Category Archives: Comics
The 6 Best French Superheroes
Leave it to the craziness of the world to spur my imagination! There I was, dear readers, wondering what sort of List of Six I could write for you this week. I hadn’t even started as of Tuesday morning, but nothing was coming to mind. Maybe a list of bird superheroes? People like birds…But no! Lo and behold, the universe was ready for me! French President Francois Hollande dissolved the French government this week!
And what better way to note the occasion than with a list of the coolest French comic book characters?
Oo la la!
I didn’t even know you could do that to the French government. It’s France! You’d think they’d have their croissants all in a row. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those French-hating Americans. Those guys are idiots. France is a pretty cool place, and was my foreign language of choice all through grade school. And you better believe there are some pretty cool French superheroes and supervillains out there!
Join me after the jump to get a good look at them.
Batwoman Break Up Bombshell! DC’s Revenge is Served Ice Cold
It’s been nearly a year, but I think DC Comics has finally gotten their revenge on all of us over gay marriage. Hear me out.
In the new issue of Batwoman, the titular hero just broke up with her longtime girlfriend, Police Captain Maggie Sawyer. Possibly the most prominent and promising lesbian relationship in mainstream comics just came to an end, but nobody on the Internet seems to care all that much, other than a few moistened tear ducts. It’s sad, sure, but where’s the outrage? Where’s the disappointment?
Maggie has some, that’s for sure
Obviously Kate Kane is free to break up with anybody she wants. But this couple and their relationship has a bit of notoriety behind it.
Remember a year ago, when the original creative team on Batwoman – J. H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman – blew up the Internet by walking off the comic, declaring that DC wasn’t going to allow Batwoman and Maggie to get married? That was huge news! Everybody weighed in from all corners of the Internet! DC was in damage control. Kate and Maggie are a great couple, and the idea that DC wasn’t going to allow gay marriage in their comic hit the Internet like a lightning strike!
Though to be fair to DC, their policy wasn’t about gay marriage specifically, they just said that no marriage of any kind would be allowed in their comics. Unfortunately, the very idea of gay marriage remains a hot button issue all over the world, so this policy reveal at DC came as a bit of a shock to readers.
And DC was so firm against marriage that an incredibly popular creative team walked off an incredibly popular, forward-thinking comic. Williams and Blackman had even won a GLAAD Media Award for their work on Batwoman.
As well they should have
Readers were not happy, but DC forged ahead with the series. They grabbed popular writer Marc Andreyko to pick up the slack, with the promise of more quality comics.
But Batwoman has been pretty mediocre since Andreyko took over. The quality in both art and story have gone downhill. And then along came Batwoman #34 this week, and all of a sudden, I might start believing in conspiracy theories.
In the new issue, Kate abruptly breaks up with Maggie, despite their engagement. Kate leaves a ‘Dear John’ letter (Dear Jane letter?), and even though she bumps into Maggie one last time on her way out of the building, she can’t even break-up with the woman face-to-face. She just moves all her stuff out of Maggie’s apartment and leaves the letter behind.
Why not break up over Twitter if you’re going that route?
In the letter, Kate claims she’s breaking up with Maggie so that Maggie can spend more time with her daughter. Apparently Maggie’s ex-husband is a bit homophobic, and he thinks Kate is going to be a bad influence on his daughter. He started fighting for custody, but in the previous issue, Kate made a secret phone call to the man to arrange some sort of deal.
Apparently she agreed to break up with Maggie if he agreed to drop the custody battle.
First of all, how cowardly is it of Kate to take the ‘noble sacrifice’ route in a break-up? She’s being so gracious on Maggie’s behalf by breaking up with her, even though being in a relationship is a two-person tango. Shouldn’t Maggie get some kind of say in whether or not Kate is a bad influence on her daughter? Maggie was more than willing to fight in the custody battle. And how skeevy is it that Kate broke up with Maggie as part of a secret deal with Maggie’s ex-husband? Maybe Kate isn’t the best person to be in a relationship…
Second of all, this ex-husband, his apparent homophobia, and the custody problems with Maggie’s daughter didn’t exist before Andreyko came on board the comic. He created this storyline leading to the break-up.
Now, it is entirely possible that Andreyko is going somewhere with this break-up. Maybe this is only the start of an even larger storyline that brings Kate and Maggie back together. I don’t know, and won’t know for a good long while, considering how often comic books come out. If that’s the case, then I’m probably entirely wrong (it’s happened before).
But maybe, just maybe, DC was so perturbed that the Internet dare question their marriage policy that they gave Andreyko the task of breaking up Kate and Maggie. Once upon a time, Batwoman was considered one of the very best comics DC was putting out, in no small part thanks to Williams and Blackman. But then Andreyko took over and everybody stopped caring. The quality dropped considerably, and Batwoman fell off everybody’s radar.
