This I Believe

I'll say this right out: I believe in Superheroes. This is all figurative, of course, and as much as I'd like to believe in magic rings and mutant x-factors I'm quite aware of the impossibility (though still hopeful). There is no literal Batman, no Metropolis, and as far as we know no S.H.E.I.D Helicarrier. What I do believe in is the ideas represented in the panel of their stories.

I believe in the Green Lantern Corps. They keep peace as bright beacons of courage and honor throughout the galaxy. Theirs is a story of overcoming fear and tragedy to become something more than just an interstellar police force, but as symbol of the the inexhaustible potential of willpower and imagination. They represent a light cast over the cold black of space "In brightest day, In blackest night".

I believe in Superman. He is an immigrant from beyond the stars. He is the best of humanity despite not being human. Superman is literally a big blue Boy Scout, and despite internet flame wars and how awesome Batman is Superman is the greatest hero of earth. He was sent here by his father from beyond the stars and has given his life to save the world (sound familiar?). He is the answer to the question "what if God was one of us?"

I believe in Peter Parker. He truly enjoys being a Superhero. Sure he has a lot of teenage angst, but who doesn't?

I believe in the Flash: a man who can run faster than death and yet still slows down to make small talk.

I believe in the X-men. People everywhere are persecuted for being different, whether it's skin color or X-factor.

I believe in Captain America and the ideals of our nation.

I believe in Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic, and the wonders of Science.

I believe in the Spectre and Deadman and the infinite mysteries of God.

I believe in Batman. He's Batman.

I believe in Lois Lane, and the magic of true love.

I believe in Bruce Wayne, and that there is nothing a man cannot accomplish given the time and the effort.

In short, I believe men can fly. I believe that a person can becomes something more than just human. The most important aspect is not the Super or the Bat or the Woman, but the man and the woman. While they may be gods in our eyes or in canon they are innately human. They face the same choices we do with what they can direct their energies towards, and yet these all-powerful beings chose to work towards the betterment of mankind. I believe in a world where we use our powers to aide our fellow man rather than use out strength for personal gain.

There are days when it seems like it's easier to believe that wealthy industrialists will secretly fund vigilante justice than people will be decent to be one another, but I believe in not only humanity, but or potential for super-humanity. For every Lex Luthor there will be an army of Bruce Waynes and Tony Starks to set things right. An international force of heroes will come to the aid of the world to prevent crimes against humanity and relief after natural disasters. Is that to much to ask? I don't believe it is, because I will always believe that anyone can be Super.

DCUO Diary 2 and other things

I've gotten up to level 23 with my main, and the game is still very fun. Yes, there are still issues with the game, but at the same time the action-based combat and story based missions make it far superior to other more traditional MMOs. The best part of the game is feeling like you are actually in the DC Universe. You are constantly working with famous heroes or villains to accomplish something and take down your enemies. So far I've fought the Joker, Bane, and Sinestro among a legion of others.

So far for me the best thing has been fighting with the Green Lantern Corps against the Sinestro Corps. It's a PvP area swarming with lanterns including Arkillo and Kilowog. For someone who loves the GLC as much as I do it's great to fight alongside them and take down Sinestro with John Stewart alongside me. You actually feel like a hero. I guess that's the point.

I wanted to also note something that happened this week that I'm not happy about. I love Captain Marvel. I love the innocence and ideas he represents. Yes, he may be a "big red cheese" but he's also a representation of the magic of the golden age. This week, DC released the 1st issue of Power of Shazam and I was very disappointed in it. It was heroic age violence and angst and not the magical Marvel that I love. I'm looking to read Billy Batson and the Power of Shazam because I've heard it's more like that.

Once final thing that I wanted to hit on- Mark Millar needs to release things. I know he's busy being awesome but to be a big shot comics writer you need to actually release something. I just want my Kick-Ass.

DC Universe Online Diary: Entry 1

As a kid (and adult) who grew up hoping (and still hopes) that I would somehow receive awesome superpowers and be able to fight crime on the gritty streets of Winston-Salem. Naturally, when DC Universe Online was released I felt an overwhelming urge to try it out. Finally, at the urging of my wonderful girlfriend, I gave in and downloaded it.

