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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 3, 2008 7:37:51 GMT -8
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Post by K-Box on Nov 3, 2008 23:52:56 GMT -8
I agree with it, but how did I inspire it?
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 4, 2008 8:29:46 GMT -8
Oh, it was when you put the thread on your LJ about my last "Ideas that should go away" (Superhero Emo) and it came up in the comments thread. You'd have to look through it for details.
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 4, 2008 13:31:10 GMT -8
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 5, 2008 18:48:43 GMT -8
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 6, 2008 18:38:38 GMT -8
(Note: Still haven't figured out how to do embedded url links here. Anyone want to show me how will be thanked) pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2008/11/typical-week-in-life-ofthe-sentry.htmlA Typical Week in the Life of...THE SENTRY Monday: Avengers Meeting. Spider-Woman is looking at me. Why is she looking at me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? Music: Evanescence Tuesday: Press Conference. Throw someone into the sun. Music: Good Charlotte Wednesday: Tear something in half. Cry because I, like, feel wrong about stuff all the time. Music: Simple Plan Thursday: Therapy session. Music: Death Cab for Cutie Friday: WHY DOES NOBODY LIKE ME? Music: Fallout Boy Saturday: The Void is here. He does stuff. It's sad but it happens because I'm really such a good hero to everyone. Music: Dashboard Confessional Sunday: Try to undo what the Void did, knowing that it's my fault and that I'm a bad person. Curl up into fetal position. Music: My Chemical Romance Because you know, I really can't express my hatred for that character ENOUGH. Make sure you go to the link for the posters. |
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Post by jarddavis on Nov 9, 2008 12:34:40 GMT -8
Because you know, I really can't express my hatred for that character ENOUGH. Make sure you go to the link for the posters. If by some miracle I became editor in chief of Marvel Comics, the first casualty would be the Sentry... killed by Speedball. "Of that whole Penance phase... WHAT was I thinking?" |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 9, 2008 13:09:33 GMT -8
Because you know, I really can't express my hatred for that character ENOUGH. Make sure you go to the link for the posters. If by some miracle I became editor in chief of Marvel Comics, the first casualty would be the Sentry... killed by Speedball. "Of that whole Penance phase... WHAT was I thinking?" Nah, I wouldn't saddle Speedball with any potential angst. I think I'd just have him thown into a woodchipper or have his head caved in by the Juggernaut. Actually, come to think of it, Juggernaut's never really been much when it comes to being a killer, which is surprising given his power level. Fine, fuck it, Blastaar rips his head off. |
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Post by jarddavis on Nov 9, 2008 14:23:54 GMT -8
If by some miracle I became editor in chief of Marvel Comics, the first casualty would be the Sentry... killed by Speedball. "Of that whole Penance phase... WHAT was I thinking?" Nah, I wouldn't saddle Speedball with any potential angst. I think I'd just have him thown into a woodchipper or have his head caved in by the Juggernaut. Actually, come to think of it, Juggernaut's never really been much when it comes to being a killer, which is surprising given his power level. Fine, fuck it, Blastaar rips his head off. It'd have to be Speedball. Just to piss off Quesada. |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 9, 2008 14:36:45 GMT -8
fair point.
