SHAME [The ILC Best of 2004 Poll]

- Adam Strange (by Andy Diggle & Pascual Ferry), a rip-roaring 8-part mini-series that inadvertently found itself at the vanguard of a company-wide clusterfuck that will forever change the way you view super-strong women with large, semi-exposed breasts.

- Eightball: The Death Ray (by Daniel Clowes), a widely-praised book that allowed online rapscallion Alan David Doane yet another opportunity to shit on the life and work of Geoff Johns.

- Ex Machina (by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris), wherein the mayor of New York talks to machines and offers discursive, yet salient, factoids about life, liberty, gay marriage, and snowplow strikes.

- JLA: Classified #1 (by Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines), wherein the seeds for Seven Soldiers were sown, a Chemo clone spoke in differential equations, gorillas kicked ass, and ILC's own Vic Fluro learned to love Batman and his wonderful toys all over again.

- McSweeney's #13 (by a pantload of people, edited by Chris Ware), wherein it was proven once and for all that, indeed, comics aren't just for kids, since kids aren't likely to drop $24 for a hardcover comic that doesn't involve Jim Lee, Wolverine, or ludatits.

- Queen & Country (by Greg Rucka & others), featuring the wacky laugh-a-minute hijinks of lovable curmudgeon Paul Crocker, bodacious blonde bombshell Tara Chace & a band of superspy misfits called the Minders.

- Samurai Executioner (by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima), a manga by the creators of Lone Wolf & Cub that finally found its way to American shores, thanks to the people that brought us Dr. Giggles and Catalyst: Agents of Change.

- Y: The Last Man (by Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra, & others), the story of a guy, a couple million girls, a monkey, some tomato soup, and the restorative power of feces.

1/8 ain't bad, right?

Speaking of which, I was re-reading OMAC Project last night, and found this cover completely unconsolable.
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=246260&zoom=4

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"Thanks for contacting us about the Doonesbury strip. I would be happy to share our thoughts with you and why we chose to release it on the web, email, fax, at the library and at our counter.

"Have you seen the entire week? I think it best that you see the full week prior to our discussion.

"Notice also that on the editorial page Tuesday we had a column and editorial cartoon that was critical of the US involvement in Iraq.

"It is not the subject of Doonesbury, it is the content and the depictions that were unsuitable for our community at this time.

"A soldier from Sterling is gravely wounded. He has severe head wounds, loss of eyesight and other complications. Our community is in the midst of fund raising drives for the family. Thrusting a battlefield scenario of maimed soldiers would be inconsiderate to the sensibilities of the community." [David McLain, President & Publisher, Journal-Advocate]

"At a minimum, if Sean Penn or Jodie Foster or whothefuckever can get an Oscar nod for playing a Magic Retard, B.D. gets an ILCie for losing a leg.

"The strength and weakness of Doonesbury has always been its flaw, just like with topical talk show monologues: when there's nothing happening, there's nothing to say, and the focus goes back to a giant talking cigarette or we sit on the edge of our seats waiting to see if the next President is represented by a waffle or a McGriddle. The filler stuff like that is fine, and it's what got the strip this far, but the development of the characters over the twenty years they've been "real time" -- development almost completely lacking soap opera, thanks to the reliance on that filler material -- is why I keep reading." [Tep]

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"Consistently quality title with strong characterisation, humour and action aplenty. Also shows that you can have a 6 part arc where something exciting happens in every issue (cough* bendis*cough)" [Mark C]

"Most consistent superhero title" [Pete B]

"Going back in this thread a bit, would any of you care to explain why so many fanboy types get so excited about Gail Simone? She seems so incredibly mediocre to me. What he she ever done besides second and third rate spin-off series?" [Matthew C. Perpetua]

"Yes, there are cheap thrills ? the phrase 'kickboxing in wet lingerie' comes to mind ? and it?s drawn in the smooth but generic style that future historians will call 'mainstream comics circa 2005.' But much of its fun comes from its deft handling of superhero conventions. One in particular drives Simone?s story, and it?s a specialty of serial comics: the interaction of larger-than-life characters whose evolution readers have been following for years or decades. Soap operas do that too ? but their viewers can?t look back at the old stories the way comics readers can.

