Man, that was quick. Good job, Internet! On the one hand, I’m glad DC came to their senses, but as Rich points out, this extremely fast changing of direction is part of the problem… but oh well! In this case it turned out well. I wonder if Fialkov could be persuaded to return, now. I though this Noir detective GL sounded interesting.
Somebody slap me and tell me to stop buying DC’s Stormwatch *sigh*
Same boat, I can’t stop, but I know I should. At least the art is decent now… but… bah, here, i posted about it earlier on a forum.
Kind of conflicted feelings about this. I guess DC’s heart is in the right place, and I understand that with recent events, people are more sensitive than they may usually be to a lot of violence. Also, DC’s core books with their most iconic characters should appeal to a wide audience, so I get the decision making going on here. BUT…
Well, first of all, it’s been shown time and again that people who go on these violent rampages have mental/emotional problems that aren’t going to go away just because they don’t have access to violent fiction. Also, I think the news glorifying these killers does more to promote copycats than any comic book, game or TV show.
As far as the books go though, I think violence can be a powerful storytelling tool in the right hands. Sure, it’s sometimes used purely for shock value, but it can also be used to good effect to tell you something about the characters, the world/culture they live in, make a statement/commentary on real life issues, or just to make you jump, etc. If you’re hoping to sell he book on notoriety rather than quality, then yeah, you’re a hack. But a writer can use that violence to good effect, to make a story better. Look at Luther Strode by Justin Jordan, it’s probably the single most violent and gory comic I’ve read in years, (I do not read Crossed, I’ve heard that’s more gory, the covers certainly are) people are ripped in half, blood and intestines flying everywhere, heads exploding, all on panel. But there is a REASON for the over the top violence there, and the story would be lesser without it. (And you know, sometimes gratuitous violence can be fun, a release of sorts, so hey whatever, not all of it needs a point, I just think it’s much better if it does.)
I don’t think this potential tool should be removed from every book on the shelves (or movies in theatres, or show on TV etc.) just because SOME people use it badly. If someone is offended by the content, they don’t have to read/watch it.
DC by all means they should get to decide what sort of tone their books have, but at the same time I think toning down the violence would be a disservice to certain characters. Deathstroke, Midnighter, the Red Lanterns as a whole, hell, Batman, can all benefit from violence in their stories. I think some of what was done in the Bat-books was shock value, but when dealing with a psychopath like Joker, I damn well expect something disturbing and violent to occur. Batman and Robin #15 was pure undiluted nightmare fuel from cover to cover, but I loved the issue for it. No, it wasn’t appropriate for young kids, or people who just don’t like that sort of content, but DC has an internal rating system in place, they should use it. (and use it properly. Some of their ratings currently are rather baffling) Apply a T+ or even an M rating to some books with lots of violence, maybe make the ratings a bit more obvious on the cover than they are currently, but aside from books like the Justice League, let the story/character dictate how much violence is appropriate, maybe nix anything that’s clearly there only for shock value, then respond with a rating that reflects the content of the final book.
This ended up being a lot longer than i intended.
This makes me very sad. Sandman is what got me into comics, and for a while, all I read was Vertigo, and Vertigo was her baby. Even after I got going with superhero stuff, I always had at least one Vertigo book that I followed, often ones she edited. If it had the Vertigo logo in the corner, I knew it was worth a look. It was a mark that assured quality. With Karen Berger gone, and the way Vertigo has been shoved aside by DC recently (moving Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Constantine back to DC proper, among other things. I mean, I love the new Animal Man and Swamp Thing, but… can’t comment on Constantine yet, but I suspect that will be less good, Hellblazer-lite) I suspect Vertigo may be on it’s last legs… I mean, they still have some ongoing series and miniseries coming out, the new Sandman still has me very excited, but with Berger gone, I think we will see less new titles from Vertigo, until it fizzles away. Image will take up the slack, I’m sure, but it’s still sad.
The end of Midnighter. January’s solicits seem to suggest that Midnighter goes rogue. Does this make anyone else nervous?
