Other telly series I have watchef

As well as Arrow and Constantine I have also watched a lot of other telly recently. Thank you Amazon Prime and a constantly feeding baby.

Parks and Recreation was ace. I think I got 4 seasons in. In the first episode I thought Leslie Knopes was going to turn into a David Brent type character, but I was wrong. She is warm hearted and kind and a ditz, but dedicated to her job. I loved Parks and Rec and i'm very pleased I watched it.

Switched at Birth - it was an absolute pleasure to watch a domestic (as in home and family based) that was also a Deaf drama and political but naturally so. Deafness is treated like it's normal. It's intrinsic to the characters but it's not all the programme is about.  It's also about class, family, art and identity. And birth. I'm so glad I'd had my boy before I watched this, or it would have been very difficult for me. I think I got 3 seasons in.

The flash - I really quite enjoyed this. There were elements and scenes that were taken out of the superhero show cliche handbook, and Iris needed more to do, to be, but on the whole it was pretty good. Seeing Grodd and the Rogues was an absolute pleasure. I'm excited about season 2.

Prison break - I got two eps in and gave up. The most redeeming thing about it is that the Flash's Captain Cold is the main guy. But he was better as Captain Cold. His diction in that role is hilarious.

I also watched the Twilight films 2-5. Loved them. They are daft, but just as enjoyable as the books.

Convergence week 7 (and a Sensation Comics)

On to the last two weeks of Convergence comics.  Reviews will be split into two posts.  Spoilers ahead.

Convergence 7
So we finally have some familiar and likeable heroes, boshing the bad guys.  There's a giant rocky triangle shaped thing with a face, disembodied arms and two curved extensions coming up by the side of his head.  I have no idea who he is.  Deimos is still around, causing trouble.  Apparently Demios is an existing character, not invented for this series.  He looks like Dr Strange,  I assume Telos was invented for this series.  I don't care about either,

I wonder what this main Convergence title would read like if read in one chunk.  From week to week, it's felt dull and by the numbers.  It's editorially driven and it doesn't feel like the creators care about the story, which is a shame because comics always read better when the creative team care about what they are doing.

Anyway, Deimos is destroyed, the chronal energy he was containing is released, triangular rock dude breaks apart and tells new 52 Supergirl and Superman that all of reality is breaking apart,  Nothing in this story has made me feel like this is a momentous occasion.  It just feels uninteresting.  I reviewed Zero Hour for New readers...start here recently, and even with all it's faults, that story felt like it existed on a grand scale and deserved my awe.  Convergence doesn't.  Flashpoint didn't either.

Convergence: The Adventures of Superman 2
Kal and Kara are in the Phantom Zone, fighting the Kryptonian criminals imprisoned there,  Kara knows she has to get Kal out so that he can fulfill his destiny in the first crisis, but he doesn't know about this and boots her out.    Kara thinks for a few seconds and contrives a way to pull Kal out, leaving the criminals behind.

Meanwhile Kamandi and his mates are trying to work out how to stop the ape army wanting to take over 'Greenwitch' - I guess this refers to an American Greenwich, not the London one. The Super cousins join in the fight and the apes actually think they can beat them. Ha.  The absolute certainty of the cousins and their skills is nice to read.  No second guessing, no tactics to hurt them, juts the knowledge and certainty that they will win, because why wouldn't they? Who could beat a pre crisis Kryptonian?  No one, that's who.  I loved this issue.  It's a keeper,

The preview is for Martian Manhunter.  I didn't like it and I don't think it does J'onn justice.  the story has a suspicious, dark tone and that's not what I'm keen on reading.

Convergence: Wonder Woman 2
Also a keeper.  Lovely, lovely art by Aaron Lopresti, Matt Banning, Tanya and Richard Horie and Tim Napolitano.  The character designs for the vampires are lovely too.  Diana is perfectly in character, heroic and a warrior,  She takes the time to talk to Athena to figure out her plan.  She's not fazed by the vampires.  She doesn't revel in her victory over them.  I want to be that sort of person.

The preview is for Secret Six but it's a different Secret Six to the pre 52 version.  I'm not interested in it.

Convergence: Hawkman 2
The Hawkguys are fighting giant bats and giant rats. Then they (Katar and Shay) get strapped to a giant rocket and Shayera frees them.  They work with the other Thanagarians to defeat the giant rodents and get a peak into the future - the first crisis.  Then they fly off into the light declaring their love for each other,
Possibly a keeper.

Convergence: Batman and the Outsiders 2
I don't care about this or the Batman Beyond preview in it.  To be got rid of.

Convergence: Swamp Thing 2
I realllly don't like how Swamp Thing speaks.  Pauses in sentences irritates me.  Swampy joins up with vampire Batman, and it turns out that this is a Batman I am interested in.  So clearly he dies at the end.  Interesting introduction to Swamp Thing, but not a keeper.

The preview is for Catwoman, I'm not interested.

Convergence: the New Teen Titans 2
These aren't my Titans and I've never cared for this era.  I can see why people like these issues, but they aren't for me.  The preview is for Robin Son of Batman.  It's an OK preview, but I won't be buying it.

