Emerald City Comic Con part two

A mistake on my part was not attending more panels. I paid my 20 bucks to get into ECCC and I didn’t really take advantage of it. I guess I was a little too focused on getting creators signatures. The only panel I attended was DC Nation. I really wanted to hear what Dan Didio, Executive Editor of DC Comics, sounded like. He’s supposed to be the guy that’s ruining their whole line of characters right? ☺

It was actually quite a weird experience for me if the truth were told. I’d never attended anything like this. Being in a large room where the minutia of a fictional universe is being discussed was just odd. I realized I had no idea what was going on for the most part with the DC Universe. Not a surprise as I’m not reading most of their stuff. Maybe I was also taken aback at being out geeked by most of the folks there.

As for Dan Didio, I have to say he’s a pretty charismatic guy. He’s certainly knows how smooze a crowd and he has impeccable comic timing. His timing is so good I actually think he’d make a good standup comedian or actor. So maybe I was somewhat lost during the DC Nation Panel and haven’t agreed with many of his editorial decisions but he sure made the hour spent in the room quite fun.

CBR has an excellent rundown of the event here.

If you notice this section:

Didio’s next threw out a question to the audience: “How many people picked up €DC Universe’ #0.” While 90% of the room held their hands high, Didio playfully shot back with, “Why isn’t every hand raised?”

When a fan jokingly said that he didn’t purchase the issue because it didn’t have Ambush Bug in it, Didio pointed out that Stephane Roux just completed the latest “anti-inspirational” ad which will feature the character. He said it’s an image of Ambush Bug with the word “Unvictorious” underneath it, which seemed to please the audience.

That fan was me. That’s right. I’m a huge Ambush Bug groupie, so why not get this panel discussion off and rolling with the bug. I always assumed that the DC folks, including Dan, hated the character, so why not have a little playful sniping. What was funny was that Ambush Bug got mentioned several times throughout the event. So much so, that Dan stipulated that the last question could not be about Ambush Bug. I even got up at one point and asked couple of questions just so I could mention Ambush Bug again. The first question was just something so I could sound normal but the second question was “any chance of a Jonah Hex / Ambush bug crossover?” Dan seemed to get frustrated and cried “who would want to see that?!” Kurt Busick said maybe it could be Ambush Bug’s ancestor Bush-wacked. Heh, heh.heh It would be funny though as some sort of Joke I suppose. Hey Keith Giffen You listening?


Dan went into he audience several time to coach questioners to great humorous affect. This is the gal that asked about titles for new readers because most of DC's titles are too continuity heavy and confusing.

Heidi and James Meeley

I met up with Heidi and James Meeley from Comics Fairplay at the space goat booth. We had a great conversation about many aspects of comics and blogging. Our chat was one of the most fun things I did that whole day. Now that I know they like a good microbrew, I can’t wait for an enjoyable pub conversation between us. They said they were going to try to make it to Portland for the next Free Comic Book Day. Maybe they can take a trip sooner, but either way it will be fun to have them visit the city of roses and talk comics. They also introduced me to Laura “Teagan” Gjovaag of Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog. She was really nice and inquired if I was an Aquaman fan since she was. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m more of a Sub-Mariner kinda guy. Being really angry and kicking Nazi butt is more of my thing. Oh and the pointy ears too. Gotta’ love them pointer ears.

Michael Alan Nelson

I swung by the Boom Studios booth and said hi to Michael Alan Nelson. He’s the guy that’s been writing most of the Cthulhu Comics. I told him how much a mythos horror title was needed and that Fall of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Tales fit the bill perfectly. As you can see he’s got a Mohawk now. Michael was such a straight looking guy before; the knowledge of the outer void must be affecting his mind.

Jeffery Brown

Here’s Jeffery Brown. He’s signing my copy of Big Head. Jeffrey is most known for his autobiographical comics but Big Head was a nice departure. It’s a title that’s made deceptively simplistic looking. I think it’s great because it captures the magic and imagination of childhood while at the same time expressing the angst of adulthood. Plus, it’s really funny too. I recommend it to readers whose habits cross back and forth between mainstream and indy comics.

