DC milks it

From the source: 

"It’s no secret – especially if you’ve been reading this here blog – that SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE has press and fans alike talking about it. In fact, the book debuted at #1 on THE NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list for graphic novels.
So, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the creative team behind SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE will be reuniting for a sequel.
It’s too early to talk art, story or release date"

So what, you waited a week, maybe 2, to get enough sales and press attention and you decide to do a sequel with NO thought as to the content of it?  That strikes me as mercenary and to be honest, just a bit crap.

London MCM Expo

So I went along to London MCM Expo last week - it was good and bad.

We arrived about 12.30, got lunch then went to buy tickets. We queued for about 2 hours.  Next time, I'll be buying my tickets in advance.  I'd forgotten how much I get frustrated by queuing.  And this was a relatively fast moving queue!

Lots of people were in costume, most of them being anime/manga/videogame costumes.  The only other DC characters I saw were 2 other (teenage) Supergirls (both in a store bought modern version of the costume) and one Batgirl who had a very casual costume on - black jeans, yellow bat logo t shirt and an eye mask.  I saw one or two Wonder Woman t-shirts being worn, and 2 Wolverines, 1 Iron Man, 1 Spiderman, a Rorschach and various doctors.  The lack of DC love made me a bit sad.  The crowd was very young - mostly teenagers - who were obviously there for the manga aspects of the show.  Many girls (and a few boys) had free hugs signs, which I found more than a little bizarre.  I declined the offers of free hugs.

Once inside the venue, I realised it was going to be almost exactly like work conferences I'd been to, except with comics and games instead.  It felt like a big shop, selling all the crap you could want, and mostly crap you could get on the internet anyway.  The yaoi/yuri stand could have been interesting but the books being sold weren't really books like I understand them - there was no back blurb, they were all in plastic, all had horrible generic looking covers and there was no way to have a look inside.  If i'm gonna buy porn I want to see what I'm getting.

The independent aisles were mostly selling cutesy, crafty, generic things.  Not really what me and the boyfriend had in mind.

But I did get to meet Bernard Chang!  Which made my day and made the whole trip worthwhile. :)
First I watched him sketch a Sabretooth and Nightcrawler for another lady - that was really interesting, particularly when he added the inks.  He made it look so simple.  Then I asked him to sign my Supergirl issue (#57 that he drew), and we had a chat as I asked him various questions.

First I asked why he wanted to draw Supergirl  - he said he she's fun to draw, he likes what Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle have done with the character, he likes drawing single characters (as opposed to team up books) and he thought he'd enjoy the job.  He wants to continue and build upon what Jamal and Sterling have done.

He doesn't know why the S shield is pink for number 60 or how long it will remain pink for - I get the impression that the artists/writers aren't privy to these decisions.   He did say he has no plans to change the costumer - and he showed me a splash page from number 60 - very nice, and Kara's still got shorts (whew!).  He also had a sketchbook there which had the pencils from #57 and Bizarro JLA in it.  I asked why Arsenal had the cats and he explained, which was nice.  He said it was Sterling's idea to include the cats to homage the Arsenal series and he (Sterling) kept changing his mind about whether to keep them in or not.

I mumbled that I'd facebooked him and he did remember and said that I'd mentioned I'd has some questions.  At which I went even redder and felt like an inquisitor.  I don't like that feeling - I don't want to be all fan entitlement-y at creators.  They're just doing their job, I don't have to like it.
I then said that some net friends wanted to ask if Kara would become a supertorso again (which isn't quite how folks put it, but I don't like and refuse to use slut, so I made boob/hippy shapes with my hands.  I wish more people signed).
He said the Supergirl cover he did (can anyone tell me what number this is?) before was meant to echo Ian Churchill's art inside the book.  He believes the cover should be linked to and represent the art inside the book.

Chang made clear that he is very aware of Supergirl fans' passion for the character.  I mentioned the Supergirl Comic Box Commentary but he hadn't heard of it/been on it.  Sorry Anj.  But I think he's well aware of the internet's reactions to Gates and Igle leaving and I imagine he's probably feeling  a bit apprehensive of fan's reactions to his work.

He also said Nick Spencer might be there at Expo but I couldn't hang around and stalk for him.  Also, I don't know what Spencer looks like, so it could have been very embarrassing.  Last thing I asked was if Kara would stay on the JlA or rejoin the Teen Titans - I then followed this question by saying but I don't suppose you can tell me that.  He can't.

Overall he came over very well, his art was good, he was friendly, respectful and courteous.  I just hope I was too.  Part of the reason int he delay for writing this up is cos I facebooked him again to ask if he minded if I blogged our conversation, to which he said of course he doesn't mind.

Unfortunately we left before I got to meet Andy Diggle or Jock, but to be honest, I was happy enough meeting Chang, having a chat and getting my comic signed.

Here's an interesting thing

Apparently when I'm an overtired zombie I can't tell the difference between Secret Six and Birds of Prey.  Which is how I came out with Secret Six #27 today and now have the title on standing order.  I blame the dinosaur on the front.

It's a very cool looking dinosaur and it's being ridden by Bane.

Spoilers ahead.









So, the Six are in Skataris fighting another bunch of villains, except they're not really fighting them as Scandal is friendly with Jeanette (who turns into the Silver Banshee at one point) and Bane (whom she's stabbed thinking he was her father).  Ragdoll is fighting a giant shark who likes pale white meat and now has one eyeball hanging out, thanks to Ragdoll.  The Six are now forced to quit the fight as they are surrounded by armoured dinosaurs. Catman is turned into the symbol of the resistance and is given a very fetching and beefcakey outfit.  Meanwhile, Spy Smasher is trying to pull a fast on Amanda Waller.  This is not a good idea.

Fuck knows the background to this issue but I quite enjoyed it.


Superboy #1 was a solid opening issue.  We get a supporting cast, ruminations on his life so far, Krypto, the Phantom Stranger being all silver age-y and ominous (Connor is all modern and cut the bullshit-y), Parasite is on a revenge spree and then Poison Ivy turns up very unexpectedly.  Last of all we have a retro 'coming up' page - Ivy and Connor work together, Connor and Bart race, there's some new titans and Connor crosses the multiverse.  Looks like fun!

Brightest Day #13 continued the retcons that we've had so far - nor Geoff Johns is fleshing out the backstory of Chay-era's mother.  It struck me that I probably shouldn't be pissed off at this, because Rebirth was all retcon too and that worked out fine.  Surprisingly, Hath Set appears to have now been killed by Hawkwoman.  There's some fantastic splash pages of Hawkman, and some not so fantastic alpha male-ing of Batman.  I do not want Bruce to be the goddamn White Lantern (altho the Goddamn White Lantern might be fun).  Bruce Wayne is not the answer to fecking everything.

Comics continued!

