Monday's Musings

I regularly come across things that I don't really want to write a full-fledged column about, but still want to throw my two cents in on. So, I'm putting together this thing for every Monday at noon that does a round up of various thoughts, ideas, and ephemera that I don't want to meld into any sort of coherence. It's not linkblogging, just scattershot ideas.

• After what I think has been years of waiting for Spider-Woman #1, the first issue of the new series finally landed this past week. Given the placement of the title, though, the creators seem to have clearly defined what they think the audience will be checking the book out for.

• Everyone and their brother seems to be talking about the Kirby heirs, the timing of their claim, and so on and so forth. Personally, when it comes to creators' families taking up the fight for equal share and ownership and such, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I see them as taking up the cause of their family to fight for just, deserved compensation. On the other, I see them causing an almost catch-22 backlash amongst fans that "they didn't create" what they're seeking benefit from. I think they're perfectly within their rights to sue for compensation, that's their legal right.

• Apparently the scorpion-rat-human hybrid thing from the second episode of Fringe is not possible, or so says an expert for Popular Mechanics. The column also mentions the fuzzy X-Men variety, which always makes me wonder why the superheroes usually seemed to get fancy powers rather than cancerous tumours. I know this subject was broached in Warren Ellis' Ruins as well as Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, but I still think it was terrible that when the "no more mutants" crap ran through that the more probable mutations in mutants seemed to be the ones that were wiped out. Rather than the ones that could shoot laser beams out of their eyes or turn into metal. Go figure.

• I've started a series of columns on Vertigo. The first one's available below and the second will be landing on Wednesday. Be on the lookout for "This Column is DOOMED!" which should give you a clue as to what I decided to tackle first. Also, if you're in the Vancouver area, be on the lookout for a raving madman going on about biting off more than he chew.

• Speaking of Chew, it's an interesting concept and relatively well-written and illustrated, but for the life of me, I just can't see why it's setting people into such a tizzy.