SILVER SURFER kids show?

Did anyone ever watch the short-lived SILVER SURFER animated series on Fox Kids in the late 90's? I'm not sure anybody did.

I certainly didn't, and I probably wouldn't have liked it if I had. I was a DC kid, and while I could appreciate even the subpar X-MEN (JEEEEEEEAAAAAAANNNN!!!) and SPIDER-MAN (ugh, so lame, except for a couple awesome Dr. Octopus moments), I couldn't get wrap my head around Marvel's cosmic stuff, certainly not the heady philosophy of classic SURFER.

Credit (some of) Jim Starlin's THANOS, Straczynski's SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM (woobie), and Marvel's whole ANNIHILATION events and books for setting me straight. There's something so wonderfully epic about Marvel's cosmos, something utterly awe-inspiring in ways that even DC's can't reach (even though I prefer DC's, mainly due to GL, naturally). Also, I gained a healthy appreciation for all things Jack Kirby.

As such, I think I'm finally ready to appreciate this:

Geez, it's like a near-perfect intro to all things Marvel cosmic. Galactus! Skrulls! Kree! And eventually, Drax and Thanos! And KIRBY CRACKLES EVERYWHERE!!! It's like a living Kirby comic, right down to the heavy inks on close-up figures!

I've only seen the pilot so far, and it wasn't brilliant, but it was damn intriguing. There's serious potential here for something more moving and deep than the Fox Kids lineup was ready for. I eventually hope to get Henchgirl into Marvel Cosmic stuff, so I'm thinking this might be a great place to start for her. Me, I just wanna see what they do with Thanos. Thaaaaaaanos.

Geek Links of Note

How the Mandarin could possibly work in IRON MAN 3, and why it's okay to hate Tony Stark. Even if you take out the Yellow Peril racefail issues, one still has to wonder how distinctly magical elements would jive after the first two IM movies.

If handled well, I could see it working. What better way to frustrate Tony Stark than with magic, something he has absolutely zero concept of understanding? It'd be like Waid's FANTASTIC FOUR Dr. Doom story, only, y'know, without ruining Dr. Doom. Of course, there's still the concerns of racefail. Which brings me to...



"Why I Won't Be Watching the THE LAST AIRBENDER movie," by Gene Luen Yang of AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. I've made it to the third season of the original Nickelodeon show, and I'm blown away by how great it is. Witty as hell, marvelously complex characters who have actual arcs, stunning action, and compelling storylines.

I haven't loved a cartoon like this since JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, and I was already dreading to see it from the trailers, which seem to indicate that M. Night has sucked all of the fun and life out to turn it into a self-serious action epic. But that just clinches that I won't be seeing it at all.



Three Arguments We Could Be Having (about comics). Number two is most relevant to my recent post about the "Girlfriend Section" of the comic shop, but as a fan and writer, I'm most intrigued and thinky about number three: "What Are All These Superhero Comics Really Saying?" Because at their heart, you'd think the most they could be about would be the struggle of good vs. evil, but most comics don't seem to have anything to actually say about it.

It reminds me about one of the reasons Alan Moore dislikes BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, because he--as I understand it--thinks all the themes and character and drama amounted to saying nothing of value that applied to anyone but Batman and the Joker. Many writers seem to feel this way, that superheroes can't be used to say something of literary value.

But while I have my own problems with TKJ, I have to disagree with Moore. I think stories like that say something about the human condition, and even if it's a flawed hypothesis, it's still one that can resonate and provoke thought and discussion. I believe in the power of superhero comics to do this, but I don't know how many fans and/or writers do, or if they'd even care.