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[on his comics being a stepping stone to mainstream work] That’s not the next step. Love and Rockets is the last step. I ‘made it’ when we did the first issue.

Jaime Hernandez (via tozozozo-x)

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For the Guardian Review. #tomgauld #cartoon #surgery #writing #editing

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Getting hired to write a theme song for a new take on James Bond and calling it "You Know My Name" was downright brilliant.

RIP, Mr Cornell

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Behold: a perfectly titled comic book. (Batman #23, DC Comics 2017, Tom King and Mitch Gerads)

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CA-RL-DREAD-STONE!

👏🏻

👏🏻

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

The Universal Horror Library movie novelizations (Carl Dreadstone 1977)

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The only movie news I care about for the foreseeable future is who's going to be playing this dude.

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I guess they had to settle for “Legacy” after they couldn’t just outright call this character “The 1990s.”

(Silver Surfer Vol. 3 #90, March 1994, cover art by Ron Lim & Keith Aiken)

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This is your occasional reminder that comics are the best.

(Cover to The Brave and The Bold #177, August 1981, art by Jim Aparo and Tatjana Wood)

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I assume that's supposed to be Mirror Universe Picard but it kinda looks like Bruce Willis.

Look, this is a TOS-oriented blog, but Mirror Universe Wesley Crusher is my everything now. Deal with it.

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Thoughts on Batman #22: “The Button”

SPOILERS AHEAD for DC REBIRTH, BATMAN #21 & #22, and THE FLASH #21

I don’t know if Flashpoint was the “worst” DC Comics event ever- I’ve never actually read Armageddon 2001 but I’ve heard generally negative things- but I know it’s my least favorite. It’s the only comic book storyline, in years of reading superhero comics, that made me drop an entire company’s output from my list before it even came out. Not even Secret Empire got me to do that. Flashpoint and its aftermath in the form of The New 52 was meant to be a jumping-on point but I took the opportunity to jump off*. I was enticed back soon enough, by positive responses to Morrison’s Action and Snyder’s Batman, but I still largely stayed away until DC hit the reset button again with Rebirth.

So imagine my dismay when the first two issues of “The Button,” and now the third, an arc which promised or at least heavily implied to be about Watchmen, turned out to be about fucking Flashpoint.

I’m not exaggerating. It’s not just that this issue sees Batman and The Flash end up back in the Flashpoint universe- or, as Flash calls it, simply “the Flashpoint”- and it’s not just that Flashpoint Batman is there. It’s about Flashpoint. Thomas Wayne mentally recaps the events of the Flashpoint miniseries, then bemoans how terrible it is that it still exists, then Flash and Batman show up and talk about how it’s not supposed to even be there anymore. Then, after Flashpoint Batman and Real Batman have an emotional reunion and fight a joint Atlantean/Amazon hit squad (naturally) and they deduce that it only still exists because of the intervention of the (presumably blue and naked) entity behind The Button, it is immediately destroyed. 

(How convenient.)

So they go on for half the book about how the Flashpoint isn’t even supposed to be there, like some kind of cosmic Dante Hicks, and then it gets erased. This is like the entire problem with event comics, in general, condensed into about twelve pages. “The Flashpoint” is supposed to have been erased. Then it turns out it wasn’t! Except, oh, wait, now it is. It’s the fastest “This will change everything! Now it’s over and everything’s back to normal” ever. Even Age of Ultron** didn’t render itself pointless that quickly. 

In theory, honestly, this is something I could get behind. If this arc was about Batman and The Flash chasing the button’s energy signature across all these different DC timelines, that’d be potentially interesting. There’s a lot of awesome alternate DC timelines. Kamandi. Kingdom Come. Red Rain. The Multiversity stuff. But unless I’m mistaken this story- or at least this chapter of it, because there’s no way DC’s going to wrap up the apparent return of Doctor Manhattan in a random issue of The Flash- comes to an end next week, so there’s not much more room to explore that idea. And even if there was… god, did they have to start with Flashpoint?

There’s one thing in this comic- which, like Flash #21 last week, is never actively bad but simply not all that good- that I loved, however, and that’s this: near the very end, when The Flash has rebuilt the Cosmic Treadmill (which requires far less effort than you’d expect) and he and Batman are about to leave, Flashpoint Batman refuses to leave, and gives the following piece of advice to his (sort-of) son:

That’s awesome. Thomas Wayne looking Bruce dead in the face and saying “Stop it, don’t do this to yourself anymore” is great. This is a Thomas Wayne who’s about to give his life for his son just as he was meant to all along, only now he knows what Bruce’s future is. This Thomas Wayne has been Batman, and knows how hard a life it is, and he doesn’t wish it on anyone, least of all Bruce. It has potential to have a huge impact on Batman going forward. The issue lacks the structural impressiveness of The Button’s first installment, but it makes up for it with this one indelibly powerful moment.  

Wait a second…

… oh no.

…… do I like Flashpoint Batman now?

