Do you remember about my poll?
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
No Mans Land - other art part 1
Ah, here's where I just post a load of scans and revel in the loveliness of them all. Issue numbers are underneath each picture
From Azrael 54. A plot line that reminds me of the Buffy musical episode given that there's a demonic dancer involved.
From Batman 23. Finale of the Underground Railroad story. I like that it's a normal, non caped guy here, in a pose that is referencing Batman's usual iconic lookout. It infers that we can all be Batmen, even if we're normal and have no special training.
Batman 568, from the Fruits of the Earth arc (also written about here).
From Detective Comics 738, A Bat/villain pile up. Haw!
Also Detective 738. Cass actually looks small here. For a lot of NML she looked more atheltic than waifish.
Detective Comics 741. How to tell a story without words.
Also Detective 741. The end of NML and Batman gets to be tender again.
Do you remember about my poll?
Do you remember about my poll?
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
No Mans Land - Huntress
So, I keep seeing talk about how Huntress got shot in the stomach. This usually is in reference to the stupidity of her bare torso'd costume (btw if you do go look at the post that picture came from you'll find it's a list of the 8 sluttiest superheroes. Yeah, nice. For some reason Black Canary is included. Yes, I think we can ignore that site.). Anyway people argue that Huntress shouldn't wear that daft costume cos she got shot in the belly once - she'd want kevlar to protect herself, surely. (My argument against it is that it looks ridiculous, she'll be cold, and why would she want to flash some skin when she's not superpowered and is fighting crime mostly at night).
Anyway, guess where she got shot in the stomach? It's No Mans Land! Here's some scans from when it happened. It's starts here:
She is protecting children in a building. She is the only one there to protect them.
She's now been shot. It looks like this might be the end. I like the above panel a lot. She's not weepy or scared, she's defiantly looking up at her attacker, almost daring him to go through with it.
Skip to the next issue:
Then, if I recall correctly, the cavalry arrives. Or at least Nightwing does, and he takes her to the only hospital in NML.
I never knew Dick cared so much. This is cemented by this next page:
And that's why Huntress needs a full kevlar suit. Dick and Helena should get together again.
Psssst. There's a poll on this here site.
Anyway, guess where she got shot in the stomach? It's No Mans Land! Here's some scans from when it happened. It's starts here:
She is protecting children in a building. She is the only one there to protect them.
Skip to the next issue:
Then, if I recall correctly, the cavalry arrives. Or at least Nightwing does, and he takes her to the only hospital in NML.
Psssst. There's a poll on this here site.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Comics!
This batch of comics have been more inspiring, in terms of reviewing them, than others have been for a while. Covering Superman/Batman 75, Green Arrow 3, Gotham City Sirens 15, Wonder Woman 602 and Daredevil 55. Here goes nothing..
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Superman/Batman 75
Eh look, the Legion didn't piss me off. And then there's a scene where Batman is mopping Superman's brow. Because Superman has kryptonite poisoning. Bruce is getting more tender, dammit! That is actually a very adorable scene.
The rest of the book is 2 page stories where the creators seem to be letting rip and having lots of fun - this is what Superman/Batman should be. The rest of the DCU can go to a dark and dank hell but this book should be fun. There's a parody of the floppy format by Steven T Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen (them who did It's a bird...) which I really wasn't expecting as this was touted as a sequal to It's a Bird.
The Con story was great - there are 2 kids, each dressed as Superman and Batman, and they start hassling a guy dressed as the Joker, concluding with plans to launch a groin attackk!!! then they spy Catwoman and her reactions is just priceless.
Adam Hughes does a wodnerful spread of Batgirl and Supergirl - he gives Kara a lovely face, which looks similar to Helen Slater.
Friendly Advice is Tim and Dick and Con and Kal talking about the Cass/Con/Tim love triangle. Dick is teasing Tim something chronic.
And the most unexpected story - a continuation of the chibli story arc from Superman/Batman 51 and 52, where we find out that tiny Superman isn't really dead, he's just sleeping! awwyeah!
