Bent Corner

From the Marvel.com forums:

This is a private forum, which you sign up and are allowed to post on if you can follow the guidelines, which by signing up you agree to do so and by posting on these forums you agree to do so.

Also, for those that want to claim “free speech”… there is absolutely no free speech in the world. The lives of people are given to defend countries across the world and give each country its way of life. So please, no standing on a soapbox claiming “free speech”.

No free speech in the world? What a repugnant thing to say. I understand there may not be any free speech over at Marvel.com, but that doesn’t mean the same is true everywhere else. If you have an opinion and you want to express it, you need to get a blog. Seriously, this is why forums are the worst place to try to get your point of view across.

Writer: PETER DAVID
Pencils: JORGE LUCAS
Inks: ROBERT CAMPANELLA
Colors: BRAD ANDERSON
Lettering: SIMON BOWLAND
48 PAGES, $3.99

It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a comic this much. It had everything I like to find in a comic. The writing was good, the art was good, and it told a complete and self contained story. I didn’t have to hunt down other books in a completely different series and read them first to find out what was going on. What’s to find out? The Hulk is tired of of dealing with puny humans and just wants to be left alone. He decides the only way he can be left alone is if he goes to Antarctica.

Peter David comes up with some really funny Hulk-esque dialog. Other then the part where the lead scientist incorrectly says that global warming is causing the hole in the ozone layer, the writing was good. It’s been a good while since I’ve gotten my science facts from a comic book, so the gaff on the causes of ozone depletion isn’t really all that important. At least to me it isn’t. It’s the Hulk. A super-human character wearing purple pants that derived his power from being exposed to massive amounts of Gamma radiation.

Argentinean Jorge Lucas does a fantastic job with the pencils. His art has a very Jack Kirby style to it. I like the look of it, especially in a Hulk book.

This comic also includes the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for Hulk and Fin Fang Foom. It was fun to read. I didn’t know that Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was born in Dayton, Ohio. That certainly explains a lot.

It also includes a reprint of STRANGE TALES #89. It’s funny, goofy, and more then just a little racist.

If you haven’t already, check this book out. It’s well worth four bucks.

The UN has announced that it is joining forces with comic book publisher Marvel Comics. Together, they will publish a special comic featuring Spider-Man fighting alongside UN aid workers and UN peacekeepers. Marvel creators are supposedly working on the book for free. They aim to publish one million copies to distribute to American school children. Something tells me that it might very well be the first comic book many of these children will read. Kids don’t read comics unless it’s Japanese manga.

Let’s hope it doesn’t suck.

Of course former US envoy to the UN and all around douche bag John Bolton called it an “act of desperation”. He said that the UN should concentrate on improving its overall performance and that putting Spider-Man in a special UN funny book wasn’t going to change anything. Did he know that Spider-Man had struck a deal with Mephisto (Satan) making him single? Maybe Bolton only thought the UN publishing a special Spider-Man comic was a waste of time when Spider-Man was in a loving and committed marriage.

Speaking of of which, has anyone ever seen John Bolton and Mephisto at the same time? I never noticed this before, but these two cats look and act an awful lot alike. If I didn’t know better, I would think perhaps that they are the same person. The only difference of course is that I’ve never seen Bolton wear a red cape and I’ve never seen Mephisto wear one of those retarded looking walrus mustaches. Every time I see John Bolton, I expect someone is about to toss him a raw fish as some time of reward. Then again, he’s never really done much of anything worth rewarding.

Other then that, they are dead ringers for one another.

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Joe Madureira
Colorist: Chris Lichtner

I really got my money’s worth with this book. Usually I only read a comic once. With this book, I read it twice. Not because I enjoyed it so much that I had to experience the joy one more time. No, I read it again because I didn’t understand what happened.

The art was nice looking, but I couldn’t really figure out what what transpiring from one panel to the next. The colors were extremely dark. I thought the story was going to include Venom and Magneto. They were on the cover. I don’t remember seeing them in the book. Then again, it was kind of dark in there.

I did enjoy the part were Captain America told Wanda the Scarlet Witch that she needed to show less skin when she went out in public. I didn’t like the part that showed Wanda and Pietro in a romantic relationship. With each other. They are brother and sister. That’s creepy and disgusting even for mutants.

