FINALLY, A NEW COLUMN!

Hey Folks, it's been awhile! For those who don't know, I've been directing and shooting a film for the last several months, which is why there hasn't been a new weekly report in a LONG TIME! Go to www.youtube.com/dynamarcfilms and check the weekly webisode series called FU MANCHU'S WEAPON OF EVIL.

So, instead of my original plans, I'm going to spew some opinions on what's good and bad in comics lately. Ah, where to begin?

How about the JUSTICE SOCIETY? I'm surprised that I'm loving the series since the departure of uber-writer Geoff Johns. Point of fact, the series has been completely refreshed! Yes, it has been prey to some standard comic book-isms, but there's been a level of danger and excitement that has kept me comig back. How about that new Doctor Fate? My money is on the theory that this new version of Kent Nelson will turn out to be the original one, somehow mystically recreated. Time will tell.

Over in BATMAN, surprisngly artist Tony Daniels has turned out to be one of the better writers of the new Bat-status quo. In fact, I'll take his work over the mind-f--cking that's being done in BATMAN AND ROBIN by overrated hack, Grant Morrison (c'mon, you saw that coming).

X-MEN lately has been slowly but surely getting back to being the powerhouse series of books that they were in the past. Loving Chris Claremont's trip back into memory lane with X-MEN FOREVER, and even Scott Gray has started getting the hang of the past X-Men with UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS. How about Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez on ASTONISHING X-MEN? Outstanding, to say the least. Even the regular X-books are gearing up for some major excitement. Hey, YOU BETTER BE BRINGING BACK PHOENIX/JEAN GREY!

The SPIDER-MAN books are still a mess despite attempts to reintroduce the classic villains. Too many writers equals too many voices on the book that do not make a cohesive whole, and like some of the X-books, The CLONE SAGA mini, which is telling stories of what was supposed to originally happen with that story, is better than what's going on in present in-continuity storylines.

The SUPERMAN books have been great, but I insist that the story could have been told without the need to separate Superman from his books and shunting him into WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON. If that story could have been contained in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, and shortened, it would be even better. As for the new SECRET ORIGINS book, uh-uh; writer Geoff Johns wants to recreate SUPERMAN THE MOVIE into the comic book continuity. So many things that have been well thought out since CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS are being left by the wayside here.

GREEN LANTERN and BLACKEST NIGHT have been superb. Geoff Johns again knows how to write an event! However, it's a great story but character bits don't seem to stick on Hal Jordan. It's a good thing Johns knows how to create story-driven epics because his characterization falls a bit short. Even FLASH: REBIRTH needs some character work amidst what is turning out to be an excellent stroy. Did you read issue #5? Why didn't anyone ever think of things like that before?? I won't spoil it, just read it. It was simply brilliant despite some reviewers bitching about the fact that the book was so delayed.

The negativity continues to abound over on the WONDER WOMAN section of the DC MESSAGE BOARDS, as expected because they are turning on writer Gail Simone, who in my opinion finally has created a relatable protagonist in Diana. So what's the complaint? People don't like the fact that Diana isn't "perfect" anymore. Oh, perish the though that Wonder Woman may have a little angst in her life and come across as a fully realized "human" character when instead she can be the automaton of the Gods!! Grow up people! WONDER WOMAN under the guidance of Simone and the beautiful art of Aaron Lopresti, continues to be one of DC's best reads from month to month... except when fill-in artist Bernard Chang on occassion draws Diana into the crapper.

And that's it for now- GO READ SOME COMICS!

　

THE WEDNESDAY COMIC REPORT FOR 9/9/09

Actually it's a Tursday report for this week.

WOW! What a week! It seems that everything I've written about recently seems to have just exploded, full circle. Let's start with the digital future of comics; If you read my column (check somewhere below) on this topic, you'll have read about my predictions for the future of comics and I didn't expect to be so right so fast. This December, Apple will be realeasing the Apple Tablet, a 5x7" digital reader that's similar to Amazon's Kindle, that will support full color graphics for things like comics, and it doesn't end there! Sony will also be releasing the PSP digital comic reader, made specifically for comics, and of course Marvel is on board. Sony's player will be much smaller, but hey- it's starting. Anyone want to take bets on when comics go fully digital?

