Taking aim at two very broad targets

-The thing that surprises me most about the Vince Colletta letter that's been making the rounds? The neatness of his handwriting. It's just much better penmanship than I expected from the infamous inker. As for the interview transcript: I just quit reading after a while. It seemed too much like an end-of-the-show Saturday Night Live skit:

VC: I told Galton that Jim Shooter was a saint, and that the editors' complaints were unfounded.
INT: But they were legit complaints! Shooter shoved Michael Higgins' head into Carl Potts' aquarium! The fish were flapping on the floor!
VC: Yeah, but Galton doesn't know that, right? I'm trying to save Shooter's job.
INT: Oh, yeah. I get it.
VC: So anyway, Galton tells me he heard that Shooter was calling Hobson a drunk.
INT: Ooh, that's not very nice.
VC: Who cares?!? I'm trying help out my buddy Jim. It's irrelevant.
INT: It's still not very nice.
VC: Okay, whatever. So I tell him that Shooter didn't understand how big companies work.
INT: But that's not true! Shooter is a genius of corporate intrigue!
VC: GOD DAMMIT, I know that's not true!! Christ, aren't you paying attention?
(Repeat for five minutes, ending with Colletta killing the interviewer and/or himself.)

Man, I'm going to laugh if the interviewer turns out to be fairly well-known in the comics community. Let me rephrase that: I really, really hope the interviewer turns out to be someone well known in the comics community.

-There are some things worse than being a superhero fan. All hardcore fans are pathetic on some level; I'm always shocked at the degree of deep, personal injury that some Marvel/DC fans evince when their favorite characters somehow diverge from their ideal type (which is, of course, a completely subjective thing depending on the pathetic fanboy in question, thus in turn assuring us that someone's always going to be unhappy about the color of Hawkman's suspenders). But seriously, I think Transformers fandom might be the most damning indictment of Western culture to date. Not that there's anything more ridiculous about the concept than any other object of fannish passion--actually, it's a really great concept for a toy line aimed at young boys. But man, I'm floored by the efforts of Transformers fans to somehow synthesize the disparate mythoi of this particular intellectual property into one true narrative-- it puts DC fans to shame, frankly. These guys have done so much with so little.

Really, is there any other group which has built up such an elaborate fan culture based on such triviality? Is there any cultural significance to the Transformers beyond nostalgia?

-I'm really shocked that freeloaders sitting in the manga aisle is a genuine problem, rather than a calculated effort by bitter Marvel/DC apologists to discredit manga sales in bookstores. I really have never encountered this. Bear in mind that I only go into the big chain bookstores once or twice a month. I do see people browsing the manga all the time, and they do occasionally get in my way, but I never see them just sitting around reading stuff. You know where I do see that? My local comics store, which even has a couple of chairs for the purpose. Actually, the only patrons who've ever truly annoyed me as I was browsing for manga were several RPGers who were talking loudly and ignoring my dirty looks as I tried to peer around them.* Not really annoying, more like embarrassing: One time a teenager shopping with her mother asked me what kind of manga I liked, but I didn't really want say, "The kind with teenagers struggling to survive after an earthquake or tsunami or something." I think I might have mumbled something about horror manga and moved along. Maybe I'm just a prude--I worry what people think when I'm the only adult male in an aisle crowded with teenage girls. Especially when I have to ask one of them where the tentacle rape manga is. (Just kidding! I know where it is.)

*Actually, the RPG fuckers at certain comics shops are exponentially more annoying than anyone I've encountered reading manga at the bookstore. Thankfully my retailer doesn't sell that stuff, but I do encounter it when I'm buying comics while at home or visiting the in-laws. Do these people have jobs? They seem to be in these stores all hours of the day, quoting Family Guy dialogue and drinking Diet Rite while lasciviously caressing their 10 sided dice with their greasy, stubby fingers, coated orange from hot wing sauce. Or, if you happen to be in the main Mile High Comics store in Denver, they're all goth kids.

-Little did I know that Dr. Doom was so well-versed in the Legion of Super-Heroes and the complicated fan-professional politics of contemporary DC comics. The fact that I'm not reading the current LSH thing in JLA/JSA is really a testament to how much I really don't want to read anything written by the Geoff Johns of 2007 and the Brad Meltzer of all of recorded history. Steve Flanagan confirms that this is the correct decision.

Request Day

-Request Day part one: Chris from Two Guys Buying Comics has suggested I comment on Keith Giffen's recent list of things related to the end of 52. Chris is particularly interested in Giffen's comments re: Greg Rucka, which might be considered playful, cranky, or both. Actually, I was much more interested in Giffen's comments about the art. The relevant comments:

"38) About our anchor artists, the three Bs: I’d been a fan of Bennett’s and Batista’s work long before 52, but Barrows took me by surprise. He was a Wacker inductee and thank God for that.
...
37) Why we didn’t make more use of Phil Jimenez and Dan Jurgens is still a mystery to me.
...
30) As a goof, in the breakdowns, I drew that new Zatarra kid in Zatanna’s fishnets-and-corset getup. The penciler actually drew him that way. My pleas to let it go through like that went unheeded.
...
3) I still think Wizard should give some serious props to the 52 artists. For that matter, so should DC."

