Comic Book Resources

I would’ve nodded in approval if I hadn’t read it, and enjoyed it.

*snif*

That’s touching, man.
I REALLY should get around to writing something.

I’m just finding it hard to do. It just feels so relentless… like kicking against the pricks. I mean, shit, I LIKE comics. There’s just so much dumb gruel out there. I don’t hate it because it’s not awful, but I can’t like it because it’s not good. hrm.

This review could be funny if it somehow made sense. But from what I gathered, Pól Rua didn’t like this comic because it pandered to “[…] the zillion people who come through the door every day who can tell me about the minute details of Hal [Jordan’s] life and history […and are] boring, obsessive, anal fanboys who wouldn’t know how to tell a story if it came up to them and clubbed the shit out of them with a lump of two by four with a nail in it.”

That’s it? That’s his fucking argument? That he didn’t like it because his clientele did?!?!?!! Dude, I’m not saying Green Lantern Rebirth is good. I’m not saying Green Lantern Rebirth is bad. All that I’m saying is that he probably shouldn’t work in a Comic Book Store. You know… for the greater good of society and his community!

He’s just a fanboy himself, so he gotta whine.

I’m sorry you didn’t like it. I did.

As far as retcons go, I thought GL:R hung together surprisingly well and made a lot of sense. It was entertaining on its own, which is not common for retcon stories. I would actually agree with Pol Rua if it had simply put everything back the way it was before Emerald Twilight and it was never spoken of again. But that’s not what it did.

Rebirth wasn’t, as Pol Rua said, just an “essay” or a “footnote” that rewrote a story to restore a status quo. It was a reinvention of the concept of the Green Lantern Corps that, yes indeed, had a plot, story and characterization. There have been plenty of pandering comics that do little more than satisfy obsessive fanboy desires by changing existing stories to make them “better,” but Rebirth is not one of them.

The Green Lantern mythology is richer for Rebirth being written, and this is coming from someone who loved the Kyle years of the book. The emotional spectrum, the Alpha Lanterns, Hal’s sullied reputation in the Corps, Guy and Kyle coming into their own, Sinestro’s desire to push the Guardians into his way of thinking, all of those are brand-new elements that Rebirth helped seed. Could it have been done without bringing Hal Jordan back from the dead? Almost certainly, but if reestablishing Hal’s good name was the only aim of the series, none of those new elements would be there four years later.

It’s cool if the series wasn’t your thing, I’m certainly not saying it’s the greatest comic book ever made. But that review makes an argument that I don’t think is justified.

And on a personal note, Pol Rua, if you feel like writing, just do it. You’re always going to be “kicking against the pricks,” if you meant what I think you meant to say. You’re one of those guys who knows a good story without needing to be hit by “a lump of two-by-four with a nail in it,” so just do it.

“Greg’s piece on Green Lantern: Rebirth reminded me of a bit that Pól Rua did on Green Lantern: Rebirth back when it came out.”

Except that Greg’s piece is an articulate, well-written, well-researched, well-thought-out critique, while Pol Rua’s piece is just a bitter, foul-mouthed, knee-jerk rant.

(Sorry about the run-on sentence.)

I’m eternally annoyed with Rebirth because after his work on Black Adam, the idea of Geoff Johns dealing with the whole “Hal’s fearlessness caused him to try to remake reality on the idea that he didn’t need worry about the consequences because he was a true hero and he wouldn’t fail” idea, which would have left him afraid of his own fearlessness/recklessness and having to overcome that in order to function as a hero and a Green Lantern… well I really liked that idea.

And then Geoff gave us the complete 180

I love this essay. It’s what got me hooked on this site to begin with all those years ago.

I could have sworn there was an essay on this site or on Listen to Us, We’re Right detailing why Mark Waid’s FF was awful too, but I can’t find it anywhere. That and this essay were two of my favorites.

Sorry, but how is “will power” an emotion, anyway?

Sooo… you need to be a good writer to know if a story is good? It’s bad to like pandering stories? I was with you until you turned it from a critique of a comic (which I agree with, mostly; I didn’t like GL: Rebirth for many of the reasons noted) to a critique of people who like a comic.

