So, I saw the movie on Mother's day. (It was Mom's idea! She took us to the Cinnebarre, where you can eat pizza and watch movies!) I actually enjoyed it for the most part. I guess because I was just expecting some entertaining fluff, plus I don't know much about X Men, so it's not like I could be offended over anything.

Well, except Deadpool. I know and love enough about him to be offended. But hey, they're making a spin off movie so...
 

( spoilers )

 

ANYway. Today in Art we just fooled around, but Fuller and I talked comics (remember, Fuller is the fashionable and popular girl who just happens to like superheroes and is good at art. Yet I cannot really be her close friend or anything, because she has a million of them and I do not fit in). She got to do her Senior Exit on Superheroes. I am so jealous. Our teacher demanded we do ours on literature, and apparently comics don't count (I argued that the 80's comics were really wordy. She didn't buy it) I wanted to do it on Wonder Woman and her impact on society! But I had to do it on "The Yellow Wallpaper." Though I did do a comic version of the Yellow Wallpaper for my product! Huh, I should scan that sometime.

But, as I was saying, she had a teacher who was NOT AP so she got to do hers on our four colored friends. And she's dressing like Batgirl for the presentation (She dresses up like Batgirl a lot, actually, I ran into her at Halloween a couple years ago and she was in the costume. It was the same Halloween I dressed up as Steph!Robin. She yelled "Stephanie!" and I yelled "Babs!" and John was like "...huh.")

Actually, we were talking about just that. Here is out conversation:

Fuller: I also saw someone dressed up like Poison Ivy. I gave her a wave and pretended to go into kung fu mode. She gave me a weird look. I was like, seriously? You don't know who I am? How can you be Poison Ivy and not know who I am?

Me: Huh.

Fuller: I should go by the comic store today. The new one.

Me: It's right near my house, I went there yesterday. The guy's nice.

Okay, I actually can't remember how the conversation turned to this, we were discussing sexism in comics for some reason and she all:

Fuller: It was lame. Like the end of Birds of Prey when Huntress was all like "I'm off to teach"

Me: I don't think she...

Fuller: And Black Canary was all "I'm off to raise this kid and get married!" Bleh!

Me: Right, and then that thing with the kid, where Green Arrow made her go away and faked her death and she didn't even get mad at him for that!

Fuller: I know!

Me: Such an ass! Can't believe they made her marry him.

Fuller: And the lady...that lady in red...

Me: Manhunter?

Fuller: Right! She got scared because they planted a fear about her kid in her skull and then she...

Me: She's appearing as a backup in Streets of Gotham.

Fuller: Right, whatever.

Me: But what ticks me off is Babs being all mopey and leaving...they better not make her Batgirl again!

Fuller: Really? I think that would be good. I dunno, that way she could kick ass.

Me: But she's so much cooler as Oracle! And she's like, thirty, she's not a girl! And what about Cassandra, I like Cassandra!

Fuller: I don't like what they've done with Cassandra lately. You know, there was the evil thing...

Me: ...Yeah. *tries to pretend she hasn't been complaining about it on the Internet for the last two years*

Fuller: And then it was like, her Dad pumped her full of evil serum, that made no sense. I was like, what?

Kate (sitting near us): Wow. He's a sucky dad. Whoever you're talking about.

Me: Just a little. Anyway, I know. But, Babs! Cooler as Oracle! Not a girl!

Fuller: I dunno...it's like, she's stuck at the desk job she always hated. You know like in her origin [she means BG: Y1] how the FBI was like "You can't do this because you're short, and a girl, and you should do desk work?" and she was like "screw you, I can kick ass?" Now she's stuck being like behind a desk. Which she never wanted to be.

Me:... huh. *gets distracted by picture I'm drawing*

Fuller [to Kate]: And also, what ticks me off? This new writer who came on and made She Hulk switch jobs! She was this cool and funny lawyer before, and now she's like a bounty hunter, and it's BORING, with some kind of Skrull, who she has some sort of lesbian thing with, well, not really, but you know, actually really. It's really boring. And now it's CANCELLED.

Kate: I have no idea what you're talking about it.

