Judd Winick and Ian Churchill’s Titans #1 came out this week to mixed reaction.

J. Montes enjoyed the book:

As simple as the story sounds, it’s really the way it’s put together that makes it so polished. Winick has does a sound job of keeping me entertained throughout, and Ian Churchill’s art is excellent. Now, I’m not Churchill’s biggest fan, but the way he conveys action - more notably a scene in the beginning with Robin escaping from an exploding building and sliding down an adjacent skyscraper - is just brilliant. And did I mention that this guy can draw monsters! Holy cow, someone bring back the pre-hero Tales of Suspense and put Churchill on the book! Colorist Edgar Delgado also deserves a lot of credit for making this book pop. The colors he lays down on the fish creature that attacks Starfire is utterly amazing.

Anyway, if I haven’t convinced you to pick up this book on the art alone, give it a shot regardless. This is a good debut book that keeps the estranging of new readers to a minimum, and it’s a lot of fun to boot. This is how Marvel should have done Young X-Men #1… but anyway…(Grade: B+)

Seb Patrick did not like the book:

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Marvel’s Secret Invasion has started this week and naturally everyone has a lot to say about it. Please be warned that these links contain spoilers.

Matt Singer is impressed by certain motifs:

The idea of an enemy hiding among us, and the dangerous effects of the fear of such an enemy, is obviously one that has a lot of cultural weight nowadays (The title of the series, Secret Invasion, seems an obvious nod to the famous invasion of a certain race of interstellar body snatchers). And from the very start, Leinil Yu’s art reinforces the idea of masks and hidden identities: Iron Man’s full-page introduction on page 3 is a series of images that show his armor’s faceplate lifting up to reveal his human face underneath. It’s a beautiful and subtle encapsulation of a lot of Secret Invasion’s motifs, one I hope is repeated with each issue.

The sense that you can’t trust anyone on the page, even beloved, decades-old characters, is heightened by the fact that Bendis’ comics, like most nowadays, do not employ thought balloons. Once a standard device used to allow readers inside a character’s head, thought balloons have almost completely vanished from American comics. Now when a character wants to bring us inside the protagonist’s head, he’s much more likely to use some much less invasive captions. Thought balloons may strike some as a simplistic device, but there’s also something quite intimate about them. And if you’re hearing a character’s thoughts, it’s difficult for them to shield duplicitous intentions. But the hidden villains of Secret Invasion don’t have to worry about such things anymore.

Chad Nevitt and Tim Callahan discuss, among other topics, the use of the comic story as an allegory:

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Perhaps understandably considering the recent scandal surrounding its artist, New Avengers #39 has become a talking point at various blogs.

J. Hunt of Comics Daily enjoyed the issue, particularly David Mack’s pencils:

It’s a fairly straightforward story, but nicely plays off Maya and Logan’s history together (as explained in the pages of Daredevil some years ago) by pairing them up. Bendis is remarkably restrained with his dialogue, allowing Mack’s amazing pencils to speak for themselves. I’ve never seen Mack’s work like this - I’m only used to his painted pages, and I had to check the cover to make sure it was actualy him. Let’s get this straight: Mack is nothing short of an amazing penciller. If I worked at Marvel I’d give him whatever it took to have him pencilling something on even a semi-regular basis. As it is, he only seems to put out the odd issue of Kabuki through Icon - a move that seems purely designed to keep him at Marvel ready for this kind of project. Either way, keep doing it.

Kirk Warren of Weekly-Crisis didn’t like the issue:

Up until now, I had been on the fence with the whole Secret Invasion / Skrull nonsense. I was intrigued, but pretty much all the suspense and hype for it was coming from Bendis in interviews. Not once did I feel like the book actually reflected any kind of Skrull threat and what little there was seemed to be the exact words Bendis was using to promote the book on Newsarama, Jinxworld and the numerous other comic sites. The ending to the Illuminati series was the first time I thought this could actually be really cool.

However, this issue killed any kind of interest I have in the book or upcoming event. I’ll probably still pick it up, as I’m that guy buying all the crap events, bitching about not buying them anymore and then going right back for more. But that doesn’t change the fact this issue consists of Bendis disguised as Wolverine and Echo and preaching his Skrull speech for an entire issue

While Deamentia of Weekly Comicbook Review.com was unimpressed by the issue, particularly Mack’s pencils.

