Super Silly Sunday

I can only only assume that marriage = death.

And check out Nasty spying on Supergirl! Lols!

Adventure Comics 406.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Wonder Woman 146.  This wasn't the greatest run, artwise, but gave us kick ass scenes like thhis!

Lois Lane through the years #womenoncomics

Ok, so inspired by the Women Write About Comics blog carnival I decided I was gonna write a proper blog post.  With lots of words and thoughts and everything.  I haven't written one of them in a while, so let's see how this goes.

OK, as I was putting together last week's post about a history of the superpant I thought gee whiz*, I wonder what a retrospective of the Lois' would look like?  It would be interesting huh?  I wonder how much the styles would change over the years, cos we know they've changed a lot in the comics.  And y'know, as Lois is the most recognisable female figure, aside from Wonder Woman, from comics (any comics), it sure would be interesting to see how the decades changed their interpretation of her.  Right?  Right.  Course it would be interesting.

I thought about doing a retrospective from the comics, but seeing as how thousands of people must have drawn her over the years, that would be nigh on impossible to of.  Por exempla:

About all you can say is that she's usually in a suit of some sort, when she's working.  But even that's not a hard and fast rule.  So I decided I'd stick with looking at the on-screen appearances, by real actors.

One short google search later and I was a bit depressed.  This was the only retrospective type picture I could find:

Talk about the male gaze!  I don't think that Teri Hatcher pic is even from Lois & Clark and Dana Delaney did the voice for Lois in a cartoon, she never played her on screen (pedant alert...pedant alert..).
Anyway, I asked around on twitter for other retrospectives (because my google search skills seem to be abysmal) and @jimmymcg found a good one for me.

(at least i think Jimmy found it for me.  if someone else found it, let me know and I'll credit you).
Top row, left to right is:
Phyllis Coates (Adventures of Superman), Margot Kidder (Superman films), Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns)
Bottom row, left to right is:
Erica Durance (Smallville), Noelle Neill (Movie serials and Adventures of Superman), Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark)

Now, how can I compare these?  They are all in suits, they all look professional.  Erm, they are very much of their eras?  Teri Hatcher is all 90s lines and power dressing.  Check out the bob!  It's interesting that Bosworth has glasses - did the movie makers decide they needed to give her a sense of intellectualism?  or seriousness?  That's usually what's conveyed by glasses, at least in American movie land.
It's definitely a more respectful retrospective than the first one in this post.

Women's fashion changes so much more than men's.  There's so much more nuance and detail that goes into women's fashions.  So many different things  women can do - haircut, hair colour, hair style, make-up, shirts, skirts, hats, necklaces, high heels, ballet flats, wedges, earrings, low necklines, high necklines, the list is endless.  Within each bracket there is so much choice.  So many indicators that women can choose to display.  I know that in theory men have the same range of choices, but truly, they don't.  Go compare the range of men's shoes in any department store with the range of women's shoes.  The men's range is tiny.

Anyway, to bring me back to the point, Superman has one costume.  Details change, like the size of the S shield, the height of the pants, the specific shade of the suit, but it is always recognisable as the super suit.  Even on Smallville, when that Clark didn't suit up until the very final episode ever, he always wore a combination of red and blue that signified him as different from the other characters.

Lois doesn't have that.  In the comics she is recognisable by her dark hair, you contrast her with the other characters, but you mostly recognise her from her dark hair.  In the movies, or the TV shows, it's different.  these things build a Lois that is recognisable through attitude, language and relationships with other characters.  But as to how she looks? That is utterly dependent on the era in which she is being portrayed.

For me, Margot Kidder will always be my favourite Lois, closely followed by Erica Durance.  Yet they don't have a lot in common.  Kidder is more dreamy, Durance is more fun and plucky.   Even looking at the pictures from the above scan, they don't really have a lot in common.  Aside from being pretty.

Oh, I can't compare these images of Lois!  Instead, i shall give you some other retrospectives of Lois, stolen from a Livenjournal post by verogeller, titled 'Picspam: Lois Lane, my favourite character - Superman mythology':

Lois Lane: You are my favourite non powered superhero!

* not really. I never say gee whiz.  or good golly miss molly.