Convergence: Flash 2
I am so bored of Barry Allen and this is a love letter to him.  The preview is for Suicide Squad, the new 52 more badass Squad.  I do not care.

Convergence: Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes 2
This has Atomic Knights riding giant dalmations.  I know a winning idea when I see one.  Having said that, I think I preferred issue 1 to this.  I def preferred the art in issue 1.  Superboy does the heroic thing and the Knights don't fight the Legion.  I'll probably keep these issues, now I have discovered a fondness for the Legion.
The preview is for Teen Titans, which like most of the rest of DC's line, just doesn't interest me.

Convergence: Green Lantern Corps 2
This is not as much fun as issue 1, but still enjoyable.  Hal is being a bit stupid and using old fashioned ring constructs (hands etc) which is what I like to see.  John is John like and Guys is Guy like.  He steals Hercules' armour and then gets his ring recharged.  Good fun for Green Lantern fans.
The Gotham Academy preview shows what is probably a solid book, marketed at teens and reminds me of Gunnerkrigg Court webcomic.  As I've read Gunnerkrigg court I'm not interested in reading this.

Convergence: Justice League of America 2
Good fun for fans of this JLA team.  I guess it's nice to see Vibe, Vixen, Steel and Gypsy get credit for saving the day, even if it's Zee, J'onn and Arthur that really finished everything.
The Batman/Superman preview makes me want to cancel my standing order.

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman 10
My head was full of Convergence when I read this so I don't think I appreciated it enough. I think this book is aimed at readers who want to see Diana in explicitly feminist stories, so I think it will turn a lot of people off.  For me though, it's great.  Especially with the backup story being mythological.  It's these books that make me want to cancel my in continuity titles and just get the standalones.  They are so much better,

Comics review: Convergence week 5

Spoilers ahead (probably).

Convergence 5
I really cannot bring myself to care about this main title.  Skataris and dinosaurs are fun, but it's not necessary to read this to understand the tie-ins.  I suspect that I will be selling this mini.

Convergence: Justice League 2
There's some ridiculous bum and boob images in this.  Ignoring that, this isn't too bad,  It's pretty much a big fight between the League and Flashpoint Aquaman, with a bit of Vulko, ending with Mera killing Flashpoint Aquaman.  I can't imagine anyone not invested in pre 52 continuity enjoying this.  Fortunately, I like the pre 52 world a lot.  These 2 issues are keepers, really just for Supergirls' involvement in them.

Convergence: Superman 2
Just lovely.  Lois has been kidnapped by Flashpoint Kal, but he doesn't mean her harm, and he takes her to Flashpoint's Batman's cave.  Lois goes into labour and Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne, a  doctor) says he can't handle delivering the baby so Clark does it.  Surprisingly, they show the labour as being quite drawn out, and not over in half an hour.  And at the end Lois and Clark and a baby boy.  It's delightful.  This is definitely a keeper.

Convergence: Batman and Robin 2
This appears to be one of the few tie-ins that lets it's heroes be heroes - i.e. not willing to go fight the opposing champion.  Of course it is, it's Batman.  Jason Todd and Damian are in this, and it turns into a father-sons piece.  The art is nice.  I couldn't care about the story.  I'll try and sell this.

Convergence: The Atom 2
I think I'd remember this more fondly if I hadn't watched Smallville's Booster episode last night (with the three Blue Beetles in it).  Which means that I'm getting my blue heroes muddled.  The comic was OK.  I find the Deathstroke vs the Atoms storyline strange, probably because I wasn't reading the pre 52 issues where Deathstroke killed Ryan Choi.  I do like that Ryan has been resurrected, that's a good thing about this event.  I am undecided as to whether I should keep this.

Convergence: The Question 2
This might be called the Question but really it's a Two-face/Renee story, with lots of support by Batwoman and Huntress.  Some of the storytelling through just art (no words) is pretty damn fine.  I highly highly recommend this.  Definitely a keeper.

Convergence: The Titans 2
Roy finds a way to save Lian and his friends, and Lian is the real Lian, and she remains alive at the end.  This resonated.  It's a keeper.

Convergence: Speed Force 2
This has a very flat, cartoony, style of art. It's not what I'm used to, but I can't tell if I think if it's bad, or if it's just different.  Reading it, I have trouble accepting this Flashpoint Wonder Woman.  She's too far away from the Diana I am used to.  Irey seems to have some sort of torso muscles, which is strange, given her age.  I think I thought this issue was nice enough, but it's not really got anything memorable in it.  I liked the first issue though, so I'll probably keep this.

Convergence: Harley Quinn 2
This was fun.  Harley tells Cap'n Carrot she has super fists, scorch vision, canary scream, awesome-portation and a magic hammer stolen from the Gods.  He believes her, because who lies about having super powers?  This plan backfires but it all turns out well in the end, and Harley is reunited with ivy and Selina.  But doesn't go back to her fella.

