Who watches what?

I totally missed the Watchmen wave, but I did go see it opening night. Everyone else has said everything there is to be said about it, but I will still add that it amused me to no end that it was rated 13+ here in Quebec.

Keith went to see it at Cavendish Mall (read: Old Jewish people-mall) and said by the time you saw Doc Manhattan in all his...splendor, half the audience had walked out. Glorious.

Mished-Mash

Just a couple of quick hits this time around.

IDW has relaunched a ton of G.I.Joe books this year, and the first issues were all pretty good. I 've always been a Joe fan, and I quite liked the Devil's Due stuff from 7-8 years ago, but it got a little tangled up there at the end. It was really time for a fresh start.

The three books are all different, and so far the "Cobra" book, staring Chuckles has been the best of the bunch, but they're all good reading and worth checking out.

I also picked up the Oni Press' "True Tales of Roller Derby: Doppelganger at the Hangar", which was wacky fun, but as an announcer for the 'Derby, I'm a little biased to all things involving Roller Skates. Plenty of derby goodness in this book, as it even takes up much of the ad space in the book. Good times.

Why I stopped reading Spider-Man

Without getting into "One More Day", which is a fun debate, but one I can have elsewhere, I know very clearly why I dropped Amazing Spider-Man.

The promise of impact.

I feel like Amazing Spider-Man has removed the promise to me, the reader, that the events that happen in the book will be important to the character, and through him, important to me.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me in reading comic books either. The death and rebirth of Jean Grey is probably the best example, though there are others. When the reality of "drama" is removed from a comic book, often shown through the death of a character, but not always, then I am no longer as invested in the story telling.

I understand that some people will say that they are able to just digest the new material for what it is, as fun entertainment, and that's great for them, but I don't feel the same way.

Take for example, a television series. Let's use "ER" for this example, as I think it's got a pretty good track record for maintaining it's continuity. If, this season, they had said "Doctor Greene didn't die of cancer, that was his twin brother!" then the reality of the "drama" would be challenged, and it would feel to me that the emotional investment I had made in the events surrounding the death of the character were cheated out of me, and I would feel bad about being a consumer of the television show.

So, as a reader of Spider-Man, or any comic book, for that matter, I feel that there is an unspoken deal between myself and the publisher that I will give them not only my dollars, but an emotional investment in their characters, and in return, I expect fine art and writing, and some care not to disregard the feelings that they've evoked from me previously.

That's not always the case, but I'd like to think it is.

And that is why I stopped buying Amazing Spider-Man.

Spider-Man, in challenging the reality and promised impact of the events that occur within it's pages, broke that unwritten contract with me. It suddenly said "Hey Scott, I know we told you earlier that this was important, but *sike!* it wasn't! We don't think that story we told you before was good enough, so it doesn't matter how much emotion you put into it, we're undoing it all. Hope you give us your money next month." I won't. I dropped the book, and I don't feel bad about it at all.

2009 - The Rise of Cobra

I was in Keith's car this past weekend and I decided that my life actually took a turn for the worse when I was a young teenager and gave up on my original life's goal of becoming a Dreadnok. I believe that had I continued my quest to join a fictional gang of swamp-dwelling, uneducated mercenaries that have a penchant for combining power tools with laser rifles, that I would be happier today. Keith and I agreed that it's not too late for me yet, and that the first steps in pursuit of this dream are to me the dreadlocking of my hair, and the choice to speak like Vinnie Jones 24-7.

Sadly, neither has happened in the week since. I'm sorry Zartan, I've failed you again.

In other G.I.Joe news, there is a new comic out, and I haven't had a chace to read it yet. I need to get my butt to ye olde comic shoppe. Also, the movie is due outin a few months. 2009 is truly the year of the Rise of Cobra.

"A gem of that size answers all my questions." - Zartan, G.I. Joe, the Movie

Top 10 Comic book battles

CSBG has a new top 25 up here. This is my submission.

10) Everyone vs Everyone else, including Captain Marvel vs Superman (Kingdom Come)
This fight is on my list because of the scale. It was epic. Love Ross or hate him, Kingdom Come became a classic because of this last battle outside the Gulag, with everything on the line. The panel of Superman there alone amongst the bodies of the fallen is iconic.

9) Batman and Green Arrow vs. Superman (DKR)
It doesn't ever get better. Many times before, many times after, Batman and Superman have fought, but it never stacks up to this one here. Messy, dirty, and decisive.

8) the Justice League vs Doomsday (The Death of Superman)
It's sort of a joke nowadays, but I still quite like this arc. Doomsday wades through the JLA, one of the weakest JLA incarnations. Beetle, Booster and Ice get really hurt, and Guy Gardner, Bloodwynd and Fire don't do to well either. Superman steps up to save the day. Doomsday would never again look as imposing, and Supes would be alive again by the end of the year, but the fight was really cool.

7) The X-Men vs the Hellfire Club, round II (Around Uncanny 200-210) Claremont and JRJR.
Again, no way this makes the top 25, but this fight was superior to their first meeting in the Dark Phoenix Saga in many ways. New members are on the team, and the Hellfire Club is ready to deal with the X-Men. Storm is depowered, and then Colossus and is neutralized quickly. Rogue is manipulated into stealing his powers and has to let him go or risk tearing his arm off as Leland sinks him into the earth. Just as the fight gets really nasty, Nimrod shows up. So awesome.

6) The Ultimates vs. Hulk (The Ultimates vol1, #6)
A newer fight, comparatively, but I read this issue, and then I read it again. It's great action, well choreographed by Millar and Hitch, and again, there is a feeling of tension here, because I didn't know what was going to happen. The first six issues of this book, capped off with this fight, made me a fan of Captain America like I never was before. Plus, the line "Hilk Smash Freddie Prinze jr.!" is solid. Gold.

