o “Getting Jerked Around by Some Editor at a Big Publisher Is Almost Like a Palette [sic] Cleanser for the Real Shit That’s on Deck”

Joe Casey talks in detail about his recent experiences at DC Comics, without holding back. The interview, conducted by Tim Callahan, is a must-read if you’re interested in the present state of creativity in U.S. mainstream comics, and it makes me wonder to what degree pettiness and spite play into DC’s day-to-day publishing decisions.

I’ve enjoyed Casey’s work since he took over Cable in stealth mode back in, oh, 1997 or something. I remember a lot of Casey comics that didn’t succeed, but not many that were boring. No matter what he does, Casey is one of a select few American mainstream comics writers that keep coming up with mad, cocky idea comics and just won’t compromise, no matter how often they keep running into walls and have the rug pulled right out from under them. And I love him for it, because that’s precisely why a failed Joe Casey comic is still a thousand times more interesting and rewarding than anything successful by, say, Geoff Johns.

Casey also made a film recently, titled Hit Parade.

o “Pat, It’s True That You Have What Can Be Considered a Controversial Past”

I don’t know Troy Brownfield, and I’m not aware of what’s going on at Newsarama, so maybe there’s a perfectly good reason why they chose to conduct and run this appallingly, offensively spineless piece on Canadian artist Pat Lee, formerly of Dreamwave Productions, the way they did.

o “Things Are Changing in Big and Meaningful Ways”

When did Matt Fraction start sounding like vintage 1995 Marvel solicitation copy? Two years’ worth of mediocre X-Men comics are a terrible price to pay for the return of Casanova. Somebody whack him over the head with a life-sized cardboard James Garner before it’s too late while I go and get the latest issue of Invincible Iron Man, please.

o “A Blowhard and a Dick Every Step of the Way”

Also in this week’s Douglas Wolk deluge: new comics! Remembering Frank Frazetta! Discussing The Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine and iZombie! Talking to Grant Morrison! Pondering digital comics!

o “The Oddest Thing Is That the Tiled Bathroom Makes Such a Welcome Sight”

Wolk isn’t the only comics critic worth reading, of course.

Take The Comics Journal‘s Tom Crippen, whose juicy virtuoso insights sneak up on you wrapped in layers of poetic, crispy wit every time he examines the latest issue of something or other that’s not nearly as entertaining. Like Ultimate X.

o “Vorbestellen Wollen”

Self-advertisement: If you’re in Europe, you may now pre-order the fifth annual Comicgate-Magazin, the award-winning German-language comics mag, which will debut at Comic-Salon Erlangen in June.

(Disclosure: I’m a contributing editor, and it’s got a big-whopping piece on how Grant Morrison, Steve Gerber and Joe Casey’s imaginary friends will save the world by yours truly. Also: other nifty things like Q&A’s with Dave Sim and Kurt Busiek, 35 pages of new comics strips by up-and-coming creators and a tremendous cover by new Marvel sensation Christian Nauck. End of commercial.)

o “Is Batman?”

This week’s comics recommendation is Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1, mainly because it has Batman as a caveman with an impossibly huge bat hide over his head.

No, that’s a lie. It’s by Grant Morrison and Chris Sprouse, actually.


Marc-Oliver Frisch writes about comics at his weblog and at Comicgate. You can also follow him on Twitter.

1 COMMENT

  1. “And I love him for it, because that’s precisely why a failed Joe Casey comic is still a thousand times more interesting and rewarding than anything successful by, say, Geoff Johns.”

    Very true. I’d go even further and say more interesting and rewarding than anything by Johns and Brian Michael Bendis combined.

  2. “No matter what he does, Casey is one of a select few American mainstream comics writers that keep coming up with mad, cocky idea comics and just won’t compromise, no matter how often they keep running into walls and have the rug pulled right out from under them. And I love him for it, because that’s precisely why a failed Joe Casey comic is still a thousand times more interesting and rewarding than anything successful by, say, Geoff Johns.”

    Let me guess you’re one of the people that praised Final Crisis as being a genius piece of writting as opposed to an awful clusterfuck right?.

  3. EJ:

    “Let me guess you’re one of the people that praised Final Crisis as being a genius piece of writting as opposed to an awful clusterfuck right?.”

    No, I’m the guy who praised FINAL CRISIS as a genius piece of clusterfuck, actually.

  4. The Pat Lee interview was obviously (to me) an e-mail interview with either pre-approved questions or a guarantee that details about his “controversial past” wouldn’t be brought up before Lee agreed to the interview. It’s nothing new for most entertainment journalism, regardless of the genre or format. Most interviews of people in the entertainment industry, whether they be in Newsarama, CBR, Entertainment Weekly or the New York Times Book Review, are softball questions designed to make the subject look good. This is just an especially egregious example.

  5. Which part of “the blog of Comics Culture” translates to “as long as we’re being snarky”?

    I used to like this blog.

  6. “No, I’m the guy who praised FINAL CRISIS as a genius piece of clusterfuck, actually.”

    And just like Joe Casey you tried valiently and creatively but you failed, I guess you have that going for you.

  7. “Arrive early, and you can participate in the Erlanger Bergkirchweih, the annual pentacostal beer festival (20.-31. May)!”

    Oh, now you’re giving me ideas. But I also booked my trains, so I’ll have to make do with the leftovers. Sigh.

    For anyone who’s in Erlangen, I’ll be hanging out at the Comicgate booth, probably wearing a fedora hat. Come over and say hi.

  8. Let us not forget that Reagan’s future vp (Bush) and cia chief (Casey) met with the Ayatolla Khomeini behind the back of the then-current Carter administration (treason) and arranged for Iran to keep the American hostages until after the election. In return Iran got, at the very least, a conduit thru which to illegally receive missiles and other armaments–which came to light when traitor Ollie North got busted taking the missile $$$ and giving it to friends in Central America who turned out, naturally enough, to be drug smugglers USA-bound. Ah, the good old days…

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