Convergence: Batgirl 2
Steph and Tim seemed out of character in this.  Tim says that he ignored her for the last year because she was no longer Batgirl. Now she is suited up again, he's interested again.  She gets annoyed at this, but then takes him back.  I prefer to think that Steph has more self respect than that, and that Tim isn't such a dick.  Possibly keeping for nostalgia reasons.

Convergence: Nightwing and Oracle: 2
This was good.  I really like the design of the Hawks, and Black Canary shows up.  The Hawks get defeated and are offered the chance to live in this Gotham, curating their culture.  That's how heroism works.  Then Babs and Dick get hitched and we see the second ever good comic book wedding dress.  The first was Canary's when she married Green Arrow, FYI.  These 2 issues are keepers.

One thing that I realised during this week's comics, is that the fights between champions aren't to the death.  I had assumed they were, but I don't think Telos ever stated that.  He just said one champion must be defeated.

I didn't read many of the divergent previews.  I doubt I'll be getting many of them.

Convergence week 3

This week's comic are pre Crisis.  I hadn't realised some of these eras were pre crisis, but fine.  Spoilers (probably) ahead.

Convergence 3
I'm quite bored of the bat centric nature of this main series.  There is a nice Skataris scene though, so maybe next issue will be more interesting.

Convergence: Justice League of America 1
It starts with Ralph and Sue being lovely and then explains how the dome has affected the other JLA members.  Aquaman is now unable to breathe underwater, which is at odds with other domed Aquamans where he can't survive without water.  Well, it's not directly incompatible but the insinuation is there.  The Martian Manhunter was trapped in human form without telepathy.  Steel's cyborg tech shut down and he was on life support.  Now the dome is lifted and everyone is back to normal and ready to fight.

I don't get why the dome affects some guys' technology and not others.  Other than the writers deciding this is so.  Ah well, this was an OK issue.

Convergence: Hawkman 1
Another really good one.  This is less about forced fights and more a showcase of why Katar and Shayera are great.  There are Thanagarian criminals.  I'm writing the review of this comic last and now I'm out of comments, sorry.  It's a darn good comic though.  I suggest you all read it.

Convergence: The Adventures of Superman 1
This isn't really a Superman book, it's all about Kara.  Kara and Clark are in Gotham, trapped under the dome and powerless.  They decide to exit the dome via the phantom zone and try to reemerge outside of the dome.  This is actually a pretty good idea.
As I said, the issue is all about Kara being heroic, getting acknowledged by Superman, and dealing with the sudden knowledge of her death in the crisis, but still deciding to soldier on.  This is why I like Supergirl.  She's strong (emotionally), she's brave, she's kind, she always does the right thing.  She's not supercilious, she's not arrogant, she's humble and puts others before herself without being a doormat.

There are continuity errors in this book, but the core of the characters is right and it's a delight to read.  Highly recommended.

Convergence: Batman and the Outsiders 1
My boyfriend just saw the cover to this and named it Batman and the Disco Avengers.

That is my review.

Convergence: Flash 1
I enjoyed this but can't really bring myself to review it as it's all about Barry, the dullest of the Flashes.

Convergence: Green Lantern Corps 1
Ooh yeah.  This has Guy, Hal and John.  Guy is back teaching kids and is also in therapy, which doesn't seem very Guy like.  On the other hand he's not as obnoxious as he was usually depicted, so perhaps this is just the effect being domed has on him.  I was pleased to see Guy reference Hal moving on his fiancee. I'd forgotten about that, but man, it goes to show that Hal is a jerk!  John Stewart was good.  Hal is acting exactly like Hal, but doesn't look like him.  The art is wrong.  At the end they all get their powers but as Hal has the power battery Guy can't power up, so he rides off on a motorbike, reminding me of Cliff Chiang's Black Canary/Green Arrow art.

This is good stuff for Green Lantern fans.

Convergence:  The New Teen Titans 1
I really enjoyed this,  I didn't think I was fussed about this era but it turns out it's fun!  Dick is wearing his stupid disco outfit.  He's married to Kory and they are having problems, because she is ruled by her emotions and really hates criminal thugs.  There is a crystal wielding girl who I never even noticed on the cover and Jericho, who pretty much just walks around moodily.  Donna is really missing her husband Terry (who I have always thought is a bit of a prick)t and others keep coming to her for relationship advice, which hurts her.  The Tangent universe Doom Patrol comes to fight them but this isn't a vicious-let's-murder-everyone fight.  The DP want tech to get back home.  One of them contacts Dick to talk.  This was a pretty solid issue,

Convergence:  Legion of Superheroes 1
I liked this so much I bought a copy for my friend's 15 year old daughter.  The art is unusual - people's eyes are really big and the colours are rather washed out, but on the whole the comic worked really well.  Not a lot happens.  M,ostly the LoSH are talking about what's going on and Superboy is rallying the city.  However this somehow makes for a very enjoyable comic.  And the cover is really nice.  It's simple but very pleasing to the eye.

