Archive for the ‘comics’ Category

Bandette

Friday, June 10th, 2016

Friday – 10 June 2016
This evening, I spent some time getting reacquainted with a series that caught my eye a while back: Bandette, from to say about it (excerpted from an interview on Comicsverse)1:

to my writing, very whimsical. Bandette is that for me. She’s a thief who works with the police every now and then. She fights a secret organization of evil masterminds called FINIS. And she steals a lot of things! Basically, it’s as charming as we can make it.

And there you go. And that, along with the picture above, is about the best possible summation of Bandette. Ever.But, just in case that wasn’t enough, there’s also the description on Monkeybrain’s Comixology site:

The adventures of Bandette, a young costumed “artful dodger”, leader of a group of urchins dedicated to serving justice, except when thieving proves to be a bit more fun. The story of Bandette treads a thin line between Tintin and Nancy Drew, with a few costumes thrown in. Bandette and her crew at turns join forces and cross swords with the mysterious master thief known only as Monsieur, and one B.D. Belgique, perhaps the most harassed police inspector of all time.

I don’t recall exactly how I first stumbled across the title, but I think that it might have been a Free Comic Book Day offering. However it happened, it was an excellent find. It’s light-hearted and fun, which is getting difficult to find in books that aren’t rated “All Ages.”2 It is also a welcome change of pace from the traditional cape-and-tights fare that most people think of when they hear the words “comic books.”

If you’re looking for something new – and fun – to read, I suggest heading over to Comixology and checking out  Bandette. She’ll steal your heart. (And your candy bars!)

1 – The interview can be read in its entirety tobin-interview/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>here.

2 – This is not intended as a knock against “All Ages” books nor books for older readers. -Disclaimer Man

World’s Finest

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016

Wednesday – 02 March 2016
For those who don’t know: the name “World’s Finest” or “World’s Finest Team” is usually applied to the pairing of Batman and Superman.

World's Finest Team

Batman and Superman: World’s Finest

If we look at the way the trailers have presented the introduction of the Dark Knight to the Last Son of Krypton – antagonists rather than reasonably amicable crimefighters –  it is (somewhat) understandable why Warner Brothers chose to go the “Batman versus Superman” route.

That said, YouTube user Adeel of Steel has created a mashup of Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s Batman teaming up with Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve’s Superman to take on The Joker and Lex Luthor (Jack Nicholson and Gene Hackman, respectively). And it is fun. See for yourself…

“Alone and bored, on a 30th Century night…”

Tuesday, March 1st, 2016

Tuesday – 01 March 2016
For a team/comic that hasn’t had their own title in nearly two-and-a-half years, the 30th Century’s  Legion of Super-Heroes has been popping up in a bit of comics-related press in the past few weeks. (As far as I’m concerned, this is far from a “bad thing.”)

There was a cover shot of LSH #300 in DC Comics’ press video for the upcoming “Rebirth” event/non-event

30th Century super-team

LSH #300

…apparently, there was a nod to the Legion in last night’s episode of Supergirl

Some of the 30th Century's finest technology...

Legion Flight Ring

…and the team – or, at least, the founders – are featured in the upcoming LEGO Justice League: Comsic Clash… which means it’s pretty much a shoo-in that I will watch this video.

After watching the above clip, I went to heat up my lunch. Waiting for the microwave to do its thing, I noticed I was humming Madonna’s Material Girl. In and of itself, that’s not so bad… but not really Legion-related. The thing is: I caught myself reparsing the lyrics from:

‘Cause we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

to

‘Cause we are living in a material world
And I’m an immaterial girl

…referencing Phantom Girl and her abilities.  Thankfully, I stopped before I started changing the verses to fit a 30th Century theme. For now.

Send help.
Please.

Robots!

Monday, February 29th, 2016

Monday – 29 February 2016
The New York Post offered up this article today: Robot secretaries are a real thing now.

They’re only 30 years late with this one – the Fantastic Four has had a robot receptionist since 1982:

Roberta

Better late than never, I guess…

Thoughts on the latest ‘BvS’ trailers

Sunday, January 24th, 2016

Sunday – 24 January 2016
I just finished watching the latest trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

BvS_Who_will_Win

Yes, I was watching the football games in which they aired. However, I didn’t sit through many/most of the commercials, so yes, I just saw the newest one online. But, that’s not the point. The point is, with this trailer…

…something in the way that Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne spoke to Alfred about the threat that Superman posed struck me as sounding very similar to the origin of the protocols that Batman developed in the pre-New52 DC Universe, as seen in Mark Waid’s “Tower of Babel” (spoilers) storyline in JLA (and whose story was the basis of the Justice League: Doom animated feature):

Tower of Babel deals with Batman‘s perceived betrayal to the superhuman community by keeping and concealing hidden records concerning the strengths and weaknesses of his allies in the JLA, which include plans to neutralize his allies in a fight. His files are stolen by the criminal mastermind Ra’s al Ghul, who uses them to defeat the League through a coordinated attack in order to prevent them from interfering with his latest scheme, the reduction of the global population.