It's kind of universally accepted that the art was one of the weakest (maybe THE weakest), elements of 52; this almost seems like a reaction to these criticisms. Strangely, Giffen seems to have escaped blame, even though he laid out every issue. Does he deserve to get a pass? Try comparing his layouts to the finished project. Giffen's work is frequently superior to the finished art. His panels are much more tightly composed, his action more dynamic, his character work more expressive. The composition is the big thing, though. The finished art frequently lies dead on the page, as though the pencillers didn't account for negative space or eye movement or any of those things you're supposed to learn in high school. Which is frankly baffling, given that Giffen's involvement was presumably intended to prevent just these sorts of problems.

You know, this whole thing has actually increased my respect for Giffen. He was producing these layouts at an exhausting pace, but they're much, much better than the composition one sees from artists who labor over their work for much longer periods of time. 52 would have been a much more satisfying reading experience if the artists had followed his layouts more closely, or at least spent more time thinking about the decisions Giffen made. We'll see if the Countdown artists learn from this lesson.

-Request Day part two: An English teaching friend from the (literal) old school tells me that he's seen a lot of educational graphic novels in the vendor's area of a couple of recent conferences. Unfortunately, they're bad. Real bad, like. The art is terrible and the word balloons hastily and sloppily constructed using a Times Roman-type font. (Kind of sounds like Cracked, c. 1989, so far.) The subjects are certainly educational--examples include George Washington Carver, Trail of Tears, and Atlantis (I don't get that last one either)--but the execution is so bad that they might poison the well for future efforts. I might add that being forced to read bad comics in school might make it even less likely that kids will try good comics.

Anyone familiar with these products? I assume that the Center for Cartoon Studies-produced books published by Hyperion are partly intended to compete in this market. I'm sure they compare very favorably to the products my friend describes, but I wonder if the damage might already be done.

-That terrible college newspaper top five comics list is really making the rounds. The comments on Blogarama (that's my new name for it) are worth noting, though, because the one and only Avi Green shows up with his own unique list:

"– Marvel Two-in-One #91, featuring the origin of the Sphinx, Anatha Na-Mut.
– The Flash: Terminal Velocity.
– Asterix and the Roman Agent.
– Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War.
– And I enjoyed the whole storyline featuring Terra, who infiltrated the Teen Titans, from beginning to end."

Awesome. My own list:

1. Deathmate: Yellow
2. The collected lettercolumns of Who's Who, first edition (there's an awesome running debate about how to pronounce "Ra's Ahl Guhl")
3. The issue of Marvel Team-Up where Reed Richards zaps off Spider-Man's black costume, and Spider-Man has to go home wearing an old Fantastic Four costume with a paper bag over his head, and I think also a "Kick Me" sign which the Human Torch affixed to his back.
4. The entire first wave of Dark Horse's Comics Greatest World--you know, the ones that were all $1 each--except Hero Zero, cause it featured art by Eric Shanower, whose values clash with the sense of morality instilled in me from reading Marvel Team-Up and Deathmate.
5. Antique Bakery

I defy anyone to find fault with that list.

-Related: Does Avi Green know the difference between Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker? Someone needs to track down Jesse Baker for me. I've got an idea for a weekly debate column featuring these two. I think I'll call it "Fuck You/Counter-Fuck You."

Anyone have a cheap video card for sale?

-So here's my new theory for Marvel and DC: since there's a vocal segment of their readerships who have no interest whatsoever in art, why not start a line of horrible, faux pulp novels for these readers? Let Fabian Nicieza write his Thunderbolts For Advanced Continuity Fetishists (or the solo adventures of Baron Zemo, whatever), Peter David his Hulk Hate Stupid Therapy, Dan Slott his I Can't Believe It's Not Marvel Two-in-One, etc., in this format. You might say these would be pretty terrible books, but they were pretty terrible comic books too. The advantage to the Terrible Book plan is that DC/Marvel wouldn't have to pay for artists, plus impatient fans wouldn't have to worry about stupid artists holding up their monthly fix with blown deadlines. (Yes, I'm reasonably certain that any of these writers squeeze out a 250 page novel every month; it's the artists who have screwed everything up, after all.) It's a win-win situation! DiDio, what are you waiting for? This might save your career! Quesada, maybe this is what you need to do in order to get in these particular fanboys' good graces (which is, after all, the most important single concern facing the editor-in-chief of the largest comics company in America). If you choose to use this idea, I'll take my usual consulting fee.

