Five Last-Minute, Poorly-Researched SDCC 2009 Predictions
Jul 22
1. Avatar will be HUGE. This is perhaps not much of a prediction, as a monkey using a banana to type this post could anticipate this. I think we’ll see the first true public viewing of actual footage from the film, complete with 3D glasses. In fact, it will be so seismic that I would not be surprised if they replayed the footage on Sunday for a second panel, thereby creating their “big crazy event” for the day, which Sunday supposedly lacks at this point? That’s what I’ve read, anyway. Or what my computer has read to me; I’m functionally illiterate.
(Fanboy) Masturbation Can Be Fun
Jul 21(Isn’t that a lyric from Hair or something? Why do I remember lyrics from Hair? I saw it once in college. That’s it.)
So Valerie D’Orazio brought up an interesting point in her review of Blackest Night #1 (which, OMG NAME DROP, quoted me in its opening lines):
But the oft-tossed phrase "fanboy masturbation" seems to imply that masturbation is somehow bad. That fanboys should not be engaged in the act of masturbation. What would be the opposite of "fanboy masturbation?" Resisting the urge to buy that copy of Blackest Night and instead take a chance on a graphic novel like Alex Robinson’s Too Cool To Be Forgotten?
That’s a fair point. It would be highly cool if we all bought more Alex Robinson graphic novels, and there really isn’t anything wrong with fanboy masturbation. In fact, I indulge in it frequently. Then I write about it here. (EWW)
I think where I was going in my original convo with Pal Jeff was that if you decide to judge something like Blackest Night (or any mainstream superhero comic) based on its ability to engage/attract/make any fucking sense at all to “new readers,” you’re fooling yourself. Which is where my brain latched onto the “fanboy masturbation” concept.
Jeff and Matt BS About Comics: Blackest Night #1, Part 2
Jul 16Matt and Jeff have been confabbing about this week’s Blackest Night #1. Matt is turned off by the violence; Jeff is tolerating it. Part 1 ended with a precarious cliffhanger of the “Cyclops is dead!” variety. Is Cyclops really alive? Keep reading.
Yesterday, in our discussion of Blackest Night #1, Matt asked, “…this is all really just fanboy masturbation, right?”
Potential SPOILERS after the pic!
Let's Help John Ostrander.
Jul 15During one of my “back in” periods of comics collecting between high school and 2005, I happened to pick up a #1 issue on a lark. It was Heroes for Hire #1, published in 1996, and it was by John Ostrander and Pasqual Ferry.
It was absolutely great. What I remember most about it was the great characters and humor, so rare in superhero comics even today. That’s directly attributable to Ostrander.
Chances are, if you think back on the comics you enjoy immensely or even love to little pieces, you’ll find something written by John Ostrander. Suicide Squad, Grimjack, The Kents, many Star Wars comics, The Spectre with artist Tom Mandrake (one of those runs that’s been on my “must-find” list for years now)…the list is long and admirable. He helped create Oracle and Amanda Waller in the DCU, two completely unique and compelling characters that remain active today, more than twenty years after their introduction.
As you may have read already, John Ostrander is in need of some financial help.
John recently under went a surgical procedure called Glaucoma Filtration Surgery (trabeculectomy). The surgery is a treatment when medications cannot lower eye pressure enough. Excess interior fluid in the eye or pressure erodes the optic nerve – that’s basically what glaucoma does. Over the past several decades, John had grown resistant or allergic to some of the meds he had been taking that have kept the pressure down. This site helps explain the procedure and this is a good general site about glaucoma itself.
As of now, the surgeries have been deemed a strong but tentative success for John. Unfortunately, like so many Americans, John’s rather expensive health insurance didn’t cover all the costs of saving his eyesight… not even near. The procedure was done in Boston and required two separate week-long trips to Boston, as well as repeated follow-up trips to track his progress and make adjustments.
John was aware that he could not afford the surgeries on his own; that’s when we, his friends and family in the comic book field, decided we had to do something to help. Too often in the comics world we find ourselves holding events after we’ve lost a creator who has given us so many years of joy. Now we have a chance to help one before its too late- after all it would be terribly hard for John to write dialog for pages he cannot see.
There’s a number of ways to help out Mr. Ostrander, all of them housed at the Comix4Sight website. A charity auction at the upcoming Wizard World Chicago show needs both donations and bidders. Or just click through to the site and donate via PayPal.
Hearing about beloved creators who face near-insurmountable financial hardships due to health issues is a too-frequent occurrence. We should all give whatever we can to help out Mr. Ostrander, and any other writer, artist, or other comics professional who finds themselves stuck in this tough spot. This is an industry that has grown rich on the contributions of freelancers who deserve our support and help when the companies that have become fat and bloated on their work refuse to act.
If you can spare them, toss a couple bucks in the direction of Comix4Sight. It’s a good cause for a great writer.
Under The Radar: The Mighty
Jun 29Ever since the Buggles first performed “Video Killed the Radio Star” on a fledgling MTV, we’ve been hearing about the short attention spans of the “MTV Generation” and all those who’ve come after. You see it in movies, TV shows, news outlets, probably even in some churches; it’s the constant drive to compress everything, to shorten stories and ideas and information into the tiniest consumable bits imaginable. Because we who grew up with Music Television cannot possibly hold still long enough for anything to develop, to expand, to simmer.
The Mighty is a recently-launched ongoing series from DC Comics. It’s up to issue 5 now, and every month when the solicits come out, I hold my breath because I keep waiting for it to be canceled. It doesn’t have a great shot in this marketplace, mostly because it doesn’t feature stories that are unavoidably woven into the gigantic beautiful mess that is mainstream superhero universe continuity.
What also makes me nervous, and what makes The Mighty a great superhero comic, is that this isn’t a story being jammed into easily consumable bits for us vidiots raised by the television. It’s a story being told well, and being told slowly and carefully. It develops, it expands, it simmers.
