tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post8219962843394366593..comments2024-03-21T19:12:11.065-07:00Comments on Every Day Is Like Wednesday: Weekly Haul: July 15thCalebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-63960977380813473152009-07-19T08:03:34.752-07:002009-07-19T08:03:34.752-07:00I have two beefs with the age-appropriateness thin...I have two beefs with the age-appropriateness thing, which overlap with but aren't the same as Caleb's.<br /><br />1) We were promised a post-Infinite Crisis DCU that was more heroic, less grim and awful. We haven't seen such a thing. It's odd that we've still got Grim & Gritty as the semi-official name of an era of comic books in which the violence was *much less* than that in current books-- and one that the industry is supposed to be proud of itself for having outgrown.<br /><br />2) *If* the DCU is going to be de facto for teens and above, then the wall of separation between the DCU and Vertigo lacks any justification at all. The wall went up in the 1990s because it would be terrible for the kiddies to se John Constantine in Superman and get interested in following his adventures over in Hellblazer. Even then it didn't make any sense-- Demon and Spectre and Hitman were a whole lot more "mature content" than Books of Magic. But now, we've got these characters that nobody can use-- Swamp Thin, Tim Hunter-- because Vertigo is out of ideas for them but won't release them into DCU custody.<br /><br />(It sure seems like the Matt Wagner Madame Xanadu book has obliterated the wall-- but I haven't heard of any official change of policy, and the answer about Swamp Thing in the DCU still always seems to be "we can't have him unless Karen Berger gives us permission.")Jacob T. Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02575549001627195334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-53662081540139570812009-07-19T07:58:31.004-07:002009-07-19T07:58:31.004-07:00I guess the skull--Batman's?--is like a Black ...<i>I guess the skull--Batman's?--is like a Black Lantern ring dispenser now?</i><br /><br />Great. Now you've given DC merchandising a new idea--a $99 Batman-skull-Black-Lantern-ring-dispenser bust...snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181997862745538999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-89500011853748121902009-07-18T05:07:40.830-07:002009-07-18T05:07:40.830-07:00Really? When?
I was expecting this to happen this...<i>Really? When?<br /><br />I was expecting this to happen this whole issue, but I never noticed it. Who came back after being killed by a Black Lantern?</i><br /><br />Oh, I guess they didn't come back yet, but they were in the process of coming back. <br /><br />In the last panel (er, SPOILER ALERT, I guess), the Black Lantern ring font says the Hawks' names and then says "Rise." So I assume the Hawks are gonna be Black Lanterns next time we see 'em. <br /><br />I didn't notice until just now when I double checked, but two Black Lantern rings spill out of the skull in Black Hand's hand in that panel. I guess the skull--Batman's?--is like a Black Lantern ring dispenser now? Neat.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-84555790722503114542009-07-17T21:43:19.969-07:002009-07-17T21:43:19.969-07:00You're filtering out H-defined's comments?...You're filtering out H-defined's comments? Thank goodness.<br /><br />I normally love the disagreements and discussion blog comments provide, but H-defined never had a positive thing to contribute. I don't know what that guy's <i>problem</i> was.<br /><br />"(And the Black Lanterns work just like movie zombies; they kill characters, and then the recently dead get rings and rise again as zombies, adding to their ranks)"<br /><br />Really? When?<br /><br />I was expecting this to happen this whole issue, but I never noticed it. Who came back after being killed by a Black Lantern?Derekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14326906935557548236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-2556557279319008572009-07-17T14:25:59.621-07:002009-07-17T14:25:59.621-07:00They have Johnny DC so they got that demographic c...<i>They have Johnny DC so they got that demographic covered. I personally wouldn't want to read an all-ages DC Universe because it limits the amounts of stories you can tell. Maybe that is just my personal taste but I think it is a valid problem with all-ages stories.</i><br /><br />I don't think the Johnny DC titles do a very good job in terms of appealing to all-ages. I love <i>Tiny Titans</i>, sometimes love <i>Brave and The Bold</i> and the Captain Marvel book, but really don't care for <i>Super Friends</i> most months. Also, I'm a grown-up; if I were 10, 12 or 17, I don't know that I would care for those books at all.<br /><br />Marvel does a much better job with their <i>Marvel Adventures</i> books, which actually <i>are</i> all-ages (Johnny DC seems to be more kids books that adults can enjoy rather than all-ages, with the exception of <i>Tiny Titans</i>).