-Via Flog, a great Richard Sala interview:

"I know it makes me seem a hundred years old to say that, but when I was little, Dick Tracy was on the front page of the Sunday comic section (in Chicago) and I got hooked at a very early age. It was the first thing I ever saved -- I cut out strips and put them in scrapbooks -- even before I began saving comic books. The Tracy strips from the 1960s and 1970s seem to get a bad rap sometimes compared to his earlier work -- but I was perfectly happy with them -- they were crazy and lurid. They had stopped being like police procedurals and instead were about -- well, to this day I'm not sure what those later strips were about! Good and evil maybe? Who knows? But you really never knew what would happen next. They could certainly never be in daily newspapers today -- not just because of the violence (which was gloriously over-the-top) but because in its twilight years it often appeared to flirt with becoming seriously unhinged."

I can't remember if I'd heard Sala talk about his Gould influence before, or if it just makes perfect sense in hindsight. I'm immediately reminded of the rogue's galleries in the back of the collected Chuckling Whatsit. Anyway, Sala also makes some good points about the difficulty in classifying his work. I can't help but think it would do well with fans of Jhonen Vasquez, but somehow I just can't see Delphine being sold at Hot Topic.

-Will Bahlactus (sadly not his real name) ever explain to us the process by which he determines whether calling someone a "chickenhead" is appropriate? I've asked ever so nicely. Please let us know, cause it doesn't seem any better than calling someone a "cocksucker," which is something I generally avoid for reasons I'll describe in detail if anyone is interested (though, truthfully, it's nothing particularly revelatory).

-I always knew the Asorbascon (NIM) wasn't written for people like me, but I really didn't know just how not-for-me it was until I read this (or, to be more accurate, the first and last five lines of it). What the fuck was that about? More importantly, when are we going to get another hissy fit? That's the only reason you're on my Google Reader thing, dude.

-Kind of interesting, at least to me. Bear in mind that my brother and I used to buy and read old issues of Marvel Age and that, instead of writing and drawing comics like most kids, I made my own mock versions of MA for my imaginary comics company.

Only 50% relevant today

-Very useful dialogue at Howling Curmudgeons about the interaction between fans and pros on the internet. I give Mark Waid a lot of grief here because I think he's earned it, but the fact remains that he writes two of the handful of DC/Marvel comics I bother following. I really do like his writing when he's on. But I still want to see him fight Dan Coyle. I might even be willing to hold my nose (literally! ha ha!!) and attend a convention in order to see such a sight.

Anyway, the comments lead to a discussion of which creators manipulate the internet to their advantage (Simone, to some extent Priest) and which ones have done basically the opposite (Byrne, of course). Someone also makes the argument that this kind of fan-pro interaction is practically inevitable, given that the absence of letter columns in DC/Marvel titles have made the internet the only viable option for creators seeking feedback. I tend to disagree here--I think the decline of the letter column has more to do with the advantages of the internet for fanboy bellyaching than editors' distaste for letter columns. I also think it's a little curious that the bigger alternative-type creators don't have the same net presence as their mainstream and ground-level counterparts. You don't see Chris Ware or Jaime Hernandez wading into the miasma in the same manner as Dan Slott or Stuart Immonen. Then again, Ware and Hernandez don't have new books coming out every month. (I'm prepared for the flood of counter-examples to this generalization, so let it rip!)

Anyway, it's a thread of discussion I'd like to see some other blogger types address as well.

-I was going to say something about how I was disappointed in the last issue of All-Star Superman, but then I went and read Jog's brief review and now I think I need to re-read it. Jog also suggests a unifying theme to the series which I had noticed more as a motif, I guess. But maybe it's something deeper than I had thought. Hmmm.

-Via Chris Mautner, who I cannot thank enough for bringing it to my attention, Doom: the comic. Anything I write wouldn't do it justice. Just read it.

-Utterly, utterly unrelated to comics: I'm a regular shopper at Trader Joe's, though I can't say I recommend doing all one's shopping there. They are a good place for snacks and convenience foods, though. So, because nobody asked for it, here are a few reviews of things I've bought there recently:

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna w/ Multigrain Noodles: It's a frozen, family-style entrée; the package recommends microwaving over baking. There's a definite roasted flavor to the vegetables, but I somehow doubt that the cauliflower was every really roasted. The tomato sauce was pretty decent, and the noodles were not as overwhelming in their multiple granulation as one might fear. They're comparable to the Barilla Plus line of high fiber noodles. There wasn't much besides tomatoes between the layers of these noodles. Pretty decent for a microwavable lasagna, but I suspect there are better options out there for your $5.49.

