost assuredly getting quoted. Honestly, if I miss something you find quote worthy, feel free to add a link in the comments section. Extra points if you can find a quote that incorporates apes or talking animals with Frederick Wertham.

“What Schulz is is one of the two or three greatest artists of the twentieth century, who also happens to be one of the most popular creators of the last fifty years. His work is going to be around for generations. There are going to be lots more biographies over the years, and lots more poetasters who’ll hitch their wagon to his star by saying dumb things about him. You might as well let them; it’s not going to hurt Schulz any. If you’re going to have faith in any art at all, Peanuts is the thing to have faith in. It’s indestructible. Ultimately, Michaelis just made an ass of himself; Schulz and his work will be fine.”
- Noah Berlatsky, placing a certain amount of perspective on the work/reputation of Charles Schulz in the wake of the recent David Michaelis’ Schulz biography

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Death visited the industry again this week. Many a site has paid tribute to Rory Root, as well they should. I could include a quote or two, but really Mr. Parkin did a nice collection earlier this week, you should find a great sampling that pays fine tribute to a rare individual. Rory was all about celebrating comics, so it is in that spirit that I instead open with a quote from a kind-natured bull who loves good comics.

“… three years ago today, May 25, 2005, yours little stuffed truly sat down at the keyboard and tentatively typed my first entry in this blog, a review of Spider-Man #520 and other comics of the week, a Spidey issue that didn’t hint of an armored Spider-suit, a public unmasking, a deal with the devil and a universal reset. Ah, those were the days.”
- Bully celebrating his third anniversary (aka “Thirdiversary”).

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Typically I consider myself generally well informed and aware of the history and names in the comics industry. But I was reminded I will always have a great deal to learn when news spread on the passing of Will Elder. I’m ashamed to admit I found myself asking “Who is he?”. In educating myself on Elder, I decided to make quotes about him the majority of this week’s focus. That being said, I also felt the need to post one or two positive quotes related to Gene Colan.

“I often think of Elder’s work when I am laying out parodies or other cartoon art for MAD and other clients. I try to bring the multiple ‘Chicken Fat’ layers of humor especially to my MAD work, but I also try and make my individual illustrations stand on their own in the funny department. If the image itself is funny, then it only makes the humor of the writing and story that much more effective. Elder wrote the book on that, and if I can one day be considered a pale shadow of his skill in cartooning, I will consider myself successful beyond measure.”
- Tom Richmond, considering the influence Elder has on his own approach to humor

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This week I toyed with the idea of a Dave theme week–quoting folks in support of Dave Sim’s correspondence policy or Hispanics in support of this other Dave. But both prospects could not hold my attention for long. Instead I opted for the following random quotes, not necessarily all inspired by events of the week. As always, I’ve tried to get a balanced sampling of topics. But here’s my standing offer, if there’s ever a quote of interest I miss in the week, feel free to share it in the comments section.

“I’m particularly interested in those devices that are unique to sequential art narrative – things like page layouts, the use of frames-as-objects and frames that “talk” to one another in multiple directions. These are things that I’d been working with long before I ever had to articulate in words what I was doing. It was only when I started giving talks like this that I had to sit down and find the words to describe the techniques that came intuitively. Right at the end of our session, in response to a question, Neil explained another of those special things, and my heart leapt to hear it: he talked about the wonderful device of the silent panel. Panels that make us pause and think and question and fill out the meaning for ourselves. Moments that hang and quiver, the way time can stretch and stop. Despite drawing many a silent panel in my comics, and very much relishing this device, it had never occurred to me how particular to comics it is. As Neil explained, you can’t get the effect of a silent panel in prose writing – and he’s tried! Brilliant!”
- Nicki Greenberg, capturing part of her participation in a Graphically Speaking – The Challenges of Reading Graphic Novels panel with Neil Gaiman and manga artist Queenie Chan at the Children’s Book Council of Australia Conference.

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Unless you were in an isolation tank this weekend, you were bound to hear something about the premiere of Iron Man. And I’m sure some of you had a distant relative politely inform you they heard on the news that some store was giving away free comics and asking you if you knew anything about that. Given the understandable popularity of both topics, I decided to pull multiple related quotes on both Iron Man and Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). First up, some reactions to the Iron Man movie. Please be advised, if you follow the links some of these reviews have major spoilers in them. Major. You are warned. And if you’re a fan of Flickr, this search for the term “Free Comic Book Day” turns up some fun photos.

