Oni editor James Lucas Jones throws another label into the mix, talking about “the real mainstream” in an interview at Newsarama:

“Really, when you look at it, there aren’t a whole lot of comic companies that embrace the actual ‘mainstream.’ Oni’s output is considered, by and large, to be the indy fringe in comics – within the direct market. It’s not the superhero stuff, but at the same time, it’s what would be considered the mainstream in every other entertainment medium… Comics mainstream needs to get in line with what the rest of the world acknowledges as the mainstream. At Oni, we really feel like we’re pushing the real mainstream on the comics populace.”

It’s a tag that manages to be both accurate and, at least in my opinion, kind of annoying. It’s accurate because Oni, of all the North American comic publishers, manages to encompass the widest range of genres in its output, and that’s a very worthy thing indeed. It’s kind of annoying to me in a very specific way, the “it’s good for you” argument that adopts a position of relative virtue. I say this as someone who’s enjoyed every Oni book I’ve ever read, so it isn’t a comment on the quality of their output. I just tend to find myself a bit repelled when marketing incorporates the implication of a moral imperative.

I can’t really argue with Jones on this point:

“Oni’s output would include the romantic comedy that would gross $30 million on an opening weekend. It would be the cult teen flick like Napoleon Dynamite that just plays forever and has repeat viewing after repeat viewing. But because they’re comics, the subject matter is marginalized and pushed to the side, because ‘that’s not what comics do – comics are for big, splashy superhero stories.’”

At the same time, I think the comics direct market was built around the super-hero genre because comics serve that genre uniquely well. Romance, comedy, coming-of-age stories, spy thrillers, crime dramas, and other material are all fairly transportable. They fit comfortably in novels, movies, television series, what have you. They fit in comics, too, but for super-hero stories, the best, most reliable source has always been comics. Branching into other media has decidedly mixed results, or at least decidedly mixed fan reaction. If Oni wants to gentrify the direct market ghetto, more power to them, but it’s worthwhile to understand how the ghetto developed in the first place, I think.

I really admire Oni’s philosophy on manga:

“We’re not trying to replace manga by any means – we’re trying to show people that there is material that’s created in North America that’s just as valid and just as entertaining, and just as suited to what they’re looking for as the Japanese stuff they’re looking at. Which doesn’t mean that we’re forcing everyone into manga storytelling – we’re still doing things the way we do them. Our approach hasn’t changed- we were kind of already in line with that mindset of not being restricted by genre, and not trying to keep people from doing what they want to do because it doesn’t fit the mold of whatever popular trend is going on in the comics industry.”

It highlights one of the most significant similarities I find between Oni’s titles and the best manga: both have a creator-driven approach. With Marvel or DC, there will always be titles with Superman and Spider-Man, because the characters take supremacy. That’s the product, and it ultimately doesn’t matter too much who’s writing it this year, because the publishers have brands to protect and licenses to support. At Oni, at least in my impression, if Andi Watson doesn’t feel like writing “Love Fights,” or Greg Rucka takes a break from “Queen and Country,” you won’t pick it up next month to find that someone else has taken over. There’s a specific vision at work in each title, and that can have very rewarding results.

(And while I know some wonder about the wisdom of sorting product by size — mixing in digest-sized western comics with manga — I think this kind of shelving practice would serve Oni really, really well. The manga audience is much more likely to be receptive to its product than someone skimming through Marvel’s Essentials line. Not that those are mutually exclusive audiences, either, but from a sales standpoint, it strikes me as a clearer advantage.)

There’s tons of interesting stuff in the article — the role of the trade paperback, the rise of the original graphic novel, cracking the bookstore market, a pitch for retailer support (and I’d love to know what retailers think about the onus that pitch seems to put on them). There are also previews of upcoming projects, and I’m looking forward to trying them. (For a great series of reviews on Oni’s titles, check out The Hurting and search under “Oni Love.”)

James Schee at Reading Along noted some oddness in the formatting of the article, and I found myself feeling the same. It almost seems like an opinion piece from Jones that’s been broken down into an interview/article. There’s no byline on the piece that I can see, so I wonder if it isn’t just extremely smart Oni PR? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Possible spoilers ahead.

