Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This week, Bennett gives his review of X-Men: Gold #1, discusses the controversy with the comic’s artist, offers thoughts on upcoming Cartoon Network shows, and critiques Teen Titans: The Judas Contract.

I liked X-Men Gold #1 well enough, though the comic does come with a couple of elements which I pretty much guarantee won’t last more than a handful of years, after which they'll never be spoken of again.  First up, the school (currently called The Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach) was magically transported out of Limbo and into New York’s Central Park.  The city is surprisingly cool with this development, though they understandably want a boatload of money for the use of all that prime NYC real estate.  Placing the facility in a major urban center makes a certain amount of sense, but given the number of times the Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters was attacked (not to mention blown up), isn’t sticking it in a park that averages 40,000,000 visitors a year just a wee bit dangerous?

Then there’s Rachel Grey-Summers, daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from an alternative timeline, who has endured much tragedy and many pseudonyms.  She’s now called, apparently in all seriousness, Prestige. While it’s certainly an inspirational moniker, it has zero connection to the character (given her parentage “Legacy” might have been more appropriate) and signifies nothing specific.  It sounds like something gotten from an online Superhero Name Generator.  She’s now dressed in a more or less off-the-rack superhero suit complete with cape and... I’m really not sure what that twisted black bar on her face is supposed to be.  Though it does kind of look like either an unfinished tribal tattoo or a piece of homemade facial jewelry.

The title nimbly accomplished the first of its avowed mission statements: turning the X-Men back into superheroes.  It's the second one, supposedly being to get the comic as far from politics as possible, that’s in doubt. 

So it’s strangely ironic Marvel once again finds itself involved in a controversy concerning the “politics” of another one of its comics.  As I’m sure you already know, the past couple of days both the mainstream and social media has been full of stories and statements concerning the hidden references to a protest in Indonesia and a certain Qur’an verse that were placed into the pages of X-Men: Gold #1 by its artist, Ardian Syaf. 

The end result; Marvel got another public relations nightmare, with the story making headlines in venues as venerable as the BBC, Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Jakarta Post, Playboy and Perez Hilton.  Marvel confirmed that the offending images from #1 will be removed from all future printings of the issue.   After previously promising to “discipline” him, the publisher has cancelled Ardian Syaf's contract. Though his work will appear in X-Men Gold #2 and #3 which are currently at the printers.

Syaf has been widely reported as saying “My career is over.” Meanwhile X-Men: Gold #1 is apparently a $20 - $30 book in some places, and Bleeding Cool reports copies are going for $50 on Amazon.

I’m not a big fan of a lot of today’s kids cartoons, and after reading THR piece, “Cartoon Network Greenlights Two New Series as Part of ‘Holistic’ Multiplatform Slate,” I’m really not looking forward to the new shows coming to CN this year.   What shows like Apple & Onion, Craig of the Creek, Summer Camp Island, OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes! and the new version of Ben 10 have in common is they all look like they could have been drawn by small children. This juvenile/ primitive look has become the network’s default house style as it pursues an ever-younger set of eyeballs. The 6-11 year age group used to be the desired demographic; but in recent years, that’s been narrowed further down to 6-9.

But last night, quite by accident, on YouTube I came across a Cartoon Network “mini” called “Welcome To My Life” about Douglas, aka T-Kash, a Japanese-American Monster boy and his everyday adventures. Created by Elizabeth Ito, who worked as a writer/storyboarder and supervising director of Adventure Time, the show is sweet and simple, while dealing with sophisticated issues with intelligence. It's elegantly animated and completely lacking in the senseless activity and gross-out humor so many CN shows wallow in. I've never seen anything quite like it, which naturally puts it square in my wheelhouse. Cartoon Network, make THIS into a series.

As for animation meant for an older audience, I just finished watching Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, a not altogether awful adaptation of the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans story.  There are plenty of additions, subtractions and substitutions to the original story along the way, for instance, it shoehorns in the origin of Starfire, and both Nightwing and the current Robin are present on the team. For the record, it mostly earns its PG.-13 rating due to the repeated use of the epithet for excrement and some references to Nightwing and Starfire's sex life.  Though clearly there are lines the producers refused to cross; like the sexual relationship between Deathstroke and the underaged Terra.  It's never quite consummated in the film, though it did happen (off panel) in the original comics.

For me though, the most interesting thing were the end credits.  Marv Wolfman and George Perez were, naturally enough, credited for creating Raven, Starfire, Nightwing, Terra, Brother Blood, Deathstroke and Mother Mayhem.  But Arnold Drake got a created by credit for Beast Boy, and the creation of Bumblebee, who’s only in it for what amounts to an extended cameo (maybe because of her presence in the DC Superhero Girls line), is credited to Bob Rozakis and Jose Delbo. 

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.