"Sensei and Student [a BoP TPB collecting some of the title's goodness from 2004! - ED] revolves around a handful of characters whose back stories are unbelievably tangled up. To take just one example: Cheshire, the poisoner and international terrorist, is also the mother of a baby whose father is the former sidekick of Black Canary?s ex-boyfriend, Green Arrow, a small-time superhero, ex-junkie, and inveterate screw-up called Arsenal. (Draw a diagram if it helps.) Everything they do and say to each other is colored by their histories, and that?s what drives the plot.

"Simone knows that there?s an enormous pleasure in watching characters act like themselves in even the smallest ways. And that is good writing for adventure comics ? the conventions of the form aren?t a formula that just anyone can plug in." [Douglas Wolk]

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"/hal: Did you always know all along that #300 would include a fart joke?!

"DAVE: Mm. Not all along. It wasn't really until I was doing the model sheets for Old Cerebus that I started really getting down to the details of his various infirmities. Once I came up with the "eating cheese to make himself constipated" riff, that implied the one-page sight gag of trying to break wind, the 'Please, God, just one decent fart before Cerebus dies' and the 'answered prayer'." [from CerebusFanGirl.com]

"Here we are. The end of the line. You're really holding in your hands the end of Cerebus.

"Cerebus takes up over half a shelf in phonebooks, plus a longbox in comics. I haven't got around to buying all the reprints for the extra bits of art yet, but I no doubt will eventually. Have no doubt, Cerebus is a weighty tome. In more ways than one, obviously.

"But has it been worth it? Well, you've had to wade through pages of Dave ranting, and strained your eyes reading Dave's Cerebexegesis. And then some more ranting. And some more ranting. There were times when we all thought he was mad. This was at the end though, and damn it, this is one of the best Cerebus books of all.

"Nothing happens, really. The New Joanne/Jaka has won and The Sanctuary looks like it will fall. There's a Stooges-esque dialogue with the guard outside. Cerebus eats some cheese. Shep-Shep turns up and we find why they fell out. We learn Cirin/Serena is still alive. Cerebus dies. That's about it.

"Yes, part of the appeal is tied to what went before, and it's difficult to explain to people who didn't struggle through the hard times exactly what makes late-era Cerebus so great. But it is. Trust me on this. Would I lie?" [aldo cowpat]

"So. The very last thing ever to appear in a Cerebus comic. A letter from Dave Sim to his lawyer.

"It seems that all the royalties for Cerebus are split 60 : 40 between him and Gerhard; that he wants the comic to pass into the public domain when they are both dead; and—here is the sticking point—that he wants to leave his archive ('the artwork…and business files and correspondence') to one of a number of Universities or libraries. But he is not sure that they would accept it. [...]

"Apparently, what is at risk is that the whole of the Cerebus graphic novel might go 'down the toilet', even though it appeared that all we were talking about was the eventual destination of Dave's sketches and business correspondence. I don't know who vilified Dave on the internet (God! You don't think he means me, do you?) but the connection between 'people not responding to a web page attacking Dave Sim' and 'people not wanting Sim's artwork to be preserved' seems far from obvious. We are told that people regard the comic as nothing more than a model made out of match sticks: never mind that comic book creators having been queuing up to congratulate him on reaching #300. We are told that 'most, if not all' of his readers don't care about the comic. Never mind that one of his readers wrote him a letter every week for a year to encourage him; never mind that one described the work as a towering achievement; never mind that two of them joined the army partly on Sim's say-so, never mind that one of them invited Sim, a complete stranger, to come and stay in his home, never mind that one of them was mad enough to spend all his free time for a week writing a ludicrously long commentary on the final issue of his comic, because, damn it, it seemed important, and never mind that over 600 people—1 in 10 of your goddam readership, Dave—are members of the Cerebus Yahoo discussion forum. You need to believe that you are reviled and hated; you need to insult your readers, and you aren't going to allow reality to get in the way.