And now, onto the good ones!  Spoilers ahead for Supergirl annual #2, JLA #50 and Teen Titans #88.
(Short reviews only, I'm writing this really late at night)
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Teen Titans #88
Aww, the lovely Nicola Scott drew this!  Aww it looks so good!  Now, JT Krul did a reasonably good job of this, far better than Green Arrow, so I am cautiously optimistic.  Krul is setting up the new story arc here, explaining why Ravager is back on the team and introducing a new person.  Ravager's reintroduction doesn't make lots of sense when you think about the rest of the issues this year, but it doesn't really matter.  This is much better than a lot of the issues this year.

This TT is fun.  A bit serious, but still fun, with positive emotions.  I don't think Krul will be able to make the TT dark and twisted, Scott's art would rectify a moody script.  Bart is drawn pretty well here, which is nice (I've missed fun Bart!).

There appear to be zombie vampire types in this issue.  And Damian joins the team.  Heh.  This will be fun!

The one thing that disturbed me about this issue was Cassie and Connor wearing their boots in their bedroom.  That's a bit rank and unhygienic..

Supergirl annual #2
Kara returns to the future and teams up with Brainiac.  Then kisses him. :)  Yeah yeah there's some fights and villains involved, but ultimately this issue is about Kara and Brainiac.  It's good. :)

JLA #50
Far better than I expected, some good character stuff and the Crime syndicate from a parallel earth, who I always like.  I may even get the rest of the issues in this story arc.

Comics!

I spent £20 this week.. oops.  Oh well.  Prepare for my thoughts, internet!
Spoilers ahead for: Green Arrow #5, Wonder Woman #604, JLA & the 99 #1, Superman #704.
JLA #50, Teen Titans #88, Supergirl annual #2 come tomorrow.
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Green Arrow #5
I had high hopes for the issue, mostly because of the cover.  I find it dynamic and interesting.
 
But in reality, it just seems that we are retreading the same old ground that the other Brightest Day tagged books have dealt with. It doesn't really move Ollie's story on.   We get given more background on how Ollie's parents died, which looks suspiciously like a(nother) retcon to me.  It's boring.  Ollie is boring and miserable.  Where's his hope?  Where's his joy for life?  He may be a left winger, a snarky grumpy socialist, but he's always enjoyed life.  I know he's had a lot of shit happen recently, but you wouldn't know it from this book. there's no reference to Cry for Justice, there's just miserable, dark Ollie.


Wonder Woman #604
This was just poorly written.  Cliched, hackneyed, boring plot devices.  Terrible dialogue.  Diana gets her lasso, the burnt villain is defeated (by Diana's mother no less), but unfortunately not until after some predictably formatted exposition.


JLA & the 99 #1
This completely threw me because of continuity issues - the 99 are teaming up with the JLA as they haven't been for quite a while, certainly before Cry for Justice but Wonder Woman is in her new costume.  Basically, we've got Bruce!Batman, Superman, this new costumed WW, John Stewart GL, Flash, Atom, Firestorm, Martian Manhunter, Dr Light, Vixen Hawkman and Aquaman.

As an introduction to The 99 it did nothing for me.  The free download from The 99 website got me interested, not this rubbish hastily put together book.  Don;t give up on these superheroes guys, go to their website instead.

Superman #704
Oh christ.  An attempt to look at Lois's motivations and analyse her character.  She declares herself a bad feminist for wanting a family and derides all her journalistic achievements (because BABIES are what's important, right??!!).

Ugh.

It's All Hallows Eve!

Or Halloween, or Samhain, whichever you'd like to call it.  I like All Hallows Eve, it sounds a bit fancier than Halloween but not as pretentious as Samhain.

Anyway, today is the end of the pagan year, as the months move into Winter and things start withering and dying.  All I can say is thank fuck the year's ended because so far this year has been pretty bloody awful.  Roll on the new one.

Halloween has it's spooky reputation as it's meant to be the night when the dead walk the earth as ghosts - this is because pagans believed that Samhain marked a boundary between one year and the next, and that where boundaries exist the veils between the worlds are thin, making it easier for ghosts and other mythological beings to come through.  We use pumpkins at this time because a) they are in season, and b) they were sacred to the druids.

Whatever you believe, whatever you celebrate, have a great day!

Norwich's Sensory Support Unit is at risk of closure

The Unit supports Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind and visually impaired people.
For Deaf and hard of hearing folks they help with:
Transport to the Deaf centre
Equipment for the house (e.g. flashing fire alarms, doorbells etc)
Funding an advocacy and open door service where Deaf people can get help with a wide range of issues
Funding a deaf social worker


They also do a lot of work for people with visual impairments.  It's a bloody disgrace that closure of the unit is even an option.  Information on the proposed budget cuts for Norfolk County Council is to be found here, and I believe it covers the Sensory Support Unit.


If you've got any networks that have an interest in this please let them know that there will be a Public Meeting on Monday November 1st @ 7.00pm at City Hall Norwich.  Thank you.

I bought the best t shirt

Or possibly the most fun one.  From ebay, it's cheap, it's a knock off but I love it.

 It's mah new Super Bat Girls t-shirt!

Well I'm pleased.  I was having a crap week then I saw this and bought it, and now I have it.  Gods bless ebay,

Coming out day

Coming out day is a yearly thing occurring on October 11th.  It's meant to promote awareness of gay/bisexual people, increase tolerance and increase visibility of queer folk.  Wikipedia calls it a civil awareness day.

I missed commemorating it this year but I would hope that I do enough year round to promote awareness and visibility.  My reason for the late post is that aroundabout Oct 11th I saw some people declaring that they thought a National Coming Out day was a bad thing as it would push or force people into coming out, when they weren't ready for it and/or when it may not be safe for them to do so.

I disagree with this interpretation of the day - as I see it the designation of Coming Out day is more for those who are already out and able to show their colours so to speak.  It should be a day when those who are comfortable enough to do so discuss LGB (and trans) issues and provide a visible presence and become a role model of sorts tho those folk who aren't out, for whatever reason.

It may be a day to tell your coming out story, it may be a day to say why you're proud to be queer (or the descriptor of your choice), it may be a day to talk about your life in general and just make the most fleeting reference to not being heterosexual.  Nobody should be pushed into coming out.  It's not always an easy thing to do, it can be very stressful and for a lot of people it can be dangerous.  the least the rest of us can do is be open and show the bigots that we're here, we're varied and we ain't going anywhere.

Maybe that will help those who are still in the closet.

If you want to read more about what I've said on the subject click on the LGB and coming out tags beneath this post.

Runaways is building up to something

And I reckon it's Karoline and Nico getting together*.  From the Truth or Dare story, collected in Roock Zombies vol 10 (and reviewed by yours truly here) I give you:

Throughout the previous 9 volumes there have been a fair few other hints that Nico is going to realise she's in love with Karolina.  I don't think Karolina's going to reciprocate, because she's now got Xavin, and Karolain's a one woman kind of girl.  The above panel is very sweet tho.  Apart from Victor in the background there, he's leering.  There's always one isn't there?  Spoiling your photos, playing the fool.. I don't know...





