YEAH another podcast....me so happy!

Whoooop

Hey! Thanks for answering the question. It kinda bums me out when there this series that seems really interesting but it isn't collected or it is out of print but so far I've managed to get most of the series I was looking for. Anyway thanks, I love your podcast

Where I come from we call pop juice. 
 
Love Fatale it was amazing, Brubaker + Noir = match made in heaven 
 
Lol that was my comment, Black Sad added to the list.  
  
Swamp Thing was real good, the last page is nuts. 
 
I know a few people didn't like this Animal Man issue because they thought it was filler but it was like the best filler issue ever. 
 
I read all the Twelve issues, I didn't even know there was a new one out what took so long. 
 
I love IZombie it's great, IZombie is to zombie comics what Invincible is to super hero comics. 
 
I don't like ether Vulture as well. 
 
Invincible is crazy good, honestly it's the best super hero book out there. Far better than any of the DC/Marvel books.  
   
I was on trades for Walking Dead and Invincible but I went all out on my last birthday and caught up with Invincible and I will do the same with Walking Dead at some point. 
 
I always see the Hellraiser books at BOOM but I never know if it's good or not. 
 
Infestation 2 was very good, giant robots + TMNT + Cthulu = awesome sauce 
 
More Than Meets the Eye and Robots in Disguise 
 
I'm not sure how I feel about Before Watchmen, I totally love the the creative teams but still I'm not sure. 
 
 It was the Namor covers Jae Lee did.  
 
Sandman was far better than Watchmen IMO 
 
 Lemire is amazing but I thought Milligan was doing fine on JLD 
 
it's crazy that Adventure Time sold out, love it. 
 
Whats the water noises lol 
 
It's sad that the Indi books get ignored compared to the Marvel/DC books, this is something I feel very strong about. There's so many books by IDW/Image/BOOMVertigo ect that are far far better than some of the mediocre books the big two put out but if it doesn't have a Bat, Super or X on the cover then every one just's ignores it!!!!!!! 
 
There is a digi site for 2000AD it's called Clickwheel also you can get it on there own sight. 
 
Morrison should be doing Superman and Action Comics IMO 
  
I like Hickman I just think Ultimates is the wrong type of book for him, he suits crazy Sci-Fi more. 

@spiderbat87 said:

It's sad that the Indi books get ignored compared to the Marvel/DC books, this is something I feel very strong about. There's so many books by IDW/Image/BOOM/Vertigo...ect that are far far better than some of the mediocre books the big two put out but if it doesn't have a Bat, Super or X on the cover then every one just's ignores it!!!!!!! There is a digi site for 2000AD it's called Clickwheel also you can get it on there own sight. Morrison should be doing Superman and Action Comics IMO I like Hickman I just think Ultimates is the wrong type of book for him, he suits crazy Sci-Fi more.

Sadly very true, but that's manly the fault of fans waiting the same thing over and over again, and not looking for anything new.

Yeah, inferiorego is on the podcast once more. This needs to happen more often.

The whole superhero battles is incredibly cliche. It's not as if Cable doesn't know these guys to create this perception.

The way people are tired of hearing about just Marvel and DC comics. I feel the same way about how too many articles on Anime Vice are about VIZ Media.VIZ is the most prolific in the censorship and alteration of manga and anime. While Yen Press and Kodansha Comics do amazing publishing and don't get near the same level of press.

FOX creates the perception of continuity when they release interviews with the cast talking about how they read the comics to get to know their characters, but the characters they are playing share nothing from the comic.

It's too bad that Matt had to leave before my question came up.

I'd love to hear more talk about the Watchmen thing. I found the approach you guys take to it to be very different from mine. I won't go crazy and call it sacrilege to do it, but leaving the Watchmen world untouched has been a real key move for the superhero industry. And I won't say comics, since there are creator-owned works that were able to maintain that integrity.

