Does your mother know?

Yesterday I went to see Mama Mia on stage for a friend's hen do.  It was surprisingly good!  It helps that I love musicals, and Abba but I was pleasently surprised that the plot is also quite good.  It was also rather filthy, leading to much raucous laughter from the audience.  I went for a drink afterwards with a friend and us being us, and she having just finishing her MA in gender studies, then launched into a  feminist analysis of it, somewhat drunkenly and probably loudly, in the middle of Wagamamas.  Obviously.

Anyway, here's a link to a clip of Does Your Mother Know from the DVD, which I haven't seen in full.  I would embed the video but all the clips have embedding stuff disabled .  Booo.

Green Lanterns

 

Unless of course, you are Hal Jordan. 

(Taken from GL vol2, # 150)

Supergirl #50

As I'm particularly late with this review, there has already been a lot of discussion about this issue, mostly over at Supergirl Comic Box Commentary.  Anyway heres are my possibly jumbled thoughts on it.  Spoilers, obviously.

Firstly, I hate the regular cover:

I don't think much of Didio's taste if he had this hanging in his office.  She looks like a bloody pixie.  And there's that ridiculous supertorso as well.  I have liked some  of Turner's Supergirl stuff, I still have a soft spot for his first issues with her, but this cover, is horrible.

So you can imagine that I'm rather gutted I didn't see this beautiful thing:

 

That is beautiful.  Done by Josh Middleton, he's done a post about it here.

Onto the story.  Bullet points first, then some discussion:

• We are shown  that Lucy Lane is alive.  Interesting developments ahoy!
• General Lane is a prick.
• Who the hell is Gangbuster?  Should I know him? Should I care?  Having said that, I do like his inclusion as it helps flesh out the DCU, and he wasn't introduced in a manner that required prior knowledge of the character.
• I was rather confused as to why Kara was in a pod.  I thought I'd missed something.  Then it got explained.  I pretty much adore the idea of the Insect Queen.
• I'm glad we could see her shorts when she's in the pod.
• Minions of the Insect Queen!  I do like minions.  I mena, who doens't think giant insects are cool?  I even thought the giant Amazonian bees in Amazons Attack were cool.  The rest of that mini was terrible, but the giant bees were good.
• Some people didn't like the flashbacks in this book..I did.  I thought it worked well, and neatly recapped previous elements.
• I also like that Kara is obviously a science nerd.  More nerd heroes are needed.  Especially ones that are also girly.
• There's some great character moments for Kara in this issue.  All too often character moments are missed because writers seem to go for the easy dialogue, so when a few random things are slipped in, I think it's great.  That's what makes a good book.
• Finally, Kara fights with a newly human Lana, Kara flies off and Lucy Lane gets back in the Superwoman suit.

Now, about Kara fighting with Lana (when Lana is human again).  Kara saying she's leaving Lana's life was fine.  Her reasons, that Lana lied, didn't ring true.  Or maybe I didn't want them to ring true.  Because this means that Kara is really self centred.  No one is owed anything by anyone else.  Getting in a strop and deciding to leave because someone close to you has not chosen to tell you of their illness is selfish and smacks of entitlement.  I do not like this.


On the other hand, maybe we just haven't seen enough of the Kara/Lana (Klana?) relationship for this development to feel natural and a godo representation of their relationship.  Kara is adamant that Lana should tell her everything.  Why?  I've always read their relationship as a mother/daughter one, not a sister/sister one.  Because Lana is older and cos she took Kara in and clothed and housed her, comforted her when her real mother was being vile.  It's parental, not equal.  Then I see Kara complaining that Lana hasn't told her everything, well no, no mother does tell her daughter everything.  Why would they?

Lana's response to Kara rang true - putting a sulky child back in he rplace.  Explaining how friends and family support the Super folks (and by the way, how did no one on Supergirl Comic Box Commentary spot the Superman 2 movie reference?).

However, Kara's flying off - 'Maybe I don't want to be human' - that seemed more acceptabel to me than her previous actions.  She doesn't yet want to take the responsibility that wearing the S sheild entails.  She's trying, she's trying very hard, but she's not there yet.


Anyway, overall I liked this story.