For those who haven't seen any of the trailers or cinematics, go watch them. They are actually pretty impressive/intense. It's all very heroic age with intense battles and the violence. But, because these are characters we as readers already care about, we feel involved in wanting to help them.

Anyway, characters start aboard Brainiac's ship and you fight your way out. Heroes are guided by Oracle, and villains by Calculator. At the end of the level, Superman or Lex Luthor come in and helps you out. After, you teleport into the hub of your mentor and enter the world.

After, you are transported to the area of your mentor, who gives you quests and assignments. The voice acting is very good, and while a lot of the quest kind of get the same, a decent variety of enemies and encounters, a plethora of lore, an amazing travel system, and above all that I am taking orders from BATMAN means that game is actually really quite enjoyable.

So far I have two characters. One is Changeling, a gadget-wielding, acrobatic martial artist with Batman as a mentor. With him I've been bounding around Gotham, and taken down Scarecrow and Bane with the aid of Batwoman and Nightwing. My other is Dr Infernus, a tuxedo-wearing fire villain under Circe. I've fought Dr. Fate and run all over Metropolis' Chinatown. It adds a lot to the game, when you're fighting or recruited by a character you know. It makes you feel like a cog in a big machine, and actually accomplishing something instead of the standard MMORPG quest of "bring my 9 hyena livers". You're taking weapons from science police and most missions are large chains that end in a climactic fight. It's pretty awesome.

PvP (player versus player) is very fun as well, with massive battles erupting in the middle of cities. It sucks to get ambushed at random by higher level characters, but it adds to the feel of being part of the world.

I have a few complaints, one is that the interface is still a bit messed up and needs a retool. Different hotkeys help a lot. The cities are also pretty stagnant. There isn't a lot of traffic or people walking, despite the cities having populations in the millions. The graphics aren't anything to write home about, but the the environments are sprawling and truly enjoyable to run or climb all over.

It's really fun, in short. I'll keep posting as to how it goes.

In retrospect-

Looking back on it, I think I was a little hard on Geoff. He's not a bad writer, and after re-reading Blackest Night 8 it's apparent why he has his job in the first place. With that said, however, it's pretty easy to get overloaded with him, especially with the 4000 titles a week that come out with his name on it. I don't know, I just get frustrated when I don't feel like a story is going anywhere.

I am far, far more disappointed Mark Millar and his utterly terrible Nemesis. I really can't describe just how offensive this book is. Not only is it constantly pandering to shock value and trying to generate controversy, but it's just bad. I guess after the success of Kick-Ass he can do whatever he wants, but he's just gone down hard. Kick-Ass 2 is looking pretty bleak. Also he can't get a regular schedule for release which just makes it worse.

It's sad because Civil War was so so good. This... I don't even know.

Grant Morrison is Grant Morrison. 'Nuff said. His Batman and Robin is insane and fantastic. I've read it over and over again and haven't gotten tired of it yet. I see something new and cool each time, and the characterization of Dick and Damian is fantastic. The man knows what he's doing. He may be crazy (see the Doom Patrol), but he can write a story like nobody's business.

The finale of Scott Pilgrim made me happy i brought the series. Brian Lee O'Malley kind of came out of nowhere with a story about growing up and change and maturity and it turned out incredible. I spent five books kind of hating Scott Pilgrim and then realized I was supposed to hate his loser ass. Once I figured that out I reread all the books and loved them. That's the real secret of Scott Pilgrim: no matter how funny and charming he is, he's still kind of a dick.

It's been a pretty good year for comics. It's been great reading and writing. There are going to be some interesting things going on in the future with the finale of Brightest Day and the new Batman Incorporated, as well as the new DC Universe on line, which I plan on checking out at some point in the near future. I'll do updates about how good it is, or how bad as the case may be. We'll see how it goes.

