Beware the warriors of the online forums ... an illustration from Marvel's new Astonishing X-Men 23
In the world of comics they perform a strange ritual reminiscent of press conference in a totalitarian state. A website will conduct an interview with a comic writer, half of which consists of questions to which everyone already knows the answer, and half of which consists of questions to which everyone already knows the writer will decline to respond. The deferential façade ends with a joke about Wolverine and everyone goes away happy.
Superhero comics, more than any other medium, are driven by rumour. With cliffhangers and twists so densely packed, the urge to spoil one's own fun is perpetual. But because it's such a small industry, information can be tightly controlled - hence those surreally pointless interviews. Every little inference about future plotlines is passed from hand to hand like a cigarette made from yesterday's butts.
It's tiresome. So avoid the forums, where the anonymous pedants make Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons look like Edmund Wilson. And avoid the big sites like Newsarama, who do little more than annotate press releases. If you want to see why the internet is great for comics, stick to those blogs which just revel in the fun of the medium.
The most entertaining of these is Chris' Invincible Super-Blog. Chris Sims, the proprietor, is exceptionally easily pleased, the very same quality which makes 90% of the internet intolerable, but which in this case is infectious. Also devoted to the mockery of comics old and new is Dave's Long Box. Polite Dissent and Suspension of Disbelief, meanwhile, spend their time fact-checking superhero comics' use of medical or legal jargon, an ill-conceived endeavour that turns out to be strangely addictive.
Very occasionally, it's true, you might want to read some criticism where the primary aesthetic criteria is not how many zombies get karate-chopped. For serious reviews, the acknowledged leader is The Savage Critic(s), who recently pondered whether "a great fight scene in comics is the same as a great mad scene in opera". Also excellent are the regular run-downs on The Onion's AV Club and IGN Comics. For news, the most exhaustive blog is Dirk Deppey's Journalista.
Comics fans can be exasperating online. (Consider, for instance, how an obsessive hatred of heroes acting "out of character" exists right next to a widespread disdain for any attempt at actual literary characterisation.) But among all the worries over whether serious discussion about serious books will ever really flourish on the web, it's nice to see that all it takes to build an outspoken, exuberant community may be the universal urge to blather about the stories you love when you're supposed to be working.
Best new graphic novel: Once in a while, admittedly, a state secret does leak out - and it's been claimed this month that in 2008 Bruce Wayne will die. If true, then Grant Morrison's Batman and Son will turn out to have been not only a great collection (ninja man-bats!), but also a vital prelude.
