A Continuation

This continues my thoughts on what happened with Gail Simone the other day and Karen Berger last week. Firstly, to address something that Ed Brubaker said and then I'll get to my point. To paraphrase what Bru said that basically DC and Marvel owned these characters and that they could do what they wanted with them. To an extent I agree but I think that overall that feeling is a cop out. I also think that the statement of supporting creator owned books is a cop out too. To me it is honestly just a weak answer of an industry that isn't willing to fight for fair treatment and respect. And that brings me to the place I'm at that has frustrated me so much...because I find this to be indicative of an overall sweeping feeling within corporate America and why we see so few people willing to work.

When I was growing up I came from a hard working family that's primary income came from wood products. I feel I was raised well to understand the importance of a good days work, respecting those that were put in leadership (I grew up in a Christian household too), and that you get what you earn. That works well under ideal circumstances, but what I've found since getting out into the real world is that the same hard work and respect that is demanded of me isn't necessarily reciprocated by those put in charge of me. If (in the smaller picture) Marvel and DC want respect from fans and creators, shouldn't they in turn give the same level of respect back? This honestly seems like such a common sense notion that I can't believe I have to ask the question. Yet time and again I see myself, friends and colleagues, and general acquaintance taken for granted and used up by the corporation that sees them as little more than tools for profit. This by the way my Republican friends (I have a few) is why I feel the idea that giving businesses more breaks makes absolutely no sense. Hostess was a great example of workers willing to make sacrifices that were then used to pad the pockets of corporate heads rather than be put to good use in bolstering the continued success of the business. 

When you work for a company it was always my understanding that there was this unspoken bond. That in return for them employing you and treating you as an integral part of a team you were asked to be respectful, diligent and hard working. That bond has been broken for far too long, and it has gotten to a point where it is so broken that our working class has grown fatigued. This in turn has created in my opinion a social psyche that all bosses are evil, all employers are only in it for them, and in the long run I can't say I haven't seen this as a pattern for some of the biggest companies in the US. We should be better. We should demand better. We should all strive at whatever job we do to put forth our best, but the agreement in this is that we won't be lied to, cheated, manipulated, or straight up disrespected. I have absolutely no respect for anyone at DC at all. They have for all intents and purposes jumped the shark, and I'm done with them as a company. After nearly 30 years of giving them my money the best and only way to show my displeasure is to stop. It is on that I am committed as I am committed to the same goal of any company that doesn't value their employees. 

The End of Commitment

The End of Commitment

Observations from a 30 year reader...

It has been a bumpy ride for some time now and quite the love affair. I'm talking about comics of course, but more to the point at hand DC and the New 52 and what it has done to my reading choices. This has been a tough month for anyone that has been following the company for some time. This month has been a continued series of creative rumblings, titles I've dropped because of poor writing, worse art, and no clear plan for the books future, and what has become DC's continued commitment to mediocrity. Each of the books DC has been publishing have every chance to be great with the sweeping freedoms allowed within the reboot known as New 52, but instead what it has become is 90's Marvel or Wildstorm Lite. Well today is the day I've decided I'm done supporting what is clearly the worst of the Big Two comic companies (I have a hard time using Rucka as an example as to why Marvel is evil because he seems to have issues getting along with most people in the industry). 

First there was Karen Berger leaving Vertigo. I want to make this abundantly clear: I would NEVER have read a single issue of a DC Comic if it wasn't for Vertigo. NEVER. I always found Superman to be the worst character ever created in comics...the comic book equivalent of white bread. Batman was interesting but the few comics I ever did read weren't enough like the Batman Animated Series by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini (something DC missed the boat on capitalizing on in my opinion). And Wonder Woman...has there ever been a definitive Wonder Woman story in history? Maybe the current one but even the "classic" George Perez runs seemed boring and stilted for my tastes. The DC books I did read were all Vertigo titles like Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and 100 Bullets. These books changed my mind as to what comics could be capable of if allowed to have wiggle room with their characters, and not coddling them like Faberge eggs. Everything I have read about Karen Berger shows that while she ran a tight ship she knew that what was at the heart of great comics was good story. Seeing her a few times on panels I had come to regard her as the consummate editing professional.

