Thoughts From The BenCave II

Hello to all the comic readers out there today. Live from the BenCave, it is I Daryll B. with another round of stupid humor and strange opinions from the worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Come along and I hope that I can entertain you for the next 5-10 minutes.

-I think I have found my "Reaper" substitute in the BBC America show The Fades. The Premise: awkward teen high school student, while goofing off with his equally awkward yet overly hormonal friend, stumbles across supernatural vigilantes getting their butts handed to them by 'something'. As a result, kid starts having very, very dark visions of ghosts and...'something'. A lot of English Comic Book jargon and a lot of dark humor throughout. I encourage you all to give it a chance on Saturdays.

Likewise, I think Fox's Alcatraz has got me hooked but for a different reason. I was enjoying the psuedo "Jake & The Fatman" feel between the two partners. Sarah Jones and Jorge Garcia have this automatic hard cop / smart yet sheltered nerd chemistry. Heck, Garcia even lives above and hangs in a comic shop! The procedural is quite familiar if you have noticed any of the thousands of commercials for it over the Summer/Fall. There were no surprises for seasoned sci-fi mystery fans but a pretty good twist for casual fans close to the end of the first hour of the premiere. Again, I encourage you all to give it a chance.

I fell asleep during the US Being Human premiere and missed the second half of it and all of Lost Girl but I have them DVR'd. So next blog I will have reviews for both along with thoughts on the first 2 Fringe episodes ready. I will also say that it is obvious from all the commercials I saw and proposed project rumors online that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has become Hollywood's Automatic Action Sequel go to guy. Think about it: G.I. Joe 2, Journey 2, Fast Five (along with the future 6 and 7) and before that with The Mummy and Scorpion King franchise. Knowing that The Rock has that built in professional wrestling audience that is willing to follow him in his other pursuits, suits are going for the assured 4-7 million butts in seats for the first week or two. Then hope that through word of mouth, that other sections of fans will attend. If you don't think that is going to be Hollywood's future modus operandi then you must have missed all those ads for Haywire with UFC's Gina Carano and the Scorpion King 3 DVD ads pimping the hell out of Kimbo Slice and Dave Batista.

-Now for the humongous elephant in the room for me. As you doubt have heard by now comic book fans, DC has decided to cut 6 books out as they add another 6. Included in the 6 cut are Static Shock and Mister Terrific, so you think I would go all "DC is doing it again with a token diversity thing and now they have shown their true colors." but I am tired of doing that. And I now see that this isn't the case because how else would you explain the success of Batwing? Here is the major reason that these two books didn't work: their fanbases are not the ones who these books were marketed to.

Let me explain more fully: The New Mister Terrific rose in profile as being a part of the JSA's third generation before the New 52. Michael Holt was shown as an intelligent, capable leader and tactician through their adventures while through interactions with the other heroes, we got glimpses into an intriguing backstory. However when it came time to start this new universe, DC alienated those fans by making JSA an early cut and giving Terrific his own book while changing his backstory yet again. This change can work for a fan favorite like Booster Gold because he's more cemented in the minds of fans, however this kills a newbie like Terrific.... artistic turmoil aside (4 issues, 3 artists makes for an unsteady tone for new readers).

On the other end of the scale you have Static Shock. Virgil Hawkins has had a considerably higher profile with a critically acclaimed previous Milestone series along with a popular animated series that included guest shots on both JL/JLU and Batman Beyond. He saw a resurgence in his popularity, pre 52 retooling, with a connection to then inclusion within Teen Titans Universe. So his solo book in the Nu52 would be a lock to last more than one storyline right? Well once again, DC stripped him of his most important element: the city of Dakota. Their are few heroes that can have adventures anywhere and retain the attention of loyal fans. By taking Static out of Dakota and moving him to New York of all places, his uniqueness was removed and he became just another NY hero. Throw in a change in writing staff before his 3rd book was even released and yeah... this was a dead book walking.

I don't know what was going through DC's heads when these books were proposed but I will say that the signs of death were already in the air before long and I was not really surprised at their cannings.

Related Links!

DC's Statement:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36367

Brian Cronin's take:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/01/12/thoughts-on-dcs-re-organization-of-the-new-52/

Greg Burgas' take:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/01/14/attention-deficit-saturd-ooo-shiny/

Once again my reviews for the Transformers novels will be pushed back another week. Tuesday at 7pm EST, Afronerd Radio will be handling Avengers vs X-Men, the new Blade Anime, and Sci-Fi Television this past week along with other comic news at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/afronerd

So until next time Comic Book Readers and Afronerd Followers, Keep Fantasizing!