There appears to be a lot of pent-up rage in Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, but it sounds like all that he wants to do is find the key to defeating the heir-apparent to the “most powerful being on the planet” title… and then retire to the Batcave for a Bat-beer. Corollary to this thought, I can’t help but wonder if we will see Batman taking notes on other members of the League (as we meet them) and compiling methods to best neutralize them, as well. As much as I think I’d enjoy a live-action take on “Tower of Babel,”” I think that we will see the League taking on Thanos Darkseid as the main villain of the Justice League movie.

Something else just dawned on me about the Clark Kent/Superman side of the equation… and I’m a little bothered by the fact that it didn’t occur to me sooner. I’ve seen this trailer before:

…but I didn’t think of it in the same comic book terms as I did the Bruce Wayne one. Until now. Listening to Clark and Perry’s discussion after watching the Bruce Wayne clip, I was almost immediately reminded of Man of Steel #3 (1986) in which Superman goes to Gotham City to take on – and take down – a certain “bat vigilante”:

mos3_bvs

Let’s just say that their first meeting was “strained,” at best. It was also very well written and included a couple of twists that made the not-quite-a-team-up work under the tense conditions. Clark’s comments in the trailer seem to resonate with one of Superman’s internal monologues from MoS 3, in which Superman goes over what he knows about Batman.

As I said, just a couple of quick thoughts. What do you think?

Breaking the Radio Silence

Monday, August 3rd, 2015

03 August 2015
Let’s look at comics and comics-related things!

Let’s get a few random items out of the way first.

  • 25 Greatest Animated Comic Book Covers
  • Badass Women to Read if Kelly Sue DeConnick Is Your Hero
  • Has anyone else tried reading comics with those old red-blue 3D glasses? No? You should give it a shot.
  • to my attention for Love and Capes, which billed itself as “The heroically super situation comedy.” And that’s exactly what it was. But, while serving up romance in a world where costumed heroes exist is nothing new, Love and Capes made the romance the focus of the book, rather than superheroics. This doesn’t mean that readers never saw heroic feats; but the real story followed the growth of the relationship between Abby Tennyson, owner of a small bookstore, and Mark Spencer, accountant by day/superhero by… well… night and day, really. The dialog was crisp and the situations in which Mark, Abby, and their friends found themselves felt believable. And, the comedic timing – after all, it did call itself a ‘situation comedy’ – worked in a way that didn’t feel forced. Check out the website, linked above, or pick up a copy in your local comic book store. Thom also has another series called Long Distance: While stranded in an airport, Carter and Lee hit it off immediately. Problem is, he lives in Columbus and she lives in Chicago. Can they manage to have a relationship separated by three hundred miles, a time zone, and the entire state of Indiana?

    As someone who has been in a couple of long-distance relationships, the dialog and the situations feel realistic. Zahler manages to find the proper balance of the giddiness that accompanies a new romance along with the added tensions of distance, work, commentary from friends, and time. Because of the care that he puts into all of that, Carter and Lee go from being “just characters in a comic book” to a couple of people to whom you can relate.

    Issue #3 of Long Distance hits stands this Wednesday. I highly recommend picking it up – along with Issues #1 and 2 – as part of your comics haul.

Firsts: A post for #BlackComicsMonth

Saturday, February 28th, 2015

Saturday – 28 February 2015
Looking at the comics below, I realized that I had a little something that should be recognized for Black History Month:

IMG_0440

Those books are:

  • The first issue of Marvel’s Luke Cage: Hero for Hire;
  • the first appearance of DC Comics’ Green Lantern John Stewart; and
  • The first issue of Marvel’s Black Panther.

All of the books were found, courtesy of my local comic shop, Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection. They know me well and look out for me.

They also afforded me the opportunity to have the issue of Green Lantern signed by Neal Adams, the man who created John Stewart… who just happens to be my favorite Green Lantern. Even better, he recounted the story of how he came to create the character:

Mr. Adams looked at me and asked, “So you found something else…?” I replied that of all the Lanterns, John Stewart was my favorite. He signed it and, putting down his pen, said: “With this, you’ve earned the right to hear the story of John Stewart.” He then proceeded to tell this story:

He had gone to Julius Schwartz with the idea that Green Lantern Hal Jordan needed a backup, in case something happened to him. Schwartz told him that Jordan already had a backup: Guy Gardner.

