I can hardly wait

I'm working from home today, still in my pajamas, because a guy is painting and working in my bathroom to fix some plumbing that was originally done by a guy who was completely shitfaced. The point is that I am feeling both lazy and on edge, which results in a snitty post like this.

So anyway I was reading Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 last night, and while there are any number of hilarious things to pick on, such as old ragged Namor (who, by the way, also acts nothing like Namor in addition to looking nothing like him), this is what jumped out, from the previews at the end:


"Huh," I thought, "that is an awfully long time to wait, maybe they want to get us excited just in time for Don Cheadle?" But no, of course it is a typo, somebody just cut and pasted from the other preview tags that say "ON SALE JANUARY XX, 2009," etc. We only have to wait one week for this Inuit-slaughtering opus (which we know from the preview showing the bloody mauling of Inuits), not one year and one week. It's like Christmas already.

Have I Got a Rehash of a Story for You

Update: Apparently I'm an asshole, and the adaptation of a previous story has been plenty acknowledged in reviews and the bonus DVD itself, as Johanna points out in the comments. So read the post below if you like to snicker at ignorant, reactionary fan babble.

We've been Netflixing the pants off of Batman: The Animated Series for the past year or so, and got a new disc this week for the second half of the 1998-99 Season Four (or Season Two of The New Batman Adventures, whatever organizational rules you go by).

The first episode on this disc is called "Legends of the Dark Knight," and is about a group of Gotham kids who all claim to have some insider knowledge of what the Batman is really like, and try to one-up each other with stories of their own first- or second-hand amazing interactions with the Caped Crusader.

Sound familiar?

Not that I've scoured the internet for relevant discussions, but I've read quite a lot about the Batman: Gotham Knight anime film (in addition to watching it twice), and I've never seen a single person comment on the fact that Josh Olson's chapter, "Have I Got A Story For You," is a fairly direct rip-off of that 10 year-old BTAS episode. There are a variety of substantive differences of course, and Olson's story was one of my favorite on the DVD, but part of that had been my impression of its originality. I suppose it's an idea that multiple people could have independently, and stories are adapted from other stories all the time, but I'm still a little let down that there was no acknowledgment that one of the stories is just an update of an old show.

Anyway, I feel obnoxious for even mentioning it, but it kind of bummed me out, especially since I liked the anime so very much. I kind of feel like a teenage Fugees fan in 1996 who goes to college and hears Roberta Flack for the first time. Or whatever.

Fall Out Boy, uh, what do you call it when bad stuff happens after some other event?

CBR reports as middleman of an argument between the band Fall Out Boy and Dabel Bros. Publishing that despite the Dabel's February announcement of a "Fall Out Boy" comic book, the band never really wanted anything to do with the project, even if it hadn't been derailed by "the Simpsons" lawyers (because they already have their own comic book about the Fall Out Boy character, for whom the band was named).

There's a lot of nonsense about what happened when and who said what during the supposed deal, but it's best summed up by drummer and comic fan Andy Hurley's statement that "If it's a comic about our band, it's the lamest thing ever."

I kind of wish I could have used this back in May, when I wrote this article for Billboard about the new crop of comics/music industry crossovers and what kinds of projects are likely to have the most traction with fans of both art forms. With the help of folks like Rantz Hoseley (editor of Tori Amos's upcoming "Comic Book Tattoo"), Joe Keatinge (of Image), Gail Simone (who adapted Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" for all the right reasons, and there actually are some), and Douglas Wolk (who is really the expert on anything related to comics and music whatsoever), I got a pretty good sense that a comic book spinoff of a real rock band running around having adventures has fairly significant limitations in the areas of audience, storytelling, artistic innovation and longevity, among others. Crossovers can definitely work, but my central conclusion was that a musician who wants to break into comics as either an artistic endeavor or branding opportunity really has to treat the project like any other new release. Reading the description of Fall Out Boy's almost non-existent involvement in the project, plus the view of Hurley, who knows more than a little about comics, it appears this project would have gone almost nowhere, even if it had been printed. And even if it had sold some copies, it likely would have been the lamest thing ever.

ROFLMAO, JPHRED52

I've been roaring through my backlog of books, it's kind of acquired a homework motif. It's that idiot fear of missing an issue, and then when the next one comes, you're like "What the hey?! Who is that and why are they in that place with that other guy and isn't he dead?" The point is, there are about 12 too many Wolverine books, and I'm just not going to read them. Except for Wolverine First Class, because of the cute Kitty Pryde and the cow lady named Bova that Logan keeps calling Bessy. She finally stopped correcting him. I am an enormous sucker for anthropomorphic animals, by the way.

I have to say it, I can visualize at some point in the near future digging on Final Crisis. Sure it makes little sense now, but I was far less flummoxed than I anticipated, and any appearance of Renee Montoya is a strong courting of my favor. Essentially, if the Spectre were to inhabit the body of a talking sheep for his team-up with the Question in Revelations, I'd be the very definition of enthusiasm.

On Trinity, though, I'm going to have to agree with Doug. I'll just add an "M" to that "Eh." I've been kind of a fan of DC's bronzified version of Morgaine Le Fey since her recurring bitchfest on Justice League Unlimited, but this lady is aggravating. Bring on the examination of the complex relationship among the Big Three, but not if Bruce Wayne is going to call Clark Kent "buddy." That is not working for me.

Also. Secret Invasion is boring me senseless. Just gotta get it out there. Even the massive fight scene was drowsy, because it came out of nowhere. It's like super draggy intrigue over here, setup-free chaos over there. I'll still read every damn crossover, because I am a fool, but I'd rather not have to whine about it. Fortunately we have eight dozen more issues for it to get good.

Finally, re: Detective #845, am I alone in thinking that there needs to be more late-night IMing between Batman and Detective Chimp? I cannot be alone.

Honk-shhh

Back home, but exhausted. I was going to sound off on Stephanie Brown, but by the time I find the energy for that it will all have been done six times over, and probably has been already, so I'll just give you my executive summary of "yay + meh." Be back after I catch up on books. And my laundry. And my Wii Fit basic training.