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So I was chatting with pal Ian (who’s in town on school break) today about my post from this morning, and thus, following said chat, wanted to add a couple follow-ups about that class:

1. I wasn’t making fun…I genuinely thought a whole college class on funnybooks is pretty cool. That bit warning students about the content was amusing if, sadly, necessary, what with thin-skinnedness on the rise. Plus, I’m a bit jealous…when I was in college (under Feb. 2), the most I got was one graphic novel per class. And I had to walk a mile through the snow to get there…you kids these days, you’ve got it easy.

2. Now, it’s fairly safe to say that a good portion of the students taking this class have at least some interest in comic books. However, as I also recall from my college days, there were those classes that you took simply because 1) they met some requirement or other, and 2) they fit into your schedule. Thus, almost certainly there were a couple people, at least, who took the class more out of necessity than desire, and may in fact have never read a comic book before. It’s also very possible when they found out that they actually had to make their own comic book as a class requirement, they rolled their eyes, groaned, and dreaded the task.

Those are the comic books from this class I want to read. Comics by people uninterested in the form, forced to create a comic despite themselves. I wonder what they had to say? What they learned?

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Speaking of pal Ian, he’s asking “after you gave up comics in some point of your life…what brought [you] back?” And I told him at the shop today that I almost answered in his comments section, but didn’t because I don’t really fit into that category. After I started reading comics, I never stopped. I’ve been reading comics about as long as I’ve been able to read, so that’s well over three decades of uninterrupted funnybook enjoyment (with the occasional meal and sleep break). Combined with parents who, since they were forced to throw away their comics as young folk, never forced me to do the same with mine, I am now left with…well, a huge storage problem, but that’s a different subject altogether.

Anyway, go answer Ian’s worthy query, if you could. He already has some interesting responses.

“COMIC BOOKS AS LITERATURE”

“Among our readings this semester may be materials that you find offensive (indeed, among the readings are things even the instructor finds disturbing). Be aware that explicit violence, frank sexuality, and graphic explorations of socially taboo matters such as race and racism will be included in the readings for historical and literary-critical reasons. […] Like other forms of literature, comics can cover a full range of topics, attitudes, and problems!”

20% of the grade was this assignment:

“This 4 to 5-page essay will involve visiting, describing, and critiquing a local comic book store. Your goal will be to ‘read’ and analyze each store as if it were a text, subject to your own critical interpretation.”

Oh, dear. I imagine that got really ugly right quick.

Another 20% of the grade for this class was a mini-comics project:

“This will be a creative project, in which every member of the class (including the instructor!) creates her/his own comic book based on the same folktale or urban legend.”

Cool! I wonder how those turned out….

…in the U.S., anyway…Black Books:

“Bernard Black runs his own bookshop even though he doesn’t much like people who buy books and hates having customers.”

Just sayin’.

Bully speaks briefly about a street vendor with some rather…optimistic prices on back issues he’s trying to unload. That’s not terribly unusual. Most people outside of the hobby, when they think about comics at all (“they still print those things?”) and, in particular, think about the monetary side of the medium, assume that any “old” comic is worth money. (“Old” is in quotes, because when someone tells me they have a bunch of really old comics, 99% of the time they aren’t any older than the mid-1980s. If they insist the comics were owned by their grandparents, with 5-cent cover prices, kept in an attic in an old trunk they recently uncovered…then the comics are usually from the 1990s.)

His story reminded me of a couple kids that, a few years back, brought in a stack of comic books to sell to us — mostly ’90s books in fairly beat-up condition that we wouldn’t have needed even if they were in perfect shape. I informed them that, sorry, couldn’t use these comics, and they left, and I figured that was that. Well, about half an hour later, I looked out our front window, and saw those same kids on a street corner across the way from us. They had set up a small table with a sign that read “COMICS FOR SALE,” and they were hawking the funnybook wares that we, apparently foolishly, turned down. They weren’t there long…after about forty-five minutes or so of non-sales, they packed up and moved on. Amusing, and you have to admire the attempt.

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Sometimes I get questions at the store that completely freeze up my brain: “Hey, whatever happened to the Aliens Vs. The Borg comic book?” And no, he didn’t mean the Terminator, and said “the Borg” by mistake. He meant the Star Trek villains.

Although, now that I think about, I want to see it.

