Teppy! Me too.

True. I've seen those about, and some of those stories were pretty good, actually.

My brother had both sets of comics (e.g. Crisis Earth 1 and Crisis Earth 2), which were quite good. They actually had a pretty good handle on the whole multi-verse concept back in the day. I'm not sure when it became problematical enough to require a total reset.

Interesting Salon article on the recent ends of Bone and Cerebus. (Requires the day pass ad thing.)

I'm going to buy the 1984/85 Kitty/Wolvie mini on ebay sometime.

The only thing I know about it is this, which leads me to hope that you didn't spend too much on it.

Feh. I liked the story.

Yeah, I'm with ita. I didn't like the art, but the story was good.

Still reading Ultimate Spidey Vol. 1. Mary Jane wears an Old Army shirt. Ha!

Ult Spidey has a lot of little jokes sprinkled in I've noticed. Lots of random stuff on shirts, in the background and on computer screens.

Unrelated. I finally downloaded and saw "Starcrossed" last night. Very good stuff.

Entire run of Nightwing up for auction on Ebay.

Thoughts on "Identity Crisis" #1:

I've had the first issue awhile now, and it haunts me in ways few comics do anymore. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm still a big fan of the men in tights--not like that. Usually--but frankly, most of them are fun but discardable. Take, for example, JLA, which has gotten attrocious and is about to get bumped off my pull list.

But "Identity Crisis" is getting to me. For those not following who don't mind being spoiled, the first issue centers on the murder of Sue Dibny, the wife of a long-lived but fairly obscure character, the Elongated Man. I've had a couple conversations with younger comic readers lately--both online and in real life--who are pissed off that the big murder was such a minor character.

Fuck them. Fuck their johnny come lately selves back to the the Todd McFarlane crap. (: I'm exaggerating, of course, but this dismisal seems to miss the point of the story--that people like this put their loved ones in danger. Sue Dibny was a great (if, for me, really painful) choice because not only had the character been around long enough to know everyone in the "super hero community," her and her husband were, as funny book characters go, downright down to earth and relatable. Her death is heartbreaking, and you can feel the thought that their loved ones could be next reverberate through Superman, Green Arrow, even Batman (who, in a lovely touch) we feel the presence of throughout the book, but never actually see.

And then there's the Elongated Man--Silver Age detective with dumb stretching powers--being put through an emotional ringer that just sings from the page. The heartbreak at Sue's funeral, as he can barely speak, ais agonizing. But then there he is when he's working, investigating the murder, piecing together who it is, and he's sharp. Confidant. Meltzer's dug deep and found the core of this character--the only detective who can give Batman a run for his money--and used the pain as a lens to see it with. I've read mountains of poetry that have failed to do that.

And then there's the mysterious "secret" held by Ralph, Green Arrow, the Atom, Black Canary, Zatanna and Hawkamn. Of that, I know nothing yet, but I'm on the edge of my seat.