*Yes I know I'm probably about a year behind everyone else.  But i've only read as far as vol 10.  Give me a break.

Learn to Sign week - resources!

So, you've started signing.  You've had a few lessons, you've perhaps met some Deaf BSL users.  You're keen on the language and you want to learn more.  What's next?

Well, there's a whole load of online resources you can use.  Bristol University has the fabulous Centre for Deaf Studies (I blogged about it here) and they have a whole host of resources for you:

Deafstation - for people fluent in BSL, providing daily news and information (in BSL) - if you're just starting to learn and you watch this don't get too worried if you don't understand it all.  You'll get there I promise!
Signstation - For people learning BSL.  It has video, pictures and information about BSL, Deaf people at work and Deaf awareness.  A really useful resource for people at level 1 and level 2.
Mobile Sign - a video dictionary with over 5000 signs.  For people who work with Deaf people, have Deaf customers or want to learn how to sign.  You access the dictionary from a mobile phone phone and download the signs required.
Deafresource - Provides information on the Deaf Community, sign language and Deaf Studies.
VOGS - It provides guides for working with Deaf people covering topics such as using Interpreters, facts about Deaf people and sign language and frequently asked questions.  VOGS means 'Vocational Guidance Standard Model for Deaf People'.


VOGS is more of a professional resource, but have a look round them all and see if you think anything's useful.

But wait! There's more!
Signs of God - Signs for use in a Christian setting
Christain Signs - as above.  There is a Deaf church, would ya believe it.
Science Signs - for a science education

Signhealth - the healthcare charity for deaf people
Forest Books - selling all sorts of books about the Ddeaf and hard of hearing world.  Fiction, academic theories, language books, help for professionals working with Ddeaf people, technology. journals, teaching aids, loads of stuff.  It's fabulous.
Deafread - the best of deaf blogs and vlogs from around the world.


Surrounding Deaf culture, there's the Deaf poet Dorothy Miles, who creates and performs poems in BSL, the Deaf comedian John Smith, performing routines in BSL, and Lee's BSL Songs.

You can also check out my Deaf sites and resources post for more links.

I hope this has all been helpful to you and that you've enjoyed the series.

Learn to Sign week

Hmm, yes I never did finish off those series of posts did I?  Well, let's have a go at finishing them now shall we.

If you are in a workplace or a learning centre (like a school, college or university) where you are likely to work with or alongside a Deaf, deaf or hard of hearing person, you will need to think about your communication methods and whether it's appropriate to bring in additional communication support.
How do you decide this?  You ask the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing person if they want extra support, and what they want.  You do not assume what they need.

Examples of support may be an interpreter or communication support worker, a lipspeaker or a notetaker.  Notetakers can use different types of equipment or different methods to record what is being said.

As for the difference between an interpreter and a communication support worker (csw), well the main difference is qualifications.  Note that qualifications and experience are not the same thing.  I jokingly say that terps are better qualified, better paid and get more respect..but it's not always that way!  CSWs generally work in educational settings whereas terps will work in medical settings, in the workplace, in the courts, loads of places.  When you see someone signing at a conference they may be a terp or a CSW.  At the end of the day we all facilitate communication between the Deaf world and the hearing world.  And we all do our best.

Note: when using terps or csws please remember to look at the Deaf person, and not the terp/csw.  All the terp/csw is doing is interpreting the information, they are not speaking for the Deaf person.

For more information about finding a language service professional you can start by looking at the NRCPD website - National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind people.  You won't find CSWs on there - if you do specifically want a CSW try your local Deaf club who should have information on how to find one.

Comprehensive spending review

I write this post on the 20th October, the day when the details of the comprehensive spending review came out.  This is the government's plan to get us out the recession.

I understand there's no money.  I understand that Labour's method of getting us out of the recession was to borrow more and spend more.  I understand that we are in near unprecedented levels of debt.  I understand that the Conservative's methods of fixing this problem is to cut back on all spending.

I know we've got a problem.

But, as per the key points of the review listed here, I cannot help but feel that the optimal way out is not to cut 7 billion from the welfare budget (most folk on welfare are pretty damn skint to start with, why punish them?  Is it cos they don't vote for you?)
It's not to cut 490,000 public sector jobs (although I'm amazed the figure isn't higher)
It shouldn't involve a 19% four year cut in departmental budgets (money was tight beforehand).

In more detail, with my comments in bold (text taken from the above link):

Communities and local government, Annual budget: £33.6bn
What's being cut: Councils will see a 7.1% annual fall in their budgets. But ring-fencing of local authority revenue grants will end and councils will have freedom to borrow against their assets (I thought borrowing got us into a lot of these problems?  Well, that and investing in Iceland). Funding for social housing to be cut by more than 60%, with new tenants having to pay higher rents (That will really help lift people out of poverty [edit - that was a saracastic comment, I don't think it's a good idea, I think it's terrible!!)). But the government hopes these changes will free up funds to build 150,000 new affordable homes over the next four years.(To bring in more income for central or local government?  what rate will the rents be fixed at?)



Home Office, Annual budget: £10.2bn
What's being cut: Budget cut of 6% a year, equivalent to 24% fall over the period.
Police budget cut by 4% a year, focused on bureaucracy rather than manpower (but with all the paperwork coppers have to do how will reducing bureaucracy make the police more efficient?  will they reduce the forms and reports?). Aim to maintain "visibility and availability" of officers on beat. But some experts believe 18,000 police jobs could be lost. UK Border Agency budget to fall 20%. Counter-intelligence budget to fall 10%.



Justice, Annual budget: £9.7bn
What's being cut: Budget to fall by 6% a year, equivalent to 23% over the period.
Plan for new 1,500-place prison to be dropped. 3,000 fewer prison places expected by 2015. (But our prisons are already overflowing.  I assume more folk will be put on electronic tag then).  £1.3bn capital investment in prison estate.

Work and Pensions
Winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and TV licences for 75-year-olds protected. (Thank fuck for that!) Cuts to child benefit for higher rate taxpayers to generate £2.5bn. (Cuts based on your rate of tax? I'm amazed.  I'd like to see the thresholds though) £2bn investment in new universal credit.(Oh gods, I have a terrible feeling about this) Weekly child element on child tax credit to rise by £30 in 2012 and £50 by 2012. (I'm not quite sure what the difference between a child tax credit and a child benefit is).

What's being cut?: A further £7bn in welfare savings planned on top of £11bn already announced. A new 12-month time limit for the one million people on employment and support allowance to find work or face benefit cut. (I wonder if benefit cut means no more benefits or reduced benefits.  What happens when there's just no work?)  10% cut in council tax benefit budget. New threshold on housing benefit. Maximum savings award in pension credit to be frozen for four years. Increased working hours threshold for working tax credits for couples with children(Now this is a good idea No it's not!  I completley misunderstood what this meant  - read the comments for more info). New total benefits cap per family. (I have mixed feelings about this.  It depends what the level of capping is).


