§ Marc-Oliver Frisch has some thoughts on The Amazon Best-Seller List.
§ Graeme McMillan has some thoughts on WEDNESDAY COMICS.
§ Dan Nadel has some thoughts on THE HUNTER by Darwyn Cooke.. As many have noted, it’s by far the most negative review of a book that has sold well — it’s going into a second printing — and received glowing reviews elsewhere. We’re quoting the end of the review even though that isn’t really kosher:
I read The Hunter within a few weeks of reading Melvin Monster by John Stanley. Granted, this is a very odd comparison, but stay with me. The material in Melvin Monster was drawn around the same time as The Hunter was written, and Stanley’s verve and control are not unlike Stark’s. Stanley’s storytelling is clear but never didactic, his drawing has a palpable flourish to it, and his stories are consistently funny and surprising. What more do you want from a comic that has to play within certain genre rules? On a formal level seems to have done everything Cooke is trying to do, and with a light touch, too. Cooke wants to make classic, mid-century comics, but seems too rooted in the trappings of storyboards and animation short-hand to allow himself to pare down, simplify, and let the story tell itself.
To be fair, pretty much EVERYONE comes up short against Stanley in marrying economy and subtlety. While we may disagree with some of Nadel’s analysis, this is a real example of why most comics/graphic novels “reviews” are far, far removed from criticism at any practical level. The piece should be read by anyone who feigns to write reviews. Cooke is, by almost every definition, a top-level artist and storyteller, but looking at his work with more context and subtext serves a very important function.
§ Douglas Wolk is now handicapping the week’s comics at Comics Alliance, automatically making it one of the weekly comics previews you MUST read.
§ Frenchman Louis Leterrier, who directed the last HULK movie, explains why Captain America is not for him, even though he’d love to make an Avengers movie:
GB: Well do a bit of daydreaming; which characters would appeal to you most?
LL: Well frankly I’d love to do the Avengers. But there are so many great ones in the Marvel world. I would have loved to have done “Iron Man,” that is an amazing character. And it’s all because of Kevin – finding Jon [Favreau, the director] to do that movie, there were people that were surprised. They asked, “Why Jon?” And look at the result. I talked to Marvel about “Thor” at one point but I didn’t want to do Thor. It wasn’t something I read growing up, really, it wasn’t one of the books I loved. Now the new stuff, the [J. Michael] Straczynski stuff, that is great. But before you get to that you have to go back to the old stuff, the genesis and that’s not what I wanted to do. Captain America I love and that would be great but, c’mon, a Frenchman doing Captain America? They would burn my passport.
§ Is Hal Jordan confused about his feelings for Bruce Wayne? Signs point to yes.
§ Guess who this article is about! Ont.-raised comic-book creator on the verge of Hollywood stardom
§ J. Caleb Mozzocco goes through one of the worst things a comics lover can go through. Send him some good thoughts!
I like how Bryan’s very talented partner is simply referred to as, “an American girl”.