|
Post by michaelpaciocco on Apr 10, 2010 6:12:12 GMT -8
Your turn to ask someone else questions
|
|
|
Post by jbhelfrich on Apr 18, 2010 15:39:42 GMT -8
Yeah, it's been crazy in these parts. I'll try to do it tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by jbhelfrich on Apr 24, 2010 9:09:52 GMT -8
All right, we seem to be on second rounds here, so you're up, Pogue.
1) Rucka has recently announced that he's through with his DC stuff and going back to his own material. What project should he return to first (or should he create something new) and in what format?
2) What WFH creator who has not done creator owned work would you like to see do their own stuff so you could read it?
3) Who should dump Work For Hire stuff and go do creator owned work so that you wouldn't have to read it?
4) What comic book property not already known to be in development in another media should be adapted? Into what format? Who should be involved?
5) Joss Whedon is rumored to be directing the Avengers. Thoughts?
|
|
|
Post by paulpogue on Apr 24, 2010 13:10:21 GMT -8
1. Pass. I know nothing about Rucka except what he did in Infinite Crisis and 52.
2. Wow, tough one, in that just about every major creator I can think of has dipped their toe into the creator-owned pool at one point or another. I'd have to go with Tom DeFalco. All I've ever read by him is his Spider-universe and Thor stuff, so I don't think he's ever gone creator-owned. He's a fascinating writer who really only has two or three gears at most, but he's got his particular schtick polished to a fine shine -- "silver age old-timey stuff updated for the current era but done completely without irony." Whenever he's tried to move into grabbing the zeitgeist, it's a disaster of epic proportions, most particularly his FF run, in which he seemed to try to combine "Claremontian time travel hijinx" with "1990s gritty post-Liefeld heroes" and it turned out about as well as you'd expect. But Spider-Girl has been some damn fine old-school heroics for more than a decade now. But by the same token, he's limiting himself -- he's been playing an updated cover version of Lee/Ditko/Romita Spider-stories for a long time, but that happens to be such a strong riff that a decent cover still outdoes 90 percent of Spider-output of the last decade.
DeFalco plays with minor deconstructive games rather well -- I liked his take on how Thunderstrike's mace worked as opposed to Mjolnir, for instance. At the core of his writing, I have no idea who Tom DeFalco actually is. Stripped of the handy crutch of Marvel continuity and forced to create something on his own, there's no roadmap at all to what DeFalco Unlimited would be like. Classic stuff, utter disaster or just aggressively mediocre? No telling. Which is why it would be pretty interesting.
3. Ellis, Ellis, Ellis. I like his WFH just fine -- Thunderbolts was rather good, and NextWave was genuinely fun, but his Year of Whoredom has drawn out into the Decade of Whoredom, and sometimes I wonder if he really is just trying to spite his audience. It is very, very difficult for an angry young man to translate with age into something older than a bitter old coot yelling at the kids to get off his lawn -- witness the way Harlan Ellison is so damn proud of his complete ignorance of the Internet, as if it's a badge of honor, but also feels like he has the standing to comment on how the Internet is ruining creativity.
Ellis is a great, great storyteller, but there came a point, not long after Planetary #14 and the Great Interregnum, where I think he was just trying to spite his audience. That's not something I say lightly; I don't normally like to read the minds of creators, but Ellis made no secret whatsoever of his disdain for the people who just wanted Planetary to be finished up already. He really did seem actively angry that people were demanding he finish it up when he had clearly lost interest; this was the genesis of his "Creators don't owe you anything, so fuck off, shiteyes" phase. And while he does have a point there, I think it's reasonable to expect that your readers are going to get a bit grumpy if you get 14 issues into a 24-issue series and start acting like writing the rest is the equivalent of being told to eat your vegetables. Particularly if the brand-new shiny stuff that you just have to get out of your system is "Mek" and "Tokyo Storm Warning."
So really, I'd like to see Ellis go exclusively creator-owned for a few years, get whatever it is he has to get out of his system squared away, and maybe come out renewed on the other end.
4. Someone help me out here -- you know the whole white-man's-guilt subgenre, where a white guy goes to join a subculture to fuck them over, sees the light and joins them and just happens to become their messiah and savior in the end, despite having only been there a little while? Immortalized by Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai and the most successful film of all time? Yeah, that one. Has it ever been done in reverse in filmdom? I don't think it has been. There's been bits SIMILAR, like when Q decides he likes humanity more than his own Q people or something, but not a more-or-less direct inversion of the plot where an outsider tasked to destroy earth decides to save it instead. Because that is exactly what Marvel's Captain Marvel is. Mar-Vell, secret invader, infiltrating human society and the American military to set up a beachhead for Kree invasion. More than most comics, it presents the ideal opportunity for film adaptation -- and ironically, it's precisely because of what makes it a weak premise in comics. Good comics require what it has lately become in vogue to refer to as "Storytelling Engines" -- the core of a character's status quo that allows him or her, month in and month out, to get into a new scrape or situation, solve it, and return to basically the same status quo for the next adventure. Dr. Strange is great for this -- he's constantly on the lookout for mystical threats to earth, fights them, and then wakes up the next day looking for another threat to fight. Great storytelling engines allow for an unlimited amount of beginning-middle-end stories without shaking everything up unless you really want to.
Captain Mar-Vell? TERRIBLE storytelling engine. Which is probably why it only lasted 18 issues and then sent Cap to space to meet a cosmic tree stump and become protector of the universe and fight stone-faced Titans bent on destroying the universe. (Which, by the way, is a fantastic storytelling engine -- Gruenwald used it to much better effect in Quasar, but even though post-Starlin writers weren't terribly interested in the Protector of the Universe conceit, it was always a handy excuse to push the hero into action.)
I digress. Anyway, Mar-Vell the Earth Infiltrator can only go on so long because there's only so many stories to tell. Any decent story would end with a massive upset of the status quo, which is pretty much what ultimately happened with the Yon-Rogg/Una business. There's only so many ways Cap can juuust barely protect earth while simultaneously maintaining his cover with the humans and not cluing in his superiors to the fact he's going native. But films, which only tell one story at a time and have to make it a big one, work with this just fine. You devote the entire first film to Mar-Vell going native and turning against the Kree and ultimately embracing his role in protecting a home that is not really his own, and make it as big and bombastic as possible. If you want to get really meta, it also has the option of creating the chance to stick it to Dances With Wolves and The Last Samurai, which in my estimation cannot be done often enough.
Although, ironically, "Last Samurai" director Edward Zwick would be the ideal person to do this, because his experience with stories about uneasy military situations -- like "Glory" or "The Siege" -- would actually translate pretty well to this.
Alternately: Starlin's Warlock. Done by someone bugfuck insane and willing to really embrace the trippy surreality of Starlin's weird mindscapes and timey-wimey stuff. Maybe throw a LOT of money at Tom Tykwer or Darren Aronofsky. Or, alternately, just ask 'em to do it with greenscreen and a couple of iMacs. Either way would have some damn fun results.
5. FAN-tastic. Whedon gets a lot of crap for running properties into the ground, but "Firefly" and "Dollhouse" both had the deck ridiculously stacked against them from the beginning. "Buffy" and "Angel" were both extraordinary works, especially when they were on at their high points. He's got some flaws as a storyteller, but it doesn't change the fact that he really is one of the sharpest masters of form that the genre world has right now. I couldn't describe any of his tics as a director, but that doesn't MATTER -- the only way a Whedon episode stands out isn't because of any particular tricks, but because it seems to be more polished and just plain better than the rest.
Whedon has an extraordinary knack for ensembles, which is what Avengers will desperately need. The biggest danger of the movie right now is the likelihood that it becomes Iron Man 3, guest-starring the Avengers. You've got several major characters, all of which are very strong personalities, who are from completely different genres of storytelling that live-action film is not really accustomed to combining. In comics and animation, we're perfectly used to seeing Superman and Batman hanging out and punching bad guys and using their own different strengths, but Big Hollywood is simply not wired to deal with that sort of thing. Joss Whedon, however, is. Not only is he a lifelong nerd, but he knows how to juggle this stuff. Firefly had nine main characters -- NINE! -- all inhabiting a set that was pretty much six different rooms, and made the whole thing work. An Avengers film has to combine glossy high-tech, gritty soldier guy, and giant-ass epic mythology, and that's just with the Big Three. Throw in Superspy Sam Jackson and whoever the other Avengers are and you have TREMENDOUS potential for the whole thing to collapse into an unholy mess.
All of the above includes the primary reason that none of the big-gun superteams have ever made it to screen. (The X-Men are a different case, since there's a unifying thematic factor to all of them, which JLA and Avengers both lack, and it STILL pretty much became Wolverine and Those Other Dudes.)
Anyway -- just random thoughts overall. Whedon has an extraordinary talent for how to make an ensemble group tick, and not only that, but he honed it in seven seasons of a series where the least interesting character was arguably the lead. I think he's got what it takes to make "Avengers" work. And hell, I'm keenly interested in seeing what he can do with the highest of high profiles (as opposed to the Friday timeslot o'death), a more-or-less unlimited budget, and the likely tailwind of what we already know to be a ridiculously successful film and its probably even more successful sequel and whatever Cap and Thor turn out to be.
Plus: Robert Downey Jr.? Whedon dialogue? SOLD.
|
|
|
Post by jbhelfrich on Apr 24, 2010 20:18:37 GMT -8
Comments: Whiteout's obscure, so I'll forgive that. But not reading Queen and Country? Or the Kodiac novels? Both are right up your alley. The Q&C novel and the most recent Kodiac weren't his best work--they suffered a bit, I think from him being in licensed property mode, and were good stories without any significant character development, aside from wiping out some major supporting characters.
Get yourself to a library and get the first Kodiac novel, Keeper, at a minimum, and keep an eye out for cheap Q&C trades. They're worth it.
As for Whedon, while your points are all good, his strongest work is about family. (I admit, I didn't watch Dollhouse.) And an Avengers that tries to cram a Buffy "I can't stand my friends/I need my friends/I love my friends" season arc into two hours is going to feel a bit touchy feely. Those sorts of themes are an undercurrent in Avengers (and JLA, and any sort of All Stars team book) but they're not as overt as they are in most of Joss' work. We'll see.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 1, 2010 13:34:39 GMT -8
Paul? Your turn to ask someone 5 questions.
|
|
|
Post by paulpogue on May 3, 2010 19:36:06 GMT -8
Since we're on second-round time -- Mike Paciocco, you're in the Cash Cab!
1. While standing waiting for a bus at the border between Clicheville and Deus Ex Machinastan, your cell phone is struck by lightning and bestows on you the ability to make phone calls to your 16-year-old self. What do you tell him? Ground rules: This happens in as close to the real world as we know it as possible. So all your 16-year-old self, whom we will presume owned a cell phone, knows about the mystery voice other end of the line is whatever you choose to tell him. And since this happened from a freak accident, the wibbly-wobbly time paradox rules are pretty much a mystery to you.
2. You can delete any one major creator's run on a single comic book title from history. Who and why, and what do you think would happen?
3. You are asked to backengineer one existing cultural mythology into the Marvel or DC Universe, your pick. It should be one that hasn't been deeply explored in Big Two comics, and when you're done, it occupies a prominent place in the universe, comparable to Amazons in DC or Asgardians in Marvel. What one do you pick, and why? What components do you play with? Corollary rule: It can be something that's been played with a little, as long as it hasn't been melded into the universe in a big way. Gaiman alone explored dozens of 'em, and every supernatural writer has played with Lilith at least a little.
4. Micah Wright's publisher decides they're going to throw caution to the wind and take a crack at publishing motivational poster books again. Congratulations, you won the contract! Now what?
5. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Micronauts -- giants in the world of comics! What toy line, classic or modern, would you turn into a comics franchise? What would you do with it? It can be one that's gotten comics exposure before -- it's not like anyone read "Centurions" anyway -- but take the chance to be creative.
5A bonus question! Someone thought they should make a comic of "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future!" Someone thought they should get Neal Adams to draw it! Someone SUCCEEDED! On said toy-to-comics franchise, what classic legendary comic creator would you choose as your flagship artist or writer? Dead guys count!
