Let's write up some comics

This week I bought and read this lot:

Black Canary 1
Much more interesting than I thought it would be from the preview.  It doesn't really feel like my Dinah though, but I guess I'm looking for a Dinah in her 30s ready to settle down with Ollie (who to be fair would never be a rock star).  So this version not feeling like her isn't a criticism.  It is a good comic.  The only thing that pulled me out of it was that I don't buy her wearing her Canary outfit  on stage.  If they'd given her shorts or a skirt it would work much better.

Harley/Peej 1
This was a lot more fun than I expected.  I've been underwhelmed by Harley's main series but this was far better.  The two of them work well together. Unfortunately the cover is not Amanda Conner's finest hour.  The inks are rather heavy and it just doesn't flow very well.

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman 11
Another bad cover,  Yeeuch.  Badly composed, badly pencilled, badly inked and badly coloured.  Inside is Jamal Igle's pencils which are much better but the inks are a bit too heavy handed.  The colours are OK.  Overall, this lacks the finesse of the Gates/Igle Supergirl work, but that's not Igle's fault.  In the issue Di goes to Africa to try to get two sides of a warring nation to reconcile.  It sounds a bit white saviour-ish doesn't it.  I don't think it comes across that way but I'm willing to listen to other opinions.

Princeless book 4 issue 1
The story is good but I hate the art.  The composition of the panels is good, the actions (and interaction) of the characters are good, but the style of faces, the inks and the colours are horrible.  It won't stop me buying this series, but if you do pick it up please be aware that this art is not indicative of the rest of the series' art!  And on the plus side, we do have killer squirrels:

Battleworld: Thors 1
I think I bought this for horse Thor.  It's OK.  I suspect it's more for Marvel aficionados than me.  It seems like a bit of an industry vanity project, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Battleworld: Runaways 1
The only actual Runaway in this is Molly Hayes.  The rest are mutants, Cloak and Dagger and some other randoms who I expect regular Marvel readers will know.  They are all attending a school to train them as Doom lackeys, or some such.  I tell you what, I do like the premise for Battleworld.  It works far better than Convergence, at least for these two titles.  This was a fun enough comic.  It also queered up Jubilee and Pixie, which was good to see:

Are they gay in the regular 616 universe?

Ms Marvel: Crushed (trade)
This is volume 3 of the current Ms Marvel run.  I really liked it, it's a good young adult comic about teenage crushes and the pitfalls that come with it, with added superpowers.  The only thing I didn't like was the thinly veiled lesson about consent.  It just seemed a bit too obvious to me, but maybe that's because I've been seeing this sort of stuff discussed for years and given where I am at the moment, I really could do with not having these conversations.  Quite frankly, I don't care.  That sounds awful doesn't it.  But I don't.  I'm concentrating on my pregnancy and everything else that requires energy, or passion can piss off.  So, I'm wondering who the teenage audience this is aimed at would take this lesson. If they don't find it too much, then I guess it's a good thing.

Batman: The Ring, The Arrow and The Bat
I've been meaning to get this for about 2 years.  Despite the name, it's a Green Arrow trade, not a Batman book.  The first story is Hal and Ollie meeting for the first time.  Hal is working for the government and doesn't realise he's being used, and Ollie is out for a good vigilante time, until he realises the wrongs being done, and then he gets all angry about it.  It's quite a quick change.  Hal and Ollie argue but end up friends.  Art is by Greg Land, before his porn tracing days.  If you like these two, and you like these trades, then you'll like this story.

The second story is Green Arrow and Batman meeting and working together for the first time.  There is lots of snark and one liners.  The villains in the story are stereotypical/generic Asian bad guys, which makes me wince, and plot development is a bit obvious, but apart from that, it's good fun.

I've also been watching Arrow season 1, and while I'm kinda enjoying it, it's a bit bloody miserable isn't it?  Oliver Queen enjoys life, but Ollie in Arrow doesn't.  Granted, he has just come back from the island and is traumatised, but by all accounts he doesn't get any happier over the seasons.  Le sigh.  I like the flashbacks to the island the best.  He looks and acts more like 'my' Ollie there.

