Okay, before we get into the comics I bought, let's talk about one I by all rights should have bought, but that I ended up not getting out of sheer disgust (and not wanting to waste money on a comic I wouldn't enjoy...) after reading at work.

Yes. Red Robin.

Okay, so I just skimmed the parts that weren't Steph-related. But the part I did read gave me a pretty good idea of the books tone, and it's one I'm very much not interested in. I'll just list my problems so we can all get on with our lives.

Tim is a complete ass. I mean, he kicks Steph in the stomach when she comes up to talk to him (and I'm really unclear to whether she was walking through the door to say hi and couldn't help but do it stealthily, because hey, Gotham vigilante- or if, as the art indicates, she was lurking in the corner. If the latter is it, what the hell? Did she get there before Tim did? Did she actively walk over to a corner so she lurk in the shadows for no reason and Tim just didn't notice this somehow? Did she borrow the JLA transporter and beam into that corner? What? WHAT? My head hurts)

And it's hard enough to make her want to barf, and he doesn't say "oops my bad" or even HELP HER UP when she asks. I don't care how upset Tim is, that is just rude.

But what really irks me is the continuity thing- Tim gets ragey ranty all over again about how he can't trust her to wear that costume and they already AGREED HE DIDN'T HAVE A RIGHT TO BE MAD OVER THAT IN GOTHAM GAZETTE. In fact, they had a perfectly amiable and in character parting where Tim wasn't a complete machismo filled jerk to Steph. I miss Fabian. This conflicts with that! It makes my head hurt.

But no, we're ignoring that and back to RAGEYTRUSTISSUES because THAT'S not getting old. And Tim continues to add to the creepy abusive trend by grabbing Steph's wrist when she tries to pat him on the shoulder, roughly enough that she winces and he doesn't let go for like, five lines of dialogue. Under Fabian, he just swatted her hand away, at least, no "look at me I can crush your wrist I so dominant".

And apparently another reason Steph can't be trusted is because...she said eveyone was worried about Tim and Tim guesses Dick asked her to track him down...and this makes her a lying bitch who can't be trusted. Because Dick was worried and so was she and they collaborated. Yeah! How dare you, Stephanie!

And despite the fact Steph is begging him to talk, he wishes he could talk to her, but he can't, because she's such a bitch! And he leaves. So emo.

Seriously, between Fabian and Yost, I guess the Bat Writers have a pact to dump abuse of Steph- whether physical or just lecturing her over what a lying hor she is. At least Fabian had the decency to give Steph a decent make-up with Tim- only to have Yost undo it. Brutally.

But I'm not really sad about Steph. It doesn't really affect her, though I consider it OOC she didn't yell at Tim to snap out of it- the whole scene made her look like some sort of whimpering pushover (I exaggerate, but allow me my rage)

Nah, it's Tim. He's been through a lot yes. (Though as Bart, Steph and Kon are now ALL back, he really hasn't lost any more than the rest of the Bat Family at this point) But I am really sick and tired of Tim being a grimdark raging mini-Batman. They've been doing it for OVER A YEAR and this was really it's apex- and I'm not interested in it anymore. It's made him unlikable, it's obscured all the qualities I enjoyed about the character. He's just gotten progressively darker and angrier and there's no sign of him stopping, and I am just BORED with it at this point. He's another generic angry "badass" character...and now he's treating his friends and family like crap. It's not Tim. It's not entertaining to me.

So I hope Steph and Tim don't get together again soon, until Tim snaps out of it (If that ever happens). All that happens when they get together these days is Tim yelling at her about what a untrustworthy screwup she is and Steph cringing and crying. Away from Tim is the best place for Steph to be right now. Hopefully Steph will have a fun role over in Batgirl and get to be her sunny self, along with being friends with Cass plzthx. Meanwhile, Angry!Tim can do whatever the hell he wants. I hope he gets better and likable again, but for now, I'm done with him.

Whew! Now that's over, I can talk about good comics! You know, other than Tim I'm pretty happy with DC these days. Assuming they don't mess the Batgirl thing up, I'm perfectly content to let Red Robin suck and enjoy all the other cool titles including...

Wednesday Comics #1:

This was pretty good, just like I expected. I enjoyed most of the features:

Batman: Big panels, nice art. I liked the dialogue between Batman and Gordon about how Gordon feels like he's failed when he turned on the Batsignal. And Batman's replying quip "I don't know how I should take that." Oh Bats! And I feel for Gordon, but seriously? You waited till 11:59 to call Batman and the guy is going to be murdered at MIDNIGHT? I don't think wounded pride is an excuse for that kind of crap. But nice cliffhanger!

Kamandi: is adorable. I'd date him if he were the last boy on earth! See what I did there? Very pretty art, old fashioned monologue, I've always like the scenario and setting behind Kamandi, so this is cool with me.

Superman: Thought this art was a little to dark for Superman, but that alien sure is wacky. Looks like Superman's going to bond with it over how allllooone he feels.

Deadman: I really like this one. Boston Brand is so kitschy and the art was pleasantly kitschy as well. Dead people solving murders are always fun.

Green Lantern: VERY pretty art, set in the late 50's, which is probably the area where Hal best works (New Frontier proved that) not much happening so far.

Metamorpho: Kitschy, 60's style, looks wacky and promising.

Teen Titans: Never been a huge fan of Cheeks art, but TT needs a dose of fun. Not much happening here, we'll see where it goes.

Strange Adventures: Okay. I found it pretty boring.

Supergirl: Adorable Amanda Conner art! Matrix costume! Super pets! Hopefully it won't all be one note gags about Krypto and Streaky destroying stuff, but lead to an interesting plot line. But it was certainly cute and awesome.

Metal Men: Not bad.

