Monday News: Battle of the frustrating concepts
NYCC was this weekend and a surprisingly large amount of stuff happened, most of which finding details on is quite frustrating.
– Krypto splits difference between two extremes of DC fans, no one happy as a result
So apparently that funky skeleton we see briefly in Action Comics #2 is actually meant to be Krypto, having gotten possibly the most outrageously over-the-top redesign of anything from the new 52 simply from what’s implied there. I’m not going to argue that it makes sense for Superman not to have a super powered pet sidekick; Krypto is a VERY silver age concept and there are a lot of fans who just can’t get into that sort of thing now, what with it being the age of smiling Batman and Insect Girl hanging out in Smallville. The problem I have with this is how they’re trying to have it both ways by letting Krypto appear in the story but trying to modernize him in a way that just screams that they’re trying too hard to clean up concepts they think are embarrassing. I love Krypto but if the choice is between Krypto, the crazy monster goat thing and no Krypto at all, I’ll take the latter without a ton of thought. A lot of people are taking this as Morrison being “too cool” to use Krypto but I think it stems more from editorial as evidenced by the cheap use of the similar concept in Flashpoint. There we see a skeleton that’s blatantly pointed out to be a dog’s because that comic loved spelling everything out for us since so much of it was thrown together last minute…
Anyway, Krypto’s “dead” though there’s enough to get around that later I think. What really bugs me is the obscenely dumb redesign which is only hinted at by the skeleton; not everything from past eras of comics is going to always be seen as cool so seeing them try so hard here is like upgrading Wonder Woman’s invisible jet into a time-traveling cosmic storm invisible to all but those of divine blood or something. [Source: Bleeding Cool]
– Pictures of new Lego theme “Dino” surface, look infringe-alicious
2012 brings us an amazing new Lego theme featuring all the “Jurassic” action you could have in a “park” setting. These things are so unbelievably close to Jurassic Park that it isn’t funny but I’m pretty sure everyone’s so thrilled with the idea that it doesn’t matter. There were the Dino Hunters sets a few years ago but these seem to be focusing less on the crazier colors and vehicles from that theme. Lego sets are crazy expensive but I’m going to live vicariously through everyone else enjoying these for me. [Source: Bricktuts.com]
– Newton Gimmick reminds me of how much I loved Are you afraid of the Dark? as I subsequently get depressed there’s no real DVD release
NG reviews one of my favorite episodes The tale of the Midnight Madness ironically about working in a theater and having to wear a terrible uniform while a vampire tries to get you. Admittedly only some of that past sentence is part of my job but you get the gist. Anyway, read the review and be glad there’s someone else out there who remembers that Dr. Vink (“with a va va va!”) was a recurring character. Remind yourself of how much better this was than the Goosebumps TV show by checking it out here [Source: Infinite Hollywood]
– Marvel announces boatload of new projects, no one seems to care that Hawkeye has a new costume and is also in 30 books while DC tries to get me to buy Justice League by including Captain Marvel backup stories
Remember how everyone became a huge Hawkeye fan after he died in Avengers: Disassembled? No? Well I do and it still irritates me because I can’t let really stupid things go like that. I’m guessing that from what the bigwigs at Marvel have watched of The Avengers he must stand out because I don’t really see Black Widow headlining a lot of titles at the moment. Clint’s going to be the new leader of the Secret Avengers, which now features the Human Torch somehow, as written by Rick Remender whose F.E.A.R. Agent is supposed to be super crazy good despite everything else he’s done not really making an impression with me. Also, Storm’s joining the Avengers as part of the eternal quest to make the character somehow relevant post-1987 by throwing her into situations with teammates that are much more interesting than her. There’s also an obscene amount of X-men news, featuring the possible return of Phoenix and the guaranteed-despite-everyone’s-indifference return of Sabretooth (who will hopefully get a new costume that doesn’t scream “90’s!” so much)
Captain Marvel’s going to be making his new 52 debut in the pages of Justice League, a scheme that will hopefully get more people to buy the book while reducing the amount of pages Jim Lee has to draw every month. I love the whole Shazam mythos but $3.99 is a lot to ask for what’s likely going to be 10 pages of story I actually care about. [Source: Comics Alliance]
– Mattel shows Horde Prime which I’m crazy about and Snake Man-at-Arms about which I could care less
I’m surprised that we got two more reveals so quickly after Power-Con but I’m not complaining. Horde Prime looks amazing though I’m a little annoyed by the sharing of the Faceless One’s skirt; it’s a pretty distinct part so the reuse stands out more than I’m used to I guess. Other than that, I have no complaints at all and the figure’s already shot up in my most anticipated from next year’s line up. Also for June 2012, Mattel showed off Snake Man-at-Arms which doesn’t have enough new about him for me to think he’s worth the $20+. Apparently he’s going to get more 200x style armor so I’m glad for anyone waiting for that; I just hate that we may be facing other snake-ified versions of characters from that episode of the 200x show as opposed to the Snake Armor He-Man everyone has wanted for years. [Source: Toy Ark]
Well that was a lot and it ate up most of my day so you guys better appreciate it. I’m going to go watch the premiere of The Walking Dead now, praying that the show gets its priorities straight by being about human drama in an impossible situation as opposed to fun times with zombie science that the first season kind of drifted into after the 4th episode.
Planned Banter 
Woo-hoo linkage!
Horde Prime looks pretty awesome, but I’m with you on Man at Arms. I don’t know if I’m going to go as crazy as some folks on the Org, but since I signed up for the sub this year again, I do feel a bit hosed getting a figure like that. I’m sure I have an extra head somewhere I can shove on him, though.
Yeah SMAA created quite the uproar, huh? After all the noise made about wanting that Snake Teela in the 200X line I was surprised how angry people were. Maybe if Mattel can show where the money they saved on the budget for him is being applied to something completely awesome (like Modulok) everyone wouldn’t care so much. A mini-comic and a ring that doesn’t really need to be die-cast aren’t great motivators for me
No way dude, we’re totally stoked about new Krypto, who is just about the only thing we saw in nu52 that made us happy about the whole mess. Let us know when Krypto gets his own book – it could be a science fiction version of White Fang and rock hard.