Comicsgirl

Archive for April, 2004

I haven’t consistently read any of the X-titles for at least 10 years.  While I enjoyed the characters, the never-ending plots and seemingly infinite history was overwhelming.

Marvel’s solution to this has been to “relaunch” titles — grab a new creative team, usually with a “cool” writer and artist to produce more finite stories and slap a #1 on the cover.  They’ve tried to strike a balance between decades of backstory that has created loyal fans and making characters accessible to those who’ve never touched a comic before.  It hasn’t always worked, but the concept isn’t a bad one.

The X-books are getting the relaunch (or, as Marvel’s dubbed it, the “reload”) treatment once again in May.  Joss Whedon of Buffy fame and John Cassady of Planetary is creative team for the flagship title, Astonishing X-Men, in stores May 26.

I don’t believe that this is going to simplify the over-abundance of X-titles, but for the first time in 10 years, I’m once again interested in reading X-Men, so that can’t be a bad thing.

For more information, read this interview with Joe Quesada and Mike Marts.

It’s up to you to how much stock you want to put into Ain’t It Cool News, but Moriarty is more reliable than most.  He announces Darren Aronfosky has been picked to direct The Watchmen.

If this actually happens, it’s anyone’s guess.  He’s still attached to Lone Wolf and Cub as director, and has a couple other projects in the works.  Still, while there’s a large possibility that Aronfosky’s The Watchmen may not turn out to resemble much of the actual comic, I think he will be able to maintain the spirit better than anyone else.

An issue of Shonen Jump sold at a Scholastic book fair has been pulled from the company’s list after its content was questioned.  Not necessarily a bad move — I don’t think everything in Shonen Jump is necessarily appropriate for 10- and 11-year-olds, but I also think that it’s another case of comics being an easy target becuase they’re visual.