Me: *thinks to myself* Congrats, PAD. You have earned Fuller's ire.

Anyway, that was my wacky comics related conversation with a girl who is not only one of the most popular in school, but likes comics! Take that, stereotypes!

(I don't agree with her about Babs though. At all.)

Woo! I finally got my Wonder Woman movie in the mail! AT LASSSSST! I'll watch it tonight with my parents. Then tomorrow night we're going to see Watchmen at the Cinnebarre. I tried calling John to see if he wanted to go, but his phone's disconnected or something. I'm kind of pissed he hasn't called, I thought he said he still wanted to be friends. But he's probably busy. Whatever.

Anyway, I'm completely stoked for both things. I'd been hearing mixed reviews of Wondy, there was an epic argument on Comic Bloc between this gay guy and one of the authoritarian moderators over whether it was good or not, and of course authrotarian!mod pulled out all the hostilities- it was 'Bloc, so of course they were rude to him for expressing an opinion that may be vaguely negative. He mentioned he dislikes Steve's piggishness and him apparently teaching Wondy a lesson and what not, and the "hot amazons bathing" fanservice. Authoritarian!mod mentioned the panel didn't want Steve to be a "nice guy" or "damsel in distress".

I'm going to give the creators benefit of the doubt and assume...okay, his name is Titansfan... was mistranslating, since I already stated I didn't like the guy in the first place, I can't imagine his comprehension skills are that great (he's not an idiot, just seems rather arrogant at times to me). But it brings an interesting point. Why CAN'T Steve be a damsel in distress? Isn't Wondy about turning gender roles on their head? Lois is often a DiD and still manages to be quite awesome. Steve can do the same. Heck, that's what Marston did with him. Wonder Woman was always having to save him.

As for "nice guy"...unless we're talking "Nice Guy TM", I don't see the problem here. According to TitansFan's tenuous translations, the panel says a air force guys likely to be tough and piggish. Okay, that's a stereotype. I'm sure there's plenty of nice, polite airforce guys. Why not go against the grain?

This is not a critisism of the movie, which I haven't seen yet, and am sure I will very much enjoy (I've heard some things that really excite me, and if bluefall liked it...well, I consider that the highest Wondy fan approval there is!) or the creators, just some general questions and observations.

Another is: I don't think Wonder Woman should be about men and woman "needing" each other. She comes from an island of all women who were just fine for thousands of years. She doesn't need men. That doesn't mean she doesn't want, or like them, just that they are not essential. It isn't prejudice. After all, would men need women if they were immortal? No. Of course, they'd WANT them around (even gay men would probably like having women as friends. Am I right? I mean, we're not just for the sexing).

What Wonder Woman is about to me is: "Look, here's a woman, she's awesome, she's independent, she kicks ass. Women ARE awesome. They are just as good as men. And they aren't an extension of men." That's as deep as it needs to go. It's not "men are superfluous". Maybe some guys felt insecure about that creating the movie, but get over it. Wonder Woman isn't a lesson on gender relations, other than that her lesson is "Woman and men are EQUAL." She's a lesson on being kickass and strong. That's what Marston intended, that's what Perez, Rucka and Simone put forward, the end.

Once again, not a critisism. Women and men need each other is a fine message, and I can deal with that, but I think the concept of WW is a little different.

So, off the Wonder Woman rant (I'm sure you'll get a lovely review when I ACTUALLY see the movie!) and on to comics this week.

Gotham Gazette: Already covered my feelings on the Steph part in the last post, so lets check out the other parts. I should mention the art was really good all around in this one shot, even Gulliem March's stuff, though not entirely pleasing in some parts, was surprisingly non porny considering his Oracle covers.

Vicki Vale: This was the story that most intrigued me (besides Steph's, but that was simply because it's Steph). I don't know much about Vicki besides 1. She was decent in the 1940's, and cared more about news than slobbering after Bruce. 2. "I have a date with Bruce Wayne! Cool!" and 3. She was in the 1980's Batman movie. But she seemed okay here. The cliffhanger intrigued me. HOW is Bruce going to take Vicki to the Robinson Ball? He's in a cave! Will it be Alfred disguised as Bruce????

