Good news.

New Supergirl Creative team announced!

Comics blogging, especially as regards DC Comics, its editor-in-chief, and the future of its entire line, has come across as very bleak recently in the wake of Dixon leaving and Heroes Con reports (as well as the mishandling of continuity across big titles like Countdown and Final Crisis).

So I wasn't expecting to find happy news when I loaded Newsarama this morning. But the new writer, Sterling Gates, is saying exactly what I want to hear about building up Kara's characterization, heroism, supporting cast, and rogues. Additionally, I am so pleased that the Superman family will be tied together as they haven't been in much too long--especially with such quality teams on all books. I adore Supergirl and I've been waiting for any reason to add the title to my pull list.

I think Sterling Gates just gave me a dozen, but I haven't counted yet. (Jamal Igle's art is certainly top on that list.) I remember being impressed with Gates' arc on Green Lantern Corps. Tonight I will definitely do a re-read, but his way of developing multiple strong female characters in two issues is what stuck with me the most. That will serve him well when writing the girl of steel.

Panel of the week.

From Trinity #3

This panel reminds of me the scene from Angel season 2 when Angel & co. traveled to Pylea and, through a wacky series of events, we get a shot of most of the team looking into a wicker basket that contains Lorne's head. The off-kilter angle, the expressions on everyone's faces, and the sheer unexpected oddness of Superman being laid out in one punch all made the moment captured in this panel stand out to me above all others. It's so weird...and therefore fun. Just look at John Stewart! The current JLA being caught off-guard from their serious business is very endearing. A few more moments like this and I could come to love the team again.

Speaking of Trinity--I'm still enjoying it, including the back-ups. This week's was especially adept at introducing a new character as yet unconnected to anyone else in the DCU, convincing me to quickly care about the character, and inspiring me to conjecture as to how she'll tie into the plot and which three would they be? Lovely Rita, tarot reader...

Luckily, they never made it to his bedroom.

In honor of the love-triangle-that-never-was as Geoff Johns recently wrote it in Green Lantern Secret Origins I present:

The Last Time Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Hector Hammond Were All In A Room Together!

And now: an apology.

I'm sorry for showing you a scene from the last time Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, and Hector Hammond were all in a room together.

Put me in the minority here.

The Top Five Reasons Why I Will Be Reading Trinity and Not Whining About It:

1. Kurt Busiek: There are very few writers I trust more than Busiek to deliver entertaining and dependable comics. He is the squishy Italian bread with the little sesame seeds on top in the bread aisle of comic writers. There's never a time when I'm not in the mood for Busiek. I know when I read a comic written by him that I am going to come away feeling pleased with my purchase and vindicated in my utter adoration for superheroes and superhero comics. I feel better about the world after reading Busiek's take on a fictional realm where people fly around in ridiculous outfits. So knowing that I will be able to walk into my comic shop and purchase a Busiek comic every week for the next year is cause for excitement.

2. Fabian Nicieza: While Nicieza is more hit-and-miss for me in the grand scheme of his writing, whenever he is paired with Kurt Busiek (or whenever he follows Busiek on a title) I always enjoy his work. He has a fabulous talent with humorous dialogue and plot, as well as the necessary gravitas to keep the characters grounded and dimensional. Additionally, his past work has proven how well he can drum up interest in minor characters. As his role in Trinity will be fleshing out Busiek's Big Three story with satellite characters and plots from the rest of the DCU, I've no doubt he'll succeed in making the backups just as exciting as the front story. Already, the first issue is tapping into unfamiliar territory for me in the DCU and I love it.

