Its all over for Marvel.

There's a big battle brewing for Marvel, and its not just a Super Bowl wager.  Marvel is counting down to a new Secret Wars event which will in turn lead to Marvel rebooting its continuity.  This, of course, has lead to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from fans who are quite reboot weary.  The weariness comes from DC Comics being on their, I think, fourth reboot at this point.  This has a lot of fan looking sideways at this and there's still a bit of a bitter air about DC's last reboot which has gotten mixed reviews.

Let's break this on down.

For those new to this concept, a "reboot" is a resetting of the continuity in a fictional world.  This sounds crazy on the surface as one would wonder why you want to ignore stories and risk alienating long time fans.  People spent time and money reading these stories.  They're invested.  But now that investment doesn't matter?

It does matter, but there's a case to be made for reboots and they are necessary on occasion.

WHY SHOULD THERE BE A REBOOT?

* If there is confusion as to continuity.  I'm not just talking about a subject in the continuity that someone can read up on.  If the question is "What happened to Mister Awesome?" and the answer is "Well, this happened to him.  It was in (insert title of storyline here).  You can check it out in (name the trade or the issue numbers here)." then you don't have a problem.  However, if the question is "What happened to Mister Awesome?" and the reply is "Do you mean the main Mister Awesome, the Extreme World Mister Awesome, or the one from the other dimension that's currently being Mister Awesome while Mister Awesome is presumed dead but is really lost in the multiverse with a genetically altered chinchilla?" there may be cause for concern.

* You're planning on incorporating something you've acquired into your main continuity.  Companies merge.  Each have characters that would work great together.  Parallel Earth team-ups are starting to get played out, and it time to properly get everyone in the same sandbox.

*Time has marched on.  If characters have a specific tie to a specific ear they can get dated, and that gets awkward.  Superheroes tend to have fountain of youth going for them, but even that fountain can't explain away a disco inspired wardrobe for a character that couldn't have been born in the 70s.

DC'S REBOOTS

DC rebooted everything in the mid-80s with their CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.  At the time DC had a lot going on.  Their main characters existed on "Earth 1".  Their Golden Age characters existed on "Earth 2".  Captain Marvel and his buddies had their own Earth as did Blue Beetle and the characters he shared a world with.  That's a lot for keep straight.

So, they had one big event to bring everything together.  George Perez drew just about every character DC every had at some point.  Its a classic story, and well worth reading.  

But the relaunch had a couple of flaws here and there at to the new continuity.  Its a huge undertaking with multiple creative teams that really need to be coordinated with each other.  So, years later DC released ZERO HOUR to try to smooth over some of these issues.  The whole point was to try to streamline things, and it worked for the most part.

Characters moved on and the Silver Age heroes passed torches to a newer generation.  Unfortunately, some people didn't like that and they somehow ended up being in charge.  There ended up being more changes which culminated in FLASHPOINT and THE NEW 52.  This went down because the powers that be at DC wanted their Silver Age heroes back in the saddle and Jim Lee could now bring in his Wildstorm properties over.  It hasn't gone very well. There was an initial sales bump, but  things are waning.  

The reboot just seemed too forced, and the execution on the follow up was kind of haphazard.  Also, some real fan favorite characters got written out.  Fans of Stephanie Brown or Wally West were left shrugging their shoulders.

WHAT'S UP WITH MARVEL?

There's been a lot brewing with Marvel as to build up to SECRET WARS.  Jonathan Hickman's runs on AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS have been leading up to this directly.  The storyline has been really great.  I haven't felt this gripped by a storyline since Morrison's Batman epic.  The real question is: why is Marvel rebooting everything now?

Marvel released an alternative "Ultimate" line of comics years ago, and they've been a success.  The continuity for the main Marvel Universe and the Ultimate universe are different, and both have their merits.  In fact the Marvel movies have drawn from both as source material.  There's also been other alternate realty stories that have gone on and there's some fondness for some of the characters that have appeared there, but not in the main continuities.

Remember what I said above about why you should consider a reboot?  Marvel is there.  If you ask about Captain America, you're needing to be more specific.  Also, let's look at the Punisher and Ironman.  Those are two characters who have their origins linked to America's adventures in southeast Asia.  Punisher is a Vietnam War veteran.  So, that would make him around 60 now.  Nick Fury is in his nineties easily.

Time has moved on, and some things are needing a polishing.  So, this reboot I'm all for.  

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE

Yeah, everyone else has sounded off, and I'm following the herd.  Moo.

* Ironman being more hero and less villain.  Seriously, he's been shady as hell since that awful CIVIL WAR comic.  It would be nice to put all that behind us and have him back as a proper hero.

* Miles Morales and Nick Fury from the Ultimate universe being in proper Marvel.  These characters are well liked and interesting.  There's plenty of room for them.

