Convention Notes: Part 2

More brief thoughts about the various news items at the latest con…

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A lot of the news today seems to be floating around Bendis and what he’s doing. I don’t consider myself a fan of anything he’s done in the past few years– I hated what he’s done with the Avengers. Still, this time he seems to be playing more to his strengths.  Well, it’s about darn time. I’ve always considered the idea of Bendis on a solo Spider-Woman book to be a good thing; he’s good on street-level books. So I may actually follow this. Cautiously optimistic here.

Secret Warriors… I’ll suspend judgment until I know more about it. Bendis isn’t terribly good with groups, but it might be that Jonathan Hickman could balance that out. Still, espionage is more in Bendis’ line, so it could be that it’ll work out. Doubt I’ll be able to pick it up, but who knows?

Good step forward for Bendis if this bears out.

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Am I the only one bothered by the fact that Robert Rodriguez cast his fiancee in the Red Sonja movie? No slight on Rose McGowan– I liked her in Grindhouse, and for all I know she could pull this off– but that’s pretty blatant nepotism even by Hollywood standards. And yeah, I know Rodriguez always casts friends and family in his films (sometimes to great effect, as with Danny Trejo), but this is a bit much.

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Really not sure about Project Superpowers launching all these spinoffs. It’s a good concept, but the stories so far aren’t really living up to it. So I can’t help but wonder if maybe Alex Ross and Dynamite aren’t oversaturating the brand by having several spinoff books. Black Terror probably could sustain a book just on the strength of the character. But we’ve barely even seen Devil and Masquerade so far.

To be honest, I so far feel that they got this one wrong structurally. They really need to focus on a small group of Golden Age heroes and slowly and gradually introduce the others. As it is, I just keep seeing snapshots of reinvented heroes jumping to and fro haphazardly, and we don’t get a clear idea of who most of them are. And that’s leaving out the interior art, which has been rather inconsistent, especially with Sadowski off drawing the lackluster Avengers/Invaders.

I still think there’s a lot of promise in these characters, so it might be it’ll work better under different hands. But sad to say, Ross and Krueger did far better work on Justice, and it’s really a shame. They’re capable of doing a lot better than they have lately.

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I like the look of the Final Crisis stuff so far. I read through the second issue, and to spoil my upcoming reviews, I thought it was a vast improvement on the first. As to the con stuff, I find that there’s a lot of promising stuff from DC coming down the pike. I’ll get Superman Beyond and Submit, since Morrison is doing those. I definitely want to see what Johns has in mind for Legion of Three Worlds, Rogues’ Revenge, and Rage of the Red Lanterns. So DC will continue to get my money.

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Sterling Gates on Supergirl? Could maybe work. I did like the Superboy-Prime issue of Sinestro War. Hopefully this run will actually last a while. This title lacks a steady and consistent hand, but hopefully Johns taking an active interest should improve matters.

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More to come…

Convention Notes…

A lot of news in the comics world, so I’ll just go for some short notes…

Firstly, there’s the sad passing of Michael Turner. Another great talent gone entirely too soon. But it’s an even greater loss to his family and those who knew him. He’ll be missed.

It’s hard to go through my folder full of comic book images and not find a Michael Turner pic on it. I won’t pretend that I was his greatest fan. I’ll admit that I never read a single Aspen comic. But there was passion and energy in his work that you can’t fake. I could tell that this was a guy who loved working in comics.

For me, Turner will be best known as the guy who designed the rebooted Supergirl. His look remains with the character to this day, and I expect that will be true for a long time. I think that if his career hadn’t been so tragically cut short, that he’d have gotten a crack at some of the majors. But he started his own franchise in comics, built an audience, and did some memorable work. And that’s not a bad thing to be remembered for.

Rest in peace, Mr. Turner.

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I’ve got to hand it to Brian Bendis and Geoff Johns. The idea of doing a shared DC/Marvel panel was a great move.

In an industry that is largely polarized among the big two, it’s good to see creators giving back and trying to bring fans together. Better still, to remind us all why we read these books. I have my differences with Bendis– I personally think his work is best on the small-scale human level, and he’s a poor fit on big and epic crossover books– but I can respect him for doing this. The panel report was a treat to read, and probably a blast for those who attended; I hope they do more of these.