Wonder Woman: I actually found this one the most intriguing. A bit confusing, but Caldwell certainly took advantage of the space to put in lots of action and dialogue, and I dig the talking pigeons and Oracles. Definitely the most interesting start to a plotline, and Diana is very much an innocent about to go on an incredible journey.

Sgt Rock: He gets beat up a lot. Boooring. And the art ain't my cup of tea.

Flash: Barry and Iris are MARRIED and he STILL hasn't told her he's the Flash? Isn't that an important thing to tell someone before you take the vows? What a dick. And what a dimwit Iris must be if she doesn't know. Much as that annoys me, I like the gimmick of Iris having her own comic, and the art is cute. (Of course it is, it's Kershl)

The Demon and Catwoman: Oooh, this was cool. I loved the art. Yay Selina!

Hawkman: Somone should led Baker know "flap" is not a very dramatic word. In fact "And so we flap" being repeated so many times, so dramatically, made me giggle a whole lot. And Hawkman is making the hawks fly after them when the weaker ones are falling unconcious and SPLATTING on the EARTH? What a DICK. Filled with compassion, my ass.

5/5, very enjoyable.

Booster Gold/Blue Beetle:

The Booster Gold story was merely decent. How the hell did Starfire and Donna get killed by a grenade? Must have been a hell of a grenade. Nice to see the old school Titans though. Cyborg yelling his typical thing about his "decibels of white sound" and Booster actually being IMPRESSED made me giggle.

The BB backup however, was great. Norton's are really complements the title, I love Milagro's action figures and the quips are on as usual, and the plot has taken an intriguing turn.J aime forever!

Booster Gold 2.5/5, Blue Beetle: 4/5

New Krypton #5

This title is just consistently good. I loved the depth added to Zod, and I actually didn't see the ending coming. Also, more depth to one of the supporting characters, and Supeman being cuddly. And Pete Woods! Such a good title.

5/5

That be it for today! Hope you weren't to whiplashed by the NERDY FANGRRRL RAGE suddenly switching into NERDY FANGIRL LOOOOVE.

As a supplement to my BSR post (which is here: www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/5512), here are the trading cards I picked up for free on Free Comic Book Day.

( In which bits of cardboard give me geekgasms! )

So, I asked John out yesterday. Seemed the day, and I had had it up to here with waiting around.

He said he "needed time to think about it" and sounded kind of freaked out. I've seen enough movies and read enough books to know that means "no." Se la vie. Hope it doesn't affect the friendship and we can get over it.

I'm just glad I took the risk. It's what Steph or Diana or Hermione would have done right? Geekery's always a comfort in times like this.

In other news, I did a five part Top five Comic Book Couples thing for BSR and got WAY too in to it. I just started looking for scans and BAM! I got sucked in. I am pathetic. So I ended up staying up all night fighting with the software (which is infuriating when it comes to pictures. Damn you, Wordpress!" , and got the five seperate articles done just before midnight. Way, way to into it. Never going that crazy again, I swear to God.

So you are going to READ IT. I poured my SOUL into this, dammit! Also, it has pictures, and is SO much better than Newsarama's top ten. VICTORY.

Lois and Clark (this is my favorite one, since I love the couple so much I made sure it was the best. Those two are my OTP!)
www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4013

Batman and Catwoman (Had MAJOR problems with this one, but Swank came to the rescue eventually, so yay! Not as in depth as it was originally, who cares, this is my SECOND OTP)
www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4110

Spiderman and Mary Jane
www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4038

Babs and Dick (As I mentioned in the article, I don't like this one long term, but they are high profile and were cute sometimes, and I like how they're good friends now. I even mentioned how Babs is better off with Dinah, which bluefall should appreciate! I was running out of non-tragic relationships at this point. Which is really sad.)
www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4114

Karolina and Xavin (My "out there" pick! I love those two!)
www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/4122

NOW READ THEM OR ELSE DIE.

Also, the 'Rama twenty questions thing makes it look like Cass might be in the Streets of Gotham thing as Batgirl while Babs is...in Batgirl as Batgirl. I suppose I wouldn't totally give up all my comics if that happened. But I'm still sending my letter, putting it in the mail tonight.

So, it becomes more horribly likely each day that Babs will regress to Batgirl. As I've mentioned on various forums, my problem is this would be a complete regression of the character. Babs has outgrown the Batgirl costume (figuratively, literally perhaps, I'd imagine she'd have gained some weight), she is not Batman's sidekick and I don't think she'd ever want to go back to being that. Not to mention, they're having a 27/30/whatever year old calling herself "girl", or else they're deaging her, which is equally demeaning to the character. It's like making Dick Robin again.

My one hope is that DC must realize how confusing it would be to have redhead Kathy Kane running around as Batwoman, and redhead Babs Gordon being Batgirl despite the fact she's the more experienced superhero. It would look like Babs was Kathy's sidekick!

Also, it's more of the trend of DC going back to the past instead of moving forward, and reliving some idealized version of their childhood, which alienates younger readers, like me over here.

That said, as I've stated, if Babs becomes Batgirl, I am going to consider cutting back on DC Comics. If Cass is killed to do this, I will likely completely drop them. I will write a letter telling DC why. Or should I write it now?

On that subject,parsimonia 's post (community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/7193254.html#cutid1) cemented my resolve, and utterly depressed me for a night and day. The comments at the comic con really made me feel like "Wow, they don't care about me or respect me at all do they (by "me" I mean female fans, or fans with my tastes). The "catfight" comment really made my stomach turn, as well as the general tone. Especially that douchebag who yelled "who cares?" about Steph. How utterly rude.