The Guardian reports that the spending review includes " the withdrawal of £50 a week from the million people claiming incapacity benefit for more than a year".  People on Incapacity Benefit are too ill to work.  That's why they get it.  Do they then switch to this new universal benefit?  Are they not entitled to claim anything after a year?  What will they live on?  Housing Benefit is getting cut.  The councils (who provide all those important support services) are getting their budgets and staff numbers slashed.

The support for social housing will be halved.  £350 million will be taken from the legal aid budget.

Discussing the impact on women, the F Word posts a statement from Ceri Goddard of the Fawcett Society, who labels the new budget a disastrous blow for women's equality.

About the Lib Dems:
"Nick Clegg. the deputy prime minister, held a teleconference with hundreds of Lib Dem parliamentary candidates and faced tough questions on why he had reneged on the Lib Dem pledge not to raise university tuition fees. He told the callers that he felt wretched about signing the pledge and then reneging on it."
When you're in a coalition government you can't go through with everything you promised.  That's the crapper.

I ask, why aren't the rich getting taxed more?  Why are the poor getting the shit end of the deal?
Oh right, cos the poor don't count and their votes don't matter.

Now y'all go read Feminist Avatar's comment and reflect on why she's awesome.

Phantom zone mural!

How good is this?

Pretty damn good I reckon.  The description confirms that it's not an actual image from the film, but a composite image.  Still good tho.

(I did try to post the pic on this post, but it won't let me.  Nevermind, go see the greatness on the link).


While you're here, go check out the adventures of epic box.  Turn your sound on and tell me who the music's by.  It sounds like one of my battle metal bands, but it's probably a really famous composer and i'm just too uncultured to recognise it.

I think I'm going to a comic con

London MCM Expo to be exact.

Guess who's gonna be there?  Bernard Chang.  The new artist on Supergirl.  Got anything you think I should ask him?  I don't know what day I'm going yet, or what day he will be there, but fingers crossed the days will match up.  I'm going on the Saturday and he'll be there all weekend.  There's also a good chance I'll get all squealy and either stammer or try to be cool and end up being rude.  I'm not good with meeting famous folk.

My main problem is I can't find a bloody programme on the website.  I have no idea how Expo works so I don't know if Chang will be on a panel, or signing something, or doing commissions or what.
I emailed him on facebook and he said he'd be there all weekend and possibly doing some activites, I don't know what these will be.

I do know that I'll be going in a stealth Supergirl costume.  Which will probably not be all that stealthy.  Depends on if I wear the headband or not.

Anyone else gonna be going?

PS: Reckon should I bring up the pink Supergirl logo?  News has been out about it for about 6 hours, and already the internet has exploded.  Or at least, twitter has.  Opinions are divided.

Translated epics

Dear Hearts,

I would like to take the time to share with you a few stories I have particularly enjoyed recently.

These stories are of the prose variety, with nary a picture in sight.  Would you ever have believed it?  All of the books are recognised as epics, from days gone by.  They feature heroes and heroines galore, the Brave and the Bold, the Fearsome and sometimes Fearful.

Read The Tain, translated by Ciaran Carson.  Revel in the deeds of Cú Chulainn, legendary hero of Ulster!  The wicked Queen Maeve is possessed by an unbecoming greed and determines to seize the Brown Bull of Cooley.  The Ulstermen have been laid low by a monstrous curse and so Cú Chulainn comes to their rescue!  He has the strength of ten men, can leap might rivers, twist his body into inhuman shapes and recover from nearly all bodily wounds!  No man is safe from him - he has even bested the Scald Crow, Morrigan!

In turns vulgar, in turns gentle, this is a lusty, war loving, comedic interpretation of one of Eire's greatest tales.

Ursula Le Guin tackles the Aenid to supply us with Lavinia.  Lavinia refused to be sold and set about taking control of her destiny.  Told with grace and patience, this Lavinia is headstrong, devout and pious.  She accepts responsibility for the outcomes of her actions and manoeuvres into a position where she can retain her independence.  She has strength and poise.  This was a more welcome read after the francticness of The Tain.

Tales of the Tricksters is a veritable treasure trove of liars and cheats from around the world. Read this and meet the cunning and wily Fox, Hare, Spider, Cockerel and Rat.  There's some beautiful illustrations included too.

Lastly, I read David Wright's prose adaption of Beowulf.  For an unenlightened Philistine like yours truly, the move away form poetry to prose was most welcome.  This Beowulf is a warrior: bloody, prideful, absolutely certain of his God, offensive and rude.  He doesn't waste words and he gets straight to the point of the matter,  Ever convinced of his righteousness you may find his attitude a little off putting.

And that, dear readers, brings you up to date with my non comic readings.

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(Edited to add: I'm not quite sure what style I was going for when I wrote this.  See I write things in my note book then type them up.  It's long winded but it feels more satisfactory.  Sometimes it leads to confusion about my choice of words)

The local comic book shop goes online!

Well, it's had a website for ages, but it's recently been revamped and it's now MUCH better.  You can now search the back issue list, have a wish list, and view upcoming releases.  Genius!  Anyway I thought I'd give it a bit of a plug, cos I like them and I think you should give them your money.

The shop is called Abstract Sprocket.  You can now order online and choose to have the books delivered or to pick them up in store. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of trades on there yet, but I'm guessing they'll be put on later, as will more and more back issues.

As soon as I saw the new site I did a quick search and came away with 3 Impulse issues I've been after.  This might prove expensive...

Gearing up for Halloween

I figure it's time for another plug.  Over at New readers... we're having a Halloween themed month.  We'll be featuring books that are a it spooky, scary, gory or maybe just weird.  I know for sure that we've got books with zombies, vampires and replicating schoolchildren coming up (not necessarily all at once).  There's some shit hot manga in the queue and even a few superheroes.  We've also got a list of other books that might appeal, if you're after a seasonal read.

Come on by, have a read, leave a comment.  And recommend us some stuff!  We like recommendations!

Not my cat

This is completely off topic, but as i've just spent a good hour and a half trying to sort out photos and tags on a New readers.. post, picture sof kittys is all you're likely to get today.

My dad took these pictures, they are of his neighbour's cats.  I think they are particualrly good shots, but I can't decide which ones I like best.

Today I like the last one best, I think because of the juxtaposition of the dark clouds, lights apples and the blue sky.  The cats are called Pixel and Google - proof that we live in a technological age, I think.

Jamal Igle comments on leaving Supergirl

See his blog post here.

Specifically, he comments that:

"It's going to sound cliche' but the truth is, at least for myself , I chose to leave. I approached Matt Idelson about 4 months ago right after we finished War of the Superman and let him know I wanted to move on.

wo years on a series as an artist is a long time creatively, and like any artist, you feel the need to stretch and do new things.

There was no malice, no secret agenda on DC's part. There were discussions of what I may do next but nothing finalized, including Birds of Prey."