Because this panel hit on something that needs saying. Comics shouldn’t be about “us vs. them”. It should be about what makes good comics. I hit Marvel a lot, sure, because I feel their storytelling standards have declined in favor of what sells books. But every so often there’s a Marvel book that’s just great fun, whether it’s Captain Britain or Wolverine: First Class or Hercules or whatever. Both universes have their strengths and weaknesses, so the question isn’t which is “better” as much as who is making better use of the tools they’re working with. So to me, the point of the panel is a good one, because it highlights the idea that it isn’t the universe or the characters that are better, but what’s being done with them.

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John Wagner and Garth Ennis on Judge Dredd? Smart move from Dynamite. I’d buy it.

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Peter David on writing the far future: “A million years from now? Who the hell knows what humanity will be like? How is the reader supposed to relate? One hundred years, 200 years, 300 years – we can relate with that. We all watched the HBO John Adams special.”

I respect David as a writer and I can sort of see his point. But I would offer one good counter-example: DC 1 Million. Grant Morrison created an immense sprawling vision of what the future in the 853rd Century would be like. I didn’t have trouble relating to any of it. So it can be done… but then a good writer can make anything possible.

I think any time period can work depending on how well you’ve thought out the future society and how events progressed to that point. It’s just that in that kind of far future, you’re basically dealing with Clarke’s Third Law. Any science you use is going to seem like magic just because it is so advanced. And like magic, the super-science needs to have rules. When it does work, far-future stories can be very good… take Iain Banks’ Culture books as just one of many good examples in science fiction.

I can see why most writers tend not to move beyond a thousand years or two. It’s just more convenient to keep it grounded in our reality. But it’s a convenience, not so much a rule.

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I may add more depending on what strikes me. But that’s it for now. Until next time.

Artistic License

To take a break from all the serious comic discussion, I thought I might introduce one of my recent interests to this blog.

One of my side hobbies is computer graphic design. I don’t consider myself any kind of artist, but it turns my thoughts away from writing if I’m busy, disinterested or blocked. Sometimes a good visual design will even inspire some of my work. Sometimes I’ll use software to design my own characters, once I feel I have a good enough hang of it.

Recently, I’ve gotten into the joys of Daz Studio. Basically, it’s a 3D character and scene design program, much along the lines of Poser. If you have the right materials installed and know how to use the software, you could probably create virtually anything on Daz Studio. At first, it looks really massive and overwhelming, but after a while, it gradually becomes easier to use.

Here’s some recent test samples of characters I’ve designed:

This first one is a test design of Blitz, my signature character, using the Aiko 3 template. It’s missing some elements, and I wasn’t able to change the face with the materials I have, but overall it’s okay considering what I had to work with.

Now this is one that I quite liked. I purchased a bundle with Daz’s Freak package, which is basically their mold for their colossal-sized characters. This is a test render that I made with the design package.

So far, this is one of my favorites. I recently got Aiko 4, and this was my first test run with her. The idea was to create a character of mine named Midori, though it’s not quite right for that purpose. So far, I really love this package. Aiko 4 works really well, and it’s struck me so far as easier to use than my other materials.

I may do more of these segments in the future, depending on whether the mood strikes me or if there’s demand to do more. I would like eventually to render some comic-based characters, but right now that’s way off in the future. There are a couple I might be able to try, but we’ll see how those turn out.

Executive Decisions

The rumors of Dan Didio’s demise, according to Rich Johnston, would seem to be greatly exaggerated.

To be honest, if this is true, I consider it to be good news. Certainly, I’ve taken DC to task over their decisions during the past couple of weeks. I’m unhappy with the Dixon firing and the lack of editorial coordination. Countdown was undeniably bad. I haven’t been happy with a lot of the crossovers, though I loved the Sinestro Corps War. I could go on with my disagreements with DC if I’d half a mind to.

