Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

John August is a very smart guy, and a damn fine writer.

He’s also one of the few working A-list writers who makes himself readily available to people via his blog, something that only a handful of guys (Craig Mazin, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Josh Friedman) bother trying to do.

In his most recent blog entry, August demonstrates a solid working knowledge of Captain Marvel, and he offers up a well-considered primer of material he’s been reading as he preps for adapting the character to the bigscreen. So overall, I’m pleased as punch that he’s the guy writing SHAZAM! I would love to read William Goldman’s script sometime, but I’m sure August is going to produce something fascinating by the time he turns his script in.

But, boy howdy... the down side of having a blog is that sometimes you say something that’s just guaranteed to pee in the punchbowl of the exact audience you’re courting, and I’ve gotten a whoooooooole bunch of mail this weekend that would indicate that August did exactly that.

I’ll let “Valence” tell you what’s up:

Hey Harry,

Did you see this?

Here's the geek-baiting highlight...

"DC publishes hardcover anthologies that gather up decades' worth of Captain Marvel comics. If I were writing a dissertation on the evolution of the Captain Marvel character, these would be invaluable. But I'm not. So every time I read one of these, I'm struck with the same realization I encounter trying to watch The Honeymooners or a black-and-white movie: Wow. Old things suck.

Yes, I know that will piss off the vintage comics fans, who insist that the original incarnations are the purest forms of a character. But what you quickly realize is that old-time comic books were awkwardly written, crudely drawn, and bewilderingly inconsistent with their rules. They were making up the art form as they went along, and today's comic books are better for the accumulated wisdom.

Vintage fans are free to disagree. There's a vast but finite amount of comic books to last them through their days."

Let the people know.

Thanks,
Valence