Adams retorted with: “So, a purple alien comes to Earth, dying, and sends his ring out to find a worthy successor. It passes Batman, Superman and all of the other heroes in the DC Universe and finds… a test pilot. Now, I’m a big fan of Chuck Yeager, so I get it. But, when the time comes to find another worthy person, the ring goes out again… and passes Batman and Superman – again – and finds… a white, blonde, gym teacher. What about all the other people in the world? Is it just going to pass them by?! Twice!?”

“Gardner needs to get hit by a bus. If he just breaks his arm, he’ll be back – good as new – in a month. If he gets hit by a bus, he’ll be out of action for a while. There would have to be a new backup.”

Schwartz realized that Adams wanted to introduce a minority character as Jordan’s backup. He tried to dissuade him by saying that Hal Jordan’s mechanic was Asian. Adams said, “Yeah, and you call him ‘Pieface!’ That’s offensive.” They went back and for a bit, but Schwartz eventually relented and said “Denny (O’Neill) will write it and YOU have to draw him.”

And he did.

When the story was done, O’Neill handed it off to Adams… who didn’t get far into the story before finding another point of contention: the name – “Lincoln Washington.” He confronted O’Neill, who told him that it wasn’t his idea and that Schwartz had come up with it. Adams went to Schwartz “…and closed the door, because I knew there would be shouting.” He argued against the name, calling it not only offensive, but also noting how blacks of the day were changing their names to get away from ‘slave names.’ He also told Schwartz that he could keep the name, if he was adamant, but that e would also fill his office with letters from angry readers. Schwartz responded that he “…[knew] guys with those kinds of names,” and then asked Adams what kind of name he should give him. Adams simply replied, “A name. A real name. Just… pull out any name.” Schwartz eventually relented and told Adams to come up with a name. He picked “John Stewart.” He then laughed and asked, “How was I supposed to know that he was going to become a comedian?”

He wrapped up his story with the following epilogues:

“This story has two endings.

Ending Two: DC wound up making a movie with Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. There were 10 million kids who were asking ‘Who’s Hal Jordan!?’ Putting Jordan in the movie, they basically went from Gil Kane straight to Geoff Johns, jumping over me and Denny O’Neill – our names weren’t even credited. And, DC lost $150 million dollars on the movie.

Ending One: When I pitched the idea of a black Green Lantern, I did it because I could draw a black person and no one else could or did. All of the artists, even the black ones, were just drawing white faces and then having them colored to be black. And they were drawing them with wavy hair. Black people don’t have wavy hair, they have kinky hair. It takes a whole lot of shit to make it wavy. And we also had to put the color notations in our artwork, so that the colorists would know how to color the characters. Black characters up to that point were all light-skinned, we used to call it ‘khaki brown.’ When I put in my color notations for John Stewart, I made him dark. Julie Schwartz and (publisher whose name I don’t recall) came to him and asked, ” Are you sure that you want him this dark?” Adams confirmed his intention. He then added, “Then they asked me something that has stuck with me until this day: ‘Aren’t black people going to be offended?” Adams laughed and said, “You can send me the first letter.”

And, with that, I can let Black History Month and #BlackComicsMonth go.

“Yes, Commissioner…?!”

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

Wednesday – 23 July 2014 It’s Batman Day.

Batman75

(c) DC Comics

In celebration of Batman’s 75th anniversary, DC Entertainment is partnering with thousands of comic book retailers and bookstores across the nation to celebrate “Batman Day” on Wednesday, July 23. As part of the festivities, fans who visit participating retailers receive a free, special edition of DETECTIVE COMICS #27, featuring a reimagining of Batman’s 1939 comic book debut, designed by Chip Kidd with a script by The New York Times #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer.

In addition to the comic book, DC Entertainment is providing retailers access to an assortment of other collectibles to help in the celebration of “Batman Day” including a Batman 75thanniversary cape, bookmarks featuring essential Batman graphic novels and four Batman masks designed by comic book artist Ryan Sook spotlighting a variety of the character’s iconic looks from his 75-year history.

For more information, click here.

Passing the torch…

Monday, July 21st, 2014

Monday – 21 July 2014
Last week, after announcing that “Thor == woman,” Marvel dropped another bombshell: Sam Wilson, known in the Marvel Universe as costumed adventurer The Falcon, would be the next Captain America.

Sam Wilson as Captain America (© Marvel Comics)

Falcon and Cap have been allies and partners for many years, so it’s not completely unheard of… you know, other than the whole “Black Captain America” thing.