Krypto vs Ace. Nuff said.
Then some odd stories - Joker vs Lex done Calvin and Hobbes style, Batman/Superman as a grown up Connor/Damian, and a weird story about a kid and his dad.
But the rest were ace.
Green Arrow 3
This is bewildering. Ollie was brought back to life by the mystic wood (i'm trying to work in a bush joke here) and a knight named Galahad. Yes that Galahad. I think I liked it.
Gotham City Sirens 15
Aww this was all about Harley and Ivy. One of ma favourite female friendships in comics. Aww. Selina's in it too, but this is really def all about Harley and Ivy.
Wonder Woman 602
Diana startsher trials to earn the mantle of Wonder Woman. She take soff her jacket and reveals some strappy gold bits to the bustier which some people reckon is gonna be her lasso. I like the strappy bits. I also liked the sacrifices angle, them pesky Gods, wanting you to prove your faith in blood. I'm a little unclear where Diana got that sword from, but I think this goes to prove you shouldn't piss off an Amazon.
Daredevil 55
You are correct, this isnt usually on my pull list and is in fact quite an old title. I got it cos I'm trying to locate soem Echo stories - she's a Deaf girl in the Marvel universe. This is the start of a story arc named Vision Quest and is by David Mack, so the art is all painted and the way it;s put together it kind of looks more like a collage than a regular comic book. I suspect I'd get more out of it with the whole arc but it was an OK read. Her Deafness is integral to her experience and came up regularly throughout the issue so that was good.
Hey, it's poll time!
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Superman/Batman 75
Eh look, the Legion didn't piss me off. And then there's a scene where Batman is mopping Superman's brow. Because Superman has kryptonite poisoning. Bruce is getting more tender, dammit! That is actually a very adorable scene.
The rest of the book is 2 page stories where the creators seem to be letting rip and having lots of fun - this is what Superman/Batman should be. The rest of the DCU can go to a dark and dank hell but this book should be fun. There's a parody of the floppy format by Steven T Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen (them who did It's a bird...) which I really wasn't expecting as this was touted as a sequal to It's a Bird.
The Con story was great - there are 2 kids, each dressed as Superman and Batman, and they start hassling a guy dressed as the Joker, concluding with plans to launch a groin attackk!!! then they spy Catwoman and her reactions is just priceless.
Adam Hughes does a wodnerful spread of Batgirl and Supergirl - he gives Kara a lovely face, which looks similar to Helen Slater.
Friendly Advice is Tim and Dick and Con and Kal talking about the Cass/Con/Tim love triangle. Dick is teasing Tim something chronic.
And the most unexpected story - a continuation of the chibli story arc from Superman/Batman 51 and 52, where we find out that tiny Superman isn't really dead, he's just sleeping! awwyeah!
Krypto vs Ace. Nuff said.
Then some odd stories - Joker vs Lex done Calvin and Hobbes style, Batman/Superman as a grown up Connor/Damian, and a weird story about a kid and his dad.
But the rest were ace.
Green Arrow 3
This is bewildering. Ollie was brought back to life by the mystic wood (i'm trying to work in a bush joke here) and a knight named Galahad. Yes that Galahad. I think I liked it.
Gotham City Sirens 15
Aww this was all about Harley and Ivy. One of ma favourite female friendships in comics. Aww. Selina's in it too, but this is really def all about Harley and Ivy.
Wonder Woman 602
Diana startsher trials to earn the mantle of Wonder Woman. She take soff her jacket and reveals some strappy gold bits to the bustier which some people reckon is gonna be her lasso. I like the strappy bits. I also liked the sacrifices angle, them pesky Gods, wanting you to prove your faith in blood. I'm a little unclear where Diana got that sword from, but I think this goes to prove you shouldn't piss off an Amazon.