Not helping matters is David Mack’s art. I know, it’s hard to believe. Maybe I’m just spoiled and used to seeing his beautiful painted stuff, because his pencils and inks here are average - and worse, his storytelling is very mediocre. Those who are keen enough will notice a lot of “lifted” poses for the characters, especially when it comes to the fight scenes. There’s also a double page splash that feels complete wasted and devoid of any kind of energy. Don’t get me wrong, I love David Mack’s body of work but his art in this issue is bad enough to where it detracts from the story.

So what did you think?

The recent decision by popular comic blogger Valerie D’Orazio to adopt a new comment policy on her Occasional Superheroine blog has led to some discussion in the comic book community about the merits and pitfalls of comment moderation.

In her announcement post, Ms. D’Orazio states:

It happens with a lot of blogs…especially, strangely, a number of blogs run by women.

After a rash over a period of months of being pelted by “overly relentless and negative commenters who occasionally cross the line,” the owner of the blog decides to either

a) Take away comments completely

or

b) Moderate the comments.

At some point, comments might be unmoderated again, but right now this is what suits me. I sacrifice my ever-dwindling free time to write this blog. I get little-to-no compensation for it. To have the comments section resemble the decorum on the Newsarama forums on a bad day both disgusts and discourages me. At least Newsarama can ban or force out users — and apparently, they do.

In a discussion in the comments of one of her recent posts, Johanna Draper Carlson understands:

Pedro, you make good points, and I’m not trying to defend Valerie against all criticism — I disagree with her on several things that it’s not important to get into now — but I do think that moderating comments is a necessary action for ANYone running an active internet site, and it doesn’t mean the moderator can’t take criticism.

I’ve been running fora since 1992 in one format or another, and without moderation (for behavior, not ideas), I’d be insane and/or long gone. Most people are fine, even when disagreeing — but there’s that 1% that are viciously poisonous, and there’s no need to put up with it.

Now, some people do go overboard and use it to silence perfectly polite, well-behaved people because they can’t tolerate being disagreed with (ex. Byrne, Ellis), but I don’t know if Valerie is doing that or not. Based on my own experience, I take the complaints of those booted with a big grain of salt — they can’t all have been the perfect little angels they claim to be.

While Rick of Bent Corner disagrees:

Allowing a free flow of ideas is an important part of the blog equation. When a blogger employs comment moderation and uses it to filter out opinions that differ with their own, they might as well ditch the blogging platform and just write Word documents. It’s dishonest. It gives the false impression that everyone reading and commenting agrees with the author. That very well might not be the case. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of people not agreeing with them. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of someone pointing out that they are wrong. They shouldn’t use comment moderation to discourage dissenting opinions. In fact, they should be encouraging people to weigh in with contrary opinions.

So what do you think?

Wonder Woman #18 brought us an interesting new development in terms of Diana’s love life. Of course, reactions are varied.

Livejournalist NKaray is very happy with the issue and the romance:

1. Diana courting Tom Tresser/Nemesis. For the first time in Wonder Woman history, I think, SHE’S the one taking control of the relationship, not the man. This man is not throwing himself at her, other than a few flirty lines here and there. He’s not saying, a la classic Steve Trevor, “Let’s get married, Angel!” with the response from Diana of, “But I can’t, Steve! Until the world is free of crime, I must never marry (or have sex).” Nor is Tom like Trevor Barnes who initially turned Diana down and then gave in, subsequently getting the upper hand in the relationship.

The courting scene between Diana and Tom was really cute and I love that the courting ritual has to be adapted from Paradise Island’s female/female pairings, the norm that Diana knows.

Amy Reads has mixed feelings about the issue:

I despise Tom Tresser. Gentle Reader, I find him Completely and Utterly Unworthy of Diana. But the depiction of Diana’s nervousness, her presentation not of other’s ideas of courtship but rather of her own people’s, gives us a Diana we haven’t seen in Some Time. I welcome more of her, and I find myself surprised to say that I do, even if it means the courtship and dating (!!!) of Nemesis.