Director Guy Ritchie will be directing a big-screen version of DC's LOBO, which leads us into the next big story:

So, right on the heels of the Disney acquistion of Marvel Comics, DC just went through a major shake-up this week. DC Comics has been owned by Time Warner or Warner Brothers for years and now the parent company has changed DC's name to DC Entertainment and put new DC President Diane Nelson in the place of Paul Levitz (Levitz claims to have resigned to return to being a comics creator and will assume writing the LEGION, which he has long been applauded for in the past). DC will now report more to its parent company, but Nelson (who spear-headed the most successful Harry Potter marketing franchise for the films) claims that she is not there to control any of DC Comics' creative content at all, but rather it will now be her job to make all DC properties marketed heavily into other areas to make the company and its characters more visiable and viable in other mediums. This includes a new film division that Nelson claims will now take the Flash and Wonder Woman film rights back to get these movies made. My opinion? Good idea! In this economy, moves like this can only assure the future of the comic medium and finally we might get a Wonder Woman film which has been in development hell for a decade under producer Joel Silver. So now Marvel versus DC, Disney versus Warners, ie: Mickey Mouse versus Bugs Bunny again!

COMICS THIS WEEK INCLUDE:... another day late because of the Labor Day holiday in which Diamond Distributors once again can't figure out to ship books a day early (bastards), but hey they're here. RED ROBIN #4 takes Tim Drake's search for Bruce Wayne one step closer as he sees the Bat Symbol that Bruce left painted in a cave in the past. Makes me wonder how Dick Grayson is gonna feel considering that Tim and Dick are not getting along now, which you can see in this issue as the two share a fight in costume. BLACKEST NIGHT BATMAN #2 is out and most of the Batfamily is together in what is one satisfying crossover with the main story of BN. Especially loved Barbara Gordon's portrayal in this story. Speaking of the former Batgirl, if you look at the current issue of TOYFARE, there's a "Spoiler" of what Stephanie Brown's new Batgirl costume looks like. It sucks! ... Kyle Rayner has to deal with the dead in his past in the new issue of GREEN LANTERN CORPS, another BN tie-in, which of course is great as thankfully all BN-related stuff has been. Patrick Gleason continues to amaze me with his art. .... In the Superbooks this week we have WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #7, and I am enjoying the twists and turns in this story as Superman is now made military commander of the planet in Zod's absence. However, artist Pete Woods is not his usual great self this time out as some pages looked rushed and sloppy. Superboy also has some tender moments in ADVENTURE COMICS #2/505 as he has a bittersweet reunion with Wonder Girl. I like how writer Geoff Johns is trying to make Connor readjust to his life before starting a major story and the art by Francis Manapul is a bit inconsisitent too this month. It's sometimes gorgeous and sometimes too sketchy. He needs an inker! Over on the Marvel side of things, THE MARVELS PROJECT's second issue came out with the story of the beginnings of Marvel's heroes unfolding in a fluid way with an incredible story by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting, who also made CAPTAIN AMERICA the best comic that Marvel currently produces, and they continue to work their magic here. So that's it for now, and I'll see you this coming Sunday for first of my "top ten" lists!

Go read some comics!

THE WEDNESDAY COMIC REPORT FOR 9/2/09

I'm sure just about everyone's heard the news: DISNEY BOUGHT MARVEL! I'm also sure that speculation on what this means, buth good and bad is running rampant, so allow me to throw in my two million cents (inflation, y'know). This can only mean good things for Marvel and comics in general. DC has benefitted by the financial backing of parent company Warner Communications and has pretty much been allowed to operate as its own entity with no interference from "Daddy Warner Brothers." Now Marvel has the backing of an equal financial powerhouse which will pretty much grant Marvel much stability for its future and I'm sure that Disney will allow Marvel to operate on its own the same way the Warner/DC coupling does. The odd thing is that Marvel's two main cinematic properties (SPIDERMAN and X-MEN) will not benefit from the Disney film division because Sony and Fox have indefinite theatrical rights to those franchises, as long as they keep films coming. Go figure!