Peanut Satay Noodle and Pad Thai Noodle Boxes: These are in the shape of a Chinese take-out box and are not refrigerated. The noodles and the sauce are in two separate pouches; you take the noodles out, break them apart, pour the sauce over them, then microwave for two minutes. That's about as convenient as I can imagine, but (shockingly) you pay for the convenience in flavor. The Pad Thai bears little resemblance to the Platonic ideal, or even the vegetarian version of the Platonic ideal, of this dish; it is, however, better than Trader Joe's frozen version. It's also better than the peanut satay noodles, which are fairly bland. The noodles in both cases are a little gummy, but not as bad as one would imagine from pre-cooked rice noodles (perhaps because they're not really rice noodles, but a rice-wheat hybrid noodle). If you have the inclination, you can probably whip up a superior concoction with a half a package of genuine rice noodles and some commercial Thai-style peanut sauce for about the same (prorated) price. It certainly wouldn't take much longer than microwaving this. But if you're in an office or have a fear of boiling water, this is better than a lot of similar options.

Supper Nutty Toffee Clusters Cereal: Very, very tasty cereal. I love cold cereal, and this is my current favorite. What catapults Supper Nutty Toffee Clusters ahead of the pack are not the toffee clusters (which are tasty but not overwhelming), but the inclusion of Brazil nuts, which are an incredible addition to the cold cereal palette.

Peanut Butter Coated Chewy Granola Bars: Trader Joe's regular, uncoated chewy granola bars are typical specimens for that subcategory of bar-format granola. I greatly prefer the harder, Nature's Valley style, to be honest. But the addition of peanut butter goo to the underside of the bar transforms it into a very desirable product. The chocolate-coated variety is also good, but not quite as good.

Unwanted advice is our speciality

-Look, I don't relish saying this, but I have a problem with Tom Spurgeon's writing. It's unclear. Maybe it's an affectation; if so, I'd urge him to drop it. From today:

"I think Campbell has it dead on where the heart of the strip's appeal lies, and what I think is even more remarkable is to realize this kind of work had a significant audience who valued to the point of holding dear that non-sensational reflection of life as lived."

I read more than my share of academic texts, so I'm semi-accustomed to this style of writing. Unfortunately, most academic writing is a nightmare to read. No one should try to emulate it, especially when it's totally unnecessary. The idea Spurgeon is trying to express doesn't require an undiagrammable sentence. Doesn't this guy have "former editor of the Comics Journal" on his resume? Or is that more explanatory than contradictory?

-That Liefeld/Kirkman thing all the Bendis board people were complaining about? It's Killraven. Oh, doctor.

-Heidi MacDonald (note the correct spelling) seems to be promising weekly Ultimate Fighter recaps. Here's the first one. I'm pretty excited about this season--the coaches hate each other, one of the contestants has actually defeated one of the coaches in a fairly high profile match, and the all-lightweight formula holds the promise of all-action all-the-time.

And man, on the subject of MMA, was this a crazy weekend or what? Serra beats GSP, Sanchez and Koscheck turn one of the most anticipated fights of the year into one of the worst of all time, the DSE era ends, Sokoudjou KOs Arona, fans on message boards anoint Sokoudjou as the greatest fighter in the history of the sport (even though he's only fought 5 times, has never gotten out of the first round, and looked kind of bad in his loss to okay-but-not-great Glover Teixeira), Big Nog is the first Pride fighter to cross over to UFC, Don Frye almost dies on his feet.... It's a good time to start watching MMA, and a better time to incorporate it into your message board (hint, hint).

-The Beatles were like the remedial class version of the Hollies. The Beach Boys were remedial class version of the Hollies who spent most of their time in the auto shop.

-You can count me among the people who'd like to see My Boy published in North America. I mean, it's in English already. That cuts out all the costs of translation and re-lettering. (Yes, I realize that Kim Thompson translates most of Fantagraphics' French language comics himself, or at least he used to.) Sure, I guess I could get it right now since it's already in English, but then again I'm too lazy to figure out how to pay for something in shillings and tuppence or ducats or whatever goofy currency would be necessary to acquire this book. Besides, I'm in no hurry. I've read only about .005% of Alice in Sunderland.

-Did I Kill the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg? Dept: I think Greg Rucka's on to me. I'm going to be really disappointed if he clams up now, but I think he'll eventually feel compelled to say something about someone at some point. Don't hold back, Mr. Rucka!

Cats interfering with my workout routine

-People are still talking about Mark Waid's unarmed combat challenge. In this case, it's Graeme McMillan, who apparently missed or forgot about Shane Bailey covering the story yesterday. What's really noteworthy are the responses:

"I’d sure be happy if we lived in a world where the writers had much, much more power than the artists."

Someone who shares Waid's prejudices, apparently. Why do I get the feeling that this is someone who views art as purely illustrative at best and the reason why Justice League is late at worst? Even better, though, is this response, from someone self-identifying only as "Bob":

"Jeez…can’t we all get along? And punch each other in the face? I’d bet that both fellas haven’t got the cajones to actually carry through with those kinds of threats. Two overweight nerds slap-hitting each other like faggots."

Don't get me wrong, I'm eager to see Mark Waid and some random dude fight as much as the next guy, but I don't think either of them have the balls to be a queer (to quote Ben Weasel). I'd be shocked if this comment stays up forever--it was placed at 10:50 EDT. Let's see how long it takes for someone at the Newsarama Blog to notice it.

...Well, it's 3:51 EDT now, and the comment appears to be there to stay. This is the part where I wonder if it would still be there if the poster had used a racial epithet rather than a sexual one, but I'm a little distracted by Mark Waid's appearance in the comments thread:

"In retrospect, of course, I regret having brought a grenade to a knife fight…but I thought it was important to take the hours to compose that response because (clearly) not enough is known about how the process works, and encouraging writers and artists to build bunkers rather than to communicate will not make for better comics.

I do need to learn, however, to stop being surprised when statements of exasperation like '…makes me want to settle for punching you in the face' translate to some as 'an immediate threat of physical violence.' Despite its being made up of words, sentences, and language, the internet remains one giant Rorschach test, doesn’t it?"

Sounds like someone's chickening out. Come on, Waid, don't be a coward. I've seen you threaten violence towards too many people at this point--I need closure. I'd volunteer to fight you myself, but (note to self: remember to fill this space with a plausible excuse-DH), so fighting is completely out of the question for me. So which blogger/columnist/reporter should Mark Waid fight? My first instinct is to say ADD, but I don't know what's become of him.

(Anyone interested in a serious discussion about the interplay between writer and artist, rather than the poking-with-a-stick I provide at this blog, are advised to check out Tom Spurgeon's take on the subject. Oh, and I think I agree with Joe Rice's claim that the best writers are at least capable of doing a little drawing themselves. I just can't imagine how one would start writing a script for comics without some idea of how the story would look when broken down into panels.)

(Oh, okay, here's my take: I think one of the reasons mainstream comics art is so bad is that the writing has taken on greater prominence in the last 10 years. The pendulum has swung to far in the other direction, to the point where there is a vocal contingent of fans (see the first comment quoted above) who basically say that any art will do as long as the book is on time. Waid's argument that the deck is stacked in favor of the artist rings false simply because editors seem to be treating artists as mismatched stereo components, plugging them into titles where they may or may not fit (see, for instance, McKone on FF or Ramos on Wolverine). It could be that the blame lies mostly in editorial, actually. Let's see Tom Breevort respond to that. Quick, someone who writes for a blog that Breevort actually reads, make this argument on my behalf!)

-Haven't seen this posted anywhere: Edward Gorey's The Doubtful Guest to be made into a live action film, with the titular character apparently played by a Jim Henson Productions puppet or something. Oh lord, does this sound like a dubious prospect. My wife, who alerted me to the story, agrees that The Doubtful Guest doesn't really have enough meat to support a feature length film. I smell How the Grinch Stole Christmas type padding, replete with cute stuffed toys and maybe a children's television show:

"Originally published in 1957, the whimsical story revolves around a quirky family whose life is turned upside down when a mysterious, mischievous creature arrives unannounced and unwelcome, bringing trouble with him and wreaking havoc.

'It's hard to come up with a creature that you've never seen before in any medium, and he's a unique little creation who is very appealing without being cute or cloying,' Jim Henson Co. co-CEO Lisa Henson said. 'He's sophisticated yet simple at the same time, but it's not overly juvenile. Adults can find him cute, too.'"

I'm really dreading this.

-Some pictures from Kazuo Umezu's personal collection. Somehow I thought he would have his mouth wide open in every picture, like he was screaming at the top of his lungs during all his waking hours.

-A nasty retailing conundrum. I have no idea how one would resolve this problem, especially since the customer's mother doesn't seem like much help.

-You can throw all the articles at us you want, DC, but that's still one ugly-assed cover. I mean, the Eric Wright parts are nice enough, but the figures in the foreground almost make me long for the days of Michael Turner covers. Superman looks like he's about to hit Black Canary with a reverse clothesline, for god's sake. (Semi-related: I think I offended a cop yesterday when he asked me what was going in the book that would make it more expensive than usual and I told him I didn't know cause I don't read Justice League due to my intense dislike of Brad Meltzer. Ahhh, he seems like a pretty jovial fellow, so I'm probably safe from police reprisals.)

-I really thought her last name was McDonald. Sorry, Hiedi.

The ballad of Dick Hates Your Blog (April 4, 2007, Madison)

-I feel somehow I've let you down. Clearly there are corners of the internet (namely Live Journal) I'm not sufficiently plugged into, cause I missed the big Mark Waid meltdown. And now you've all probably read about it on the Newsarama Blog or at Comics Should Be Good. Linkblogging's a loser's game, it mesmerizes, can't explain...

