Katar, you say the sweetest things!
Archive for July 27th, 2006
27
Jul
Welcome To My Nightmare
The always insightful Progressive Ruin posted an intriguing theory this week on why comix fans collect titles they don’t particularly enjoy.
Citing fans’ near super-human levels of patience - particularly when it comes to favorite characters - the author recalled his own dedication to the 1980s Firestorm, even though most of the issues weren’t all that good.
Things, he reasoned, had to get better at some point, right?
Over at his own fine blog, CalvinPitt picked up the thread by comparing comics fans to loyal followers of such hapless sports franchises as the Arizona Cardinals.
Similarly, Daniel from An Ear - in the Fireplace! opined on the story-lines that finally drove him away from Spider-Man.
In each instance, a somewhat smug Fortress Keeper clucked sympathetically and recalled his own devotion to Supergirl - a fixation that was finally broken by the terrible, terrible seventh issue of the character’s current series.
So when your hapless host saw the latest issue of Supergirl at Lee’s Comics, he snorted derisively at yet another T&A cover, quickly paged through the book and … added it to his buy pile.
WTF, you ask? Is this the same Fortress Keeper who instituted a two-issue rule for wack comics?? The same self-righteous blogger who dropped New Avengers, Flash: Fastest Man Alive, Green Arrow and the admittedly decent Annihilation maxi-series without a second thought?
Well, yeah…but this is Supergirl!
It’s a lot like the Keeper’s equally inexplicable support of Barry Bonds. The guy’s a jerk who probably did take steroids, but your host can’t really condemn the left-fielder because, well, he plays for the Giants.
As others have pointed out, a fan gets so used to following a certain team (or comic-book character) that he or she can never truly turn away from the object of affection.
Does it make sense? No.
Is it healthy, Probably not, but that’s just the way it is.
If anybody is wondering, Supergirl #8 was terrible. The evil Kal-El in Kandor turned out to be the pre-Crisis Ultraman from Earth-3 and Kara 2.0’s memories are an insane jumble.
Nothing else really made sense, but at least there wasn’t any gratuitous nudity. At this point, the Keeper will take any improvement he can get.
Will the book ever get better? Perhaps, although the title’s continued success probably won’t push DC to make any radical changes soon.
Writer Joe Kelly, who has done little of consequence since his classic run on Deadpool, has yet to demonstrate any real affinity for new-Kara.
Maybe he’ll build an actual character out of the walking cipher that’s currently front and center, but a future team-up with the wretched Outsiders doesn’t bode well.
And yes, Supergirl & The LSH is a great book. But the Keeper would love to see Supergirl portrayed equally well in her own title.
But either way, it apparently won’t make a difference because this poor reader is going to settle in for the long haul. Unless that AA group for comics addicts ever gets underway …