It was in the pages of the books she oversaw that I would see adds for series popping up from time to time that would get me curious as to what is on the other side of the DC fence. Having writers that were brought up by Berger in American comics...writers like Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison...got me to a place where I would be adventurous enough to give books like Hitman and JLA a chance. Upon reading these titles I was hooked on the large scale universe (something I had already experienced with Marvel but never to this degree, the heroes and their pedigree, and events (at least the first few I read like most of the Crisis series) that reminded me of what got me excited about Marvel in the first place (yes I started with Marvel but that is a while rabbit trail for another blog). Starting with these books got me into checking out the amazing work of Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka on Gotham Central (still one of the best Batman books ever written), Mark Waid and Geoff Johns equally incredible runs on The Flash, and Johns steady and methodical refacing of the universe in the many other titles he came to be known for. 

Well today I'm here to say I'm sick of it. Putting Bob Harras and Jim Lee in charge of anything I KNEW was a mistake. Harras has shown during much of the late 80's and early 90's that he cared nothing about the core principles of what made comics good, but loved to create a since of sensationalism within the industry when he headed up Marvel. Jim Lee has proved as well that despite a few shining examples he never had the chops to hold his own comic company let alone one of the Big Two to greatness. Wildstorm, much like Extreme Studios, was doomed to fail because it cashed in on the flavor of the month (Extreme has no exceptions but I'll give Wildstorm Stormwatch, The Planetary, and The Authority under Ellis and Millar) while ignoring that fact that is is a medium of art AND story. The readers were only willing to take so many X-Men knock offs, and despite sales on some of his early titles being high, they were doomed to not last because many fans saw through their facade. So how is it these two industry failures got put into such lofty positions? My only guess is DC as a subsidiary of Warner sees the potential of these shiny rebooted and redesigned characters as a chance to cash in on what Marvel has already been successful at for the last decade. What they've failed to notice is that despite Marvel not having many huge spikes in sales (although sales across the industry have been shown to be picking up) they were producing some of the best written, well drawn, chance taking titles that the company had created since the days of Stan, Jack, Steve, and Joe.

The official thing that has broke me is titles I have actually grown to enjoy and love from DC (some I was incredibly sceptical about) have either lost their creative teams (Gail Simone being the latest casualty), are losing their creative teams (I'm hearing both Lemire and Snyder will soon no longer be on Swamp Thing or Animal Man which honestly were the only good things about those titles), or are getting creative flashbacks with creators like Howard Mackie, Tom DeFalco, Scott Lobdell, and Fabian Nicieza taking over the lump sum of titles that may have been able to stay afloat in the 90's but not now. Especially not now when we have seen Image become a beacon for creator-owned AND the industry standard for good books that stretch what the industry can do (something I would say Vertigo once was), other indie companies producing fun and engaging books that push the medium,  and even Marvel (I'm a bit as a Marvel zombie but I'm not without my criticisms of them either) finally pulling everything together in what seems to be playing out as a strong cohesive universe with great talent leading them forward into the future. Somehow along the way DC missed the fact that we don't produce new readers through gimmicks (I'll attack DC on New 52 for this but Marvel needs to cut back on the variants as well) because as the industry has always shown they gimmicks only produce slight bumps in sales, mostly to already existing readers, and then they have to come up with another gimmick to suck in more of their readership. 

So as of today I'm reading Batman for now. I might check out Man of Steel but I doubt it. Andy Diggle on Action Comics does nothing for me as besides his Green Arrow Year One and Losers runs I've never felt he was that great of a writer. Who are great writers that DC seems to show no account or care for are people like Mark Waid, Gail Simone, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and many others that have been cast aside it feels what clearly appears to be no rationale other than sensationalism. I can count the number of Marvel titles I feel are bad on one hand (I'll give Thunderbolts one more issue to prove me wrong), but DC...you have become a clusterfuck on nonsense and I for one am done wasting my time weekly hoping that it will get better and someone will right this train. Much love to Gail Simone, Grant Morrison, and Karen Berger in their next endeavors. Hoping Snyder and Lemire will realize soon that they need get away from corporate comics now even if I do love Batman, Swamp Thing, and Animal Man. You hold history in your hands DC and all I can say is sell your properties to Marvel before you ruin them any further.

