Comic Post Follow-Up: my take on DARK REIGN

[thehefner]

Did anyone read NIGHTWING this week? nymphgalatea, I'm looking in your direction. I was hoping to bitch about this on scans_daily, but those Harvey-centric pages weren't scanned and I have serious comic discussion blue balls here.



Also, here's my (revised) take on how I'd have written DARK REIGN:

NORMAN OSBORN: Let me tell you how it's going to be.

DOOM: A madman in pixie books and cornrows dares to order DOOM?!

(snaps Norman's neck)

THE HOOD: Shit-fuck, yo!

DOOM: Doom's hood is far superior to yours, snarky-boy! And what are you even doing here?! Shouldn't you be at the Kiddie Table of Evil? Pay for your insolent douchebaggery!

(violent death)

ACCURSED RICHARDS: Hey guys, I just came to deliver a fruitcake which I made from scratch at the atomic level and fruits candied with unstable molecules, and... whuh oh.

DOOM: Christmas has indeed come early. Me be praised.

(about damn time)

DOOM: Come, bitches. Make sweet love to Doom. That includes you, Namor.

(arms around Loki, Emma, and Namor, Doom departs in a cloud of awesome)

The end.

Marvel need to fire that long-winded Mamet-wannabe and hire me already.

Comments

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Why do they keep doing this? Villain decay on Doom just sucks.
I makes me sad.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Because they think Bendis is the god of Marvel, apparently. Fuck, at least Doom was vaguely in character there!

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

I especially like that line about "I'll make you the Wisconsin Avengers", because that would mean that Squirrel Girl will be involved.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Squirrel Girl, the only character to good and truly pwn DOOM (Richards doesn't count, he just thwarts, the accursed wretch) would pwn all. Clearly, she is too awesome for Bendis.

Ugh, the thought of Bendis trying to write Squirrel Girl, kill me now...

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

Why does Namor look like a leather daddy? Seriously, pop a little leather peaked hat on him and volio!
Marvel (I haven't read much Marvel comics lately aside from the occasional Ultimate Spiderman and back issues of Runaways) seems to be so obsessed with making their world an ultra realistic ambiguous stewpot-there used to be something called superheros and supervillains; sometimes the heroes would fall down and pick themselves back up again, sometimes the villains would do something for the greater good, but they would not organize into secret committee meetings and plot a dubious tactical alliance to subtly rule the world through false images of benevolent dictatorship. I wonder if Bush's administration could sue Marvel?

[jellied.livejournal.com]

I am totally into Loki being a hot, hot woman.

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

I got Nightwing this week.

[fiveseconddelay.livejournal.com]

Saw "Dark Knight" last night for the first time.

It was very good.

[nymphgalatea.livejournal.com]

Did anyone read NIGHTWING this week?

I take it you are full of woe? It was a slightly schizo issue, the bit with Dickie doing his stunts & having Bat-family cinema time were *excellent*, and the Two-Face bit...not so much. And it was very much "Two-Face", not Harvey Dent. It was all just standard threats and little substance. There was no indication of the previous conflict between the personalities.

However I'd say from this it's pretty clear they're setting up Harvey to be Batwings' major foe in the upcoming reshuffle of titles. Whether that is a good thing or not depends on who is writing "Batman & Robin", I suppose.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Cool! If you're so inclined, feel free to check out my thoughts on the film, in two posts. Josh called them "vastly, vastly insightful," and they still hold true for me.

http://thehefner.livejournal.com/525322.html

and http://thehefner.livejournal.com/525819.html

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Agreed, although I far prefer how he/she looks in THOR's actual book rather than Maleev's somewhat tranny version here.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That said, in no world should Loki ever be hotter than Namor. Just sayin'.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, everything not involving Harvey was excellent! Which makes criticizing the rest so frustrating. Exactly, it was just Two-Face making standard boring villain threats, with nothing coming along to contradict Dick's smug heroic last word that there's nothing left of Harvey to be saved.

Which, most bothersome of all, doesn't jive with Tomasi's depiction of Harvey throughout. For all the issues with this take on Harvey that I have, the very best aspect was how it actually looked at the conflict between the two sides in a way that's totally in character but also heightens the tragic and truly bugfuck nature of Harvey's craziness. There were a couple moments there where you really were reminded just how crazy he is, the poor fuck. And while it's absolutely in character for Dick to be unforgiving and unsympathetic, it saddens me that the story itself ultimately followed suit.

Because, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but Harvey Dent saved the day. Dick had no idea about Carol before Harvey told her, and would almost certainly have been killed by Two-Face if Harvey hadn't gone to Dick first. So Harvey saved Carol's life, his good side triumphing over his evil, and he doesn't even know it. Dick smugly lets Harvey live with the torment that he's fucked up again, just as he always does, and tells him that there's nothing left to be saved even though there was enough there to get Nightwing to save Carol.

