JLE! JLE! JLE! (and Buffy, Terror Titans and Supergirl Cosmic Adventures)

I got round to reading JLE stuff again. It’s still very good and is still making me chortle. Particular favourites have been issues 20 and 24. Number 20 featured Basil Fawlty as an inept British hero named The Beefeater – complete with ridiculous traditional regalia – who managed to blow up the embassy. Number 24 featured Tremors style giant earthworms controlled via the medium of a massive tuning fork. Yeah that’s right, a TUNING FORK. To top this off, Captain Atom destroys one giant worm by diving down it’s gullet and exploding him from the inside. Gross, yet pretty darn cool.
I’m also loving the cat, and the issue in which the cat was introduced, the number of which I cannot recall right now.

Power Girl is a very angry woman in this, which initially we were led to believe was because all the men were letching at her. Apparently the real reason is that the chemicals, or artificial sweetener in all the diet soda she was drinking was affecting her womanly superpowered body and so giving her the rage. Similar to Dr Light having an allergic reaction and going all moody. This revelation led to a detailed discussion and a couple of issues looking at what it means to be a woman and what a woman's power is. Yeah I know, very odd. It didn't really work and came across very cringeworthy, maybe it's cos of Kara's I hate teh menz themed anger. Possibly that was just the diet soda talking. She's definitely more interesting without the rage.

Oh yeah, and Hal Jordan turned up for 3 issues. Can anyone tell me why his ring didn't work on an earth based monster? Cthon was it's name.

Then there’s adverts. Specifically this advert:
What the fuck??? Did anyone ever eat this? Did it taste as horrible as it looks? And what the fuck does brand sweetened mean? Is that code for really cheap sugar? Or does it mean twice as sugary as your average breakfast cereal?
Christ, who has marshmallows for breakfast anyway?! Y'all must have been bouncing off the walls after that.

Spoilers now ahead for Buffy #22, Terror Titans # 5 and Supergirl Cosmic Adventures # 3
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Buffy # 22
Wow, that cover art really looks like Kennedy. It’s got her expression just right, the mouth and the eyebrow are spot on.
This issue was made of so much awesome. Vampire stuffed toy kittys coming to (un)life and jumping down your throat to suck out your blood from the inside!!!
A nice pep talk from Kennedy to Satsu about how Buffy isn’t gonna turn gay. Although this did seem to imply that Satsu and Kennedy are the only two lesbian slayers in the army, which seems kind of odd.
And a marriage proposal in the letters column! Oh but that was so sweet, I hope she says yes. There will be updates on the Buffy section of the Darkhorse website and I for one, will definitely be checking to find out the news.

Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade #3
This continues with the cute. Favourite line? “Oh no! The meteor energy and the kryptonite combined to turn me into pure cheese! I’m too delicious to live!”
Haw.
In my mind, the meteor granting everyone different superpowers is a definite nod to Smallville. Me likes.

Terror Titans #5
Maybe I’m just really tired today but I’ve got no bloody idea what’s going on with this mini anymore. I thought the Dark Side club was tying into Final Crisis (what with the name and all it seemed like a reasonable assumption). But it seems now that the real motivation behind the Clock King’s action is that he finds it all amusing. But I still don’t’ know what he’s doing! I think his new minions who have been fighting in the arena are going out to create havoc upon the earth, but havoc doing what exactly? And where? And it wasn’t exactly clear what Rose was going to do when she busted her way out. It doesn’t make sense and my brain now hurts. I’ll re read the lot when the final one is out next week and we’ll see what I make of it.

I also got Superman Beyond part 2 but haven’t read it yet. I expect I’ll need a run up to it because I think it will be quite dense. Hopefully it will make FC # 7 clearer. I did like FC, and FC Revelations but was rather confused about some aspects.
FC Revelations featured a VERY Bad Ass Power Walk from Renee and Helena. I shall try to scan it in at work and post up the panel, along with the Peej/Terra slashy moment from the Terra mini. Just because I like it.

My take on topical news items of the day

So recently, (Sunday? Saturday? Monday?) there was breaking news about a memo which had been sent round to all female Bank of England staff, prescribing a very specific and dare I say it traditional, dress code. It stated things like women should wear make up at all times, wear heeled shoes (but not higher than 2 inches), wear skirts and not trousers, and do not under any circumstances wear ankle chains or they will be mistaken for prostitutes. All this stuff must be followed so that women look professional and increase their chances of success in their job.

On Radio 4 on Monday morning they had a lady from the Fawcett society explain why this memo was a load of offensive crap, and also Trinny from Trinny and Susannah giving her two cents. I didn’t quite follow what Trinny had to say as it was too early in the morning and I was groggy, but I believe she was talking about how clothes etc can lift your mood, increase your confidence and affect how others perceive you.

Now if that is what she was stating (and someone correct me if I’m wrong) then on the surface I agree with it, she’s right, clothes and appearance do do all that. But that is not the issue here; the issue is that an employer is allegedly (see later*) prescribing a very specific and traditional dress code that ties into gender norms and views about what is acceptable for women to wear, in order that they look professional and will be taken seriously so being able to advance in their career.

It intimates that if you don’t do the above then you won’t be successful. This in turns reinforces the view that women’s value lies in their looks - if we do not present ourselves in a conventional and acceptable manner, that is, conforming to a standard idea of what is pretty, then we won’t be successful. Nevermind what our performance or quality of work is like, if you don’t dress yourself up for the male (and often female) gaze, none of that matters.

If, heaven forbid, women were to wear 3 or 4 inch heels to work, or wore too much makeup (if anyone can decide on what too much is), would they be viewed as too sexual? If they don’t cover up their boobs to the neck would their very bodies be deemed to be too sexual (merely by existing)? Or if a woman chose to wear no make up, does this mean she’s not playing the game? What if she doesn’t remove facial hair? Obviously she doesn’t want male attention, she must be a dyke.

All this make up and heel stuff, it relates to women as sexual commodities – you’ve got to tread a very thin and precarious line to be acceptable.

Either of the above 2 scenarios upset our perceptions of what the ideal woman is like. It threatens our cosy little world where men achieve and women are eyed up.

This may seem like I’m reading too much into what is just a professional code of conduct, sent round by the company bosses. Except that nothing was sent to the men in the company – not that I expect men to receive instructions on makeup and heels, but an appropriate equivalent would be to filter down instructions re hair length, matching socks and ill fitting clothes. This means that whoever wrote and devised the note is policing women’s appearances only, and that’s where it gets fucked up and feeds into the issues I have talked about above. *If* the note came down from top management then I think that’s sexual harassment.

*I say if because on an article the F Word did today covering this, one of the commenters posted a response to an email he’d sent Bank of England bosses and it read thusly:

"Dear Mr Woosey

Thank you for your enquiry and comments on this matter.

Can I state categorically that media stories about a Bank of England dress code or advice about dress for women are wholly inaccurate and misleading. The Bank has issued no such advice, nor is there a memo from the Bank on the issue.

