Category: But I Digress…

Originally published March 29, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1480

AN OPEN LETTER TO BILL JEMAS AND JOE QUESADA:

Well, I gotta tell you guys: Reading that Captain Marvel was going up in price to $2.75, along with other critical favorites/fan snubs Spider-Girl and Black Panther, just gave me a warm, squishy feeling in the pit of my stomach; and that’s a considerable amount of pit.

I know, I know, I could have just called you and discussed this privately. But on the suggestion of a fan, you raised the prices without calling and discussing it with me. So I’m just going to follow your lead and air my thoughts on the matter publicly. And hey, Joe, when you challenged Todd McFarlane, you didn’t do it in a friendly phone call or a telegram. You did it on the Internet. So if Marvel’s leaders have opened the door to handling publishing affairs publicly, then I’m going to follow that lead right through the same door. And yes, at the end of this letter, there will be a challenge, so keep reading.

Continue Reading “The Captain Marvel Price Challenge” →

Originally published March 22, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1479

It is not easy working in a field that is treated by many with unadulterated disdain. A field that is, in fact, often blamed for the deterioration of literary quality across the board, and believed to be bringing ruin and dámņáŧìøņ to us all.

No, surprisingly enough, I’m not talking about comic books. I am speaking instead of media-related novels.

Continue Reading “Media Tie-Ins” →

Originally published March 15, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1478

With Al Gore pointedly re-entering the stage of American politics, we are awash in memories of the extended civics lesson this country received over a year ago. You remember: The one in which we discovered that Your Vote Doesn’t Really Count. You may have thought you were voting for our nation’s leader, but you were wrong, because votes carry little to no force of law. In the words of Doctor Peter Venkman, “It’s actually more of a guideline.”

Now we all know we’re not allowed to complain. We’re at war, after all. Not a declared war, but a war nevertheless. And at such times, we’re not supposed to make the slightest whispered mention of dissatisfaction with the way that the government leaders fighting the war took office (and I do mean “took.”)

So instead, let us focus our energies into a positive direction. A fun, uplifting direction.

You say you feel that one-man, one-vote no longer applies? You say you still have bile in your mouth? You say you want to know that your contribution means something and that casting a vote still counts? You say you want to have direct influence on the destiny of a superteam?

Well, I don’t know why’d you’d be saying that last one, but as it so happens:

YOU’RE IN LUCK!

Continue Reading “Young Justice: The Vote” →

Originally published March 8, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1477

When you’ve had a career going long enough, certain misperceptions are going to start creeping in among the audience. They’re easy enough to spot: They’re the ones I see over and over on computer boards and such. No, I’m not referring to the same old saws, tossed around by people who seem to believe they have cameras set up inside my head, the ones who say with authority that I’m anti-this or anti-that. I’m referring to either misinformation or opinions which are groundless, but stated enough times that people seem to believe there’s some foundation in truth.

So I figured I’d address some of the most prevalent ones.

Continue Reading “Informing the Misinformed” →

Originally published March 1, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1476

A couple weeks ago, I was told one of the topics being discussed in CBG would be newspaper strips. At the time I was writing about other things and so didn’t have the time or space to get into that. But I’ve got some free time now, and so thought I’d give a quick perusal of the funny papers and talk about the stuff that’s making an impression on me these days, both good and bad.

Understand going in: I think the hardest comics-related job there is is producing a daily strip. Particularly a gag strip. I can’t even conceive of doing such a thing myself, and even those strips that I’m lukewarm on, I’m still impressed that the writers and artists are able to hit their deadlines week in, week out. I could never, ever do it. With that said…

Continue Reading “Newspaper comic strips reviews” →

Originally published February 22, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1475

I’ve found myself sucked into discussions over in my Usenet newsgroup (the only one in which I still participate) involving the notion that writers should just stop being so darned upset about their work showing up on the Internet.

The arrogance one encounters from people who hold such a position can truly be astounding. The sentiments, boiled down, seem to be, “Information and literature should be available to all, and writers shouldn’t be carping about losing ‘a few pennies’ in royalties.” This displays an amazing amount of contempt for writers… or maybe not so amazing.

Continue Reading “Writers’ Rights” →

Originally published February 15, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1474

I’d never been to a viewing.

You know: A viewing. Where the body of the recently deceased lies in a coffin while people gather, one at a time, and stare. It always seemed grotesque to me, an exercise in morbidity. Why gather in large numbers to stare at a shell? The body… the body isn’t the person. Whatever it was that made up the person, whether you believe that its purely biological neurons, personality traits hardwired into DNA, or a soul… whatever it is, it’s gone. To me it would be like appreciating a fine wine by gazing at an empty bottle. The whole notion just kind of creeped me out. It probably doesn’t help that I’m a regular viewer of HBO’s Six Feet Under where they show corpses being prepared for viewings while the ghost of the deceased chats with the morticians.

And there’s always people looking around saying, “(The deceased) would have liked that,” be it the flower arrangements or the suit chosen to be dressed in or the number of mourners showing up. Except I always think that what the deceased would really have liked is to not die, and everything else is just beside the point.

I’m sorry. I know it sounds like I’m making light of a topic that’s all too serious. I do that; I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable talking about something.

Like the death of John Buscema.

Continue Reading “Remembering John Buscema” →