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
The "new" WW may contain the same darkness errors of recent 2007-03-06 19:24:00 Wonder Woman #4 Vol. 3 came out last week. The lateness that's now pushed out writer Allan Heinberg is already old news, but what's this that I find?The plot is very simple: the "new Wonder Woman" is basically a grim 'n' gritty version, Diana crafts a plan that leaves out a lot of her allies, and there are both stunning reversals and stunning reveals.I'm starting to wonder if even people like Heinberg really are doing the writing here as hacks.
More publicity stunts from Marvel, with Capt. America the victim this time 2007-03-07 16:38:00 Once more, it seems that we have a publicity
stunt upon our hands. And yes, it's an insult to a famous character and his fans too. In a New York Daily News exclusive, we're told that Steve Rogers, Captain America
, is going to be killed:Captain America is dead. The Marvel
Entertainment superhero, created in 1941 as a patriotic adversary for the Nazis, is killed off in Captain America #25, which hits the stands today.As Captain America emerges from a courthouse building, he is struck by a sniper's bullet in the shoulder and then hit again in the stomach, blood seeping out of his star-spangled costume.His death is sure to ignite controversy in the comic book world - still reeling from Superman's death in 1993 and resurrection the following year - and even political pundits, who may see Captain America's demise as an allegory for the United States."It's a hell of a time for him to go. We really need him now," said co-creator Joe Simon, 93, after being informed of his brainchild's de Read more:victim
Another astute observation on how Capt. America "ended" 2007-03-10 18:31:00 I hadn't noted this previously, but in Peter Sanderson's latest op-ed on Quick Stop Entertainment, he makes a good point about how Cap "ended" his career in defeat:The end of Civil War, in which Captain America
decides he is wrong for fighting for the freedom of his fellow superheroes, and an already infamous Civil War: Frontline sequence in which a woman self-righteously denounces the Captain for knowing nothing about America since he doesn’t waste time on YouTube (Say what? I would think Cap keeps himself rather busy continually saving the lives of this woman and other Americans over the course of his career. This woman’s attitude smacks of ageism. This suggests that 21st century Marvel regards the original Captain as a dated character. “‘He hasn't been living in the modern world and the world does move," says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.” in the CNN report.And here I think of Captain America as representing American ideals, which have endured for over two hundred
Stephen King ventures into comics. Big deal 2007-03-11 20:30:00 I'm not a very big fan of the horror genre, if at all, and there's only a handful of horror books in comics that I've got any interest in reading. Thus, I really couldn't get enthused about reading the [gushy] news that novelist Stephen
King is going to turn his Dark Tower into a comics series.It may not actually be a horror series, but still, given that King has told a tale or two in his career that I found distasteful, that's why I'm really not interested in this either, no matter how much it's sold.Besides, how can one really be excited when seeing how Joe Quesada veers into comedy again:"I think this is sort of like a coming-out party for the comic industry, a way to reach out to the mainstream," said Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. "We're a very serious art form."Too bad they don't manage it that way. Read more:Stephen King
Marvel mishandled retailing sales of Captain America #25 2007-03-14 10:00:00 A retailer at ICV2 echoes a similar sentiment to mine and various others, that Joe Quesada should resign as Marvel
's EIC: I'd like to respond to John Riley's comments on CaptainAmerica
. Diamond was sold out of Captain America
on Sunday night. I always do my re-orders on Sunday night and when I went to increase my orders on Captain America #25, they were already sold out. So obviously there were dealers who had inside information about this book. It must be nice to have inside information like that. There have always been extras on all of the Civil War books except this one. Hmmmmm! Sounds like a scandal to me. But that is the beauty of a one distributor system!Last night I asked myself how I could have missed ordering big on this book, so I looked in the December Marvel Previews and there was one of those black classified stamps across the content description for Captain America #25. How silly and ignorant is that. What other surprises await us with the other "classified" books?Mar Read more:retailing
300 is a success, but there's liberals and a surprise dissenter who don't like it 2007-03-13 23:22:00 300, the new movie adapted from Frank Miller's graphic novel from the late 1990s, has scored a remarkable success at the box office with at least 70 million dollars. I wonder if it has anything to do with Miller's patriotic standings. I have no idea, but that said, there are those who don't seem to think it's great for political reasons. For example, as Allahpundit at Hot Air finds, a film writer for Slate has taken the opportunity to turn it all into a red-and-blue state affair. I guess that's why I'll have to think about going to see it when I have the chance too then, eh?Hysterical liberal buffoons in the US aren't the only ones who seem to have a problem with it, because it seems to represent what they dislike. There's also - wouldn't you know it - Iran's tyrant Ahmedinejad and his gang who don't like it either (also via Hot Air):Iran on Monday strongly condemned the US film company Warner Bros. over the allegedly “anti-Iranian” blockbuster film 300. Javad Shamqadri,
Comics may have gone too far in how they deal with minority group characters 2007-03-13 23:11:00 I've been starting to wonder recently if comics today have gone too far in how they feature minority group characters, to the point of where they're only featured as stunt gimmicks, or serve little to no significant purpose beyond their just being.I found this debate panel on Silver Bullet Comics
about how to make comics more appealing to minority groups. But here's an even better question: must they? And how do they know that any minority groups are really asking for them to?And if they really have to appeal to minorities, why then does it only have to be according to race? That's the problem, that comic book publishers, in their attempts to reach out to minorities are still only featuring those considered minorities - black, Asian, Latino and caucasian. If they really want to appeal to minorities, not to mention show some creativity, why then can't they start featuring some characters of noteworthy European backgrounds, for example, of Hungarian, Armenian, Latvian, Romanian, Bul
Article about Tim Sale 2007-03-17 18:03:00 The Naperville Sun in Chicago has an article about artist Tim Sale that gives a surprising revelation: he's color blind and doesn't actually color his drawings. Rather, he uses:To simulate something that looks like painting (which he frequently uses for some of his comics work) Sale uses an ink wash technique that produces a largely black-and-white image. He dilutes the ink to produce subtler gray tones.Then the image is scanned into a computer at a really high resolution and a colorist adds color and textures so it looks like a painting."It's not that much different than the way I normally work, except they blow up the images really, really big and print it on canvas," he said of the mural-sized pieces often used on the show.Well now, that's certainly an interesting explanation about how Mr. Sale does his trade - by the virtue of modern technology! Read more:Article
Anti-conservatism in the 1980s 2007-03-20 05:25:00 With all the anti-conservative standings turning up in comics today, even allegorically, it's probably time to make some notes on that comics may have had some unfavorable leanings against conservatives for longer than one thinks.Now, let's take as an example some of Marvel's 1980s output. Some works, like for example, the time when president Reagan gave the Hulk a presidential pardon in 1982, were probably the most respectable you could find about a conservative in their comics at the time. Some of the stuff on this can be found here on Superhero Universe (and also here). But that's probably the closest you could get to a favorable depiction, as Captain America, on the other hand, took a turn towards featuring an unfavorable stand on Reagan in the mid-80s, which culminated in the story where Steve Rogers was fired and introduced John Walker to replace him, the protagonist who later became USAgent. Most appalling about him at the time was that, while he may not have been racist by
What are the reasons for comics declining? Not exactly what the following writer thinks 2007-03-20 23:42:00 Brad Mackay, the director of the Doug Wright Cartooning Awards in Canada, wrote in the Toronto Star about how comic books are on the decline. Unfortunately, he chose what I feel is a superficial argument at best, about why they're on the decline, and even runs the gauntlet of sugarcoating. First, what's this that he says here:For an industry famous for tales packed full of muscles and melodrama, the situation has prompted an unusual amount of soul searching. The would-be villains are many. Some have blamed the sales slide on cultural upstarts, like video games, manga and the ever-present Internet. Others point to the increased popularity of bookstore-friendly graphic novels, sales of which have recently surpassed traditional comics.But there are those who have begun to ask more complex questions, like how characters that are 40, or even 70, years old can remain relevant in an increasingly diverse society. This raises one of the oldest and most uncomfortable truths about the superhero
To them, this may be "it", but to me, it ain't 2007-03-22 20:53:00 Newsarama posts by far one of the most violent coverscans I've ever seen from Marvel, for New Avengers #31, which appears to be an "homage" to when Elektra was originally killed off in Daredevil #181 in 1983.According to a source from Marvel, this will mostly likely be the next big "it" book, as what happens on the cover is only the start of the story, and doesn't involve Elektra's resurrection a handful of issues later.I hate to say, but somehow, I doubt this'll be "it", seeing as I'm already disillusioned with Brian Michael Bendis for at least three years now.And this solicitation sure is going a bit far:No hype! No BS! The most important last page of any Marvel comic this year! Do not miss it!Wow, that's certainly an attention grabber, using even initials for profanity to raise people's eyebrows.The verdict: No sale.