Anyway, stress from scholarships and school also had me acting down, so I ended up telling Mom all my woes, including the comic ones, and how I was really upset that I might have to give up a big part of my life. Mom was mildly annoyed at my news about Babs (Birds of Prey is her favorite comic I've read her) but mostly attempted to console me in a way that made me feel pathetic. She also suggested I write a letter. And went on about how I'd make a comic someday and "show them" and they only listen to "their people" which was all very weird.

Apparently she told Dad, because he asked me "Now what's going wrong with Batgirl? Is there a new...artist or something?" And I had to explain. He was mostly like "huh."

I have no idea why Mom would mention it to him. Imagining the conversation is hilarious.

Mom: Caitlin's pretty upset about scholarships.
Dad: Uh huh.
Mom: And apparently this thing with Batgirl, it's got her down too.
Dad: What thing with Batgirl?
Mom: Oh, whatshername (Mom is bad with names) that...that...Oracle...she heard Oracle's going to be Batgirl again or something, maybe.
Dad: Oh. That's bad?
Mom: Yeah.
Dad: Oh.

My life: Nothing resembling normal.

So, lets not think of that unpleasantness. On to comic reviews!

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Part One.

I actually really liked this. I think the difference is, unlike Grant Morrison's stuff, it's really more character driven than concept driven, which is why I like it better than his when they're both equally trippy. Also, it wasn't advertised as the "THING THAT WILL CHANGE ALL THINGS EVER!" just as a trippy little epilogue peice which it was. And finally, while it didn't make any sense, we had Bruce actually pointing OUT it doesn't make any sense, so we know it's not supposed to, it's not that we aren't on "the secret wavelength". And the no-sense-it-makes is presented as a mystery. "You're the world's greatest detective. You figure it out." I hope the payoff's good.

And I just love the really great character moments, like Joe Chill's comment (which was perfect) and Selina getting the cats to watch her car, Penguin and Mad Hatter being hat buddies, the Joker telling the kid he doesn't randomly kill people, he only kills people when it's funny, and poor Gordon. (Though I have no idea what Babs meant when she said "You can't just-" and Jim said "Sure I can, Babs." I actually thought she was going "you can't just PUSH ME LIKE THIS DAD DON'T FUCKING PUSH ME HOW DARE YOU WELD THOSE HANDLES ON THIS CHAIR WHILE I WAS ASLEEP!" which would have been GREAT.

And a whole lot of quotable lines too. I really liked the Catwoman one it was so...Selina. It was no-sense-making, yes, but it encapsulated the essence of Catwoman to me. And Alfred's story was just plain weird, but I liked it anyway. I find is odd Notdead!Bruce pointed out Alfred couldn't be the Joker because the Joker was sitting there when HELLO, Alfred was also sitting there too, by Dick, as the other Alfred walked down the aisle! Two Alfreds! Can the world contain that much awesome?

And Andy Kubert's art captures the old school perfectly, I love it.

Dad found this one and read it, apparently and he was all "What, why is Alfred the Joker and how did he die twice" and I explained it wasn't supposed to make sense and there's a second part and he said "Oh. I liked it then."

I did a review on BSR for this too: www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/3970

4.5/5
 

Batman and the Outsiders special

Alfred! Yay, Alfred! I love you Alfred!

Now we've gotten out of the way, did I mention I like Alfred?

This was okay. I really liked the first few pages, with Alfred over the parents grave and being all wibbly, and then Bruce's secret "I'm dead" message, with the handwave "Dick and Tim will figure it out, no use talking to them" (Yeah, or maybe Tim will go crazy or something. Just saying).

The best part was Bruce telling Alfred that he was grateful to him and "You weren't like my father, you WERE my father. I was lucky enough to have two amazing ones in my life." Oh my god, that nearly killed me with the LOVE. I wanted to hug Bruce AND Alfred, and my heart, it BROKE.

Of course, then you realize "Um, why didn't you tell him this while you WERE ALIVE, Bruce?" and of course, realize he could never tell that to Alfred face to face, because he's too emotionally constipated. Oh Bruce.

Anyway, what we get next if not much happening, just a bunch of character introductions and Alfred being generally awesome as usual. It was a basic set up issue.

So, I'll probably get the next one, because ALFRED, though I debated it, as I don't really have any deep attatchment to the other characters, but hey, maybe that will change.

4/5


Booster Gold #17

Meh. Nothing really happened. The origin and omens thing was kind of hilarious, because it was Booster randomly recounting his history to his sister and Rip for NO APPARENT REASON. Heh.

2/5

Thaaaaaats all, folks!

Fabian has accepted my interview offer! MWAHAHAHAHA! He'll never know what hit 'im!


*melts* Awwww, that is so sweet.

I now feel bad for my declaration of war, even though it is obviously a joke.

Anyway, peeps, any questions you want answered? I'm here for you.

Also, I forgot to mention last post, but I scored some extra Batgirl comics at my store, the issues were half off. #12, #43 and #44. All were fairly "meh", though I really liked the art in #12. And apparently Catwoman treats people who break into her house with deadly deathtraps AND a marathon of Scooby Doo! That villianess!

The reason my mood is nauseated is my stomach is cramping like hell.

Woo. Lotsa stuff happenin'. I got into a stupid internet fight. I visited my brand new comic store again with my friend John, and got lotsa free stuff (A couple JLA bits- This JLA vs. The Crime Syndicate thing and and thise thingamajig right before IC (judging from the Omacs) where Batman was a huge dick and so was Green Arrow, but Black Canary was cool and there was this whiny Faith girl with a dead husband. Also, Elektra: The hand mini 3-5 which I haven't read yet) John took all the free stuff that was offered super seriously and got a giant box full (He doesn't have much money, his mom and him are on food stamps. I always pay for everything because of this, which I am happy to do). I'm thinking of getting John to be my boyfriend. He's perfect. But I have no idea how to seduce a man. Whenever I want to make a move, I freeze up. I'll think of something though, I know I must hurry before he's taken.