Seriously though, what the fuck is going on with the 52 writers? I mean Waid is Waid; he's always challenging someone to fistfights of some type. (My advice to anyone who choses to oblige Mr. Waid--clinch, throw elbows. Open him up and he'll fold like an accordion. Finish him with knees or ground and pound, depending on your local AC's regulations.) We've already covered Rucka. Johns is becoming more Johns-ian every month--extreme violence, extreme Roy Thomas-isms abound. Also, I get the feeling that he's probably about to move into the movie/TV industry full-time. Worst of all, Morrison seems to be bailing on the Wildstorm re-launch, plus All-Star Superman is on the Bryan Hitch schedule. He's coasting on reputation on Batman. What happened to Morrison? Is he on the wrong kind of drugs now? Maybe 52 is the real loser's game.

More later today, probably.

Three long items (not an off-color joke)

-I went to go see 300 yesterday instead of writing a post. I didn't like it, no sir. Rather than explaining the ways in which I didn't like it, let me link to my good friend throughsilver's review (which has the added benefit of comparisons to the original comic, which I have never read). I'm in pretty much total agreement.

Oh, I saw the trailer for Grindhouse, and I'm kind of surprised that the Rodriguez half looks much, much dumber than the Tarrantino half. Which, in turn, is probably ripping off some movie from the 70s for which I might have owned the poster at one time. I used to work at a movie theater which was part of a mostly defunct chain. For whatever reason, they stored a bunch of posters accumulated over 20-30 years behind one of the screens. I was fortunate enough to be working there when the manager decided to clear all this out, and so my college apartment was covered in various exploitation posters (stuff like a Jim Jones exploitation flick, Viva Knievel, a bunch of sleazy "coed roomates" kind of things, at least one movie about a sex change operation gone wrong, Inframan, etc.). Then I decided to grow up and gave them all away, a decision which I actually don't regret at all. My brother still has the poster for Mad Monster Party, though. In fact, he's had it framed.

-New internet pastime: Greg Rucka watch. His interview with CBR a few months got some attention here for his comments about fellow 52 writers. CBR also features a wrap-up of the Emerald City Con with this little witticism:

"Quote of the con, by Greg Rucka - Questioned on how he felt about the comics industry when he started vs. how he feels about the comic industry now that he's worked in it awhile, Rucka said, 'Comics are like sausages - you don't want to know how they're made.'"

Tom Spurgeon linked to his gripes about lettering yesterday, leading me to discover his Live Journal. Which is worth the effort of reading, since Rucka is certainly the kind of guy who speaks his mind:

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of people, y'know, UNDERSTANDING THE RULES OF PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR. In fact, I think those writers out there who show flagrant disregard for the same (and they know who they are) reveal incredible disrespect for their craft and their peers by proudly displaying their ignorance.

But I'm working on the first pass pages right now, and I've got to tell you, the copy editor on this manuscript read Ms. Truss a little too much, because she's inserting commas fucking everywhere.

I'm particular about commas. I use them with precision, or so I should like to believe. As Ms. Truss has made loads of money explaining, altering their placement without due consideration changes the meaning of the sentence."

[I like commas because, as Nabokov said, I like privacy.-DH]

Rucka also addresses the controversy over the CBR interview mentioned above:

"But that's only part of it. The other part of it is that I've broken an Unwritten Law, one that stretches all the way back to my first writing classes. I've offered criticism, and even if it was constructive and mild, it opens me up for the same.

Which is bullshit. The paradox of writing for a living is that people are going to read what you write, and some of them (maybe a lot of them) Are Not Going To Like It.

You have to learn to deal with it, and the key word here is 'learn' and not 'deal.' It's an ongoing process, and I don't know a single writer who isn't stung by criticism of their work, no matter how minor, infantile, or incompetent the source. It may not be a major sting, it may not last, but I continue to find it amazing that some Net Troll who offers his unsolicited and uneducated 'review' of my work can bother me almost as much as a bad review from, say, Kirkus. "

Rucka also hints at his frustrations with DC:

"Back at Powell's today. Just completed the detailed breakdowns for Checkmate 14 and Outsiders 48 based on yesterday's conversation with Judd. Still excited about the project, and looking forward to starting the writing on the next two issues this Friday.

But this is tempered by more comic industry bullshit, and no, I'm not talking about this, or this, or even this.

It's the 'Nooo!' that gets me, there.

No, this is something entirely different, and it's illustrating to me (pardon the pun) one of the conflicts I'm going to have to resolve for myself if I'm going to continue doing this. Namely, how much of the curtain do I pull back on the business versus on the process. Fact is, I'm more interested in talking about the work itself, the writing, than I am in dishing dirt about the industry in general, or DC in particular. No, I'll leave that to people far better suited to the task than I.

