Recently I have read a few more books - the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and two Tiffany Aching Discworld books (spoilers for the final Discworld book - A Shepherd's Crown). I have also read a few comics.
Showing posts with label Runaways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Runaways. Show all posts
Friday, December 29, 2017
Monday, June 29, 2015
Let's write up some comics
This week I bought and read this lot:
Black Canary 1
Much more interesting than I thought it would be from the preview. It doesn't really feel like my Dinah though, but I guess I'm looking for a Dinah in her 30s ready to settle down with Ollie (who to be fair would never be a rock star). So this version not feeling like her isn't a criticism. It is a good comic. The only thing that pulled me out of it was that I don't buy her wearing her Canary outfit on stage. If they'd given her shorts or a skirt it would work much better.
Harley/Peej 1
This was a lot more fun than I expected. I've been underwhelmed by Harley's main series but this was far better. The two of them work well together. Unfortunately the cover is not Amanda Conner's finest hour. The inks are rather heavy and it just doesn't flow very well.
Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman 11
Another bad cover, Yeeuch. Badly composed, badly pencilled, badly inked and badly coloured. Inside is Jamal Igle's pencils which are much better but the inks are a bit too heavy handed. The colours are OK. Overall, this lacks the finesse of the Gates/Igle Supergirl work, but that's not Igle's fault. In the issue Di goes to Africa to try to get two sides of a warring nation to reconcile. It sounds a bit white saviour-ish doesn't it. I don't think it comes across that way but I'm willing to listen to other opinions.
Princeless book 4 issue 1
The story is good but I hate the art. The composition of the panels is good, the actions (and interaction) of the characters are good, but the style of faces, the inks and the colours are horrible. It won't stop me buying this series, but if you do pick it up please be aware that this art is not indicative of the rest of the series' art! And on the plus side, we do have killer squirrels:
Battleworld: Thors 1
I think I bought this for horse Thor. It's OK. I suspect it's more for Marvel aficionados than me. It seems like a bit of an industry vanity project, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Battleworld: Runaways 1
The only actual Runaway in this is Molly Hayes. The rest are mutants, Cloak and Dagger and some other randoms who I expect regular Marvel readers will know. They are all attending a school to train them as Doom lackeys, or some such. I tell you what, I do like the premise for Battleworld. It works far better than Convergence, at least for these two titles. This was a fun enough comic. It also queered up Jubilee and Pixie, which was good to see:
Are they gay in the regular 616 universe?
Ms Marvel: Crushed (trade)
This is volume 3 of the current Ms Marvel run. I really liked it, it's a good young adult comic about teenage crushes and the pitfalls that come with it, with added superpowers. The only thing I didn't like was the thinly veiled lesson about consent. It just seemed a bit too obvious to me, but maybe that's because I've been seeing this sort of stuff discussed for years and given where I am at the moment, I really could do with not having these conversations. Quite frankly, I don't care. That sounds awful doesn't it. But I don't. I'm concentrating on my pregnancy and everything else that requires energy, or passion can piss off. So, I'm wondering who the teenage audience this is aimed at would take this lesson. If they don't find it too much, then I guess it's a good thing.
Batman: The Ring, The Arrow and The Bat
I've been meaning to get this for about 2 years. Despite the name, it's a Green Arrow trade, not a Batman book. The first story is Hal and Ollie meeting for the first time. Hal is working for the government and doesn't realise he's being used, and Ollie is out for a good vigilante time, until he realises the wrongs being done, and then he gets all angry about it. It's quite a quick change. Hal and Ollie argue but end up friends. Art is by Greg Land, before his porn tracing days. If you like these two, and you like these trades, then you'll like this story.
The second story is Green Arrow and Batman meeting and working together for the first time. There is lots of snark and one liners. The villains in the story are stereotypical/generic Asian bad guys, which makes me wince, and plot development is a bit obvious, but apart from that, it's good fun.
I've also been watching Arrow season 1, and while I'm kinda enjoying it, it's a bit bloody miserable isn't it? Oliver Queen enjoys life, but Ollie in Arrow doesn't. Granted, he has just come back from the island and is traumatised, but by all accounts he doesn't get any happier over the seasons. Le sigh. I like the flashbacks to the island the best. He looks and acts more like 'my' Ollie there.
Black Canary 1
Much more interesting than I thought it would be from the preview. It doesn't really feel like my Dinah though, but I guess I'm looking for a Dinah in her 30s ready to settle down with Ollie (who to be fair would never be a rock star). So this version not feeling like her isn't a criticism. It is a good comic. The only thing that pulled me out of it was that I don't buy her wearing her Canary outfit on stage. If they'd given her shorts or a skirt it would work much better.
