We’re sorta pressed for time today because of a conflicting deadline but wanted to draw your attention to two comments, in case you didn’t wanna go there.
First, Carr D’Angelo of Earth-2 in Sherman Oaks explains that, that contrary to a big story in the LA Daily News yesterday, his store is doing just fine.
Correction: There is no 20% drop in yearly revenue at Earth-2. 2009 is actually up slightly from 2008. We’re not hurting. But that wouldn’t have fit into the series theme.

If you click through to the Daily News site, you will see that the article is part of a series titled “Hard Times on Ventura Blvd: Is it a Boulevard of Broken Dreams?”

Second, Bill Willingham stopped by to expand on his thoughts on superheroes and all that, and it’s definitely worth a read.

1 COMMENT

  1. Between the comments here, at Robot 6, and at the Big Hollywood site I managed to kill a good hour of my work day. Kudos to all involved. Two specific things stick with me:

    1) I love reading Kurt Busiek’s comments. In fact, the only thing I love reading more than Kurt Busiek’s comics is Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. So Kurt, I beg you to please stop engaging in rational discourse with irrational fans and write some Astro City.

    2) This comment from Darwyn Cooke at the Big Hollywood site probably depressed me more than anything else I read (I only pasted a portion of it) :

    Really? We could have had an all-ages WW book that my 8 year old daughter and 10 year old niece (and myself) would have loved, by J Bone and Mr. Cooke, and DC turned it down? Even though there is an animated WW movie coming out next month? Sigh.

  2. Oops. I guess the part of Darwyn’s comment I pasted didn’t show up. Basically he indicated he and J Bone pitched an “all ages Wonder Woman book aimed at young female readers. In other words, I wanted to give them at least 12 issues of a Wonder Woman book that any parent could give their child. They (DC) couldn’t have been less interested.”.

  3. “As far as Captain America’s line about ‘Do you think this letter on my forehead stands for France?’ There’s two things I really like about that line. First, it was funny. I do like funny, especially when it comes as a surprise as a counterpoint to drama. Is France’s reputation as a surrender-prone country (whether deserved or not) a suitable subject for comedy? Absolutely. Comedy isn’t a good environment for the thin skinned, too-easily-insulted, or other forms of delicate flowers. The line made me laugh. It still does. Second, it was the most recent example (in my memory — I am probably not as current on my funnybook reading as I should be) where Cap is unapologetic about his identification with America.”

    I think the line was hilarious as well. It’s when you mix it with his second point where the problem starts: “it was the most recent example… where Cap is unapologetic about his identification with America.” I thought his previous example, the one he criticized about Cap “admitting mistakes”, is absolutely unapologetic about his identification with America. Sure, the tone is “sorry we screwed up” but the point there isn’t that America is the world’s most flawed nation, it’s that nobody’s perfect and at the end of the day he’s man enough to stick up for his country not just through the good, but also the bad, and that means not ignoring the bad shit or fooling yourself into thinking our country can do no wrong. I’m sorry but I hate this stupid idea that just because I question the decisions of my government (more often than not) I must therefore hate it. Because over the next 4-8 years of Obama in the White House I’m going to have to hear it from the bill Willingham’s of the world every time our president does something they disagree with. And that’s fine, because they have that right, but I’m not out there saying “love it or leave it” to every Republican I meet.

    Also, throughout his entire rant he focused on this strong moral compass that he supposedly has and focused two measly paragraphs on the “American way business”, meanwhile everyone with a brain knew that’s what he was getting at the entire time. When he said “good values” he meant “American values”, which I’m guessing he believes are the only “values” which matter to him. Really Bill? People from other countries don’t know the difference between right and wrong? Thanks for the info. Tell that to the multitude of Fables readers around the world.

    Regarding that all-ages Wonder Woman book…. it’s a dumb idea. Wonder Woman doesn’t even sell her own book well enough, and that’s with Gail Simone writing it. Darwyn Cooke is great, but his name recognition doesn’t necessarily ECLIPSE that of Simone in the comics world. Either way, I doubt this is DC reflecting the downfall of moral society, considering they have plenty of other all-ages books.

    All-in-all, this was Willingham’s way of showing how “brave” he is by stepping up and being a voice for the conservative comics world, whether he admits it or not. It’s all a bunch of dumb self-promotion.