Who's who in the Comics Bulletin Universe - Update 2008
Who is... Michael A. Diaz?
Michael Diaz lives in Michigan, but don't hold that against him.
There he works as a Sys. Admin. while fostering dreams of one day becoming a "real" writer.
Most importantly, Michael is seriously addicted to comics, something that his wonderful wife tolerates with the patience of a saint.
He also writes this weekly column that people occasionally read.
"[O]ne of the most positive
and entertaining columns going."
- Gail Simone (Birds of Prey, Villains United)
WLG #200: It's Like That, And That's The Way It Is
No introduction this week, just a quick plunge into the comics coming out this week and seeing What Looks Good...(after the disclaimer)
GREEN LANTERN SINESTRO CORPS SPECIAL #1 $4.99 (Geoff Johns / Ethan Van Sciver)I picked up the first few issues of the relaunched, Hal Jordan-starring Green Lantern book, which was fine, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Rather, I'm quite obsessed with the idea of the Green Lantern Corps itself, so I have been picking up that book since its inception. I can honestly say that I felt that the Green Lantern Corps book started out a bit slow but it has been building steadily, and strongly, issue after issue. I see now that the book is trying to reestablish the Corps by fleshing out the characters that will comprise it. It makes sense, and yeah, it took some getting into, but now I feel that things are starting to pay off.
The notion of a Sinestro Corps has been hinted at, more so in the pages of Green Lantern itself, but also within the pages of Green Lantern Corps, and I have to admit that the teases I have received have really piqued my interest, so much so that I even had to peek at the end of the last issue of Green Lantern to see what was going on. If you read that book I don't want to spoil anything, but rather ask a couple of questions: why just green lanterns?
The color yellow as a weakness to the power of the Green Lanterns is nothing knew, but this book seems to be just scratching the surface, or rather, the color spectrum.
As I have said many times before I LOVE the idea of the GLC, but now an opportunity to see their polar opposites? How irresistible is that? It's a guilty pleasure, like seeing an evil version of Kirk, Spock, Superman, or Batman.
BOYS #8 (MR) $2.99 (Garth Ennis / Darrick Robertson)Though I still love comics that focus on superheroes and how amazing they are (Justice League of America, X-Men, Batman, Green Arrow, etc.) I also love books like this that grab them by the cape and throw them back down to Earth, pulling them through the mud. It doesn't mean that I love the superheroes any less, it just means that I can also see through the absurdity of it all. Sure, the ideal of Superman is amazing, but come on, if there really was a person on this Earth that realized that he was more powerful than anyone else don't you think there's some strong possibility that this person could be much more decadent than any self-serving rock star? That ego might be a large portion of the equation? That morality, ethics, can be laid down easily when there are no consequences?
But that's just the thing: no matter what, there are consequences, or rather, there CAN be consequences. Sure, you can do whatever you want and live a long life without getting your just desserts (think Stalin) but sometimes your sins catch up with you (Hitler, Hussein). Obvious those are all too real examples, but IF there was a world where heroes roamed there would still be the opportunity for consequences and that opportunity would be called “The Boys.”
The Boys is the countermeasure to everything we “know” about super-powered beings in pervert suits and man, are they fun.
This book is wrong on so many levels, which makes it just right with me.
X-MEN #200 $3.99 (Mike Carey / Humberto Ramos)More than anything the reason that I am geeked about this book is that I am personally using it as a jumping on point. No, I have not dropped this book from my weekly stack of comics, but somehow I got behind and now I have no idea what is going on. Truth be told, I think I've been lost since Gambit became “Death”, which happened much longer ago than I want to know.
That said, the X-Men have always been one of my favorite properties so with the big push this anniversary issue is getting I felt it a fitting time for me to get my stuff together and figure out what the heck I've been missing.
Have I been missing much? Like I said, right about now I am clueless, so if there's something good I've missed in the last year (or longer) I would love to hear about it (message boards link is below).
Was there something that did it for you this week? If so, stop by the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and spread the love, my friend.
Until then,
Peace!
-Diaz
Were Diaz's picks on the mark?
Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.