Harley/Peej 1
This was a lot more fun than I expected. I've been underwhelmed by Harley's main series but this was far better. The two of them work well together. Unfortunately the cover is not Amanda Conner's finest hour. The inks are rather heavy and it just doesn't flow very well.
Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman 11
Another bad cover, Yeeuch. Badly composed, badly pencilled, badly inked and badly coloured. Inside is Jamal Igle's pencils which are much better but the inks are a bit too heavy handed. The colours are OK. Overall, this lacks the finesse of the Gates/Igle Supergirl work, but that's not Igle's fault. In the issue Di goes to Africa to try to get two sides of a warring nation to reconcile. It sounds a bit white saviour-ish doesn't it. I don't think it comes across that way but I'm willing to listen to other opinions.
Princeless book 4 issue 1
The story is good but I hate the art. The composition of the panels is good, the actions (and interaction) of the characters are good, but the style of faces, the inks and the colours are horrible. It won't stop me buying this series, but if you do pick it up please be aware that this art is not indicative of the rest of the series' art! And on the plus side, we do have killer squirrels:
Battleworld: Thors 1
I think I bought this for horse Thor. It's OK. I suspect it's more for Marvel aficionados than me. It seems like a bit of an industry vanity project, and I mean that in the best way possible.
Battleworld: Runaways 1
The only actual Runaway in this is Molly Hayes. The rest are mutants, Cloak and Dagger and some other randoms who I expect regular Marvel readers will know. They are all attending a school to train them as Doom lackeys, or some such. I tell you what, I do like the premise for Battleworld. It works far better than Convergence, at least for these two titles. This was a fun enough comic. It also queered up Jubilee and Pixie, which was good to see:
Ms Marvel: Crushed (trade)
This is volume 3 of the current Ms Marvel run. I really liked it, it's a good young adult comic about teenage crushes and the pitfalls that come with it, with added superpowers. The only thing I didn't like was the thinly veiled lesson about consent. It just seemed a bit too obvious to me, but maybe that's because I've been seeing this sort of stuff discussed for years and given where I am at the moment, I really could do with not having these conversations. Quite frankly, I don't care. That sounds awful doesn't it. But I don't. I'm concentrating on my pregnancy and everything else that requires energy, or passion can piss off. So, I'm wondering who the teenage audience this is aimed at would take this lesson. If they don't find it too much, then I guess it's a good thing.
Batman: The Ring, The Arrow and The Bat
I've been meaning to get this for about 2 years. Despite the name, it's a Green Arrow trade, not a Batman book. The first story is Hal and Ollie meeting for the first time. Hal is working for the government and doesn't realise he's being used, and Ollie is out for a good vigilante time, until he realises the wrongs being done, and then he gets all angry about it. It's quite a quick change. Hal and Ollie argue but end up friends. Art is by Greg Land, before his porn tracing days. If you like these two, and you like these trades, then you'll like this story.
The second story is Green Arrow and Batman meeting and working together for the first time. There is lots of snark and one liners. The villains in the story are stereotypical/generic Asian bad guys, which makes me wince, and plot development is a bit obvious, but apart from that, it's good fun.
I've also been watching Arrow season 1, and while I'm kinda enjoying it, it's a bit bloody miserable isn't it? Oliver Queen enjoys life, but Ollie in Arrow doesn't. Granted, he has just come back from the island and is traumatised, but by all accounts he doesn't get any happier over the seasons. Le sigh. I like the flashbacks to the island the best. He looks and acts more like 'my' Ollie there.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Runaways is building up to something
And I reckon it's Karoline and Nico getting together*. From the Truth or Dare story, collected in Roock Zombies vol 10 (and reviewed by yours truly here) I give you:
Throughout the previous 9 volumes there have been a fair few other hints that Nico is going to realise she's in love with Karolina. I don't think Karolina's going to reciprocate, because she's now got Xavin, and Karolain's a one woman kind of girl. The above panel is very sweet tho. Apart from Victor in the background there, he's leering. There's always one isn't there? Spoiling your photos, playing the fool.. I don't know...
*Yes I know I'm probably about a year behind everyone else. But i've only read as far as vol 10. Give me a break.
Throughout the previous 9 volumes there have been a fair few other hints that Nico is going to realise she's in love with Karolina. I don't think Karolina's going to reciprocate, because she's now got Xavin, and Karolain's a one woman kind of girl. The above panel is very sweet tho. Apart from Victor in the background there, he's leering. There's always one isn't there? Spoiling your photos, playing the fool.. I don't know...