<br /><br />When I say "all-ages" I don't mean "for kids." I mean a book that can be read and enjoyed by all ages. The greater DC Universe has been all-ages for, I don't know, 1939-2001 or so, hasn't it? (I should probably note that I <i>do</i> think certain corners of the DCU have always been darker and more mature than others; I think writers can and should be able to get away with a lot more in a Batman book than a Superman or Flash one, for example).<br /><br /><i>I do agree that DC should slap a Teens and Up sticker on it so people are not confused like Marvel does.</i><br /><br />Yeah, manga does something similar. Me, I wouldn't mind a tiny little "mature readers" on the covers of books like <i>Identity Crisis</i>, <i>Blackest Night</i>, Meltzer's <i>JLoA</i> and so on. If DC wants to do mature readers superheroes, that's cool, just let us know what you're doing and then really go for it. I think it's silly that we can see Hawkman getting his head pulped, but we can't see Hawkgirl topless or saying the f-word simply because this she's in a DCU comic instead of a Vertigo one.<br /><br /><i>Look at great literature with all of it's symbolism and so forth; I mean you need to take classes on some books to truly appreciate them. Would you say those are bad books because of this?</i><br /><br />Oh, I agree it <i>can</i> be fun to look stuff up, but I don't think it should be mandatory. Any great work of literature may have tons of deep symbolism and allusions and context that you can better appreciate if you take a class on it in college, but they also work perfectly well if you only get the surface level. ("Batman R.I.P." is a good example; it wasn't necessary to have read all those Silver Age stories to process the one Morrison was doing, but it adds a little something if you have).<br /><br />I think Johns actually did a great job of this in <i>Blackest Night</i>. He was referencing stuff at least as far back as <i>Cosmic Odyssey</i>, if not farther, but he explained the salient bits and how they'd relate to the story. In <i>Streets of Gotham</i>, I felt like I was missing pages.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-10873181484356577762009-07-17T09:18:06.673-07:002009-07-17T09:18:06.673-07:00I guess that guy deleted his post. Too bad. It'...I guess that guy deleted his post. Too bad. It's always funny when people get overly worked-up and unpleasant over comic books.JohnFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339402431610031589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-38475067175914145412009-07-17T05:12:40.885-07:002009-07-17T05:12:40.885-07:00Ohhh, I wish I knew what you guys were fighting ab...<i>Ohhh, I wish I knew what you guys were fighting about.</i><br /><br />Eh, nothing exciting. "Hdefined" made two comments on Wednesday night; the first, like his Michael Turner question above, was just a sarcastic complaint that answered itself, which I could either ignore like usual or delete. I thought I'd try deleting it this time. <br /><br />The second was an addendum to the first which corrected a typo (I used "feint" instead of "faint"), but because of the phrasing if I <i>just</i> deleted the first, his words woulda looked weird, as it was an addendum. <br /><br />Anyway, I put moderation on so I wouldn't then get a bunch of "Why didn't you post my comments, you sir are a passive aggressive coward" type comments while I slept. <br /><br />Sorry for the inconvenience; it's temporary.<br /><br /><br />Continuityblog, I hear ya, and I'll be back to respond this evening. I gotta get to the day job at the moment.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-3359227114288726702009-07-16T21:58:37.650-07:002009-07-16T21:58:37.650-07:00Ohhh, I wish I knew what you guys were fighting ab...Ohhh, I wish I knew what you guys were fighting about.JohnFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339402431610031589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-11650808220099682362009-07-16T20:55:19.848-07:002009-07-16T20:55:19.848-07:00I know DCU books are currently written for teens a...<i>I know DCU books are currently written for teens and adults, but I don't think they should be. Ideally, DCU books would all be all-ages. (It makes more business sense to tell stories for kids and adults, not for adults at the expense of children).</i><br /><br />I see what you are saying but I think you are wrong here with the expense of the children thing. They have Johnny DC so they got that demographic covered. I personally wouldn't want to read an all-ages DC Universe because it limits the amounts of stories you can tell. Maybe that is just my personal taste but I think it is a valid problem with all-ages stories. I want to read a story (i.e. Identity Crisis) that deals with adult issues and I don't think those stories could be done in all-ages DCU. I think they have it covered with Johnny DC and they shouldn't alter anything about the mainstream DCU just so children can read it.