People are so used to the notion of character based comics that they take the idea for granted, that the characters are the key thing we love. Maybe in the case of something like Batman, which is a very schizophrenically written character, but there have been books where changing the writer really would hurt the work, like Y the Last Man. Would we be better off to have other writers tackle stories from that world? Would this be acceptable in other mediums? Let's take a book like, say, To Kill a Mockingbird... How about the publisher hires a writer to flesh out the life of Boo Radley? Regardless of the skills of the writer they've hired, it wouldn't be seen as anything other than a cash grab.

When Moore did his twelve issues, he revealed as much of the characters as he wanted to. And he completed the book, and left it as a standalone piece. Watchmen was the exception to the rule that comics were populated with characters simply to be exploited by a publisher. It was a high quality, solid work that had a finite end. DC's choice to not exploit the characters as they do everything else they own was something to respect about the publisher. But they're giving that up. The highest quality superhero work done up until now is going to become part of the marketing machine. When the general public has trouble accepting comics as art, it's policies like this that help justify their apathy. Maybe they can get the Rorshach dolls and PS3 games next. As long as they make money, I guess...

And I've read the justification some have said, like JMS, that Moore is in no position to speak since he's built most of his career using others' characters, and I don't think it's comparable. There is a difference between using characters that were made with the intent of being exploited (like Swamp Thing) or taking classic characters and putting your own spin on them (like LXG), and having a corporate mandate to resurrect characters, then shopping out those characters to writers to flesh out. I honestly think that when Moore borrowed the Invisible Man for his stories, he did so because he has a vision to use the characters, and it wasn't simply a cash grab. What DC is doing is quite obviously a cash grab, regardless of the talent on the book.

The whole project is uninspired, so hopefully the talent on it, like Darwyn Cooke, have a genuine vision that they follow through on, and the project doesn't end up a total waste.

@spiderbat87 said:

@NightFang said:

@spiderbat87 said:

It's sad that the Indi books get ignored compared to the Marvel/DC books, this is something I feel very strong about. There's so many books by IDW/Image/BOOM/Vertigo...ect that are far far better than some of the mediocre books the big two put out but if it doesn't have a Bat, Super or X on the cover then every one just's ignores it!!!!!!! There is a digi site for 2000AD it's called Clickwheel also you can get it on there own sight. Morrison should be doing Superman and Action Comics IMO I like Hickman I just think Ultimates is the wrong type of book for him, he suits crazy Sci-Fi more.

Sadly very true, but that's manly the fault of fans waiting the same thing over and over again, and not looking for anything new.

I know, it just doesn't make sense to me. Fans will continue to get a crappy book from Marvel/DC just because they have but they wont give the time of day to an amazing book by a smaller publisher. I think some one at Comic Vine should do an article on it.

That could be Tony's next Off My Mind article.

@NightFang: Sorry if it takes me a while. I currently have 952 pm's and have to do quite a bit around here. Sounds like a good idea.

@G-Man The Liefeld question as well as the Bendis and Favorite Spider-Man, X-Men stories, were mine. You accidently said the were the irish guys.

@FoxxFireArt said:

Yeah, inferiorego is on the podcast once more. This needs to happen more often.

The whole superhero battles is incredibly cliche. It's not as if Cable doesn't know these guys to create this perception.

The way people are tired of hearing about just Marvel and DC comics. I feel the same way about how too many articles on Anime Vice are about VIZ Media.VIZ is the most prolific in the censorship and alteration of manga and anime. While Yen Press and Kodansha Comics do amazing publishing and don't get near the same level of press.

FOX creates the perception of continuity when they release interviews with the cast talking about how they read the comics to get to know their characters, but the characters they are playing share nothing from the comic.

It's too bad that Matt had to leave before my question came up.

I had to leave to pay my electric bill, and by the way, i locked myself out of the house for 2 hours right afterwards.

@inferiorego: Guess we all know you don't have an extra key stashed somewhere outside. Come to think of it, I don't either.

@G-Man said:

@inferiorego: Guess we all know you don't have an extra key stashed somewhere outside. Come to think of it, I don't either.

When we bought the house, there was a key rock (hollowed out rock for your keys) on the back porch and I remember saying to my girlfriend "only idiots need these."

