Grok The Vote: Voting With Your Dollars/Eyeballs/Ass Cheeks
Nov 03That’s always the popular nerd refrain, isn’t it?
“Vote with your dollars.”
Can’t stand the direction of the modern-day DCU? Vote with your dollars. Sick of mediocre genre TV shows on the major networks? Vote with your eyeballs. Hate George Lucas? Vote with your ass cheeks.
(And by that, yes, I actually DO mean take a steaming dump on his front doorstep.)
Naw, y’all, but seriously. The idea of “voting with my dollars” has always mildly fascinated me, because it makes perfect sense, and yet it ALMOST NEVER WORKS.
Seriously. Can you think of one single occasion where not purchasing something, or watching something, or buying a ticket to sit in a movie theater seat for something, has had any impact on that said something whatsoever?
Here’s a few brief examples of me voting with MY dollars.
Favreau Talks Marvel @ Ain't It Cool
Oct 29There’s a great interview up at Ain’t It Cool with Quint talking to Jon Favreau and touching on everything from Iron Man 2 to the Avengers movie and even Cameron’s Avatar. Relatively light on spoilers, and full of intriguing, reassuring quotes.
I really like Favreau. I have since Swingers.
I remember seeing Swingers at the show in college, and the answering machine sequence…man, it was amazing. The whole theater was just astonished and laughing, and it made such a huge impact on me, as this perfect little bit of comedy that’s just dripping with pathos. You feel so bad for the guy, but not so bad that you don’t laugh your ass off. As a weird lonely twerp at the time, it hit me where I lived, and where I still vacation from time to time.
On the Marvel stuff, I like that he’s a really talented filmmaker who is sorta coming into his own as a blockbuster director with these films. He gets the genre stuff and he seems to really understand and respect the fans, but not to such a degree that he’s too worshipful of the material or the geek audience.
His attitude is just spot-on, and it’s a breath of fresh air, after Bryan Singer dry humped the film canisters of Donner’s Superman flicks and Brett Ratner tossed together that hugely underwhelming X-Men 3 with bits of decent stories stuck into a blender and poured down a toilet.
I think the right attitude lies right between those two extremes, and that’s where Favreau seems to be. Marvel’s lucky to have him.
Batman Vamps
Oct 21(Not some kind of “gawd t’would be KEWL if Batman were a VAMPIRE” post, although, yes, it would be “kewl.”)
DC Comics’ January 2009 solicitations are up…and there’s nary a Gaiman or Kubert to be found on either Batman or Detective Comics:
DETECTIVE COMICS #852
Written by Paul Dini; Art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs; Cover by Andrew Robinson
A “Faces of Evil” issue starring Hush! Following the events of “Heart of Hush,” this two-part story starts here and ends in the pages of this month’s BATMAN #685. Catwoman has a score to settle with Hush after their most recent encounter, but Hush isn’t likely to take any attacks quietly. Will anyone be able to temper Selina’s rage, or will she become a face of evil again?BATMAN #685
Written by Paul Dini; Art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs ; Cover by Alex Ross
A “Faces of Evil” issue starring Catwoman! Continuing from this month’s DETECTIVE COMICS #852, Selina Kyle’s path of vengeance against Hush knows no bounds! After confronting the man responsible for nearly destroying her life, Selina’s wrath propels her into a downward spiral. With Tommy Elliot almost certain to suffer dire consequences, could Catwoman’s humanity be next to perish?
So we’ve got R.I.P. ending in November, then two quick issues in succession of Batman that are some kind of R.I.P. coda by Morrison. Meanwhile, Dini’s chugging along with his Hush storyline in Detective.
For December, Denny O’Neill takes over Batman and Detective for yet another R.I.P. coda, and then in January, Dini returns for a two-parter that’s a coda to his story that ended two months before.
That’s bat-vamping, right there. I smell a delay for the Gaiman/Kubert story. I hope the vamp gives them time to complete for February. It would suck if Morrison’s storyline had this awesome ending and was followed by six months of fill-ins so that the follow-up can complete.
(The Bat-line is about the only place in comics where I can muster up any level of sincere fanboy excitement these days. Forgive me.)
Clone Wars Shocker: It's Not That Shitty
Oct 20So I watched a few episodes of Clone Wars this weekend. That’s the half-hour cartoon show spun off the least-successful film in Star Wars history.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It’s nowhere near great, but it’s fun and harmless. In fact…I kinda liked it.
Don't Miss This: Marvel Embraces Digital
Oct 17…okay, so maybe “embrace” isn’t the right word. Marvel “nuzzles suggestively with digital” might fit better, or maybe “Marvel dry humps digital in the back of mom’s station wagon.”
But finally, at long last, a major American comics publisher is moving forward with some kind of original content exclusively for the internet, leveraging their brand and stable of recognizable characters to push the medium into the realm of bits and bytes.
Again, I don’t want to gush too much over this story–it’s eight titles or something, not a dramatic reimagining of their print publishing line, or even pure digital downloads of current floppies.
But it’s Spider-Man. And it’s recognizable names in comics, like Frank Tieri, Tom DeFalco, Bob Gale, and others. And it’s even a little bit adventurous–not TOO adventurous, as this is still stuff well within the wheelhouse of the average Joe Twenty-sided Die (you know, like Joe Sixpack? Am I trying too hard there?). Still, we’ve got monster comics and western comics, alongside the superheroics…hell, even well-deserved critical favorite Jason Aaron gets in on the action! Writing American Eagle, an obscure hero who recently graced the pages of Thunderbolts!
Just let’s recognize, is all I’m saying. A step forward. A baby step, but a real step nonetheless. Well played, Quesada. Well played.