Now for part 2.  Art by Cliff Chiang, story by Jake Blake and Helen Slater.
Generally I love Chiang's art.  His stuff for Green Arrow/Black Canary was wonderful, but I'm not sure he'd suit Supergirl full time.  Now for soem trivia:
The first show of Supergirl is modelled on the promo shots for Kara in Smallville.
The flying shot is modelled on Helen Slater's performance in the Supergirl movie.

This brings us neatly to Helen Slater.  I don't feel the story really showcased Slater's talents as a writer.  It wasn't a bad tale, but there was not a lot new in there and it basically recapped Supergirl's story since she got to earth.  I would have preferred to see a villain fight, or an everyday story or anything else.  Something with imagination.

I know Kara's story, I've been reading since issue 1.  I don't need a recap.  But maybe recaps are just what you do for 50th issues.  This interpretation added nothing new to the Supergirl mythos or history.  It was nice to see what other people thought of her, but tbh, we pretty much already knew those views anyway.

Ahh well, it wasn't badly done and it passed the time.

Coming out in comics: The DC offices

The Januay 13th (or thereabouts) DC Nation column featured what I thought was a rather interesting story.  5 students from the Harvey Milk High School in New York got to visit the DC offices as part of the school's careers day, intended to, and I quote, highlight and promote positive gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender role models in the workplace.  The column mentions that the kids met Paul Levitz and David Cole.

Now I have no idea if Levitz or Cole are identify as LGBT, but I think that this visit is hugely important in terms of acknowledging diversity at the DC offices.  I would assume from the article that there are folks at the DC offices who identify as LGBT, and for DC to publicly go out of their way to court the queer vote and promote themselves as being open to LGBT kids, well I think it's bloody great.

Obviously I would hope this would rub off on the creative output and we get to see more LGBT characters* within the DCU, but I appreciate this may take some time.


*There are some LGB characters in the DCU, if you're interested, I've started chronicling them.

Cry for Justice #7 preview

Hmm.  Can't seem to be able to download them, so instead got to the link.

And answer me why does Speedy appear to be drawn in a position that shows off her fab-u-lous body more than it shows her leet archery skills?

Even the commenters on The Source blog agree with me.

Fucking fail.

An slightly off topic, I don't think I mentioned before but you may all have seen it anyway, I've put a reactions type thing at the bottom of each post...any feedback to be given by the ticking of the boxes would be lovely!

Comic reviews..

Featuring some fascinating thoughts and spoilers for Superman/Batman # 69, Power Girl #9, Batgirl #6, Green Lantern Corps: Blackest Night # 45, Green Lantern: Blackest Night # 51, Blackest Night: The Flash # 3.
Supergirl #50 is gonna get her own review.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Superman/Batman # 69
Taking place in the aftermath of the Our Worlds at War crossover, Superman is very angry in this.  Playboy Bruce seems surprised that there are aliens in the universe, which seems a little odd considering this is the DCU we're talking about.  You can hardly move for tripping over aliens.  This issue is not really about the Supes/Bats relationship, which dissappoints me.

As I wasn't into comics at the time of the Our Worlds at War crossover, I couldn't care less about this story arc.  However I'm sure it pleases a lot of fans.

Although it wasn't all bad.  The splash page of the tentacled evil Durlan was very pleasing.  How I wish I had a scanner show you all. *sigh*


Power Girl #9
I love the art on this.  The pencils, the colours - everything is so vibrant, so joyous and fun!*  I love that karen is so powerful that bombs, grenades, guns and fire don't bother her in the least.  Satanna brought out a sonic boom hammer, and even that wasn't enough to put her down.  Then Terra arrives and oh my, doesn't she look really demented.

I'll miss this title.


*except for Satanna's outfit, which is beyond stupid.


Batgirl #6
I feel like I should love this but I just can't - there's soemthing missing and somehow the whole thing just doesn't gel for me.  Having said that, there are some very good things - Damian carrying a sword (I can't believe Dick is letting him do this) and Steph doing her best Batman impression in Jordanna' Spence's room.  It tickles me when other chars do Batman impressions - I'm specifically thinking of Oliver Queen doing one for Hawkman in Quiver.

Green Lantern Corps: Blackest Night # 45
Guy Gardner goes mad with a chainsaw!

 

Wonderful cover.  

