BeaucoupKevin(dot)com | Tuesday Link-O-Rama

Apparently, Cory Doctorow fancies himself a comics blogger. He’s been doing these little reviews on and off for the last couple of months since apparently discovering that the medium - gasp! - can manage to do more than show Superman crying. I do wonder, though, if he sometimes gets a bit effervescent in his enthusiasm. There’s one bit in the review for Batman: Year 100 that smacked me in the face:

This Batman is the most complex, conflicted, and darkest Batman yet.

Really? Is he that complex or conflicted, or is that just something you’d say to pique people’s interest and provide an easy soundbite? Because I gotta tell you, one of the reasons I enjoyed Year 100 is that the Batman featured was pared down the very basics. The nameless man who wears the mask is fighting against a corrupt, oppressive government because - get this - it’s the right thing to do. There’s no conflict in his mind - he simply goes out and does what he does to fight for our basic rights. The Gordon character, on the other hand, I can certainly see how he’s caught in a conundrum that provides a lot of rich character moments: a representative of the government who finds himself siding with a vigilante, someone that could make his life so much easier if he gave up what he learns. Much like the original Year One, Gordon’s a more interesting character for the choices he has to make in Year 100 than the (admittedly, very entertaining) Batman.

Edit: Apparently, the joshing tone of this bit was taken a bit too seriously by Cory Doctorow. To him, I’d like to apologize. He’s pointing people towards good comics and my issue was more with his description of Year 100’s version of Batman that with his promoting the medium.
Utahraptor understands Superman more than DC Comics does.
Rachelle visited Marvel Super Hero Island and took some photos.
What?
Read Patton Oswalt’s “Why The Republicans Are Winning” in its original, unedited form.

The counterculture’s in permanent red shift. Double-chinned ex-heroin addicts, balding hipsters and saggy-armed ex-rave chicks (”flappers”, now that I think of it) sitting around, scowling at the “Calendar” section of the L.A. Times. Sneering at how bad TV and movies and music and President Hilton are. Checking their e-mail and seeing if anything’s been updated on salon.com. Doing the Big Disdain.

Know what the Enemy’s been doing? They’ve been awake since 8am, pumping away on the treadmill and taking Krav Maga classes and not being hungover and getting ready to carve up the world for themselves. The Republicans stole rock ‘n’ roll and outsider status. Now they’ve seized the entire goddamn day right out from under us, The Too Cool to Care. We’re doomed.