6 Things Not to Hate This Year

I find myself constantly compelled to look on the sunny side of things.  I’m feeling optimistic about comics today.  Sure, there is no shortage of problems both creatively and industry-wide, but lets take a break from that for a bit and look at the things that are somehow going right in the world of comics.  I won’t be so cliché as to suggest they are things for which you should be thankful, so let’s just call this post the Six Things Not to Hate This Year. 

Today's guest post is by one Jeremy Whitley.  He's a blogger and burgeoning writer Firetower Studios with a love for comics whom you can read more from at his blog, Stylistic Nonsense, or by following on Twitter @jrome58.



Six Things Not to Hate This Year

1. The Creator Owned Project

I’ll be the first to admit that my pull list has often consisted of the finer (and sometimes the lesser) creations of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Bob Kane. Don’t get me wrong, I fully respect your love for Batgirl or your man-crush on Thor, but there is nothing better than sitting down with an artistic team and letting them take you for a complete ride. Call me optimistic, but it seems like there’s no better time for the creator than now. Take one of my personal favourites, the new creator owned series, Chew.

Chew is one of the most colorful and original works of graphic fiction to come out of any studio in a long time. The pace at which it has gained its own fandom is proof enough. The fact that a book like Chew is on the shelves and successful should tell the companies and creators out there one thing - go for it!

I know there are plenty of creators out there willing to take that chance. I’ve shared booths with them at conventions. I’ve spent a half an hour just sitting at their tables and talking about their work. Hopefully, companies get the message, especially with some of the lackluster sales they’ve seen in the last year. The audience is there, you just have to give them something they can sink their teeth into. And if you haven’t had a chance to get ahold of some great creator owned masterpieces, let me suggest a few:

• Y: The Last Man
• Ex Machina
• Air
• Invincible
• Fables
• Transmetropolitan

And that's just a few of the many creator owned titles out there worth celebrating. Save the hate and try discussing some of your favourite indie books once in a while.

2. The Evolution of a Cyclops

In every great comedic pairing one always needs a straight man. Cyclops has been the straight man for an entire team of mutants since the sixties. Any time there was a mission, Iceman would find a reason to goof off or cause a show (and if it wasn’t Iceman, then Beast was climbing walls or Angel was picking up women) and Cyclops would have to rein him back in. He was the “fearless leader”.

And everybody hated him because, well, let’s face it: he’s a dud, a stick in the mud…a goody two shoes. And when everyone’s favorite six clawed bad-ass showed up, Cyclops’s character just got worse. Throughout the eighties and on into the nineties animated series, Cyclops and Wolverine became bitter enemies on the same team.  

Wolverine is the Cat in the Hat and Cyclops is that damned goldfish. The goldfish is right, your parents are coming home and their gonna be pissed when they see the place. So what? Everybody hates the goldfish. As the world’s love affair with Wolverine grew to two, three, four, five, or six monthly books, Cyclops became the dullard we love to hate.

Yet, about a year ago I found myself cheering for Cyclops. Why? Because Cyclops shot a dude in the face over in Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men! It was nuts! Since then, Cyclops has effectively led the invasion of a planet, fought off his evil younger brother, told Professor X he’s not part of the X-Men anymore, founded an island nation and…what else was there…oh yeah, started up a scandalous relationship with the White Queen, Emma Frost. Where was the turning point for all this? Was there one moment where Cyclops just said, “I’m tired of being the punching bag around here” and straightened it all out?

That’s the beauty of it, there was no set moment for the change.  It’s all thanks to some amazing writers (Morrison, Brubaker, Fraction, Ellis, and-yes-Whedon).  Cyclops’s transition from Boy Scout to Che Guevara  has been nearly seamless. From losing Jean one last time, to his race being nearly annihilated, to losing his powers, to actually being able to control them for a small time - he’s picked up the personality of a complete character one page at a time. In a world with such often static characters, I feel like the evolution of Cyclops is something great not to hate.

