Doombin Bits
Duane Swierczynski
Swierczynski answered some reader questions over at CBR mostly regarding Cable. Everything happening in Cable is leading into a X-book event called “Second Coming” in March which Swiercynski will write. Sadly it does not sound like he will writing more Cable after that, but it’s hard to say since he could only say he would be writing a X-office related mini series but no other details. The saddest news from this is when asked about Iron Fist he said there are no plans involving him despite the fact that he would still love to write more Iron Fist. He even mentioned wanting to do a years worth of stories of just Orson Randall (the Iron Fist with the guns), which is something I have wanted to see. I sure hope Marvel does something about this. It’s bad enough letting Iron Fist go to waste, but even worse that one of their best writers wants to do more with the character and they have no plans for it.
Checking in with Manga
Deb Aoki’s best manga of 2009 actually serves as a very handy reommendations list. I have found Deb’s tastes in manga to be the most helpful in finding something worth reading. Thankfully she separates her best of into the various manga genres, which makes it much easier to avoid the girly books or easier to find the girly books if that is what you are looking for. No real surprise that her picks for best seinen, manga for men, were Urasawa’s Pluto and 20th Century Boys. Those two works are what have me genuinely interested in manga now. Her runner up for best new manga is something I read recently, that being Moyasimon. It is about a freshman entering a agriculture university who happens to have the ability to speak with bacteria. It is a mix of entertaining stories of being at university mixed with genuinely informative information about bacteria and microscopic organisms. It’s a strange book but worth picking up if you are looking for new manga.
Digital
Brigid Alverson at Robot 6 has a good look at the year in webcomics and other digital related things for comics. It has been a interesting year for digital. Webcomics continue to grow in popularity as well as a number of electronic devices from e-readers to ipods/phones having comics on them now. It looks like 2010 will be even bigger for comics going digital with a wave of new e-readers on the way and even more comics being offered digitally. While some may think this spells the end of print, I only see it as something that will be in addition to print. It’s likely that the number of digital comics will outnumber print someday, but I see no reason why it would completely replace it. I expect a best of both worlds much like what we have now between monthlies and trades.