an icepick through the keyhole

It's funny. Over the last year I've been reading and paying more attention to comics than I have for the last five years or so, but I haven't really been talking about it much on this journal. I'm not sure why: maybe it's time I actually get off my ass and do that comic/pop culture musings blog I've been mulling over in my head.

But there are interesting rumblings happening in the mainstream comic industry - and for mainstream read Marvel and DC. It's no secret that there's been a portion of people my age who grew up with comic books who have been rather critical about the direction super-hero comics have taken in the last, oh, five or six years or so. For DC, it's been one descending mess after another, and calls for Dan DiDio's head have been getting louder and louder.

The current brouhaha is over Final Crisis, how it seems to contradict or outright ignore the events Countdown to Final Crisis (another continuity and quality nightmare) and Death of the New Gods, which were supposed to be lead-ins to it, and then the abrupt departure of Chuck Dixon from the DC stable. If your eyes are starting to glaze over, or you don't understand what the fuss might be about comic books, that's okay.

But if you have an idea, or are curious, here's a couple of interesting articles for you to read.

Comic Book Resources has an editorial by Greg Hatcher about said brouhaha

io9 has an article concerning rumours about a shake-up at DC.

I'm looking forward to Comic-Con a lot more now. If not the panels, the bar talk should really be interesting.