"And by the way, Dave. Damn right I am a liberal. I read your comic precisely because I am a liberal. Where 'liberal' is defined as 'one who believes in freedom, and in particular, the freedom of expression.' One who believes in pluralism, different viewpoints, and listening to opinions other than one's own. One who has contempt for what you say, but will not only defend to the death your right to say it, but will actually read it, and recommend that other people do the same.

"Hail, Dave Sim. Greatest living comic book creator, and total asshole." [courtesy of Andrew Rilstone, Gentleman]

-- David R. (quoteidio...), January 31st, 2006.

WHA' HOPPEN?
http://www.listentome.net/amightywind2.gif

(I forgot.)

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"I just re-read 1602...in a small boat, drifting across a lake on a sunny day, and I found, to my relief, it was very much the kind of comic I wanted to write: something for summer, to be read under a porch or in a treehouse..." [Neil Gaiman, from the hardcover intro]

"Err, no one else will vote for it. It was dumb (but hey comics are supposed to be?). [That is so wrogn! - Mol Panning] I couldn't put it down, and that means it was good." [jel]

Howdy. I was taught at a young, tender age to never say anything at all if I have nothing particularly nice to say, especially when it comes to an exasperating, underwhelming & ultimately disappointing 8-issue Big Event. Especially when said event boils down to Captain America going back in time to talk like Tonto while superfolk where What Ifing all over Ye Olde Merry Marvelle Universe. But I read it, and enjoyed most of the "here I am!" reimaginings (oh Master John Grey, you rapscallion). I was also pleasantly surprised that Gaiman wasn't as Gaim-y as I thought he'd be. So I'll just shut my grouse-happy yap right here. I would possibly offer more informed thoughts, but I don't have the porch or treehouse to give this thing the proper once-over NG believes it deserves.

I have no idea what the hell I meant by that, and had probably just had a big bowl of Iris West's angel dust for breakfast.

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Creators on any storied superhero franchise are going to be informed (or haunted) by the work that preceded, and that's especially true regarding The House That Chris Co-Built, bub. That Joss Whedon's approach initially came off as being overwhelmingly beholden to CC's monstrous run was offputting at first. However, in hindsight - or, more likely, mid-sight, if that's a word - Grant Morrison's run was just as indebted. If you think of GM's X-stint as a testimony to the imagination and ideas that informed CC's run, then think of Whedon's work as a testimony to the sense of family instilled in CC's best X-work (and, of course, the best of Whedon & Co's work on Buffy).

To be honest, I can't remember many of the salient plot points of the first 7 issues, but that's kinda beside the point - this book was first and foremost about the relationships within the team. Colossus got better and reached out to his Katya (thankfully now of age!), Emma Frost & Cyclops snogged, Wolverine glowered at Cyclops, Kitty glowered at Emma, Beast glowered at himself, and Lockheed breathed fire. Joss Whedon's enthusiasm for the X-stuff came shining through, and it definitely doesn't hurt to refract said enthusiasm through one Mr. Cassaday. Of course, I'm probably just ripping off Paul O'Brien's thoughts inadvertently, so I'll just quote him proper:

"Whedon's approach, in keeping with the general thrust of the line, was to go back to superhero basics. And that's fair enough - after [Grant] Morrison's run, the two main options were to imitate it or to swing back in a more conventional direction. There's nothing inherently wrong with the latter idea, as long as it's done well. Astonishing X-Men is not a book that delivers dazzling new ideas or radical innovations; it's simply a good, solid superhero book, with quality creators demonstrating what happens when you do it right. Whedon is evidently a huge fan of the stories Claremont was producing during his creative peak 20 years ago, the creators combine the spirit of those stories with their own style, producing a great example of what a mainstream X-Men comic in 2004 ought to look like." [from The X-Axis 2004 Year-In-Review]

In conclusion:

"So, what -- the teachers here spend all their time trying to kill each other? This place is so cool." [unnamed Xavier student, from Astonishing #3]

palp

(I have no memory of what came out in 2005, though, so a pre-nomination discussion reminder thread would be good.)

(I'll totally lap you, tho, so don't try it. Son.)

