1. List of shapes into which I tried and failed to carve a bar of soap during crafts time at evangelical summer camp (middle school era), organized chronologically:
A pig
A cross
A confederate flag
Smaller pieces of soap (successful)
2. With this week I bid a not-so-fond adieu to JLA: Classified, dropping it from my pull list after 40 issues. I deserve whatever abuse you’d like to heap upon my head for sticking with it this long, but let’s remember how promising it was at the beginning: a Grant Morrison 3-parter that was loopy fun and that turned out to be integral to the much-adored Seven Soldiers saga; a mirthful return to the heyday of the Beetle-and-Booster ‘80s; and a Warren Ellis epic that . . . well, it wasn’t all that great, was it? Not terrible, to be sure, but pretty generic—and not even “Warren Ellis generic,” which can still be fun, but just old-fashioned generic. Ellis’ “New Maps of Hell” blazed a gloomy trail for his successors to trudge: in each arc to follow, fan favorite writers known for their quirks and idiosyncracies styles—Gail Simone, Howard Chaykin, Dan Slott, and Steve Englehart—told tales that could have been anyone’s. While Simone’s and Chaykin’s remarkably similar (at least in terms of their general topics) stories about third-world countries weaponizing superhumans were merely forgettable, Englehart’s and Slott’s were, I’m sad to say, nearly unreadable; each story stretched a thin premise that might have sustained a two-parter or an annual into an agonizing four issues. That Millar’s recent “Kid Amazo” story seems like an improvement is only an indication of how disappointing the previous issues were.
I read JLA: Classified because I like the JLA but didn’t much care for the creators or the direction on the main title. Now, with Dwayne McDuffie set to take over the flagship book, JLA: C is officially superfluous from my perspective.
3. Fans of the dysfunctional-family fare that often occupies us here at PF should click on over to PrettyFavorite Conversely’s most recent post at Upper Limit Music… You will not be disappointed.
My only remaining semi-monthly book, Jonah Hex? Had to drop it (ask Chris Sims why). So basically I’m back to All-Star Superman and . . . does that even technically exist, anymore?
I fear I am about to swear of comics for the third time.
Well, She-Hulk seems to be getting good again, now that they’re back at the law offices and done with all the crossover stuff. WWH is fun so far, McDuffie FF, Simone is leaving BoP (boo) but going on to Wonder Woman (hrray!), so…there’s some hope for comics yet… I think.
Gasp! Confederate flag soap!
That’s kind of intricate for someone who couldn’t carve a cross.
But that’s what I’m saying: I failed at that, too. And in my defense, it was going to be a pretty ornate cross.
Well, just go ahead and guess what you’re getting for your birthday.
I echo Sally, but not for reasons of the ornate. After a dozen years and thousands of pages trying to get a grip on this stuff I have to say that my stomach flipped when I read that. Not at you, but the culture that surrounds the possibility. I continue to try to understand.
I went to the comic shop here in town, and it reminded me of why I don’t go into comic shops much anymore. I stared at the racks and looked at all the comics and couldnt find any to buy. And the back issues were all tucked away so as to be harder to get to than the adult comics. And all the game stuff and…just the whole thing. It was a modern day comic shop, doing what it could to make it work, pay the bills and sell comics, but it just wasn’t clicking for me.
I ended up with a copy of Avengers/Transformers crossover, the first two issues of a new Avengers comic w/Frank Cho on the art and Bendis writing, and an animated style Iron Man comic. The Iron Man was the most actionless, word heavy comic I ever saw. I like the animated style comics ‘cause they’re light and easy, this thing read like a novel…and I don’t even really like Iron Man! What the hell was I thinkin. Then there was the crossover. Um, damn that was lame. Worse than you think, I promise. Y’know what bugged me more than anything? The fact that they made Bumblebee and Optimus Prime the same height. WTF? The new Avengers comic though was really good. It did a nice job intro-ing the characters and setting up soe,m good stories and it didn’t require that I keep up with every other marvel title out there to enjoy it. Good book, good art.
You guys got any suggestions? I want to buy comics, but the suggestions I’m getting at the shop are not really helping me. I just want some good comics with superheroes in ‘em. Nothing fancy. Please. help me.
BRD: ah, but the “culture that surrounds the possibility” is really a national one, isn’t it? That is, there’s nothing any stranger about the confederate flag/cross combo than the American flag/cross combo. As has become all too apparent in the days of Abu Ghraib and Haditha and Gitmo, the notion that the problems traditionally associated with “the South” are, or have ever been, exclusive to the states below the Mason-Dixon is fundamentally flawed.
Wags: I would track down as many issues of the “Planet Hulk” storyline over in Incredible Hulk—good barbarian-action fun, and a good lead-in to the fun-so-far World War Hulk crossover (which, very shrewdly on Marvel’s part, functions as a pretty explicit critique of the dismal direction of the overall Marvel line the last few years. Ditto Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts, which, surprisingly to me, ends up being a celebration of the quirkiness of B-listers and also-rans in the face of fashionable grittiness). I can’t say enough good things about McDuffie’s Fantastic Four, and if you can get that Brian Vaughan Dr. Strange: The Oath miniseries, then do! I hear good things about the new Iron Fist, but I’m waiting on the trade.
I read “The Oath” up in BAM the other night. I’d heard bits about it, but . . . WOW. Nathaniel, the opening sequence has Iron Fist with a strained hamstring up in a doctor’s office. If that doesn’t say GET UP ONS, what does??
And the art: amazing. And the Night Nurse: I love her. And the gloves on Strange’s battered, brittle, scarred hands: BKVaughan, I stopped reading Y a long time ago, but let’s be honest: You need to be writing serial superhero fictions to save the medium.
It was pretty damn good, is what I’m saying. P.s. Hitler’s suicide pistol!!
No, I don’t think that any section of the US is exempt from culpability in relation to racism and prejudice. Nor do I think that I am exempt from culpability for ignorance that has led to slights and unconscious oppressions. And the God and country link scares me more than anything. But that symbol is a strong one and does make me catch my breath everytime I see it on a truck or beach towel. And I have nothing to fear personally, except, as Martin Niemöller once said, “Als sie mich holten, gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.” One day, perhaps,we’ll have a chance to talk about symbol and meaning in this regard.
gorjus: Re: The Oath: I TOLD YOU.
brd: I hope we do! I didn’t mean my comment to sound like a relativistic defense of the flag or a critique of you—just an echo of the Malcolm X (filtered through Marcus Gandy) “America is Mississippi.” Of course, as gorjus noted during our Jujitsu for Christ discussion, you were a lot more likely to get killed registering black voters in Mississippi than in, say, Cleveland. But speaking in terms of how the symbolism functions, we do tend to use the confederate flag to absorb and bear off the sins of the nation so that the US can go forth, as Chinua Achebe said in a different context, “erect and immaculate.”
Yes, the US must be that, mustn’t it. I had an interesting discussion with my Pakistani friend the other day about how to end the deal in Iraq. He thinks there is only one place to start. With an apology. But the immaculately erect United States could never say, “We’re sorry, we were wrong,” could they. All the politicians can say is, “oops, bad intelligence.”