I normally try not to dwell on the negative, but there were some unpleasant moments or events in comics that need to be recalled in order to cleanse the palette in anticipation for 2005. Here is a list of things that happened that made me question my many years of loyalty and support.
1. Liberty Meadows was not regularly published this year. I love Liberty Meadows and I think Frank Cho is one of the nicest, most talented guys in the business. I am not dissing the man or his creations, just the lack of availability of the product. Please Frank, more Liberty Meadows in 2005!!
2. Rob Liefeld still having a place in comics. He is egotistical, callous, pretentious, and worse yet willing to demean his fellow talent, but still has the balls to toot his own horn everywhere he goes. I refuse to buy any product associated with this guy, because I don't want to perpetuate his own high opinion of himself. I have never been a fan of his artwork, and the way with which he has conducted himself as a businessman further alienates me. If I didn't complete my goals and tasks, I wouldn't have a job. Neither should he.
3. The Catwoman movie. Don't take liberties with a character and think Halle Berry's hot bod will compensate.
4. The death of Julius Schwartz. The legendary DC Editor helped to guide the DCU through some of the best loved work done ever. He will always live on through the characters and the body of work, but we will always miss him.
5. Ben Raab on Green Lantern. I quit reading the book for the first time in over ten years because I couldn't stand the tales being told. If it weren't for Ron Marz' return to finish the title, I probably still wouldn't be reading it. I also blame his lackluster storytelling for playing a part in Kyle's decline and Hal's rise at the end of this year.
6. The death of Cross Gen. Never have I seen the likes of Mark Alessi, and I hope he doesn't come back to comics. He is a calculating businessman who separated his assets from Cross Gen's future and bailed on his employees when the going got tough by not paying them what they were owed. He tried to get too big too fast and ignored the warning signs that spelled disaster. I have read the documents, he let the company go, while saving his own hide. The incredible talent he had was stuck with no money and bills that went unpaid while the legal meanderings hid the truth from the fans. Good riddance Alessi.
7. Avengers disassembled. I love Bendis. I hated this. Making the Scarlet Witch a villain and killing off Hawkeye made my head hurt. Making She Hulk go nuts wasn't a favorite either. If you don't make New Avengers the coolest thing since sliced bread, I will be very disappointed!
8. Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada not finishing high profile projects. Daredevil: Father and Spider-Man/Black Cat are damn near lost to memory, and I will be doing my part by not buying any new issues that may come out eventually. If you don't have the time, don't do these books! Stick to what you do best and what pays you, not what you think will feed your ego!
9. Identity Disc. Talk about the height of arrogance. This is a lukewarm book with a name that some preening ass put on it. Next time, don't believe your own hype, Marvel.
10. Alpha Flight sucking the intelligence out of my brain. This book was so bad I couldn't even read it a second time. That NEVER happens. Nuff said.
Hope you don't think I have lost my mind with the above rant, but I had to get it off my chest. Somethings can't be ignored and definitely shouldn't be given any credibility if they don't deserve it. As much as I am crossing my fingers for perfection in 2005, I am sure there will be new things to challenge and annoy me.
Tomorrow: The Good, The Great, and The Impressive!
Friday, December 31, 2004
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4 comments:
It's cool, Scott. I know that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and that is what makes our country great!
I used to think that creators like Liefeld, Madueuria, and Campbell were the shiznit until their egos got the best of them. Now I can't stand to buy anything with their names attached. They let down the fans without a second thought and to me that is just plain unforgivable.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Hmmmm, welp, I did a bit of a list at your hubby's site.
Buttttttttttttt...
The upsetting events of 2004:
Deaths
1. Death of Julius Schwartz. Yep, always wanted to meet him. Dammit.
The death of Harry Lampert, co-creator of The GA Flash. A really nice guy and him and his wife were staples at loads of cons. I got to meet him at Megacon several times. Was gonna see him this year at Megacon 2005. Dammit again.
Another death, "Mrs. Green Lantern", Carrie Nodell, the wife of Mart Nodell, creator of The GA Green Lantern. I saw them several times at several conventions all over Florida. It's hard to imagine a comic con without both of them. I saw Mr. Nodell and his son and they were holding it together. Bless them both.
2. Rob Liefield, one word: barf.
3. Death of Crossgen. Yep, just awful. I actually met Alessi and he seemed nice, tough but nice. Sheesh. I fell in love with so many books and they died on the vine.
4. BMB: The shredding of 30 years of Avengers history (along with one of my fave characters, The Vision) in 5 or 6 books? Sheesh. Killing off beloved characters and ruining Scarlet Witch for me forever? If "New Avengers" (like Heidi said) is not their Second Coming, forget it.
And that whole biz of Gwen Stacy's death in Ultimate Spidey being followed by comedy issues? Bad taste ma man.
5. Identity Disc: I liked to say that was a French title that the last word was pronounced "dique", if you know what I mean. I wouldn't even open an issue much less touch the damned thing.
6. The JLA: Jeez, from politically correct Joe Kelly to the awful '80s style Byrne and Claremont stories, let's make the book unreadable. I finally picked it up to read again just a few days back.
7. The Punisher: The IRA Story arc. Gag.
8. JLA Elite: Who gave the green light to this crap?
9. The End of Bone: I loved that series. But, the good side, collected in one big book and open to a new series.
10. Marvel's lack of continuity: Man, that really sticks out badly. They used to run a tight ship but there's apparently no story "bible" there. Spiderman's a teacher in his own book. Other books, nope, he just works for the Bugle. SHIELD is in business in Daredevil and The New Avengers. In The Punisher, Nick Fury's out of a job and running crap for the CIA. In Daredevil, Black Widow shows up, running from black ops folks after a SHIELD op goes bad. In her own comic, she's fine and investigating "sleeper" agent murders. Sheesh. Get a database and put what is going on in all the books you yaboos!
Welp, that's it for me. Oh yes, I liked The Catwoman movie. They made it clear that it was not Selina Kyle and that there were a legion of catwomen from ancient times till now. That's fine for me. Now, absolute sh*t like "Hulk" (loved how it couldn't be "The Hulk" or "The Incredible Hulk", had to be "Hulk" like he was "Cher" or something) and what looks like they did to "John Constantine: Hellblazer" really cheezes me boiling, raging mad. Catwoman didn't hurt the comic nor disrupt the DCU like say, oh, "Birds of Prey"? Till next time...
Oh yes, forgot, two more dishonorable mentions:
The "Broken City" Batman arc: I was so excited, the guys from 100 Bullets!!! And........ then it was awful! Batman acting like a thug and pounding info out of people, no sign of the world's greatest detective! Killer Croc as a pimp?! WTF?! They should have made it an Elseworlds story arc, it wasn't part of the Batman DCU for sure.
And then, that awful set afterwards with Scarecrow. I loved the covers and then the story just....... sucked. Finally, when we got to War Games, some dynamite story-telling and a change to the entire Batman world...
Those are great observations, Carl. Your thoughts are very similar to mine on most things other then Catwoman! Hee hee! I do think that the Hulk movie was about as disapointing as it comes. There was way too much exposition and not enough butt kicking.
I am really looking forward to 2005 to see what surprises the comic book community is going to throw at us next.
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