This week's comics

So reading through them I was sure I had lots to say.  Now looking at my laptop with it's big empty screen i'm at a loss about what i'm to say.

*leafs through comics*

Young Justice 12.  This was more interesting than previous ones, but still, I think I'll give it up.  The humour seems to be missing and whenever I'm reminded that it's Dick not Tim, and Wally not Bart, I'm disappointed.
I'm also disappointed that Jackson isn't back in the mainstream DCU yet.  Yep, always dissapointed, that's me.

Birds of Prey 5
Ugh this cover nearly put me off reading any comics this week.

Ugh ugh ugh.  But when I sat down to read the issue, it was actually pretty darn good.  And Starling is gay.  She must be.  Gay and likes a drink. My sort of gal.  There was a couple of nice slashy panels between Babs and Dinah too, so that's nice.  I am (again) dissappointed to realise that Dinah is not with ollie, and apparently has never been with Ollie, if I read the subtext right.  This saddens me.  But I'll get over it if I can see their relationship develop.
BoP is one of the consistently good ones.  A bit more quality control on the cover art and I'd be a happy lady.

Supergirl 5
This title doesn't really seem to be doing a lot, but it sure is pretty.  It's all origin, and confusion, and Kara.  All Kara, even when there's other people around.  Definitely pretty though.

Wonder Woman 5
No Chiang on this issue, but no matter.  Imitation Chiang is brought in instead, and he draws a luvverly Poseidon.  I do appreciate how they've designed the Gods in this run.  It's completely unexpected, but so good.  I'm curious as to why Hades has been given a flaming head, but I'm sure it will come to me soon.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man  6
This was going great guns until lil Miles started worrying about his apparent 'criminal gene'.  I'm a leetle bored of this trope now.  I've seen it done over and over in Superboy (any title) and I think comic writers coudl really do with giving it a rest.
That aside, the rest of the issue was fine, and the new artist was good.

I see we have a Batman 5 in the house too, but I won't read or review that, because Batman sucks.

Super Silly Sunday

Supes must have been hanging out with Batman for too long.  Nothing else can explain the negative outlook, right?

From Adventure Comics 393.

Jay Garrick outfit

I'm putting together a Jay Garrick outfit for the London Super Comic con.  Here's my preliminary post about it.

The costs
T-shirt - already owned, as a birthday present.
The boots - bought from ebay for £2.42 plus £2,50 postage.
The jeans - bought from New Look for £25.99
The hat - bought from ebay for £9.95 plus £3.75 postage.
The spray paint for the hat - £4.55, from a local DIY shop.
The primer, to prepare the hat for the spray - £8.53
The fimo - to make the wings, £4.30 from a craft shop
The acrylic gold paint - to paint the wings, £1,75, from a craft shop.
Gold feather charms - for general decoration, bought from ebay, £0.99 plus £0.85 postage.  I'm not sure how I'm gonna use these yet.  We'll see. I could attach one each to the boots, cos I'm certainly not planning to do fancy wings for the boots.

Anyway, here's the stuff for the hat, as gathered so far.

I will put up in progress posts and pictures, as well as showing the completed thing.  I am picking the jeans up on Thursday, but probably won't start putting things together for a couple of weeks.

I've also just realised I don't have a belt yet..hmm..  I'm not sure if the jeans have belt loops at the top.  I may need to get even more crafty.  This could be a problem, because I am not by nature a crafty person..

Anyway.  If you go to the con and see a Jay Garrick around, it will probably be me.  So come and say hi!

Gender bent Justice League

Artwork of that group of cosplayers that turned up last year (or the year before?) on the America con circuit.  Simply fabulous.

It's by Yasmin Liang.

Reynard City are looking for sponsorship

I think I've talked before about Reynard City, a webcomic run by a friend of mine.  They are currently developing a game and a tv pilot, as well as putting out roughly bi-monthly webcomics.  Reynard City nurtures new talent and sales of merchandise bring in cash for the artists.  It's written by a fella named Will turner, and he's gotta be one of the hardest working folk I know.  They'll be at MCM Expo in May, along with another webcomic's team - DeathBoy.

