SmartRemarks

Looking in from the outside, it seems like there’s lots of second-guessing and retrenching going on at the number two comics company. With Final Crisis in its home stretch and major goings-on in the Superman and Batman titles, several long-term storylines are up in the air right now, and readers are left wondering whether the DCU will have any coherent creative direction when the dust settles. Omens are not good. As Tom Bondurant puts it in reaction to the solicitations for February’s books,

Cancellations, character shuffling, and general restructuring seem to be the order of business for the first part of 2009.

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Tags: Batman, continuity, Dan DiDio, DC Comics, Final Crisis, Grant Morrison, Legion, super-heroes, Superman, Wonder Woman

As noted earlier, I didn’t get to see the new Star Trek trailer on the big screen as anticipated last week… but as is the way of things these days, it was released online this week, for all the world to see. And comment upon. (And satirize. And annotate shot-by-shot. Yes, while I would never deny my own geek status, there are people in this world who score much higher on that meter than I do.)

My personal reaction? Mixed, I have to admit. Certainly not as jazzed as I was by the first “teaser” trailer last winter.

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Tags: continuity, J.J. Abrams, Star Trek

The final issue of DCU Decisions was released Wednesday, completing a cliffhanger from #3. As I’ve written, the series started with at least some potential for breaking interesting ground, but then methodically failed to live up to that potential. The second half of the series is even more disappointing and forgettable, leaving one wondering what if anything this book was intended to accomplish.

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Tags: continuity, DC Comics, DCU Decisions, Election 2008, Superman, Wonder Woman

Now this is what a really epic-scale super-hero comic book looks like.

(Yeah, I know it came out two weeks ago, but I’m running a little behind. There’s been a lot of politics happening lately. So sue me.)

Notwithstanding the official title and cover dress, this story really bears no meaningful connection to Final Crisis. And that’s just fine. It’s a Legion story through and through, and it’s done in a grand style.

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Tags: continuity, DC Comics, Final Crisis, Geoff Johns, George Perez, Legion, super-heroes, Superman

Sometimes politics and comics do cross-pollinate, notwithstanding what I wrong in my inaugural post.

Yesterday DC Comics released the first issue of DC Universe: Decisions, a four-issue mini-series in which the Justice Leaguers find themselves involved in the political intrigue of a presidential election. There was some controversy (and outright derision) when this title was first announced, centering around the idea that the book would at best be wishy-washy and pointless, and at worst would wind up offering insultingly simplistic caricatures of both serious political ideas and DC’s characters.

DC’s pantheon of super-heroes has always included a handful of characters with overt political identities. On one end of the spectrum is Green Arrow, an outspoken leftist (at least since Denny O’Neil gave him a personality back in 1970), who once even won office (in his civilian identity) as mayor of his hometown Star City; on the other end is Hawkman, a law-and-order conservative. For the most part, however, DC’s characters remain carefully apolitical. While fans can argue at length about why Superman or Batman is liberal or conservative (and there’s at least some persuasive evidence either way), the publisher has no interest in resolving the ambiguities: a large part of the appeal of DC’s most popular characters lies in audience identification, and there’s no percentage in alienating half of your fans by stripping that away. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: continuity, DCU Decisions, Election 2008, Green Arrow, Lex Luthor, Superman