News from Fabian:

>>Saw the new solicit for Robin 183. It's cool Lady Shiva's going to guest star. Will there be any mention of her relationship with Cass?

No.

>>Also, will Steph be in the final issue? Will she have a home in any other title now that Robin is canceled? Will the issue set up a direction for her?

She will be in the final issue briefly. Her future direction is for future writers of Tim to determine.

>>And you know that if we asked questions about the issue on Wednesday you'd just say wait and see! But I'll give it a shot: Will the Red Robin/Tim and Stephanie/Scarab fights be happening seperately and concurrently, or will there just be a general melee between those four?

Wait and see.
Actually, the opening fight is very brief.

-- fabian

*droops at second question* Oh Steph, I am worried about you.

Hey, wouldn't it be great if the replaced Robin with a Batman family book? It could focus on the Tim, Cass and Steph and occasionally others and be brilliant! DC I WILL WRITE THIS CALL ME.

Cass is gonna be in the final issue of BoP which is good, but it's the final issue of BoP which is bad. *droops*

Also, she's not in BatO (Sorry, "The Outsiders") anymore it seems. *double droops*

Soooo, reviews! Including comics I don't normally get.

Booster Gold #14

A resounding "meh." Nothing of interest happened here. And where did Michelle go?

2/5

Action comicss #somethingorother

Pete Woods! EEEE! *cuddles his art* A decent issue. The General Lane plot is interesting, and Doomsday dude was dispatched with minimum annoyance.

3/5

Detective Comics #850

I got this when I saw thru Scans_daily the Alfred awesomeness at the beginning, and the Selina awesomeness at the end. It was a very good issue, and basically a parade of goodness. Alfred kicking ass, the T-Rex kicking ass (it was a robot, who knew? Not I.), Tim!Banter, Batman invoking the Edna Mode rule and Selina's REVVVVVEEENGE! Eeee, I love Catwoman so much. I also loved how she got Harley and Ivy and Oracle involved. Revenge of the kickass women! That's what you get for calling people gutter sluts, Hush!

I also liked the moment with Selina and Zatanna, it was very cute and I loved the art. Also, the moment with Bruce and Selina. I ship Bat/Cat, I'll admit. Selina being around somehow makes Bruce more tolerable, and it's sweet how he opens up (a little) for her.

So, yes, very glad I got it.

5/5

Nightwing #150

Got it for the Babs, and because it's #150. A nice issue, I really liked seeing Babs in a batbook again, the stuff between Dick and Two Face, and the pretty art. Also, Dick was awesome.

4/5

And, lastly, is this not adorable?



From http://vespertila.livejournal.com/119161.html

Hasta la vista for now!

School tomorrow, blurgh. On the other hand, Robin tomorrow! Always a silver lining.

So at Books A Million, I found a pretty good Batman encyclopedia. It was up to date as far as Batman and the Outsiders #2 (Which means Cass's entry said she was good again, yay) and had a fairly sympathetic description of Stephanie (Favorite line "Cassandra liked Stephanie a lot, but often gave her mild concussions to keep her out of danger") and actually SAID Batman didn't treat her as favorably as other Robin's and actually set her up a bit to fail. Also that she originally had more heart and spirit than skill, but grew into a very able superhero in a short amount of time. I got the idea whoever wrote the encyclopedia liked Steph. Unfortunately, like I said, it was only as recent as Outsider's #2, so we didn't get a happy ending to the entry with her not being dead, though it mentioned her visits to Cass as a ghost.

I also reread a few Fables and Y: The Last Man as well as "Going Sane" (A really nice Joker story). My most amusing find was the '40's Batman Sunday funnies, which included a little Robin cross-dressing and Catwoman trying to discredit Batman by kicking his ass over and over again, the Joker apparently unable to hit a woman (but willing to hold one at gunpoint. Strange code of chivalry) Oh, and Two Face's original origin, in which his name was "Mr. Apollo" (Oh, you Greek God references. That's Diana's shtick!) and incredibly vain, and simply a witness at the trial (and really into it because people are paying attention to him) when the acid got splashed. No split personality of course, just a lot of ranting about "Now I'm like Jekyll and Hide! Oh, I will put on a glorious criminal show for I am a showman! Hey, this coin!" Oddly enough, apparently in the forties, they seemed to be convinced they could fix Harvey's  Whatever his name was face ("Plastic Surgery works miracles these days!") But he was too crazy to hear any of it.

Oh, and also he died at the end, getting himself hanged. Like the Joker died in his first appearance! (Batman "A fitting end for a showman." That guy's sympathy knows no bounds)

Also, a story where someone masqueraded as Alfred's neice (complete with fake English accent!) who he only corresponded with. He has apparently told her he was rich or something (Oh, Alfred) so Bruce and Dick sportingly agreed to pretend to be servants. Then she claimed she was blackmailed and Alfred's like "Hey, Bruce, I need ten thousand dollars!" and Bruce is like "sure!" Which is pretty much a lot of money back then, so Bruce is a nice guy. But, The World's Greatest Detective figured out her accent was phoney. For some reason, Alfred didn't, despite actually being English. But he captured the criminal imposter and saved the day (Alfred, I mean.) He was mighty depressed about his neice being a fake though, so Bruce and Dick kindly offered to make him dinner and give him the night off. Which is incredibly sweet, but I imagine Bruce can't cook worth a damn. In fact, it's modern canon he can't even make a sandwich right, poor slob. I think Dick's okay at it though, so there is that.

