So last weekend I took part in a panel at Eastercon, the British Sci-fi con.  The topic was Comics outside the mainstream.

It was fun, the hour went really quickly and I didn't feel stupid.  The audience was good and no one was an argumentative sod, which was my biggest fear.  I kind of want to do a full write up, but I'm quite tired, as yes, I've been doing homework each night, having driving lessons and working. So here's a brief outline of what we discussed:

What 'mainstream' means - are vertigo comics mainstream?   has this changed over the years?  What constitutes mainstream in manga and manwha books?
Do people who read 'graphic novels' see themselves as in the mainstream or our of it?
is there a distinction between comic readers who read only superheroes, only vertigo, only graphic novels, or only webcomics - is one more mainstream than another?
What non-mainstream comics are out there for women?
How effective is marketing for women (and other) readers, and how women (and men) as readers react to the big 2  marketing to the 18-35 male demographic.
The (un)success of DC's Minx line.
We talked a brief bit about films of comics.
Where to find webcomics and what good ones are out there.

We also recommended quite a few books - I talked about Skal, Cinebook's entire catalogue, Bayou Arcana and Markosia publishing.  One of the other panellists recommended Fumi Yoshinaga's books, especially the restaurant manga (she also does good yaoi stories).  The moderator recc'd a comic version of Hamlet, which I can't quite remember the details of now.

Various audience members also recc'd comics, one of which was Gunnerkrigg Court which I keep meaning to read.

It was a lot of fun.  I'd love to do more panels.  I mentioned a I ran a couple of comic blogs but I don't think I namechecked New readers...starter here! Damn.  That was stupid.  I also didn't mention that I go to non mainstream comics for diversity in writing styles, story types and character types.  That was stupid.  Doh.

The same weekend I also met my fresh 3 week old niece and she's totes adorable :D  And sleeps most of the time (even more adorable) and didn't throw up on me (good child).

Hope you're all well out there in blog land.  This is the first time I've logged into blogger for a few weeks, and now I find it's got a new format.  I do not like this.  Bah humbug.  I just finished reading the new edition of Batman: No Man's Land - these new versions are collecting all the NML issues, unlike the first set of trades which only collected half of them.  This first volume is great.  I highly recommend it.  Now I'm gonna go read Gotham Central, which I just downloaded from Comixology. :D  All $79 worth.. eeeeek...

Extra special daily post: the Huntress edition

Hey y'all, do you remember a few days ago I posted about a series the DC Women Kicking Ass tumblr is doing, on memorable moments for DC heroines?  Well, I wrote a guest post on Helen Bertinelli - the Huntress.  The specific moment was in No Mans Land where she stares down the Joker after being shot by him.  You can go read it here.

Many thanks to DCWKA for inviting me to do a guest post, I'm honoured and more than a little humbled to be included amongst the other writers who are contributing pieces.

No Mans Land - other art part 2

The last of my No Mans Land series, and the rest of the notable art.

From legends of the Dark Knight 125.

Detective Comics 727.  Tim looks more like Connor Hawke here.

More from the Fruits of the Earth storyline.  I'm not sure which issue this is from, apologies.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 125.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 126. Batman is looking for the Joker.

From the issue where Barbara discovers the other Batgirl.

Shadow of the Bat 85.  A more cartoonish penguin.

Shadow of the Bat 77.  A more odl fashioend rendering of Batman.

There you have it.  The end of my No Mans Land series.  Tons of different things were covered in these 80+ issues and there were tons of different art styles.  God knows what it would be like to come into these blank, reading the trades.



It's polling time!

No Mans Land - other art part 1

Ah, here's where I just post a load of scans and revel in the loveliness of them all.  Issue numbers are underneath each picture

From Azrael 54.  A plot line that reminds me of the Buffy musical episode given that there's a demonic dancer involved.

From Batman 23.  Finale of the Underground Railroad story.  I like that it's a normal, non caped guy here, in a pose that is referencing Batman's usual iconic lookout.  It infers that we can all be Batmen, even if we're normal and have no special training.

Batman 568, from the Fruits of the Earth arc (also written about here).

From Detective Comics 738, A Bat/villain pile up. Haw!

Also Detective 738.  Cass actually looks small here.  For a lot of NML she looked more atheltic than waifish.

Detective Comics 741. How to tell a story without words.

Also Detective 741.  The end of NML and Batman gets to be tender again.

Do you remember about my poll?

No Mans Land - Huntress

So, I keep seeing talk about how Huntress got shot in the stomach.  This usually is in reference to the stupidity of her bare torso'd costume (btw if you do go look at the post that picture came from you'll find it's a list of the 8 sluttiest superheroes.  Yeah, nice.  For some reason Black Canary is included.  Yes, I think we can ignore that site.).  Anyway people argue that Huntress shouldn't wear that daft costume cos she got shot in the belly once - she'd want kevlar to protect herself, surely.  (My argument against it is that it looks ridiculous, she'll be cold, and why would she want to flash some skin when she's not superpowered and is fighting crime mostly at night).

Anyway, guess where she got shot in the stomach?  It's No Mans Land!  Here's some scans from when it happened.  It's starts here:

She is protecting children in a building.  She is the only one there to protect them.

