Friday, September 15, 2006

Here's A Ruler; Get Your Priorities Straight

So let's see if this posts. Blogger's being kind of goofy, what with the "you can't read your blog, there's an internal server error", which was very nearly the last straw when added to having to do laundry on Friday, because I'll be spending 10 hours tomorrow tromping through swamps, and the nasal congestion that was practically dripping out of my ears.

Then I got my first paycheck of the semester, and things have been gradually trending up, and my blog works again. Maybe. I tried to use my favorites button to go to it three minutes ago, and I got the server error screen again, so I punched in the address, and it worked fine. Go figure.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying I'm less than assured about having to switch to Blogger beta eventually. Anyone done that already that can give a vote of confidence?

Ah, that's neither here nor there. Wednesday I was in the store talking with Len about Green Lantern #13, and he commented that he couldn't remember what had been going on in the story, and that if the book would actually come out monthly, it'd be top 10, as at least three people at the store had already dumped it due to delays, and more were contemplating similar action. This lead to a discussion of how all the guys writing 52 seem to be having deadline difficulties. Rucka with Checkmate, Morrison with Seven Soldiers (wasn't that was supposed to start in April?), Johns with everything, and even Waid's having some trouble with Legion of Superheroes, right? Granted, it may be a matter of the artists and not the writers in some cases, and the lateness isn't limited to just those books (Aquaman's having problems as well, I think), but it is a problem these guys are experiencing.

That lead to Dan asking, 'Would you rather have a great 52 and some late books, or a crappy 52 and those books on time?'

So I throw it open to you, what do you want to take priority with these writers, 52 or the monthly titles?

For me, it's a no-brainer. I don't care about 52. I do care about Teen Titans (at least until the end of the next issue). I want my monthly books out every month, not every six weeks. To be fair, this next Teen Titans is coming out four weeks after the last, so maybe Johns is getting his shit back together. Still, I don't like it when a book I'm buying is delayed because of some other thing I don't care about. I'm selfish like that.

So quality issues on 52 aren't really any big deal for me. It seems to be a story designed to tell us how things got to the situation they're in currently on New Earth. Now, while putting these good writers on it will probably make it a more enjoyable trip, it really doesn't seem like it's worth delaying all these other titles, when a team of lesser writers (I'll let you insert names here) could get you to the same place, if only by a more mundane route.

So, if we go off the assumption there are only two options: Great 52 (if you believe it is great) and the late monthly titles we get now, or Mediocre 52 and on-time monthly titles done by the same creative teams, what's your preference?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a Marvel fan. Expecting comics books to be on time is like expecting teenagers not to have sex.
Great 52 it is!

LEN! said...

Just because it fits to say it, I'll transcribe my response to Dan's question:

"That's a question you don't want to ask me."

Why? Because I already think 52 is a mediocre book. It's just a cursory "Cliff's Notes" version of everything that's been going on in the missing year. It's about concepts, not stories with any real execution.

Anonymous said...

I'm with len! It's at best a mediocre book and most times truly God-Awful. I'd much rather have more Green Lantern on time (Arisia!) or...most especially...more Legion on time (if it is delayed...which i don't think it is yet)

CalvinPitt said...

So that makes it 3 votes to 2 in favor of Mediocre 52.

Let's compromise. Waid and Morrison stay, and we'll have say, Meltzer and Marz replace Rucka and Johns.

Because if we take all four writers off, then Judd Winick probaly winds up writing it, and I wouldn't subject people enjoying 52 to that.

Although it would probably make the people reading Outsiders happy.

SallyP said...

While I am mildly interested in 52, I want my Green Lantern fix, and I want it now. Weekly if possible. *sigh* I want to wallow in Green Lantern Goodness.

Anonymous said...

I just switched to the Blogger Beta.

One thing that sucks is that you can't comment on non-beta blogs with the beta integratiopn with your google account.

Besides that, though: pretty badass. Nice layout tweaking available, and labels are so much better than the del.icio.us hack I was using.

I recommend http://hackosphere.blogspot.com/
For some great labals display hacks.

CalvinPitt said...

sallyp: Make it 4 to 2 then.

mark; Thanks for the information!

thekelvingreen said...

I can't work out (a) why Beta is better, and (b) how to switch my current blog over to it.

CalvinPitt said...

kelvin: I think beta allows for more customization of the blogs. As for switching, I think you just have to make a beta account (or a Google Account, something like that), and your blog is automatically beta.

That's the gist I got from Blogger Help. I haven't tried yet myself.

Matthew E said...

I'm not going to bother with Beta for a long time. Because if I do, I won't be able to post under my own username on blogs that aren't Beta. (Or that was the case last time I checked it out.) Plus I didn't see any Beta features that really blew my skirt up.

I'd rather have a great on-time Legion and a great on-time 52. Why would I agree to anything less? But if I had to throw one of them over the side, it'd be 52.