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 11:28:51 GMT -8
In completely random order Since we're on second-round time 5. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Micronauts -- giants in the world of comics! What toy line, classic or modern, would you turn into a comics franchise? What would you do with it? It can be one that's gotten comics exposure before -- it's not like anyone read "Centurions" anyway -- but take the chance to be creative. Do you remember my "reimagining" of Voltron? If not, here you go anyway, The Worlds Union is a loose organization of about 50 systems, each system home to a different species with wildly different biologies and physiologies. They generally don't interact much with each other because it's too hard to adapt large portions of each other's domains to suit another species. That being said, they do have wonderful trade agreements that are the heart of their alliance. About 4 generations ago, Humanity arrived in Union Space. They had been traveling for centuries in search of a new world. Quite frankly, the Union didn't want them or need them, but enough of them felt sympathetic enough to let them enter into the Union. However, without the resources of a home system to provide them with the means for economic equality, Humanity becomes a marginalized, second-class species reduced to eeking out meager, pathetic existences in the slums of other worlds plus a few barely habitable resource planets spread out across the entire Union. The other worlds look upon humanity as being adaptive little monkeys for being able to survive in such a diversity of environments and conditions, but being far too barbaric and militaristic (one of the few areas where Humanity has thrived is in the Union Armed Forces; but given how most of the Union sees a unified Space fleet as being an expensive luxury, that's damning but faint praise indeed). Still, despite their hardships and diaspora, Humanity is united in many respects, particularly in terms of their common history, and a common legend. A legend that persists to this day and gives them hope despite their suffering and lot in life. A legend that all members of the Union think of as "quaint" at best (and absolute nonsense caused by too many generations of breeding in spaceships at worst). Despite this it has been heard throughout the Union and is one of the few "common stories" translated and known among all citizens A legend of a savior that protect Humanity during its long journey among the stars. A Legend called.....VOLTRON. The Union has even capitialized on the legend by constructing a crude, barely functional Robot (a mass of black vehicle robots that combine into a larger form) as a PR stunt for the Military. The robot is barely functional, piloted by entirely by non-humans, and is only kept operational by a gifted young civilian programmer (Pidge) and a hardy mechanic (Hunk). The project is overseen by a trio of young junior human officers (Keith, Lance, and the guy who's name I can never remember and it really isn't all that important). Keith is bitter and angry at having to do this dog and pony show; he's a true believer in the legend, and finds this whole operation sacrilege. He also feels that a military has better things to do than parade around a giant toy to entertain the masses. His non-human superiors disagree and have intimidated that he might as well enjoy it while it lasts. His fellow officers (particularly his friend Lance) and friends just want him to unwind; it's an easy, boring job and they get to tour the Union to find all the hottest tail to score. One night the three friends (Lance, Keith, and Sven) are boozing it up in a down and dirty bar in one of the human slums. Sven is particularly enthralled by this raven haired beauty whom is taking an interest in him. Lance has the attention of 3 women while Keith is doing his very best brooding. That's when a young woman approaches him. She's not dressed like the loose women in the bar, but in a lot of earth, Gypsy-esque clothing. The other women make fun of her, calling her "The Princess" because of her dress and the fact that she makes her living fortune-telling in the countryside, where normally only the wealthiest of humans can live. The Princess sees something in Keith, and tells him that she has to come with him. Keith is stirred by the woman and is ready to jet off immediately. Lance, worried that this Princess is a dangerous con-artist (or is it something more? There's definitely a lot of innuendo between the two. Jealousy perhaps?), decides to go with him. Lance, Keith and the Princess head off to the mostly sparse countryside, and see that the "Vampire trees" are all dead. The Princess believes that this is a sign, while Lance is skeptical and warning Keith to be cautious. They make their way to a large clearing of dead vampire trees when they find in the clearing a Red Crystal Key with a vaguely lion-esque design. It's only when Lance touches the key that a fiery explosion rips open the clearing ...uncovering a Red Robot Lion... Meanwhile, back in the city...alarms blaze as a barrage falls from the sky. Strange eerie fighter craft dart throughout the city. The Faux-Voltron bot is destroyed while Pidge, Hunk and Sven run for cover. The Raven Haired girl offers them sanctuary. Pidge and Hunk are left behind as Sven and the woman head off to another room. Sven is distraught and wondering what to do next. The Woman laughs...her hair starts flowing and writhing...she then tells him that the plan has finally come to pass, that the Union is ready to be destroyed, and that it's all working out so perfectly...Then, with inhuman speed, she bites Sven in the neck and jabs out his eyes with her fingers.....and that's when the first issue ends. The first arc would then deal with getting the team together and finding the other lions in order to mount a counter-attack. After that, they won't be fighting the invaders every ep but trying to learn what they are and when they came from. Other arcs would see the union wanting to exploit the robot, and the Humans, seeing the legendary Savior and using this to form the basis of an equal rights movement. A lot of pressure will be on Keith, because, seriously, a giant Robot engine of destruction can't solve the entrenched socio-economic situation of humanity, but it can be a boon, and it can be leverage. The invaders would be a mystery menance that would be slowly revealed by the end of the year two.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 11:43:18 GMT -8
