"Don't hate the player, hate the game" is the biggest fucking cop-out in the whole world.

It's basically a "Get-out-of-Jail" catch-prhase for being a douche, but not wanting to be called out for being one.

Those words are supposed to completely absolve someone of any and all wrong-doing...and I call BULLSHIT!

I'm not saying the that world should be fair and peaches and sunshine, but bad behavior should not be ignored because people say that is the way the world is.

Instead of acting on your worst behavior, why not step up and act with honor and integrity?  And if you do, maybe the next person will, and the next and the next?

Who knows, maybe life will no longer be considered a game... and we'll all be winners.

Okay... kniption finished.

And Bendis gets it wrong... again.

Again I go back to Avengers Assembled, where Bendis has STILL not explained why the Hulk talks in the third person (unlike his own book) or how Thanos and Starlord made it out of the Cancerverse where they were trapped at the end of DandA's Thanos Imperative.  Pretty big oops in my opinion.

Now I have a minor quibble with a three page preview from Avengers Assembled #7... mainly that he appears to really not know who is an Elder of the Universe.

Here's the link to the preview in question: 

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=4491&page=2

Here we see Thanos confronting the Champion, the Contemplator, the Collector, the Stranger and the In-Betweener (by the way, I did not make up these names).  And yes, all are cosmic entities and yes SOME are part of the Elders of the Universe...but NOT all.  The In-betweener has worked with the Elders but is not one of them. And the Stranger has as far as I can recall NEVER worked with them.

Oy, this is not brain surgery.  It's simple continuity.  Just know who is part of what group.

Bendis, seriously... read someone else work, know your comics "history" and I will stop calling you a douchebag.

Okay, kniption over... for now.

Update: Bendis DID address the Cancerverse.  No really he did.  The Avengers and the Guardians get attacked by Thanos and shunted into another dimension.  When one the characters asks where they are, Starlord answers "The Cancerverse".  Nothing else.  Just that.

Wow.  Great job there Bendis.  Really dealing with continuity there.  You frickin' douchebag!

Reason I don't like Bendis

My friends know that I am not a fan of Brian Michael Bendis.  And it is not that I don't think he is a good writer.  He is.  He has a great gift for dialogue.  He has gotten better at writing action.  And he has some very good story ideas.

My problem is that I think he is an arrogant SOB.  Now, why would I say that?  Well, because as good as a writer as he can be... he doesn't seem to respect anyone else's writing.  I mean look at what he does.  He doesn't write a story where the characters are able to be themselves... he has to make them fit the story he wrote, which is why many of the characters in his story, act out of "character". 

And for the most part, he does not pay ANY mind to what another writer has done with a character. Case in point, his current series, Avengers Assemble, which he has said IS in continuity, there are three things that are driving me insane.  One of which is blatant, but the two he still has a chance to explain, but I don't expect him to as he has never done so before.

1) The Hulk - In the current run of the Hulk, the Hulk is intelligent.  A thug, but intelligent.  Able to use pronouns and also not refer to himself in the third person.  Definitely not the "Hulk Smash" Hulk of yesteryear.  And how does Bendis write him?  Well, you guessed it.  He completely ignores what the current writer is doing, and we have "No one like Hulk, even when he try to help."  Oh come on!  To borrow a segment from SNL, REALY?!  He can't just write his dialogue as it actually is right now?  OY!

2 & 3) I'm lumping these two together as they pretty much stem from the same place, Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning's cosmic stuff: The Guardian's of the Galaxy and Thanos.  Now DandA, wrote some beautiful cosmic stories, which while going off in their own direction, paid homage at least to the continuity and history of the characters.  Now what is my issue and why am I waiting to pass judgement?  Well, it has to do with the Thanos Imperative.  In the last issue, DandA has Starlord and Nova (Richard Rider) stay behind in the "Cancerverse" to make sure Thanos couldn't make it back to the regular universe.  They make a heroic sacrifice to safeguard everyone, and which also ends DandA's Guardians of the Galaxy run.  And what does Bendis do in Avengers Assemble #3?  Well have Thanos show up?  No explanation.  Well, I was hoping that maybe he will give one in Avengers Assemble #4...and the answer was, "No".  And who shows up in the end of #4?  Well the Guardians of the Galaxy, lead by Starlord.  Maybe Bendis will explain it in #5.  Maybe.  But considering his track record or paying ANY attention to what other writers have done, I wouldn't bet money on it.

Okay, rant over...for now.  But there is another kniption coming... I know it.

Consequences of Marvel's Ghost Rider lawsuit

Recently Marvel Comics won a law suit against Gary Friedrich's which you can read about on the Bleeding Cool website: Marvel/ Gary Friedrich lawsuit.

Personally I see this whole thing as a dirty lawyer trick, but if this stands, here is how I see the consequences going to the extreme

• Say goodbye to Artist Alley at Comic Book conventions
• See less artists going to Comic Book conventions
• See there being less of a draw (no pun intended) to go to Comic Book conventions
• See there being less Comic Book conventions
• See there being less fan interaction with comic book companies like Marvel and DC
• See less fans buying comics
• See comic books, and by extension, comic book companies, like Marvel and DC, going out of business
• See there being no comic books

Congrats on winning your lawsuit