I'm an idiot

@sinful said:

I sense you don't like reading comics mat.

I love reading comics, but I didn't get a chance to read too much this week, Only about 5 or 6 this week.

My main problem with the Watchmen prequels is that it continues the whole modern idea that everything is a "brand" that needs to be exploited for every damn cent. Yes, I'm sure it could be awesome, but I'd rather Azzarello, Jones, et al do original work. I don't blame them for taking the dump truck of money that DC dropped outside their door.

So yeah, I can ignore it, but I think it's good that people don't just nod along with every bad decision that a company makes.

I will also say there's a difference between the Star Wars and the backlash to BND. People actually stopped buying AMS after BND even if they did come back eventually. 80% of the people buying Star Wars are unaware of the controversy with the Blu-Rays. They're regular people buying them because their kids like/liked Star Wars.

As far as the new 52 being a big win for DC, I wouldn't call it a 'win' quite yet. Look at the overall numbers for the line. From thebeat.com

12/2006: 44,641 12/2007: 40,074 12/2008: 35,050 ----------------------- 08/2011: 27,761 (- 2.9%)** 09/2011: 67,411 (+142.8%) 10/2011: 59,146 (- 12.3%)** 11/2011: 46,670 (- 21.1%)** 12/2011: 39,390 (- 15.6%)** So, DC hasn't brought new people into comic shops, it's just gotten back some former buyers who drifted away from the last few years. I'd wait for DC to actually stop dropping 10% a month in sales before declaring victory. Finally, as Corey said, ignore Wolverine. It's a horrible movie that should be ignored. On casting, I try not to dismiss people based on their previous work. Sometimes people take jobs becuase they suck at acting. Sometimes they take a job because it's a job.

My main problem with the Watchmen prequels is that it continues the whole modern idea that everything is a "brand" that needs to be exploited for every damn cent. 

Yes, I'm sure it could be awesome, but I'd rather Azzarello, Jones, et al do original work. I don't blame them for taking the dump truck of money that DC dropped outside their door.

So yeah, I can ignore it, but I think it's good that people don't just nod along with every bad decision that a company makes.

I will also say there's a difference between the Star Wars and the backlash to BND. People actually stopped buying AMS after BND even if they did come back eventually. 80% of the people buying Star Wars are unaware of the controversy with the Blu-Rays. They're regular people buying them because their kids like/liked Star Wars.

As far as the new 52 being a big win for DC, I wouldn't call it a 'win' quite yet. Look at the overall numbers for the line. From thebeat.com

12/2006: 44,641 12/2007: 40,074 12/2008: 35,050 ----------------------- 08/2011: 27,761 (- 2.9%)** 09/2011: 67,411 (+142.8%) 10/2011: 59,146 (- 12.3%)** 11/2011: 46,670 (- 21.1%)** 12/2011: 39,390 (- 15.6%)**   

 So, DC hasn't brought new people into comic shops, it's just gotten back some former buyers who drifted away   

 from the last few years. I'd wait for DC to actually stop dropping 10% a month in sales before declaring victory.  

  suck at acting. Sometimes they take a job because it's a job. 

 Finally, as Corey said, ignore Wolverine. It's a horrible movie that should be ignored.  

The point of my post was that the Watchmen was better off being a finite work. A question for future podcasts, are there comics which you think work best as finite works, and as a follow up, were there any that were diluted with sequels?

Questions for a future podcast:

-Do you think there are comics where the writer is king, and the publisher should refrain from exploiting the characters after they've left the book? Now that Before Watchman is announced, the only non-creator owned book that has managed this is Sandman... For now.

-Do you find some of the "less functional" female costumes embarrassing to read? Not embarrassing like the cheesecake shots in Red Hood or Catwoman, but since those weren't even the costumes, but Jean Grey's AoA costume, which would require a lot of telekinesis to pull off. I've been to decadent parties at night clubs where the most brash women wouldn't try that. She really may as well be naked. It would be more functional. What do you think?