Three things of merit

One is this article in the Guardian, an open letter to Michael Gove, our hated Education Secretary, questioning Gove’s statements and policies regarding schools.  It’s well worth reading.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/sep/30/michael-gove-destruction-of-school-democracy

This is a photo of cats waiting for fishermen to return:

https://twitter.com/HistoricalPics/status/385253144969871360

Lastly, this bit of amazing news – Seeking the next Jane Foster!  http://www.themarysue.com/marvel-natalie-portman-girls-in-stem-contest/  I'll just copy the article here:

------------------------ 

Marvel has announced the Ultimate Mentor Adventure, part mentor program, part contest, that gives American girls in grades 9-12 the resources to find and interview professional women in science, technology, engineering, and math, and then rewards them for doing it.

Natalie Portman has always been a consistent voice for greater screentime and opportunities behind the scenes for female characters and real women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it doesn’t surprise me at all to learn that she’s the first face you see on the Ultimate Mentor Adventure’s explanatory video. Portman talks about her character Jane Foster, an astrophysicist, amid finished and behind the scenes clips of Jane in Thor: The Dark World, and, while the bombastic music of the trailers plays, she says, “the truth is, I really do love science. And the role gave me an amazing opportunity to explore science in all its possibilities.”

That’s what the contest appears set up to do. With the resources on the page, eligible girls (they must be at least fourteen, in grades 9-12, and live in the continental U.S.) can find a woman working in a STEM job that they find interesting in their area, and also get tips on how to interview and introduce themselves. In order to be eligible for the big prize, however, entrants must submit a unedited five minute video in which they talk about their love of science, their experience interviewing their mentor, and what steps they might take to embark on a STEM career.

That big prize? A trip to Los Angeles, California, to a screening of Thor: The Dark World at the El Capitan theater on opening day, a screening where the winning videos will run as part of a documentary short before the movie. It’s hard for me to express how cool of a contest this is. Not only is it taking one of the oft diminished characters in superhero film (the love interest) and emphasizing that her talents are useful and achievable in the real world, it’s also structured in such a way that even girls who don’t win are given resources to follow their interests, and motivation to find out a bit more about their career opportunities.

Four for you, Marvel Entertainment and Natalie Portman, and I do hope that documentary short makes it onto a DVD release!

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

Recognising and celebrating a female character’s achievements? Check.  Relating this to women in the real world? Check.  Providing resources, opportunity and incentive for teenage women to get involved in STEM technologies? Check.  Doing something to even out real gender disparity in these sectors? Check.

This is a wonderful, brilliant idea and Marvel and Natalie Portman should be widely applauded for instigating it.  It’s made my day.

What I have bought recently

So I mentioned I was going to lay off the comic reviews for a while, and that's true. instead you get pictures of my recent (ish) purchases!  Check them out:

Comics review - catch up

These will likely be three sentence reviews as I'm really behind and have to start cooking dinner in half an hour.. I will talk about:

Justice League America 7, Animal Man Annual, X-Men 3, Fearless Defenders 7, Princeless Tales of Girls Who Rock, Adventures of Superman 3, Resurrection Man 17, Supergirl Annual 2 (1997), Legion of Superheroes (5 years later), Demon Knights 23, Thor 11 and Fearless Defenders 8.

I'll never get these all written in half an hour...

Comic reviews for weeks 18/25th July

Spoilers ahead for Hawkeye annual, Supergirl 22, He-man 4, Wonder Woman 22,  Justice League Dark 21, Justice League Dark 22, Justice league America 6, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 24 (I think), Wolverine 7 (I think), Thor (can't remember the number), Animal Man 22, Larfleeze 2, Revival 12, Batman/Superman 2.