“The movie is great. They did a terrific job of translating the screenplay to the screen (not always a guaranteed endeavor, I can assure you) and Robert Downey, Jr., the first thinking man’s superhero, took Tony Stark to a whole ‘nother level with his deftly brilliant performance. The rest of the cast brings their ‘A’ game, but it’s Downey’s heroic journey that both anchors and elevates the movie. An absolute must-see.”
- Peter David, a writer of great depth and versatility, dipping from the “must-see” well of phrases. I tease. But be sure to read the entire post as the best part is the play-by-play of his red carpet stroll at the premiere.

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Frederic Wertham–still dead–still a hot topic. And folks continue to recover from NYCC. But at least we have apes in our future…

“From a writing standpoint, certain names lend themselves to the monkeyverse more easily than others. For instance: Spider-Monkey is just too perfect not to use. And, personally, I got a kick out of Iron Paw (who can make his paw like unto a thing of iron!). Captain America, on the other hand, is still called Captain America. Not Captain APE-merica. No need to insult him. Believe me, you don’t WANT to insult him…”
- Karl Kesel, revealing the wit that one hopes is prevalent in the upcoming Marvel Apes limited series.

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For my money, the best quote is the first one and I only wished it could have been said much sooner. Kudos to the legal team and everyone at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for this long overdue justice. A majority of the quotes this week deals with comics and kids (but not as some subtextual odd celebration of the Gordon Lee case resolution, I promise). And the Galactus quote is something all kids should be taught.

“All charges are dismissed. Gordon’s nightmarish ordeal is finally over…

A clean win is a clean win. And this is a very clean win.”
- Charles Brownstein, confirming that the persecut–er prosecution of Gordon Lee had ended.

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This was the week where the number of people debating the flaws and merits of a fellow dead since 1981 (Frederic Wertham) outpaced the seemingly countless supply of folks wishing to share why they were not reading Mark Waid/George Perez’s Brave and Bold series (or weighing in with displeasure about a cartoon of the same name that no one has yet to see). On the positive side, at least we weren’t taking to the webpages of Slate to debate the size or scope of Power Girl’s cleavage-centric costume hole.

“Art Spiegelman’s Maus is of course a modern classic with a very striking cover, appropriately reminiscent of a World War II poster. But I had a student once who said a man on the subway gave her the evil eye for reading it, possibly motivated by the swastika on the cover. (Or could it be that the man was an anti-Semite?)”
- Jeet Heer, charting the ways and means of Eyebrow Raising Book Covers

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This week legal blogs across the Internet learned if they could weigh in on the Siegel/Action Comics 1 developments they could ensure fairly strong traffic. But for me, attention must be paid to the comic creators who mock B.F. Skinner’s plotting skills and a presidential candidate’s bowling acumen.

“I will ask that, rather than purchase Secret Invasion # 1, use the money to buy an indie/small print comic. You will thank me for it later. Honest.”
- Gordon Dymowski, asking consumers to just say “No” to Skrulls.

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No matter what quotes I found this week, I just really cannot compete with the exchange of opinions/infinite monkey theorem experiment that began on Friday evening. So without further delay, the quotes that caught my interest.

“I ask to all those with their negative comments to try and exude some class and respect for a man that truly loved his family and worked so incredibly hard to create works of art for millions of people to enjoy. Lets not forget that no one, INCLUDING YOURSELVES, are perfect- we all try as best we can.”
- Katherine (Vince Colletta’s granddaughter), bringing a much-needed perspective from Eddie Campbell’s comments section, which Campbell in turn reposted to draw greater focus on her thoughts.

“Why would the Fantastic Four contact Iron Man for anything? I could see Mr. Fantastic calling up Tony Stark to bounce technical ideas and theories off him, but Iron Man…? The only things Iron Man brings to the table are repulsor rays and rocket skates. There’s absolutely no reason the FF would need Iron Man for anything.”
- Sean Kleefeld, defining his hate for Iron Man and working in an alliterative reference to Shellhead’s rocket skates.