Leslie Thompkins: Art is stiff, but clear, nice and neat. Not much is revealed about Leslie that we don't already know, 'cept I never thought her the type to walk around in high heeled boots. Clearly she has forgiven Bruce (I guess him "dying" softened her feelings.) Anyway, now she must perform surgery at the edge of the Cavelier's makeshift rapier! I'm disappointed she didn't mention Steph.

Harvey Bullock: Harvey must solve a murder! He has Officer Harper as his partner, and she is very whiny! Once again, nice art, not much happening. Apparently the murderer was already revealed in the Azreal mini (Spoiler: It's Azreal). I wonder who Harvey thinks it is though.

Decent one shot, probably wouldn't be getting the sequel if there weren't Steph though.

3.5/5

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #4:

Streaky the Supercat! With superintelligence! I love the twist ending and Streaky thinking of Linda as his "pet". Belinda was surprisingly nice this issue, knocking out Lena for Linda, and hardly making any insulting comments at all (except one to Lena). Maybe Linda's rubbing off on her?

And it's sad to see Lena would turn on Linda if she knew she was Supergirl. She was very Lex like in her ranting about Superpeople defying the natural order. And of course saved the day with her Mad Science! Maybe Linda can convince Lena to stop with the crazy if she shows what a bad person Lex is and snaps Lena to reality. I hope so, I like Lena.

Also, loved the poke of the Silver Age, when Belinda said there was a Kryptonian technique that let you get rid of memories, and Linda was like "Not there isn't" and Belinda said "true enough". Total smack down of the "KryptonianSCIENCE answers everything!"

As usual, 5/5.

Superman New Krypton #1,

Pete Woods seems to be back on his game a bit. This was pretty good, I likes seeing Superman trying to solve stuff on New Krypton and being nice and teaching that kid to fly. Also his protest of the guilds, and conflict with Zod. I'm pretty intrigued with the Super Books right now. I'll prolly get the next of this series.

4/5

Secret Six #7

Now this was fantastic. Deadshot, I knew you wouldn't let me down! The fights! The zany dialogue! Bane badassery! The gory deaths!

My favorite moment would have to be Ragdoll tossing Hatter's hat off the bridge. Oh, Ragdoll. You're AWFUL.

Also the ending! Very intriguing!

And Nicola Scott knocks it out of the park as always.

5/5

A good week, really. I should mention I think I can finally post on  the insane journal. It did the validation thing when I tried my yahoo email, for some reason.

www.newsarama.com/comics/090119-dc-april-2009-soliciations.html

So, that's probably not Bart in the hoodie with the Flash symbol on the Titans covers. That would be a nice thing and we can't have nice things can we? Then, again, they said that about Steph, too....

Bah. I will not get my hopes up. Chances are it's a new Kid Flash or human Red Devil.

In other news, Miss Martian, Ravager, and Aquagirl are on the new team. It looks, dare I say...FUN. I mean, Kid Devil, MaybeKidFlash, possibly Misfit, Static, Jaime and Miss Martian? That a recipe for whatever the opposite of angst is. SHENANIGANS!

Maybe there's hope for Teen Titans yet! Who knew?

Anyway, I'm interested, which is quite amazing.

Even more important is the fact the cover to Battle for the Cowl #2....

comics.ign.com/articles/946/946039p1.html

...has Steph on it! And Cass! And they're like, both flying through the air and sort of mirroring each other in their poses! It makes me hopeful they might actually talk or something! A foolish hope perhaps, but a hope NONETHELESS.

Another cover with Steph on it always makes me happy, because I get to add it to the wiki's cover section and that makes me feel empowered.

Strange things make me feel empowered.

Also I found inks on Tony Daniel's blog. I appreciate his decision to redraw Nightwing's head so he doesn't have that constipated yell thing going.

tonydaniel.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#1229966787179075179

In other new, watched my Mask of Phantasm DVD. It's just as good the third time.

Also, I must remember to do my column for BSR today. Must...

