Straczynski to Helm Superman, Wonder Woman
Mar 08So, that’s going to start off pretty interesting and then drop off with a whimper after being plagued by delays, isn’t it?
There’s an interview with JMS on Newsarama that is pretty illuminating in regard to his take on the characters. Surprise, surprise, he says that his goal with Diana is to pare her down to her core and get rid of the “layers of debris” around her. Not only is this something that every new writer to come aboard Wonder Woman says that his or her goal is, it’s a goal that has never been strictly necessary. On the other hand, he talks with a clear simplicity about Superman, a character that does have tons of baggage attached to him.
Look at it this way: If I were going to write a Fraption (you know, those caption bubble things that Matt Fraction uses in his Uncanny X-Men run where you get important facts about the character), I think that if you were going to simply skip over cleverness like “Wonder Woman: Is Wonder Woman” or “Superman: Is Superman” (both of which strike me as valid, honestly, just like Batman’s caption box would just read “BATMAN.”) then you could probably get away with “Amazon Princess. Kicks ass.” a lot better than “Last Son of Krypton. Mild-mannered reporter. Farmboy. Has awesome wife. Does basically everything. Except magic. And kryptonite.” Or maybe I’m expressing a bias here.
I was trying to defend Superman to my girlfriend not too long ago. She doesn’t like him because he’s too perfect. I did my standard thing about how Superman’s limits are only the limits he imposes on himself and that it’s those limits that define him more than his powers and that’s kind of beautiful yadda yadda yadda and I realized something – I don’t think I honestly care that much about Superman. It’s a small sentence, but it felt like this big watershed thing for me. Why I didn’t, I wasn’t sure, but I figured it out while I was reading that JMS interview. I looked at the stuff that he was saying about Superman and realized that it’s the exact opposite of what I’ve always felt (that it’s more about the possession of his ridiculous power and not the judicious use of it) and I think I figured out that the funny thing about letting superheroes become your mythology is that you still end up with several incompatible theories of god butting heads against one another. As much as I respect Straczynski, I don’t think I buy into his, just like I – a straight, male longtime comics reader who has read Wonder Woman on and off since the post-Crisis Perez reboot don’t really care for the way that the author kind of ghettoizes Diana as being just for girls, or even worse, the girl version of Superman when she is, in fact, completely different.
I like JMS a good deal a lot of the time, however; between Rising Stars, a majority of his Amazing Spider-Man and his relaunch of Thor, he has my reader good will. I’m committed to giving Straczynski a chance with both of these books, but I’m keeping my optimism in check. How about you?
The Bin–3/5/10
Mar 05
Back in the day, we used to just like stuff every week. We still like stuff, but now we mix in links, videos and other random claptrap. We call it the Bin, and it will steal your heart away.
Lost 6.5, “Sundown”
Mar 04
I try not to read much of what other writers have to say about a show I’m reviewing until after I’ve written my own review. But my friend Dan Carlson posted a link to his write-up of the season six Lost ep “Sundown” for Pajiba and his post title was too spot-on to miss:
“In Every Possible World, Sayid Is A Killer”
Just about says it all, doesn’t it?
First look at US Spaced remake
Mar 04I think I burned out my geek-rage gland. Not over the subject of this post, mind; just in general. It might be an age thing. Inspiring any nerd passion in me requires that it involve something close to my heart, and even then, I often default to a (shrug) “What do they know? They don’t get it and I’m not interested in explaining it to them” position.
So, it is with complete and utter raising of one lazy eyebrow, that I repost this YouTube clip from Frederico Dordei’s website – It’s a 5 minute sampling of the US remake of Spaced and Dordei plays the role of Brian/Christian.
So Hey…
Mar 04I (Jeff) am looking for an artist to help me out with a 4-8 page sequential thing that I’m doing for the next issue of Grok. It might end up being the first glimpse of the Secret Comic Book Project thing that we’re working on at Alert Nerd, too – a little side story focusing on one of the minor characters from said thing that Matt and I really dig.
Hit me up at J.Stolarcyk(at)gmail(dot)com and we can talk more.