<br /><br />One thing that annoys me is when people suggest comics will die out if they don't appeal to children. The fact of the matter is that adults can gain hobbies too. <br /><br />I do agree that DC should slap a Teens and Up sticker on it so people are not confused like Marvel does.<br /><br /><i>Again, I know that is the case, but I don't think it should be. If you need to research a comic book just to understand it, then it's not a very good comic book, in my opinion.</i><br /><br />Once again I completely disagree although I think it's a generational thing or a matter of personal taste. I think sometimes research is the fun part of it. I knew the history of the DC Universe when I was 13 before I ever picked up a comic that wasn't a bat comic. I think that's great and fun to have that knowledge and have it accessible online. <br /><br />Look at great literature with all of it's symbolism and so forth; I mean you need to take classes on some books to truly appreciate them. Would you say those are bad books because of this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-61520687115213680472009-07-16T20:26:18.168-07:002009-07-16T20:26:18.168-07:00"H-defined",
Yeah, I enabled comment mo..."H-defined",<br /><br />Yeah, I enabled comment moderation Wednesday night because I didn't want to watch my comments section all night just to delete dumb comments you were making (I corrected the typo you pointed out, so thanks, but the <i>other</i> comment didn't make sense, and was just you being a jerk for being-a-jerk's sake.)<br /><br />I'm not tech-savvy enough to know how to ban a single user or to get into tracking down IP addresses or whatever, and I didn't really want to limit the blog to members or whatever simply because I have one faithful reader who likes to pick fights.<br /><br />As to ignoring your comments lately, I thought maybe that might be a good way to get you to go away. Guess not...?<br /><br />Regarding Turner, doesn't your sentence address that? I didn't like the guy's cover art, so when I was writing about covers and saw his art, I talked about how I didn't like it. That's what I do here--talk about comics-related stuff I like and don't like. Obviously I haven't been seeing much new cover art from Turner, so there hasn't been occasion to discuss his work, now has there?<br /><br />As for pathetic and spineless, well I <i>am</i> signing my name to my work here, aren't I? I at least have enough spine to admit my own identity in public.<br /><br />As for conflict-free blogging, is there <i>supposed</i> to be a bunch of conflict in comics blogging? Because I certainly don't do this to get in fights. Particularly not with anonymous strangers. <br /><br />Bottom line, if you don't like the blog, don't read it. If you have strong beliefs about the way you think this blog <i>should</i> be run, um, just start your own blog and do it yourself. I'd recommend blogger. It's free and easy to use.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-3113000384506701662009-07-16T19:36:28.944-07:002009-07-16T19:36:28.944-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Hdefinedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14402669731760470459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-19309909210330343182009-07-16T19:15:42.521-07:002009-07-16T19:15:42.521-07:00The Blonde Phantom, as far as I can remember, is s...The Blonde Phantom, as far as I can remember, is still somewhat older than most, but she hasn't aged because she's in a comic book. When John Byrne did She-Hulk, he had her get into the comic as a way to arrest her aging. I have no idea if that's still the status quo, but that's a great short run of comics, so I remember it. I'm surprised too that Guggenheim didn't try to explain it, because it was a bit strange. She does look a bit older in this issue than I would expect, so maybe that issue is where Guggenheim was getting his information.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481137891542684401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-77044304821220115462009-07-16T17:43:16.073-07:002009-07-16T17:43:16.073-07:00...but one thing that annoys me is when you write ...<i>...but one thing that annoys me is when you write as if this violence is horrible because children are reading it when in fact children are not supposed to be reading DC Universe books. The DC Universe books are geared towards teens and adults and have been for a long time.</i> <br /><br />I suppose I should probably do a full post at this at some point, as I usually just talk about violence in DCU and Marvel Universe comics in passing. <br /><br />I know DCU books are <i>currently</i> written for teens and adults, but I don't think they <i>should</i> be. Ideally, DCU books would all be all-ages. (It makes more business sense to tell stories for kids and adults, not for adults at the expense of children).