Saturday, April 28, 2012

Smatterday 04/28/2012

The Even Newer 52
So next week is the beginning of DC's "Second Wave" of titles for the New 52 (or whatever we're calling it now). Six new titles will be coming out, and while I am only really committing to Dial H, G.I. Combat (for the Unknown Solider stuff, primarily), and Earth 2, I imagine I'll check out the first issues of the other series as well, since it'll only be three more. Also because The Ravagers is spinning out of a crossover I plan to check out. Also because I still support, conceptually, the whole New 52 project and hope that this pattern of brining in new titles to replace those that are failing continues until DC has a full list of interesting, varied, successful comicbooks. A man can dream, can't he?

Not Comics
Is anyone else surprised by the continuing, ever-growing surge of superhero movies and TV series? When it all started to pick up steam several years ago with the first X-Men and Batman and Spider-Man films, I did not expect it to last this long or get this big. Some very popular, hotly-anticipated stuff is still coming out. Not something I'm especially happy or upset about, just genuinely surprised.

Spider-Man's Midlife Crisis
So as we all know Spider-Man turns 50 this year, and while the Internet is celebrating the milestone in a big way, Marvel's only official plans amount to another major arc from Dan Slott in Amazing Spider-Man, and the kind-of-interesting but also totally-tainting-the-whole-idea-behind-the-Ultimate-Universe mini-series Spider-Men. I'm excited for "Ends of the Earth" since Slot has been doing such a good job so far, and Spider-Men I could take or leave, but the real point is that one limited series and a big storyline seems somewhat small-time for one of the world's most popular superheroes. He does appear in almost all of Marvel's titles, I guess, so maybe they figure they celebrate his existence enough. Also Broadway and a second movie franchise. On second thought, they should consider scaling it back a little.

Good For You, Chris. Seriously.
Chris Roberson disassociated himself from DC this week, citing no personal problems with the people he worked with, but more sort of philosophical/ethical problems he had with the company's treatment of other creators. And they are good ones, and he backs them up. I love him for this, because so much of what you read in interviews and hear at conventions are creators toeing the party line about how great it is to work under the Big Two and how crossovers are fun to write for and all the other nonsense we basically understand to be untrue. There are plenty of people saying the opposite, too, but Roberson went ahead and quit his job over it, and in the name of creators other than himself, which is a pretty unique and applaudable thing to do. Good on you.

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