-S

Geoff Johns: A Phantom Menace

Recently, I watched some interesting reviews of the Star Wars prequels. The link is here, and I highly advise checking it out. It's pretty crazy the things that they point out, such as the LACK OF A MAIN CHARACTER and LACK OF PLOT DETAILS and LIGHTSABERS ALL OVER THE ****ING PLACE. This was pretty disturbing to see on its own, but it got me thinking about the Blackest Night event and just Geoff Johns' recent work in general.

The main character of Blackest Night and the Green Lantern series isn't too much of a problem, given as the main series of GL has Hal Jordan, you know, The Green Lantern. John Stewart gets a little playtime too, but generally Hal has main billing. However, after Hal gets spirited away by Indigo-1 we have a split where the Atom and Mera are doing stuff and become protagonists of their own stories. This crossover has like 14 different protagonists derpin around until they all meet up in Coast City, where the white entity is conveniently located.

The whole entity-spectrum thing is pretty bogus too. I mean, it is a good way to make it so that Hal isn't responsible for that whole MURDERING THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS thing, but the constant use of these entities and how Parallax has to weasel his way into everyone. Ganthet gets it, Kyle get it, Hal gets it again, and in a recent issue Barry Allen gets it. Now that everyone has an entity who gives a damn about it. They're like the friggin' Pokemon of the DCU where everyone wants to collect them all so that they can get the legendary white entity.

Now, the entities are just sort of there. The real thing here is the emotional spectrum. This little thing gets thrown in there and raises a few eyebrows. I can get behind a Green Lantern having enough willpower to create constructs and such with their ring. That's pretty cool. The emotional spectrum though makes less and less sense the more I think about it.

Lets break it down real quick. Fear I can accept because they already have parallax and sinestro so whatever lets move on. The Zamaronians and the Star Sapphires also appeared earlier so that also I guess is acceptable. I don't like the fact that they felt it necessary to include the skeletons of Hawkgirl and Hawkman as their power source because that makes absolutely no sense at all. Now, the blue lanterns only get introduced because of the red lanterns, and the orange lantern is just comic relief. The indigo tribe serves solely as a vehicle for the plot. That's it.

Another thing I don't like is how the red and yellow lanterns are all weird looking and scary and stuff. They are all alien and sort of scarifying because Geoff Johns is going with the general idea of what should scare us. All these things have odd numbers of mouths and limbs and stuff or are different colors. I think the use of lolscarymonsters takes away from the actual fear. The reason the Joker is scary is because he is an unpredictable sociopath who kills for fun. He is a unique and horrifying concept because he is a total wild card. But, you see all the crazy crap the red lanterns and Sinestro corps throw out and it barely phases anyone. One psychopath is scary. A whole army of them takes away from the uniqueness of the psychopath and just makes it a bunch of token bad guys for the GLC to kill (they can do that now because it's EXTREME) without any real sort of interesting emotion (even though the whole series is supposed to be about emotion apparently). The Red lanterns also have a cat. Yeah. Just this normal cat who got mad and now has a red ring on his tail. This would be interesting if it wasn't stupid. I know exactly why Geoff added the cat. He went on the internet and saw people making jokes about cats and decided to put one in the Red Lanterns because LOL I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGR. I could care less that there is a mad cat who has the powers of mad. It is minimally important in the grand scheme of things. It's just a cheap joke that subtracts from any sort of drama.

Speaking of cheap jokes, Geoff Johns has a very distinct style where he feels the need to insert lots of them. Whenever we have some sort of dramatic buildup or tension it's instantly kicked in the teeth by Hal cracking a joke about how Larfleeze looks like Gonzo or something. Also, the surplus of cluttered splash pages takes away from the power a splash page can have. It stops being cool really fast.

Another thing with the bigger splash pages is that they often feature like 8000 lanterns all slinging their rings around. I thought being a lantern was like this unique thing but apparently there are literally thousands of them. There are at least 3600 green lanterns alone, and seeing them all on one page makes it seem so incredibly commonplace. It's like the lightsabers in the new star wars. We see them all the time. It's like they're a price for some universal sweepstakes or when somebody buys the deluxe edition of Green Lantern: Rebirth, (or a Blackest Night tie-in at their local comic book store). Yeah, the epic battle scenes are kinda cool, but the more lanterns I see the less I care about them. I already have 4 from earth to care about and I really don't need more.

