Blog entry five months from now: World War Hulk, I HATE YOU SO MUCH

-Few more hours remaining on the current Hate Poll.

-We all know what this means, right? Sigh. From the same blog, agreement with me about an apparently divisive issue.

-Michael Kupperman produced this reaction to the NYCC, which has to be the most straightforward comic he's ever made. Maybe he assumed the grotesque spectacle of a major con didn't really need further embellishment. In any event, he's reminding me why I don't go to comics conventions. I used to get dizzy walking down the midway of the county fair, and you could actually move without shoving people there. (Link via Chris Mautner)

-Reminder re: the Bloody Shirt thing: I said everyone had another week, so no need for flouting (or flaunting, for that matter). In fact, there's no flouting to be done...yet. I'm looking at you, Dirk Deppey. To be honest, I wasn't aware that Frontline #11 hadn't come out until this week, so I suppose an additional week worth of hand-wringing is sort of justified. Maybe even another week--no, I must be firm. And I like the Bloody Shirt joke too much to give it up.

Here's a challenge for all my fellow bloggers. As best I can tell, one of the major motivations behind all the Civil War moaning is to counteract the massive hype that preceded it on the big news sites. The problem is, this was all done ex post facto--the word was already out by the time our little outrage mill was running. Clever bloggers share talking points with the guy who thinks Alex Ross is the greatest artist of all time. While you're all bemoaning the anti-climatic ending, Joe Quesada is doing the backstroke in a swimming pool filled with money. That's right--Joe Quesada is imitating Scrooge McDuck, yet he doesn't have any idea who Carl Barks is.

Doesn't that make your blood boil? If so, don't go make another post about how lame Civil War is. Instead, focus your attention on the next big dumb event--either World War Hulk or Countdown. The latter is going to be an nigh-interminable grind, so I expect you all to lose interest in it within a few months (hopefully with the exception of Douglas Wolk and anyone who manages to consistently review comics week after week). But World War Hulk will be much shorter, and looks like a much more egregious cash grab (what with the three spinoffs which will accompany it). Ooh, your blood pressure's rising already. What are you going to do about it?

How about launching an all-out war against it before it comes out, when your words might actually have some impact? In fact, you might want to start now, considering that Marvel is more concerned with DM orders than sell-through. There are a few samples of the art floating around--why not Photoshop some comedy-like substance into them? Speculate on what the comic is about, and write long invectives against it NOW. I'll even put up an anti-Greg Pak poll once the ball starts rolling. Or you could wait until it's actually out and impotently rage against it then. The choice is yours.

(For the record, I think Quesada probably does know who Carl Barks is. It's just a rhetorical flourish.)

-Somebody's criticizing beloved comics artists! Circle the wagons! I want to see someone challenging this guy to a duel by the end of the day.