There Are No Words

Just...look at 1988's Brightest Young Stars:



I find it hard to believe that this isn't Debbie Allen's fault.

GENIUS: The Whole Damned Thing

If you want to read it, and haven't been able to make it to a comic book shoppe, or if you weren't sure you wanted to drop the money on something you thought you might not like...

Here's it is, the first issue, free of charge. Go and read, and tell me what you think.

Never thought of it that way...

I was watching Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The Dallas Cowboys on HBO a few minutes ago—always a terrific series, and even better this year with outsized people like Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, and Jerry Jones front and center—and one of the players said...

"You've gotta hate to lose more than you love to win."

Feels like dime-store motivational psychology, but that doesn't mean it's not on the money.

Is it Wrong...

...that I watched all of last night's Democratic National Convention coverage and the lesson that I took from it was:

"Hey, Chelsea Clinton's kind of hot."


No, I don't think that's wrong. Shallow, but not wrong.

Villains Deserve Stories, Too

When we unleashed Genius upon an unsuspecting populace we expected it to be a divisive book. It is, after all, about a young woman who kills cops. (Actually, let me clarify: That's not what she does, that's what she's willing to do. There's a difference.) We knew some people would respond to the story and the storytelling, if not the subject matter, just as we knew that some people would hate it, occasionally sight unseen. The first page is a litmus test: If you can get past the splash image of a cop getting his jugular perforated, then maybe you can understand what we were going for. If not, no harm, no foul.

Is she a bad guy? I honestly don't know. As with all things, it depends on your point of view. They always say that every villain is the hero of his or her own story and if we identify with that story, he or she becomes our hero as well. George Washington was a villain to the British. Luke Skywalker was the villain to the Empire.

But even if Destiny Ajaye is a villain, even if she does vile things for reasons known only to her, that doesn't mean her story shouldn't be told. Lest we forget, the entire Star Wars saga tells of the creation, and eventual redemption, of Darth Vader. The villain.

If you don't like Genius, that's fine. Feel free not to like it because you don't dig on the writing, or the art, or the execution. I am secure enough in my own self-worth to weather such criticism—in fact, I welcome it. But I call bullshit if you don't like it because of who Destiny is or what she does (and I've read or listened to more than one review that took that kind of offense). Especially if you're a comics fan.

If you're the kind of person who can read the gazillionth issue of Superman, where Big Blue faces off against the intergalactic despot of the month; if you can read Black Adam, where a genocidal maniac searches for his lost love; if you can read any issue of The Punisher—you know, starring the vigilante who kills, wantonly, and remains the hero of his own book…if you're that guy, or gal, then you don't get to whinge about Genius' content.

For the record, let me be clear about something: I have nothing but respect for police officers. They do a job that I'd never volunteer for. I know more than a few and would trust any of them with my safety, and that of my family. But I'm not blind to the fact that there are some cops who don't live "to protect and serve," just as there are some politicians who take money for votes, some teachers who don't give a shit, some clergymen who molest children, and some firemen who are dicks. They are human beings, and they have their foibles, just like anyone else. To say that they can't serve as antagonists in a story with an inverted protagonist is both narrow-minded and reactionary.

So, hey, vote for Genius if you liked it; or understood what Adam, Afua, and myself were going for; or just want Top Cow to continue publishing comics that aren't afraid to reach for something...and, in so doing, risk failing in the attempt. If you don't want to vote for it, that's fine, too.

But don't withhold your vote because you think the subject is unworthy of consideration. Because, frankly, there is no such thing.

A four-year-old on 'The Clone Wars'

I took my son, Luc, to see—as he calls it—"the Lightsaber movie." After about 15 minutes in, he turns to me and says:

"This doesn't make any sense."

If a kid can't make heads or tails of your kids movie, then something's very, very wrong.

