The Comic Book Conundrum: DC...You Have a Crisis

DC Comics: Be sure to pick up the final issue of 'Dark Crisis: Young Justice' where we explain why the 1998 'Young Justice series by Peter David & Todd Nauck was actually sexist, racist & homophobic. (We will provide ZERO evidence or examples of this but trust us, OK?)

The pitch for this series was, "Let's get fans of this series to buy a comic where we let them know they're secretly human garbage!"

Also DC Comics: Be sure to pick up the final trade-paperback of 'Young Justice', completing the run of this classic series from Peter David & Todd Nauck which is beloved by fans to this day.

                Oh wow, something that looks...uh...um...what's that word?

        Oh right, enjoyable!

I'm not making this up either, both of these books are releasing on the same day. Do they ever wonder why former co-publisher of DC Comics, Dan DiDio, recently lamented that they "lost an entire generation of readers" and why manga is currently bending them over a table?

Oh and 'Dark Crisis: Young Justice' is not only a frontrunner for the Worst Comic of 2022, it's probably one of the worst comics I've ever read. I mean, up there with "All Star Batman & Robin".

I have no idea who the target audience is, what story they're trying to tell, what they're trying to accomplish by telling this story or why they felt this was the story they had to tell.

Calgary Expo 2017 Wish List

Well, here we are again, once again it's time to slowly start gearing up for the Calgary Expo. While I may have been a bit critical of their guest line-up last year, (Feeling there was more of an emphasis on celebrities than comic creators) I must admit, I had a great time. Picked up some great comics, some great art, met some artists I admired. Even got to do a fist bump with Stan Lee-how cool is that?

Oh and he upped the resale value of my Spider-Man trade paperback...

And as they've recently announced guests like Nathan Fillion, Christopher Lambert, Danielle Panabaker, Millie Bobbie Brown and Jim Shooter, I figured that I would give them a list of people I would like to see them invite this year. 

Kill The Batman...For A While Anyway

What is it about Batman that we love so much? For 75 years the Caped Crusader has been one of fiction's top good guys with his adventures leaping out of the pages of comics books and graphic novels and onto a live action series, video games, several animated series and two series of movies. There's no doubt that Batman is more popular than he was back in the 1930's. 

But at the same time, I think that we've become a little spoiled with Batman. Granted, I'm not talking about movies or comics, but more in the medium of animation. It's easier and more believable to do an animated series staring the Dark Knight than a live action probably would be. But sadly, I think there's been an overdose of Batman lately and we need to nip it in the bud. Take a look back over the past twenty years and see if you agree with me.

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Welcome to Happy Harbor

'Welcome to Happy Harbor' has the distinction of not only being the first episode to air after the two-part pilot but also for having the longest title in the whole series. After the action packed, mile a minute pace of 'Independence Day' and 'Fireworks', this episode is more relaxed and serves as a vehicle for us to understand some of the characters (Particularly the newly introduced Miss Martian) a bit better. Onto the review...

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Fireworks

In our last episode, our three young heroes decided to show their maturity by disobeying their mentors and getting themselves captured by Constable Odo. Oh and Superman has a clone who doesn't know how to play nice with others. Onto the review...

Animation Observation-Young Justice: Independence Day

Young Justice came into development when Sam Register of Warner Bros. Animation wanted a show based on the concept of a cross between the Teen Titans and Young Justice series of comics but didn't want it to be an adaptation of either. Brandon Vietti, an animation director who had just finished work on Batman: Under the Red Hood and Greg Weisman, creator of Gargoyles and producer of the acclaimed but short lived Spectacular Spider-Man were hired to produce but also included in the writing process.

The series takes place outside of what is known as the DC Animated Universe (DCAU) in which series like Batman, Superman and Justice League took place. Basically we were seeing characters done before but now being done in a new light. I don't want to dwell too much on the production of this show, so without further ado, let's start with the first episode, Independence Day.