BLOGGERIN' TIME: A TIME TO CLOBBER: MY COMIC BOOK MANIFESTO: EPISODE ONE

The following is one of old myspace blogs. Just some of my basic views on comics.

COMIC BOOKS: I have been collecting these silly things for going on FOUR DECADES!!! (Yes, you'd think I'd have grown out of them by now!;=) Actually, after multitudinous attempts by various Marvel and DC editors to put me off of this wonderful art-form over the years, DC finally hit the target, and with their insipid "New 52!" and I now find myself frequenting the local comic shop less and less. m still hitting the comic shop every week, spending WAY TOO MUCH MONEY! Still, as long as there are trees on this pale blue orb we call Earth, I guess I'll STILL grab a new book, here and there. It's not as though I don't WANT more worth while comics to come out. It's just that the big two don't really cater to my demographic these days.

So; as I was saying: COMIC BOOKS! There are, contrary to popular belief, absolutes in life. But, LIFE is not the topic here. There are ALSO absolutes in comics! Well, at least for ME there are;-) To mention but a few of these truths': I'll start with the BIGGEST: JACK KIRBY IS GOD!!! He is, without a doubt, the SINGLE GREATEST CREATIVE FORCE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS MEDIUM! Of, course, Jack was above all else, a humble man, and as such, would have wanted me to add that there are many others who deserve a great deal of credit and indeed admiration for advancing this field!

So, in honor of Jack; I will now list the names of some of comic's greatest creators:

Gil Kane, Alex Raymond, Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Bill Finger, Wil Eisner, Julius Schwartz, Alan Moore, Burne Hogarth, Joe Kubert, Bill Everett, Carl Bourgos, Steve Dittko, Gardner Fox, Neal Adams, Jim Steranko, Barry Winsdor Smith, Curt Swan, Wally Wood, Alex Toth, John Romita Sr., C. C. Beck, Otto Binder...to name a few. That was just a short list of GIANTS! There are, of course, a great many others who have done wonderful work.

When it comes to comics, I am, admittedly a bit on the "childish" side. That's not to denigrate comics as a "childish" medium. I'll leave that to the ignorant critics who never actually read them. Comics can tell all sorts of stories: Super-Heroes may dominate the racks in most comics shops, but this great art-form is nothing, if not versatile.

So, when I talk comics, it just so happens that I am mainly interested in the Super-Hero/fantasy genre. That's just ME. I love the fact that words & pictures can combine to tell so many different kinds of tales. I'm just more interested in myth, and the power of the human imagination. That's why I love these things so much.

What I meant by "childish" is simply this: I know it is looked down upon in this "enlightened" day and age, but I HATE change for the sake of, well, CHANGE! Of course, not all change is bad. That's not what I'm talking about here. To make my point, I'll go back to the first (or, at least WORST!) big "CHANGER" in the comics biz. John ("Nothing ever happened to SUPERMAN unless I SAY SO!") Byrne! I'm sorry, but I just HATE revisionist PRICKS like Byrne! He was the ORIGINAL, (UH, UN-ORIGINAL, that is) WORLD CHAMPION REVISIONIST JAGG-OFF OF ALL TIME!!! Byrne, oh, Byrne, oh how do I HATE THEE, let me COUNT THE WAYS...well, maybe another time.

Back on point, (well, sorta) I FUCKING HATE IT when TALENTLESS HACKS think they must re-write a character's history, change a character's costume, and OR make a character "go bad" all because they lack the ability (talent) to create a good story with what is already in front of them!

Byrne, and PUKES like him, have no qualms about screwing with characters that they DID NOT CREATE! (Like, SUPERMAN, FF, and Spider-Man, to name a few of Byrne's transgressions) Hey, if Kirby had done all kinds of crazy things with the FF, well, whether I liked it or not, HE CREATED THE FANTASTIC FOUR! They were HIS to do with whatever he liked! The fact that Marvel and Stan (The LYING MAN) Lee (HE'S a DIFFERENT BLOG ALTOGETHER!) screwed him out of the rights, doesn't change a THING (NO PUN...well...OK, YES PUN!;-) If Siegel & Shuster decided to crap on Superman, the way Byrne did, well, I may not like it, but at least Supes was THEIR FRIGGIN' CREATION!!!

Re-writing a character's history, or changing things just for the sake of changing things requires NO FUCKING TALENT! Anyone can do it! Just look at any Marvel or DC book right now. Although, I must admit that there seems to be a few writers out there who have an appreciation for the good stuff these days! (i.e.; Pre-Crisis DC!;=) Geoff Johns seems to like the classic stuff. He could walk up to me and whack me across the face with a baseball bat (I'm sure you'd ALL LOVE THAT ABOUT NOW!;-) and I'd still want to shake his hand; because he brought Hal Jordan back!

Well, where was I...oh, hell...looks like I lost focus a bit...happens when ya get old, mate. that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it! I have MANY other strong beliefs about comics and such, and I shall return soon to spew them later. Are you actually still reading this? If you are, then, thanks! If not, well..wait, if you're NOT reading this...uh...well...oh, never mind...