Pretty cool, huh?

[atoningunifex]

Oh. So who's gonna write about and defend the bad comics then?

I'm working opn a post about how much I am jsut in love with All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.

it's coming.

[Greg Hatcher]

Oh. So who's gonna write about and defend the bad comics then?

I think everyone on the crew has their personal list of Bad Comics they love blindly. Mine is anything to do with the 70's Kung Fu craze... sure, a lot of good stuff came out of that like Shang-Chi and the Claremont/Byrne Iron Fist, but I get just as excited and giddy over the original Richard Dragon books, or the Karate Kid solo book, or even Charlton's Yang. Probably my single favorite comics purchase this last year was an eBay win of a bunch of old Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazines with the serialized adventures of the Sons of the Tiger, by Bill Mantlo and a young George Perez. Almost nobody will even admit to liking Bill Mantlo at all but I ADORED that run.

Comics Should Be Good, absolutely, but my personal feeling is that if you haven't got at least some affection for the goofball weirdness of the whole superhero genre, you really shouldn't be in the business of writing about mainstream comics from DC or Marvel. I always wondered about the gang at the Journal in the 80's, writing screed after screed about how superhero comics weren't striving to be High Art. To me that's like screaming at Vince McMahon about his total lack of interest in giving professional wrestling storylines with literary merit and an awareness of the Aristotlean Unities.

Which isn't to say that we shouldn't hold creators to high standards. I'm just saying let's hold them to the standards of the genre they're already working in and not scream at them for not doing something that's clearly not even on the table.

[Bright-Raven]

Greg Hatcher writes:

(This)isn't to say that we shouldn't hold creators to high standards. I'm just saying let's hold them to the standards of the genre they're already working in and not scream at them for not doing something that's clearly not even on the table.

Sorry, Greg, but given how many comics writers write outside of comics on a regular basis and even more importantly how many of today's writers are coming in with reputations earned outside of the field, the expectations of these people is deservedly higher, and the sad fact is, most of them can't and don't live up to expectations.

Is that the limitations of the genre or the medium, or is it the limitations of the writer? Actually, it's all of the above. Most of today's most successful comics writers are overworked and overexposed, which lessens the quality of their efforts. Then there are of course differences between being a prose fiction author writing pretty much whatever the hell they want (a la Greg Rucka or Neil Gaiman with their own creator owned novels), and writing comics or even prose featuring corporate owned properties. The original materials will surpass the corporate materials nine times out of ten.

Then there's the audience. I'm outspoken, but I know there are a lot of people out there like me who are just sick of seeing the same people everywhere they turn and have simply boycotted anything associated with a given writer or artist simply because they're tired of that talent and want something - someone - different. And that doesn't mean digging up established writers from other mediums. I don't know about you, but I pay attention to the writers of the books I choose to read, or the films / tv shows I choose to watch. And I want DIFFERENT creators in ALL of the different entertainment venues I support.

So does the majority of the real world, I'd wager.

But you couldn't put that notion past corporate entertainment.

[Brian Cronin]

I'm working opn a post about how much I am jsut in love with All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.

it's coming.

But that comic isn't bad!

I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't call it bad!

-Brian

[atoningunifex]

But that comic isn't bad!

I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I wouldn't call it bad!

-Brian

Nor would I. But the majority of the people you see talking about it online seem to think it's bad.

And I never recommend anything. That's why it is so hard for me to write for CSBG.

[Dan Apodaca]

I can't read anything!

[Dan Apodaca]

Well, until I can figure out how to circumvent this weirdness that I'm experiencing, it looks like I won't be able to read CSBG for a while.

Or make any useless comments.

So, bye for now everyone. I'll miss you!

[Brian Cronin]

Tell me what the problem is, and I will ask Jonah about it!

