Owner: The Four Color Media Monitor URL:http://fourcolormedmon.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:59:42 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: The idea of this blog is to study how the mainstream media does its coverage of comic books, and to see what's being done right or wrong in how they report about comic book related news. Site statistics:Click here
What is so wrong with Mary Jane? 2007-01-20 18:47:00
And yet, strangely enough, some people don't seem to think so.
I try to avoid looking at Comic Boards these days, because the discussions there now, to be quite honest, are almost unbearable. But for now, here's but one item from their database, about the question of if Mary Jane
Watson-Parker will or won't be killed off. Let me make it clear that I am against it, and look down in disappointment upon Joe Quesada, the one who really doesn't like her, for reasons I cannot even begin to figure out.
Until a few years ago, I probably would have thought it unlikely that any so-called Marvel fan would actually be easy with getting rid of even the most minor lady with historically noteworthy status who's been around since the mid-80s or mid-90s, in contrast to DC, where some readers, if not all, seem to have no problem with destroying the minor ones, if any. But, as I discovered, while they may be a minority, there do seem to be some aimless bums out there who've developed a dislikin
Can Tony Stark be redeemed? 2007-01-20 17:10:00 BeaucoupKevin talks about the damage done to Shell-Head, most recently with the villification Tony's undergone in Civil War, and asks how we can be made to care about him again. (Hat tip: Bobb.) Read more:Stark
Comic book class 2007-01-21 18:53:00 The Miami Herald talks about a fourth/fifth grade teacher who runs a class
on writing and crafting stories about comic book heroes. Read more:Comic
Finally! JMS is leaving Spider-Man at last 2007-01-21 17:35:00 Man, I almost missed this news, but now that I have it available, I feel quite relieved. J. Michael Straczynski is leaving Amazing Spider
-Man (link via Spider-Man Crawl Space forum):
I've seen reports that the latest Wizard magazine mentioned that you're leaving Amazing Spider-Man this coming year. Is that true?
I've been giving it a lot of thought, and what I've enjoyed writing the most for Marvel have been the special projects, like Bullet Points, the new one I'm writing, and I'm most especially happy with how Thor is going. So I finally felt that the best thing I could do would be to devote myself almost entirely to those projects...come up with really cool 6, 12 or 18 issue special projects, in or out of ongoing titles, or reviving titles, and keep Thor my own monthly mainstream Marvel book, so I can give all of those the proper amount of attention.
The cool thing about this is that I get to play anywhere I want in the Marvel universe, I can tell whatever stories I want wit Read more:Finally
What if future Marvel and DC output resembles that of 52? 2007-01-21 17:26:00 Tim O'Neil at The Hurting predicts that in the future, mainline Marvel
and DC could end up resembling the weekly 52 series more than anything else, replete with gratutious storytelling. He's right to be concerned; I'm wondering if there could be a superfluous amount of crossovers that'll be hitting the audience. There certainly are more than a few "event" comics being hurled at us, most of which aren't worth the paper they were printed on, and which decidedly need to be avoided as well. Otherwise, the road to redeption will be made longer.
Firestorm, The Political Man 2007-01-25 12:32:00 In the now cancelled series featuring the "new" Firestorm
, the writer, Stuart Moore, injected an anti-war advertisement in the 30th issue. From Comic Glutton, here's an excerpt of the speech:
When my father was young, they had a saying: "Never trust anyone over thirty." It sounds silly - but it was a very serious response to the times. Back then, a group of older men had a stranglehold on the federal government...
