13% of the voters in my hometown cast for a sheriff candidate that advocated publicly televised executions and spent the night before the election in jail due to his DWI/no insurance/expired license multi-car collision that put two of my friends in the hospital. That's the number I always think of in terms of people grumpily voting against the lead candidate rather than for anyone in particular.

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I think it's thoughtless of Ennis & Ellis to have similar names. And attitudes.

the Cult of Ellis is strong in my circles.

Well, you travel in right-thinking circles! Heh. I didn't mean all superhero fans, but I think there is a portion of the audience that he's quite happily antagonized. I don't follow the comics fandom really (hell, I don't even recognize a lot of the names in the giant deathmatch), so my impression is mostly based on the WEF and comments I see when he does an interview. Which may not be the best sample, to be fair.

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Morrison & Ellis was a nearly impossible choice for me, but I went with Ellis, because Transmet remains my favorite comic ever.

Johns getting eliminated early by the Gaiman juggernaut is kind of sad, because Johns is the current ruler and protector of mainstream, straight-ahead superhero comics and deserves a good fight, but I had to nod to the master.

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I'm not too sorry - when Johns is good he's really good, but he's been one of the driving forces behind a lot of the stuff that I haven't liked at DC lately. I excuse him because the JSA gets more respect than anyone else on his watch, and those are my favorite characters.

By contrast, for me Gaiman runs the gamut from "best work in the history of comics" to "merely better than almost everyone else's work" depending on the project.

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The problem being, it's apples and oranges. Gaiman's probably the best, over all -- no argument. But he also largely has complete control over everything he writes. As workaday writers go, Johns is among the best working today, even if he is stretched thin.

Don't think he deserves to win, but man, some of the others should get eliminated before him.

Oh well. Don't hate the playa and all that!

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I don't think Gaiman has the depth of Moore or Morrison. When I re-read Sandman (or Mr. Punch or some of the other Gaiman books), the stories just don't resonate as much with me as when I re-read Watchmen or The Filth. I don't know about most of the other guys, though.

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Roberts Continues To Stonewall On Logan v. Wayne

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) openly challenged Robert's claim that he "had not made up his mind" on Logan v. Wayne. "With all due respect, I find it frankly unbelievable that, in 30 years of public service, you could not have formed an opinion on this matter," Kennedy said. "So I would again ask that you simply answer the question: who would win in a fight, Wolverine or Batman?"

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Okay, that is hilarious!

Questioning continued in this vein for most of the afternoon, with senators on both sides of the aisle pressing Roberts to clarify his stance. "One of the most important responsibilities of a Chief Justice is adherence to existing precedence," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) reminded the nominee. "I therefore call your attention to The Dark Knight Returns -- a four-part, 1986 mini-series in which Batman defeats Superman in hand-to-hand combat -- and ask you: if Bruce Wayne can beat Superman in a fight, is it not self-evident that he could defeat a mere mutant with ease?"

Brownback remarks were later stricken from the record, however, after ranking Democratic member Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) pointed out that The Dark Knight Returns is now considered to be an non-canonical "Elseworlds" story.

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Thanks. Now I need a new pair of pants.

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That's pretty great. Thanks for the link.

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