At the same time, I don’t feel I can dogpile Dan Didio or DC Comics too much in an overall view. For the most part, their books are readable, and often they’re entertaining. DC puts out many of my favorite comics– All-Star Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, and Trinity, just to name a few. I believe that creatively, DC has a pretty strong lineup, even if they’ve had problems of late. So while I might criticize DC’s decisions, I enjoy their comics the most out of anything coming out from the Big Two. That’s why I’m particularly disappointed when I see DC doing things that look really dumb; I want them to be able to compete with Marvel on an even playing field.

Right now, I think DC and Marvel have opposite problems. Marvel does really well on the business level, and they can draw great art, but they’re suffering badly in the writing department. Their creative decisions are often terrible (sometimes for shock value) and I consider many of their titles to be unreadable on a story level, but their comics and spinoff media do well in sales. DC has a lot of excellent writers and they can usually string together a coherent story (most crossovers aside), but they’re lagging on the sales end. Ideally, I would like the Big Two to be good at both, but granted that this is an ideal.

I have respect for Dan Didio, whatever his recent mistakes might be. He brought in a wave of new ideas and drew a lot of great writing talent to DC in the past few years. For a while, he reinvigorated the DC with the buildup to Infinite Crisis. In some ways, such as with 52, Didio helped to change the way comics are published. Superman was unreadable to me until All-Star Superman, and later on, with Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek on the main Superman books… all that was on Didio’s watch. That’s not to mention the resurgence of Green Lantern and Nightwing (both of whom suffered from years of mediocre writing) or great ideas like the Secret Six. I could go on and on with those as well, and I guarantee that my list of positives from Dan Didio’s tenure at DC would outweigh the negatives.

I don’t know Didio personally, but for the most part, he comes across as being genuine. (Or as much as anyone in his position can be expected to be.) It might well be true that he hasn’t had a coherent plan for the books he’s overseeing, though only DC insiders would know that. He’s listened to the fans at times, as he did when he decided not to kill Nightwing during Infinite Crisis. (A very wise decision, too; Nightwing is probably one of the most important DC heroes that’s not being used to potential.) He’s admitted, from time to time, when he’s gone the wrong way. I sometimes disagree with him, sure, but I don’t expect to agree with everyone. And that’s fine.

I don’t want Didio to leave his position, and never have. I think he’s been a capable Executive Editor, though it might be that he’s been entrenched for a little too long. The last year or so wasn’t as good as the first couple of years of his tenure. That having been said, I think the past few weeks need to serve as a huge wake-up call for him. That means he needs to get his house in order, and soon. Preferably before the rumblings of a new Executive Editor turn out to be for real. I want DC to learn from these problems and fix them. Sometimes it takes a step backward to take a larger step forward.

Granted, all we have to go on are rumors and rumblings. Still, if this latest report is correct, we can only hope that there’s a resurgence in the future for DC. I genuinely hope this turns out to be so.

Q And Evade, Or Why Comics Need Journalistic Responsibility

Recently, I stumbled upon this interview with Joe Quesada:

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/entertainment&id=6178207

6abc.com: And Joe, I’m going to have ask you, about Spider-Man’s Brand New Day. There’s a lot of fan reaction and you can look at it as a negative or a positive and I believe you’ve been looking at it as a positive.

Joe Q: It absolutely is a positive. There are always a few vocal people who don’t like everything that we do, and it’s okay, they’re passionate about it, but, right now, I’m looking at sales figures, and I’m looking at how Spider-Man is flying off the racks and the letters we’re getting in. Especially, the letters from converts, because they’re saying ‘I really didn’t want to like it, but I’m digging it.’ So that says a lot, for someone to actually write that, it takes a lot effort, a lot of energy, and a lot of guts, too.

“Flying off the racks?” Who are you kidding, Joe?

The book sheds thousands of readers per month. The latest figures I’ve seen land towards 74,000 copies. Compared to where Brand New Day started, how can anyone reasonably call this a sales success? This is pure spin, just like everything else Quesada has been saying for the past few months.