Wel, this issue was a treat and a half for Guy fans.  And Kyle fans.  And Mogo fans.  In fact, this issue will have created a fair few Mogo fans I reckon.  A sentient planet is a great idea.  The leeches thing? Less so.  Still, I greatly enjoyed this issue.  But I will not be satisifed until Mogo is facing off against Black Lantern planet Xanshi.

Green Lantern: Blackest Night # 51
Isn't Hal as Parallax an ugly looking bastard?  And then he proves his evilness by ripping the Spectre's face off.  Nice.  Crispus Allen appears to be trapped behind onwe of the Spectre's eyes - I wa snotg expecting that.  Nice detailing there.

The Spectre gets filled with rage, and I am ponderign just how scary a Red Lantern Spectre would be.  Very scary, judging by the amount of red vomit he can produce.

Parallax is seperated from Hal Jordan. and before Sinestro can claim the entity for himself, Parallax is whisked away gods know where, and then we hear a voiceover from Hector Hammond's cell  muttering about how bad it is that 'it' has Parallax.  Intriguing.  I bet this feeds into Brightest Day.

I want to know what the mysterious crimson entity of anger the Spectre referred to is.

Blackest Night: The Flash # 3
What another great cover!

 

Inside, the art is also good, but I don't think it does justice to Bart.  It's just not exuberant enough.   It works really well for the dark zombie theme of the story, and Kolins did really good work on the Rogues Revenge mini, I just don't like his Bart.  However, I did notice on re-reading just how differnetly he draws the villains and the heroes.  The Rogues and the Black Lanterns ahev that scratchy screwed up feel, but the Flashes, when not possesed by BL rings, are freshfaced and pure (like the cover), but still remain recognisably as drawn by Kolins. I think this is a great artistic trick.

I'm very disappointed in Boomer's actions.  I find it hard to square this Boomer with the one in Supergirl a while back.   I can see Boomer getting fucked up by his Dad returning from the dead.  I can see this making him confused, angry and hopeful and causing him to agree to feeding sex offenders to his Dad.  I can't see him feeding innocents to his Dad.

But aside from that, I thought this was a great mini, and probably the strongest one so far.

Jimmy Olsen

It's LGBT History month in the UK and someone recently pointed out to me that Jimmy Olsen rather enjoys dressing up in ladies clothes.  Here's the evidence.  Having not read alot of old Superman stories I wasn't aware of this, but as the linked site has scans up, I think I may go read them.

The website featuring these is the Transgender Graphic and Fiction archive.  The comics section is reasonable, and features Hawkwoman being body swapped, Superman being bodyswapped, and everybody's favourite, Gal Gardener.  Except I haven't read that story yet...

We're trying to celebrate LGBT history month over on New readers too... starting with me reviewing a yaoi title.

In which I get a bit annoyed

Cancelling 6 titles at the comic shop turned out to be be way more painful than I expected.  And now, I see that DC are promising all sorts of loveliness what with Blackest Night Green Arrow and Power Girl vs Wonder Woman.

I say Bah.

DC Entertainment

Geoff Johns is Chief Creative Officer.

Aww, yeah!

Diane Nelson, a woman, is President of DC Entertainment.

Will having a woman in charge solve all the sexism in the comics?  Will she singlehandedly and overnight change the working culture?  No and no.  Does she even want to?  I have no idea.

But, a woman in charge is good.  Baby steps folks, baby steps.

Blogging slowdown

I lost my job.  I am looking for another one but between here and New readers... blog stuff may have to slow down a bit.  Apart from anything else I'm gonna have to really cut my comics pull list, and that's the thing that gives me blog fodder!

Until I find new employment, of the ongoing monthlies, I will be reading only Supergirl and Red Robin.  It was actually a surprisingly easy choice and made within about 3 seconds.  I guess the other books aren't quite so vital after all!  I'll keep the minis and Blackest Night tie ins as they are all over in a month or so and it seems stupid to drop them with one or two issues to go.

With reference to New readers..., James will still be posting and I'll put up the odd thing, but it won't be regular.  So, this is another shout out for reviewers.  If you fancy writing something for the blog, be it a one off review or regular submissions, please email me on paicomics [@] yahoo dot co dot uk
Let me know what you'd like to review and either point me towards your blog or send me an example of your writing.