Rich Johnston has a code-amber spoiler-y rumor at the latest Lying in the Gutters about just who’s causing all this trouble in Avengers. I think the rumor is pretty plausible, not because the development makes sense, but because it serves the deck-clearing exercise.

Three issues in, there’s still a marked lack of attention to who’s causing the worst day in Avengers history or why, aside from the titular clue (“Chaos!”), the suspect’s conspicuous absence, and some murky coloring which, given some of the coloring choices in this title, might not constitute a clue at all.

So, presumably we’ll learn in #503 why this longtime mainstay of the team has suddenly decided to punish them for reasons that are still entirely unclear. (It’s double-sized, so there should be plenty of room to squeeze in a rationale.) And while there are plenty of potentially plausible explanations, I’m not filled with confidence that their intrinsic storytelling merits will outweigh their service in breaking with the past.

It’s all so reminiscent of “The Crossing.” Mysterious forces attack the Avengers, deaths of varying impact ensue, a longtime ally of the team undergoes a radical shift in established character to plot the team’s destruction (Mantis then, Wanda now), and uses members to facilitate that (Iron Man and Gilgamesh in that case; crash-dummy Vision with villain-puke action, suddenly soused Iron Man, and suddenly savage She-Hulk in this). There’s even the same kind of misdirection, where a member is wrongly suspected (a grieving Hawkeye in “The Crossing,” a badly mischaracterized Hank in “Chaos”).

Honestly, are super-hero comics so creatively starved that they have to dip into “The Crossing” for inspiration? And, strenuous destruction aside, has there been any narrative logic in “Chaos” so far to merit the shift to New Avengers? I know it isn’t fair, but the creative team will have to come up with something fairly spectacular to convince me of this story’s value.

I’m really enjoying Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel, but it weighs a metric ton. Good thing I’m working strength training back into my gym routine, because you need some upper arms for this thing.

There are about a hundred books out that I’m dying to read, but until I’m done with the above and Fortress of Solitude, I’ve issued a book-buying moratorium. Well, except for Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, which doesn’t really count, since I just ordered it. Plus… um… it’s non-fiction. Yeah! That’s it!

I love having lots of good things in the freezer for future consumption, but if I never roll up another won-ton or ravioli again, it will be too soon.

Desperate Housewives debuts tonight. My hopes are high, based largely on the participation of Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross, both of whom are hard core. But what is Television Without Pity thinking, not covering this show?

Johanna has announced the winners of her Fallen Angel Contest. I absolutely would not have been able to resist the winning entry.

Last night’s Joan of Arcadia was pretty darn good, but I was disappointed with the character of Judith, Joan’s Plot Device Friend from crazy camp.

So, Plot Device Friend comes to town to teach Joan a valuable lesson. All well and good, but the show usually handles this sort of thing with a bit more inventiveness. It all carried the whiff of the “very special episode,” which must be avoided at all costs.

Also, Plot Device Friend? Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer called. She wants her shtick back. Please hand it over at your earliest convenience, and no legal action will be taken.

I love super-heroes, and I love soap operas. So why don’t I love Noble Causes? There are a few reasons.

While it borrows heavily from both genres, it doesn’t really do anything particularly new with them. Soap opera subplots have been incorporated into super-hero stories for ages, and Noble Causes doesn’t seem to be taking the overlap any farther than it’s already gone. It’s less action-driven than the average super-hero title, but it still falls back on the same conventions – the squabbling super-team, the hero as crime suspect, interpersonal tensions surfacing during a crisis. As a result, it seems more like a pastiche of genre standards than a fusion into something really unusual.

As to the soap elements, writer Jay Faerber lifts his character architecture from Dynasty. We have the alpha-male patriarch (Doc/Blake), the bitter matriarch (Alexis/Gaia), the troubled son (Steven/Rusty), the fish-out-of-water good girl (Krystle/Liz), the venomous bastard (Adam/Frost), the wild child (Fallon/Zephyr), the trampy spoiler (Sammy Jo/Celeste), the son of a rival family who fits in better with the protagonists (Jeff/Krennick), and the rival patriarch who diddles his enemy’s daughter (Cecil/Draconis). I don’t intend that as a criticism, as Faerber is hardly the first to appropriate Dyansty’s model, and it’s an excellent starting point.