Anyway RC are now offering advertising in the comics.  Not like DC's advertising, I hasten to add.  Here's the info from their site:
 -------------------

In order to pay our artists and provide the best quality we need sponsorship. You may have already seen our website sponsorship options at www.reynardcity.com/advertise  However we are aware that you want the best promotion for your money, so we have decided to extend the range of options available to you so you can decide what is best for your promotional needs.

In addition to our existing sponsorship packages we have decided to add the option to sponsor specific issues. You can either add your link to the front page where people download the issue or you can add full page adverts to a new one (ideal if you are promoting a book or webcomic!)
There are various ways you could benefit from this
* Include sample pages or teasers from upcoming issues of your comic
* Get more comissions as an artist or writer by paying for an advert for your services
* Promote your company on the front of the latest issue

(Please note- prices are quoted in pound sterling. Other currencies are available. Payment can be made via Paypal or cheque. For more information regarding content rules or any other questions please contact reynardcity@gmail.com)

Issue description page sponsorship= £25
 Full page adverts= £25 for one page, £50 for three pages, £75 for five pages

-------------------
I wanted to post this in case anyone reading was interested in advertising, or if they knew anyone interested in advertising in it.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Why can't she have armour like this every day?
From issue 146.

The history of the Superpant

I found this image a while ago on The Daily P.O.P:

It tickles me.  I have it as my desktop now and every time I look at it I'm fascinated by the differing pants.
They start off really high on Kirk, pretty much up to his ribcage, and gradually, gradually lower until we get Brandon Routh's small briefs.
What surprises me is the cut of Dean Cain's pants - they are really high above the legs, higher than those of the previous 3 actors.

Then there's the stances of the men.  I guess they've each been picked for their iconic nature, but it's interesting to see how each one holds themselves next to the other.  I admit I've never seen Kirk Alyn's or George Reeves Superman, but I do know the other ones, and those stances seem pretty representative of the character to me.  Well, not Tom Welling's, but the Smallville universe didn't have much resemblance to the DCU proper.









If I then look at the colours of each suit, and the S shield is designed, well, I'm left agog.

I find this such a fascinating image.  I wonder if there's an equivalent one for the many Lois'?

For the record, Christopher Reeve is, and always wil be, my favourite Superman.

#Spartacusreport : challenging the government

Over 2011 a group of disability activists got together and decided to challenge the government's welfare system reforms.

Headed by Sue Marsh, blogging on Diary of a Benefit Scrounger and tweeting on @suey2y, and by BendyGirl, blogging at Benefit Scrounging Scum, they conducted interviews, researched the meanings of the proposed reforms, analysed the data and developed conclusions on the proposed changes.  This was all pulled together into a document titled Responsible Reform and launched last Monday.  The twitter hashtag is #spartacusreport.

Before Christmas, Sue found out her application for DLA had been rejected.  Instead of appealing that, she elected to continue working on the report.  Several activists involved with the report made themselves ill and ended up in hospital, because of the workload.  These activists are all sick or disabled themselves.  The reforms will directly affect them.

There wasn't much national media coverage on the Monday, or the Tuesday.  Despite the fact that national organisations such as Mind, The Papworth Trust, Scope and United Response support the report.

But on Friday Sue Marsh went on Newsnight, with Chris Grayling, Employment Adviser to debate the Thursday night discussion in the House of Lords.

This is a victory for grassroots activism, and a victory for the cause itself.  It is amazing what these activists have done, and it amazing (in a very different way) what the government is trying to do.

Mega mega kudos to Sue and her colleagues.  Take a gander at the links, especially if you live in the UK.  I reckon most people who don't have direct personal experience of sickness or disability won't understand the implications of the proposed reforms.  Why would you?  But they ain't good.  They are being proposed purely to save money. 

This government is placing a greater importance on saving money than on providing a decent quality of life and standard of living to it's citizens.

This government thinks money is more important than people.

"...And that's what your holy men discuss, is it?" [asked Granny Weatherwax.]

"Not usually. There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment on the nature of sin. for example." [answered Mightily Oats.]

"And what do they think? Against it, are they?"

"It's not as simple as that. It's not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of grey."

"Nope."

"Pardon?"

"There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."

"It's a lot more complicated than that--"

"No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts."

"Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--"

"But they starts with thinking about people as things..."

--from Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett.

