here's a thought... don;'t like his reviews? Don't fucking read 'em, you whiny dicks.

Anyone have thoughts on Aquaman and Firestorm being Black Lanterns?

XAOS - If you only come here for the complete biased hackery of coax, man, that's a sad state of affairs.

Nobody's pushing anything on you. You can scroll right past it... just like I'm gonna scroll right past the rest of your posts.

I don't read the Kid's reviews but it doesn't bother that they are on here, like so many have said, I can just scroll down. If the @ssholes didn't always review the books I wish they did before the arrival of the Kid and you know what, it wasn't a big deal.

I could and can always pop down to the talkback and get in a discusion with someone like Continental_Op about whether Grannt Morrison sucks or read the insights of Joenathan about giant green boxing gloves.

If the reviews aren't what you wantt hem to be or you don't want to read the Kid's reviews why freak out? Why not just jump in the talkback and start a discussion thread instead of crying about something so trivial?

I accept the fact that he is here to stay, but really this whole talkback is about him, and he also now does two comics pretty much every week.

And this Obama-syndrome does bother me. Like, if you say anything less than worshipful of Obama, you are a right wing p.o.s. Same thing here, if anyone mentions that they don't like Liam's reviews, a bunch of others jump on and attack that poster.

When someone doesn't like Ambush Bug, no one freaks out about it. I never like Prof. Challenger's, but I don't get attacked for it.

Finally, I am not sure if Runaways came out last week or not, but I just read it a few days ago and was actually quite satisfied with the way this story tied up. I felt like Moore is finally getting a feel for the characters. Yes, it is more lighthearted than before, but that is cool...they deserve a little less sturm and drung for a while and it makes a nice contrast to the uber-serious tone in general at the moment. I know the current direction will never find favor with a lot of fans, but as someone who's read Runaways since the first rave review here at AICN, I think the series is back on solid ground.

ps to JoeNathan: I think you recommended the crime novel "The Chill" which I recently read while getting a tattoo. It was as awesome as you said, again mixing plot with characterization in a very economic style. Almost made me forget the pain. Now I have some nice ink and read a book that was actually highly enjoyable and memorable. Almost finished with "Lawless" from Brubaker, and it is also getting really good.

Like I said in my other post why not just start a discussion thread?

I for one like capes so that's what I'l talk about.

Has anyone been on the DC web site and seen any of the upcoming previews for BFtC? It looks as if Barbara might be regaining her legs and swingingover the streets of Gotham again. I'd love to see a Dick Grayson BAtman teamed up with a Barbara Gordon Batgirl, anyone else.

Also, there will be a new Nightwing title in September, with it being rather obvious Dick will be Bats and Tim will be Red Robin, any predictions for what that title will be?

Over in Superman with the New Krypton story line there was a new Kandorian Nightwing and Flamebird, the Nightwing have Kryptonian powers and tactile telekenisis, anyone thing Geoff Johns has found a way to bring back Conner Kent Superboy?

Now no one has an excuse no to discuss comics and cry about the Kid, if they do they're just wasting their own time. Like I said if you want to talk comics hereis your oppertunity.

Not that I am proud of that fact (why the hell did I buy those @%$!ing X-Men comics back then?!!)

Sorry for the mistake. Some time ago there was a whole thing about the tough crime genre, and people here recommended The Last Good Kiss and The Chill, so I bought both.

Firestorm was in Villains United? Dang, I have no memory of that. Also had no idea he was dead. I read some comic pretty recently with him in it, and yes he's a black kid merged with a girl.

Connor Kent is indeed back. I believe Legion of Three Worlds brought him back.

OK, I liked Inferno. I pre-ordered it from Amazon weeks ago. Now I'm of course a lot older, so we'll see. But I remember liking almost the whole story, except that I felt sorry for the Madelyne Pryor/Goblin Queen character. I liked Bret Blevins' art. I liked Darkchylde. I liked the demons in New York. I would go so far as to say it was the last somewhat coherent X-event for years after that. I believe the endless, pointless X-Cutioners Song is what made me drop X-books back in the day. Remember Stryfe? Who was he? How was his storyline ever resolved? And Mr. Sinister? Just a bunch of endless unresolved storylines finally abandoned, IIRC, when the X-Saving "Age of Apocalypse" occured.

Why? Because in the real world people get crippled and don't get cured. And I know that it is a comic book and it isn't supposed to be realistic, but still it is so damn condescending when this type of stuff happens, like a character gets cured of an actual disease or handicap. The only message I ever got out of those types of stories is that if you happen to be in a wheel chair or blind or deaf, than you are nothing and can’t have a fulfilling life. Nice message to send to some kid in a wheel chair.

Plus, I also like to see the possible consequences of being a non-powered superhero. For everyone who wants to run off to war and be John Wayne or Audie Murphy, they should also take a look at Pat Tilman and Ron Kovic. In the superhero world, the examples would be for every Batman or Daredevil, there is a Barbara Gordon or a Jason Todd (well, until they brought him back).

With great power comes great responsibility. Well, the other phrase should be with great heroism sometimes comes great sacrifice. Barbara Gordon represents that potential sacrifice.