5) East Coast Avenger Vs West Coast Avengers (2 part series in the annuals)
Eackos vs Whackos starts off as a baseball game between the two (Thor uses his hammer in place of a bat, for serious), but when The Gamesmaster and the Collector become involved, it turns into a one on one elimination fight to the death. A great fight just to see Hawkeye vs. She-Hulk.

4) Cannonball vs Gladiator (X-Men, with Joe Maduiera on pencils)
Cannonball is my favorite character, and seeing him take on The biggest, toughest guy in the universe in Gladiator was just pure eye-candy. This has no hope of making the top 25, sure, but it's a sentimental pick for me, and I reread this issue often enough.

3) Thing vs. The Champion (Marvel 2-in-1 Annual)
Quite possibly the single greatest comic book ever written in the super-hero genre. The Champion comes to earth to fight our greatest heroes in a boxing match. After easily wading through (through skill, or because they were disqualified for being morons) Colossus, Namor, Doc Samson, Hulk, Sasquatch, Wonder Man, and Thor, the Champion is getting bored with human. Then Ben Grimm, the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing steps up, and gives the Champ the fight of his life.

2) Dr. Strange, Wong, and the Night Stalkers vs Dracula (The Montesi Formula)
Dracula is powered up, and he's coming. Doc Strange needs his allies to buy him some time to get ready, and they set up a gauntlet for Dracula. Drake, Blade, Wong, and Hannibal King step up, and then easily get stepped on by Dracula, before Drac falls for Strange's trap and a fight on the Astral plain. I love this fight, and I dream of of seeing it live action one day.

1) The X-Men vs the Imperial Guard ( The Dark Phoenix Saga)
Quite possibly the greatest all time team battle to be depicted in comics. Tense drama without gore or ultra violence. A team of heroes really put in their place. When people like Storm and Wolverine are dropped easily, it set such a tone of hopelessness, that as a young reader, I really felt that their back was against the wall, that Cyke and Jean would be hard pressed to hit that two-on, two-out 9th inning home run. When they didn't I was shocked.

Comics and the Giller

Over in his blog, Bryan Lee O'Malley has a nice letter regarding the nomination of a graphic novel for the Giller prize that I quite agree with.

The Giller was already awarded, but it's still worth noting the argument made here.

Toronto Fan Expo 2008 - Part 3

Sophie and I both were pretty beat up by day one of the convention, from walking around and lugging pounds of loot with us. She had blisters, and I pulled something in my hip/ass area, (sure it may sound embarrassing, but I did, and I'll admit to it.) so we just about dropped dead when we got home. Keith had just driven in from Pembroke and was anxious to go out and party, and we were quick to squash those hopes and settled in for a night of sitting around, watching wrestling and playing Soul Calibur 2.

Up early-ish the next morning, the three of us got some breakfast and went beck down to the convention center, generally enthused because a) the con is awesome and b) Keith has a car, so we're not taking the subway there. Sophie becomes less enthused as the soundtrack for the trip downtown consists entirely of a hip-hop mix I had made the week before, and her decidedly metal tastes were left unsated.

We hit the floor of the con again, and quickly discovered that Saturday was much more crowded than Friday had been, and that the distinct tastes of three people made it difficult to keep together on the floor. Keith had purchased a VIP delux pass that would enable him to meet Wes Craven, shake his hand, hug, and so on. Unsure of what merch he would like to autograph, he consistently shot down my suggestion of a VHS copy of "Shocker". I still feel that this would have been a good idea, and according to Keith, someone at the VIP meet and greet had the same idea. I still think he missed out on a great opportunity there.

We scanned the program until coming upon one labeled "Alex Maleev Tells it Like it Is". Time to sit down for a bit.

I'd read Maleev's work with Brian Michael Bendis when they were on Daredevil, and I particularly liked his art during the mob war between the Kinpin and Mr. Silke, and this was enough to sit in for me. Sophie, well, she had blisters, and any reason to sit was good for her. Alex Maleev was a good speaker, despite his hesitation to admit it to himself. He was dryly witty, very frank with his opinions ( I paraphrase him when he said; Copying manga is not art, you have to learn to draw. Go to school.) and oddly, seemingly uninterested in the rest of the comics world.

It was his blunt manner that made the talk awesome. More so than other comic artists I've met, he was not shy about his ego, and while that might put some people off, I thought it at least showed some confidence in his work. A good parallel I think would be to compare him to hockey player Alex Kovalev, who doesn't play at modesty when talking about his skill. Maleev was very sure of himself, and that too, even if it rubs you the wrong way, makes for an interesting speaker. Keith is a longstanding fan and occasional practitioner of cockiness, so he was 100% won over.

Maleev spoke about growing up and studying in Bulgaria, getting his degree in Fine Art, and coming to the United States and sort of unwillingly getting into comics. He also told the crowd he was a certified ski instructor, and if anyone had any skiing questions, he could probably answer them better than comic-related ones.

When asked what character he would like to redesign if he could, he said "Spider-Woman" as if he'd been thinking about it for a while. He told us he'd put her in a black costume, with a big white spider on the chest. A couple of days later, I stopped by his table with a couple of issues of West Coast Avengers that had Spider-Woman II on the cover, to show him that there already was a Spider-Woman in a Venom-esque outfit, and in a dry and non-plussed fashion, he only said "See, I was right. It does look better." Awesome.

We also managed to catch a screening of "30 Days of Night: Blood Trails", which was a cool, short prequel to the movie that had a lot of the introduction from the original comic which was left out of the Hartnett film. Gory, but fun eye candy. After this, we had to run off to get food and catch a Roller Derby match.

More to come.