Daredevil 55
You are correct, this isnt usually on my pull list and is in fact quite an old title. I got it cos I'm trying to locate soem Echo stories - she's a Deaf girl in the Marvel universe. This is the start of a story arc named Vision Quest and is by David Mack, so the art is all painted and the way it;s put together it kind of looks more like a collage than a regular comic book. I suspect I'd get more out of it with the whole arc but it was an OK read. Her Deafness is integral to her experience and came up regularly throughout the issue so that was good.
Hey, it's poll time!
Sunday, September 05, 2010
No Mans Land - Babs sees the other Batgirl
This takes place before Cassandra puts the cowl on. Babs discovers another woman in Gotham wearing the Batgirl suit. She's understandably upset. From Detective Comics 732.
Remember that Barbara stopped being Batgirl when the Joker shot her in the spine and no one has taken up the mantle since. She's hurt. I think the art is fantastic in this story.
Ps: don't forget to vote in my poll!
Remember that Barbara stopped being Batgirl when the Joker shot her in the spine and no one has taken up the mantle since. She's hurt. I think the art is fantastic in this story.
Ps: don't forget to vote in my poll!
Saturday, September 04, 2010
New poll - Artists for Supergirl
So y'all may have heard the rumours that Jamal Igle might possibly be leaving the Supergirl book and going to Birds of Prey. I have no idea if it's true, I sincerely hope it's not, and the only good thing about it will be that it means I'll pick up BoP.
Apparently it is true. (19.09.2010 - change of news again. Igle was never offically attached to BoP.)
I am very sad. I shall be adding BoP to my pull list tho.
Anyway, whether it's true or not it got me to thinking about who else could do Supergirl well, as written by Sterling Gates. I think it's important to specify who the writer will be because the art must match the dialogue and feel of the story.
So, there's a poll over there on the right, with several artists that I particularly like. Go ahead and vote. But before you do, let's recap on each one's work...
EDITED TO ADD Eric Jones and Amy Reeder. Doh, how could I forget them? I've now changed the poll.
Landry Q Walker reminded me of Eric Jones, who did Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade and did a bloody marvellous Kara. I think she may be a little young for regular continuity but I'd be interested to see how he draws a more adult Kara:
Amy Reeder. Simply delightful. I have a lot of time for her Supergirl, so thank god we have her on covers now:
Ed McGuinness
As you can see he's already drawn a ton of Supergirls in Superman/Batman. He's got good expressions whilst maintaining a cartoony appearance.
Amanda Connor, you all know her from Wednesday comics:
Ale Garza - I think his Kara is adorable, here's the cover he's done for Superman/Batman 77.
Nicola Scott
Probably one of my favourite artists at the moment. Her female characters have a lot of strength and poise, something which I think would go well with Gates' writing of Kara.
Ben Caldwell
Another Wednesday comics nominee. I think a Supergirl story drawn by him would be very mysterious and wouldn't work if it was rooted in everyday life, like Gates has been writing Kara. If however she decided to rejoin the Amazons, Caldwell would do lovely.
Patrick Gleason
Gleason is probably best known for his work on Green Lantern. I like his pencils but not the way they tend to get coloured.
Guillem March
He's recently did Gotham City Sirens. Now I like his art in that book, but I think it may be too sexy for Supergirl. I think she needs to be portrayed as a teenager and March would make her look like jailbait, or make her look adult.
Francis Manapul
He's doing the Flash comics right now and he has done Superboy in Adventure Comics before. He has a very dreamlike style.
Other - leave a comment somewhere and tell me who you want to draw Kara.
I haven't included Jamal Igle because I think it's fair to say that given the choice we'd never let him leave the book. I've also only included artists who currently work.
Go vote!
I am very sad. I shall be adding BoP to my pull list tho.
Anyway, whether it's true or not it got me to thinking about who else could do Supergirl well, as written by Sterling Gates. I think it's important to specify who the writer will be because the art must match the dialogue and feel of the story.
So, there's a poll over there on the right, with several artists that I particularly like. Go ahead and vote. But before you do, let's recap on each one's work...