I agree/disagree with IGN about Ms. Marvel 2007-03-21 21:26:00 I agree with IGN Comics that Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel
of the MCU, is one numero uno babe, and one of the best women in the MCU's cast of characters. I do not however, agree with this part:After the events of Civil War, Ms. Marvel is poised to be one of the most powerful characters in comics.After Civil War, and the eight issue of Carol's new series, they came pretty close to rendering her unlikable. Blogger Calvin Pitt (via Mortlake on the Shuylkill) said that:I haven't hated the main character of a book I bought this much since Tim Drake at the end of Robin's first One Year Later arc (the little bastard).Carol took on a standing as dreadful as those of Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man in CW, and if we're past that now, we - and she - should only be so lucky.IGN's right that Ms. Marvel is a number one hottie, but they shouldn't promote her based on a miniseries as terrible as Civil War was. That's superficial at worst, and obscures many of the deeper details about CW.
Booster Gold to get a new series 2007-03-23 13:05:00 It seems that Booster
Gold, who turned out to have faked his death in 52, is going to get another series
of his own. But while Dan Jurgens, who was a co-creator of Booster back in the late 80s, is drawing, it appears that Geoff Johns is co-writing this new book along with another person who came from movies named Jeff Katz, whose resume, I see, includes horror movies like Freddy vs. Jason. Who knows then if it's really worth it?
I'm glad I didn't read the Ion maxi-series 2007-03-26 00:04:00 Ron Marz's credibility as a writer continues to decline as the Ion maxi-series
ends:Um...what, exactly, was the point of this mini-series? Twelve issues of wheel-spinning: fights that didn’t go anywhere, relationships that didn’t go anywhere either, a death of yet another female close to the main character (leading to nothing but cheap angst), and plot developments with the Monitors and the Sinestro yellow rings that went unresolved — but hey, kids, buy the next GL mini-series and maybe then you’ll find out what’s going on!The continuing poor characterization of Kyle Rayner is alarming. Goodbye, Ron Marz, it's past your bedtime by now.I think I'll wisely continue to boycott the Flash, as it's being depicted now, too.
Eddie Berganza is laughable 2007-03-25 22:48:00 Now Supergirl #15 has come out, and reading a synopsis of it, I think that Eddie
Berganza's whole attempt to encourage the female audience to join up with the series has been exposed as an offense. Power Boy turns out to be a minion of Darkseid's from Apokolips, and is the kind of antagonist who keeps around a personal shrine for the girl with whom he's developed a psycho-obsession. But what's really telling is how now, Berganza's DC Nation has been rendered even more offensive than it looked at first glance. I had guessed from reading the end part that this would probably be the result, but all the same, it does look like a story just as embarrassing as the one where Kara is pitted against Cassie Cain. It's offensive because: how exactly is the female audience supposed to find the "mimbo" endearing when he turns out to be a villain with sick obsessions?And there you have it, Berganza's imbecile item really was an insult to the femme audience because Power Boy was a villain. If
The Ice princess cometh back 2007-03-24 23:03:00 I think that Gail Simone may have scored some credibility in bringing back a onetime female character who'd been killed off in the mid-90s, in Birds of Prey #104. She mentions it in this interview.If so, and if Ice is back not only to remain alive, but also to have the possiblity of development realized, then both she and DC have done something good by bringing back one of their female cast members for a change.However, there's still more damage that needs to be mended, or, more female characters who need to be brought back and un-vilified. I don't suppose maybe they're willing to deal with that already?
Marshall Rogers, RIP 2007-03-27 07:55:00 Marshall Rogers
, one of the most notable artists for Batman on Detective Comics in the Bronze Age, passed away at age 57. It's very sad that he died so young. He was one of comicdom's best artists, and he'll be very missed. Read more:Marshall
Launching a series from out of a crossover is not the way to go 2007-03-29 21:19:00 I found a discussion on Chuck Dixon's board that spoke about something I hadn't really thought of before: how DC's been using crossover
s like Zero Hour as a launching pad for series
that ultimately didn't do well. As the first poster asks:Here's my question...do comic companies 'push' ongoing series too quickly instead of doing a couple mini-series before launching an ongoing?As replied to in this thread:I think at least DC does. Look at the data from as far back as 10 years ago. Coming out of Zero Hour they tried to launch new on-goings without any kind of build-up beyond a scant mention in the mini. And save Starman all of them failed. Then they tried it again with series like Chase, Xero, Major Bummer, Young Heroes in Love, etc. and the same thing happened. The only "start from cold on-going" that took hold from that time period was Resurrection Man, and even that didn't last all that long. Now they've started doing it again with series like Manhunter and Bloodhound.You'd
A note on recent comic-to-movie projects 2007-03-29 19:45:00 I thought I'd write now about the difference between the successes had with Marvel and DC movie
adaptations being put into motion. As some may know, there's already an Iron Man movie in the works, and it looks like there's going to be another Fantastic Four movie as well. Those adaptations are getting off the ground.But what of DC adaptations? Wonder Woman has been shelved for now, as has even the Flash, with both Joss Whedon and David Goyer leaving the positions offered. And on the former adaptation, here's what I found out: as Whedon explained himself:"I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked," Whedon wrote. "Hey, not that complicated. Let me stress first that everybody at the studio and Silver Pictures were cool and professional. We just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that's never gonna work. Non-sympatico. It happens all the time. I don't think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was ta
Yes, the Punisher is becoming Captain America. No, I am not happy 2007-03-28 17:44:00 It really wasn't even being kept a secret. The Punisher
, Frank Castle, appears to be taking up Steve Rogers' role as CaptainAmerica
, and not only am I not impressed, I really don't like that outfit he's wearing either.I have no idea if Frank is actually going to be using deadly force in the role of the Star-Spangled Avenger (and I'm sure there's plenty of conservatives out there who'd agree that killing is not a path superheroes should truly have to explore), but in any case, I'm not wasting my time on this clearly deliberate and forced move. Nor am I impressed with this fluff-coated tommyrot press release from Marvel that IGN's just published:The creative team behind Punisher War Journal have been praised for bringing Frank back to the mainstream Marvel Universe in nothing but thoroughly entertaining stories. Writer Matt Fraction, the writer quickly making a name for himself with Punisher War Journal and co-writing the smash-hit The Immortal Iron Fist with Ed Brubaker, and
Second carnival edition I'm posting 2006-11-02 15:07:00 Welcome to the November 7, 2006 edition of the comic book carnival. I'm posting this early, and I'll have to note that due to a glitch or something that happened, some of the submissions got lost. I was luckily able to remember a few of the items I had stored here, and decided to post them now. If you ever submitted to this recently, please feel free to submit again.Now, let's see what we have here.comicinsight presents Comic Reviews: Hawkgirl #56 - DC posted at Comic Reviews. Hath Set and Khimaera are after Kendra.Googum presents Is it wrong to like Justice League Unlimited more than this? Probably. posted at Random Happenstance. Features a little on Justice League of America #212, by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler.Jim presents Comics And...: Comic Reviews : JLA #2 / Captain America #22 posted at Comics And....Danny presents NEWTONS: The Hulk posted at Adelaide Comics and Books: Aussie Comics, saying, "These appear to be stories of the Hulk printed specially in a format intended fo Read more:Second