The criticism comes in where he takes those archetypes which, again, is nowhere really unusual. The Nobles are more muted versions of the Aaron Spelling’s Carrington clan. Gaia focuses on image more than power. Zephyr is promiscuous, but she hasn’t much in the way of a personality beyond that, and her pregnancy seems to have sidelined her almost entirely. Doc has as much Reed Richards in his DNA as Blake, and Celeste doesn’t really have the instincts or drive to deliver any really vixenish mischief.

The character who isn’t a Spelling model is golden boy Race, but he has his own super-soap underpinnings. Race is back from the dead, a turn of events common to both genres. It’s tricky to evaluate the success of this move. On one hand, it was difficult to understand why widowed Liz would stick with her contentious in-laws. On the other, Race’s return gives her a reliable guide through the Noble weirdness, which mutes her reactions, makes her normality less disruptive, and leaves her less of a gateway character.

In a similar way, Gaia’s micro-management of the Nobles’ public image seems like a misstep. By focusing her efforts on covering for her scandal-prone clan, she somehow mutes my interest in those scandals. They lose dramatic power, coming closer to tabloid fodder than painful or defining events in the characters’ lives.

It’s hard for me to go through an issue of Noble Causes and not think of other comics where this material has been done just as well, if not better. Krennick’s kinks and the possibly related serial murders call to mind similar stories in Powers and Top Ten. As Rusty and love interest Cosmic Rae head off on a mission with ex-wife Celeste and estranged brother Frost, lots of bits from Avengers and Legion of Super-Heroes come to mind. Doc’s odd behavior in these two issues triggers any number of memories, calling up a list of standard solutions (one from Grant Morrison’s New X-Men in particular).

I’m not sure the art does the story many favors. I’m glad the title is back in color, but Fran Bueno’s illustrations aren’t really working for me. Bueno’s visuals are very reminiscent of Michael Avon Oeming, but without Oeming’s polish. Some of the faces are bizarre (even on characters who are supposed to be conventionally attractive), and that takes me out of their interpersonal drama. I wonder if this story doesn’t beg for more conventional, “realistic” art along the lines of Phil Jiminez rather than Bueno’s stylized approach.

I do want to like Noble Causes. I think its premise – down-time interpersonal drama – is an appealing one, but I don’t think Faerber has fully realized it. Too much standard super-heroism is in evidence, and the characters aren’t developed much beyond stock types. As it stands, there’s nothing here that can’t be found in a dozen other titles. The book needs to carve out a more specific niche for itself.

As I mentioned previously, I purchased Wizard #157 the other day. I’m sorry, but I have to do something to get my money’s worth, and if I have to drag you all down with me to do it, so be it.

I’m kidding, of course. I love you too much for that. Please feel free to click “Back” on your browsers if you like. I’ll wait.

Just the diehards left? Okay, then.

Page 23: The Heat Index says that Powers has the “[f]unniest damn letters page in comics.” This should have been my cue to put the magazine down and walk away. (And, yes, I shouldn’t have needed that cue in the first place.)

Pages 38-44: Normally, I would greet a detailed article on the pending return of Hal Jordan with complete disinterest, but one quote did jump out at me from writer Geoff Johns:

“`The tone of Rebirth is basically the opposite of Identity Crisis,’ says Johns, adding that he’ll be paying respect to the past while giving fans a side of GL and his world they’ve never seen before. ‘We’re bringing somebody back and trying to do a very uplifting story about heroism, what it means and what you have to overcome in order to be a hero.’”

Those are perfectly fine sentiments, and it’s nice to see some counter-programming to the terribly depressing IC. But Johns certainly is playing both sides, isn’t he? He’s got a three-part IC tie-in in Flash, and readers are to be treated to Sue Dibny’s autopsy in JSA. (Anyone want to start a pool on how much her liver weighs?) And as things to overcome go, a record as a mass murderer is certainly right up there.