She's now been shot.  It looks like this might be the end.  I like the above panel a lot.  She's not weepy or scared, she's defiantly looking up at her attacker, almost daring him to go through with it.

Skip to the next issue:

Then, if I recall correctly, the cavalry arrives.  Or at least Nightwing does, and he takes her to the only hospital in NML.

 I never knew Dick cared so much.  This is cemented by this next page:

And that's why Huntress needs a full kevlar suit.  Dick and Helena should get together again.


Psssst. There's a poll on this here site.

No Mans Land - Babs sees the other Batgirl

This takes place before Cassandra puts the cowl on.  Babs discovers another woman in Gotham wearing the Batgirl suit.  She's understandably upset.  From Detective Comics 732.

Remember that Barbara stopped being Batgirl when the Joker shot her in the spine and no one has taken up the mantle since.  She's hurt.  I think the art is fantastic in this story.


Ps: don't forget to vote in my poll!

No Mans Land - the trial of Jim Gordan

Gotham has gone to crap.  Harvey Dent is a bit mad.  He decides to take Jim Gordon to trial - a trial consisting of him, Gordon and Renee Montoya.  From Detective Comics 739, take a look:

And here's some other wonderful art from the issue:

No Mans Land - where I soften up to Batman

So y'all know how much I dislike Batman.  I was chatting about this with a friend of mine the other day, waxing lyrical about how Batman is a prat and all, and after the conversation ended it hit me that I do actually like one version of Batman - when he's teamed up with Superman.  I buy Superman/Batman every month and I always enjoy it.  Batman, for me, works best when he's got someone happier to bounce off of.  So you can imagine how delighted I was to find a Superman/Batman team up in No Mans Land.  Actually there have been 2, Batman 566 which was absolutely rubbish all about the Batfanwank, and then there was Shadow of the Bat 9, which was actually pretty great.

The story is that Supes flies in to Gotham to see how Bruce is doing - check that he hasn't lost his soul etc.  This is the scene where they meet:

Oh Bruce.  You're such a miserable bugger.  I suspect he's playing up to his reputation here.

They both discover something that needs their attention.  I just think these panels are nicely done.

The story is that Gotham is going through a dry spell and no one's vegetables are growing.  We know this cos Supes (in his Clark guise) did his regular thing of chatting to the everyday folk to find out what life is like in the ruined city.  He even commented on the type of clouds saying they should be ok to give rain.  Anyway, at the end of the comic he flies off, and obviously does something to the clouds to make them rain.  Isn't he a sweetie.


Other parts of NML that made me soften up to Batman are these scenes:

From Batman 571

Both from Batman 558

From Batman Chronicles #18.  Lesley plays the pacifist and conscience here.











But don't worry, he can still do the tough guy thing. Here for instance, where for some reason I don't think he's being a dick:

And here where he's scaring the crap out of Luthor:

Good times!

No Mans Land - Comedy moments

So, yesterday's post was all serious and deep.  Today's will be amusing (and short).

First, a peek into Batfamily life:

I love getting glimpses into Batfamily life.  It seems as if the relationship between Dick and Alfred hasn't really changed much over the years.

And now, I finally got to read about something I've been hearing about for years.  Big Barda wears Plastic Man.

It's probably a good thing he's plastic and unkilleable, or he'da been in real trouble.

No Mans Land - Azrael, Batgirl and Leslie Thompkins

I was of course already familiar with Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) and Leslie Thompkins but less so with Azrael.  I don't think I'd ever read anything with Azrael in before.  I had no idea of his background, his mission or anything about him.  In NML he strikes up a friendship with Leslie Thompkins, the doctor, and later, Batgirl.

Leslie's role in NML is that of pacifist and conscience to Bruce and Azrael.  She is fiercely against violence and is so committed to her principles that she even tends a notorious killer, knowing that when he awakes he will most likely kill her and everyone else in the hospital.  When he does wake, and does threaten her, she doesn't fight back - she lies at his feet and declares that she won't fight back, even tho she is terrified and she dearly wants to defend herself to preserve her life.  The pacifist stance does come off a bit heavy handed and forced at times, but it does also allow her to be mentor to those like Azrael, and later Batgirl.

As Batman becomes the Commander of his little clan Azrael and Batgirl find themselves working together and a friendship develops.  It's a bit of an odd friendship, given that the only word Batgirl can say is stop, so Jean-Paul (Azrael) does most of the talking.  Nonetheless, given their similar backgrounds and given the role that violence plays in their lives they have an understanding.  At one point, Azrael asks Batgirl what the plan is and this is what she replies:

Towards the end of the book it is coming up to Christmas and Lesllie gives gifts to both Jean paul and Batgirl.  Note that because of their backgrounds they don't know what Christmas is or what gift giving is about.  Batgirl gets her present first:

Jean Paul is given a harmonica.  Later he tries to play it:

The dance is Batgirl's Christmas gift to him.

All the scans are from Azrael 60 and 61.

No Mans Land - Catwoman assorted

And now for the last few Catwoman scans.  There's a few pieces of art which are just fun to look at: