Look Who Isn’t Talking

Annnnnnd …. we’re back!

To be perfectly honest, your friendly neighborhood Keeper never intended to take the past week off. There were plenty of happenings on the blogonet that caught our interest and - if all were right with the world - should have inspired posts.

Occasional Superheroine wrote an impassioned post condemning Didio Comics and predicted a change of leadership for the beleaguered company.

Given the DC-centric spin of most comics blogs, such statements were bound to be challenged. The most notable responses, in fact, came from two of the more preeminent fan sites on the Web: Pretty Fizzy Paradise and Written World.

Diamondrock, one of the most stalwart DC fans out there, also condemn those who bemoan the “death of fun” in comics.

Normally, this sort of brouhaha is right up our alley. But each time the Keeper sat down to write, we found ourselves at a loss for words.

We dumped on DC months ago after most of the One Year Later titles were either canceled, delayed or waylaid by the newest wave of crappy cross-overs. The Keeper also found himself taking a second look at Marvel after the Q Continuum released a slew of excellent mini-series that had nothing to do with Civil War.

Your embarrassed host has condemned Mary Marvel’s Countdown appearances, expressed his disgust over Black Adam and followed Kara Zor-El through the depths of over-sexualized murk (an affliction that finally, FINALLY, was cured by Mrs. Keeper recently when she looked over some Kelly Super-grrrl titles and wondered why we wasted money on that garbage).

Really, what else is there to say? Our status as a disgruntled old fart should be well established by now.

When we opened the Fortress’ doors, the Keeper applauded DC’s attempt to clean up its universe and create modern titles that honored - rather than ran away from - the conventions that make comic books a unique art form. One Year Later was supposed to be the reward for the Identity and Infinite crises, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Meanwhile, a few creators over at the House of Ideas managed to side-step Joey Q’s infatuation with 24 and put out books like Nextwave, The Immortal Iron Fist, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane and World War Hulk - titles that, y’know, were actually fun.

Even a potentially dreary idea like The Order has proven more imaginative than expected. The combination of Strikeforce: Morituri’s “powers with a price” and X-Static’s celebrity heroes is potent, and any comic that features a Britney Spears clone clobbering a bear is OK by our estimation.

So what next? Do we turn our back on DC and go exclusively Marvel until the House Of Ideas inevitably screws up again??

(And don’t worry Fortress Fans. We still hate Joe Quesada - or at least his public persona.)

Nah. But it is time for a change.

From now on, we’ll attempt to focus on what we love about super-heroes and comics in general rather than rail endlessly about the mistreatment of beloved characters. Hey, comic book professionals state that no publicity is bad publicity when it comes to storylines.

Why fan the flames? From now on, we’ll just criticize by omission. So if you hear more around here about the Waid/Perez Brave & the Bold, Jeff Parker and - heck - even old Dazzler comics than Quesada, DiDio or Dark Mary Marvel … well, just make of it what you will.