A Fact-Check for the Four-Color World

Monday, December 31, 2007

Suspending Disbelief

After lengthy consideration, I've made the decision to retire the Suspension of Disbelief blog. The end of the calendar year seemed an appropriate time to close up shop. Although given the frequency of posts over the last several months, you may be thinking that this won't have much of an effect on the content of this site.

And I suppose it won't. With She-Hulk's changes of direction, and with Manhunter on a seemingly indefinite hiatus, I've been without a regular source of legal material for some time now. Equally problematic, and as I've shared before, my irregular trips to the comic shop have often put me weeks behind the rest of the net. A blog's readership deserves more than a post a month, and I just can't deliver that anymore.

That's not to say that I'm giving up entirely, though. For those occasions when issues do present themselves, I've arranged to share my thoughts over at the CBR blog, Comics Should Be Good. That was always the mission statement of this blog, so I think our ideals will merge nicely. If you don't already read the guys over at CSBG, I highly recommend it. I've even got a couple of back-issue reviews in mind that I should finally get around to. Chances are, I'll continue to mirror those new posts here, so in that sense this blog will continue to be updated somewhat.

To further occupy my time in 2008, I will be making another long-shot political run, this time for the United States Senate. So if you're a Georgia voter, please remember my name come November. Also, I'll soon be taking a new stab at issue-based political blogging, under the hyperbolic title Social Security Must Die! My homepage, LorenCollins.net, will be updated with whatever random little projects I take on (latest additions: Cotton Patch Gospel, and the Miracleman Countdown Clock). And there will continue to be updates to the Free Comic Book Index, with the next one before week's end.

Finally, my old offer, like Jim's, still stands for any creators out there: drop me a line, and I'll be happy to help answer any legal questions your story presents. Remember, if Mark Millar had taken up the invitation, Civil War might have made more rational sense. Maybe.

I want to thank everyone who read and commented over the last three years, and everyone who continued to visit even as the content became increasingly infrequent. Thanks also to the creators and authors who shared their thoughts and responses, which I'll admit is a singular and satisfying feeling. Of course, thanks to Jim MacQuarrie, Sandy Hausler, and the others who contributed material over time. And special thanks to Marc Andreyko, whose work on Manhunter assuredly provided me with more material than any other series, and to Neil Gaiman for an early plug that I fear I was never quite able to live up to.

So thanks for a great three years, and I wish everyone a happy, prosperous, and productive 2008.

See y'all in the funny pages,
Loren

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Comics Make the Bar

This was forwarded to me by its author a while back, and I wanted to be sure to share it before the year's end. It's an article for the Widener Law Review, and it aims to document the entire history of attorneys in comic books, from Mr. District Attorney to Manhunter. And believe you me, it's pretty thorough.

Hi Superman, I'm a Lawyer: A Guide to Attorneys (& Other Legal Professionals) Portrayed in American Comic Books: 1910-2007

- William A. Hilyerd, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville