This could be a mural

Last of the Animal Man scans I promise.  But what a beautiful thing to end on!

I love everything about this.  The colours, the layout, the pencils, everything.

That's all for Animal Man for a while, coming up next: the JLA!

And now for something a little more surreal

Yes, it's still Animal Man, but by now he is literally an Animal Man.  To be honest, the series was getting very weird by this point and the last few issues I didn't really care for.  But the art is still great.

I really like it when artists play around with layouts, anything other than the standard options draw me in.

Dick King-Smith has died

From The Guardian:


Children's author Dick King-Smith, whose much-loved tale The Sheep-Pig was adapted into the hit film Babe, has died at the age of 88, at home in his sleep.

After fighting in Italy with the Grenadier Guards in the second world war, King-Smith was a farmer for 20 years before turning to teaching and came to writing late in life. His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978 when he was in his 50s. He went on to write more than 100 books, most of which drew on his knowledge of farms and animals because "I like them, I've always kept a lot of pets, and because it's fun putting words in their mouths". King-Smith called this genre of speaking-animal stories "farmyard fantasy" and often wrote about pigs, his favourite animals. One of his early popular books, Saddlebottom, featured a porcine hero, much scorned for the unusual white saddle-shaped patch on his bottom, who runs away on adventures with a cat.

However, it was his 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, about a runty little pig trained as a sheepdog, that really made King-Smith's name, first winning the Guardian children's fiction prize and then being turned into the 1995 film Babe which achieved both critical acclaim and popular success. It was nominated for a number of Academy awards.

King-Smith's own life was lived far from the glitz of Hollywood. He was married to his first wife, whom he first met when he was 13, for more than 50 years, and lived in a tiny village between Bath and Bristol. In an interview he once described his typical day as "sit down in my very small study in my very old (from 1635) cottage; scribble in longhand in the morning; in the afternoon, type out the morning's work (on an old portable typewriter, with one finger); evening, read day's work to my wife, seeking her approval."

He was awarded an OBE in the 2010 new year's honours list.

------------------------

I've read so many of his books - most of them when I was younger, and he is such a talented writer.  This is such sad news.  If you're ever stuck for a book for a precocious 8 year old, but them a Dick King-Smith one.  The Fox Busters is about some chickens who decide to find out how to lay eggs with harder shells so they can drop them at the foxes who are hunting them.  The chickens fly into the air and lay the eggs at the foxes, kind of like missiles.  King-Smith writes imaginative, funny, tender stories for children and his books are amazing.

Animal Man artwork...

..from inside the covers this time.

I saved these scans from when I first read the run, back in November now.  I still find them striking, so again I am sharing them with you.

These are from issues 52 and 53 where Animal Man had died and had to fight his way back up the evolutionary chain to become human again.  These artists are *so* talented.

Animal Man covers

Animal Man gabe us some really great covers, and in leiu of a better blog post, I thought I'd share 3 of them them with you.

They've got more in common with real artwork than your regular comic art.  The middle one I particularly love, I find it very moving.

Does Grant Morrison like Superman?

I suspect not.  This is from Animal Man #2.

 

Rarely have I seen Supes used in such a dickish manner.  So, does anyone know if Grant has confirmed how he feels about Superman?

Power of Shazam - a general post

I was really looking forward to reading the Power of Shazam books, but as I write this they have been a bit disappointing.  I'm up to issue 21 and well, they are just so darn corny.  I think they have been written more for kids than for adults, but I'm not sure how well they stack up as kids books.  I mean, during the set up for Freddy getting the Marvel family powers we see both Mary and Billy interact with him, and also see Freddy by himself, getting attacked by Captain Nazi (leading to the scans featured yesterday).

Billy's first thoughts about Freddy:

I know this was done in 1995, but it seems very old fashioned.  Does this impress any kids nowadays?  I guess, if they were under 11 maybe.  I can't see young teenagers going for it though.  On the other hand, the comic did explain that the Wizard Shazam had kept Fawcett City in a state of perpetual timelessness since the 1940s, so that could explain the old fashioned aspects of the place.

Oddly enough, the girls don't want to join Freddy on him and his Grandpa's fishing trip.  Lucky for them as a rejuvenated Captain Nazi then joins them and takes out Freddy's Granpa:

This just makes him look comical.  Later on Captain Nazi (I can't believe I'm still typing that phrase) also beats up Freddy and he ends up with spinal injuries, meaning he many not be able to walk again.  Two of his girl friends (again, not used in a  serious relationship sense, more in a 1950s flirty sense) turn up at the hospital and completely fail to offer any moral support:

Nice going huys, the school's star athlete has been told he might be paralysed, some sympathy and encouragement might be in order.  Telling him he's better off dead is not the way to do it.

One this this series has done for me is highlight how cool Mary Marvel is.  She's the only one of the Marvels that I actually like so far.  Because of that, here's another great depiction of her.


Back to Freddy.  I shouldn't mock, but this is a hilarious incident to find yourself in:

In a full body cast, stolen by Captain Nazi (that dratted phrase again!).

