San Diego ComiCon 2008 Analysis

Didn't go, but I'd like to dish regardless...

The new Watchmen movie character posters FTW. The funny thing is, I'm not a huge Moore fan, but this looks to potentially improve on the source through translation, at least for my entertainment dollar.

I'm going to get politically incorrect for a moment. A friend of mine's brother is autistic. At least five years ago, he dressed for Halloween as a pirate. I complimented his costume. Every single time I've see him since he asks me, repeatedly, enthusiatically, "How's my pirate ship?" You'll forgive me then, when I hear Jason Vorhees is now laying devious traps and moving at high rates of speed with pinpoint precision, I ask, "but, Jason's a fucking retard?" I realize our modern society no longer fears the creeping inevitable, unless its an economic recession, so gone are lumbering mummies, zombies, and now-- et tu, slasher? The main thing that bothers me is that if any of these remakes should have allowed for high octane holiday-themed massacres, it was "Halloween." Michael Myers started it all, and despite bad sequals, was a clever killer who could have been refitted for the 90's on better chassis than white trash with a 70's AOR soundtrack.

While I'm offending minorities, what does it say about the progress of the American Negro when Black Entertainment Television produces a brand new Marvel Super Heroes cartoon? I mean literally, like the show that ran from 1966-69. I can almost see the wires. I love the Black Panther, but my interest is on the decline. It was safe to assume the Reggie Hudlin material would be the basis for the series, and I've tried to support his repeatedly, which amounts to shame on me.

Gaiman on Batman? For two issues? I smell the stink of disappointment coming off three of the four winds, but we'll see how she blows next year.

In order to keep everyone honest, the Ultimates line was all about producing entry-level books for new fans coming out of the X-Men and Spider-Man movies. It's now long in the tooth with elements that muddy the throughline of the new batch of Marvel movies. Plus, Marvel allowed their top talent to work on in-continuity titles, while the line went to seed. Is it any wonder we're seeing the unpcoming contract-and-expand rebirth of the line? With the talent already handling Iron Man/Captain America/etc does it serve a purpose anymore?

Somebody explain what DC is thinking with this integrated licensing business? I like the Milestone characters, and see no reason why they can't exist on Earth-35 and host DC characters in a new mini-line. I don't get the rights nightmare of incorporating Icon and Static into Teen Titans and JLA, unless Milestone Media has signed away rights, which seems more unfortunate to me than anything. Was ownership compromised from inception, queering Milestone taking, say, Hardware elsewhere-- in the manner of DC being unable to get movies made outside Warner Brothers? Worse is this business where the Archie super-heroes will be joining Batman in the new Brave and the Bold. I hate to burst the bubbles of the 15 combined fans of Mighty/Red Circle/!mpact characters, but they are absolute losers. They have never, ever, in any way been a sucess. They died quickly in the Golden Age, and have had one non-revival lasting under three years per decade since the 60's (70's exempted.) They are failures, DC won't redeem them, and I don't understand why anyone would need to have that reality explained to them. Good money after bad, but Archie praises Jesus for the rubes.

Speaking of DC failing lines, didn't they just reboot Wildstorm a couple years ago? Third time's the charm?

What is it with Marvel feeling the need to date their line with a bunch of geriatric 40's/50's throwbacks? Sentry, the Twelve, the Lost Generation, Agents of Atlas, and now Blue Marvel? Didn't "Truth" get this shit out of your systems? I reckon it would have been nice ti have had black super-heroes in the 40's and 50's, but the Marvel Universe truly began in the 60's, and they gave us some great heroes like Black Panther. DC needs "Blue Marvel." Marvel needs to get its head out of DC's ass and live for today.

Case in point: War Machine. Boo. Yah. That's the stuff.

Anyone ever read Mister X? I've always wanted to...

I'm really looking forward to Darwyn Cooke on the "Parker" books.

Rose McGowen is too old and surgically victimized to play Barbarella, but with a time machine or vaseline on the lens that could still have worked great. Red Sonja? Bridgette Nielson could still snap the increasingly twiggy McGowen in half. You need at least Jessica Biel's build to qualify for She-Devil With A Sword. Green screen won't cut it.

It's about time Image named Robert Kirkman a partner, and I sincerely hope he focuses all his creative energies on creator-owned properties in the future. That guy's a real talent, but it was squandered at Marvel. Maybe he could steal a reasonable facimilie of his Ant-Man back, like the Image Seven all did when forming their company?

"Image United?" Did we forget "Shattered Image" and the 10th (--er--15th--ish) Anniversary Hardcover? Highly dubious.

Christos Gage's "Absolution?" Should have went to Image instead of Avatar...

Really getting excited about the animated D2DVD Wonder Woman. I'm pleased with her more ethnic features, as well.

I'm just going to say it-- "Batman: The Animated Series" was far from perfect. I don't feel it was built for repeat viewings. You had two kinds of episodes; the ones that were involving and memorable, so you didn't want to see them too often; and the ones that were plain dull. The Superman series fares better with far fewer episodes because they were more action-oriented with a wider variety of locales and guest-appearances. They weren't nearly as smart, but they were more generally fun. The new Brave and the Bold series seems to give viewers the Dark Knight, with Superman's pacing, and Justice League Unlimited's cast of hundreds. I'm very enthused about this.