Baracksploitation in comics

Baracksploitation continues to run rampant.

I work in downtown Atlanta, so I'm somewhat numbed to the droves of obviously unauthorized t-shirts, prints, and doo-dads plastered with the image and slogans of our most recently elected head of the executive branch. "Yes we can," "Yes we did," and "Commemorative edition (name the doo-dad here)" are everywhere in the A-T-L.

(By the way, who is "we"? And if it means what I think it does, why is this not considered racist? If a white person is elected next cycle, can I wear a "We undid it" T-shirt and get away with it?)

But what is mind-numbing to me is that the phenomenon has particularly caught on in the realm of...comic books.

Really? Comics?

I can imagine the editorial meetings: "Forget Milestone Comics, this is how we get black people interested in comics!"

Now, I don't mind Presidents being portrayed in comics - in fact, I've always been interested when it happened in the past, ever since the May, 1977 issue of Marvel Two-In-One #27, pencilled by underrated comics artist Ron Wilson (who, incidentally is black, and if anybody should be able cash in on this trend, I wish it could be him - he his inexplicably out of comics). As a youngster, it really blew my mind that the President would appear in a comic book! And not a fictional President, but the real deal!

But the current comics explosion of Obama appearances - and not just cameos, but full-blown titles - is a bit beyond the Presidential bit parts and cameos comics readers have become accustomed to. The "Special Inauguration Edition" of Amazing Spider-Man definitely falls into the category of "Commemorative edition ________"-type Baracksploitation that has struck Atlanta so hard. (Heck even our local paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution got in on the action by hawking prints and t-shirts of their inaugural editions. But I guess comics and newspapers, like many print media, are on the downswing and will do anything to turn a buck, especially in a bad economy.)

But you know what? Every U.S. presidential inauguration is special and historic. There have only been 43 individuals to take the oath of office over 220 years. (I phrase it that way since Grover Cleveland - the only President to hold two "numbers" - is only one individual, and many other Presidents were two-termers and took the oath more than once.)

Yet this past inauguration received more than it's due. Why? Because there was a market to exploit. Pure and simple.

Why does it bug me? Besides the fact that I did not like this candidate and the (in my opinion) lies he campaigned - and won - with, the son of gun cheapened my memories of one of my favorite comic issues of all time. What's worse, he's a comics fan himself.

Worst campaign ever

I suck - one post a month? Still, this is quite good, particularly for the anti -4E crowd.

Saturday morning Watchmen

Check out the Saturday morning Watchmen video here. It's funny because...it's funny! (And yes, I know they're not really called the Watchmen.)

NCSoft financial report shenanigans

I have to call "shenanigans" on NCSoft's Q4 financial report. At first glance, the numbers look good for them. However, after a little digging...

NCSoft has ceased reporting their subsciption numbers. Previously they provided average monthly access numbers - now they only give highest concurrent users, which is useless to an investor who wants to know the health of NCSoft's games. Who cares what the largest number of people were for one day in the quarter?

Picking on City of Heroes (CoH) for a moment: NCSoft reports a slight uptick in highest concurrent users since last quarter. Good, right? But looking at past 4Q numbers, 4Q 2006 had a concurrent user high of 17,728 and 4Q 2007 had 17,056. Both are probably attributable to Winter Event in December. 4Q 2008, however, has a concurrent high of only 13,823 - a significant drop from past 4Q results. This is despite the fact that December had the triple play of a new issue release, a free weekend for returning veterans, and the Winter Event!

More important are the fininacial figures themselves. According to the report, sales are up for CoH from 6,193 million won to 6,865 million won. That's good, right? But wait! The won seriously spiked downward in the second half of 2008. About 1000 won = 1 USD at the end of July 2008, but 1318 won = 1 USD by the end of the year. In the NCSoft conference call, at the very end, they admit that gross revenues are inflated by as much as 40% because of foreign curreny exchange rates! (40-45% of all NCSoft revenue is from abroad).

If you crank the numbers and look at won values versus the dollar, CoH maybe - MAYBE - stayed even with its 3Q 2008 numbers, which were disappointing. (It's hard to tell since the won fluctuated wildly during this period and CoH brings in dollars, pounds, and Euros in unknown amounts.)

With the won in a state of dramatic fluctuation, what would be the best figure to determine the health of a given game? Why subscription numbers, of course - a headcount is an absolute number, not subject to exchange rates. But these are the very numbers that disappeared from the report this quarter. Hmmmm.

If I were an investor, I'd want subscription numbers to tell me how healthy these games really are.

I also think the CoH subscription slide is continuing.

However, I do not think CoH is the reason for the change in their reporting policy - the investors in the quarterly conference call seemed much more interested in how much the Korean release of Aion is cannibalizing numbers from Lineage I and II. Either way, invetors need to be asking more questions - NCSoft is hiding the ball, and the devaluation of the won is helping them do it.

Blog neglect

I have been a perpetrator of blog neglect. Part of the culprit is lack of time. The rest is some unfortunate thinking on my part that my next post needs to be epically good and/or deep. Also, I've found a lot of outlet through Facebook. For example, filling out those random questionnaires on "25 things about me" can be cathartic. I just recently got tagged with "25 things that irritate me." Thus far, each of my irritants - and I only have 10 - requires about a paragraph of exposition and explanation. Apparently my irritants are epic.

