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Hey, did you hear that Disney is buying out Marvel? Huh? Did ya? No, didn't think so. They're keeping it pretty hush-hush, and no one on the Internet is freaking out in the slightest.
Ho, ho.
I've long since given up on getting worried about this sort of thing. Instead, I'm intrigued. I'm fascinated not only by where this is going, but what it has already affected. If the sale's been in the offing, behind the scenes, for most of the year, that explains a lot of the Marvel-related news of the past few weeks....
- Sony rushing the new Spider-Man films into production - Marvel's movie house ramping up the Avengers slate as quickly as it can - Quesada promising an imminent end to Dark Reign followed by "a year without cross-overs" - Fox screaming "LOOK HUGH JACKMAN IS GROWING HIS SIDEBURNS AGAIN UNDER OUR CONTRACT THAT COUNTS AS GREEN-LIGHTING A NEW WOLVERINE MOVIE LEAVE OUR RIGHTS ALONE ARRGH!"
It could well be a clearing of the slate for the new bosses. Disney keeps saying it's "business as usual", with the caveat that business will change once existing licences expire. Any editorial shift, within Marvel's various departments, will likely occur once established plans - such as Dark Reign - have concluded.
And what will the Marvel Universe look like once the Mouse takes the control? Scarcely different, I'd wager. I can't see Disney caring enough to meddle - it's more interested in the movie, TV and merchandising dollars than what appears on the comic pages. Some commentators fear Disney will force Marvel to sacrifice its character development and continuity in order to preserve the iconic marketability of its stable. Seriously guys: it’s not like Marvel isn’t already prepared to shat on its own canon, continuity and character development for the sake of mass-market appeal (see: One More Day).
I'd love to see someone do a webcomic or cartoon on the fanboy reaction. Maybe have all the Marvel characters wearing Mouse Ears and screaming "BUSINESS AS USUAL!!!" whenever the DC characters point incongruities out to them.
"Hey, Punisher, why are you carrying Super-Soakers instead of cannons and machine guns?" "I've always carried Super-Soakers. What are you talking about?" "But didn't you used to kill..." "BUSINESS AS USUAL!!!"
There are, as my five-year-old daughter pointed out this morning, plenty of upsides to this. Marvel cartoons on the Disney Channel, Marvel attractions at Disney World, Spidey toys in Disney shops, crossover merchandise... maybe even Donald Duck as the Hulk. My wife's looking forward to the Disney Princess Storm doll. I'm thinking Spider-Girl might get another lease on life, given the Mouse's love of the female fan dollar. raisedbymoogles mentioned the possibility of Marvel characters in Kingdom Hearts III, and I just about passed out from joy.
That's the way I wish people would look on this news: as a corporate, financial, business decision that could be fun, not as the death knell for anything "mature" in Marvel comics. I'd love for every geek in the world to calm down, wait and watch, and find the positives in this merging of two of the biggest icons of our childhood.
And while I'm making impossible wishes upon a star, I'd also like a pony.
Have you all seen how stunning the 7" single box set from the Watchmen score is? Its fantastic, and a true must have for any fans of the film. You should all check it out:
Having finally seen the film version of Watchmen, I feel any opinion I could express can be far better, and more eloquently, summed up by quoting two other people.
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"I don't think it is filmable. I didn't design it to show off the similarities between cinema and comics, which are there, but in my opinion are fairly unremarkable. It was designed to show off the things that comics could do that cinema and literature couldn't."
--> Alan Moore, The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made, 2002.
"While Watchmen is still as rich, daring, and intelligent an action film as there's ever been, it also proves Moore absolutely right [to distrust adaptations]. As a comic book, Watchmen is an extraordinary thing. As a movie, it's just another movie, awash with sound and fury."
--> Nick Dent, Time Out Sydney, February 25, 2009.
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Which leads me to the following uncomfortable question. Apologies, in advance, for my heresy - please keep in mind I love Watchmen, while at the same time am interested in dissecting it. Therefore, in the spirit of English lit class, I ask the wednesdaycomics readers:
If Watchmen, the graphic novel, is a thing of power and majesty because of the way it's told - the stylistic tricks, the use of imagery, the breaking with the conventions of the time - does that mean its central plot and story line, once stripped of those "tricks", is ordinary?
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
NEWSARAMA: But still - the larger picture here - sun gods, heroes with weapons of light, angels, supercool teens and funny animals joining together to kill a creature of darkness that was sucking the life out of the world. Metaphorically speaking...well, I'd guess that's a pretty big metaphor for what you're wanting to do with Final Crisis?