Super Silly Sunday

So I;ve been reading old Supergirl comics.  Adventure Comics when Supergirl was the lead, to be precise, and there's a lot of awful silly stuff in there.  I feel a bit mean posting scans from it, because I didn't want to mock my favourite superheroine, but there's just so much fun there!  I have not laughed out loud, for so long, so genuinely in a very long time.  So let's start with one scan today.

 From Adventure Comics 382.  Somgs from Fantasia run through my head when I see this.

Gaymazing Tim/Con slash

By Colours07 on DeviantArt, here (might be worth clicking through to a larger version if this one isn't clear enough).

Love it.

ASN January update

As usual. Here's the latest update from the Abortion Support Network:

Welcome to your ASN eBulletin. A new year brings new challenges – and a newly formatted eBulletin. We’re looking for hosts near to our clinics. We give thanks to all our supporters, who have enabled us to help many women. Keep in touch!

• New Year – new challenges
• New Look
• Seeking hosts near to our clinics
• Thank you thank you thank you!
• Women we’ve helped
• What these stories don’t tell
• Keep in touch

New Year – new challenges
 2012 is here and with it another year of trying to help women who desperately need support. As we enter our third year, we are experiencing significant growth. Between our first and second years, we tripled the number of women we heard from and the amount of funding we provided, and it looks like we’re on track to grow at the same exponential rate this year. As an all-volunteer organisation, we are faced with the ever more complicated juggling act between managing the increase in calls and the time constraints which result from having a staff that, by nature of not getting paid to work for ASN, need to fit their ASN duties around paid work and family commitments. As we continue to grow, we will do our very best to adapt ASN in whichever ways necessary to maintain our levels of service.
 New Look
 Like the new look of our eBulletin? Big ASN thanks to our long-time supporter and new volunteer Anna, who is designing the eBulletin from abroad. Would you like to volunteer with ASN? We’re  . . .
 Seeking volunteer hosts and fundraisers
 Hosts
ASN has experienced an increase in requests for housing, particularly near the clinics that provide abortion to 24 weeks - Richmond, Ealing, Streatham,Brixton and Bristol. Have a spare room, pull out sofa, or air mattress and the desire to host a woman in need? Get in touch, and please pass the word along to any pro-choice friends who live near these clinics.

Fundraisers
Host a film screening, ask your pro choice friends to make a £2 Standing Order towards our £1000 campaign, help plan an ASN event, or create something of your own. For inspiration, check out our Fundraising Toolkit.
 Thank you thank you thank you!
 ASN would not exist without the generous donations of individual supporters and unwavering commitment of our amazing volunteers.  Thank you again for all your support. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to provide accommodation, financial assistance, and confidential, non-judgemental information to the women in difficult circumstances who have contacted us.
 Women we’ve helped
 In December, ASN heard from 27 women. We are immensely grateful to all of you who enable us to help such women.
 * A mother of two pregnant by the violent ex-partner that she had only recently been able to leave
*  A single mother who was short £100 for her abortion despite returning the majority of the Christmas presents she had bought for her children
 * A young student who found out she was further into her pregnancy than she thought, which made the procedure more expensive. She and her boyfriend were able to come up with £600 * towards the cost of the procedure and the flights; ASN was able to make up the £100 shortfall.
* A single mother unable to tell anyone but one friend. Her ex takes the kids sometimes but she can't tell him what's going on and it’s hard for her to use the internet or speak on the phone as she has two older boys who she doesn’t want to know what is going on.
* A single mother of two, pregnant as the result of rape. She thought an abortion would be around £300 and spent four months saving up, only to be told that at her gestation, the abortion would cost more than £1,000.
 * A married couple who found out at 20 weeks gestation that their foetus had catastrophic foetal anomalies. Between his sporadic work and her freelancing they were able to manage less than 20% of the funds required for travel and cost of procedure.
 * A young couple with a disabled child. They did everything they could not to get pregnant but did anyway. They are terrified of passing this defect to another child but have only been able to raise a portion of the funds. They are not able to tell their parents as there would be pressure to keep the pregnancy.
 

A woman we couldn’t help
* A non-Irish woman who found out her wanted pregnancy had severe foetal anomalies with no chance of survival after birth. She and her partner agonised over the decision to terminate and in the end decided that termination is the best option for them. However, as a non-citizen she was not able to travel to England.
 