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“Comic charaters that should’nt have their own movie”

“Fantastic Four – it’s just too rediculous and silly. Human Torch is cool but the others have crap powers.”

“Midnighter should never have his own film”

“Thor: not known to people that dont read comics
Avengers: Most characters arent known to people that dont read comics
Steel: Becuz it would stupid
Silver Surfer: Again it would be stupid
Hercules: Very Very Stupid
Flash: It going to be very hard to get people to believe that the Flash can hurt someone.
Martian Manhunter:not known to people that dont read comics
Green Arrow: fighting crime with Old weapons in Modern times, very very unbelievable.
Plastic Man: Very Very Very Very Very Stupid”

“i cant see a stand alone beta ray bill movie but i can see in appearing in one like thors movie but not one for himself”

“Captain Britain – I’m British and I know this charcters not gonna work on a British audience”

“Namor – c’mon, Aquaman is much cooler than him. Namor is gay.”

“Deadpool should definitely get his own movie!!! he is cool, has a grat history and there’s tons of possible villains, such as T-ray, slayback, Juggernaut, black Tom Cassidy, Bullseye, any hero!!”

There’s another well-reasoned discussion on this forum — “Why are all the most powerful Avengers blonde?” (“Have u noticed that the 4 most powerful Avengers ever are blonde? […] I think thats kinda gay.” “Blonde hair is gay?”) — but I think that’s enough for now.

Your random “Savage Dragon window painting at a guitar store just down the street from where Mike works” image of the day:

Me: “Hey, Kid Chris, you like All-Star Batman and Robin, don’t you?”

KC: “Sure do…why?”

Me: “Because some folks think we’re dumb for liking it.”

KC: “Then I’ll see them…IN HELL!“

Okay, okay, enough of that. Though Kid Chris did drop another funny comment while he was visting the shop today: “Hey, these Ultimate comics sure are extreme!” Look, new comics-less Wednesdays are a drag, I’ll take entertainment where I can get it.

Another thing that came by the store was a brochure for a comics convention taking place next month. As I was flipping through it, I noticed that some of the bios for the media guests were a little out of date…one notes that a particular actress can be seen in a movie premiering in April 2004, another contains the line “now in its fourth season, Smallville airs Wednesdays at 8:00 PM,” and yet another refers to the forthcoming release of Club Dread (which came out two years ago). And one of the bios lists the credits for the actress in one paragraph, then repeats the exact same information in a slightly more wordy second paragraph. Oops.

Eh, no big deal, really…just found it amusing.

To answer a question posed elsewhere: I enjoyed All-Star Batman and Robin because…

1) It’s Frank Miller clearly having a good time with the character

2) Like the majority of Miller’s recent work, its tongue is firmly in cheek…

2 1/2) …though not all the time, since, also like the majority of Miller’s recent work, there can be tone shifts throughout the story — not so much in this work, so far, but I think that’s what bothered people about Dark Knight Strikes Again

3) It’s written like a Big Hollywood Summer Action Movie (with the attendant chase scenes, dialogue, gorgeous dames*, etc.), freeing up the character from the “Dark Avenger of the Night” straightjacket that’s been making the Bat-books so (yawn) terribly exciting over the last two decades

4) I’m not the world’s biggest Jim Lee fan, but the art in this series has kind of grown on me, particularly in the facial expression department…Robin’s reaction to the Batmobile is priceless

5) Miller also seems to be deliberately tweaking the too-serious fans who don’t want to see these kinds of shenanigans in their caped crusader comics, what with his dialogue (“I’m the g–” well, you know) and staging choices

6) The overall over-the-top outrageousness of the comic…there’ve been a couple scenes in each issue that just plain make me laugh out loud. I can’t remember the last time a Batman comic made me laugh. I mean, with it, not at it.

Okay, to be fair, I do understand that this comic isn’t to everyone’s taste. No comic ever is, nor should it be. And it’s not perfect…again, few comics are. I wasn’t even sold on it at first, but upon reading the second issue, something clicked and I just fell into its groove. I like this comic because, to me, it’s just plain wacky fun…not because I’m trying to be contrary, not because I’m trying to be pretentious, but because I’m getting my money’s worth out of it. Believe you me, the last thing I wanted to do is add yet another comic book to the (semi-)monthly pile, but, well, there you go.