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Every week when mining the Internet for quotable gold, I stumble across myriad opinions and discussions that when boiled down to their core essence reveal themselves to be fairly petty. Fortunately, that’s not what I link to this week. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

“*Civil War* and I are no longer on speaking terms.”
- fellow Blog@ contributor Kevin Melrose, honing a fine rendition of faux petty

“Children loved most the very comics that [Frederic] Wertham and his ilk thought were especially harmful, in part because these comics possessed the true unruly spirit of youth. The childish imagination is nurtured not just by wholesome and didactic stories, but also by tales of bloodshed and vengeance, which bring good and evil vividly to life. Children need monsters and ghouls just as surely as they require parents and teachers.”
- Jeet Heer, looking back at 1950s America, when it clearly was not a simpler time, in his review of David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America

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Another week of strong opinions and interesting Vince Colletta anecdotes. Sadly also a week where we lost a great artist, Dave Stevens. But it’s not all sadness, as we even have a quote from Client 9.

“There are a lot of awful, awful graphic novels coming out these days. Whoever’s guarding the gate, be it retailers, journalists, ‘journalists’, whatever, I beg you; be discerning in your praise, don’t pass along PR without having vetted the project yourself, stand behind your recommendations and, if you can’t, own up to your mistakes.”
- Christopher Butcher, trying to build a metaphorical dam to cut off a flood of awful graphic novels

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What kind of a week has it been? In terms of quotes, a writer who is known for his ear for dialogue found himself explaining that what he had written on his own message board had to be taken within the context of smiley faces. Are you still a serious writer if your major line of defense is a smiley face? [note MY smiley face, please]

Oh Lord, will the future generations have to minor in emoticons, rather than semiotics, to be literary scholars? In all seriousness, kudos to Bendis for ultimately posting an apology and doing his best to move on in the most constructive manner. Is the whole dust-up worthy of quoting here? No. But many people were quoting the discussion this week, even after the initial message board thread was deleted. So this week’s collection of quotes may be stuff you missed while noticing the presence or lack thereof of smiley faces…

“A superhero costume is a concept, not a piece of clothing. As soon as you try to translate it into actual garments, no matter how well you do, it’s still a failure because there was nothing there, in a sense, to reproduce.”
- Michael Chabon, clearly thinking far more about superhero costumes than your average fellow, in an audio supplement to his original Secret Skin: An Essay in Unitard Theory essay for the March 8, 2008, issue of the New Yorker. Also worth a listen for Chabon’s admission that he consulted his five- and 10-year-old sons to confirm the Beast is a barefoot character.

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“I could relate my thrilling trajectory as a comics consumer… how stories set in Riverdale left me with a completely inflated sense of the centrality of the malt shop in teen life… how I believed for some time that the comics medium could offer no greater spectacle than Valkyrie quelling a riot in a women’s prison in an old issue of The Defenders… how I realized somewhat belatedly that habits are unhealthy and hobbies should be fun and took steps to expand my comic-reading horizons. But you’ve heard that trajectory described a million times, and my version is probably even more boring than the average.”

- David P. Welsh, being anything but boring with his first Flipped column in its new home at The Comics Reporter

“There were assorted times during the thread when somebody would nominate a story or a sequence that i thought was just utter rubbish, and I’d despair a bit, and hope for somebody else to come along and knock it down. But it all shows that everybody’s tastes are just a little bit different, and even the crummiest comic books appeal to somebody.”

- Tom Brevoort, reflecting upon the 10 Marvel Classics “audience participation” thread trends (And fostering some interesting discussion with that post and a few other of that ilk in the past week)

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This post marks my official debut…and yet in a way it is a return, as I wrote for The Great Curve back in the days of Alex Segura and Chris Hunter. With this column, I’m feeling the “great power/great responsibility” vibe as I take on a column previously done by Kevin Melrose. Kevin, who has his plate full doing myriad other things for this blog and elsewhere, is a person who I have always respected immensely for his wit, intelligence and insight. For that matter, I find myself honored to be joining this blog as it consists of a group of people that brings a depth and perspective on comics (plus a periodic dose of skepticism) that is much needed. Of course, other folks offer up opinions with great depth and perspective (as well as some not so great…) that are worth noting–in this column. I won’t get all the snippets worth quoting, though, and when I do miss a good one, please do me a favor and mention it in the comments section. I hope to do well, but with the help of this blog’s comments regulars, I assume I can do better.

