I’ve really got nothing specifically against the new Spider-Man movie. I don’t think the cast is bad, I don’t dislike the new costume, and the Lizard…well, looks silly, but no sillier than the Green Goblin or Abomination. 

But as much as I have nothing against it, I’m also not really that pumped up about it. And I’m not seeing many other fanboys get pumped up about it either. Maybe that would be different in a year without Avengers or Dark Knight Rises, but then again, maybe not. It would still be the 4th Spider-Man movie, and when you start hitting that number, franchises usually become something you watch instead of something you’re really excited about. In 2002, I stared at my TV screen like a mental patient when each and every commercial came on, still not quite able to believe I was seeing a live-action Spider-Man swinging around. Now it’s like, “Oh, he’s still swinging, huh? No, no, that’s cool.”

Add to that, the reboot factor. There’s nothing wrong with reboots, they happen all the time and can easily be successful. Batman Begins and Casino Royale both revitalized their respective franchises, but they both marketed heavily on what made them different from their most recent incarnations. This was serious Batman, who could almost conceivably exist in the real world. This was rough-around-the-edges James Bond, without the endless quips and perfect hair and laser ejector-seat underpants. The Amazing Spider-Man trailers aren’t giving us that “this ain’t your father’s Spider-Man” vibe. Quite the contrary, they’re very much saying “this is exactly your father’s Spider-Man. And your older brother’s Spider-Man, and even your Spider-Man from a little while ago. And hey, here’s how he got his powers again.”

I dunno, it could be a great movie. I’m just not losing any sleep over it.

Quotable quotes from the world of comics:

“Avengers X-Sanction #4 was abysmal. Seriously. The attempt at having a point followed through on a fan-predicted plot point envisioned and foreshadowed before Bishop chased Cable through time, and that means this entire storyline served no purpose. Argh.”
Hannibal Tabu, The Buy Pile

Just for the record, I have not seen Battle Royale nor read Hunger Games, and I have no opinion about either of them.

Though I will admit, when I saw the trailer for Hunger Games (which I had never heard of before), the very first thing that went through my mind was, “Oh, look, it’s Battle Royale.” I’m just saying I didn’t dwell on it.

In fact, I briefly considered doing this strip about Chronicle and Akira. But then it turns out the writer of Chronicle freely admits to being heavily inspired by Akira, so there wasn’t even a mini-controversy to mine there.

Speaking of Chronicle, I finally saw it, after over a month of saying I’d get around to it.  And I liked it! I even enjoyed way they used the “found footage” conceit, which I normally hate. I won’t go into any spoilers, except to say that the ending is one of those that screams, “Please greenlight a sequel, we totally have an idea for it!” My girlfriend, who also enjoyed the movie, nonetheless rolled her eyes and expressed her disinterest in a sequel. The appeal, she argued, was not the universe the movie created, but the specific story that it told. Delving deeper into it is kind of beside the point.

Which, you might remember (if I’m deluded enough to believe anyone actually reads my ramblings), were my exact feelings about the Watchmen sequel. Do I know how to pick ‘em, or what?

Quotable quotes from the world of comics:

“But Justice League as a story? As an actual comic? As something that should show us why the New 52 was something we should care about and pay attention to? To quote Chris Onstad, this thing fails with a focus and intensity normally seen only in success.”
Chris Sims, Comics Alliance

This comic features a couple pet peeves of mine that pop up from time to time. One of them is super villains being kept in jail in their costumes, and the other (which doesn’t happen as often, but enough to be worth goofing on) is villains who don’t have any mental problems ending up in Arkham Asylum, usually in splash pages and group shots and the like. Penguin was the funnier one to use, but this more often happens to guys like Killer Croc and Clayface.

(Then again, depending on who’s writing Croc at the time, he might actually be insane. But characterization inconsistency is a whole ‘nother topic.)

Quotable quotes from the world of comics:

“That said, I seriously question the wisdom of using Lord Deathstrike in [X-Men #26] before Jason Aaron has even finished his first arc in Wolverine, and at a stage when he’s still being used in that book as an unstoppable newcomer.  Once Wolverine’s beaten him, then he can have a sword fight with Jubilee.”
Paul O’Brien, House to Astonish

Like Josh, I worked in a comic book store for many years. It was a much better place than the exaggerated store of the strip, but it was a business of modest means and clientele that invested heavily in the 90s speculator market. So on any given day, I might spend a good two or three hours in the back room, watching the monitor for customers who never came, surrounded by a veritable mountain of Archer & Armstrongs, Brigades, and copies of the Death of Superman. So sometimes I wonder how many of my little jokes are actually relevant to anyone else out there who’s worked in retail comics, and how many serve only to amuse me and my unique brand of nostalgia.

Quotable quotes from the world of comics:

“I’ve often said I miss text on covers, but I mean as part of the actual cover. On [Avengers Academy #27] we get the idiotic Avengers vs. X-Men shit on the top (why is the “It’s Coming” in quotation marks? is someone saying it, or are they being ironic?), but we also get the side bar telling us that the Runaways are guest-starring in this issue, which I guess we needed because it’s not like they’re right there on the cover…can’t people look at the cover and figure out that someone is guest-starring, even if they’re not familiar with the Runaways? Because if they’re not, telling us that the Runaways are guest-starring isn’t going to help.”
Greg Burgas, Comics Should Be Good

Last time, we lauded Bendis’ popularity. This time, we goof on his horrendously drawn-out, ultra-boring Dark Avengers/HAMMER returns story line. Them crazy sumbitches at Comic Critics!, you never know what they’ll do next.

Not much to talk about this time. I’ve let my comic pulls stack up for a couple of weeks at my LCS, something that is becoming distressingly easier and easier to do. I’ve even cut my pull list substantially so I could start downloading more off of Comixology (as a MUCH needed space-saving attempt), but I often can’t even work up the energy to do that.

By far the best comic I’ve read in recent months has been Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant, a hardcover collection of her web comic of the same name. It’s a brilliantly funny collection that casts a much wider net than your average web comic, skewering all of American (and pre-American) history. It’s great to read a comic that actually teaches you things as it entertains. I haven’t been able to say that since Reed Richards taught me how far away the moon is from the Earth, many years ago.

For instance, did you know Jules Verne had a problem with fellow science fiction writer H.G. Wells? Me neither! Turns out Verne didn’t like how Wells would just make up outlandish technology for his stories (time machines, Martian spaceships, yadda yadda) instead of basing them in real-world science. Can you imagine the Twitter wars those two would have today?