And I would honestly like to see these “letters” Quesada is referring to, as well. And no, I’m not going to believe that BND is embraced based on the letters pages. Marvel generally has a habit of printing favorable letters more often they do criticism. I’d not put it past Marvel to hype the “success” of BND by printing only positive letters.

So once more, it’s the same old tired spin cycle. “Everything we do is wonderful, and if people don’t like our ideas, it’s because comics fans love to be contrary.” Don’t fall for this.

But that isn’t even the real kicker. The quote that really got my goat is this one:

6abc.com:: Finally, what would you tell somebody who is a little hesitant in becoming a comic book reader?

Joe Q: The simple fact is the comic industry has grown up. People remember comics back from the 50s and 60s where it tended to be a little quainter, a little simpler, and probably more directed towards kids. The Marvel revolution has really been about comics maturing and growing up.

This is brazen and sheer hypocrisy of the lowest order.

On the one hand, Joe Quesada tells us that comic books are maturing and becoming more “grown up”. Which is technically true, taken as an overall trend. I may not like the extent to which this is taken, but that’s a subject for another time.

The problem is that Quesada doesn’t apply this philosophy to his own characters. Look at Brand New Day, which regressed Peter Parker from a mature adult into a 20-something slacker, and dragged back Spider-Man kicking and screaming into the 1970’s. Is this really “comics maturing and growing up”? How in the world can Quesada honestly say this with a straight face?

But that’s not even the real point. Evasions and contradictions are typical behavior from Quesada.

The problem is that nobody is seriously pressing Quesada for the truth. I really would have liked to see the interview actually call Quesada on this kind of thing and demand a real answer. What we have instead is a puff piece that throws softballs and lets Quesada’s claims go unchallenged.

I’ve felt for a long time that we really need to have a comic book press that’s willing to challenge the
Big Two about their creative and business decisions. Mainly because I feel like the big web sites are, for whatever reason, unwilling to question the company line. That refrain is now being echoed around the web in various places, and it’s honestly good to see. Because the more people that want accountability and don’t accept what we’re told at face value, the more likely it is that we’ll see meaningful change in the industry.

The big press who have the resources to look into the comic book industry doesn’t seem to care. The comic book press, such as it is, is more interested in releasing information and too beholden to the companies for access. I don’t hold it against them… I know what the business realities are. But that doesn’t make me any less frustrated at the fact that nobody wants to ask the hard questions of people who publish our comics.

I’m tired of these constant softball questions. I’m tired of interviews that amount to the interviewer and the Company Bigshot trading jokes at each other, and no one taking the interview seriously. I’m tired of interviews that accept the premises of the Company Bigshot without giving them any serious analysis. This needs to stop, and soon.

I’m not a reporter, nor am I a professional interviewer. I don’t pretend to be one. But I know when we’re being given softball reporting. I feel like if we want an accurate picture of what’s really going on at Marvel and DC, we’re forced to do all of our own research and ask our own questions about what we’re told. And I resent that. Because it means that everyone who should be doing this is lying down on the job, for whatever reason.

At some point, someone is going to have to step up to the plate and do what a real journalist should be doing. I won’t deny that this is going to take a lot of courage. It’ll probably mean a lot of sacrifice, especially for anyone who wants a future in the industry. But it’s a job that needs to be done.

I just hope someone steps up to the plate sooner rather than later.

Flavor Of The Week: 6/20/08

This week’s reviews are a little late. Apologies for that. I haven’t been feeling too well this week. However, better late than never, as they say.

So on to this week’s commentary…

Batman & The Outsiders #8: Well, it was fun while it lasted. While I won’t pretend this issue is Chuck Dixon’s best work, it’s certainly a fun superhero story in the classic mold. Great to see Dixon handle Nightwing again, even if only for a mission. The best part of the issue is Cassandra Cain pulling her rescue mission. We see that she has her complex code of honor– she won’t kill, although she’ll do anything short of that if necessary. This is easily the best Batgirl moment of the past few years, though this admittedly isn’t saying much. I really hate that Dixon will be leaving before he could properly reclaim Batgirl, but the time he has spent reminds me why I liked her to begin with.

