* The Comics Blogosphere in two sentences:
The writer J. Caleb Mozzocco notes the wind-down of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe effort, and points to The Ultimates Volume Three as perhaps the worst comic book ever. He starts reviewing individual issues with #1.
* Corporate superhero comics in one sentence:
This summer Marvel Comics is in the process of ending their Ultimate line of comics, with the intention of relaunching the line as Ultimate Comics.
* I think Heidi MacDonald’s MoCCA wrap-up is particularly worth reading after Kiel Phegley’s report for CBR. Heidi’s welcome point is that the show had serious problems that need serious fixes. However, dig the quotes that Kiel collects from MoCCA museum director Karl Erickson on the show’s inability to open on time on Saturday:
“It was one of those crisis of being much more successful than we anticipated…A lot more exhibitors had shipped their books to us so it took a lot longer to load up the truck. And in a New York summer, there were all sorts of street festivals on our planned route here, so those two things combined [caused the delay].”
…and on the oppressive heat in the venue:
“We’re sorry about the heat as this happens in the city in the summer with thousands of people in one room.”
They seem to treat obvious facts of life for the show (it’s popular and it takes place in the summer in New York) as excuses for this year’s screw-ups rather than easily anticipatable and surmountable factors that should never have been allowed to become screw-ups in the first place. Now, these quotes were taken from day-of on-the-floor interviews as far as I know, so maybe MoCCA officials hadn’t gotten a sense of the big picture yet. And my guess is that after arguably the first bad post-show buzz MoCCA has ever experienced (because seriously, this show is usually MAGIC), Erickson and the other honchos will take a much closer look at things. But for now those quotes, and a similar vibe Heidi says she detected, don’t exactly inspire confidence.
* Tim O’Neil expands upon his previously stated fondness for the Star Wars prequels. You know, the more I think about this the more torn I feel. I don’t hate the movies at all, I enjoyed them all a lot (particularly Revenge of the Sith), I think they all have moments of great visual poetry and usually in that “spectacular representation of emotion” way I love so much, yet they seem to obviously lack a certain spark that the first three movies had no matter how much you can pick apart elements of the prequels for praise. I can say they’ve never made me regret getting that Rebel Alliance insignia tattoo back in ’97, though.
* Torture Links of the Day: The Lieberman-Graham legislation to permanently suppress the release of more detainee photos has been squashed, so Lieberman and Graham are threatening to shut down the Senate until it’s un-squashed. I guess that in much the same way as sex is something so dirty and sinful you should only do it with someone you love, “enhanced interrogation techniques” are so legal and effective and in tune with America’s values that we should never allow any evidence of them to see the light of day?
What was interesting to NOT read in Kiel’s discussion with Erickson are possible solutions on how things can be done differently. One thing I’ve always read and respected about SDCC is that they can admit something didn’t work out but that they will work to fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
I think a smart move for MoCCA would be to offer exhibitors from this past festival a lower registration cost for next year. It doesn’t seem right to increase it at all.
Personal to Evan Dorkin
Okay, fine, “churlish” is a funny word. But if you take another look at my post both before and I dropped the c-bomb, you’ll see that your beef with the Armory’s appearance was the only place where I disagreed with…