The facts are that an informal lunchtime gathering was organised by a women's staff group at which an external company presented their ideas about building confidence. The session was provided free and had nothing to do with the Bank's management. A list of ideas about dress was circulated by the consultant. Most Bank staff will not have seen this and those that have are free to treat it as they wish. Some members of our staff might hold views similar to your own. Like many organisations, the Bank simply requires staff to wear smart business attire.

I hope that this clarifies the situation following the unfortunate media reporting of this matter.

With kind regards

Malcolm Shemmonds

Public Information & Enquiries Group"

If that’s true, thank god for that. There is a world of difference between having the CEO sanction a dress code that refers only women thus playing into crappy stereotypes about women’s perceived sexual status, and a confidence building seminar on how to dress for success. My initial points still stand, all the advice given does play into very traditional gender roles, but it’s about the difference in power relations. This seminar was optional, women chose to attend and they will choose whether to take the advice or not. I for one hope they don’t because I think it’s bullshit, but it isn’t an official mandate and as such is a lot less dodgy.

I now want to see the Bank of England issue a statement along the lines of
“We don’t give a stuff how our female employees dress, we care about their performance. Feel free to be hairy legged and flat footed and make up free if you so desire! Or cake on the slap, wear a short skirt and continue to produce good work! If any of our clients have a problem we’ll give them a good talking to!”

Think it’ll happen? Yeah right. I can dream.

Things I has bought this month

If you accept that a month can last 5 weeks. I’m a little late writing this up so am extending to cover the period from Christmas to today. My initial thoughts as to my spending are that I am actually pretty crap at not buying stuff. I appear to have got quite a lot of things this last month, but they seem to be mostly consumables, and in the most are not objects that sit around gathering dust, unused. Here goes:

Comics, both new and second hand from a friend.
A new zip for one of my (bought for 20 quid off a friend) boots – necessary as the boot was unuseable but otherwise in perfect condition. The decision was between throwing out a pair of very good, very comfortable and very warm boots, or getting the zip replaced. Granted the new zip cost me £24, and if the other one goes I’ll have spent £58. I could buy new boots for less than that but they wouldn’t be very good quality, they wouldn’t fit as well and it would just be wasteful. So I opted to get the zip replaced, and man was I glad about this when the snow started yesterday.
Train tickets.
2 tickets for the Victoria and Albert museum. I’m going to see an exhibition of Russian court clothes, spanning two centuries. I’m very excited about this.
3 packets of bleach – 2 have been used, one is sitting there waiting till my hair grows and will be used to redo the roots.
Blue hair dye. Unused. This was a wasteful thing as I now have no intention to use it. In an attempt to rectify this situation I will give it to a friend.
Beer. Not so much beer as last month though (my liver cries hooray!).
A new mobile phone battery from an independent trader. This purchase turned out to be pointless as it ended up that my then current phone was buggered, and not the battery. This then led to me getting…..
A new phone and being thoroughly niged by the guy at 3mobile. My new phone isn’t as good as my old one and the camera is crappy. And the memory is miniscule. This will mean I will have to buy a memory card if I go on holiday because 40 photos is fuck all. Still, the phone was free.
£45 on a replacement filling. God I hate going to the dentist. This was to replace an old filling that fell out on new year’s day, and may have to have a crown attached to it at a later date. My teeth suck ass.
Lunches at work
Taxi ride home from a pub.
Diva magazine. This was interesting, (as per usual). It was the love issue and had an article about ‘the men we’d go straight for’. There followed a discussion about how and why some lesbians fancy men, how this was received within the community and how some individual lesbians felt about liking men. My initial thought was duh, you’re bisexual, stop hiding. However, that’s a bit flippant because the article was basically talking about the differences between being culturally Lesbian and your sexual orientation being lesbian, without actually stating it as so. Incidentally I’m going to be getting rid of my Diva magazines (from the last 2 or 3 years) if anyone wants them please email me at s_green24 at yahoo dot co dot uk.
2 books – Fontamara by Ignazio Silone and a women’s press one – A piece of mine by J California Cooper. Both second hand, one from a charity shop, one from a second hand bookshop in the City. The Fontamara one is very good.
A bra. I now have one that fits, hurrah.
A notepad. It’s gonna be my food diary that will encourage me to fit easily into bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding in March. I need the motivation.
Dental floss – to reduce the chances of further fillings. Yeah right.
Conditioner
Anti histamines
A hair cut (been waiting 3 months for that)
Metal Hammer – a UK magazine about heavy metal. This shouldn’t have been allowed but I buckled because I got a free CD with it. After the success of last year’s free CD I was craving some new music and I have no idea where else to look to source new good metal. This CD was well worth getting as there are several bands on it I like – Deathstars, Lacuna Coil, Exodus (very very fast), Nevermore and The Hollow Earth Theory.
Buffy seasons 1 to 7 on DVD, from ebay, secondhand but unused – an unwanted Christmas present apparently. I have my doubts as to whether I’ll receive it as the seller seems rather clueless, we’ll see. I justified this by saying that it will free up so much shelf space – 7 seasons on VHS take up a lot of room. I will give the videos to a friend, who will watch them, and I know I’ll watch the DVDs.

So yeah, I think I’ve bought a lot of things. However, they are mostly useable, or reuseable, and none of it is junk as such – they won’t sit around and gather dust. I haven’t managed to save any more cash, but I have got to the end of the month with a few quid in my bank account, which is a bloody miracle I tell you.

I was wondering whether it was responsible in a recession to actively try to not buy things. Having said that, I’ve still got the same amount of cash going out, it’s just that it’s now spread over a full month, not the first 2.5 weeks of the month, which is making life easier for me, and it’s being spent on different things. Must reduce urge to collect.

I do still think I prefer buying from the independent stores rather than big chain shops or department stores. With new redundancies and companies going into administration every day I think it will be harder for the sole traders or SMEs to stay afloat, and they bring a welcome richness and variety to the retail landscape. I’m sick of city and town centres having the same old high street shops everywhere you go. The areas end up looking identikit and that really is soul destroying.

I don’t think I’m in any way morally superior for not buying so much junk, I feel better in myself, less sordid, but I don’t think I’m better than anyone else. I do think that this pledge of mine is forcing me to have a more in depth look at why I want to purchase items - what will I get out of them and what do I hope to achieve with owning it.

If men were objectified too (NSFW)

In my last post I mentioned that I'd found a delightful underwear catalogue for men. It's not quite an underwear catalogue but still serves my point. Oh and it's real. Visit the website here.
Seriously Not Safe For Work.
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What the fuck? They look ridiculous, both the men and the pants. Yet it's a pretty accurate conversion of a lot of women's pants to the male equivalent. And the female equivalent is accepted as normal.
If men were really objectified (in the mainstream comics) to the same extent that women are, they'd be wearing stuff like that. And posed in a similar fashion.

Esme Dodderidge's The New Gulliver looked at the role of women's clothes and their purposes in a western (American) culture. It's a pretty good women's press book about a bloke finding himself in a matriarchal world, and matriarchal in the same way we currently live in a patriarchal one. All of women's and men's role and assumptions and privilege is swapped.

