Blogging by Bullet Point
You know the drill.

• Street Angel Watch:  Alan David Doane liked the first issue of Street Angel, giving it a 4.5/5 rating and predicting "[i]t's bound to be one of the most talked-about books of the year."  Over on Broken Frontier, Shawn Hoke (not a permalink) interviews Jim Rugg, artist and co-creator of Street Angel.  Based on everything I've read and seen about this book so far (well, except for that back cover), I'm glad I pre-ordered it.  (One interesting thing about Street Angel is what a Rorschach test the art is:  ADD sees traces of Adrian Tomine and Charles Burns; Shawn sees an early Dan Clowes influence; Johnny B sees a hint of early Mike Allred; while I see splashes of Steve Rude and Marcos Martin.  What does it all mean? Who knows!  But it all adds up to some purty art.)
  

• Sean Collins clarifies his love of Tim Russert position that comics journalism could use improving.  While I can sympathize with the frustration underlying Sean's fantasizing, I think in the end I agree with Steven Wintle's take on this matter:  Raising the standard of comic interviews, yes; grafting the model of political journalism onto comics discussion, no.

• Tony Isabella reviews several comics, among them two books I thought looked interesting but ultimately passed on (Batman: Child Of Dreams, The Bloody Streets Of Paris).  Based on Tony's strong recommendations, I might check these out at some point.  Tony also outlines how he would do Batman if he wrote the character.  It sounds more in line with how I remember Batman being in the 70s than how the character is currently portrayed.

• You thought the "2003 in Review" pieces were over and done with?  Wrong!  Comic Readers has a whole slew of year-end wrap-up articles, including focuses on Mainstream, Small Press, and more Mainstream.
  

• Kind of tying into my thoughts about Marvel, John Firehammer (not a permalink) thinks it would be a good thing if it's true that Marvel is clamping down on more mature versions of their heroes so as not to interfere with possible movie versions of the characters.  Personally, I have mixed feelings about this.  My original point was simply that Marvel doesn't do a very good job of delineating its different imprints because, well, they don't really have different imprints—it's all just multiple versions of the same superheroes.  I don't have a problem with "edgier," "more mature" takes on superheroes; I just think they should be clearly distinguished from the "regular" superhero stuff.  So if Marvel isn't able to brand different projects so that they're easily identifiable, maybe it is better for them to bring their entire line to the same level. 

  On the other hand, I get nervous any time Hollywood starts dictating the creative direction of other media, be it comics, books, TV, or even video games.  Plus, I really wanted to see Peter Bagge's version of the Hulk (which I assume would have been distinctive simply by virtue of being Peter Bagge's version of the Hulk).

• Staying on the "What's Wrong With Marvel?" theme, Steven Grant got some interesting responses to last week's anecdote about a teacher being told by a student that Marvel's comics "suck."  While one reader suggests somewhat weakly that not all kids think that Marvel sucks, another confirms that his students do all think Marvel sucks and he tends to agree, mainly because Marvel offers nothing new or imaginative.
  

Finally, I ran across this exchange about manga in Diverging Comics' "State of the Comics" address (an "Independently Minded" (?) round table discussion with "three very diverse comic book fans"):

DIVERGING COMICS: So what about the continued proliferation of Manga, in those same bookstores?

GREG MATIASEVICH To an exclusion of everything else?

STEPHEN LIN: Man... I was in Borders the other day and they had a huge shelf of manga! Placed in between trades and RPG books.

DAVID HOPKINS: Manga is so huge. It is in an industry all to itself. 

GREG MATIASEVICH: I think we need to educate readers to know that Manga isn't everything

STEPHEN LIN: It's a Yu Gi Oh and Pokemon generation growing up.

DIVERGING COMICS: Again, it's a matter of crossing over. Just like with american comics.

GREG MATIASEVICH Comics aren't one genre

DAVID HOPKINS: Exactly. But shoot me now if we have to create a freakin' card game for every cartoon or comic book we publish.

STEPHEN LIN: These are the same kids getting obese and diabetic in front of the PS2 who probably haven't read any books in their lives other than Harry Potter.

So anyway:  What about the continued proliferation of manga in bookstores?
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