Convergence: Swamp Thing 1
This started with a recap of Swamp Thing/Alec Holland's origins, which I really appreciated, as I haven't read any Swamp Thing before.  It left me wanting to read the Alan Moore run.  This particular issue reads like a mild horror comic more than anything.  I really liked it.  Worth buying,

Convergence: Wonder Woman 1
This is wonderful!  Diana is perfectly Diana and the issue is all about heroism.  I love this issue.  Def a keeper and def worth reading,

Flash graphic

Someone pointed me to this a little while ago when I was having a bad day.  I think the image motivates me more than the words to be honest.

"Finally, comic book women get a real bodies make-over"

Title in quotation marks because redraws have been going on for years.

I am referring to this article which has been doing the rounds.  A facebook friend asked me what I thought of it so I thought I'd tidy up and post it here.

The motivations of the team behind this are explained as follows:
When the team at bulimia.com saw Buzzfeed's Disney princess makeovers, they decided they should take these super-human ladies and give them some super human bodies. Their hope is that when viewers see these realistic waistlines, they will be able to better relate to the characters. After all, being powerful doesn't have to correlate with being a double-D, size 2 cat lady,

I'll admit that I'm more inspired by men's physiques in comic books than I am by women's physiques.  I'm not sure if this is because I have a fairly relaxed attitude to gendered bodies or because men are shown as being more muscular than women, but if I think about who I most want to look like it's hook handed Aquaman, every time.  I know I'll never look exactly like him, I know his physique is caricatured, but when I think of visual motivation for working out and getting a six pack he's who I think of.

I don't lady comic characters unrelatable because they can be drawn ridiculously.  I think the world of Wonder Woman, even when she's drawn by Mike Deodato.  Relatable doesn't just mean 'looks like me'.

Having said that, I like the idea of re-drawing characters to look more normal.  It made me realise that some art which I consider realsistic really isn't - the thigh gaps for example.  I think that some of the redraws aren't quite right though - they aren't athletic enough.  There's a difference between tits an ass, normal realistic bodies and athletic.  I don't think there's a problem with making superheroes (and villains) look atheltic if their power set and skills demand it.  For example, the Flash should look like a runner.  Guy Gardner is an ex PE teacher, John Stewart is an ex marine.  I'd be surprised if they didn't keep fit, but they shouldn't look like triangular beefcakes.  Aquaman and Mera should look like swimmers.  Batman and Black Canary should look like martial arts experts.  Wondy should look like a gladitorial athelet.

Some of the redraws don't look right.  Black Widow doesn't look as fit as a physically active spy should be.  Her spying is a core part of her character, and if she doesn't look right I can't relate to her.  If she looks like she spends more time behind a desk than out in the field I'm not interested.  Catwoman, Ivy, Power Girl and Phoenix work for me.  Rogue doesn't.  Given the amount of time the X-Men spend training she shouldn't be as soft as that around the middle.  The same goes for Storm.

In making these characters look like normal everyday women that we can now supposedly relate to, they've taken away some of the power fantasy.  If I'm going to be inspired by a superhero I'll be inspired by their strength of character, their morals and what they can do with their bodies and how capabel their bodies are - but I'm someone interested in fitness and what exercise and training can do to the body.  Not everyone is.

To simplify, often lady superheroes are drawn to be fancied by men, and male heroes are drawn to be power fantasies for men.  Female characters should be power fantasies for women too, but to dot hat, you have to understand how bodies and exercise work.

DC's December Darwyn Cooke variants

Oh hell you'll all have seen them by now but they are so damn purdy I want to blog them anyway.

Wonder Woman:

 Teen Titans:

 SUPERGIRL!!!

 He-Man:

 JLU:

 I love the way this is set up.  Adore it.

Catwoman:

The composition is fabulous.

Superman/Wonder Woman:

Aquaman:

Flash:

And hey look, I'm excited about something.  That's progress.

Comic reviews for books picked up on 23/03/2013

Spoilers ahead for Wonder Woman 18, Supergirl 18, Earth 2 10, Ultimate Spider-Man 21.
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Making Jay Garrick's costume

So I promised you a post on how I made my Jay Garrick costume (see here and here if you haven't already).
EDIT- eek, I realised I hadn't credited the blog which gave me a start on working out how to make it!  Anyway, the blog in question is Speed Force and the 2 blog posts in particular are this one and this one.  I didn;t end up following their method, but it was certainly good food for thought.

First off, the costs.  I may as well round up from the previous post as well. 
T-shirt - already owned, as a birthday present.
The boots - bought from ebay for £2.42 plus £2,50 postage.
The jeans - bought from New Look for £25.99
The hat - bought from ebay for £9.95 plus £3.75 postage.
The spray paint for the hat - £4.55, from a local DIY shop.
The primer, to prepare the hat for the spray - £8.53
The fimo - to make the wings, £4.30 from a craft shop
The acrylic gold paint - to paint the wings, £1,75, from a craft shop.
Black canvas skater belt - £4
Lightning bolt charms, to glue onto the belt - £2.20

Glue, to attach the wings to the hat and charm to the belt - £1.80

Gold feather charms, for general decoration, bought from ebay, £0.99 plus £0.85 postage (not used in the end).
Leather belt - £5.99 (also unused)

So, £79.57 in total.  Eek.  Good thing I didn't buy it all at once.  Or add it up before.

