Happy New Year! Comics New Year's Resolutions, anyone?

Well, I just watched the ball drop on Times Square.  I don't know how those people can stand outside in the cold for six hours, let alone be standing shoulder-to-shoulder amongst thousands.  Ah, well, I enjoy watching them on TV while sipping sparkling cider.  My real New Year's tradition is watching the Twilight Zone Marathon, which unfortunately gets shorter every year.  (And got interrupted by wrestling...I don't know what's up with that.)

I'm wondering what 2011 will bring in the comics world.  DC of course teases big changes and all that, but I'm wondering what the big crossoever event of 2011 will be, if any.  The Source mentioned something about getting back to characters, and part of that are the covers that feature a certain character's (or group's) symbol.  Kind of cool, I guess.

But here's what I really want to be on DC's New Year's Resolution List:

--A true return to character.  Characters who remain true to their origional intent.  Characters who act logically and are well-rounded.  Stories that revolve around characters' decisions, stories that mean something to the characters.  Characters who are written in-character and are just generally well-written.

--Re-establishing the Justice League to its Silver Age roots.  I think it's time to cycle back around to the original seven.  With Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, and now Aquaman getting the Silver Age reboot, why can't the League get the same treatment?  And let's fix whatever's going on with Wonder Woman, too.

--Better editing at DC.  If fans can keep a charater's origins straight, so can an editor.  That way we have no Ice debacles.  And perhaps the proper usage of "it's."  Maybe that last one's dreaming too big.

--Better treatment for Martians.  Let's see J'onn J'onzz get the Silver Age treatment: working in a human guise solving crimes as a PI or a police detective.  With a captain he has to answer to and a partner he has to keep his secret from, and possibly a baby-talking space creature.  And dammit, the man needs a hat in keeping with a noirish interpretation.

--Cassandra Cain coming back as (one of the) Batgirl(s).  And while we're at it, Barbara Gordon gets to stay as Oracle.  None of this "Death of Oracle" business.  It's nice to have a disabled hero to look up to.  And a hero who uses her brains.  And who sasses Stephanie Brown.

--While the "proper" Silver Age Justice League can be re-established, why not let the original Justice League International operate again?  Booster Gold, Ted Kord, J'onn J'onzz (splitting his time between the JLA, JLI, and detective work--busy guy), Mr. Miracle, Fire and (innocent sweet) Ice, a not-evil Maxwell Lord, and Guy Gardner.  And the mangy, evil alley cat.

--Harvey Dent is a vain, short-tempered lawyer on the edge of sanity, and don't you forget it.  Anytime he's written with multiple personalities, he's not a villain, he's a victim.  While we're at it, don't get rid of the coin, DC, like you teased in Streets of Gotham.  And don't ever get rid of that suit, ever.

--New well-thought out villains.  While it's time for some older villains to make some new appearances, I think some villains get used a bit too much.  Either dig through the archives and look for some obscure ones or one who just aren't used much, or create some new ones.  Good ones, that is.  JLA villains, Batman villains, someone for the Martian Manhunter to fight who is not D'kay or Cay'an, etc.

--Adam Strange getting his old costume back.  It's the little things that matter when you've got a subtle character.  Also, don't fix what isn't broke, DC.  Barry Allen is still wearing the same suit last time I checked.

--Batman: The Brave and the Bold to be un-cancelled.  Really, DC, what are you thinking getting rid of this show?!  It's the perfect showcase for any and all DCU characters, obscure or famous.  What a way to build the franchise for young viewers.  (And kids at heart.)

--The Justice League in live-action format.  I don't care if it's a TV series or a movie, or a special episode of Smallville.  I want a glimpse of a live-action Justice League.  That's a stretch, I know, but I'm dreaming big.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of you out there in Comics Make Me Happy Reader-land.  I love connecting with people who share my common interest, and I've had so many good conversations over the year and have enjoyed reading your blogs.  What kinds of New Year's resolutions (comics-related or otherwise) are you guys making?

Here's to 2011!

Comics Go Historical?

It's funny how legitimate conversations can veer into the world of comics.  This past week one of the history teachers at work brought up how there might be an error in the AP History textbook regarding Aaron Burr.  While she was doing research online, her conversation consisted mostly of, "Did anyone know that [fill in random Aaron Burr fact here]?" about three times and me replying, "Yes, I did."  I'm not really a history buff, but I was a little obsessive about the Federalist era there for a while.  Let's just say that Alexander Hamilton was the Hal Jordan of his day, and that entertains me.