Thank you for your patience.

Reviews!

Spoilers ahead for Adventure Comics #7, GA/BC #29, Batgirl #7, Action Comics #886.  I know a month ago I said that I'd cancel Action and Adventure Comics,  and I did, but my shop orders books 2 months in advance so anything I do cancel takeas a little while to actually finish.  Having said that, it worked out quite well this month, as you shall see.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Adventure Comics #7
I really really liked this.  The storytelling devices worked really well, Krypto was brilliant ( I never thought I'd like Krypto but how he's been used in the last few years has really impressed me), the use of Connor's two bodies was good and the discovery that Connor now has all Superman's powers was satisfying.  Definitely worth getting.

GA/BC #29
Meh.  Cupid's restoration back to her normal self was boring and far too easily done.  I like mad Cupid but Carrie is dull as anything.  If we're lucky her 'babe' comment indictaes that ther eis still something of the old Cupid in her.  We now have a new villain - Hilt - who has a knife permanently stuck in his head.  Great idea, but to get rid of one villain and immediately create another seems sloppy. 

There's a completely unneccessary shot of Dinah's arse as she prepares to seduce Oliver - i'm happy with them being a sexual couple but there has to be other, non sexist, ways to frame sex scenes.  Well there are - Mike Grell's GA run did it perfectly.

Batgirl #7
I've got Batgirl #6 on order but still haven't decided whether to add this to my pull list or not.  There's some great bits in it but overall it doesn't truly delight me.  That might be because I read it during the world's crappest weekend leading to me being in a bloody awful mood and not reallt receptive to fuin light hearted stuff.  We'll see.

Action Comics #886
Now this surprised me!  This title is so up and down, but #886 was great.  We got to see Krypton's creation myth and learnt more about the Flamebird and Nightwing entities.  Plus there was a reveal about Jax-Ur.  Things have just got interesting.  But I'll still drop it after the next issue.

So, I hear Feb the 14th was somewhat special right?

Someone in my fine city seems to agree:

 

I think it's a statement fueled by zeal, and not bile.  What do you all reckon?

I'm not really one for celebrating Valentine's Day - it always seems a bit forced and crass to me.  Thankfully the boyfriend agrees.  We're both of the mindset that if you want to do something special, do it on an ordinary day and then it will mean more, because you didn't need prompting to do it.

Anyway, I hope you all had a good weekend.

Continuing the musical theme - Yo Be Young, Gifted and Black

Nina Simone does this beautifully:

To be young, gifted and black,
Oh what a lovely precious dream
To be young, gifted and black,
Open your heart to what I mean

In the whole world you know
There are billion boys and girls
Who are young, gifted and black,
And that's a fact!

You are young, gifted and black
We must begin to tell our young
There's a world waiting for you
This is a quest that's just begun

When you feel really low
Yeah, there's a great truth you should know
When you're young, gifted and black
Your soul's intact

Young, gifted and black
How I long to know the truth
There are times when I look back
And I am haunted by my youth

Oh but my joy of today
Is that we can all be proud to say
To be young, gifted and black
Is where it's at

Watch her perform it here.

She bathed herself in a bath of bleach

Working at home means I get to listen to lots of music, so today please familiarise yourself with the Manic Street Preachers She bathed herself in a bath of bleach, from their latest album, Journal for Plague Lovers:

She'd walk on broken glass for love
She thought burnt skin would please her lover
To keep love alive and lust beside
Kind people should never be treated like...

Empty arms and naked heart
Violence, a sad truth followed with a
Table for two, such a sweet delight
Whispers I love you my darling tonight

Love bathed her in a bath of bleach
I brought you here, no one else will
Don't hurt her anymore, stop now
But salmon pink skin memories took care of...

Empty arms and naked heart
Violence, a sad truth followed with a
A table for two - such a sweet delight
Whispers I love you my darling tonight

You can hear the song here (Youtube video).

The Lurkers' Wolverine

Been listening to my Lurkers live CD today.  Came across a song called Wolverine.  Anyone got the lyrics or know where I can find them?  I can never make out the words on songs.

ooh crumbs I missed a day

:o haven't done that in a long time.  It's cos I;ve been busy writing Valentine's reviews for New Readers...