I've actually been back a day, but I spent my Internet time yesterday obsessively updating the Steph wiki. I'm pretty proud of how accurate my brand new Wonder Girl section in acquainted heroes. And the fact I managed to get Fabian Nicieza's Gotham Gazette interview with 'Rama up almost as soon as it came out. (The interview's here, it's interesting, check it: www.newsarama.com/comics/010902-GothamGazette.html )

How were my holidays? Tiring. I was dragged to Florida, spending most of Xmas cramped in a car, but once I was there I enjoyed my aunt and uncles spacious house (I don't know where their money comes from. I suspect bank robbery) and the company of my younger cousins, the tykes. I managed to beg off most of the painful family stuff by hiding and studying. I visited my grandparents. My grandma had her 83rd birthday, Jean (my aunt) hired an actor who gave a play on black history. Then Nonnie (my grandmother) had him orate the poem I gave her for her birthday, which humiliated me, especially since it wasn't that good.

  As far as I can remember my haul was:

*Justice League Seasons 1 and 2
*A T shirt with Wondy kicking Nazi's on it. (The cover of #14!)
*A Lightbox for my drawings. Eeeee! Now I can trace my messy sketches and make 'em pretty to my hearts content.
*A bunch of books. Some random Maximum Ride thing that is supposed to be very good but doesn't impress me so far, Jodi Picoult stuff sos I can enjoy more depressing ending and something written by this kid who hates his school.
*A cell phone. I've never really felt the need for one, but taking pictures with it is oddly addicting. And now I won't have to beg to borrow other people's when the school had bomb threats.
*The Dark Knight on DVD
*My cousin Joanna gave me, I quote, "sexy underwear". It was leapord print. I suppose it will come in handy if I ever manage to get laid. Also a Peace Sign T shirt.
*A Wicked shirt. "I Love Oz." Such a good play.
*A hat and stuff.

Overall, a decent haul. Also, at school earlier I volunteered to give these kids from Oakley (a pretty poor school) presents. I gave my little girl various Tiny Titans comics and the first Supergirl: Cosmic adventures thing. Also a stuffed tiger and journals. I was worried she'd hate them, but she acted super excited over all of it. She was so cute.

For BSR! when I got back, I did another Sunday column, the best and worst comic moments of 2008. Yes, Stephanie coming back is on it.

www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/3292

So, what about the Best and Worst Moments for me this year personally? In chronological order!

Best

*I got a 1900 on my SAT. Score!
*I survived Junior year.
*I got my first crush (John) which is good because I was getting worried I was asexual. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It would just be pretty depressing.
*I finished my Senior Exit project and got an A
*I got into UNCA! Woot, college here I come.
*I think I've gotten a bit happier. And such.

Worst

*I was forced to endure Discrete Math from Hell (and am still being forced. Just...two...more...weeks...must...be...strong)
*The usual fits of depression, crying and moodswings.
*My beloved (John) gets a girlfriend JUST as I'm going to ask him out (His phone was broken so I couldn't earlier). And she's some sort of weird proto-me who likes comics. I bet I am so much hotter. Oh well, he'll break up with her eventually.
*My cat died.

While we're  thinking of bad things, Dad just yelled at me for no reason (I misheard him when he said "Go get a basket to pick up the litter on the side of the road" and just went to pick up the litter, um, basketless.) Apparently this is a crime againt humanity and proves I never listen to anything he says. It was so out of the blue, it made me cry. Ghhh, hate it.

Anyway, that's all. I'm doing reviews either later today or tomorrow.

Oh, and I got my photoshop back. And to celebarate, I colored the first page of the "I am Become Steph" saga!

( Now in color! )

Think I should do the rest? I prolly will when I'm bored or something.
 

So, I've sent my questions to Fabian off to Swank at Big Shiny Robot to edit. There's an awful lot of 'em, and I included as many of yous guys as I could. I was rather ruthless in my interrogation about "Created Equal". All part of the war, I imagine.

Other things I touched upon is whether he has any idea why the hell Spoiler is invisible with Tieri, and who the Batfamily girls are in the Brady Bunch. (What? I want to know! I've got Steph pegged for Bobby, but otherwise, not sure.) Also asking if he ever managed to fit Cass and Steph's reunion in, or if he was just LEADING US ON. Other stuff too, general things and bits about his Batman Confidential Arc...I'm a bit low on Marvel questions, not being familiar.

