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!

I Say What What...?

Y'know, there's something unique about Daniel Craig. I mean, if you really just LOOK at him... he's kinda ugly. Okay, maybe that was harsh, but he's certainly not your normal variety of handsome. YET, he's at the same time, VERY sexy. Does that make any sense? Anyway, I was amused by this poster for Cowboys & Aliens.
BAM! DAT AZZ!!! It's just not very often that a MALE star gets marketed in such a manner. I for one approve.

And just for the heck of it, here's a "piece" (WINK!) of Justice League art I came
across er, found on Comic Art Fans:
I suppose if anyone is going to have the ultimate runner's butt, it's The Flash. I find it delightfully ironic that this artist is so heavily mimicking Ed Benes' style.

Black Canary
Lois Lane
Wonder Woman
Dove
Spider-Woman (Upside down AZZ! How's that for a twist?)
Black Canary again (Okay, this is a pin-up, so maybe it doesn't count.)

But hey, "What's good for the goose is always good for the gander." -- "Oh Shiela" -- Ready For The World.

The New JLA Revealed?

This image seems to indicate the full JLA lineup come September. On the left, from the top down, we have Deadman, Atom, Element Woman and Firestorm (just one Firestorm, so I'm hoping that the dual Firestorms on the cover of his/their own title is just symbolic). On the right, from top to bottom, we have Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary (maybe) and Mera.

Element Woman may or may not be a new character. Here we have her design and she apparently has the power to "control elements." Uh huh. That should have been obvious. Firestorm can already transmute elements, so I'm not sure how this new character brings anything new to the table.

Actually, I'm not sure she is a new character. Back in the Silver Age, there was briefly an Element Girl who was a feminized version of Metamorpho and had his same power set, the ability to turn her body into any element. But I don't know if Element Woman is an update of this character (she LOOKS very similar) or someone completely new. (Also, why not just use Metamorpho? He's really not that big a character that he needs a female doppelganger!)

As for Black Canary, she very clearly looks like Black Canary... the real Black Canary, that is, not the updated one on the Birds of Prey cover, leading some to speculate that this isn't her. I still think it is, though.

Overall, it's a pretty basic and classic lineup. Cyborg, Deadman, Element Woman and Mera are the only "non-classic" JLA members. Mera's presence isn't that surprising, since she's grown in popularity so much in the last couple of years. And lest you think she's redundant with Aquaman on the team, keep in mind she has a completely different power set (the power to manipulate water) and also, Hawkman and Hawkwoman were on the team together for years! Hell, Hal Jordan and John Stewart have both been active on the team at the same time!

File this under the FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK File. DC has killed off Donna Troy AGAIN!!! By her nature, she'll probably come back... AGAIN, but geez! Come on!

EDIT/UPDATE: I've read speculation that the character I referred to as Black Canary is actually either Power Girl (she DOES seem to have short hair, now that I look closer) or Zealot from WildCATS (she DOES seem to have white hair, plus fellow CATS Grifter and Voodoo are getting their own books, so it's not inconceivable.) With Power Girl... good for her, I guess, but when you already have Superman and Wonder Woman on the team, it's hard to see what niche she'll fill. And if it's Zealot, once again, warrior woman with a sword... you already have Wonder Woman who sometimes uses a sword, so what makes Zealot useful? (Also, you know which CAT I was partial to? Void! I wonder what's up with her.)

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!

The Batgirl Debate

No news from DC's reboot has generated as much controversy as the decision to return the currently disabled Barbara Gordon to her iconic role as Batgirl. And even life-long Batgirl fans, like myself, can't help but take the news as bittersweet, considering what it means. Here are some excellent essays detailing reaction to this.

First, an article from DC Women Kicking Ass which highlights the initial decision to paralyze Barbara Gordon in the first place and examines subsequent aborted plans to return her to the Batgirl role.

http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/6317684058/returntothetights

Then an earlier, very personal, passionate write up, shortly after the news first broke.

http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/6268505475/fewwords#disqus_thread

And speaking of personal and passionate responses, this article by Jill Pantozzi from Newsarama REALLY had me feeling torn on the suject.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/oracle-is-stronger-than-batgirl-110606.html

The whole affair is nicely summed up by Andy Khouri in this article:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/06/06/batgirl-barbara-gordon-disabled/

All of these articles are fantastically written and thought-provoking, so if you read my blog for more than pretty pictures or guys in the underwear, give them a read.

Now, some of my thoughts on the matter.

It's no secret, I'm thrilled about this. EVERY other change DC is implementing is at best "Hmmm, that might be interesting," but most of it is "Ugh!" or "I hope that doesn't suck as bad as it looks to!" or like I said on the first day, "Looks like I won't be reading monthly super hero comics anymore." To have the original Batgirl back, is the one bright spot.

Here's the thing that I think a lot of people miss: a lot of these characters AREN'T just comic book characters. That's where they originated of course, but many of them have transcended the medium and have imbedded themselves in our collective pop culture database, taking certain trappings with them. The Barbara Gordon Batgirl is one such icon. With Batman, everyone knows he's Bruce Wayne and that Dick Grayson was Robin, even if they don't read comics, that much is just common knowledge. People may not necessarily know Barbara Gordon or even what her relationship is to Batman. (It's hard for me to speculate on these things, as I don't know how non-nerds think.) But most people know there IS a Batgirl and the Barbara version is the one they recognize.