First I looked for the jeans and boots.  Jeans I finally got from Next, after trying several on from New Look, getting stuck in some (very embarrassing), ordering the wrong ones from the shop and then returning them.  It all turned out OK though, because the pair I ended up getting from Next had belt loops round the top of the jeans, not on the hips, and were, I feel a better colour and fit.

The boots I bought off ebay very cheaply.  They arrived in gold condition with little kitten heels.  I was going to save them for the con but then ended up wearing them to work for one day, by which point the heels were ground down and, well, fucked.  But that's OK, because they should really be flat anyway!  By the midday the left boot's sole, which had been glued on in the manufacturing process, was half off, but it did end up lasting the day, just.  I shall see about getting them resoled to last.  I quite like them and re-soleing will be cheaper than buying new boots.

I ended up not trying to do wings for the boots, because a) I couldn't figure out how to effectively attach wings to the boots, b) I wanted to wear them again, c) I'd feel silly later in the day, away from the con, wearing winged boots and d), I was scared about making them and worried they'd go wrong.
I decided having un-winged boots was OK as jay doesn't always wear winged boots (thank you artists!).

The belt I only remembered 2 weeks before the con.  This left me with a bit of a problem, because the shops round where I live don't sell black leather belts with plain rectangular buckles.  So I found this on ebay:

It's perfect!  I thought I'd just need to get a lightning bolt engraved onto it (cost would be about £15) and It would be good to go.  Plus, I'd then get a really cool belt to wear at other times.
Unfortunately it didn't look like it was going to arrive in time, so I bought a very similar belt, but made out of canvas, not leather, from the local market and stuck a lightning bolt charm on it.  Et voila:

Yes I know the text on the buckle isn't accurate, but I had to make do, OK?

Because the buckle was slightly curved the charm fell off at some point during the day.  Nevermind, I will be getting the leather belt engraved with a lightning bolt symbol anyway.

I already had the T-shirt so nothing needed doing there.  I considered buying a long sleeved red undershirt but decided I'd be perfectly happy going as the summer style Jay.

Now the hat!  I got it from ebay.  I searched for 'World war 1 Tommy replica helmet' and it came up.
I took the straps off, then sprayed the underside and topside with primer over a couple of days.  The top side got 2 coats, the underside got 1 coat.  I did this in the shed each morning and left the hat in there all day to dry, taking it in the house at night.

However, due to low temperatures in the weather, parts of the primer looked like they crystallised a bit. Once I'd sprayed 2 coats on the outside of the helmet and 1 coat on the underside, you really couldn't tell any problems though.  Although you could tell that little bits of dirt etc had got caught in the paint as it was a bit bumpy.  I think it could have done with some sort of finishing paint, as it is now covered in fingerprints and hints of paint came off on my fingers during the day.

Then I started on the wings.  Well, my boyfriend did.  He cut out paper templates for the wings.  We decided on sharped edged wings over Jay's traditional wings because it would be easier to cut out and craft.  Dan rolled out the fimo and used a craft knife to cut the shapes out.  Et voila:

Once cut, he used a thin stick, like a chopstick, to carve grooves into the wings, like so:

As you can see, they aren't fully correct Jay wings, but I liked the angularness.  I think it fits with the lightning bolt theme and the zippy fastness of the Flash.  We left them to airdry overnight.  2 days later we noticed they hadn't dried flat and instead had a slight curve, thankfully, the non-scored sides were the concave sides (whew).

I used gold acylic paint, soluble in water, to paint the wings.  They came out nice and shiny.  One point to remember - if you use paint that's soluble in water, make sure your paintbrush is dry before applying a second coat of paint.  Eek. It turned out OK, but I was a bit concerned for a while.  Here are the finished wings:

Then we had to glue them onto the hat.  We didn't use superglue, we used epoxy resin.  The boyfriend thought it would be better than superglue.  I went along with him.

We decided to place the wings a little way above the hat brim.  We put glue on the bottom inside of the wings, the handle like bits below the main body of it, and held the wings in place for 6 minutes (as instructed on the packet).  Then we noticed that they were slipping, so held them in place again for a further 5 minutes, at which point they were properly attached.  Here's a view of the hat from the front.

The next morning the wings were still in place (whew, I was so relieved), and this is a picture of the helmet from side on:

I think it looks fricking awesome.  The wings stayed on all day until I put the helmet in a bag (n the evening, after the con), then one came off, but it is still in one piece so will be glued on again at a later date.

I put the straps back on the hat as I wasn't sure how well it would stay on.  As it turned out, the helmet jammed on my head pretty well (when I'd put my hair back in a bun) but did end up a jaunty angle for the afternoon.  I tucked the straps under the helmet, above my head, so you couldn't really see them.

And this is the finished thing:

Ta-da!!!