While Samantha of Neither Doormat nor Prostitute did not like it at all:

I do love the complete absurdity of the seriousness with which Diana began “courting” this man - who proves everything bad that her people might ever have said about Man’s World, wrapped up into one incompetent little shell.

I’m sure someone thinks this is a cute story, but all it does for me is make me consider that Steve Trevor wasn’t so bad in his day. Because even at Trevor’s worst, with his crazy Lois Lane style plots to get Diana to marry him, Nemesis isn’t fit to lick dog manure of Trevor’s boots.

What do you think?

Recent events in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 have definitely gotten people talking.

Rich from Comic By Comic isn’t a fan of the development:

I’m all for gay and lesbian characters in comics and TV. There should probably be more. And I get that Buffy particularly has always been a show about growing up.

But there’s no way that this feels like a natural development, no matter what Joss Whedon says, especially after the last issue where Satsu’s feelings for Buffy were actually dealt with in a mature manner.

And frankly in a show/comic where one of the main characters was gay it feels like overkill.

And yes, I know that Buffy isn’t gay, I know she’s just apparently experimenting, but it still feels like a forced move to grab attention - a ratings grab, if it were TV.

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Dave Sim is a man as famous for his views on women and feminism as he is for his undeniable talent. Naturally, this tends to make the man a fairly controversial discussion topic.

Laura Hudson looks at recent bulletin board controversies and wonders why people bother:

Gail Simone and Heidi MacDonald, two of the strongest and most well-spoken women in comics, both make appearances, but honestly guys–I know Sim is a brilliant creator, but I have no idea why so many people remain compelled to beat their heads against that particular brick wall, particularly when it only feeds directly into Sim’s sense of self-importance and persecution.

Over at the Beat, Heidi McDonald posts an introspective about her feelings regarding Sim and his work:

Dave Sim is no general in a war against women. He’s not even a foot soldier. He’s a talented man with a dark side. He’s also, as far as I can see, someone whose hypocrisy is a foundation of his philosophy. The ultimate irony is that Sim’s work ends up being the greatest repudiation of the hateful and/or ignorant views he’s expressed. The tenderness and wisdom of Jaka’s Story will last longer than any bullshit philosophy. I hope so, anyway.

Valerie D’Orazio shares her own thoughts:

To be honest, while I have heard of the controversy surrounding Sim, and I am familiar with Cerebus, I have not sat down and read either his philosophy on women or his work. I know, with the stuff I write about on my blog, it’s a little shocking that I never touched on the topic before.

But I will say this:

There has been a great deal of coddling, protecting, and willful blind eyes turned away from rampant misogynists in sectors of this industry. It has disgusted me deeply.

If Gaiman is guilty for supporting Sim, there are a lot of people out there who are just as guilty.

What do you think?

Eli Bradley/Patriot of the Young Avengers is a character that comes up fairly often when discussing the portrayal of race in comics.

Back in 2006, David Brothers posted about his problems relating to Young Avengers, specifically Eli Bradley:

Let’s run down the Young Avengers.
Iron Lad: Will one day grow up to be Kang the Conqueror, but is fighting his destiny.
Hawkeye: Was attacked in a park, so she trained and learned to be prepared for next time.
Stature: Inherited her father’s powers through exposure to Pym particles, became a hero with her new buddies.
Wiccan: Probably a son of Scarlet Witch and Vision. He almost gets beaten up by a bigoted jerk when he tries to help a kid from the same fate, but nearly kills the guy when his powers activate.
Hulkling: Used his shapeshifting powers to get by at first, but found the strength to be himself after visiting the wreckage of Avenger’s mansion. He learned not to hide himself.
Patriot: Used to get beat up a lot because he was weak, gets tempted into using Mutant Growth Hormone to get revenge, and finally uses it so that he can be a hero like his grandfather.
One of these things is not like the other.

Eli was a coward. He was weak and his idea of overcoming his hardships was not, like the rest of the team, putting in that leg work and making yourself into a better person. It was to take the shortcut, get hopped up on MGH, and then lie about being a super-soldier to the people he called his friends. He’s just another failure. He’s 1970s Luke Cage, Ebony White, and Bishop. He’s Captain Marvel getting demoted and drummed out of the Avengers.