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"Though most readers won't be able to relate to kids who can shoot fire from their hands or speak telepathically with dinosaurs, anyone can appreciate their ultimate act of rebellion. After all, who among us hasn't wanted to throw their parents through a second-story window at least once in their lives?" [Dave Brennan, ShakingThrough.net]

"Blimey it's teenage heroes that I actually LIKE! The second series of this has so far been mildly disappointing but the first series is a beauty, and deserves big applause for reintroducing the monthly cliffhanger to Marvel in an age of decompression." [Tom]

Gert: "The confusing things you're feeling right now aren't bad, Molly. You're actually something called a mutant, a person born with--"
Molly: "No, duh, Gert! I'm not confused about that. I'm confused about why Nico hit my mom in the face!" [from Volume 1, #6]

Nuff said.

Gert AND Molly.

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NOT A MISTAKE! NOT A MISCOUNT! The stupid rat creatures ended up tied w/ Arsenic, Old Lace, and Hot Goth Chix! I spent last night trying to find some sort of praise to cut & paste into this post (since, um, I haven't read Bone in a loooong time), but nothing came up! And I thought an esteemed moderator colleague offered some bon mots back when folks thought (ha) this poll would be finished in 2005, but no dice there, either. So, um, Bone. You're cute as a button, and twice as cuddly, even though you can't cuddle a button. Um. Salut.

(Someone PLEASE say something about Bone.)

1: The single-volume collection of Bone is so fucking cheap per page, that:

a: if you enjoy words near pictures, it is almost certainly worth the price;

b: if you don't, it's probably cheaper to white out these pages than it is to buy a blank unlined notebook of equivalent size. It's kind of the most responsible use of your dollars, or anyone else's.

2: Likewise, there is so much story per dollar going on there that if you don't like the tweeer beginning, skip ahead an inch or two and it gets different.

3: At one point I think I compared it to Pogo. Well, I finally got my hands on some Pogo again while buying gifts for friends, and over the short beats, Pogo still comes out on top. But that's praising with faint damns -- they're very different stories, obviously, and it's mostly the artwork and something about the tone that always brings Pogo to mind. The stupid stupid rat creatures especially are very Kelly-like, and I'm sure someone with a better eye for art could say more about Kelly's influence on Smith.

4: Yeah, I said you can skip those first couple inches, but I love them because that's where the Disney influence is heaviest -- it's like part Carl Barks, part Li'l Abner, it's not possible for me to not love that.

So you mix together Walt Kelly, Carl Barks, Al Capp, moderately epic low fantasy, how does that not come out awesome? It doesn't. It doesn't come out not awesome at all.

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[Sorry for the big pic, but I think it's worth it - Peerless Pol]

Also: woohoo!

Further: palp!

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I'm going to toss the namedroppy pop pundit part of me a bone w/ the following simile: it's like Jim Woodring took over The Far Side, and came up w/ "punkupines" all on his own! And then I'm just going to throw up a linkypoo to the PBF archives, and let those that don't know get a taste of this fuzzy heartfelt misanthropy. The end of the world never felt so schmoopie.

palp
n.
An elongated, often segmented appendage usually found near the mouth in invertebrate organisms such as mollusks, crustaceans, and insects, the functions of which include sensation, locomotion, and feeding. Also called palpus.

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[Any similarities between the above picture and the picture posted with the Perry Bible Fellowship post are purely coincidental, damn it - Pugnacious Pol]

PRAISE FOR WE3 FROM ILC:

"I JUST READ ISSUES #1 AND #2 AND THEY WERE GOOD" [Dan (Hairball) Perry]

"One of my friends cried after reading the first issue..." [David N]

"OMG, THE ART." [Jordan]

"We3 is Morrison does XBox." [Tom]

"[Vimanarama], Seaguy, and We3 especially are definitely among my favorite Morrison stories." [Tep]

"I must go blubber now." [scamperingalpaca]

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Since this board could be subtitled I LOVE THE NEW FRONTIER (AND GRANT MORRISON), I'll just link to the TNF thread (LINK) and let Huk-L summarize my personal feelings about this book:

"DC:TNF rescued the idea that there was something special about the Silver Age, and did so with affection, insight and panache. Nothing else that came out this year [...] gave me that sense of original awe."