Brave & The Bold #14: Overall, kind of on the mediocre side. I hate to say this, since I love this book, but it lacks excitement on every level. Part of it is Mark Waid’s writing, which feels resigned and mechanical to me. I don’t know why, but it seems like anything involving Nanda Parbat these days falls unexpectedly flat. But that isn’t even the real problem. We get a bizarre team-up with Green Arrow and Deadman that doesn’t show us anything new or interesting about either character. The concept of the Ghost Killers is admittedly a good one, but the execution makes the concept look less interesting. I’m also starting to think that Scott Kolins doesn’t shine as an artist unless Geoff Johns is writing, because this comic doesn’t play to Kolins’ abilities at all. Next issue should be a lot better, since it stars vastly better characters, but this one just feels like a dud.

Flash #241: A pretty decent issue, even though it feels like it was written to set up Final Crisis. Grodd takes control and the new Iris West makes her grand entrance. The real strength of this issue is seeing how Iris suddenly growing up affects her relationship with her father. Peyer’s been inconsistent in taking over for Waid, but he’s gotten a solid grasp on the family dynamics. All in all, I really hope that Iris doesn’t age any further after this issue; I would like her to become the new Kid Flash. There’s also a forced bit where Wally rescues Inertia from the burning Flash Museum, but it reeks of plot mechanics to set up Rogues’ Revenge. A good step up after last issue, but the Darkseid and Final Crisis tie-in bits seem pointless and tacked on.

Guardians of the Galaxy #2: As previously stated, I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I love that Guardians reinvents their characters well and can tell forward-thinking stories with the cosmic landscape. On the other hand, I hate this book’s casual dismissal of continuity, especially the work of Jim Starlin of the past two decades. If you haven’t read much Warlock or Captain Marvel in the past, you should be able to enjoy the cosmic hijinks of Abnett and Lanning. There’s a lot to like, with the return of Major Victory and a big battle with the revamped Universal Church of Truth. However, the continuity gaffes are blatant and amateurish, and it detracts from the enjoyment of an otherwise good read.

Incredible Hercules #118: I came into this series not expecting very much, but it keeps finding new ways to surprise and impress me. From Nightmare becoming a serious threat to some new angles on Herc’s past to a great moment with Herc and Snowbird to the big twist at the end, it’s just a great ride the whole way through. Another great issue from Van Lente, Pak, and the rest.

Punisher #58: I’m going to be sorry to see Garth Ennis leave this book. The concept of the arc is well played. A group of shadowy military scumbags use a Delta Force special ops unit to stop Frank Castle. It works well, since it plays on one of Castle’s few moral restrictions: he won’t kill honest soldiers. At the same time, we see that Colonel Howe is an honest man who plays by his own rules. I look forward to seeing how this situation is finally resolved, but I’m a bit saddened to think that this marks Ennis’ exit from a chararacter that he’s defined for nearly the past decade.

Star Wars: Legacy #25: Oh, dear, Cade Skywalker is headed on a collision course for the Dark Side, isn’t he?  He comes across as more of a jerk than usual this time around, but we were due for it. I rather like Cade’s suggestion about how to stop the Sith, even though it’s a course that absolutely no real Jedi would seriously consider. The Jedi Council’s attitude towards Cade’s idea baffles me just a little, though… it isn’t the first time that the Jedi have confronted a Sith Lord with the intent of killing him. Still, the issue is well done, and the mix of various political and personal conflicts is very nicely done.

Trinity #3: Another good solid issue from Busiek, Nicieza, Bagley, and company. The fight with the two aliens is solidly handled, as we see Black Canary actually behaving like a leader even when it goes badly awry. To be fair to Canary, Superman doesn’t do much better, leading to a nice surprise in the last page of the lead section. The Tarot backup piece is much more interesting, as it’s one of those “view of the normal person” segments that Busiek excels with. I quite like the look of Rita so far, and the background power plays of Morgaine and Enigma (who I suspect is connected to the Riddler in some way) are nicely done. Not quite in the class of the first two issues, but given that most of it’s a big fight scene, that’s more than understandable.