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 12, 2008 6:24:39 GMT -8
Today, a Review of "Soon I will be Invincible" pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-soon-i-will-be-invincible.htmlTonight we'll be reviewing Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. I suppose I'm the last one to the party on this one. After all, when it came out a while back, every comic blogger and their uncle was talking about this one, and how it spawned the current generation of new superhero prose and... Really? I mean, really? This? OK, perhaps that's a bit too harsh. This novel is a technical marvel and the storytelling is particularly strong. I just wish the plot and the characters had a little more vitality to them. The novel focuses on the intertwining of two narratives: Evil supergenius Doctor Impossible, currently in prison and striving for something greater, and amnesiac cyborg Fatale, trying to make ends meet. They are both drawn into the plot by the disappearance of the world's greatest and most powerful hero. During the course of events, the history of our two main protagonists, as well as that of Earth's greatest superteam, is unearthed and we find out there's a large cost to the costumed lifestyle, for the good guys and the bad. Does that sound familiar? If so, congratulations! You own at least one issue of Kurt Busiek's Astro City, or any of a dozen other comics, novels, essays or movies. Now, you could say that, hey, anything that can be compared to Astro City is pretty goddamn good, especially for a first time author. And that's a fine opinion to have, but to say that it is revolutionary in any way is an overstatement at best, and pure crap at worst. Now, that said, the writing is GOOD. The technique is polished, smart, and the pacing is even and rapid. There's a real sense of weight and action and even personality, at least in Fatale and Impossible. The problem is that everyone else comes off as a complete cipher at best, or at worst, the author presumes you'll do the mental mapping of "Just like character X from a major comic company but with this slight tweaking!" and I don't know about you, but I'm long past sick and tired of analogues of famous superheroes and stand-ins being used over and over again. Soon I Will Be Invincible is a well-told tale, and it has its charm. The problem is that it depends too heavily on what has come before, and offers very little new to the genre it is in. |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 14, 2008 7:52:02 GMT -8
By popular Demand! pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2008/11/typical-week-in-life-ofiron-man.htmlA Typical Week in the Life of...Iron Man MONDAY: Repeat to myself in the mirror: "The Initiative is a roaring success" for 15 minutes. SHIELD meeting. Dugan has agressive old man smell. Maria Hill looks at me like she's going to shank me between the ribs. Invent five new technologies. Bring a Playboy cover girl to bed. TUESDAY: Repeat to myself in the mirror "I was right, Steve was wrong" for 20 minutes. Redesign armor. There's a memo on my desk: something about Atlanteans infiltrating the country, but hey, that can wait. Bring a supermodel to bed. WEDNESDAY: Repeat to myself "I made the right decision." for 30 minutes. Avengers Meeting. Am thankful for new AI and sound dampening so I don't have to hear anything the Sentry or Ms. Marvel talks about. Take a TV actress to bed. THURSDAY: Repeat to myself "Norman Osborn can be trusted" for an hour. National Security Meeting. Fight a villain from my rogues gallery. Wonder why that doesn't seem to happen as much anymore. Take two supermodels to bed. Hey, I deserve it. FRIDAY: Repeat to myself "I can trust me, why can't anyone else?" with a straight face for two hours. Business meeting to roll out new product I developed on Monday. Fight with an unregistered former friend who sees me as an authoritarian prick, but I let him go. Wonder why that seems to happen more often now. Take a movie star to bed. SATURDAY: Repeat to myself "I am not transferring my need for self-control onto others" for two hours. AA meeting. See Carol and wave, but god who wants to talk to her? Take Carol to bed. SUNDAY: Repeat to myself "I'm still the good guy, right?" for six hours. Meeting with the President. Stop the people who have perverted the technologies I created on Monday for nefarious purposes. Feel guilty about it and tell myself that only I should have control over my actions. Take a future villainess to bed. |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 19, 2008 9:53:22 GMT -8
We knew it was going to come to this sooner or later: pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2008/11/plot-devices-that-need-to-go-away-7.htmlPLOT DEVICES THAT NEED TO GO AWAY #7: MARY SUE CHARACTERS Also Known As: Marty-Stu, Gary-Stu, etc. What is it? If you don't know, just go here. It's easier for both of us this way. Why do Comic Companies Do it? Lazy Writing. No, sorry, that's not a worthy answer. Let me try that again. Really Lazy Writing by bad fanfic authors who pass themselves off as professionals, but have no idea what to do with a character, so they just write a given favorite character as their own mouth piece. Recent Offenders include but are not limited to: Geoff Johns (Hal Jordan), Ed Brubaker (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier/Nu Captain America), Mark Millar (Too many to count, and it requires understanding Millar Logic, so why bother?), Frank Miller (Batman), Brian Michael Bendis (The Hood, Luke Cage, Nick Fury, Jessica Jones, The Sentry...it's a long list here too), Garth Ennis (Any given Ennis Protagonist), Warren