Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Brand New Day

"Although some people seem to recall that Spidey unmasked himself during Civil War, no one quite remembers whose face was under the mask."

- Spider-Man: The New Status Quo, ASM #546


Like I said last week, I remain open to the possibility that the final issue of One Moment in Time, apparently coming out next week (when exactly did three-times-a-month go out the window?), will actually answer all my lingering BND continuity questions successfully enough that I can put them behind me, I want to take what time we have remaining to wallow in all the golden oldies one last time. I can buy that all the physical evidence of Peter's unmasking could be erased, or obscured, or whatever, and I can buy that people could be made to forget that particular event. But the mental gymnastics required to make certain key individuals forget the entire escapade are such that I simply can't imagine how they'd work out without the persons involved going insane.

Though I'd love to see some actual dramatic weight given to Jonah realizing that he once knew Spider-Man's identity, and now can't seem to remember it, and the ensuing consternation, his mental state is actually pretty easy to work out compared to some of the others'. Just off the top of my head: Does Aunt May remember getting shot? If so, why does she think it happened? If not, is there a scar? Or lasting damage? We know now that Back in Black did still happen almost entirely as we knew it, and someone May's age would have to be experiencing some kind of aftershocks from that much trauma. But moving on: where does she remember living during the Civil War? Does she remember dating Jarvis? Does Jarvis remember dating May, or that she even exists? In one issue of Invincible Iron Man (prior to Stark Disassembled, I should add), Tony actually tried to offer Spidey a job - not remembering who he is is one thing, but how could his memories of the war have been intact at all, absent that information? At least one MVP clone is ostensibly still running around (I think) in the Iron Spider suit - where does Tony think that came from? How come when Peter unmasks for the FF, they seem to remember everything, but when he unmasks for the New Avengers, it's like they're finding out for the first time (though it did make for a spectacular Jessica Jones moment)? Could Mephisto really be bothered to scrub out all this in excruciating detail, in a way that wouldn't leave these people insane?

*achem*

Well. You get the idea. I realize now how the Lost finale haters must have felt.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Superman #702

Having established my love for J. Michael Straczynski in the wake of his Amazing run - the fallout might be a better word - it follows that if anyone could drag me kicking and screaming into a Superman story, it'd be him. The whole Wonder Woman debacle hasn't really enticed me, but I'm very interested in Grounded as a Superman premise. Using the character in big, flashy cosmic scenarios never really does anything for me - he works best against the backdrop of regular people.

There's very little about him as a concept that's original or compelling, but as a device through which humanity as a whole, or even other heroes within the DCU, can be examined, he can extract a lot of very interesting material, and I respect anyone who chooses to go that route with him rather than the more traditional fare. It's unfortunate, though, that it takes someone of JMS' clout to get away with a story like Grounded - to say nothing of giving Wonder Woman pants. I may not be in the majority, but I think down-to-Earth Superman stories should be the rule, not the exception.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

One More Day

As the hardcore-est of hardcore fans of JMS' run on Amazing Spider-Man, I can go on and on about how much One More Day pissed me off until the end of time. I've tried to keep up with the title since then, and even though I have to admit much of it has been pretty good, OMD hangs like a thick fog over everything that's been going on - the more closely one looks, the less it all holds together. Maybe it's not so much like a fog as it's like...something that doesn't make any sense and hurts my soul.

Anyway, I've managed to not get into it here until now, but now that the series is finally going back to attempt a little spackle over the now two-year-old cracks (potholes, really), all the rage has come flooding back. As much as the marriage aspect bothers me, all my most serious questions have revolved around the manner in which his unmasking was forgotten, so I'm willing to delay final judgment on the ordeal until this week's (I think it's this week - Marvel's catalog doesn't care to comment) #641 at last explains how it happened. I'm very amenable to retconning when done well, and it's still conceivable that they'll thread the needle and come up with something that I buy - but even if so, there's no excuse for letting it hang this long.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Unfortunate Mutant Power Manifestations - Part V of V

End of UMPM series blah blah blah very proud blah blah hope you enjoyed blah blah blah. But on to more important business...

To everyone who stumbled upon my cozy li'l webstrip in the last day or two - welcome, and please tip your server! I sensed something was up today, but I didn't realize just how crazy it had gotten until I dug through my stats a little bit and realized that Edgar Wright* himself had come across Tuesday's strip and tweeted it. Tweeted, right? Twatted? Twote? If anyone wants to share how they came upon the site this week, I'd love to hear it - leave a comment below and let me know you're out there. I hope you're not all expecting me to deal extensively with indie books now, because mostly I just use this place to bitch about the X-Men.

*OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU HAVE MY BABIES YES I KNOW YOU'RE A MAN BUT SO AM I AND SOMEONE HAS TO PUT IN THE TIME AND FRANKLY I JUST DON'T THINK MY CONSTITUTION IS UP TO THE TASK OH AND SHAUN OF THE DEAD IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Scott Pilgrim Apprehended

As much as I'd love for Scott Pilgrim to have made a bajillion dollars this weekend, I have to say I'm neither surprised or terribly bothered that it didn't. Even as a fan of the books who's been wetting his pants with excitement for a good year now, the commercials really did feel like they were struggling to get the idea across, and I personally know a few people, even in the target demo, who never really got a handle on it - yesterday I mentioned to a 22-year old, male geek friend that I was "seeing Scott Pilgrim tomorrow", and his reply was "who's that?".

Bottom line: I went tonight, I loved it, and everybody's careers will move along just fine. It's not like they're gonna kick Edgar Wright off Ant-Man or cancel O'Malley's next book because the Box Office was disappointing. If anything, the movie might become a big cult hit on DVD. I'm sure I'll be pestering friends into seeing it for years to come.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Shadowland #2

So this issue went a long way toward ameliorating my feelings about #1. Luke is still being a little obtuse, but hearing Danny say all the things I've been thinking - it was Bullseye, he provoked him, most heroes have taken a life or two, it was Bullseye - made me feel less like this story is happening in a vacuum. But then he goes all "GET THEM!!" at the end, which is ridiculous from a purely pragmatic standpoint at the very least, and I'm back not knowing what to think.

There's certainly some kind of mental influence at work, but how Diggle handles it will be very important so as not to throw away all the character development Matt Murdock's gone through in the last several years. Especially if the story results in his death or retirement, given the hints of a different Daredevil altogether coming soon.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Secret Avengers #3

It's Brubaker, it's Deodato, it's Beast and Black Widow and Irredeemable Ant-Man - but I'm just not feeling it. Becoming weary of Bendis is one thing, but if I can't even maintain an interest in Secret Avengers, clearly I'm just all avenged out for the moment. Maybe I'll be more into the second arc, because a lot of my ambivalence seems to revolve around the fact that this is the last team I want to see dicking around on Mars.

I don't know much about Moon Knight, but the idea that he's featuring in this at the same time as the big down-n-dirty, "street-level" grit-fest that is Shadowland just seems ridiculous. I guess it makes sense for Nova, but again - who the hell is Nova and why should I care? Shouldn't he be off fighting Thanos with Rocket Raccoon, or whatever Abnett and Lanning are up to these days? I appreciate that Marvel's had this whole little space thing going on the side for the last few years, but I think that stuff works better the less it has to do with people like Captain America and Nick Fury and Black Widow. Let the space people deal with space and keep the Earthbound characters out of it. That was my rule for Ninja Turtles as a kid and X-Men as a teenager, and it's never steered me wrong.