Comics News: The McDuffie Principle

Sufferin' Shad!



Snell totally blows my image of Namor as a cool, tough guy with multiple examples of the sea-king's hilariously ridiculous exclamations.

The Gamekeeper Omnibus



Back when Virgin Comics still existed, the only series of theirs that I was really interested in was Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper. Partly because it was a Guy Ritchie concept, a lot because the story sounded cool (the gamekeeper of a huge, wooded estate turns the tables on the black ops team that have attacked his employer and destroyed his life), but mostly because it was written by two of my favorite writers: first Andy Diggle and then Jeff Parker.

Unfortunately, Virgin folded before the entire story could be collected, but Dynamite's now got that covered. The 256-page story is coming out in August as a $25 paperback.

Pass the Comics: The Mummy



I didn't find enough comics for a separate "Pass the Comics" post this week, so we'll just include this one here. [The Horrors of It All, Part One and Part Two]

"I can't do this--"



Talking about continuity and canon, Dwayne McDuffie once made a comment the wisdom of which has stuck with me ever since. "If I didn't see it, it didn't happen." That's why I'm not at all upset about the stupidity of the revelation that Rogue apparently had sex with the Sentry at some point.

It certainly is a ridiculous development (Topless Robot has exactly the right reasons about why), but even though I technically have seen it (in the panels above), I'm still claiming protection under the McDuffie Principle. In fact, I'm broadening that principle to, "If I don't like it, it didn't happen."

I'm tired of letting publishers dictate what is and isn't canon. They've proven over and over again that they'll let all manner of silliness go on, so why should they get to be the shepherds? Let them do what they do: throw tons of stories out there with various levels of quality. I'll pick the ones I like and build my own canon, thank you very much. Paul Jenkins' fan fiction doesn't have to be a part of it just because Marvel published it.

Elsewhere on the Internets: Hopped Up and Hotwired!

Here's what else I've been up to lately:

Five for Friday



Last weekend's assignment was to Name Five Memorable Islands From The Comics. Mine were:

1. Hydra Island
2. Paradise Island
3. Dinosaur Island
4. Madripoor
5. Oolong Island

But that post if full of great ones that I didn't think of.

David's Dinosaur Blog



My son let his dinosaur blog lapse, but he's promised me that he's recommitting himself to it. Up this week, a non-stegosaurus and an indricothere cake.

What Are You Reading?



Recently, I've been reading a monster-hunter comic called Ex Occultus and Jeff Smith's Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil.

After the break: July comics, SpringCon, and I get quoted.

Frankenstein vs. The Hulk

You know how oftentimes you read a team-up that you've been waiting years to see and it just doesn't live up to expectations? That's because Jeff Parker didn't write it.

I love the idea behind Monster-Size Hulk. It's an anthology that pits the Hulk against classic monsters. Peter David has a text story about the Hulk's meeting Dracula. Steve Niles has a cool one where the Hulk fights a werewolf. My favorite though - because it's the Monster - is Parker's Hulk vs. Frankenstein.

In any standard superhero team-up you expect the heroes to duke it out when they first meet. It's a superhero cliché and it doesn't usually make sense to the story, but that's what a lot of superhero fans want to see. Who can beat who? And really, you wouldn't want to read a Hulk-Frankenstein comic without watching them trade some blows.



Of course, Hulk had to be weakened in order to make the match even, but Parker does an awesome job explaining that. And the scene isn't even really a cliché here because the Hulk and the Monster are both well known for their rages and violence-first personalities. Of course they would fight each other. Unlike most superhero-battles, this one makes perfect sense.

But Parker also understands that these characters are awesomely similar to each other and he delivers the second thing we really want to see in a meet-up between the two of them. Hulk... friend.



The heroes making nice and teaming-up to fight a common enemy is another superhero cliché, but again, it's exactly what needs to happen in this story. It more than makes sense; it's deeply satisfying on an emotional level.

Thanks, Jeff.

Quote of the Day: "There IS a book somewhere..."

"...if you do read some title simply because you've always read it… if you're not enjoying it, please switch to something else. Believe me, in this day and age, there IS a book somewhere that will make you feel like whatever it is you keep going back to your old standby for and missing."

--Jeff Parker