Today, a new group of men controls all the branches of the federal government. Men of power ... They lie to us about weapons of mass destruction. They ruin crucial government agencies with shameless cronyism, then watch as our cities flood and die. They preach morality while they steal our jobs and bankrupt our future, little by little - all the while grabbing more and more money for themselves.Sigh. Again, another anti-war clown who won't look at any of the revelations that were made. It's been at least four years now, and still, we have writers who live in astounding
DC's World War III appears to be just another kill-fest 2007-01-26 07:17:00 I think we can all do ourselved a favor and not waste time upon this latest crossover-style farrago, because that's what I intend to do:
Tomasi and Siglain further indicated that World
War III would be a "continuity-changing event for a lot of characters," and that it will have a life-changing effect on one major DC character in particular. They couldn't reveal which major character's life would undergo such monumental changes other than that it would not be Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman. They did say, though, that fans should expect many characters to kick the bucket during World War
III.Sorry, but if that's all they can think of doing, then no sale. Read more:World War III
Frank Miller scores again on NPR 2007-01-28 17:34:00 Little Green Footballs has an audio recording of FrankMiller
's newest commentary on NPR (Hat tip: Hot Air). And I'm glad to have bought the first of three trade compilations of his work on Daredevil from the early 1980s.Rob at Say Anything blog has some more thoughts on Miller. Read more:scores
, Frank Miller
JMS insults the French on his way out from Fantastic Four 2007-01-28 17:15:00 Fantastic Four #541 is J. Michael Straczynski's last issue on the series, and having taken the time to read up about the story setup (and even to obtain a couple of panels), I hate to say, but, anyone who thinks that JMS has shown any real affection for the French
is sadly mistaken. First though, let's take a look at the following couple of panels:What we have here is a case of Ben being confronted by the IRS, acting on behalf of the government over Ben's opposition to the hero registration act in Civil War by confiscating the fortune he made several issues earlier, but which, while explored in the recent, short-lived solo book he had, was never given much attention in the FF afterwards. And while Ben may have said that he was against this policy which was written as an attack on US government policy in real life, they cannot freeze his assets unless he actually did commit a crime. Nice going there, JMS, trying to paint a picture of the US government as an evil entity that acts dict Read more:Fantastic
, Fantastic Four
, insults
We could do without this cliffhanger, really 2007-01-29 21:39:00 The Syracuse Post-Standard does its bad bit to sensationalize and certainly to sugarcoat the news about Civil War, here being about Spider-Man:Boy, Peter Parker (aka: Spider-Man ... but you knew that) just can't catch a break. First, just as he gets a little respect and security by joining up with the Avengers, he gets himself in a heap of trouble by becoming the poster boy for the government's Superhero Registration Act. As such, he's talked into revealing his secret identity to the public at a special pro-registration press conference. "Amazing Spider-Man No. 537," Marvel Comics; $2.99. Needless to say, this grand gesture, designed to inspire the undecided to come and join the team, results in Peter's personal life to be thrown into chaos. Forget about his day job as a high school teacher. No parent wants their child to attend a class where a vengeance-seeking super villain might break in and audit at any time. As for his Aunt May and his wife, M.J.? Let's just say that they're
Wanted: new editors for DC Comics 2007-01-31 16:47:00 Lots of chatter on several weblogs over this press release by Eddie Berganza, in which he drops the ball in his appeal for a female audience for Supergirl. I'll pinpoint a few of his nosedives:
When Joe Kelly took over fully with issue #9, we discussed the many paths we could take Kara in. Jeph Loeb with the incomparable Mike Turner had already created the buzz, and Greg Rucka kept your attention during his all too short run. What could Joe do? After a very serious conference call that involved Joe, our amazing penciller Ian Churchill, and my then Assistant Editor Jeanine Schaefer (she was pivotal in giving us a woman's point of view on the character—like, can Supergirl gain some weight, please?), it was decided to have Kara just try to be a real teenager. No standard hero on patrol bit here. We were gonna make Kara a typical teenager, which meant she wouldn't listen to the grownups (in her case a guy named Kal) and wouldn't appreciate being given chores (killing Kal for her dad, Read more:Comics
Fifth carnival edition 2007-02-01 17:57:00
Welcome to the Feb 5, 2007 edition of the comic book carnival. I'm posting it all a few days early again, partly because on Tuesday, I'll be in another town for hours. So now, here's the latest entries.
Brohans presents VIDEOS: Two X-Men Cartoon Intros: Guess Which One Is German. I Bet You Can't. posted at Brohans Video Blog. "X-Men videos"
Charles Rollo presents Is anyone normal? posted at Poochy Noodles.
Hube presents The Marvel Encyclopedia: Proof that proofreading is a lost art?? posted at The COLOSSUS OF RHODEY.
Jason presents Which Super Hero are You Most Like ?? posted at Random Super Heroes.
Elvis D presents Extreme Close-Up - 10 Thrillpill posted at Thrillpill.
Joel presents What'd Batgirl Do in the Great WWIII? posted at I Against Comics.
Mel Odom presents DVD Review: The Invincible Iron Man posted at Blogcritics. This is an animated movie based on Shell-Head.