* Except from Booster Gold. I stuck with Booster til the bitter end. #BoosterGoldForever

 ** The comic, not the movie.

(Art from Batman #22 by Jason Fabok)

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FOUND ! …on the Streets of Washington D.C. by Scott Edelman

source  http://www.scottedelman.com/blog/

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Thoughts on The Flash #21: “The Button”

Spoilers ahead for DC REBIRTH, BATMAN #21 and THE FLASH #21

Reading a comic about Barry Allen is kind of like reading a comic book about your uncle. Not your cool, fun uncle who has an X-Box and a motorcyle. Your other uncle, who works as an actuary and drives a beige Honda Accord*. It’s not that you dislike this uncle. You love him. He’s an important part of your family and he’s nice and reliable and he’s always been around and if he wasn’t you’d miss him. But if you’re being really honest with yourself, the best thing about seeing him is always the possibility that he’s brought his kid Wally along. Cousin Wally’s the best.

The Flash #21 is kind of like a visit to that uncle’s house. You have to go/read it because it’s a holiday/crossover event. You’re not really looking forward to it, but it’ll probably be fine. Maybe Wally will stop by! (Spoiler alert: he does. But for like ten minutes/two panels.) 

Where DC Rebirth and Batman #21 both emulated Watchmen’s nine panel grid and closeup panels pulling out to reveal something unexpected, the next chapter in this whole spread-out saga, The Flash #21, is paced and structured like any other comic. It’s not bad or anything, and there’s a few panels and pages that are a lot of fun. But overall it’s just the next issue of The Flash, which means it’s not really for me.

It starts off with Barry monologuing about his dead mom and the forensic analysis of the Batcave post-Batman #21. In that issue, a hockey player beat a rival to death, a ghost from another dimension showed up, the Reverse-Flash kicked Batman’s ass and was killed by Doctor Manhattan (probably.) DC follows up that tightly-paced issue full of craziness with Barry Allen talking about blood splatter patterns and whinging about his mom for like three whole pages. That’s after a one-page introduction tangent about the JSA’s Johnny Thunder in a nursing home. That’s four pages out of twenty, or 20% of the whole issue. For a comic about a character whose whole thing is being fast, The Flash sure does take its time getting going.

It’s not all bad. None of it’s bad, really, but not a lot of it is very good. But some of it is. This issue introduces the idea that the titular button has a distinct radioactive signature which matches the radiation found on Reverse-Flash’s remains. The whole Rebirth story so far has played with a lot of interest meta-commentary and this is another example of it. So many fans (and creators, too, probably) have considered Watchmen to be untouchable for decades, and reactions to attempts to expand or modify or adapt it have always produced volatile results. Now they’ve made the book’s iconic symbol literally radioactive. It walks right up to the line of too clever for its own good, but doesn’t quite cross it. 

Then there’s this.

Nothing like a good trophy room panel. You’ve got the Worlogog, a Hero dial, what looks like a Phantom Zone projector up at the top. Martian Manhunter’s uniform is in there, making me wonder if we haven’t seen Martian Manhunter post-Rebirth yet. (Maybe he’s in Mister Oz’s prison with Tim Drake?) Some kind of spellbook. A Doctor Fate helmet, maybe?  Barda’s club, I think? Lobo’s hook. The Tangent Universe Green Lantern. Papal vestments, ‘cause why not? Probably a bunch of stuff I missed. There’s so much going on in this panel that I had to read it three times to realize The Flash was even there.

See? There he is. In his own title, playing second fiddle to a bunch of scenery.

Barry’s there to dust off the ol’ Cosmic Treadmill and go chasing the button’s energy signature throughout time, but before he can go Batman shows up and insists on tagging along, which he does by hooking himself to the Treadmill by a cord just like they suggest you do at the gym. They take off and see a bunch of crazy shit and eventually the Treadmill crashes in what initially seems like an older version of the Batcave, but turns out to be…

… the lair of Flashpoint Batman!

If all this Rebirth stuff was a bait-and-switch making us think we were getting the return of the Watchmen when really we’re getting Flashpoint 2, it might actually be the end of DC Comics as we know it.

Oh, and this happens.

Because God forbid we go more than five minutes around Barry Allen without mentioning Crisis…

* It is highly unlikely that any of my ten uncles will ever read this, but just on the off-chance: I’m not talking about YOU.

(Art from The Flash #21, by Howard Porter; header image from Batman #21 cover by Jason Fabok)

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I didn't see the first "Kingsman"- I generally try to avoid encouraging Mark Millar- but Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges as "cowboy spies" is a great idea and I cannot wait.