Lastly, Freddy gets his powers but doesn't change into an adult.  Why?  Because he's an insufferable prat, that's why.

I will continue reading and I hope that it gets more interesting.  There is so much potential with these characters, but right now the writing style isn't quite doing it for me.

All scans from issues 6 and 7 of Power of Shazam.

EDIT: I have now finished the run and some bits improve, others remain dull.  As some of you have asked about buying these issues I've had a look around Amazon and the following 2 trades are available:
The Power of Shazam
Another one, also called The Power of Shazam.  I assume they contain different stories.
Shazam: the Greatest Stories Ever Told contains one story from the Ordway run, about a burns victim who uses some amazing make up gel to appear normal for one day.
The Power of Shazam: issues 5 - 7 in paperback.  This one is currently unavailable.

Stamping out intolerance the Freddy Freeman way

Oh Freddy.  There's nothing like riding a Nazi who's been recently resurrected from the cryogenics lab and hitting him with your fists at super speed.

Evidently, his tactics worked, as the end of the issue brought this:

The above scan is yet another example of the gorgeous pencils/inks/colours in Power of Shazam.

And remember folks, no one likes Nazis:

To Freddy's credit, it was actually Billy who came out with those words.

Auld Lang Syne

In Scots:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin’ auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gies a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
for auld lang syne.

In English:
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

And surely you'll buy your pint cup! And surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

We two have run about the slopes, and picked the daisies fine
But we've wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine
But seas between us broad have roared, since auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

And there's a hand my trusty friend! And give us a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught, for auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne

Happy New Year everybody!

I love New Year's eve.  It's a time to be with friends, get a little drunk, and look forward to what the next year will bring.  I don't make resolutions at this time I just relish the company of friends.  2010 has been unbelievably rubbish, not just for me, but for lots of my friends too, so I just hope that 2011 will improve.

In terms of comics hopes, I hope that we will see more comic art like this:

She's strong, beautiful, she has muscles, she looks like a healthy adult woman.  She's got thighs!  She looks like she eats real food!

She's not drawn in off kilter poses, her back isn't twisted, her breasts aren't the focus.  She stands, sits and walks like I do! She has emotion on her face, she's doesn't have plastic features.

I hope for my comics to have more women drawn like this.

Look at the arms on this scan.  There's just a few lines of definition and shading but they add so much to the artwork.  Beautiful.

All scans taken from Power of Shazam issues 16 and 20.
Pencils by Pete Krause, Inks by Mike Manley, colors by Glenn Whitmore, Letters by John Constanza.

Ahh, linguistic differences..

Just the other day I was having a discussion on twitter about the differences between suspenders, garter belts, pants, trousers, vests, tank tops, thongs and flip flops.  Then I see this gem:

You know what, I never want to see anyone so threatening mention that I look all shagged out.



(From Power of Shazam, #20)

Extra special daily post: the Huntress edition

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

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

Dr Sivana says..

 

Good advice for life I reckon.

(From The Power of Shazam #17)

Following on from the Tower of Babel, Bats and Supes unmask

I just wanted to share a couple of scans with you, from JLA 50, where Batman and Superman unmask.  In the preceding issues the League had been nearly destroyed by Ra's Al Ghul, who had got hold of Batman's secret plans to neutralise (read, seriously fuck up) his colleagues.  As you can imagine there some feelings of mistrust within the League after this.  Batman and Superman decided to try and resolve this feeling by unmasking to the whole league for the first time.  Here is how they decide to do it:

See the severity in the first scan?  Can you feel the anger and awkwardness in the panels?  You don't need to have read the comic to understand the atmosphere within the room.  You can easily imagine the sort of conversation they were having prior to those panels.  Compare that to the second panel where Clark is so full of life and so bashful.  These are really wonderful pieces of comic art.  Credits as follows:
Mark Waid: Writer
Ken Lopez: Letters
Laura Depuy: Colours
Then the Inks and Pencils could be any of these:
Inks: Paul Neary, Kevin Nowlan, Drew Cerraci, Walden Wong
Pencils: Bryan Hitch, Phil Jiminez, Ty Templeton, Doug Magnke, Mark Pajarillo.

All are credited as contributing to this bumper issue.  If someone could clarify who is responsible for the above scans I'd be grateful.

The JLA's dream selves

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

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

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

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

Thinking of Superman

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas from the JLA!

I will leave you all to make up a story to go with these panels.  Merry Christmas everybody!

Most memorable moments in the DCU

For women characters.   The DC Women Kicking Ass tumblr is running a month long series of posts aboutt he most memorable moments in the DCU, for female characters.  This link will take you through to all the tagged posts and I whoel heartedly reccomend that you do go have a look.  So many chars are covered: Stephanie Brown, Wonder Woman, Lois Lane, Earth 2 Huntress, Oracle, Birds of Prey, Supergirl, Cass Cain, The Question, Black Canary.  Professioanl writers are even contributing posts: Gail Simone, Bryan Q Miller and Phil Jiminez.  

