Chronological Snobbery

If you are not reading Chronological Snobbery, you hate America. and Freedom.

Marvel DCU

It's probably not a good omen for the new online effort from Marvel, but they've named it Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, aka: Marvel DCU. Keep in mind, DCU is also how DC Comics (Marvel's prime competition) refers to its entire line of comics: The DC Comics Universe. Sadly, I doubt anyone at DC ever thought to copyright "DCU", or else they couldn't. Apparently DCU is also the stock ticker for Dry Clean USA.

Yurgh.

In addition, Marvel hasn't made it clear what you're actually buying if you sign up for their annual subscription service. It's a $60.00 investment for a year, which... when comics are going for $3.00 a pop, that's not a bad price for access to thousands of comics. Especially when you know it's less than $5.00 a month.

The problem is that I'm not sure which comics they're making available. I'm certainly not interested if Marvel is placing all of their failed series online, but only a few issues of a series I want to read. If they're placing a bunch of their content online and planning on keeping it there, that's great (think Netflix comics).

Right now the entire first 100 issues of FF, Spidey and X-Men are online. Buying collections, that might set you back over $100. But what about newer stuff? What if I want to read all of Annihilation online?

It seems almost as if Marvel is using the online effort as more of a marketing effort than a new way to approach comics. They seem interested in providing back stories, etc... but they seem overly concerned with treading on the toes of their current distribution model (ie: 32 page comics followed by trade collections).

Marvel isn't going to want to step on the toes of their distributors. It doesn't behoove them to lower the number of folks walking into comic shops and killing the golden goose, so it more or less makes sense that they aren't putting new comics out online. The fact is, had Marvel or DC gone online in the 90's or early 2000's, they probably wouldn't be as worried about cutting into the comic-buying/ paper collecting audience. However, with an audience that only ever expands to about 150,000 for a best-selling comic (and down to about 20,000 before it faces cancellation) losing any sales from comic shops is a major problem. Especially at $5.00 a month.

Whether Marvel learns to offer their newer comics online at a premium rate remains to be seen. It certainly seems like a possibility.

Despite the better arguments of Scott McCloud for how comics were going to go online and change the world, comics don't work terribly well online. clicking to reach the next panel doesn't necessarily jive with the composition and gestalt of the comic page (and I am not limiting comics to the usual folded tabloid size here). There's no flow between panels as a passive experience when you have to engage the page.

That said:

Either a very good sign or very bad sign, the site has been so busy that Marvel hasn't actually made this work. In two days, I have yet to see an online comic. Not exactly awe-inspiring from a technical standpoint. I can understand the problems in the first few hours, but...

For collectors like myself, I'd like to not have a house full of comics or graphic novels I've read once, and I'd like the option of not dropping $20 to read reprints I may not find I enjoy. But mostly, I am sure Jamie would like it if I found a way to NOT bring more collections and comics into the house. I think that's easily worth a handful of shekels per year.

I'm still pondering the Marvel subscription. I'm never a first adopter, and this is one more case where I'm waiting to hear more before I jump on board. That said, if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas... a Marvel Digital Comics subscription would be swell...

***UPDATE***

I finally got on to try a sample. I did find their interface to be straightforward and easy to use. I'm still not sure all of what is available to the subscriber, but any fears I had about how the pages would be formatted is no longer a concern. You just need a decent sized monitor set to a decent sized resolution. I guess buyer beware on that count.

More time killing links

No matter how poorly written, I see no way in which this book wouldn't be a good read.

Here.

Poorly thought out comic strips

Here.

Marvel makes a move they should have made years ago. DC still trying to figure out if they can put comics online now or must wait until 31st Century (I love Superman comics, but I know DC will not be the first to make sense of late 20th century technologies like PDFs)

Here.

For whatever reason, these Jack Kirby monsters and pages have never been reprinted.

Here.

Also, New Spock. Same as the Old Spock?

Here.

Super Time Wasting Clips

Lady Super Heroes have better theme songs:






I admit, I do not know what to make of this clip


Ultimate Cap?







Uhhhhh....

Check your local listings

Austin City Limits is now broadcasting a few episodes recorded during ACL Fest this September. This doesn't mean they're showing the live shows from Zilker Park (which I seem to recall them doing in the past). However, they are showing sessions recorded during the festival while the bands were in town.

I watched the Wilco episode and am waiting to watch Arcade Fire for a time when other folks who might want to watch that episode might be around.