Still listening to Geneva - Further It really is a supremely well crafted album. If they had been around 5 to 1o years later, so 2002/2003, they would probably have been huge. As it is they got swallowed by the Britpop cheeky monkey music and weren't. Far far better than Gene ever were. I must try to track down the second album now.

Comics reviews for the week of 22nd and 29th January 2009

First off, an apology. I am well aware that the writing contained in my last few posts has been fucking awful. I’m not concerned about the Smallville ones - they were only ever about me being filled with glee, but rather the attempt at commentary posts. I have been caught up with a feeling of needing to blog but not having the time to sit down and write a well thought out considered piece. I have been writing on auto pilot without articulating, even in my head, my feeling; without knowing why I’m worked up about something; without knowing what I want to say and without thinking through the subject or providing any sort of conclusion.

So, I’m going to try and rectify that, starting now with some comics reviews. And I’ll make the effort to take time out to think through a post first, rather than hamming something together and hitting publish.

Right, onto the comics thoughts. Spoilers ahead for:

Faces of Evil – Deathstroke
Supergirl 37: Faces of Evil – Superwoman
Harley Quinn – Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes (trade collection)
Superman 684: Faces of Evil – Parasite
Teen Titans 67: Faces of Evil – Brother Blood

And I have yet another bitch about how women are depicted in comics.
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May I start off by saying what the fuck is up with the slug anti drugs advert on the back of EVERY one of my comics? *shudder* I hate slugs, I have this morbid screaming fear of them, and now they are invading my comics? Thanks, anti drugs groups of America, freak me out on a continual basis why don’t you. Not what I need.

Faces of Evil – Deathstroke
A Faces of Evil book that is actually about the villain. My god. Although I guess all the one shots are, right? This is the only one I picked up so I can’t compare what the other issues are like.
I loved this story. I learnt more about Slade, both about his abilities and his intentions and feelings surrounding those close to him. It turns out he really does care about Rose and doesn’t want her to turn into him. The nightmare scenes were genuinely creepy, especially Rose taking out her eye.
Rose has a resolve of steel doesn’t she? She’s so determined and single minded, and angry (I think I make the same observations every time I review her!). The fight between her and Slade was pretty damn cool, ‘whamp’ into a window indeed. She could really do with learning how to fight without her precog though. Maybe the TT writers will develop this? Yeah, as if. Is she even gonna go back to Teen Titans? I doubt it.

The upshot of this issue is that Slade breaks out of prison/hospital, decides that he is no longer going to be a gun for hire, and instead will mete out death to those he decides deserves it. This resembles a religious conversion, and while I think it will make him scarier, because there are no controls on him now, I think I prefer the old hireable Slade - just in it for the money. You won’t know where you stand with him no he’s got a jones on for exacting his own vengeance.
On the very last panel he adopts a new girl protégé – ‘someone I can care for, someone I can love’. Hmm. This seems to be a tired old plot line and not something I care for. We’ll see. I may not even end up buying any issues with Deathstroke in.

Lastly, the art. Done by Georges Jeanty, he who did some Buffy art. I am not a fan.

Does anyone know if there has ever been a Rose Wilson Ravager doll, and if there has been, where I would find it?

Supergirl 37: Faces of Evil – Superwoman
Oh this was good. And unlike the GA/BC and Booster Gold Faces of Evil issue, we did actually see a lot from Superwoman’s pov.
I don’t quite go along with the Superwoman as evil ploy though. She’s done evil things, but that doesn’t make her evil, and she’s being blackmailed by Lois’s dad. She comes across to me like someone who doesn’t have a choice, or who doesn’t feel as if she has a choice, which comes down to the same thing when looking at consequences and actions. I’m not concerned about guessing who Superwoman is, I’m happy to wait and let it be revealed. I’ve read some guesses as to it being Linda Danvers, which I reckon is completely wrong. This woman is too tall. I know, I know, characters can be drawn in any manner, but I’d expect at least some continuity, especially when the plots are leaving clues left right and centre. I also don’t hold with Linda dressing up Kryptonian.
Anyway. Onto the good things of this issue.

I love how on New Krypton Superman’s suit and Kara’s cape doesn’t look out of place, doesn’t look odd. It helps me appreciate the reasoning behind Kal’s suit.*
The art. The pencils and colouring, particularly the colouring, juts look nice. It’s nothing groundbreaking but it fits well with the characters and the story.
An actual real supporting cast, with character traits and everything. Alura, though I may hate her, is 3 dimensional. Thara is very appealing and then there’s Alura’s snidey secretary.
Kara has been given shorts again. I wish they’d stick to that instead of occasionally giving her high cut pants (Final Crisis #6 for example).
Kara wears make up :D I‘m not sure why that pleases me so much, it just does.

I’m still not keen on Alura being mad and evil. And I’m having difficulty squaring Kara’s actions and feelings towards her mother, on an issue to issue basis.
Does anyone know what’s happened to Streaky whilst Kara is gallivanting about on New Krypton? Maybe Cassie took him in.

Overall this series is improving and will hopefully draw in more readers. The cover to the next issue is piercing.

Superman 684: Faces of Evil – Parasite
I don’t know much about the Parasite so this was interesting and we got to see a lot from his pov. The stuff with Mon-El was good.
The Guardian becoming head of the Metropolis Science Police was…commanding. I’m very intrigued by Nightwing and Flamebird meeting with Jay Garrick. If that becomes a regular thing I may have to start buying the Flash books.
Now Supes on New Krypton. I’m pretty sure that when Alura made New Krypton she banned Supes. So why is he visting and Alura not siccing the police on his ass? It’s almost like she’s invited him. Have I missed an issue somewhere? Can anyone confirm?
The art on the last few pages was particularly good, (pencils by Jesus Merino, colours by David Curiel). Kal’s shock at Alura releasing Zod, Ursa and Non and Alura’s own high and mightiness came across really really well.

Teen Titans 67: Faces of Evil – Brother Blood
Again, a lot told from Brother Blood’s pov. Some of this tied in with Reign in Hell, so I’ve started dithering about whether I should buy the mini. Anyone else read it? Is it good? Is there much Linda in it?
This issue was pretty standard Teen Titans fare – lots of characters and lots of fights – which in my eyes is a good thing. Kid Eternity and Misfit were good inclusions and Cassie took on her leadership role very well. She’s most definitely the boss. I’m excited about the next few issues as we get to find out who the new team members are.

Harley Quinn – Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes
Trade paperback collection of Harley Quinn issues 1 to 7.
This was fun. Having not read any Harley before I was surprised by the strong romance theme running through it. The stories were all fun, harley springs the Joker out of prison, he dumps her, she pairs up with Two Face, has a girly sleepover, meets the Female Furies, forms her own gang, gets a couple of hyenas, has a run in with the Riddler and meets Big Barda. The Big Barda issue ruled, very funny.

