First, I'm annoyed by the fact that classic board games keep getting "updated" with new versions, based on popular movies. For instance, approximately every fuckin' board game they could possibly shoe-horn a "Lord of the Rings" tie-in into got the treatment. I mean, come on, LotR Monopoly (at least two different ones!)? LotR Backgammon?!? How about the "Pirates of the Caribbean" version of Life? The list goes on. Is this necessary? Me, I don't think so. Just bugs the shit out of me, really. hell, even the Simpsons version of Clue seems stupid to me.
The other thing that bugs me is the way Marvel and DC comics, both, have this nasty tendency to love characters so much that they end up with multiple series. Spiderman, say; you've got AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN, FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED, all on-going series with the same guy...and that's not counting the "Mangaverse" stuff, or "Ultimate Universe" issues, or the appearances in Marvel Knights, Marvel Presents, Amazing Fantasy, and Marvel Adventures...the list goes on. For a casual reader, how the Hell do you keep up with crap like that? Answer: you don't. And that's just one character, there's plenty of them that get this treatment. Maybe it's just me, but that's just stupid: give the guy a comic and let it go.
Oh, and I'm more annoyed than usual, lately, with this "neo-manga" treatment everything is getting. Hey, I like Japanese animation as much as the next schlub, but does every other damn thing that comes out have to have that sharp-lined, flat-coloured, over-featured look to it? Looks like a kid's colouring book...and that's fine for kids, but I think we can push the envelope a little, don't you?