3. Batwoman Is No Lipstick Lesbian

When I picked up the first issue of Detective Comics staring Kate Kane, the new Batwoman, I was immediately stunned. J.H. Williams’s art was amazing. Greg Rucka’s writing was superb. The combination of the two was like reading a comic book for the first time. I was a little behind on the back-story, so when I got to the part where she met up with her girlfriend (and summarily got dumped by her girlfriend), I was a little surprised.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. It was the talk of the comic world for awhile. First, everyone declared “First gay character in comics” which of course wasn’t true. Northstar has been gay for some time and he wasn’t the first. Then they tried first lesbian, but of course they were forgetting Strangers in Paradise and any number of other indie comics. The big question for me was “What kind of lesbian is she going to end up being?”

She’s in a bat book, so the smart money would be on angry lesbian. But of course, what with “The L Word” having done so well, maybe she would be a lesbian Bruce Wayne. She could seduce all the lovely socialite ladies of Gotham with her lipstick lesbian charm. Sooner or later she could end up in Gotham City Sirens making out with Poison Ivy. That sounds about right for that book, don’t you think?

No, the great part is, she wasn't any “kind” of lesbian. Yes, she likes girls, but that is not the full extent of her character. She doesn’t feel the need to hit on her female foes, nor does she have to trash talk Batman just because he’s a Bat-“Man”. The beauty of her being a lesbian at all is that she is not just a lesbian, but a fully realized and conceptualized woman.

So, while everybody is fighting over Power Girl’s boob window and Supergirl’s skirt and shorts combo, Greg Rucka and Batwoman are reinventing the comic book heroine.

4. Rise of the Fangirl

Now the last point leads pretty cleanly into this one. I, personally, am a fan of not just good female characters and creators, but fangirls. Fanboys have been the angry, screeching engine behind some change, but mostly a lot of staying the same in the comic world. Whether they are demanding the return of Hal Jordan or the death of Jason Todd, fanboys are, for good or for bad, a part of the comic creating world.

But recently, a new (and only slightly higher pitched) voice has been crying foul on the boards and blogs. Whether it’s Johanna Draper-Carlson, Kelly Thompson at CSBG; Evie at Awesomed by Comics, Sequential Tart, Fantastic Fangirls, Jill Pantozzi at Has Boobs, Reads Comics, or Cheryl Lynn at Digital Femme, the fan girls are making themselves heard online in a big way.

I mentioned Power Girl’s costume earlier, but that’s only one of the battles they’ve been fighting. There’s the Chameleon Rape Scene crisis over in Amazing Spider-Man, the recent reappearance of Namor’s wife in Dark X-Men, the off-panel three way in Cry for Justice, or anything about J. Scott Campbell.

I’ve been around the message boards, and I see that a lot of the fan girls have taken a lot of flack. For all the time I’ve spent trying to introduce people to comics, there seem to be just as many that want others (women in particular) to leave them alone. It should be said that these are the same guys who join clubs and patrol the internet to bring back their old favourite characters. Now they pop up with sophisticated insights like the one I read on the CSBG website after Kelly’s post on Namor's wife, “This is why crazy feminists shouldn’t be allowed to read comics.” Bravo faceless internet troll, your dedication to keeping comics an elite and unprofitable club is duly noted.

Nothing proves these guys quite as wrong as seeing the amazing female comic creators who are working today. Gail Simone puts out one of the consistently best written books in either of the big two with Secret Six. Amanda Conner has turned Power Girl into a title to be reckoned with. Marjorie Liu is crafting a tale of crime and intrigue in Dark Wolverine in which is making people say, “Wait. Wolverine has a son?” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

During my adventures at conventions, I have met a number of amazing creative women doing everything from writing to inking to…well there was the woman with the clay monsters in Baltimore and that was pretty cool. In my experience, the most amazing “booth babes” are the ones who make the books, not the ones parading around to lure in the fanboys.

To the rush of angry fangirls out there who are willing to fight for their comics just as much as any guy, I say “Thank You”. You are making comics better by your interest and input. Don’t believe me? Next time you’re in Metropolis, look up. You know what you won’t see? Supergirl’s panties.