*Yes I know I'm probably about a year behind everyone else. But i've only read as far as vol 10. Give me a break.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Coming out in Comics: Runaways
It's another coming out post. I have quite a few of these lined up and not a lot of energy to think of other topics. I'm manically busy at work trying to finish everything before I leave and start my new job. Arrggh!
Here are some scenes from Runaways where we see that Karolina is gay.
We have seen hints seeded throughout the previous 4 volumes that Karolina may be gay, however the first 2 scans are where she officially comes out. We see Karolina, an alien, hitting on Nico, a witch:
It is unclear whether Karolina thinks she is a freak because she is gay or because she has just been turned down by Nico. Note also that Nico is unconcerned as to Karolina's lesbian status. Then think how this is a book aimed at teenagers and featuring teenagers!
Skip forward a few pages and we have a strange new visitor named Xavin. He is a super skrull, but a good guy, who is betrothed to Karolina and has come to Earth to find her to arrange the marriage and start working on putting their worlds back together. This could come off as really creepy and forced, but it doesn't. Karolina is asked simply to join Xavin and to get to know her fiancee before any sort of romantic relationship is formed. Before this can happen however, Karolina says she can't mary Xavin because she likes girls. To which Xavin, as a shapeshifter, simply morphs into a female form:
Note Chase Stein's reaction and Gert's comlete lack of a reaction. It is very cool that Xavin doesn't give a stuff about the gender s/he presents as, but then as an alien, presenting as human would probably be the main issue. At any rate we have a gender swapping person added into the mix. Later volumes look at what it means for Xavin's identity to present as female vs male and human vs skrull. It is made clear that Xavin wishes to learn how to be human and that she identifies as female first, so she is not a male masquerading as female and therefore tricking Karolina.
Runaways is an awesome set of books. How I wish I'd has these as a confused teenager!
Scans taken from Runaways Vol 5 Escape to New York.
[And don't forget about my poll! More than 3 of you must know who Supergirl is and have an opinion, c'mon, make your voice heard!]
Here are some scenes from Runaways where we see that Karolina is gay.
We have seen hints seeded throughout the previous 4 volumes that Karolina may be gay, however the first 2 scans are where she officially comes out. We see Karolina, an alien, hitting on Nico, a witch:
It is unclear whether Karolina thinks she is a freak because she is gay or because she has just been turned down by Nico. Note also that Nico is unconcerned as to Karolina's lesbian status. Then think how this is a book aimed at teenagers and featuring teenagers!
Skip forward a few pages and we have a strange new visitor named Xavin. He is a super skrull, but a good guy, who is betrothed to Karolina and has come to Earth to find her to arrange the marriage and start working on putting their worlds back together. This could come off as really creepy and forced, but it doesn't. Karolina is asked simply to join Xavin and to get to know her fiancee before any sort of romantic relationship is formed. Before this can happen however, Karolina says she can't mary Xavin because she likes girls. To which Xavin, as a shapeshifter, simply morphs into a female form:
Note Chase Stein's reaction and Gert's comlete lack of a reaction. It is very cool that Xavin doesn't give a stuff about the gender s/he presents as, but then as an alien, presenting as human would probably be the main issue. At any rate we have a gender swapping person added into the mix. Later volumes look at what it means for Xavin's identity to present as female vs male and human vs skrull. It is made clear that Xavin wishes to learn how to be human and that she identifies as female first, so she is not a male masquerading as female and therefore tricking Karolina.
Runaways is an awesome set of books. How I wish I'd has these as a confused teenager!
Scans taken from Runaways Vol 5 Escape to New York.
[And don't forget about my poll! More than 3 of you must know who Supergirl is and have an opinion, c'mon, make your voice heard!]
Saturday, October 11, 2008
This week's stuff
More reviews brought to you courtesy of my hungover brain. In between segments of Smallville (Clark, at the Planet, a bomb goes off on a bus, he rushes out to save everyone! :D)
Green Arrow/Black Canary 13
Why is this labelled as Dec 08? In fact why are all this week's stuff labelled as Dec 08? Have I never noticed this before? I'm pretty sure it's still October...
Aww I love Mia. This book is very irreverent and fun. Ollie's reaction to Mia and English dude's date was great. Dinah shows off some interesting up to the minute fashion choices. I'm sorry, I just hate that style of top. Mind you, Dinah's always had terrible taste in clothes. Anyone remember that godawful fringed/tasseled jacket she had at the start of the Birds of Prey run?