The thing is, the two are inextricably linked at this point. There are projects I simply cannot talk about yet, much as I might like to. And when my involvement in the Can't-Talk-About-It project looks to be in jeopardy for fairly complicated reasons...well, there's frustration."

"Just finished a phone call with Judd to break down the last four issues of the Checkmate/Outsiders crossover, and I'm feeling something about the writing and the story I haven't felt for what seems like a very long time.

I'm actually excited about writing this. I'm actually enthusiastic about it."

"This is my secret shame of the last several years -- I've all-but forgotten how to read for pleasure, and reading 'in genre,' for lack of a better phrase, has been excruciatingly difficult. I've been working since the first of the year on relearning the art, on attempting to rediscover the joy of reading for the sake of reading, for the pleasure of the story.

The problem is that most of what I read, I can't stand. Seriously. It's like the line about the sausages; some things it's better off not knowing how they make 'em. Books. Comics. Sausages."

Greg Rucka, if you're reading this (which is entirely possible, since you seem like the type who compulsively Googles his own name), please sign an exclusive with Marvel, then start dishing the dirt, under a pseudonym or via Rich Johnston, if necessary. Thanks.

-Last word (barring some unexpected flare up) on McDonald vs. Deppey: Mr. Deppey's argument about the success of Naruto vs. the more modest success of Spider-Man in bookstores is that the latter would sell better if casual comics consumers (aka, unfortunately, "civilians") could pick up a coherent, uninterrupted work by a single author. Today he suggests that Ultimate Spider-Man could be such an item, if it were not for the veritable sea of collected Spider-Man publications available on bookstore shelves.

I've been thinking about this debate, and I've come to the conclusion that the issue (at least re: Spider-Man GN sales) is not quality so much as quantity. Kids who loved the Spider-Man movies just don't know where to begin. With Naruto, there's a clear starting point: Naruto volume one. There's no Essential Naruto, Ultimate Naruto, Web of Naruto, Naruto: Reign, Naruto: Blue, Naruto: Kraven's Last Hunt, etc. Spider-Man, on the other hand, has to drag the weight of 40+ years of publication history, and there's an army of obsessive fanboys making sure the tether never breaks because WE CAN NEVER, EVER FORGET our precious continuity, lifeblood of the kind of deliberately mediocre comics which, tragically, the industry depends upon.

So there's my answer: continuity sucks. And don't go telling me that you were smart enough to figure it out when you were 8 years old. So was I, but back then there were only two Spider-Man comics on the drug store spinner rack (and it was pretty clear that Amazing was the one that mattered, since it was in the 200s while Peter Parker was in the 100s). Some kid in Barnes & Noble will see at least a couple dozen, maybe more depending on the quality of the GN section at the store in question.

Have to wrap this up--need to get groceries

-Man, catching up with all the con-related news after a weekend of doing stuff other than reading con-related news is a stone cold drag, dude. I mean, the NY con had the momentum of Civil War to build on, it was the first of the recent string of fairly big conventions, and apparently 79% of all active bloggers live in the greater NYC area, and thus traveled to it and covered it in excruciating detail. (I mean really, NYCC sounded excruciating. I'm glad I don't live near NYC, thus obligating my attendance and subsequent bloggery on the subject).

Anyway, I guess Marvel cranked up the hype machine for the summer X-Men event. DC revealed that two failed 80s properties (Booster Gold and Infinity, Inc.) are back. I haven't heard much reaction to these announcements--Geoff Johns is co-writing Booster Gold, so I expect to hear a few dismemberment-oriented jokes soon (though I would personally steer more towards commenting on Johns' apparent fetish for time travel stories--perhaps this will get it out of his system, maybe just enough to prevent further Kingdom Come-ization?). One positive side effect of Johns on BG--it makes my prediction of a Johns/Daniel LSH a bit less likely. (Related: Mark Waid leaving LSH is news? I thought Barry Kitson said so in one of the other recent conventions. Informal poll: who's more likely to be a Marvel exclusive by the end of the year--Waid or Greg Rucka?)

Also: Peter Milligan is writing Infinity, Inc., making the relative silence on this issue a bit perplexing. I thought you people liked him? Or did his run on X-Men turn you off?

-Another piece of news to which you bloggers have not given enough attention: JH Williams is drawing an upcoming issue of Batman. The Seven Soldiers bookend team is reunited~!

-Courtesy Heidi McDonald: Jerry Beck hated the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie:

"I’m clearly not the intended audience for this. But who is? High School drop-outs on pot? I suspect there may be 7 year old out there who may think this is the funniest film they’ve ever seen. If so, I’d be worried about that 7-year-old."

