Guess Who's A Professional Writer!

So, you may have noticed that I haven't been posting very much over the past few weeks. I must admit, part of it was just lack of topics. The other part is that I was in negotiations to join the team at Sciencefiction.com as a professional writer. (Bookmark it now, before you forget!) Unfortunately, Patrick, the site's owner had other commitments and was busy, so the process took several weeks... several excruciating weeks on my end. But finally, things worked out, thanks to my old friend Brian who already writes for the site and now, I'm officially on board!

Brian, myself and another writer, Scott, will be covering the New 52... all of it! That's a lotta books, so we've divided them up and here's what I will be covering. First this coming week, starting on 09/07, look for my takes on...
Animal Man... which Newsarama proclaimed to be the BEST book in the entire 52 lineup, so I am really intrigued there!
Batwing... I'm certain I got this one because of the pink and teal suit, since all my clothes in real life are pink and teal. (That's only barely not true.) I also think I got all the minority characters, except Firestorm. Hmmm.
Hawk & Dove and...
O.M.A.C., both of which I think I got because I'm the new guy and neither of the other two wanted to read them.

The following week, starting on 09/14, look for my takes on...
Batwoman... which I can already tell you is going to be faaaaaabulous!
Demon Knights, another book with strong buzz!
Mr. Terrific, because I ain't white!
Superboy... one from which I really don't know what to expect, so we'll see...

On the week of 09/21, I'll be reviewing...
Birds of Prey, wherein, I will spend many paragraphs going on about Black Canary's new sandals.
The mysterious, Dr. Manhattan Captain Atom!
The bra-less wonder, Catwoman! Just one of the trifecta of super divas...
The kneepads-free, Supergirl!
And of course, you know I gotsta review Wonder Woman, ya'll!

And finally, on 9/27, look for my reviews for...
Aquaman! See Batwoman!
Military action with the Blackhawks!
It's like Twilight, except a comic book! I, Vampire!
And finally, the Savage Hawkman! There better be a Ferocious Hawkgirl in the book, sooner than later!

And of course, I will be reading a whole lot more of these books than that, so should I feel compelled to write about those, be sure and look for my musings right back here! I am THRILLED by this opportunity and hope it works out in the long run! So tell all your friends and make sure to leave copious comments so they think I'm doing a good job!

Wonder Wednesday Part 2 - This Looks Ominous

Well, this is all kinds of interesting/disturbing/ominous. Comic Book Resources did a poll on all 52 new DC Comics and had fans vote on whether they were likely to buy them. (I wish I'd known about this ahead of time and had participated, but alas...) These fans (10,181 of them, all together) selected whether they were Absolutely, Very Likely, Likely, Unlikely or Not At All (Likely) to buy each individual book and the results are somewhat to be expected... mostly.

Well, first of all, it does this Aquafan's heart proud to know that none other than Aquaman actually scored in the Top Five books fans were Absolutely going to buy! Jigga wha--?! After all those "talks to fish" jokes? After "Whitefish?" Suddenly Aquaman is outpacing The Flash (yeah, corny pun WAY intended) and the other luminaries of the DCU as one of the Top FIVE MUST-READ books coming out?! I may faint!

The number one title, not surprisingly, is Justice League of America, since it will star all of DC's big name heroes... and Cyborg and they have stated that this is will be the line's flagship title, so 57.7% of fans say they will Absolutely be buying this title. (5,870 voters!) The 14.7% who voted Not At All, probably went down the list and voted that on every single title. The other Top Five titles were Action Comics, Green Lantern, Batman and Aquaman, in that order. Not too surprising, except I find it odd that 55.9% of voters are Absolutely going to buy Action Comics, whereas 30.2% are Not At All going to buy Superman (versus 27.2% who voted Absolutely)! And a similar thing happened with Batman and Detective. 47% say they are Absolutely going to buy Batman, but 36.1% say they are Not At All going to buy Detective, versus 25.4% who voted Absolutely! What am I missing here?

As for the Bottom Five, it's not that surprising that the genre books flopped with voters. I, Vampire was the lowest rated, with 68.5% voting Not At All. (But what about Twilight?!?!) Following that up were OMAC (66.9%), Voodoo (64.2%), Hawk & Dove (63.8%, and I guarantee you, it's due to the Liefeld artwork!) and Sgt. Rock and the Men of War (61.7%).

On a sigh-worthy note, though except for Batwoman (33.8% Absolutely), EVERY female-led title wound up in the Not At All category. Wonder Woman (29.3% Not At All... it's gotta be the suit!), Birds of Prey (48.2%), Catwoman (44.8%), Supergirl (47.6%), the afore mentioned Voodoo and most shockingly Batgirl (33%). As controversial as the Batgirl issue has been, you'd think people would pick it up just for controversy's sake!