Nova recently had an interesting episode about the American space race, and that maybe we weren't as behind as we led the public to believe.

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace seems to be broadcasting during Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Not a cartoon, but highly recommended by us here at LoM.

I think I am done again with Smallville.

Friday Night Lights, unsurprisingly, seems to be struggling in its second season. Two of the main plots seem simply too far fetched for the realistic spirit of the show.

Meanwhile, 30 Rock managed to handle the "green week" on NBC the best of any of the programs I caught. It also gave us Al Gore and restored some of my respect for David Schwimmer.



Football

UT soundly defeated the Red Raiders of Texas Tech on Saturday. It was actually a great game, even if the Horns defense allowed 40-odd points. Colt McCoy played, possibly, the best game I've seen him in. Charles, Cosby and Nate Jones all looked really good. I hope Colt can remember how this works when he hits the field again next year.

Cowboys beat the Giants, which is always a welcome victory. I only really don't like the Giants when they play the Cowboys, but I am annoyed with Shockey every day of the year. Man, that guy is annoying. He's awesome, but something about him is so... very... irritating.

And, man... Green Bay clobbered Minnesota. Sorry, Reedo. Brett Favre is playing so well, one can only assume he's drinking again. No idea what happened to the amazing Adrian Peterson. Someone had his number.



Cook-Out

Special Thanks to the Shoemakers for Meatfest 2007. Holy cow, not only was the meat fantastic, but there was more of it than the entire assembled party could possibly consume. I need to go get some of those sausages from Whole Foods.

I am also horrible at Guitar Hero III. You know things have gone south when someone tells you "Wow, after you did so bad the first time, that really took courage to get up there again and do just as bad."



In-Laws
Officially much more together on this whole "retirement dreamhouse" thing than my parents, Jamie's folks were in San Marcos this weekend working on their new place. It sounds like they're enclosing the porch to add what should be a really nice sun room, and adding a raised porch elsewhere off the house. The Father-in-law is still not biting on my idea to add an observatory.

Anyway, we saw them Friday night.




OCD and Comics

This is going to sound weird, but I sorta like bagging, boarding and inventorying my comics. I missed my calling by not working at that big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where you seal stuff up and lock it away forever.

The huge downside to the bagging and boarding of comics is that, I think, most people assume it doesn't take that long to deal with. Also, most folks don't realize that in order to accomplish the task, you need (a) space, and (b) time. While space is important, in order to get things really sorted, getting a few hours uninterrupted to just knock out the various portions of the task (yes... hours), its also hard to get the task done when other things are vying for your attention. Worthwhile, fun things.

The problem, of course, if that if you don't handle the task on a routine basis, you have just made the process take that much longer. You have that many more comics to deal with.

With our Holiday party coming up, its sort of imperative I not have piles of comics just strewn across the living room, so the day of reckoning is at hand. Now is when I have to tell people "No, I cannot go to Slippy Village or whatever fun place you're headed off to. I have to sit on the floor and put comic books into polymer bags with non-acidic backing boards. I must then place each individual comic into my database where I may track the value of the comic and size of my collection. After that, I will place each comic in publishing release order in a specialized box which will help preserve the integrity of the comic. These will be placed in a (a) by publisher, (b) by character arrangement of my choosing. No, I am not completely OCD."

So, I apologize to everyone in advance if I drop out of site for a few nights while getting this task completed. I am not being a misanthrope, I am trying to clean up the living room.

Norma Rae!

Not much content being generated of late here at League of Melbotis. It is time to reveal that my writers are on strike.

Yes, when contracts were originally negotiated here at the League, nobody anticipated the gold mine that League of Melbotis would become. Especially not the basement full of elderly Philipino women I keep who write most of my posts. I tell you Leaguers, when you want to write musings on the Man of Steel, you can do no better than to hit the canasta parlors of Manila. Those ladies like nothing better than playing games while chatting about Superman's latest adventures.

Unfortunately, the contracts we negotiated never took the internet or merchandising into account. Neither they, nor I, ever really guessed that downloading LoM from iTunes or selling full seasons of LoM on DVD would become so very profitable. I'd like to say that I was paying more attention to the wants and needs of all the gals, but, really, when you're distracted with the multitude of needs that an operation like LoM brings to your attention on a daily basis, soothing the fears of the investors and Board of Directors, sometimes the most important people of all get lost in the shuffle.

