Slashy Goodness

52 made official what Captian Atom: Armageddon implied: the Wildstorm Universe is now an official component of the DC Multiverse, similar to the Charlton Universe (the Question and Blue Beetle), the Quality Universe (Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters) and the Whiz Universe (SHAZAM!).

And our first exploration of that idea comes in September, in COUNTDOWN PRESENTS THE SEARCH FOR RAY PALMER: WILDSTORM #1, with a cover that gives me no end of glee:


I don't know if you can tell from the sketchy cover, but that's DC Comics heroes Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy, and Jason Todd standing over reflections of Wildstorm heroes Apollo, Engineer, and Midnighter. Which reminds me a lot of this cover for JLA: Earth 2:


In the Earth 2 cover, the reflections are not merely other heroes but literally alternate versions of the same character, (i.e. Superman is standing over Ultraman, who IS Superman, but evil). And that almost works for the CPSRP:W cover as well (gosh, that's a long title).

Jason Todd is a homicidal, nigh-immortal version of Batman, and if anyone is an overpowered pretty boy doofus, it's Kyle.*

I think most people see where this is going, but let me take it to its natural conclusion.

Arthur Adams, the cover artist, could have picked other characters to reflect Jason and Kyle, perhaps someone from Gen 13 or W.I.L.D.Cats, but he didn't. No, he picked the two characters who are totally gay for each other.

Does this mean what I think it could mean? Could Kyle finally give in to the love that dare not speak his name? Is it time for him to have a boyfriend who cannot be killed, no matter how many fans call in asking for him to die?

And would they move to Boston?


*Donna Troy to Engineer is a lot weaker, unless the Engineer has trouble reading history books without crying as well.

The Boys from Burbank

Dwayne McDuffie to take over Justice League of America.

About goddamn time.

After the snoozefest that has been Brad Meltzer's run on the title, it will be good to have a writer who understands serialized plotting, how to do character bits and plot bits at the same time, and that the Justice League is a team of experienced world-savers, not the cool kids hanging out in the clubhouse.

I'm really excited about this, as McDuffie's run on JLA has the potential to be remembered with Morrison's. McDuffie just knows how to write superheroes, and since taking over Fantastic Four for Marvel, has shown how to make superheroes both relatable and yet still amazing.

I'm willing to believe that it's his time spent as a writer for Warner Bros. animation. Not that he wasn't a great writer before (Static was Milestone Comics's best book), but from 2000 to 2006 he was a writer for Static Shock then Justice League Unlimited, perhaps the best interpretation of the Justice League I have ever seen, and he seems to have brought some of that fun and excitement (and skill!) back with him to comics.

Come to think of it, so has Paul Dini on Detective Comics and Darwyn Cooke on The Spirit. Guys who were good enough to be paid animation money for their work also seem to have gone through a superhero writing boot camp and come out sharper, brighter, and more entertaining for their time in Burbank.

Since Warner Bros. has shuttered their main animation studio in favor of cheaper product, it might be time for Didio and Quesada to just raid raid raid their roster of writers and artists and get them to bring their "A" game to comics.

I mean, in general I think ongoing comics are closer to TV shows than they are to novels, and it would be great to have writers who understand that an issue is an episode, not a chapter.

Why Don't They Just Put ME In Charge?

Matt Idelson takes over the back page of every DC comic this week to ask the million dollar question, "what should an editor do when he runs into production delays?" He doesn't give the answer, of course, he just gives three options—delay the book, call-in a "guest" writer/artist, or drop in an inventory story—and leaves it up to "You, the Reader" to say what you'd prefer. Which feels A LOT like a post I did last September on the exact same topic.

While the response was hardly unanimous, there was a general consensus that fill-in issues were fine, as long as they happened between arcs, and a guest writer/penciler/inker was preferable to no comic at all. But the real problem was a lack of transparency, that fans would be better able to handle delays if they could just be told the why's and wherefore's of the delay.

Idelson, for the sake of context, is the editor on Wonder Woman, Superman and Action Comics, all of which were plagued with production delays for the past year. Based on the response I got, if I were in his shoes, I would have said that as beautiful as Carlos Pacheco's art is, people would rather not wait for it, and better to bring in a penciler who can hit deadlines than wow the crowd.

Which is the decision editor Peter Tomasi made on Detective Comics, where "regular penciler" J.H. Williams was off the book after one issue and Don Kramer's been knocking issues out month after month. And the sales numbers seem to back that up, where Detective has lost only 9% of its sales from the OYL boost, whereas Superman has lost 25%.