Anyway, to make up for it here's some Batgirl scans I found on Scans Daily here:

 

 

And that shows why Batman is a knob, and why Oracle is awesome.  Cass really didn't deserve a father figure such as Bruce.

The Pope's visit to the UK later this year..

The F Word has an article up about it, cross posted here:

--------------------------------
The Catholic Church has contributed more than most to the oppression of women. Whether it’s the deaths of women in childbirth and of HIV / AIDS due to their commitment to preventing safer sex, or covering up the abuse of girl and boy children and protecting the abusers, they have consistently chosen paths which keep women controlled and ‘in their place’.
This is the church that ordered the excommunication of everyone involved in helping a 9 year old girl, who was pregnant with twins after being raped by her stepfather, to have an abortion. The church actively tried to prevent the termination, and when it failed it ordered that the child’s mother and the doctors involved be excommunicated. (Not the step-father, tellingly).

“If the B52 bombers flying over Vietnam were dropping contraceptives, the American Catholic hierarchy would have condemned that in a minute, but they were dropping napalm”
— James Carroll

The Pope has also been in the news this week for speaking out against the UK government’s equality policies, which would have required churches to stop discriminating against LGBT people. This is a man who, when he speaks, people listen. Just think what he could use his voice for. He could protest poverty, he could condemn domestic violence. But no, he speaks out against equality. Later this year, the Pope is planning a visit to Britain. Not only do I not want him here, I was really disgusted to hear that the £20 million cost of his visit will be paid for by public money. Just think how many Rape Crisis centres could be funded by that money!
The National Secular Society have started a petition to ask the Catholic Church itself to pay for the visit. As I write, it has 17,457 signatures, one of which is mine.
The Catholic Church, contrary to the guidance of many passages of the Bible, is a very rich institution. If this man, who played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, wants to come here, let him pay for it himself.
------------------------------------------

When he speaks out against UK equality leglislation, when he colludes in the abuse and oppression of UK women, his visit should not be paid for out of UK public money.  Particularly not when we're in a recession, particularly not when there are funding cuts made across all manner of sectors.  Please consider signing the petition.

I would recommend reading the comments, if it were not for the seemingly inevitable feminists vs religion bollocks that always seems to occur.  Surely it's not too difficult to accept that feminists can believe in deitys, right?

Tis the week of the romantic stuff, we're celebrating!

Well we are over at New readers... anyway.

This week will see lots of romance themed reviews going up.  This being a blog by James and I, the featured books will be less traditional boy meets girl, gets marrie, has lots of babies sort of thing, and more teenage ineptitude Japanese style, troubled lesbian relationships in 50s France, a bit of yaoi, some stories of Death and a Neil Gaiman inspired Gothic type story (my choice, don't want James getting the blame for an incongruous suggestion).

Check back tomorrow morning for a suggestion of books to buy, or if you can't wait that long, go to the romance themed tags.  Then check back later in the week as more and more reviews go up.

Some excellent Supergirl moments

(Pictures pilfered from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary)

 

I just think this is a really nice picture, nicely composed, good colours and engaging.

But this next scan, this has become one of my favourite ever Supergirl moments:

(Hope it's big enough to see).  Earlier on in the comic Damian called Steph Fatgirl, now Kara has heard about it and is bawling him out for it.  As I said in the comments section on Anj's blog, I think this shows Kara as a great role model for younger readers and demonstrates that strength comes from sources other than raw physical power.  Kara picking up on the fat comment makes her a wonderful spokeswoman for young girls and I thoroughly applaud the inclusion of that scene.

If I didn't already have a banner for this blog I would use that scene.  Sadly, I don't think it's quite suitable for New readers.. so I've done a post about it instead.  Enjoy.

(Both images from number 4 of the World's Finest 4 issue mini series, out last week).

Buffy's a fucking superhero!

Yeah I don't hold with not swearing.  Spoilers ahead for Superman: World of New Krypton #12 (last one! sob), Red Robin #9 (still so very good), Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 (some wtfery moments there), The Question: Blackest Night #37 (resurrected title) (surprisingly quality), Buffy the Vampire Slayer #32 (this was so written for comics nerds, I loved it).
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Superman: World of New Krypton #12
Oh my lord, this finally finished.  I feel all sad now.  Once Blackest Night, Flash Rebirth and Cry for Justice is over I'll only be getting 8 titles a month.  :o  How bizzare.  Anyway, onto the review!