My FAVORITE story was the Penguin's aunt coming to town. Apparently she had no idea he was a criminal, and he'd told her he was an umbrella salesman. He begged Batman and Robin not to break an old woman's heart and they agreed. Also, he had to reveal his real name to them, which is still his real name. "Oswald Chesterfeild Cobblepot!" "Wait, really?" "Don't make fun of me!" (No really, that was Batman's reaction.) Anyway, the Penguin's aunt is AWESOME. He got his nose, and his penchant for umbrellas from her. When a guy gets in front of her on the train, she HOOKS IT AROUND HIS THROAT and yanks him back. "Why, didn't your mother teach you that ladies go first!"

And so:

Aunt: Hello, Ozzie!
Penguin: Hey, these are my friends, Batman and Robin!
Aunt: My!

And later:

Bystander: Hey, the Penguin!
Aunt: How rude! They just called me a Penguin!
Oswald: Oh, they're just ignorant.

Still later:

Aunt: I must see your umbrella shop!
Penguin: (Oh no I can't let Batman see my secret lair!) Uh. It burned down.
Batman: No, they rebuilt it, remember, Oswald? GO AHEAD, SHOW HER IT!

And later:

Aunt: Oh dear, this umbrella is shooting bullets!
Penguin: Oh, yeah, that's a weapon I designed for the uh...army. A secret weapon. Yeah.
Batman: HERE LET ME HAVE THAT.

And then the Penguin's gang thinks he's double crossed him, and then thinks the AUNT IS OSWALD ( I assume this means Ozzie crossdresses a lot) and attack her. She KNOCKS TWO OF THEM OUT WITH HER UMBRELLA and Penguin, Robin and Batman join the fight.

Penguin: How dare you attack an old lady!
Aunt: Oswald! How dare you call me an old lady!

Batman shows much joy at using the weaponized umbrellas. The aunt leaves and they take Ozzie back to jail (He reveals he has 76 escape plans. Instead of being concerned, Batman just says "You'll have plenty of time to try them out")

I find it adorable that Penguin loved his ass kicking aunt so much he didn't want to dissapoint her. I want to see this story adapted to modern times, like, now.

Also, this just adds to my point that ALL Golden Age stories were silly, but amusing, and matter not now, including Diana's.

Anyway, that's all, folks.

I thought I might have found a way to get a mood theme, despite not paying and failed.(Anyone who wants to get on me about that, IT WAS A JOKE) But it really is an awesome Steph mood theme!

By poisonivory: http://community.livejournal.com/nerd_herd_icons/31227.html

See, if I had a mood theme, my mood would be: disappointed, because I can't have it.


SO DISAPOINTEEEED!

Anyway, I am also gloomy because school will start soon.

I should start applications now goddamn it.

I am so lazy.

Okay, I'll stop that.

Onto comic book reviews

Wonder Woman #24

Amazing as usual. Wonder Woman KILLED THE DEVIL. She is so hardcore. And I liked the gorillas pickin' lice and Donna actually calling Nemesis Mr. Guy-with-a-rifle.

I guess Sergeant Shield Sargent Steel is crazy now or something. I wonder why.

Y'know, WW's enjoyable, but I'm always left wanting more and it makes me feel kind of empty.

That made no sense at all, I'm sure, but whatever.

Like, what is Tom's deal? I want to KNOW RIGHT NOW. Gail keeps hinting at something, but I find no reason to sympathize with him right now and it is annoying.

But geez, the art is gorgeous. I like seeing Donna drawn with out her boobs falling out of her shirt, FOR ONCE. And acting somewhat intelligent too! FOR ONCE.

I miss the Amazon's so much. Just finished reading the first two trades of Perez WW, so that's why.

Anyway, fun, cool and a bit cracky, as all comics should be, so

5/5

Booster Gold #13

Heh. "I get to be Batman? Cool." Babs didn't get a role other than messing up, which is strange since I get the impression that Chuck loves Babs to the zillionth power, so I expected to see her be cool. Eh, maybe next issue. Also, Booster dressing as Killer Moth is HILARIOUS. And one punching Batman.

Then Alfred defends the Batcave! Shoot first, ask questions later! Though I think those were rubber rounds or something, since I saw no blood coming from Rip.

Booster sure is a little cranky this issue. It's like he just lost his best friend!

Oh.

Well, anyway.

4/5

That's all, for now. Except the first episode of the BoP TV show shifted between hilariously bad and almost-good, like ten times. Major whiplash. But enjoyable in a weird way, so I guess it was worth the purchase.

BUT WHY DIDN'T YOU USE THE REAL BLACK CANARY?

AND WHY DOES HELENA HAVE SUPERPOWERS?

I find it hilarious that Batman abandoned Gotham just because Catwoman died. "I'm sad, screw Gotham! Babs, I know you just got shot because of me and all, but could you take care of Gotham for me?"

"Uh, I guess..."

"Great, bye!"

Also, it is my canon that they named it "New Gotham" just because Batman left. The sign in the front of the city "A Gotham without Batman...shiny and new!"

Show is definitely a bit SoBadIt'sGood so far. I just wish I could forget the comics so I could enjoy that, so I could stop going "AGH HELENA DINAH WHY WAIT HOW IS THAT HARLEY SHE ACTS NOTHING LIKE HER."

And I've just watched the first episode and have these feelings.

Gotham Girls remains just as awesome in rewatching though, so there's that.

Edit: AGH MY PRINTER IS BUSTED SO I CANNOT PRINT MY LETTER TO JANN JONES.