So it was that last week, while I was putting out fires, Norma Rae Sarmiento, one of our staffers (she usually covers super-hero related movies), put out her cigar, stood atop her folding chair beside her Smith Corona type-writer with the words "UNION!" typed out in an 11-pont font. Eventually someone wandered over and saw what was typed on her page, and word spread like wildfire. Indeed, it seems Norma Rae had brought in the WGA. And the WGA was on strike. Thus ended production on League of Melbotis.

As a responsible CEO, I took the only step I could to try to find middle ground with the folks on strike. I immediately set a gang of toughs upon Norma Rae to soften her up.

Nonetheless, it seems my erstwhile gang of writers has gone on strike, so I'll be stepping up to the old keyboard to take over until the strike comes to an end.

In the meantime, can someone tell me who this Randy person is?

League of Melbotis Holiday Heckstravaganza 2007!

Yes, Leaguers... I'm not ready for it, and neither are you, but it's that time of the year again. We're hurtling toward the Holidays like a comet towards Dinosaur-infested Earth. So it's time for ordering that Hickory Farms basket, pretending someone else sent it to you, and then eating the whole thing in one sitting.

It's also time for The League of Melbotis 2007 Holiday Heckstravaganza!

Needless to say, you're all in invited. Yes, even you.



So hire a baby-sitter, contact your parole officer and free up your calendar for the night of December 8th, 2007. For that night, mi amigos... we ride upon the Federales!

There's a small possibility that from 9:00 - 9:30, we will be entertained by the smooth, Holiday sounds of Jason's band, CRACK.

Further, there will be Wii. And snacks. And booze. Really, rum and egg nog sorta make my memories of last year's party kinda hazy, but it seemed we all had a good time. And the cops who showed up were real swell guys.

This party is BYOB, so bring a bottle of your favorite libation and we can all join in the merriment. There will be carols, and Ritz crackers and bum fights.



We're hoping you can come on down!

If you're planning to show, shoot us an e-mail or request a link to the Crusher invite. We'd like some sort of tally.

It's gonna be a good one.

Get Out the Vote

I went to vote on a few ballot measures last night after official work day and before dinner/ night work.

For once, nobody was running for office, so it was entirely voting on propositions, 3/4's of I had not done any research. So I skipped a few items and tried to understand what they were asking for on a few others, some of them fairly straightforward, like bonds for road work.

The controversial issue on the ballot was the request for state money for cancer research. Like most folks, I have a beef with cancer. Like most folks, cancer has touched my family and friends. I also know cancer is not a single disease but a blanket term to describe a plethora of conditions. I am also concerned about the distribution of money, and understand that there are many diseases to worry about. Take kidney diseases like FSGS. That one is much less fun than it sounds.

I guess my reasoning came down to: in 500 years, what will we have done? Will we have spent our vast resources building giant robots to kill people who do not have giant robots? Will we have chipped every person on Earth and spent money to make sure we were keeping a close watch on them? Will we have made any inroads to actually stopping the causes of grief and people raising their hands against one another? Or will we have insisted that the fight to heal the sick is someone else's mission?

I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse, or even much of a caretaker. I am not a researcher, and I am not able to help people much in my day to day life (and this is something I am considering in depth these days). There is very little I can do out there to help more people than myself and my family and friends. But there is a lot WE can do to help each other.

Without passing judgment on the rightness or wrongness of the current wars, I would rather live in a country at war with cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many other killers than with other nations or peoples. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. One of the number one things any candidate could do to make me feel safer would not be to promise me endless war against any enemy or outside threat. They could promise me they would dedicate their term to the eradication of disease and hunger. In the end, I doubt I'll die from a dirty bomb. That may be naive, but I am certain diabetes, cancer or heart disease will kill me.

These things seem simple enough at face value, but they aren't where the people we elect put our money or our priorities.

As I mentioned, I am concerned about the use of the money. Government agencies are run by people, and people make ridiculous decisions. But I'm not sure that doesn't mean we shouldn't try, or that nothing will come out of the research, even if it isn't a cure.

So I voted for Proposition 15. And against getting rid of the office of taxidermy or whatever that wacky bill was.

Some Additional Super Costumes

Halloween has come and gone, but I feel that I would be negligent if I didn't post some additional pictures of some super Halloween costumes.

Below is SuperXan and CB. More here. And, here.


CB proves she is a person who knows how to raise a child the right way.

