There Was A Surprising Amount of Smoking in Ghostbusters
Did I ever tell you that I met Ernie Hudson once? Winston was my favorite Ghostbuster as a kid, and Ernie Hudson made a guest appearance last year at Scare-a-Con, a horror convention that’s held near me every year. I was in line to meet him, even though I didn’t have any money on me to actually pay for any of his stuff.
Well he was about to go do a live Q&A session at another part of the con, and everybody who had been waiting in line was pretty much just going to be screwed, because he was leaving, and nobody had bothered to cut off the line in advance. Well I overhear that the family in front of me is going to be the last group to see Ernie Hudson, so when it’s their turn, I artfully walk up with them, as if I was part of this random family. They went through the whole deal of chatting with Ernie and getting pictures taken and getting his autograph, while I stood off to the side, just kind of enjoying being there.
Before he left, I simply stepped up and got to shake his hand. And that’s how I met my favorite Ghostbuster.
Holy Crap! There’s a New Floating Hands X-Men Parody!
How is this possible? How did the Internet bring this about? Enough rhetorical questions! Let’s just enjoy this two-part parody of the Messiah Complex! It makes sense that the first video in 6 years parodies a storyline from 6 years ago.
Part 1
Part 2
Heh, those are still great. And Part 2 includes Multiple Man! How cool is that? I hope this is a sign that the good people at Floating Hands Studios will be making even more! I’ll definitely be posting Part 3 when it comes along – which, based on their current rate of production, should be some time next year! Stay tuned!
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Doctor Who? Peter Capaldi, That’s Who!
Like the rest of geekdom, I watched the season premiere of Doctor Who Saturday night with bated breath, eager to see how new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, would do in the role. I wasn’t around either time when David Tennant and Matt Smith took over, I had to catch both of those regenerations in reruns online. So Saturday’s episode was my first real time experience with a new Doctor.
And it was great!
Independent State of Eyebrows!
The episode itself – Deep Breath – was pretty good. Not one of the best of all time, but that’s fine. I think I liked it more than any episode in Season 7. I love the Pasternoster Gang – Vastra, Jenny and Strax – so seeing them with the new Doctor was really fun. I hope they stick around, because it’s a hoot seeing a new Doctor interact with his former self’s supporting cast (though now that I think about it, Capaldi didn’t spend much time at all with Vastra and friends). I also really liked Clara in this episode. I think Season 8 is going to try to build her up a bit more – before she leaves around Christmas, of course.
Don’t make that face, you know what you’re doing
But the real draw of the new episode was Capaldi himself – and he absolutely nailed it! Oh man, that was an exciting performance. I knew to anticipate a lot with Capaldi, even if I haven’t seen any of his other shows, but he lived up to all the hype and hope. He was wickedly sharp in his performance, a touch more serious than Matt Smith. Once he gets his mind settled and emerges as the Doctor, Capaldi commands every scene he’s in. Whether he’s alarmed at his eyebrows or bantering with Clara, Capaldi fits perfectly as both the Doctor and his version of the Doctor.
In fact, I loved the banter the most. Whether they’re talking about the Sonic Screwdriver’s voice commands, or bickering about who is the bigger egomaniac in a booth at a family restaurant, Capaldi and Jenna Coleman worked great together.
He’s not a hugger
I’m now even more excited about the new season. The cameo at the end was nice, but I think I liked Capaldi’s response even more. He made a great first impression, and I’m confident he’s going to make a great Doctor.
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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…
Henchman-4-Hire 