Comics reaction to SOPA- Part 2

For this week's look at the controversial SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act, we will look once again at an article posted on Comics Alliance titled "The Dangers of SOPA, The Stop Online Piracy Act, to Comic Books and You" by columnist Aaron Colter.

-Colter believes that this bill is an attempt by the U.S. Government to prevent citizens from accessing sites that outside of U.S. jurisdiction. Instead of attacking the sites head on, the government is trying to prevent the citizens from getting to the sites.
-With one of the provisions in SOPA intended to stop payment services from processing money to pirated sites and material, credit services such as Paypal, VISA, or Mastercard could be shut down on a national level. This would affect many comics readers who use these methods to pay for their products.
-With a greater emphasis on stopping piracy at the search bar, companies such as Google would be forced to almost completely overhaul their search engine in an attempt to disassociate itself with piracy and pirated products.
-Colter notes comics previous history with censorship problems, such as the Comics Code Authority label, and believes that since the comics industry was not directly targeted, the industry has not come together on a stance yet. However, these provisions to the internet would effect the entire comics industry in the long run.

Both Colter's and Shand's articles show the long reaching effects SOPA would have to not just business and websites, but ordinary citizens. In order to take a position on SOPA, one must go directly to the source, look at the act itself, and see how it would effect industries in the long term.

Comics reaction to SOPA- Part 1

The next installment on this blog will begin to look at the Stop Online Piracy ACT, or SOPA for short, and how the comics world is reacting to it. This first post will look at up and coming writer Patrick Shand and his opinion on the subject.

-Shand acknowledges the argument that the average uninformed citizen would have: that the only reason people care about SOPA is that they do not want to lose the endless source of entertainment that is the internet. However, Shand shows that this is not the case as the act would basically make the work he and millions of others have done to present their thoughts to the world through the internet would be lost.
-Shand acknowledges the problem of Piracy that SOPA is trying to prevent. He illustrates this using the example of a comic he contributed to, The Grimm Fairy Tales: Holiday Edition 2011, and how it is easier to find a pirated version of the comic than anything else.
-Shand points out that social media sites such as Tumblr, Facebook, and many others would be shut down immediately by this act to prevent piracy.
-Shand also points out that although piracy can occur, the internet allows the average citizen to be informed about the world around them.

This controversy caused by SOPA is relevant to my life and the lives of others because the internet has become such a standard part of society. We have become so accustomed to the internet that a radical change of how it functions could radically alter our society as well. Further research can be obtained by looking at the opinions of more people and the actual components of the act itself.

A Comic Book Blog Synthesis

To sum up our look at A Comic Book Blog, we are going to look at how the blog feels about DC's New 52 relaunch and promotion as a whole and how that influences their opinion on the comics industry.

The second post that we looked at last month shows that the Blog feels that the New 52 is just another sales gimmick and that DC is not living up to the promises they made of this new line. Though there are a lot of new and innovative books coming from this relaunch, namely in the Edge and Dark categories, a lot of the books in the New 52 fall prey to the same problems DC had pre-relaunch. For example, in the Blog's review of Batwing #4, they note that the recapping of the title character's origin story felt like "filler" and that it felt like DC was once again writing the story to sell a 6 issue trade paperback. While there are a number of comics that tell stories in less than 5 issues, such as Mister Terrific, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Suicide Squad and Detective Comics, a majority of DC's so called "flagship" titles tell stories in 6 or even 7 issues. These include such big names as Justice League, Action Comics, Batman, and Batman and Robin, among others. Also, DC still relies on an overabundance of sexual and violent themes to provide shock value. Whether it's Catwoman jumping out of a building half nude or Green Lantern shooting a villain's head off, these kind of scenes make one wonder if DC is still relying on these tropes as a crutch. It is now the beginning of the 5'th month of the New 52, and while sales are still up from last year,  a lot of the more obscure books are not doing so well and creative team change ups occur all over the line. Marvel has just taken back the lead spot as the top comic publisher in December, a spot DC has held since September. It will be interesting to see where the New 52 develops from here.

