You deserved this one, Robin

Seriously, don't be a dick. Batman's not bringing up your circus relatives.

Oog! Lives Again!

This just in from Comic-Con 2008:

Finally, someone agrees with me about 300

Finally, someone agrees with me that 300 was not the greatest movie ever. Nor was it a great comic book. No one has agreed with me in the slightest since they watched the movie and fell in love with Leonidas of the pointy spear.

Well, now someone agrees with me. And it's Alan Moore. Oh, yes, that Alan Moore. You know, the guy who wrote Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Swamp Thing, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and The Killing Joke? Go ahead, look them up if you haven't heard of them. More than one of them might rank in the ten greatest works in the comic book industry.

I admit: Moore has been openly critical of movie adaptations in the past. His own works have had a very bad history, to the point where he has given up on them. But what's important about a recent EW.com interview with Moore is that he criticizes 300 as a comic book, not just a movie.

I'll just let him have at it:

... I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid.

There, that about sums it up. I've long maintained that Frank Miller isn't nearly the genius everyone thinks he is. I certainly won't deny him his dues (The Dark Knight Returns was and continues to be one of my all-time favorites and I know his work on Daredevil was a huge step forward for the industry), but 300 was overrated in almost every way.

And, yes, I give this quote credence despite any possible idiosyncracies the man may or may not have.

REPULSOR RAY!

Iron Man is just awesome. Go see it if you haven't! Not only is it a huge success, but it's got rave reviews to back it up. A perfect confluence!

Two Easy Ways to Improve Comic Books

Binkley and I both love comic books, but neither of us read them as much as we could.  I present to you the two ways to improve modern comic books from our discussion the other day:

1. Dead means dead: no more resurrections, recostuming, passing the mantles, Lazarus effects, second  or third lives, or playing dead.  Dead means dead.  Also, there is no retconning.  Real writers don't erase their mistakes in public and say, "Nah, I didn't really mean that."  Well, unless you're Anne Rice.  Oh wait, I said "real writers", so I didn't need to bring her up. 

2. No more crazy spinoffs: I understand it's easy to get greedy and capitalize on your success, but all too often you end up diluting the brand or churning out crap.  TV shows and movies do this all the time.  I don't want Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, and a dozen other spinoff storylines and world arcs.  Look at Apple - they don't release new iPods and iPhones every 3 months.  If you make sure that your readers can keep up with the slew of new releases, you might actually manage to get a mainstream.

Not that anyone cares.