...the content on this blog dates from a time when I briefly got back into comics after long abscence. While I'm proud of what's on here, a lot of it will be full of either dead links, talks about issues in the fandom long since blown over, or otherwise out of date.
Most of my blogging energies are on MemeSpree NZ right now; feel free to take a look around, but that's where the new hotness is.
Thanks for checking it out tho!
Cheers,
Athur.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Morrison Writes my Fanon!
I really need to make that into a T-Shirt.
Comic Book Resources has an interview with Grant Morrison, where he discusses some (spoilery) details of what the upcoming Final Crisis series will cover.
One thing that stood out to me was this bit, tucked away in the second-to-last paragraph. Avert your eyes, spoiler-phobes!
Supergirl and Mary Marvel are in it. They have a big climatic battle to decide how femininity should be portrayed in superhero comics!
Now, how much the results of a story beat can influence the editorial/creative direction of a company like DC- with its focus groups and market research and whatnot- is up for debate. I know Grant has claimed that his writing has influenced the real world before, but he's never had to write against Time Warner/AOL before. ^_^
A few scattershot thoughts on this for now, because I want to wait until it plays out in the text before trying to get at the delicious subtext:
-What, exactly, do Supergirl and Mary Marvel represent at this point? In her own title, Supergirl seems to be in a transition from Loeb/Churchill's elongated-torso, no-ankle-having, tantrum-throwing cipher of a character into a more realistically proportioned growing teen girl struggling with an unfamiliar culture. In the pages of Countdown Mary has been presented as an innocent girl seduced by evil into wearing a short skirt and posing for panty shots.
-There is still time for the larger DCU to re-shape Kara and Mary as signifiers, too: there's still a Supergirl arc to clear up, and Countdown #1 and DCU #0 to go. So, we'll see what happens there, and if it even matters...
-What does Grant mean by femininity, here? Is this a fight between "good girl" pin-up art vs "bad-girl" art? Or a battle between what the ideal for a female character should be like in the DCU? Or am I over/under -thinking this?
-Its things like this that make me look forward to Final Crisis more than Secret Invasion- and by extension, Morrison's writing more than Bendis'. With Final Crisis I can expect some juicy subtext to look forward to, which is great- I like my metaphor dressed in bright colours and punching each other. With Secret Invasion, all I can reasonably expect is people talking out of character. For pages on end. But it won't *really* be out of character, 'cos its a plot point!
-Morrison also wrote Bulleteer, my favourite of the Seven Soldiers mini-series, as problematic as it is. It'll be interesting to see if any of the themes in that get played into this particular bit in FC.
And really, I'm just gonna wait for the text to come out on this one before discussing it further. It'll be the fight... of the CONTEXTUARY!
(sorry)
Comic Book Resources has an interview with Grant Morrison, where he discusses some (spoilery) details of what the upcoming Final Crisis series will cover.
One thing that stood out to me was this bit, tucked away in the second-to-last paragraph. Avert your eyes, spoiler-phobes!
Supergirl and Mary Marvel are in it. They have a big climatic battle to decide how femininity should be portrayed in superhero comics!
Now, how much the results of a story beat can influence the editorial/creative direction of a company like DC- with its focus groups and market research and whatnot- is up for debate. I know Grant has claimed that his writing has influenced the real world before, but he's never had to write against Time Warner/AOL before. ^_^
A few scattershot thoughts on this for now, because I want to wait until it plays out in the text before trying to get at the delicious subtext:
-What, exactly, do Supergirl and Mary Marvel represent at this point? In her own title, Supergirl seems to be in a transition from Loeb/Churchill's elongated-torso, no-ankle-having, tantrum-throwing cipher of a character into a more realistically proportioned growing teen girl struggling with an unfamiliar culture. In the pages of Countdown Mary has been presented as an innocent girl seduced by evil into wearing a short skirt and posing for panty shots.