War Is Hell: The First Flight Of The Phantom Eagle #4: I seem to have somehow missed the past two issues of this book, and can’t seem to find them now. Ah well. Lucky for me, I don’t need to have read them to follow what Garth Ennis is doing. And what he’s doing is telling a fun World War I story, focusing the life of a pilot named Karl Kaufman. In typical Ennis fashion, he brings the perspective of the story down-to-earth and yet doesn’t spare the wanton brutality of war. Not his best war story ever, but it’s an entertaining little mini that plays to Ennis’ strengths. Marvel needs to do more of these.

X-Factor #32: This was a great title until “Messiah Complex”, which damaged the book badly. Because of this, the title misses Layla Miller, Wolfsbane (who works far better here than in X-Force), and a clear direction. Two out of three ain’t bad. Peter David goes a long way towards correcting the direction, and it doesn’t hurt that he finds a way to sneak in Layla at a timely moment. The way PAD deals with the government’s intervention is well played. I’m glad that PAD doesn’t have Madrox take the easy way out: I like the idea of one mutant group that hasn’t sold out to Tony Stark or any of the Marvel Universe’s government stooges. It isn’t clear yet what the new direction is, but I sense more of a coherent plan for the book now than I have since “Messiah Complex” started. That in itself is much more reassuring and goes a long way towards getting this book back on track.

All in all, not too bad of a stack this time around. See you in the funny books next week.

Of Guardians And Continuity…

Before I go into reviews for this week, I think it fair to outline where I stand on continuity in comics.

In a broad sense, I am strongly pro-continuity. I consider research and keeping a story consistent with the larger mythos to be part of a writer’s job in a shared universe. I do not believe that continuity limits story options; that’s an excuse for writers who don’t want to do the legwork. If anything, history and a shared past can enhance a story if you know how to work it in.

That having been said, I don’t expect writers to be as aware of encyclopedic minutia as I would. Sometimes I’ll give a story a pass if a continuity gaffe is understandable or explainable, or the story is enjoyable enough that it makes up for the gaffe. If the writer adheres to the important character-defining stories, I’ll be more forgiving on the small stuff.

I’ll also understand if the writer made an honest mistake and had no reason to believe he was contradicting something. For instance, there was an issue of Fabian Nicieza’s Thunderbolts that used a really obscure old Hulk character… only to find out that it contradicted a decades-old issue of Rom. I’m not going to hold someone to know that detail. Rom is such an obscure title that I doubt a lot of people even remembers it exists, much less would count it into a character’s history. So contradicting that sort of minor point isn’t going to bother me either.

The only exception to this is the X-Men. There, I hold a very hardline view of continuity. Not because I’m an old-school X-Fan, but because that line is the most heavily scrutinized in terms of continuity. The books are much more involved in the public consciousness, and the material is far more readily available. The X-Men fans know this stuff inside and out, and the writers and editors had darn well better know it too. Contradict a decades-old issue of X-Factor, and you won’t get a pass on this blog. I know it sounds harsh, but a vast knowledge of continuity is a must on those books.

Where I will normally unload on someone, though, is when they don’t even bother trying to get something right. Especially when they could avoid a gaffe with just a little bit of mental effort. Take, for instance, Guardians of the Galaxy #2. (Warning, there are spoilers.)

The new Guardians series really aggravates me. Because I want to like it so much, and yet I see continuity problems left and right that could be easily avoided. It’s not that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning aren’t good writers; they are. It’s not that they’re usually bad with continuity; they’re not– Nova has demonstrated that. But Guardians seems to be either an almost intentional effort to sweep decades of established history under the rug, or else it’s so focused on reinventing that they don’t want to bother with the history much.

This wouldn’t be nearly so bad if it weren’t for the fact that this book wants to use continuity as a selling point. Okay, they’re bringing back the popular cosmic characters and bringing some interesting old guys back. This issue, they’re practically teasing the return of Major Victory, who I loved in the 90’s Guardians series. So why do they continue to get so much wrong?