As for our beloved comics, I didn't buy that much this week. BATMAN #690 came out (man, I can't wait til #700, which is my guess for Bruce's return), and I'm starting to like Dick Grayson as Batman less and less. I don't like seeing someone "play" the role as oppesed to being the role, and Dick is just too laid back and good natured to be the dark avenger of the night. This whole Bat-mess has been getting a lot of good press, but it's not working for me and I've said in past columns that I can't wait for Grant Morrison's influence to be forever removed from Gotham City and its residents.Judd Winick, who has never been a good writer is doing better than normal here, but still it involves a bad mix of character and costume. Mark Bagley however, shines on the art! Speaking of shiny art, JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE #3 is also available now with painted style artwork by the incredible Mauro Cascioli. While not quite in Alex Ross' league, he is still really good, but the script by James Robinson once again doesn't resonate with me because the characters are.. out of character, which starts to make sense when you read Robinson's text piece and how he reveres Grant Morrison. Man, what information is Grant holding on people? Read past colums, Grant sucks and he needs to be gone from comics!

SUPERGIRL ANNUAL this week gives some interesting backstory on the origin of Superwoman, and of course, do I need to even mention that Superwoman's story is far from over? Writer Sterling Gates takes lemons and makes great lemonade with the whole current Krypton saga, which I admit is starting to go on a bit long for me. RED TORNADO's first issue of his new mini came out. Take a pass on this. 'Nuff said there.

See you on Sunday for a lighter hearted column on comics, where I'm going to play favorites!

COMICS AND THE CURRENT ECONOMY

Comics, like everything else are being affected by the economy. Rising costs, and somewhat declining sales as people try to hang onto their cash have driven the average cost of our little goodies, up. But there has been two different approaches by the two leads in the industry. Marvel has raised the price of some of their comics as much as a dollar to make up for the afore mentioned cost and sales issues. Some, I say but not all. Their thinking revolves around charging more for lesser selling books in order to recoup production costs and keeping the book on the market, while books that sell well will retain the current average price because their sales still make them profitable. However, you aint gettin' any more bang for your buck. Same page count and more money being shelled out of your pockets, which in my opinion isn't exactly fair. DC on the other hand has tried something different. They've added 8 more pages of story content in the form of new "back-up" features, which they snarkily refer to as "co-features." Hey DC, a back-up is a back-up. So, for the extra dollar you get more, but the question is, do you really want it? TEEN TITANS has Ravager, DETECTIVE COMICS has the Question, ACTION COMICS has Captain Atom, STREETS OF GOTHAM has Manhunter... and we fans may have to pay that extra buck for these features that we don't really want to read anyway. Seriously, I don't want to have to spend that extra cash on stuff which I'm not interestested in getting. I mean, there's a reason these back-up characters are relegated to that back-up status; the interest in them isn't really there. Look, I can't claim to have solutions here, but to me, I want to buy a book with a main title and have it be just that, and not buy anthology series, which traditionally haven't done well in decades anyway. The economy may be turning around soon, so Marvel and DC- GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER and really think about how not to rip off fans. Your charging extra money for comics will only further decline sales as people have to cut back more. It's really simple economics.

SUPER-MONEY

Take a good look at the attached image. It's Mon-El wearing a reverse-color Superman costume complete with the "S" symbol from an upcoming comic book cover, and it may be a bad sign of something to come. If you've been reading SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, you know that the Man Of Steel has been displaced in his own books and starring in one current (WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON) and one upcoming SECRET ORIGINS maxi-series. The Origins series will not revisit the totality of Clark Kent's life, but rather his leaving Smalville and coming to Metropolis. "Why?" Might you ask and "Why is Mon-El supplanting Superman, and why can't the full origin be retold?" Well, this is just speculation, but it may have to do with real life events that have been legally surrounding Comics' first superhero. DC Comics has even stated that something big is building. Could it be that Superman may be lost to DC Comics and has to be replaced in continuity with Mon-EL as the new Superman because of several lawsuits brought on by the Heirs of Jerry Seigel (one half of Superman's creators)? There's even talk that Superman's origin cannot be retold in another film! Before I begin, I want it stated that I am not a lawyer and I'm not versed in every legal part of what I'm going to discuss, but I've been well-read and I'm going to offer a harsh opinion that is based more in ideas of fairness and truth than what lawyers can do in a courtroom. It started with Superboy and the heirs of Jerry Seigel suing over rights relating to the SMALLVILLE television show, and then the "Superboy" name and related concepts in DC Comics publications. The lawsuit forced DC to even "kill" current and most recent Superboy, Connor Kent and not refer to him by his hero name. Thankfully, some deal had been worked out and DC restored Connor to life and has once again been able to use the Superboy moniker, but it seems like the Seigel heirs can't stop smelling potential financial gains. I don't want to seem unfair here, but the Seigel heirs are destroying the name of their father/grandfather and his most honored creation, and are thus destroying the legacy of that man as well.

