Transmetropolis

This Wordballoon interview with Greg Rucka (which is independently worth a listen for his thoughts on 52, Wonder Woman, and bringing Bucky back) ends with a discussion of the viability of a new Lois Lane-centric ongoing.

Rucka states the conventional wisdom, that setting a book in a superhero-universe without having a superhero lead is a non-seller, and points to his own critically praised but low-selling Gotham Central as proof. When the interviewer, John Siuntres, counters that a Daily Planet-ensemble book would still feature Clark "Superman" Kent and therefore might be viable, Rucka laughs it off, hoping that DC doesn't have the same idea, because while he'd love to write such a series, he just doesn't have the time.

Well, Greg, as much as I truly enjoy your work (and I do), I don't think you're the best writer for a Lois Lane ongoing. You have the characters you do well (i.e. Montoya), but Lois isn't a hard-drinking soldier dealing with a dead partner and a loss of identity.

Lois Lane is a driven, quick-witted, sharped tonged reporter with sometimes more brass than common sense dealing with real, topical issues set against a fantastic/science fictionopolis, and whose hard-bitten cynical exterior protects the surprisingly vulnerable heart of a true romantic. But, most importantly, Lois Lane takes crap from no one.

Which, let's face it, is Spider Jerusalem.


I know (my MySpace friend) Warren Ellis has that pesky "exclusive" contract with Marvel, but I honestly think he'd make a fantastic Superman writer, and an even better Lois Lane writer. Anyone who's read Transmetropolitan knows he can do the journalist hero; anyone who's read his run on The Authority knows he can do the super human action; and anyone who's read New Maps of Hell knows he has the Lois and Clark playful, competitive banter down cold. Their dialogue comes off as two people who both love each other and continually want to impress each other.

So what say you, Warren? Ready to give up writing "The New Adventures of Dark Speedball" in favor of "The Continuing Adventures of Lois Lane's Husband: Clark Kent"?

C'mon, Lois Lane deserves her own bowel disruptor!

Save me from Tom!

Baa! I've joined MySpace. Baa!

You can find me at http://www.myspace.com/stevenpadnick.

Be my friend!

Update: Thank you, uh, Warren Ellis. You're too kind. Gail, Will, the gauntlet's thrown. Was' up, now?

Scatter-Thoughts

Going on vacation for a week, so new post for a bit.

In the meantime, I leave you with some random thoughts.

Hey, Robert Kirkman, if you want to read about "an inexperienced hero who would get beaten up constantly and probably die," check out this week's Robin. Or Birds of Prey. Or 52.


The only thing that would have made the page of new heroes shouting their stupid names better is if they had shouted them in Logo Font.


Speaking of, Red Tornado looked beyond the veil of universe and saw 52... what? My guess: 52 other universes (which, including the universe he was in at the time, would be a full pack plus a wild card). And they're coming.


If the conversation on superheroes and class is going to keep going, we might want to start defining our terms. I realize in my own arguments I'm getting thrown off my point a lot by confusing aristocracy, wealth, style, education, power, and morality. The original question was whether the superhero genre perpetuates the myth of aristocracy, that some people are just born to rule. That's shifted a bit into whether Batman fights social injustice and why aren't more superheroes classy, with claims of anti-intellectualism thrown in.


The anti-intellectualism claims really bother me, for some reason. There's this odd assumption that having an education, particularly a post graduate education, is synonymous with being upper class, an influential figure on the course of society, which just isn't true. Most of the academics I know toil in obscurity (and read this blog! Hey, Aaron, David, and Jeff)!. As Cole points out, Kal-El is not a lost prince of Krypton. He's the son of a smart but not highly respected scientist. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (who we all agree runs Gotham, yes?) never even went to college. And back in the real world... well let's just say that being a total and complete moron doesn't stop you from getting elected President.


Casanova is a heck of good read. As is 100 Bullets, which has started barrelling towards its conclusion.


Has it really been a month since ANY issue of Superman's three ongoings have hit the shelves? And I have to wait till December for more All-Star goodness? C'mon! I'm starting to feel like a Green Lantern fan over here.


Speaking of, sort of, Morrison Batman run filled-in by The Spectre team of Ostrader and Mandrake? Yeah, I'll take that.


