DC (Comics) In Crisis

So in case you haven't already heard, DC Comics just released the first issue of their newest mini-series "event" Heroes In Crisis. This is supposed to be a story that is heavily inspired by real-life tragedies we deal more often than it should, and places that same horror squarely in the DCU.

What I'm talking about is an instance of a mass-shooting/killing where superheroes and not ordinary civilians, occurs at a place that's supposed to be a safe haven for said superheroes. Again this is taken literally from recent headlines themselves where a huge number of kids are are being shoot and killed by fellow/former classmates in a place, an institution that's usually regarded as a safe place of learning. Instead of a school, this takes place at all call center/support center for Superheroes called Sanctuary (you know, just to further twist the knife for the reader) where superheroes can go to help deal with the typical issues and problems associated with the life a superhero has to deal with on a regular basis.

Now I'll be brutally honest; I don't like this mini-series, or the concept.

To me, as topical as this may all be, I don't feel it has a place in a fantasy world like comics.
And no, I'm not saying comics can't be more mature and adult-like, I just don't feel a topic like mass-shootings is something I want to read about in my comics when it already takes over what I watch and read in the news. I think we all usually want a safe haven of our own from the tragedies of the real world, why force this shit on comic readers?

I wrote about this issue in detail on another blog I follow, Dork Forty! by Mark Brett, and here's what I had to say in the comments' section:

"Now see I have a different opinion on Heroes In Crisis. Personally, maybe this story wouldn’t feel as cheap and sensationalistic as it does if something like this had happened to establish the concept of Sanctuary rather than to what, prove why it’s not a good idea? Seriously, other than trying to be topical, this seems like just another excuse for Didioit and Friends to satiate their blood-lust, distorting what was supposed to be a new era of hope and rebirth into just more of the same dark, pessimistic bs from before the whole Rebirth project.

I have no doubts that the deaths were handed down by editorial, so I won’t shoot the messenger, but I damn will will shoot the message.
This is where I argue that due to the subject matter, and how often it occurs in real life, we don’t need the same situation to invade a source of escapism from these types of things.

And really, other than solving a mystery as to who or whom did the killings, what’s the endgame here? This reeks of Identity Crisis, in that the identity of the culprit took a backseat to the story being told. It really didn’t matter who the killer wind up being, and I have a feeling the same thing will apply here.

It’s not like anyone will be able to stop this sort of thing from happening again, so why show it at all?"

Again, not to say that comics shouldn't ever reflect how or current society is and its troubles, but honestly, what do all these deaths really mean anyways? To what ends are they committed? It's not like there's going to be a nice little solution that neatly fixes and solves this, is there?


That and they killed of Wally West.....again......for no reason other than DC's weird obsession with killing off Flashes every time there's an event with the word "Crisis" in it.

So much for this new, so-called era of hope and positivity that Rebirth was supposed to stand for right?

I mean no sooner that Geoff Johns steps down as chief overseer-er of the comics side of DC, that Dan Didioit and Friends swoop right in and start killing off people left and right, just like they did last time. Has anyone at DC not learned their lessons with Dildo yet?



Oh well, what the hell I say. It's not like I buy or read comics anymore anyways.....


On to more positive stuff though, I just bought the newest Marvel Legends Avengers Obsidian Black BAF Wave Taskmaster figure to go with the updated one that came out a couple years back, as well as the new X-Men Apocalypse BAF Wave Gladiator figure.

And I just ordered the punk Storm figure from that same wave as well as the recent Spider-Man Series Doctor Octopus figure.

 I swear to God he looks more like Elton John than his previous figure, and I didn't even think that was possible.

Hawk-Blocked

What's up people?

So how was your Valentine's Day?
Did you spend it with the one you love, be it boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, pet, etc?
Or did you spend alone?

Well you're not alone, 'cause this guy knows what that feel....

Poor Hawkman. He really does get the short end of the romance stick these days and throughout his entire history doesn't he?

Maybe he should go do what I'm going to do later and go watch the Deadpool movie. That should distract him from his romantic trouble for awhile right?;)

So, Who Would Win?: The Incredible Hulk VS. Doomsday

TGIT!!!!!


Well two big things of interest happened this week(with a smaller occuring yesterday) and if you've been off the internet lately, you might've missed hearing about them.

1). Convergence Ends.....Confusion abounds:

It really should come as to no surprise that the finale to the event that wasn't supposed to be an event, ended things on a really confusing note. Convergence#8 ended with "the machine god", Brainiac sending Parallax and some other pre-NU52 characters off to stop the original CRISIS from happening. Yes, you read that right CRISIS supposedly now didn't happen....or at least not the way you remember it did.

Bleedingcool.com really sort of explained it all:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/27/smashing-convergence-darkseid-war-and-multiversity-together-on-earth-2-spoilers/

A couple double-page spreads show what happened to the other earths that Brainiac grabbed, and it looks a little something like this:

Basically the main problem and reason for all these characters having to team-up is ultimately solved off-panel, with Brainiac first going "There's a problem that affects all realities, so you and you and you go fix it", and then in the same breath he goes "Oh wait, nevermind. Crisis averted, problem solved."

So yeah, finally an "event" that delievers just what it set out to do; absolutely nothing. A place-holder and monumental waste of everybody's time and money spent on the main series and tie-ins.

What's even more confusing is the language used by Dildo, that once again, "This was planned all along", and that those other worlds still exist for future use. But then you look at those images, and the previous past continiuites seem to be getting erased/evolved into their current NU52 form.

So that answers my question about where Grant Morrison's Multiversity fits into all this. It still does, even those those other 7 unmarked Earths could've been used to house some of those pre-NU52 worlds.