1938, Superman is purchased under a "work for hire" style arrangement that is common to that day by National Periodical Publications which would later be known as DC Comics. Jerry Seigel and partner Joe Shuster guided the adventures of their creation for some time to come, being published by National Periodical Publications. Long story short: NPP and/or DC thus owned the Superman character and his stories under working agreements of that time, and DC right up until this day has been the caretaker of this most incredible character... the Seigel heirs have not, and nor have they had anything to do with the creation or marketing of this most famous superhero. This has not stopped what I view as money hungry people that as stated, had nothing to do with creating Superman, from trying to receive financial gains by either getting a portion of Super-related monies or from trying to legally steal Superman away from the company that has nurtured their ancestor's creation. One wonders why the Seigels aren't doing something else with their lives to perhaps distinguish themselves in their own right instead of going after DC?

1978, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE hits theaters with a rounding commercial and critical success and starting the genre' of the extremely popular superhero film. Around this time, in an act of fairness, apparently ( I do not know the full details because I've read conflicting reports) DC's now-parent company awards Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster monies for their creation of Superman and the resulting successes in different mediums. No lawsuit it seemed, but just a goodwill act of thanks to the two men.

The present: Just when things looked to be settled down, the Seigels continue with more lawsuits, further angering fans who love Superman and want to see him remain where he is, because Superman is a staple of the DC imprint across its entire line. Why? Once again, they're smelling the cash. If I was a judge on this case, I would have reprimanded the lawyers who took the Seigel suit to court, and made the Seigels pay DC for their legal fees as a result. I don't feel good about saying such harsh things about the descendants of one of the men who created the most well known and one of the most beloved fictional figures, but they brought it on themselves. So, does that mean that DC now has to prepare for the possible eventuality that they may lose the Clark Kent/ Smallville/ Superman and set about replacing him with a different character? I desperately hope not, I doubt it, and I wish the Seigel family the best in their lives so that they each may succeed at something on their own merits, so they don't have to greedily spoil things for comics fans everywhere while at the same time sullying the name of Jerry Seigel and his creation. Time will tell...

THE FUTURE OF COMICS

You can't stop progress. Go on any subway in New York and you'll see ads all over the place for the "kindle;" an electronic pad that is stylish and can hold about 1700 books for you to read in its database. Newspapers are disappearing too, with some going only on-line, but what does that mean for us comic book afficiandos? Eventually we're going to say "goodbye" to the comic book as we know it. It's enevitable. Does that mean comics will vanish? Hardly, but it does mean that the format which we've grown used to for nearly a century will evolve into the next stage in our technological and digital evolution. There's already downloadable on-line comics from Marvel and DC and there's already been discussion from the two major companies about the pricing of comics when the obvious will happen. That discussion is the first step to reality. So, what does this mean to us fans that love the tactile experience of handling our comics and turning their pages and bagging and boxing our prized possessions? Many good things actually, and some bad too. The first is that space will free up for our collections and there will be less environmental upheavel with less paper and plastic being produced as the world's reading materials goes to digital formats. That means less trees geting cut down for printing purposes and less non-biodegradable plastics that we use to protect our precious masterpieces. It also means that some things will get less expensive. The current comic book costs a minimum (as of this writing) of about $3 and up because of paper costs, but with no paper, there's already talk of charging $.99 (cents) for the equivalent 22 page story download and maybe $1.99 for a CD of the same material. It also means that for a while anyway, comics in their original form might go substantially up in value and net us all a small fortune if we were willing to sell our prized possessions when we get the same material digitally. It also means that comics may go up in popularity in its new format with easier to acquire material as CD versions of the medium are made available to places they've never been sold in before like a Best Buy, for instance or people now being able to get them downloaded right into their computers. New comics companies may arise with more material for us fans too. It may also mean the destruction of the harmful monopoly that Diamond Distributors has on our comics as this new format will be able to bypass this company and its stranglehold on the industry. That's the good news, but then what's the bad? The economy for the store owners where we get our comics from will get affected. Unfortunately this means less sales for them and the unfortunate and eventual going out of business for many stores. This last part worries me. Like many comics buyers, I have a measure of loyalty to my Comic Book store (Grasshoppers Comics in New York- shameful plug), where I have spent my money gladly and also purchase action figures and statues. The owner and manager of that store has the human touch of ordering things for me and holding expensive items until I can finish paying for them. You can't get that kind of service on-line or at a major electronics retailer. You won't be able to get those exclusive items at other places if comic book stores suffer as a result of tecnological progress, to say nothing of how more businesses failing will affect our currently poor economically troubled times. Last but not least, there is that emotional attachment to our comics that will be somewhat lost when they only exist in virtual space. We shall see....