A Comic Book Blog Week 3- Batwing #4 Review

This week, in our look at A Comic Book Blog, we will examine the Blog's review of Batwing #4. For those who do not know, Batwing is a title written by Judd Winick and drawn by Ben Oliver(though this issue in particular has Chriscross drawing) about a Batman type character in Africa fighting against the rule of African warlords. This issue promises the origin of Batwing. Lets see what the blog had to say about it.

-The Blog states that the origin in question was predictable, another in the long line of a loved one dying making the hero take on their role.
-Spending nearly the whole issue on this origin has, in the Blog's opinion, caused the story to "lose steam" and slow plot development to a halt.
-The Blog believes this issue was created just to make Winick's story arc 6 issues to sell in a trade paperback collection, something that DC has promised less of with the New 52

A Comic Book Blog- Week 2

For week 2, we are going to examine a post on A Comic Book Blog that was posted on November 29'th, 2011 on their overall opinion of DC's New 52 reboot now that all of the issue 1's have been released.

-The Blog's position is overwhelmingly negative, saying that the New 52 does not match up to what DC high ups said it would be.
- The Blog qualifies these statements, acknowledging the books that do meet these standards, while using the books that do not as evidence against DC.
-The Blog brings up the point that DC has rebooted little to none in the Batman, Green Lantern, and Legion of Superheroes line of books, requiring readers to know of past occurrences, such as the death of Earth Man in the last Legion arc before the reboot.
-The Blog challenges DC's definition of an icon, citing that the current Robin, Damian Wayne, is the least iconic of all the Robins, and that the new look of characters Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller in the Suicide Squad comic look nothing like their "iconic" interpretations.
- The Blog also notes the abundant use of sex, such as the scene between Catwoman and Batman in Catwoman #1, and graphic violence, such as the bloody cliffhanger of Batwing #1.

A Comic Book Blog-Week 1

For this next couple weeks, this blog will be spotlighting the postings of the blog known as A Comic Book Blog. For this first installment, we will be focusing on the Comic Book Blog's criticism and interpretation of the new costume of Darkseid, one of the biggest villains in DC Comics, designed by Jim Lee for the new Justice League book(image will be linked to). This was posted on A Comic Book Blog on November 14, 2011

-The Blog believes that the images and feel that made Darkseid a great villain to begin with when he was created by seminal comic book creator Jack Kirby are still present.
-Even though he is a bit more colorful than previous interpretation, Darkseid is still big and foreboding and someone who could pose a threat to the League.
-Some of the new designs and insignia's shown on this design may or may not foreshadows future re-designs of the Fourth World concepts that Darkseid came from.

DC Entertainment vs. Barnes and Noble synthesis

• For 4 weeks, this blog has been reporting on the ongoing battle between DC Entertainment and Barnes and Noble over DC's granting exclusive digital rights to Amazon's Kindle Fire. Now it is time to express my opinion. Although I see B&N's logic behind this move, I believe it will only serve to hamper both B&N and DC Entertainment. I can respect Barnes and Noble's commitment to their customers and feeling like they have a responsibility to them to provide all forms of a book. But with DC's New 52 Promotion, there is almost no better time to capitalize on comic books. Without some of DC's flagship titles such as Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns, there is less opportunity for a new or casual reader too see some of the stories that influenced the current interpretation of the characters they love reading about. For example, if a reader is reading Superman's new origin in Action Comics and wants to read other interpretations that have been done, they will only be able to find those influential comics online or in comic book stores, which are more sparse than Barnes and Noble stores. However, while DC Entertainment and B&N can survive this deal, the creators are the ones who are suffering the most. This is especially the case for non- superhero comics, such as those by Neil Gaiman and Fábio Moon. Some of these creators depend on the availability of their works to keep themselves on the grid and known. This decision has become so corporate that the voice of the creators themselves cannot be heard amidst all the squabbling.