COMICS CULTURE SHRAPNEL from CBEM 316
I figure everyone else is going to be talking about one thing this week: Marvel dropping the Comics Code. And I say good for them. Almost everyone agrees there's no point to the darn thing anyhow. It's outdated, arbitrary, restraining, insulting... there's lots of words you could use and they would all apply to it. Marvel is taking a big step toward real change here, hopefully other big companies (you know who you are) will follow suit. Relinquishing the Comics Code is a significant jump away from the spectre of the Congressional hearings that ended the Golden Age so long ago.
Other things that came up this week include the mess regarding Neil Gaiman, Todd McFarlane, and the rights to Miracleman. Todd's been a very bad little boy. Neil is kinda lost in the land of confusion and red tape. And no one really seems to care whether we ever get to see Miracleman again. Why not? Mostly because it's been so long that a lot of readers don't even know who the hell that is. "Miracleman? Whass that? Sounds lame."
Shame on you all. I would think the readers new to this game would at least be a bit curious. Look at who worked on it - Alan Moore. Come on, you know *that* name. And even if it was someone else it's still a fine piece of work. Sad to say I only have the later volumes, Neil Gaiman's Golden Age and the Apocrypha, but they're impressive bits of storytelling. So start complaining. Believe me, you want to see reprints. You want to see a great character with great writing find a place in everyone's library.
At one point I said something about when and how we should all complain. Guess what, this is it. Start now. Write letters, bitch and moan... public outcry can work wonders. And besides, you'll like doing it. And the result is even better.