Should You Be Worried About The WarnerMedia/Discovery Merger?
Once more, this little hobby of ours finds itself at the whim of the corporate behemoths who have declared themselves in charge of so many aspects of our lives. This time, it's to do with AT&T, which, looking to finally make good on its however-many-billion dollar acquisition of WarnerMedia, by spinning off the company into its own entity via a merger with Discovery Inc. WarnerMedia being the parent company of so many things, but also DC Comics, it's got some people worried about another round of massive corporate upheaval, with the many editorial disturbances that such upheaval usually bring. And that brings us to the inevitable question: should you be worried about the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger?
Well, we've talked in the past about how the comic book industry is going through a massive culture change, as it becomes another content silo to integrate vertically into the massive structures of corporate entertainment. DC has gone through that particular ringer, and they've come out on the other side still in the comic book business. So I don't think that's gonna change in a company that's owned by but not directly beholden to one of these shitty telecom companies you Americans seem to hate so much. Maybe they'll even go and rehire some of the extremely talented people they've let go! Maybe not! A guy can dream!
So, to answer your question: not much.
Should You Be Worried That I Owned Beloved Co-Creator Of Astro City Kurt Busiek At Knowing Comic Book Ephemera?
On Tuesday night, as news of the Warner/Discovery merger hit, everyone was throwing goofs and spoofs left and right, including acclaimed comic book writer Kurt Busiek. He made a joke about "King Shark Week". It was pretty good. In a bit of fun whimsy, I quoted the tweet and brought up several other shark-themed DC Comics villains, including The Shark, from Green Lantern comics, and Tiger Shark, from Detective Comics. I thought it would be a fun time, we'd goof around, I'd gain some clout, and I would eventually be recognized as a comic book industry Mover and Shaker.
However, Kurt Busiek, a man known the world over for his knowledge of minute comic book ephemera, came at me not with an offer of light japery, but a harsh-sounding correction. "Tiger Shark is a Marvel guy", he said, referencing the Namor the Sub-Mariner villain. He was not prompted. He was not challenged. He just came at me, being wrong about Tiger Shark. Being the class act I am, I post a panel from Detective Comics #147, by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, showing very clearly Tiger Shark alongside Batman and Robin. He deflects with a goof. Still, the damage is done. I have defeated the great Kurt Busiek in the arena of remembering characters from comic books. I am the comic book expert now.
So, to answer your question: yes, very much so.
Should You Be Worried About The Impending Lifting Of My Ban On Marvel Comics?
Maybe you haven't noticed, since I've mentioned it all of two times, but I have not been reviewing books from Marvel since the release of The Immortal Hulk #43, in which known bigot Joe Bennett laid bare all his ugliness by throwing his casual anti-semitism in the background of a panel, to the indifference of everyone involved in the production. I then said I wouldn't feature books by Marvel in the newsletter, until Marvel did anything about it. They didn't do anything about it. Not really. Editing out the offensive material is the bare minimum, and not much else was done.
This week, as part of the early press round for books dropping this August, Marvel announced The Immortal Hulk #50, which is gonna bring the series to a close, and which could be the last comic Joe Bennett ever does for Marvel. If that's the case, and it should be the case, Joe Bennett should not be allowed to work for anyone as long as his presence creates an environment where violent bigotry is tolerated, then, I will lift the ban on Marvel books. I think it's a cowardly way to do it, but if you're going to drop him, however quietly that's gonna be, then I'm ready to call the whole thing off. Those are my terms, and I am stating them out loud to be fully transparent to my beloved loyal readers.
So, the party's over, you have eaten well, but your time is drawing to a close and I have some feedback to give regarding the last few moves you did with the X-Men line. To answer your question, then: oh yes, be very worried.
HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE COMICS: IF ALL ELSE FAILS, MAKE A VOW OF VENGEANCE
As you will recall from an earlier missive, I was pretty enthusiastic about Nightwing #78, despite all my clearly stated misgivings. Then Nightwing #79 dropped, and, to my great dismay, I just kind of hated it. Too cute by half, and too contrived by all of it. Nightwing #80 splits it down the middle, I don't love it but I don't dislike it as intensely as I disliked the previous issue. It's got me to figure out exactly what my problem with the series is, so in that way, I like it, but that's not what most people buy comics for. Explaining it is going to take a walk, and it's going to assume you've done some reading.
There was a missing piece to my analysis of Bruno Redondo's style, and I finally caught it. We've talked about how his design sense recalls David Aja's work on Hawkeye, which is still as obvious an influence as it gets, especially with the variations on visual language borrowing from instruction manual pictograms and small caricature work, but the other key name to drop, glaringly and obviously, is Jamie McKelvie, and the total masterclass of inventive blockbuster action design that was his run on Young Avengers. Like in Young Avengers #4, this week's Nightwing has a spread showcasing a scene as it plays out across an entire room, showcasing its geography by presenting the room as a floor plan. Gillen and McKelvie are a little more playful with it, but we're in the same neighborhood conceptually, with a key difference.
In Young Avengers, it's used as a novel way to do the typical cool action setpice starring a hot interloper that just showed up to the proceedings. In Nightwing, it's used to show people walking across a room. It's very well done, obviously. Every compliment I could throw at Bruno Redondo still holds up. But you can feel the mismatch, can't you? Unlike his Suicide Squad run, which, by nature, was a lot more focused on the action, Tom Taylor's take on Nightwing has more down time, it wants to deliver these scenes of Dick Grayson being a great guy to be around that do the big numbers when they're circulated on social media. It's cool, but it's not the kind of material where Redondo, ever the committed action stylist, is going to thrive.
Yes, absolutely, when the action setpiece shows up in the back half of the issue it sings like it's nobody's business. And sure, I know that, for pacing purposes alone, a book can't run on that particular mode for an entire issue. But I wish the balance was better. I wish Tom Taylor challenged himself to go beyond the standard of monthly superhero comic book storytelling. Deep down, I wish I could enjoy Nightwing exactly for what it is.
If we're to discuss this week's releases through the prism of the ever-ongoing clash of style versus substance, then it seems only appropriate to turn our gaze Medusa-like towards Wonder Girl #1, a comic that's light on substance but so heavy on the style that it barely matters. This being a Jordie Bellaire and Joëlle Jones book, you will expect it to be very beautiful and very ornate, which it is. The fine detail work Jones is known for is here in full effect, strategically enhanced by Bellaire's incredibly evocative color work, which in turns will draw from etruscan vase paintings, neo-classical art, and art nouveau, all enhanced with pop art flair and the pair's signature use of Ben Day dots.
When we discussed Yara Flor's first debut, in Future State: Wonder Woman, we talked about how Jones chose to take a very straightforwardly mythological approach to the material, and this second debut issue is exactly on the same wavelength. There's a hero on her way to meeting her destiny, and from on high the gods are watching and hatching their schemes. There's a sense that something greater is at play, secrets about the new Wonder Girl's origins and true purpose, and she does go out of her way to save someone because that's just the kind of person she is. That part of the story is not really new, but it is told as well as can be.
But that fine detail work I mentioned earlier serves another purpose, and it's what makes Wonder Girl special. It's a lot of stuff, carefully placed in the periphery, teasing at something new and unexpected. A greater world, with the many strange and wonderful creatures of Brazilian myth, Amazons that carry AKs, and all the deadly Olympian machinations you can fit behind an ancient column of stone. It's a meeting of style and substance, a promise that all this familiar stuff will lead to something brand new. It's one I'm inclined to believe in, since Bellaire and Jones are technically on their third issue, and have yet to disappoint.
That's that for this week! We're slowly but surely getting back to normal, aren't we? I'm getting back to my routine of getting a Chipotle burrito alongside the comics, and GOD did I miss that. I'm getting my groove back, and this is your first and last warning. It should only get better from here on in, so, if you haven't, subscribe now, while you can still claim to be on the ground floor, and tell your friends before time runs out. Until then, you have a great week, and you HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE COMICS.