Lost in Final Crisis?

Things did get disjointed at the end, with Mandrakk appearing out of nowhere unless you read Superman Beyond, and the two parallel narratives in the last issue, but up to that point it was remarkably straight-forward.

People were already saying they were lost with the first issue, though, and my theory is this: They were lost because they were expecting to need to know more than they actually needed to know. In a lot of cases, knowing the background of an obscure character might enhance your appreciation of a scene, but isn’t actually required to understand it, but readers who are used to recognizing everyone might have been put off by the gaps in their knowledge.

I had a theory at the time that the more knowledge of the DCU you have, the more lost you would get with Final Crisis — and a casual fan would probably have an easier time following it!

Final Crisis Theory of Impenetrability

On Reddit

The New 52 reboot *was* rushed compared to COIE.

The thing is, the New 52 reboot was rushed compared to COIE.

COIE was a 12-issue event created specifically to clean house and combine what they wanted to keep into a new reality.

Flashpoint was a stand-alone “fix the broken timeline” story that grew. Somewhere along the line, DC decided to use it as the springboard to launch the New 52. They added a double-page spread with some mumbo-jumbo about merging timelines, and drew the new costumes on Batman and Barry for the last two pages. (I can’t confirm this, but given the timeline of when Johns and Kubert started Flashpoint, when the reboot got greenlit, the story of Flashpoint itself, and all the stuff Johns talked about putting into his Flash run that didn’t make it, this makes the most sense.)

In my mind, Flashpoint and the New 52 are completely separate entities.

And speaking of things that are completely separate…

“Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato are doing amazing work.”

Yes. Yes they are.

On Reddit

Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts: Dome and Fountain

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, originally built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, as seen on a November afternoon. This place would fit in perfectly in a Maxfield Parrish painting, and I was pleasantly surprised when we left the museum that evening to see a Maxfield Parrish sky behind it.

Maxfield Parrish Sky II

Weird: Since I installed CommentLuv on my blog yesterday, this 9-year-old dev post has been getting hammered by spam.

Weird: Since I installed CommentLuv on my blog yesterday, this 9-year-old dev post has been getting hammered by spam.

Hmm. It’s not just that one post getting spammed suddenly. It’s just that one post where the spams aren’t getting caught by Akismet.

This does tell me that spammers *are* targeting CommentLuv blogs, because until yesterday, I had 1 blog w/about 600 spams & another with 6.

Just when you think the week’s news can’t get more surreal: “Ricin suspect hired by senator as Elvis impersonator”

Just when you think the week’s news can’t get any more surreal, you see a headline like “Ricin suspect hired by senator as Elvis impersonator”

Ricin suspect hired by senator as Elvis impersonator

WASHINGTON — A U.S. senator who was the intended recipient of a letter apparently laced with ricin said he had hired the suspected sender, an Elvis impersonator, to play at a wedding a decade ago.