EDITED TO ADD Eric Jones and Amy Reeder. Doh, how could I forget them? I've now changed the poll.
Landry Q Walker reminded me of Eric Jones, who did Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade and did a bloody marvellous Kara. I think she may be a little young for regular continuity but I'd be interested to see how he draws a more adult Kara:
Amy Reeder. Simply delightful. I have a lot of time for her Supergirl, so thank god we have her on covers now:
Ed McGuinness
As you can see he's already drawn a ton of Supergirls in Superman/Batman. He's got good expressions whilst maintaining a cartoony appearance.
Amanda Connor, you all know her from Wednesday comics:
Ale Garza - I think his Kara is adorable, here's the cover he's done for Superman/Batman 77.
Nicola Scott
Probably one of my favourite artists at the moment. Her female characters have a lot of strength and poise, something which I think would go well with Gates' writing of Kara.
Ben Caldwell
Another Wednesday comics nominee. I think a Supergirl story drawn by him would be very mysterious and wouldn't work if it was rooted in everyday life, like Gates has been writing Kara. If however she decided to rejoin the Amazons, Caldwell would do lovely.
Gleason is probably best known for his work on Green Lantern. I like his pencils but not the way they tend to get coloured.
Guillem March
He's recently did Gotham City Sirens. Now I like his art in that book, but I think it may be too sexy for Supergirl. I think she needs to be portrayed as a teenager and March would make her look like jailbait, or make her look adult.
Francis Manapul
He's doing the Flash comics right now and he has done Superboy in Adventure Comics before. He has a very dreamlike style.
Other - leave a comment somewhere and tell me who you want to draw Kara.
I haven't included Jamal Igle because I think it's fair to say that given the choice we'd never let him leave the book. I've also only included artists who currently work.
Go vote!
No Mans Land - the trial of Jim Gordan
Gotham has gone to crap. Harvey Dent is a bit mad. He decides to take Jim Gordon to trial - a trial consisting of him, Gordon and Renee Montoya. From Detective Comics 739, take a look:
And here's some other wonderful art from the issue:
And here's some other wonderful art from the issue:
Friday, September 03, 2010
No Mans Land - where I soften up to Batman
So y'all know how much I dislike Batman. I was chatting about this with a friend of mine the other day, waxing lyrical about how Batman is a prat and all, and after the conversation ended it hit me that I do actually like one version of Batman - when he's teamed up with Superman. I buy Superman/Batman every month and I always enjoy it. Batman, for me, works best when he's got someone happier to bounce off of. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find a Superman/Batman team up in No Mans Land. Actually there have been 2, Batman 566 which was absolutely rubbish all about the Batfanwank, and then there was Shadow of the Bat 9, which was actually pretty great.
The story is that Supes flies in to Gotham to see how Bruce is doing - check that he hasn't lost his soul etc. This is the scene where they meet:
Oh Bruce. You're such a miserable bugger. I suspect he's playing up to his reputation here.
They both discover something that needs their attention. I just think these panels are nicely done.
The story is that Gotham is going through a dry spell and no one's vegetables are growing. We know this cos Supes (in his Clark guise) did his regular thing of chatting to the everyday folk to find out what life is like in the ruined city. He even commented on the type of clouds saying they should be ok to give rain. Anyway, at the end of the comic he flies off, and obviously does something to the clouds to make them rain. Isn't he a sweetie.
Other parts of NML that made me soften up to Batman are these scenes:
From Batman 571
Both from Batman 558
From Batman Chronicles #18. Lesley plays the pacifist and conscience here.
But don't worry, he can still do the tough guy thing. Here for instance, where for some reason I don't think he's being a dick:
And here where he's scaring the crap out of Luthor:
Good times!
The story is that Supes flies in to Gotham to see how Bruce is doing - check that he hasn't lost his soul etc. This is the scene where they meet:
The story is that Gotham is going through a dry spell and no one's vegetables are growing. We know this cos Supes (in his Clark guise) did his regular thing of chatting to the everyday folk to find out what life is like in the ruined city. He even commented on the type of clouds saying they should be ok to give rain. Anyway, at the end of the comic he flies off, and obviously does something to the clouds to make them rain. Isn't he a sweetie.
