tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post472864884890543968..comments2024-03-27T08:49:38.786-03:00Comments on Siskoid's Blog of Geekery: Superman Unchained, Unfolded and UnderwhelmingSiskoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-48604703868117002352013-06-18T18:26:43.811-03:002013-06-18T18:26:43.811-03:00Always a pleasure :).Always a pleasure :).Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-2148165260208977052013-06-18T18:20:42.496-03:002013-06-18T18:20:42.496-03:00Thanks for the plug dude. :)Thanks for the plug dude. :)Paul Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14139741602510560760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-70452587106369933912013-06-18T10:00:44.542-03:002013-06-18T10:00:44.542-03:00I think that's part of the sacred cow problem....I think that's part of the sacred cow problem. Jim Lee works on high profile books because second and third tier books are beneath him. If you wrote your own ticket, would you pick natural big sellers, or low-sales non-starters? Remember, your contract pays you a bonus based on number of copies sold.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-39176869031244386452013-06-18T09:37:19.333-03:002013-06-18T09:37:19.333-03:00Wondering: if Jim Lee is so good for sales, why ke...Wondering: if Jim Lee is so good for sales, why keep putting him on projects that will sell well anyway? Why not put him on some low-selling titles, to try and boost them?snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181997862745538999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-42393350765228524752013-06-18T09:21:42.883-03:002013-06-18T09:21:42.883-03:00Snell: Correct. Even this first issue has a 2-page...Snell: Correct. Even this first issue has a 2-page fill-in epilogue.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-43098119258296180392013-06-18T09:21:15.159-03:002013-06-18T09:21:15.159-03:00Won't Bruce already have been to college by Ze...Won't Bruce already have been to college by Zero Year? Oh I guess in the flashbacks.<br /><br />As with Unchained, what is problematic about Zero Year (damn it I keep wanting to write Year Zero) is the New52 set-up. Expressly saying Bruce wasn't Batman yet a mere 6 years ago reinforces the whole too-many-Robins thing when it would have been so simple to say 5 years ago (Justice League #1) was when superheroes went public, with Batman operating for a while in secret before then. A while being more than a year, surely. But Snyder makes the best of an editorial decision, which I suppose is the key to his success at DC.<br /><br />Unchained's emphasis on splashy art, super-science Daily Planet and overuse of secret organizations (to get around the fact superheroes shouldn't exist more than 5 years ago) are all New52 tropes I suppose one has to work with.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-84924952208516706712013-06-18T09:20:07.813-03:002013-06-18T09:20:07.813-03:00Brave heart, Siskoid--Jim Lee is annoying but shor...Brave heart, Siskoid--Jim Lee is annoying but short-winded. Soon we'll have regular fill-in artists, and then he'll move off to the next "big" project that DC wants to give an artificial boost to...snellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06181997862745538999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-90701525781738782282013-06-18T09:00:50.718-03:002013-06-18T09:00:50.718-03:00I'm writer-first as well, and will tolerate ju...I'm writer-first as well, and will tolerate just about any degree of bad art, provided it succeeds in telling the story. (I started reading DC in the era when your choices were Don Heck, Dick Dillin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, or Carmine Infantino in his cube-head phase. So I learned to roll with the art.)<br /><br />Speaking of "Batman: Zero Year", I will be disappointed if Bruce Wayne didn't go to college. The Goddamn Batman knows things, it's part of his super powers. He's not going to be any good against the Riddler if, say, the Riddler can say "April 5 1945" and Batman doesn't pick up on it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-72729070326981267842013-06-18T08:48:43.999-03:002013-06-18T08:48:43.999-03:00Nice catch, and yes, that would be a good way of k...Nice catch, and yes, that would be a good way of keeping history intact while also putting superhumans in the mix.<br /><br />Like you, I did enjoy the story, at least, as a script. Snyder gives Superman some inventive uses for his powers, writes an excellent point of view for the Man of Steel, and believable or not, I loved Lois' ad negotiation with Perry.<br /><br />But when I look at the artistry in the first chapter of Batman's Zero Year, how things are hidden and revealed, there's a definite sense for me that the finished product doesn't fulfill the script's potential.<br /><br />Always been a writer-first comics reader, I guess.Siskoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08266365376486695812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940560.post-12205351790050920082013-06-18T08:38:11.965-03:002013-06-18T08:38:11.965-03:00In full agreement about the artistic criticisms, a...In full agreement about the artistic criticisms, and how they've recast Lois Lane as a hooker who works in the Enterprise's stellar cartography department. I would have been much happier seeing her working at a desk with more monitors that can comfortably fit and a few different keyboards. Also, wearing pants.<br /><br />That said, I loved the story, or rather, it feels like a "right" place to start the series. Not a whole lot happened plot-wise, except that we got to see Superman being the "real" Superman for the first time in nu52, and the first signs of a mystery are afoot. (When I say "real" I mean the confident, competent, reassuring figure that Superman is "supposed" to be in my head, and probably other people's heads too.)<br /><br />Insert inevitable comparison to the first issue of Snyder's "Batman" arc, which introduced a dark counterpart to Batman who has been working in secret for years.<br /><br />But ... didja notice that they got the date on Nagasaki wrong? Nagasaki was bombed on August 9, 1945. If Snyder got the date "wrong", I bet it's a clue that Snyder can cash in on later -- and it will turn out that Nagasaki was bombed, in part, to cover up atrocities that Mystery Government Mystery Man X had been committing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com