AN END TO CONTINUITY REBOOTING

Continuity in comics has become mutable which can be frustrating to fans who have read comics for more than say, ten years. A frequent occurence has been to "reboot" continuity, eliminating the stories that we fans love, or somehow changing vital elements of a character and their story. Think of how many times DC has rebooted, starting with the 1950's "Flash Of Two World's" all the way through CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and beyond, to say nothing of the idiotic Spider-man change I've written about previously. Look at the JSA, and even titles in Marvel that still feature heroes that operated in World War II. That piece of history is a rich background to comics tales even today, but there's going to come a point where it'll be unbelievable for any character to still be alive from that time, short of immortality. Some JSA newbies are the children or grandchildren or "legacy" heroes from the originals that operated during that time. How long will it be before they are too old to even be the grandchildren of those beloved original heroes? What to do to stop this and keep continuity the consistent factor it should be in monthly serialized comics? There are solutions. The first and most important is to tell stories that do not reference a period in time, so that the stories and characters always exist in a timeless fashion. Do not mention real history and refer to time differently than we do in real life. If you read a multi-part arc in any comic, it could take maybe six months for example to unfold, but in "comics time," the story may take only a matter of days from when the story concludes, and should always be referenced as such, if even referenced at all. Years should be called months, months should be called weeks, weeks into days, etcetera. Keeping pop culture or current real world history out could also aid in never needing a continuity reboot, which quite frankly fans are weary of. Only time can tell....

NO MORE KILLING, PLEASE!

Death.. in real life terrible, in entertainment like comics, a plot device that has worn out its welcome. Just off the top of my head: Harry Osborn, Bucky Barnes, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen (although to be fair, his "death" wasn't really that, he just vanished and people have been calling it "death"), Green Arrow, Cyclops, Phoenix (okay, she's SUPPOSED to die and come back), Colossus, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hippolyta, Captain America, and MANY more for the list to go on. These are all characters who have died and been resurrected. So what's the point? Maybe that comic creators should STOP killing characters in an attempt to "shock" the audience, because it's ultimately futile since another writer, some time later will just invalidate that death by bringing that character back to life. Death has become an overused plot device that has become pointless and I urge comics editors to put a moritorium (pun intended) on killing off characters because it begins to show laziness and a lack of imagination on the part of the writer. There are other ways of creating drama that doesn't involve the pointless death/resurrection cycle in comics. Look at Alan Moore and what he did to Barabara Gordon in THE KILLING JOKE. He crippled a major character who to this day is still dealing with the effects of that incident, and who has become a much more interesting and integral character since. What about Tony Stark's alcoholism? Again, long range complications that make for compelling drama. At least BLACKEST NIGHT seems to be addressing this overused shock mechanism. Writer Geoff Johns I think is crafting what might turn out to be one huge deus-ex-machina of character ressurection with a consistent, storyline dicatated reason for bringing the dead back to life. Doesn't everyone think that Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and other dead heroes will permanently resurface at the conclusion of the crossover event? Johns too was responsible for killing off Connor Kent and Bart Allen and then bringing them back himself, but at least you could tell he had a plan set in motion to do it. Which brings us to another point; every character in comics is someone's favorite and maybe it's unfair to rob the audience of that character. If a writer can't think of a use for a particular cast member, they should just find a means of writing the character out of the story for awhile so that someone else can come in and use him/her/them when they get the chance. Take a look at the unfairness here. So many heroes and their supporting casts have been killed and returned to life, and yet no one has thought of a way to bring Gwen Stacy back to life? I have, and it would be one great and OBVIOUS way to do it, that I'm surprised no one has thought of it. Yes, I know it sounds like a contradiction after saying no more killing and resuurection, but if they could do it with the long standing death of Bucky Barnes into the brilliant Winter Soldier/Captain America arc, why not Gwen? But hey, at least DC is not claiming that Bruce Wayne's current disappearance is a death....

STOP THE LATENESS!