Just my two cents.

And I personally love that. It is complex, like Bucky’s death where the plane’s bomb was set to explode to early but Bucky still clung on to defuse it. Now his death (at the time) was pointless and wasted, like many young soldier’s were at the end of WWII. He (probably unintentionally) became a metaphor for the lost lives of the Greatest Generation, and a symbol of Cap’s personal failure during the war.

Same with Barbara. She shows Batman what the Joker is capable of, but also serves as a symbol for those people whose lives are destroyed by crime (or by accident) that they can recover and still be productive. She is a symbol of the human spirit, and brings pathos to Batman’s universe.

Now, IF they do make her walk again (and I really haven’t heard about this yet), it better be as good as story-line as Brubaker’s Winter Soldier, because otherwise it will be just a cheap stunt.

As Barbara Gordon in the wheel chair, she is an actual character, and a unique personality in the comic book world.

I understand the change and charater deoth that tragety can bring but sometimes I want to see my heroes overcome adversity and over come the odds. When you hold Barbara Gordon up as the poster child for the handicap you place her into a 1 dimensional cell because that is all she can be, the girl in the chair who doesn't give up.

Also, people talk about reality, well look at the reality of the world she lives in. She lives in a world with Waynetech, Luthorcorp, Queen Industries, Kryptonian and Martian technology not to mention everyone's favorite, magic and you're telling me there isn't a solution to get her out of the chair and that she wouldn't have found it already? It's absurd. If you want realism, that's real. Anyone of us who was in that situation wouldn't want to be in and would do anything to change it. There isn't one person in this world who wouldn't take hte oppertrunity to walk if they could and say "Nope, not for me, I'm a symbol"

One of the greatest moments after Infinate Crisis, when Robin was working like crazy to bring back/make a new Superboy was when the Titans got into a Luthor lab and while going through things Speedy asked the question if there might be a cure for her there pointing out the ridiculousness of her having AIDS and continuing to have in the fantastical world they live in.

To toss out JoeNathan's favorite cliche about DC being trapped in amber that is all keeping Barbara in the chair is doing. Being in the chair shouldn't define who and what the character of Barbara Gordon should be.

The sily argument about Batgirl being a fetish persona is ridiculous too, that could be a blanket statement about any female character in comic books period and and is in actuality far more chauvinistic than the point that is trying to be made.

For anyone who is wondering there is a 3 part arc about Oracle/Barbara Gordon that is a BftC tie in in which it looks like Barbara will regain the use of her legs. There is a new Batgirl title coming out in DC's solicitations and DC has said that it won't be Cassandra Cain. In DC blog they said they didn't want to SPOIL the surprise so there is a possibility that it could be Stephanie Brown but much like all things point to Dick Grason becoming Batman it looks like Barbara will once again be Batgirl but who knows.

He's an actual kid telling you what he thinks of his comics. We like it. We think it's nice to have a fresh, innocent, unjaded view of what comes out every week without all the baggage of a guy 20 or 30 or 40 years older than him. He's real and we like him because it's nice to be reminded of why we fell in love with comics in the first place. If you can't get that, it's your loss, not ours, and none of us gives a shit if you ever come back again.

For fucks sake though at least have a somewhat sensible argument for your Rage Against the Douche (also, and I’m not trying to throw Imp under the bus, but I wasn’t the only one who reviewed this book).

Unless I made you illiterate (and that was only person I can think of – did you grow up in Scotch Plains New Jersey), you buying the wrong title is not my fault.

Now if you were trying to ironically make a point about the books being similar, I have to rely on the old Internet retort of WTF are you smoking?????

I fully admit, as much as I love Tomasi I had to bail on THE MIGHTY at issue 3, actually I didn’t buy it I thumbed through it at my LCS and put it back on the shelf. Why? Because I felt the art was horrible and the story was going nowhere.

There’s a vast difference between a book focusing on a Superman type that lays waste to everything because he was betrayed by the people he loved and protected (IRREDEEMABLE), and one that focuses on a Superman types helper and his family squabbles. These books don’t even feel in the same league except both have really powerful guys in them.

Perhaps I missed something in my thumb through of issue 3, but I don’t think so.

You know what though, if this takes some heat off the kid for a few posts I’ll gladly be the AICN whipping post for a while.

As for Optimus being an asshole, I mean douche is in your name. I want to put Irredeemable and The Mighty in a Mexican style cock fight and see who wins.

Fair enough on the Douche point.

I'll never fault someone for hating something they have read (e.g. me), but please don't hate on the book if you haven't read it yet.

And once again, Secret Six is awesome. This new issue may be the most lackluster of the new series, but it's still leaps and bounds above most stuff out there. And Bane- BANE!- is becoming one of my favorite characters! How fucking crazy is that?

"I do only what I know is right," he says as he whacks Mammoth in the nuts with a huge friggin pipe.

I would love it though it they mention that maybe some of his work would help other people. Like drop a hint that he is building a fusion reactor that will eliminate our energy dependency and provide for even the poorest people.

