And what does that say about the medium, then?

Regarding the imminent DC relaunch, Warren Ellis writes:

The New DC comics stuff looks so much like stuff I would never read that it oddly fills me with hope that they are targetting the core audience they want. If a 43-year old man looks at most of this promo stuff and goes meh, then that’s very probably a good sign for them. Best of luck to Dan D, Jim L et all for the imminent relaunch.

The folks over at The Beat suggest, "As usual Warren Ellis says what everyone else is thinking (or maybe blogging) — the fact that age 40+ comics fans think the New 52 is a horrible idea may be a sign it’s working."

Count me out of this way of thinking.

I review YA books professionally. I've been watching cartoons with my daughter for ten years (and on my own for nearly thirty before that). And I've been reading comics -- super-hero books theoretically aimed at teens -- for my entire life. And you know what? It's entirely possible for something to be aimed at a YA market and still qualitatively good. You can have your Harry Potter or Hunger Games novels, or your Spongebob and Powerpuff Girls cartoons, or the ridiculously layered and complex runs of folks like Steve Engelhard on Avengers and Frank Miller on Daredevil and Paul Levitz on LSH and make them really fucking good. For teens and adults. That doesn't mean a 40+ year old might look at it in the same light, but they should be able to enjoy the product.

It may be that New 52 works out as a business decision. Hell, it may be that the products are even good. But don't try to validate crap by saying adults aren't the target audience; crap is still crap, and while it's entirely possible to market crap well to teens and tweens (I won't list the legion of examples), let's not pretend it's the only way to go.

How many links must a man dump, before they call it a post?

I know that Homer said "eight" (and then changed his answer to "seven,"), but i'm going for ten. And it's not even getting me close to closing the legion of open tabs that are haunting me.

1. How the NY Times Paywall is working better than the WSJ one (via kizlj).

2. Anne Hathaway raps about paparazzi.

3. Why most people don't finish video games. As I've noted before, the only games I can recall finishing in recent years are the two Portals and the first two Disgaeas. I've finished some small casual games (like Army of Darkness Defense on my iPad), but few games keep me interested after twenty plus hours, and as with some of the folks mentioned in the article, my time to seriously play games is pretty limited.

(Of course, I still do play a ton of Kingdom of Loathing.)

4. Marvel has released a free audio edition of Daredevil #1. As I mentioned the other week, this is the best single issue of anything that Marvel's released in years, and it's well worth grabbing. The audio's not ideal -- these aren't pro voice actors -- but it's still worth listening to.

5. I'm shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- to learn that AT&T was lying about their merger with T-Mobile being good for anyone but AT&T.

6. I'm shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- to learn that Rick Perry is either a liar and sleazebag or a fool.

6.5 As if there was any doubt, Molly Ivins confirmed which it was years ago. Hint: Ignorance is something pitiable, and I've got no pity for the man.

7. Tom Spurgeon (of The Comics Journal and The Comics Reporter fame) on his brush with death.

8. Going back to the subject of scum, there's nothing new in this article about how horrible and misguided the RIAA and MPAA are, but it's a damned fine article nonetheless.

9. An open letter to those who condemn looting.

10. The State of the Internet 2011.

The progression of bad horror sequels

For the most part, long sequences of horror movies cannot actually be charted on a straight 45-degree downward slope. The third, fourth, and seventh Nightmare on Elm Street movies, for example, are better than than the fifth and sixth. Similar patterns emerge in Friday the 13th, Halloween, Leprechuan, etc.

The closest you'll see to a straight line downward is Hellraiser. For seven films, each sequel seems custom-made to make the last film look good (and Hellworld, although better than some of the previous movies, was still pretty meh, mainly saved by some decent cast members).

The point being, the trailer for Hellraiser 9: Pinhead watches Turistas Revelations is now online, and man, does it look terrible.