First edition of the Comic Book Carnival I'm posting 2006-10-02 18:50:00 Welcome to the October 7, 2006 edition of the comic book carnival. Although the official date is actually in five days, I decided to post the current results now, because I wanted make sure I had a handle on how this works, as it's only the first time, and to see how I need to edit and fit everything together. So now, here's the entries!Jon Swift presents Cartoon Menace? posted at Jon Swift, saying, "Why all the focus now on the menace of cartoons?"JakeM presents "300" Trailer posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.Hube presents Movies that make you go "Hmmm..." posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.The Stop Button presents Justice Society. Paul Levitz & Gerry Conway. posted at The Stop Button, saying, "This blog article talks about the Gerry Conway's and Paul Levitz's revival of the Justice Society in the mid-70s."Hube presents Most valuable comics posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.Half a Pica presents An Un-Civil War: Marvel's Half-Ass Indictment of the War on Terror Pt. 1 posted at Half a Read more:Comic
, First
, Carnival
Opened a blog carnival edition 2006-09-20 07:40:00 I looked at the website of Blog Carnival, where there's plenty of carnivals of all sorts for many different subject being hosted, and seeing that there didn't seem to be any for comics, I thought of opening one up specially for comics, which can be partied whenever possible.(It reminds me that it's also possible for me, with these options, to submit some of my own writings to various other blog carnivals as well, besides occasionally submitting to trackback parties, to help inform the public as best as possible about what goes on in the world of comics, and so, I'll be trying with some of the other ones too whenever I can.)So, we'll see how well this goes. With any luck, it'll be great. I installed the link to the carnival I opened on the top of my side menu as well. Read more:Opened
Green Lantern Corps Annual #2: a trio of great stories 2007-04-01 16:42:00 Here's another item from within my collection I'm going to write about, this one the GreenLanternCorpsAnnual
#2 from 1986, which features a trio of short stories told by 3-4 different writers.The book begins with Steve Englehart's framework story featuring Sinestro in jail on Oa, which at the time was turned into a prison planet where intergalactic criminals could be kept. He's trying to make it seem as if he's got connections to some kind of lord out there, and that by telling some great stories, he can win a get-out-of-jail-free card. All the other convicts on his cell block are mighty annoyed by him, but along he goes and proceeds to tell a couple of short stories about occurances in the history of the GL Corps.We first start with one written by Mindy Newell, about a Han Solo-like soldier of fortune named Penn Maricc hanging out in one of these intergalactic bars who's approached by mysterious figures who ask of him to undertake the daring mission of rescuing an alien princ Read more:Green Lantern
Capt. America's fate depends on us 2007-03-31 21:27:00 Paul Dellinger, a writer for the Roanoke Times, lists some items from Captain America
's history, and makes a very good point that Steve Rogers' fate ultimately depends on his fans if he's to make it back alright.
Seventh Comic Book Carnival 2007-04-04 14:14:00 Welcome to the April 5, 2007 edition of the comic book carnival. And here are this month's entries.Hube presents Avengers Classic coming this June posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.Hube presents Superhero kills the president posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.Scott presents Comic
books and NASCAR: the Real Story posted at Polite Dissent.Accordion Guy presents Go tell the Spartans! posted at The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.Calvin Pitt presents Mistake or Mistruth posted at Reporting on Marvels and Legends.SuperFrenchie presents Dear SuperFrenchie colleagues: do your research, please! posted at SuperFrenchie.That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition ofthe comic book carnivalusing ourcarnival submission form.Past posts and future hosts can be found on ourblog carnival index page.Technorati tags: the comic book carnival, blog carnival.Note: it's strange how the javascript on front part of the carnival page doesn't show the upcoming schedu Read more:Carnival
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