Sunday, October 10, 2010

"We Thought, 'Why Does Every Indy Book Have To Be Rated R?'"

Yes.





All indie books are rated R, just like there is no long form, thoughtful criticism of deserving comic books or graphic novels out there.








None of these exist.








They are like the Easter Bunny.








Or like Santa Claus.






(I know a male-friendly lesbian, so it doesn't fit here)







They are figments of your fucking imagination.






Pay no attention to the links to purchase below.









Perhaps Bendis is just shocked that no one has been brave or pioneering enough to do an all ages indie book with such a small company like Marvel supporting them?

All ball busting aside, it is great that two big name professionals are directing some attention to all ages work. If I were a bigger fan of POWERS, I might be pissed that the team is putting another project in the way of what was supposed to be an ongoing series they relaunched together. But it's still nice that they're doing this.

A friend of mine pointed out that the quote referenced in the title of this entry rubbed him the wrong way. It seemed to him that Bendis was trying to claim that they were working in uncharted territory here. Perhaps that colored the way I read the quote, as well.

If Bendis was thinking more along the lines of "why does every indy book from best selling creators" or "...from my circle of friends", he might be more accurate (even though MICE TEMPLAR is probably as all ages as MOUSE GUARD). But then his answer might be that all ages books are more often a labor of love than a financially successful endeavor, at least or especially in the direct market. 

I'm sure he's hopeful that it sells really well on the strength of the names involved, but will still be content if the project doesn't succeed financially, as long as he feels it succeeded creatively. If that's the case, I really do applaud him for it, despite what you may think from the tone of most of this entry.

6 comments:

  1. Another anti-Brian Bendis post. Colour me fucking shocked.

    Change the record Kevin.

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  2. While I can't say I didn't expect this sort of response from someone, I am surprised to see it posted from Dublin. Glad to have a reader from Ireland.

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  3. Why does Kevin have to change the record? Bendis was a fucking dick lately. Frankly, I'd like to see a month of anti-Bendis posts, followed by a month of anti-Johns posts just to keep it even.

    Here, I'll start. Brightest Day is crap. You're welcome, Kevin.

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  4. Thank you, mysterious poster...whoever you are. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Part of me secretly suspects he meant all ages superhero book, but that's just making excuses for terribly bad wording.

    I remember chuckling when I read it. I have a 11 year old daughter, and pretty much everything she reads that wasn't titled "Billy Batson & the Magic of Shazam" are independent books.

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  6. Yeah, he might have meant that, Ahlhelm. But that seems kinda odd, too. Do we really need independent, all ages spandex books? It seems like super-heroes in general are already served up more than enough by the corporations. They do a decent job with the all-ages fair. But I guess the statement makes just as little sense regardless of what angle you look at it, so maybe that's the nonsensical way he meant it. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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