Ellis (any Given Ellis Protagonist) and many, many more. Patient Zero While this trope has always been common to comics, I'm going to have to (again) point to the Dark Knight Returns as being the point where it went from "occassional but acceptable" to "down right obnoxious and omni-present" Why does it have to Go Away? I'll just assume you skipped over that whole "Bad writing" thing I put up above there, just to humor you a bit. Even if you were to ignore that, you are left with the fact that in any artistic medium, sooner or later you have to show and not just tell, and this is true of storytelling. We, the audience, need some compelling reason for the audience to give a crap about a character. If all you do is have your characters talk about how "special" your personal favorite is, and you have them constantly upstaging other characters with no consistent or logical reason for doing so, it's obvious and more than a little insulting to the audience. And that's how we feel about your characters: insulted. Not a great way to keep us coming back, is it? Angles for the Redemption of the Device? See that poster of the Sentry up there? yeah, that works for me just fine. How about you? |
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Post by michaelpaciocco on Nov 21, 2008 13:42:35 GMT -8
pacioccosmind.blogspot.com/2008/11/plot-devices-that-need-to-go-away-8.htmlYes, you lucky ducks you, you get a double dosage this week of "Plot Devices that Need to Go Away"! Plot Devices that Need to Go Away #8 RIP-OFFS OF MORE FAMOUS SUPERHEROES Also known as: Analogues, Knock-offs, Homages, etc. What is it? When you can't use say, a big name hero, but want to use him/her as an easy means of identifying your character's situation, you file the numbers off and call him "Photonus" or "Apollo" if you need Superman, or "Mister Dark" or "Winged Dark" if you need Batman, etc. Why do Comic Companies do it? Two reasons: usually it helps as a means of contrasting "your guys" vs. the competition and how different characters operate. The other reason you might do it is because you want to do something with a big name character that because of their 'iconic status' that you couldn't get away with if you had the real deal (i.e., say you wanted to show Batman as a pedophile, or you wanted Spider-Man to go on a six-day drunken bender and hook up with Paris Hilton). Recent Offenders include but are not limited to: Half of Wildstorm (this was a huge stock in trade of theirs for a while), Squadron Supreme, The Ultimates (wait, I can explain this one), The Sentry (he keeps popping up on these lists. Funny, huh?), Every character in "The Boys", Half of Image (but only half, they are getting better at it). Patient Zero As much as I hate, hate, hate to admit it, the blame goes to Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme Mini-series. This was the first (and perhaps, most successful) attempt at showcasing what you could do with these characters without worrying about the long term implications. However, this has been taken to extremes by all the comic companies. Why does it have to go away? OK, turn on your TV, watch an episode of Lost. OK, how would you describe it? Would you say "It's Gilligan's Island except with non-stupid people?" or "It's the Twilight Zone on an island?" No, of course you wouldn't. You aren't stupid. Now, try that with most other TV shows or movies or what have you. Notice the pattern there? See, that's what's called ORIGINALITY. If you have nothing new, you have nothing new to draw in new people, and you have nothing new to say. Look, this entire device only works because it sends out an entirely false resonance. Yeah, we know that in "true continuity" Captain America wouldn't use a flamethrower to melt down some innocent Vietnamese civilians, but by having a stand-in do that, well, it sort of jogs the perception of "oh yeah, that's what their going for". The Ultimate Marvel Brand (and its incestuous cousin, the JMS-rebooted Squadron Supreme franchise) owes its entire existence to this feature. "Hey, here's Captain America! Except he's much more HARDCORE!!!!" (and again, I have to reiterate - how the hell is it people say Mark Millar's version is more "realistic" when the creator, Jack Kirby,who did several years of work with the character after the war, actually SERVED IN WORLD WAR II?) or "Here's Wolverine and Jean Grey sleeping together, just like you always wanted but we could never have done before!!!!" etc., etc. Now granted, there are facets of all mass medium that produce familiar "comfort food" entertainment, such as the Law & Order Franchise, the CSI franchise, and there's a new "underdog sports hero film" currently starting production....now, let's say. The point remains; these mediums do produce that sort of material, but even then there is some semblance of variety, and it isn't just "OK, let's just make the lead character from this show exactly like the lead character from the other show, but make him just slightly different enough that we can get away with calling it something new", and it certainly doesn't depend on you getting the "larger significance" by contrasting the two leads in such a direct and blatant manner. Angles for Redemption of the Device. NONE.
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Post by Mario Di Giacomo on Nov 21, 2008 17:40:51 GMT -8
In all fairness, Gru can't be blamed for the Squadron Supreme. Their first appearance was written by Roy Thomas (in Avengers #85) and were based on an older team of analogues (the Squadron Sinister) also created by Roy Thomas. He did that a lot.
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