As he goes through the story, Charlie Brown's friends help him overcomes his cynicism and melancholy about the Holiday. He's able to find joy and meaning again by the story's end. It's a pretty heavy little story for a half hour! It's also really funny. I mean, who doesn't love A Charlie Brown Christmas?

A story like 'Infinite Crisis' is, ultimately, about what? It's a series of actions that unfolds, that ultimately leads to a tragic ending. A lot of characters die throughout the story and at the end. The only character who really wanted anything was Superboy. And what he really wanted was to get out of prison. And he sort of does, only to end up in another prison. As for the other characters? Most of them end up dead.

For me, this doesn't make for a very charming, or very entertaining, bit of storytelling. If there's a person in a cape, part of the fun is watching that cape flutter as the character wearing it, I dunno, throws a dump truck full of cookies at a flaming dinosaur to keep it from eating a bus full of nuns. During an Earthquake.

So, I'm one of the ones who bought 'New Frontier' and 'Monster Society of Evil' (which both have very worth Dinosaur Dumptruck moments), but not one of the ones who would EVER buy Trials of Shazam, Infinite Crisis or comics like that. They just aren't much fun!

As for Mary Marvel, there's only one word to describe the posters and what DC (apparently) has planned for the character. Creepy.

And by Creepy, I mean Creepy in the, "hey, why is that middle-aged man telling all those kids that there's video games down in his basement?" kind of creepy. CREEPY!

That's why a person can be happy and charming while not being naive. They know the reality, but choose to address it through personality.

That's how a character like Mary Marvel can exist in a realistic setting - she's fully aware of what's going on, but she chooses to use an upbeat attitude to try to change it.

According to Jeff Smith, MSoE #1 was the #3 reorder for April, with MSoE #2 being the #9 advance reorder for the same period. These reorders are not counted in the sales figures that Diamond releases.

So the sales figures for MSoE that Gil cited need to be adjusted up, apparently significantly.

MarkAndrew: I felt a bit patronised by MSoE because it seemed very short on content, and it's expensive (I could get Ulysses, Finnegan's Wake, and probably a second-hand copy of A Case Of Conscience for the full cost of the miniseries)... with the result that when it went to such lengths to project a vibe of 'old-school good clean fun', it ended up actively repelling me.

But I probably just don't like it because Grant Morrison didn't write it. And draw it. And appear in it

~ Gil

Of course, Dini's an awesome writer, and this was probably just a slip of the tongue/typing finger/however-the-interview-was-conducted that we're all making too much of. Weird quote, though.

And I've been waiting to use that line for MONTHS.

I have no problem with you liking stuff that I like. But I figure there's enough people here in synce with my taste that some of them woulda found the joke funny.

But since we're here... What did you mean by "Patronizing?" I'm 30, double major in English and Art History in the middle of churnin' out a 20 pager on Joyce's Ulysses and I didn't feel "patronized" at all.

The reason I posted the figures is: if you were to use the general level of warmth or hostility on the internet to try to estimate the sales figures, you’d probably get the idea that Monster Society was doing Civil War numbers, while Trials was just about managing to sell to Judd Winick’s immediate family.

That was actually what got me wondering about it. I'm reading the same internet fan sites everyone else is, and except for you, you brave fellow, you can hardly get anyone to admit they're BUYING Trials, let alone enjoying it. And if that distaste was reflected in actual sales, then what DC's been doing with the Marvel family doesn't make any sense at all. On the other hand, if it's doing well then no matter how many of us are howling about it on the net, we pretty much are going to have to live with the grim-n-gritty Marvels for a while.

It's kind of like the discussion I was having with some friends about the Mary Jane statue thing: as outraged as some people have gotten -- and it IS kind of a creepy statue considering MJ's current status in the movies and the public mind -- Sideshow still sold out of the thing.

Lots of things I think are terrific are sales duds. And even more things that I don't particularly approve of or care for still sell well. And as long as that's true I'm going to have to just resign myself to voting with my wallet and moving on. That's the free market for you. The bottom line is, well, the bottom line.

Sure, 'cute', if we're talking awww-shucks aren't they adorably naiive, might have some limitations. But charismatic? Funny? Anybody on DC's editorial staff watched an ep of Law & Order lately? Maybe picked up a back issue of Spider-Man on the sly?

Charismatic and funny is what fictional crime-fighters *are*. Otherwise, they're drowning in a morass of depression and ugliness and anger, and...well, hey, then they just became really, really pointless, from an entertainment POV.

Two kinds. A really, really bad one (which Dini is not) and one who is criticizing the powers that be, without jeapordizing his career.

what, exactly, did that comment add to the discussion other than an element of hatefulness? So you clearly don’t like it. Who cares what you don’t like? Let me like what I like.

Freaking out a little, there, Gil. You're starting to act defensive before anyone's actually attacked. Sounds like you've had this fight before. Save us the retread, yeah?

It added his OPINION to the conversation, and that's kind of the whole purpose of allowing comments. Not to mention the fact that HE writes here and you don't, so you're not really in a position to be lecturing.

Oh, and Gil?

Who cares what you like? Let him hate what he hates. And don't forget that your first comment said some hateful things about Monster Society.

The reason I posted the figures is: if you were to use the general level of warmth or hostility on the internet to try to estimate the sales figures, you'd probably get the idea that Monster Society was doing Civil War numbers, while Trials was just about managing to sell to Judd Winick's immediate family. But whatever the numbers eventually mean in terms of profits or the direction the characters take, and however much it may be to do with trends, right now it doesn't look that cut and dried to me.

~ Gil

The individual issues were almost treated as a sunk cost by DC, so to see them result in sales that high? That's remarkable.

I actually didn't know Monster Society was selling that much. I figured it would be a hit with numbers closer to 20,000...so to be selling over 30,000? That's striking.

By the by - I am not making any argument or anything with this comment. I'm just tangentially noting my surprise (and impressment) by these sales figures.

MarkAndrew: what, exactly, did that comment add to the discussion other than an element of hatefulness? So you clearly don't like it. Who cares what you don't like? Let me like what I like.

Urg.

I have this mental picture of a comics fan walking into the shop, flipping through the books, looking at "Monster Society of Evil."

Turns to the clerk: "Herrm. You got anything shittier? "

Trials, though, is probably seeing almost all the sales it ever will in the monthly format.