Holy Bad Headline Writing!

I get a bunch of RSS feeds on my home page, along with alert e-mails, on the topic of comics. There is an article that has come across my hard drive more than once that I feel the need to comment on.

This is the headline in question:

Holy plastic slab! Untouchable comic books

Encasing them in plastic increases their value, but at a terrible price.

Clicking the title should take you to the article in question.

Now, alow me to air my greivances with the article.

1. The Title: People, people, please. The Batman TV show was 40 years ago. Okay? It is no longer the most recognizable comic book representation in the mainstream media. Is it my fault that the Spider-Man movies didn't come up with any catchphrases as catchy as "Holy this!" or "Holy that!". No!

It's not that I have a problem with the Batman TV show. It's just that I wish these writers and editors would use some originality when it came to thinking up titles for comic related articles.

 

2, The Topic: CGC has been around for, what, about 5 years? At least? At any rate, it's nothing new. I don't know if the preson who wrote this is a freelacer or on staff, but this article smells of desperation, if not filler. "Hey! Do you know what crazy things they are doing with comic books? They're sealing it in plastic! How wacky! Wait a minute. There could be a story in this!"

3. Write the article to support the headline/tagline: Yes, by reading the headline, you'd think this would be an examination of the very real discussion in the comic book world about the value of slabbing your books. Namely, the criticism that comics should be read, not encased in plastic. That's what it seems the focus of the article will be, right?

Well, they do discuss the issue in two paragraphs with interviews with two people: a retailer and artist Frank Miller. Both have dismissive things to say about the topic. The rest of the article describes the process and is an interview with CGC;s Steven Borock, who, by default, acts as the pro side of the arguement. Oh, and there's one small, non -commital statement from another dealer. 

But where are the interviews with that fans? Where are the interviews with the people who will not buy slabbed books and those will but nothing else? I mean, if you are making the point that slabbing is "a terrible price" to pay, shouldn't you make that the driving point of your article? Or, at least, provide more evidence of it?