-There is still time for the larger DCU to re-shape Kara and Mary as signifiers, too: there's still a Supergirl arc to clear up, and Countdown #1 and DCU #0 to go. So, we'll see what happens there, and if it even matters...
-What does Grant mean by femininity, here? Is this a fight between "good girl" pin-up art vs "bad-girl" art? Or a battle between what the ideal for a female character should be like in the DCU? Or am I over/under -thinking this?
-Its things like this that make me look forward to Final Crisis more than Secret Invasion- and by extension, Morrison's writing more than Bendis'. With Final Crisis I can expect some juicy subtext to look forward to, which is great- I like my metaphor dressed in bright colours and punching each other. With Secret Invasion, all I can reasonably expect is people talking out of character. For pages on end. But it won't *really* be out of character, 'cos its a plot point!
-Morrison also wrote Bulleteer, my favourite of the Seven Soldiers mini-series, as problematic as it is. It'll be interesting to see if any of the themes in that get played into this particular bit in FC.
And really, I'm just gonna wait for the text to come out on this one before discussing it further. It'll be the fight... of the CONTEXTUARY!
(sorry)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I have seen the future, and it is Wii-ly Sweet
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
Writing home-brew apps that use the Wiimote as a motion sensor input device for your PC.
Awesome.
Also: Non-gratuitous heroine-in-distress cover:
Writing home-brew apps that use the Wiimote as a motion sensor input device for your PC.
Awesome.
Also: Non-gratuitous heroine-in-distress cover:
That wasn't so hard now, was it, DC?
Countdown 14: Who Booked This?
Scans Daily has a selection of scans from Countdown 14, and while the whole freaking thing is hilarious, there's three bits I want to comment on:
1) You know your characters have no substance when even the colourist can't tell the difference between EXTREEEME~! Jason Todd and EXTREEEME~! Batman.
2) To continue the meta-commentary on the relationship between the readers and the publisher, pay attention to the conversation between Evil!Superman (henceforth called Fanboy Prime) and the Evil Monitor (hereafter reffered to as DC Comics Editorial.)
DC: We gave you a perfect, happyhappy earth. And then we invaded it.
FP: WHY?!?!
DC: Because you will buy anything we'll print.
FP: YOU'RE RUINING IT!
DC: Well, yes, but, we're still selling 70~80k books a week to you. Haw haw!
2b) I love that Fanboy Prime goes all Liefeld on the third page. Complete with flipper-feet. Oh, symbolism, how I love thee.
3) More a general comment- notice how Countdown is a lot better when they focus mostly on one storyline and don't do one-page callouts to other crossovers? Huh? Huh, DC? You paying attention here?
In other news: THRILL to my first ever poll! Who is... the FUTURE BEETLE! Also, I'm taking questions for the 10 Characters of Doom meme, after being tagged by Ami yonks ago. I've got a list of 10 characters written down, and if you post questions in the comments section of this post, like "1 breaks 5's ant farm, how does 8 help them fix it before they notice?" and I'll answer them all when I get enough questions. So gets askin'!
1) You know your characters have no substance when even the colourist can't tell the difference between EXTREEEME~! Jason Todd and EXTREEEME~! Batman.
2) To continue the meta-commentary on the relationship between the readers and the publisher, pay attention to the conversation between Evil!Superman (henceforth called Fanboy Prime) and the Evil Monitor (hereafter reffered to as DC Comics Editorial.)
DC: We gave you a perfect, happyhappy earth. And then we invaded it.
FP: WHY?!?!
DC: Because you will buy anything we'll print.
FP: YOU'RE RUINING IT!
DC: Well, yes, but, we're still selling 70~80k books a week to you. Haw haw!
2b) I love that Fanboy Prime goes all Liefeld on the third page. Complete with flipper-feet. Oh, symbolism, how I love thee.
3) More a general comment- notice how Countdown is a lot better when they focus mostly on one storyline and don't do one-page callouts to other crossovers? Huh? Huh, DC? You paying attention here?
