Plans and schemes

-Well, Top Cow week at Newsarama is coming to a close, and what a week it was. For somebody, I'm sure--I avoided it like the plague, cause it's fucking Top Cow. But it started me thinking--wouldn't it be great if there were this grass roots critical reappraisal of the founding fathers of Image? Even if it were an artificially constructed grass roots movement? What I'm trying to say here is that I call Rob Liefeld.

-I can hardly stand the sight of the initials "NYCC" anymore, but I guess I'll be subject to at least another weekend of it. I'm ready for the avalanche of hype, but I don't know if I'm quite ready for all the tales of schmoozing and the like which I'll surely see on every NYC-located blog and news site for the next week and a half.

Hey, maybe I'll take some Paxil (or something stronger--suggestions are welcome) and head down to Chicago for this year's Wizard Extended Adolescence Intellectual Property Showcase and Creator Rodeo. Then I'll post four times a day for the next week all about my wacky, offbeat exploits. Day One: Rick Remender is an awesomely creative genius, and he was nice enough to let me buy the drinks. Day Two: The buzz on the floor is that the IFL ring girls are going to be dressed like Supergirl at the next event! Day Three: Special guest column by Rick Remender where he plays casting director for all his wonderful comics. Day Four: My interview with Gareb Shamus (really notes from a press conference, but I'll strongly imply we were hanging out in a hot tub with IFL ring girls Jean, Diana, and Kara Zor-El). Day Five: Rick Remender tells us about his favorite convention memories from bygone days. Day Six: Riding in an elevator in the hotel all day Saturday paid off, and I'll tell you which creators are taller than they look, which are shorter, which ones seem to bathe in cologne, which ones don't seem to bathe at all, and more. Day Seven: My harrowing tale of how I escaped Rick Remender's sight just long enough to get on the last bus out of town. Little did I realize he was stowed away in my luggage.

-Remember that post Bill Reed made on CSBG about how "awful" (I think that was the word) the new Justice Society is? It's gone now. The comments got increasingly heated (and thus increasingly funny), which, I suppose, explains its absence now. I don't know exactly what Reed was going for with the comment, but it mostly seems to have inspired flame-breathing retorts or smirking head-nodding. At least that's what I remember. It's another piece of evidence suggesting that CSBG seems to have two very different audiences ever since the move to CBR.

Really, it's not really a big deal--I'm just curious if someone said something that was totally batshit insane, and thus the post got pulled. In other words, if someone said something totally batshit insane, I want to know about it.

-Serious shit: Heidi MacDonald had some interesting thoughts yesterday about the intersection of writing for comics and writing for television. She suggests that DC's difficulties with Allan Heinberg might bring the Big Two's poaching expeditions to a halt (I kind of wonder if we'll ever see Heinberg write in comics again after all this, which in turn begs the question of who, if anyone, would replace him on Young Avengers). Conversely, the success of 52 (from a sales and logistical standpoint) has persuaded DC to find a permanent place for the television-style writing-by-committee-model.

I kind of want this model to fail. DC and Marvel comics are inconsistent, but I'd rather suffer a bunch of lows in exchange for a handful of highs. I want the opportunity to purchase comics which reflect the personal vision of those who are writing them, even if that personal vision reflects weird sexual hangups, or is laden with Star Trek jokes. I don't want to consume bland, inoffensive comics programmed to conform to editorial mandates (okay, "blander, more inoffensive comics even better programmed to conform to editorial mandates"). It's hard enough to find mainstream comics which allow writers a chance to flourish, but I worry that it will be all but impossible if the Countdown model succeeds. (On the other hand, it might open up the possibility of a dual-level publishing strategy, which DC has already dabbled in--kind of--with its All Star line. I would be perfectly happy if the Fractions and Morrisons of the world focused on prestige projects, while the Niciezas and Palmiotti/Grays churn out product to satiate the people who would prefer to have it Wednesday than to have it good.)