I will tell you three things. If I tell them to you and they come true, then will you believe me? -- The Giant, played by Carel Struyken, on Twin Peaks
A Moribund Marvel
I think the one thing we can all agree on after a week of back and forth about Captain Marvel between writer Peter David and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada is that the title probably won't be here a year from now. What came as a surprise to me is how little I care.
David says he's changing gears a bit and easing up on the humour, while Quesada says Marvel will stick by a price increase to keep the book from sucking too much wind. Frankly, it's the way the entire series has been played for yocks that has dampened my interest, not the price. I'm willing to pay whatever it takes to get quality comics. The fact is that I was never that interested in Captain Marvel even at the height of his popularity as a character, when he was the dad of the current one, and written and drawn by Jim Starlin.
The current title has two main elements to its storytelling. The slapstick humour mined from two men sharing one body, and the trivial pursuit David plays as he trots out the detritus of the Marvel Universe for one more go-round, usually yocking it up along the way. I doubt enough readers are out there looking for a more serious approach to that half of the storytelling to boost the title's sales numbers, and that combined with the obvious lack of confidence Quesada has in David's writing ("I need you to publicly say to fandom (especially the 23,000 people who no longer read the book) that perhaps one of the reasons Captain Marvel is failing...is you," kind of says it all) spells almost certain doom for the book as far as I can see.
I loved the Avengers Forever maxi-series that Genis debuted in, and was definitely inclined to like Captain Marvel when it spun out of it. But ChrisCross's slick, uber-competent artwork never hooked me, and again, David's playing up the yocks and concentrating on the personal life of Rick Jones somehow failed to keep my interest. The addition of a wise-cracking ghost to haunt Marlo and the always-annoying Moondragon pretty much sealed the book's fate as far as my interest was concerned.
Still, I was surprised by what the Peter David/Joe Quesada exchange taught me. I came in late to David's Hulk run, and I have generally good will toward the guy. When I was reading Star Trek novels, I found that David was the only writer who consistently writes readable Trek novels, but most of his comics work has left me more or less cold.
I was surprised to look at my own feelings at about the man's work, because I almost always enjoy his Buyer's Guide column, and generally think of him as an above-average writer. I guess I just don't enjoy his comics work as much as I might have thought I did before the current situation prompted me to examine my feelings about his work in general and Captain Marvel in particular.
A Fancy Frog
Fancy Froglin is a new web comic from James Kochalka. It appears on the Modern Tales website, a new online comics venue that is getting web comics right with simple navigation and readable resolution.
You know I love Kochalka's work, and although I think Fancy Froglin is a minor pleasure in comparison to his sketchbook strips or Magic Boy graphic novels, it's still entertaining and worth your attention, and it's interesting to see James working in colour. More importantly, it's one more reason to check out Modern Tales, where for about the cost of one mainstream comic per month you can check out many different online strips, by both veteran and novice creators working in a variety of genres.
Fancy Froglin was what convinced me to check out the site in the first place, and even a Christian Kochalka fan has told James she enjoys the frog with a never-ending delight in his own genitals, as we see in this recent fan letter:
Fancy Froglin is super cute! I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of the content though. I'm not judging you or anything I just like your other comics better. I had the most amazing time praising God yesterday. And our praise band has started recording our first CD!! We laid down some keyboard tracks and vocal tracks week before last. I learned how to play "Amazing Grace" to the same chords used in "Every Rose Has It's [sic] Thorn" by Poison. I'm really on top of the mountain today. I love Jesus. Sorry to ramble on and on it's just that I'm in a GREAT mood!!!
Now, if I was on top of a mountain and had just learned the chords to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," I know I would jump right off and into the waiting arms of Satan below. Praise God.
At any rate, James's work also attracts sane people, and Modern Tales is one way for you to sample it before laying down more serious cash for his various graphic novels and comics. Stop by and sign up for a month of Modern Tales and see if you don't stick around. And make sure you tell 'em Comic Book Galaxy sent ya.
Again With The Justice League
I was fairly disappointed with the first episode of the new Justice League cartoon on Cartoon Network, reviewed here. My kids and I sat down to watch "The Brave and the Bold Part Two" Sunday night, and in the interests of fairness, I thought I should mention that it was a real improvement over the previous episode.
Dwayne McDuffie's two-part script really would have worked better as an hour-long episode -- most of my problems with the story were relieved by the fact that most of the team was present for Part Two. The animation still needs work, and I do not care for the CGI opening, but as an hour-long adventure, the only thing missing from "The Brave and the Bold" was Superman. I'll definitely be checking in to watch future episodes, and it's worth noting that the show keeps the attention of my children, which is a good thing on any number of levels.
In Conclusion...
Maybe I'll tell you four things. I picked up next week's DC books yesterday, and almost every one of them is part two, three or four of an ongoing or concluding storyline that I did not read the previous chapters to. So I will probably be posting some reviews of the one or two DC titles that I could make sense of in the next few days.