Latness is comics... It disappoints readers, upsets retailers, and paints the comic companies in a bad light. However, THERE IS A NO-BRAINER SOLUTION!! Seriously, can't DC and Marvel figure out ways to prevent delayed comics? Why is it that I can and they can't? Corporate bullshit? Okay people, here goes- First off, DO NOT HIRE AN ARTIST TO DO A MONTHY BOOK, OR A CROSSOVER EVENT IF THAT ARTIST CANNOT DRAW 22 PAGES A MONTH! Do we need another "CIVIL WAR," or the embarrasment of J.G. Jones from "FINAL CRISIS" and the subsequent company-wide delays that result from their inability to produce on time? I'm not saying that these great artists should not work in the industry if they can't produce for a monthly medium, but INSTEAD RELEGATE SLOW ARTISTS TO MINI-SERIES OR PROJECTS that don't affect an entire line of books. Moreover, DON"T SOLICIT BOOKS OR SCHEDULE THESE HUGE EVENT CROSSOVERS UNTIL THEY ARE FULLY DRAWN and "in the can." There's even more; comic companies should take a look at websites like deviantart.com for instance to mine the talents on sites like that for new hot talent that may be able to produce great work, fast. Again, it's a no-brainer.

Now, Lateness also has to do with distribution, and unfortunately Diamond Distributors is a monopoly that has a strangelhold in the industry. Why has no one investigated this monopoly? Or have they, and come to the conclusion that comics aren't that important? What I'm referring to here is the holiday scheduling. Comics have a long tradition now for Wednesday delivery dates, and sometimes holiday scehedules make the books arrive on Thursdays, which gives retailers one less day a week to sell new releases and affects readers who may only have that Wednesday to get their books. Again, ready for another no-brainer? SHIP THE BOOKS A DAY EARLY ON HOLDIDAY WEEKS SO THAT THEY GET OUT ON THE STANDS ON WEDNESDAYS! I mean, if they can ship a day late, they can ship a day early. DUH! WOW, it took one second to think of that! Can the industry get its act together? Who knows, but above are some solutions. Next up- the ususal Wednesday Comic Report and next Sunday's column on death in comics!

THE "SINS PAST" OF JOE QUESADA AND WHAT HE DID TO SPIDERMAN

Lest you think I only have problems with the goings-on at DC Comics, let's backtrack a few years to when J. Michael Straczinsky was writing a successful run on AMAZING SPIDERMAN. It all started with an important life changing four-parter called "Sins Past," in which we discover that the most beloved dead girl in all comicsdom, gave birth to two children. Yup, can you believe that Gwen Stacy had children? Years ago I unfairly blamed JMS for writing this travesty of a strory, because it turned out the children were not Peter Parker's but those of his arch-nemisis Norman Osborn a.k.a. the Green Goblin. Well, it turned out that JMS all along had intended these children to be the by-product of Peter and Gwen's love, but Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada quickly nixed the idea because he felt that having children would age Peter and JMS was forced to do a rewrite of his plans with the patently ridiculous idea of Norman being the dad, thus sullying the memory of one of the most loved girlfriends in the medium. Can you believe this crap? Well, it turns out that this is not Quesada's only major screw-up in the world of Spiderman. Oh, you know what I'm talking about, but before we get there, we have to bring in the events of Marvel's CIVIL WAR, in which among other things, another mandated idiotic move occurred when Spiderman revealed his identity to the entire world. PETER PARKER WOULD DO THIS??

CIVIL WAR was a major Marvel Comics crossover event in which superheroes now had to become mandated by the government. Not a bad idea given the political climate of the times because even storywise, those repercussions are making for some interesting stories in today's Marvel Universe which had threads in SECRET INVASION and the current DARK REIGN. Now, I'm going to digress here before I get back to Spiderman, and write about the famous delay that CIVIL WAR underwent because of its artist Steve McNiven. Lateness in comics will be the subject of another column. Suffice to say, an entire months worth of Marvel's books were delayed because of the company-wide crossover, in which reatilers suffered with "make-up" comics to fill the gap. Series Editor Tom Breveroot made some of the most disgustingly insulting comments to readers and artists that I've ever read. Instead of taking the blame for a bad choice of a slow artist ( McNiven is a great artist, but too slow to hinge a company crossover on), or getting another capable artist to pick up the slack to keep the book on time, Breveroot used this as an opportunity to slam DC by comparing the lateness of WATCHMEN, DARK KNIGHT to CIVIL WAR. To be fair, DC has had similar problems, but not like what happened with CW and Breveroot's choices for comparison were uneducated because the DC titles he mentioned were not in-continuity titles that affected an entire line of comics. Furthermore, Breveroot insulted any artist in comics who ever worked as a fill-in artist by stating that comics readers don't want them. Hey Tom and Joe, has it ever occurred to you to maybe make sure your comapny wide crossover was given to an artist who could work on time, or to make sure that maybe you scheduled your event when all the issues were actually drawn and done? Kind of a no-brainer, don't you think?

