Shortform Linkblogging

Mick over at The Daily Burn has written a well thought-out piece on what he sees as the role of superhero comics, and it is very much worth reading. So go do so. A very nice use for his blog's 100th post, if I might say so.

And Dave's Long Box is running through some high-quality F*@# Yeah! moments. But you already knew that, of course. Because you are so Airwolf.

Oh, I'm now about three issues into Essential Tomb of Dracula and I have to say, I'm really looking forward to Marv Wolfman showing up a few issues down the road. There's nothing exactly bad about the early issues, but my god, Frankie Drake is a drip of a lead character. I'm not sure if he continues as the lead for the duration of the series, but I sure wouldn't be disappointed to see him finish what he started at the outset of the third issue.

The art is really nice, though. I can see why so many people have commented that Gene Colan's art really lends itself to black & white reproduction. Great use of blacks, and the sketchiness of the linework makes Dracula seems almost fluid, like he's made up of smoke and shadows.

Still, the stories themselves lack a certain crackle. It's like the writers could all get a handle on Dracula himself, but were sort of confused about how to approach stories in which Dracula couldn't presumably come out a clear winner, but in which they were loath to allow him to be defeated. It's like a Doctor Doom series, but instead of the Fantastic Four, you have him take on two guys who work at a car wash. You just keep thinking to yourself, "why doesn't he just kill them?"

Still, fun stuff. Don't get me wrong.