Fifty-two channels and nothin's on

[sigma7]

The ever-awesome alasdair at his blog makes a bold statement:

Of late, the subject of DC’s reboot has come up in the sort of conversations I mention. And I think it’s worth saying this: DC’s new reboot, when viewed collectively, is one of the most creatively bankrupt pieces of shit the medium has ever put out, and if there is any justice in this world, it will be remembered as the moment that DC began the death spiral that ultimately lead to the collapse of the American comics industry.

Seriously: if you are buying any one of these fucking pieces of crap, just stop. If you’re telling yourself that one of the titles you’re buying is better than the rest, even if you’re right about that, just stop. Every single week, in addition to a load of titles that are just an undifferentiated mass of bland crap, DC manage pump out a couple of pieces of hideous crap that fall somewhere on a spectrum between “unfortunately sexist” and “outright misogyny”. From where I sit, if DC are managing to publish one or two titles that aren’t complete shit, I assure you, it’s a mistake that they’re bound to be rectifying soon.

Read excerpts from Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws online. Don't buy them. Flip through them. Those are just the two most egregious pieces from this week. There've been worse. There'll be worse still. There may be one or two titles in the lineup that are, by some statistical anomaly or the result of a pact with a chaos lord, good books. There are others which are merely mediocre and they stand out as the paragons of the line. The rest is four-color slurry, best left to sluice through the grates and into the sewers, never to be polybagged.

They had the whole of reality to retcon and start afresh and managed to distill each comic to its barest essence -- so they could foul the very soul of the title, insuring it would never bear edible fruit. It's a garden fertilized with mulch made in the 90s, sprouting with swords and spikes and impossible knees and pouches and capes...this is not a proper garden; nothing green can stay.

Alasdair is right: And even if I’m wrong about that, you know what: if a few good comics have to fail, just so this reboot can die on it’s arse, and ultimately put the shambling corpse of the comics industry out of it’s misery, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Which reminds me, I do need to review one of the series Alasdair talks about above, one of the few still readable, and write a lengthy piece as to why you probably shouldn't read it. Maybe later.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Oracle was a thousand times more interesting than just another costumed body with a utility belt. Every other Batgirl -- Cass, Steph, Misfit or even Helena -- brought something interesting into the equation, but Barbara's best contributions came when she stopped throwing fists.

I think Gail Simone's writing the best title she can under the editorial directive of Batgirl = Barbara, but the book is just predicated on a distasteful premise to me.

[brightrosefox.livejournal.com]

Oracle also showed disabled people - disabled women - that it was not only okay to be crippled, but awesome. Many of my friends are really upset about that. In her wheelchair, Oracle was no different than any other superhero who didn't walk much, and she was almost limitless.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Oracle was one of the great character creations of the last 20 years -- she stood her ground amongst a virtual pantheon. There were so many aspects of the composition of her character that really worked for me that I resent her being gone.

But then, I think I was always partial to her because I was reading the title where she was first introduced....