Ah, but Breveroot still has his job when he should have been fired for his insults, or at least reprimanded, but such was not the case. Maybe Quesada has a liking for bad attitudes, considering his own. Ever been to a comics convention? It amazes me that DC panels are always more attended than Marvel panels at these conventions, considering that Marvel supposedly outsells DC. The DC panels are lively, fun, and its attendees are given enough teasers to whet their appetites for what's to come, without the big reveals, making fans eager for what's to come. Does Quesada do this? Does Joe Q appreciate the fact that people pay money, and stand in lines in all sorts of weather conditions to attend conventions? No, he tells his fans nothing, and that he "wants their money, and that they should buy the books,"... literally. He gives fans who attend conventions nothing to come home with and crassly tells them he wants their hard earned bucks. Nice.

It doesn't end there. So JMS continued writing AMAZING SPIDERMAN, already peeved at the editorial changes mandated by Joe Q, and then something even worse happened. Joe Q has always felt that the Peter-Mary Jane marriage was detrimental to the Spiderman character and he wanted to put an end to it. Again, he felt it aged Peter and somehow prevented better stories from being told. Hmmm, okay, I'll give him some points on this. MJ has never been more than a shallow character, no matter how many writers tried to give her a backstory to explain her flightiness, and quite frankly, MJ was a runner-up. She only moved into first position because Gwen Stacy, the TRUE love of Peter's life had been killed off years ago. Yet another column will deal with death in comics and go into Gwen there. If you don't believe me, just read Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale's SPIDERMAN: BLUE to see how true this is. So, I was in agreement and quite happy when I heard that the Peter/MJ union would bite the dust in the contraversial "One More Day" storyline. How it got there, was one of the worst ideas in the history of Marvel. Once again, JMS had one idea to put an end to the marriage, but was overriden by Joe Q again. You see, Quesada for some reason believed that divorce was wrong for a comic character like Peter Parker. Why? Peter has always been the most "relatable" hero, and since the divorce rate is so high, I bet many would have felt empathy for him; many because maybe they've been there too, or their parents have. That would have been the way to go, but no, Joe Q comes up with this infintely stupid idea that MJ and Peter make a deal with Mephisto (the devil, essentially) for the life of Peter's Aunt May, and that the marriage gets "magically" disolved and so does Peter's unmasking in CIVIL WAR. HA! Joe Q pulled a DC continuity gaffe that made anything done by their competition, in terms of continuity problems, look like nothing! So, JMS once again was pissed about Quesada's editorial meddling, that he requested his name be removed as writer of the last two chapters of "One More Day." Moreover, when Joe Q took heat for this, He said something along the lines about the story that HE wrote, that it wasn't Peter who acted out oc character by making a deal with the devil, but it was MJ. Uh, did Joe even read his own story. PETER WENT ALONG WITH IT!

And now we're in the present, where continuity is a mess in the current slew of "Brand New Day" storylines which among other things has the decades dead Harry Osborn alive and well with no explanation... and Gwen is still dead... and Joe Quesada is still running Marvel.

GRANT MORRISON SUCKS..and other stuff at DC.

