Comic Book Resources

The (boring?) business of The Brave and the Bold

Grumpy Old Fan

In a fractured, niche-oriented environment, it can be hard to justify one's existence, let alone one's relevance. When the tastes of your audience have changed, you are naturally prompted to change as well. Thus, MTV cultivates youth-oriented reality shows, VH-1 spotlights fading celebrities (and their desperate hangers-on), and The Weather Channel now plays meteorologically-minded movies like The Perfect Storm and The Wizard Of Oz.

To be sure, there must be scads of people who think AMC's shift towards showing Catwoman edited-for-TV is a step up from those all-weekend marathons of uncut Hitchcock films. Why shouldn't a channel try to keep as many eyes glued to it as possible? If you don't care what kind of elements Jim Cantore is braving, you can get your local radar instantly from the Internet. (And then you can watch Cantore highlights on YouTube.) Only those who remember how these channels began now lament what they have become -- and may envy their successes.

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Trilogy of typing: scary thoughts about superheroes

Grumpy Old Fan

It shouldn't surprise you that I like Halloween.* I like it a lot. I'd like the whole month of October to be nothing but brisk, stark days and clear, blue-black nights, with gentle breezes herding dead leaves through the stillness, and the overall sense that something unseen can still see you.

(Actually, my idea of the perfect Halloween is probably best expressed -- minus the revenge-killing, of course -- in the classic "Night of the Reaper!" story from Batman #234 … but I talked about that last year.)**

Accordingly, every year I try to get as much out of the Halloween season as possible: horror-movie marathons, a jack-o'-lantern, candy, costumes, etc. However, when the time comes to tie that into a DC Comics-centered column, I tend to come up short.

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No Blackest Night in the darkest month: DC Entertainment comic-book solicitations for January, 2010

Grumpy Old Fan

Time once again for the monthly ritual of parsing DC's solicitations. This batch is special, not because it's the first of a new year. (That would require the calendar to mean something to superhero comics, like it does at least superficially to TV and movies.) No, January '10 finds DC's superhero books taking a break from Blackest Night to … pretty much continue the same amount of Blackest Night coverage.

Anyway, grab your wallet and fire up your spreadsheet, because it's a decent month regardless.
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Five for Thursday: thoughts on TCR's five biases

Grumpy Old Fan

Over the weekend, Comics Reporter Tom Spurgeon shared his five "stickiest comics biases":

1. I don't covet the comics of my youth, I covet the comics from just before my youth.
2. Whether or not there are comics for kids, I still want comics to function as a pastime for a child.
3. I over-trust the serial.
4. I distrust a social component for comics.
5. I expect everything in comics to last forever.

It got me thinking about my own comics biases -- but because I haven't yet distilled those into postable prose, this week I'll share my reactions to his.
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Planetary #27 is worth its wait

Grumpy Old Fan

Obligatory Tardiness Joke: I was going to wait a year or so to discuss Planetary #27, but you know....

[crickets]

Ahem.  My most recent trip through the Planetary series was a couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon. I read the first two Planetary paperbacks before dinner, and finished off issues #13-26 after "Mad Men." After years of waiting interminably between issues, it became almost compulsory for me to read the next one immediately, regardless of how late it was getting. Taken as a single extended storyline, Planetary starts slowly, but before too long has gained considerable momentum.

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The new Justice League, working against the clock

Grumpy Old Fan

Although it's been a few weeks since the new Justice League lineup was revealed, I have been slow to post about it. Sometimes even we emotionally-stunted man-children have other obligations, you know?

The new League won't come together until a six-parter starting next year (according to the preview writer James Robinson gave CBR), but this is a rare occasion for me. Normally when I get stuck for a blogging topic I fall back on either Dick Grayson (with or without his Titan peers) or the JLA, so I can't really avoid this.

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Silent night, blackest night: DC Entertainment comic-book solicitations for December 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

I'll be honest here, folks: I'm not terribly excited about the December solicits. This is not to say that I am "bored with comics" -- heaven forbid! -- just that there is little in these adverts which really thrills me. It's like this year's Emmys. I'm glad "Mad Men" won, but there were a lot of repeat winners.

Maybe the missing week is to blame. Would Ambush Bug Year None or All Star Batman have come out on December 30? We'll never know.

Anyway, here come the highlights.
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No character left behind

Grumpy Old Fan

So this is the post where I blend a week's worth of restructured-DC coverage with my own ill-considered thoughts, and try not to sound too naïve and/or obtuse in the process. Should be fun, right?

Yeah.

While it's a little foolish to attempt any real predictions at this early stage, I'm left with a few general impressions. First, I get a good vibe from new DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson. I don't know that we'll be bonding over 'Mazing Man next summer in San Diego, but for now she's not saying anything too worrisome.

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What a way to make a livin': workplaces of the DCU

Grumpy Old Fan

[Although this post is a little late for Labor Day, by the time you read it I'll be hip-deep in continuing legal education.  That's why I'm not writing about you-know-what, at least not this week.]