And as I write this I have just seen Jay's new costume in the nu52.  Oh my gods it is awful.  Jay, well Jay had style.  He was unpretentious.  He dressed simply and traditionally to get the job done.  Ok, so the hat is flashy (pun not intended), but Jay is a man of the old school and he'd know the historical/mythic connotations of the hat (I have no idea if there is an in canon explanation of the hat, but that's my theory).  He has integrity, and honesty and loyalty and dedication and his costume reflects that.  It's old fashioned (those high jeans!0 but he's old fashioned.

This new costume isn't him.  There's no style, no character, the headgear is fucking ridiculous and the ribbed part on the top are pointless.  It's awful.

More photos from the London con!

These are some photos that my friend took at the London Super comic con.  (I think that if I don't put that exact phrase in this post won't show up in search items.  So, let's add some more in.   Cosplay. superheroes.  Comic Convention. Flash. Jay Garrick. Supergirl. awesomesauce.)

Now to the Marvel ones first.
Glacatus, the vulture and spiderman:

Galactus had a bit of paper on his back saying 'ultimate nullify me'.  Lols.
The Scarlet Witch and Valkyrie:

One of many Ms Marvels:

Now for the DC costumes.
That is one impressive Catwoman suit.

 

DC new universe Supergirl!

This costume was amazing!  She'd even got the right contacts in to change her eye colour.  And she was an absolute sweetie.

And here's where I can't believe I'm actually putting these online because my gods, I am such a dork.

But of course I needed a picture of me and Kara.  How could I not?

This is the only pose I did.  It's not very good.  And I am such a dork.

London Super Comic Con!!

Sooo yesterday I went to London for the first London Super Comic Con.  Ohhh it was SO much fun!

Let me tell you about my day.....

I get up at 6am.  I realise I have time to have breakfast. I am shocked.  I get in the taxi at 6.30 am, I get on the train at 6.45.  I go oh grife it's really fucking early.

Due to a basic miscalculation about the times of London transport, I arrive at the venue, the Excel centre, an hour before I expected at 9am.  No matter, my friend arrives shortly after and we start queueing.  I am dressed like Jay Garrick, but being British still feel faintly embarrassed about being in public all dressed up.  After half an hour of queueing I get over this and put my hat on.  I blush a bit and then I calm down and get used to it.

We finally get in, the fella giving us our passes compliments me on the hat, and I feel better.  What does it look like?  Well I'll show you!

(Photo taken by this fella)

I'm really pleased by the outfit.  I should have moved the pass out of the way though cos you can't see the belt buckle.  I'd glued a lightning bolt charm to the buckle for extra authenticity.  I'll put a post up about how I made the helmet later.

For those non comic-y people, this is Jay Garrick as drawn by Alex Ross:

So, once in, my friend dived off to the Stan Lee queue and I went a wandering.  I had a hitlist of Jamal Igle, Paul Cornell, Phili Jiminez, Jock and Bill Sienkiewicz.  off I trotted, aware that although each had a signing session lined up, I was anxious not to miss anyone.

I found Jamal Igle first.  He recognised me, because on twitter I had mentioned I'd be dressed as Jay.  So when he shook me hand and said Saranga! I was bowled over.  He was lovely!  I apologised spamming him on twitter the other day - this was a result of a 3 way conversation between me, Sterling Gates, Anj from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary and him, which degenerated into me and Sterling chatting about silly fannish encounters.  So, sorry Anj as well.  I asked him to sign War of the Superman #1 and explained that I brought it because I find it such a great piece of storytelling through art, no dialogue, and it gets me really emotional every time.  He said he was gutted when he had to draw it.  I asked him what he was doing now and he said a Kiss comic set in 1912 (I think) and that something very cool will be announced June/July time.  Then I headed away as other people wanted to chat and I don't feel right monopolising folk.  Oh, I bought one of his sketch books too.

Then I went to the other side of the table and introduced myself to Paul Cornell, as I had been tweeting him about things recently.  (Apparently Demon Knights is set in France, not England).  He said I looked very different in person, I said yes, my twitter icon is doodle that makes me prettier and thinner, he said he couldn't comment.  Now, recently Paul Cornell has decided that in an effort to redress the gender imbalance at comic con panels, he will step off any panel where there isn't a 50/50 gender split, and invite a woman from the audience to take his place.  he was talking about this on twitter, so I chimed in on the conversation saying that women should be better represented at con panels, and, well, the upshot is that I've now volunteered myself for a panel at Eastercon in London on 6th April, to talk about 'comics outside the mainstream'.

Eek.

Anyway, I told Paul Cornell this and he was really pleased about it.  I hope I don't gabble like a fool at the con.  Paul was also giving away his free DC comics, that he gets sent by DC, so I picked up I, Vampire.

Again, someone else wanted to talk to him so I headed off. Oh, I got Demon Knights #6 signed by him.

Next I tried queueing for Bill Sienkiewicz but got bored (I hate queueing) and noticed a twitter friend, AlexanderLyons, behind me, so said hello and we chatted.  Alex is lovely! We queued for Phil Jiminez, I got Wonder Woman:Paradise Lost signed by him (Phil), he liked my hat.  Then Alex was up next and him and Phil had a reallllly long conversation.