To red-Ricky- I couldn’t disagree more with this particular piece (’Rebirth’ was more than just a reset button, IMO, and Johns is an extremely solid storyteller). BUT, that doesn’t mean Pol shouldn’t work at a comic shop- I’ve been into his store a few times, and he’s always really helpful and friendly. So there’s that.

That critique is a little over the top, but he makes some valid points. Even if you liked Rebirth,w hich I did, it was mainly one big retcon punch that seemed more like it was designed to appease HEAT fans than tell an actual story.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t have the same appreciation for Hal as most poeple, but nothing has been done with Hal Jordan that required the downgrading of Kyle Rayner nor the massive amounts of retcons that were required to bring Hal back and make him good again.

Just looka t the GL book since Hal came back. There’s been no character development. Some attempts to hook him up wiht Cowgirl and Carol again, but other than that, its been Green Lantern (could be anyone in the role at this point) beating up Hammond or Tattoo guy or giant shark man and so on until Sinestro Corps War where we could have did the same thing with Guy or John or Kyle as the main character and still had the exact same story.

Characters shouldn’t be replaceable, regardless of how good the story ended up being, and his tirade on pandering in Rebirth, while poorly argued, isn’t too far from the truth either.

[…]Johns is an extremely solid storyteller). BUT, that doesn’t mean Pol shouldn’t work at a comic shop- I’ve been into his store a few times, and he’s always really helpful and friendly.

Just make sure you bring enough candy if you plan to buy a Green Lantern Comic on “Cinco de Mayo!”
( …or as it’s affectionately known at the olde comic book store: Whac-A-Piñata-Fanboy day!)

No seriously, if you don’t drop some candy after the first couple of swings… he could go “Hal Jordon” on your ass; and you don’t want that, trust me!

Reading comprehension is IMPORTANT.

My last two paragraphs are being misrepresented. I am NOT taking a slam at my customers. I am taking a slam at Geoff Johns.
In ‘Rebirth’, Geoff John strings together a list of continuity touchstones which reads like an essay.
It incorporates a bunch of fanboy pandering, but neglects things like characterisation, drama, story structure… He gets his continuity right but he gets his writing craft wrong.
People who can recite Green Lantern continuity are a dime a dozen, but people who are capable writers are more rare.
The reason for this is that writers should probably be expected to have a grasp of their craft as professional writers, something a casual fan or reader need not have.
But then, readers are not being paid vast sums of cash to buy Green Lantern: Rebirth.
I expect someone who’s - oh I dunno - being PAID to be a WRITER to be able to write.

I don’t have any expectations of my customers. People read what they like. That’s cool. If someone walks into the store and says they really like Lady Death, do you have anything like that, I’ll have no hesitation in recommending Tarot, Witch of the Black Rose despite the fact that it stinks on ice.
I read Doc Savage novels for heaven’s sake. I watch Roger Corman films. There are a bunch of things that I like which are… to put it bluntly… intolerable rubbish.
I’m don’t work at a comic shop to judge my customers’ reading habits. I work at a comic store to hook people up with something they’re hopefully going to enjoy which will maybe put a smile on their face for a bit and help make their life a bit nicer.
Whether I like it or not is immaterial, if I’m not the one buying it.

So in short, as a customer, buy what you want. But I believe that professional writers should be able to display a certain degree of craft, which Johns, in ‘Rebirth’ does not.

Oh and Red Ricky, if you happen to stumble in on Pinata day, I’ll be the drunk one in the luchador mask.

I like sherbet fizz and jelly babies. Proper English ones with the icing sugar. Om nom nom.

You know i’ve been wondering what the Kyle Rayner fanboys have been up to and now that their GL has been replaced and now I know. They are all over the internet writting ridiculous essays that make them sound like a bunch of whinny crybabies, let me guess you loved ET and thought it made sense that Hal went bad. It actually makes me laugh to know how angry Rebirth has got these people, I bet when they see all the praise the current series is getting it must drive them nuts.

Emerald Twilight being bad is not inconsistent with Green Lantern: Rebirth being bad, too.

It’s not like it’s an “if or” thing.

They were BOTH bad comic books.

They are all over the internet writting ridiculous essays that make them sound like a bunch of whinny crybabies

Well, HEAT left a hole that needed to be filled.