Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery Will Get You Nowhere

It wasn't even two months ago that I noted how much more quickly Marvel's of-course-coincidental recycling of DC ideas was occurring. I even noted, tongue in cheek, that the process would be down to weeks soon.

Damn my prophetic soul.

In his latest Cup of Joe, Marvel Plagiarist-In-Chief Joe Quesada announce a new series starting in July:


This also seems like the perfect time to announce our Marvel Divas limited series, beginning in July, from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic, featuring some of the Marvel Universe’s greatest female heroes in a way you haven’t seem them before. I’ll let Roberto explain:

“The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines. In the series, they're an unlikely foursome of friends--Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon--with TWO things in common: They're all leading double-lives and they're all having romantic trouble. The pitch started as "Sex and the City" in the Marvel Universe, and there's definitely that "naughty" element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means...truly means...to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it's just a lot of hot fun. ”
In July. Which, by an amazing coincidence, is only one month after the debut of DC's Gotham City Sirens #1.


GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #1

Written by Paul Dini
Art and cover by Guillem March
Variant cover by JG Jones
This all-new series features the bad girls of Gotham City! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are tired of playing by other people's rules regardless of which side of the law they're on. These tough ladies have a new agenda that's all their own, and they'll use any means necessary to pursue it.
Sirens? Divas? Yeah, those are nothing alike.

More comics about women characters is a good thing. But sheesh--does Marvel have to be so bloody transparent in its "sincerest form of flattery?"

House of Somebody Else's Ideas is more like it.

6 comments:

StacyHD said...

0.o

Well, they did just close down their open submissions, so I guess the possibility of new ideas reaching editorial has dimmed significantly.

DC & Marvel Comics: The difference is that there isn't any.

ShadowWing Tronix said...

What worries me is that they're taking a "Sex and the City" approach. Ye, gods. Good to see female characters getting some spotlight? Yes. Now about using them in a way that doesn't suck for a change?

Siskoid said...

It's X-Men/Doom Patrol and Swamp/Man-Thing all over again!

In actuality, isn't Sirens actually copied from Birds of Prey?

Christian Zamora said...

For some reason, I don't see other similarities than the fact that the books will star female characters. I'll have to see when they come out, but Sirens strikes me like the villain-fun angle, while Marvel's looks like as the female insight kind of thing. Just my opinion on something I barely know a thing about, lol. But we'll see.

Chris B said...

I bet there's alotta hip jutting and boob thrusting in everyday superheroine life! Cause we all know...there's no chicks buying comics. Gotta get the folks in not old enough to buy Playboy! Wait....everyone still buying comics is old enough to buy Playboy....never mind.

Menshevik said...

Nah, "Gotham City Sirens" and "Marvel Divas" are both clearly plagiarized from Marvel's "Models, Inc." (hey, Hellcat/Patsy Walker actually appears in both Marvel titles!).