* CBR posts a Frank Miller cover for Detective Comics #27 that shows how far DC Comics has fallen since the days of Ed Brubaker/Darwyn Cooke/Cameron Stewart's Catwoman, and how far Frank Miller has fallen since Daredevil. Neither DC nor Miller is ever likely to recover from the places they've gone "creatively" in the past 15 years, but at least DC could have a change of management. I don't know how Miller got where he is or how he could possibly ever recover the gifts he once displayed as a creator. It's tragic, what's become of him as an artist. And reprehensible on so many levels that DC would even use that piece of art. What a depressing thing to wake up to on Boxing Day.
* In contrast, last night's airing of Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor was wondrous, exhilarating, and an utterly satisfying conclusion to the Matt Smith era. I don't want to spoil it if you're late to the party, but like the 50th anniversary special, it had everything I wanted and more. The epic scope, the joyous tone and the very different way in which we transitioned into Peter Capaldi's Doctor were all just perfect. As a bonus, the storyline provides ample opportunity to revisit Smith's incarnation in the future, should the producers and Smith wish to do so. Not that I am in any huge hurry, because I am giddy with anticipation for Capaldi's era to get into full swing next year.
* One last Matt Smith recommendation, though -- make sure you check out IDW's 2013 Doctor Who Special, their final comic book featuring the Doctor, as the license is apparently going elsewhere. It's a great story, absolutely note-perfect and as fun and unpredictable as any great Doctor Who episode you could name. The central conceit of the storyline is so clever and the execution is so satisfying that I would dearly love to see it adapted into an episode of the show, but the comic is so grand that that's just a quibble. As TV-to-comics adaptations go, it's just about as good as it gets. Congratulations to Chris Ryall and everyone at IDW for all the great years of Doctor Who comics they produced, but especially this one. They truly saved the best for last.
* Tom Spurgeon's thoughts on Epic Illustrated (Marvel's Heavy Metal wannabe magazine from the '80s) echo my experience of the magazine pretty closely. It was different, but close enough to what my 16-year-old self thought of as comics to be just a tad mind-expanding; credit editor Archie Goodwin for pushing the envelope and understanding what the boundaries and possibilities were. It wasn't always great, but it was always interesting. And yeah, Galactus (and John Byrne, choke) showing up was really a deal-killer. There was an unspoken agreement at work between Marvel and the reader that was broken by that move, however "mature" Byrne aspired to make the work. Byrne aspiring to create mature comics is about as ironic as it gets, no?
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