The art in this is pretty fantastic 95% of the time. The majority of it is done by Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks) and Alex Sinclair (colours) and they manage to convey a Harley who is innocent and playful. The only problems I have is with the blatant fan service shots, e.g. Harley is bent double displaying her ass, twisted to show ass and tits at the same time, or the two women at the girly sleepover who are wearing jack-all. Granted, those two might be established characters who have always dressed that way but by god it rankles.

It’s really not that difficult to imagine a universe where the women are human beings and not rendered in such a way that their *hot* bodies become the defining feature of them, overriding everything else. It’s the fact that there’s so little non sexualised stuff out there which is a problem. It implies that women only exist for men to look at, that they’ve always got to be pleasing to the male gaze, that no matter what else we do, being hot is the most important thing. No matter our other achievements, no matter our skills or character traits, we wil only be made visible if we're hot. We have no place in these stories unless we're hot.

I know I’ve said all this before, and I’m sure I’ll be saying it again. I’ll keep saying it until this all pervading atmosphere of hot hot women stops. Manhunter wasn’t sexualised, the Huntress mini wasn’t sexualised, even that new JLA line up, with Supergirl and Green Arrow in, that wasn’t sexualised. So I know it’s possible. It’s just gotta sift through the strata and the layers until I find the good stuff. And keep reminding myself that one day this crap will stop.

Which reminds me, I found a delightful underwear catalogue for men, which does exactly for men what has been done for women over the decades. Pictures will be posted.

This week I also bought Final Crisis #7, Final Crisis Revelations #5 and Green Arrow Showcase volume 1. As the FC titles are the last issues I plan to read the full series’ in one go and digest the story properly, then come back and squeak about it.
In regards to the Green Arrow Showcase volume, I am a total sucker and it'll probably mash my brain when I read it. 1950s and 1960s stories, 500 pages of madness. I shall be having a look on the 3 hour train journey to the boyfriend’s Dad’s place we are taking this weekend.


See you all in a few days when you get to read exciting updates concerning my spending patterns.

*I’m half assedly developing a theory that all superheroes suits make sense and aren’t ridiculous, with the exception of Batman’s.

Everybody's commenting on Elizabeth Bear

Gah, even the F Word and a Guardian columnist responding to a post from Elizabeth Bear here. Yonmei has also included some links. The first thing I noticed about Bear was on Seeking Avalon: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, amongst others.

Bear responded to Willow's open letter here. Oh god, some, well a lot of, the comments are stupid. Both on Bear's site and Willow's. I don't have much more to add on this, except that I think Willow had a lot of damn good points, and yes, I side with her in this argument. Me? Not so concise or with the ability to explain right now. Especially when dealing with the stupid people. Dear god, why are some people so deliberately fucking obstructive and stupid?

One other thing that I have noticed, and enjoy, is how stuff like this gets picked up around the internet. Why is Bidisha at the Guardian so slow to blog about it for instance? I wish I could see map of how posts get commented on and reacted to.

Russian round up

Of sorts. I haven't been able to do a proper comic post because I've been reading less JLE since my laptop was making odd noises and I just haven't had a chance to write thoughts about last week's comics, (which were very good incidentally, but more of that on another date). So, here is a pile of links which I have found interesting recently:

Russian Oligarch buys the Evening Standard. Oh and he's an ex KGB agent too. Hmm. How did this not get more coverage? This can't be a good thing, he's ex KGB - I'm assuming he has a rather dodgy set of ethics. Of course, he may have changed since he was a spy, but I doubt it, I don't think people can shed personalities, habits and values that easily. The BBC article reports that the paper will "establish a new editorial committee to "safeguard the principle of editorial independence". I wonder what that will actually mean?
Of course all this kerfuffle kind of presumes that the UK doesn't have it's own spies and has never acted immorally. Which is naive of me.

Stalin nearly gets named greatest Russian in a recent poll
So when I was shocked at this I knew I was naive. The issue here is that Stalin was in the lead early on and only narrowly missed winning, so the Communists have argued that the poll was rigged. I also think it's worth noting that Lenin came sixth. The named winners are:
1: Alexander Nevsky, a medieval warrior
2: Pyotr Stolypin, an early 20th Century Prime Minister
3: Stalin
4: Alexander Pushkin
6: Lenin
11: Catherine the Great

Now, I have no difficulty with accepting that the votes were rigged in order to get Putin approved personalities to win, especially in light of the view that Stolypin seems unlikely to be rather more loved than Stalin, Lenin or Pushkin.
What I do have a problem with is accepting that that many people do actually still love Stalin. He murdered millions. Surely the Russian population know this? How can it be swept under the carpet? I know he was responsible for industrialising the country, and he did modernise Russia and did bring it up to speed somewhat, but c'mon. The terror? The polarising of society? The completely avoidable famine? The wiping out of the kulaks? The mass murders? The paranoia, the insanity? The rewriting of history? How is he still revered within the popular imagination?

And this man received more votes than Lenin? Lenin who they still have on display in Red Square? Who incidentally is very waxy, and very very awesome. I thought Krushchev had successfully discredited Stalin, to the point where his cult of personality was dismantled and not to be retrieved again at later date. Obviously I was wrong and need to go back and research this some more.

On a brighter note, damn this girl works hard. She's British and has won herself a place at the Kirov Vaganova ballet school in St Petersburg. God she's dedicated. And brave.

Lastly, there's this article on how Russia needs a renewal of the feminist movement. I haven't read this yet but it looks like it could be interesting.

I wish I could go back to Russia. My plan is to save for a 2 week language holiday, stay with a Russian family somewhere outside of St Petersburg or Moscow. God it will be wonderful. But it will take a looong time to save, because I'm going to Japan first.
On the plus side this site gives prices and it's not too expensive. Minimum of 800 quid, in Novosibirsk. But 800 for two weeks, including lessons and accommodation, is, I think, very reasonable. I really want to go. :(

Currently listening to: Lots of 90s indie - Geneva, Marion and Ash. Ahh, wonderful times. A friend is getting rid of a bunch of CDs so I rifled through them first, came home with 40 odd.

Smallville SE08 Ep06 Prey and Ep07 Identity

Prey was rather good. the plot thickens around Chloe's new paramedic friend - I'm glad they are treating this as an ongoing thing and not a villain of the week.

But oh my, Identity, now that was gripping and very high calibre.

Lois gets mugged, she turns round and starts twatting the mugger. Oh but it's good to see the women fight back. Lana never did, because she's wet and the most ineffectual character ever. Chloe doesn't fight back because she knows Clark will save her. It wouldn't ever occur to Lois not to fight back, she's so proud and highly offended that someone would try to take her down.

Erica Durance is making a cracking Lois. This episode saw more of Clark and Lois showing their feelings, not to each other but at least we're getting there. In a universe where there won't be a caped Superman Lois needs to fall for Clark, as Clark.

Ollie was surprisingly Bruce like, what with the private jet, the boozing and the ladies. And then with the swinging down to save Jimmy, and the cape and mask. Very Bat like. It doesn't suit him. More Green Arrow costume please.

