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Weekend Reading: Jack Kirby, Arnold Drake, James Bond and Star Wars
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Video Games, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,
Last weekend in January, last weekend before the Super Bowl, which means there’s really nothing on TV this weekend. Fortunately, the internets provide:
Neal Adams is gunning for Marvel on behalf of Jack Kirby.
The Comic Book Insider is the new podcast from comic book writer and former DC Comics editor Brian Augustyn.
James Bond vs. Batman: Now there’s a team-up I’d really like to see. The HMSS blog looks at how both heroes have had to adapt to changing times.
One of my favorite movie blogs, Flick Attack, looks at an old film written by veteran DC writer Arnold Drake (Deadman; The Doom Patrol): The Flesh Eaters.
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Weekend Reading: Disney, Marvel, Wolfman, Claremont, Starlin And The Lost Silver Surfer Novel!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,
What a week, huh? Disney bought Marvel and everyone’s wondering how this will finally address their pet Marvel peeve. Before you get all fan-ish with what this means now and will mean in the future - they own the Ultraverse! They own Crossgen! They have to do this! They have to do that! They can hire Alan Moore! They’ll clean up Marvel! They’ll rollback prices! You should run over and read Steven Grant’s very perceptive take on the buyout in his Permanent Damage column. He’s a sharp guy and he makes excellent points.
In the meantime, there was other stuff for avid lurkers to check out and peruse in their spare time. Let’s take a look:
JLA/Avengers
Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,
This week Diamond Comics shipped the paperback version of the classic JLA/AVENGERS saga. These came out in comic book form in 2003, but was only compiled in hardcover format for $75. Now we have a softcover at $19.99 and it is time to revisit this story.
I believed at the time that the entire concept was flawed. Kurt Busiek wrote a story in which every Avenger and every Justice Leaguer that ever existed made at least a token appearance. He succeeded in his mind, but not mine. By putting too many characters in a story, you lose the ability to focus deeply on any of them. Recall the series of Marvel/DC Crossover books. These stories usually had one hero and one villain from each universe and you had a real interaction among the heroes and villains. Remember Crossover One with a full Superman/Spider-Man story, Hulk/Superman, etc. You really got into how the characters reacted to each other. In Crossover 2 we had Batman/Punisher, Silver Surfer/Superman and Batman/Captain America. The other two books weren’t as good, but it is always fun to match heroes from different universes. In my opinion, confining the epic to 7 or so stars from each universe would have made things much less cluttered and a better read. Characters kept coming and going so quickly it is difficult to keep track.
The story itself starts as one of the generic contest of champions ideas we have seen a million times before. Mystic artifacts being sought by both sides being manipulated by cosmic beings. Ho-hum.
No real detail in the battles to get an artifact and the 12 items are quickly divided up. They we get a mish-mash of heroes from diferrent universes interacting in a confusing way and then A Crisis on Infinte Earths climax against the super-duper villian with everyone throwing in a few shots. Been to the Source, done that.
It was, I suppose, a noble effort and it is certainly a better buy at $20 rather than $75. But as the pundit said about Dicken’s Great Expectations, I hoped for more.