By this point my friend Simon had come back, had met Stan Lee, got his signature and got his hand shook by Mr Stan!  This made Simon's day.

Me and Simon headed off to find other cosplayers, specifically a new 52 Supergirl, who quite frankly looked amazing!  She'd got everything absolutely perfect.  I'll upload photos when I've got a hold of them.  We also saw another Jay!   So me and him posed in the running pose and had photos taken.  Man, there were so many amazing costumes there.  This Flickr photo stream has lots of good examples, as does the facebook group I linked to above.  I think my favourite was the Vulture, DCnU Supergirl and She-Ra.  Nearly all of them were throwing poses when asked to be photographed.  Now, quite a few folk wanted my picture, which was cool, but apart from the one with the other Jay, I didn't pose.  Because I'm not an actor and I do fancy dress for the fun of it.  I also noticed that the women in more traditional superhero costumes got asked for tons more photos than I did, which narked me.  I don't like the fact that it annoyed me, and I fully understand why they would get more photos taken, but I still couldn't help feeling narked.  Which I don't like about myself. Oh well.

We stopped at Simon Furman's stand, him who wrote the 80s Thundercats and most Transformers comics.  I met him at Norcon last year, he said I looked a bit familiar.  I bought a couple of his Shulkie comics.

So, after this, me and Simon wandered round each and every stall, had a little sit outside, got some lunch, enjoyed the sun, wandered round the stalls again.  I noticed about 1 o'clock that the soles of one of my boots was coming off, (they were cheap), and got concerned I'd have to buy replacements later.  I didn't have to and they lasted till i got home at 2.45am.

I never managed to get anything signed by Jock or Bill Sienkiewicz because the queues were too long.  Alex got a Wonder Woman issue signed by George Perez.  Me and Simon went to the Stan Lee panel at 4pm which was far better than I expected.  Stan Lee is just like my Dad, when my Dad is in full storytelling mode with a few drinks in him. This made me warm to him so much.

One bad point of the day - while I was at the orbital comics stall 2 of the staff were in costume.  I was rifling through back issues, minding my own business when I overheard a conversation from a couple of fellows behind me.  They were criticising one of the cosplayers - they said she was too flat chested.  To costume as who she was costumed as.  I was flabberghasted and considered turning round and lamping them, or at least telling them they were being dicks.

But apart from that the day was great. It was wonderful to meet older and younger Jay Garrick-specific and Flash-general fans.  It was great to have people like my outfit and ask how I did the hat.  The other Jay made his wings out of balsar wood.  I think he may have done a better finish on the spray paint, as his hat looked much more heard wearing than mine.  Mine now has tons of fingerprints and is also missing a wing, as one cam eoff in the bag on the way home.  I shall replace it.

After the con i went to meet a couple of friend's for dinner, then to meet some other friends for a 30th birthday drinks.  I got in at 2.45am, knackered, but I had a fabulous day!

I think I've reported on everything.  I definitely want to go back next year.

Jay Garrick outfit

I'm putting together a Jay Garrick outfit for the London Super Comic con.  Here's my preliminary post about it.

The costs
T-shirt - already owned, as a birthday present.
The boots - bought from ebay for £2.42 plus £2,50 postage.
The jeans - bought from New Look for £25.99
The hat - bought from ebay for £9.95 plus £3.75 postage.
The spray paint for the hat - £4.55, from a local DIY shop.
The primer, to prepare the hat for the spray - £8.53
The fimo - to make the wings, £4.30 from a craft shop
The acrylic gold paint - to paint the wings, £1,75, from a craft shop.
Gold feather charms - for general decoration, bought from ebay, £0.99 plus £0.85 postage.  I'm not sure how I'm gonna use these yet.  We'll see. I could attach one each to the boots, cos I'm certainly not planning to do fancy wings for the boots.

Anyway, here's the stuff for the hat, as gathered so far.

I will put up in progress posts and pictures, as well as showing the completed thing.  I am picking the jeans up on Thursday, but probably won't start putting things together for a couple of weeks.

I've also just realised I don't have a belt yet..hmm..  I'm not sure if the jeans have belt loops at the top.  I may need to get even more crafty.  This could be a problem, because I am not by nature a crafty person..

Anyway.  If you go to the con and see a Jay Garrick around, it will probably be me.  So come and say hi!

Wonder Woman Wednesday

The JLA's dream selves

In issue 8 and 9 of Morrison's JLA run we see the JLA captured by yet another bad guy who has infiltrated their minds.  Standard plot, so far, so not interesting.  What is interesting is the way the JLA view themselves in their minds.  Take a gander:

Aquaman's costume from his mini back in the 90s?  White dressed WW fighting Nazi Zombies?  Kyle Rayner being far too influenced by gaming?  Good lord, what would have Bart Allen have dreamt up?

Compare it with this image from JLA 50 when Waid had taken over:

I def prefer Aquaman's look in the latter issue.  Interesting to note that Diana hasn't really changed and that Kyle is still heavily influenced by gaming.

