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!

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.

I was going to write up a long post, full of angry ranting about the glorification of the male child we see everywhere in society still and especially in comics like, oh say, Batman's entire run and Green Arrow/Black Canary #4 and the recent Green Lantern arc that was like a celebration of the familial XY chromosome, all to lead up to me saying I'm pleased with the much talked about panel in Batman 673. But really it comes down to this:

In his mind, Batman mourns the loss of his daughters as much as the loss of his sons.

Not only does that present a Batman I can hold up as a hero but it also appeases me on behalf of Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain and Barbara Gordon.

Non-bitter post!

This is exactly why Kyle Rayner belongs with the Green Lantern Corps:

The JLA just doesn't understand the need for super dorky teamwork in times of crisis. Whereas, I'm pretty sure there's a clause in the Green Lantern contract stating that Lanterns must exercise supreme dorkiness whenever possible and preferably when on duty fighting planetary crime. Yes, even Hal Jordan. You don't see him looking askance when Guy and Kyle break out their musketeer talk. (Perhaps this even explains the original falling out between Batman and Guy Gardner. Damn Batman and his tyranny on Dumas-inspired battle cries!)

Not the weekend I expected.

Friday night I made it about half a mile down the road from my workplace when I got a flat tire and had to get my car into the nearest parking lot. With a cell-phone on its last power notch and the only person answering their phone being my sister stuck at home with sick babies and a bracing Michigan winter wonderland temperature, I called a cab to get me home for the night until I could muster up assistance.

Saturday morning I drove to the parking lot with my mother to meet a tow truck and the driver informed us as soon as we got there, "Yeah, your car was broken into." Staring into my poor, violated vehicle and seeing glass all over the floor and seats, the door handle broken off, and my trusty radio/cd player gone made me realize how events like that seem so common place until they happen to you. When I left my vehicle there I made sure to grab all my personal information out of the glove box as well my cd cases so they only got the radio. Of course, I realized later that the thief(s) also got the complementary Spider-Man 3 soundtrack inside it.

I did have a few boxes of books inside my car but they were mostly penguin classics and literary stuff--not the type of thing to pawn off for big money--so they were still in my car after the theft. However, in driving my car home from the repair shop I took it to, I realized that the box I kept on the backseat floor was gone, gone, gone. Inside had been the entire Brian Michael Bendis run of Daredevil in trade. And you know what? It's not funny that in rummaging through all the stuff in my vehicle they only took my cd player and a box of comics.

IT'S HILARIOUS.

I had such a giggle fit after I realized those books were stolen. It was very cathartic. Because, fortunately, the only reason they were in my car was because I planned to sell them as soon I got off my lazy butt and into a bookstore and/or ebay listing. I hope whoever took them took them to read. And I hope they suffer. Flipping hundreds of pages ahead, wondering when Daredevil is going to show up again in his own comic. Asking themselves, "Demon baby? In my Daredevil comic?" (It's more likely than you think.) Waiting in excitement as a Daredevil-Black Widow team up races to the exciting climax of...standing in a bath towel and speaking French for no reason argggggghhhh.

Congratulations, Bendis! Judging by the recent plots spawning in New Avengers, I can tell you know your readership well.

Comics for the week of January 16, 2008

Alright, I feel like taking about comics and doing the weekly run-down sounds like a solid concept.

Birds of Prey 114: I only just got caught up on the post-Simone run of BoP this week and I have to say after adventures that involved Huntress driving a school bus off a bridge and using a trio of punks for character references, Lady Blackhawk wrecking a cab, a buggy, a train, and a stealth copter on her way to the bar where Hal Jordan hangs out in order to honor Big Barda (what is it with this title being the only place where minor heroes get a little love after they've died?), and Misfit saving Oracle's butt in the field using the power of....text messaging--after such fun comics that proved how well the team was working together, I'm not loving the step back that's been present in McKeever's story so far. Obviously, I'm talking about the Oracle-Misfit relationship. And for me it wasn't even about Babs breaking Charlie's ankle, though I thought that was very out of character. It was Babs then ignoring her and leaving the room that struck me as an odd storytelling choice. Perhaps McKeever is going to answer for their interaction throughout this arc but something should have been done directly in that moment to redeem Babs and her caretaking of Misfit. Babs' inner monologue at the end of 108 is the characterization I'm judging her by! So, McKeever, make my eyes misty rather than twitchy.

Even with all that, this is still one of my favorite corners of the DC universe and also in this issue Manhunter makes a man make a mess of his pants, Huntress and Zinda bring out the most irreverent in each other, and then Zinda fights an old Blackhawk villain on a roof, in her PJs, with only a gun for backup. Needless to say, I'm sticking around until Babs locks Misfit in the basement and tells her to kill rats for sustenance.