Little Political Rant

“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” ― Thomas Jefferson

I think that we can point fingers when it is true. People voted for Bush because of fear, and he pandered to that (though I still fail to believe he legally won both elections). I hate to take the lowest common denominator here but Family Guy painted the Bush years best when Lois won the election for mayor by regurgitating "9/11". And I keep hearing people like you say they like Romney but how...why? The man is a stooge. I don't think Obama will change anything but I fully feel Romney will make them worse. While Bush was in office life went to shit, and quite of bit of what stole from us is exactly is the norm for people like Romney. This Ayn Rand meets Judeo-Christian rhetoric that just doesn't work. It is very much an "I'm in it for me unless I'm talking to the Christians and then it is 'What would Jesus do?'" Well the Jesus that I believe in (yes I still believe he existed) would do nothing like EITHER party. Nowhere does Romney ever say anything about the people and how he cares about the people and what he wants to do for the people. Instead he blames the people for where we are when the fact that those that came before allowed things like one corporation (Bank of America) to control over 16% of our entire economy, companies like Halliburton to inflate their coffers as war profiteers on the backs of our poor and under-educated, and companies to continue to get away with poisoning our food medicine, etc all so they can increase their bottom line. And as for "a plan"...what plan? I've read what he says and it says nothing. Even his "tax cuts" would either only be for the rich and come out of our pocket, or would put us $4.8 trillion further in debt. This isn't just numbers...this is what Forbes, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, even Fox News all agree on. And I completely agree...Obama is a lot of talk. But Romney isn't? There is this ideal that Republicans represent that just is never going to happen. This Ozzie and Harriet reality that only existed on tv. The 50's were not this shining beacon of America. This was an age of witch hunts, heavy racism, sexism, on top of all the ills we see today (they just kept their sins behind closed doors better). I can continue on but the point is simply this: how is it that we think by voting corporate America into office we can do better when it was corporate America that put us here?

Something Good About Good

If you are my friend and you are female chances are I've had some passing interest at one time of another. It is one of the longest arguments but I'm here to tell you the unless your guy friend is gay he has probably thought about you as more than a friend at some point. With me though it is practically a plague...been told I have a huge heart...been told I see things others don't. Either way this has been something that I have grown to love because I'm that guy who can't just leave well enough alone. I've got to take the chance...which is probably why I've been rejected so much but that's another blog. :)

But that kinda brings up the point of today's writing. At least part of it. For the last 5-6 years I've been really battling this idea of am I indeed undate-able. I'm a nice guy. Ask anyone. I go out of my way to do things like walk the 4 miles to walk my friends home even in the snow just so she didn't go home alone. Made up extra sheets and slept on my own couch because wanted to be sure I wasn't crossing any lines. And I do these things because that is the nature of who I am. It became more of a struggle (and bear with me here as this is not just some whine session...it is going somewhere) to not think, "Man. I'm this great guy who keeps going out of his way to make his female friends safe, and that they are having fun," but no bites.

Then the truth struck me (and this is what I'm getting to). I've been told most of my life, by most the women I've know, that they feel safe with me. And if I really look at all these circumstances I was beginning to dwell on I see the truth: that there are not a lot of people that do things like that because there are not a lot of friends or other that have that in their nature. These are all good things. In my year of fighting off my "good guy" image I've come to realize 1) it makes no sense for me to go against my nature; and 2) take pride of the image of self you portray and use every chance you can to show a good image and improve it.

* * * * * *

It has become clear the real reason I am writing these is a quest for character. An aside...which I'm sure is obvious now...is that I'm not the person I was a year ago. Most of us aren't but my year of drastic change has meant meeting a lot of new people with no back story, shuffling a lot of lifestyle that I'd grown know as me, and losing a certain amount of respect I'm sure some folks had in me. That is neither here to there. The point being this is not an apology blog. This is instead an "hey this is what I've been thinking about and this is what I'm going to do with it" blog. I only share because it is good for me to be honest...something I haven't done most my life, and because maybe someone is going through similar stuff and can glean something from these. Hope you are all having a great weekend. Wish I was watching John Carter.

Quest for Honesty Part Deux

Okay...