In a recent post regarding the portrayal of race in comics, Mad Thinker Scott posts his own perspective on the character controversy:

I do think that the characters created by well-meaning liberals might tend to be more boring if those writers try to remove anything that might be considered offensive from the character. For instance, there were people who were really bugged that Patriot was using mutant growth hormone to get his powers. I understand why people wouldn’t want the black character to be the one using drugs; however, I have to admit that that origin of his powers and the conflicts it created for his ethics (i.e. do the ends justify the means?) and his teammates (i.e. is our teammate a hero, a villain, an addict, or some combination of the three?) was inherently more interesting than what was assumed to be his origin (i.e. he inherited his powers.) In the area of gay characters, I think it’s kind of sad that so many gay readers are affronted by characters portraying what could be called “gay cultural influences” but are usually called “stereotypes.” There is this strange irony that many of us want more minority characters in comics are frequently the first to dismiss those minority characters as “tokens” and to find flaws in them so we don’t have to like them and can continue to complain about the injustices were are subjected to.

Notintheface responds to Mad Thinker Scott’s comment with his own perspective on the problem with Patriot:

Why did he have to regain his Super-Soldier powers in the next story arc? We could have seen Eli over several issues working to improve himself to compensate for the lack of powers. We could have seen him strive to become a great non-powered hero in the tradition of Batman or Nightwing or the original Hawkeye Clint Barton. Or even his fellow non-powered teammate, Kate. (Kate’s origin is not without its own problems, particularly the hackneyed rape-as-motivation angle.) Even if he eventually regained his powers, we could have watched him grow, whether in YOUNG AVENGERS or elsewhere.But that never happened.

And that’s the heart of the problem: Heinberg, and Marvel, went to great effort to tell us how Patriot was a great leader, with or without his powers.

But they never really showed us.

What do you think?

Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci is one of DC’s Minx line geared toward a generally female audience. Recently the issue of the portrayal of minority characters in the comic has been the subject of some discussion.

In her interview with Girl-Wonder.Org’s Karen Healey, Cecil Castellucci talks a little bit about the minority portrayal in her comic.

KH: You’ve mentioned that it was important to you that the Janes have different body types. The dramatic Jane is distinctly solid, and sports lover Polly Jane is tall and thin, for example. However, though there are several characters of colour in the crowd scenes, the main characters all seem to read as white. Was this intentional?

CC: Well, Polly Jane is Latina and Theater Jane is Asian.

KH: Wow, I totally didn’t read that at all.

CC: Yep. That’s why PJ has the Frida Kahlo look. And Theater Jane, totally Asian.

In book two, Janes in Love there is a lot more diversity. (It is something that is equally important to me as body types)

Willow from Seeking Avalon challenges some of Ms. Castellucci’s statements:

And as for “And Theater Jane, totally Asian”

Just which Asian culture does this Jane call her own? Is she Japanese, Korean, Taiwainse, Chinese, Chinese - Mongolian, or from the Philippines? Do you even know?

Do you even know why it might matter that in a book where the town calls for a curfew on teenagers and start to restrict their freedoms why in the first book there should have been parents of one of those minority students feeling uneasy about that?

Do you even know why that might matter if Theater Jane was Japanese? Or Taiwanese or Chinese-Mongolian?

While, on Girl-Wonder.org’s comment thread, Karen Ellis considers the issues with portraying ethnic types in comics.

Portraying different ethnic types without going too stereotypical is something I’ve been struggling with in my own comics. With any stylised form you are working with visual shorthand, and you have to include cues that the reader will understand without having to think about it. When people generally assume that a character is white unless they are told otherwise, it can mean that racial aspects need to be played up, at least initially, to clue the reader in. Of course with comics this can be done through other things than just how they look, but it helps if there is some element present that will subconsciously remind the reader whenever they look at the character.

So what do you think?

Dirk Deppey’s response to Lisa Fortuner’s column has gotten a fair bit of attention recently.

Girl-Wonder.org’s President Karen Healey responds to Deppey’s column:

Since the male Robin III (Jason Todd) died and was remembered, and the female Robin IV (Stephanie Brown) died and was not, and the infliction of the wounds that lead to her death were furthermore depicted in a manner reminiscent of torture porn, the maintainer of Project Girl Wonder – which does not constitute the whole of Girl-Wonder.org, nor ever has – regards the lack of memorial as gender discrimination.