But if you like Batman, but don’t like this comic, it’s not as if there aren’t a half-dozen or so different Bat-books on the shelves at any given time. You’re spoilt for choice, you are.

I’ll just be over here, reading my ASB&R and laughing my darn fool head off. (First person to say “emphasis on ‘fool'” will get such a pinch….)**

Additional linkage:

The mighty Jog has a good review of the second issue.

* To reiterate a comment I’ve made before about this comic…it’s by Frank Miller and Jim Lee. If having scantily-clad beautiful women in the comic came as a surprise, you just haven’t been paying attention.

** Okay, this time I promise to let it drop. This isn’t “Mike Sterling’s Progressive All-Star Batman,” after all.

Ken Lowery, America’s only comics weblogger, has finally returned…go read, learn.

Anyway, sorry for dipping into the message board well twice in succession, but really, it’s hard to resist. These things write themselves…well, literally, I suppose. Hmmm…a weblog that takes the silliest stuff from comic book message boards and posts it for all to see…if only someone out there would do such a thing on a regular basis….

But, seriously, those DC Comics message boards are something else, aren’t they? I thought the Mr. Cranky and Ain’t It Cool boards were bad. Phew.

My earliest experience with a comic book message board (outside of my local BBS scene, where I tended to be in charge of the comic boards, anyway) was on America Online. This was back in the early ’90s, when the comic speculator boom was still in full flower, and the AOL boards reflected that. My three primary memories of those days:

1) that one guy who kept hyping up Zen: Intergalactic Ninja as the greatest comic ever, and we all suspected was on the Zen payroll.

2) that one retailer who kept going on about investing in this, investing in that…oh, what, people actually read these things?

3) that ongoing discussion about a plot point at the end of a months-old Superman comic, which everyone thought was going to play into the then-current death/return of Supes storyline, thus making that comic a “Hot Collectible.” Then I, as someone who actually read Superman comics, pointed out that plot point had fully played out in the very next issue and had nothing to do with the death/return stuff, which went over about as well as if I had pooped in the punchbowl.

I really wished I had kept logs of all the nonsense that was going on there…though, come to think of it, I may have archived some stuff on an old floppy disk somewhere…I’ll get back to you on that.

…more bon mots from the DC message boards:

“Anyone else thing [sic] Miller’s All-Star Batman is CRAP???”

“It reads like Miller dressed some of his Sin City characters in Batman costumes.”

“So far, its like a Batman comic for the ADD Generation.”

“It’s beyond terrible. Even Lee’s art can’t save it. I don’t know about the Superman book yet, although i don’t care for the art in it.”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“i am suprised this dribble is coming from Miller, it will be a shame if i have to drop Jim Lee’s awesome art because the normally great miller is writing this hack styles.”

“I’m sorry but Frank Miller fundamentally does not like superheroes. He just likes corrupting them. But it is beyond that. He reduces them to the point they are slime. I suspect the only time he does not do that is in the main DC Universe where he is not allowed to do that, such as in Batman Year One which was good. But I suspect it was good because he had a tight set of reins on him. He knew how far he could push it.”

“Don’t read it like it was DC, Marvel, or even Darkhorse
Instead approach it like Zap, Mr Natural, Mickey Mouse and the Air Pirates, or The Fabulous Furry Freak Bros”

“I think its crap. I think both All-Stars are crap. I think the current Winnick arc with Jason in Batman is crap as well.”

“Who is the Crapiest, Most Flamin Gay, Most Unoriginal, Poorly drawn, Poorly Written SuperHero/SuperVillain in DC Comics History?”

“Deadshot without his mask sucks like Cobra Commander without his mask used to suck. This guy does not look scary.”

“I want zatanna to be raped by dr. light and huntress, I hate that b!tch”

“Some of the Green Lantern Corps — The guy thats one big eye yet he has a mask. And a planet thats a GL?”

“yea i never liked metamorpho… shift is soo much better since he’s one color…”

“Superboy-Prime. I believe his secret identity is Jack from ‘Will and Grace’.”

“> Wow. 4 pages & nobody has mentioned Hush yet?

Screw you! Hush rules! He’s the best new villian to be introduced perhaps since the Joker!”

“‘Mazing Man.” (clearly a typo)

“Terry Berg El Extraño Apollo and the Midnighter Element Lad”

“Didio”