Five Random Thoughts

I had intended to write a con report for Wizard World Philly this weekend, but the flu knocked me out of action. I can tell you, given my approximate 2 hours actively wandering the con floor before nearly passing out on Friday, that attendance was more sparse this year and that the dealers seemed to put emphasis on clearing out excess stock, whether it was the mountain of John McCain action figures going for a dollar or the table full of those "sold-out" Cap 600s going for $2.

So instead of a con report, let me try out a new format that I hope will actually get me to be a more regular contributor to this site.

1. Reading Final Crisis reminded me of reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Much of the key action occurred offstage. You'd see the stars gearing up for a battle, they'd run offstage, they'd return talking about what happened in the battle, then Santa Claus would appear from out of nowhere. Of course, if Bendis had written it, the action would have occurred center stage, but it would have been 150 issues long.
2. The use of President Obama to market and sell comics needs to stop. Now. It's unseemly and cheapens the office. And do you really want to use the first African-American president in the same way that DC used to use apes?
3. Will Magog even break into five digit sales? Was anyone really clamoring for this title?
4. It's very early in the game, but I have to echo the seemingly prevalent sentiment that the Dick Grayson Batman is working this time around. And Damian as Robin could work as long as he doesn't slip down the slippery slope into caricature that's currently threatening.
5. Could anyone have predicted that non-mythology Norse adventures would be a viable genre today before Northlanders and Viking came out?

Posted by JL Franke at June 21, 2009 10:53 PM