Growing up in the 70s, Batgirl and Supergirl, despite not appearing on Super Friends (although Babs at least appeared on Filmation's Batman cartoon series), were EVERYWHERE. If they made a pair of house slippers or a sleeping bag with Batman on it, you could bet your ass that they made one with Batgirl on it!

Even after she was injured and retired in the comics, Batgirl returned on Batman: The Animated Series. You have to keep in mind that this show reached millions of more viewers than the comic had readers. So to another generation, Barbara was once again introduced as the only Batgirl and proved incredibly popular, even starring in her own spin-off comics and receiving episodes of the show built around her.

It didn't end there. When Batman was relaunched in a new cartoon series, The Batman, they once again introduced Barbara as Batgirl. A variation of Barbara was even used in the much-reviled Batman & Robin live action movie.

Barbara just simply IS Batgirl in the collective conscious.

This can certainly be seen as a diss to replacement Batgirls, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. I never read any of their books, due to my own shortcomings, I suppose, out of spite. They weren't the real Batgirl and I wasn't going to support them. I couldn't believe it when I read that Cassandra Cain was the first female of color to star in her own DC book! And Stephanie's current book is getting great word of mouth, but I don't believe that that has resulted in sales.

Then there's the Oracle factor. The disability issue is huge. People with disabilities are rarely depicted in ANY medium, comics, TV, movies, so to have one, particularly a woman with a disability, appear as strong and smart and all-around well-written as Oracle has, the loss to comics in general is huge! (She isn't the only hero with a disability, though, the most famous being Professor X.) Oracle did provide much-needed representation.

The argument though, is that Oracle is a comic book character. Period. She was on the short-lived Birds of Prey TV show that no one watched or remembers today, but that's it. Could they have utilized Oracle in other media? Sure they could have. They didn't. If Barbara appeared, it was as Batgirl. Batgirl is the icon.

They've made two Barbie Batgirls in the last ten years and several Tonner dolls. They've made possibly over a 100 tee shirts with Barbara as Batgirl, usually in the company of Wonder Woman and pre-Crisis Supergirl.

Speaking of Supergirl, she suffered a similar fate... well, technically even worse, she was KILLED. But DC had to have A Supergirl to keep the rights to the name, so they created a new one, an artificial, shape-shifting life form known as Matrix. Eventually this creature merged with a dying human girl named Linda Danvers (the pre-Crisis Supergirl's secret identity) and mystical energy becoming an Earth-born angel with quasi-mystical powers. Okay, seriously, it may not sound like it, but it was actually a good series. But it was complicated and to the uninitiated, too hard to grasp and most people were like, "What does that have to do with Superman?!" Nothing. That's why this version of the character was written out of the books and Superman's Kryptonian cousin brought back. Khouri's article points out that the reversal to the classic form of the character is inevitable. Batgirl's not alone... some other changes that didn't stick...
Hal Jordan went insane, became Parallax, KILLED most of the Green Lantern Corps and eventually died and was replaced by Kyle Rayner. He's better now. So are most of the people he killed. No harm, no foul.
Batman was replaced by the ultra-violent, overly-accessorized Azrael, who was intended as a parody of ultra-violent, overly-accessorized anti-heroes that dominated comics in the 90s. But ha ha! 90s readers ate him up and he proved so popular that even after Bruce Wayne took back the Batman name, Azrael got his own series! (He's since been killed off and replaced by a new Azrael.) Also, we all knew the Dick Grayson-as-Batman thing wasn't going to last.
In an almost identical move, Diana was replaced as Wonder Woman by a more violent counterpart, Artemis, rendered in the typically modest and reserved style of the 90s. And likewise, Artemis proved popular enough that she's still around, just not as Wonder Woman. (Because there's only one true Wonder Woman. Notice a pattern?)
Speaking of patterns, Green Arrow was killed off and replaced by his illegitimate son, Conner Hawke. The original GA has returned and last I heard, Conner was in a coma.
In a real head-scratcher, Aquaman was replaced by James Hetfield of Metallica who had his hand replaced with a harpoon. That whole Napster fiasco ended Metallica's career and the original, clean cut Aquaman returned with two real hands. (Although Black Manta recently amended that last part.)
In most people's minds, she never STOPPED being Batgirl. I don't mean this as a jab, and I know that the owner of the blog didn't create it, but even the artwork on the DC Women Kicking Ass masthead depicts their roster of current heroines in their modern costumes. There's Kate Kane as Batwoman. The current Supergirl. They're all dressed and depicted as they are currently in the comics. Except Batgirl. No Cassandra Cain. No Stephanie Brown. No Oracle. It features Barbara Gordon, somehow traveling through time to join this class photo in her iconic costume. It's not just that one piece of artwork either. Scroll through tumblr or deviant art and you see HUNDREDS of... well first HUNDREDS of images of Babs as Batgirl solo, as well as group shots of her as Batgirl alongside the MODERN versions of the Bat Family or alongside other DC heroines as they appear currently, BUT Barbara anachronistically as Batgirl.
It's hard to argue with reality: That to MOST people Barbara IS Batgirl no matter what else is going on in the actual comics. Yes, the loss of Oracle is immense. She is a symbol of strength and hope and one of the best-written characters in comics. She DOES leave a huge gap. But Batgirl is an icon. She transcends comics and if DC really does want to present the most recognizable versions of their characters, they have no choice but to make Barbara Batgirl again.