Photon Torpedoes presents 1970s-era Marvel House Ads posted at Photon Torpedoes.
That conclude Read more:Fifth
I'm going to switch to the new Blogger mode soon 2007-02-02 15:32:00 I realized that in time, it would have to be done, and so soon, I'm going to switch
to the new, updated Blogger
version soon that uses tags and various other more advanced features.
I certainly hope that, when I make the switch to the new mode, that it'll turn out well. I know that there are some people who've experienced errors and such on their blogs when switching before being able to get things sorted out properly again. So, here's to hoping that I'll be able to manage the switch when I do it.
Thanks for ruining the Flash, DC 2007-02-02 13:18:00 Here's the analysis of monthly sales from The Beat that I'd wanted to look at earlier, and it tells that my favorite DC comics character, the Flash
, has really suffered thanks to the steps they took that I never asked for:
Sales are still dropping like a stone. This is probably the most spectacular failure we've seen in the direct market in recent years, in terms of relaunches. DC seem to be terribly embarrassed by it; instead of following the handbook and trying to downplay and sugar-coat the book's abysmal performance, they don't even dare to mention it in their state-of-the-union interviews.And I'm angry. When did I ever ask for Wally West to be replaced with a rendered-unrecognizable Bart Allen? I. did. not. And I wouldn't be surprised if plenty of other people didn't either, and were rightfully disappointed that Geoff Johns would not only end his run on it, but that the previous volume would end too, as if this had all of a sudden become one of those personal vanity ser Read more:Thanks
Well, there we are, it's done 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I was always so nervous about making the transfer, but, there you have it, I made it there at last. So now, here I am in brand new Blogger mode, and ready for action, baby!Update: it's excellent, the new controls and such! Very good!
LA Times fawns over "The First Genuine Middle Eastern Super Heroes." 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I'd heard something about this, which could very easily be, or contain, propaganda. The ultra-establishment Los Angeles Times
(via the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette) reports on a publishing company called "AK" from Cairo, that publishes comics with titles like "Jalila, Savior of the City of All Faiths" and "The Lone Warrior, Rakan."The very ambiguous article says in it:"The heroes are purposely crafted to be vague as to their religious faith, and they live a futuristic vision of the Mideast where national boundaries have been blurred and harmony is threatened by monsters, not intractable religious rivalries."Now of course, is this telling much? So as a result, I don't know if those monsters they speak of are meant to be analogies for anyone whose views they disagree with/despise."The comics have made a footprint in the Mideast - they are now handed out to kids on every flight of Egypt Air and they have replaced Spider-Man on bubble-gum wrappers in the region. But now AK Comics has its Read more:First
, Super
, Genuine
, Eastern
A mainstream columnist's swipe at Civil War's detractors only succeeds in making me feel honored 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Comics Buyer's Guide's Capt. Comics wrote an interview with Joe Quesada about Civil
War in issue #1619 that took a swipe at the detractors of the company wide crossover:CBG: With "Civil War
" coming on the heels of DC's successful "Infinite Crisis," the online cynics are snarking that Marvel's crossover is a "me too" response, and even the fair-minded wince at the timing. What would you say to counter this perception?Really, is that so? And who might those "online cynics" be or include? The blogosphere, for example? I don't know, but all the same, as an online writer myself, I'm honored to be called a cynic! LOL, I'm sure he didn't intend to, yet that's what he succeeded in doing - making
me for one feel honored by the implication of cynicism! Ha ha!Seriously now, the interview still misses the bigger picture, such as the mass interruption of the natural flow for only so many once great titles at Marvel, continuing the assault on Spider-Man's ability to be en Read more:columnist
John Cassaday, moral equationist 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The comics industry has yet one more member to match any of the lowliest people in Hollywood you can find, this being one John Cassaday, artist for titles like Planetary (written by Warren Ellis, if I'm correct), who gave a ghastly interview to Shotgun Reviews, in which he resorted to moral equivalence, and even sleaze talk:[interviewer:] You worked on the Marvel Knights relaunch of Captain America. Did you have any idea how controversial some aspects of the series would be at the time, and how do you feel about that in retrospect?[John Cassaday:] I was traveling in Europe when it was released, our military was already sweating through Afghanistan, and the book got the full range of responses in Europe and back home. Many Europeans felt it was easily labeled right-wing propaganda, then I'd get the responses from people in the states that seemed to come out of nowhere on the other side of the argument. In fact, film reviewer, Michael Medved, wrote a review on it. He claimed our Captai