Am I crazy? Is that not what happened? If so, fuck, that really sucks.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Rock! Check out my mini-essay to nymphgalatea below and let me know what you think. It frustrates me just to think about it.

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

Two-Face gets very inconsistent portrayal all the time, unfortunately. I don't know if this instance was more egregious than any other..

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm well aware of his inconsistent portrayal. It'd be easier to dismiss this one if it were uniformly bad, like the all-too-typical "he's just evil and boring" take, as he ultimately was in the final part. But considering how the rest of this storyline actually had moments of quality or at least interest, the ending left a serious sour taste in my mouth.

[nymphgalatea.livejournal.com]

It does suck. And it's a shame, because it's not like Mr. Tomasi isn't capable of writing a story that's sympathetic to the baddie, and he's certainly capable of writing a nuanced villain, with many shades of grey to their personality (Look at his Black Adam miniseries, that's a fairly good -if very violent- take on a murderous madman who still has occasional bouts of compassion).

Oh, and speaking of Tomasi, did you get GL Corps this week? No copies got delivered to the UK, apparently, which is bobbins. Most displeased.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Thank god! Man, I wish I had a scanner where I am, I'd so love to post the entire Two-Face subplot, including the stuff that others left out, so I could bring some attention to this. Every review or s_d post I've read seem to completely miss or ignore Harvey's role, just writing him off as "the bad guy" and nothing more.

Good lord, even when Harvey does good, no one knows it. Not even Harvey. Dick (unwittingly or--more disturbing to consider--quite wittingly) has taken Harvey's most recent attempt to reach out and be good and just crushed it, condemning him (in word and soul) to be unsalvageable and pure evil.

While I may hate "Face the Face," it's starting to look like the Bat-family is becoming every bit as horrible to Harvey. He doesn't even realize how justified he *should* be in swearing revenge on Dick.

I wonder if Tomasi is on-line somewhere? Some way I can get my thoughts publicized? Because any future writer of BATMAN AND ROBIN who wants to make Harvey the arch-nemesis for Dick needs to address this.

I skimmed it at the store, and very much liked what I saw. Krib is finally back, and fucking creepy as ever. "Bobbins," though? Oh you, with your Scotch-speak.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oops, I meant to say every bit as bad as his worst mobster enemies. Or the Joker, for that matter, who gleefully crushed Harvey's attempts in the Dini-verse Batman comics.

And I have been driven to punch myself in the balls by posting these thoughts on the DC Comics message boards. God help me.

[nymphgalatea.livejournal.com]

God help you indeed, I haven't been there in about 2 years, when it was people discussing which female character they'd most like to have sex with. Ick. I imagine it's gone down hill even further since then?

And just out of interest, do we know who's taking on Batman & Robin? That'll be an interesting book to write...

Bobbins means something is completely rubbish, utter crap. (Mancunian rhyming slang, bobbins of cotton= rotten)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oy, I didn't even know about that, but it's hardly surprising. Message boards of all sorts are vile hives of scum and fucktardery, with DC and Newsarama being the worst I've yet seen. I used to frequent DC as a teenage Hal Jordan fanboy and level-headed representative of H.E.A.T., where I was respected for being one of the few people to make reasonable arguments and discussions between the asshattery that abounds.

I swore never to return, but since it's not being brought up on scans_daily (hmm, maybe I can persuade superfan1 to post the missing parts? I can offer her IOUs for cookies and booze should we ever meet), it's the only place I can go.

I have no idea who's doing BATMAN AND ROBIN. It sure will be interesting, that's for certain. Hopefully it'll be *good*.

Aha! I'm gonna have to remember that one.

Say, would you be up for reading my latest draft of the book? It will be ready within the week or two, methinks. My email is curseyourichards at gee male dot com.

[nymphgalatea.livejournal.com]

Newsarama is really awful, particularly since the redesign of the site. I don't mind Comicbloc, nobody has stupid signature banners at the bottom of their posts and everyone spells reasonably well.

I think you'd be out of luck on posting the Harvey bits, as the community must be up to the half-comic posting limit on that one.

And I'm afraid I will probably have to pass on the reading of your book, for which I really *must* apologise. In fact, I'm probably going to disappear from the comic-booky community for eight weeks after Xmas (long story short, I'm off to Mumbai to train the guys who are taking over my job. Which is seven different kinds of shite, especially since my computer access outside work will be very limited)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's three pages. I'll sneak it in at some point down the line. Ala Dan Backslide, "NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!"

Egad, Mumbai?! Good lord, be safe! I will be very sorry to miss your presence around here, and will anxiously await your return! And I will again attempt to foist my book on you, which may be at Draft 7 by then!

[candidgamera.livejournal.com]

Well, at least there were some good parts to enjoy, is the way I look at it. At least Harvey's story wasn't as bad as, say, Bart's fatal thirteen issue "run" as the Flash.