BUT what does make Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the FF dicks in the issue where they go back in time to meet Rama Tut and find a cure for blindness for Alicia Masters. Doesn't matter that the cure could help millions of others, all the FF thinks about is getting it for her.

All super-heroes are selfish. Its a fact!

X-Inferno was crazy, and actually the craziness had already begun, just less noticeably. Madelyne Pryor, lover her though I do and yes she is back in Uncanny, is a pretty crazy character premise to begin with. But I could live with it.

Cable is the character I most hate, and I had completely forgotten all about Nate Grey. Ugh! No wonder I gave up X-books for years. New X-Men (Morrison) is what brought me back and I'm still hanging around.

Oh, God, JoeNathan, I have to bait you. I was in the LCS last night and the guy was going on about how Old Man Logan storyline has just been dropped, unfinished, and a new storyline by a new creative team (Jason Aaron writing) has now begun. OML will, apparently, be concluded in a "special" to be released at an undetermined future date.

Sooo glad I "waited for the trade" but that has GOT to be bothering you.

Plus, we have to think of two things - how expensive/cost effective are their inventions (maybe Ted Kord's anti-gravity devices and stuff are just to expensive to run to make them available for everyone); and that comic book universes have a sliding timeline: what seems like 48 years since the FF first appeared is really only 10-12 years tops in their universe.

For all we know the cure for AIDS and cancer is just right around the corner in those universes. Hell, the are probably on a verge of a Utopia if it wasn't for the damn super-villains and alien invaders.

Of course, it all comes crashing down when terrorist blow up a gamma bomb creating hordes of green monsters.

Where are all the alternative energy sources in DC & Marvel? You'd think it would take Reed like five minutes to be all "Perfect Solar Converter, there you go, world."

"Then the character was revived in 1995 as a supporting character in the pages of X-Man, but details are ambiguous due to murky writing and conflicting editor decisions. Whether this was intended to be the true Madelyne or not was further complicated by the character later being supposedly revealed to be a Jean Grey from an alternate reality. In the years following this conclusion (in 2000) of what has become a false start at reviving the character, Madelyne Pryor would be entirely absent and unreferenced within any X-Men related book--"

1) The wheel chair and her disability is what separates her from all the other heroes – not just the handicapped but also that she has gone through an ordeal and suffers consequences that none of them do. Sure they have all lost loved ones and suffered emotional pain, but physically the are all invulnerable (even the normal humans like Green Arrow, Batman and Nightwing). Batman can get his back broken by Bane but can be walking about as if nothing ever happened; Superman and Wonder Woman can loose their powers but somehow regain them; Oliver Queen, Hal Jordan and even Barry Allen can die and somehow manage to come back to life; but only Barbara Gordon got shot and is now confined to that chair. She has a human element that few other heroes have (and even more than Prof. X and Daredevil, who were handicapped when they first appeared in the comics – it was part of their origin, not something that happened to them to make them grow as a character) and I don’t think it makes her a one dimensional character, anymore than I think the Thing’s deformity and Robotman’s cyborg nature make them one dimensional.

2) You say you want to see heroes overcome their disability. Same here. But I don’t think making someone walk is them overcoming their disability – that is just curing them and them not having to deal with it. To overcome a disability you have to learn how to live and act on your own despite having physical limitations. A woman cured of blindness is not overcoming her handicap – a blind woman who lives on her own, has a job and a fulfilling life is someone who has overcome it.

3) Here being in the chair also finally grants her motivation to be a super-hero (or at least help them fight crime. One thing wrong with some of the Batman universe characters is they never had as strong as motivation to fight crime as Batman did. A lot of people might not have liked the original Robin, but one thin he had was a strong motivation (like Bruce, his parents were murdered). But what was Babs motivation? She was just Commissioner Gordon’s daughter who happened to have a brown belt in judo. Not the strongest motivation to make someone go out and fight crime. Babs out of the chair would be like Veronica Mars solving crime without having gone through the trauma (best friend murdered, father fired from being sheriff, mom left her, ostracized from school). Without those elements Veronica would just be an annoying cute blond; with them she has some depth. Same thing with Babs.

And, yes, you could say that she would still have the motivation even if cured, but that would be like saying Batman would still be a crime-fighter if his parents were miraculously raised from the dead. He might still do it, but he wouldn’t be nearly as dedicated now that his greatest motivation has been taken away.

4) As for Batgirl being a fetish character, really that is all she was meant to be. She was made because then editor Julius Schwartz was looking for more female characters that could be put on the TV show. The producers of the show saw her designs, like the idea and put her on the show. After she proved popular THEN DC put her in a comic book. She was made to be a sexy girl in a costume for fans of a campy show to enjoy – that was her reason for existing. Hell, they didn’t even give her any depth by having an actual origin – she just went out to fight crime for the hell of fighting crime.

I love(d) the Twelve. My question on both is....are the conclusions unwritten? It's hard for me to imagine that the writers didn't finish the storylines. Is the backup because of art?

Makes me want to pull a Rockman, pounding on the floor and screaming.

Yet.

That's not an invitation for you both to poop on me, either.