5. Hooray for Bucky Cap!

Perhaps the most amazing thing that has happened in the last two years for me was that Steve Rogers stayed dead. I know that’s finally coming to an end, but hey, two years is pretty good (Bruce Wayne only managed to stay out of the game for a whole year before they started bringing him back). Resurrections happen, I get that -- it’s the nature of the beast. The difference between a good character death and a bad character death is what happens next.

It used to be (and still is if you’re Professor Xavier) that death is only a step in your epic saga. The previews in the episode you die in are sure to solicit your return. If you’re a really big deal, they will rewrite history just to get you back in time for the big summer event or your next movie tie-in. The big difference in the recent deaths of both Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne has been how it affected the other characters in their world.

From Steve Rogers’s death was born one of the most amazingly complex characters to ever wear a flag as an outfit. I’m not talking about Kid Rock, but the character fondly referred to as Bucky Cap. As much as Bucky had been through in his life as Winter Soldier, the fact he could not turn down the opportunity to continue the legacy of Captain America is one of the most profound decisions around. That he went from worshipping that man, to hating the man, to being the man in a story arc that spanned sixty years was incredible.

While Bucky himself is a testament to the comic book fondness for resurrection, the fact that Cap’s death allowed him to become a more complete character is a testament to doing death right. Oh, did I forget to mention how much I love that he is an accurate Cap for the new millennium? Seeing him shoot Ares in the face in New Avengers may be my favorite moment of the year.

As great as my love for Bucky Cap is, it doesn’t compare to what DC has done with the Bat Books since the death of Bruce Wayne. By all rights, they should have fallen apart, lost all readership, and panicked.

However, what has resulted is a tour de force of talent and storytelling. While I’ve made my love for Detective Comics clear, the things that Grant Morrison has done with Batman and Robin can not be over hyped.  DC has used Bruce’s death to shine the light on his well known but rarely highlighted supporting cast. Rather than being a filler till Bruce makes his inevitable return, DC has opted to make great new stories and build better characters.

Honestly, if the stories are going to keep being this good, Bruce can stay dead for all I care. You can’t hate what they’ve done with the place while he’s been gone.

6. “I’ve got two monthly books. And a new one starting next month” or How to Stop Worrying and Love the Deadpool

If there’s anything I love as a reader of those funny little books with the pictures, it’s the meta-fiction. The breaking of the fourth wall has become a regular occurrence in other mediums, such as on TV thanks to sitcoms or in movies, where characters like, for example, Jay and Silent Bob have even been known to look out of a theater screen after asking what kind of people watch stupid stoner flicks. Really though, it gets me every time.

The same holds true for comics, particularly with Deadpool. Yes, before you say it, I agree that three ongoing monthlies is too many for one character. However, I think that I know why it happened. Deadpool, as he stands now, is not just a character but an entire genre. He is the one and only comic book character who knows he is a comic book character. He is the entire world of comic book meta-fiction (excepting Indy works like BKV’s “Escapists“). Deadpool knows what he is, he knows why he is, and, hell, he knows what you want to see. Anybody who’s read Daniel Way’s Deadpool knows what a ball it can be. This sounds kind of sad, but reading a Deadpool book is like reading a comic with a friend. Granted, he’s a deranged homicidal friend, but he sure is fun at a party.

Whether it’s a battle between dueling inner monologues, his squees of glee at the mention of a team-up, or his continual insistence that you not look at the chicken (see Jason Aaron’s entry into Deadpool #600) there is no denying the charm of reading with your good buddy Deadpool. It’s what made Spider-Man so popular and he never even realized you were there. You can hate his sudden spike in popularity, but it’s hard to hate him when he drags you along with him.

Conclusion

With that, I conclude my list of things not to hate. Keep in mind, I’m not here to imply that you should stop hating all together. There are plenty of things out there to hate. It seems to me like Rob Liefield’s been making a comeback of late, so that and Jeph Loeb’s Hulk should keep the hate mill going on its own. But take heart little fanboys and fangirls, if Siege or Blackest Night let you down this winter, there are still a few things left not to hate and this list is only a handful of them. Feel free to let me know some of the things you think should people should stop with the hate for a moment and be celebrated.

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