Other parts of NML that made me soften up to Batman are these scenes:
Both from Batman 558
From Batman Chronicles #18. Lesley plays the pacifist and conscience here.
But don't worry, he can still do the tough guy thing. Here for instance, where for some reason I don't think he's being a dick:
Good times!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
Coming out in Comics: Pied Piper
Ahh the Pied Piper, real name Hartley Rathaway, reformed villain from the Flash' rogues gallery. He's great and he's gay. He first came out in Flash volume 2, number 53 (1991). Wally West was the Flash then and they were both good friends by this point. Let's take a look at how this happened:
See this? They are friends. Look at the body language, relaxed and open.
It doesn't last...
Wally West, you are a prat. Worst excuse ever. Still, I like how Piper isn't offended by him and takes it all in his stride. And you know, at least Wally didn't ask if this meant Piper fancied him.
But on the plus side.....
At the end of the issue they are friends again and Wally has evidently forgotten his fear of the gays. Looking back at the date this was published I feel all warm and fuzzy about the way this was handled. It could have been positioned as Wally being homophobic and in the right for being so, but I think it's quite clear in the above text that Wally is being a prat and that his mini freak out is wrong.
I was 11 in 1991 and didn't really know a lot about sexuality, but I was aware of HIV/AIDS and the mass panic and bigotry that followed it in the 80s. With that in mind, it's wonderful seeing a comic that deals with a character's sexuality in a grown up way, and that shows the panic reaction from his straight friend to be a ridiculous one.
Later on, in the 2008 Rogues Revenge Final Crisis mini there was a nice moment where one of the other rogues said something homophobic, and Piper kicked him. It felt gratifying.
See this? They are friends. Look at the body language, relaxed and open.
It doesn't last...
Wally West, you are a prat. Worst excuse ever. Still, I like how Piper isn't offended by him and takes it all in his stride. And you know, at least Wally didn't ask if this meant Piper fancied him.
But on the plus side.....
At the end of the issue they are friends again and Wally has evidently forgotten his fear of the gays. Looking back at the date this was published I feel all warm and fuzzy about the way this was handled. It could have been positioned as Wally being homophobic and in the right for being so, but I think it's quite clear in the above text that Wally is being a prat and that his mini freak out is wrong.
I was 11 in 1991 and didn't really know a lot about sexuality, but I was aware of HIV/AIDS and the mass panic and bigotry that followed it in the 80s. With that in mind, it's wonderful seeing a comic that deals with a character's sexuality in a grown up way, and that shows the panic reaction from his straight friend to be a ridiculous one.
Later on, in the 2008 Rogues Revenge Final Crisis mini there was a nice moment where one of the other rogues said something homophobic, and Piper kicked him. It felt gratifying.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Supergirl 55
Yes yes I know I'm behind. Truth is, i've lost motivation to review my comics on a weekly basis, Instead I've got other ways to blather about comicy things. Nonetheless I'm sure you're all dying to hear my views on Supergirl 55. /sarcasm off. Well, like everyone else I thought it was fucking great.
I've loved the cover for weeks - Bizzarrogirl and Kara both look like regular teenage girls, and each look different in their build, as well as having an actual belly (y'know, like women are meant to).
In lieu of having anything to write about the book, I thought I'd show some scans instead. All are shamlessly pilfered from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary or Too Dangerous For a Girl!, as I don't have a scanner at home.
Astoundingly beautiful.
I've loved the cover for weeks - Bizzarrogirl and Kara both look like regular teenage girls, and each look different in their build, as well as having an actual belly (y'know, like women are meant to).
In lieu of having anything to write about the book, I thought I'd show some scans instead. All are shamlessly pilfered from Supergirl Comic Box Commentary or Too Dangerous For a Girl!, as I don't have a scanner at home.
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