Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Quick Hits


-I cannot for the life of me imagine anything more pointless or unneccessary than another dystopic X-men alternate timeline.

-Except for maybe another Wolverine title.

-Or another Deadpool title.

-Although, come to think of it, the current status quo for the X-franchise is a not-bad metaphor for the mentality of the big two comics - a group of people who have chosen to isolate themselves from the larger world and no longer even try to interact with it on equal terms. They dream of glory days that they helped to end with short-sightedness and petty grudges.

- I miss fiendish deathtraps in comics. It's just something that isn't done anymore, and it's kind of a sad loss if you ask me.

-Calling comic writers "Architects" is silly for a whole host of reasons. For the most part, they don't actually design anything as opposed to maintain an existing structure - that's not design, that maintenance. But as I've stated before "Corporate copyright Maintenance men" doesn't have quite that ring to it, you know?


-Another "This is something we don't need to see again" - a replacement Fantastic Four member.

-I feel sorry for the writers who have to fill in for JMS on Superman and Wonder Woman. Imagine spending all those years striving to work on your craft, climbing the rungs of the corporate field, with your dream of getting to work on one of the biggest franchises in history. Then, when you finally get there, you're hired to be a glorified ghostwriter. That's got to sting.



-Does anybody remember when superheroes actually fought each other because they...actually didn't like each other that much? As opposed to fighting each other because of some disagreements about a vague political debate?

-OK, let me get this straight - in the Captain America series right now, Bucky (the current Cap) is being put on trial for a few murders he committed over the course of about six decades, but Wolverine, who probably has a body count that would put him in the Hague for a war crimes tribunial and spends nearly half his time as a member of a group of untrusted mutants is a full-fledged Avenger who goes out in public and no one even bats an eye? How does that work?







5 comments:

Tom said...

Yes! Thank you for pointing out how Wolverine can slaughter hundreds of people world wide with a set of very unique weapons and no one ever tries to bring him in. Wolverine on a public team while running around as part of Cyclop's murder squad is senseless.

As for the JMS situation, I blame the editors as much as him. They spent years setting up the Krypton war and blew through it in what, four issues? And why, to satisfy JMS? To have a climax on a 600th issue or something? I think the only good fallout is Lex Luthor gets his own comic.

Finally, I think what is needed with the Fantastic Four is for them to go international. Reed could set up teams across the world, each one with a brick, an energy projector, a brain and eye candy. They can call it FF Unlimited. It's a completely original idea. ;)

Anonymous said...

I remember a Marvel novel that made good use of secret identities (and one of your bullet points reminds me of it):

http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Pierce-Askegren-Fingeroth-Askergen/dp/1572972351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291822222&sr=1-1

In that novel, Peter Parker goes to work for Tony Stark, while Spider-Man teams up with Iron Man. That was when both still had secret identities. Peter and Tony really hit it off, while Spidey and Iron Man can't stand one another. Top notch characterization in an otherwise forgettable novel. If your library has it, you might want to give it a shot. Or maybe buy it for a dollar at a thrift store.

mrjl said...

They aren't ghostwriting for him. They're continuing his plots but as far as I knew they're now the official writers. They aren't waiting for him to catch up or anything.

The people Wolverine kills aren't the the kind a lot of people are going to lose sleep over. And if they have family most of them seem to be for revenge rather than letting the law handle it.

I was unaware superheroes ever fought because they disliked each other. Usually the reason was some sort of misunderstanding.

Tom- Sue'll kick your ass for calling her eye candy. And you'll never see it coming.

MrCynical said...

Continuing his plots is...still not quite writing it, is it? In fact, it's almost exactly the kind of thing JMS rebelled at having done to him during his tenure on Spider-Man and what ultimately lead to his going to DC in the first place.

And as far as Wolverine's body count goes, it still doesn't matter that he's got a body count equal to or greater than Frank Castle, and he's considered a murderous psychopath that no one can trust.

Tom said...

I haven't been able to take Sue Richards seriously since the era when she wore that outfit Power Girl would be embarrassed to be seen in. :)

It doesn't matter that Wolverine only kills bad people, the crimes still have to be investigated. That's like saying Frank Castle would never be hunted by the police because he only kills mobsters. And MrCynical brings up an excellent point; why is The Punisher an outsider feared and reviled by the likes of Spider Man and Daredevil, but Wolverine gets to be an Avenger?

Oh, right, because of the Marvel mandate that he must be on every super hero team. He even converted to become part of the Jewish Avengers:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/12/08/comic-book-hanukkah/