There are a few more comparisons I can make with the Star Wars prequels. One- the forced relationship with Padme and Anakin alongside Carol and Hal. Anakin and Padme are just two sort of attractive people who up and decide they are in love, or really, Anakin decides they are in love and Padme goes along with it for some reason. Carol and Hal at least have a history, but Hal has been with Cowgirl (who has not shown up in a while, by the way) for a decent amount of time. but then, Hal and Carol sort of kiss in Blackest Night for some reason and we're just supposed to accept it because they are supposed to be together. I mean, they are one of those comic book couples but not in the way Clark and Lois are. They have had more ups and downs than practically anyone. Don't force relationships because that's how it was in the Silver Age.

Speaking of Silver Age, Geoff Johns brings it all back. He brings back all these heroes and just sort of re-establishes a new silver age. I mean, I guess that's cool. It's just that these guys have had their stories told and it'd be nice to get some new ones.

Also, there's this part in the reviews I linked when they talk about how Yoda, the wise and powerful mystic decides to become a flippy swordsman. This is the same as Ganthet, wise guardian of the universe, becomes a regular Green Lantern and ringslings, even though he really doesn't need to. He has been displayed as being able to "crack a planet in half with a though" without a little ring. But then he activates the ring duplication power and adds to the ring overload even more.

There is a lot more I can talk about, and it gets worse with brightest day. I feel like Geoff needs a break or something. I don't see any substance in his work anymore. It just seems like he is an overzealous fanboy who nobody has put a leash on. Let him take a break from making everything SO EPIC and trying to tell the most important story, and just let the man be for a bit, then maybe we'll get something good. Meanwhile, I'm going to read Grant Morrison and wait until this whole thing calms down.

The Catyclysm

I try and keep my personal stuff separate from what I write on here. However, given as there is a rather large overlap between video game culture and comic culture (read- two different species in the genus Nerd), I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about World of Warcraft.

WoW is the most successful MMORPG to date, with millions of subscribers who shell out 14.99 a month to play. It's built on the popular Warcraft series, which has a long established continuity and canon, as well as an enormous fan-base. This, of course, all belongs to Blizzard. This group of development geniuses has produced 3 huge titles, with the recent Starcraft 2 being a multimillion copy seller in days, and a professional sport in Korea (the good one in the south).

Not only do they have huge profits from incredible games but they also have an insanely loyal fanbase, to whom they sell comic books, action figures, trading card games, and even steins. STEINS. LET ME REITERATE: THERE IS A WORLD OF WARCRAFT STEIN. These are fanboys of the highest regard. I should know. I was one.

You see, way back in the days before I was this titan of awesome, I played a lot of WoW. I was no casual, to say the least. My main, a Gnome Rogue, was level 80, with around 35 days (840ish hours) of play time. This does not include tens of alts with a day or two on them, as well as my original hunter who had a good 5-7 days (120-168 hours). In short, I wasted a lot of time.

This is not to say it's not fun. It's a great game. Incredible, in fact, with a great world and so much lore you can be lost in it. It appeals to the base desire for progress we all have as well. Getting to the next level is like crack, and getting that bit of binary code that means your character has a new sword that does a whole 20 more fire damage is like winning the lottery. The game trains you subconsciously. It's powerfully addicting.

It also always seems like there are people having more fun that you, and the more you play the more fun you have. You'll see somebody zoom by on a flying mount and just NEED to have one. "That is the coolest thing I have ever seen", you'll say to yourself, and then grind for hours to get the gold to buy some gryphon or wyvern. You'll get it and it's great, and then you'll go back to the grind.

At a point the game stops feeling like a game and more like work. That's when the suck happens. You just grind and grind. Finally you get to the good content and it's all fun again. Then you hit the level cap.

