I know. To hear him talking or read interviews with him, there's no doubt he's clever. Yet what he seems to need is an editor with the balls to ask 'Why can't you just tell a straight story?'.

Arkham Asylum probably stands out because it would have been shocking at time of release, or at least somewhat in tune with what Miller had started. I remember laughing my head off at some of it's dark humour. Same with Killing Joke. I really enjoyed them as I'd read them without the hype; I was just reading anything Batman-related back then (I was late to the comics world, in my early 20s, started with a UK copy of Batman Legends). Both comics also had very unique styles and/or stand-out moments that are incredibly rare now. Now the best you can hope for are individual moments in a given arc. Far too much emphasis is placed on individual writers like Snyder these days. I'm not saying he or anyone else isn't talented, but there's no room for manoeuvre then for fans or other writers, and entire years can go by...

ION, there was apparently an article in the Indy that Marvel is set to push for digital-only publication short of TPBs or collector editions. That would be disastrous and I doubt it will happen*. Though I'm sure that's partly what Amazon's Comixology purchase was about.

* Comic book stores and MASSIVE events are still around for a reason

Amazon nixes Comixology iTunes and Google Play in-app purchases

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... ay-1245548

Must update.

About to open at the British Library:

Comics Unmasked
Art and Anarchy in the UK
2 May – 19 August 2014

Featuring such iconic names as Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and Posy Simmonds (Tamara Drewe), this exhibition traces the British comics tradition back through classic 1970s titles including 2000AD, Action and Misty to 19th-century illustrated reports of Jack the Ripper and beyond.

More info on the British Library site here.

Anything that brings comics to Joe Average or those who have walked away is to be welcomed IMO.

That's one of the worst graphics I've ever seen.

So, uh, anyone heard the news about the plans for Wolverines? Knowing the spoiler sensitive audience here, I'd suggest you refrain from Googling if you don't already know.
Which sounds dumb, I know.

Googled it. Not impressed but not surprised either.

They did it recently with Batman knowing damn well it would never last and that they were gonna reboot the whole DCU anyway. They even fcuked that up, keeping elements of the past but still having major characters meet anew and so on. Not at all confusing. Marvel have essentially rebooted all their major characters recently IIRC.

Mind you, DC had no choice really; Grant Morrison had been allowed to run riot with too many big name characters for one thing.

One of the Fatman on Batman podcasts had an interview with DC co-publisher Dan DiDio in which he talks about the New 52 Relaunch. It all comes down (amongst other lesser factors) to DC meeting with comics retailers to discuss what their future direction would be. What seems to have struck DiDio was that many of the retailers said that they didn't think they would still be in business in a year's time. Sales were dropping across the board.

DC decided to do something dramatic and decided to reboot their entire line. Funnily enough, DiDio and co-publisher Jim Lee didn't want to reboot Superman/Action Comics or Batman/Detective Comics. A marketing executive said that they had to go all-or-nothing or it looked like DC were frightened! That's why every comic - and yes they did have to push it to get 52 comics rebooted - started again in terms of numbering.

And it has worked. I read more comics now than I have done in the last 15 years, and this is largely due to the DC and Marvel NOW! reboots. Some like Spiderman and The Hulk have been very good though everything Marvel-side is swamped by the sheer number of Avengers titles. Only one of these has been worth following as far as I'm concerned and that was Avengers Arena which was an entertaining Battle Royale scenario that killed off a lot of subsidiary characters.

Now, it seems Marvel are re re-booting titles like Spiderman and Hulk which appear to be renumbering from No.1 again....

In terms of mainstream DC and the New 52, I read Batman (I often have no idea what's new canon or simply outside mainstream continuity here), Superman (same deal), and Justice League (same again).

I've got entire collections of digital New 52 Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing and feck knows what else I haven't even started yet - I like to break from DC since I read so much of their output, and so I also read lots of Dynamite and IDW stuff for example (TMNT, Doc Savage, Dredd, Red Team etc).

I want to go back to Marvel in a big way* but currently the only recent thing I'm reading is Empire of the Dead, cos I'll wind up going nuts trying to keep track of DC and Marvel's respective wider universes.

* Certainly been enjoying some of the older stuff from the last two decades, mostly villain-related.

I read a couple of issues and thought it was terrible. Is it actually worth revisiting?

No idea, only skimmed it quickly. It seems popular though, maybe down to the wider DCU effect.

Marvel Now! reboot, part 1.

Just thought it might be worth doing a quick look at some of the Marvel reboots. The Indestructible Hulk is one of the titles that seems to have been directly influenced by Marvel's movies. Here, Banner offers his destructive capabilities as the Hulk to SHIELD to use as an aimed weapon in return for giving him whatever he needs to continue his research. So he is installed in a state-of-the-art lab, given his choice of assistants and left to follow whatever useful path his mind takes him down. Now and then, the Hulk's services are required and deployed as necessary.

What helps set the first few issues apart is Leinil Yu's stunning artwork. His detailed, realistic and dramatic illustrations really set Hulk apart from other comics and the story is as entertaining as you could reasonably expect given the set up, which is a good one.



After about 5 issues, the art was handed over to a succession of other illustrators none of whom are as much to my liking as Leinil Yu. The story arc remained interesting though and much better than the simplistic Hulk tales of old. The initial run of 20 issues has now ended and re-rebooted as 'Hulk' starting from No.1 again(!). It certainly bowed out in style by having an assassin shoot Bruce Banner twice in the head leaving him with severe brain damage and I'll stick with this run for a little while longer to see how they resolve this. I'm not keen on the art though so I may bail out soon.

All in all, Indestructible Hulk is worth a look - particularly the first few issues with Yu's art.