5A bonus question! Someone thought they should make a comic of "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future!" Someone thought they should get Neal Adams to draw it! Someone SUCCEEDED! On said toy-to-comics franchise, what classic legendary comic creator would you choose as your flagship artist or writer? Dead guys count! Ouch. Well, you sorta already said I have to hae Neal Adams, so I guess I'm with that. Though if I had my way, I think Walt Simonson would do the gig. Of course, it'd almost be a sin not to have JMS try to continue his story...until you remember that JMS isn't 1/10th the writer he used to be.. So yeah, Walt Simonson would be my pick for writer or writer/artist. Captain Power has one of those interesting places in my fandom list - it was one of those things that I watched, where when I saw it again as a grown up I'm amazed that I was allowed to watch. Not in the "Holy cow, this is pure propaganda" sense that you get with G.I. Joe, but rather the bleakness and sense of hopelessness of fighting against the Machines was presented. And of course, the finale is one of the 3 most tragic childhood TV watchings (the other two being the end of Alf and of course, the Death of Optimus Prime). But it would definitely be an interesting place to revisit.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 11:53:53 GMT -8
2. You can delete any one major creator's run on a single comic book title from history. Who and why, and what do you think would happen? I actually have two answers for this one, a first knee-jerk response and then the one that I figured out was more important after about 30 seconds to think about it. KNEE JERK RESPONSE: Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers, and then everything would have been better. Hell, even if Chuck Austen's run had been extended, no way he could have gotten away with more than Bendis did, and eventually the reigns would have been turned over to....yeah, let's say Robert Kirkman, or maybe Dan Slott. And we would have been sparred House of M, Secret Invasion, and Siege, and the Sentry. THOUGHTFUL RESPONSE: Mark Millar's AUTHORITY run, because from that came the ULTIMATES, and eventually, Bendis' Avengers and Civil War and 70% of the shitty shitty comics out there. But without Millar's AUTHORITY run, he's left on titles with some greater measure of editorial control, and thus his lunacy and nihilism is contained (as much of it was on Superman Adventures, which gets a good reputation despite containing many of his characteristic problems). However, without the Authority, he doesn't get the Ultimates, and that doesn't inspire Bendis to take on the Avengers anyway. Nevermind that without the Ultimates, we might have had Kurt Busiek on Avengers a little longer, and that cannot be anything but a good thing. Ultimates would have still been published, but without him at the helm - who would have been put in charge? Maybe Bendis? Or a slightly-less crazy Jeph Loeb? Yeah, I know Jeph Loeb these days is terrible, but if he had been the guiding hand on Ultimates it might have been better than Millar's stuff, or at least without Millar to show everyone the way, he might not go as far as he does now.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 12:11:13 GMT -8
4. Micah Wright's publisher decides they're going to throw caution to the wind and take a crack at publishing motivational poster books again. Congratulations, you won the contract! Now what? OK, assuming that most of the 2000+ posters I already have are invalid (as they likely would be given copyright of Marvel/DC characters and etc.), I'd probably spend a couple months just using the google image search and newsites looking for images to make posters of some of the more absurd things in Western civilization, ranging from the political to the mundane. Just to give an example of the subjects I'd try to cover: POLITICAL EXAMPLE: The US military's use of UAV drones has become SO extensive that they're now recruiting and training more drone pilots than real pilots. Despite the fact that drone attacks generally kill (depending on who is doing the counting) 20-50 civilians for every terrorist, and it's seen as perfectly viable and even desirable, and at the same time, these pilots have a very highly inflated sense of themselves. But then again, they aren't in Afghanistan. They're in Vegas. This is a subject BEGGING for some dark comedy. MUNDANE: The fact that everyone can get a tiny telecommunications device that most closely resembles the communicator from STAR TREK, but our primary modes of transport and power are basically 19th century burning of random shit. The contrast is staggering. And then there's the fact that we look down on the educated while reaping the benefits of it all.... So yeah, I'd try and encapsulate things like that into poster form.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 12:35:44 GMT -8
