Jason Momoa as Aquaman image released.. hnnggghhhhhh

Oh ye gods....

I don't think I can stand properly...
I have a weakness for superhero beefcake.  You may have noticed.  I've never seen Game of Thrones.  I have no idea what Momoa is like in that.  I don't really have much interest in seeing it either, not even to check Momoa out.  I'd rather just see him as Aquaman.

If we can get away from my loins for a moment or two let's talk about this image.
He's not blonde.  He's got light streaks, but he's not blonde.  I don't care. He's beardy.  That's a major plus in my book.

He looks fierce, and dangerous, and not to be messed with.  That's entirely right.   He's the king of a nation, a monarch who leads his people into war.  He should look tough.  The Atlanteans aren't a warrior nation like the Themscyrians (which I can never spell right), but they have a formidable army and unlike our real world cultures the King and Queen are at the frontline of all battles.  So they've reflected that, and that's great.

The trident looks nice.  Not a traditional design, but it's good.  The minimal armour is nicely designed.  The tattoos are a good touch too.   We don't normally see his highness with tattoos, but they suit Momoa and we all know the Man of Steel DC Universe is very different from the comics, so that's cool by me.  I don't care that it's not orange and green.

Now the phrasing.  I'm a sucker for impassioned slogans.  I like the choice of font and the way it's emblazoned over Momoa's body language, looking like he's going to rip you to shreds if you try and mess with him.  It's inspiring.  I first thought that the Seven referred to the Justice League.  As in he'll bring them together.  Somewhere online think it refers to the seven seas, but that's daft, because he's already monarch of the seas.   I think the slogan means that the studio is uniting the key seven League members, or that Arthur has a pivotal role to play in getting the League formed.  He was a founder member after all.

All in all, good work Movie studio people.  That image is cool as all heck.  Hnnnggghhh.

DC's Girl Power and Busy Bodies books

A while ago I wrote about my excitement at these two books for kids.  I said I'd review them.  So this is a review of sorts.

Here are my books:

If anyone recognises the kids books to the side of them you get a prize of my respect.  Yes I bought 3 copies of the Girl Power one.  One for me, one for my niece and one for another kid, who I shall be giving it to for Christmas.  I'll also give the Busy Bodies one to another child.

The books are pretty much as you'd expect from the solicit photos.  They are board books, definitely intended for babies and I guess kids aged up to about 2 or 3.  They are designed to help kids to read, to help parents interact with their kids, to promote bonding.  I guess the Girl Power one could be read by an older child with an interest in superheroes (maybe a 5 year old?) but the Busy Bodies one is unlikely to be enjoyed by any kid that already knows their body parts.  Unless, maybe they like the superheros and they use the books to stimulate their imaginations?

I like the books for their traditional (non sexy, non violent) take on the superheroes, for reaching out to kids, for being durable and for being good to look at (if you like stock 70s art).

I'm going to give the Busy Bodies one to a 4 month old boy and the Girl Power one to a 7 month old girl.  I think the parents will enjoy them and I like the idea of the kids growing up with them.

Making Jay Garrick's costume

So I promised you a post on how I made my Jay Garrick costume (see here and here if you haven't already).
EDIT- eek, I realised I hadn't credited the blog which gave me a start on working out how to make it!  Anyway, the blog in question is Speed Force and the 2 blog posts in particular are this one and this one.  I didn;t end up following their method, but it was certainly good food for thought.

First off, the costs.  I may as well round up from the previous post as well. 
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.
Black canvas skater belt - £4
Lightning bolt charms, to glue onto the belt - £2.20

Glue, to attach the wings to the hat and charm to the belt - £1.80

Gold feather charms, for general decoration, bought from ebay, £0.99 plus £0.85 postage (not used in the end).
Leather belt - £5.99 (also unused)

So, £79.57 in total.  Eek.  Good thing I didn't buy it all at once.  Or add it up before.

