Wolverine the Musical?

Thanks to Stephanie C:

Sunday Silliness: Why I Stopped Collecting Comic Books

I was a comic fan long before it was cool to be un-cool.  I hid my ID as a comic book collector as it felt too geeky as a teen to make public.  I tended to collect the mainstream stuff, though, with a focus on Spidey and X-Men.  I quit collecting in 1996.  I remember this because that was when I had a new expense that crowded out the comic books--diapers.  But that was not the real reason I stopped.

I stopped for two basic reasons, but could have been a third. 

First, cross-over disease.  Marvel and, apparently, DC (I didn't collect DC much) got in the habit of developing special "short series" where characters crossed over into other books or new mini-series were developed.  This, was of course, to maximize sales, but it maximized my frustration.  I was reminded of this today by a tweet (h/t to Jacob Levy) that pointed out a fun cracked article that highlighted a key X-Men issue (Wolvie gets Colossus good and drunk and then beaten up) that was a result of one of these series:

It has its roots in Secret Wars, and while most people remember that as the crossover where Spider-Man got a new costume that wanted to fuck him so bad, it became the most popular villain of the '90s, that was far from the only notable event. The whole idea was that there would be a big change for every book, so everyone reading Marvel Comics would have to pick up Secret Wars in order to find out what the hell was actually going on. This is basically the formula that modern superhero comics are built on, which makes it the most diabolical and successful supervillain plot of all time.

Indeed.  This led to a proliferation of comic books, which increased the $ spent, and I got tired of having to buy many books to follow one character.

Second, clone disease.  I quit when Spider-man was apparently not the real Peter Parker.  Ug.  I hate clones, as they are almost always a dodging plot device that leads to bad stuff (no accident that Clones are mentioned in Star Wars but only rear their ugly heads in the prequels).  I almost stopped reading the series of Star Wars books that took place after Return of the Jedi since clones were featured. 

If I had stuck around for a while longer, I would have then quit due to re-boot pandemics.  Yep, the editors let the writers of comic books write themselves into a box.  When they realized that they were trapped, they re-booted the character or the entire series or the entire universe.  Why should I care about anything in this universe if it can be re-set any time they feel like.  Well, a new universe with the old characters re-set means that I have nothing at stake anymore so good-bye. 

This, of course, also occurs with the movies: two sets of Spidey's, three sets of Batman (if we include Adam West's version), three sets of Superman with the new one in a few weeks, three sets of Hulks (including the Avengers' version which is, thankfully, superior), and so on.  Much of this is driven by the need to keep the rights to the character (Spidey), but it diminishes the value.... unless they do it really, really well. I was not happy with a new Spidey series, but Emma Stone and, oh yeah, Andrew Garfield made it work.  The new Superman is probably better than the most recent one, but will still probably fall short of Christopher Reeve's.  Then again, I watched all three Superman non-animated TV series (the original, Lois and Clark, Smallville).  Well, the second one had a lot more to do with Teri Hatcher, but anyway.

I guess I tolerate the TV/movie reboots because there is a chance that the new version is as good or better than the old. My completely half-assed take on comic books is that never happens.  More importantly, if you follow a comic book, you have years and years and dozens and dozens of issues invested, so a new version rips out all that investment.  I hate that.  Do you?

X-(Wo)Men

Yep, Marvel is going with a version of the X-Men that has only female leads.  This would be swell and interesting if not for a few things:

1. I hate re-launches.  If the writers wrote themselves into a corner, then write themselves out of it.  If nothing is ever at stake because everything is re-launched again and again, well, who cares who lives/dies/romances/whatever.
2. Seems like an excuse to have just another X-book per month so that sales go up.  I stopped collecting 17 years ago precisely because I didn't want to pay a heap of dollars every month to follow one group (X) or hero (Spidey) if the tales required six books per month to tell.  
3. If they were handing over the comic to a female creator, that would be kind of cool.  But not, just a male with female characters.  The drawing of the cover makes me feel a bit more optimistic since it is a bit less boob-a-licious than many comic book covers that feature female body parts more than female stories.

But that might change once they start fighting.  To be clear, I was quite the Kitty Pryde fan, and Like Rogue and Storm (depending on how they are characterized), so this would be cool if done well.  I am just suspicious and pessimistic.

Ah well, someone buy these and let me know how it turns out.

Making Mine Marvel in the Future

I liked Maguire as Spidey and thought Raimi could return to the heyday of Spidey 1/2, but this new reboot does not look half-bad:

And more Emma Stone is, indeed, more Emma Stone.  Seems like her backstory changes much and she will have more spine than the comic book version, but that would not be hard if I remember correctly.  I still think Emma would have been a perfect MJ. 

I do wonder if making the death of Peter's parents a central mystery is a good thing or not.  I guess it depends on execution.

Marvel-ous Summer continues

We continue to make our summer Marvel with the X-Men: First Class movie.  It was a heap of fun, especially for the IR professors in the audience with the Cuban Missile Crisis as the focal point.

Below the break: Professor X as Obi-Wan Kenobi: these are not the mutants you are looking for.

Up in the Air: A Bird? A Plane? A Series Finale

Last night was the end of Smallville.  I have long been ambivalent about the show, as it has had much good stuff, but also heaps of lame.  Last night's episode appropriately had both, but it had enough chill scenes* that made it a good way to go out.

*  A scene that gives you goosebumps--from Bill Simmons's Sports Guy columns.

 Spoilers, of course, await below:

A Marvel-ous Summer

I took the family to see Thor today.  This is part of my grand plan to see heaps of movies this summer yet avoid 3D as much as I can.  Of the three Marvel superhero movies this summer (Captain America and the new X-movie are the others), I was least excited about Thor.  I don't think I bought more than a handful of Thor comics in my youth, and I only sporadically followed the Avengers.  I did read some about Norse mythology way back when, so I am familiar with Odin, Thor, Loki, the rainbow bridge, Asgard and all the rest.  I knew that the movie would face a greater challenge than the other ones, since Thor is, after all, a god.

So, how did they do?  Spoilers beyond the bridge break:

A Green Alternative

I made mine Marvel, so I am only vaguely familiar with The Green Lantern.  But it looks like we will all become more familiar with this DC character:


Looks like fun to me.  I used to identify with one comic book company and rooted for it like it was a sports team, but now I am mature enough (?) to appreciate good stuff  no matter the source.  And this appears to be the good stuff.