Page 50: As bad as you might suspect a Wizard Q&A with Frank Cho about his upcoming Shanna the She-Devil mini-series might be, I respectfully suggest you lower the bar. I’m stunned that nobody saw fit to work in a “pencil-d*#k” joke.

Page 52: Hey, kids! Listen to Mark Millar when he says that pouring whiskey into your eyes is a bad idea! The desire is understandable, particularly if you just read the Shanna interview, but resist!

Page 56: Millar incorrectly identifies Wolverine’s early-2000s look as “gay, disco bunny Wolverine” when it was clearly “gay, leather daddy Wolverine.” Do your research, man.

Page 58: Ooh, spoilers from Millar’s upcoming Wolverine run: the Hand will be killing super-heroes and resurrecting them as super-villains. Zombie, ninja super-heroes. That sound you hear almost has to be something collapsing in on itself, but I’m not sure what.

Page 60: The “Enemy of the State” arc is going to have crossovers! And its own logo! And probably many of the crossover titles will have “Young Guns” logos, too! So, basically, these covers will look kind of like the ticker at the bottom of Headline News.

Page 64: Rachel Weisz is a lovely and versatile actress. She must have a terrible, terrible agent. I hope she conducted this interview by phone.

Page 94: I’m always game for more Julian McMahon, but it seems a waste to cast him as Doctor Doom in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. He’s purty.

Page 102: There’s an encouraging quote from Jim Lee in this piece on DC’s new CMX manga line:

“`We want to make sure we capture the original vision of the creator,’ Lee
added, ‘and maintain the highest level of quality possible.’”

Since I think the creator’s vision is at the heart of manga’s appeal, I find that comment cause for optimism.

Pages 110-116: The Picks section almost makes me never want to touch another comic book again as long as I live. That can’t be the intention, can it?

Page 168: One of the 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Brad Meltzer is that Identity Crisis almost didn’t happen. “Almost” only counts in horseshoes, Wizard.

There. I feel cleansed. Thank you for your forbearance. I promise not to do this to you (or myself) for a while.

Special thanks to Jon at Mae Mai for the terrific and informative links about manga and other international comics. I’m particularly taken with matt-thorn.com. Thorn’s introduction is enough to set my mouse a-clicking:

“I’m Matt Thorn, a cultural anthropologist who studies, teaches and writes about comics and other forms of popular culture. I live and work in Japan, where I’m an Associate Professor in the School of Cartoon & Comic Art at Kyoto Seika University. I also professionally translated Japanese comics, known as manga, from 1990 to 1999.”

I learned a lot from Thorn’s article on what shojo manga is and is not, and I’ve already filled out his questionnaire on how people read manga. This one goes right in the sidebar, as I’ll be visiting often.

Ah, the body blows to shared-universe storytelling just keep on coming! (It’s this year’s little black dress of super-hero comics.) This time, J. Michael Straczynski has apparently dug up Gwen Stacy just long enough for her to get her freak on, and the reaction isn’t unexpected. Jeff Lester at Savage Critic takes a point-by-point look at Amazing Spider-Man #512, and he doesn’t really like what he sees. A thread on Usenet wonders if the book doesn’t claim the title of “most disgusting comic of the year.”

(Because I have a cold, black heart, I’m eagerly awaiting the story arc that tells us why Bucky Barnes really jumped on that bomb. I’m guessing it involves Baron Zemo and “bad touches.” They can call it “O Captain! My Captain!”)