We find out who is behind the shootings on New Krypton.  The story was going really well until this point.  Then it seemed that this guy was made to be the villain purely to test Kal's faith in Kryptonity (like humanity, but with Kryptonians, I'm not sure what the correct grammatical form would be, help me out if you know).  It felt rather shoehorned in and wasn't remotely neccessary to the plot.  I mean, I know we've now got another link with General Lane established, but we already know he had links on Krypton, and personally, I think Zod's been chatting up Lane anyway.

Given the final cliffhanger is Brainiac coming back and threatening New Krypton, the inclusion of the traitor felt badly delivered and badly handled.  A shame, as otherwise I have really enjoyed this series.


Red Robin #9
Oh Timmy!  He's happy again!  He hugged Kon, he talked about Bart and he has a crush on Tam!  Oh i've missed happy Tim, angsty Tim is understandable and wasn't so bad, but it looks like we'll soon have the old team back!  :D :D :D  Second most enjoyable comic of the week.  And crossing over with the next Batgirl issue, so I think I will actually add Batgirl to my pull list.  I've missed the last issue but I should be able to get hold of a copy.


Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3
Still in a fucking stupid costume, but that doesn't stop her being all serene and majestic.  I like Diana.  She's very calm when she's taking out the Black Lanterns.  So, Di tries to save Mera from the Red ring and they share a glimpse into each other's psyche where it is revealed that Diana actually loves Batman.  Hmm.  Seems I was wrong when I said she was just being friendly with the kiss.  I wonder if she loves Green Arrow too?  I have no clue what Mera's big secret is, the art showed us nothing.


The Question: Blackest Night #37 (resurrected title)
As I said, surprisingly good.  It's Renee vs Shiva vs Black Lanterns.  It's always a trreat to see Shiva.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #32
Best of the week, by a mile.  Buffy gets fucking superpowers!  Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and flying like a bird sort of superpowers.  No heat vision though, or phasing, or teleportation, or adamantium claws, or solving mysteries (wait that's not a power), or web spinning, or armour building.

Why yes, Xander asked abotu every single one of those.  C'mon, admit it, you'd all do the same if a friend of yours got superpowers.  Plus, there's a Goonies joke, a Superman movie reference, a Joshua reference (which I really don't understand), and Warren has built a machine from a DC comic!  A Simonson deisgn, an X-Men/TT crossover (I think they threw X-Men in for copyright reasons), and they talk about Darkseid.  To me, it looks like the machine from the 1st crisis.

Oh and Buffy's got her powers because lots of Slayers who are dying and she's inheriting their strength etc.  Which is taken right from the Straczynski Power comics.

So this comic nerd very much enjoyed this issue.  It was all about the superhero tropes and it was fantastic.  Oh, ansd go read this review for more nerdy squealing.

Singalong with me now...

Nina Simone..Aint' Got No/I Got Life..

I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, aint' got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no beer
Ain't got no man

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got not friends, ain't got no shcooling
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God

Then what have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got
Nobody can take away

Got my hair, got my head
Got my brains, got my ears
Got my eyes, got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile

I got my tongue, got my chin
Got my neck, got my boobs
Got my heart, got my soul
Got my back, I got my sex

I got my arms, got my hands
Got my fingers, got my legs
Got my feet, got my toes
Got my liver, got my blood

I've got life
I've got my freedom
I've got life

I've got life
And I'm gonna keep it
I've got life
And nobody's gonna take it away

Fantastic Fangirls Comic Book Awards Nominees!