Gender discrimination is certainly a feminist concern. Mr Deppey may disagree as to whether discrimination took place here, but if one accepts the basic premises of Project Girl Wonder’s objection – as its creator does - then one may certainly view it as a feminist cause.

Scott the Mad Thinker agrees with Deppey somewhat but rethinks Girl-Wonder as a whole:

I’ll have to admit that I didn’t realize that Girl Wonder was doing so much to promote female involvement in comics, and that I thought of it interchangeably with Project Girl Wonder. Maybe Dirk was making the same – perhaps understandable — error. I suspect that Dirk has formed a lot of his opinions about some of the people who call themselves comic book feminists based on their male-bashing posts that they mistakenly believe are feminist posts — like some of Ms. Healey’s, ironically – that he finds at When Fangirls Attack, where I think we see more “attack,” and less of sites that are diligently plugging away at promoting women in comics.

While Blogger Hippokrene wonders what’s the big deal:

Four days ago, I poked my head into the WFGA link farm and learned the Shocking!News! that Dirk Deppey didn’t like the “Girl-Wonder.org crowd.” From the reaction of the feminist comic blogophere, I assume it’s a slow news day. Some random mouth-breather drops the right keywords in his rant causing otherwise intelligent people suffer from mental prolapse and offer responses and rebuttals aplenty. Not in the comment section of Dirky’s blog - that would be too easy. Instead, for the last four days, I get to dig through fifty blogs reporting the Shocking!News! that someone doesn’t like the “Girl-Wonder.org crowd,” because there aren’t hundreds of blogs in which dullards complain about uppity women-folk. I can almost hear Dirk’s sweaty panting as he jerks off to the attention Irritated Feminist Blogger #283 gives to his steaming pile of opinion.

So what do you think?

Well, it’s happened. The mantle of “Captain America” has officially been transferred. This has, naturally, sparked more than a bit of discussion.

The League of Melbotis is very happy with the issue and the whole storyline surrounding the Death of Captain America:

You may be aware that Cap was killed some time back, but that story is just as fascinating to watch unfold. Unlike the impenetrable and winding plots of the Death of Superman and World without a Superman stories, the post-Steve Rogers world feels organic, and as if the characters are acting from a real sense of loss and grieving (which, in superhero comics, rarely means sitting around crying).

Pastor James Harleman sees deeper religious meaning in the transfer of the title:

With no miraculous abilities and an admittedly cynical, pessimistic worldview, Barnes represents our current social and political climate. When he hears that there is a public protest demonstration, he panics: “Oh, God… I hope you don’t expect me to address protesters.” He’s not ready for that, immature in his role and even where his faith comes from. Looking at it from a spiritual perspective, he’s not unlike a new Christian: he’s ready to believe and even get to work, but not yet confident to preach.

Alephz is not happy with the turn of events:

New Cap (Cap with a Gun) seems to represent what America IS (or some cynic’s dream thereof); ready to start AND end some shit if need be. The shield doesn’t even come into it. The colours fly over a field of black because we don’t let our flag cover everyone and if someone gets in our way? We kneecap them until they do what we say or we kill them.

I want old Cap. Or someone in that comic to stand up for what I liked to think the character stood for.

So what do you think?

The preview images of Smallville’s take on Black Canary have been making the rounds and so far, fan reaction has been mixed.

Blog@’s own Ragnell really likes the design:

I really like how her costume came out. Not only does the actress look the part (I always figured on Black Canary as a petite woman with a tough expression), they kept the fishnets and the basic design, so she’s recognizable as the comic book character. They went with short hair rather than a long wig that would get torn off during a fight, or long hair that an enemy could grab at in a street-level fight.

Marc from Climbing Shrimp Productions does not like the design:

Now I think they’ve taken it to the EXTREME of stupidity, above is the accused. Allegedly this is Black Canary. OK I’ll admit lower half yes that’s her, fishnets and boots that’s kinda hard to screw up. But short hair and face paint?! I know in her earlier appearances she is a brunette and becomes a blonde because of Green Arrow. But damn this just looks ridiculous.

R.B. Probst reflects on certain storyline elements:

The article also mentions that in her day job Dinah will be a conservative radio talk show host. Although I realize this is to set up an “opposites attract” relationship with Green Arrow I think it’s also designed so the producers can get their digs in on conservatives. They haven’t exactly been shy about slamming conservatives via Martha and her state senate seat. I can’t wait for this fall to roll around and the DVD set of this season to come out. Between the addition to the cast of both Supergirl and now Black Canary it sounds like this season of Smallville is shaping up to be very interesting and I can’t wait to see it.

So what do you think?

This week’s Countdown made quite a splash, especially with regards to a fight scene involving Donna Troy and a particular line of dialogue.

Rokk Krinn didn’t particularly enjoy that scene or the comic itself:

Countdown to Final Crisis continues to come across like it was written by a group of thirteen year olds who have been sniffing glue. The dialogue is downright atrocious. Honestly, the line from Donna Troy was straight from a low budge Sci Fi Channel original movie. I absolutely cringed as I read that drivel.

On the other hand, Rich quite enjoyed both scene and comic:

Donna-One knows exactly who she is, thank you very much (although I can’t help but think this would have been better served if the dialogue had been switched around a little so the punch-line was delivered while we could see Donna’s face instead of her feet*.

Even so…best of the week!

Phil has positive things to say about the comic but did not enjoy that line:

A few pages of Mary Marvel washing up on the Island of the Amazons and hooking up with the good guys, and a few of Brother Eye consolidating power and, presumably, gearing up for the Great Disaster; the rest is Monarch vs. the Monitors vs. the unfortunate superhero denizens of Earth-51. Continuing to become more readable, although there’s one bit of dialogue with Donna Troy that involves the least-convincing use of the word “bitch” since Mrs. Weasley (and then she says her name with periods — “Donna. Troy.” — just to prove how hardcore she is, and how tone-deaf the scripters are).

While grebok-sod enjoyed that moment but finds Countdown itself lacking:

Finally! The only one in the DCU not worried about Who Is Donna Troy? is Donna Troy, bitch. (Granted, one of my favorite Donna Troy stories revolves around Donna doubting her own identity but that was different, and well-written).

This is the first rock’n’roll moment for Donna—nay, Countdown— since Donna saving Jason from Forerunner. And that was in Countdown #45, for crying in the rain. This is issue #15. Thirty issues between rock’n’roll moments is not a good ratio.

Part of the problem in lacking such moments is that there is no growth in Countdown. A key ingredient.

So what did you think?

Green Arrow/Black Canary #4 came out this week and caused an interesting flow of discussion. One element in the opening of the comic seems particularly noteworthy.

(The following links and excerpts likely contain spoilers)

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Birds of Prey #113 with new writer Sean McKeever came out a few weeks ago to a variety of interesting reactions, especially regarding a certain confrontation with the man in blue.

So Super Duper really enjoyed the issue especially the confrontation scene:

The best part of the book? Well, I must say I just loved seeing the bitchy side of Superman. It’s nice to see our Big Blue Boy Scout get all snotty with the ladies. They deserved to be told off for their mistake, as it was a huge mistake (taking out whole city blocks - way to go ladies) and his verbal smack-down totally put the series back into its more familiar, grounded reality. The Birds work best when they aren’t dealing with giant robots and crazed-space-faring-villains, but with more Batman like, gun toting, human-ish bad guys. Not that the occasional mega-powerful villain battle isn’t welcome, but I have always much preferred the more gritty, espionage-y aspect of the series. This time around these gals were way in over their heads and their failure stung. Oracle really should have called in some big guns to save the day; perhaps our dear Oracle has gotten a tad cocky? Thankfully this mistake will only make the team stronger and better, as every team needs their moment to overcome and prove themselves anew.

Samantha of Neither Doormat Nor Prostitute really did not like it:

Also, Oracle has been shown to be respected by the League time and time again. For Superman to walk in and *scold* the Birds over a mistake (that they wouldn’t have made under a more competent writer, frankly) makes no sense, either character or plot wise.

Superman isn’t Batman. He doesn’t give stupid territorial speeches about “my city.”

At the end of this issue, I didn’t like anyone. Barbara and the Birds are inefficient, Superman is an asshole, and Misfit was kind of pointless.

David Brothers didn’t like it for a slightly different reason:

-The Birds of Prey, and specifically Misfit, pretty much murder a few hundred people in Metropolis and the only punishment they get is a stern talking to by Superman? Whaaat?

Do you know what happens if I am playing with a gun and I shoot someone in the face? Prison.

What happened to Sean McKeever? His DC work has been mediocre at best and this issue of BoP made them crazy unlikeable.

“He doesn’t know. He wasn’t there.” Psh, Misfit pressed a button and killed a few hundred people. What’s to know, other than “Don’t press buttons in giant murder machines?”

So what did you think?

So the promised end to the Spider-Man/Mary Jane marriage has finally happened and it seemed only fitting to return to the topic in this column.

Jim did not like the issue:

Usually I feel no matter how bad of a story line has been produced as a reader you can close you eyes and pretend it never happened, this is such a core change that you can’t do it. It is also so disingenuous to the “Civil War” story that I actually lauded for making a true change to the status quo of the Marvel Universe, that it now no longer matters. I’m very concerned about what the resolution of the Captain America saga will be with this type of tripe being produced.

Tom Foss is skeptical about the benefits:

So, I hear that the new Spider-Man issue kills the marriage. I also hear that it brings back the mechanical web-shooters. You know, I hated “The Other,” I hated the organic web-shooters from “Disassembled,” but I think the marriage is a pretty high price to pay for undoing all that. It seems like undoing one bad idea with a worse idea doesn’t equal out to a good idea.

SallyP has a lot of questions:

Also, I don’t for the life of me, understand how this massive reboot is going to play out in the OTHER books that Spider-Man appears in. What about New Avengers? Do they suddenly all forget that he and MJ were married? Does Tony Stark? Is Peter even IN the Avengers anymore? How old is he now? Does he still work for the Bugle? Is he no longer a teacher, and what happens to all of his students? There are a LOT of ramifications to this that haven’t been thought out very well.

So what did you think?

The Who Wants to Create a Superheroine contest announcement has been making waves.

TGCVersion2Point0 wonders at his ability to write a female character:

I do have to wonder if I have what it takes to create a female character that’s not a cliche and/or a completely unrealistic male fanboy representation of a woman. I guess I’ll find out. In the past when I write, my female characters tend to have that Farrelly Brothers syndrome, that being that they are a little too perfect and flawless. Either that or they are the most flawed characters in the story. One or the other. I do tend to have an issue with creating a strong but realistic female character. I wonder if that is because I am male and don’t really understand the female pysche or if it’s because I have issues with women.

While our own Lisa Fortuner is cautiously optimistic:

I see two downsides to submitting: 1) They could reject my idea. 2) They could accept my idea and let everyone know how stupid it is.

The upside is that whatever I can come up with will NOT be the dumbest thing on the pile.

(And that if it is, only I and the Shadowline editor will see it.)

Livejournalist heykidzcomix has doubts about the results of the contest:

I wonder how much actual female response they’ll get from it. One suspects not all that much.

So what do you think?

News about an upcoming Shoujo Manga-style X-Men comic have been making the rounds lately to varied reactions.

Dick McVengeance of the Japanator is cautiously optimistic:

But wait, this could be good. I have to hope. There have been plenty of series reboots in comics that turn out well. So, I’m willing to hold back my Internet venom and give the series a shot. I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be a horrible fanfiction. I guess this is just more proof of how popular manga has become — once again, an American company is trying to take hold of the style to market to a new area.

Captain JLS is skeptical:

I’ll probably buy the upcoming books — heaven knows I bought all this other stuff — but I’d be much more interested if this was actually all coming from Japanese talent. Again, much like the Mangaverse project, when you have American fans of the material working on such things, they feel more like pastiche than anything else — as Paul O’Brien said in his review of X-Men: Ronin, it becomes a parlor game: “How can we take manga tropes and weld them to the X-Men?” Even if that’s basically what the Japanese creators wind up doing, it feels less tacky when it’s coming straight from the home of those tropes, you know?