Giving DC the perfect opportunity to take away the very thing we were upset about in the first place.
Those cold, dead eyes…
It’s been a year since that Internet firestorm over Batwoman’s marriage. Nobody talks about Batwoman anymore. Revenge doesn’t get much colder than that.
Then to twist the knife even further, Batwoman #34 ends with Kate, in her underwear, being attacked by a sexy lady vampire in bed.
Look at what you have wrought!
In one fell swoop, DC takes away the most prominent lesbian relationship in comics, and turns Batwoman into a story about sexy ladies in lingerie playing around in bed.
As if DC Comics doesn’t have enough problems with sexism.
Or maybe prominent blogger and comics writer Kristi McDowell has it all figured out.
I would buy that comic in a heartbeat!
And again, I could be totally wrong about all of this – in fact, I probably am. But I was a huge fan of Batwoman back in the day, and the Kate/Maggie relationship was pure comic book gold. I have no idea where Andreyko is going with this, but the comic just hasn’t been anywhere near the same since Williams and Blackman left.
In an industry in seemingly constant battle over equal treatment of women and minorities, it’s a shame to see one of the best titles featuring both go down this route.
Plus, I just really liked Kate and Maggie. They were aces.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 8/23/14
The week is finally here! Grant Morrison’s long-gestating project, Multiversity, has finally hit the stands! I think it was first announced back when I was in college. Feels like forever. It was one of those project that I never thought would see the light of day. But Grant Morrison lives to mess with our heads, and he definitely carries the slack.
And he’s not alone! This was a week of above average comics! Storm, Ms. Marvel, New Avengers; I was a glutton for good comics this week. But despite those quality issues – and Multiversity does indeed live up to expectations – I’m going to personally give Comic Book of the Week to Batman and Robin #34. It wasn’t the best comic of the week, but it spoke to me personally, and this is how I roll.
Moment of the week, though, goes to New Avengers. The world is coming to an end, and Reed Richards flies out to Latveria in the middle of the night to spend his last hour alive with his daughter, who has been staying with Doctor Doom. But only Reed knows the world is about to end. Every else is in the dark. All they know is that Reed woke everybody up in the middle of the night. It’s great.
I love Doom and Valeria
Though now that I think about it, why didn’t Doom ever get involved in the incursion storyline in New Avengers? Remember when that was teased all the way back at the beginning? That would have been awesome.
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #20, Batman and Robin #34, Ms. Marvel #7, Multiversity #1, New Avengers #23 and Storm #2.
You can also check out my review of All-New Ghost Rider #6 at Word of the Nerd.
And I was going to review Batwoman #34 this week, but something happens in that comic that deserves a much closer examination. Come back on Sunday for a deeper exploration of just why DC Comics has screwed us all over again. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, after all…
Review – Teen Titans #2
By no means do I want Teen Titans to be a bad comic. I may be a comic book blogger, who loves to complain about a medium I claim to love, but I would like nothing more than for Teen Titans to be the best comic on the stands. I remain a die-hard Tim Drake fan, and if his comic was great, I would gladly sing its praises month in and month out. That’s why I was so excited for this Teen Titans relaunch. I held out hope that Will Pfeifer could salvage one of DC Comics’ most (in)famous franchises.
Teen Titans #2
But you know what they say about polishing a turd…Actually, no, it’s not that bad. Pfeifer has some solidly good ideas for the Teen Titans, but they appear to be only subplots crowded out by a clunker of a main plot.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I was cautiously optimistic about Teen Titans #1. It was solidly made, and relatively entertaining, but it was marred by the simple fact that it was just a big, generic superhero adventure when it could have been so much more! We are sitting at the dawn of a great new era in comics. Just look at the reaction to DC’s new plans for Batgirl. Teen Titans, more than any other comic in the industry, is poised to embrace this new, hip style. But Pfeifer seems determined to forge ahead with a big, dumb super-villain storyline that couldn’t be more boring if it featured Harvest.
Hopefully if I don’t say that name three times he won’t appear…
Pfeifer introduces a lot of fun ideas in Teen Titans #2 – ideas that I desperately hope he explores further – about the kind of impact the Teen Titans might have on today’s hip youth culture. Beast Boy with his own Youtube channel? Bunker as a gay culture hero with a major Twitter following? Raven inspiring punk rock bands? Wonder Girl inspiring a female empowerment movement? Why are these not the focus on the series? These are interesting stories that nobody else at DC is doing! (I might not be right about that, I never read The Movement or The Green Team.)
