Another week, another collection of whatever. It's random thoughts time! Get excited!

Random Thought! It is currently Wednesday July 1 and it feels weird to not be buying comics today. It's Wednesday! I didn't always buy comics every Wednesday, but got into the habit when I began doing the Splash Page column with Tim Callahan, but, even then, I'd often buy comics on Thursday since that suited my schedule at the time more. Eventually, I shifted to Wednesday, in a big way because of my CBR reviewing gig. No comics until tomorrow though. Odd.

Random Thought! Was just on CBR's message board, which I check from time to time, mainly to see if one of my reviews get mentioned in the book's thread (only if I trash it, usually), and came across a thread about Black Summer where the writer praised artist Juan Jose Ryp and, then, wished that he could do Avengers or JLA or something like that. WHY??? What is with these people and their obsession that writers and artist service the corporate trademark characters instead of just doing new stuff? It constantly amazes me that this is how people think and I've been reading comics before I could actually read. If, using Ryp as the example here, he wants to go draw one of those books, good on him, but do we need to clamour for it? Can we not just appreciate his art on those Avatar books? Why must there be the not-so-subtle implication that the work he's currently doing with Warren Ellis is good and all, but not really worth appreciating, because it's not for Marvel or DC? I don't mean to single that poster out since his statement isn't new and it just happens to be the one that I saw today, but, come on, people! What even worse is that these people would actually be happier to see a guy like Ryp on an Avengers title written by oh let's say Tony Daniel since everyone seemed to dislike his writing on Battle for the Cowl than something original written by Warren Ellis. I hate comics sometimes.

Random Thought! As of today (still July 1), CBR has a poll up on their Cup O' Joe page that asks "Which of These X-Men Deserve Their Own Ongoing Series?" The options: Iceman, Warpath, Hellion, Cannonball, Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers), and Chamber. I want a 'none of the above' option, if only because, well, none of these characters deserve their own ongoing series because no character really does. But, beyond that, none of these characters could support an ongoing series. They could support a limited series that began as an ongoing series until the sales came in and, surprise surprise, the results are not good. When well-known X-characters can't support ongoing series, what chance do any of the D-list ones have? And, yes, despite being a founding member of the X-Men, Iceman is a D-list character.

Random Thought! I was very amused/dismayed at the reaction to the idea that Marvel raised the prices on some books to $3.99 (US) in order to make a larger profit. Marvel is a business -- what do you expect them to do? If they aren't trying to make more money every day, then they would be a rather ass-backwards business, don't you think?

Random Thought! Oh, and comics are luxury items, not necessities. If you don't want to pay $3.99 (US) for a comic then don't. And that's not me suggesting you download books you don't buy or anything illegal, that's me saying that if you're not willing to pay for it, don't buy the comic and learn to *GASP!* not read that comic each month.

Random Thought! Also, Americans, remember that pretty much everyone else in the world has been paying more for their comics for many, many years, (The Monarchy #5 from September 2001, for example, cost $2.50 US/$4.25 Canadian) and we feel little sympathy for your bitching over this price increase that we feel more. For every dollar the American price goes up, I pay, what, somewhere between $1.10 and $1.20 more. And, as a Canadian, I'm lucky to have one of the more favourable exchange rates -- and you don't hear me bitching about the price increases (and, no, me pointing out the difference is not bitching, it's stating a fact).

Random Thought! I didn't buy Cry for Justice #1 and feel like I'm missing out even though I'd certainly hate it and rue wasting my money on it. I mentioned this on Twitter and David Uzumeri responded, "It's like finding out you missed a crazy party, except it was crazy because the host publicly nailed his dick to a baby's balls." Except what he doesn't know is that I tend to hate all parties. Every single one of them. And, yet, if a friend is having one, I'll go, because I'm afraid I'll miss something. I never have a good time, I always consider it a waste of my time, but if I don't go, I can't but feel that I've missed out on something that I should have experienced. That's Cry for Justice #1.

Random Thought! People in the range of Detroit/Windsor may know about Jack Van Impe, but he is my favourite TV preacher, because it doesn't matter what's going on in the world, it means the Second Coming is going to happen next week. A poli-sci professor in undergrad showed us some footage from his show back when the Berlin Wall came down and how that was a sign that Jesus was a'comin' and the guy is just a joy to watch. Particularly when he prays to Jesus and you get the impression that the guy loves Jesus in a way that you wish you could love someone. Plus, his wife's name is Rexella. How has that name not shown up in a comic yet? But, yeah, Jack Van Impe: quite entertaining.

Random Thought! I'm not doing those "Judging Books by Their Covers" posts anymore. It's a hassle, man. Both Marvel and DC put out 70-90 comics each month and maybe 15 of those comics have covers worth discussing. I didn't enjoy doing the posts and can't muster up the energy to do so. Sorry. (Besides, Brian's top ten list posts are MUCH better.)

