CSBG Archive
Random Thoughts! (July 28, 2009)
It’s Tuesday night at 5 pm EST, so that can only mean one thing… after finishing this post earlier in the day, it’s gone up as scheduled! It’s random thoughts time! Get excited!
Random Thought! Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance has Joe Casey once again examining superheroes from a great metafictional perspective — and one-ups Grant Morrison on the concept of superhero conventions in the DCU, appropriately enough on the same day that San Diego began this year.
Random Thought! Not much that came out of San Diego impressed me. I actually can’t remember much more than five announcements. Marvel buying Miracleman/Marvelman has possibilities, but we’ll see. Other than that, every panel report I read was exactly like those for the smaller cons where fans spend the entire time asking questions that the panelists can’t answer, and you don’t walk away knowing anything new. San Diego has been on this path for a while, each year having less and less information, but this year was the worst.
Random Thought! CBR winning the Eisner is very cool.
Random Thought! I am all moved in at my new place (aka my girlfriend’s apartment). I have a few shelves on her bookcases for my stuff, so two are devoted to regular books, while another two are devoted to trades and hardcover collections. Very nice. I love the look of books on shelves.
Random Thought! I want to admire Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred for using the second and third pages of their “Metamorpho” strip to create a giant double-page spread, except it’s a really, really stupid idea when you’re telling your story at a pace of one page per week. And when that double-page spread has little advancement of the plot. Very weak.
Random Thought! The Big Show? Chris Jericho’s mystery partner is the Big Show? Godawful. Just absolutely no good. That put me in a fowl mood all Sunday night. That’s what happens when you value surprise over storytelling — something that rarely works out well, as comics fans know… *cough*echoisronininsteadofdaredevil*cough*
Random Thought! Man, I just don’t have a lot to say this week. With San Diego dominating comics so much — and not much coming out of the convention that I care about, that leaves me rather depleted for content. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s batch of comics. I only have one review to write (Detective Comics) and the regular Splash Page column on Wednesday Comics with Tim, so it’s mostly just me enjoying my comics. Yay. And, then, a little vacation this weekend.
Random Thought! To add content, here’s something from the “Random Company Ideas Archive” file. It’s my Martian Manhunter idea, called “Mars.”
Think of this as Ultimate Martian Manhunter if that helps, but this is really just the Martian Manhunter done right, okay?
Two years ago, the Martian Manhunter disappeared, although no one ever noticed, because he was never there. So forget him, he never was. Earth has never had any contact with any Martians. No whites, no greens, none of them. So forget them too. Everyone else has.
What they do know is there’s a new hero protecting Earth who is better than anyone else there. Imagine Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and all of the rest combined, with a billion more capabilities added on. He is a one man JLA. A one man JSA. He is the fucking man, and he’s putting the rest out of a job.
He is Mars, Hero Of Earth. (The name is changeable: it’s just a working name for now.)
What we have here is the most powerful being in the universe finally cluing into what he can do, and doing it. Two years ago, something happened that opened the door for the Martian Manhunter to realise his full capabilities and wanting to explore them. Before he left Earth, he wiped everyone’s memories of him, and his race. He then went off, travelled the universe and then came back a changed man (if man is the right word for a shapeshifter).
See, he’s a shapeshifter and can therefore do ANYTHING he wishes. Now what he wants to do is make Earth the perfect world, but we don’t know any of that either.
Mars is a mystery comic, at its heart. We’re given certain pieces of information and we have to figure out what’s going on. All we do know is that Mars is a superhero. One damn good superhero. We also know that there never was any Martian Manhunter. The rest is hinted at.
There is one snag though: there’s still one White Martian on Earth in hiding. They weren’t morons, so the last time they went up against the JLA, one stayed in hiding.
And he/she/it was just about to free his/her/its peers when J’onn wiped everyone’s memories. But like before, that wiping is starting to crack, and the memories are coming back. Through this man and Mars we see the story unfold.
This is a series about right and wrong, good and evil, and how they don’t exist. All there is power, and despite what anybody tells you, might is right. It is about how free will is an illusion. It is about how to make the world better, but not getting caught up with dealing with people. It is about how superheroes are wrong and they aren’t the absolute authority on what is right and wrong (mostly because that doesn’t exist).