Sure you've always secretly wondered what it would be like to live in DC's superhero universe ... but what about getting paid?  If your vibrational frequency suddenly shifts, and you find yourself in an America with a few extra major cities, here's a handy guide to some possible career choices.  It's a sampling -- a showcase, if you will -- of some of the best and worst places in DC-America to work. 
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What it did wasn't pretty: a look back at Sovereign Seven

Grumpy Old Fan

I am fond of saying that the strength of DC's superhero line comes from its diversity. Ideally, the line would maintain a good mix of traditional and progressive characters, styles, and storytelling approaches. It would be a place where each such approach could carve out its own spot and set its own "local rules": things are a lot less grim around the Marvel Family, for instance. Perhaps the best example of this heterogeneity was Jack Kirby's Fourth World. I'm not talking about the fully-assimilated New Gods of today, or even the Grant Morrison-ized New Gods of Seven Soldiers and Final Crisis. No, the pure Kirby of the early '70s (and maybe even The Hunger Dogs) was its own animal, different enough that DC's high sheriffs ordered Superman's and Jimmy Olsen's heads redrawn just so the squares wouldn't totally freak out.

Now, most of the time these work out pretty well, both in terms of artistic merit and lasting contributions to DC's stable.

And then there was Sovereign Seven….

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The Relentless Pursuit Of Imperfection

Grumpy Old Fan

[Yes, this is still a DC-centered column.]

As I was finishing up the first Peter David Hulk collection, it hit me (because I am slow) that the end of the Hulk is hardwired into his character makeup. Once Bruce Banner is irrevocably "cured" of his monstrous alter-ego, the series is over. Yes, there have been several status-quo-changing variations on this solution over the years, including (from what I understand) the current Red Hulk/Green Hulk situation. Nevertheless, if Marvel ever wants to get out of the Hulk business, the most direct solution is right there waiting.

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Cornucopia of DEATH! DC Comics Solicitations for November, 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

While pulling together my notes on DC's November solicitations, I saw that I was talking about Blackest Night a lot. Big shocker, right?

Well, it kinda was. See, BN's actual presence doesn't increase that much in November, but the event seems to have a bit more impact this time out.

As always, though, DC's set its table with more than just a (reanimated, cosmically-powered) big bird. Let's see what else is on the plate, shall we?

* * *
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Everyday players

Grumpy Old Fan

You know them like you know your own relatives. They are the administrative staff, the co-workers, the parents and siblings and in-laws. They add flavor and texture; and without them, superhero comics would inch that much closer to soulless exercises in widescreen action. Their perspective informs the headliners. They are the supporting casts, and once they were integral to DC's comics. Today? Not so much.

To be sure, Alfred still plays off Batman, Lois Lane is still active in the Superman titles, and Etta Candy just got through a harrowing experience in Wonder Woman. However, for every Jim Gordon and Lana Lang, there is a Josh Coyle or Julia Kapatelis who used to get a lot more attention.

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The New Normal

Grumpy Old Fan

A few days ago I finally waded through the several stacks of disorganized monthly comic books which had been accumulating in my office since … well, since this time last year. Now they are in bags, their pertinent information is in my omnibus spreadsheet, and an angel has its wings. All that aside, it was an informative experience, reminding me mostly that I bought a lot of books I haven't had time to revisit, like Final Crisis: Revelations, the El Diablo miniseries, and that Howard Chaykin special about '50s Captain America. However, in the midst of my sentimental journey, it hit me: once some of these titles are gone, they're not coming back.

Mostly this has to do with the revamped Batman and Superman lines. I can't see DC reviving Birds Of Prey absent a creative team which could compare favorably to Gail Simone and Nicola Scott. I think it would also be hard for Tim Drake to resume his plain-old-Robin career, given the injections of moodiness he's receiving in Red Robin. Conversely, I'd think Dick would be more than happy to ditch the Batsuit for his comfortable Nightwing duds and his old solo title. Still, what about the other Nightwing, not to mention Flamebird? Do they get their own book when Superman moves back to Earth, or do they stay in Action Comics? Would Batman And Robin continue without Dick and Damian? What about Streets Of Gotham and Gotham City Sirens? (Would the Birds of Prey feel at home in either title?)

My point is not necessarily to predict what will happen to these particular titles once things are "back to normal." Instead, the realization that Birds Of Prey may be gone for good -- or at least longer than we might think -- has made me look at "normal" in a new way.

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Never mind Comic-Con, here are the DC Comics solicitations for October 2009

Grumpy Old Fan

We aging superhero fans have a reputation for being stuck in the past, but I'm looking back at what I wrote last year about Comic-Con, and … well, 2008 looks a whole lot more exciting by comparison.

Last year, DC announced Neil Gaiman's Batman story, Flash: Rebirth, new spotlights on the Milestone and Red Circle characters, the revamped Supergirl (which helped set up the "New Krypton" mega-arc), and a Zatanna ongoing series.  While we're still waiting on Zatanna, I think it's safe to say the rest have each been pretty important to DC in one way or another.

This year, though? Pretty quiet. Oh sure, there were new Flash and Justice Society titles announced, plus the integration of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents into the DC lineup and Astro City going monthly. These are all noteworthy, and I do not mean to diminish any of them. I'm just saying that overall, they don't make as big of a splash. I thought DC's Comic-Con news would overshadow last week's October solicitations, and it kinda didn't.

Therefore, let's try to sort it all out.

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