NOTE: The following is a first person editorial.Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to Komplicated and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Why talk about stuff at some other site? Oh, like you've never done any private projects when you're at work! Sometimes things get profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics … let's see what we get this week!
What? This week's reviews …
SWEET, SWEET CONSTANCY: Two weeks back. Right. Got that. Let's go.
WHO'S NEXT: I'm missing Secret Six and it's not even gone yet. It was such a decadent good time, with Gail Simone doing so much with the characters and the plots. She made it look so easy, working in the realm of bad people and making them transcendent. It'll be hard to find this kind of energy again, as Batgirl is a completely different kind of vibe, even though (and here I'm gonna spoil a little of what goes in this weekend's Sunday 9PM PST webcast) she will still be the woman who was Oracle, the idea of her going back into the field is tedious for me. Yeah, Misty Knight borrowed from this shtick heavily for the recent Heroes for Hire at the Mouse House of Ideas, but still …
I really like Who Is Jake Ellis? It's got the pacing of a Bourne film and the atmosphere of The Italian Job. The twists based on what Jake really is only entice me more. I hope this doesn't let me down in the final analysis.
Finally — and not just because we're trying to arrange an interview with him — I'm deciding early to buy the first three issues of Mister Terrific. Why? It's a Black man getting to write a Black man who relies on his intellect, and one who has experience working with developing nuance over time (writer Eric Wallace worked on the show Eureka) in a time when the industry works hard to marginalize Black characters. For whatever other beefs I may have, DC is putting more Black faces on the page, even if they're barely doing it behind the scenes. Here they got a Black writer. I'll support him for political reasons first, and hope he keeps me beyond that initial investment.
ALL OF THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE: If something worked (sort of), why not do it again? Right? Right?
- Captain America Corps: You have a transtemporal, transdimensional threat screwing up entire universes by whacking the equivalent of a Steve Rogers there. Who should you get to face down such a challenge? How about five melee combat specialists with zero energy manipulation, advanced scientific or even rapid strike capacities? Seems legit.
- Grodd of War: The fact that nobody at DC realized how offensive it would be for the entire continent of Africa to be subjugated under the articulated toes of a gorilla, superintelligent though he might be, is about … well, sadly, it's about as normal as this.
- Planet Red Hulk: If, during the course of your story, the lead character says, literally, something like, "The stuff that's happening to me here is exactly like the stuff that happened in that blockbuster smash project from a few years ago that was so big they made an animated movie out of it," that's not a good sign.
This kind of thinking is what made me invent The Pitch. Also: please wait a decent amount of time before rehashing an idea that was on the market so recently, back issues are easy to find. Waiting ten years minimum is advisable.
CAN ROBOTS HAVE SOULS? We had a huge discussion two weeks ago about whether or not robots can have souls, based upon Red Tornado being on a cover with Eclipso, all eclipsed. I forgot that it was anger that triggered Eclipso possession, believing people had to have souls to be affected by him as a (now) former wrath angel. Knowing that could have shut this whole discussion down, but whatever.
I came down on the side that robots, even sentient robots, even Transformers have no soul. Why? A soul, as I believe and was taught, is both informational (i.e. distinct to each individual and therefore able to be differentiated) and supernatural (as in transdimensional energy source that is not bound by corporeality or traditional physics). I argued down "can they feel compassion?" and "can they feel pain?" as qualifiers because "evil" people like Hitler even had pals and cats feel pain but I don't think they have a soul. Deep conversation, which probably cut down on the number of books I read, but whatever.
TIMES ARE HARD: A ponytailed guy came into the shop this week with a backpack full of comics to sell. Normally that'd get him sent out pretty quick, as most comics aren't worth buying. This guy, however? Amazing Fantasy #15. The first ten or so issues of The Avengers. Ditto for Fantastic Four. Literally a backpack full of bagged, boarded cultural treasures.
"I always intended to pass these on to my kids," he said. "But I don't have any kids, and with things being the way they are … I took 'em out of storage for the first time in fifteen years. I figured I could make a few bucks off of 'em." I had a touch of empathy for this guy … now, admittedly, that was after I had the fleeting though of smashing him in the head with the cash register, grabbing all the books, running out to my car, rushing home, grabbing the wife, the kids and the MacBook Pro and disappearing to Panama. Ignoring my natural first instinct — crime — was less about feeling bad for the guy and more for remembering how I hate travel, don't speak Spanish and like high speed internet access that's easy to find, even at 3AM. He walked out, to look for somewhere else to sell them.
CHANCE ENCOUNTERS: The week wasn't done being unusual. Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis walked in a few moments later. He was in town, it seems, working on his Powers series, but swung by the New Mexico set of The Avengers (New Mexico in June, musta been lovely) and got there right after a stuntman lost a chunk of his scalp in an accident. "He went right back to work," Bendis noted, surprised.
He took some jokes in stride, implying he had a Mauve Hulk in the works as Quislet suggested his French Hulk (with a beret and a steel baguette). "Gonna do all your material for the man, today?" I asked, which brought the house down. Good times.
SENOR SIDEKICK'S SUMMER SIT-IN: So Dr. Roost, also known as Tax Hitler, Senor Sidekick and sometimes Isaac, is a teacher. He's off for the summer. He's decided to use this chance to get to the comic shop before I can and stand in the prime area I have staked out for at least two presidential administrations. He thinks this is funny. The last time he did so, I tortured him endlessly. Hid his books when he wasn't watching. Slipped copies of Youngblood and Monarchy into his stack. Stuff like that.
This year? I don't have to. Trying to spite me, he left a little after the guy with the classic comics and missed Bendis altogether. Bendis is one of his favorite writers. I'm not used to seeing karma turn things around that fast, but it's something we can ride all summer long. So that's a good thing.
THAT'S THE NEWS, AND I AM OUTTA HERE: Tabu out.
Playing (Music): "Dancewitme" by Maxwell
[Source: Comic Book Resources]