Confusion, thy name is DC.



2). Veteran writer Gerry Conway appologizes to DC.

Yep, the same guy that publically called out and lambasted DC for their unfair and very fucked up creator royalties policy, recently came out and appologized to DC for being so critical of them.

Here's a sample of his reasons for why the sudden about face courtesy once again of Bleedingcool.com:

"Why do I keep having to learn the same lessons over and over?

Those who follow my blog know that in recent weeks I posted some hot-headed remarks regarding my perception of how DC Comics treats creators. While I stand by at least one of my basic points – I think DC’s policy concerning “derivative” characters is self-defeating – I need to walk back pretty much everything else, especially my characterization of the motives of the men involved in developing, explaining and implementing DC’s creators equity program.

I need to apologize to Geoff Johns, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee, and Larry Ganem.

I’ve been an ass.

I didn’t leave DC on good terms in the mid-80s. At the time, as you might now guess, I blamed DC for that (and still feel the people involved might have handled things better). But as time has passed, and particularly after my humiliating encounter with my old high school friend, I’ve reconsidered my interpretation of that leaving, and I’ve accepted my own considerable contribution to the collapse of my business relationship with the company.

Unfortunately, my head doesn’t always communicate with my heart. And because I left the comic book business just a few year after I left DC, and spent the following twenty-five years doing other things, when I returned to the field it was as an emotional Rip Van Winkle. My mind had moved on but my heart was stuck in an angry place. Unconsciously, I was looking for proof that the DC Comics of today was the same DC Comics I fought with thirty years ago.

Like I said, I’m an ass.

As Geoff Johns very kindly pointed out to me when I tried to explain my reason for carrying a grudge over the last dealings I had with the company, “Gerry, you’re talking about things that happened when I was twelve years old.”

It was a horrible, humiliating lightbulb moment.

I’m not just an ass, I’m a jackass.

So– Geoff, Dan, Jim, Larry– I’m sorry. Deeply, truthfully, painfully sorry. You deserve more respect and consideration than I’ve given you. I hope this very public apology makes that clear

You can read the rest here:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/23/gerry-conway-publicly-apologises-to-dc-comics/

But yeah, that Gerry.

My immediate thoughts was either he's A). Being truthful and just now realizing his part in some of this, or B). DC paid him some hush money.

It's probably both.

And what really stings about this sudden back-peddeling is that he really and legitimately had/has a case against DC for their attrocious royalties policy. The legal langauage is so confusing and contradictorary that it would take a huge team of the best copyright lawyers in the world, spending around the clock attention to make even some fraction of sense out of all of it.

Not to mention now DC can use Gerry as an example to further screw over other creators when it comes to them attempting to get their due royalties.

Just as soon as he was the biggest asset to the cause, he's now become its biggest and most recent detremint.
I take my victories where I can folks;)

3). I got banned from the Comicbookresources.com forum.....for a whole week.

Alright, I guess it doesn't count as beng really all that newsworthy, but I do accept it as small victory.
Bascially I was banned because the moderator of the forum didn't like that I refereed to Mr. Didio as "Dildo", and "Didiot." I could've called him worse, and have here on this blog, but I guess doing it there is a big no no.

Here's my official ban statement:

"You have been banned for the following reason:

Calling Dan DiDio "Dildo" and then a day later "Didiot" is not the way one should discuss a creator on CBR. You have been given a week off to consider how to make your points without sinking to name calling.

Date the ban will be lifted: 06-03-2015, 12:00 PM"

I take my victories where I can folks;)

And now, onto this week's edition of So, Who Would Win?I'll admit I wasn't the first to come up with this match up, but I believe it bears repeating.When you consider the destructive forces of nature the Hulk and Doomsday are, you just now anytime those two are pitted against one another, colossial amounts of  property and collaterial damage can and will occur.

Such is the case when the Hulk fights Doomsday.

If you know you're comic history, than you know how the Hulk's powers work: The madder he gets, the stronger he gets, with seeminly no limits to how strong he can theoritically get.

While Doomsday may not have the same deal, he's still pretty damn strong. And when you throw in the fact that his body automatically adapts to any defeat or damage he suffers, then you can see whetre this particualr fight could last long while.....hell weeks, months, even years depending on the circumstances.

Did I mention the Hulk also has a rapid regenerating, healing factor as well? Yeah, looooooooooong fight.

What makes this one so interesting though, is that while the Hulk's had his fair share of fighing similar monsters like Doomsday, I don't think with maybe the exception of the Abomination and the Maestro, he's fought someone so similar to him like Doomsday.

Doomsday on the other hand? I don't think he's really faced someone like the Hulk either, making this match up a truly interesting affair.

So, 

The Incredible Hulk

VS.

Doomsday.....

Who Wins and Why?

Let me know what you guys think.

As always, I hope you guys and gals have a good weekend:)

Meme Mondays: Dan Didio and Friends.....

TGIM?

Ok, maybe not.

So how was the weekend for you guys?
Mine was pretty damn good.

It was my birthday yesterday, so I did it up right.
Went and got a tattoo, and yes, I found a place open on Sundays. I was surprised too, but I really, really wanted one for birthday, so that's what I did.

And here's what it looks like:

Now I told the guy that did it, that I wanted blue highlights to add shade and depth. I probably should've been more descriptive since he put that blue boarder around it, but it still looks good to me, And it's Batman. 'Nuff Said.

Oh and here's the rest of my Birthday swag from others family and friends:

So all in all, a damn good day!


So, today's Meme Mondays. Let's get cracking shall we?

Misc:

Finally, just wanted to say again, thanks to everyone for the well wishes and birthday shout outs. I really appreciate it guys;)