This issue also features topless Connor, so beefcake.
Terror Titans 1
Yay Rose. I'm convinced that she's still on the side of good. nice art too, showing her reasonably well built and all.
Final Crisis Revelations 3
Yep, still good. I def think I'm a bit too hungover to write a decent review. :/
Action Comics 870
No no no no no. Stop killing off Pa Kent. It's wrong. Kara's new Argo City origin wasn't looked at and I've no idea how Clark fixed Kandor and Metropolis. All in all, a lame ending.
Apart from Supes punching Brainiac in the face. That was enjoyable.
Birds of Prey: Metropolis or Dust
Very good. I much prefer this to Gail Simone's run and shall continue to purchase the trades.
Zinda and Helena getting drunk and bonding is great, there's a giant mechanised robot, Supes is a jerk, Babs beats herself up, Misfit is oh so enjoyable and freckly, and there's some really dodgy stuff about Zinda getting brainwashed and raped. Utterly utterly recommended.
Two Face year one /2
Yeah, this is good. An interesting journey into what made Two face Two face. Lovely art and a wonderful cover.
Runaways trade: Live fast
A telepathic dinosaur. That's what I mostly remember about this,. That and the paper quality is so damn nice. Things have gone downhill since Gert died. But the next trade is written by Joss Whedon, so I'm looking forward to that!
Supergirl and Batwoman to join the JLA? Oh say it is so!
Now I have a really massive headache and need a bath. I give up on streaming Smallville it takes too damn long.
Green Arrow/Black Canary 13
Why is this labelled as Dec 08? In fact why are all this week's stuff labelled as Dec 08? Have I never noticed this before? I'm pretty sure it's still October...
Aww I love Mia. This book is very irreverent and fun. Ollie's reaction to Mia and English dude's date was great. Dinah shows off some interesting up to the minute fashion choices. I'm sorry, I just hate that style of top. Mind you, Dinah's always had terrible taste in clothes. Anyone remember that godawful fringed/tasseled jacket she had at the start of the Birds of Prey run?
This issue also features topless Connor, so beefcake.
Terror Titans 1
Yay Rose. I'm convinced that she's still on the side of good. nice art too, showing her reasonably well built and all.
Final Crisis Revelations 3
Yep, still good. I def think I'm a bit too hungover to write a decent review. :/
Action Comics 870
No no no no no. Stop killing off Pa Kent. It's wrong. Kara's new Argo City origin wasn't looked at and I've no idea how Clark fixed Kandor and Metropolis. All in all, a lame ending.
Apart from Supes punching Brainiac in the face. That was enjoyable.
Birds of Prey: Metropolis or Dust
Very good. I much prefer this to Gail Simone's run and shall continue to purchase the trades.
Zinda and Helena getting drunk and bonding is great, there's a giant mechanised robot, Supes is a jerk, Babs beats herself up, Misfit is oh so enjoyable and freckly, and there's some really dodgy stuff about Zinda getting brainwashed and raped. Utterly utterly recommended.
Two Face year one /2
Yeah, this is good. An interesting journey into what made Two face Two face. Lovely art and a wonderful cover.
Runaways trade: Live fast
A telepathic dinosaur. That's what I mostly remember about this,. That and the paper quality is so damn nice. Things have gone downhill since Gert died. But the next trade is written by Joss Whedon, so I'm looking forward to that!
Supergirl and Batwoman to join the JLA? Oh say it is so!
Now I have a really massive headache and need a bath. I give up on streaming Smallville it takes too damn long.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Statues, Kryptonians and lesbians
I was following the MJ statue furore closely but after so many posts I got a little disheartened. It's really good to see so many people talking about it, it's good to see different points of view. However some responses have really bothered me.
The one I'm mostly disturbed by is people saying that MJ looks like a skank, or a whore. Where do people get off judging others for how they dress? There's a lot of hatred behind calling someone a whore. And of course there's the value judgement of being a prostitute is *bad*, it's the worst thing a woman could be. If a woman's a whore, she's not worth anything - she's the lowest of the low. Or am I reading too much into it? It seems to me that people slagging women off based on their style of dress is deeply wrong.
How other's dress has got nothing to do with anyone, except the person themselves. It doesn't tell you about their morality. It seems to me to be running along similar lines of she wore a short skirt she was asking to be raped.
If anyone is reading this, I really would like your thoughts.