This year is all about being honest. Honest with my feelings. Honest about a lot of different things. Each week I'm going to try and be open and honest here on my blog about at least 3 things I've struggled being honest with a week. This is all more of an experiment in breakthrough than anything. And I'm going to try and not make all these completely serious:

1) I can't get into theater...ESPECIALLY musicals. No need to argue or defend. Like what you want. I however have few exceptions to this rule: Hairspray, Across the Universe, and maybe a couple others (wish they would make Dracula the Musical from Sarah Marshall). Besides that I think singing should be kept to singers and acting to actors. And I know. The societal norm at one point in time was an entertainer that can do all things. But despite exceptions in a few instances I think history has proved it is best to find that one thing you love and do that with all your ability.

2) I HATE going to bars. I spend way too much money for watered down soda (since I can't drink or I'LL DIE which I keep having to remind you people), and nothing annoys me more than drunk people. Even the prospect of a potential hook up is lost on me in these places because honestly most the time I'm so annoyed sex just takes a back seat to not giving a shit and wanting to leave. Part of it could be my upbringing, part of it is admittedly that it pains me to watch certain drunk people because of my past involvement, but the biggest part of it is that most people go to these establishments, spend waaaaaaay too much money to fill themselves on empty calories and poison, and all in the hopes they'll find someone to exchange bodily fluids with or maybe just bury some shame.

Feel free to drink if you want. Even as a chance to be "socially active", the annoyance is so great that the experience is simply painful for me. So each and every time I've ever humored any of you and went to the bar understand it was a sacrifice on my part. It is rarely, if ever, a joy. I think I would rather watch conservatives talk about the war on religion in this country while petting yapping small dogs than go to a bar...two things which are pretty high on my dislike scale. So if you have other plans (I get accused of being simplistic in my planning yet it seems most of y'all can't come up with anything but "The Winchester") like music (and no offense to Wesley and crew but just not my style music there most times and the Horned Hand), art, or even something new I'm all over. I just hate being around drunk people.

3) I'm a nice guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me get to my point. I sometimes say things I don't mean trying to give you (this is directed at any female readers) a compliment which then makes me come off like a complete ass. Truth is I am just like everyone else and have wants and needs, but the majority of the time I really just want the women in my life to have better in their own lives. No agenda. Not trying to get in your pants. I've seen a lot of you make bad choices and get hurt, which hurts be because guess what...if you are my friend I actually value you as a person quite a lot. Just trying to make you feel better if anything because lets be honest...the vast majority of men in this world are shit. They are abusive, insecure, prideful, assholes that would shoot their own mothers in the face to get vagina and/or money.

To the point though...I rarely say what I mean because I have a hard time articulating the nuances of my multifaceted emotions. Often times there are important parts to what I want to say but I get in such a rush or so impatient/scared to say it that I skim over crucial parts. I'm really not an asshat like I sound sometimes. I'm just a simple guy that has been hurt and witnessed a lot of others getting hurt, and I like to do what I can to help. Sometimes that means I try to fix things which I know never works out. I've been yelled at by more women for just trying to be of assistance because somewhere along the line my act was construed as trying to take something away from them or telling them they are weak. Never. Couldn't be further from the truth.

So this one is a short experiment. We'll see if I keep this up. But I'm trying to change. Trying hard. Because what I hear from everyone is that there are things in me that just aren't correct. If that is the case I have no choice but to fight this stuff. And it clearly is an issue because most of you all come back with the same things as issues with me. So hopefully this will help. This is also my attempt at dumping these things in a place that isn't my Facebook status. Either way...read this...don't. I don't care. But if you do you might understand me a lot more. I'm just a simple guy, scared like all y'all, and trying to get some things right so I can finally be content at at least one moment before I shuffle off.

G'night...

Jack

This is my lie...

A few weeks ago I posted a rather irate post involving religion, finances, and other things all pointing to the fact that "they were fake". I'm posting a short blog to rectify what was said in my anger and what I mean in my more clear and quiet calm.

I've come to a point in my life where I don't trust most people for good reason. This is especially true with religious folks. I grew up in the church and my family left under persecution of "asking too many questions" when my Father was looking for more clarification on Biblical principles. After getting away from the church and having pretty much given my life over the pursuit of success in my own fashion involving drugs, chaotic living, and other personal abuses I came back to the church hoping to find a welcoming home that would forgive me my sins and let me start a new life. I found instead the same persecution I grew up with only more so as this time I was honestly scared for my life. All this because I chose to stand by a woman I felt was abused by her husband who also happened to be a pastor at the church I worked for.

