Was exercising this morning, listening to a B.S. Report from last week.
(God bless you, Bill Simmons, for being late on turning in your NBA book and being forced to do tons of podcasts instead of turning in columns. The writing’s great, but I can’t read while running.)
He was talking to Chris Connolly about the Oscars, and the merits/drawbacks of the nominees, and an interesting point was brought up about The Visitor (a really decent flick): Instead of Richard Jenkins, you couldn’t really put Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro in that movie, because Pacino would just do a variation of his Scent of a Woman performance, and (this is me) DeNiro would presumably do some variation of the same sleepwalking act he’s been doing for a while (the apex being, of course, his role in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle).
That’s a really good point. Jenkins worked great in that role because he fit the mold of someone that had not experienced enough joy/life/whatever. Pacino and DeNiro have spent decades in roles where they get everything (then they get shot or something, but still).
And then it hit me: That’s how I feel about comics now! That’s why I don’t really read that many anymore!!! Because of the casting! (and the fact that I spend most of my day working on comics, so why would I wanna go home and read them? Why would a guy that works a double shift at Krispy Kreme come home and eat nothing but crullers?)
So in an effort to make myself seem interested in comics (and to pass the time while Marvel’s archaic computer programs load data), I’m gonna create DREAM TEAMS (reserve the right to come up with a wittier title).
Rules:
-I will name the title of a book that I don’t read (FF, Avengers, Hulk, etc) and then figure out who would have to write and draw that book for me to be enticed to actually read it. This should in no way insult the current writers and artists. They might be doing amazing work; I’m just not reading them.
-There are two different things I’ll be doing: Casting current books, and casting books that I think should be current. So if I think Greg Rucka and John Romita Jr. would do a great Scarlet Spider comic, by God, they’re hired.
-Nobody dead. As much as I would love Kirby to draw FF again, that ain’t happenin’.
-Money’s no object. So I can hire Jim Lee if I want.
-Sanity’s no object. So I can hire Alan Moore if I want.
-Hm…that’s all I can think of. (reserve the right to think of other rules).
So I went to Jordan and told him to challenge me with a book that I would normally not read, and now I'll put my Dream Team in place to excite me enough to actually pick up. (not buy, of course)
He picked…(drumroll)………….
CAPTAIN BRITAIN
Captain Britain makes me think of Justice League Europe. The writers set Flash and Metamorpho and Wonder Woman and a bunch of other arbitrary characters in England, and just made fun of Europeans the whole time. Good stuff. Ah man…Giffen and DeMatteis doing that book AND Justice League America at the same time…those were the friggin’ salad days of fun comics. Sigh…but I digress.
My twelve seconds of online research tells me that CB is strong, can fly, is somehow tied to magic…aaaaaand with that, I’m bored and ready to cast:
WRITER:
Let’s see…British. Ok, I give writing to ROGER LANGRIDGE, who’s a Brit and gets doing wonky and delving into the serious when he needs to. He also has a sense of humor about the English, and would probably have the British Captain waging war against gingivitis and the lack of flavor in food.
ART:
It’s a tight one…I almost gave this one to the great Barry Kitson, but edging him out is the legendary (and refreshingly surly) ALAN DAVIS. Gorgeous artwork that man does, and he's already associated with the good Cap'n, so he's rehired. His usual inker MARK FARMER comes along too, and DAVE STEWART does color. Dave Stewart should do ALL colors for all things printed and/or on computers.
PLOT
The biggest rule I’d give Roger is that he’s not allowed to involve much magic. When the supernatural does come up, Captain Britain has to hate it (“Magic is rubbish!” he would say). The only magic I’d allow would be to grant a little kid with similar powers, put him in Captain Britain’s old costume, and name him Dodger. He’d be from Manchester, so he’d be kinda slow and funny, like Karl in Ricky Gervais’ podcasts.
Cap and Dodger would primarily defend England from non-super hero stuff, but when they were needed outside the country, they’d have a VERY specific amount of time they could be away before losing their powers.
The current team Honestly, I would go with the folks doing the Captain Britain book Marvel's currently publishing -- Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. They're really good...
Posted by jmetzner on 2009-03-05 14:38:08
Do you really work for Marvel? You work for Marvel and you don't read the Avengers?
If you are not reading Captain Britain and MI-13, you are missing out on one of of Marvel's finest series. Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk are doing a superb job. They've made Captain Britain hot for the first time in years, since the Alan Moore/Chris Claremont/Alan Davis days.
If I were you, I'd open up that comp box and start reading. Marvel's on a roll!
Nuff said.
Posted by killraven2099 on 2009-03-09 14:04:31
Do you think Gambit is an LSU fan?
Posted by mrochmonek on 2009-03-27 11:58:03
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About this blog: By day, he’s a mild-mannered comic book editor! By night, he’s an obsessive sports fan!
By early morning, he drinks coffee and then runs! He’s Nathan Cosby, and he has thoughts about things.
This is them.
About the author: When Associate Editor Nathan Cosby is not thinking about football, he edits Marvel’s All-Ages books, including the Marvel Adventures line (Spidey, FF, Avengers, Super Heroes), X-Men and Wolverine First Class, Franklin Richards, Mini Marvels, and Power Pack, works on the Marvel Illustrated and Stephen King books, does the Custom Comics, and runs Super Hero Squad. There’s like 20 other things he does, but he’s bored with typing this.
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