Booster Gold 6: One of the first trades I read to break myself into the DC universe was "Formerly Known as the Justice League" and it left me with an undying love for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. So I don't care if it's cheating, but I've wanted him to be brought back almost as long as I've known the character. But I never thought it'd actually happen, even with Booster being so determined from issue 1 of this series and Ted appearing on solicited covers.

When I actually stopped freaking out and made it to the end of this issue, Booster and I had the EXACT same look on our faces:



I don't care if it's not perfectly wrapped up or too good to be true because as of January 16 and through the rest of the month and some of February it is the truth. And for as long as it lasts, I'll be emitting yelps only audible to bats and porpoises whenever I think of "Next Month: Blue and Gold Chapter One!"

Flash 236: For my part, I prefer to think of Mark Waid's run as setting the tone for Flash's new course rather than his own preference that the upcoming writers are going to undo/ignore. I am really enjoying Wally and Linda as parents and their children are already believable and vibrant characters. So I'll be standing in front of the family waving a big, flaming stick at the group of people who are silly and think that it would make any sense at all to dump the kids from the book. But, then, Wonder Woman says it better than I can:



--and that's fun!

Before leaving the title forever--again--Waid reminds us that no one writes Wally like he can.


When is Wally going to be in the JLA title? Soon? *sigh*

The final chapter of the back-up story is even better, with Braithwaite providing a painted art style that's beautiful and energetic and Waid and John Rogers packing four pages with great interaction and a sentimentality than any Flash fan has to love. Flashes are awesome! But Flash-wives are even cooler:


Now that's the kind of fridge action I, as a fan of superhero romances, want to see more of in comics!

As a sidenote: I was going to complain about the artist making Iris' head giant for her body but on Friday a young girl around that age came into the library where I work and her head was equally as towering upon her small frame as Wally's illustrated daughter. So there you have it. Sometimes kids do have freakishly disproportionate heads and comics are representing that quota!

Immortal Iron Fist 12: I don't know what's wrong with me but I'm not grooving on this comic as much as everyone else. The last issue that got me really excited was the the story of the pirate queen iron fist. Since then, rather than actually getting pumped over the qualities of this comic, I feel like I'm intellectually recognizing the stuff that other bloggers will mention with praise.

Maybe the problem is that I've been in such a DC comics mood lately that all the Marvel comics I read have to work that much harder in order to be appreciated. By me. Hmmm.

The Incredible Hercules 113: Following the above theory, Greg Pak and Fred Ven Lente must have been super training all day long because I loved this issue. I am so glad that Pak's spectacular take on Hercules--one of my absolute favorite things to come out of World War Hulk--continues here, alongside the genius punk Amadeus Cho and his adorable doggy sidekick, paving their own way through the Marvel universe. The writing is top notch, with great character voices and dialogue that fits so well because it's hilariously contradictory to what you're expecting the characters to say. Like Wonder Man nitpicking his relationship with Ares while Herc pummels him:


And we also get Ares, the bureaucrat:


Here we have an antagonist that I want Hercules to smash and smash but he makes me laugh and enjoy his presence in the story at the same time. That's good comics!

I also bought Showcase Presents: Superman Family this week so soon I'll be well versed in the adventures of silver age Jimmy Olsen and that's something I've dreamed of accomplishing for months now.

Nicola Scott's art being the cherry on top, of course.

I was dithering on the subject of Birds of Prey and whether or not it would stay in my pull list when Newsarama.com released previews for this week and, eureka! This issue opens with Manhunter again working with Oracle, specifically: kicking butt on the streets for information. That's all it takes for me to feel excited about a book.

What I've liked so much about BoP since the one-year-later jump is the larger number of characters who are involved in Oracle's operation. Of course, I always enjoyed the Babs and Dinah show as well as the addition of Huntress and later Zinda--and Gail Simone excelled at rounding out the cast with other heroes and villains and in-betweeners. But it was really exciting once Oracle sent out those invitations and the story didn't tell us exactly who we could expect until they showed up to join the party. For example, when Hawkgirl swooped in and smashed off the Secret Six's roof with her mace? I had to rock myself back and forth to eject some of the glee that was threatening to rip my body apart--and with it, the very fabric of reality. Shockingly enough, when I read that issue I didn't know Kendra from Kamandi. Such is the power of this title.

So I am really glad to see that Sean McKeever is picking up on that aspect of the post-Dinah Birds, since it makes the title more exciting and offers more opportunities for diversity in the cast. It's obvious, too, that McKeever's been doing his research on the heroines of the DCU. This month Onyx and Dr. Light, in February....the world! (Meanwhile, wouldn't it be fun if Gypsy joined Manhunter's supporting cast? I really enjoyed their partnership when Kate commandeered Oracle's operation for Mr. Bones. So, just as soon as Manhunter comes back...any day now...when new solicits are released...April? May? 2009? Bueller?)