Whew that's a lot. I'm behind again. Onwards.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Hawkeye annual  - So we discussed this on Radio Bamf on Sunday, but technical problems meant that the recording didn’t go so well. Pox.  Anyway I wish I’d read this before the show because it turned out to be pretty good fun. It leads on from earlier issues – 4 and 5 I think, which I hadn’t read.  Which I think I’m happy about, otherwise the cover might have given the plot away, since it’s all about Madame Masque getting revenge on Kate Bishop.  As I didn’t know the context I found it delightfully slashy and i honestly thought they were going to jump into bed.  At least I did till it was revealed that Kate knew Masque wasn’t so sincere.  But hey, I have my dreams.

Supergirl 22 – Cyborg Superman shows up and has plans for Kara. Kara is not impressed.  Mahmud Asrar is no longer on interiors and his replacement is just not that great.  I didn’t particularly enjoy this.

He-man 4 – A friend who visited the shop with me bought me this.  She-ra is short haired, scarred in the face, and working for the bad guys.    She doesn’t know she is He-man’s sister.  He-man doens’t even know he has a sister.

It wasn’t bad, but I don’t quite understand why a property that was originally created for children, and is rather ridiculous in concept, has been revived and written for adults.*  Why not revive it as a children’s comic?  Why not come up with a brand new idea for adults?

 

*I do know why, it’s to cash in on the nostalgia market. Doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.

 

Wonder woman 22 – this has a wonderful soviet styled arty cover.  Inside it gets better. Wondy and her group are New Genesis, meeting the Highfather et al for the first time.  Highfather wants to take Zola’s child, Zeke, but Orion tricks him.  The best thing about this book is that Diana comes across as a leader.  It feels like she is the title character in the issue.  She makes the tough decisions, stands up to the Highfather and is generally reminiscent of the Wonder Woman from before the new 52.  This was a satisfying read.

 

Justice League Dark 21 – This was an impulse buy.  From what I recall, Xanadu is haunted by visions of the future, particularly a future romance with Deadman.  She tries to turn her back on all this.

 

Justice League Dark 22 and Justice League America 6 – I can't remember the details of these too well.  I know Green Arrow wasn't quite as Ollie-like as I'd wish, and Wonder Woman was far more Diana-like than I;d hoped for.  There was a lot of fighting and panic.  Hephaestus was in it and it made me think how talented the artist for Wonder Woman is, and how these new gods don't look right when someone else draws them.  Overall I enjoyed these two installments in the Trinity War story.

 

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – Gwen complains about Miles not being Spider-Man to Aunt May. There’s more Cloak and Dagger stuff.  Spider-woman visits Miles and begs him to put the suit on again.  Spider-Woman reveals she is clone of Peter Parker.  This is stupid.

 

Wolverine – Logan no longer has a healing factor and now has to come to terms with the fact he’ll die.  Blimey :o  I did not see that coming.  Having just finished my epic X-Men run I feel that this is quite  a godo time for me to jump into a Wolvie title.. whether I will or not remains to be seen.  Anyway, good work Paul Cornell.

 

Thor – The three Thors and their granddaughters are still alive, hooray!  And they are fighting back, hooray!  Gorr kills his wife for calling him godlike, so Gorr’s son betrays him and sides with the Thors.  Cor.  This is still nice epic stuff, but I doubt it’s a long term keeper.  When the Gorr plotline is over (I assume it will finish soon) I’ll flog the issues on ebay.  They are well worth reading but not quite of high enough quality for me to keep them forever and ever.

 

Animal Man 22 – This was twee yet gross.  Maxine is in the Red and as she’s the new avatar (?) of the Red it responds to her consciousness and remolds itself around her thoughts.  So it’s all twee and full of baby and mother animals and it’s got rolling hills and it looks like a child’s story.  But the fundamental nature of the Red and it’s purpose can’t change so the organ fields are still there – these are literally fields where organs are grown. Brains and stomachs and lungs etc.  That’s the gross part. Maxine finds these and decides to grow her dead brother, Cliff.  The problem is, without a soul it’s just a simulacrum.  A fleshy, squishy, floppy, gross simulacrum.  Maxine realises this and gets rather upset.  She’s not given up on her plan to hunt for Cliff’s soul though.  She will get him back!