I'm sad he chose to leave, but very gald he wasn't pushed out.  After all the rumours about Igle moving to BoP it occured to me that leaked info like that can have a negative impact on a person's career.  So, I'm glad that that isn't what has happened here.

I'm also *so* relieved that Igle and Benes aren't simply swapping books.  can you imagine a modenr Benes on a Sterling Gates written Supergirl?  The mind boggles.

Oops, meant to post something on wednesday.

It basically said 'life got really busy - new job, lots of things to do in the evenings and lots of things to learn. Back in a week.'

I'll stick to it. Back in a week - I got new readers stuff to do that takes priority.  But before I go, I will leave you with the news that Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle will be off Supergirl as of January.  This news makes me really sad.  You will all probably have picked up on the fact that I'm a massive Supergirl fan and I have really loved Gates and Igle's run on the title.  My only wish is that they had had more standalone issues and less crossover.  I'm gutted they are going.

Nick Spencer and Bernard Chang are taking over.  I think I like Chang.  I don't know Spencer.

Where to learn BSL and what to expect

There are a lot of places you can learn BSL.  To locate a course you can contact your local deaf club (google the name of a major town near you and deaf club), look at the adult education prospectus or look on Signature's website for a list of all all accredited training providers.

What can you expect when learning BSL?

Well, typically, you will start by doing a level 1 course and you will learn the basics - fingerspelling, places, things in the house, work vocabulary, colours, weather, holidays, animals, and basic grammar.  You may be taught by a Deaf BSL user or by a hearing person with a good knowledge of BSL.  In the classes you can expect to go over new vocabulary each week, produce stories, and chat with others in your class.  All this should be done in BSL with your voice turned off.

You may then do a bridging course, which will improve your skills to nearer that of a level 2 class.  After that you can take the level 2 qualification, this will build upon your vocabulary learnt in previous courses, expand your knowledge and ability to use BSL grammar, try to move you away from using Sign Supported English (BSL signs produced in English word order), improve your receptive skills and increase your confidence.  It now becomes more important to turn your voice off and to use BSL in each class.  Once you have your level 2 you will be able to hold a conversation with a BSL user.

Once you have achieved your level 2, you need to use your BSL regularly and try to mix with Deaf people in order to improve your productive and receptive skills.  The next stage is a level 3, and typically you will have spent at least one year if not two practicing your skills and using them regularly.  There is a huge jump between the level 2 and level 3 and to help you improve your knowledge you may want to consider doing a pre level 3 course.  This is where I am at now, and I can honestly say that the pre level 3 course I took was invaluable and worth every penny I spent.  Without being in a formal classroom situation you won't realise what bad habits you have picked up and what it is that you don't know.

After you have achieved your level 3, you will definitely have a good handle on the language and be able to explain and communicate complex ideas in BSL, not SSE.  Next up is the level 6 which will take you to interpreter standard.

When you are learning it is important to practice outside the classroom as much as you can.  You can do this with friends on your course, or go to coffee mornings or other practice sessions at your local deaf club.  You may want to go to interpreted theatre performances to improve your receptive skills, or you can watch the BSL interpreted news on BBC news 24 at 8.30 am and 1pm (I think).  See Hear is a good programme about the Deaf Community that is viewable both on BBC 2 and the i-player, if like me you don't watch TV.  Like any other language, it is important to learn about the culture of the people who use BSL as it will help you to understand ideas and structure within the language.

Learn to Sign week

It's Learn to Sign week!  Organised by the BDA (British Deaf Association) there should be lots of stuff going on throughout the country aimed at encouraging people to learn to how to sign.  So, I think I shall be getting in on this and doing a series of posts about BSL (British Sign Language).

The week runs from 4th to the 10th October and you can find out more at the BDA page here.  Approximately 90,000 people have BSL as their first language.  It is a living language evolving as Deaf people use it and it not artifically created.  It is Deaf people's own language and is not devised by hearing people.  Each sign language throughout the world (and there areaas many as there are spoken languages) is distinct and they are not based upon spoken languages.  There is an International Sign language used at international conferences and this is in turn distinct from countries own sign languages.

BSL is not a series of gestures or mime.  It has it's own vocabulary, not all of which can be translated into English, it's own syntax and grammar and it's own rules.  Used fluently, it is incredibly graceful and beautiful to watch.

Yet the UK only officially recognised BSL as a language in 2003.  Seems bizzare huh?  In Scotland there is currently a consultation period occuring that will be used to decide if BSL should be recognised as language in Scotland, (for more information see here).  Scotland is part of the UK but sometimes has different laws, I'm not quite sure how or why this is the case, maybe a reader can enlighten me?

You can read more about the history of BSL here.  Stay tuned this week as I blather more about this.

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.

Comics reviews!

Ooh this week I came away with rather a lot of goods :o
There's the Stephanie Brown Batgirl figure (reviewed here at Action Figure Blues) - they had it on the shop wall so I buckled.  She's pretty nice.  Good articulation, nice accessories and good hair.  I'll get a proper review and pictures up at another time.

Then there's the grab bag of about 10 Justice League comics - including JLI, JLE and Justice League quarterly!  When I got home and investigated the contents I discovered that amongst those included were the Batman one punch issue. and the introduction of Power Girl's cat!  So score 10 points for me.

As for the comics.. well spoilers ahead for Gotham City Sirens 16, Green Arrow #4 and Wonder Woman #603.
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Gotham City Sirens 16
This was a lot of fun - the art was very strange in places but the story was fun.  It was a little all over the place but in a good way.  Harley provided the comic relief again, but in a really fun way.  I give this issue top marks.

Green Arrow #4
God this was dull.  It rehashed the Brightest Day J'onn in the forest plot and made it a lot less interesting.
I shouldn't be having this reaction - I adore Ollie.  He's one of my favourite characters, yet this book is boring the pants off me.  I suspect this is because it's all mired in the crossover and is framed as being really dark.  I want fun Ollie.  I want Dinah back.  Or at least Mia.  I want happy, smiling, grumpy, sexed up, chilli making, horny, fighting against the fascists Ollie.  I want Dinah back with him and the both of them flirting together.  I want Connor back, non powered, as an awesome martial artist and archer. I do not want angst.  This is boring.

Wonder Woman #603
I got the alternate cover - it is lovely.  I continue to like Diana in this - she is time displaced, but she's still very much the leader.  I wasn't so enamoured with the trip to Hades angle, but I appreciate the incorporation of Greek mythology.  I really want to see who this mystery man is and I *really* want to see Diana kick his ass and get her lasso back next issue.

I wonder if she's going to have to search for all the treasures, a la Ben Caldwell's Wonder Woman in Wednesday Comics?

Finally, go read about the 10 greatest nude comic book fights of all time.  There's plenty of naked man action, and the Bat and the Cat is in there!

JLA fun

You gotta love J'onn.  You just have to.

