Fancy that.

The folk at Dynamite Entertainment and Top Cow (Famous for such fine all-ages reading fare as Witchblade and Magdalena) are doing one of those inter-company crossover thingies designed to boost the profile of their properties to each other's respective audience: This time, its The Darkness and Eva: Daughter of Dracula: in this case, the Darkness is a long-running independant horror comic and Eva is a newer character who seems to be an attractive girl with a sword.

The astute comic book reader will recognise this ploy from 62.35% of the comics published between 1992-1998. The covers would feature buxom lasses wearing clothing in inverse proportion to the size of their busts, and muscular dudes standing in the shadows with, like, tentacles or shadows or shadowy tentacles coming out of their backs. Like all the great ideas in comics publishing, this idea got real old real fast, and I see nothing in what has been released so far about this project to indicate otherw-

Well, wouldja look at that. Female character whose breasts aren't the focus of the picture, wearing clothing exposing only a socially acceptable level of flesh holding a sword in a determined pose with a facial expression that doesn't indicate submission or undue sexual excitement.

Aw, Top Cow comics covers. You're all growing up. ^_^

Being Slightly Unfair

I was re-reading the vicsage.com interview series with Greg Rucka tonight, and this bit made me immediately think of Judd Winick, Green Arrow/Black Canary, et al:

EN: Maybe that’s the proper question to ask, not why, or when, or who, but what did the Question’s death bring to the story….

GR: There are multiple answers to that, I think. First and foremost, it was a good story, that did what a good story should do — it left an impact, it made the reader feel something, and it had worth. It wasn’t, shall we say, just killing a character for the sake of seeing their blood spill.

I think that that is what really ticks me off about the way GA/BC has been going: Ollie's "death," Connor's "death"... they're so... emotionally hollow and cynical. They're cheating: getting a cheap rise from the reader with a cheap shock. Its about as sophisticated as scaring a horror movie audience with a character turning the corner to be confronted with a major chord, and combined with all the other arbitary character deaths over the DCU lately, about as meaningful.

Hopefully, now that Greg Rucka's going back to freelancing, he'll have time to give writing workshops to Winnick and DC's other hatchet men. Lord knows they need it.

John Rambo: For Good or for Awesome?

From watching this trailer, its hard to tell if this is an argument for or against American isolationism. In the same way that Black Hawk Down was an hour-and-a-half commercial for how if you join the army, you can kill all the black people you want.

Me, I'm waiting for Master Chief to jump in the seat of that Warthog Stallone's manning the turret of. ^_^

I have no idea how I lived without this webcomic.

Cat and Girl.

Honestly. This thing just cracks me up. I mean, seriously.

I don't even care that it invalidates my life.

Why I Read Them Wimmins Blogs

Almost all of my comics blogosphere reading is comprised of blogs by female comics fans who tend to comment on issues of gender in comics: Karen Healey, Ami Angelwings, WFA, Leftarrow, Ragnell, Tamora Pierce, Occasional Superheroine. I agree with many of their points and hopes for mainstream comics, but thats not all of it. I identify with the feminist comics movement for purely selfish reasons.

I want comics to be better. I want better stories.

A story is comprised of many different bits. There's the plot. There is text and subtext. There are themes, intended and unintentional. There are characters, and their characterization.

There is no feminist comics agenda, or hive-vagina mind. But the common thread I've noticed in all the feminist comics blogs I've followed is:

They want female characters to be fully fleshed out, to be allowed to achieve their full potential. They want the stories to be better.

I can get behind that, and can't understand anyone who can't.

Countdown to Mystery is Actually Neato

I've been following this book because of a really neat interview with writer Steve Gerber, and it has yet to disapoint.

That is to say: The Dr. Fate part of the book hasn't disappointed- the back-up feature with JeanClipso corrupting Plastic Man is... um...

How can I say this nicely?

Rubbish.

At least the art's pretty though:



Dr Fate's story, however, is an account of one man dragging himself up from the pits of despair (Las Vegas); a man wrestling with his doubts and depression and the train wreck he's made of his own life, yet still finding worth in this torrid existence.

Plus, a spiffy hat.

I guess that the story resonates with me because I'm also prone to depression? And also wear spiffy hats?

I'm just worried, though, that this story won't find its audience- it reads more like an early Vertigo tale (circa Animal Man, perhaps?) rather than something that should have the Countdown brand slapped across it.

Although:



































Two panels of foot-to-face action! Not quite up to the heady boots-to-face ratio of, say, Iron Fist, but its good to know the meme is spreading.

And Now, In Bizarre Censorship News...

I present to you, the censored and uncensored covers for Atlantis Rising: Number One.





















Worked it out? No, its not my weird gamma settings on my scanner which make the underater people look like they've been sunbathing in Chernobyl. Here's a hint:








An accident with a photoshop filter, or yet more evidence that society is intolerant of Fish-People and their perfectly natural, if not beautiful, foot claws? YOU decide!

EDIT: To clarify: The "Toes are Icky" version can be found on the publisher's website; the uncensored version is the cover to the printed book.