(Wonder Woman, which was even MORE delayed, has lost over 50% of its initial sales. There, the problem was apparently the writer, not the artist, which suggests Allen Heinberg should have been dropped sooner and another writer brought in to finish the arc. But, it should be pointed out, Wonder Woman is still selling twice as much now as it averaged during the Greg Rucka run.)

Meanwhile, across town, remember that that shocking revelation that will rock the Marvel Universe to its core?" Turns out it's Skrulls.

Yup, Marvel's shape changing alien conquerors are back, and if this is supposed to be as important as the hype tells us it is, then it means Skrulls are behind superhero on superhero violence of Civil War, and probably World War Hulk as well, which, as I said it would be, is neither shocking nor new: just another Psycho Changer being used to explain why Iron Man is suddenly such a dick.

So, instead of evolving Marvel comics, changing what their superheroes stories are or could be, they are apparently just going down the same road they always have, in which all the bad things in the world are the result of evil alien interference. Good job!

(Ironically, had they not HYPED the last page as a shocker, or said it was important, the fact that "Elektra" turns out to be a Skrull honestly would have been surprising and might, MIGHT have led to speculation that it had import outside of the New Avengers. But Marvel can't seem to let their surprises actually be surprises.)

GUNTHERFEST '07

(Video not exactly safe for work)

The Roar of Comics is a proud participant of Güntherfest '07
Champagne, Glamour, Sex, Respect!

(For those of you who are confused, I give you this link. Not that it's going to relieve your confusion, but actually add to it).

(real post coming soon)

The Man with the Plan

Sometimes, you need to fight.

But, if you're smart, you can avoid the fight altogether. And so, Diamondrock has decided to celebrate the thinking man, the intellectual, the schemer. The Man with a Plan.

A no man has a better plan than... uh... this guy:



That's just evil.

Kandor City Blues

What's up with Kandor these days? Does anyone know?

It used to be simple*. Kandor was a Kryptonian city, shrunk down and collected by Brainiac before Krypton blew up, which Superman rescued and, unable to return its citizens to their rightful size, stored in his high tech Fortress of Solitude. Then came John Byrne, who, in a quest to make sure Kal-El was the last survivor of Krypton, dammit!, erased Kandor from continuity, along with Supergirl, Krypto, and others.

But, during the 1990s, as old ideas crept back in in new forms, Kandor was reintroduced as a bottle city full of supermen from diverse planets, none Kryptonian, collected by an alien wizard as weapons to use against his enemies. Again, Superman rescued the city and saved it in his fortress, but couldn't restore the city to its proper size. And that was alright.

And then came "Godfall". Or rather, Superman #200, where Superman falls into a different timeline, effectively erasing Byrne's continuity. (Hey, live by the reboot, die by the reboot.) Or rather, a slightly different timeline, so that some stories, like Doomsday, were still in continuity, but some, like apparently the mullet he wore for three years after he came back, are not.

And the first sign of this was "Godfall," which took place in a bottled city of Kandor that had Kryptonians, AND non-Kryptonians, AND had been shrunk by Brainiac, AND worshipped Superman as a savior who had possibly abandoned them. What?! How did that happen? The Supergirl storyline where she becomes the protector of Kandor didn't clear anything up either!

Here's the thing: I don't care that one version of Kandor's history has been replaced with another ("Forget it, Jake. It's Hypertime.") I just don't like the fact that writers continue to use Kandor as a place we're supposed recognize (as recently as 52) and yet it's clearly not the place we were introduced to in Action Comics 242 nor the one we met in Action Comics 725. It has the same name and shares major features, but it has a history that is completely unknown. It just lacks exposition, and that's frustrating.

And why I care is because Kandor is a really interesting playground. Bottle cities are amazing bits of fantasy (and if you don't agree, watch The Matrix again). The idea that you can live your entire life in a city, full of people with complicated lives, yet really be trapped, is an amazing bit of metaphor. I like the irony that Brainiac was in some way right to preserve a city, saving a major chuck of Kryptonian science and culture, not to mention Kryptonians, from the annihilation of their planet. And of course, tiny Supermen is just cool.

Not that there aren't problems with the concept. As the plot of "Godfall" is predicated on, Kandor tends to get forgotten. Despite the fact that his inability to restore Kandor is supposed to prey on Superman's mind, he doesn't actually spend that much time trying to fix the problem, leaving a bunch of tiny aliens to rot. And it's hard to believe that, on a planet with Ray Palmer, Professor Zuel, and occasionally Brainiac himself (or his morally upstanding descendent, 12th level intellect Brainiac 5), it's actually that hard a problem to solve.

