I'm seriously considering dropping Ult. X-Men. The recent storylines haven't been grabbing me and I didn't care for the Annual at all. Plus, Ultimate! Juggernaut looks like a complete and utter dufus. At least they brought the original artist back for the Annual so I could at least tell the characters apart.

I enjoyed Astonishing, but the ending felt kind of anti-climactic. Emma is working for the Hellfire Club ? How 1980s.

Devin Grayson interview: [link]

Just in one year of reading a single Batman title, for example, you could find yourself starting with a reasonably universe-integrated story line created by and playing to the strengths of a seasoned comic writer for three months, then find that the book has been swept into a much larger crossover story “event” with new writers rotating through. And then four months later, the book is under the control of a really exciting movie/TV/fiction best seller “auteur” who creates tremendous buzz and kind of reinvents everything from scratch with total carte blanche from the editors, but the year finishes out under a new editor and a “stable” writer who work together to try to pull it back into the continuity of the previous year, which is the last time either of them had any idea what was going on.

Devin's not happy about Frank Miller.

My initial idea has to be cleared by my editor who may, if it’s controversial enough, have to get it cleared by the Batman Group Editor (Bob Schreck) who may, in turn, have to get it cleared by the VP (Dan Didio), the legal department, and/or the publisher (Paul Levitz).

One would assume that Batman 644 went through this process.

Devin's not happy about Frank Miller.

Where are you getting Miller from that?

Where are you getting Miller from that?

The "star fucking" comment later on. The general weariness with bringing in stunt writers who muck up the continuity. The fact that Frank's the stunt writer who is currently rewriting key backstories. Also, I've seen her name him in other interviews (but not in this negative tone) noting that they had to work around whatever changes he made.

But I don't know for sure. That's just who I assumed she was talking about it. Do you think it's somebody else? (Joss? Kevin Smith?)

The fact that Frank's the stunt writer who is currently rewriting key backstories.

Miller's new title isn't meant to be canon, though. Which is good, because canon Batman isn't *actually* as fucked-up as Miller is writing him in the Batman & Robin title.

That particular quote seemed more like a comment on what went on with Nightwing, where her arc was disrupted by War Games, then interrupted by the six-issue NW:YO mini from Dixon and Beatty.

Miller's writing an out of continuity mini that doesn't interfere with any other titles. I don't know when the last time was that he worked on something actually connected to current canon.

I think she's speaking more to generalized trends, however, when it comes to Big Name Writers coming and making merry with the chaos. Meltzer on IC, Smith rebooting Green Arrow, blah blah blah. It's possible that having a Vertigo writer with a following come in and play with the regular DC toys also counts. (Trendspotting: Vertigo/Wildstorm writers who come in and write DC mainstream and wind up writing things that don't mesh? Willingham's not the first, and I doubt he'll be the last.)

Bryan Singer has an upcoming DC Comics project that would fit the bill too, doesn't he?

Does Astounishing fit with current continuity or is it out-of-canon? I know it's a new title, but is it tied in with current X-titles (not that I'm reading anything else, just curious)?