-Brian

[Dan Apodaca]

Every time I try to check out the page, it sends me to this a page with this on it:

Precondition Failed

We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /2006/06/01/breaking-down-event-comics-part-one-identity-crisis-1-7-or-why-you-should-always-stop-one-issue-short-of-your-goal/ on this server.
We have established rules for access to this server, and any person or robot that violates these rules will be unable to access this site.
To resolve this problem, please try the following steps:

• Ensure that your computer is free of viruses, Trojan horses, spyware or any other sort of malicious software.
• If you are using any sort of personal firewall or browser privacy software, check to ensure that its settings do not cause your web browser to inadvertently violate any of the rules listed below.
• If you are behind a Web proxy or corporate firewall, the proxy must conform to the HTTP specification with respect to proxy servers. Contact your network administrator if the trouble persists, or bypass the proxy and connect directly if possible.
• Disable any download accelerators you may be using. They don't speed up your downloads anyway; in most cases, they actually run slower!
• If all else fails, try using a different Web browser, such as Firefox.

If you still need assistance, please contact smoovyg at 4colorreview.com.
More Information

For your reference, the conditions for access to this server are:
Robots:

• MUST read and obey robots.txt.
• MUST identify themselves properly; for example MUST NOT identify as Mozilla.
• MUST NOT pretend to be a human.

Humans:

• MUST NOT pretend to be a robot.
• MUST NOT use a computer infected with viruses, Trojan horses or other malicious software.

Both:

• MUST NOT harvest email addresses.
• MUST NOT attempt to send spam.
• MUST NOT attempt to compromise server security.
• MUST NOT use excessive amounts of bandwidth or other server resources.

The precondition on the request for the URL /2006/06/01/breaking-down-event-comics-part-one-identity-crisis-1-7-or-why-you-should-always-stop-one-issue-short-of-your-goal/ evaluated to false.
<ADDRESS>Apache/1.3.33 Server at goodcomics.comicbookresources.com Port 80</ADDRESS>

[Jonah Weiland]

Dan,

Are you logging in behind a corporate firewall, or maybe a proxy? I've got one of my guys looking into it, but at the moment we're not able to recreate the problem on our side.

[Jonah Weiland]

OK, so Stephen, the dude who set the whole thing up, said it's being caused by an anti-spam plug-in we're using on the blog. Details can be found here:

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/soft...-behavior-faq/

And here's an important bit:

I have been blocked by Bad Behavior! What do I do?

In extremely rare circumstances, Bad Behavior may block actual human visitors. Bad Behavior was designed to target robots, not people. If this happens, the profile presented by your browser matched that seen from actual malicious robots. In most cases, this is caused by over-aggressive personal firewall/browser privacy software. In some cases, this is caused by improperly configured Web proxy server software.


Try disabling the browser privacy settings in your personal firewall/browser privacy software, and/or bypassing the Web proxy and making a direct connection. Disable any download accelerators in use, especially if you are on dialup and your ISP provided you one. (These so-called accelerators rarely speed up anything; our analysis of these accelerators indicate they usually slow things down!) If all else fails, try a different Web browser with a new user profile.


If you continue to have trouble, contact me and provide a copy of the logs which Bad Behavior stores in the database showing where your IP address was blocked. I will provide further assistance until the trouble is resolved.

Stephen's looking into it to see if we can solve this problem for you without having to remove the plug-in entirely. We'll keep you posted.

[Bald Steve]

This is awesome for you guys. I can't live without those urban legends...

[Harvey Jerkwater]

Holy crap, we have a forum now?

Man, sleep through one board meeting of CSBG and you miss everything.

Kickass.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I'm outspoken, but I know there are a lot of people out there like me who are just sick of seeing the same people everywhere they turn and have simply boycotted anything associated with a given writer or artist simply because they're tired of that talent and want something - someone - different.

I only stop reading a creator when I feel their quality drops or they just become repetitive - hence I can no longer just buy some Bendis or Ellis and know that it's going to be good.

But you couldn't put that notion past corporate entertainment.

Then don't go corporate.

Get your comics from the smaller companies or self publishers.
There's some brilliant stuff coming out from them at the moment.

[Dan Apodaca]

Dan,

Are you logging in behind a corporate firewall, or maybe a proxy? I've got one of my guys looking into it, but at the moment we're not able to recreate the problem on our side.

I'm not too sure, as I'm fairly retarded when it comes to that kind of stuff. It must be something in the security settings for the computer, though, because I tried firefox and had the same problem.

I'll see if I can get this worked out.

And thanks for the help! By some stroke of luck, I was able to see the front page when I tried today, and there's so much I want to read!