2 weeks worth of comics

Ooh look I got behind again.  Oh well, I have something to say now.  Onwards!  Spoilers ahead for Birds of Prey #5, Brightest Day #10, Superman/Batman # 76, Supergirl #56 and some old 90s Superboy issues.
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Birds of Prey #5
Reading this I was struck again by the lack of solid female friendships in DC's comics.  In this issue Dinah decides (fairly inexplicably to a new reader) to quit the Birds and bugger off to Bangkok with the White Canary.  Zinda and Helena are having none of this and follow her to Bangkok to tell her so.  Friends that won't let other friends do stupid things are good friends.  I can't think of any other book where this sort of thing would happen, and it's what made this issue special.


Brightest Day #10
The firestorm matrix bonding Ronnie and Jason together is revealed to be the spark the ignited the big bang.  This would have captured my interest far more if we hadn't had the Aqua story running alongside it.  Gods alive that was good!  There's all sorts of dramatic heroism all over the shop.  I had tears in my eyes reading this (I think I may be a bit emotional at the moment...).  Without a second thought, Jackson's Dad was going to sacrifice himself so his son could live, Jackson wasn't having this so he's saves his Dad and fights back against Black Manta.  Back on land Manta slings a fish hook at Jackson's father, which is caught at the last moment by Aquaman, leading to an awesomely dramatic full page splash.

I LOVE this sort of stuff.  My heart was all a flutter reading this.


Superman/Batman # 76
This made my heart go all a flutter and made me a bit weepy, until I thought about it more.  You see, this issue deals with Bruce's death & funeral, and Superman's emotional state after the death of his friend.  This is all good and it is great to see, except for Bruce's funeral.  Lois wasn't allowed as it was allegedly core Justice League members only, in civilian clothing,  and there was a secret identity issue.

Fine.  Lois must know near enough all the JLA members identities by now, but fine.  Then you see the funeral scene.  Attending is Clark, Dick, Alfred, Tim, Diana, Dinah and Ollie.

Ollie?  There's no Hal or Kyle, no Wally or Barry, Carter or Zatanna and you're trying to tell me Ollie gets to be the core of the League?  And no Selina or Barbara?  Nothing would stop those two attending Bruce's funeral.  Hell, Talia should also be there.

Ridiculous.

Supergirl #56
As with last issue, this was great.  Best issue of these 2 weeks without a doubt.  Jamal Igle's art is great, I think he's getting better every issue - it now seems he's not going to Birds of Prey and was never going to go to BoP, so let this be a lesson to us all.  I hope he stays on Supergirl, I really do.  He even drew Sterling Gates in this issue, proclaiming Kara 'sooo ugly!' (some Bizarros speak in opposites) complete with little hearts(!).

Sterling Gates has given Bizarrogirl a distinct personality.  I didn't think that was possible (with the Bizarros).  There's some nice homages to the pre-crisis Kara with Bizarrogirl crushing on BizarroLex.  Mostly, I am struck by the similarities between Bizarrogirl and that imposter Supergirl from issue 18.  There's some things in there about what a Supergirl 'should' be and Kara is considering if she is measuring up to the standard set by the S shield.  I know these last couple of issues have been a general reflection on Kara and recent events but the introduction of Bizarrogirl reads, to me, like a redone version of issue 18.  A far far improved version which is much less patronising to the readers.

Superboy Plus the Power of Shazam #1
Superboy meets Captain Marvel Junior and they are tested for strength and determination.  Cap'n Junior fails, Superboy passes.  It's an incredibly contrived issue set up to bring readers into a new Superboy plotline and vaguely advance the plot of Cap'n Junior.  Not really worth getting unless you're a completest.  The best bit about it is Knockout, who will never cease to rock.  the worst bit is Tana Moon suddenly becoming Caucasian.

Superboy Plus Slither 2
Another meh issue.  Better than the Shazam one but not great.  I'm also trying to track down the other Plus issues as I believe that Robin, Impulse and Catwoman also got involved.

Superboy annual 1997 - Pulp Heroes
Now this was fun.  Superboy and co take a journey to Dinosaur Island.  Superboy gets drunk, loses his memory, they meet cavemen and fight off dinosaurs.  Lots of pulpy B movie type fun.  All the cavewomen are hot, slim yet busty and in fur bikinis.  The cavemen are fat, ugly and in fur loincloths.  I love the pulp style, I appreciate the aesthetic and I'm a sucker for old monster B movies.  However reading this, I was considering what it means culturally and politically when the women are objects of desire and the men aren't.  I think it's particularly important to be aware of this in a comic aimed at teenage boys.  Guess my conclusions.


Superboy & Risk Double Shot (1998)
Another fun one.  Superboy goes undercover at a school to discover which student broke into Project Cadmus.  He adopts an incredibly nerdish persona - which is quite obviously poking fun at Clark's mild mannered identity - and proceeds to be bullied and discover nothing.

There were 3 other books released under the Double Shot title, one was Supergirl & Prysm, the other two are Robin & someone and Impulse & someone.  I am tracking them down on ebay.

I want to write about smear tests

This is probably an unexpected topic.  I don't really talk much about health and this sort of stuff on here, but occasionally I get to thinking and I feel like I need to get some ideas down clearly,

Smear tests.  Generally, (in the UK), every woman over 25 gets one, every 3 years.  They take a scraping from your cervix and send it off to testing to check for pre-cancerous cells.  Well, the official literature says a brush like device is wiped over the cervix to pick up some cells, but in my head it's more like a scraping.  It feels more like a scraping that's for sure.

Do you know how they do this?  Well, you go to the doctors or your local family planning clinic and have an appointment with the nurse.  They usually lock the door to prevent anyone walking in, you sit on the bed, a screen is drawn round and you remove your skirt/trousers and your pants (knickers for Americans).

You lie back with your knees up, the nurse asks you to relax your legs and they insert a speculum into your vagina.  It's cold.  It's has some gel on it to assist with lubrication, although not too much because otherwise that can interfere with the reading of the sample and then you'll have to come back in again.  Then there is a feeling that I can only describe as being winched open.  I haven't got a fucking clue what they actually do because I can't see anything, given that I'm lying on my back.  Then they scrape your cervix.

It can be a quick procedure, if you're relaxed, it's definitely uncomfortable and can be painful.  What it is always is invasive.  I was lucky that the first time I had a smear was when I also had a contraceptive coil put in.  After this week's appointment the speculum was placed on the table next to  the bed, giving me a chance to look at it.  This was the first time I'd seen one and it looked like a yellow ray gun.  My first thought was 'I'm letting them stick that up my muff??!!'

The smear test is nothing compared to the coil.  Inserting a coil is painful, takes longer and results in womb cramps for the next few hours or days.  But on the plus side, it's the only hormone free effective contraception that isn't condoms, so I don't feel like I've got much of a choice.

The way women are designed, with our reproductive organs inside is, means that any gynaecological check up will be invasive.  It's different for men, men can usually be examined without having anything inserted.  I'm not saying that when men do need full STD checks it's a happy experience - of course it's not.  But I am under the impression that insertion of things into men's penises happens far less often than insertion of things into women's vaginas, be that thing fingers, coils or speculums.

