Funnybook Babylon

This is what happens when you decide to start drinking wine while writing Downcounting: crushed by the meaninglessness of it all, your mind wanders and you think, “whatever happened to that Marvel Indie Anthology? Wasn’t James Kochalka doing a Hulk story for it? James Kochalka on the Hulk, that’s a fun comic!” So you Google for it, and find no further information on the anthology (I thought you guys said it was coming out in “late 2007/early 2008!”) but you do find these pages:

Jeph Loeb, you’ve been nicked son! That’s clearly the rage-ohol fueled Red Hulk, and while his eye design has changed, that’s the blue Rick Jones “A-Bomb” Hulkomination too. It’s only a matter of time before White Power Hulk crops up. Probably in issue three, given Loeb’s love of the immediate payoff.

In Loeb’s defense, he’s already gone down the rainbow-colored strong guy road with his “Bloodlines” creation Loose Cannon, so perhaps Kochalka was tapping the same zeitgeist for the Hulk Squad.

Either way Marvel, where is my indie anthology?

I’ve been embroiled in a discussion on another blog regarding DC’s attitudes towards lesbians and the continuing vaporware of the Batwoman book, which is rapidly becoming the comics industry’s Duke Nukem Forever. The one thing I keep hearing, all the time, is that Batwoman is boring, that she’s a cipher, that she has no personality, that there’s no good reason anyone would want to read a comic about her.

I also hear, fairly regularly, the cynical observation that she only exists as a Bat-character to push a lesbian agenda; or that her sexuality is the sum total of her character. (more…)

I was flipping through the previews for JSA on Newsarama. It was cute to see Johns point out that character count on JSA may be a tad bit high, but I was quite in love with this comedic bit featuring Jakeem Thunder, Black Lightning, and Lil’ Lightning (Sparkess?). It was a combination of something straight out of Cosby Show episode, featuring Jakeem dressing and acting like a black kid from the 1980’s.

Look at this.

I can see it now. Martin Lawrence as Jefferson Pierce, Ray J as Jakeem Thunder, and Raven-Symoné as the other Pierce who isn’t Thunder. Have Tyler Perry produce and you can easily make 30 Mil opening weekend. I’m telling you Warner Bros., don’t miss out on this financial opportunity.

At first glance, this solicit made me pause.

BLUE BEETLE #27
Written by Will Pfeifer;
Art and Cover by Rafael Albuquerque

Hold me closer, tiny demon! Blue Beetle and Traci 13 are just trying to have a normal date, but when that old black magic kicks up, there can’t be anything normal about it!

However, I have heard John Rogers had plans for another year, so I didn’t give it too much mind. He’s busy doing a TV show and they needed Will for a fill in. Cool as Ice. I don’t love Pfeifer but I do like a bit of his work enough not to mind a little pit stop. It’s not enough to make me drop a book from my pull like the sight of Bruce Jones is.

However, I saw this post.

Sigh. I know it’s for a better gig, but Rogers work on Blue Beetle is one of the few things I love at DC. I heard that I’m not the only one who loves Jaime and what Rogers does on the title, supposedly Geoff Johns is a fan. I wonder if there are any books Johns is leaving soon that may have ties to what Rogers is doing now?

I’ll tentatively keep this on my pull for now and hope it’s one of those situations where editorial lays off instead of leaning hard on him.

CHECKMATE #26
Written by Bruce Jones
Art and cover by Manual Garcia
“Chimera, ” by Bruce Jones (Hulk) and Manuel Garcia (COUNTDOWN) begins! Left for dead on a Middle East minefield, one soldier’s only chance to survive is as a test subject of a dangerous-but-invaluable project run by the Black King. Both the King’s wildest hopes and fears will be realized when the project takes a wrong turn, creating a fighter remarkably well-suited for supernatural battles!
On sale May 21 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

So, swapping out Young Liars for Checkmate. Shoot, is Trautmann busy or something? Bruce Jones? UGH. I got 3 months to warn my guy, but I hope this is just one issue of this guy.

Edit: And it looks like the team that I care for, Rucka, Trautmann, and Bennett are all off. Shit, there is only one thing to do after issue #25….

The Marvel shareholder’s conference call was released today, and I decided to take a listen… As a lay person, this is what I gleaned from it:

1) The publishing division is less important (financially at least) than their toy/merchandising division.

2) Interactive is really taking a back burner because…

3) They are betting the farm on Marvel Film Group. To the point of buying out previous licensing deals, which I think they bought back film deals to be able to do it themselves. The self-financing is only going so far, and they are borrowing to pay for post, and the studios are handling the advertising/distribution. They also mentioned “profit participation deals” cutting into profits a bit.

Other things of note. 2009 will only maaaybe have 1 film as opposed to the 2 outlined, due to the writer’s and possible actor’s strike. These possibly include Cap, Thor, Avengers. 2010 should have 2 as their schedule of 2 films per year.

They also mention a few other things, a stock buyback program, and a bullet point that seemed to be re-iterated. They want to be at the helm of all their franchises, and protect themselves from buyouts, which makes perfect sense. Studios have never really had any long term interests (i.e: beyond the sequel) in the longevity of any of these franchises, and therefore could be seen to maximize short-term profits, this was more apparent in the late eighties’ mid nineties, but Ghost Rider, Elektra and Daredevil’s seems like cash-out on capes short-term decisions taken in their developments.

Sounds like Marvel want to change that. However, *if* the Marvel Film Group is a success, what will it mean for the publishing division? What will failures mean? What about the fact that all of these characters are 40-60 years old? Shouldn’t the fact that there aren’t that many new characters coming out of the ranks worry them?