A linkpost on a Sunday? What is this, 2009?
ITEM! Longbox Digital has launched its public beta. For those of you who haven't been
keeping up with it, Longbox intends to become the iTunes for comics, combatting the pirates by
selling cheap digital copies of new comics in lieu of more expensive paper ones. Having
downloaded it and tried it out myself, I have come to the conclusion, unfortunately, that it just
isn't very good at all. Your mileage may vary, so give it a go. My own review may or may not be
forthcoming.
ITEM! Just this week, I've discovered a fantastic new blog we should all be
following, Too Busy Thinking About My
Comics, written by the wise and mysterious "Colin." The piece that caught my attention,
naturally, is his excellent
one
two
three
four-part Aquamanifesto, in which he explores what the character means to him. As a fellow
Aquafan, I agree that it's often difficult to explain or quantify what makes Aquaman a great,
underrated character, but Colin here's a better man than I, and he's done a magnificent job-- his
Aquaman meshes quite well with mine. It's not a thesis so much as a synthesis-- Building a Better
Aquaman:
It could rightly be said, therefore, that I don't actually like Aquaman at all. After all, I'd
couldn't be a fan of Sherlock Holmes if I was lukewarm about the overwhelming majority of his
appearances, if I had never believed that his character was consistently well-defined or
involving enough. But I don't believe that's how we all grow to love certain comic books and
certain comic book characters. I think there's a more natural and creative way that we engage
with them. We take the images and the words that appeal to us and we - consciously and
unconsciously - join up the dots to create, for example, an "Aquaman" that never existed, and
never will, outside of our heads, the Aquaman against which the "real" Aquaman will always be
measured, a personal Platonic ideal Aquaman.
It's a great read, and you should take the time for it.
SPEAKING OF AQUAMAN: JMS's run on Brave and the Bold has not been the best or
most exciting of comics, but the latest issue, teaming Aquaman with the Demon? It's the best
portrayal of Aquaman in years, if not decades. If you can get past the overdone narration, you'll
get a stoic, badass Aquaman, fully in control of his watery kingdom. It's also got an army of
underwater zombies, and a Lovecraftian monster. This is almost exactly the kind of Aquaman story
I want to read on a regular basis. I know, I was surprised too. (Just, you know, go easy on the
purple prose next time.)
RANDOM THOUGHT! First it was Darkwing Duck, now it's
DuckTales
(woohoo!). How does one get a TailSpin comic out of this?
ITEM! Tim O'Neil writes world's
longest run-on sentence. It is also a comics review.
ITEM! Project Rooftop
has made a triumphant return, with a series of remakes, remodels, redesigns, art pieces, and
explications on How It's Done (for instance: the briefcase armor in the new Iron Man 2 trailer).
My favorite new article so far, however, is the Retro Fix,
in which Friend of CSBG Dean Trippe and company rework an old public domain character. First up,
the Red Cross:
REMAKE/REMODEL: Meanwhile, Warren Ellis' mad redesign crusade continued this
week with Amazing Adult
Fantasy #15, and sensational new character find, "Spider-Man." Naturally, the word "Adult"
there brought in some Not-Safe-for-Work imagery, but it also brought awesomeness. Here are some
choice pieces from Sean Hartter, Chris Thornley, and the man known as artguy (click for the
bigs):
I feel like a lot more happened this week, but I can't for the life of me remember any of it. I
blame all the Guinness. Anything you'd like to share, dear readers?
1 Comments
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At March
21, 2010, Ian A. wrote:
It's the best portrayal of Aquaman in years, if not decades.
Excluding the Batman: The Brave & The Bold cartoon version, ...
Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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