My parents live next door to some great folks who have taken on the unlikely task of producing substitute grandchildren for my grandchildless parents. It's a great arrangment as my parents get grandkids and I get to continue to spend money on comics.

I always said Jonathan and Kelsey were sharp kids, and it appears that they really know how to pick out a costume.

Hello

I may go see Fred Clause. Just to annoy other people.

Jeff the Cat had a few teeth pulled this week. He is doing very well and doesn't seem to miss them.

Carla made very good cupcakes. I bring this up not just to say Thanks!, but to point out that she's launched a new site, Dessert Lounge!

My folks were in town this weekend once again looking at property. This time, they may have even found something.

I slept a lot this weekend.

We walked the dogs. That was very nice.

I also read comics.

I ran into a co-worker at Austin Books.

Jason bought an X-Box and Halo.

I didn't watch the UT game and am regretting that decision. I did watch the Colts game and the Dallas game.

I briefly did some work.

The weekends are too short.

SOME COMICS I ENJOYED

Action Comics 858: After Infinite Crisis, DC decided that it was a good time to join the past/ future of Superman together with the Legion of Superheroes once again. A great set-up, wonderfully drawn, and for those (like me) with a gap in their DCU knowledge regarding the Legion, this is a great read.

Batman 670: You can't keep a good Demon's Head down. I didn't like the loss of Bat-villain Ra's al Ghul, as al Ghul was always one of the more complex characters in the Bat-Rogues Gallery. Morrison is doing the most to redefine Batman's world of any writer since the post DKR-era.

Justice Society of America 10: Do you like Superheroes? Did you enjoy mid-90's DC project Kingdom Come? Do you like Superman? Can your brain handle the multiverse? I don't know why this volume of JSA is so much better than the previous volume, handled by the exact same writer, but... man. Every month when this title comes out, this is the first comic I read from the stack.

Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood (1 of 5): Montoya is back as The Question. Cult conspiracies, hard-boiled detectives, Greg Rucka, Tom Mandrake... Worth a look.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Superman-Prime: Uhm. Look, this just isn't going to necessarily be a great first comic for anyone to read, but it is a good read as it basically ties together the entire past of the once Superboy of Earth Prime.

Cutest Kids on Halloween

The League, Mrs. League, CB and David

requires sound



also, not our dogs. Just something from YouTube

Halloween 07 Kid Pic 2

Arden prepares for a fire breathing rampage upon the nearby villagers...



Jill's kid was a more-cute-than-fierce dragon this year. It sounds like Jess's mom made the costume. Well done, Jess's mom!

Halloween 07 Kid Pics 1

Nathan's Kids are Horrifyingly Adorable



Max = Pooh, Sam = Tigger

And, yes... Sam and Max look like their dad.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

A typical moment of romance at League HQ

Hey, Leaguers.

You can tell I am off my blogging game when I don't do a big build up to Halloween.

Work got crazy this week, including work on Sunday. Add in being sick on Saturday, and... well, it was a perfect storm of not blogging.

Tonight we are going to get costumed up and hand out candy. (Jason, are you coming over?)

Last night we carved pumpkins and I force fed Nicole, our house guest, Evil Dead II. I don't think she really liked it, but, dammit, I'm not having a pre-Halloween viewing of a movie that's cute and sweet.

After candy distribution tonight we'll pop over to Carla's for Halloween fun.

Not too late, though. I have a big work day on Thursday.

Hope all Leaguers have a FRIGHTFULLY FUN Halloween. Those of you with kids, send in pics. I'll post 'em up. Or of yourself.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM LEAGUE OF MELBOTIS!!!

Trinity Tigers Crazy Game Winner

Both Jason and Jamie are proud Trinity University Alumni, and, in theory, Trinity Tigers.

Now, behold... the craziest ending to a football game. Ever. Courtesy the Trinity Tigers.



For the full story: Here.


***UPDATE****

Trinity Tiger Nathan Cone, now a proud employee of Texas Public Radio, has sent along this link with a good listen. Thanks, Nathan!

Halloween Fun: Zombie Apocalypse

Cracked finds the five ways in which mankind could face an honest-to-God Zombie Apocalypse.

JimD and Jason will, no doubt, be prepared.

On to the zombies

IMG_0510.jpg

IMG_0510.jpg
Originally uploaded by sgharms

Cookies. Halloween cookies.

Best American Comics of 2007

Editor's Note: This post was up for a few hours yesterday and was removed to give me a chance to clear up some points and possibly give the post a bit more coherence.


