Barely a week into the blog, and i'm already catching flak for a brief comment on the Supreme Court nomination situation. How sad that we live in a country where any dialog about politics is considered anathema. As if said issues don't affect our daily lives, let alone our very medium/industry. I'm sorry, but as our civil liberties are continually assaulted, who knows when a First Amendment crisis might cause a crippling blow to our industry. The cultural/political climate today smells a lot like the conservative tone of the Wertham days in the early 50's, when comics were branded as the cause de jour of juvenile delinquency, and subsequently turned into so much milk-toast. Seduction of the Innocent. Look out! Comics bad...

I had envisioned this as a personal blog more than a mere Talking Points bulletin for Top Shelf, or a comics newblog, like the indispensable www.comicsreporter.com/. If we live in fear of pissing somebody (anybody) off, then we also lose our passion, our reason, our voice. We're no more than autotrons. All the same i'd really be curious what anyone thinks about this. A small Top Shelf care package to anyone who emails me back with any sort of considered critical response. If i find that, really, nobody wants to hear my thoughts on politics, then i'll reconsider doing so. I'm not particular suited to it in the same capacity of the great policy-wonk bloggers anyway.

For political discourse, i'm a regular reader of the news dump http://www.truthout.org/ and the daily blog http://www.dailykos.com/. In the comics fold, i appreciate Steven Grant's thoughtful political ramblings in his regular Permanent Damage column at http://www.comicbookresources.com/. (His moniker for Bush is "The Handpuppet!" Damn i love that.)

So then, who's stronger, the Hulk or the Thing? Gamma radiation or mere cosmic radiation?

Oh, i know! Since i now feel compelled to talk comics, i have to say i was quite sad to see Pa Kent bite it tonight on Smallville. And on the eve of his State Senatorial election victory! That sucks. I mean, come on, Pa Kent was a stud. A real stand-up guy. It was Ma Kent who was the annoying parent; but i still wouldn't have wanted to see her take a dirt nap. I was rooting for Lionel Luther to go... what an asshole. And clearly they couldn't eliminate the wonderfully complex Lex. Even Wizard mag had ace reporter Chloe Sullivan pegged most likely to go, at 5:1, since she's not even really part of the comics Supes mythos.

Ah well, the funeral scene was nicely done, very austere and surreal. Tension abounds as Clark -- rocked by his dad's death -- also loses Lana, after going back in time to save her, and she drifts closer towards his (future) arch-enemy Lex Luthor. Ha! Awesome!

(However, tonight we saw a serious pet peeve of mine in television and film; and that is when a heart attack victim has the misfortune of receiving truly inept CPR on the scene. Even worse, on Smallville tonight, Clark and Ma didn't even make an attempt to resuscitate Pa!! What the fuck? They don't teach CPR in Kansas?)