Fantastic Fangirls are doing a comics awards type thing.  Here are the options:
--------------------------------------

In the category Best Character in a Supporting Role, Male the nominees are:

Colonel Kane in Detective Comics
Ken Hale/Gorilla Man in Agents of Atlas
Luke Cage in New Avengers
Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Ms. Marvel
Ragdoll in Secret Six


In the category Best Character in a Supporting Role, Female we had a tie so there are six nominees. The lovely supporting ladies are:

Barbara Gordon/Oracle in Batgirl
Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel in New Avengers
Jessica Jones/Jewel in New Avengers
Karla Sofen/Ms. Marvel in Dark Avengers
Layla Miller in X-Factor
Pepper Potts in Invincible Iron Man


Next, in the category Best Character in a Leading Role, Male the nominees are:

Conner Kent/Kon-El/Superboy in Adventure Comics
James Barnes/Captain America in Captain America
Jimmy Woo in Agents of Atlas
Norman Osborn/Iron Patriot in Dark Avengers
Tony Stark/Iron Man in Invincible Iron Man

Okay the last list of individuals, Best Character in a Leading Role, Female. The nominees are:

Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird in New Avengers: Reunion
Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman in Spider-Woman
Kate Kane/Batwoman in Detective Comics
Rikki Barnes/Nomad in Nomad: Girl Without a World
Stephanie Brown/Batgirl in Batgirl

In the category of Best Ensemble, the nominees are:

Agents of Atlas
Dark Avengers
Green Lantern Corps
Invincible Iron Man
New Avengers
New Mutants
Secret Six
X-Factor
-----------------------------------
Details of how to vore are on their post, linked above.  Looks like fun!  Of course, I only read DC which cuts down my choices a lot..

Meanings of the Corps' ring colours

I've been thinking, is there a traditional significance somewhere to green equalling will, blue equalling hope,
orange equalling avarice and indigo equalling compassion?

I understand the link between pink and love, red and rage, yellow and fear and black and death, but I'm not certain of the link for the other colours.

Were green/blue/orange/indigo plucked out of the air and randomley assigned meanings or was it more deliberate than that?  Does anyone know?

I'd imagine that green was picked for will purely because back in the 50s (or whenever) someone thought it would make a good costume.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

I recently got the 2 GL/GA trades that are available.  I forgot how hilarious they are - for a start, within 3 pages of trade number 1 Hal gets hit on the head.  Then there is his general stupidity, Ollie's propensity to call everyone in authority a Nazi, the inclusion of an actual Nazi, and the fact that Ollie is a massive dick.  Having said that I might be finding it so funny because I know the characters.

Anyway here's some scans from that era (but not neccessarily from the 2 trades).

Firstly, Ollie is a dick.  This scene takes places just after he has discovered his ward is a smackhead.  Roy by this point has kicked his habit - with Dinah's help since Ollie marched off in a snit - punched Ollie, and told him that the reason he became a junkie was cos Ollie was ignoring him and he felt all alone, let down and depressed.  And he wants nothing more to do with Ollie.
 

That is not an appropriate reaction!

But it's ok, he's not just a dick to Roy:

That's his future wife!

Oh, and the Guardian lie:

Pah.

It seems stupidity runs in Hal's family.  The guy on the left is Sonar Airwave, Hal's cousin.

So I wasn't surprised when Ollie appeared disbelieving of Hal's reasoning faculties:

Dinah appears fed up with the lot of them:

The woman isn't her by the way, I think it's Katma Tui.  Anyway...

That's no reason to to dress for combat:

Running? In the ice?  In those heels?  Oh no no no.  This won't do at all.


And if you fancy more Green Arrow/Black Canary goodness, with a few Green Lanterns thrown in, head over to New readers... and read my gushing review of the GA/BC For Better or For Worse trade.  Then go buy it.  Because it's ace.  And it has one of the nicest feeling covers I've come across on a comic.  Bibliophiles will get what I mean.

Flying Death Toys. Perfect.

Spoilers ahead for: Teen Titans #79, Blackest Night: JSA #2, The Atom and Hawkman: Blackest Night # 46 (resurrected title), Green Lantern: Blackest Night #50, Gotham City Sirens #8, World's Finest #4, Cry for Justice #6 and Supergirl #49
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Teen Titans #79
Really crap art.  Half the time Static looks female.  The dialogue and pacing was weird - sometimes it felt like we were misisng a scene or two.  Rose's back up story was ok, but I've read better.  On the other hand, it may just be that i was disillusioned due to the mains tory.
I really hope this improves, I love the Teen Titans and don't want to drop the title but so far Henderson's issues have been somewhat underwhelming.

Blackest Night: JSA #2
This isn't one of the better minis.  Regarding the art, the faces are good but the bodies are weird and I don't want to think about what they've done to poor Peej's breasts to make them stay in that top.  Oh, my world for a scanner.