Recently popular comic blogger Heidi MacDonald (aka: The Beat) took some lumps after posting on her site an actual opinion essay. This was followed by MacDonald displaying a willingness to unburn bridges, etc...

Basically, Heidi pointed out that Chris Ware had put together a book called "Best American Comics 2007" which was filled with a lot of stuff that was Indie comics, that could be construed as not too dissimilar to Ware's own work. For those http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifunfamiliar with , he's responsible for landmark comic "Jimmy Corrigan", as well as the Acme Novelty Library and the very fun to look at Quimby the Mouse.

She then went on to state that she didn't feel that Ware and his pals were making the best American comics. The reason presented was that the ability of these writers and artists to construct a compelling narrative was often found wanting. She said she wanted a story.

I read The Beat on a regular basis, and have rolled my eyes at Heidi's snarky sniping of superhero comics, but also understand there's context there and do not expect her tastes to match my own. The same sort of complaints regarding superhero comics crop up online amongst the indie comics crowd, of which MacDonald has seemingly been identifying with, especially since she jumped from Comicon.con to Publisher's Weekly.

Before I go any further, this is my opinion, so, you know... whatever.

Ware is a master of form, and has managed to create unique comic experiences with each work I've picked up. He's sort of the consummate comic fiend's comic. He plays with the form in intricate and fascinating ways, both subtle and less so, with a unique understanding of how the medium can be manipulated.

But... and here's sorta where I agree with MacDonald. With all the artistic expertise in the world at his fingertips, I still never felt more engaged than being wowed by the form of Ware's comics. There just wasn't much to the narrative to make it particularly page turning. It's about a mopey guy who had a rotten life and sorta tries to do something about it, but, whatever...

If you dig a good Todd Solondz movie, I may have a comic to recommend.

It's a delicate thing, because I do genuinely appreciate Ware's work and vision, but I'm simply not engaged by the misanthropic comics he puts together. At least Eisner figured out how to tell the story of an unlucky soul in a few pages.

The sad, unlucky soul as protagonist is also the focus of the work of Daniel Clowes, and it seems the success of these two opened a path for comics about sad sacks being an end unto themselves, and often with far less artistry than the two guys I've menioned above.

This is, of course, a small fraction of the indie spectrum, which contains an infinite number of genres and genre-less comics.

Here's the thing... from reading blogs like The Beat and Journalista!, one would get the impression that there's this huge industry of independent comics where lives were being bought and sold, and all the world hung on the opinion of what someone like Chris Ware thought were the best comics of 2007. This, of course, isn't the case. Not just in popular culture, but in comic shops and in the larger book publishing industry.

Exact distribution numbers are somewhat hard to figure, as I'm not sure where to dig up Fantagraphics distribution versus Diamond, nor do I have any knowledge of Indie comic distribution channels.

All that said, distribution isn't the point of The Best (American) Comics of 2007. Artistic merit and writing come into play somewhere.

So, really, now you're talking subjective criteria. That's okay. I don't necessarily think that the stories listed in The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told are, necessarily, the Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, either. But that's a publisher putting their name on a collection and putting as much out there about themselves as the comics included in the collection.

If you actually clicked on the links above to MacDonald's post, you'd notice over one hundred comments, many of them extremely heated. MacDonald may have done herself a disservice by not better framing her argument, and certainly by refusing to name names. But, really, in her line of work and with the vitriol tossed her way, can you blame her? If she knew it were coming? And did she know that this was going to put a ding in her career and reputation as indie comic fans, creators and critics each stepped up to the plate to take a shot at her?

If she didn't know that was going to happen, she hasn't been paying attention to her own work since the inception of her blog.

But was she necessarily wrong? Or did she just point out that the Emperor was parading down 5th Avenue in his tidy whities?

The folks who got rankled, like Tom Spurgeon, are more or less arbiters of the indie comic scene. Of late, its been the indie comics that get the faint praise of the literary establishment when they take notice of a book like "Jimmy Corrigan", and the occasional cross over hit like the deserving "Fun House" or "Persepolis" ("Fun House" made a critic's list or two last year under the "book" category, but went largely unnoticed in most comic shops. Likewise, Persepolis was winning awards, and I've seen it all but ignored in most comic shops. Likely any tie-in with the feature animated film of Persepolis will appear at Barnes & Noble long before it appears at Slappy's Comics Universe). Whether the indie comic reviewers and blogging press had anything to do with the discovery of those comics, or that those comics reflected pre-existing tastes of the literary establishment is a tough call.