3. You are asked to backengineer one existing cultural mythology into the Marvel or DC Universe, your pick. It should be one that hasn't been deeply explored in Big Two comics, and when you're done, it occupies a prominent place in the universe, comparable to Amazons in DC or Asgardians in Marvel. What one do you pick, and why? What components do you play with? Corollary rule: It can be something that's been played with a little, as long as it hasn't been melded into the universe in a big way. Gaiman alone explored dozens of 'em, and every supernatural writer has played with Lilith at least a little. My pat answer would be Hinduism because it would actually explore how seeing living icons of your faith would influence a real-world, vital religion and its followers. However, my more in-depth answer? Atheism. I'd actually would like to see more of comic characters actually questioning the precepts of any faith, not just because of the existence of gods and the afterlife would be confirmed (sort of) but because of the "all that I've seen". I'd like to see characters fundamentally challenge all religions as false because "hey, I've been dead, and back, and you know what? Maybe EVERYONE IS WRONG!" I'd like to see the idea that because of all these afterlife issues, people do actually see faith and religion as multiple choice - that because they all have evidence of existence, they are all equally valid. That would be far more interesting, to me at least.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 12:53:54 GMT -8
1. While standing waiting for a bus at the border between Clicheville and Deus Ex Machinastan, your cell phone is struck by lightning and bestows on you the ability to make phone calls to your 16-year-old self. What do you tell him? Ground rules: This happens in as close to the real world as we know it as possible. So all your 16-year-old self, whom we will presume owned a cell phone, knows about the mystery voice other end of the line is whatever you choose to tell him. And since this happened from a freak accident, the wibbly-wobbly time paradox rules are pretty much a mystery to you. My general approach to this would be: FUCK THE PARADOXES AND THE TIMELINE. Seriously, if this is a unique, never-come-again opportunity, and I'd take it for all its worth. Now, priorities: 1) Preventing family tragedies and self-improvement: Egocentric, I realize, but it's also something that would have the most chance of success. There's a few accidents and bad things that happened in my family that I'd move heaven and Earth to reverse, and I'd have to try that. Also, giving my younger self a bit of career advice (and maybe help with a girl here and there) would have gone a long way to making my own life better. 2) Preventing Global tragedies and disasters: The only reason this isn't #1 is that I'm just realistic enough to consider that a 16 year-old Canadian has little chance of warning people of something like 9/11 five years before the fact without massive resources at his disposal. However, I'd consider it a moral duty to at least try and get him to work on a way of warning about what crap was coming. 3) Using knowledge of the future to get money - lowest priority, but again, not necessarily a bad idea - you know, getting my dad to buy RIM stock, when to hedge on certain markets, etc. And of course, winning every bet on the Stanley cup for the last 15 years or so. I hope these are satisfactory answers to your questions. I'll ask mine to a deserving person once I've had time to reflect on it further.
|
|
|
Post by michaelpaciocco on May 4, 2010 12:59:01 GMT -8
MARIO!
1) Which creator has fallen off the grid that you want to see more work from and where would you put him?
2) Favorite comics bloggers?
3) Favorite non-fandom related activity?
4) The top five most mis-used comics characters - who are they and why have they been abused?
5) The real-world subject comics most/least needs to tackle is...?
|
|
|
Post by Mario Di Giacomo on May 5, 2010 8:53:31 GMT -8
1) Tough one, because my favorite creator is off the radar for a very good reason. So I'll go with plan B. Christopher Priest. I'd like to see him on CHECKMATE. He can do politics & espionage better than anyone, and (as an incentive) I'd also let him use XERO. 2) Don't read a lot of blogs, but I find myself revisiting MightyGodKing more often than not, especially his Dr. Strange stuff. 3) Sleep, probably. I'm busy enough during the week with work that I don't have time for much else, and what hobbies I do have probably fit under "fandom-related". Runner-up would probably be "trying exotic foods". 4) Only 5? Let's see... in no particular order: a) Hank Pym. He's gone from "guy who made a mistake or two" to "dysfunctional laughing stock". As he's the only one of Marvel's super-scientists without any real attachments, he has the potential to be Marvel's Doc Savage or Bernard Quatermass, but instead, it's "I beat my wife", and "Oh look, Ultron's attacking". b) Roy Harper. I'm pretty sure that after losing his arm, his home, and (oh yes) his DAUGHTER, it'll be impossible to use him in a non-grim manner for at least 5 years. c) Wonder Woman. When even Gail Simone can't move her forward in any real fashion, that's a bad sign. Especially since Paradise Island falls aparet more often than the Italian Parliament. d) Doctor Doom. Not so much abused as written almost unrecognizably. Milalr has him call someone else master, Bendis thinks he uses phrases like "fat cow", and Mayberry has decided he's always REALLY hated Black Panther, for some reason. And everyone casts him as a mystical opponent. e) Aquaman. Read my old proposal. 5) I don't read comics for "real-world problems", but for a "a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel." ;D
|
|