The Cover to Push #1 Sure is Purty

In case I haven't mentioned it, Adam and I are writing a six-issue miniseries that'll serve as the prequel to this Chris Evan-Dakota Fanning superheroish movie called Push, which comes out next March.

To give you an idea of how crazy the schedule is, we signed on to do the book a couple of weeks before San Diego. The deadline for the first script...was a couple of weeks before San Diego. We've been working double/triple time to get this thing done—as all six issues need to be out before the movie opens. First two issues ship in November, I think. I can't keep it straight—we're just putting the words on the page.

But the art team on this'n is spectacular. The incomparable Jock is doing the covers (which, if judging by the first issue's, will be all kinds of shades of awesome) and a dude named Bruno Redondo is doing the interiors—and, like our Highwaymen artist Lee Garbett, this guy could work in the States for as long as he wants to.

Seriously, I'm done with Michael Phelps

If I had the power at my fingertips, I'd send in the hot hail.

Yes, he's a great athlete. Yes, he may be the best swimmer in history. If I was on a doomed oceanliner, I'd be Rose to his Jack if he'd freestyle us out of there. (I'd even let him sketch me nude, if he wanted to.)

But he is not, as some dick claimed on The Today Show on Wednesday, The Greatest Athlete in the History of Everything. A) That's a claim impossible to defend, as comparing him to Michael Jordan, Pete Sampras, Tiger Woods, or Muhammad Ali is like deciding who'd win in a fight, Moby Dick or King Kong. B) Despite what I just said, it's still just plain wrong, as there ain't nobody hitting him while he's swimming.

Beyond that, he's not even the greatest Olympian. To me, those who are chosen to represent their countries in the Olympic Games should not only be the best athletes and competitors within the borders of the nations they call home, but they should be the best people—shining examples of what it means to be an American, or a Lithuanian, or a Nigerian.

It's a lot to ask of someone who has spent the better part of his or her life apart from the populace of the country they represent, holed up in gymnasiums, or swimming complexes, or weight rooms training for those brief minutes where they either win or go home. But that is what it means to be an Olympian. And that is why we're so betrayed when they let us down, like Marion Jones or Ben Johnson or most of Germany's female athletes in the '80s.

So, for my money, these two guys will stand forever on the Olympic podiums, speaking volumes without saying a single word:

Damnit.

Damnit. Damnit.

What, You Haven't Voted Yet?

Well, let G4TV's Blair Butler hip you to what's what:



So, go vote, why dontcha?

Don't Be Stupid, Be a GENIUS

Okay, boys and girls. Here's where I need your help. As much of it as you can deliver.

As you all know, Adam and I wrote a comic book called Genius, as part of Top Cow's Pilot Season program (you vote for the one-shot issue you like the most, and it goes on to become a series). And the voting is now open, from today through the end of August. So...

• If you liked the book and want to read more about what happens to Destiny and her War...go vote.
• If you like the idea of getting to have a say in the comics you read...go vote.
• If you want to see more diversity on comics pages...go vote.
• If you like watching shit blow up...go vote.
• If you're tired of giant-hyper-mega-global crossovers that require $40 a month just to get the story straight...go vote.
• If you really like internet polls...go vote.
• If you relish rewarding the new, the different, the slightly left-of-center...go vote.
• If you wanna make my mom happy (even though she wasn't thrilled at the profanity)...go vote.

But above all, just go vote. It's not often you, the reader, gets a voice. If you don't use that voice, if you choose not to avail yourselves of the rights afforded to you, they'll get take away.

MAN-tastic

So, the news that we leaked at the San Diego Comic-Con—first picked up by Newsarama—is now out and about in an official, in-the-trades way. Variety has it, and here's the Hollywood Reporter bit.


And then it hit Aint it Cool News, and it just made my friggin' Sunday.

(Oh, and I know they probably won't care, but I decided that I wanna see Nathan Fillion as Nate Klinger. Because A: His name is already Nate, and B: He's the goddamn cat's ass.)