American Library Association promotes bad books for teens 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Or is that the Young Adult Library
Services Association? Not sure, but in any case, we've got a problem of the ALA promoting Identity Crisis as a book for teenagers on this page here. Top ten great graphic novels for teens including IC? Simply abominable. Go to the contact page and look for the exact department to complain to. Read more:American
Having error in comments 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's probably just a minor glitch, but the Haloscan comments aren't showing. I'll see if I can check with support to see what happened.Update: looks like I was just worried about nothing, they're back and displaying correctly again. Three cheers for Haloscan! Hooray! Read more:Having
, error
Judd Winick interview on IGN 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Reading this interview
with the overrated (IMO anyway) Judd Winick on IGN's comics section, I must say, I was very underwhelmed.For example, he says:"I kept bringing up that Jim Starlin was able to accomplish so much in one of the first graphic novels which was The Death of Captain Marvel. I didn't know anything about Captain Marvel when I read that, but it was on the stands. I didn't know anything about the character, but I read that and it all held up. And by the end of the book you cared about this character and when he died it meant something. And that's what we thought about when we did Countdown, because a lot of people don't give a rat's ass about Blue Beetle. Let's have them fall in love with this guy over 60 pages and at the end when he dies it will mean something, it won't just be killing off a random character. 'Cause everybody in the room actually liked Blue Beetle.We all threw around names of characters who would be the one to carry the story, knowing it's going
Don't be fooled by this little "double-trick" 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This is funny. The ultra-establishment Captain Comics, Andrew Smith, writes a column for July 17 in which he tries to explain why movie critics didn't like the Fantastic Four movie, for the following reasons:All of these critics compared Fantastic Four unfavorably to other superhero movies. And, to a man, disliked FF because it wasn't as dark and brooding and psychologically troubled as those other movies.Well, I find that silly. Fantastic Four isn't like those other movies, because … well, those are different movies. Movies that tell different stories. Fantastic Four didn't tell a dark and brooding story, because the Fantastic Four aren't dark and brooding characters. The FF didn't see their parents gunned down when they were kids (Batman). They aren't hated and feared by a world they seek to protect (X-Men). They aren't juggling guilt and responsibility (Spider-Man).In general, they're having a whiz-bang of a good time. They're not even really superheroes -- they Read more:double
, little
, fooled
Johns leaves Titans, but the next writer (surprise, surprise) may not be any better 1970-01-01 00:59:59 So now, Geoff Johns
is making a grand exit from the Teen Titans
volume he was writing (H/T: Titans Tower Monitor). But who is he handing over the writing chores to? Adam Beechen, who is writing Robin, and, I'm sorry to say, has done quite a few things to tick off fans of Cassandra Cain, when DC editorial mandate decreed she be a villainess. As written about here, last year, Beechen, in his scripting for Robin, depicted Cass most disturbingly as a racial dragon lady stereotype, all the more disturbing given that she's a teen.And even if Johns has revealed in TT #43 that Cassie was under the influence of drugs from Deathstroke, that doesn't excuse the racial stereotyping Beechen wallowed in last year, nor the fact that Cass was turned into a criminal in the first place. In fact, why should she have to be? I'm sure that with a little work, she could find a better
mentor somewhere, not to mention a better foster family as well, and even ask the rest of the Bat-family if they could help Read more:leaves
Anti-war positions expressed in a children's comic book 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Here's something to think about: are even comics drawn from Saturday morning cartoons safe from anti-war propaganda? The answer: probably not, as this review of Justice League Unlimited #4, written by the ultra-establishment Don MacPherson of the Fourth Rail, shows:"What makes this story work is the plausible premise. A young man rejects the notion that his people must rely on an outsider for peace, for justice. The plot unfolds in a corny way, but the message is a solid one. The idea Beechen explores here is one of the reasons there is resistance in Iraq to U.S. efforts to bring democracy to the country. The people feel the Americans have usurped control of their destiny, and that's why they're treated as enemies as opposed to being perceived as the heroes the Bush administration wants them to be."Now this begs the question: what's so wrong with being a hero? Or, what's so wrong about being law-abiding? And who says that it's just and only the Bush administration that wants the Read more:positions
, comic book
