Since we last spoke there have been things happening in the great hobby and as always some are good, and others...not so much. We're about 11 months into the company-wide re-launch of DC Comics, and there have been some standout titles. Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and Catwoman all immediately leap to mind as excellent reads month in, month out. Justice League got all the press primarily due to the return of Jim Lee to a regular monthly book. I'm not the biggest fan of Lee as a person, and this book has been mediocre at best. Can't say why because the writer Geoff Johns, is writing a few other things at DC and they are stellar, especially Aquaman. Maybe he and Lee just don't gel as collaborators or something, but for two high-profile talents such as these on a book which produces these forgettable results...something is wrong there. Rumor has it that Lee will be leaving the book to focus on another project and the subsequent new artist hasn't been announced yet, if this is true maybe a change will help this book become what it should be, the flagship of the line.
In a weird convergence of timing, both DC and Marvel made news by featuring Gay characters. In Marvel, Astonishing X-Men #51 featured the Wedding of Northstar to his boyfriend, and over in DC, in Earth 2 #2, it was revealed that Green Lantern Alan Scott was Gay. There has been a LOT of talk on this topic, both in and out of the comics world.
A little backstory is needed here to get everyone up to speed. Northstar was a member of Alpha Flight back in the early 80's and in issue #106 of that book in 1992 it was revealed that he was Gay. There was a little news about it and it was never followed up on and was pretty much ignored until recently. Once it was announced that he was marrying his boyfriend, it really hit the fan. There were so many people expressing strong opinions about this event, again, on both sides. But what caught my attention was that of all of the rhetoric being bandies about the question I had was "Who is actually READING this book?" I asked people on facebook on both sides of this issue if they were reading the book, the most well informed answer I got was "I guess I should pick it up." People are expressing these strong feelings for a book THEY NEVER READ?! Unbelievable.
As for Green Lantern, that is a little more involved. Before the re-launch The Alan Scott Green Lantern was the first and original Green Lantern, having made his first appearance in the '40s, and was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. In recent years he was considered a legacy hero because there have been several other Green Lanterns after him, but he was revered and respected as the first. His sexuality was never explored but he had a son, Obsidian, who was Gay. After the re-launch, James Robinson, who had written with great skill the exploits of many of the JSA heroes in recent years, announced that there would be a "long standing character who will be revealed as Gay." And in the second issue of his book Earth 2, which focuses on the JSA characters, albeit in an alternate universe, he introduced Alan Scott and his boyfriend. Again there was fallout, but to me it was a little different. Because Alan Scott was always a beloved character and this is a re-launch, and the big factor is that it's being done by James Robinson, that more people took a "let's wait and see where he goes with this" attitude, whereas Northstar was always a dick. Regardless of his sexuality, he's just not a likable or sympathetic character, and this marriage seems to have been "hot shotted", just thrown out there for shock without any proper foundation or set-up. Feels completely rushed to me, no mention about it happening in any of the other X-Men books, but all of a sudden we are supposed to suddenly care about a character that is not used a lot and not likable? Pass. And for the record I'm reading Earth 2 because I like the JSA characters and I like James Robinson's writing. I'm not reading Astonishing X-Men because I didn't care for the title when Joss Whedon launched it and don't like Northstar. Notice how the issue of either book having a Gay character was factored n to my decision process... That's because a good story is all that should discussed.
Another topic that has been in the comic news is the increasing of digital downloads of books to ipads and other electronic media. I have no problem with digital distribution at all, if it increases the visibility of the hobby then I'm all for it, but what I don't care for is the attitude of some readers who have adopted the new format exclusively. There are so many that I've read comments from r eaders on various comic sites that say " Well I'm reading this digitally..." as if reading something digitally makes them superior, regardless of the content. Its like that group of readers who refuse to buy a monthly book and insist on reading only in trades, and then proclaiming on comic sites "Well I only read this in trades...", while talking about the current issue of a given book. So if you're reading a book in trades, don't comment about a book that you don't follow monthly, no one cares that you read it in trades! No. One.
And finally it's July which means its Comic-Con time, and it begins next week and my buddies Brian and Dwayne are heading out for Sn Diego early Tuesday morning. Unfortunately my schedule won't allow me to attend this year, but I wish I could because Brian will on a panel Friday about opening a comic shop and I would like to have seen that. Had I known that he was doing a panel discussion I would have made time to get away to see this...rats!
