The Tease of Things I Don't Need

Comics Blogging

As I've noted from time to time, I don't get my comics weekly, but instead see them every two to three weeks because I order them via Westfield Comics. So while all the hardcore comics bloggers are weighing in on the week's comics Wednesday or Thursday (and many, I suspect, are writing some of the pieces earlier given all the advance material the better comics shops receive) the best I could do would be sometime late the following Saturday every two or three weeks, depending upon how the month splits. Consequently, I've tended to avoid most comics bloggers who break down the week's comics.

Similarly, as I've also noted, I tend to avoid even the comics news sites because I'm spending enough on the comics as it is without having advance info spoil something for me. Discussion threads on sites can be even worse, because details about recent comics can be as bad as advance info to me since, well, if I haven't seen the most recent comics then it still is advance info for me.

However, I have begun taking a look at comics news sites again, though I believe all of those I'll mention below will be items from Newsarama.

While the hype machine quickly becomes tedious, I've decided I'll start looking at New Joe Fridays on the chance that they'll mention something of interest. This week the portions of interest to me are that in the wake of J. Michael Straczynski recent announcement that he'll be leaving the Fantastic Four, Joe Q. has named Dwayne McDuffie as the new writer.

While McDuffie's been working in comics for about 18 years, at Marvel, at least, he's largely been a fill-in/limited series guy. I enjoyed his Milestone work (Icon & early Static) but I'm not at all sure how good a fit he's going to be on Marvel's First and More Frequently Than Not Mishandled Family.

At the risk of being pegged as a redneck I'll express some concern that the FF's supporting cast may be on the verge of some forced racial integration. It's not that I object to a more diverse cast, I'd just hate to see someone forced in. Having Johnny suddenly pick up a new, African American girlfriend and/or suddenly start dressing in Hip Hop fashions as a cultural statement would be a turn-off. Still, that's unfair of me. It isn't as if I have some reason to think any of this is a mission for him. (Thanks to Crypt Leak for unexpectedly tricking Johnny out in some new, pimp style.)

A comics-reading co-worker's mentioned that Damage Control (which McDuffie co-created) has gotten a higher profile in at least one series of late, so now I'm wondering if that company's going to show up in the FF's pages before long. Not a concern, just a point of possible interest.

My main concerns at this point are: How does he see the FF and where they should be going? and How long will he maintain an interest in the series, considering that aside from the first 10 issues of Icon I'm unable to find him sticking with a title (as a writer) for more than five consecutive issues, with most of his work running one to three issues?

I'm sure that as the time approaches for the switchover Marvel and the comics sites will do the usual New Broom interview/preview pieces.

Joe teases when asked about what's to become of Thunderbolts (playfully referencing the almost universally-despised move made a few years ago to suddenly change the cast and turn it briefly into a series about super-powered wrestlers), and while I understand the need to keep the mood light in the face of questions not timed to fit the company agenda, there are times when it becomes clear that the only real concern is whether or not something will sell well, and that everything is ultimately sacrificed to that end. (Yeah, yeah, Welcome to Grown-Up Land, Mikey.)

That Gary Frank will be returning to work on Hulk pencils is potentially attractive news, but Joe's "...Gary will be illustrating some issues of Hulk..." comment doesn't exactly come across as word of some long committment. I haven't picked up old Greenskin's title in a while, and the Planet Hulk material I saw wasn't shifting my desires.

Finally, the cagey responses concerning the return of Marvel Comics Presents and this past week's defection of 52 editor and general deadline honcho Stephen Wacker from DC to Marvel have me wondering if Marvel is planning to make MCP - or the other, as yet unnamed, anthology title - into a weekly. Since MCP's format will be three 8-page stories, some of which will continue from issue to issue, and plans appear to include events affecting the rest of the Marvel universe, I have to wonder doubly about the planned frequency.

On the one hand, anthology titles in mainstream comics have traditionally sold poorly, but DC has been highly successful with 52, which is an anthology title masquerading as a single series by not showcasing transitions from one story to another within an issue via the usual separate splash pages and credits. By having it come out weekly, DC's kept another bane of anthologies from raising its head -- fans don't like to wait a month between 8-page installments of a story. Even if the requirements of an issue of 52 call for them to drop one of the stories for an issue or two, that's still only one or two weeks. People are able to get their fix of the storylines they're primarilty interested in at a fairly steady rate.

Speculating that all of this is true, then the next question will be whether or not Marvel will make MCP (or the other, unnamed anthology) central to some larger, universe-stretching storyline?
Most the remainder of the week's piece was a little company hype for Marvel's movie endeavors, a raft of comics I don't and likely won't read, and a spotlight of some Sean Chen artwork for Sensational Spider-Man that is nice enough and acceptatble as a conceptual piece -- a cover shot that's supposed to be a sort of nightmare scene for Spidey -- but...

... it's terribly posed in some respects.

What probably gets me most and immediately in that scene (I mean, aside from trying to figure out how they're all standing there that way, of course) are the folded-arm stances for Kingpin and Doc Ock. While these are potentially touching hommages to Benito Mussolini, and even ol' il duce didn't pull it off well enough to impress the international audience. His posturing antics are best remembered as source material for classic Curly Howard and, decades later, for John Lithgow's portrayal of Lord John Worfin. Or maybe I'm just completely out of touch, and they're now emulating someone's favorite Rap stars. Seriously, if that's the case, I would consider myself lucky if they'd go back to imitiating Mussolini. It would be more dignified and the background music wouldn't suck.

While I'm on the top of artists, may I give a heartfelt wish of success to Humberto Ramos on his continued work on Wolverine and may his upcoming fill-in on X-Men prove so successful that he either gets that title or one of the other X-Men titles, and his time is so monopolized that he doesn't have time or energy to illustrate anything else. I know he has fans whose worlds are rocked by his work, but I am most decidedly not one of them. Ramos is definitely one of those artists whose assignment to a title has caused me to drop it.

My basic rule is that if someone's artwork distracts from the storytelling experience then it's bad and should not be supported. So, while the Wolvie and X-fans whose art tastes are somehow more in line with mine have my sympathies, this is a case of better your favorites than mine, dudes..

As it is, I recently passed on ordering Ms. Marvel #9 because Mike Wieringo - and my problems with Wieringo's work are minor compared to those with Ramos - was listed as the artist. Hopefully it's just a fill-in, but either way I won't support it. Your mileage, as ever, will vary.

Okay... I have other things to get to today so I'm going to wrap this for now. However, today is not only one of the comics delivery days for me, it's also a week before the next Legends deadline so I'm more likely than usual to do at least one, large comics review post this weekend.