The comics blogiverse is an increasingly diverse network of comics pundits, fans and fanatics — not to mention professional creators themselves — where one can find a variety of fascinating and/or obnoxious opinions to suit any taste, or lack thereof. Every Saturday, I’ll offer up excerpts from five of the more interesting, thought-provoking posts I’ve come across over the past week, for better or worse. Enjoy!

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4thletter

A book about a black character is inherently political and an “issue” book. It almost always comes up in titles starring black characters. Monica Rambeau had her “No More Hate” issue back in the day, Black Panther spent some time fighting the Klan in the late ’70s (early ’80s?), Luke Cage is really kind of obvious, and so on. Storm and Bishop managed to avoid it, to my knowledge at least. But, it often comes up and we get A Very Special Issue Of Blossom or whatever out of it. If it doesn’t come up in the title itself, it’ll come up in fan reaction to that title. Sometimes, it’ll come up both ways.

It’s kind of like this. “Black” books tend to attract a different level of critique, or maybe a different form, than other books do. I’ve seen people complain that Black Panther, Luke Cage, Blade, Brother Voodoo, and Monica Rambeau (what the crap is her code name now?) have nothing whatsoever in common besides being black, and all black people don’t know each other, so what are they doing teaming up in post-Katrina New Orleans?

In other words, “What are all these black people doing hanging around each other?”

Flip the question. What did Hank Pym, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and the Wasp have in common, pre-Avengers? Think on that for a minute.

Teenagers, Kick Our Butts
Inside Out

Mandy, the other teacher, pulled me aside. “That was incredible,” she said. “I’ve never seen them get so into a guest speaker!” I spent the next few hours wandering through the classroom in a happy daze, answering questions and helping them make their comics (“I don’t know if you can say ‘crap’ in your comic. You’ll have to ask your teacher.”). Seventh-graders thought I was cool! They thought comics were cool! And, most incredible, they thought the idea of comics as a medium for social commentary was awesome! They thought female superheroes and creators were awesome! They were incredibly excited when I taught them the word “metafiction” and continued to try to slip it into conversations all afternoon!

These kids, these marvelous, strange creatures are growing into the next generation of fans. They’re reading good books—and they’re learning to look at comics and literature from new critical and creative angles. Yeah, they’re into silly teenager stuff, but they’re also into Maus and Hellboy and Little Lulu, and more important, they’re into their own ideas. They’re writing and drawing their own strips and finding their voices, and I suspect that they’ll be harder than most to silence.

It Will Never Change
Occasional Superheroine

I’m just saying this is what it is — just things that a number of readers out there cherish, that they’re nostalgic about from when they were young. It’s like Al Bundy keeping his tattered but well-loved stack of “Big ‘Uns” magazine, it’s like Homer Simpson keeping that mouldering old left-over hero sandwich after the party, it’s like Ralph Kramden keeping his old college outfit with the straw hat, it’s like Ross convincing Rachel to dress up like Slave Leia — it’s Theirs. It makes those readers happy. They don’t want it taken away from them. They see efforts to take it away from them as part of a PC-driven conspiracy to ruin this tiny bit of four-color joy that such images provide.

And I’m not saying it is right or wrong — I’m just saying I recognize what the motivation is, and, frankly, I’m choosing to not go on the stomping ground to eradicate these particular quirky bits of (lets face it) erotica that finds their way into mainstream superhero comics. Which doesn’t mean I won’t poke fun when it’s especially stupid.

Mini-New Joe Mondays Tidbit
2 Guys Buying Comics

My understanding is that at this point we’ve seen a good portion of the inks done and coloring has begun, but we don’t have it all and we don’t have a cover for the issue yet as well. So, the truth of the matter is that it’s really a question that you need to ask Bryan as he probably has a beter idea of where everything is than we do.

Translation: Was that the sound of Quesada throwing Hitch under the bus? Yes, yes it was.

I’m not saying it’s not Hitch’s fault that Ultimates 2 #13 isn’t out yet. It just seems like when it comes to late Millar-scripted projects, Quesada’s had his fill (along, I might add, with the rest of us).

Of course, with Joe keeping such tight editorial control over one of the few nigh-universally lauded books of… um… was it last year, or the year before? I forget. Anyway, the sentence “My understanding is that we’ve seen a good portion…”, etc. indicates just how closely Joey Da Q is running things when he’s not busy petting Stephen Colbert.

Munson’s Milestone Mondays — Static #5
Always Bet on Bahlactus

This issue really hits home with its subject matter, as our post 9/11 world has had its own share of terrorist bombings establishing a climate of fear in many cities. Dakota appears to be a city at the mercy of a man with a message that will do anything to get it heard. I find it a little weird to read an issue with this kind of plot, as I read newspaper and web articles about men and women with different messages than Commando X using bombs as their means of communication. Hard to believe this issue came out 13 or so years ago, it would have also served as a good commentary on our current life and times if it were published today.

As stated, there is a good two page sequence that shows Virgil and his friends after the school bombing where they debate the merits of Commando X’s message. They speak of racism and equality and their dialogue just feels so real. I may be a white male, not used to any sort of oppression or racism, but I can relate to the reactions of Virgil and his friends. I like to think that racism does not permeate our society as it has done before, but it does still exist. When it does rear its ugly head; I, like Virgil and his friends, hope people would choose a peaceful means of resolution. Washington gets this message come across through his dialogue on these pages, and throughout this issue. J.P. Leon does his usual bang-up job on the art chores, and really gets the emotions of Dakota’s citizens across as they deal with a situation that is rapidly spiraling out of control.