So, I'm posting this short one to try to get some juices flowing.

Plus, I've had a lot of things on my mind. Job hunting in a bad economy. Cyclic depression on my part. Something similar on my wife's part. A nagging suspicion that my life needs to change.

I'll keep you posted.

Book Recommendation: The First Law Trilogy

I recently finished reading Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy, which consists of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings. Abercrombie is a young British author and this is his first published work. I give a complete thumbs up and recommend you try it.

It is difficult not to compare this fantasy trilogy to George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. Like Martin, Abercrombie writes "dark" fantasy, for lack of a better term. "Dark" in the sense that the violence, language, and sex are frank and real. "Dark" in the sense that the world is a dangerous place, lines of "good" and "evil" are often blurred, and every character has deep - and more importantly, interesting - flaws in their nature. (This does not mean "dark" in any goth sense, however - the setting is high fantasy.)

Unlike Martin, however, Abercrombie has created a trilogy - one that you can buy complete on the bookshelves today. No waiting months and months for the next volume. Also, Abercrombie has announced that his next two books will be stand-alone stories in the same universe.

Already, I love this guy.

Abercrombie presents what at first glance would appear to be a typical fantasy adventuring band - a high-bred knight in armor (a paladin, if you will), a barbarian warrior, an archer, a wizard, and a ... hmmm ... assassin? cleric? ... a member of the Inquisition, who could be considered both or neither. But never mind the stereotypical pigeonholes - Abercrombie turns these archetypes on their ears and gives each of them tremendous depth.

The title refers to one of the two (so far) revealed rules of magic in this universe. The First Law is not to have direct contact with the "other side" - which is the plane of demons from which magic power springs. The Second Law is not to eat human flesh. Naturally, conflict occurs among the people who would seek to break these laws.

I won't reveal any more of the plot, but suffice to say that there is enough here to satisfy all of your appetites - individual battles, siege combat, magic, intrigue, politics, betrayal, love, death. Moreover, it is presented in a thoroughly readable and entertaining form.

And what more can you ask for?

Obama: now with less non-change!

Richardson bows out.

By the way, is it just me, or....

Geekdom

You may have noticed the nifty title (and title graphics!) to my blog. Well, I sure did – thinking of a title cost me half a day in starting this thing! I’m ashamed to admit how long the title banner took.

And so it is time to subject you, the reader, to an examination of each piece of the multiple-personality pie that will be this blog. I had planned to start with a Bull Moose segment, but my Geek muse caught hold of me today when I saw this:

That’s right – steampunk Flash. It just doesn’t get better than this! Geekdom comes in many flavors, but steampunk must rank among of Geekdom’s Universally Accepted Genres (UAG’s), along with space, ninjas, robots, pirates, superheroes, and monkeys.

[Note that any combination of UAG items is also inherently cool (or inherently geeky, as the terms are interchangeable). Thus, space ninjas, pirate monkeys, or especially robot ninja pirate monkeys are all concepts that will cause instant salivation among geek fanboys and fangirls.]

But steampunk really gets me – I love all things Victorian. Geeks owe a certain debt to the era – after all, science fiction (known as “scientific romances” at the time) has its earliest roots during the Victorian time period. I would be bereft in my duties as host if I didn’t recommend some of my favorites: the Miller and Walter translation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (accept no other translation!), Gibson and Sterling’s The Difference Engine, Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog (although you need to read predecessor Doomsday Book first), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and from television, "The Wild Wild West" and "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr."

But this – steampunk Flash – is simply awesome.

Now I don’t know much about netiquette, and I don’t plan to outright steal things very often, but I must credit Newsarama with pointing me to Sillof’s Workshop’s version of Gaslight Justice League! Check out the whole series – as well as his steampunk Star Wars sets and Star Wars: 1942 line. Great, great stuff.

I played City of Heroes for a good while, and my main hero was a super-speedster. I’d have given a lot to make him look like steampunk Flash!

So how am I a geek? Because I get excited about stuff like this.

A Blog

Ah, a blog. That’s what I need in my life.

Well, maybe so.

As I reflect upon 2008, I realize no other year has given me more reason to want to write. It was a year of profound change for me personally. I started the year a single, childless man; I ended it married and with a daughter. Change indeed.

Politically and economically, 2008 produced more to talk and think about than any other recent year that comes to mind. Not only was it an election year, but the worldwide economy went into the tank. A spike in oil prices made us think about real energy changes for the first time in a long time. Change, both real and perceived.

I spent most of this year oscillating between elation and anger, depending on whether my attention was focused on home or the headlines. I often wanted to share my thoughts, and had no outlet other than my wife (who no doubt tires of my rantings) and daughter (who is probably entertained, but does not appreciate the quality of my rantings since she is not yet 6 months old).

Hence, a blog.

I’ll likely be all over the place subject-wise. Sci-fi/fantasy. Gaming. Politics. Sports. Religion. Random crap.

Or, I’ll post this one time and forget about it. We shall see.

This post is more or less a test post and a short intro. More blog to follow...