Case in point… Mantis and Major Victory don’t even know about each other in this comic. At all. Now, I could buy that with a lot of the other characters, but this is just flat-out bad. Both of them were Avengers– Mantis had a good long stint with the team, and Vance is an honorary Avenger. Vance’s younger past self IS an Avenger, for crying out loud! Both were involved in important storylines with the Avengers– Mantis in Celestial Madonna, Vance in the Korvac Saga. And they don’t even know about each other? At all? I could maybe buy that Mantis has been off-world a lot and wouldn’t necessarily know Vance too well… but the reverse makes no sense. Vance Astrovik was a huge Avengers fan when he was younger… he’d know who Mantis was. Even granting that Vance is disoriented from being frozen in a block of ice, this is just incredibly stupid. He’d most certainly recognize Mantis. Abnett and Lanning should have figured this out with a glance at Google, and the use of a bare minimum of thought. So how did this blunder get to print?

Mind, this is only one minor point. This is leaving out the blatant ignoring of a lot of important elements of these characters with the reinventions. Warlock and Gamora had a very strong relationship going… then it got written out with no explanation. Gamora went from a cosmic samurai (as she was under Starlin) back to her 70’s assassin portrayal in Annihilation with no explanation. Why the heck do some of these guys not act like they’ve known each other for years… half these guys were in the Infinity Watch, yet that’s never even brought up. The disrespect for the character histories were obvious even in the Newsarama interviews, where Abnett and Lanning only ever referenced the characters’ Nova and Annihilation appearances.

You can’t have it both ways, Marvel. You can’t use history as a sales pitch, rely on certain elements (like Adam and Gamora having been a couple at one time) as story elements, and then just ditch whatever doesn’t work for you. This story in Guardians is generally a good one and can work, but it could work without trying to sweep the past two to three decades under the rug. There’s no limiting of story options involved here.

Guardians isn’t really a bad comic, just an intensely frustrating one. But it could have been a great comic if there had been an ounce of thought and/or research into this.

Round Robin…

A short update for now. The DC solicits are up on CBR, and it looks like we now know who’s on Robin for the immediate future:

ROBIN #178
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art and cover by Freddie E. Williams II
The repercussions from “Batman R.I.P.” have shaken Robin to the core. With all his relationships fracturing and his place as both sidekick and son, boyfriend and best friend thrown into turmoil, how will Tim Drake determine the best course of action for his future? “Search for a Hero” begins an epic tale that could very well turn the Boy Wonder into a man!

Well, now, this is interesting. Maybe I’ll be sticking on Robin a little while longer.

To be fair to DC, Fabian Nicieza is a good call. If you absolutely have to replace Chuck Dixon on the book he launched, Nicieza is a solid, respectable choice. He’s a proven hand at handling experienced teen heroes– we’ve seen that on New Warriors. He can handle street-level heroes and master planner types– see also Cable & Deadpool. He gets continuity, consistent character growth, and a strong knowledge of craft. Also, Nicieza wrote the best issues of the “Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” crossover with his Nightwing issues, so he’s definitely earned a crack at a run on a Bat-title.

I’d honestly prefer to keep Dixon on the book. We also don’t know how long Nicieza is slated to be around. However, if this change is set, then hopefully this will be a good, long run. Nicieza tends to stick around for the long haul, and his sales at Marvel were always pretty consistent.

I’m still disappointed with DC that they had to make this change, but this move softens the blow a little. Doesn’t really change the situation much, but at least it isn’t a total negative. I’ll take whatever good comes out of this fiasco at this point.

Dixon Rides Again…

Since there seems to be news on the Chuck Dixon flap, I’ll throw in a few more cents. In for a penny, as they say.

Now, I’m not in with DC Comics, and I don’t know anything behind the scenes there beyond what’s been circulated online. I’ve refrained from speculating too much about this because, frankly, there’s been too much rampant speculation for the past few days. But since Dixon himself has shed some light on details at CBR and Dixonverse, then I’ll be glad to go into more detail.

I really would like to get some kind of answer from DC on this, though. I don’t doubt Dixon’s word on any of what he’s saying; he strikes me as an honorable guy. But we do need to hear the other side of the issue to get a clear picture of the situation. I’m bothered by the continued official silence from DC. It isn’t good for the fans, and it’s not good for DC to continue to keep silent when Dixon has made open statements in the public arena.