First I looked for the jeans and boots.  Jeans I finally got from Next, after trying several on from New Look, getting stuck in some (very embarrassing), ordering the wrong ones from the shop and then returning them.  It all turned out OK though, because the pair I ended up getting from Next had belt loops round the top of the jeans, not on the hips, and were, I feel a better colour and fit.

The boots I bought off ebay very cheaply.  They arrived in gold condition with little kitten heels.  I was going to save them for the con but then ended up wearing them to work for one day, by which point the heels were ground down and, well, fucked.  But that's OK, because they should really be flat anyway!  By the midday the left boot's sole, which had been glued on in the manufacturing process, was half off, but it did end up lasting the day, just.  I shall see about getting them resoled to last.  I quite like them and re-soleing will be cheaper than buying new boots.

I ended up not trying to do wings for the boots, because a) I couldn't figure out how to effectively attach wings to the boots, b) I wanted to wear them again, c) I'd feel silly later in the day, away from the con, wearing winged boots and d), I was scared about making them and worried they'd go wrong.
I decided having un-winged boots was OK as jay doesn't always wear winged boots (thank you artists!).

The belt I only remembered 2 weeks before the con.  This left me with a bit of a problem, because the shops round where I live don't sell black leather belts with plain rectangular buckles.  So I found this on ebay:

It's perfect!  I thought I'd just need to get a lightning bolt engraved onto it (cost would be about £15) and It would be good to go.  Plus, I'd then get a really cool belt to wear at other times.
Unfortunately it didn't look like it was going to arrive in time, so I bought a very similar belt, but made out of canvas, not leather, from the local market and stuck a lightning bolt charm on it.  Et voila:

Yes I know the text on the buckle isn't accurate, but I had to make do, OK?

Because the buckle was slightly curved the charm fell off at some point during the day.  Nevermind, I will be getting the leather belt engraved with a lightning bolt symbol anyway.

I already had the T-shirt so nothing needed doing there.  I considered buying a long sleeved red undershirt but decided I'd be perfectly happy going as the summer style Jay.

Now the hat!  I got it from ebay.  I searched for 'World war 1 Tommy replica helmet' and it came up.
I took the straps off, then sprayed the underside and topside with primer over a couple of days.  The top side got 2 coats, the underside got 1 coat.  I did this in the shed each morning and left the hat in there all day to dry, taking it in the house at night.

However, due to low temperatures in the weather, parts of the primer looked like they crystallised a bit. Once I'd sprayed 2 coats on the outside of the helmet and 1 coat on the underside, you really couldn't tell any problems though.  Although you could tell that little bits of dirt etc had got caught in the paint as it was a bit bumpy.  I think it could have done with some sort of finishing paint, as it is now covered in fingerprints and hints of paint came off on my fingers during the day.

Then I started on the wings.  Well, my boyfriend did.  He cut out paper templates for the wings.  We decided on sharped edged wings over Jay's traditional wings because it would be easier to cut out and craft.  Dan rolled out the fimo and used a craft knife to cut the shapes out.  Et voila:

Once cut, he used a thin stick, like a chopstick, to carve grooves into the wings, like so:

As you can see, they aren't fully correct Jay wings, but I liked the angularness.  I think it fits with the lightning bolt theme and the zippy fastness of the Flash.  We left them to airdry overnight.  2 days later we noticed they hadn't dried flat and instead had a slight curve, thankfully, the non-scored sides were the concave sides (whew).

I used gold acylic paint, soluble in water, to paint the wings.  They came out nice and shiny.  One point to remember - if you use paint that's soluble in water, make sure your paintbrush is dry before applying a second coat of paint.  Eek. It turned out OK, but I was a bit concerned for a while.  Here are the finished wings:

Then we had to glue them onto the hat.  We didn't use superglue, we used epoxy resin.  The boyfriend thought it would be better than superglue.  I went along with him.

