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Thanks for the podcast recs. Slowly working my way through them.

Listened to the first Wordballoon cast with Brian Michael Bendis. I never want to read another Marvel comic again. Listening to Mr. Bendis answer questions like:

"Will Spiderwoman ever have a crossover with Ultimate Thunderbolts after the House of M?"

makes me realize two things. First, I came to the realization that I've gone through a series of certain special changes (called puberty) which have changed me from a boy to a man. Second, the mere idea of superhero continuity (either Marvel or DC) makes me want to pay a homeless guy to tie me to a chair and make me read every email in my Spam box.

I'm sure Bendis is a fine writer. I haven't read any of his work yet. He came on long after I ceased consuming Marvel products. But the idea of these soap-operatic universes meshing into one coherent travesty of a fictional world is ludicrous.

The editorial review process for DC or Marvel books looks like an exercise in madness. This character can't die, because they have a new series coming out. This character can't guest star in this story in Antarctica, because they're in Rwanda in their own book this month. You can't have Batman trace a supervillain by his fingerprints, because that villain had his prints burned off forty years ago in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #45.

I'm surprised these two companies are still in business. Infinite Crisis #4 (of 7!) was the top selling book in January. 182,633 people bought it. Which means there are almost 200,000 people out there willing to eat literary feces.

You can't blame this on the kids. The kids are not reading this stuff, they're downing manga like crack fiends, for better or worse. These consumers are my age, or older. This is the demographic of the man-child. The gamer generation's taken a lot of heat for the "30 year old living in his parents' basement" stereotype. It's an inaccurate image. The 30 year old gamer got an education and a job. The 30 year comic guy is still in their parents' basement. The Simpson's Comic-Book-Guy stereotype is well-deserved.

How many issues of Desolation Jones #5 sold in January? 17,160.

I know, I don't have much of a right to whine "You don't like the same books I do!" I can't stop Fox from canceling Arrested Development if no one else watches it. I can't go into people's homes and make them turn off Skating With Celebrities.

I guess I'm coming to the realization that good art is rarely popular art. I've known this before, but I've not truly internalized it until now. I'm still growing up.

I think I'm done. I don't want continuity, ever again. I'll hold on to my Claremont X-Men storylines from my childhood, and call it good.

Again, I don't blame Bendis, or any other writer/editor/artist. I blame the market.

Keep on shoveling that crap.