And don’t worry…I’m fairly certain Paraphernalia Phriday won’t be a regular thing. Unless I start rereading my Freak Brothers and Dopin’ Dan comics.
The people have spoken! You voted nearly 2 to 1 in favor of my dropping the new Flash series from my regular reading list. Now, don’t take this the wrong way…if you’re enjoying the new Flash series, good for you! I’m glad you like it. But this new series just didn’t do anything for me, and frankly, the Flash franchise had (har har) lost some momentum after this debacle which, I think, created the seeming necessity for this extensive reboot.
And like reader Jeff says:
“Save your money for something you’re excited about, not something you’re waffling on.”
Good advice.
And what’s up with this?
“NO! Save your money for breath mints…. hooo boy!”
Well, I never! I’ll have you know, Mr. “Sniffer,” that my breath is like a fresh spring breeze! So there. (And, by the way, have you met…the Sneezler?)
…Okay, I’ll stop. Yes, it seems like everyone is discussing it, way out of proportion to the actual importance and likely impermanence of the change, mostly in the context of “boy, everybody is talking about this” and “this costume change won’t last.” So sure, I’ll pile on, too.
Well, “pile on” is a bit more negative than I intended, as I actually don’t mind the outfit. I mean, it’ll only be around for the duration of this storyline, or, at the absolutely most extreme possibility, until a Wonder Woman movie eventually comes out, so if you really do hate it, it’ll be gone soon enough. But as a temporary change, I think it’s fine, and not terrible-looking. And plus it inspired fellow Bureau Chief Matt Wilson to cook up the Superheroes Wearing Jackets Tumbler site, so how bad can it be?
My primary concern, at first, is that I do get kids coming into the shop who, having seen Wonder Woman on TV, now want Wonder Woman comics. And here we are with the one Wonder Woman series where Wonder Woman herself is no longer in her recognizable, iconic costume. Of course, I then realized it’s not that big of a deal, since the actual monthly WW title hasn’t been very attractive to child readers for about twenty years, and changing the costume won’t make any difference to that segment of the market. I’ve plenty of back issues from the ’70s and ’80s, and there are the character’s appearances in the comics based on the cartoons, so I’ve got a good selection to offer our younger Wonder Woman fans. (Any older Wonder Woman fans who aren’t already funnybook fans invariably want merchandise…they couldn’t care less about the comics.)
The costume change is, naturally, aimed at the people already dropping their cash on new comics every week, to convince them to perhaps redistribute or expand their budgeted finances to take in this latest Exciting New Direction for Wonder Woman. And of these two new assignments being written by J. Michael Straczynski, the Wonder Woman one at least seems to be getting a tentative “well, let’s see where it goes from here” from the nerdinet, as opposed to JMS’s Superman storyline which appears to be receiving almost universal derision. (Though I do like this comment on Dr. Polite Scott’s site, which gives a possible psychological underpinning for this coming Superman series).
I did find it curious that, despite the real world news coverage, I didn’t receive too much of an influx of the type of folks who only drop into comic shops to get the new hot thing they saw in the news. Well, then again, it’s only been a day, and plus it’s not like anyone absolutely died for sure, no, honest this time. Maybe we’ll get ’em over the weekend.
As for the comic, Wonder Woman #600, itself…doesn’t look too bad, actually. And I’m a sucker for anniversary issues…for those of you who have been keeping track with me, perhaps this will be the fifth comic I pick up this week.