In comments at Cognitive Dissonance, George (Grattan, I’m guessing) offers the following theory on where all this is coming from:

“[Johanna asks] “What is wrong with big-name comic superhero writers these days?” I think part of it may be a fairly common response among artists in all fields, especially those who hold some doubt about the relative merit of their talents vis a vis their forerunners: Oedipal Pissiness, a.k.a. Kill the Father Syndrome. That is, folks like JMS, Johns, Meltzer, Smith, Winick, and others cut their creative eyeteeth on the great deconstructive superhero works of the 1970s and 1980s by Miller, Moore, Starlin, Gaiman, Morrison, Veitch and others, a genre which itself quickly slipped into the often uintentionally self-parodic “Grim and Gritty” works of the 1990s. Now, they’re left with the understandable impulse to “one up” both those deconstructive works, but also to indulge their (and readers’) nostalgia for the pre-deconstructed works of the Silver and Bronze Ages. That’s an impossible task.”

James Schee at Reading Along has an interesting theory of his own on the last issue of Green Lantern. I’m not really inclined to give DC even that much credit, but it would sure be interesting if it happened that way.

Not much in the way of purchases this week, so I thought I’d do a quick run-down:

Adam Strange #1: This book was great fun. I’ve never been crazy about Adam Strange for his own sake, but I’ve always found him to be a welcome guest in other titles. Writer Andy Diggle takes various aspects of the character in some interesting new directions, and the results are alternately funny, moving, and intriguing. Pascal Ferry’s art is gorgeous, too, from grungy city streets to the planet Rann. It’s a really promising beginning for this mini-series.

Daredevil #65: This anniversary issue looks at a fair stretch of recent issues through the eyes of other characters in the Marvel Universe — Spider-Man, the Punisher, Nick Fury, etc. — with varying degrees of success. It’s an awfully nice idea, though, and it gives some interesting dimension to what’s been going on in the title. Some of the art works for me (Phil Hester in particular), some of it doesn’t (the Greg Horn sequence). But did Matt actually say “This I will do” at one point? Um… you go right ahead, Yoda.

Losers #16: Y’know, I’m starting to see why the Losers are in their current circumstances. For a black-ops unit, they’re kind of dewey-eyed. That’s not an inherently bad thing, since they’re the protagonists and there are plenty of titles out there about totally ruthless bastards. Anyway, if you haven’t been reading this book, this is a perfectly good jumping-on point. It’s a flashback to the events that helped put the Losers on the run and looking to clear themselves. The regular artist is back, too. More nice work from Diggle.

Outsiders #16: The last issue didn’t work for me at all, what with the cheap yuks all around, but Winnick actually gets down to business here. He directly addresses a lot of the questions raised by his central premise, shows his characters responding logically to those questions, and even throws in a very welcome addition to the cast. I still wonder about Winnick’s characterization of Nightwing, but now at least I’m convinced he might be going somewhere interesting with it. Not bad at all, really, even with the testoster-off thrown in. And the humor was more character-based. I’m still not on board with the sight gags from Shift, and I’m pretty sure Plastic Man wants his shtick back. (The kids sure love those Dennis Franz jokes! Har!)

Wonder Woman #208: It’s a solid issue, and a great relief to see Veronica “I can’t believe they picked Wonder Woman to be class treasurer instead of me!” Cale take a back seat to some actually menacing, well-motivated adversaries. The political complications were interesting, and there was a nice balance between character moments and action. (Quibble: Veronica doesn’t want the President turned to stone because she’s a patriot, but she’s okay with soldiers and secret service agents being slaughtered? And the Silver Swan stuff makes me wonder how she hoped to prove Diana is a fraud by torturing and brainwashing an emotionally disturbed young woman. Veronica, seriously, you suck at this. You wish you were WW’s Luthor.)

And, from the “David’s Secret Shame” category, I must admit that, no, I haven’t been reading New Frontier. And, yes, as with Superman: Secret Identity, I now realize the errors of my ways, and, yes, I will buy the trade. (Not the half-trade. I’ll wait for the whole trade. If there is one.) Secret Shame Item 2: Why do I periodically buy issues of Wizard expecting a different outcome? It’s nothing but heartache.

Back with the politics again. Sorry, but the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the prospect of a Federal Marriage Amendment today. If you think this amendment is a terrible, divisive, discriminatory idea, please take a moment to let your Representative know.

Here’s the Human Rights Campaign’s Action Alert on the issue. Or, if you’d rather take a more direct approach, here’s the site for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Thanks!