3. Mark Bagley: I have the entire collection of his run on Ultimate Spider-Man (judge me all you want!) and while I always appreciated and respected his art , I noticed in the last two arcs of the title that his style had begun to soften in a way that marked a great improvement. No longer do his teenage girls all have the figures of bodybuilders! This is already evident in Trinity. Bagley's Wonder Woman is muscular but not ridiculously so. Same for his Batman and Superman. Also, and I don't know how much this is due to inkers, his line work is not so sharp anymore that I feel like I'll poke an eye out if I look too long. But his greatest strength, and the one that Trinity is riding on, is how productive of an artist he is. He produced 110 issues (and covers) of a monthly comic series without fill-ins or delays. That immediately grants someone godlike status in today's artistic climate for Big Two books. And you know what else? He draws a hot Wally West. Who knew blue could be such a good color for Wally!

4. Consistent writing team: Countdown had almost as strong a figure as Kurt Busiek guiding the title: Paul Dini. Unfortunately, all the other less-skilled creators working on the book made it so you couldn't count on Dini to make the thing work. I don't know how they organized the writing shift or, well, anything behind Countdown but it all unraveled into utter crap. Utter crap with about one or two good moments that were undone to make way for further crap before the title ended. Trinity is going to have two writers who have previously worked together (at Marvel and DC) and in this weekly they're going to be on the same page--and both writers are quality guys. And while I've seen the entire internet clamoring to share their universal opinion on Trinity defying the previous point of DC weeklies with its focus on central characters rather than minor characters, I've got to say--that's a good thing. We know who Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman are and we know we're going to get consistent and established takes on them. This is a good thing. It really is. I'd much rather read about characters I'm very familiar with acting the way I expect them to act than read about characters I either know well or don't and watch them characterized haphazardly so...what? People get exposed to them? What Kyle Rayner fan wants anyone new to the character to have them get to know the Countdown version? This Kyle fan sure as hell does NOT.

5. Consistent art team: This was one of the most widespread complaints about Countdown and for good reason. The layouts, the costumes, the settings, the character base models were all inconsistent from week to week. People still don't know what the hell a Monitor's really supposed to look like. (Though J.G. Jones is working on that, apparently. Thanks!) With Trinity's split, we're getting the same artist and inker every week for main story and so far the solicits support the hope that Nicieza's backups will have the same rotating artists working together. Now, the backups could dissolve into a similar mess that plagued Countdown but I'm optimistic they won't. I know and enjoy most of the artists listed and hopefully none of the X-factor artists have the same blob style that one or two of the Countdown artists exhibited. ("Blob style" = why I try not to talk about comic art very often. I just remember a lot of the Countdown art being ill-defined and floaty and blobbish in a way that all jumbled together in my memory to haunt my worst nightmares.)

So until Bagley's replaced by Ed Benes or Eclipso and the Spectre take over the backups, make mine Trinity!

Still not as bad as the time Bane instructed a limbo course.

Know why you should never ask Orion, the Dog of War, to play "give me five"?


Superman does.

Comic news always makes me a jittery Pollyana.

More news from DC, particularly that of another Justice League title.

Quick translation for those who can't read through links: "This book will be about a Justice League performing Justice League activities. And it's in-continuity. 79% of the fans in attendance spontaneously combusted with disbelief following this news."

Positives:

- Written by James Robinson

- There will be a Justice League team doing Justice League things.

- The team will be traveling all over. And there will be time travel! I practically weeped in joy when I read that. I am easily optimistic but I'm already envisioning this book being on the scale of Busiek's Avengers run, with the concern for non-US populations and time travel! TIME TRAVEL. *quivers* (Why Busiek's Avengers you ask? Because I've been rereading Avengers Forever, so that's fresh in my mind as what team books should be.)

- I wasn't sure how I felt about having Hal be the catalyst for this team but then I remembered 52 and his clash over the jurisdiction of a Green Lantern, I think it's a nice progression for him. There's at least something to point back to for Hal being the character in the JLA who's wanting to expand. And of course he's taking Ollie with him.