But no, instead we’re stuck with the same S.T.A.R. Labs storyline that doesn’t have anything to do with the Teen Titans. Ugh. And the surprise addition of a semi-classic, pre-reboot villain does not make a lick of difference. He’s not even a Titans villain!
Join me after the jump for the full synopsis and more review!
I Am On the Fence About a Planet Hulk Movie
How cool was it when the Hulk punched that Leviathan during the big climax of The Avengers? I can still remember the audience bursting into cheers as my own heart soared. I don’t think I’ve seen anything as thrilling as that moment since. That punch may very well be the defining moment of the entire Avengers franchise.
He’s always angry
So where’s the new Hulk solo movie?
Mark Ruffalo nailed it in The Avengers. He fit the role perfectly, and I for one couldn’t be happier with his performance. I think we can all also agree that the Hulk was the breakout character of the movie. Joss Whedon got the Hulk absolutely right, his feats of strength writ large on the big screen. The character couldn’t be hotter. But we’ve heard bupkis about any new Hulk movies.
Other than rumors that Marvel might send the Hulk into space for an adaptation of the Planet Hulk storyline from the comics – to which I am fairly unsure about. A lot of people want to see Planet Hulk on the big screen, but I don’t think I’m one of them.
Hulk doubtful
On the one hand, I just don’t think Planet Hulk would be the best use of the character in the Marvel Movieverse. The storyline worked fine for the comics, but a movie is a different beast entirely, especially in the Movieverse continuity. For one thing, Bruce Banner barely factors into Planet Hulk, so Ruffalo would be wasted. You better believe that matters in a big budget movie.
In the comics, Planet Hulk is a story about the Avengers sending Hulk out into space so that he can’t trouble the people of Earth anymore. Hulk winds up on a strange alien planet, where he’s immediately captured and turned into a gladiator, exactly like the gladiators of Ancient Rome. Hulk suppresses Banner so that he never has to change back, and the Big Green Machine eventually fights his way to freedom and then leads an uprising against the cruel regime that imprisoned him. It’s a pretty standard storyline, but the bare bones approach of Hulk smashing everything to freedom really appealed to readers.
So good!
But I don’t want this adapted to film (other than the cartoon adaptation they already made). The story is as basic as it gets: Hulk as a gladiator. There is little depth to the Hulk or his characterization. He doesn’t like being controlled, so he breaks free and then takes the fight to the people who tried to control him. He makes a bunch of friends along the way, and finds love, but it’s just the Hulk smashing everything until he wins, and that’s not my kind of movie.
I prefer my Hulk set firmly in the context of Earth, where HULK IS THE STRONGEST THERE IS! If you plop the Hulk into the world of Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s just another freaky looking alien. And if you take away Banner, that makes it even worse, and Hulk becomes even less human. Do we really want Mark Ruffalo running around on some alien gladiator planet? Doesn’t he work better as the nerdy science guy on Earth?
A handsome nerdy science guy
On the other hand, Hulk has already had two mediocre outings that kept him on Earth. Sending him into space would be new and interesting. I will go on record as a fan of both Ang Lee’s Hulk in 2003 and the Edward Norton reboot in 2008, which is an often-ignored part of the wider Movieverse. But society as a whole isn’t too favorable to either film. They outright dislike Lee’s film, and generally ignore the Norton movie. Both were about Bruce Banner as a tortured soul, where being the Hulk was a great curse that he tried to cure.
That’s why Joss Whedon got the character right in The Avengers. In that film, the Hulk was embraced, treated as something useful and fun. Sure, Banner was still bothered by having to become the Hulk, but by the end, both he and the Big Green Guy were embraced by their fellow heroes, and Hulk was instrumental in saving the day.
That’s the Hulk I want to see in future films.
I don’t want to watch the Avengers or anyone else send Hulk off into space to get rid of him. I don’t want to see Banner and friends spend their lives trying to cure the Hulk. I want to see a movie where Banner embraces the Hulk in the context of life on Earth, where he remains the strongest person alive, but also fallibly human.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought due to awesomeness…
I don’t exactly have any ideas beyond that. But there are decades worth of great Hulk stories out there. People only remember ‘Planet Hulk’ because it was recent, and there haven’t been any Hulk stories as notable since. But these movies no longer rely on any sort of direct adaptation. Most of the new Marvel movies are original stories, borrowing freely from the comics to make something uniquely their own.
The Hulk is in just such a position. Planet Hulk would be a rote adaptation for the breakout star of the franchise. There’s no doubt that the character is going to explode all over again in next year’s Age of Ultron.
After that, Hulk is going to be too big to just sit around playing gladiator games.
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Henchman-4-Hire 