Some nurses and doctors will be sympathetic to the female patient's fear, awkwardness, tense state and levels of anxiety.  Some are not.  I think one of the issues with it is that you can't see anything and you have no control over what the nurse/doctor is doing.  You are helpless with someone poking around in your most private areas.

And you know what, most of the time women don't really talk about this stuff.  If we consider that something might be wrong with out genitals or cervix, we don't ask a friend or older colleague for support.  We worry and we panic and we get ourselves worked up and afeard and then we go to the doctor's surgery or family planning clinic convinced something is deathly wrong.  Yet we really do have so many shared experiences.  There's a shame and stigma attached to talking in realistic terms about our reproductive parts and it's bloody nonsense.

What are the signs of cervical cancer?  Do you know? I don't.  How many of you are aware of what a mystery lump on your labia might mean?  What would you do if you were having a number of mildly unpleasant downstairs issues?  What about recurring bouts of cystitis?  What about painful penetrative sex?

Why don't we talk about these things?  We talk about other diseases and painful hips, elbows or migraines.  Maybe if we did share more information and views on female sexual health less women would be scared of getting a smear test done.

Superman/Batman: Apocolypse or, let's not publicise what the story is actually about

Ooh this made me angry. Over on Anj's Supergirl blog he posted about the Superman/Batman DVD that's coming out.  You know, the one that features Supergirl's arrival on earth and in the comics was collected as Superman/Batman: Supergirl.  The arc that's all about Supergirl.  Sure, in the comics we got to reflect on and consider Bats and Supes different upbringings and trust levels, but this came about because Kara landed on earth.  So you know, it's all about Supergirl.

Anj included a quote from an interview with the director Lauren Montgomery, which states:

"Montgomery discusses how Supergirl's name was taken out of the title of the story, which was called "The Supergirl From Krypton" in the comics. Montgomery said it happened after the Wonder Woman DVD-release animated film didn't meet sales expectations. "We had to fight to even put her on the cover, and then they put her skanky version on the cover. So 'those' boys would buy it." "

Motherfuckers.
THE STORY ARC IS ABOUT SUPERGIRL.


If they don't think she can sell a movie why do a movie about her?  For fucks sake.  I despair I really do.  As Anj put in the title of his post - Happy Birthday Supergirl, now let's get snubbed!


When will people learn that films don't fail because the lead is a woman.  They fail because of bad marketing, bad producing, bad casting, bad directing, bad dialogue, bad ideas.  Having a woman feature prominently in it will not make your film fail.


Men will buy films with women in them.  Men will even buy films (and books and comics) with women where the women aren't sexed up.  Look at the Aliens franchise.  Look at Whiteout.  Both feature tough women who aren't conventionally sexy.  Both did really fucking well and are extremely well respected.


Arggghh.  I think I'll be channeling John Stewart here.

I'm fucking fed up with this shit.

Thinking of Steph

Lets look back at when she was awesome, before War Games was ever thought of.  Spoiler and Robin have just broken into an aprtment and are surprised to find out the blonde woman in the apartment has dealt with the intruder.

Trawling through old images

In search of something to post, I am coming cross several fun scans I had forgotten about.  Like this one:

There's something very amusing about the notion of killer penguins.   I seem to recall something similar from a Robin issue as well...

Happy Harvest!

Or Mabon, or Herfest or whatever you want to call it.  I go with Harvest, Mabon is too unfamiliar and i'm not keen on words like Herfest or Herstory - they aren't not gonna stop the oppression ok?  It's the autumn equinox anyway.

Harvest is the death of the year where we celebrate the abundance of food that's around and go oh fuck winter's coming soon.  I dislike the cold.  As well as being the death of the year, harvest time is when the god symbolically dies with the harvest (another reason I dislike Herfest - Ostara is in Spring, that's the goddess festival, not everything needs to be centred around femaleness, or even gendered but that's a differnet argument).  In Greek tradition Demeter (goddess of the harvest amongst other things), lost her daughter Persephone to the underworld for 6 months, and she's so depressed about it she stops tending the earth, leading to the 6 months of winter that we experience.  Persephone comes back in Spring, Demeter is happy again and the plants start growing again.  I think pomegranates are important somewhere.  I should get one.

Anyway, I've been decorating a scarf with some (material) foliage and (iron on) apples and I intend to be eating all sorts of good stuff and making merry today.  Goats cheese, fruit, stew, local veg, decent meat, crackers, nuts..nom.

Hope you all have a good day!

Where are all the Deaf superheroes?

Both the DCU and the Marvel Universes have quite a lot of superheroes/villains/supporting cast members who are disabled, but fuck all that are Deaf.  Or deaf.  Or hard of hearing.  I'm not picky. 

Peter David put a couple of lipreaders in his Supergirl and Young Justice comics and Green Arrow/Black Canary had that villain last year that was deafened by Dinah, but that's it.  Where are the rest?  We've got Babs in her wheelchair, Chunk, Professor Xavier, Daredevil, Dr Midnight, Speedy/Red Arrow, Tony Stark, Dr Niles Caulder, Captain Marvel Junior, Osiris, Crazy Jane.  I'm sure there's more, that's just what a quick google search turned up.

Where the Deaf heroes?  I'll tell you where there's one - Echo, from the Daredevil comics.  That's it.  I should be able to name more.

Echo first turned up in Parts of a Hole (soon to be reviewed over at New readers...) and I was stunned when the story actually constant reference to her lack of hearing.  Her abilities aren't linked to her Deafness, unlike Daredevil's abilities and so I felt like I did when I read Venus Envy - it's a regular superhero book about a woman who happens to be Deaf.

The book isn't about her Deafhood, but because she is Deaf she experiences life different to a hearing person, and so the story show that.  On the whole it does this well, and it also explores Daredevil's blindness well.  There's a great scene where they are in the cinema and Echo is describing the action on screen and Daredevil is describing the dialogue when the actors are off screen.

But.  (You knew there was a but coming didn't you?)  It isn't quite good enough.  The problem with having just one Deaf hero is that she becomes representative of all Deaf people and the mistakes that are made are amplified and picked upon over and over.

For example, Echo can mimic any physical action she sees.  This makes her an ace fighter.  Luckily for her she's also quite bright and so can work out how to put the moves together in order to win a fight or choreograph a dance show.  I imagine that being able to mimic physical actions must have made it easier for her to learn the handshapes and movements needed for American Sign Language (ASL).

But, this ability is used in book to explain why her speech is not slurred.  Because she can copy mouth patterns I suppose... Wait.  Just back up there one moment, what?  Most speech isn't formed on the lips.  Lip reading is hard, very hard.  If it was easy to lip read everybody we wouldn't need trained lipspeakers.  How on earth is Echo meant to see and mimic the movements of the tongue and the throat in order to produce clear speech?

Ignoring all that, the in text reasoning seems to assume that no Deaf people have clear speech.   Well, quite frankly that's bollocks.  The level of speech will depend on things like when the person lost their hearing and what speech therapy they've had.  Ooh it makes me angry when people get basic stuff wrong.