We thank these men and women from allowing us to share their stories. PLEASE NOTE: All amounts are in £GBP as this is the currency ASN gives grants in. It does not indicate the country of origin of the women on the case.
 What these stories don’t tell
 These stories, which we strip of identifying details and boil down into bite-sized case studies, are often heart-rending and seldom straight forward. These case studies can’t capture how lost, angry, overwhelmed or scared some of the women who contact us sometimes are. They don’t describe the intricacies of cases that sometimes have our phone coordinators on the phone for several hours for one case – women who have never travelled or booked tickets online, women without credit cards, women who think they can raise one amount of money but call us last minute to let us know they have far less, women without passports, women who have health problems which make abortion in a clinic setting impossible, women who think they are at one gestation and arrive to find they are in a far higher price bracket.

Let’s give another round of applause for the fabulous ASN phone team for taking these calls, the other volunteers who keep ASN ticking along, the donors who enable us to be a help to these women, and to the clinics and referring agencies who make sure that these women receive the care they need.
 Keep in Touch
 Are you one of the more than 733 people who follow us on Twitter? If not, sign up now! Have a friend who would be interested in receiving this newsletter? Forward this to them and encourage them to visit www.abortionsupport.org.uk to sign up to receive our monthly eBulletin.

 With best regards

Abortion Support Network

 +44 (0) 7897 611 593info@abortionsupport.org.uk
www.abortionsupport.org.uk
Charity Number 1142120

 Abortion Support Network (ASN) is an all-volunteer charity that provides accommodation, financial assistance and confidential, non-judgemental information to women forced to travel from Ireland and pay privately for abortions in England. The cost ranges between £400 and £2000 depending on circumstance and stage of pregnancy. While other organisations campaign for law reform, ASN is the only group on record providing women travelling for abortions with the thing they need the most: money.

ASN is now a charity! Registered Charity Number 1142120

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Philosophical Wondy! (issue 146)

Super Silly Sunday

Locking cousins in fortresses, banishing them to orphanages...poor old Kara.

Adventure Comics 384.

Aaaaannd we have a Norwich hero!

Woop woop, I just read Demon Knights #1 and discovered that Jason Blood is from Norwich!
But where is Norwich I hear you (Americans, and probably some British) cry? Well, it is literally in the arse end of England.

Mainland Britain can be understood as a witch riding a pig. Et voila:

Norwich is in the witch's bum.

Now, Norwich is generally known for:
Delia Smith - a middle aged cooking personality who is doing her best to teach the country to cook, and has been doing so for much longer than Jamie Oliver,  She's like your mum, and not very cool.  She also once embarrassed herself at a local football match, by yelling, "Lets be 'aving you"
Norwich City Football Club - they aren't, on the whole, very good.  Although I think they are in one of the higher leagues now.  They known as the Canaries, after the large number of Canaries we had in the late 19th century, brought over by Dutch settlers.
Age - Norwich is the oldest medieval city in England.
Viciousness - Norwich burnt the highest number of witches in the witch trials
Alan Partridge - a fictional radio DJ.  The least cool person in England.

Add to this we are generally mocked for being rural, inbred farmers, you can see that it's difficult getting the city recognised.  Ignore the fact that it's really cool, has a strong alternative, independent shop, arty, cultural, ethos.  To the outside world, apparently we're just a bunch of slacked jawed yokels.

ANYWAY.
In Demon Knights #1 Paul Cornell made Jason Blood from Norwich, woop woop!  My lovely city got namechecked in an American, international publication.  I is dead chuffed.  The rest of the comic is pretty good too.  Very British.  Lots of British language - my arse, quiet pint, bollocks, etc.  And a dragon being thrown at the heroes.

I recommend it.  Muchly.  Gonna go buy the rest of the issues from Comixology now.

EDIT: I asked Paul Cornell on twitter why he chose Norwich for Jason.  his answer was that 'I like to share out the geography'. Ace.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

And this is why I love her so much.  From Wonder Woman v2, 144.

Super Silly Sunday

*Guffaws in laughter*
They do not tell them like this anymore.  Visual humour.  I see it in manga a lot, but not in many superhero comics.  I love this run.  It should be traded.

Happy new year everybody!

Adventure Comics 391.