Jimmy shows intelligence in working out Clark's secret, and demonstrates investigative journalism, thank god one of the cast members is showing some intelligence. And now Lois knows about the good Samaritan, she's gotta figure out the secret soon and get with Clark, hasn't she?? Although I am very much enjoying their pre relationship sniping at each other. Lois putting Clark in his place when he comments on her dress for the date, I say, ha! take that possessive boy!

Lois does a fairly good job of going undercover too. And yet again, fights back when memory stealing guy pulls a gun on her. She is great! She's not the Lois of the comics, or the movies, she might be fluffy and sometimes superficial, but at the same time she's got guts, integrity, determination, honesty and brains. That's Lois all over. She's gonna get the first interview with Clark when he goes more public. And he will do now, cos he's seen what people need, he's seen what he can be, a symbol of hope and joy. And if Ollie in a crap cape can inspire that, think how people will react when they see Clark's range of powers.

Lastly, Clark made a crack about not mind wiping people. Y'hear that DC? Mindwiping people is NOT A GOOD THING FOR YOUR HEROES TO DO.
Except then Chloe did it. Nononononononononono. I'm shocked. I guess it shows more layers and depth to Chloe, previously she's just seemed light and cherry and unflappable. Now she's ruthless. It reminds me of that Buffy episode where Giles kills someone who threatens Buffy, knowing that Buffy will never kill someone and will never let him do so, even to protect her. So he does it, quietly and secretly.

I am so buying this series when it's on DVD. I am enthralled.

Thank god he's out

Article on The F Word detailing how Bush doesn't care for life, despite all he says.

The next administration can't be as bad surely?

Comics of the week 15th January 2009

Criminy. I just realised it’s Tuesday and if I don’t get hurry up and write something I’ll have two weeks worth to do. Eeep!

Spoilers ahead for Manhunter 38, Green Arrow and Black Canary 16, Action Comics 873, Booster Gold 16, Final Crisis 6, The Amazing Spiderman 583.
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Manhunter 38
The final issue. I would feel sadder but I still don’t understand why we are suddenly in the future. So mostly I was confused and was hoping this issue would rectify my confusion. That aside, this was a pretty damn good issue. Actually scrap that this issue was bloody great.
It starts off slow, introducing us to everyone and letting us catch up on where they are in the future. Kate has had Dylan make her a mystery something, Ramsey is graduating that very same day, Dylan and Cam have separated and we meet Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett, Todd is trapped in Bones’ body (I don’t know why). Todd and Mrs Lovett are on a murder spree, of course and have commandeered a van.

After Ramsey’s graduation ceremony they all head back to the house for the party, which is where it gets stunningly cool. Todd and Lovett turn up and decide they want to eat all the fresh meat*. Then it seems nigh on everyone gets superpowers and start kick ass. Even those that don’t have superpowers join in the fight, clanging Mrs Lovett with something metal. There’s a giant man, Obsidian, Kate of course and Cam being all light filled and explody.
The whole set up, being all the family and friends fighting as one in their back yard against the bad guys, is just wonderful.
And finally we find out what the mystery something is – Kate got Dylan to make a Manhunter costumer for Ramsey and the issue ends with them going out on patrol.

Very good, great send off. 3 different artists, but I didn’t find that a problem.

* A far classier way of dealing with cannibalism than Marvel's recent effort. Which I nonetheless find amusing, because I have not sense of taste or decencyand have seen far too many 80s slasher flicks.

Green Arrow and Black Canary 16 – Faces of Evil issue: Merlyn.
I can’t help thinking that Merlyn should be spelled Maerlyn.
I thought the Faces of Evil issues would be told from the villain’s perspective? That ain’t happened. Part of the story was told from Merlyn’s POV, but most was business as usual.
I appreciate how on the cover Merlyn’s nose resembles an arrow. Clever, I thought.
The art in this was good. Clear and effective.
The story? Well I do like this ongoing, I am enjoying all the stories, but it has yet to feel like a GA and BC comic. It feels like a GA comic where Dinah is a supporting character. And that’s not right to me. It seems that very often Ollie is in the foreground, responding to the action, interacting with it, and Dinah is behind him, (often physically placed behind him, at least in this issue), awaiting his lead. She seems more static. I know she took the lead in contacting Oracle to get the info, but she then got shot and was out of the game. She could still scream surely? And when has getting shot stopped any other hero? It just seems like she’s not allowed to be in the thick of the action, and that disappoints me.

This issue also introduced us to a new woman who’s obsessed with Ollie. If their method of including Dinah more is by framing her in terms of the jealous girlfriend I will be so angry. I want to see Dinah kick some ass and win fights, without Ollie’s help.

Maybe I need to reread them all to get the big picture. I’ve been put off buying volume 1 of the ongoing because so far it’s only out in hardback and that’s bit pricey, but now I'm bored with waiting.

Action Comics 873 – Faces of Evil: Les Luthor
Again, not so much telling us the whole story from Lex’s POV.
This is the final part of the New Krypton saga. Aaaand I don’t know how I feel about it. I hate the treatment of Alura, I think it’s crappy and tacky. I would have preferred to see more of the magic fighters, but did love the depowering of the Kryptonians with ‘mazahs’. I’m not up to date with the Marvel family so don’t know where that came from, but I like it. I do like the New Krypton planet, particularly the panels where it was formed, but feel trepidation towards Kara’s decision to fly there. I can only hope that Kara is there to keep an eye on her mother. I’m gutted by Superwoman being evil but delighted by the return of Zod, Ursa, and the bug lump.

Booster Gold 16 – Faces of Evil: Enemy Ace
This was easily the best of the week’s purchases. Booster goes back in time to the second world war and is captured first by an American, who turns out to be Maxwell Lord’s granddad (or dad?), then by Enemy Ace.
I am not seeing how Enemy Ace is evil. OK so he fought on the side of the Germans, but he’s wasn’t shown as being a Nazi and he has honour and saved Booster and Mr Lord from torture. Not all German soldiers/airmen were Nazis, many would have wanted to fight for their country regardless of the specific political nature of their government, and I don’t see how this necessarily makes Enemy Ace any worse than an allied airman, except the fact that we won. Yes he shoots people and he did allow Cyrus to be tortured, but then again, it’s a war time situation. And I’m betting the allies also tortured their prisoners. And it’s a different time. I don’t approve of what was done, but I don’t think that makes the man evil.
I presume there’s some comic history to the character I’m not aware of.

This issue also saw Michelle and Skeets trying to locate Michael. I’m growing very fond of Michelle.

Final Crisis 6
Thank god Mary Marvel reverted back to human, that godawful outfit was hurting my eyes. I do not like Apokolipsian themed costume. Ollie is taken over by the anti life equation and Dinah fights to bring him out from it, it kinda looked like she was succeeding.
There is so much going on in this issue, it’s so dense. I can’t start to explain it, it’d take too long, so I’ll point you to Supergirl Comic Box Commentary for an in depth review.
Batman’s dead though. Hmmm.