I cannot send my letter to Jann Jones yet because my printer is out of paper, plus I need to edit it a little to include WHY Beechen doesn't write a good Cass at parsimonia's suggestion. (I think I kind of forgot anyone would need that explained to them : P)

In other news my birthday is tomorrow (Yay!) in which I turn 17, and my senior year starts a week from then. (BOO!) I have been a bad girl and not done any volunteer work this summer when I need to get hours for the National Honors Society. *sigh* On the other hand, I'm making good progress on Pride and Prejudice for English and enjoying it, so at least I'm not procrastinating TOO horribly on that.

New comics in two days- Booster Gold (I look forward to the Dixoness and the Babsness!) and Wonder Woman (I look forward to the just plain awesomeness) and...*checks DC's site* Yeah, that's it. Gosh, the cover of Green Arrow/Black Canary is pretty. *MUST NOT BE TAKEN IN BY PRETTY ART*

Anyway, my point is, time to review all those comics I have lazily NOT reviewed.

Huntress Year One #5 and #6-

I am dissapointed, which shocks and alarms me. This series, which had an incredibly stellar first four issues, fell apart a bit on the last two. I remember I was under the impression early it would just be a four issue miniseries, and now I kind of wish I was right. While Madison writes a truly awesome Huntress, she completely fails at writing Bruce and Babs, and to some extent, Selina.

The thing that irks me most about issue #5 is Babs. First of all, how Huntress made her look like an idiot. Babs is smart and capable, she should have at least given Helena a hell of a good fight, if not beat her completely. A Helena vs. Babs fight should be huge and epic, not a handful of panels where Babs gets in a sucker punch before Helena completely owns her.

Then we have Bruce yelling at Babs that she's fired. WTF, Bruce? There's Batdickery, then there's just being sad. Not only would Bruce NEVER say that to Babs unless he seriously meant it, and by yelling it at her he comes across as some petulant child who takes out his anger on others, there's no way Babs would take that. Reading Batgirl Year One, Babs is very independent and capable. She describes herself as a "free agent" and never had any real aim to be a "Bat." Unlike Dick, she did not live with Batman or require his approval, so she didn't take his crap. If Bruce threw a fit like he does in this issue, Babs would say "screw you" and walk away. She's not Bruce's employee or servant, and she spent a while working completely without his consent and can do it again. She's not a afraid to speak her mind, and would not put up with such treatment. And Bruce KNOWS this.

Not to mention, this is pre-DickLeavesJasonDiesBabsisShotHorriblethingsOhGod, so Bruce should be a lot less uptight an dickish in the first place.

Maybe I'm just really sensitive about this considering what happened that other time Bruce told a young woman she was fired...

Moving on...I kind of like Selina's speech to Helena, it was neat ("So you're the anarcha-feminist of Gotham?" "Call me Catwoman, it's shorter.") But what the hell is Selina doing smoking? Anyone with an athletic occupation, which Selina definitely has, knows smoking will ruin their abilities. Selina's far too smart to do this. Plus, no way is she 29 in this period.

Onto #6, Babs is humiliated aGAIN (Maybe Madison just doesn't like Babs?) Oh, and Batman totally hasn't fired her. Chump. Also, Helena leaves WAY too many people alive who know her name. Also, Batman should not know her name, if he does we lose that thing where Tim figured out her identity and kept it secret from Bruce and they had this weird friendship and it was adorable! (Also, proving my point that Tim's secret superpower is guessing everyone's secret identity- Bart, Steph, Bruce, Dick, Helena- it's UNCANNY!)

Anyway, Helena is still cool, and I loved Catwoman in this, despite the smoking. It just...Madison, WHY? It was so awesome and now it's all flawed! Guh!

3/5

Blue Beetle #30

Many of my friends didn't like this, but I thought it captured the feel of Jon Roger's run very well. The plot is still in the beginning stages, and we have yet to see how the tricky immigration issue will be treated, and there were some flaws, but I love the one liners and character interaction (Jaime makes his own sound effects! Brenda and Paco argue! Jaime suggests names for supervillians! God, I love the supervillian title fight, so cracktastic) So I'm optimistic.

4/5

Supergirl #32

Sigh. What happened? I don't know. All I know is it was sort of cool when that guy  Dolok kept going back in time, but it did not matter because Kara was there to punch him. EVERY TIME. Otherwise...eh?

Oh well. Empress next! Then new and possibly exciting run!

2/5

Robin #176

All right. This was well written, I will admit. I especially liked the flashback to Tim getting his costume, and how Dick was totally snarky about it and they teased each other like brothers.

"My costume is scary now!"
"No it isn't, it has underwear on the outside!"
"Oh, like you can talk, at least I have tights under my underwear!"
"Yes, but now I have a Nightwing costume and I look incredibly sexy in it."
"SHUT UP MY COSTUME IS SCARY!"

Meanwhile, Tim has gone batshit insane or something because he's yelling at everyone and sticking batarangs in people's eyes and Stephanie is naturally concerned about this, but WAIT, Batman talked to her forty nine hours ago (I guess she gave the when off panel, or else Tim just assumes it's forty nine hours because he's GONE INSANE) and told her he was planning on going crazy so please make sure Tim doesn't get involved?Apparently making sure Tim doesn't get involved involves following him around voicing skepticism and faint concern and deleting pictures of the Goddamn Batman.

Anyway, Tim is really mad about this and SWINGS AWAY INTO THE NIGHT.

THE DRAMA!

Okay, I'm looking forward to Search for a Hero and the developments with Stephanie, but this felt kind of meh to me.Maybe because of the crossoverness, or maybe it's a side effect of how quickly Fabian must have had to write it.

Also, I really don't like Joe Bennett's art. It's so generic and there's a few panels that made me go "whuh?"

Anyway, BRING ON MORE STEPH!

3.7/5

Okay, I suppose that's it. See yas!

( I am the Internet )</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
ME: Wait...so being fully clothed and having normal body proportions isn't sexy?