What else, oh yes, how she learnt ASL.  Apparently her father taught it to her using Native American folk stories, and possibly shadow puppets.  Well I'd be really interested to know where he learnt it and how she developed her knowledge of the language.  Because we see nothing of this in the book, she doesn't sign once.  I don't think I've met a signer who never signs when they speak.  When a sign language is your first language you tend to use it alongside your spoken language.  You just do.

Echo somehow manages to lipread people in the dark and never makes a mistake when she is lipreading.  The former is impossible and the latter is highly unlikely.  But, I guess if you had a book full of communication errors it would get a bit dull and prevent the flow of the story.  For the same reason we don't tend to see protagonists going to the toilet.  So I'll forgive them the perfect lipreading.  The rest isn't really forgivable, it's just ignorant.

This is such a shame because it's clear that the writer has done his research - there is so much stuff in the book that is Deaf aware.  It becomes an odd half and half mix.  I'm very keen to read more about her and I just hope that other issue build upon the solid base that this book gave, but improved the rookie errors.

And I want more Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing heroes.  Please.

Incidentally, Echo's sign name would either be the sign for Echo, a handprint across the face (she wears this when she performs), or possibly dancer.  Daredevil's sign name would be the devil horns on his costume.  Matt Murdock (Daredevil's civilian identity) would be lawyer I reckon.  His partner Foggy Nelson's sign name would be Fog.

Killer Croc's origins

As told by War Games.

Is this still canon?  I'd assumed he'd been involved in some freak accident.

Batman gets told off

There were a few good moments in War Games.  Only one or two mind.  This is one of them.

There.  That's the best bit of War Games.  Now no one else will have to read it, hah!

This reminds me of a scene with Babs, Cass and Bruce, that I will never ever get tired of:

War Games

I just read it.

Ho. Hum.


Now I see why everyone hates it.

Then I read War Crimes.  Way to go, assasinating Leslie's character.

The only good thing about it is Steph was heroic to the end, and Selina was supportive.

But Batman is still a massive dick.

Wonderful comics came out this week!

Red Robin 16 was not so wonderful, but have been better if it wasn't read next to Batgirl 14 and a Dr Horrible 1 shot which was..odd.  I also got Teen Titans 52 + 53 and Gotham City Sirens #9.  Which was amazingly good fun.  But onto the scans!  I cannot gush enough about Batgirl 14 so will display my love via scans:

So much win about this issue.  So much.
For a more indepth discussions see Nevermore999s LJ and Anj's blog.

Then there is also this lovely page of Kara from Teen Titans 53.

Maybe Eddy Barrows should take over Jamal Igle's pencilling duties on Supergirl?

The ayes have it

Well, technically Amanda Connor has it, but 'The AC's have it' sounds terribly wrong.

I'm talking about my Supergirl artist poll, of course.  18 of you voted (Thanks all!) and the overriding winner was Amanda Connor with 12 votes, woo hoo!

Amy Reeder got 3
Ed McGuinness,Ale Garza, Nicoal Scott and Francis Manapul got 2
There was one vote for Other

It appears none of my readers were interested in Eric Jones (for shame!), Ben Caldwell (probably not right for Sterling Gates stories), Patrick Gleason (I'm only interested in him with a new colourist) or Guillem March (Probably not right unless you want a cheesecake Kara).

Other suggestions put forward were:
Renato Guedes

Can't quite believe I forgot him.  I love Guedes for giving Kara knees, but I think sometimes his work suffers for being coloured to lightly - he (and Kara) needs strong bold, colours.  the above picture is bold, but a lot of his work wasn't.

Other suggestions put forward were for:

Cliff Chiang (yeah he could work)
Ian Churchill (Dear gods please no anything but him again)
David Finch (I'm not too familiar with him)
Ivan Reis (A GL artist. I'm unconvinced)
Ethan Van Sciver (I didn't like the colours on his Flash Rebirth book, so change the colourist and I could be more convinced)
Marcus To (He certainly does a lovely Robin)
Tony Daniel (He's ok)
Shane Davis (I don't know his stuff)
Gary Frank (His Christopher Reeve Superman scares me)
Ed benes  (Nooooooooooooooooo!)
Philip Tan (Another GL artist, maybe he could work)
Brian Bollard (As for Shane Davis)
Alex Gardner (Who?)
Matt Camp  (He's responsible for those awesome Supergirl covers a while back)

Out of all suggestions, I want Amy Reeder or Matt Camp on board.

Thanks to all who voted and commented, on here or on twitter, and thanks to those who promoted the poll!

Today

I don't have a real blog post.  I had last week off work on leave and was just getting into the swing of it when I had to come back to work today.  Booooo.  As I don;t start my new job for 3 more weeks I'm not really in the mood for my current job.  Ah well.

Here, I wrote a review of Wolverine:Origin over on New readers.. You can read that if you wish.  You can tell I like it cos it's a Marvel book I still own.

Link time!

Because I haven't thought of a real post, have some links:

Snell over at Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep! talking about how the comic industry should respect itself.

A take down of rape jokes and rape culture over at Shakesville.

A comic editor's response to an 8 yr old fan's upset at Jason Todd death, from Ragnell's tumblr.

A mash up of Van Halen's Jump and The Beatle's Imagine.

Zoe Williams talking about the stupidity of ruling that sex whilst HIV positive is a crime.

Kat Banyard on feminism.

OUT140 - telling your coming out stories in 14o characters or less.

A bloody fantastic American Sign Language interpretation of Marilyn Manson's The New Shit.   He's done it like a music video and it's amazing.

It's Beefcake week!

Or so Sally has declared.

Works for me, here's my contributions.

First up, is Thugboy from Empowered:

Last up, is Arthur, demonstrating why he's awesome:

Big Barda vs Superman

I was rereading Superman/Batman for New readers... and came across this little gem, showing Barda and Superman having a disagreement about who's going to rescue Kara from Apokolips.

What I really like about it is that Turner has drawn Barda as taller than everyone else in the room, and so, when Superman wants to exert his authority he flies vertically so he can be looking down at Barda.  Barda of course, is having none of it.

No Mans Land - other art part 2

The last of my No Mans Land series, and the rest of the notable art.

From legends of the Dark Knight 125.

Detective Comics 727.  Tim looks more like Connor Hawke here.

More from the Fruits of the Earth storyline.  I'm not sure which issue this is from, apologies.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 125.

From Legends of the Dark Knight 126. Batman is looking for the Joker.

From the issue where Barbara discovers the other Batgirl.

Shadow of the Bat 85.  A more cartoonish penguin.

Shadow of the Bat 77.  A more odl fashioend rendering of Batman.

There you have it.  The end of my No Mans Land series.  Tons of different things were covered in these 80+ issues and there were tons of different art styles.  God knows what it would be like to come into these blank, reading the trades.



It's polling time!