This was the most fun and least fun of the time I played. I found myself stuck between trying to get into dungeons and raids, just waiting to find other people who wanted to kill the same guy as me. I spent more time waiting than playing, which takes a lot of fun out of the game. As a rogue, i was not in demand for raids. Everyone wanted tanks or healers, and I was neither. It was a lonely place for the stealth class.

So, in April of 2009 I quit. I have not regretted the decision to go cold turkey. I don't think that it was a coincidence that my life got a lot better after I stopped playing WoW, but that's another story. I haven't wanted to play at all, but when I'm on stumbleupon late at night and I find myself on a page about World of Warcraft, I find it hard not to care the slightest bit about a new raid or content. I was full on addicted for a while, I admit it, and being reminded about the game always makes me think of how much I enjoyed playing it.

All this new Cataclysm stuff now has gotten me thinking about it. I'm interested to see what they do, but at the same time I don't want to get sucked into that mess again. I know it sounds stupid, after all WoW is just a stupid game, but I got way too deep into that mess. I can still rattle off lore and stats in my head. I can remember lucky item drops or sweet kills. I can also remember being up until three in the morning because I was lonely and bored and angst-ridden.

Cataclysm is like the crappy boyfriend who you've broken up with more times than you can count because, lets be honest he ruined your life, coming back saying "baby, look, I've changed". I want to see if it's better, or if the Barrens looks cooler, or if there are new quests and maybe Gnomes have their city back (it's been YEARS). But, that said, I don't want to get hurt again. I don't want to relapse. I know it's trying to be a new game, but it's also the same old crap.

It was an addiction. It was an unhealthy way for me to avoid problems and pretend to be some lovable rogue hero when in reality I was kind of a jerk who needed therapy more than experience points. Facing that reality was the last thing I wanted to do, and so I found a virtual world to hide in. Some people have drugs, some people have booze, and I had a video game. It sounds so stupid now that I'm actually writing all this down, but back then I bought into that. Even though I had no job and now girlfriend, even though my grades sucked, even though I was not as awesome as I thought I was I had a level 80 rogue with some epic gear. I had slain dragons and saved worlds. So what if I was a C- student?

I look back on a lot of that with regret. I get the feeling I missed out on a lot because I was too busy sitting in front of my laptop playing with strangers. I wasn't even playing with real life friends, as most people do. I was alone. I might have been on a server with ten thousand people in chat, but I was by myself late at night, and that sucked.

It's nice to be a different person now. If this was anything, it was cathartic. I'm not anti-WoW, it's a good game but I'm not for it either, given my experience. I've sworn of MMOs, given as with my history I'd end up having to make a choice between real life and a virtual one. This sucks, as the DC Universe and Lego Universe MMOs look interesting, but I'd rather have a girlfriend than phat lootz any day of the week, month, or year.

Knight, the Devil, and Death: Grant Morrison's incredible saga of the return of Bruce Wayne

I had a discussion with my girlfriend recently about the academic legitimacy of comic books when compared to other finer arts and literature. Let me say that I agree that while graphic novels are part of the collective monomyth and all those Jungian archetypes, they can never hold the true legitimacy of real literature because of the simple fact that they are comics. Comic books often have multiple writers and reboots, with different people establishing different ideas on how they want to see characters. That alone seperates comics into their own separate and distinct universe which allows them establish their own stories that flow with changes in culture. Comics adapt and change with society, and while they provide good mirrors to culture, establishment of canon prevents the vast majority of running superhero comics to be counted as true literature.

Comics can be critiqued through various schools. Wonder Woman has seen her share of feminist theory for sure, but the fact of the matter is that comics are just comics, and despite how people like myself dress them up for academia, they are largely inaccessible save to those who truly know the canon. And yes, there are widely acclaimed graphic novels in the academic community. Persopolis, Maus, and American Born Chinese instantly spring to mind, but these are self-contained personal stories. They could be actual books if their authors had chose to format them that way, but they chose to do them as graphic novels instead.