* Cyclops not being creepy and Jean Grey not dying over and over and over again.

* New Universe stuff!  Hickman worked the White Event into his line and its was an interesting take on things.  That and I have all the old PSI-FORCE comics and I still think Wayne Tucker was cool.

*That One More Day business being gone forever and ever.  Seriously.  That was just dumb.  I'd even be cool with resetting Spidey back to his high school days.  

* Deadpool not existing.  Yeah, I know that's not going to happen.  I just don't like Deadpool.

That's pretty much it.  I think we've got some really great writers over at Marvel right now, and they'll do a great job with the relaunch.  Just as long as they don't make it a habit.

Ticked at the Big Two?

Rats! Its Friday, October 28, 2011, I missed the great Pumpkin last night, and this is The Side. And i heard this was the one with the alternate ending where the great Pumpkin actually shows us and take Linus as his disciple and they go around the neighborhood to punish all the children that didn't believe.

Lucy didn't meet a pretty end.

COMIX!!

Boy howdy, there's some stuff going down with the big two right now, and its not very good for either of them.

DC Comics are disappearing from the shelves at Barnes and Nobles and not because people are buying them. The deal with Amazon that left B&N out in the digital cold has them taking the books off the shelves. I stopped in briefly at one of the local stores. They still had some trades. One thing that was pretty noticeable is that the monthly floppies were mostly stuff from before the reboot. I saw one copy of a reboot book and that was it. Yikes. Not good for a company looking to really push their new material.

Don't expect there to be a DC shaped hole on the shelves though. B&N have struck a deal was 2000AD, so we'll be seeing some interesting stuff on the shelves fairly soon. This is also good news for local comic shops as the new car smell of the DC relaunch is still giving many stores a sales bump and they no longer have to worry about competition from the country's top bookstore chain.

DC isn't the only company facing a bit of ire. There's another Marvel Boycott but this time its about the recent company layoffs. It seems that some people don't remember back when Marvel declaring bankruptcy was pretty much an annual event. Them getting bought out by Disney means they have more financial stability, but that doesn't mean they have access to Scrooge McDuck's money bin and can do whatever they want. They are still a company and still have to turn a profit. The economy is currently in rough shape. Marvel is still based in New York which taxes folks and companies pretty heavily. They're having to do what they have to to maintain their company and sometimes that means laying people off. Its a shame, but that's reality.

What's really stupid is people boycotting because of it thinking that this will make them turn around and hire everyone back. Now, if you are truly uncomfortable buying their books then you shouldn't buy them. The thing is, Marvel is doing what they have to because they have a cost to deal with. So if they are denied revenue due to an extended boycott that's just going to lead to more layoffs. This is the second proposed boycott of marvel this year. I guess the whole "Fear Itself" event was inspired by people scared fans will make them lose their jobs.

MUSIC!!

Time for a little bump and grind music.



That's it for me guys. Have a good weekend, and we'll see y'all Sunday.

This blog is for mature readers only

Howdy! Its Wednesday, October 5, 2011, I really wish I didn't have to sleep, and this is The Side. I've got about two dozen things I'd love to be writing and drawing right now. I can't skip work, obviously. Can't do too much when the kids are awake. It would be nice if I could spend the hours that everyone's asleep to work on all the creative projects I want to. I'd try it, but I fear the amount of caffeine it would require for me to function would kill me.

And I can't go dying! There's too much to do!

COMIX!!

With the big stink around some of the stuff DC put out in the reboot, DC had to respond, and respond they did. This brings us to ratings systems and responsible parenting. I'm a big fan of ratings systems because the alternative is nasty things like censorship, and nobody wants that. The comics industry has been very good about posting their ratings right on the covers. If something is meant for mature readers there's no question about that because we're told so up front.

Back when I was a kid we had the Comics Code Authority which had some pretty strict guidelines and, for the most part, the major publishers complied to it with most of their books. There are many who think the code was some terrible thing and it hindered artistic expression, but when a parent saw a kid reading a comic with the code stamp on it they had a bit of reassurance that there wouldn't be anything like say Catwoman giving Batman the full cowgirl on a rooftop. My folks never looked through the comic they got me. When I got an issue of DETECTIVE COMICS in the mail I could sit down and read it without my mom or dad looking through it first.

The first time my father looked through anything I purchased was a comic magazine which I believe was called "Comic Things" which talked about comic book stuff. It was like WIZARD but, y'know, fun and good. He picked it up when I brought it home and gave it a quick flip through. Nothing objectionable was in there, so no problem. This is what's known as good parenting. Your kid brings home something new that you're not familiar with, then you need to get familiar with it.

