Happy pancake day!

To celebrate, witness Green Arrow the second:

Them Green Arrows are good cooks.

As a bonus, witness this:

No idea where this second one is from - anyone know?  

In defence of Cry For Justice

Caution - big spoilers ahead.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I decided to re-read it the other day, for the humour.  And then I realised something, so many bloggers talk about it like it's absolute crap, but that's not a particularly accurate representation of it.

I admit, when I first read it I found the first few issues hilarious.  The dialogue and the narration seemed quite, quite funny, and not intentionally so.  On a re-read, with the benefit of hindsight and having had time to mull it over, I can see more nuances in it that I didn't see before.

Some of the narration in the first couple of issues if pretty dire, especially that around Congorilla and Mik.  The dialogue, on the other hand shows real wit and a deft handling of (some of) the characters.  A lot of it is banter - teasing between friends, mocking each other, being comfortable with each other.  It seems to me to portray a group of people who are comfortable in themselves and with each other and have the confidence within them to speak as they see fit.  A lot of the dialogue is very natural.  It showed to me how Robinson could be really really good, and probably was in Starman.

Ollie's repetition of 'Oh Boy' in issue number 1 seems real, as does Dinah's reaction to him.  What doesn't fit later on is when Ollie tells Dinah 'Pretty bird..you've just turned real ugly' because Dinah told him off for running off with Hal.  I don't think Ollie should be that cruel and petulant.

There are still things I don't like - Ray Palmer using torture, the killing and skinning of the Tasmanian Devil, Roy's maiming and Lian's death (which wasn't fully explored and was, I still feel, dealt with badly).  Ollie and Hal deciding to go on another walkabout also didn't make a lick of sense, especially Ollie.  To reconcile this in my head I think I shall have to believe that Ollie has been pining for the old days and has wanted to do something different and juvenile, so Hal's offer came along at just the right time.

I am pleased by Kara's detective powers in the series, not just as a Kara fan but also because It would seem to complement and back up her science training as seen in her own book.  I am not best pleased by her crying as soon as Hal questioned her motives - that seemed bizarre.  Although possibly it could have been improved with a different artist - imagine her being shown to be crying tears of frustration instead of sorrow.  Compare this with Kara's developing crush on Freddie which was nicely handled.

The other thing which impressed me as much as it did the first time, was Donna saving the day.  Despite being crucified to a wall, despite being shot in the leg with an arrow, the way she barrelled through there and took Prometheus down took my breath away.  That is the single most impressive thing I have seen Donna do, and it was joyous.  It gave me new respect for her as a character.

The last couple of things to mention about the plot (and then I will move onto the art) is that on a re-read, with knowledge of the new Justice League about to be formed, this story makes a lot more sense.  You can see why and how things were set up the way they were and it feels more satisfying when you know where it will lead.

Then there's Ollie killing of Prometheus - I wrote at the time this issue came out that this did seem in character for Ollie.  In his own book he'd been getting darker and more savage for a long time.  I didn't particularly like this new direction, I prefer a happier, confident more carefree Ollie, but we got some good stories out of it and I continued to read and enjoy it.  On re-read, I still think that this is in character for him, as he was being written at the time.

Now, the art.  I think this book would have been very much improved (for myself), with a different artist(s).

Mauro Cascioli does paint some very pretty pictures, but there's not a lot of movement in them.  It's static  - each panel looks like a snapshot.  I prefer my comic art to have an air of movement about it.  He also doesn't always manage to convey expressions or feelings to the same degree that simpler, less complicated pencil lines can do.  For me, this is a negative.  Others may feel differently.  Then there's his tendency to draw women's costumes with really high knicker lines, to the extent that I can tell they've all shaved or waxed to at least a Brazilian standard, if they haven't had it all taken off.  This is purely a political viewpoint of mine, I don't expect everyone else to agree with it.  On the plus side, although he can't draw realistic clothes (in terms of how they hang and fold) the bodies he draws are of a more realistic body shape, which is something that simpler drawings always achieve.

For the last 3 issues we had Scott Clark provide a lot of the art.  It appears that Clark is trying to ape Cascioli's style but he doesn't quite have the ability or finesse to pull it off.   The art isn't detailed enough, there's less character and expression in his subject's faces and the women are even more (and needlessly) sexed up.  There's a particularly bad panel of Speedy, here, where for some reason she appears to be posing on a rooftop with her bow.  It would make more sense if she had an arrow in her hand, but she doesn't.

, fun fluff.  It's not groundbreaking.  The idea of heroes stopping the bad guys before they do something really bad was done in Justice League Elite.  There's lots of bad editorial decisions, but I can see why Robinson has so many fans.  There's a hint of greatness in there that was stifled and overshadowed by many poor events.

Green Arrow: Blackest Night #30

Spoilers ahoy!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Holy crop this was good!
First, the cover is a homage to an old cover:

 

A homage, and gorgeous!   on the homage, Ollie is saying 'The blackest night falls from the skies, the darkness grows as all light dies!'

The art inside is equally gorgeous.  Except Mia is in her old red costume, and if this is in continuity, where's her black costume?  And except for a couple of panels of Dinah, where she looks like shes' had neck broken.  And the rest where her boobs look dangerously close to spilling out.  (What is with bad boob clothing this week?).  Connor's mum also looks black - I thought she was asian.  Maybe i'm wrong.  And the final shot is one of Dinah's arse.

Black Lantern Ollie is a complete bastard, and not just when he's trying to be.  Not remembering Dinah's name but remembering her curves?  Sleaze.

And then Connor turns up!  Hurrah, I've missed him.  And Mia, who proves how awsome she is.  she's not distracted, she knows BL Ollie isn't the real him, and she coldly gets on with stopping him.  Because what else can she do?  Connor is not so focused, neither is Dinah.  Connor knocks Ollie's beard and chin off his face!

Then...they kill Ollie.

This issue was fantastic.  It garners many plus points.

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!

Action figure wishlist

If I could have anything, I'd want:

Green Arrow in his Mike Grell unfiorm:

It's the sleeves and hood which make it so attractive to me.  That and the tunic style top.

Mia in her black uniform:

Mia is very very cool.

Big Barda:

Barda's on the left.  Now imagine she doesn't have her boobs out and that's what I want.  All teh Barda figures I have seen so far reduce to her to a sex object, aren't delicate enough, or aren't chunky enough, or are a combination of the 3.  I want her in full uniform, big and with character in her face.  is that too much to ask?

Grace Choi:

The tattooed 6 foot Amazon would be awesome.

Rose Wilson (Ravager):

I'd like her with a ponytail please.  She's not Rose without the ponytail.

Battle Armoured Wonder Woman:

I'd like pretty much that toy, except I'd like the helmet and wings to be removable.

Have you got anything on your wishlist?

Superhero sign names - as part of Learn to Sign week

As it's Learn to Sign week I thought now would be a good time for a post combining comics and signing.  Here we go.

In British Sign Language we have something called sign names.  They are basically nick names and are a short hand way to refer to someone, as an alternative to fingerspelling their name.  One of my friends likes cake, so her sign name is the sign for cake with the lip pattern of her name.  My sign name is the sign for reading, (flat open palms with fingers together, palms face up, fingers slightly overlapping and move the hands round in one circular motion), with the lip pattern of my name, because I read all day, every day.  One of my old teachers name was based on his hairstyle, so it;s been a pony tail or a mohawk with his name.  You get the idea.

So I got to thinking what would the sign names of the superheroes be?  Signingtime, an American site has a forum which asks this very question.  That is however the only site I can find that deals with this issue.  If anyone knows of any others, please let me know in the comments.

In the UK, the sign for superhero in general is your right arm stuck out in a fist, a la flying.  That also works for Superman, and Supergirl would be the main sign + girl. I expect that Batman is Bat plus Man.  Buffy the vampire slayer is 'B+vampirefangs+a staking action'.  I expect Wonder Woman has her own sign.


As I don't know any Deaf comics fans I cannot ask them what signs they use, so I will speculate.  Sign names are never official anyway, they are given by those who know you, or you give one to yourself.  I will approach this from the point of view of what will those people who know and love the heros, e.g. friends and family, use.

Let us start with Bart Allen.

We cannot simply give him the multichannel sign of speeding-off-into-the-distance, because that could be used for all speedsters.  We shouldn't really use Impulse or Kid Flash as that's his actual code name.  I suppose the general public could trace the lightening logo on their chest, to mean Flash, and Kid Flash could be Flash+kid, but that isn't distinctive enough to mean Bart.  I would be tempted to go with his big feet or his hair.  No one else in the DCU has feet and hair quite like him, and I don't think he would be offended by it.  You could sign big-feet-racing-forward and provide the lip pattern for Bart.  I think that's fairly apt.

How about Speedy (Mia)?

Well, you can't simply sign speedy, or fast, because in all honesty that is far more likely to be associated with the Flash type heroes in the DCU.  Speedy's hero thing is her arrow shooting, but I find the sign for bow and arrow rather unwieldy, so would prefer not to use it.  I also would prefer to choose something that would be distinct from RoySpeedy, so it needs to be feminised or be something completely different.  Considering Mia's cocky personality I think I will go with the sign for Cheeky.  I'm sure Ollie would agree.


Black Canary.

 For her public name, I'd go with black+canary.  Black is a thumbs up hand shape swiped along your cheek from near your ear to off your face by your mouth.  Canary is a local sign in Norfolk, our football team is nicknamed the Canaries (these birds have a long association with the city, due to the influx of Dutch traders in earlier centuries).  As such, both Canary and Norwich are the same - the bird sign over your left breast where the football logo is on a shirt.
As for her private name, for 80s hero Dinah we could trace the headband shape+name.  For florist Dinah we could do flower+name.  For a joke we could do computer+name.  Although that might be best for Barbara.  As a really boring sign we could do blonde+name, or martial arts+name.

Guy gets the bowl haircut sign, no question and no matter how long he's had a new style for.  Batman has his own special sign for Guy though -  falling over (as in being knocked out)+name.

The possibilities are endless!

9 comics to look at today

I was shocked when I arrived at my local comic shop and found I had 9 books to pick up this week. Given that since Thursday I have spent between 1 hour and 4 hours travelling each day, and have visited 5 different, quite far apart, towns in Kent it's worked out pretty well. Plus, getting to read comics at breakfast when I'm not at home is a lovely experience, and one I should repeat. One last 4 hour journey to go and I will be back home tomorrow. Thank the Gods.

Herein follows mini reviews on Action Comics 872, Superman & Batman vs Vampires and Werewolves 5, Final Crisis 5, FC Revelations 4, JLA 27, Booster Gold 15, Superman/Batman 54, Supergirl cosmic adventures in the 8th grade 1, Green Arrow/Black Canary 15.
Also I include some thoughts on the DC Nation Super centric column.

Spoilers ahead
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Supergirl cosmic adventures in the 8th grade #1
Brand spanking new line. I'd pretty much read all of it on Scans Daily before I got the comic so all my squeeing was pretty much over and done with. I very much like this, it is adorable. Everyone should go and buy it.
tell you what, one thing SD didn't prepare me for was the paper used. Very nice!! A rougher grade than usual and a different type of printing maybe. I guess all the kids comics are like this, and I like it!
4 stars for the story 5 stars for the unexpected textural feel.

Superman/Batman 54
Hot damn super powered Bats is creepy. I hadn't realised how much we rely on Kal's colours to make him palatable to us and not fucking terrifying. And vice versa. I enjoyed Kal training Bruce, (in the fortress, where strictly speaking a depowered Kal should be wearing a fur lined coat, much like Zatanna, instead of just his normal suit).
Bruce hanging like a bat is just proving to me that he's mental. His new permanent gotta save everyone gotta be on duty 24/7 outlook? Nuts.
And Clark, oh Clark, keeping the duds on under your shirt. Oh a hero to the very end. Oh Clark.
Oh Lois.
I didn't realise that was Bane on the cover until, well, just now actually. :/ That's cos I'm not a bat fan.

Booster Gold 15
Hehehe. Still good. Sibling fights. Booster meets the Elongated Man (Ralph Dibny) much earlier in Ralph's timeline than expected, and chooses not to tell him about his wife Sue's future (raped and murdered in Identity Crisis). Oh my.

JLA 27
Dinah provides a verbal beatdown to the big 3. That is why I love her. Odd that message being conveyed in the book, yet she's not featured on the cover. Do you reckon the artist got her confused with Zatanna? Hey, one fishnet clad girl is much the same as another right? Grrr.
Waah? Hawkgirl and Roy (Red Arrow? Speedy?) are together? Wha'?
I enjoyed Dr Kimiyo (the good one) Light's appearance, and the bad woman's refreshing honesty. I might continue buying this book on a monthly basis now.
(PS. i bought this book due to notintheface's review, here and have since noticed the ass shot.).

Superman & Batman vs Vampires and Werewolves 5
Nothing I say about this will make anyone buy or not buy it. You know what's like, the clue is in the title. In case you need to know anymore, this issue features Man-bat and hot totty being sucked for her sveet sveeeet blood by the lead vampire guy.

Action Comics 872
So I think I can read art, right. Why did I assume that the cover was Supes battling the Creature Commandos and that they were the bad guys? I'm stupid sometimes.
A good solid book within the New Krypton storyline. Alura is insane and not too bright. Kryptonian trained soldiers are scary. And please god don't say they've actually killed off Zor-El.

Grenn Arrow/Black Canary 15
This book has both their names in the title. So why is this issue all a retrospective of Ollie's life? In fact, it seems that all the issues up to now have been led by Ollie and focused around him. Dinah seems to be a supporting character in her own title. Not impressed.
I am choosing to believe that Dinah allowed herself to be caught by Dregz and was just humouring him and Ollie, and demonstrating that they work as a team. Despite the fact it was a very inefficient way (if cool looking) way to do so. And I suppose it scared the crap out of Dregz.
That said, the dialogue was very enjoyable and from their conversations it is clear Ollie and Dinah dote on each other and they seem like a real couple, which is good. But please, can we get Dinah more action focused please?
I loved Mia in this :D I find it surprising Ollie and Dinah are shocked that she is planning to have sex with Dodge and am sad this means she won't be around for a while.

Final Crisis 5
Guy Gardener is wonderful in this! I love how he seems to view Hal being framed as a personal slight against him (And we aint having it!). I'm still enjoying this Crisis. It's complex and it's detailed and it's long winded. And I don't think Wondie, who used be the Goddess of Truth, should have succumbed to the anti life equation. because of what she stands for. Anyway. It will play out well.

Final Crisis Revelations 4
Epic, religious, lots of Renee, the Huntress and disaster coming to the world via Cain. Great. Moved slower than previous issues I thought, but like Final Crisis, I think this will bear up well when read in one go at the end of the series.

Some thoughts on the DC Nation Super centric column
- A new dynamic duo in Metropolis means Nightwing and Flamebird
- Supes will be leaving earth and his title in the hands of some of his closet friends. This will mean the JLA, Lois and Jimmy, or new Kryptonians. I vote for the new Kryptonians.
- A new Adventure in front of us means the relaunched Adventure Comics right?
- The super threat to a girl is a woman - yus, Superwoman, we've already seen her.
- New Krypton is not a frame of mind but a new home for 100,001 Kryptonians. So what, it's not going away? It will stay?
- Following Infinite Crisis, Supe's origin is secret no more and will be delivered by Johns and Frank. Ok, a new mini? Actually I don't know what the IC reference is so can't relaly guess the specific of the last one. But the others? C'mon, actually tell us something the readers of the books won't already know! Give us a proper hint not obvious statements! Pointless column.

Mia Dearden and HIV

After a few strained conversations with people in the education industry I've come to the conclusion that Mia's HIV positive status is really really important.
In the UK, lots of kids aren't taught about this stuff in schools. It's not mandatory, each school determines what sex education is taught and there's not a government line. If it was gonna come in anywhere, you'd assume that it comes under Personal, Social and Health Education, PSHE. Stuff like relationships, pregnancy and other STDs are covered in this area. But HIV and AIDs? Not necessarily.
A lot of schools cover HIV and Aids in the science curriculum, but I'm not sure how much it goes into the social side of it or if it just covers how the disease works, and I don't know if it's enough. As I said, strained conversations so I couldn't find out much more.

Basically, if kids aren't getting their information from schools and you don't what they're getting from their parents, then if they can read it about from another source, that provides knowledgeable and accurate information, (as I think Judd Winnick's Mia is), then that's really fucking essential.