Thinking of Superman

Thinking about how we see him, when we means the readers of the stories, or the characters within the DCU.  Oftentimes I find that Superman is looked down upon in regular society.  People think that he is uncool, he's just a big blue boy scout.  They think there is nothing tough, or hard or scary about him.  Of course, Supes shouldn't be scary like Batman is.  In my mind he should be approachable and friendly, yet capable and resolved.  He shouldn't panic, he should always be heroic, and he should be utterly unselfish.  Yet sometimes, you get an idea of the danger he could be, if he wasn't fundamentally Clark Kent.

Anyway, I recently read Morrison's JLA run, and to be honest wasn't that blown away by it.  It startedgettign interesting around about issue 18, but on the whole it's not really much when compared to Mark Waid's run, for example.

By issue #7 we'd met Zauriel, a fallen angel.  Some of the other angels weren't too happy about Zauriel's decision to 'wear mortal flesh' so they come to earth to kill him.  The JLA intervene.  Superman in particualr intervenes.  Leading Flash (Wally West) to exclaim as follows:

And that panel to me encapsulates so many things.  The DCU's attitude to Superman.  His view of himself.  His capabilities.  His willingness to stand up for what is right.  His unflinching committment to protecting us humans and those weaker than himself, even when he's experiencing self doubt.

Superman is hope for a better world and inspires us to be the best we can.  He is a symbol and he's an incredibly strong symbol.  That's why people wear the S shield.  That's why I like him so much.

Birds of Prey get musical

On Batman: The Brave and the Bold tv show the Birds of Prey got a little musical number.  It's full of inneuendo, it's a bit silly, but it's a darn catchy song.  You can view it here.  Go watch it, I'll wait.

Now you've watched it, here's a transcript of the words (found here):

Hit It
(music starts)
Good evening all you gentlemen
mobsters creeps and crooks
Men in tights come after you and still your off the hook
for those who scare and terrorize it's the dawn of a brand new day
You scum can simply call us the one and only Birds of Prey

Green Lantern has his special ring
Pretty strong that little thing
Blue Beetle's deed's are really swell
but who will bring him out of his shell?
Flash's Foe's they finish last
Too bad sometimes he's just too fast!

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better then the Birds of Prey
The one and only Birds of Prey

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey

Green Arrow has Heroic traits
That is when he's shooting straight
Hey!
I'm just saying!
Aquaman's always courageous!
His little fish, less outrageous!
Plastic man can expand
becomes putty in a hand

While all the boys can keep you punks at bay
No one does it better then the birds of prey
the one and only birds of prey

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey

Batman throws his batarang
what a weapon, what a bang
check out that utility belt
sure can make a girls heart melt
He's always right there for the save
I'd like to see his secret cave

While Batman does things in his special way
He'd do it better with the birds of prey
While Batman always seems to save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey
birds of prey


meow!




Well I don't know about you, but that wasn't quite what I was expecting from a kid's cartoon!  saucy enough to make you laugh but innocent enough to go over kids heads.

I'm not quite sure which hero I feel sorry for the most..probably Aquaman or Green Arrow.  Poor ducks.

I wonder how the other heros match up.  What do you reckon the Birds would say about Mr Miracle, Hawkman, Booster or Superman?

In completely unrelated news, I just discovered this dramatic chipmunk clip and this clip of someone taking badgers on a walk.  It's adorable.  You need sound.

Trawling through old images

In search of something to post, I am coming cross several fun scans I had forgotten about.  Like this one:

There's something very amusing about the notion of killer penguins.   I seem to recall something similar from a Robin issue as well...

Coming out in Comics: Pied Piper

Ahh the Pied Piper, real name Hartley Rathaway, reformed villain from the Flash' rogues gallery.  He's great and he's gay.  He first came out in Flash volume 2, number 53 (1991).  Wally West was the Flash then and they were both good friends by this point.  Let's take a look at how this happened:

See this?  They are friends.  Look at the body language, relaxed and open.












It doesn't last...

Wally West, you are a prat.  Worst excuse ever.  Still, I like how Piper isn't offended by him and takes it all in his stride.  And you know, at least Wally didn't ask if this meant Piper fancied him.

But on the plus side.....

At the end of the issue they are friends again and Wally has evidently forgotten his fear of the gays.  Looking back at the date this was published I feel all warm and fuzzy about the way this was handled.  It could have been positioned as Wally being homophobic and in the right for being so, but I think it's quite clear in the above text that Wally is being a prat and that his mini freak out is wrong.

I was 11 in 1991 and didn't really know a lot about sexuality, but I was aware of HIV/AIDS and the mass panic and bigotry that followed it in the 80s.  With that in mind, it's wonderful seeing a comic that deals with a character's sexuality in a grown up way, and that shows the panic reaction from his straight friend to be a ridiculous one.


Later on, in the 2008 Rogues Revenge Final Crisis mini there was a nice moment where one of the other rogues said something homophobic, and Piper kicked him.  It felt gratifying.