Category: But I Digress…

Originally published October 3, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1246

My my my, has John Byrne gotten himself in dutch with the fans.

In recent computer postings, John has announced his plans for using the Demon Etrigan, and these plans entail ignoring or undoing much of what such top-flight writers as Alan Moore and Garth Ennis did in developing the character. Byrne’s intentions are to rewind the Demon back to his original incarnation as first developed by Jack Kirby. This, of course, is entirely his right. He’s also made it clear that no one is allowed to make use of the Demon while he is the caretaker of the character.

And oooohh, is there yelling. And oooohh, is there screaming. John Byrne is dissing Garth Ennis. John Byrne is Evil. How dare John Byrne get to have total control of a character and no other writers can use him?

Continue Reading “What Fans Want” →

Originally published September 26, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1245

People keep sending me jokes.

I’m not entirely sure why. But literally every day now, whenever I log on AOL, I find funny lists, jokes (some of them unprintable in a family publication) etc., in my mailbox.

So I figured I’d share some of them with you.

Continue Reading “Peter gets jokes” →

Originally published September 19, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1244

Monsters. I’m told the theme for this issue is monsters. I have some small familiarity with the subject, having lived with one in my head for over a decade.

Continue Reading “Looking back on The Hulk” →

Originally published September 5, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1242

Assorted thoughts and incidents picked up from this summer’s convention trail, during which I set an all time personal best (or most exhausted) with a series of conventions including Chicago Comic Con, Orlando MegaCon, San Diego, Shore Leave (Maryland), Stellar Occasion (Texas), RebelCon (Massachusetts), Heroes Con (North Carolina). Or, to put it succinctly, this is how I spent my summer vacation…

Continue Reading “Summer 1997 convention travels” →

Originally published August 29, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1241

I really, really, really wanted to like the Spawn movie.

Continue Reading “Movie review: Spawn” →

Originally published August 22, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1240

So… we were talking about myths.

At this point, Star Trek has reached nearly mythic status. One of the tests for that (and I may have discussed this in an earlier column; if so please forgive me, but I’ve been doing this gig for a lot of years and I’m bound to repeat sooner or later) is that discussions of key elements can be held without qualifiers.

For instance, if one were to ask, say, “Who was Napoleon Solo?” (to pick a contemporaneous program) the answer one would get (if one were rewarded with something other than a blank stare or a half-hearted guess such as “Han Solo’s brother?”) would be something along the lines of, “He was a character on a TV series called The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. There’s possible variants, sure, but that’s the most likely answer, I’d think.

But if you were to ask, “Who was James T. Kirk?” the reply you’d likely get would be, “Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.” There would be no qualifier, no further clarification, and no acknowledgement that one is discussing a television show. To rank as myth, a concept, characters or stories must take on a life of its own, its origins either lost in antiquity or simply irrelevant.

Continue Reading “Myths and Archetypes, Part 2” →

Originally published August 15, 1997, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1239

Okay, so we were discussing myths, mythic archetypes, etc.

There are two things which fans seem to get all heated up about. The first is originality, i.e., “rip offs.” And the second is “continuity.”

Continue Reading “Myths and Archetypes, Part 1” →