Excuse me if I don't run out and get a boob job and wear a bikini upon hearing this.

When a character is just "sexy" they are NOT a character. They need to have something more to them or else they're just something for fanboys to masturbate too. Selina may be sexy, but there's a lot more to her than that. She's also morally ambiguous, dangerous ect. Saying if you take away her sexy she's just generic is a huge disservice to the character.

Selena is sexy. But she's still sexy if she doesn't have magical inflatable boobs and decides to wear clothes while, y' know, being an unpowered crimefighter against dangerous criminals.

If you want an example of "sexy without character" look at the Catwoman movie. Halle didn't wear clothes. So obviously that movie totally got the character amiright?

---

Chris was just SPEECHLESS about my reply. GodDAMN, I had no idea I was so shocking. This had nothing to do with tits! He wasn't saying anything about boobs! This really confused me since I only mentioned boobs, like, once.

Meanwhile, reflecto congratulated me on my awesome. Haha, kidding. But he did congratulate me. Finally, some backup!

And Chris continues to obsess over, HE NEVER MENTIONED BOOBS DAMMIT!

Me: You were responding to a quote about women being normally proportioned a clothed by saying taking away Catwoman's sex makes her generic. "Normally proprotioned" generally refers to breast size. And that was only a small part of my reply.

I'm pretty sure Holly being boring as Catwoman had more to do with her not being Selena, and not having Selena's experience or attitude. But you've changed your argument around a little, so yes, I do agree being sensual is a part of Selena as Catwoman, but only one part. She has other things going for her, like her dangerous attitude and teetering on the edge of right and wrong. Being normally proportioned and fully clothed like she is now does not take away anything from her.

Chris pretty much responded: BUT I NEVER MENTIONED BOOBS! SELENA SHOULD BE SEXY!

...I decided to leave well enough alone.

But it wasn't over. Oh no.


Haven't read past page 6, but I think I'll jump in here and say that I go by Brian LaBelle's philosophy here. When men in comics are depicted with realistic proportions, then you gals can start your case on that issue.

....

....

People are still using that argument?

Me: I wish I could pull out the bingo card here, but it's my school computer so I can't get to the link...

First of all, it's not "you gals". There's lots of men who want female characters to be respected too.

The issue is men in comics are designed to be the power fantasy for men. Women in comics are designed to be the sexual fantasy...for MEN. They give men teh muscles because they want them to look powerful. They give women teh sexy because they want them to look like "I'd do her."

Both women and men in comics are generally drawn by men. They are aimed to that demographic. So making men have big muscles is apparently what guys WANT.

It's not just about breast size. It's about the shutting out of females everywhere. Do you ever wonder why there aren't more girls on this board? It's not because girls don't like action, or superheroes, or comics. The fact that manga and shows like Avatar and that kind bring in a huge female demographic proves that.

It's because the superhero industry doesn't care enough about women to make the effort to stop drawing and writing their heroines to randomly pose sexily in the middle of a fight, or wear cleavage bearing shirts for no reason, or to always be downplayed for male characters. They shut out a huge potential audience in doing that.

It doesn't matter if the women are sexual. My examples prove that. Look at manga, women are sexual there. Look at Avatar, there's equal oppurtunity fanservice. But those women are aimed to appeal to females as well as males, therefore they can be sensual without being objectified. And the men are sexualized just as much, unlike in our genre.

(I don't read Manga by the way, my best friend does and this is what she tells and shows me)

And just because there's a problem with how men are depicted in comics doesn't mean we're going to force ourselves to ignore the problem with women. That's like ignoring racism because sexism is also a problem.

/rant over. I've said what I want to say, and I know it will never get through to some of you.

Besides, this is actually a thread about Catwoman being cancelled and stuff, before it was derailed (which happened before I arrived, thanx.) Soooo what does everyone think about that?
...

YEAH MY RAGE IS RIGHTEOUS!

Actually, I didn't really care. I just felt the need to refute the ridiculous argument.

But it went on.

Chris:

you are right. I'm like a boob zombie....I just ale around the comic shop with my arms out going BoOoOOoobS! BooooOOOOoOOOOoBS! it's awesome.

Oh I also prefer men

...

...He really does think about them a lot doesn't he? This is especially suprising considering this last line means he's gay, I take it.

But my OTHER opponent had a bit more meat to his argument:


I fail to see a lot of blatant disrespect of women in comics these days. There are a bunch of female lead characters in DC and Marvel, and they get some solid writing and great character development. But hey, I lean more to the writing than the art when I think about a book.

...

Wow. Three sentences in and I had no idea how to continue. No. Blatant. Disrespect.

Hmmm...we were talking about Catwoman?



Ouch. And yet Selena's one of the lucky ones.



That argument can make just as much sense if you flip it around the other way. This isn't to try to belittle your opinion, but I can just as easily say that it's a power fantasy for women, and that men drawn that way are a sexual fantasy for women.

Oh, and please stop with the "teh" stuff, I get why you do it, it's to make the point that someone saying it is stupid, but it really hurts your argument as a whole.


...Now he's telling me how to talk. And that a simple flippant word hurts my ENTIRE ARGUMENT!  And...this is a power fantasy for women...because huge boobs? THEY ARE POWERFUL! Sticklike arms? Heels? Skimpy costumes? SO POWERFUL? And how the hell could it be a power fantasy for women if...women aren't usually involved in the creative process.

Blahblah Big muscles are the evolution of an art form...

WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

And we have liek so many women on this board!

Yeah, a lot less than on Superdickery though, I noticed.

Something about Pretty Woman and Rambo that made no sense...

And...

