Today's Side is a bit light on news and heavy on my opining and rambling. I'd have gone through more effort to hunt down more news, but I'm working hard to curb the crime spree of a three-year-old who despite knowing you have to pay for things in stores thought it was a good idea to haul ass out of an FYE in the mall with a SUPER FRIENDS DVD before paying.
OK, that may not technically be a "spree" but that's how these things start!
HOWDY MISTER ROGERS
That's some art that's mostly likely going to be the look Captain America sports in the upcoming movie. They look to be going with WWII era heavily and that's fine by me. Should be fun.
BAT-THEORIES
With Bruce Wayne returning there's a lot going on in the Batman comics. For those new to here and that have not been following Batman, Bruce Wayne was trapped in the past after battling Darkseid. Now something has him bouncing through time and we're told that if he gets back to the present very bad things will happen. Here's some of what we know:* Bruce Wayne traveling through time seems to be allowing him to reclaim different aspects of himself and his memory seems to be starting to come back.
* Wayne is also creating a situation that will allow for himself to become Batman.
* Bruce Wayne was at the end of time.
* The Black Glove is shown to be Bruce Wayne's father Thomas in an origin that isn't possible.
* The Black Glove cursed Bruce and it seemed to come true as his very next case led him straight to Darkseid.
* The events that led to the story in BATMAN #666 featuring Dick Grayson's death and Damien Wayne becoming Batman seem to be coming true.
But there's still a lot we don't know and the pertinent questions seem to be:
* What is the true identity of The Black Glove?
* Is there a connection between The Black Glove and Darkseid?
* What is within Bruce Wayne that is so dangerous?
* What is the Joker's hand in this?
So, what are the possibilities? Well there's a lot, but I've got a few thoughts:
* This could be Darkseid centric. After the war we did not see in FINAL CRISIS the New Gods and the Gods of Apokalypse got bounced backwards in time. The methods of the Black Glove and Darkseid resemble each other in that they want to twist and corrupt that which is good. The Black Glove could be one of Darkseid's agents and the alternate origin could be what he hopes to replace the history we know with. What Bruce could be carrying inside him is an "imprint" of Darkseid which is growing and hoping to be reborn when the time is right.
* This could be Devil centric. Going with the notion that the Black Glove is an incarnation of the Devil and let's assume that he's factored in Darkseid with his curse on Batman's cape and cowl. Perhaps he's trying to manipulate events so that Bruce's time traveling somehow allows a situation in which the impossible origin become possible. Its like time and reality are a slinky bouncing down the stairs. the same events keep circling around each other, but each time just a little more removed from the original loop.
This is of course the conjecture of one nutter that really should get more sleep.
BY THE NUMBERS
Currently I have 41 follower on this blog. That's about 30-some more than expected. This also does not take into account the ones that follow that are not shown, so the actual number may indeed be 42. The number of blogs I currently follow is in the single digits. Over on Google Buzz I have just over 150 followers and i follow just over 50. Twitter is another story. My account there is less than a week old. I follow a dozen folks and am followed by two.
My online time is limited so there's only so much content I can view and mentally process. That's why the number of things I follow is very limited. Looking at some accounts I see that there are people that follow hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, and they have a few hundred followers themselves. This is the I'll follow you if you'll follow me and really this is pointless for anyone who wants to see content. Its fine if all you want to do is sell sell sell. But consider this if you want people to read and appreciate your content: if they follow hundred of thousands of people, there's not way that they are going to pay any attention to your work. It'll be lost in the shuffle.
Between the blog, Twitter and Buzz two of the three bast higher numbers in followers versus following. It just may be possible that I'm doing something right. Don't faint.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Being that I love comics in a way that may be considered unhealthy, I also love it when people who make good comics get their due. So when Mark Waid was shown the door over at DC I was not happy because he makes great comics. I honestly think some powers that be over there saw him as a bit of a threat because Waid could do his job better and the fans knew it. But that's history and Mister Waid has moved on over to Boom. Boom at the time had been struggling a bit. They had good stuff, but it wasn't quite hitting with readers.Enter Mark Waid: Editor-in-chief. *Cue dramatic music.*
Now just a couple years later the company has won numerous awards and is doing quite well not only with their existing titles, but they have also bought a great line of kids comics to the forefront, which is something that's been sorely lacking. So now he's gotten a promotion to Chief Creative Officer. He'll be expanding the growth of the company in new and exciting ways. So if you haven't checked out what they're up to already, do so and thank me later.
Stepping into his previous position is Matt Gagnon. This was a no-brainer. Gagnon has an eye for talent and isn't afraid to get hands on to make sure the books get out on time. Congratulations to him as well.
CREATING BY DERIVATIVE
Reading a ton of comics does not make one qualified to write one. Certainly it helps in terms of understanding how the pacing works and how the pages break down. The problem is if all you read is one genre, in the case of comic books its most likely superhero, then you'll wind up regurgitating what you've taken in. Chris and I were talking about it last night. The best writers know to draw upon life experience or the life experience of others for their work. They know to look at classic literature to see what in these works have made them stand the test of time.
Same with art. The majority of manga is crap because the artists are under such a tight schedule to produce work that copying is encouraged. That's one of the main reasons for the generally homogeneous look of most manga art. The plots and pretty close to cookie cutter as well. Sure there's a few stand outs, but its very few and good luck finding them.
In creating you most be original and until you find your own voice and style look to others that are stand outs and originals to see what is working for them. This does not mean copying their work. It means examining the ideas and concepts that they are exploring and try to find something in there that resonates with you. But you have to be careful. Just because you think something is brilliant does not mean everyone else thinks so. If you're going to do a piece heavily inspired by Lady Gaga, you need to make sure your audience actually gives a damn about Lady Gaga. It doesn't matter how popular the media thinks she is.
Finding an original voice inside yourself is not easy and you may not have it in you, but its worth looking for.
MUSIC!!
This week I'm listing three of my all time favorite songs. Enjoy.
And that's a wrap for today. I leave with with an asignment. Its Hump Day. Go hump something. Just keep it legal. See ya Friday.
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