Comics books and graphic novels are entirely different entities. A graphic novel is exactly what it says it is: A novel with pictures. These can legitimately be called literature. Maus is just as moving as Eli Weisel's Night. However, the vast majority of superhero comics can not be held at that same literary level. It's a sad fact, but it's one we as comic fans have to deal with. The idea of comics studies seems fun, but unfortunately its a field that will never take off. It's an interesting topic, I know, but the very nature of the comic book defies literary criticism.

I write about comics because I enjoy them. I think analyzing the heroic ideals of batman or the meaning of death in comic books is fun. I am aware that I am weird. However, it's very hard to translate comics outside of their perscribed universes. You can compare Superman to Jesus or Hercules, but not to Shakespeare. Nobody in Othello had heat vision, and Romeo and Juliet were not retconned back to life. It's easy for comic fans to see parallels because all of our heroes originate from basic ideas.

Also, superhero comics today are based around canon established decades ago, meaning the writers are generally basing their stories on what they read as a kid. Geoff Johns obviously loves the silver age Justice League because they are all apparently back, and any newer hero is sadly displaced. However, we as comic book readers love when canon ties together (this will come in later). The whole genre is based on appealing to fans and attracting new readers, which is what separates superhero comics from the rest of literature. There is a fan base. It needs to be appeased and new readers need to be brought in to keep DC and Marvel floating. This commercial drive is the wedge that will forever split the mainstream comic book from graphic novels like Maus.

I say this all sadly. I'd love to spend my life writing about comics, but there is very little legitimacy. Comics are fun, but will never be fully accepted. It's something we as fans and readers need to accept, deal with, and then go back to enjoying the best publishers have to offer.

The best, of course, being Grant Morrison (finally on topic now). If there is one man who could bring a shred of academia to the comic community, it's him.

Grant (can I call you Grant?) is intelligent, and his stories play on two levels. At first, they are just exciting and fun and suspenseful, really everything a comic book needs to be enjoyable to read. However, without a decent understanding of gothic art or mythology, a large portion of his Batman and Robin and Return of Bruce Wayne is completely missed. I have so much to say about the honest-to-go masterpiece I finished today. It is, in my opinion, the best series I have ever read. Yes, Geoff Johns, I enjoyed Blackest Night, but Grant brings a hefty weight of actual intellectual content that actually makes comic books seem a bit smarter. Your zombie heroes were cool, but Grant Morrison has a grasp on the English language and culture as a whole that makes him better than really any other comic writer I have ever read.

Morrison does this incredible thing where all of his storylines come crashing together. I find myself rereading him over and over to try and catch all his references not only to other comic books but also to literature, art, and music. I cannot possibly list them all, but they are without question phenomenal. He may know everything, or is consistently on Wikipedia.

Let me give an example of this (spoilers)

Thomas Wayne AKA Dr. Hurt has been repeatedly referred to as the devil. With his mask on his shadow looks like a horned demon. He is the Devil referenced in the title of Knight, the Devil, and Death, which is a famous piece of Gothic art. At one point the Joker gives a brief monologue about a banana, and how it represents the "primal gag": The fall. He then tosses the peel on the ground. Keep this in mind.

At the end of the arc, Hurt is running away from Batman and encounters the Joker. The Joker and Hurt are not on the best of terms. Sitting on a stump, the Joker points to a gun on the ground, and says "Betcha can't reach the gun before me, gambler." Hurt races for the gun, slips on the banana peel and falls, only to be buried alive while the Joker laughs about how his plan went to Hell.

Hurt is very clearly now the Devil. He gambles and falls. The fall refers to the Devil gambling with God and being sent to Hell.

THIS IS BRILLIANT.

It is also only one of the little details that takes many rereads to notice. Anyway, it's late. Sorry about the rant at the beginning, but it's my blog so deal. Grant Morrison, If you ever read this, thank you for an amazing story. You're what's right with comics today.



In summation- If you want an example of a phenomenal superhero comic- this is it. It's canon heavy and Wikipedia will help with a lot, as well as the comicsalliance.com annotations. Without them I would have missed so much. They do great work, and the fact that there is so much information present gives credit to Morrison as a writer. The entire arc is nothing short of brilliant, and the best today's comics have to offer.