We decided to place the wings a little way above the hat brim.  We put glue on the bottom inside of the wings, the handle like bits below the main body of it, and held the wings in place for 6 minutes (as instructed on the packet).  Then we noticed that they were slipping, so held them in place again for a further 5 minutes, at which point they were properly attached.  Here's a view of the hat from the front.

The next morning the wings were still in place (whew, I was so relieved), and this is a picture of the helmet from side on:

I think it looks fricking awesome.  The wings stayed on all day until I put the helmet in a bag (n the evening, after the con), then one came off, but it is still in one piece so will be glued on again at a later date.

I put the straps back on the hat as I wasn't sure how well it would stay on.  As it turned out, the helmet jammed on my head pretty well (when I'd put my hair back in a bun) but did end up a jaunty angle for the afternoon.  I tucked the straps under the helmet, above my head, so you couldn't really see them.

And this is the finished thing:

Ta-da!!!

And as I write this I have just seen Jay's new costume in the nu52.  Oh my gods it is awful.  Jay, well Jay had style.  He was unpretentious.  He dressed simply and traditionally to get the job done.  Ok, so the hat is flashy (pun not intended), but Jay is a man of the old school and he'd know the historical/mythic connotations of the hat (I have no idea if there is an in canon explanation of the hat, but that's my theory).  He has integrity, and honesty and loyalty and dedication and his costume reflects that.  It's old fashioned (those high jeans!0 but he's old fashioned.

This new costume isn't him.  There's no style, no character, the headgear is fucking ridiculous and the ribbed part on the top are pointless.  It's awful.

Smallville season 11 in comics format!

and bryan miller is writing it!  an actual good, qualified, experienced writer doing a tv spin off in comic form!  acebeans!

From the DC news article:

Smallville Fans Rejoice! New Comic Book Series, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11, to Pick Up Where Show Left Off

Fans of the smash-hit TV series Smallville haven’t had much to cheer about since the show ended its critically acclaimed 10-year run on The CW last May.  That’s all going to change with the upcoming new comic book series from DC Entertainment: SMALLVILLE SEASON 11.  Written by former Smallville show scribe Bryan Q. Miller, the new digital first series will be published digitally on April 13, 2012, with new digital chapters released weekly thereafter.  Additionally, the online chapters will be offered in a print periodical, along with an episode guide to the hit television series, with the first print issue released on May 16.
The new comic book series picks-up where the show left off (with Clark officially now as Superman!) and features other fan-favorite characters including Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Chloe Sullivan-Queen, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and General Lane.  The book features an all-star creative team – in addition to Miller, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 creators include print cover artist Gary Frank (SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN), digital cover artist Cat Staggs and interiors by Pere Perez (BATGIRL).
“Six months after Clark Kent donned the cape and took to the skies to save Earth from Apokolips… enter Season 11!” enthuses Miller.  “New allies abound!  New enemies afoot!  And old friends return where they’re least expected!  Pere and colorist Chris Beckett have done a fantastic job of capturing the look of the show and the players, and Gary and Cat are knocking it out of the park on covers. I couldn’t be more excited to help give seasoned viewers and new readers an all-access pass to Clark’s first year in the cape.”

Birds of Prey get musical

On Batman: The Brave and the Bold tv show the Birds of Prey got a little musical number.  It's full of inneuendo, it's a bit silly, but it's a darn catchy song.  You can view it here.  Go watch it, I'll wait.

Now you've watched it, here's a transcript of the words (found here):

Hit It
(music starts)
Good evening all you gentlemen
mobsters creeps and crooks
Men in tights come after you and still your off the hook
for those who scare and terrorize it's the dawn of a brand new day
You scum can simply call us the one and only Birds of Prey

Green Lantern has his special ring
Pretty strong that little thing
Blue Beetle's deed's are really swell
but who will bring him out of his shell?
Flash's Foe's they finish last
Too bad sometimes he's just too fast!