The Amazing Spiderman 583
I buckled, I bought it because it’s the Obama commemorative issue. That back up story was daft. I did like the dating story though. But not enough to justify £2.90 on the comic! Was this issue more expensive than normal? Cos £3 for a comic is ludicrous.
Interestingly, the boyfriend, who hates American superhero comics, and American politics coverage, liked the Obama story. One of my friend’s who never reads comics also enjoyed the whole book.

This is a timely comic as not only is today Obama’s inauguration but also I got a late Christmas present on the weekend, of a Spiderman piggybank.

On the subject of inauguration, man am I glad he's been sworn in. I was half convinced he;'d be shot before he could take the oath. I have enjoyed Peter David's commentary.

Smallville SE08 Ep04 Instinct

Instinct was pretty standard Smallville fare, pretty enjoyable but not outstanding.
Clark and Lois' relationship is made kinda official, as Maxima explicitly states their attraction, that made me happy. Hopefully by the end of season 8 they will have got together? I'm enjoying Lois teaching Clark the ropes at the Daily Planet.

Less enjoyable is this show's obsession with the battle of the sexes, ugh. The comments always seem so forced. And Chloe, wanting Clark to give you away? Oh please, for a pretty independent woman can't you give yourself into a new relationship, rather than have Clark give you away? I know he's been your protector but you are way smarter than him now and will do just fine without him.

My hopes for this season:
That the Legion episode will be awesome.
That the League come back (and join up with the Legion?)
If the League can't come back and have a Justice episode, preferably as the final climax to the series ad Clark comes into his own, I definitely want to see more of the individual members.
Please make the character's relationships believable. I can see Clark and Lois. I could see Lois and Ollie. I can't see Chloe and Jimmy and I would like to have a chance to see Dinah and Ollie.
Please give us more of the pretty bird, she was wonderful.
Kara! Tough snotty proud Kara please!
Clark to fly. Oh yes. He's gotta fly. With Lois. Without a godawful poetry narration.

Holy Fuck

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland have fallen by 70%. Shares in Lloyds TSB have fallen by 33%.

Fuck. I hope my bank doesn't go under, I don't want to lose my money.

Musings on female space vs male space on the radio

On, of all the places, radio 4's Just a Minute programme, today's show. It is very good incidentally.

Anyway they had a new contestant on today, Josie Long. Now I've never thought of the show as being a male space before today. Josie has not been on it before, and at one point, fairly early on, she interrupted because she hadn't had a chance to speak yet and wanted to say hello (her words). Historically many people on the show have interrupted because they want to get a word in and haven't managed to do it according to the rules of the game, and that's OK. Sometimes they are pretty arrogant about it, using it as a platform to show how funny they are (usually in that case they aren't), sometimes they are good and it works.

The way Josie did it was weird, she said she wanted to say hello, so she did, it made her sound like an outsider, like a spectator, not a contestant. Then she said she had made cakes and brought them in for people to eat. Which was where I went huh? She sounded so self effacing, and wanting to make friends with the others, and fit in, and very nice, but my god it sounded out of place.

The action of bringing in cakes, admittedly with a not-really-funny-at-all attempt to bribe the chairman or make sure the other panelists couldn't speak due to eating, framed her as being girly and female. She sounded like your pleasant middle class clad in pink mum who wanted to make sure all you're mates were comfortable when they came over but was actually just embarrassing and fussy.

And this sounded bad, and I don't think the other contestants liked it, in fact for the next 15 mins until she regained some credibility through playing the game, they sounded like they were humouring her, patronising her.

My impressions were that she'd created a female space and structure for herself on the show, which was at odds with the other contestants, and therefore they *must* be in a male space. I mean, there's only ever the gender binary right, one or the other??!! (sarcasm off)
It seems I still think in binary, which indicates how deeply ingrained the binary system is, in me, and I would hazard the majority of people.

I'd never thought of Just a Minute being male space before. They regularly have women on, so it's not the physical presence of the female sex, but how people use the show, how they interact with each other. It's full of ribbing and insults and badgering each other and sneaky attempts to gain more points. Roughhousing. Stuff we traditionally associate with men. Not the gentle caring supportive feelings we associate with women, which was the role I saw Josie putting herself into. A nurturing role, bringing in cakes and being all sweet about it. And I still have that impression even though she said she wanted to use it shut up the other contestants.

Why do I still have that impression? Is it because she wasn't an aggressive presence on the show? Is it because of the way the other (male) contestants interacted with her? Does this indicate that I value 'male' behaviour over 'female' behaviour? Actually the answer to that is yes. But that is because male behaviour is the default and encompasses a wide range of behaviours and attitudes. 'Female' behaviour covers a narrow range mostly concerning make up, pink , clothes, talking about boys and fretting about your weight, putting others first and putting yourself down. In actual fact, female behaviour covers just as much as male behaviour does, i.e. everything, it's just that we try and construct a little narrow box and condemn women for being un-ladylike when in reality they are just being human.

And that point of view can probably be applied to the radio show. Because Josie's behaviour was different to the norm, and because it involved baking I have labelled it female and therefore less worthy.

Or is that being friendly and supportive doesn't work in a game show setting? To answer that I'd have to listen to reams and reams of old shows and sit down and dissect the language and actions of everyone on it, taking into account the era.

Thoughts?

Smallville S08Ep3 - Toxic. Letchy.

A Green Arrow Year 1 story. Nice. Lots of topless Justin Hartley, very nice. Yes I am a letch, but he is so damn hot.
Nice GA costume, good hood. We should have seen more of it though. We should also have seen more arrow shooting.
A plotline continuity complaint? Well, if he was on the island for 2 years you'd expect him to be more beardy. And raggedy in the hair department. Y'know, somewhat more like the Green Arrow Year 1 comic. But I guess they are going more for the teenage girl letches rather than the 28yr old-really-gotta-thing-for-beardy-men letches.

Also, it looks like Chloe is still being set up to be an Oracle type figure. But even more intelligent. now, lets just hope they don't shoot her or make her brain explode.

Back to the letch:

Smallville S08Ep 023 - Plastique

Super villain team up looming! Hurrah!
Clark in a white shirt? The first time in non Superman colours? Do not approve, looks weird.
And egads, whan Lois winked at him at the end I couldn't help but think of Sarah Palin. *shudder* That's better not ruin my enjoyment of Lois.

Later tonight will be episode 3.

Wonderful

I've found an easy to use streaming site for Smallville. See you all in 15 episodes..
(or untilI get restless and decide to do a comics review instead - either could happen).

Link round up stuff

I feel like I should post. I still have a cold so don't have a lot to say, so you'll get a lot of links instead.

Pink is for boys and blue is for girls

Shooting down crappy self help books on Amazon

Wizard does Favourite Hero, Favourite Villain and Favourite Female

Jim Balent writes tarot (Why did I not realise this before?) Chris Sims reviews it. Includes haunted vaginas.

Josh Tyler writes how women don't like the comics, or the action females and we don't needs the female superheroes. The whole internet rises up against him.