Andy Miller is less than impressed:

Hear that sound? That’s me, dying a little inside. Dear god, did they just all sit in a circle and think, “What’s the stupidest thing we can do?” And once it came to them, they decided to go with it! And what’s the saddest thing? They can do their little “shojo” girl’s comic, but it will still be read primarily by 40 year old men, just like everything else with the X-Men label on it. It’s not going to change anything. It’s not going to bring in a whole new audience.

So what do you think?

A recent statement from J. Michael Straczynski about the rather infamous “One More Day” storyline has been getting a lot of reaction lately.

Greg from Greg’s Blog of Clue-by-Fours is impressed by the statement.

Very honest, and very classy. He states his opinion without bashing his bosses. Personally, my disagreements with certain creative decisions aside, I have nothing but the utmost respect for both JMS and Joe Quesada. I think “One More Day” is bullshit, but when it comes right down to it, I think actual living, breathing human beings are more worthy of respect than fictional characters. There is nothing wrong with criticism. I do it all the time, but the venom which is thrown at some of these people just bewilders me sometimes. Personally, I despised Grant Morrison’s take on Magneto, but I never called for his head.

Stephen Gerding of Kung Fu Rodeo is decidedly unimpressed:

I think this sounds a lot like a mixture of sour grapes with a healthy dose of “too little too late” thrown in for added flavor. Frankly, this explanation doesn’t wash considering that JMS is supposed to have a “no real editing” clause in his Marvel contract. I can buy Quesada overruling a few decisions from before from his EiC seat, but I don’t buy for a minute that he’s the one orchestrating all of the story points in OMD with JMS acting solely as script monkey. More likely, JMS and Joey da Q both hammered out the entire thing, top to bottom, and managed to convince themselves that they created an epic storyline. When fans finally got a whiff of their brew and started turning on them, going as far as to claim loudly that the freaking Clone Saga was never as horrible as OMD, JMS made the first move and threw Marvel under the bus.

Livejournalist Kali921 takes JMS’s post as validation:

That’s right. The WRITER of One More Day HATES IT. He’s so blatant about it that he posted it on his own damn website.

The same writer who brought us the craptastic piece of incomprehensible bullshit known as The Other. Now, you know that when the dude that wrote The Other, as well as the execrable storyline where Gwen Stacy had kids by Norman Osborn, tells you that your story sucks?

IT SUCKS.

Are we clear on this now?

So what do you think?

Recently, one of the big interesting to dos has been regarding DC’s release of a comprehensive list of half of the “earths” in the new Multiverse. Naturally, everyone has their own take on the subject.

Daddy Will of Bread and Roses responds to his own opposite perspective.:

I find it funny that same fans who are able to suspend disbelief and swallow that an extraterrestrial who looks remarkably like a white dude could become a demigod because of yellow solar radiation and that a technology could exist that translates will power into hard light objects, are not able to suspend disbelief long enough to accept that every omnipotent force in the Multiverse would not be constantly mucking about. (Of course, I fall into this too, asking stupid questions during Superman Doomsday like “Where is the Justice League???!”) While we all have a our fan quirks, comic book fans should struggle to relax and realize: Hey, it’s just a story anyway.

David Brothers at 4th Letter! does not particularly care for the list:

Just in case you’re keeping score at home, here are the genuinely new Earths, ones that we’ve never seen before: Earth-15: World of heroes realized (Donna Troy as Wonder Woman; Jason Todd as Batman) (Countdown #30 - the earth of this universe was destroyed in Countdown #24) Earth-17: A post WWIII, apocalyptic universe (first appearance 52 #52) Earth-48: Forerunner’s world (Countdown #46)

There are three new Earths out of 26 announced now, one of which has already been destroyed and the other I think is barren of life or populated by Forerunner’s race or something stupid like that?

Good going, DC. You have the opportunity to create a gang of new characters, settings, and stories and you go right into Fanboy Masturbation territory.

While Diamondrock is starting to warm to the multiversal concept:

I should say that — despite Countdown not living up to my expectations — I think I’m starting to be won over (slightly) by the multiverse concept. Though that could have more to do with the prospect of a ginormous war between Monarch, his multiversal thugs, and the Monitors.

I’d pay to see that.

Oh, wait. I am going to pay to see that.

So what do you think?