Nevertheless, Kandor is fun, and I think could be used to better effect if we just knew what the hell it really was.


*Okay, relatively simple.

Blue Superman

I could not, would not, in JLA.




I will not, will not, with the Ray.




I will not read him in a plane.




I will not read him with Bruce Wayne.




Not with giants!




Not very small!




Not as a chick!




No not at all!



I do not like him fighting Lex.




I do not like him, nor his specs.




I will not read him in the sky.




I do not like him with... this guy.




I do not like him red and blue.




I do not like him. WHY WOULD YOU?!



I do not like Blue Superman!




I do not like him, Sam-I-am.

(with a hat tip to Shane Bailey and apologies to Dr. Seuss)

It Had to be Said #6

Authorial intent is meaningless.

It really doesn't matter what a writer or artist (or editor) intended to say with any given piece of art (or, in our case, comic). What matters is what they actually say, and that is determined by the audience.

Lobo's a good example. He was intended as a satire of the ultra-violent superhero (Wolverine, specifically) but was read by an audience that took him totally seriously, to the point where he written seriously and became that which he was meant to mock.

And going in the reverse direction, All-Star Batman and Robin may be intended to be taken seriously, but is so gloriously over-the-top that many people love it as a parody (perhaps of itself, but a parody nonetheless).

This is complicated by the fact that art does not exist in a vacuum nor is "the audience" a monolithic entity. "The audience" is thousands of individuals with different backgrounds, experiences, and contexts for understanding. So each person interprets a work differently, and the meaning of a piece is fluid across people. Something I read as a celebration of female power, another might read as a dismissal of a woman's worth. And neither of us are necessarily wrong.

And a work's meaning changes over time, too, as new events reshape interpretations. The first issues of Watchmen, for example, were published before the Iran-Contra scandal broke. So while Moore and Gibbons' story of abused, hubristic authority could not have been intended to comment on the (then) current administration's illegal activities, by the twelfth issue it most certainly did! (Especially since the Tower Commission opened their report with "quis custodiet ipsos custodes," i.e. "who watches the watchmen?")

Which is a long way of saying, you can't defend your art by saying "This is what I meant to say" or "I didn't mean to offend anyone". Once your art is out among the public, you are just one more interpreter, and have no more or less authority than anyone else. If someone says your work is offensive, then it IS offensive, at least to them, and you cannot just say they are wrong. All you can do is decide whether or not you care.

The Tragedy...

...of Robin-on-Robin violence.



All in service to Bahlactus.

The Many Faces of Batman

One of the many things I love about superheroes is how versatile they are. They are multifaceted, slipping easily from one story type to another while retaining their inner core. Just look at the many faces of Batman.

Batman the Detective: Sherlock Holmes in a funnier hat, Batman can be the genius detective Commissioner Gordon calls in when the crime is too brilliant or bizarre for the average investigators on the police. This is the Batman that loves gathering mud at crime scenes and running it under a microscope.

Batman the Vigilante: Batman can also be the untouchable crusader who takes on the criminals the cops won't investigate, the powerful, the connected, the rich. This Batman threatens corrupt politicians in their very bedrooms.

Batman the Spy: James Bond in a cape, Batman uses his stealth, disguises, and sophisticated gadgets to sneak high security bases and sabotage weapons of mass destruction. This Batman gets his kicks hijacking enemy communication technology to his advantage.

Batman the Adventurer: Batman travels the globe, charges in to right wrongs and saves damsels in distress. And there's nothing he loves more than swinging in on his bat-rope.

Batman the Horror: Batman sometimes scares the hell out of his enemies. He stalks them like the killer in a slasher film, striking from the shadows and picking them off, one by one. Greatest pleasure: leaving one behind, knocked out and tied up, for the rest of his enemies to find.

Batman the Asskicker: And sometimes he drops all subterfuge and just beats the holy hell out of the bad guys. Whether using Asian martial arts, old fashioned fisticuffs, or hitting criminals with other criminals, sometimes Batman is just about hurting people.

and finally,

Batman the Superhero: The Batman in the Justice League, who fights colorful, gimmicky supervillains, trains apprentices, occasionally goes to other planets and fights aliens and dinosaurs and robots and shape shifting mud puddles, THAT Batman isn't any of the ones above, and yet he's all of them.

Which is what's so great. You can tell almost any story with Batman, and still he remains, at his core, Batman.