Turn Away From The Computer After Reading This...
...because I don't want you getting man-juice on your keyboard.
http://www.newsarama.com/DC/AS/AllStarSuperman_Morrison.htm
Tell us your reactions!
http://www.newsarama.com/DC/AS/AllStarSuperman_Morrison.htm
Tell us your reactions!
posted by Brian Cronin at 12/22/2004 06:08:00 AM
17 Comments:
So, what percentage of posts here are going to invoke semen one way or another? And am I the only one who thinks that's a weird rhetorical device on which to base a comics commentary collective?
Rose
I'm torn. On the one hand: Morrison/Quitely just makes people ejaculate. On the other . . .even Brian's using sperm metaphors? What's wrong with us?
That interview makes my heart soar to the clouds.
This is probably the closest I'll come to be excited about a Superman comic; however, part of me can't help but be a little sad. Morrison/Quitely on Superman will undoubtedly be on the top of the sales charts, while Morrison/Quitely on WE3 barely cracks the top 100.
--GA--
Hearing "Morrison writes Superman" got me all excited, but having Frank "Lemon Lips" Quitely on the art is a bit of a buzzkill. It'll be almost worth it, though, if we get a We3-style treatment of Krypto the superdog.
--
J. Kevin Carrier
What if all the semen references indicate how much these six nerds believe in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us?
...
I'm stretching, aren't I?
I am, though, really looking forward to it, as well as the conclusion to WE3.
It's my solemn vow to never again mention semen within the confines of this column. I will also not mention spunk, sperm, pearl necklaces, jism, cum, load-blowing, man chowder, weiner snot, baby batter, jabluby, DNA dew, or onanism output. Yes, I made many of those up, but I promise you that I will never mention them again.
Except maybe "jabluby," because that one's just cute.
And how else would I express what this paragraph...
"The Fortress appears in issue #2, stuffed with a ton of new toys and gets haunted by the bandaged ghost of the Unknown Superman of 4500 AD. The Kandorians finally get out of that bottle. Superman gets a new power. Clark Kent winds up sharing a prison cell with Lex Luthor in issue #5. The Bizarro Cube Earth invades our world in an epic 2-part adventure (no 'decompression' here!) and we're recasting the Bizarros as a frightening, unstoppable zombie-plague style menace. Bizarro Jor-El and the Bizarro JLA turn up in the second part of that story too. What else? We meet Earth's replacement Superman and Clark Kent takes on a new superhero identity...Ten of the 12 issues are complete short stories in 22 pages, so lots of stuff happens. And it all links together as a maxi-arc or whatever they call them these days, entitled 'The 12 Labors of Superman'."...
...makes me so, so liable to do?
Here's another interesting bit, maybe deserving of its own BLOG:
"One gets DC to the masses by putting these books in manga format and making them available in every cinema, record store and bookshop. That's not my job, however. All I can do is make the stories as good as I can. All Frank can do is draw as well as he can. If we still can't sell well-written, well-drawn books at a time when everybody in the world is watching superhero movies and eating superhero cereals, it's because the pricing, format, promotion and availability of comic books is preventing us from cracking the glass ceiling. Comics used to be available everywhere."
He's clearly on the nose, but everybody pays lip service to these ideas. He's right when he says it's not his job, but what about the people whose job it IS? How can they course correct? It seems like the american comics industry just doesn't have the first clue about business.
How do you get reformatted, re-priced comics into new places? How do you guarantee they sell at bookstores, pharmacies, theaters (?), etc.?
I don't recall any mention on how this "All Star" Superman story is going to be packaged. All I recall hearing is "prestige format", which usually spells out $$$$$.
Wouldn't it be interesting if DC actually packaged them in a nice manga format like Morrison suggests?
This is most definitely good news. Good Superman comics are good for the whole industry.
Agreeing with something doesn't necessarily make you a follower. Thinking that breathing air is pretty cool is a very popular notion to which I bet Morrison also ascribes.
The notion that comics need to change in order to succeed, perhaps in manga-like ways (lots of content, cheaper, etc) isn't about originality or not. It's about what's right for the industry.
I thought Marvel got knocked for it because they thought that simply redoing the '60s comics with updated pop culture references and quasi-manga looking artists was the way to go...
The format itself rocks. I hear there's been some success with the MY FAITH IN FRANKIE digest, as well as a few others. There's nothing inherently wrong with the digest format.
Honestly, though, I don't think Grant is really talking about a mass audience of adults and such. I think he's talking about kids and teenagers . . .the ones superhero comics were originally aimed at, the ones with the most inherent appeal when it comes to superheroes. Kids love comics, but they're not buying them.
Yum:
http://img157.exs.cx/img157/2253/allstarssuperman3im.jpg
"I can assure fans that there will be no fill-in artists on this book. It's me and Frank for 12 full issues."
This is all I needed to hear.
"Look, remember a year or so ago, when people were making the argument that they don't read other genres in comics because they get their fixes elsewhere? Has it not ocurred (I may have spelled that wrong) to anyone that the same theory works in reverse? That people who pile into superhero films won't necessarily have an interest in the comics? (Because they haven't, you know.) And that if you make the comics smaller and cheaper and design their covers better and draw them really really well, they will still be comics and those people will *still* not want to read them?
Morrison has tunnel vision. He's passionate about superhero comics, and can't seem to understand that millions upon millions of other people are not."
But if they're digging on super-heroes in other media, what's stopping them from digging on them in the comics? Is it strictly that different people prefer different media? All those millions upon millions just don't like comics? Why is that? Is it unchangeable?
You're right, there's not much evidence to suggest that the culture would all of a sudden accept comic books if they were formatted and priced differently.
But what we do know is that the product we have now isn't working. The audience is shrinking, the creators incestuous. Right? At least, this is what we keep hearing. Am I working from faulty assumptions on that?
And if not, can nothing be done? Are comics a thing of the past?
James said: "The thing is, it's perfectly logical that someone who'd like superhero movies would like the comics too. That's why I'm here. But logic has nothing to do with taste, you know? You can't account for it. People just don't want the comics-- and I'll bet there's people even Larry Young couldn't convince."
What? Really? There's no accounting for it? There has to be some explanation, hasn't there?
Why don't more people read comics?
It's because the big guys in America, the only really visible-to-the-mainstream makers of comic books are really horribly nerdy.
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