- After being supremely disappointed that McKeever ejected Supergirl out of the Teen Titans (especially since Tony Bedard did such a nice job connecting Kara's time with the Legion of Super-Heroes with her finding a team to belong to in the present) and being supremely impressed with how she interacted for great justice with League-level heroes in The Brave and the Bold I am delighted that she'll be on this team. Supergirl (especially this current Supergirl) works best on a team and she has by now proven herself to be dependable and competent enough for the League--especially a League without Superman. This also means Supergirl fans such as myself will hopefully get to read comprehensible, fun stories involving her. And I really hope Hal recruits her personally. I'll laugh, I'll cry...it'll be better than Cats.

- Personally, I think the possibility of Kate Kane and Kara being a female Bat-Super team for the modern age is exciting. Kara's maturity is straddling the fence enough that she wouldn't be a kid for Batwoman to mentor. And Kate could develop more as a character and gain a platonic friend in the super-hero world. (Has she been shown interacting with anyone other than Nightwing and Renee Montoya?)

Negatives:

- Every member is American or has strong loyalties to America, with the exception of the alien Starman and possibly the Bill character Robinson is creating. In a book about digging out super-crime everywhere, I'm disappointed to see so few of the (already few) international superheroes involved. I can understand if DC doesn't want this to become a JLI cast rehash but surely they can find a way to add more diversity to the team along the way? (Psst, screw the JLI connection: get Fire out of Checkmate and onto this team.)

- No Martian Manhunter

- No artist assigned yet. Just, for the love of positive representations of female characters, don't tell me Ed Benes is being drafted to this League book.

- The politics could make my head explode. But I won't know until I read.

In conclusion: James Robinson, you had me at Supergirl.

Holy crap, I thought we had killed the 90s.

There are some people who believe that it's not fair to judge a movie by its promo stills.

I, on the other hand, view promo stills as the company and creative team waving their hands in the air and yelling, "Ooh, ooh. Here's a little taste of things to come. Judge us! Judge us!"

So I'm going to judge the Watchmen movie by the photos released to the internet today.

Before we begin, though, I'd like to point out that Dave Gibbons' art is a major reason why Watchmen is such a timeless and powerful story. His art has and will no doubt continue to age well, as well as the character designs which suit the story and personalities well enough that they don't stand out. As heinous crimes against god and nature, I mean.

The movie has drastically changed all that.

*sigh*

Ozymandias: So we've changed from Veidt looking like a Greco-Roman golden god come to earth to...dark, encumbered leather with an eye over his codpiece? Shit! I'm not fooled, people.

Nite Owl: When I think of Nite Owl's costume, I think of a theater major with the power of super telepathy removing the dorkiest apparel designs from the minds of Batman and Blue Beetle and then tossing it all together into the fabric of reality. Because that's just about exactly what it is. When I see the costume movie!Owl is clad in, I think of those god awful 90s Batman movies with the molded nipples and ice skates popping out of Batman's boots. Dan Dreiberg is not 90s! He is classic! He is not Batman, he is Blue Beetle Man.

Silk Spectre: I want the Juspeczyk costume to be something Laurie can look back on and giggle over. If my beloved Polish heroine wore this in her youth, I'd imagine she'd be more likely to break out the booze than titter. And this is me hoping and praying that the still we see is young!Laurie and not the Laurie in her 30s who'd much rather be wearing leather. (Because Laurie doesn't mind the 90s, you see.)

Rorschach: I'm torn here. Mostly, I see it hard to screw this one up and they haven't...but it's another case of "why on earth are they making this into a movie?" when I see the mask. It just doesn't work for me outside of the comic page. I'm not menaced. Whereas, open any page of the comic and I'm peeing my pants. Or fond. Because Rorschach is like that, you know?

The Comedian: I don't have much to complain about on this one except the same general feeling of this being off. Maybe it's the actor's expression. Oh, and raise your hand if you think including the rape plotline is going to make this movie an offensive mess on top of just being a mess!

There. Feel free to disagree but I'm only further convinced that I will not be spending money on this movie. However, if they create a spinoff sitcom called something like "You, Me, and Rorschach"...I'll be there with microwave popcorn!