-Swinebread

Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special otherwise know as YUCK

I worried that I wasn’t really participating in the wider dialog about comics… So maybe that’s why I picked up the Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special. Basically, I went back on my resolve to not buy new comics from the big 2 unless it’s really something I want like say Captain Carrot. Was I feeling left out? Maybe, but It’s hard to talk about comics when most of Marvel and DC offerings are off the table. Now though, after reading this so-called Wedding Special, I’m permanently cured of wanting to be on the comics’ bandwagon ever again. I’m thoroughly convinced that my desire to wait for the trade if the buzz is good is the correct method after this piece of garbage.

The DC thought process must have been something like this: “how can we make this wedding different from all other comics weddings that have come before? Oh, I know, kill off one of the main characters. That will really surprise ‘em! OK, let’s kill off Black Canary to get Ollie all upset… …oh wait, everybody thinks DC hates woman so we better kill of the Green Arrow instead. Oh, and it’s totally cool if woman have stripper parties and but men shouldn’t” Barf

Total Crap!

DC (the whole company and all of it’s titles) has jumped the shark IMO. It probably happened during Infinite Crisis but definitely by Amazons Attack and Countdown… I’m just glad I wasn’t paying attention, because this doggy doo is supposedly what passes for a comic book story nowadays. What-a-joke…

“Hey Time/Warner you have dipshits running DC Comics into the ground.”

The New DC Implosion?

Wow, and I though Marvel was F***ing up. Apparently my “wait and see plan” on buying new comics (otherwise known as “buy the trade if the series gets a good response”) was a much better idea than I thought. Rumor has it (yuck, yuck) that Countdown sucks hard. It’s ill-conceived, poorly written, and totally unintelligible unless your reading dozens of other titles a month. Amazingly, DC has centered their whole line on this loser. Countdown is the Heaven’s Gate of Comic Books and no Director’s Cut is gonna save it.

Now, I’ve been reading the collected 52 trades as the response was positive, but I was weary after Identity crisis, Infinite Crisis, and a multitude “no resolution” miniseries. But now I realize that 52 was a fluke. We’re back to the murder and rape fest that’s typified mainstream comics of late.

Valerie D’Orazio's insightful post at Occasional Superheroine lays it bare in a 12-point argument that’s very illuminating. Dan Didio is in trouble. He knows it. We know it. Dogs know it.

After reading the Newsarama interview with Dan Didio, I have come to the conclusion that the situation at DC has become so dire that to continue to publically mock "Countdown" would be in bad taste.

Honestly, I do not see the current regime at the company lasting any more than 6-12 months tops. "Final Countdown" will indeed mark the end of an era, an era that started strongly -- if not controversially -- with "Identity Crisis," reached its peak with "52," and crashed and burned with "Countdown."

Some of her arguments really stand out for me such as: #3 Didio has helped launch a renaissance in feminist comic book activism. # 4. DC is just doing “the Crisis” over and over again (boring), #8 DC is pissing off the Big Dogs at Time/Warner with their “DC Hates Women” storylines. #10 Sales are tanking, and #12 investment in the short-term as opposed to the long-term (which has been one of my biggest gripes).

The “DC Hates Women” has gotten so bad it’s making its way into mainstream press. See here for the Mother Jones article that Valerie mentions. Also in a following post, she notes how the new Batwoman, a character I was really enjoying from 52, disappears from the DC universe. I guess the neo-con fundies can’t allow a gay character that’s related to one of the big three (Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman) and so DC caved. This tells me that that all the work that went into 52 was quickly undone by Countdown and other DC titles.

Oh and for the fanboys out there who defend the “DC Hates Women” storytelling lets use a little analogy. It would be like Uhura on Star Trek, who didn’t get a lot of screen time but was present and accounted for, suddenly getting raped and murdered to get a rise out Captain Kirk. Sure women in comics haven’t always been well presented but what’s happening now is altogether different. The difference in this case being sexism from the greater society reflected in comic stories vs. the misogyny of a few creators and editors that pull the strings. Do you get it now? The old stories were sexist. The new stories “hate women.” These are two separate issues, with the later being the most insidious.

So I guess I’ll buy the last two trades of 52 and wonder at what could have been.

-Swinebread