I think my main problem with this mini is I have no feelings towards most of the characters, and this is a book for people who care about the characters.  It's not something for new readers to jump in on.  Which is what I am, at least in terms of the JSA.  Still, DC are getting my (completist, nerdy) money so I don't really have cause to complain!



The Atom and Hawkman: Blackest Night # 46 (resurrected title)
Love the cover.  Love Ray's new costume.  I'm really interested in a Corps centred around Compassion and I've been wanting to learn more about them, and I loved the panel of Ray riding a frog (anyone put this up online or seen it anywhere?).  We are promised such a lot by the end of the issue, I am, again, left wanting more.

Green Lantern: Blackest Night #50
Oooh, svenes of violence and carnage!  Wonder Woman is still in that fucking ridiculous costume, but at least she's muscled.  Can't believe I'm reduced to saying that.  Mera is simply wonderful as a Red Lantern.  In fact, we get to see all the new Corps deputies and oh are they ever so suited to the roles!

And THEN!  It's Hal vs the Spectre.  The Spectre tries to eat 2 Guardians.
So THEN! Hal Hammers half the Spectre's face off!
And THEN!  Hal merges wiuth Parallax!  And we get a lovely 2 page spread of Parallax, all delivered in yellow, of course.
And NOW! It's Parallax vs the Spectre!  Woo hoo!


Gotham City Sirens #8
This had a lot in common with the Ivy tale in the Batman 80 Page Giant.  I have a lot of sympathy for Ivy.  Her motives are of value but unfortunately her methods are, to put it mildly, flawed.

A good issue.  Well paced, well told and with good art.


World's Finest #4
Last issue was a bit rubbish, this is now sorted out.  We still have Steph and kara, and Kara had a heart tingling scene (to me, anyway) where she yelled at Damian telling him why he shouldn't call people fat.  This is because he'd called Steph fat earlier.  This makes Kara a), a good friend, and b) a good person.  Anyway, if I didn't already have a blog banner, that panel would be it.

Much like Gotham City Sirens, this is well paced, well told and an enjoyable read with some stellar moments - Kara's fat talk and Batman's  encounter with 'flying death toys', to be specific.  We end with a nice lead in to this year's Krypton crossover.  Most of which I won't be buying.  The main title I will purchase, but I've just cancelled Action and Adventure Comics, and won't be buying this 3 parter that's coming out shortly.  Although I'll probably get the main maxi series.

Because I don't want to end on a down note, I shall talk about Cry for Justice #6 next.
There was a change of artist in this issue, but one who has a very similar style to the regular guy.  he draws a very captivating Kara and a ridiculous Zatanna (stockings? please.)

Kara is bright enough to figure out who the villain is, then gets dispatched really easily, much like the rest of the heroes.  Donna gets cruxified to the wall by Prometheus, then rips herself off the wall, takes an arrow in the leg, drags herself to Prometheus and proceeds to be the only one who can beat him down and defeat him.

Seeing Donna, a woman, an Amazon and a second leaguer, save the day in such a manner gave me a little (big) thrill.

At the end of the book Robinson acknowledges that his characters have cried Justice! a lot but stops short of an apology.  He also claims he has done something new within this mini.  I disagree.  Reading this issue in particular gave me a sense of deja vu, and reading the series as a whole has reminded me of Justice League Elite.

Supergirl #49

I bloody knew it!  Lana is the new Insect Queen!  I feel triumphant.  In other news, Kara's defeat of the Banshee was handled well and gave her a chance to shine.  Overall, this issue flowed better than # 48, and felt, again, like a Kara centric issue.  Next issue is #50, and Cliff Chiang is providing pencils for one story!  Hurrah!

Trucks in orbit

You'd think someone official would notice and would put two and two together.

A bum shot, for Sally.

Imbolc!

Today and tomorrow is the festival of Imbolc.  It's the first signs of Spring, we've got snowdrops appearing, the lambing season is starting (allegedly, altho I find this very difficult to believe), and the long winter is beginning to end.  To celebrate, I shall be eating ewe's milk cheese on crackers, lamb and dunpling stew, and hopefully some sort of honey or apple cake.  The green is coming back, bring on the sun!  Now to find some candles..

If you want to find out more, look here, here and here.