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A mostly comprehensive list of fictitious novels, short stories, and “critical readings” described, alluded to, or referenced in the novel Wonder Boys (1995), by Michael Chabon

by Albert Vetch/August Van Zorn

“Sister of Darkness” (short story) “The Eaters of Men” (short story) “The Case of Edward Angell” (short story) “The House on Polfax Street” (short story) “Black Gloves” (short story) The Abominations of Plunkettsburg and Other Tales (collection, Arkham House publishing)

by Happy Blackmore

ghost-written memoir of slugging catcher (unfinished, title unrevealed)

by Franconia Epps

Black Flowers (incomplete, unpublished)

by John Jose Fahey

Sad Tidings (novel) Kind of Blue (novel) Fans and Fadeaways  (novel) Eight Solid Light-Years of Lead (novel, posthumous)

 by Unnamed Young WordFest attendant from Moon Township, PA

“amazingly good” short story (title unrevealed) Acclaimed Novel (title unrevealed)

 by Unnamed WordFest attendants

The Loneliest Prawn (crime novel, or possibly children’s book) Blood on a Bustier (children’s book, or possibly crime novel)

 by Carrie McWhirty

Liza and the Cat People (novel, incomplete)

 by Walter Gaskell

The Last American Marriage (“critical reading,” God, what an insufferable dick)

 by “Q.”

The Secret Sharer (novel) Novel about a “sex-mad coroner” (title unrevealed) “The Real Story” (short story)

 by Terry Crabtree

short story about young Hitler meeting old Sherlock Holmes (unpublished, title unrevealed) “Sister of Darkness” (plagiarized)

by James Leer

“Blood and Sand” (short story) “Swing Time” (short story) “Flame of New Orleans” (short story) “Greed” (short story) “Million Dollar Legs” (short story) “Angel” (short story, incomplete) The Love Parade (novel)

 by Grady Tripp

“Sister of Darkness” (plagiarized) The Bottomlands (novel) The Arsonist’s Girl (novel) The Land Downstairs (novel) The Snake Handler (hypothetical future novel) The King of Freestyle (hypothetical future novel) Untitled novel about a “washed-up astronaut... marooned… in Disney World (hypothetical future novel) Novel about baseball and the Civil War (in-progress, title unrevealed) Memoir about 1970s Berkeley (in-progress, title unrevealed) “Sister of Darkness” (screenplay, in-progress) Wonder Boys (incomplete)

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Thoughts on Batman #21: “The Button”

(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR DC Rebirth and Batman #21)

Ten years ago, I thought of Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons as a semi-holy text, sancrosanct and never to be touched, expanded upon, annotated, parodied, sequelized, etc. I got all bent out of shape over the "Before Watchmen" prequels and still haven't read any of them even though that means intentionally depriving myself of comics by the late, great Darwyn Cooke. I went on thousand-word email rants about everything wrong with the movie adaptation while still claiming to basically like it. I used to joke that the last sign of utter creative bankruptcy by DC Comics would be if they folded Watchmen characters into the regular DC continuity.

Then that joke came true, and much to my surprise I am totally pumped for it.

Look: Watchmen's great, sure. It's brilliant, and important, and it always was and it always will be. But it's not the Bible. Alan Moore's not some untouchable prophet, he's just a crazy old wizard who hates money. Even if that weren’t the case, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, sticking Watchmen imagery into a story involving Flashpoint Batman doesn't take anything away from the original comics. It's still right there on the shelf where it's always been. It's fine.

(Watchmen, I mean. Flashpoint was, is, and ever shall be hot garbage.)

But as good as Watchmen is, it’s twelve comics out of thousands, before and since, and while the medium is capable of producing great, serious, important stories, above all else comics are supposed to be fun. Superman fighting the squid monster from the end? Someone who resembles Ozymandias kidnapping Tim Drake and Mister Mxyzptlk to a secret prison between dimensions? Batman and The Flash investigating The Comedian's iconic button? That's fun. That is top-notch comic book nonsense.

It definitely helps matters that Batman #21 is a well-done comic book. The first issue of the four-part "The Button" crossover picks up where the shocking final page of DC Rebirth left off almost a year ago, with Batman and the Flash finally getting around to examining the mysterious blood-spattered smiley-face button that turned up in the Batcave. Tom King’s run on Batman has been pretty good in general, and that continues here. In addition to introducing two fake sports teams for Metropolis and Gotham (something I always enjoy in comics, even if in this case it’s just hockey), King and artist Jason Fabok repurpose the classic Watchmen 9-panel grid to break down a minute of time across the entire issue. It's a clever use of panel structure, a storytelling device that, much like Watchmen itself, can only *really* work in the unique medium of comics. It's also a sign that the creators at least appear to be taking the creative legacy of Watchmen seriously, incorporating its visual language and innovation with structure and pacing instead of just slapping the button on the cover and going "Hey, remember Watchmen? Us too, that'll be two dollars and ninety-nine cents!"

A lot of people are going to hate it, or already do, just on general principles, and if younger me fell through a time warp from 2007 he'd be mortified. But he doesn't know what I know, which is that if you spend all your time worrying about the stuff you already like getting "ruined," you're never going to like anything new.

(All art from Batman #21, by Jason Fabok)

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Any tips on how to write ideas for a script without getting lost on the way of implenting them?

paper’s cheap. write in pencil and write fast and cross it all out and start again. my notebooks look like john doe from SEVEN just stopped giving a shit

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That leaked "Krypton" trailer was taken down, hopefully because they realized it was a dumb idea and decided to retool it into a show about the Superman backstory everyone REALLY wants to see...

(Superman #200, Oct. ‘67, Cary Bates & Wayne Boring)