Late reply, just saw it int he Stormwatch tag. But I’m actually kinda hoping he (and Apollo. Apollo’ll come to his senses, you know he will, DC would never split them up. The cover is just to get you to buy it) DO leave… as long as they have somewhere else to go. Look at the timing of this story, it’s right when a bunch of books are getting cancelled, and, this is the important bit, new ones are being launched. OK, it’s a long shot, I know. But I mean, we can hope for an Apollo and Midnighter book, right? :p I just think that, even if you ignore what happened in Wildstorm, they are not a good fit for Stormwatch in terms of their ideals. Midnighter is too much of a lone wolf, doesn’t trust the leadership, and is more concerned with people-based problems than the space based stuff Stormwatch deals with. He wants to stop people being bastards to eachother. and Apollo has flat out said he has real problems with Stormwatch’s strict policy of secrecy, he wants to be out in the open. So maybe they should leave and just do their own thing, or join a team that better fits their ideals.
I was reading an article about Multiversity the other day, (which you should check out, it’s got some Frank Quitely art and sounds pretty cool) and it ended up reminding me how much I miss the Bleed, Shift Ships, all that, and I sincerely hope that the reason DC has not included the Bleed in the new 52, (despite it already being canon in previous continuity, and including most of the Authority characters) is because they promised Grant Morrison he could introduce it in Multiversity.
Hyperspace is no proper substitute for the Bleed, and the Eye is simply not worthy to take the place of the Carrier. The Bleed had this typically Warren Ellis vibe to it, which other writers seem to have trouble with. It was based on real science, but the way it was depicted was poetic and evocative; it inspired a sense of wonder and awe that’s just not there with Hyperspace as it’s being used in Stormwatch right now, where it’s a mere backdrop and means to remain undetected. That sense of wonder, I don’t know why, but other writers just seem to not quite get it. Planetary was ALL ABOUT capturing that sense of wonder, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so cool.
Back to Grant Morrison and Multiversity. I am getting a strong hunch that the Bleed may well feature, for a few reasons. One, the story is all about alternate dimensions, which is all the Bleed was when boiled down to it’s core, the stuff between dimensions, through which Shift Ships such as the Carrier could travel. This makes it a logical place to include the Bleed if DC is planning on ever using it again. Two, in Multiversity communication across dimensions is achieved through the pages of comic books. This seems strange, (it IS Grant Morrison) but the Bleed is named after the bleed area on a comic book page, so it all fits. Three, in his ill-fated run on the Authority, which lasted a whopping 2 issues, they ended up trapped on our Earth, or at least one one very similar to it. Jack and the Doctor end up in a comic shop…
So. Just like in Multiversity, comic books are acting as a means of communication across dimensions. They may be reading about their own adventures, but they are in a different universe. And finally… Grant Morrison says in that article that he’s been working on Multiversity for 6 years. Guess how long ago his Authority run was. Go on, guess. I think his unfinished run on the Authority was the seed of the idea behind Multiversity, basically. It may involve different characters now, maybe even a whole new plot, I really couldn’t say, I am not sure how close they stuck to his plot for the Lost Year, so… But I do think the seed of the idea for Multiversity began there, with the Authority getting stuck outside their dimension when the Carrier’s power source (a baby universe. see? that’s so much cooler than some old Daemonite relic) died. I have my doubts about seeing the REAL Authority again, since there are new versions of many of the characters in the new DCU, but the Bleed is still missing, and I can see no good reason for it’s exclusion, especially since they’ve already had some characters doing some dimension hopping. So I am hoping that the plan all along was to have Morrison introduce the concept in Multiversity.
Demon Knights: Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves, Oclair Albert, Dan Green, Marcelo Maiolo, Jared K. Fletcher, Alex Garner
We’re in! Inside Morgaine’s tower. Apparently, all of Camelot-that-was is crammed into the space of the tower, magically. I love how this book always manages to surprise me…
You know, the whole Horsewoman as an avatar of the Red thing flew completely over my head when I read this issue, but now that you point it out it makes SO MUCH SENSE. And it’s not like it’s the only connection hinted at, I am pretty sure Al Jabr is the first Engineer.