Yes, I heard about NextWave. No, I'm not surprised. No, I haven't rent my garments nor gnashed my teeth. Yes, that will be one less Marvel title I'm buying. Yes, I'll probably pick up whatever NextWave limited series come down the pike. No, I'm not buying Thunderbolts.

Tuesday Night Re-Recommendation #9

It has come to my attention that NextWave is one of Marvel's worst selling titles.

Which means not enough of you are listening to me. I mean, the book has humor, explosions, great dialogue, kicks to the face, Elsa Bloodstone, Fin Fang Foom, explosions, and Captain ****, whose name is so filthy Captain American beat the crap out of him just for mentioning it.

What more do you people want? How about dancing Mindless Ones?



Yes, we are one step closer to my dream of a superhero musical. And NextWave already has its own theme song!

Anyway, NextWave is a very FUN book. Possibly the most FUN book on the shelves. So, if you're looking to be entertained, you really need to buy NextWave tomorrow.

Because if you don't, Marvel is going to cancel the book. And if THAT happens...

THEN I CAN'T READ NEXTWAVE!

And that would be bad.


p.s. I has also come to my attention that Gail Simone thinks asking "Why aren't you reading this book?" is smug. To which I have to say, "Yeah, well, you... you're a great writer!"

That'll show her.

Big Pile of Awesome

Damn you people! I'm buying more and more comics because you keep recommending them, including Action Philosophers and Batman and the Mad Monk.

'Course, I couldn't read The Mad Monk without first reading Batman and the Monster Men, which just so happened to come out in a trade today, so I bought that too.

All in all, I bought 10 books this week, including the trade, and half of them I would never have picked up had I not started to seriously read comics blog.

I hope you're happy...

'cause I certainly am!

I have rarely had as high an enjoyment to total ratio as I did today.

The comic I enjoyed the least was Blue Beetle which still isn't living up to its very high potential, and even that was a lot of fun. (Though John Rogers, if you're somehow reading this, pick up the goddamn pace and chain Cully Hamner to a desk).

There's too many to review them all now, so I'll just hit one moment each that stood out.

Blue Beetle: The Phantom Stranger. Just seeing that guy's great.

Astonishing X-Men: Shadowcat-Fu.

Fell: Good old fashioned detective work

Wonder Woman: Twirling. Mother fucking twirling.

Justice League of America: The A.I. grapevine.

Action Philosophers: The Wandering Jew, which may be my next Halloween costume.

Batman and the Monster Men: The shadowy man training on the rings.

Batman and the Mad Monk: Good old fashioned Catwoman.

Batman: Andy Kubert cheeky use of Pop Art and a guest appearance by Sgt. Rock.

52: Montoya's prayer.

Yes, that is in ascending order of enjoyment. 52 was HANDS DOWN the best comic this week, with Joe Bennett bringing his A game to the art to support the head-on collision of two of the major plots, a genuinely tense sequence playing on both mystical fantasy and all-too-real violence, Talky Tawny and Uncle Dudley!!!, Black Adam getting nervous, The Question's role as a step ladder, the pay-off for the rat poison, and what a Marvel wedding looks like, the issue was great.

But what made it truly excellent was Renee Montoya's prayer. A lot has been said about her being a lesbian. Some people remember she's Hispanic (Dominican, to be exact). She's also a former cop and current alcoholic and, when it comes down to it, one of the baddest asses in Gotham.

But she's also Catholic, and her religion is very important to her. It's one of the reasons why she stayed in the closet. It is both a source of strength and of crippling guilt. And the juxtaposition of the Marvel Family wedding, where multiple gods are called upon to throw lightning around super beings flying through the air, and Montoya's quiet prayer to the mother of Jesus in the moment of her greatest need for personal strength, was genuinely moving.

So, what'd you think?

Tuesday Night Recommendation #6

Nextwave #6



Part parody, part satire, part surrealism, and part EXPLODO, NextWave has been Warren Ellis's most purely entertaining comic yet. You may not learn something, you may not feel any deep emotions or connections to the characters.

But you WILL laugh.

Basically, Warren Ellis has taken some of the lesser known and under used characters that Marvel had lying around, put them all on the same team, and unleashed them on some of the weirdest monsters in the Marvel Universe, which so far has included Broccoli Robots, a Corrupt Cop/Voltron giant, and Fin Fang Foom including the funniest page involving Fin Fang Foom ever drawn, until he topped himself the very next issue!