I maintain my position that paying customers should have some official explanation, even a brief and tacit one. It’s fair to ask why DC would summarily remove a writer with a solid, proven track record from titles that people are buying. At the very least, it just makes good business sense for DC to give a statement about this. I think fans need the assurance that there is some kind of plan behind this move, and that the books will be quality as DC moves into the future. I don’t think DC will, since they haven’t for the past week, but I’ve been wrong before.

I can’t fault Dixon, to a certain extent, for speaking out as he has. I really can’t. Especially not when fans and reporters are wildly speculating about this. Now, one might question the extent he’s taken it, and that’s fair. However, if his intention is to correct the record and possibly keep the fan uproar from flying out of control (as he’s indicated on Dixonverse), then that’s a valid goal. Cause someone’s got to do it. Wild and uncontrolled speculation caused by insufficient facts (or in some cases, by bad reporting) damages reputations. It’s a cliche to say that “perception is reality”, but that’s what we’re dealing with here.

The thing is, this should not be Chuck Dixon’s job. DC should be the ones to cool the flames of fan reaction by explaining their side of the story. By remaining silent as long as they have, Dixon’s viewpoint is what will cement in the minds of the fans. Because that’s all we have to go on. Dixon has a lot of credibility, and whatever your view of his work, he’s worked many years to earn that. So I’d not be surprised if a lot of people ended up believing his side of this. If that turns out to be the case, that will be another dropped ball from DC in the past week or so.

So what about the latest developments? Well, we know a few things more. We know Dixon didn’t quit (his words), and we know that Dixon does not have issues with the editors or Paul Levitz. If one wanted to go by process of elimination and speculate, then it would look like Dixon has a conflict with someone high up in the chain of command, quite possibly Dan Didio himself. But I will not speculate too much, because I think there’s been too much of that already.

When Mark Waid and the late, great Mike Wieringo were removed from the Fantastic Four, I was incensed. But there, we heard from everyone involved in the dispute. In this case, I’m more disappointed with the whole situation right now than anything. I’m disappointed that Dixon won’t be writing at DC, and that we won’t see what he had in mind for Spoiler and Batgirl. I’m disappointed that Dixon won’t return to Nightwing, or finish the Cluemaster story that’s been solicited. I’m disappointed that the result was a huge internet blowup that probably won’t settle down for a fair while. But I’m especially disappointed in DC, because I feel let down by their decision and their refusal to offer any kind of explanation about this.

In either case, I hope this situation can be resolved and that Dixon can return to the characters that he helped develop for so many years. Failing that, I hope we can get some good comics from him at some of the other publishers. On the bright side, we do still have some more Robin and Outsiders issues to look forward to. I guess that’ll have to be enough.

Oops…

Turns out that when I linked to a CBR blog in my last post, it registered as a post in the blog. Surprised the heck out of me when I saw it.

It wasn’t intentional on my part at all. I generally keep my blog relatively private. I like to use this blog as a quiet space to keep track of my thoughts. To be honest, if I’d known about that little function, I doubt I’d have posted the link. I like to correctly cite and attribute my sources, though, because intellectual honesty is a big thing with me.

If anyone is coming here from CBR, welcome, and I hope you’ll look around. I’ll give a brief description of what I do here, since it’s been a while.

I’m an amateur writer, and this blog is generally a writer’s space for me. The Blitzverse is called that because it’s the name of a fictional universe I made up. Sometimes I’ll talk about it. I post thoughts and announcements about whatever I’m working on from time to time.

A lot of the time I’ll cover comics because this is the most convenient place to do so. Not exclusively, mind; I have a lot of interests. But at times, I’ll write mini-reviews (as I used to do for Hero Realm a few years ago), or I’ll just post comments about where the state of comics is as I see it. I don’t pretend to be anything more than a fan, and I won’t claim to knowledge I don’t have. It’s just fun to think these things out.

So that’s me. Feel free to look around, leave comments, whatever. Thanks for your patronage.