Todd Allen of Comic Book Resources interviews lawyer Darren S. Cahr (AKA Super Lawyer) concerning the intricacies involved with trademark and copyright laws and how they pertain to the use of BitTorrent technology to share comic books. Marvel and DC have recently begun taking steps to stop BitTorrent sites from sharing comic book scans.

From the Comic Book Resources article:

The question is, if you own a physical copy of the comic, is it still illegal to download a digital copy?

“Yes,” says our Super Lawyer, “just as if you own a copy of a comic book you can’t simply take another copy of the same issue from a store. At least that is the position of the publishing and music industries.”

So the touted Super Lawyer is equating downloading a digital copy of a comic you already legally own to going into a store and stealing a physical issue. The big difference is that when you steal a physical comic, that result for the store is one less copy to sell. That is something that doesn’t happen when you download a digital copy of a comic. Another difference is that a digital scan of a comic is not the same thing as a physical paper comic. One is made of ones and zeros and must be viewed on a computer. The other is printed on paper and involves ink and some staples.

A physical comic and a digital copy of a comic are different from one another. They are not the same thing. Even someone who is not a Super Lawyer can easily tell the difference between the two.

I’m not sure why someone would even want two physical copies of a comic, but I can see why someone would want the physical version and a digital version of the same comic.

Also from the article:

Is it really a good idea to go after some of your more regular customers? This is slippery slope on both sides. On the other hand, there’s something the torrent crowd needs to accept, that they’ve been screaming to the hills about, and that’s the cease and desist letter. Did it occur to anyone that someone like Marvel has to send those letters to maintain their trademarks?

Describing the BitTorrent “crowd” reacting to the cease and desist letter as “screaming to the hills” isn’t really necessary or productive. It’s comes across as unnecessarily snarky. Both sides should be able to discuss this issue without resorting to making insulting remarks about the other side.

When will Marvel and DC send similar cease and desist letters to artists that sketch comic book characters for money? There are artists making money sketching characters they don’t own the rights to. If Marvel and DC are going to go after those that infringe on their intellectual properties, they ought to be consistent. People are making a nice profit infringing on Marvel and DC intellectual properties. It’s not the BitTorrent crowd.

One annoying aspect of the article is the author evidently felt the need to dumb everything down so we comic book nerds could understand the concepts involved. He referred to the BitTorrent controversy as “Secret Torrent Download Crisis Wars”. He also tries to describe the lawyer as some sort of legal “Super Hero” when it comes to the subject of intellectual property and the law.

Who is Allen writing this article for, 12 year olds?

Writer J. Michael Straczynski
Pencils: Joe Quesada
Inker: Danny Miki
Colorist: Richard Isanove

This book turned out not to be nearly has bad as I thought it was going to be. My expectations were extremely low. The Internet told me what was supposed to happen in this story. Plus, the cover looks remarkably like a cover of Wizard magazine. I can’t help but think that’s a bad sign.

It really wasn’t that mad. I still don’t agree with the path this story is taking the Spider-Man franchise. I’ve already explained why that is. Straczynski’s writing is up to it’s usual greatness and Quesada certainly knows what to do with the pointy end of a pencil.

This comic cost a whole $3.99 and the story was over before I even hit the staples. The rest of the book contained a long and detailed bio on Mephisto (Satan). Stuff you wont find in the Bible. It also contains a reprint of THE SILVER SURFER #3. It’s the first appearance of the Mephisto.

It wasn’t that bad.

I don’t normally read Spider-Man comics. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the character as one of the most popular characters that Marvel Comics has. He’s a very popular character. Just not with me.

I was surprised to read on the Interents that Marvel Comics is going to do a major change to the character. Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker is married to his high school sweet heart Mary Jane. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has never liked the fact that Peter Parker was married. He supposedly thinks it makes the character non-relatable to the younger readers.

Marvel Comics has younger readers? And to think I thought the kids were reading creepy Japanese manga where everyone has the really big eyes.

So Joe Quesada thinks Spider-Man being married makes youthful readers less inclined to relate to him? Never mind the fact that he can shoot web goo from his wrists and that he has superhuman strength and dexterity. It’s the whole “married thing” that confuses the youngsters and makes it so they can’t relate to him.