Artistic commendation is worthy of striving for, so I don't want to dismiss any praise anybody has received from folks outside of the comic-sphere. And, honestly, I haven't seen the damn book that MacDonald is discussing, so I can't answer my own questions on this one.

But the fanboy behavior that the Indie-fans drum up in the comments makes the usual Gwen Stacey-related Spidey post on Newsarama look like a blip.

Unfortunately, Heidi is in a professional position where she CAN'T name names. She's not in the easy position of the critic as a face for Publisher's Weekly and as a blog manager. People give Matt Brady a hard time for not giving creators and the Big 2 the business, but... seriously, how long before that fatted calf would disappear if he decided to take Joe Quesada to task for every slight superhero fans believe he should answer for?

As does Matt Brady, so does Heidi.

Meanwhile, Tom Spurgeon and Co. are in a comfortable position where the artists and writers need them far more than Tom needs the creators. Any exposure is good exposure in small publishing where no marketing or advertising budget exists. As readers of The Comics Reporter, etc... make their decisions for purchases based upon comments on sites like Spurgeons or from other journals, its a different balance of power.

The bottom line in this case seems not to be that Heidi pointed out that some comics which get the indie street cred maybe aren't all that good (that's no secret), or even that Heidi may have divergent taste from the arbiters of the self-appointed comic literary meritocracy.

A recent post at Chronological Snobbery takes a pass through Chuck Klosterman-land to dish up a reminder of how hipsters and taste-makers believe their subjective tastes to be better informed than that of pretty much everyone else. While the Chron Snob post is interested in the legacy of 1980's hair band Ratt, it seemed to echo some of the same traits of the Best American Comics argument, albeit in a medium which even the people inside of the fanbase find divisive and geeky.

Success breeds contempt in any industry. Whether "SexyBack" is a good song or not is going to be diluted by the insistence that anything that popular was made for the masses and therefore not worthy of note. For more on the Klosterman ponderings, go here.

Comics being an almost sealed system, DC and Marvel are bigger kids on the block, and are therefore "mainstream", despite the small audience compared to almost any other medium. There's a built in snark factor for the crowd who loudly refuses to be associated with the super medium.

It doesn't seem that Ware and Anne Elizabeth Moore meant the name of their collection ironically, but the book reflects little outside of the tastes of a niche within the already nichey world of comics. All things being equal, it's either a ballsy or arrogant statement to assume that your taste in comics is going to define the best of the year, I don't care how diverse your buying habits. It's probably somewhat fair to state that a lot of what went into the volume is a lot of the same, as Heidi suggests. After all, its fair to say the same of DC's output, tentacle porn, or anything that someone has tried to dub with a genre name. Indie comics have remained mostly genre-free in the same way that "college music" did until a marketing exec dubbed Nirvana and Pearl Jam as "alternative" in 1992 or 3 (and, unlike electronica, the name stuck). Staying under the radar gives you the advantage of staying out of a category unless you're seeking one.

Most likely publisher Houghton-Mifflin can't get the reprint rights to most of DC and Marvel's stuff, anyway. If DC were interested in a best of the year, they quit printing their Blue Ribbon digests a long time ago. Not to mention the fact that a self-contained, single issue story in this era in a post Bendis superhero comic is far more the exception than the rule.

Not that Moore and Ware would consider those sorts of stories, but...

Is Heidi correct in asserting that the kids these days can't tell a story?

Oh, hell. I think (thus, my opinion) more DC writers fit that profile than not, just as 90% of any medium isn't all that great (including independently produced comix).

It's just a bitch to buy a $2.99 comic, get home and say "That was it?" Moreso when its an expensive graphic novel or indie comic that you wanted to take a risk on. Like any movie that's getting good reviews, its always an interesting venture to see what and why a comic is getting hyped outside of superhero circles. (my personal theory: With stunning regularity, the comics are about outsiders trying to make good and overcome their traumatic past. Sort of the same formula as Spider-Man and Batman, only without the spandex and web-shooters.)

Just as even the best comics of 2007 come at a price of $22. Is $22 the price of finding out if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a noise?

I will watch and reject dumb TV

Last night I watched three episodes of Elivira's "The Search for the Next Elvira".

I refuse to watch the new NBC show "Phenomenon".