• In a particularly stunning display of how the vast majority of comic book nerds, no matter how patiently you explain it to them, actively refuse to get it, at the now no longer worth reading (now that all the good writers have left for Robot 6), Blog@Newsarama, writer J. Caleb Mozzocco engaged in a rather sad bit of gay-baiting in aid of a joke that, frankly, wasn’t the slightest bit funny in the first place.

  The real fun starts when readers point out what an incredibly stupid, not to mention potentially offensive move Caleb’s little joke was, prompting increasingly hysterical and defensive reactions from both Caleb and fellow Blog@ writer Troy Brownfield. For Christ’s sake, they even pull out a sad variation of the “I can’t be homophobic, I have gay friends” defense.

  It was the most pathetisad spectacle of the week. At least until the New York Comic-Con started.

• I thought the dumbest thing I’d ever heard of was the latest revival of the New Mutants comic, the fourth for those of you keeping count. It’s always sort of sad to see Marvel wallowing in shitty 80s nostalgia like this. It’s so contrary to the image they like to present of themselves as a corporation that it almost feels like a betrayal of their core principles. I mean, DC has been publishing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman comics for 70-plus years; I expect them to look to their past for inspiration from time to time (though, honestly guys, bringing Barry Allen back? There’s a limit, you know?). Marvel is supposed to be the hipper, younger, forward-looking company.

  I suppose this is just them finally admitting that their core audience is man-children unwilling to let go of their childhoods.

• Of course, the absolute stupidest thing I’ve heard so far (non-politically) this week was the annoucement of the Dark Wolverine series. I’ll let you all take a laugh break now.

  …

  Got it out of your system? Good.

  I mean, really? Dark Wolverine? That’s what you think the comic industry needs? A “darker, grittier, edgier” version of Wolver-frickin-ine? And then, to top it all off, the series stars, not Logan, but Poochie Daken, Wolverine Jr.? If X-23 was created to make a certain segment of fandom feel better about their masturbatory fantasies, what audience is Daken created to satisfy? Fangirls who didn’t have quite enough people to pair Logan up with in their slash stories?

• Of course, some of this makes sense when you consider that the man in charge had this to say about fan complaints about the number of cross-overs in Marvel books these days:
  

  “We’re going to do Marvel Slumber Party,” Quesada joked in response to a question about the pattern of crossovers. He said “giving the characters a rest,” as the fan had suggested, would mean “a bunch of books where nothing happens.”

  Either he’s being disingenuous and deliberately misrepresenting the people who think there are too many event books coming out from Marvel too close together, or he genuinely thinks that not having a book tie-in to some larger story means “nothing happens.” I’m not sure which position should insult Marvel fans more.

• Of course, the real tragedy of all this is, that while discussing how face-palmingly stupid all the above is with friends, I was suddenly struck with a really good idea for a Marvel book. Too bad I’d never actually get into a pitch meeting with the company.

  I don’t bash DC enough for that.

• Increasingly I find that, if I’m reading and enjoying a comic published by Marvel, it is in spite of its connections to Marvel continuity. The trend probably began with the “Avengers: Disassembled” storyline, but in recent years it seems that Marvel is incapable of launching a new title unless it’s tied into a cross-over event or spun out of one.
  I tried the Fraction/Brubaker Iron Fist in trade form, and while it had all the traits of a good book, I couldn’t bring myself to care about the post-Civil War status of the character and his supporting cast. It didn’t help either that the character is himself, at best, a D-lister, but the presumed reader was familiar with his history. I’m intensely curious about Incredible Hercules, as people whose taste I usually trust assure me it’s good, but it launches out of yet another cross-over event. Hence, trepidation.
• The only Marvel book that seems to be immune to the disinterest stirred in me by cross-over-itis is Guardians of the Galaxy. I don’t care that it launches out of the Annihilation story-line. I don’t care that the current arc is bogged down in Civil War and War of Kings detritus.
  It’s the book that gives me not only Rocket Raccoon each month, but batshit-crazy 70′s Starlin-esque cosmic antics as well. And that’s all I ask out of my sci-fi comics.
• On that note, I think the current space comics by Starlin at DC are a hoot. Yes, I’m the one.
  I honestly don’t even care if he’s just retelling Dreadstar stories. You could do worse than just retell Dreadstar stories.
• While we’re talking space comics, my only complaint with the current arcs in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps is that there aren’t enough different colors for space cops.
• It should be noted that the above statement is a huge vote of confidence in what Geoff Johns is doing on Green Lantern, because for years I hated the character and concept. Particularly when it involved Hal Jordan. Especially when it involved Hal Jordan. And it’s become one of my favorite titles of late.
• I still think Green Lantern: Rebirth is one of the fucking dumbest retcons in the entire history of comics, and Skateman level bad, though.
• One of the problems with being in a two-comic-reader household is that whether or not to drop or continue to buy shared titles has to be negotiated from time to time. For example, Pete really likes Fables.
  I’m desperate to drop it.
  Chiefly, it’s because the main-storyline is as over and done with as it’s possible to be, and no matter how much Willingham wants to drag out the conclusion, it’s done. But then, on top of the book being continued past it’s glaringly obvious and natural conclusion, a third title is being launched. In the midst of a cross-over.
  It’s like Joe Quesada took over Vertigo.
  But, apart from all that, it’s getting increasingly hard to overlook Willingham’s politics. Especially now that he’s writing for one of those websites that specialize in propagating the myth that conservatives are an oppressed minority with no access to the mass media.
• Usually the cue for me to drop a manga title is when it stops being quirky and unique and turns into a fight comic. With the most recent volumes, that’s what has happened to Reborn, the book about an infant assassin training a clumsy Japanese school-boy how to be a Mafia don.
  The change-over is working, because honestly, turning into a fight comic represents a move to more placid and laid-back storytelling for a book like this.

Once you’ve gone cosmic entity from before time began, you never go back, baby!

X-Men: Prisoner X, 1998, Ann Nocenti
This year, I was thankful that the 90s are well and truly over.

And how did Marvel respond to the anti-comics hysteria of the 50s?

Here’s the list of the “nope, nothing objectionable here” titles:

I wonder what the educational benefit of threatening to skin a baby skunk is?