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better then the Birds of Prey
The one and only Birds of Prey

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey

Green Arrow has Heroic traits
That is when he's shooting straight
Hey!
I'm just saying!
Aquaman's always courageous!
His little fish, less outrageous!
Plastic man can expand
becomes putty in a hand

While all the boys can keep you punks at bay
No one does it better then the birds of prey
the one and only birds of prey

While all the boys can always save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey

Batman throws his batarang
what a weapon, what a bang
check out that utility belt
sure can make a girls heart melt
He's always right there for the save
I'd like to see his secret cave

While Batman does things in his special way
He'd do it better with the birds of prey
While Batman always seems to save the day
No one does it better
No one does it better then the birds of prey
birds of prey


meow!




Well I don't know about you, but that wasn't quite what I was expecting from a kid's cartoon!  saucy enough to make you laugh but innocent enough to go over kids heads.

I'm not quite sure which hero I feel sorry for the most..probably Aquaman or Green Arrow.  Poor ducks.

I wonder how the other heros match up.  What do you reckon the Birds would say about Mr Miracle, Hawkman, Booster or Superman?

In completely unrelated news, I just discovered this dramatic chipmunk clip and this clip of someone taking badgers on a walk.  It's adorable.  You need sound.

I should really be packing...

Instead I'm fucking about on facebook uploading photos and commenting here. So, without further ado, here's some cool stuff I found in my files:

From the window of a barber shop in the city.

Wonderful wonderful ASBAR universe Babs. Check out the freckles and the sigils on her belt!


And again, this time with Kara-Flamebird, Dinah, Linda and Karen Nightwing.

My minimates from the kitchen:

For some reason the Flash (Wally West version) came with a car....
I'm really hoping the boyfriend gets me the Question/Batwoman minimates for Christmas.

Smallville, Supergirl, Manhunter and DC decisions

Spoilers ahoy.

Smallville
Season 7 - Arctic.
Lex has gone completely mad. He's stark raving paranoid isn't he? Fairly good conclusion to the season I think. James Marsters also did well, in that I managed to forget about Spike for whole sections of episodes.
Onto season 8 where I am expecting to squee like a very very shrill thing over the inclusion of Green Arrow and Black Canary. Especially as I hear Ollie's year 1/origin included. And that actor is very very hot.This post will be updated as I watch the episodes.
----------------
I've just spent 2 hours trying to watch season 8, episode 1 - Odyssey. Sooo frustrating, bloody crap streaming process. Anyway, the actual episode was frickin' great! Dinah and Ollie working together! The League! Martian Manhunter! Lois actually investigating stuff and getting somewhere!
Clark's rescue from Russia was very enjoyable, and they have a 'Tess Mercer'! :D
I'm rather narked that Kara's stuck in the phantom zone and so presumably won't be showing up much this series but on the plus side Lana's gone. It's good that Clark has finally moved on and is working in Metropolis so maybe we'll get to see him do the hero thing properly (and learn to fly). Although I have to say that no, I don't think he'll become Superman. They can't move the character on that much in just one season surely? Besides, despite what Dinah thinks, I don't think spandex is really compatible with the rest of the feel of the show, so how would they dress him?
Justin Hartley is truly wonderful though. Dinah, not so wonderful, which is odd because by rights I should be crushing on her far more. I think it's the black wig. And the lack of screentime.

Comics reviews -
This week was a good 'un! The only thing I couldn't get was Terror Titans which had sold out, in 2 days. This surprised the hell out of me because judging by online fan rage against Teen Titans I'd assumed it was an unpopular title. When I expressed this to my comic store owner he said it's the Ultimates 3 effect - the internet declares something the worst comic ever and the store repeatedly sells out. So a) the internet is wrong and b) I'm not alone in liking Judd Winnick. Hurrah. On to the purchases.

