Michael Atkinson, Member AARP

Crap like this really does chafe.

I mean, someone get the guy some metamucil!

SEVERAL bits of opinion and obvious grand standing that I, needless to say, disagree with. Not just beginning with the whole "I used to dig comic books when I was a kid then outgrew them" bit of exposition.

For one thing, he neglects to mention when exactly he outgrew comic books. The reason this is important is that the bloody things matured, the storytelling grew more complex, and, particularly with the Batman, got more harrowing as time went on. From his text, it sounds like he stopped reading right after the comics code went into effect and every single damn title in the world became precursors to the uber-campy crap that was dominant in the 60s and 70s. (exceptions for smart, if still simplistic, fare like Stan Lee's X-Men, which addressed the King v. X approaches to civil rights in a way that prepubescent and largely white kids could understand without explicitly telling them that this was what was going on.)

For another, damning adults who actually liked either Iron Man or the current Batman movie as people in arrested development...talk about insulting. Sure, he spends some time talking about how his problem with The Dark Knight is more about the lack of storytelling acumen (from the director that made Memento understandable) and the lack of human touches in his story. But reading it, the real thrust of his complaint is in the final paragraph, where he bemoans the 'infantilization of the mass populace.'

V for Vendetta? A movie that endorses anarchy against Big Brother type thinking? Yeah, that's pretty child-like.

Besides, in an era where they are talking about remaking Robocop, Nightmare on Elm Street, an impending remake of Death Race 2000, and god knows what other pap between this summer and next, comic books have become a last resource of original and smart entertainment.

Really, his rant is more of an Intellectualism v. Sensationalism in Cinema kind of thing, and while I love and worship Kubrick, sometimes there needs to be a little Ken Russell in the mix.

In other words, bullshit, Mr. Atkinson.