GRANT MORRISON: Your first sentence is a description of everything I love about comics. I just wanted to do the kind of comic I, and others like me, want to read. Apart from one or two things, I’m not getting much of what I’m into from mainstream hero books these days. They’re all well crafted and I enjoy the work of all my old favourites as usual but even with hundreds of books a month, I still can’t find many comics that deliver exactly what I, as a reader and a fan, am looking for from superheroes in these changing times. That’s why I wrote one.
Is "Final Crisis" DC's "One Last Day?" Just as a third of Marvel's Spider-Man readers stopped buying Spidey comics after Peter Parker sold his marriage to the devil, so to DC appear to be dealing with a mini-rebellion. While not apparent as much online, retailers have told me about longtime readers so incensed by "Final Crisis" that they have stopped their DCU books. The complaints usually involve an abscence of comprehension, a sense of condescension and a huge lack of cohesion.
Even the most cursory glance at the Internet can tell you Final Crisis is one of those books that has utterly divided fans.
Personally, I really enjoyed it. Though I had a few advantages over most: I don't read a lot of DC any more, and so have no real connection to continuity. I tend to like Morrison's work. I didn't buy the issues as they were released, but instead picked them up as a bundle when issue #7 came out and read the tale in a single sitting. And I have a thing for metatextuality in comic books.
What's the opinion of the wednesdaycomics readership? Yay or nay?
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
I have the worst luck when it comes to choosing Spider-Man titles. As I finished stocking up on Spider-Girl back issues, Marvel cancelled the book. My fiancee and I have been buying Ultimate Spider-Man in trade; the latest solicitations make it clear the book is ending. Granted, the former has been folded into Amazing Spider-Man Family while the latter will be either re-launched or go on to headline Ultimate Avengers, but still... it feels kinda sucky.
Which leads me to some questions:
1) Is Marvel seeking to bolster its Amazing Spider-Man sales by removing alternatives to the core title? 2) If so, will that strategy work? Do Spidey fans read all Spidey books, or only the Spidey books they like? Do they move to another title if their preferred flavour ceases to exist?
Those who like to flame, please note: I'm not suggestion methods any more nefarious, here, than commercial concern. No Brand New Day complaining, here. I'm wondering if Marvel is looking to unify the public's perception of Spidey, after a decade of multiple continuities, and consolidate readership in its thrice-weekly core book.
Anyway, while my Spider-luck seems poor, my fortunes with other Marvel characters continue to improve. Not content with having a two-issue Darkhawk mini-series and the character's role in War of Kings, the House of Ideas has bequeathed to us ( the Ascension mini-series.Collapse )
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
My fiancee has just finished reading Watchmen - the 1980s comic book that, arguably, changed the medium forever with its "deconstructionist" take on super heroes, its use of psychology, its symbolism and hidden messages. It's been hailed, since, as a work of literature and it's a book I've always considered revolutionary - though I read it years after it was released, it blew my mind nonetheless. My fiancee, by contrast, found it to be "meh". She says Alan Moore is pretentious and tries too hard to be meaningful - he wants to make a statement about how important comic books should be more than he wants to tell a story. While it may have been the start of the medium "growing up", she points out that all the titles she currently reads has done the same only better, leaving the book feeling dated to her.
I'm watching Buffy, The Vampire Slayer - the 1990s television series that, arguably, changed the medium forever by emphasising long character arcs, weaving dense continuity, focusing on snappy dialogue and proving "genre" stories could appeal to a broader market. My fiancee has long considered it one of her favourite TV shows - possibly even the favourite. By contrast, I like it but don't consider it unique. I feel Joss Whedon has applied the tropes of Amazing Spider-Man and (most especially) Uncanny X-Men to the more-accepted concept of vampires to appeal to a broader demographic. While it may have been the start of television "geeking out", I see it as copying the comic book industry, leaving the series feeling like a successor to me.
I find it fascinating that, when it comes to geek culture, it's not real-world time lines and chronology that dictates a piece's importance but, rather, the order in which you came to read/view it. Maybe that's a side-effect of the continuing availability of things like trade paperbacks and DVD box sets; concepts tend to lose their place in history - and resultant importance - in exchange for being evergreen and commercially viable.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
I was challenged recently (in a roundabout way) to inject some "positivity" into my columns; to "complain" less and talk more about the facets of the comic industry I enjoy. And while I maintain I've donethatallalong, the world is always a much nicer place when we speak of pleasant things.
Thus, I bring the happy. And today's happy is known by many names. They are Cebulski, Peterson, Pelletier and Darkhawk.
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
Last night, my fiancee pointed me toward this blog and its analysis of the first year of the new status quo in Amazing Spider-Man. It was an interesting and very enjoyable read, especially for someone who's not read an issue since things changed. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the ongoing debate over Marvel's editorial policies.
What most caught my attention, however, was a comment in response from one of the readers.
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One effect that One More Day had for me was tainting my respect for Peter Parker. The Peter I grew up reading about was always feeling sorry for himself, whining and struggling to do good, but in a likable way. But nowadays I look at him and see a self-pitying whiner who sold out his marriage to the devil because he couldn’t face life without his mother figure.
These days, when Peter feels sorry for himself I no longer share the pity; I’ve simply lost respect for the character.
It makes me sad. And it makes me even sadder to see so many fans who don’t mind. For all his many faults, Tony Stark at least has the strength of his convictions... post-OMD Parker is just a pitiful loser who deserves all the angst that life throws at him. Pete had true love and he threw it all away; as a consequence I’m not interested in his arrested-development emo tears anymore.
But hey, maybe that’s just me. If other Spider-Man readers don’t mind that Spidey sold out to the devil and gave up true love, more power to ‘em. I’ll be over here reading about heroes who I actually respect... comics are currently too expensive for me to waste money on poorly-conceived retro pap.
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It crystalised for me, at long last, the problem I've had with the reboot; the issue I've been struggling to articulate all along (but that liliaeth nailed from the get-go); why I can't just "get over it" and keep reading a book I've stuck with since I was two years old.
My problem is not the removal of the marriage. I'd have sucked it up and read about a divorced Peter, a widowed Peter, an oh-my-God-she-was-actually-a-Skrull-all-along Peter. But this new take on the character? This selfish, immature, emo-centric mama's boy who sold out his own life? No thanks - that, to me, is not a hero. Count me out, and continue to count me out.
It hurts me to say it, but I don't like Peter Parker anymore.
Before, I was wrong. It's not about the sushi. Nor about the soy sauce. It's about the sushi being made from a fish I like in the first place. And this new sushi lacks a strength of flavour that's pivotal to my enjoyment.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
It's not my job to dislike the stuff "everyone else" does. I just happen to remember what I do and don't like, I just happen to make informed rather than knee-jerk decisions, and I just happen to have opinions that can't be swayed by a colourful piece of plastic or a "gee whiz!" fanboy concept.
Me, prior to All Hail Megatron #1.
I'm thinking bad thoughts and hoping to be proven very, very wrong. I want IDW to surprise me, blow me away and exceed all my expectations.
Me, still prior to AHM #1.
This series, flaws and all, is finally working for me. That's not to say it's still not incredibly flawed, poorly-plotted, dull and has far too much emphasis on "ooh, 'cons are nasty and crush stuff" to be a good comic book. But it's better in my eyes than it's been since the first issue, anyway.
Me, post-AHM #3
I'd toyed, for a long time, with giving not only AHM but IDW's entire Transformers continuity the flick. The enforcibly-truncated ending to Revelations really ticked me off (would it have killed them to publish two more issues? I think not) and left a sour taste in my mouth. So too did the sudden appearance of the Creation Matrix (and it having "always" been in Prime's chest... what, did Nova leave it behind before he went a-travelling? Please), ruining Furman's original idea of "The Darkness" being a corrupted essence-o-Primus. That the ponderous, dull and poorly-plotted AHM was our replacement insulted me; between that and the yawning same-old-same-old that was Spotlight: Blurr, I was ready to exhange all my IDW issues at my local comic shop for the scant few Amazing Spider-Man comics I'm missing.
Given the relative strength of #4, I decided to wait until #5 before I made my decision. And you know what? I enjoyed #5 a heck of a lot.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF (cross-posted to They Are Among Us)
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
Illustrator, inker and comic-book creator Rich Faber is one of the truly good guys in the industry - he always goes that extra mile for his fans. I once bought some of his inked Green Lantern pages, and they arrived with a bundle of signed comics and other goodies that he'd included simply because he could.
It's becoming a sad fact that the good people in this world are the ones who tend to suffer. So it is with Rich: his wife has been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. Any and all cancers suck, quite frankly, but Mrs Faber's is one of the nastiest to fight. The couple and their young son are now struggling with some serious medical bills, and they could do with a hand.
I hope some of you reading this will check out Rich's blog post on the situation and consider giving him a hand. Your generosity will be rewarded not only with good karma, but also cool swag from an excellent artist. Yeah, times are tight for everyone right now, but it never hurts to help.
Greet the Fire as Your Friend, SF
dragontail is a professional journalist and published true-crime author, who has won awards for writings both journalistic and science-fiction. He is the creator of Otaku Journalism and his opinion column, Eating the Fugu, appears semi-regularly at wednesdaycomics.