So why didn't they look through my comics? Pretty simple. DC and Marvel were names they trusted to publish material that they were comfortable with me being exposed to. Now, its decades later, and I'm the parent. I'm the guy at Comic Kings trying to recommend a book to my friend's wife for their kid to read because he likes superheroes. Looking through the main rack away from the kids area I only spotted one title that I felt comfortable recommending to the kid, who was about the same age I was when I started reading comics. Not very comfortable.

DC has a point. If you have a problem with their books then you shouldn't let your kid read them. But something that is pretty sad is that they have lost the trust of responsible parents whose kids love DC's characters and want to read their books. They seem to have no problem with this. The Starfire controversy isn't just about portraying a particular character as an alien sex-being. Its about portraying that character as such when very recently she was portrayed as an adorable wholesome character. Its creepy.

DC's not going to change what they're doing. All their eggs are in one basket now and they're fully committed to what they're doing. I'm very sad that I can't let my kids read the comics that feature characters they like, but its been that way for a while now. I do greatly enjoy some comics out there that are directed at mature readers, but the balance has shifted in the audience. We've gone from the majority of comic being things that people of all ages could enjoy, to the majority of comics being things not suitable for little kids to read.

There's still some really great kids comics out there, and they're worth finding, especially if you have a little reader in the house. However, as for the DC's new "52", the message is clear, kids aren't the target audience and you should keep the books out of their hands.

MUSIC!!

Nice little tune. I always thought what they did with the video was really, really clever.



That's a wrap for me. See y'all Friday.

Leaving the costumes on

Boom-chika-boom! Its Wednesday, September 28, 2011, sex sells, unless you're kinda nasty looking and need a bath, then you're going to have a hard time finding a buyer, and this is The Side. Yeah, when I don't put my thoughts about comics on the website I do comic reviews for due to not wanting to possibly dent business, then there's something really wrong. Of course it might even get a little sales bump considering there some folks who would buy the issues in question curious as to whether or not things are as rotten as I make them out to be.

They are.

COMIX!!

Yep, more stuff coming out of the DC reboot that's getting some buzz, and not very good buzz. It seems some of the writers are a bit confused as to how to portray women who are confident in their sexuality without making them out to be Slutty McSlutsluts. This got kicked up due to RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1 and CATWOMAN #1. I wasn't expecting much form the Red Hood book as it looked like they just threw three characters together and are trying to make a go of it. I do raise an eyebrow about Catwoman. She's the modern superhero genre's first femme fatale. The character is important. She's strong, independent, and sexy. Yes, she's a 'bad guy', but that just makes her relationship with Batman that much more interesting.

When they ended CATWOMAN #1 with a sex scene like something I would expect from bad fan art, I could only shake my head. Judd Winick is known for including quite a bit of sex in his comics. THE OUTSIDERS had someone hopping into the sack with someone nearly every issue. There's nothing wrong with sex in a superhero comic, but there's a certain way to handle it.

Before the reboot, it was obvious that there was a sexual relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. In BATMAN INCORPORATED #1 there a scene in a luxury hotel in which they get a little downtime, and its obvious that the two of them have a little fun, but its not blatantly shown. It wasn't in your face. A good writer knows when to let the reader's imagination fill in the blanks. That scene was sexy without being smutty. Yes, there was Selina wearing her unmentionables and a pair of boots with a bottle of champagne. This was after the same issue showed her and Batman team up to take on a bunch of goons and a giant robot. The tone had already been set that this book is about the awesome. Conversely, CATWOMAN's tone seems to be about sex. The opening pages don't even show her face. They focus more on sexualizing the character with images of her not quite dressed so the first thing you know about this character upon opening the comic is that she wears a red bra under her costume.

The mockery has already begun in earnest. There's also been a little flap about the comic catering to the "lowest comic denominator", and I wouldn't go that far, but even though I'm not purchasing the DC reboot, I expected them to have some higher standards as to what gets on the page. I seriously doubt that when the guys making this book were putting it together they were thinking to themselves about how to best portray an attractive female who is strong, confident, and comfortable with her sexuality.

But that was the theme last week, as RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1 didn't do much to win over certain demographics. There was a very powerful piece which I have to link to a screen capture of because Felicia Day caught sight of it, and when she tells people to check something out online, that something had better have some damn good servers. Kids still read comics. Kids care about these characters. Kids grow up and buy things. DC wanted new readers, but it seems they only wanted new readers 18 and up. At first I thought the issue with Starfire was just a shame and a waste of a character. I hadn't even factored in all the kids who loved her on the old TEEN TITANS cartoon show and heard that their favorite superhero is in a new comic. The discussion in that piece I linked to is powerful stuff, and I highly suggest reading it.

Just when i thought the reboot might now be so bad DC keeps letting me know they aren't interested in my business.

MUSIC!!

Its attack of the super group, because something in this post should be about something super.



That's it for me. Time to make the doughnuts! See y'all Friday.