Because the blog

Belongs to watchers…

Motime Like the Present: His thesis statement on Silver Age Marvel comics and the Puritan legacy. Also something about same-sex marriage, of which more in the next post.

Both Sean Collins and Journalista! read my revenge-tragedies/superhero-comics post below as a brief in favor of superheroic conventions.

I see why they thought that, but it’s not totally accurate. Some of the conventions exist because they help stories work, or they symbolize something in a meaningful way (secret identities), etc. (Note: These can be ditched when they get in the way of telling a good story–I’m loving the whole “Matt Murdock Is Daredevil” storyline–but the conventions form a useful background or toolbox.) Some of the conventions exist for, as far as I can tell, random reasons (double-initial names). Some of the conventions exist because they pander to people’s worst instincts and preferences (retcons!).

In some ways, the less helpful a convention is to straight-up superhero comics, the more interesting it will be to writers, who want to know why the convention accreted on the genre in the first place if it is so unwieldy or dumb.

That said, thanks to J! for the kind words and to Sean for connecting my post with a perfectly accurate thing said by Marvel head honcho of some kind Bill Jemas.

Afghan Voice: Fascinating-looking blog. Via Oxblog.

Democratic Debate Drinking Game.