I love comics, DC in particular, so when I see some repeated bonehead moves, I just gotta say something about it. Let's start with Grant Morrison. He seems to be one of DC Comics' "go to guys" these days and nothing could be sadder. His published interviews always come across like he thinks he's the only person capable of writing anything worthwhile in comics. Wrong, Grant! I have to question if Mr. Morrison has blackmail pictures of DC executives Paul Levitz and Dan Didio having sex with donkeys, or if he's providing them with the same substances that I believe he must be using to write most of his stories. The problem starts higher up though. DC Vice-President Dan Didio has always talked about the importance of the "Trinity," in the DC Universe (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), so what does he do to prove it? He removes Superman from his own book and his second title ACTION COMICS, and removes Bruce Wayne as Batman (and from DETECTIVE COMICS). Aside from the fact that things like this are unoriginal, having been done before, it completly contradicts statements he makes. So, let's bring this point back to Grant Morrison. Morrison is a writer who writes "heady and trippy" ideas that many confuse with genius, all the while showing that he doesn't get the characters he's writing, often eschewing good characterization in favor of making things fit his personal interpretation of his protagonists to tell a story. Mistake! Comics are a monthly serialized medium and continuity needs to be taken into account... unless you're constantly rebooting. Grant doesn't get that comics are also a visual medium because most artists who work with him don't seem to be able to show a good flow of the scripts he writes. Oh yeah, I know that he and Frank Quitely have "dazzled" people with ALL STAR SUPERMAN (the acronym A.S.S. seems to fit), but that's an out of continuity excuse for Morrison's mental masturbation in the comics medium. Most of the time, reading a Morrison penned comic will leave you wondering just what the hell you read and how it doesn't even make sense in its own context. As a result of his "wunderkind" status, DC has allowed him to write Bruce Wayne out as Batman, effectively changing that Bat-status quo, which yielded the unfortunate cancellations of CATWOMAN, NIGHTWING, and ROBIN to name a few, just to appease Morrison's plans for Batman... which includes a seemingly embarrassing return to the feel of the Adam West TV series in the new BATMAN AND ROBIN comic. Is your head spinning yet? Dan Didio even let Grant pen the company's mega-crossover FINAL CRISIS which most people hated, didn't understand, and effectively changed nothing of substance in the DC Universe with the exception of the death of the Martian Manhunter. Batman's "death" doesn't really count because we all KNOW he'll be back, most likely after BATMAN AND ROBIN hits issue 12 (can anyone say "Captain America?"). At least that's my prediction. Didio even joked at a couple of conventions, asking the crowds if they understood what FINAL CRISIS is all about. If you have to ask..... and then Judd Winick, one of the worst writers in comics gets the BATMAN title to write. WTF?? Is DC intentionally trying to ruin one of its cash-cow characters? At least DETECTIVE COMICS has weathered the Grant Morrison storm by making Batwoman headline the book with great scripting by Greg Rucka and gorgeous art by J.H. Williams! As soon as Bruce Wayne comes back, please keep Grant Morrison forever away from DC's established superheroes.

So now let's take a look at the Superman books. Supes gets shut out of his two books in favor of putting him in WORLD OF KRYPTON maxi-series. Why couldn't this story been told in the pages of SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS? How does any of these decisions make sense. ACTION is now being headlined by D-listers Nightwing (not Dick Grayson) and Flamebird. Lame! Of course this translates into problems for the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA comic, which has suffered from lackluster stories due to editorial policies affecting the book. The JLA is always at its most popular with the "Big Seven," and at the very least its "Trinity," and once again, what's going on in the Bat and Super books have affected this flagship title. TEEN TITANS has been sucking too from lack of direction and the removal of Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash, but at least there's hope that it will recover soon as two of those afore mentioned characters are back in the land of the living (look for a later column griping about death in comics).

However, all is not bad, as Geoff Johns has made GREEN LANTERN a must read (can't wait for BLACKEST NIGHT!) and has returned Barry Allen as the FLASH! Making GL a great book is hard considering that its lead Hal Jordan has always been a boring character, but Johns tells such a great story, that Hal's lack of personality is not a hindrance. Last but not least, we have Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti on WONDER WOMAN, which for my money is DC's best book currently. YES, you read that right! WONDER WOMAN has been consistently amazing since Simone took control of the Amazing Amazon. Gail is crafting story arcs that are exciting, action-oriented, filled with subtext, and generally leave your mouth hanging open in awe. One wonders (no pun) why no one else has gotten Diana so well. That's not to say that others haven't, but not like this. If you're not reading this book, do yourself a favor and start. Lopresti's art on the series has such a strong flow that you almost feel the action in your body.

Well, let's hope that DC gets their act together and fast! Next column: SPIDER-MAN!

FOR THE LOVE OF HEROES!

Welcome to COMIC ICONS ( http://www.comiciconsonline.blogspot.com/ ). In the coming days, weeks, months, and years ahead this will be a forum for comic book fans to give praise and/or gripe about our heroes and their creators. Coming next: How Grant Morrison R.I.Pped Batman a "new one," and the state of DC Comics.