[The part I ellipsed from Huk's quote: "not even GL: Rebirth #1"!!! - Persnickety Pol]

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What Tom said on the Best Of thread. What we all said on the proper Seaguy thread, except for (according to this poll) what Tom says (quoted below):

"This is surely the best comic of the year.

"Not that I've read any others, but COME ON."

The plot of Issue #1 of v2 of SEAGUY is achingly funny and surreal. In an alternate world, it's the #1 book of this month, I'm sure. Just not in this one...

I feel almost guilty for not loving this. I like it, don't get me wrong ... I don't know, it just didn't grab me. A lot of the J'onn stuff is great, though, especially him watching TV in #2.

-- Tep (icaneatglas...), November 2nd, 2004.

vs:

"[Vimanarama], Seaguy, and We3 especially are definitely among my favorite Morrison stories." [Tep]

Gaylad
Gayboy
Gayteen
Gayman
Sir Gay-La-Had
King Gay
Ben Gay
Gaylord

And after Gaylord, there's always Gaylactus, who eats ... planets.

The Justice Brigayd
Gay Gardner
Gaylvatron
The Gay Gargoyle
The Gaygoyle from The Defenders
The Gay Ghost (he's real!)
F. Murray Gaybraham
Inspector Gaydget
The Gaylaxy Trio
Gaymera
Gayliath and Black Gayliath
and Robin.

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[To see what most of y'all thought pre-poll, scoot over to the She-Hulk thread - Parsimonious Pol]

That's right, She-Hulk. Not savage, not sensational - just She-Hulk. An IGS for an appropriate image to tie to this post dredged up a LOT of fanwank material (none of which, BTW, was drawn by The Horn), which is what She-Hulk was, for the most part. Unless that cover image from her very first appearance - Barbarella by way of Caveman - was supposed to be empowering. The firm of Stern & Byrne did some work in giving She-Hulk a reason to exist beyond the largess of her gamma-powered gams & tatters, but (especially in Byrne's fourth-wall-shattering hands) she quickly became a joke of a different sort, the go-to source for one-liners and arched-eyebrow sexcapades (which works great when you're a fictional character published by an industry w/ effed-up notions of sex).

The reason I bring all this up: Dan Slott actually gives a shit about this character. And, Uatu bless him, he LOVES this character in all her incarnations. I'm not sure anyone else here does (or did prior to picking this book up), but no doubt Slott's compassion helps make the series so readable. I'm not sure anyone else would've bothered w/ a retcon that explains why She-Hulk slept with the Juggernaut, unless they were an offputting Johnsian continuity hawk.

And that's another reason why She-Hulk has been so successful (relatively speaking) this time around - the combination of Slott's love for continuity and minutiae, and (MOST KEY) his ability to express said love in an approachable manner. Yes, on some level Slott's work can seem like self-aware fanwank, gleefully mucking around in and with the conventions of the Marvel Universe and the medium. In the wrong hands, that hyper-awareness stuff is what gives superhero books (and discussion boards!) a bad name.

In Slott's hands, such details and facts are just grist for a mill powered by the stuff that makes spandex stories fun to read. It's one thing to go dumpster diving for detritus like the Mad Thinker's Android, and John Jameson - any modern-day revamp is gonna nose around the landfill. It's another thing to make this sort of fictional remediation work. So feel free to add that to the list of things that Dan Slott does so well. I could go on & on, but I'll stop here (if only because this post should've been posted about, um, 8 months ago).

Anyway, back to the image - I wanted to use the cover that featured Ally McShulkie sharing an elevator with fellow litigator Howard the Duck, but it was too big. In lieu of that, I traded Howard for Forbush Man, and the elevator for the stairs, and Daredevil for that truck-driving guy in the warthog hoodie. If there's anything wrong w/ Volume 2, it's replacing Mike Mayhew's w/ work from The Horn. But an issue like that is what the 2005 poll is for.

I'd have loved for this to be true, but Spider-Man/Black Cat #6 came out about 2 weeks ago.

(yes)

Doonesbury
PBF
We3
She Hulk (I think)

Well, maybe not a radically different result.

:D