3 weeks of comics

I had a lot of stuff to pick up on Friday as I hadn't been to the shop since the week before Christmas. Unfortunately I have a cold so when reading the books didn't really take in a lot. I can't face re-reading them now as I feel worse than on Friday, and I can't face reviewing 20 odd in a week's time. So this will make for some pretty short and possibly odd reviews.

Spoilers ahead for: Superman & Batman vs Vampires and Werewolves 6, Superman 683, Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade 2, Teen Titans 66, Terror Titans 4, Buffy 21, Superman/Supergirl Maelstrom 4 and 5.
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Superman & Batman vs Vampires and Werewolves 6 - can't remember much. When I re-read the whole mini I'll probably like it in a schlocky sort of way,

Superman 683 - I can't work out what the cover has to do with the story inside. A nice appearance by the JLA and the magic corps, and the art, especially the colours, is as ever lovely.

Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the 8th grade 2 - Cute. Very very cute. And I've just noticed this is a mini. I've had it in my head it's an ongoing. Damnation. This deserves to be an ongoing.

Teen Titans 66 - Good. I'm disappointed those on the cover aren't necessarily gonna join the group.
Kara isn't gonna join
Speedy says she has to look after Ollie - In what sense? In the GA/BC book Mia has just gone to London, and at no point was she looking after Ollie
Bombshell I think will join under duress
I've never seen Traci13 before, but I gather she's the Blue Beetle's girlfriend - nice dialogue from Jaimie trying to convince her not to join
The Knight in Shining Armour or whatever she/he is called has taken offence to Red Devil (wonderful shot of Eddie legging it)
I can't remember about Klarion
Misfit def wants to join, please let her in!
Spoiler I was confused about what's she's doing
Lastly, Timmy is leaving the group :( But Cassie now gets to lead, hurrah! She's earned it and is now mature enough to handle it I think. Not so whiny now.

Terror Titans 4 - well the cover is wrong.
Rose's reflection in the sword doesn't match her actual hair.
I had been led to believe there would be more Terra in this one too. *scowls*

Buffy 21 - Did not like. At all.

Superman/Supergirl Maelstrom 4 and 5 - the conversations between the two of them worked very well. the set up, using Maelstrom and Kal's reasoning to get them to the red planet, didn't. I have mixed feelings about this mini which I won't be able to reconcile until I re-read it as a whole.

Is Steph as girlRobin a gimmick?

And does it matter?

Disclaimer – I have only read Spoiler’s appearance in Robin and Birds of Prey. What I have to say relates to her appearances in Robin; however I would welcome feedback on her appearances in other titles.

I guess to answer this you’ve got to think about what a gimmick is, and then decide if gimmicks are a problem, and if so why.

The Oxford English dictionary* defines gimmick as:

A trick or device, especially to attract attention, publicity, or trade.

So I guess the decision at an editorial level to turn the Spoiler into Robin for a short period, was a gimmick. I wasn’t reading comics at the time, so I don’t know if the trick worked. Did they get more publicity from this? Did they get more sales? If anyone knows, please let me know, or if you know where I can find the info, please point me in the right direction.

I would imagine that sales may have spiked for a short period, and I imagine that it helped promote the Wars Games storyline. Steph was only Spoiler for a few (4? 6?) issues of Robin, so I am speculating that the intention of making her a girlRobin was to generate interest in the Bat clan comics and also to provide a lead in to War Games. As opposed to, say, generating (inter?)national publicity and awareness of both the DC and Batfamily brands, amongst the non comics community.

Of course, this is just speculation. DC may have wanted to raise their profile in non comic reading circles, but I can’t imagine having a girlRobin for just a few months would be a very effective way of doing so. Then again, were there any Batman movies or other media coming out at a similar time? Because that could have tied in quite well. I could research this myself but for two reasons: Firstly, I am writing this on a non internet enabled laptop. Secondly, my internet enabled pc is in the coldest room in the house and Norfolk is going through a very cold snap. I cannot stay in that room for too long, I don’t cope well with the cold. Damn Victorian draughty houses.

So. I am going to assume that Steph became girlRobin in order that a major event** could then happen. I am going to assume setting events up for War Games was more important than the wow! factor of having a female Robin.

Over the last year or so, since reading blogs like When Fangirls Attack, I have seen plenty of discussions about the treatment of Steph as girlRobin. How it was disgraceful, how it meant that DC didn’t give a stuff about their female fans, and how it demonstrates DC’s arrogance in thinking they can make a token gesture towards women readers and our desires. I’ve probably written similar posts myself.

But if you argue that the motivation for Steph-as-Robin was to set up War Games, and not to produce a girlRobin, then I think that the last two problems become irrelevant, in this context. If it was never about making it ok for girls to take on traditionally male roles, then I would imagine that what DC’s female fans wanted didn’t really figure at editorial/plotline meetings.

Which could be seen as a crushing disappointment - DC don’t care about us. Well, no, I’m not convinced the female demographic is who DC want to court. They have had some stunningly great not- sexist books out last year, but I think that’s more to do with them hiring decent artists and writers, and not specifying that boobs need to be the focus of every panel. In other words, they’ve focused more on producing good stories than on producing porn-lite. Which is as it should be. Do good stories and the fangirls will cometh. As will the fanboys.

Anyway, back to the point. Was Steph’s treatment as girlRobin shoddy? Did it show disrespect for the character (and by proxy, her female fans). In my really-not-humble opinion, to work out if she was disrespected and treated in a sexist manner we would have to ask the following questions:
Is Steph both as Spoiler and as girlRobin treated with respect and dignity? Is her character believable? Does she mature and do changes taking place make sense within her given history? Do the other characters behave, both directly towards and when discussing her, in a believable way?

To me, and this is where it is gonna get really personal and I fully expect people to disagree with me, I don’t think DC did disrespect her.

Everything I read about the Spoiler showed that she was impulsive and passionate. She was dedicated to the vigilante cause, dead serious about succeeding at it, and refused to back down even after she had repeatedly been told, by many different people, to give it up. She’d go out with Robin on patrol, he’d advise her to hold back, to watch, to gather info on a scene, and she’d say screw this and dive right in. It’s how she found Black Canary and how she convinced Dinah to take her on as apprentice. She wasn’t automatically gonna change as girlRobin.

The way in which she became girlRobin also worked. Tim had quit being Robin, Batman needed a new partner, (he doesn’t work well by himself, which is how Tim got the gig), and Steph had proved how determined she was. She’d been popping up again and again for a really long time, each time Batman met her he told her in no uncertain (and probably quite growly) terms that she didn’t belong and she had to stop, effective immediately.
There are grown heroes in the DC universe who don’t dare disobey Bruce as Batman – Guy Gardener for one.
(EDIT: Ok, I'm a dork and should read more Guy stuff. I was basing the above comment on the (admittedly not many) JLI books I've read where Bruce keeps Guy in line, Kalinara has kindly pointed out that my assumption is wrong, please ignore that and insert your own character that does what Bruce says. )

Yet a 16 (15?) year old has the courage and the arrogance to tell him to piss off and keep on doing what she loves and has got a knack for.

