Rolling SadFace 2010

With all of the style, grace and subtlety of DCU: Decisions, Cry For Justice (aka Sadface for Spandex) is over. Is Blackest Night done yet? What about Flash Rebirth? I feel like the DCU is still going through 2008.

Are you sure you want to say "deconstruct" there N'rama? http://www.newsarama.com/comics/Cry-For-Justice-Spoilers-100303.html It's not the same thing as destruct, you know.

(yes, i reinstalled deeceeplusplus and have been catching up on last 15 months)

Flash: Afterbirth, more like. Truly horrible.

When I noticed that Reggie Hudlin directed last night's episode of Modern Family, I thought about Geoff Johns and Smallville and felt a little sorry for him. He's got all the toys he's ever wanted, but what does he really do with them?

Winick:

She never really had an alter ego except in name only, so that's something we'll be concentrating on. I know that doesn't sound exciting for readers, but I think the Clark Kent of it all is very interesting.

I mean, I know there's been a tendency toward fanservice at DC lately, so it's refreshing to see someone try something else, but writing things you know ahead of time won't be interesting to read???

More comic press lolz:

So the fact he's co-writing DC Comics' "Justice League: Generation Lost" with the master of the bwa-ha-ha, Keith Giffen ("Magog" and "Doom Patrol") should come to no surprise.

I thought we had a Blackest Night thread, but I guess not. Anyway, Douglas kicks out the Johns, motherfucker: http://bit.ly/941aUl

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/files/2010/04/bday_0_p1-28_dylux-1-copy.jpg
yes yes y'all and it don't stop

I can't believe that's real. I refuse.

AAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!

That poor bird is the DC reader.

is there a thread for techniques people need to stop using in comics? -- panel copy time freeze plus dialogue/caption for yuks so done

what is the winick quote about?

is that time freeze or just passage of time, like the narrator is pausing for a beat?

I'm kind of torn: I can't condone bird killing, but i'm pro brain exploding.

Wtf, where is that bird page from?! Is it really playing the death of some random baby bird for cheap emotional manipulation?! Or does that bird actually have something to do with the plot? Because if it's the former, I don't know what to say.

The birds are the resurrected Hawkman & Hawkgirl's adopted kids and that flash of light is the new Dr. Light, killing baby Hawks so he can rape their little corpses (he's getting ready behind the plinth). It's all a set up for Aviary Crisis.

Ok.

xps You're right, that's what i meant - panel copy pause for a comedy beat. I mean, it works for say, Garfield, but I really hate seeing it in non-strip comics. I don't even mind the blunt symbolism a bit.

The Winick quote is about Power Girl (he's taking over, he's actually writing some big series for DC again after driving Green Arrow into the ground).
The bird page is a preview of this week's Brightest Day #0 by Geoff Johns and others.
The new Flash seems full of we're-killing-your-family, but Frances Manapul's art is pretty hot, like a cross between Karl Kerschl and Frank Espinosa.

also, is it just me, or is DC trying to NOT sell any Superman comics?

Gary Frank seems to draw Superman as cross-eyed a lot in Secret Origin. Like, a lot.

and sometimes wall-eyed.

thanks doc

FWIW, I think he's actually on to something re: "the Clark Kent of it all" being fertile ground (especially after several years of basically non-stop-punching event comics) for super-stories, but I thought it was funny that he would so openly, like, whatever, considering he hasn't really written any comics that are exciting for readers since about 2004 (sleazy Outsiders & Mahnke Batman were both pretty good).

It does make me ask - why does Power Girl need a secret ID? I mean, don't most people already love the Peeg as she is, personality wise? I guess it's a similar problem to Wonder Woman's where most writers don't seem to know how to actually write about a woman superhero. Still, I guess trying something new-ish is better than not trying at all.

"I mean, it works for say, Garfield, but I really hate seeing it in non-strip comics."

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/2489/garf2.gif

better?

Yes!

I don't know...I think, if you're going to do a Power Girl ongoing at all--and my official take is that nobody at DC right now except Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, maybe Flash, maybe Green Lantern, should have an ongoing at all, everything should be team books and limited series because six-issues is too long for a bullshit, filler story. That's half a fucking year, and too many books are running bullshit, filler stories ALL THE TIME. And really, how long can you or anyone sustain interest in Booster Gold? Or Green Arrow? I mean, I LOVE Green Arrow, but I've read so many bullshit, filler Green Arrow stories lately that I'd rather read about wall-eyed Christopher Reeve punching buck-toothed Kevin Bacon (Superman: Secret Origin). Or the new Blue Beetle. It's nice his series continued after he battled the Reach, but his adventures after Rogers left might have been best left off-panel. But, like, build some books around concepts, like Gotham Central or this Samaritan X, or around larger casts with interpersonal drama (like the classic X-Men, New Teen Titans and even JLI runs) and you've got stories forever, corners to explore, etc. Gail Simone knows what I'm talking about here, her BoP and Secret Six (despite it's low, low sales) are perfect examples of how to create longer-form narrative out of episodic storytelling. I mean, fuck, TV does it brilliantly! You've heard of TV, haven't you, DC?--you've gotta do something different than what you're doing with Supergirl or Wonder Woman, her two most-similar characters. Because PG does have a bit more of a defined personality than either Supergirl or Wonder Woman, you've gotta give her a supporting cast to play off, which is why people love her in the team books (same as Wolverine, really). I didn't read the Amanda Conner series, so I dunno what it was about, but I would be more interested in reading a book where Power Girl (or anyone primarily known as a role player in a team book) struggles with what happens when the punching stops.

aight I will admit right now that i only know about half of what you're talking about there, in terms of current DC universe stuff (I'm a trade reader and very behind). I absolutely WOULD like to see more stuff like new Blue Beetle or the Ryan Choi Atom, or lower-tier universe books like Gotham Central. I don't see the problem with having more books - if they don't sell, they die or get relegated as backup stories in bigger titles, right? I know for sure there's a hardcore audience who will buy those Booster Gold books, but maybe not enough to actually fund it?

Maybe I'm not sure what you're arguing here. Really curious about what you're talking about in Green Arrow though - I think I stopped reading around the time Ollie became mayor and/or proposed, but before that it was least somewhat fun to read for a few years.

If anything it's the team books I've had bad luck with, like various JL books and the Titans. JSA was really solid for years, then after it became Justice Society and started crossing over heavily into Justice League and things started getting iffy... and god help you when it's time to do the annual megacrossover, everything gets dropped, editorial decides to change teams... UGH.

Though I did really like Villains United, the original Secret Six mini and some of Simone's BoP run. Have you read Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman (meets West Wing) run from earlier this decade? That sounds like what you're talking about - pretty good stuff until IC smashed into the end.

btw total forehead.gif at the whole Christopher Reeve/Superman thing... i mean. come. on.

xp i gotta go with EZ on this! that crude C&P job is actually way less offensive than the original

also, is it just me, or is DC trying to NOT sell any Superman comics?

Personally, I'm okay with that. The Superman books have been relatively low-key and fun for the last couple of years, hearkening back to the old-school 'triangle issue' days. The day DC turns its focus on Supes and decides to build a huge event around that line is the day I split. I'm more than a little irked (largely at myself, admittedly) that I got pulled into the money pit that was Blackest Night just because I'd been following the Green Lantern books for a while. Johns, et al. have a couple of months to re-"wow" me before I decide whether that lot is still worth my dollar votes.

If that bird thing represents what the Green Lantern books are about these days, I'm glad I stopped reading them when all that rainbow colour ring stuff started happening, so I totally missed Blackest Night. I never was the biggest fan of the main book, but I thought the relaunched Green Lantern Corps was initially quite fun, when it was all about some light-hearted cosmic adventure and galactic police procedure, with relatively short story arcs. But then it got all tangled in the Big Crossover arcs going on in the main book, and I lost interest in it. I'd love to read an ongoing Green Lantern Corps series that'd be just about the Corps, and wouldn't be tied to Earth, Hal Jordan, or the Big Events in other DC books. Kinda like what Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova are doing over at Marvel.

GLC could possibly be going back in that direction, Tuomas. They're apparently creating a third Green Lantern title for Guy Gardner, so maybe all of the Earthy stuff will take place between that book and Green Lantern proper.

And I definitely agree that I like the Green Lantern stuff more when it leans more towards the sci-fi than the trad superhero tropes.

Yeah, I really liked some of the sci-fi stuff Dave Gibbons was doing when he was writing the title. And I thought the cast of various alien Lanterns was working pretty nicely, so I was kinda disappointed when Kyle Rayne "hijacked" the book. Is Kyle still around, or would GLC be about the non-human Lanterns again if Guy gets his own title?

When did Green Lantern:Flash:Green Arrow::Archie:Veronica:Betty?

Actually enjoyed Flash #1 quite a bit. Great art, lighter touch from Johns (plus he actually uses locations in this issue!) appreciated and thrillpowered last page not entirely dampened by preview pages of what appears to be Flash equivalent of Blackest Night.

in contrast, Green Arrow was thoroughly awful. Wretched dialogue, wretcheder art.

a third Green Lantern title for Guy Gardner

Okay, wtf, where is John Stewart in all this?

Maybe they're pretending that it's the early '90s and they'll also resurrect Mosaic for good measure?

Does Brightest Day entirely take place within a period between one sunrise and one sunset? Did Blackest Night, similarly, take place over one single night? If not, WTF YOU MORONS?

http://www.savagecritic.com/brian/i-have-read-the-worst-comic-i-have-ever-read/

It took him three issues to realize what a feckless piece of shitsploitation this series is? Really?

The Krul-written Blackest Night: Titans was pretty bad, and his Blackest Night GA issue was actively offensive (suggesting that Ollie has pedophiliac predilections). I really had no desire to read anything else of his beyond that.

Yeah but didn't he used to play bass for LCD soundsystem?

Rolling SadBack FOREVER

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/05/zack-snyder-superman

terrible

next re-boot should be all Bizarro and Brainiac imho

and maybe throw a littl Gorilla Grodd in there. Everyone loves a talking gorilla!

Are you guys crazy??? This is the guy who made Rorshack a totally kick-ass ninja. And it's being produced by the guy who made Batman a totally kick-ass ninja from a script by the guy who used to write JSA with the two best writers of any DC comics in the last five years, James Robinson and Geoff Johns.
It's gonna be a totally realistic reimaginationing of Superman as an urban streetfighter while staying totally 100% true to the Jerry Sienfeld and Simon Shuster original 1938 vision of a man who can see through walls but can't see into his own heart.

Seriously, though, if this means we get to see Malin Akerman as a sexy & skintight Lois Lane, I'm not totally against it.

james robinson's last movie script = the league of extraordinary gentleman oh o

can't be any worse than the singer movie, really