Archive Page 2186

October 2023

About the new Jock sci-fi comic "Gone" from image – Space.com – article brags on the series and includes a 5-page preview.

Poison Ivy makeup display "Batman X Revolution" at Walmart – "Whak"

Using AI to switch Robert Downey Jr for Ben Affleck – Cinema Blend MSN

The result of swapping various actors in and out of the super suits reveals a superficial lesson: they're interchangeable to a high degree, and that says something about how generic things gets once AI starts blending stuff.

How the history of Hip Hop and the history of comic books overlap – Yahoo Entertainment

"One of the most unfortunate pieces of comics art ever made" is going up for sale – Comicsbeat

The famous giant-torso of Rob Liefeld's Captain America Heroes Reborn promo art.

NOT Rob Liefeld's Captain America, but a rank imitation

How the Ben Affleck Batman cameo in Aquaman The Lost Kingdom was removed – Screenrant MSN

The "mysterious" new book coming from Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson

Story at MSN Plain Dealer

Comic book page rates

Comparison to 1978 page rates ($300 per page) versus today ($225 per page at Marvel)

Actress Jessica Lange retiring, blames "Comic Book Movies" for negative impact on Hollywood art – Detroit News – related, Martin Scorsese says the triumph of "Barbieheimer" this past summer gives him hope @ Uproxx.

Accusation of anti-Semitic Nazi imagery used in Daredevil #1 – MSN Religious News Service

When reached by email on Thursday (Oct. 5), “Daredevil” artist Aaron Kuder vigorously objected to any reading of his art as antisemitic. "If you’re comparing my art to that of Nazi propaganda … Well, that’s just insane. Completely laughably insane. Also extremely and utterly insulting," he wrote in an email.

"I will point out that in the Nazi propaganda that I’m aware of (I’m no expert) dark hair is also a key component. Also, being short in height is a key visual component. Neither of which are components in the villain design … literally any kind of person can have large facial features and long hair. There is no correlation here."

The "cool" jointly owned DC and Marvel superheroes – Screenrant MSN

Lobo the Duck - Spiderboy - and many others.

Edinburgh Scotland "biggest ever" comic con in progress – Edinburgh Live/MSN

Comic Book superheroes as role models – Yahoo - Kansas City Star

The article looks at the ethical and moral teachings of comic book superheroes but does so in a way which confirms Edgar Allan Poe's "radical error" of understanding fictional characters.

The article at Yahoo/Kansas City Star is in conjuction with the publishing of a multi-author compendium titled Power Up: Leadership, Character and Conflict Beyond the Superhero Multiverse that's just been published.

Captain America is not the strongest superhero, nor is he the most skilled fighter. From the power grid standpoint, his claim to fame is that he is substantially stronger, faster, and more resilient than a baseline human. What he lacks in extradimensional power, divine wrath, and alchemical fury, he more than makes up for with an iron will and the charisma required to lead people into uncertain odds based solely on purity of belief.

Gail Simone's comics industry "pet peeves" – Boundingintocomics

The article elaborates on a comics writer Gail Simone's grocery list of what's dragging down the comics industry: comics vets not being given work; not "respecting" the stories from the past; limiting the artist contribution; pricing; distribution problems.

It is not mentioned exactly, but one of the areas where the comic books being put out are failing is story coherency and art that doesn't tell a story but just presents endless talking heads spouting dialogue. Really, the bottom line problem may be simple craftsmanship is lacking, and buyers flee lousy craftsmanship when there's an alternative (hello Manga!)

Daniel Clowes' new graphic novel Monica – NY Times

"The mercy of algorithms" and modern media content – The Montclarion

Details on Disney+ Daredevil Born Again TV Show – Boundingintocomics

The "inherent fascism of Batman" and the TV Show The Boys

Story at Entertainment Weekly

Batman is fascist? If fascism is defined by a top-down marriage of corporate and governmental workings, then how does the Batcave fit into that scenario? Is Bruce Wayne Italian? I guess the real question is, was the Scarlet Pimpernel fascist? Or The Shadow? Because those are the acorns from which the Mighty Oak of DC's main cash cow was grown, especially since Superman has passed into nadir.

Or is saying Batman is fascist standard internet clickbaiting, like the Blue Beetle movie trailer?

"How Marvel lost its way" – Time Magazine

The big name press is starting to pick on Marvel, which is a pretty bad sign as they seem to usually run interference for the corporate brotherhood.

It is almost impossible to follow the plot of the first episode of Season 2 of Loki. I say this as someone who has been writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a decade... the recent MCU stories spend so much time explaining what's going on that they waste the incredible actors who have been unfortunately sucked into the Marvel machine..."

Mad Max prequel coming in 2024

Story at Superherohype

About Batman's "no kill" rule

The original "The Bat-Man" of 1939 used a side-arm and tossed crooks off the tops of building roofs, but that version of Batman, and the reversions, are built around the idea that the Gotham Police would immediately take Batman into custody if given a chance because "The Bat-Man" is not just usurping the role of the police, but the entire court system of Gotham. The "other" Batman, which is more or less the official one owned by DC corporate and has been the standard since 1940, is a Batman that has a tacit agreement, at times, with the police, which entails not laying waste to the criminals of Gotham, but assisting, through superior duplication, the police and their function to turn criminals over to the courts for due process (even if that "due process" role is romanticized so that Batman's "rogues gallery" always end up at Arkham asylum instead of exposed as simple amoral crooks).

More about Batman's No Kill Rule

DC Studios is "imploding" – New York Post – article is really about which actors are "in" (Xolo Maridueña) and which actors are "out" (Cavill) at DC, and whose names might be/might-not-be included in future productions (Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, etc).

Original page October 10, 2023