halfnelsonfan

January 8, 2012 7:53 pm And One last thing.I really dug Fear Itself once I sat down and read it all in one sitting. Coming out month to month it didn't hold up well, but in trade format it was one of my favorite books of the year.

January 8, 2012 7:32 pm I'll say this on the female sexuality issue: its always been a tough call in comics. I think the radical reworking of starfire is a pretty dramatic and misguided turn, but even Wonder Woman in her early incarnations was supposed to push the whole female sexuality angle into the mainstream in a somewhat controversial way. I definitly think Catwoman and Starfire's interpretations in the new 52 have been more influenced by male pornographic fantasies and the marketing to a certain pathetic audience in that, but it is a little bit of a hard call on how to take this. I think the real issue here is actually that those incarnations were more influenced by how to market those characters as opposed to how Wonder Woman was used when she first arrived on the scene: she was supposed to challenge societies view on women and push it into a more progressive and equal view with men. The problem has been that these characters have been turned into properties for creating money as opposed to expressing values for social change. Its a risk to try and market the female characters in that way, but its a risk that needs to be taken if we are going to be getting well written female characters that will succeed on the sales front. DC needs to get on the ball and fix this fast.

January 8, 2012 7:18 pm Personally, I think 40% of those bad things listed are a croc. Sexism at DC is definitly indisputable, and a lot of the creators being accused of it I have a hard time taking seriously anyway. (I REALLY loathe Judd Winick). Sales are dropping for sure, and its very bothersome and disconcerting, but we are also in a recession and their are plenty of guys and girls out there who probably aren't buying because they lack the money. Doesn't meant he fans should give up prosyletizing though. We definitly need to be out there spreading the good news of comics as a medium for finely crafted entertainment. That all being said I don't get what the uproar is about with the Marvel architects. I just assumed that they gave five guys creative control of the direction of Marvel's properties, instead of Quesada being the sole progenitor of a lot of the ideas at the company. That doesn't mean that Pak, Slott, Liu, and Ellis etc. are being marginalized. But if your going to keep things cohesive at the company, you can't have thirty people running in all different directions and expect it all to work out cohesively. And personally speaking, with a few exceptions, I'd say that is probably one of the best talent pools I've seen for writers as your big guns. I'm personally loving what a lot of those guys are doing with their respective books. Particularly Matt Fraction, whose books I will buy without a seconds hesitation if his name is on it. His Uncanny X-men run at the moment is my favorite run on that book EVER. Now I get that everyone isn't going to see eye to eye with me on this and people have a right to their opinion, but stop acting like your opinion is absolute truth on these matters. A lot of the guys you go around trashing are some of my favorite writers, and they are probably given the respect they get because people are voting with their wallets. You can dislike them and refuse to read their books, but I like them and will continue to buy what they put out, particularly Fraction. And If you don't like what they are selling, stop buying it. Personally though, with the exceptions of Morrison, Lemire, and Snyder, I'd say that the architects are the best in the business currently. And if their books continue selling well, then face the fact that maybe your opinion on their talents is in the minority and grow up. Sorry if I became a little frustrated, but I get sick of what I sometimes hear coming out expressed as the majority of fans opinions about certain creators. Particularly when to me they seem the most brilliant and cutting edge talents in the business.