Posts that I have enjoyed about MJ are this Nerd Selection one and this livejournal one which talks about other Adam Hughes statues. The Livejournal one makes a lot of good points, and I came away from that post confused about the merits of the statue again. Plus, I love those other statues. Especially the Wonder Woman and Power Girl one. And the Hawkgirl one. And the Zatanna one. Oh. That's all of them you say? Well ok they all rock. Someone buy me them. Please.
In other comic readings, I finally got Runaways 2 and 3, not as ass kickingly awesome as numbers 1 and 6, (but maybe that's due to the hangover), but pretty damn good all the same. The art is lovely, the way the paper is printed is lovely. The characters are written and presented as humans first, men and women second. They have different body types and their personality is shown in each face. It's what the feminist blogosphere has been crying out for!
I for one, love Gert, partly cos she's fat. So rare to see a fat chick in comics. She has attitude.
And I'm so pleased by the lesbian relationship! That is one of the reasons I wanted to pick the books up, it's a lesbian relationship that is presented as normal, and not as 'other'.
(and for a wordy book equivalent of this check out Tamora Pierce's 'Magic in the Weaving'
Supergirl number 16 and 17. *SPOILERS to end of post*
Now I really liked the origin story number 16. A different spin on Jor-el, Zor-el revealed not be an insane nutter, a reason given for Kara's instructions to kill Superman. It explained the crystals a bit, thought I'd still like to know exactly how they are implanted in her and how that works. Good stuff I thought.
And then in number 17 they ruin it by hinting that it's not Zor-el who is speaking to Kara, it's two other mystery people. Now that sucks. And then the other Supergirl turns up.
I didn't read 52 but I do know the conclusion reintroduced the multiverse. And as I have also read theories saying that this Kara's Krypton is different to Superman's Krypton, (something to do with crystals and hair apparently, I should really pick up Superman), I assume that the Kara we have known so far is from a different universe. I hate guessing plotlines. Especially when I'm right. Hopefully I'll be wrong.
The one I'm mostly disturbed by is people saying that MJ looks like a skank, or a whore. Where do people get off judging others for how they dress? There's a lot of hatred behind calling someone a whore. And of course there's the value judgement of being a prostitute is *bad*, it's the worst thing a woman could be. If a woman's a whore, she's not worth anything - she's the lowest of the low. Or am I reading too much into it? It seems to me that people slagging women off based on their style of dress is deeply wrong.
How other's dress has got nothing to do with anyone, except the person themselves. It doesn't tell you about their morality. It seems to me to be running along similar lines of she wore a short skirt she was asking to be raped.
If anyone is reading this, I really would like your thoughts.
Posts that I have enjoyed about MJ are this Nerd Selection one and this livejournal one which talks about other Adam Hughes statues. The Livejournal one makes a lot of good points, and I came away from that post confused about the merits of the statue again. Plus, I love those other statues. Especially the Wonder Woman and Power Girl one. And the Hawkgirl one. And the Zatanna one. Oh. That's all of them you say? Well ok they all rock. Someone buy me them. Please.
In other comic readings, I finally got Runaways 2 and 3, not as ass kickingly awesome as numbers 1 and 6, (but maybe that's due to the hangover), but pretty damn good all the same. The art is lovely, the way the paper is printed is lovely. The characters are written and presented as humans first, men and women second. They have different body types and their personality is shown in each face. It's what the feminist blogosphere has been crying out for!
I for one, love Gert, partly cos she's fat. So rare to see a fat chick in comics. She has attitude.
And I'm so pleased by the lesbian relationship! That is one of the reasons I wanted to pick the books up, it's a lesbian relationship that is presented as normal, and not as 'other'.
(and for a wordy book equivalent of this check out Tamora Pierce's 'Magic in the Weaving'
Supergirl number 16 and 17. *SPOILERS to end of post*
Now I really liked the origin story number 16. A different spin on Jor-el, Zor-el revealed not be an insane nutter, a reason given for Kara's instructions to kill Superman. It explained the crystals a bit, thought I'd still like to know exactly how they are implanted in her and how that works. Good stuff I thought.
And then in number 17 they ruin it by hinting that it's not Zor-el who is speaking to Kara, it's two other mystery people. Now that sucks. And then the other Supergirl turns up.
I didn't read 52 but I do know the conclusion reintroduced the multiverse. And as I have also read theories saying that this Kara's Krypton is different to Superman's Krypton, (something to do with crystals and hair apparently, I should really pick up Superman), I assume that the Kara we have known so far is from a different universe. I hate guessing plotlines. Especially when I'm right. Hopefully I'll be wrong.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)