 

Larfleeze 2 – Fun. Larfleez eis always fun.  The voices of all the characters are fun.  The situation is fun. The fight scenes are fun.  This is just all fun. Fun fun fun fun fun fun.

 

Revival 12 – This wasn’t fun. It’s a great read and it’s entirely different to the other comics on my pull list, but it’s not fun.  It’s grim and thoughtful.  I liked it a lot.

 

Batman/Superman 2 - This is just fabulous.  The art is gorgeous.  It's all gothic sillouhettes and moody stuff.  It's a really mature read, not mature like for adults, for complex and thoughtful.  It feels like the creators are really into the story and really care about what they are doing.  I loved it.   One panel made me tear up.  You should all be buying this.  It's great.

Comic reviews for comics bought on 18th May 2013

A-ha, I am up to date with reviews. I think.  Here goes thoughts on the following:
The Pride issues 1 and 2
Wonder Woman 20
Supergirl 20
Thor God of Thunder 8
Ultimate Comics Spider-man 23 (I swear we only just got the previous issue. I do not understand Marvel's shipping schedule)
FF 7
Fearless Defenders 4

Spoilers ahead.

Comics reviews for week starting 17th April

Discussion and spoilers ahead for Thor: God of Thunder 7, Hawkeye 9, Danger Club 5, Supergirl 19, Wonder Woman 19 and The Pride Adventures.

Comic reviews for week of 13/03/2013

Spoilers ahead for Animal Man 18, Demon Knights 18, Fearless Defenders 2, Thor God of Thunder 6, Superman: Silver Banshee 2, Superman Confidential 7.
Really do not carry on reading if you haven't read Animal Man 18.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Reviews of comics that came out this decade

Well, in the last month anyhow.  In the weeks preceeding March 2nd if I'm being exact.  Here they are:

As you might be able to tell I hadn't been in for a few weeks.

Onwards with the reviews!

Spoilers ahead, obvs.

Comic reviews for w/c 2nd January 2012.

I think I'm going to start posting the dates of when I picked up my comics, otherwise when I get too behind with reviews it will get confusing and you readers and I will start thinking I picked up 20 titles in one week.


Onwards.  Spoilers ahead for Teen Titans 15, Superman 15, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 19, FF 1, Thor 3.

Perfect, perfect comic panel

Perfect colour,s perfect motion, perfect perspective, perfetc layout, pefect design.

Perfect.

Found on Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!

Thor!!!

I really really liked it!  I hadn't read any Thor comics before I saw the film (although by the time this post goes live I should have my grubby mitts on at least one trade) and so I didn't really know what to expect from it.  It soon became apparent that the Marvel story is very different to the Eddas (I wasn'nt surprised) but it was fun nontheless.

Heimdall was ace.  As was Looki and Thor.  All the actors were great and Thor and Heimdall were huge!  Thor is also really fucking hot.  I got quite excited.  Asgard was impressive as was bifrost (although I'd have preferred something a little more ethereal and lighter in colour).

Thor was all gung ho until he lost his hammer, and the poor guy just deflated.  He looked utterly crestfallen.  the final fight was great fun!

In terms of the female characters, Sif was a warrior in this, not the earth goddess I thought she was, and Frigga was, well, not named.  I mean, what the fuck?  She's the Queen of the Gods and not once was she named in the film.  Ahe was stately and regal (and handy with a sword), but she wasn't NAMED.


Add to this the secret scene at the end of the film where it's the male scientist who gets invited to SHEILD, depsite the fact that Jane is the major character in this film, and I get cross (again).  This casual sexism makes me angry.

Apart from that, it was good.  Jane was a typical eccentric scientist type (this is usually a male character) and the comic relief was female (again, usually male).  One of my male friends commented that he was annoyed the way the comeptent female characters tend to get sidelined as love interests (at least that's what I think he was saying).  I'm not sure that's appropriate in this film's case but I thought it was an interesting view.

I also got to see the Green Lantern trailer on the big screen!  It still has it's problems but I am now really really excited to see it!