Cameos

It's pretty easy to look cool and leave quickly. As is obvious by my previous posts in this blog, I'm a comic book reader. As I got my weekly fix this week I came to the determination that Batman at the moment is much more enjoyable when not in his own book. Right now in the Batman comics we are in the middle of the "Batman W.T.F." storyline which is about as coherent as a junkie trying to convince me to give him a dollar. Related titles are beginning their obligatory tie-in stories. Honestly, I haven't been this disappointed in the Batman storyline since "Hush", and am on the verge of dropping the title yet again from my regular reading.

So, I'm not enjoying Batman in his own book at the moment, but I'm enjoying his appearances elsewhere. This week he appeared in Final Crisis: Requiem and Booster Gold. I greatly enjoyed both appearances. They showed something that gets overlooked often when handling the character: ultimately, he cares. This too often gets overlooked by the rabid Bat-fans who prefer to focus on the grittier "hardcore" aspect of the characters. Both issues with his appearances and well worth reading, even if you're not fans of Batman.

The thing with cameo appearances like this is that it's really easy to showcase one thing about a character without much baggage. The writer can make the character seem really cool, funny or tough. In a way it's a bit of a cheat. The more you're exposed to a character the more you come to understand them. Their flaws become visible. It's like having a long conversation. If it goes on long enough, eventually someone is going to say something stupid.

You can look cool without actually being cool. You just have to be quick about it. Show up, do something really cool, and get out of there. Leave the masses wanting more. Well, characters like Batman and Wolverine have been doing this for a very long time. Are they actually as cool as they seem or do the writers just seem to know when have them pop up and them slip away.

The cameo is a risky proposition. Do it too much and you're overexposed. It's tempting too. You need a little boost in sales, well let's throw in Power Girl for a cameo. What? You mean we need a reason for her to be there? You mean her boobs aren't enough? OF COURSE they're enough! Don't you read Wizard?!

No. The best cameos are short and sweet, but also have meaning. You can't just through in characters for no reason whatsoever. That's when it become gratuitous. Then the readers start getting sick of that character. Then they become the equivalent of Brittany Speares. There they are everywhere, and the audience wishes they weren't.

So, am I huge Batman fan? Not really. He's alright, and I am looking forward to the movie. However, like many things, he's better in small doses.