Heroes and Villains

Hero of the Week: DC Comics for hiring Brad Meltzer to write Justice League of America. Not only will the super-team’s comic be returning to its classic and much more exciting title, DC’s chosen a writer for it who’s consistently shown his ability to tell significant, perception-altering stories. Getting him to commit to doing it for 12-issues is icing on the cake.

Villain: Alias and DB Pro for their public bickering. Professionals in any industry will have problems with each other; deals will go sour. The difference is that it usually stays behind closed doors. Alias press releases have become the online equivalent of The Jerry Springer Show, airing unbelievably dirty laundry for the entertainment, and ultimate shame, of everyone. Unfortunately, D Pro and most of Alias’s other former partners are content to do the same thing in return, leaving us with a story with no good guys.

Hero: Marvel for making Civil War sound interesting. Yes, there will be – and has already been – criticism that they’re following a few steps behind DC in theme, but does that really matter? The execution will be entirely different and the important thing is that we’re getting a hero vs. hero battle (and who honestly doesn’t love one of those?) over something that actually matters instead of the cliché “first meeting misunderstanding.” The first issue hasn’t even come out and I’ve already picked my side. Have you?

Villain: DC for milking Infinite Crisis for a couple of more mini-series. After six (including Identity Crisis and The Return of Donna Troy) introductory mini-series and countless one-shots and tie-ins, DC now tells us that we still won’t be getting the entire story and will need to also purchase a six-part Battle for Blüdhaven and a three-issue Spectre mini-series. Listen, I’m more excited than the next guy for “One Year Later,” but enough is enough.

Hero: Marvel writers for "compressing" stories again. I don’t even care who’s idea it was, I just appreciate the recent (and reportedly future) lack of padding out stories so that they’ll fit into a six-issue trade paperback.

Hero: DC for nabbing Kurt Busiek as an exclusive. It’s sad to see him leave Conan, but news of Mike Mignola and then Tim Truman’s replacing him is good. And I haven’t been actually interested in an Aquaman comic in… well, forever. What sucks for long-time Aquaman fans is good for the rest of us.