"I don't think that's the case at all. There are (Or at least until recently, were) a bunch of female characters that had their own books. They are very much in a position where both male and female readers care about them, and writers, both male and female, do a heck of a job writing them. "


As for he art, take a look at the first few arcs in Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey. I believe the artists were Joe Bennet and Ed Benes, who draw very much in the vein that you complain about. Large chests, skimpy outfits and the like. There was a woman writing the book, who has a history of not taking too kindly to women being demeaned in comics, so if it was really that disrespectful, don't you think that Gail would have said "No, those shorts are too small, or Helena's chest is too large" ?

Once again, too huge of a understatement for me to argue.

Just two things:

There are (Or at least until recently, were) a bunch of female characters that had their own books

I do believe he just argued FOR me.

There was a woman writing the book, who has a history of not taking too kindly to women being demeaned in comics, so if it was really that disrespectful, don't you think that Gail would have said "No, those shorts are too small, or Helena's chest is too large" ?

Um, no? Because that's not her job? And saying something like that might put her job in jepeordy? And the fact Gail doesn't like women being demeaned in comics pretty much mean women ARE being demeaned, doesn't it? Thus tearing his argument to shreds?


Well, you won't hear me bad mouth Avatar, I think the show is brilliant (haven't read the comic, wasn't even aware there was one), but I say it's story content over all, I think stories are more geared to female readers than men.

*blinks* Um, Avatar is geared towards females?

...The, uh, main character is a male. And the action figure peoples forgot about the female character when they put them out.

But, because this show has strong female characters who are a lot of times more badass than the guys and equal oppurtunity fanservice, it's OBVIOUSLY female geared.

I'd say Avatar is geared towards everyone. And that's why it's AWESOME.

He then goes on about the anime art style which has nothing to do with anything...

And he just basically said in his post (parts not posted here) women didn't like action as a majority (I am a freakish mutation, y'see)

Avatar has a helluva lotta action.

But it's geared toward women?

It's like he's on my side!

And...


"But that's the thing, there really isn't much of a problem at all. It's pulp art. It's supposed to be over the top and fun."

...Sexism is fun?

The rest of the thread was people yelling at reflecto and telling him to leave.

So, I realized, my argument was pretty futile. So I made one final post and ran for the hill. To complain on my blog. And brag about how superior I am to everyone else. BECAUSE THIS IS THE INTERNET!




...I'm a writer. It is my dream. I pay tons of attention to the writing.

...The female lead characters are being marginalized a lot. I don't understand how you can't see that. There are some good female solo books, but not in comparison to the sheer number of male solo books out there. I believe just comparing the relaunch of Wonder Woman and how it was handled as to how Batman and Superman have been handled...yes, they wised up and got Gail on the job, but she has a hell of a mess to deal with. Do you really believe this would have happened with Batman? I could go on with a ZILLION examples. But, you know what? I can't. It's too mind boggling.

I'm not going to get into a huge circular argument. I get too emotionally involved in most arguments on the Internet, and really, I'd just lose. I'm only sixteen and I make a lot of mistakes.

So I'm gonna check out of this thread. However, a lot of you, and I've seen this attitude a lot around the 'Bloc, simply seem to thing misogyny does not exist. This is also mindboggling, since do you REALLY thing Girl-Wonder would exist if there wasn't at least sort of a problem? That Mother Jones would publish an article? That there are so many feminist blogs about comics out there?

So, pretty much far too tired to go into a screed on my own about it, I'm just gonna link a few blogs. I hope this doesn't seem elitist or cowardly or anything, I just know these people express it better than me.

If any of this intrigues you, by all means, check out the blogs. "Girls Read Comics" in particular is very enjoyable for me, because Karen's funny. I always advise reading up on the opposition's arguments if you're going to make one against it. And you might learm some cool stuff!

Here's some Bingo. I think you guys are perilously close to getting it.

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?p=66

And here's why those arguments wont work!

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?p=4

Here's an article from Ami Angelwings. She likes netspeak, which from you "teh" comment I understand you hate (by the way, I will type in whichever fashion I choose, and I really don't care if you think something that trivial hurts my argument) but she makes some excellent points.

http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?cat=17

And here's Goodbye to Comics, by a woman who actually worked at DC! It's a pretty moving story, if a little graphic in some parts. Scroll down and go back a few pages to get to the beginning. And this is legit. Valerie has given her full identity to the internets and there's been some actual media stuff.

http://occasionalsuperheroine.blogsp...%20To%20Comics

And for the shear NUMBER of women and men blogging about sexism in comics? When Fangirls attack is an awesome archive of this. Seriously, there's some good stuff in there, not only protesting sexism, but celebrating women in comics. And from the opposition as well. The archive is huge, so...

http://womenincomics.blogspot.com/



There. Now I take my leave. This thread is supposed to be about Catwoman, and I never wanted to start a huge thing. I don't like stirring stuff up, I'm much fonder of being silly. Maybe we should split some of this stuff into a "Gender in comix" thread?

And none of the girls I know like Pretty Woman.

I'm just saying.

And Avatar isn't a comic, don't worry about that. I never said that. :/

And I don't understand why you think it's geared towards females. It's geared at everyone as far as I can see.

....

And so I ran away. Like the true heroine I am.

Oh, hey! I already have a response!


"Wow. I think a lot of people in here need to chill.

I know the internet feels like your own personal soapbox, but c'mon, it's just a difference in opinion.

The way I see it, some people need hard evidence before they accuse someone (especially someone that they don't personally know) of something and give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, and some people are ready to declare war at what they personally feel is the first sign of trouble (usually trying to use their personal feelings/perceptions or, others who feel the same way as they do, as evidence... which sadly, it isn't)."

...What? Does that? Mean?

*Throws hands in air*

Okay. I'm chillin'. Like a VILLIAN! : P





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