The most retarded thing about this whole story is how they are going to make him non-married. Instead of just having him divorce Mary Jane, they are going to place him in a situation where his Aunt May is going to die. The Devil (seriously, the Devil) makes a deal with Spider-Man: The Devil will save Aunt May if he agrees that his relationship and his marriage with Mary Jane will have never happened. Aunt May will live, but Peter and Mary Jane will not only not be married, they will have no memories of even knowing each other.

That has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.

Who in their right mind would give up the love of their life just so their enfeebled old aunt can defy nature and go on living? Aunt May has lived a full life. It’s time for her to go join Uncle Ben.

Joe Quesada must really hate being married. If this even sounds slightly plausible to him, his wife is in trouble.

I’m willing to bet the TV in Joe Quesada’s bathroom that this has less to do with appealing to youthful readers and more to do with getting publicity in the mainstream press. I think Quesada is addicted to seeing his name in the USA TODAY.

There has been a spirited debate among funny book nerds over on the Newsarama forums concerning the Z-Cult FM comic book BitTorrent controversy. Comic book artist Jamal Igle has been weighing in on the matter from his prospective. Even though the comic book industry has enjoyed a steady rise in sales during the time Z-Cult FM has been in existence, Jamal believes people that BitTorrent comic books cost professionals such as him money.

In fact, he believes that people that do it should be prosecuted:

Bit torrents of copyright material for mass downloading and file sharing are illegal and should be prosecuted.

Prosecuted? Jamal seemingly thinks it’s wrong to reproduce copyrighted material except when he’s the one that is doing it. Like many comic book artists, Jamal frequently attends comic book conventions and does commissioned artwork of licensed comic book characters that he does not own or have the rights to.

Using BitTorrent to share digital scans of comic books and producing unauthorized comic book art for sale are both illegal. One of the two is done to make some extra money and the other isn’t.

It’s true that comic book publishers know that many of their artists do commission work on the side using their licensed properties and they choose to turn a blind eye to it. They used to do the same thing to the people the used BitTorrent for comics. Marvel and DC Comics never seemed to care about Z-Cult FM. Now they do.

Obviously things change.

If comic book publishers don’t think commissioned sketches adversely effect their bottom line, they are wrong. Comic book fans only have so much money to spend at a comic book convention. Every single dollar they spend on high priced, unauthorized comic book art is one less dollar they have to spend on licensed, authorized products. If I was a vendor at a comic book convention and I paid money to set up a booth on the sales floor so I could sell licensed, authorized comic books and collectibles, I wouldn’t like the fact that a substantial amount of money was being spent on unlicensed artwork in Artist Alley.

If comic publishers want to crack down on copyright infringement, then they need to be consistent about it. They shouldn’t just single out people who upload scans of comic books while turning a blind eye to comic book artists that crank out $500 Wolverine sketches at comic book conventions.

They can’t have it both ways.

Who didn’t see this coming? DC Comics has sent a second letter to the folks over at the comic book BitTorrent site Z-Cult FM asking them to remove all DC comics from their trackers. Both Marvel and DC had - in a joint effort - already sent a similar letter, but it was rejected by Z-Cult FM administrators because the comic book publishers failed to follow the proper Z-Cult FM procedures for getting copyrighted material removed.

Something like that.

This of course does absolutely nothing to stop the BitTorrenting of comic books. This just means that it wont be done through Z-Cult FM. People will just start using the major BitTorrent tracking sites. The same sites that people use for BitTorrenting music, movies, and TV shows.

Marvel and DC Comics can try to send a letter to The Pirate Bay.

The only thing this hullabaloo with Z-Cult FM has really done is to raise the public consciousness that a person can use the unstoppable technology of BitTorrent to download comic books for free. So much has been written this past week about Z-Cult FM. If people didn’t know about it before, they certainly do now. That in itself is ironic because Z-Cult FM was always kind of on the down-low. Not a lot really got written about the Z-Cult FM community before last week. Alexa shows that their web traffic has nearly doubled in the past week.

Maybe Marvel and DC should have just continued pretending that Z-Cult FM didn’t exist. They may have wanted to stop people from downloading comics. Instead, they may have only helped open the flood gates.