Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

Your 2015 Predictions, Epilogue: The Jean Genie.

§ January 29th, 2016 § Filed under predictions § 4 Comments

Hold on there, we’re almost done, as I’m going to cover some responses to the comments for the 2015 predictions posts.

From Part One, I had a couple folks mention, in response to Tony‘s “someone will be offended” prediction, the troubles surrounding this comics editor that certainly, and rightly, did cause great offense. As I was Googling about to remind myself of what had happened over the past year, this situation definitely popped up, but I ended up going with the Batgirl variant cover controversy as my sample of a situation that stirred up some unpleasantness. I didn’t really put much more thought into it than deciding to go with the thing that was about a piece of art rather than an actual person, which…well, I can’t say it was to keep things “lighter,” as there were clearly negative circumstances surrounding that Batgirl picture, but I should have at least noted the business with that editor.

Longtime reader Wayne wants to know if Titans Hunt is doing well at my shop. It’s doing…okay. Of the Convergence spin-offs, it doesn’t have quite the traction of Lois and Clark, but it does seem to appeal to folks who like the Titans, but don’t follow the New 52 version. Which, I guess, is the exact purpose of the comic.

Interstate Shogun commented on the fact that the new Star Wars may have been a bit similar to previous installments, and, well, yeah. Like I said in my pseudo-review…the situations were familiar, but how the characters dealt with them and pursued their own motivations weren’t, so that helped I think. I mean, it’s Star Wars…we’re going to get the lightsaber fights and Something Big the Bad Guys Own Will Blow Up, as that’s just part of the package. However, I don’t want to see one grain of sand or one snowflake in the next couple of films.

Sorry, got nuthin’ to say about the comments to Part Two. You’re on your own, David Alexander McDonald!

From Part Three, JD and Matt Jeske both reminded me that Ragman did appear in New 52 continuity, in Batwoman, which I’d actually read and forgot about because I’m old and the gears are beginning to slip.

Several folks also report that the first gen iPads seem to work okay with Comixology, with the occasional glitch.

My comments about the supposed “Paul Rudd Jinx” was answered by DavidG, who tells me that Ant-Man was the first 100 million dollar-plus hit that starred Mr. Rudd. Well, how ’bout less a “jinx” and more “his first breakthrough blockbuster!” That sounds a little more positive!

Also in that third post I noted I wasn’t sure about DC’s digital line going down to $0.99, but in my research for something else I came across a whole bunch of DC digital releases at that price point. Whether that was special event pricing or the regular deal, I’m not sure. I’m too analog to comprehend all this digital stuff.

In the comments to Part Four, Touch-and-go Bullethead mentions that there was apparently some in-house memo about possible Marvel media adaptations, and Squirrel Girl was put on the “TV” list. Not that it was a done deal, but more of a list of potential translations, which may have been interpreted by the more-excitable as “definitely happened.” Well, not yet, though I bet a Squirrel Girl TV show would be fun.

And in the comments to Part Five, The Mean Geek wonders why I thought Age of Ultron was so bad, and fellow Troublemaker Alan David Doane mentions that it’s grown on him now that he’s been able to watch it at home. Maybe once I catch up on all these other things I’m watching, and after I’ve seen Frank Miller’s The Spirit again, I’ll give Age of Ultron another go. My main problems with the film was that it seems very…disjointed to me, and that a lot of the novelty of seeing all these characters together was gone, and there wasn’t really anything there to replace it. It didn’t engage me at all, I had no interest in the story, the villain didn’t do anything for me, and it just felt like a mess. The first film was about as deep as a puddle of water, but it was a fast-paced machine designed to get you from one action sequence to the next, with some amusing moments and basically kept you interested throughout. I just didn’t get that from the second film. But maybe I was just having a bad night at the moving pictures, and I’ll give it another shot to see how it goes the second time.