Oh, MAN

-The current winner for funniest unintentional statement made on a blog is this comment, left by one "Lt. Marvel" on Greg Burgas' review of Justice League #10:

"I guess the book isn’t written for whiny fanboys too lazy to bone up on DC history...."

Yes, Justice League is a serious business; one must sequester himself away from family and friends to study the great works of Fox, Levitz, and Shooter before he is worthy of contemplating the glory which is Brad Meltzer. What the FUCK is wrong with comics fans? And what makes it even better is the concluding statement:

"I haven’t seen a review this bad since the People magazines review of Mars Attacks!"

Holy shit, I think I just developed a mental image of this guy. Short, wispy mustache, huge wire rimmed glasses, lives with his grandmother, works in the software/video game department at Circuit City.

Anyway, Burgas' post inspired that Scipio dude to offer a post basically agreeing with him, only arguing that even a dedicated fan willing to "bone up on DC history" (hahahahaha) could find the story entirely execrable. But his main complaint is that the writing is too Marvel-ish, particularly too Bendisian. Scipio and Burgas both identify characters' insistence on using first names (instead of code names) as one of the Meltzer's most annoying affectations; Scipio associates this with Marvel. I associate it with Marv Wolfman's New Teen Titans, a book with absolutely ludicrous dialouge. Which, I suppose, hearkens back to Chris Claremont's X-Men. Which, in turn, reminds me of Jim Shooter/Cary Bates on...Legion of Super-Heroes. Is that the first team book where the characters called each other by real names?

But the Bendis comparison is what interests me. I've seen this criticism leveled against Meltzer repeatedly, but I'm not sure if I buy it. Bendis might not be your cup of tea, and he did struggle with whiz bang superheroics when he started writing Avengers. But at least his dialogue always made sense (even if was absolutely insufferable; I gave up on Powers about 10 pages in). Even at his worst, Bendis seemed like a competent writer struggling to adapt to a new sub-genre or format. And apparently he's really into annoying thought balloons.

Meltzer, on the other hand, is a confusing, frustrating, and flat-out icky writer. He's had, what, three major projects as a comics writer? The Green Arrow run was the best, partly because he could just bask in the glow of Green Arrow's incredible goateed awesomeness without having to bother with conflict or plot momentum or anything like that. Identity Crisis, as an ostensible mystery, couldn't replicate the same breezy pace. And so it was a narrative mess--the lurching narrative captions, the lame mystery, and the preposterous solemnity of the whole thing just wore me down. It sucked. I only read a few issues of the current Justice League series, but it seemed again quite a bit like the Green Arrow run--Meltzer was more interested in expounding upon the coolness of his characters rather than producing a compelling story--or any story at all, really. (That, Messrs. Cronin and Andrew, is what separate fan fiction from bad fiction, at least IMO--starstruck writing more concerned with telling the audience how cool the characters are, rather than taking the opportunity to fashion a story which could serve as an illustration of the characters' supposed coolness.)

So anyway, this all leads me to what you're about to see: another Hate Poll.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

So, which is it?