And Batwoman has her own built-in fanbase and I think everyone realizes that her book has NOTHING to do with this relaunch and will be basically the book it was always intended to be all along. I am really puzzled by Batgirl, though. People seemed to want her back in that role for EVER. I know a lot of people are upset about her leaving the role of Oracle, but THAT MANY?!

Even more disheartening, if not alarming, EVERY title showcasing minority characters wound up in the Not At All category. EVERY one! (Well, once again, not counting Batwoman.) Even Green Lantern Corps, starring John Stewart and Guy Gardner! EVEN GREEN LANTERN CORPS!!! Green Lantern is the #3 Must-Have book and Corps is in the Not At All pile?! WHY?! HOW?!

The Hall of Shame is as follows: GLC (34.4% Not At All), The Fury of Firestorm (42.6%), Mister Terrific (55.5%), Batwing (32.9%), Static Shock (60.2%!), Stormwatch (41.8%, starring gay members Midnighter and Apollo) and Blue Beetle (46.7%). I'm really stunned by just how SOUNDLY so many of these were trounced, especially Static Shock!

The one mitigating factor is that the MAJORITY of titles seem to have wound up in this category possibly because fans are just pissed off in general and are opposed to this relaunch and like I said before, I'm sure a bunch of people voted no on every title. Sigh! I guess no matter how DC may try to diversify, straight white male comic fans ONLY want to see themselves represented and can ONLY relate to characters that are like themselves. Welcome back to the 50s!

DC Relaunch Week 2

DC has announced more titles added to their upcoming re-boot including all(?) the new Batman books. The one non-Batbook they announced is Swamp Thing (above). As for the rest...

There's Batman...

Detective Comics...
Batman: The Dark Knight and...

Batman & Robin. Oh hey, wouldja look at that?! That's Damian Wayne as Robin! So what happened to all that "this isn't a reboot we're just setting the books back a couple of years" nonsense? This most certainly IS a reboot! They're just picking and choosing and reshaping however they see fit! Otherwise, like I said before, Damian would either not even have been born yet or would be like five, depending on how far back they were going. So Damian Wayne is Robin, but Clark Kent and Lois Lane will no longer be married... just cause! Cause that's how the powers-that-be want it. So fuck off, old comic fans!

There's more...
Catwoman... although after all that hubbub about them making their women look more modest... ahem...
Batwoman, officially confirmed as part of this initiative...
Nightwing... presumably Dick, but no one is sure since there's no sign of Tim anywhere. Obviously Tim isn't Robin, since Damian is, but wouldn't you think they're announce a new Red Robin title at the same time as all these other Batbooks? The use of red in his costume, replacing the light blue may... or may not... support that perhaps this is Tim inheriting his "big brother's" identity... but if so... what happened to Dick?

Definitely the most surprising announcement for me was Red Hood and the Outlaws, starring Jason Todd, the second, fuck-up Robin, teamed with Speedy, arm restored and of all people Starfire, Dick's old girlfriend. This just looks terrible. Nice baseball cap! Moving on...
Birds of Prey, starring Black Canary, Poison Ivy, Katanna and someone who may be Grace Choi formerly of The Outsiders. You can see the ladies are rockin' DC's new "modest" super lady look. Is Black Canary wearing Mary Janes?! The fuck?! I don't so much care that she has tights under her fishnest. She's looked like that at other times, including when I was a kid. You know what I don't like? That she isn't wearing a jacket! That's just such a huge part of her aesthetic! Also, this book is HARDLY a Batbook, now that Barbara isn't in it. Oh yeah, about that...
Batgirl, officially confirmed to be Barbara Gordon! I am excited about this! I just love the classic Batgirl and this is her, written by Gail Simone, who did such a WONDERFUL job on her in Birds of Prey, through the majority of that title's existence. She's in good hands! I like the detailed costume as well!

So, let's recap:
1. Justice League of America
2. Action Comics
3. Detective Comics
4. Wonder Woman
5. Aquaman
6. Green Lantern
7. GL Corps
8. GL: New Guardians
9. Green Arrow
10. Hawkman
11. Flash
12. Captain Atom
13. DC Universe Presents (I mistakenly called this Braver & Bolder before)
14. Nightwing
15. Batgirl
16. Justice League International
17. Mr. Terrific
18. Justice Society of America
19. Firestorm
20. Teen Titans
21. Birds of Prey
22. Red Lanterns (I forgot this one last time)
23. Batman
24. Batman: The Dark Knight
25. Batman & Robin (I just KNEW DC wasn't gonna let Green Lantern have more titles than Batman!)
26. Nightwing
27. Red Hood & The Outlaws
28. Catwoman
29. Batwoman
30. Swamp Thing

Over half-way there and still, this line up is whiter than a Tea Party rally. And don't try claiming that Swamp Thing counts as a person of color. They did state that there will be seven Teen Titans and only four (over half) would be white. Once again, don't try and pass off Beast Boy (left) as being one of the other three! I think everyone is assuming that the four white characters will be Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Superboy and Tim Drake under whatever guise he's using.