There's still lots more moments to come, so do head on over and read the posts.  In particualr read this one, about Babs and Dinah's relationship.  All posts are awe inspiring and they make me so proud to be part of this fandom.

LGBT Reading Challenge 2011

So, I saw a blog post on Book After Book about an LGBT reading challenge for 2011.  The idea is to read as many LGBT books in 2011 as you want, review them, and in so doing share the world of LGBT literature.  Guess what, comics are eligible! Hooray!

Anyway, more information including details of how to sign up to the challenge can be found here.  I'm gonna give it a go.  I wonder how far I'll get.

Yule!!

It's the Winter Solstice today!  Shortest day of the year, hurrah!  From tomorrow the day start getting longer, thank fuck.

I do not like Winter.  I hate the cold, I hate the ice, I hate all this snow we've been getting.  Yeah it's pretty, but I'd like the sun back on my skin please.  I won't really be celebrating the Solstice in style  tonight as my choir will be doing our last performance of the year - a Christmas service at a local church.  However when I get home I'll light the candles, burn some incense, sit with the boyfriend and just reflect for a bit.  I will have a proper celebration on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - it's more conventional, we have friends over and we aren't working.   My new found vegetarianism will lapse for this holiday, as it will for the other 7 holidays.


Hurrah for longer days!  Have a meery Solstice all :)

Morrison's Aquaman

I've been reading Grant Morrison's JLA.  If you're gonna try it, start from issue 18, Synchronicity, and stop at number 33, Justice League vs Bruce Wayne.   The rest is a bit so so.  However, there were a couple of things that made he think he really got Arthur.  As I mentioned recently, I love Arthur as King.  He is royalty, he's not like the other Leaguers and his responsibility is on such a different level to them.  These next two pages show this really well:

(Click to embiggen)
The first is from issue #2 of JLA v3.  Arthur is overly pompous and even snooty and Diana is having none of it.  I like Arthur like that, but I also like that Diana will not put up with it.  She is royalty too, after all.

The second scan is from issue 41, towards the end of World War 3 and shows just how immensely badass Arthur can be.

This is definitely my favourite incarnation of him.

When Fangirls Attack is back!!

With 17 new posts!! I know what I'll be doing later this week.

Now, apologies for the radio silence.  Life is feeling unbearable busy, I haven't had a night to myself for over a week, I'm tired, stressed, cold (ye gods I've realised that I hate the winter and the ice and the cold and the snow), and busy.  I'm way behind on New readers... stuff, I've barely read anything for pleasure in weeks, I haven't even got this weeks comics yet because I haven't had time to pick them up and it's been months since I steadily read the blogosphere.  Grr and indeed arg.

Mayeb in the New year I will plan things better.

Meanwhile, to prove I'm not dead and that I am reading things go have a look at this stuff:

Firts up, the truly hilarious and entirely not safe for work Vulva original. "It's not a perfume.  It's a feminine erotic intimate scent for your own smelling pleasure".  It's fucking hilarious!  Read the home page, history and faq.  Go on.  I was creased up in hysterics for ages after reading this.  Then go watch the video at www.smellmeand.com
By the way, this definitely not a perfume scent is not suitable for ingesting or inserting into any orifice or opening.

bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

A compelling article arguing for rape to be reclassified as a hate crime.

A post called Ellen Ripley saved my life.  I haven't read it but it sounds interesting.

The F Word wants you to help update their resources.  Send some links in. Go on.

Hair removal

I hate the whole process of removing hair.  It's tedious and boring.  Ideologically I am opposed to hair removal.  Practically I dislike the feel of chin hairs, moustache hairs tickle when they get too long and the boyfriend prefers my legs and armpits to have at least seen a razor occasionally, even if only in the distance.

This is not a post about the politics of hair removal.  It's a request for advice and options to deal with hair removal.

You see, I'm hopeless at shaving my legs and arm pits, I always miss patches.  Shaving my bikini line is a delicate fear inducing operation which always always itches as it grows back, occasionally leads to sebaceous cysts (which no one ever talks about, leading you to believe you've got muff rot until you make it to the doctors to have an embarrassing conversation and examination), and plays merry hell if you shave close to a period and then wear a sanitary towel.

Having my upper lip waxed may well remove a fine (fine as in not thick, not as in distinguished - distinguished will come when I'm 70) moustache of hair, but it always replaces it with red soreness and then spots, all along my upper lip, for about a week, by which point the hairs are growing back.  Plucking my chin hairs (because I'm anal and probably have a touch or trichotillomania) result in a scabbed up chin, also with spots (but no hairs, somehow my brain thinks that's OK).

Electrolysis is way too painful for my upper lip, not available quickly enough for my chin, and a bit too permanent for the rest of me.  Waxing is rather expensive for my legs.  I used to wax my upper lip, it didn't work too well.

How does everyone else manage?  Threading seems very painful, sugaring would also seem to leave me with infected spots.

(You know, if I could grow a full proper beard or 'tache these problems would disappear and I'd be warm in winter)