Supergirl 34
The new creative team. I am now ridiculously excited about this title and it's gone back to being my most looked forward to buy. Yep, I'm fickle. The previous 33 issues have made no sense when read in one big run, but as individual arcs most of them worked or at least had appealing aspects.
First, the cover:

The article is by Cat Grant, a reporter at the Daily Planet and is obviously playing off Lois' article, why the world needs a Superman. part of the criticisms included are that Kara's 'actions seemed hollow and forced, proving her not only unworthy of the legacy of Superman's symbol, but also unworthy to serve as the protector of Metropolis.'
That's harsh stuff. Especially when you consider in the last Superman issue Supes got the Metropolis crown cheering for his dog. Oh, and the cover actually reflects the contents, for once.
the article gets printed on the lead page of the planet, Kara doesn't see it until after she's defeated the Silver Banshee, in the middle of a baseball game. The crowd aren't best pleased about this and someone throws a carton of cola in her face. Then she sees the article. Poor kid.
Supes finds her, apologises and they discuss how she can move on and she shouldn't let this knock her back. There's Kryptonian swearing, Robin gives her Connor's (Superboy's) glasses, she talks about her dilemma with Wonder Woman, she meets Lana Lang and she gets the best secret identity and code name ever!!!

This issue felt...complete. It felt linked in with the other DC books in a natural way. We get to see a lot of actual Kara, her character, her relationships with other people and we get to see how some of the denizens of the DCU also see her. I am astounded.
DC, you're doing it right.
Please give these new guys a chance, please?

In fact I liked this so much here's a link to it on Scans Daily. As you can tell I really really want this series to work out and I'll be broken hearted if it gets cancelled.

EDIT: And the artist gave Kara shorts! I like her costume, I think she should keep the short skirt, she obviously likes it and there's no problem with it in itself. I don't hold with views like it's look whorish/trampish/it's not appropriate for a 16 yr old to wear. I think words like whore and tramp do nothing but demean women and police their sexuality, and who cares if the skirt is appropriate or not, 16 yr olds wear that stuff! And if you can't wear it when you're 16 young, slimand pretty when the hell can you?!
Shorts are still a good idea though.

DC Decisions 2
Check out the cover:
Guy Gardner is my favourite Green Lantern. It's true that I don't know a lot about the rest, but Guy is just such a joy to read. Look at his cheeky little face up there! He's an utter meathead, he's a redneck, he's a right wing jerk, he's fight first think later, arrogant and unpleasant. But dear god he's fun to read. And he's got an awful undercut haircut. But I love him so.
Anyway, he wasn't even the best part of the comic. The best part was Hal and Ollie fighting. And Hal making a jibe about Ollie's lack of fidelity - this as completely unrelated to the superhero ethics debate they were having by the way - and Ollie shoves Hal in the chest. Then it's weapons off and a bout of fisticuffs. And oh how I giggled. Then Dinah arrived and broke it up and then I was really giggling.
This mini series rocks. But I'm gutted that Power Girl is a Republican*.
Guy's speech about why he's getting involved is also rather fun. :D

*I assume Ridge is Republican and Brewster is Democrat because of GA and Guy affiliating themselves with each. I am confused as to why there are 4 candidates as I was under the impression America effectively has a 2 party system and only occasionally do you get a third candidate. When there is a third candidate I also thought they usually only got 1.2% of the vote and are never serious contenders for winning.
Or have I missed something and this story is about selecting candidates to run for president and not the actual president race itself? Or I'm taking it too seriously and the writers wanted 4 candidates to provide a nice range of opinions and arguments.

Manhunter 35:
The actual comic has Kate saying 'Bring It'.

I have nothing else to add really. This cover is brilliant. Look at the challenge in her eyes! She knows she's gonna win whatever you throw at her and she's walk away grinning cos she's given you the biggest beat down ever.
And she did. She got the women out of the prison, she kneecapped a couple of guys and she blew the prison up. And got the evidence needed to shut the place down.
Kate you are awesome, I salute you.