*
Mars and Superman: A Conversation
“How utterly arrogant of you, Kal-El. Of course because I have dared to enter the minds of humanity and improve them, I must be ‘evil’ and need to be stopped by the likes of you. Because I am an alien with my own agenda, I cannot be trusted. You may forget something: you are an alien too, Kal-El. You are not human, even though you may feel like it sometimes. You are not one of them no matter how hard you try. But then again, maybe you are. You have the same prejudices and fears as them. You see a flying saucer and you’re only thought is to hit it until it stops working. Well, maybe after I’m done with Earth, no one will think like that. Did you ever consider that? I am here to make amends for what my people did to humanity all those eons ago. That puny race was meant to be an equal to the likes of you. You would deny that to them now because you’re just a racist at heart?”
“You’re controlling them, J’onn! What about their free will?”
“What about it? If my countryman hadn’t discovered me, would any of you have known what was transpiring? Free will is an illusion, Kal-El.”
“But—“
“Here’s a delicious thought: what if I’m controlling you right now?”
“…”
“Kal?”
“…I don’t know.”
“I would say I have work to do, but I’ve done it all already. Multi-tasking is a marvellous thing, is it not?”
It could never happen for various reasons, but I’ve always liked this. I’ve always been unimpressed with shapeshifters in fiction and that they are FAR more powerful than usually depicted.
Random Thought! It’s looking like I will be doing my own little private Blogathon on GraphiContent on Saturday August 22. The real Blogathon happened this past Saturday, but I was busy moving — and a comics-centred one would probably get more notice/readers on a non-San Diego weekend. The gist of it is: post on your blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours in the hopes that people will sponsor you by contributing to the charity of your choice. This year, I’ll be blogging for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. More details to follow about that. Last time I did this, I discussed three Joe Casey runs issue-by-issue (plus posted on other topics). This time, I’ll be tackling something bigger storyarc-by-storyarc, running across numerous titles, writers, and, really, far too many comics. It should be fun.
15 Comments
Rev
July 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm
The next day made up for the Big Show surprise, though. Big Show as smug giant suitman is pretty frickin’ awesome.
Chad Nevett
July 28, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Jericho as his annoying sidekick not so much — and I’m a huge Jericho fan with little time for the Big Show.
T.
July 28, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Are you talking that type of comic fanboy skewering where the fanboys are worshipping superheroes instead of comic books and fans? SImilar to what Morrison did in Bulleteer? Because that was really lame. More glad than ever I’m not trying Final Crisis.
Ted
July 28, 2009 at 4:44 pm
This is a series about right and wrong, good and evil, and how they don’t exist. All there is power, and despite what anybody tells you, might is right. It is about how free will is an illusion. It is about how to make the world better, but not getting caught up with dealing with people. It is about how superheroes are wrong and they aren’t the absolute authority on what is right and wrong (mostly because that doesn’t exist).
I love this. I think the Martian Manhunter pitch would make a great limited series, but I can’t see how it would work as an on-going series (not that it needs to be on-going series, of course).
Mr Wesley
July 28, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I had never considered this before, because J’onn is one of my favorite characters, but I’ve always felt that a large part of the reason why isn’t taken seriously as a lead character is his name: Martian Manhunter. It belongs in the pulps of the 30s.
But if he changed his name to Mars in honor of his home, that would make him 90% more cool.
I’d even let him keep the black leather fetish uniform if he went back to the head he had before his most recent one.
MarkAndrew
July 28, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I’m waiting for this week to decide on Metamorpho. The reason is, I’m wondering if they are going for 11 one page spreads to be lined up into one big panorama that the characters walk through. That could be really cool in the end, but if it really was just a two page spread then they really don’t understand the format.
Dan Bailey
July 28, 2009 at 6:51 pm
>> I’m wondering if they are going for 11 one page spreads to be lined up into one big panorama that the characters walk through.