In other news: THRILL to my first ever poll! Who is... the FUTURE BEETLE! Also, I'm taking questions for the 10 Characters of Doom meme, after being tagged by Ami yonks ago. I've got a list of 10 characters written down, and if you post questions in the comments section of this post, like "1 breaks 5's ant farm, how does 8 help them fix it before they notice?" and I'll answer them all when I get enough questions. So gets askin'!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Heath Ledger, RIP.
From IGN:
January 22, 2008 - Heath Ledger, the actor best known for his turns in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain and the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon according to NYTimes.com.
Which sucks, 'cause every man's death diminishes me, etc.
But it was really incredibly weird to see this next to IGN's "Babe of the Week" feature.
January 22, 2008 - Heath Ledger, the actor best known for his turns in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain and the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon according to NYTimes.com.
Which sucks, 'cause every man's death diminishes me, etc.
But it was really incredibly weird to see this next to IGN's "Babe of the Week" feature.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Blog for Choice Day 2008
I used to walk past the Lyndhurst Memorial Hospital to get to work, and every day, there were between five and fifteen pro-life people protesting there.
They weren't loud, or waving placards, but they were bowing their heads in prayer over a large portrait of the Blessed Virgin, right by the driveway. I can only assume that they had to tone their act down a bit since one of them got arrested for tunneling his way into the hospital.
They're still intimidating. That is the whole point of the pro-life movement: You think you can kill this baby? Then God is going to do a number on you.
Women who choose to have abortions are not baby killers. They are not monsters, nor sinners. They are people who have made a difficult and traumatic decision that is not the business of a cowardly busy-body who is going to tell his daddy on you.
My step-mother Mk1 has met the local leader of this protest movement. She describes him as a beast of a man, whose own family cowers before his rage, who tread fearfully lest they provoke him into violence. He has no other occupation except to direct them into preparing his propaganda literature, stand outside of clinics and hurl abuse at traumatized women and girls, and watch television, occasionally yelling at its representations of a godless world.
Why am I pro-choice? Because raising a child is a huge responsibility, and if you feel that the time is not yet right, if you feel that this child was unfairly thrust upon you, then you should have options. Because it is a matter for a woman to decide, along with the father (if he is sticking around- aparantly a penis comes with a 'run away from responsibility free' card-) and in consultation with whoever they confide in.
Ultimately, its none of your business. If you make it your business, you are an asshole. And if there is a God who would punish someone for refusing to raise a life in poverty, or hatred, or despair, then he is an asshole too.
The Sword #4 & Booster Gold #6
If one was to be really, really, grossly unfair to The Sword (Image Comics, by Jonathan and Joshua Luna), one could describe it like this:
A poor crippled girl is healed by her father's secret, magic phallus (read: Magic Sword) just as mysterious strangers slaughter her whole family; now, using the power of the phallus, she determines to avenge her family's death, by stabbing them (with a phallus).
And you can't tell me that, on some level, the Luna Brothers aren't somewhat aware of the Freudian undertones:
But really, sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, and what The Sword actually is, is another fine character study wrapped in a fantasy/sci-fi setting- the Lunas do a good job of drawing characters whose motivations and voices you can buy into in just a few panels.
They're hardly paragons of Feminist Comics Virtue, by no means, but they do write female characters who have their own agency and aren't just eye candy for hormonal fanboys.
Why, yes, I have seen the covers for their previous series, Girls. If those turned you away from this book, give it a chance.
Oh, and in other news, Booster Gold (DC, words by Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, art by Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund) brings its first story arc to an end. How do we feel about that, fellas?
Booster Gold is what happens when you put out a book that is fun, funny, and yet still full of action and doesn't shy away from the drama; it is what happens when you get a creative team who so obviously love what they're doing, and let them stay the hell away from your company-wide crossover cluster-
Oh, what was that? #7 is a freaking Zero Hour tie-in?
I can't believe I'm looking forward to that. Damn you, Johns and co! Damn you to hell!
Aw, Booster. I can never stay mad at you.
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