So yeah who else was Bruce gonna take on? He does admire courage and dedication. He’s got this need for everyone to prove themselves to him before he takes them on. Steph got the gig after making herself a fancy new girly costume, and Bruce told her if she disobeyed him even once she was out. Well she disobeyed him and she was out. She knew the score, but she was impulsive, she thought she knew better, so she was kicked out. Nothing I’ve seen so far looks out of character of her.

Of course, a relevant question now would be did the boyRobins ever disobey Bruce like this and if so what was their punishment? And if it was different, is there a suitable in context explanation for this? I don’t know for definite the answer to this, I seem to recall reading Tim disobeying orders and not being sacked, but I cannot say for sure.

In the case of Steph however, she had to be kicked out, in order for War Games to commence. She had to be emotionally hurt and so try to get back in Bruce’s good books. Unfortunately this ended in Steph starting a gang war thereby wrecking most of Gotham and getting herself killed (or so we thought). I can imagine the DC meetings where War Games was dreamt up – TimRobin would never have triggered the gang war, yet it has to be someone close to Bruce who does so. This will also mean that Bruce gets to deal with feelings of betrayal, guilt and angst after the event- even if it’s only mentioned in a couple of issues. A Robin seems ideal for this.
So, to engineer the event, they have to get rid of TimRobin. Who to fill the space? Why, the obvious choice is Steph! Already known to Bruce, already a vigilante, desperately wants to be accepted by the Batfamily, and, crucially, impulsive enough to start a gang war by mistake. It fits her character. It is believable.

I think it is worth pointing out something that Selina Kyle (Catwoman) mentioned in a War Games issue. She had found Steph-as-Spoiler in some Gotham ruins, and Steph’s guilt and anguish led her to explain to Selina what she’d done. To summarise, she found plans that Bruce had made for eradicating all crime in Gotham. This was to be done by engineering a meeting between all the crime bosses in Gotham, Batman would be in attendance in disguise as a criminal - Matches Malone. Unfortunately, Steph didn’t know this, didn’t tell Batman of the meeting, and so Batman-in-disguise didn’t turn up and a full scale gang war erupted because of this.

Anyway, after hearing this story Selina asks herself how Bruce could ever have had a Robin who didn’t know that Batman was Matches. I read this as removing all blame from Steph and placing it squarely on Bruce’s shoulders. Selina is an important person in Gotham life and in the Bat family, and I think her opinion and views carry weight. She was reproaching Bruce.

Maybe Steph didn’t need to have died – but then we’d lose a sense of the personal tragedy. And tragedy drives dramatic events. I have no problem with deaths in comics, but I love a bit of senseless tragedy and desolation. I admit that I haven’t read all of War Games, but I have seen the panels of her supposed death and the last conversations she had with Bruce. It didn’t strike me as inappropriate or disrespectful.

I’m not going to touch upon the lack of a trophy case issue – I haven’t read enough Batman books to know who he’s got a memorial too, I thought it was just Jason Todd. Suffice to say, Bruce’s explanation to Tim, regarding not putting up a memorial sucked – he suspected Steph was still alive. Really? And you didn’t want to mention that to Tim? Ever? I know I know, it’s an explanation dreamt up by writers, Bruce isn’t real etc etc, but that explanation is still going firmly in my Batdickery file.

I have written before on the importance of having female Robins and what they mean to me, as symbols of women in the real world, and women in the comics world. When I wrote that previous post I knew of the girlRobin in the Dark Knight Returns (and shock horror, I don’t believe she was a prostitute, Frank Miller, you astound me), But I was not aware of girlRobin in the Robin 1996 annual, Legends of the Dead Earth. This is a Robin who saves the lives and futures of an entire civilisation. It’s set on a vast spaceship which has lost it’s destination and ruled by tyranny. Batman is out to set things right and rechart the course. He dies and it’s Robin’s responsibility to set the right course. She does so and saves thousands and thousands of lives. Now that’s a girlRobin to be proud of.

I don’t want Steph to be Robin. She works better as the Spoiler. She’s too independent to be under Bruce’s thumb, and he’d just fuck her up. She don’t take orders and she likes to have fun – you can’t have genuine lighthearted fun as Robin. It’s better for her if she’s the Spoiler. She needs her own sense of identity and not to be dependent on another’s approval.

So I’m quite glad I’ve properly discovered her and I’m very glad she’s back. Any chance she’s gonna join the Teen Titans?


Constructive criticism welcomed.

*Yes, the Oxford English dictionary is my definitions bible.
**I know, I know, compared to today and the multiple Crisis’ crossover stuff happening, War Games isn’t very major, but lets just call it a major event for now.


Christ almighty that’s nearly 2000 words. Why did I find it difficult to write essays of that length at Uni???

The Discworld

Has anyone read any of these? I'm a massive fan and must have read some of them 15 or 20 times. They are satirical fantasy written by Terry Pratchett, he who has just been awarded a knighthood, and they number 36 books so far.

Anyway I just re-read A Hat Full of Sky, one of the Young Adult ones, and was struck yet again by how good they are. This one deals with themes of loss, finding your roots and yourself and growing up, stepping out to become an adult.

Granny Weatherwax (the most senior and powerful head witch) teaches Tiffany Aching, (our young protagonist) about witching and the difference between right and wrong, and why it's important that witches don't cross that line.

I say teaches, it's more like she points Tiffany in the right direction, because knowledge that you aint gained yourself aint worth a damn. Plus, Tiffany (whose name means Land Under Sea, appropriate because she lives on the Chalk) has already got all the power and knowledge she'll ever have, she's just gotta unlock it for herself and understand it. Now, it in't like most fantasy novels where the withes do big showy glittery magic. Most of Discworld witching is about not using your power and about helping those that acn't help themselves, and something called headology. Like psychology, but considerably less wanky. It occurred to me on this reading that witching on the Discworld is similar to old style nursing, but a damn sight more respected. Course, if you ain't got respect you've got nothing.

Can you tell a large part of my morality and philosophy comes from these books? I used to read avidly as a child, I read everything I could. Then I hit adolescence, got depressed and pretty much quit reading. For 3 or 4 years the only thing I read regularly was the Discworld books. They were very important to me and one of the few things that I could focus on and get when I was in that state. That and music. I read the music papers cover to cover every week and month, but the only stories I could get were the Discworld ones.
As I was starting to come out of my fug, I picked up books again, and now, again, all I do is read. Except lately, it's mostly comics.

Anyway, back to my original point about Mistress Weatherwax. In a Hat Full of Sky she taught Tiffany about witching. In Equal Rites she teaches Eskarina about magic and wizardry.
I think it would be really good to do a comparison of the two books, of Esk and Tiffany and of Granny's teachings. I sure as hell in't gonna do it - I know I'm not, that's too big a topic and too time intensive and I'm too lazy. Plus, I did an essay on one of the other books - Witches Abroad, at Uni, and it wasn't very good. Literary criticism was not my forte. It's possible I'm getting better and relearning the skills, at least I hope so.

But if someone else were to do such a comparison that'd be ace!