From looking at some of Allred’s MADMAN work, that wouldn’t exactly shock me … Can’t say I’ve paid attention to the WEDNESDAY COMICS strip, though, because — with the exception of “Supergirl,” since I’m utterly unable to ignore (a) Amanda Conner’s art or (b) anything featuring appearances of Krypto & Streaky — I’ve resolved to sit the ishes aside & not read any of the contents till I’ve got all 12 in hand.
Bill Reed
July 28, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Nah.
The pitch mixes together some of my less favorite superhero tropes– the misguided Miracleman idea of utopia, the alienated earthbound alien hero emo stuff that Superman goes through every couple years– and I think it’s pretty damn out-of-character for J’onn, who was really the most human of the Justice League; the least likely to do this if he had the power. We know Hal would do it– because he did. We know Batman would do it, feel guilty about it, but keep doing it anyway, if he could get away with it. I can see Superman doing it in a fit of idiocy, even. But I really don’t think J’onn would go through with it. I do like the idea of using his shapeshifting powers more effectively, though.
But maybe I’m biased because I have my own pitch for J’onn, although I haven’t nailed it all down yet. Mostly because I have to figure out how to balance all his multi-tasking without the book coming across as scatterbrained.
He is one of my favorites, and I think it’s precisely because no one knows what to do with him.
FunkyGreenJerusalem
July 28, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I love my hardcover collections, and OGN’s on my bookshelf.
I really think Marvel should change their logo that they put on the side of hardcovers though, it just looks so garish and ugly when you’ve got a bunch in a row.
Also, although there’s something to be said for uniform design, the shelf with my ‘indie’ books looks much cooler with all their different shapes and sizes.
And why talk about your excitement for working in this different medium/package, when you’re just going to write it for collection which is pretty much standard.
Alan Coil
July 28, 2009 at 8:18 pm
My pitch for Martian Manhunter would make him an attorney, and he’d be the Barsoomian Barrister.
Tim
July 29, 2009 at 4:48 am
I think Mars sounds good, but you should get someone else to do the dialogue. Also you spelled foul like the chicken word.
Tekende
July 29, 2009 at 8:13 am
“We know Batman would do it, feel guilty about it, but keep doing it anyway, if he could get away with it. I can see Superman doing it in a fit of idiocy, even.”
I don’t think Batman would do it. He might consider it, but ultimately reject it, because it’s wrong.
Superman wouldn’t do it either. He would think about it long and hard, he would really want to do it, but eventually he would reject the idea too, but less because it’s wrong and more because he would decide he didn’t have the right.
Paul
July 29, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Really don’t like random thoughts, since I have an attention span and would rather read something with depth. Also, reminds me of Jackie Harvey in The Onion, which is a good indicator that the format should die.
Mr Wesley
July 29, 2009 at 7:27 pm
@Paul:
You know, I’m not generally the guy who says, “If you don’t like it, don’t read it,” because I feel that the media needs to take more responsibility in the impact they have on their audience.
But really, dude. This is a blog. You can’t even read most of the entry without clicking on a link, much less post a reply. It’s not even like TV, where you can accidently see a boob on one of the premium channels as you’re flipping through them.
You’re entirely entitled to your opinion, but seriously, what’s the point in posting a complaint about a particular kind of entry that happens once a week–if that–when the blog has a half-dozen different kinds of entries every day? It’s like complaining that a newspaper has a sports section.
Rob Schmidt
July 30, 2009 at 3:50 am
Right you are about shapeshifters, Chad. Someone like Morph or Chameleon Boy can emulate Giant-Man/Colossal Boy, Wasp/Atom, Mr. Fantastic/Plastic Man, Beast Boy/Vixen/Animal Man, Hawkman/Angel, Aquaman/Namor, and Mystique/Chameleon. Not to mention the ability to become almost invisible, almost a phantom, and almost a bunch of duplicates a la Madrox.
He has most or all of a dozen heroes’ powers, and he can switch between them simultaneously. This should put him in the Hulk or Wonder Woman class, if not the Superman or Thor class. Yet poor ol’ Morph usually plays second fiddle to Sabretooth or whoever’s leading the Exiles.