“Clearly, there’s only one cheerleader that can live up to those standards.That’s right, folks: It’s Isis, the captain of the East Compton High School Clovers, the greatest cheerleader in Bring It On history. And with her often-imitated, never-duplicated cheerleading skills and a squad that includes both LaFred and Jenelope, it’s not hard to see how she parallels Orson Randall and his Confederates of the Curious.”

- Chris Sims (of Invincible Super-Blog), both celebrating Bring It On week and reviewing The Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death at the same time

“Comics don’t always have to be ambitious to be worth one’s time. When people stressed the value of the disposable element of comics 10 years ago, it sounded like a defense mechanism for crap. And yet with a lot of different kinds of comics falling off the face of the earth, or at least withdrawing from easy distribution and even the barest hint of financial viability they had once upon a time, I’m thinking we can need all the little overpriced handouts with dumb jokes we can find.”

- Tom Spurgeon, making a larger point in his CR Review of the mini-comic, Bug Infested Comics #5

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Friends and fans of Steve Gerber around the internet are posting their thoughts and memories about the man that brought us Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown and Thundarr the Barbarian:

“Within a year’s time I was a serious fan girl, with long boxes and a subscription to THE BUYER’S GUIDE, as it was then known. I knew which issue The Vulture had debuted in and who inked Thor #232. While I filled my mind with all that useless information there was one other thing that I knew for sure: any comics that had ‘Written by Steve Gerber’ in the credits was going to be good. It was going to be more than good. It was going to be a story that was funny, dark, exciting and filled with a knowledge of the mysteries of the human heart that no other writer of the time could match.”

Heidi McDonald

“Steve Gerber was a giant. Is a giant.”

–Warren Ellis

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“It’s a movement in which males and females more or less equally participate. It’s a movement that is racially inclusive. It’s a movement in which consumer participation and customization is essential. It’s a movement not about collecting but experiencing. It’s a movement complete with a whimsical aesthetic that I am only beginning to understand.

“And whether Peter Parker is married or not or Batman is Bruce Wayne or not makes not the single whit of difference to them.”

– blogger Valerie D’Orazio, on the “youth movement” vibe at the New York Anime Festival

“I had a dream last night that the creator of Aqualad (who I think is Robert Bernstein, or a tag-team effort between Robert and Ramona Fradon) was struggling to stand up amid a crowd of angry people. I looked at him helplessly and noticed that he was visibly very similar to Aqualad himself, in that he had black, curly hair and a red shirt, and I suddenly felt very guilty about redesigning his beloved character to look like an awkward fish boy.

“Not that I’d change anything, but I felt really, really bad about it for a minute.”

– artist Karl Kerschl, who redesigned Aqualad for the Teen Titans: Year One miniseries

“It’s good to know that if [Batman] ever fought Osama bin Laden he’d hit him with a Batarang and drop him off at Arkham Asylum. The Joker has killed a lot more people than al Qaeda, and it’s good to know the Justice League is OK with that. Because God knows the thing that matters is that they keep their hands sparkly-clean. You know, if I were President of DC-Earth, I’d make a point of telling Superman that he could crush the Joker’s head. Not, you know, to go out of his way or anything, just, if it ever came up, please feel free.”

– blogger Tim O’Neil, annoyed by The Joker

“Just because someone carries a gun doesn’t make him a bad person.”

– writer Ed Brubaker, on the new, gun-toting Captain America

“As writers and creators continue to pour into our industry (taking jobs from the writers who have been doing it for years, mind you), the amount of content the publishers are producing is skyrocketing, which means two things: They’re spending more and taking more risks, AND, with more books in the marketplace, less units of each title are being sold, forcing us to rely on the licensing as opposed to making it an additional income source. With all eggs being put into the Hollywood basket, what happens when Hollywood stops calling?”

– writer Jason M. Burns, worried about a souring of the relationship between comics and Hollywood