<br /><br />These characters were created as children's characters, and while that doesn't mean they <i>can't</i> appear in more sophisticated stories, adding violence and gore <i>alone</i> doesn't made a story more sophisticated or adult, it just makes it more violent and gory. <br /><br />I am genuinely confused by the way DC treats adult content in their line. I don't necessarily like Marvel's ratings system, but I don't see why DC can't add a mature readers tag to books like GL if they're really meant for mature readers. <br /><br />It's just...weird that Vertigo bears mature reader warnings for swearing, while books starring Justice League characters have limbs being torn off and sex crimes and necrophilia and gorilla-sex and what not. <br /><br />I don't think this sort of stuff belongs in a Green Lantern comic, but for the most part, it works in this context. Johns and his collaborators could learn to suggest more and show less; not necessarily to make the books less gory, but to make the stories better.<br /><br /><br /><i>I think it was very easily understood and not everything has to be explained with the internet these days.</i><br /><br />Again, I know that <i>is</i> the case, but I don't think it <i>should</i> be. If you need to research a comic book just to understand it, then it's not a very good comic book, in my opinion.<br /><br /><i>That part really creeped me out, and was the part that I had to go back and flip through a few times. Intense.</i><br /><br />I did like the way Reis drew his fingers when they showed a close up of the mace, and E.M.'s fingers were kinda wrapped around it like tentacles.Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-39405816845804512612009-07-16T11:35:11.202-07:002009-07-16T11:35:11.202-07:00I realize that there are a lot of civil liberties ...I realize that there are a lot of civil liberties issues when you're talking about vigilante justice, but even so I was pretty weirded-out to see Tommy Elliot just chilling out in a Batcave prison cell. There's something really wrong with that.JohnFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09339402431610031589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-86667684595344787212009-07-16T08:29:43.897-07:002009-07-16T08:29:43.897-07:00I don't know. If someone TOLD me that zombie ...I don't know. If someone TOLD me that zombie Elongated Man with his arm (very creepily) wrapped around zombie Sue, beating Hawkman to death with a fully extended arm and mace, and then tearing out Hawkman's heart... yeah I would have said no way.<br /><br />But it worked for me! That part really creeped me out, and was the part that I had to go back and flip through a few times. Intense.Patrick Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04244280974612331889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-41153110148265190522009-07-16T06:29:03.902-07:002009-07-16T06:29:03.902-07:00The zombie Lantern idea is actually older than tha...The zombie Lantern idea is actually older than that! It goes all the way back to 1982, to a "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" three-parter. I'm half expecting the villain from that story, Nekron, to be behind the whole Blackest Night kerfuffle. I certainly wouldn't put it past Geoff Johns.Sea-of-Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00813600516703661200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-1924841993133929402009-07-15T23:37:55.143-07:002009-07-15T23:37:55.143-07:00That can be Carter Hall's new battle-cry. &qu...That can be Carter Hall's new battle-cry. "Surrender evil doers or its sloppy, angry make-outs time!"LurkerWithouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03540770911478925992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-4019184900125842332009-07-15T23:09:36.774-07:002009-07-15T23:09:36.774-07:00LOL I called it when I read the end of Blackest Ni...LOL I called it when I read the end of Blackest Night #1 that you would complain about the violence. I got to give you props for not mentioning the children this time. I think you are an amazing blogger (a thousand times better then I am) but one thing that annoys me is when you write as if this violence is horrible because children are reading it when in fact children are not supposed to be reading DC Universe books. The DC Universe books are geared towards teens and adults and have been for a long time. <br /><br />As for Streets of Gotham, I disagree that Dini's issue was not written for new readers. I think it was very easily understood and not everything has to be explained with the internet these days. (Although I have to admit I have been reading the Batbooks and even I thought the Hush cell in the batcave came out of left field)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com