Comments on: DC This Week: Titans #3, WW #21, Batman Confidential #18, Booster Gold #10

By: My Subscription Standings, or Why I Don’t Read More Superheroes » Comics Worth Reading

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:37:43 +0000

[...] used to like Booster Gold, Green Arrow/Black Canary, and The Brave and the Bold, but the books changed when the creative [...]

By: Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul

Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:08:36 +0000

[...] and this issue is a fine wrap-up to the arc of the past year. (Even if it didn’t address Johanna Carlson’s concerns, I think it’s still a nicely optimistic [...]

By: Chris G.

Chris G. — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:10:24 +0000

Johns’ writing is bizarre. On the one hand, you’ve got goofy ideas that 12-year olds might think were exciting like Orange Lanterns or Shadow Lass teaming up with Night Girl. And on the other, you’ve got a level of gore that’s completely wrong for mainstream superhero comics, like Superboy dismembering people and people gouging their own eye out and the like. (In fact, if you’re a character in a Geoff Johns comic, you might not HAVE an other hand, because Superboy probably ripped it off.)

By: Dan Coyle

Dan Coyle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:45:57 +0000

“I’m also very tired of superhero comics with the message, “no matter how hard you try, you can’t make a difference.” What kind of lesson is that?”

One Geoff Johns had beaten into him a long time ago, apparently.

And one that’s killing the DC universe very slowly.

By: James Schee

James Schee — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:03:12 +0000

Gail, I wonder if the TV show (on DVD in a few weeks woo!) plays some small part? It helps that its well written too. ( I stopped reading because of financial stuff, not quality)

Johanna, yup you were! Yet it is clear evidence that anything is changeable if the writer wants it to be. (in this case its even the same writer)

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:28:42 +0000

James, it’s a weird thing, but the bop trades are tremendously popular in libraries, I’m told. It’s apparently one of the reasons why they are constantly being reprinted.

My WW has not yet been collected, it’s going to be a hardback first, I believe!

Johanna, no worries, Jake. it’s the internet!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:19:50 +0000

Gail: me too kidding, sorry it didn’t come through that way.

James: ah. Another one I’m lucky to have missed. :)

By: James Schee

James Schee — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:06:39 +0000

Hal Jordan’s descent into madness and becoming Parallax, was explained as him being controlled by a being who embodied the emotion of fear. Which happened to look like a really big, yellow grasshopper.:)

Gail, since you’re popping in on this thread. Has your first WW arc been collected yet?

(I just saw today that the Houston library just got all of your BoP trades in, so I put in for an inter-library loan for them yay)

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:51:11 +0000

“Well, when it comes down to it, YOU’RE the one who matters. :)”

I was kidding, Johanna, I always enjoy your column, even when you don’t like my stuff that much. No worries. But yes, absolutely, I would be the one in the audience with my hand up, saying, “Yes, PLEASE mix Wonder Woman with failed Conan imitators!” I find that stuff very lively, but then, my affection for also-rans is pretty much limitless.

I’m frankly always amazed ANYONE likes my work, so there’s that to consider!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:45:11 +0000

Good analysis. It’s a “methinks they protest too much” king of situation, where working too hard to prove the point only undercuts it.

But I must be more out of it than I thought: yellow grasshopper?

By: James Schee

James Schee — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:25:56 +0000

I’m torn on Booster Gold, as I’ve really enjoyed seeing Ted Kord again. The interaction with Booster and the other characters has been pretty spot on for me.

On the other hand the storyarc as a whole isn’t working for me as I think the whole thing is built on a flimsy story in the first place. (the idea that Ted’s death is needed to make Superman, Batman and WW act like heroes is idiotic)

If the point of the storyarc turns out to be “hey Ted’s death had to happen!” it isn’t going to work. Since all I’m seeing is “darn, Ted really is a fun cool character, its a shame they killed him off.” And no story is concrete, or HAS to happen. Especially in a universe where a decade of stories can be undone by bringing in a yellow grasshopper.

Yet like Michael I’m hoping for a positive ending, but given how the other members of the JLI have been treated, I’m not overly optimistic.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:25:23 +0000

Well, when it comes down to it, YOU’RE the one who matters. :)

I’m sure I will wind up liking this arc much more by the end than I do now. I’m just hard to convince. (I know, duh.)

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:17:06 +0000

“Was anyone crying out for a mishmash of Amazon warrior with Conan?”

Me! ME! I was! ME! ME!

That’s ONE!

Gail

PS. I’d like to add that these are cheap Conan SUBSTITUTES, if you don’t mind. Hmmpph!

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:45:14 +0000

Oh, good point. I hadn’t thought about anticipating the bigger arc.

By: Michael Rawdon

Michael Rawdon — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:37:02 +0000

In defense of Booster Gold, which is nearing the end of the Johns/Katz run, it would certainly be in keeping with the tone of the series for it to reverse course on the “no matter how hard you try, you can’t make a difference” message. This is certainly the point in the story arc where all should be at its darkest.

Whether or not that’ll actually happen, I dunno, but you might be judging it a little too quickly on that score.

That said, I haven’t enjoyed the second arc as much as the first, either. Possibly because I find pretty much everything involved in Identity Crisis/Infinite Crisis/Final Crisis to be boring as hell, and revisiting Infinite Crisis is just like bringing the boring back for an encore.