Wait? What’s that? You say that there was another Captain America who was Black…?! He must have been a bad mother… Shut yo’ mouth!

The Captains America (Isaiah Bradley and Steve Rogers) and Patriot (Elijah Bradley)

I’m just talking ’bout Cap.
We can dig it.

Steve Rogers was restored to sort of the state he would naturally be in had he lived on all those years. The reality is that now he’s got to pass that mantle onto someone else. While he still as mentally acute and just as sharp and battle savvy as he ever was, he’s no longer physically in the condition where he can live up to the demands and duties of being Captain America. That being the case, the person he decides to pass the mantle onto – which, in previous occasions Steve didn’t get to decide – is Sam Wilson, the Falcon.

I think it’s something of a no-brainer of a decision on his part; Steve and Sam go back many years at this point. They’ve fought shoulder to shoulder, and are true comrades and brothers in arms as only guys who have gone out so often and risked their lives and shared dangerous moments can have. Steve realizes that Sam might not have the same approach in every situation, but he is honest, trustworthy, valiant, loyal and worthy to carry the shield and take on the name and position of being Captain America.

Truthfully, I am intrigued by the idea of making Sam the new Cap, but I find myself more looking forward to juxtaposing Sam’s style against that of Bucky (The Winter Soldier) Barnes’ tenure as Captain America, rather than that of Steve Rogers’ time as Cap. It will also be interesting to see how Bucky reacts to the news that Sam will be the new Cap, as Bucky is now dead. (Secret spy dead, anyway.)

I also remembered something I’d read in another article while reading this interview: Apparently, Steve will be acting as Sam’s “silent partner,” assisting in missions from a distance. This reminded me of Bruce Wayne’s roll in relation to Terry McGinnis on Batman Beyond. But, maybe it’s just me. (Maybe it’s Maybelline.)

There appear to be many changes afoot at Marvel. We can only hope that they will use these changes to introduce some fresh concepts – and lasting ramifications, if not permanent changes – into the House of Ideas.

Thor… and the Internet

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

Wednesday – 16 July 2014
Yesterday, Marvel made waves on the Internet by announcing that Thor would be a woman.

Thor.

Thor.

Naturally, the Internet went full-blown, bat-shit crazy. One article that I found to be particularly amusing asked “What does this mean for Chris Hemsworth?” Let’s be honest: It doesn’t mean a damn thing. Do people seriously think that Disney/Marvel is going to go that far afield with one of their biggest properties? I think not.

On the issue/non-issue of Thor’s change in status quo, my brother-in-law, John, and I had this conversation:

John: ok, my FB feed is exploding with bitching that the new Thor will be a woman (or something to that effect…). I *think* I saw you either commented or posted a link showing that this was already in the comic/legend storyline. Am I imagining this?
Rob: Nope, you’re not.
Rob: It’s happened before.
Rob: Not so much “Thor as a woman,” but he has been a frog.
Rob: And he has been replaced by at least two other people
Rob: My take on this is people are getting their panties twisted over semantics.
Rob: My thought: Thor Odinson will be deemed no longer worthy to bear Mjolnir.
Rob: Someone else will be given the power of Thor.
Rob: That “someone” will be a woman.
Rob: .eof

John: Feh. I’m amazed at the things over which people freak out

John: HOLY SHIT A FICTIONAL CHARACTER IS DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT FICTIONALLY
Rob: Wait. You’re surprised by geek/nerd responses on the Interwebs!?
John: No, but I am slightly surprised by the vitriol
John: Sometimes the misogyny shocks me a bit
John: I blame Obama.
This is just another in a long list of reasons why I love and appreciate John.
But, as he correctly pointed out: Fictional character. In a fictional story. Based (loosely) on mythology.
On the flip side, some people are seeing this as part of Marvel’s way to bring in more female readers.  “See!? More female characters! Not only that, we made one of our big guns female! Isn’t that awesome?!” I understand wanting to: A) Increase readership and B) appeal to different demographics, but if “simply” making Thor a woman is one of their ways of achieving that, it just comes off as pandering.
Why not point them, instead, to some of their titles with female leads:
  • Captain Marvel (1, 2),
  • Ms. Marvel (1, 2), and
  • She-Hulk (1, 2), for example.

All of these books are early in their runs, which makes it easy for new readers to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. And, to be honest, they are great books

This has been a long-winded way of saying: “Don’t believe everything you read” and “Hey, Marvel, if you want more readers – and more female readers, to boot – why not introduce people to some of the great female characters already in your stable and/or create new ones who aren’t caricatures, but are fully-developed characters?”
And that’s my 2¢ worth.