"TC" for terrorism chic? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The Seattle Times features an article about the upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore's V for Vendetta. And from what can be told here, it appears that Moore himself, perhaps not surprisingly (is anything surprising nowadays?), is not happy about the finished film:The movie is based on an acclaimed graphic novel — but that book's author has called the screenplay "imbecilic" and wants nothing to do with the film. The lead actor was let go four weeks into the filming and his replacement never bothered to read the comic book. The main character is a masked terrorist on a rampage in London who uses the trains of the Underground to attack the government — a scenario that has proven too close to real life. And despite a trailer for the film that culminates in a voice-over telling the audience to "remember, remember the 5th of November" — a reference to the release date — the opening was delayed at first until February and then, most recently, until March.(snip)With so many travails, it
It's D for disaster alright. A for Abomination too 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Earlier this week, the MSM's comics representative, Captain Comics, wrote the following about the upcoming movie of V for Vendetta, scheduled to debut March 17:...McTeigue might turn the property into a simple morality tale, or worse, an action film. But hopefully the movie will make us think just as much as the graphic novel does.For my part, I'm looking forward to it - and to the ensuing debate about who and what "V" is.Or, maybe not. Because the great radioblogger Debbie Schlussel has just published an advance review of this very wretched movie that not only refutes what Capt. Comics is saying about making us think just as much as the novel, but might also make him want to think twice about looking forward to any other such debates either. From Debbie's article:Based on the graphic novel series of the same name, "V" comes complete with all the bogeymen the far left loves to hate: NSA spying and wiretaps; government renditions and torture complete with Abu Ghraib hood fashions; le Read more:Abomination
Is there hope for Ray Palmer and Jean Loring finding redemption and repair? 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I looked at this recent interview with Gail Simone from Newsarama. Towards the end, this is what she says:NRAMA: Starting to wrap this up, as with any long-term character, changing the individual under the mask is rarely met with open arms. Do you feel as if you've cleared a hump with Atom in that regard...and there is a growing acceptance, or are you more like Ron Marz, and Ryan is your Kyle Rayner?GS: I think Ron did a brilliant job with Kyle, to the point where even huge Hal fans felt at least some affection for the character. Ryan's a little different, in that he himself feels a little bit like a placeholder.Did I happen to mention the title for the arc starting in issue twelve?No?Okay. It's called, "The Hunt For Ray Palmer
"See? Slogging through these long interviews does have its rewards!Well I should hope that whatever she's script-writing does too, and will be about Ray, if he turns up, searching to prove his ex-wife's innocence. Otherwise, I have no interest in this Read more:redemption
An Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I usually agree with much of what the Mad Goblin of Spidey Kicks Butt has to say, but what he has to say towards the end of his latest essay on Spider-Man unmasking in Civil War is one of the few things where I'll have to disagree:Is it Permanent?I haven't a clue - you'll have to ask Joey Q. But it should be. I didn't say I wanted it to be permanent. But it should be. Anything less is a dramatic copout. The god Loki returning the "favor" he owed Spider-Man as a result of assisting in the rescue of his daughter in Amazing Spider-Man #504 (April 2004), a massive mindwipe by Dr. Strange, spinning the earth backwards, travelling in time, rebooting the Marvel Universe, Superboy punching through a wall - all of these are out and out cheats. Admittedly, they would be perfectly logical within the context of how the Marvel Universe operates, but they would be dramatically lazy.Like I said, I usually agree with him on many things, and this is much to think about within even this entry of his Read more:Emperor
, Clothes
, Syndrome
Partisan politics need to be kept away from in comics for a change 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Captain Comics of Scripps-Howard News fails to impress with what he has to say about Civil War's long-delayed finale:Marvel's "Civil War" miniseries, which was originally scheduled to end in November, 2006, finally wraps up this month. A lot of people have loathed this "Marvel Event," which involved the publisher's entire line and split their superheroes down the middle in a political dispute over civil liberties vs. security. I've actually enjoyed it, and look forward to the new, politically charged landscape of the Marvel Universe. But I think everyone, including me, has been frustrated by all the delays.More than just the delays, I'm afraid. It's because of how it attacks US government policy and the War on Terror, the opposition to illegal immigration, and even airport security measures, as J. Michael Straczynski's last issue of Fantastic Four could suggest.And I do not look forward at all to if the MCU is going to be more politically charged now. Not that it hasn't ever be Read more:Partisan
, politics
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