Today, Ben in my art class was complaining about how Two-Faces face wasn't accurate in DK. "It's supposed to be purple!" I pointed out the color of Two Face's face varies from artist to artist as well as how it looks. Ben told me to shut up and he knew more about Two Face than me, because he has a poster or something.

Excuse me if I doubt this.

Oooh! I should have asked him "Soooo, who did Two Face almost beat to death with a baseball bat? Think hard, I'm sure you can get it!"

(In the unlikely event anyone doesn't know, it was Robin. Dick Grayson to be exact, in Robin Year One. Poor kid.)

Or "What is was his wife's name in the comics? Is that too hard? You can go with the cartoon, who was his girlfriend?'

(Again, Gilda for the comics, Grace for the cartoon.)

...Yeah, I'm thinking about this too much. (If you were amazed at Ben's rudeness, pretty much all the boys tell me to shut up when I intrude on their conversations, which I often do cuz I'm obnoxious. But they do that to everyone else too)

Frank made the better point of asking how the hell Two Face was magically in the two part suit in the last part of the movie. I am ashamed to admit I have seen the four times and not noticed anything about the suit. I just tend be either seething with rage about Babs or utterly fascinated by his face, I suppose.

Frank says he cannot imagine Harvey randomly nipping into a tailor on his quest of vengeance. Sadly, I can. C'mon, it's Harvey, he's like that.

So there's your randomness for the day.

Also, did you know there are only 100 Florida Panthers left? And they get hit by CARS of all damn things? 14 in 2007? C'mon people, it is a fucking huge subspecies of puma, I THINK YOU CAN SEE IT COMING. And for god's sakes, wildlife protectors, move the things into a reservation aways from the roads.

Of course, that kind of funding would come from an act BUSH IS TRYING TO CANCEL (Excuse me, but FUCK YOU George). Of course, as soon as Obama comes on, he should uncancel it if he doesn't want to deal with me! Okay, I have no idea how politics works.

This is not suggesting anything, but wouldn't having a Florida Panther tear Bush apart be an awesome presidential assassination? Not that I'd actually want to do that, and not that murder is awesome. But wouldn't it?

The snag in that plan is Florida Panthers are afraid of humans (with good fucking reason! Okay, I'm over cursing) and have never attacked one, and the Secret Service would surely shoot it, and that would be a horrible waste!

A ROBOT Florida panther? I would have Babs build it for me, since we're dreaming. What, she can build robots I'm sure.

Reviews for this week. Two comics and both are written by Gail Simone! And they're both good! She's amazing, this woman.

Wonder Woman #25

Okay, this was freaking hilarious. I didn't expect to see more of the Wonder Woman Movie from Hell, but all the sexist tropes and Diana's facepalming during it was GREAT. Oh, Hollywood.  And Gail managed to sneak some feminism in there too, as is WW's way. Why is it that people feel a belief in women equal as hatred of men? I can't look. DAMN STRAIGHT, Diana. Testify, sister!

And Diana is the MASTER OF THE AMBIDEXTRIOUS DUAL AX TECHNIQUE! Snow White wasn't, but wouldn't the story have been so much better if she had been? I vote Wonder Woman should replace Snow White. And any other female character in fairytales. Her answer to everything would be DUAL AXES! Big Bad Wolf? DUAL AXES! (After some sympathizing, of course. "I can choose to be like the wolf!) We don't need no damn woodsman! Wicked Stepmother? DUAL AXES! Dad tries to cut your hands off? DUAL AXES! Trapped in a tower? DUAL AXES! (They'd help. Somehow.)

Hee, Wonder Woman was just very witty this whole story in fact. "Straight to video" indeed. And then she put on those sunglasses. Just because she could and she's cool like that. And I love the gorillas so. "This film is nothing but a mishmash of better movies and cynical displays of human female fatty tissue!" Gail got all meta on us with the "Waiting for a while for a good movie is better than having a terrible one today." I guess she's saying Hollywood isn't ready to make a good WW movie? Because they're sexist douchbags? But that doesn't mean I'll stop bitching about it! They should be ready by now! It's the 21st century, dammit! I will not have a Green Arrow movie before my WW one! Travesty!