Random Thought! I want to verbally assault anyone who didn't buy the $1 Greek Street #1 last week (especially if you're the type to bitch about the price of comics), but it wasn't that great. Still, worth checking out in case you wind up digging it. I think the promotion is a good one.

Random Thought! If you combined Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 and Uncanny X-Men #513 into one comic, you'd have a very good beginning to a story. Apart, they both drag. I was reading Uncanny and thought, "Damn, this is how Utopia should have ended!"

Random Thought! Top Cow preparing three different covers for an issue so as to not spoil a big plot point is a good idea, but am I the only one very disturbed that they have three female characters with the exact same bodies? I know, I know, old joke about women in comics, but seriously... shouldn't there be at least some difference between these three women? Or is this Top Cow's subtle admission that all women in their books are actually clones with slightly altered faces?

Random Thought! As Tucker Stone said this week: "when comics aren't sold in the serial format, they'll get reviewed as full stories. until then, grow the fuck up." I agree with him 100%.

Random Thought! While I admire all of those who only want to be positive and say nice things about comics, I've always come from the perspective that accentuating the positives is nice, but pointing out the horrible is how things get changed.

Random Thought! The DCU amazes me as it seems every couple of years, one of the books does a story where a hero has had enough of this waiting for supervillains to commit crimes shit and decides to be all proactive -- only for the other heroes to stop them, deliver many speeches and eventually convince them that that's the wrong way to go about being a hero. The best part? Never the same hero(es) doing it. It's an odd, never-ending cycle of people who, two years ago, thought attacking people without direct provocation was evil now thinking that's the only way to solve problems, while the hero they stopped from doing the same thing then is now trying to stop them.

Random Thought! Would it be better if Lex Luthor were more like Victor Newman or if Victor Newman were more like Lex Luthor?

Random Thought! Watch CBR later this week for something cool involving myself and Tim Callahan.

Random Thought! Wednesday Comics, people! YAY!

Random Thought! Rob Liefeld's reaction to Peter David making Shattershot gay is interesting. The most common reaction is to attack Liefeld because his views can't help but seem anti-gay, but that's a simplistic reaction not really worth getting into. As the creator of the character, he obviously has a specific view of the character and if that view isn't one where the character is gay, then that's his view and there's a lot of legitimacy in that view. But, he also hasn't handled the character in years and it is a character owned by Marvel, so what right does he really have with regards to it? The best way to view this situation is to think of it as a change to a character that goes against its creator's wishes, ignoring what the change is, because the change in question obviously stirs up many very personal reactions. Even thinking about that, I can't help but view Liefeld's comments as rather reactionary and, almost, laughable. It's Marvel's character and he's smart enough to know that any sense of ownership he has is misplaced. He, along with others, started Image because he learned that lesson. I'm not sure why he would make these statements, mostly because of the possible interpretation that he's being anti-gay, but also because he should know better.

Random Thought! It's not a "devaluing of death" when the character doesn't actually die and was always meant to return in the near future. Then it's just a plot twist as part of a larger story.

Random Thought! After Tony Daniel's writing on Battle for the Cowl made him a critical darling across the internet, how could DC not tap him to write Batman? Oh wait--!

Random Thought! That said, at this point, do people see Tony Daniel as a step up or a step down from Judd Winick?

Random Thought! It's time for another story idea from my "Random Company Ideas Archive" file. This time, it's the idea for a six-issue mini called "Justice Legion A: One Million Crises in Infinite Systems" and try to ignore that, when I conceived of this idea, my knowledge of DC history/continuity wasn't that great. I know, this doesn't line up with Crisis on Infinite Earths really, but... I don't care. Enjoy.

It’s just another day in the 853rd century and then certain parallel realities begin to disappear from the Hypertime continuum. One by one, all of the Justice Legion A’s allies from across Hypertime are dropping away and that is when Superman Prime has vague memories of this happening before. A Hypertime reboot is occurring once again and the Justice Legion A has to fight against the Anti-Monitor, the being responsible for the convergences of realities. But how can they defeat a being that cannot be defeated? They can’t and then a reboot occurs and we are given the new Justice Legion Alpha, led by a rookie hero named Superman, an orphan from Earth who is powered by the sun. But what happens when Hourman does not fit into the new reality and the entire Hypertime begins to collapse? The only hope is that another reboot can occur, but the new Anti-Monitor hasn’t been born yet. Can a rookie Superman lead his Justice Legion Alpha to not only destroy the current Hypertime, but also ensure a new one is created in the process?

Random Thought! Another Pilot Season! Hasn't only one of the four past winning books actually gotten a series? I still love the idea, wish the follow through was better.

Random Thought! And let's end this week with my choosing my favourite comic from last week. That seems like a good way to end these posts, right? Well, my choice this week is Batman and Robin #2, surprising no one at all. I may as well also point you to a a post I did last week on GraphiContent where I did a top ten list for halfway through 2009 just to give an indication what the first half fo the year has been like as well as mention a few possible books that I could see cracking the top ten before the year is out and I do the final list. See you next week.