Since that whole going back in time thing is now hogwash, I say that it's probably a given that the JUST introduced Indian heroine Solstice will be among them. The other two slots? I say Aqualad, because they seem to be really getting behind his character. The last spot? It could be any number of people, Static, Aquagirl, Firestorm, Blue Beetle (Jaime)... But y'know what? That joke I made about Swamp Thing and Beast Boy? I bet you my spleen, the other member is...

Miss Martian. I guarantee it!

It's nice that they are making the teams integrated, but that's easy and honestly in this day and age, expected. But that's it. It's nice. It's not enough. Mister Terrific remains the one minority in his own book, with John Stewart and Jason Rusch sharing titles. Batwoman represents the GLBT side. (Maybe The Question, Renee Montoya will get her own book... she's a lesbian of color! Or... and here's my guess, since they've returned The Demon to being Jason Blood, and flat out said they wanted their characters to be more recognizable, they'll bring back the original Question, whitey Vic Sage.) Vixen is in Justice League International, so I doubt she'll get her own title. Black Lightning probably has the best shot. I doubt Steel will since Cyborg is being positioned as DC's premier black cyber hero. Too much overlap. It would be nice if they gave a gay male character a book... but I'm not that big a fan of the ones they have, Obsidian and Mikaal/Starman, being the most notable.

Hmmm... switching gears, there are still 22 more books to be announced and a few titles that currently exist that haven't been confirmed as coming back. Let's take a look...
The Legion of (Perpetually Rebooted Almost Like Clockwork Every Three Years) Super Heroes. If there was one book I wished could escape this reboot it's them, just because they just got rebooted, what? Last year?! Alas!
Red Robin... as previously discussed. I'm a fan of both Dick's and Tim's so I hope nothing bad happens to either one... especially since that ass clown Jason Todd is still going to be running around!
Wally West. Like with Red Robin, you'd think they're announce ALL the books that are connected at the same time, so if there was going to be a second Flash book, rumored to be called Speed Force, they're have done so when they announced The Flash's main book. So that puts poor Wally in the same boat as Tim. Or Dick. Whoever isn't Nightwing.
And for that matter, what about the original Aqualad, Garth and Wonder Girl, Donna Troy?
Power Girl and Zatanna. Like I said before, I'm not sure how well their books were selling, so I'm not sure if they're on the chopping block or not. Plus, how will either of them deal with having to cover up their womanly assets? (Although Starfire is still spilling out of her corset, so it doesn't look like these ladies are being forced to cover up entirely.)
Justice Society of America... I have it listed above, but it hasn't officially been solicited. I'm sure it's coming though, although I freely admit, I don't get why this team exists. Can't everyone just be in the Justice League?
Shazam/Captain Marvel/Captain Thunder and Family. Captain Thunder is currently playing a role in Flashpoint, so I can see him spinning out of that into his own book, hopefully starring a Mary Thunder who's has the stank of the past couple of years scrubbed thoroughly from her. And like I said before...
Hopefully featuring Isis, as a full heroine this time, free of Black Adam's sway. That under-boobie cleavage isn't going to work, though.
Martian Manhunter... he doesn't have his own title, but fans have taken note of his absence on the cover of Justice League.
Blue Beetle... out of all the recent attempts to ethnic-ize characters, I'd say he was one of the most popular, if not THE most popular, depending on how well you liked Jason Rusch as Firestorm. He even warranted an appearance on Smallville! Yet he's not in JLI. Teen Titans hasn't yet been solicited. But could he maybe even score his own title once again? Hmmmm.... And on a related note...
Booster Gold. He has his own book right now. He's confirmed for JLI. But like with Zatanna and Power Girl, I don't know how well his book sells, so who knows if he's coming back in a solo title.

Speculation as to other characters who may get new titles?
Nightrunner, the infamous "Muslim Batman" from Batman Inc., a title which appears to be kaput. This guy even made it onto The Daily Show. I would expect DC to try capitalizing on that.
In Flashpoint, he's that parallel time line's Superman and he's in the new Justice League, apparently taking Martian Manhunter's spot! I'm fairly sure he'll get his own title when all is said and done.
Sensation Comics starring Wonder Woman. Yeah, I know, no chance in hell. But the Amazing Amazon DID have two books back in the 40s and fuck, Batman has four and SIX spin-offs and Green Lantern of all characters has four! You're telling me no woman, no matter how Wonder-ful, can sustain even TWO?
The Spectre and Dr. Fate... I'm not saying they're getting their own books back or anything, BUT I guarantee that they will be reverting to the alter egos of Jim Corrigan and Kent Nelson, their Golden Age (and most famous) counterparts.

Beyond that, who knows? Will they sneak in a couple of new concepts? (No.) More news as it breaks... well, y'know like the day after it breaks... and keep in mind, the Superman books haven't yet been announced!