Whew.

Um, anyway, I also really loved the last scene, with the mother and the little girls. It was very Diana and showed how inspiring she was. But is she thinking of having kids? Because I can't see that working out. She's pretty busy. Unless the kid grew really fast and became her sidekick. If not, she's liable to give it up for adoption or have Nemesis send it to a monastary without telling her. Anyway, it also means it would have to be Nemisis's baby and that is just GROSS.

Anyway, 5/5

Secret Six #2

Oh, Catman and your wittisisms. Oh, Batman and your burrito eating. Oh, Ragdoll and your 73 pounds of awesome. Oh, Deadshot and your constant narrating on how screwed up your team mates are. Oh, Scandal and your burden as being the only vaguely sane one on the team. Oh, Bane and your gentlemanlyness.

Did I cover them all? Oh, there's Mammoth and his screaming "NOT ON MY WATCH THING!" That was great. Also, the new villian extracted himself from the box and showed he could stand with aid, but his legs look limp and noodly. I wonder what his deal is. Maybe he's Ragdoll's dad! No, probably not, but that's what I thought when I saw the legs.

It was very good. Great Nicola Scott art and tons of fun as usual.

5/5

And now I must gush about the Mask of Phantasm and Batman: Subzero.

SPOILERS!

( Gushing )

'k, well enough gushing. Signing off!

And also scottyquick's. Happy birthday on the same day, you!

Just checking in! And bragging about the presents I got because that's HOW I ROLL.

So, I like totally ordered the two seasons of Justice League Unlimited, and the Birds of Prey DVD so I can laugh at how bad it is and because of the Gotham Girls extras. I also really like the lady who plays Oracle. And I got two Wonder Woman George Perez trades, and the third Blue Beetle trade even though I own the issues, I like easy access. Also the only part of Robin: Year One I had missing, as well as some micellaneous Fallen Angel and Supergirl stuffs.

Also this TOTALLY AWESOME graphic novel called Rapunzel's Revenge. IT IS THE BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL EVER. Or one of them at least. It takes the tale of Rapunzel and twists it around so she escaped herself and then goes to get revenge on the witch and she USES HER HAIR AS A WHIP AND A LASSO. IT IS BADASS. Also, Jack (you know the one) is her sidekick, she meets him while he is trying to steal stuff with a master plan that involves crossdressing. He carries the freakin' goose around the whole story and is a completely adorable and funny. As well as good at coming up with insane plans that somehow work.

"...I can't believe they named you after lettuce."

Also, the prince who is supposed to save her makes a cameo after she's escaped herself and it is hilarious.

Prince: "Well, I'm not going to really save her, I'll kind of pretend to, and then she'll be naive enough to believe it." (This is making fun of how in the original story he took for-friggin'-ever to save her. Wait until her hair grows out? How about a rope ladder, asshole!)

Rapunzel: "Uh huh. Well, the tower's over there. She's sort of deaf so call her name really loudly. Don't worry if it takes a while."

Prince: "Thanks, peasant!"

Also, it's like fairy tale-meets superhero-meets Wild West, which is the best kind of story. And Rapunzel is truly badass with her hair. She takes down, like, all these guys with guns, drives away a pack of cayotes and a flippin' sea monster.

BUY THE BOOK NOW. Go search it on Amazon. Here:http://www.amazon.com/Rapunzels-Revenge-Shannon-Hale/dp/159990070X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218596714&sr=8-1

13 bucks. Pretty cheap considering it's a hardcover with 144 pages of gorgeous art.

Oh yeah. I also got some notebooks and stuff, and chocolate, and Breaking Dawn.

Nice haul! I love birthdays.

I went to see Iron Man for the fourth time too, because it's showing at our Brew n Veiw where you eat pizza and watch movies. I never get tired of that movie. It might have something to do with how amazingly hot...never mind.

I return!

Lotsa comics to review. And art to post. And I'll tell a little about my trip.

But all that can wait till tomorrow. For now I'll just say I saw the Dark Knight and it was freaking awesome. Almost perfect.

*yawns* Later!