But don't take my word for it. Take Warren's.

BUY THIS BOOK!

Tuesday Night Recommendation #4

JLA CLASSIFIED #22



Vibe, man.

Vibe!

and if you AREN'T Scipio...

JLA CLASSIFIED was the title that was my Justice League fix after JLA proper turned nigh-unreadable.

It is exactly what I think all comics should be. Self-contained stories that are only as much a part of continuity as they need to be: from the deeply grounded in history Gail Simone run to the possibly in continuity, possibly not Warren Ellis run, from the Seven Soldiers launching Grant Morrison run, to the tragic irony of the way WAY out of continuity Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties run, this title has been a wonderful playground where the writers can play with the toys they want, without having to worry about sharing them (or BREAKING them).

And it really has been ALL STAR, as these top writers have been matched with some of the finest (if sometimes under appreciated) artists in DC's stable. While Ed McGuinness's name might move some issues, Butch Guice, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Kevin Maguire are MASTERS of their craft and turned out consistently top-notch work.

And this, I am sure, will be no exception. Comic book veteran Steve Engelhart is teamed with the criminally under-appreciated Tom Derenick to tell the story of JLA: Detroit, the ill-fated attempt at turning the Justice League into the Avengers. It didn't work, mostly because the writing wasn't there to support them before.

I have a feeling that will change.

So pick up JLA: CLASSIFIED to support different format for storytelling, to support two pros in the field are just not given enough props, to support a team of under-developed characters just waiting for the right writer to bring them to life.

But mostly, do it for Vibe.

meng.

Tuesday Night Recommendation #1

For my first Recommendation, I'm going to give you an easy one.

Fell #5

Why should you buy it?

a) It's only $1.99. You can't even get coffee at Starbucks for $1.99.

b) It's a done-in-one story. So even if you haven't picked up the book before you can get in at the beginning of the story, and ALSO get the ending. All for $1.99!

c) It's by Warren Ellis. The man has a good track record for thought provoking, boundary-stretching material. So you not only support a good comic, you support the effort to expand what comics can be!

d) It's a really good series. Detective Fell is the last good cop in a bad part of town. There is literally a crime going on everywhere he turns, and he seems to be the only one left that cares. Dark moody art contributes to the haunting atmosphere, but the book is really carried along by the sharp dialogue. Even in the muck, it seems, you can't lose your sense of humor.

e) Because I told you to. Really, that's all you need to know.

So, when you head down to your local comic book retailer this week, your mission, whether you choose to accept it or not, is to buy a copy of Fell #5 and read it.

Because saving good books is too important to leave to someone else.

Supervillain and Writers

On my other blog, I posted about how factions of the Republican Party match up pretty well with Superman villains.

But thinking about them, the villains, I though about how I would write them. And I realized that I would writer each in the style of a different writer.

For example, Lex Luthor, I would try to write him a Garth Ennis would write him. Ennis's villains are all over the map, Starr, the head of religious secret society, Ma Gnucci, the harridan head of a crime family, God, but they share certain characteristics. One, they weild an incredible amount of authority over other people. They are supremely arrogant. And though they profess to have only the highest ideals, in reality they are motivated by survival and satisfying their most basic desires. All of which fit Luthor to a T. But more than that, Ennis knows how to write a complete bastard that we really, really, want to punch in the face. If Superman isn't at least tempted to throw Luthor through a wall or two, then he's not Luthor.

Brainiac, the alien intelligence, I would try to write as Warren Ellis. Ellis writes bastards too, but his bastards tend to be the hero. Ellis's problem is that, though he pretends otherwise, he cares about people. His best villains, therefore, are monsterous intelligences, like the Four from Planetary, forget their own humanity and consider other human beings noticeable only as resources and playthings. Brainiac not only is an alien, but he moves away from his own biological original form, and away from anything Ellis or the reader could feel any sympathy for.

Mr. Mxyzptlk (which I spelled right on the first try... I am such a nerd)

Anyway, Mr. Myxzptlk is a fifth dimensional imp who not only can do anything he wants, he knows he's in a comic book and can bully and cajole the editor into shaping the story as he would like. That kind of fourth wall breaking meta-commentary is right up the alley of Grant Morrison.
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, and as far as I know, none of these writers have not written these characters.

Are there any other characters that should be written by certain writers, but haven't been yet?