Hipster nerds=adolescent users of recreational drugs. I think I already knew that. Really though, I sometimes wonder who the hardcore Adult Swim fan is these days. Most of the Williams Street stuff was pretty marginal to begin with, and the quality really took a nosedive about three or four years ago (it didn't help that repeated viewing made most of the series less tolerable). Few of the replacement shows have done much for me (I do watch Saul of the Mole Men because it's an interesting Croft pastiche, but it's not really funny; Venture Brothers is good, but that's kind of a given). I can't imagine trying to sit through a full-length ATHF movie, even if the concept was still fresh. The prospect terrifies me more than being forced to attend a comics convention.

-There's not much noise out there in the blogoverse right now. Civil War: The Confession seems to have died with basically a whimper. I guess after the Civil War #7 tantrum, and the Civil War: Frontline #11 aftershock tantrum, bloggers needed a little nap to get recharged for the next outrage. Are there any strong candidates this week?

52-Always a possibility, especially if the violence hasn't quite reached a crescendo.

Justice Society-It's written by Geoff Johns, so there's always the possibility of seemingly inappropriate blood letting (usually via full body cleavage). Bonus points for being an active meme.

Amazing Spider-Man-Very good possibility, especially if Aunt May says something stupid as she slips from this mortal coil, like "Peter, this is all Iron Man's fault. Avenge my death, Peter. Consider doing it while wearing...blaaaccckkkk." [SFX: flatlining heart monitor]

Ultimate Power-Greg Land is photoshopping drawing it, but I think this meme might have been ground into a fine, unpalatable paste by now.

Pretzels and soda

-Hate poll, with special bonus poll content (which is actually proving more popular than the current Hate Poll--are you folks burned out on hate, or are you just big Simpsons fans? Is there untapped demand for an ongoing series of "Which Simpsons character does _______ most resemble"-type polls?).

-Trying not to be too hypocritical dept: I'm going to try to lay off the Fantagraphics-Ellison lawsuit this week, not because I've been persuaded to do so, or because I think it's not important, but because I'm kind of tired of writing about it. It's becoming my Civil War--a crutch, an invitation to lazy blogging, an impediment to the sort of non-linear thinking which has defined this blog ever since I finished writing the sentence you're reading right now. I do reserve the right to violate this self-imposed moratorium if anyone says anything interesting this week, though (not that I'm, uh, fishing for material or anything).

-I think Greg Rucka is a little disillusioned with DC. Especially Didio, who Rucka portrays as something of a buffoon. And maybe his 52 collaborators as well--here's how he describes them all:

Grant Morrison-Spacey; no attention span
Geoff Johns-The Rob Liefeld of comics writing
Mark Waid-Obsessive fan-geek
Greg Rucka-Good with thing related to the vital human experience; not so great at writing stupid outer space shit

All the same, these guys are (ugh) "rock stars" who are "at the very top of their game." Even if their games are stupid childish escapism, divorced from the cold, sports bra reality of life on the streets. Also, Civil War sucked.

-Lots of aggravation out there about Dark Horse bringing Museum of Terror to a premature close, and some questions about why this came to pass. Speaking only for myself: I don't read everything, but I do consider myself a fan of horror/suspense manga. I really didn't like the first volume of Museum of Terror, and I never considered getting the subsequent volumes. I've since heard that the quality improves dramatically at some point, but there was something about the whole Tomie concept which kind of turned me off.

-Whenever I check out the latest batch of When Fangirls Attack links, I started thinking: who are all these people blogging on Livejournal? I've never heard of any of them. They all* write stuff like "I'm giving up comics forever now that Robin is wearing red pants" or "I'm depressed but at least I have my back issues of Firestorm to remind me of that brief, shining moment when comics actually transcended their perceived limitations and became a timeless work of art/literature." They all have a bunch of comments, all left by other people of with whom I am unfamiliar.

Now I don't have any kind of prejudice against any particular blogging program/site--I chose Blogger because I'd heard of it and it seemed fairly easy to use once I signed up. In fact, I am completely unfamiliar with the hierarchy of free blogging services, assuming such a hierarchy exists. If so, are my observations re: Livejournal comics blogs consistent with Livejournal's reputation on the non-comics oriented internet? Please limit your responses to 20 words or less, as I estimate this is the limit of my interest on the subject. Thank you.

*Fun activity: find the most creative way to tell me that my blanket statement is incorrect. Bonus points for anyone who works in an amusing reference to Time on the Cross. In fact, I'll start a new sidebar category just to celebrate your achievement, called "Dick's History Buddies" or something like that.

-I'm sorry I insulted your scanner, Jonesy.

-I talked on the phone about 300 with my mom on Sunday. She brought it up. I know that this is anecdotal evidence, and some might say that the mother of two comics-obsessed lads might be more likely to broach the subject of a comics-related movie than the mother of children more obsessed with soccer or procreating up some grandchildren, but to me it's a sign that comics are here to stay no matter how badly Joe Quesada wants to destroy them.