After leaving the church (the truth is I was all but forced out) I tried to stay true to my teachings having gone through several training programs in order to understand my Bible better. I gave "God" 5 years of my life and instead of seeing any change for the better things only got worse. A woman I loved more than anything killed herself, finances never stabilized no matter how much I fought to find gainful employment, and my health which has been bad most my life only continued on the decline. Many of you who are Christians may be reading this and saying, "Well God never says he will make your life better." I had no other reason to become a Christian than that though. Before "God" I was suicidal, destructive, aimless, and without hope. After "God" things only got worse so why would I stick around for that? If there isn't personal benefit from experience then to me it seems asinine to continue on that path. Education was the final nail in the coffin as classes taken in history, anthropology, and science revealed that most of the teaching I had gotten my whole life was just silly superstition. That there is a logical reason for everything explained in the Bible that is explained mainly on the premise of miracle. I find very little to be in fact miraculous about life at all. We just are. This is it.

Now where is sit in life is this: there is no secret angle that is going to come down and express reason for us to do better at all. Our only hope in life is to find those things we love and do them to the best of our ability, while being certain we are taking care of our own needs. Life isn't anymore about creating a sense of false expectations and dreams but simply living for now. Finding that thing that gets you out of bed every morning, and reminding yourself this is why you do it. And you do it for you. Not a deity. Not because it can make you rich. Not because it might finally get you the girl or any of that nonsense. In some ways I think we are meant to be selfish and that is why I have a lot of walls that have come up over the years that don't allow me to open up and be free to express myself in public. Everyone all along was being selfish and I was attempting to operate on another level. Now I know I am in this for me. And that isn't a "Jack is jaded and look what a prick he is" statement. It is said in the most cold, sterile manner. No emotion involved in it. I'm in it for me.

This last year I had sex for the first time. Some of you may be shocked by that. I waited for a lot of reasons. Personal image issues, the churches lies they teach (we are adults and need to experience, experiment, and understand like adults do), and a lot of rejection. Hell...you want to know the extent of it...I had up to last year had one real girlfriend ever and only kissed her. Yeah...at 33 physical love was something I had yet to experience yet. So while to some this last year I looked like a shallow manwhore the truth is I was finally branching out in the quest to find me. And man did I find a lot out. What I like. What I don't. What sexuality means to me. That I'm not gay (though I could have told you all that before hand). But I had never allowed myself to experience one of the fundamental experiences in life based on a certain set of principles I didn't even believe in anymore. It opened doors I needed opened for a long time. Gave me greater understanding to create learned opinions on things I had only developed over years of scouring books, magazines, and sadly porn to learn. But one can never replace experience with book knowledge, and in a lot of other things I knew that. It was about time I learned it in this too.

I'm opening up because I guess what I want most is people to understand. Understand I know I'm not always emotionally stable, not always the most ready to jump into conversation (especially with certain women who I'll admit still scare me a bit), and not always ready to admit my faults because so many things in life are so raw. One simple act tore off bandages I had in all areas of my life. Taught me that now I know I can get laid there are some fundamental things broken in me that in a lot of ways were broken through religion, poor choices, and an attempt to hold onto what I used to see myself as: a kind hearted individual that was bound to get hurt because of his steadfast commitment to live a life this world is no longer able to foster.

So when you heard me a few weeks back know this: I passionately support each and every one of your right to believe what you want and in who you want. I respectfully ask that you don't send me religiously focused posts as I'm not interested and if I do decide to explore religion again it will be on my own volition and not because of anyone's attempts at fuzzy logic. My life goal is this simply put: while maintaining work enough to pay my bills I want to learn more and more about my two passions. Those passions and I say this totally unapologetically are making electronic music and growing pot (which I might add my growing is the closest I've ever had to a "god" experience in my life). All the while I want to seek to make myself a better person. Make better life choices and try to do what I've wanted to do all along and that is a person that promotes peace in others lives as well as my own. I have 34 years working against me and a lot of false beliefs but I know this path I've set myself on is the only righteous one I will ever find. And it will never be about "god", women, or money again. This is all about me.

One Love All!!!

Jack Goodman
Divine Being