So, while on our respective lunch breaks, we were all trying to figure out whether Aaron Burr held a position in Jefferson's cabinet, and being the Paragon of Information of my workplace, I went immediately to Wikipedia, and of course this jumped out at me:

Leave it to comics to make history more awesome than it already is.  And thank you, Wikipedia.

Are you as surprised as I am that Hal actually knew what year Aaron Burr died?

How often to you see something historical in a comic book today?  Comics today seem to exist in a cultural bubble: I'm not sure what world the characters live in.  I know they live in the U.S., becuase pop culture references get dropped every now and then.  Because I'm just one of those people that likes to learn random things, I kind of miss the "educational" value that comics had in the Silver Age.  Even if they got the science wrong in a Flash comic, at least they were trying.  And there were those little articles in between the stories that were somehow related to the stories: an article about astronomy in Mystery in Space, for example.  I think reading a comic would be a little richer if some knowledge was added to the mix, and if those little informational columns came back, they could be an incentive to buy single issues, assuming they aren't printed in trades.

Well, if you consider going on a power trip and prompting the aliens' western territories to secede from the Union, well, then sure, I guess he succeeded.

While I don't need an overtly-historical story like this one to make me happy, I'd like a little mention of something I could use to win Jeopardy someday.  Maybe the Flash rogues were the ones really responsible for stealing The Scream, for example?

My favorite panel.  Too bad this didn't happen in real life.  In the sequel to this story, Hamilton shows up and is all awesome and finishes what the monster started.  Okay, not really, but that would be cool.

The Flip Side of Reversion

For a light week at work I seem to be very short on time.  I blame the black hole that exists under my bed; not only does it plague me with stealing every other right sock, but the errant chronal energy is a real bear to deal with at times.

Last time I was here I was talking about nostalgia, which is a buzzword that seems to come up often when people talk about the comics industry, and we identified it perhaps not as nostalgia per se, but perhaps a "reversion" to stories that worked for various reasons (storytelling, characters, certains writers, etc.) plus readers' desire to discover a certain era that existed before their time.  Everything about this reversion seems pretty good.  Until you look at perhaps a darker side of it.

I'll steer you to Comics Alliance to read Chris Sims's article entitled "The Racial Politics of Regressive Storytelling."  Then I'll come back tomorrow when I'm more lucid and talk more about what Chris Sims has to say.

Until then, I leave you to ponder a still shot of a deleted scene from Star Wars: The Rodent Menace:

It's all fun and games until Darth Cottontail shows up...

Nostalgia: Good or Bad for the Comics Industry?

One thing I'm learning as I read more about comics and read more from comics fans is this issue of nostalgia.  Apparently, once a writer makes it in the industry, he or she will writer stories featuring characters that they grew up with.  Some readers seem to think this is a bad thing, while others still clamor for the "good old days," whatever that may be.  Those fans in the anti-nostalgia camp seem to think it stagnates the art of comics--perhaps they wonder how can something progress when you're looking back?  While the pro-nostalgia comic fans (and I think I fall more towards this line of thinking...even though I don't see how I can legitimately be nostalgic after eighteen months of comic reading) yearn for storytelling throwbacks of an earlier era.

All of this raises all sorts of issues for both camps.  How do you decide which era is the era which deserves an homage?  How can you expect someone to read a story which isn't original without becoming bored of it?  And so on.  I can't really answer those questions, only raise them.

Because some characters have been around for over a half a century, and so many hundreds of stories have been written about them, there's so much to pick from when it comes to finding the "ideal" era to re-create.  And because we all have different tastes, who is to say what's best for a particular character?  The industry can go by numbers, I guess, and see what sold well and what was popular, which is I think are part of the motivation behind Justice League: Generation Lost.  (Or, at least, I suspect it is.)  I'm all about doing things for the love of it and not the money, so all of this revisiting-the-past seems a bit like cashing in.

That is, until I read Booster Gold #33.  Now Booster Gold (both the character and the book) is someone (and something) I like for a variety of reasons, and reading this this made me very, very happy:

I honestly don't know which made me happier: J'onn showing up or the exclamation point speech bubble.  (I love exclamation point speech bubbles.)

So, I think, in small doses (and when done right), a little nostalgia is a good thing.  What I find really weird, though, is that my generation--the current generation of young adults--has suddenly become so nostalgic.  That's something I'll have to look at in a future post.

Oh, and here's more, because stuff like this never gets old in my eyes:

Now you know the real reason why Booster ditched the collar.